this Diploma is brought to you by the following...

I feel like that is how I should start this day. It is my graduation day. I am finally finished. I get to wear a silly hat and ugly gown and get a doctorate degree.

But none of it would have been even remotely possible without the love, support, understanding, and willingness to help from those around me. I wish that I could throw all of you a big party to say "THANK YOU"--thank you for helping make my dreams a reality--thank you for helping me stay sane--thank you for all of it. But a blog post will have to suffice for now.

People ask me all the time how I got through law school with two small kids. And the truth is "I" didn't. I had an army of support from the first day....

Sooo...this diploma was made possible by the following...

My family

• Of course Corey has made endless sacrifices for me to go to school full time. He has been my biggest fan and my rock through everything. 
• Both sets of parents have also been instrumental. Babysitting weekly or overnight or allowing us to go on vacations that we needed for sanity sake. 
• My extended family for being cheerleaders and encouragers!

All those that ever watched our children.

(this list is long, but I will include a few highlights)

• Shawna-first year is dedicated to this woman. She watched my children (along with her two) 2-3 days a week (with little compensation). She let me bring them over when they were sick. She was awesome!
• Becki-she has been watching Joe for us this year and he LOVES it. 
• Alexis-our nanny for two summers! Oh my goodness, my children love her. She is ridiculous with them! She would bring crafts...she took pictures... she made working full time not so heart-wrenching.
• Scads of friends have volunteered in a pinch-Lu, Brittany, Abby, Meghan, Lauren, Laura, Chelsy...

All those that were willing to study at my house or on my schedule

• Lauren and Charlie definitely were champions of this category. Many a late night was spent around my dining room table doing flashcards or making outlines while the kiddos snoozed.
• Brittany! She worked with me on my time. I don't think I would have gotten through Property, Payment Systems, Bus Org etc without her organizational skills!
• The boys I bribed with food to study at my house...Jake, Drew, Nick, Noah, Aaron. Thank you! 

All those that kept being my friend even when I was whiny, or distant, or difficult.

(this list is also long. I am truly blessed to have so many people be my friend!)

• Shawna-again. She is awesome. And has been my friend since high school-which says something about her staying-ability.
• Danielle--far away but always constant. She has been my friend through all of this. Her and Scott have offered their home up many a time as a haven when school gets to be too much. 
• Erin-who knew this gal would stick with me for so long. She was a constant reminder to keep going. It is fun to celebrate us both getting a doctorate! 
• Becki-always quick to offer some coffee and conversation. Love her for that!
• Abby--OH ABBY! You know. I'm not sure I could explain how important you are anyways :)
• Ellen-being far apart has not stopped her from being an amazing friend to me. She has prayed and checked in and held me accountable despite the thousands of miles between us.
• Meghan-as a fellow professional student, she has been an equally drained and exhausted friend. And oh so much fun from late night convos to spending two weeks in our spare room. I have loved this lady!
• Lauren--my best friend in law school. We are so different in so many ways and so the same. She has stuck by me and encouraged me. We cook for fun. We reward with food (and beverage). She was so necessary!
• Chelsy-I have never met someone as similar to me. She has kept me grounded when things got crazy. She has offered the Word to heal and encourage and love. 

I can't really do justice to any of you in a blog. But know that I thank God for you everyday. I would never get to walk across that stage without you. This diploma is for you :)

Endings

Law school ended last Thursday for me. There was no fanfare or ticker-tape. After three years of dreaming for this day to come, it lacked any pomp or circumstance. It should have looked something like this.

Instead, I got in the car, picked up the kids and went to Walmart. How is that for glamorous endings? 

I've spent the last few days reflecting. And cleaning out closets. I've spent time with the kids. Read books. I feel like I am exhaling for the first time in a long time. I have given myself permission to unwind. I am at this moment, unshowered, sitting on our back deck with coffee and kiddos enjoying the morning sunshine. The grind will begin again soon enough-so I am trying to savor this rare opportunity to relax. 

In a few days, we will take a much needed mini-vacation to one of favorite destinations--Knoxville. I can't wait to celebrate birthdays, and graduation, and life with some of our favorite people. 

What if I can't find my big girl panties?

It's been one of those weeks. After a great weekend away with no stress and no work, I got slammed. Some things I had planned for, but others--not so much.

