Our new home!!

Chris and I are buying a house!!! My grandfather has always been really big in buying real estate in Niceville and Destin for investment purposes. Well, he bought this great little patio home in Niceville and completely gutted the house, putting in new flooring, doors, bathroom and kitchen appliances. The house has been on the market for some time now and it truly is a blessing that it was available! When Chris and I decided to move to Florida we knew that this house was perfect for us. My grandfather was selling it fully furnished... and let me tell you, he thought of absolutely everything! The house has brand new/never used furniture, flat screen tv's (Chris' favorite) towels, rugs, and even a scale. lol. Chris and I sat down with my grandfather and made the decision to buy the house. This was a huge decision, but one that we are really excited about. We have been here for almost three weeks now and are loving being on our own again. It has been so much fun making this house feel like ours, which is a little harder to do when it is fully furnished, but it is finally starting to feel like home!! We are loving it!

Here is our bedroom before:

and after.... (we painted the room a dark khaki color and the bathroom is a light blue)

Our living room...

(There is the TV that Chris just loves!)

the kitchen...

This space was empty, so Chris put up these shelves and we are so happy with them!

The Dining room attached to the living room...

The guest room...

The black dresser was actually my baby dresser and I've been using it since Chris and I got married. It was white but when we moved here we painted it black to match the rest of the guest bedroom furniture. We also replaced the hardware.

The guest/hall bathroom...

and our patio!

A whirlwind of a month

Wow! There has been so much going on this past month and today I finally have time to blog about it! My last post was to let you all know that Chris passed his boards exam and that he is finally a licensed physical therapist! On June 28th, the Ireland's, Archer's and Justin Byrd (Amanda's boyfriend) went on a cruise to celebrate Chris being finished with grad school. There were ten of us total and we had a blast! We sailed the Eastern Caribbean for 7 days aboard the Freedom of the Seas - the largest cruise ship to date. (Look for the Oasis of the Seas arriving in December!) The week was perfect- perfect weather, perfect company, perfect everything. We made three stops, the first being Coco Cay, Bahamas (Royal Caribbean's private island) where we basked in the sun, floated in the ocean and enjoyed a little beach volleyball. This was the only day that it rained and it only lasted for 10 minutes! That night was our first formal night on the ship. We enjoyed free champagne for the Captains speech and of course, the food is always incredible. Our second port of call was at St. Thomas, Virgin Island. Chris and I went on a snorkeling excursion that started out on a hard bottom raft with 450 horsepower that took us to two different snorkel locations. This was such a fun day for us both and because our camera is waterproof we were able to get some great pictures...

Our third and final stop was to St. Maarten, Virgin Islands where all ten of us took an ATV (4 wheeler) tour through the island to a beach. It was so much fun, but I will say that I am glad I had driven 4 wheelers before. Those that hadn't were a little skiddish throughout the drive (I won't name names...) and rightly so! We were driving on the road with all of the St. Maarten traffic! It was a fun ride and we were able to see a lot of the island that normally we wouldn't have been able to see. When we arrived at the beach we had just over an hour to hang out and we spent the entire time in the ocean. The water was just the right temperature and the waves were great for body surfing!

Our ports of call were a lot of fun, but we also had a blast on the ship during our days at sea. The Freedom of Seas has a rock climbing wall, flowrider, and a putt putt course. Chris, Justin I, Justin B, Ed and I all enjoyed the experience of the flowrider. We did this two or three days and it wasso much fun - hard and at times very painful, but fun! Chris, Justin Ireland and I also climbed the rock wall together. Unfortunately I did not make it to the top. I've never been one who is afraid of heights, but for some reason this scared me a little. Maybe it had something to do with being out in the middle of the ocean and also having short legs and I couldn't reach the next step. Oh well! Thumbs up to Justin and Chris! Below are just a few pictures from our week... It was such a great time of celebration and fun with family.


We got home from the cruise on Sunday July 5th and on Monday the 6th Chris and I visited Jess and Alex in Greenville, SC. Tuesday the 7th we went to Augusta to visit more dear friends and on Friday the 10th we moved to Florida!! Keep looking for a post about our new home!!

HE PASSED!

