There's a first time for everything

*Sigh* .
I have not made my New Year's resolution of keeping up with this blog better. Oh well, whose resolutions really work out anyways.

Puigventures have actually seemed to be laying low recently; we haven't had any things chewed on by our ever so adorable, but incredibly mischievous dog. Nor have we had more people trying to read our license plate but instead hit our magnetic cars. Danielle hasn't been finding herself in any adventures such as get picked out by airport security for "extra security" fun, or burning her hair, or locking her keys in her car 3x in a day. John has also been avoiding make 'snow' in the kitchen, burning bottoms of pots, or electrocuting himself. For the most part things have been calm in the Puigs household. Now that doesn't mean our lives our boring, so don't think about spicing it up with adventure! Oh no, we have had plenty going on but for now I think we can actually say we have been normal.

W o w,
that word has been said in context with me very much in my life. What to do know, things can change as you grow up. We did have that one night where gunshots went off in our backyard and our neighbor Norma-Jean, yes Norma-Jean told Danielle not to go in the house ' cus somethins in your bushes back there'. But really things have been typical.

So what does TYPICAL look like for John and Danielle? Well let's take a look back at the past few months......

June: Danielle started a new job @ Central Virgina Community Services working as a clinical behavior specialist; We hosted Danielle's sister Joy for 2 weeks and she got to live firsthand a 'day...,or 14 for that matter, of a life in the Puigs', we began looking at houses to buy.

July: Celebrated the 4th of July in Maryland with Danielle's sister and brother-in-law, and extended family; Danielle shot her 1st wedding as the only photographer and John came along as her second shooter (3500 pictures total!), we hosted Johannas( Danielle's little sister) best friend Ronna for a few days after she returned from a mission trip to Brazil, we kept looking for houses

August: VACATION in Brevard for 5 days with the family and celebrated Johanna's Sweet 16 with a Surprise Birthday Party; School started back up so Danielle is beginning her Masters in Education and John is continuing his Masters of Divinity; Recruitment starts for all the missions trips out of John's office at Liberty. We are getting the opportunity to lead the Ethiopia trip together this year! Found a house John liked....Danielle didn't like it. Found a house Danielle Liked....John didn't like it. Found a house we both liked....put a conract on it.....owners were a nightmare contract falls through.

September: Find a new house, a better one even, sign a contract and close October 9th.

The next 10 days

Well first the news about the job....I accepted a position as a clinician for Central Virginia Community Services beginning June 1st! This is such a blessing for us in so many ways and we are so thankful for all of y'alls prayers.

Over the next 10 days a lot of things are happening for the Puig's.....
Tomorrow, Saturday May 2nd, I have my first of 9 photoshoots over the next 6 weeks! My photography has been going extremely well and I just love being able to use my creativity to think up new shots and try fun things for my shoots. I get so excited every time I look through the pictures and I always can't wait until my next photoshoot. I am hoping to get my business CD's (personalized with my logo) and business cards in soon. Every new little detail I get I just get so excited for, I have always loved photography and its been such an adventure beginning it as a side business.

Monday I get inducted into the CASA program as a Court appointed child advocate and will be getting my first case within the next two weeks. I am really thrilled about this as this is something I have dreamed about doing and extremely passionate about. I have bee training for the past 2 months and just had my last court observation today. I will be getting to serve as the eyes and ears of the GALS and Attorney's writing reports for the court's on my recommendations of the placement of children who are currently under protective orders, in foster care, or other family situations. I am really eager to be a part of this and feel that God has given me a heart for these kids and their families.

Next weekend I finally graduate and on May 8th,2009 I will have finished my undergraduate career- whew! There were times even I wasn't sure if I was going to make. Amazing family, friends, and a wonderful husband have been there for me through it, and of course my Daddy always saying..."Perservere...Just do your best" and maybe once or twice 'shake a hand' ( hehe).

3 days later on May 11th I began my graduate degree in Professional Counseling; that same day John will be heading out with the India team he is leading for two weeks. He will be involved with a lot of children's ministry, along with participating in some mute dramas presenting the gospel to those in India. John will also be coming to the close of this Masters degree, having only 3 classes left after this semester. He is deciding on possibly continuing and going for his Master of Divinity ( 90 hr degree) so we shall see.

Recently we both got to enjoy " mini' vacations. I headed to the beach with my fellow married girlfriends while he went camping over the weekend with one of his best friends. We both had adventures, while I searched for shells on the sany shores of South Carolina, John was finding caves and getting the pleasure of having bats fly into his face-- ahhh what parallel vacations.