• The car registration is almost expired--Where is the tax receipt? Ummm--have to go to the courthouse to get one...
• Pre-school registration is Monday--do we have Joe's immunization records? Nope--have to go to Ruby to get those.
• It's my weekend to do kids at church--did I remember? Nope--luckily I have the best friend in Becki who volunteered to take it after the horrific look on my face yesterday.
• Add to that list of unexpected-the 3 papers I have had to write in the last 4 days and the App Ad paper that is looming somewhere in the near future.

I needed the days to slow down to a snail's pace so that I could get everything done. But alas, time moves at its own speed, and it's Friday. I wish I could say that now that everything is checked off, I am stress free. But that is not the case. I got my butt-kicked by this week.

Amazingly, it has been a really good week for me and the Word. God has been pouring truth and grace into my life everyday, knowing how much I would need it. Cause while I realize that it sounds like I am whining (okay, I am whining), I'm amazed at what God is able to do in the midst of stress and frustration. I've been reading 1 Peter--and I needed this reminder!

Trials are a part of life. Things do not always go smoothly. And somehow we start to think if the going gets tough, it must not be the right direction. But I have not found that to be true. Rather, I have found that when we have to fight and work and not everything is peachy-keen, those are the times we grow the most. And JOY is ahead.

In addition to the wonderful words I have been reading, I have been really blessed by the friends in my life who have come beside me to bear the burden. Corey was on call this week, and with all my evening classes, it can be a problem. I don't like missing class, and he has to be at work. So Monday we did the Great Child Swap. I picked up Libby from school, took her and Joe to the law school where the wonderful Chelsy threw them in her mini-Cooper. She took them back to our house, fed them, and played with them until Abby Quinn Lilly could get there to relieve her. Corey got home eventually. Wednesday, Lauren happily volunteered to watch Libby so I could go to a meeting-Corey ended up getting out of work on time, but it is so nice to know I have people. Today, while I attempt to get work done, Becki is watching Joe (along with her two little girls). Having a community like this one - it's priceless. Especially on days (or weeks) that I can't find my big girl panties.

Kitchen Adventures: Keeping it real.

I haven't blogged about food in a LONG time-but let's face it, I haven't blogged about anything in a LONG time. Life happens-and I'm ok with that. The blog serves its purpose of cataloguing those things I care to catalogue, and memorializing things that I want to memorialize. But I will say that I miss blogging about food. I love food. I love cooking and baking and eating (now I don't always like the result of all of this eating, but that is a different topic for a different day).

This year, I have been taking more steps to eat REAL food. What does that mean? For me it means making more of my food from scratch to eliminate preservatives and other stuff that I don't think my body really needs. I started small. One recipe here, another there. Pizza dough was one of the first that I tried. It was a HIT, so I have continued. Haven't bought it in almost 3 years. I also made my own granola-more for cost purposes than anything else. Since this adventure began, I have added recipes along the way. I make my own soups, pasta sauces, and hummus. I make the kids pancakes and freeze the extras.

But this year (so far) I have added bread and pasta.

 (I know this is more a pic of the soup than the bread-but both were great!)

I tried bread before, but the recipe wasn't great, so I was discouraged. Then a couple weeks ago, I was talking with my friend Lauren-at a knit circle-and she told me she made all of their bread. She is the mother to 3 boys under 5, so if she has time to do this, I figured I did too. She gave me her recipe and it has been AWESOME! It is honey wheat, and OH SO delicious.

The pasta was made purely because we had none and dinner was supposed to be spaghetti. I had no desire to do my homework, so I made pasta instead! It was really yummy. I did a whole wheat variety. We cut it thick and whipped up some marinara. The only thing is that I will use my mixer with the dough hook next time. My wrists can't handle all the kneading.

So here are the recipes:

Bread ala Lauren
3 cups flour (I use half white, half wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 packet (1 1/2 tsp yeast)
1 cup warm water
1 egg
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp oil

I throw it all in my mixer for 8 minutes. If you enjoy kneading or need the release, do that. Then let it rest for 1-2 hours. Form into a loaf and put it in a loaf pan. Let it rise a little more. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

The pasta recipe is from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (my go-to for easy and usually good recipes). You can access it here. The only thing I did was use half whole wheat flour.

Recap: Week 1

This past week has  been so up and down. A wonderful trip to Dayton was definitely the high point. I visited Erin in her new town, and it was FABULOUS.