Chris passed his boards!!! After waiting for three long weeks to get his 'approval to test' letter he was finally able to sign up Friday evening to take his boards on Monday (yesterday). Chris has been studying for this exam since February. I have been so proud of him and his dedication to his studies. The test began Monday morning at 8 and lasted until 1pm- needless to say, Chris was exhausted after testing for five hours. The rest of the afternoon was spent waiting and questioning all of his answers. The panic was starting to set in. He woke up early this morning to discover that he had passed his exam!! What a relief! Unfortunately, the studying has not stopped yet. Tomorrow (Wednesday) he has one more test to take. Thankfully this test only lasts one hour instead of five. Tomorrow's test will cover all of Floridas laws. Keep him in your prayers!!

Congratulations Christopher!!

We're MOVING!!!

The big decision has FINALLY been made! We are moving to FLORIDA!!! Chris has accepted a job with Premier Rehab (a part of PT Solutions) in Fort Walton, which is right outside of Destin. We never imagined we would end up in that part of Florida, but God has led us there and we are so excited about this new phase in our lives. Chris and I met the owner and regional manager on Wednesday in Montgomery. They interviewed Chris for a few hours and then took both of us out for drinks later that night. We sat and talked for about 2 hours and at the end they offered Chris the job. We told them that we wanted some time to think about it and pray about it, and Chris called them today (Friday) with his acceptance! God is so good. We have had so many opportunities and have been so blessed throughout this entire process. I know that so many of you have been praying for us and I cannot thank you enough. For so long we felt like we had NO direction and we have been slightly stressed and confused (to say the least). It was incredible how God made it so completely obvious that this is where we are to be for this point in our lives. Right now we are planning on moving down there the 2nd week of July. We will keep you updated! Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement! We're so excited and can't wait to be Floridians!!! Come and visit us whenever you want!!

Kitchen Progress

Some of you have asked for updates on Ed and Cheryl's kitchen. I've posted a few pictures of the most recent development... the cabinets! It's looking great!

Dr. Christopher Brian Ireland

Chris graduated!!! That's right everyone, my husband is now a Physical Therapist! He has worked so hard over the last 3 years and I am so proud of him. The time and dedication he put into his school work has paid off! Last week we went to Augusta, Ga for graduation. MCG (Medical College of Ga) has several ceremonies for the graduates. On Thursday, May 7th, was the Honors and Hooding ceremony. Here, the graduates are acknowledged by being "hooded" with their Doctorate or Masters hood. Below are pictures of Christopher's doctorate hooding.

His professor, Doug performed the hooding

After the ceremony we went to a place called Bollweevil in downtown Augusta. They have 24 incredible desserts the size of Texas! (That is only a slight exaggeration, just ask my dad!) We ran into the Muchnicks/Pattersons as well as Leanna Dailey and her family while at the Bollweevil.

On Friday morning, May 8th, the PT department held a small and intimate ceremony for the students. A few of the professors and students spoke and then the graduates were given a White Coat with their new title on it! At the end of the ceremony they did a candle light circle where they all said a brief statement to the person next to them. This was a very special time for the students and professors to enjoy their last moments together as one.

The guys before the PT celebration!



Receiving his white coat

DPT class of 2009

Justin is impressed with his brothers new title as DOCTOR!

I am married to a Doctor!

Apparently blue was the color of the day!

Friday afternoon was MCG's graduation ceremony. We had AWESOME seats and were able to get great pictures of Christopher throughout the ceremony. It was so amazing to watch him walk across that stage and receive his diploma that he has worked so very hard for. I honestly cannot believe that these three years are over. We could not have made it through if it weren't for your love and support through it all. The prayers that you prayed and the encouragment along the way have meant so much to both of us and we THANK YOU!!

Enon Hopkins and Chris excited to be graduating!


GRADUATING!!!!!

This is only half of the diploma... it is HUGE! It's also in Latin, which is kinda neat.

Congratulations, Doctor Christopher Brian Ireland!!!!

Bakerella

So, I found this new blog via my friend Janna. Everything looks so yummy and hopefully one day I'll be able to try some of this stuff out! I really wanted to make the graduations caps for Chris and his classmates this weekend, but feared they would not do well traveling in the car! Check it out... and thanks Janna! :) www.bakerella.blogspot.com