The Real Deal

So I figure we have had enough posts about what has happening with our doggie- Shortstop, so how about some updates on the 'Real Puigs'.

Well in 16 days I, Danielle, will be graduating from Liberty with my Bachelors- Family and Child Development as my major and a psychology minor. After 5 years I am very excited to finally be finished! So what happens once I graduate you ask? Well over the past 2 weeks I have applied at about 20 different positions for a variety of jobs. Ideally, I would like to still be working with kids in the area of social services working with underprivileged families and children in some way. I recently had an interview with the State department of mental health working with as a Clinician with children with behavior problems and tomorrow I will interview for a position as a Preschool Director at an area Preschool. Other positions I have applied for are Eligibility Worker for the Department of Social Services, Student Advocate at Liberty University, and various Secretary positions. I am hoping to find a job by the first week of June, when I finish up my job teaching @ St. John's Day School. I also just got accepted into graduate school and will begin my Masters in Professional Counseling on May 11th!

John, is still working at Liberty University with the missions department LIGHT ministries. We have truly been blessed for him to have this job. He works with some amazing men who, along with their wives, have been blessings and encouragements to us and a great group of people to be involved with. On May 11th John will be leading his second short term mission trip of the year to India. He will be arriving back on our 2 year anniversary, May 25th!
John has also been working hard on his Masters degree in Intercultural Studies and is thinking of continuing to get his Masters of Divinity. He loves school and is currently in a class on Islam which he has loved. He has been gaining a passion for the Muslim's and had the opportunity to visit a local Mosque where he was able to talk with some of the local members. He has become very involved in the missions committee in our local church. We both teach the 3 and 4 year old Sunday School class there and we have chose who we want our kids to be like, haha ;-) Of course we love all the kids but we can't help but have a few favs!

We have just begun the process of searching for a house and have found a few potentials! We are just in the preliminary stages though and won't actually be going to the bank to get approved until I find out where my job will be at. Pray for us as we make decisions on jobs and housing!

Missions....you ask where we are with this? Well, John and I do feel that we God's plans for us are on the mission field and that is what we are pursuing. We are hoping to be on the field in a 5 yr time period. We have narrowed down mission agencies to two and are looking more into these. There are many things we are praying through as far as missions go but most of all we want to be where God wants us so Pray that we will make Wise decisions and Follow God's Lead!

Feel free to come visit the Puigs, we love having guests. Just drop us a line at mrmrspuig@gmail.com! We would love to see you all!

Snow fall on Birthdays

Lynchburg has finally been frosted with the sweet wonderland look thanks to a legitimate snow fall. We have had days off for cold weather and days off for rain but I have been waiting,wishing, and hoping for a true snow day!
It just so happened that this snow day was on my hubby's birthday so here is to my husband- John Robert Philip Puig who turned 25 today, he's getting up there. Since he turned 25 here is what he has been up to or maybe just 25 random things about him ( thanks facebook).....

1. He once ate a LIVE worm for a girl that he wasn't even dating but liked a lot ( he happens to now be married to this girl)
2. He currently works as campaign coordinator for LIGHT ministries at LU; this means he coordinates and leads some of the short term missions trip with the college students at Liberty
3. Once upon a time he wanted to be a business man, than psychologist, than policeman...now he is going to be a missionary.
4. I love to "scare" him, by hiding and jumping out but because if you ask him I only "startle" him.
5. His first plane ride was his jr. year of college
6. He is not a cold weather fan
7, But he is a Boston Red Sox fan which is one of the most important things he could be
8. He LOVES reading and learning more about God and gets this great look of excitement and bit of giddyness (but very manly giddyness) when he gets to tell me new things
9. Sometimes he sings to me on messages on my phone, and I save them, I have one from 2 years ago.
10. He does not like Pink
11. He use to play basketball, baseball, and football in H.S. and dreams of his future sons playing football
12. He is the baby of his family, or in other words the youngest.
13. If you get him to laugh hard enough he will 'geek out' where he seriously cannot stop laughing and will just laugh harder and harder even if no one else is laughing.
14. He ALWAYS, or 99.9% of the time has a pen in his shirt
15.He once held an alligator
16. He is a great romancer and constantly impresses me
17. Secretly he wants a kid now but does not want the dirty diapers and crying that comes with it ( working on that)
18. The OFFICE is one of this favorite shows
19.He loves front porch swings and screened in porches and getting to do his devotions on them
20. His feet were once dyed blue, not by his desire
21. Chinese food is probably his favorite
22. I promise he can fall asleep in 30 seconds flat...snoring and all
23. He is slightly germaphobic, you'll have to observe some of his little quirks
24. He use to have his ears pierced
25. He is going to buy his pretty cool wife a SKUNK one day