We had little to no agenda. We ate great food-watched movies-walked around her adorable neighborhood. The purpose of the visit was to see her, so any other activities were just a bonus.

 SUCH A CUTE NEIGHBORHOOD! The Oregon District is right up my alley-cute shops, bars, restaurants, coffee shops. We had a great time just walking around Friday evening.

 Most of Libby's time was spent calling for Fancy. All the girls had an incredible time together!

She did treat Libby to her first manicure-too cute! 

But I came back to the real world. My wonderful weekend was followed by a funeral. Another of my favorite people lost his dad. Murph (Ryan Murphy) has been on my favorite person list since soon after I met him my freshman year of high school. And his dad Sid was not far behind. Sid and Murph have the biggest hearts and kindest dispositions of any people I have ever met. Period-that isn't just a nice thing to say.

Murph and his wife Laura (also one of my fav people-perfect for him)

 The funeral was sad of course-but also filled with faces I haven't seen in years. Everyone was there to support Murph, to say good-bye to Sid, and it reminded me that even though we are all very far apart, we are still connected-not just by past experiences and histories, but by Jesus-a bond that isn't easily broken.

The rest of the week has been a blur. New classes-new professors. Corey was on call, so Libby attended her first law school class. It went better then I thought (except for the very loud burp she let out in the middle).

I am excited that my Thursday mornings will be be filled with some lovely ladies.

Last week, my friend Lauren and I got together (with all 5 of our kids) so that I could teach her to knit. Other ladies have been interested, so it is now an open invite for instruction and conversation. It did my soul very good to hang out with her-and I am excited that it is going to be a regular thing!

This semester will be hard. My schedule is weird, my classes are demanding. BUT I am determined that this semester, I will spend more time with Jesus, more time with my family, more time with my friends. 2012 is going to be a very good year.

An exciting weekend and another friendship story...

I like to document things in my life-thus the blog, and my journals, and emails...I have a lot of documentation. But one of my favorite things to document is the story of my friends. I know I have done this once before--for my very dear friend Ellen-you can read our story here. So it seems fitting on the eve of a visit to her that I should document the story of Erin.

I have only been in the same room with Erin on five occasions in the last 2 years, and yet she is one of my best friends. It happens that way sometimes. We met at the end of my first semester of law school. She was visiting one of my classmates and came to our semi-formal. She wore glasses and Converse sneakers. It was friendship-love at first sight. And then I found out that we also had TONS in common. Conversation was easy. It was like we had been friends forever and just didn't know it until then.

I next saw her for our formal in February. We both wore Converse sneakers to this one! We started following each other on Twitter-and when she found out Corey and I were visiting Knoxville the next month, we met up for wings and a Mountaineer victory over Kentucky to get in the Final Four! 

Our long-distance friendship took off from there. Thank GOODNESS for gchat and email and twitter. For some reason we were ridiculously honest with one another-despite not knowing each other very well. We talked almost daily-about important things, and not so important things. The months have turned into years-we have seen each other a couple of times when Corey and I visit the Taylors in Knoxville, but we mostly communicate on the interweb-and that is perfectly ok for us!

 THEN...Erin finished her PhD (YAY Dr. O'mara) and got a job in Dayton. Two hours closer to Morgantown... manageable distance for me to drive solo. Soooo... road trip! I am excited to post about our first ever girls weekend. Libby is joining us-and of course Fancy-Erin's delightful Corgi will be there too. Be sure to tune in as we explore her new town and have our first adventure together. First-not last for SURE!!

I hope to do a little bio on all my friends as the year progresses. I am so thankful for all the amazing women in my life. So plan on stories involving Danielle Taylor and Becki Jackson, Abby Quinn Lilly and Meghan Taylor--I am sure Chelsy Gevas and Lauren Estep will be in there too. These women all shape who I am and have been amazing friends to me! I want to make sure I remember their impact on my life!

Halloween: the adult party

Corey and I have not done Halloween in a long time. I think only once since we got married-and it was a somewhat lame costume without much thought. The fact that our friend Cameron has a out-of-control Halloween party every year to celebrate his birthday makes it pretty ridiculous that we have never participated. This year, we changed all of that! All we needed was a good idea-and Corey's Type-A personality to create a superb couples costume. I give you...

Dexter and Victim.

 the first question from every person "Is that a real knife?"

