I WAITED TOO LONG TO BLOG!

Sooooo much has happened in the last month. Let me try to remember everything.

July was a pretty good month. Our besties Matt and Elise went to Europe for a little while and scouted out St. Andrews for us. They brought us back some souvenirs and some good advice. And apparently, there are rabbits running wild in St. Andrews. RABBITS. Can't wait to run around in the parks with all the rabbits!

Matt and Elise!

Saw the eye doctor. I still have active uveitis. It's been 4 months straight now. Not really sure what to do about it anymore. I told my ophthalmologist I was moving to Scotland. Actually, her tech told her about it while she was printing all my records. It was pretty funny. She actually stopped and talked to me like a normal person for once. She gave me a bunch of samples and good advice. I will miss her, I guess. I'll mostly miss all the fun nurses. "Hey Carmen. Still got uveitis?"

My last few days at Chick-fil-A were especially difficult. I tried to pretend like I wasn't leaving, but by the last day, I was crying about everything. Every half hour as someone would clock out, I would hug them and cry and Sam would take pictures of me with the store's iPad.

Josue, after he made me cry!

all my kitchen ladies!

I'm really heartbroken about leaving this place. I've grown so much, as a leader, as a believer, as an adult. Working here has made a huge impact on the woman that I am, and I can't express how grateful I am for the opportunity to be a part of it for just a short time.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of being the Matron of Honor in Jolynne and Jonathan Chapman's wedding! Laura-Leigh (our college roommate) and Lauren (Jo's seminary roommate) and I drove 9ish hours up to Murray, KY Thursday, met up with Tricia (college friend), and spent the weekend running around Kentucky and being the best bridesmaids we could be (and having a pretty dad gum good time). We decorated, we went to Walmart, we hugged Jolynne's cute parents and got all pretty. We spent most of the weekend crying though. Crying about how sweet everything was, about how I'm moving, about how gorgeous Jolynne was, and how lucky they were to be so happy. We sent them off to Puerto Rico, and we drove the 9 hours back to New Orleans...

making butterbeer!!

she's gorgeous!

...and got home at 4am. I got about 4 hours of sleep and then went to church, deliriously tired (but with amazing bridesmaid wedding leftovers hair!). We had brunch with Matt and Elise, I took an epic nap, and when I woke up, Clay had packed everything into the car. EVERYTHING. It was becoming real.

It became even more real as we spent our last evening at the Solomon's. It wasn't pretty. But we will see them again. I'm not worried about that.

Doesn't change the fact that I'm still sad about it though.

Met with my rheumatologist and he seemed legitimately sad that I was leaving. Love that guy. He gave me all my paperwork and had some nice things to say about me :)



We had one last breakfast at my CFA, I gave them back all the blue pens I had been accumulating and we were off!

We've spent the last 4 days packing, packing, and more packing in Panama City Beach with the Turners. Giant suitcases, checking weight limits. I even got to go back to Graceville and see Emily and wander around BCF like the good old days. We took a billion pictures and just played around like we used to in college, before we grew up and got jobs and whatnot. I miss when the living was easy.

cutest dog ever! Nick!

But here's the fun part. Let me tell you how much God has come through for us in the last few days:

• We got our visas approved in 7 days. SEVEN. We were thinking it was going to be weeks. I was having stress dreams about getting rejected for visas and having to go through repeal processes and losing the massive amounts of money that we paid for them. Nope. Seven days. 
• Our finances are a miracle. We somehow have saved enough to live on for a year in St. Andrews without having jobs. These past 4 months, I spent many sleepless nights wondering why God was allowing me to have uveitis and how it was sucking all of our savings with doctor visits and prescriptions and taking time off work. But God told me to trust him and he provided for us beyond what I could have expected, in ways that he has been lining up for the last decade. He has been preparing for this since before Clay and I even met. I just think this is amazing!

We're saying goodbye to the Turners tomorrow and heading up to Atlanta for our final hoorah. I'm always sad leaving my family. I wonder how bad tomorrow's going to be?

I found this great picture! I love them!

are these my glasses??!

Carm