Dreaming

Last night John and I stayed up talking till the wee hours of the night. Which for us, the wee hours can be defined as 11 pm, max 12 am.....usually even weekends. My little sister has claimed we aren't cool at times, that was when she called once upon a time and we were in bed at 8:30 pm. The thoughts that kept us awake were those of the future, and down the road when little gippers come along. No plans for a kid at the moment, but we enjoyed dreaming big and thinking up of sweet baby names. There were a few that were hard to pass on such as....Shaquanda, Guadalupe, Gurpreet, and even Harpreet. Eventually after I nixed numerous names of Johns and he nixed my "too long and old fashioned names" we settled on a few we like. Than we sighed and looked at eachother and longed for a baby. Than I woke up this morning and went to my job where I have 9 kids- 6 boys and 3 girls including a set of twins. Reality set in, and although I love my job and kids- a few hours of watching the boys tackle eachother, break a music instrument, never stop having energy, and have a moment of silence only when I took my bathroom break. Yes I think that we can wait that 2 years and enjoy our little doggy for now.

Shortstop

The true tales of our one and only Child- Shortstop

There was an young doggy who chewed up a fly
I don't know why he chewed on a fly...perhaps he'll die.

There was a young doggy who chewed on a moth,
he chewed the moth to swallow the fly,
I don't know why he chewed on the fly.

There was a young doggy who chewed up a razor,
he chewed the razor to cut up the moth,
he chewed the moth to befriend fly,
I don't know why he chewed on the fly.

There was a young doggy who chewed on a Bible,
he chewed the Bible to shield him from the razor,
he chewed the razor to cut up the moth,
he chewed the moth to befriend the nfly,
I don't know why he chewed on the fly.....perhaps he'll die.

There was a young doggy who chewed on a Powercord,
he chewed on the powercord to electrify the Bible,
he chewed the Bible to shield him from the razor,
he chewed the razor to cut up the moth,
he chewed the moth to befriend the fly,
I don't know why he chewed on the fly.....I don't know why, he has not died.

"What's a Puig"

Basically I stink, literally no. I like to say "pink you stink" to my little sister, I love her so, but that doesn't really mean she does either. Stink is just an expression and I stink at keeping this updated, so bring on 2009 and the beginning of resolutions. Resolution # 1- write more blogs!

Resolution # 2- GRADUATE. 5 years ago I ventured off on my own to little ol' Lynchburg where my incredible parents began paying $20grand a year for me to find a husband. Well lucky for them it has paid off and I have successfully obtained my M.R.S degree- check! But there is a little sidenote of also getting the diploma for that B.S. degree of mine, and the new year will finally bring that. Once May 10th rolls around I will officially have completed my victory lap and become an owner of a certified Liberty University diploma. I think I can hear people, *cough- my parents* cheering at that thought. It Will be a great day, so mark your calendars.

Resolution # 3 Learn what exactly a Puig is. Once I became a preschool teacher they asked me what I would like to be called- Ms.Danielle, or Mrs. Puig, or something else. Well having been newly married I gleemed at the thought of being called Mrs.Puig all the time.......yes it was a grand thought...until the day I tried it out and my 2 year olds could be heard down the halls yelling Mrs. Pig, Mrs. Pig and parents said things like P-wag, Qwig( because P sounds so much Q), and Pug amongst other things. From that day on I decided that Ms. Danielle sounded like ther perfect choice, although some of my kids have managed to miss the "ani" part of my name and simply call me Ms. Dale which comes from the Dell part I guess ;-)
I also need to learn what exactly a Puig is because today a 3 year old I was babysitting asked me just that. She announed her full name to me- Charissa Marie Rawlins and than asked me mine,- Danielle Christine Puig I replied. Sounded good to me until under her soft chuckles she declared, " What- hehe, is- hehe, a Puig-bahha( full spit laugh as she said it)?" . Well what is a Puig....so 2009 is the year of the Puig mascott and discovering just what a Puig really is.