Answer: Yes. Corey's brainchild-looked awesome and gruesome

If you have never seen the show, our costumes may not make sense. Here are some pics from the actual TV show to show you accuracy-Corey was dead on in his costume :) Note the cellophane use-I covered more of my body for the sake of modesty.

The other guests at the party were equally bedecked in some creative costumes. Cameron was Abraham Lincoln with Sarah on his arm as Mary Todd. He went so far as to memorize the Gettysburg Address and recite it to us on the front porch with the flag waving in the background. I have the video. You can check it out on my fb page. He also reenacted his death scene, and returned to the party as Zombie Abe. The Swearingens came as army men (my personal favorite costumes of the night). Batman was there, Thor, a crazy bear that I still don't understand. Everyone had a blast at the very patriotic Halloween Party.

 Abe and Mary before getting shot.

 Zombie Abe with Army Man.

Me and Violet Beauregard (aka Chelsy Gevas)

All in all it was a supremely enjoyable night. I'm not sure that we will ever top our costumes, but I know that we are going to keep trying. It was too much fun to not do again!

Kiddos go trick-or-treating tonight, so expect some photos of them in the near future. They will be much cuter than Corey and I :).

BTW |:| Bozic-Taylor Weekend

At least a couple times a year, we have Bozic-Taylor weekends. More in the last couple-which is fine by all of us. The weekends generally involve really good food, really great fellowship, and a whole lot of vegging!  This past weekend was a family affair--all 7 of us in participation. And it went remarkably well. I say "remarkably" because having 3 kids sleep in one room could have been horrendous, but they all got along WONDERFULLY! (and they slept pretty wonderfully as well!).

Here is the time-line with photos (although, Danie has a lot more photos - so check her blog for more):

Thursday
AM: Bozics leave Morgantown
PM: Bozics arrive at Taylor residence; DINNER--brats, chips, beans, homemade salsa (YUM)

the rest of the evening was spent hanging out, letting kiddos play, catching up on all the new and exciting things that had gone on since the last time we were together.

Friday
AM: I hung out with kiddos while Scott and Danielle went to work and Corey ran errands. We did all kinds of fun things like...

play with balloons

jump around

play outside

take photos (typical brother behavior)

Early PM: Once the Taylors got home, Danielle and I headed out to have our girl time.

 Which involved a tattoo for her (SO EXCITED TO BE THERE) and yummy drinks and apps at a downtown place. I will let Danie share her tattoo with you, but I will steal her KILLER pic of our drinks with the reflection of the buildings in the background.

Later PM: Delicious butternut squash stuffed shells, fun fall drink called a Boardwalk Boss, and just hanging out.

Saturday:
AM: Boys turn to head out and enjoy some early morning golf adventures.

Girls manned all three kiddos-we went to Ainsley's soccer game, brunch at Tomato Head, and the Farmer's Market.

Early PM: Mountaineer Football--wings, spuds and lounging.

Later PM: Dinner--tempeh and green bean stir fry with peanut sauce. recipe here. Once kiddos were tucked in, the adults VEGGED OUT. We watched funny videos and ate cookies (or cookie dough for me :). As always, we laughed (until I snorted) and wished tomorrow wasn't the day we left.  It was loverly!

Sunday:
AM: Church at OneLife. It was great to get to worship with our friends and see what they are doing in their church.

PM: the long drive home-always sad to leave.

Weekend in Review

The weekend was damp--ok downright soaked. And COLD! I mean it is October, but I was unprepared for 44 degree weather. Still, we made the most of it. Friday night the kiddos and I (and my momma) bundled up and went to the Homecoming Parade. It rained and rained, but my kids were so excited--jump over to the family blog to see some pics.

Saturday morning, we had a wonderful family breakfast. I think it needs to be a tradition! We whipped up some blueberry muffins (for Joe) and sausage (for Libby) with lots of French pressed coffee for me and the hubs (YES--my husband is now a coffee drinker-who would've ever thought?). We hung out around the table and enjoyed each other's company for a while before Corey had to head to his gig.

Joe "reading" me the recipe

The coffee drinking Bozics

The kiddos and I spent the rest of the day indoors. It would have been great to go to the game, but wrangling two kids in the dreary conditions didn't seem like a good plan. Instead we watched from the warmth of our basement. They even performed a half-time show for me.

