Opportunity Knocks

We have been loving our new married life! Between fixing up the house one light fixture at a time, working, hanging out with friends/family, cooking together, Netflix-ing, and church shopping, it's been a wonderful year so far.

Last week marked one full year with Erwin-Penland for me; what's even more crazy is that last week also marked my last day on the Verizon account. The opportunity arose for me to join the newest account at EP, Lennar Homes. I am very excited about this new adventure! It's like I have a brand new job altogether because I now sit in a new building and have a new team. There is truly never a dull moment in advertising.

Interestingly enough, Chris got a new job and gave his two weeks the same day I found out I was moving accounts. I am so incredibly proud of him! He started his new career today with Merrill Lynch in their training program for Financial Advising. Over the course of the next few months, he will be studying all day everyday to pass a series of exams. (Basically, getting paid to go to graduate school!) Once he has passed his exams, he will be "in production." This means that he's free to start advising! For all of you who know Chris, you know this is such a blessing and awesome opportunity. He LOVES researching markets, economies, and all that other stuff that makes the financial world tick.

On other fronts, we have been visiting churches together to find where we belong as a "family" and keep going back to 1st Pres. We have been going to a study on Wednesday nights called The Alpha Course. This is a course taught across the globe and gets down to the nitty gritty as far as Christianity is concerned. It is very informative and gives so much insight to everyone taking it: believers, non-believers and everyone in between. We have loved every minute of it and highly suggest this course if you have the chance to take it.

As far as home-making goes, we have been re-landscaping the front and back yard. It looks so different already! It's truly unreal what a little bit of mulching, transplanting, and TLC can do. I have to give Chris (and his dad, Jeff) most of the credit. He has done such a great job. I can't wait to start planting flowers in a month or so and get the garden planted again. I think I am going to do tomatoes mainly with a full herb garden. I didn't have much luck with squash or cucumber last year. Once all the plants are in, we are really looking forward to hosting parties and get-togethers this Spring and Summer. :)

That about covers most of what we have going on these days. Please pray for Chris as he goes through his training/testing. It is going to be quite a challenging process but I have all the confidence in the world that he will do great in this career. Thank you all for the support! :)

'til next time, Much LOVE!

Lauren