Later on Meghan paid a visit. She and I made some snacks and had some wine. It was great to catch up and hang out. We threw on PJs just in time for Corey to get home. The three of us watched the documentary about Conan and called it a night.

This was actually before the Marshall game--aren't we cute in our dark gray shirts :)

 Sunday was church and lunch with Meghan and the med students (band name possibility?). Then HOMEWORK. 7 hours in the same chair is too many. But the finish line is in sight--8 months. That's the long term excitement...the short term excitement?? Spending some Q-time with these people in 3 days!!

Thoughts from today

Of course now that I have a paper due in 2 weeks and very little done on it, I have lots of time to blog! That is the way I work. I can only read and take notes for so long before I am incapable of continuing. Short breaks make it bearable.

ANYWAY.

My friend Abby was wonderful enough to share a verse with me this morning...

Philippians 3:12--"Not that I have already obtained this (righteousness) or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own."

What a wonderful thing to know--I am HIS OWN. He has made me HIS OWN. And so I press on. Even when it seems that I am doing nothing right. Even when it seems like circumstances are not what they should be. I press on. Because I am HIS.

I need to know that and live that everyday.

After tomorrow...

I AM DONE...

pretty much.

I still have a paper to write, but it isn't due for a week AND it is my opinion on healthcare reform. Not really a stressful final project.

That said, finals have not been that bad this semester. I am not saying that the tests themselves have been easy or even that I have put in more time preparing. In fact I have put in less time. But my attitude is not stressed. I have worked hard and relaxed. I have spent time with Corey and the kiddos. I have gotten up early. I have spent time in the Word. I have spent time on the trail. I am really trying to get this whole BALANCE thing.

(liking this quote today, that I found here. Yoda was wise :)

Today my friend Britt worked "hard" on payment systems. We spent the last couple of mornings doing questions. This afternoon as a reward, we hit up Black Bear for lunch (I got the gouda riddance with tofu-YUM) and then took a really lovely walk in her neighborhood/up to the law school. It was great! If the wind hadn't been blowing so hard and the sky hadn't been so ominous, we may still be out there :)

This is Britt and I at a coal mine in Kentucky. We look pretty awesome, no?

Now I am looking over notes and having a glass of wine. Tomorrow I will proofread my take home exam and then take my last in-class exam. And then I am done... pretty much. WOW. Thanks for bearing with the finals posts/hiatus/boringness. Hopefully some new topics and additions will be made next week. Stay tuned.

Photos from the weekend

We had a great weekend full of friends and food and fun! I tried to capture as much as I could...

Friday kicked off the weekend with the law lady bloggers dinner/swap which you can read about here or watch video from here.

Saturday was a me and kiddos day-we headed over to my mommas and played outside. You can read about that here.

Sunday we didn't stop--

We started the day with brunch. Our church meets in a hotel, and the room was rented for the weekend. So we met in our community groups for brunch/study--Stunch as Corey called it. We have a fabulous people in our group.

And they can cook! We had everything from homemade danish to french toast casserole. Corey manned the omelet bar--he missed his calling as a short order cook apparently.

The sunshine made everyone want to go outside, so we tossed a frisbee around--and Brent played with the settings on my camera to create this photo, which I really like! (there is another one, but Stu is too smiley)

Once the festivities were over, I tried to lay down for a moment.

But both children wanted to rest with mommy too. The nap was short lived. We had to get ready to go anyway so Corey and I changed our clothes and headed to an awards ceremony. It was fun to wear a pretty spring dress and step out with my man.

While at said awards ceremony, I got a text from (my BFF-haha) Shawna...I have never ever called her that, but she is...inviting us over for a cookout. We grabbed the kiddos and enjoyed a really fun evening with friends. Kids played in the yard.

Grownups ate amazing food. And had a photo shoot

Chelsy and I were going for Olin Mills, family photo. It turned out way creepier!

this one is better

We weren't ready for the party to be over;

so Shawna and I threw all the children in the tub together.

Joe was not having it.

Jammies, snacks, and leap frog rounded out the night.

Today is ALMOST my last long Tuesday. I have managed to forget my coffee, my breakfast, and possibly my brain. I plan on hitting the gym later-since my jam packed weekend did not allow much time for exercise. The next 2 weeks are certainly going to be jam packed with much LESS fun things like studying, outlining, whining about studying and outlining, etc. I will try to keep all of THAT off the blog!