Greenville, SC

Our stop at Furman University...a beautiful campus!


Noah













This weekend my roommate Kristin and I went to Greenville, SC to see where she grew up and go to the "Fall for Greenville" festival. We also met up with a good friend of ours, a former CIU seminarian, Noah. We had fun doing a little shopping, driving up to the "mountains" in the fall colors and seeing the sights of a great deep south city. We went to an old general store that had "moon pies." Made me think of you dad and all the moon pies you ate growing up in small town Illinois. :)

job hunting in CA...

For those that are praying for me I have a request to pass on. As ya'll know from my CA post a month ago I am moving to So Cal in January to live near Ben. While I am there my hope is to work as a speech path full time or close to it so I can save money (or realistically have money to live on), have TIME with BEN, and finish one last class distance ed for my certificate here at CIU. A little tangent on that, I am finishing my time here at CIU in December but there is one required class that is not offered until next semester that I need to complete for the certificate. So I will be taking that one class, Systematic Theology II, distance ed. in January.

I've been corresponding with Becca Martin (Chuck and Becca M. our friends previously from Wasilla) who works in one of the school districts in northern LA where I hope to live. I sifted through a bunch of information yesterday after work and found a possible job that could be a perfect fit. This particular district is looking for a .6 or .8 speech path for a maternity leave from mid January to mid June! The time factor would be perfect b/c it would allow some extra time to complete my class during the week and have evenings and weekends off to spend time with Ben. I am filling in right now for a 12 week maternity leave in SC and it is a perfect fit with my classes.

Please pray with me in regard to finding a good job in CA from January to May/June. Pray that this particular job will open up if it is a good fit and that all my paperwork will go through. The woman I spoke with today said I should be able to fill in for a maternity leave no problem but if I stay longer I will need to take classes and go through CA certification process which, from what I have heard is pretty extensive. I will be sure to keep you posted as I find more out! Thank you for praying with me!

Columbia Vista...

Heather and my roommate Kristin...sweet potato fries!


Me and Heather sampling a plate of gritts and sausage with pimento cheese, very southern thing I guess, it was surprisingly good...go figure, I love food!


Christy and Katie

There was a vista in downtown Columbia today so some of us walked over to check it out. Basically a couple of city blocks are blocked off and there are a bunch of food venders, drinks etc. all over. Everything from shrimp and gritts to sweet potato fries were being sampled. It was another beautiful 80 degree day! For all my AK connections if you need a little sun right now it's a GREAT time of year to be here...the humidity settles (a tiny bit) and the temps are perfect!

Concert

Last night Kristin and I had our first official "social" at the house of the semester. This year took off in fast forward and hasn't slowed down much since. We finally all took a little break for dinner and a concert. It was a blast! There were about 10 people over at our apartment for dinner...Kristin cooked and friends brought desert. SO GOOD! Then we headed out to the concert. I haven't listened as much to Cademon recently but had a blast from the past hearing songs from about 10 years ago when they were first getting started. It was a great break in the action from the craziness of life!

family reunion!

my new look

I had dinner Wednesday night with two of my aunts and uncles...a Burdine reunion rendezvous in Columbia, SC! Ed and Becky flew out from CA to spend a week in GA and SC touring and taking sailing lessons...or rather a sailing "class" in Charleston, SC.

Becky explained at dinner how they have an exam at the end of their lessons and they earn a certificate. She is interested in merely SURVIVING the class with the remnants of tropical storm gale force winds on the East coast right now. :) John and Tammi drove down from Charlotte, NC and we ate dinner about 3 blocks from my apartment at "California Dreamin.'"

In honor of my future move out to the West coast Ed found a platnum wig for me so I won't feel out of place in LA. They gave me the run down of how to survive in southern CA. Jennifer and Beth, if you have any pointers for me I am open! :) I'm looking forward to being there and enjoying warm temps minus the incredible HUMIDITY here.

California

For some this entry will come as a surprise because the past few months have been busy. Busy with life, school and... a new relationship. In July mutual friends, Lee and Trisha Mitchell, introduced me to a pretty amazing man...Ben Mosier. We started out corresponding through email, he was in Alaska working and I had recently returned from AK back to SC to continue working. Emails led to phone calls, more phone calls led to Skyping, and this past Labor Day weekend I flew out to Los Angeles to meet him in person. Ben is going to seminary full time at Masters in LA, CA. He will be coming out East to spend Thanksgiving with me and extended family in Charlotte, NC. This relationship has been a blessing in my life!

The bigger update, I am finishing my program here at CIU in December and was initially planning on moving back to AK to work again for the school district and seek out ministry oppurtunities. Those plans have shifted some and I will be making a 3,000 road trip with a girlfriend here to LA...coast to coast. I am moving now to LA to live and work and have time near Ben so we can get to know each other better, IN PERSON! Long distance is okay for a time, but there comes a time when you need time near that person. So, for those interested in meeting Ben, he will be in AK with me in December. I know our time will be packed between his family and connections in the Valley and mine, but we'd love to spend time with you!

I will try my best to do better at keeping ya'll updated. My spare time has been on the phone and skype lately. :)

John Deere eatibles...

Yes for all those inquiring minds that want to know...they really do make John Deere fruit snacks. I know, what more could a John Deere lover want? I am 30 and I confess, I still LOVE fruit snacks. A friend of mine here found them on a trip and bought a box for me this week. John Deere comes now even in eatible forms. What could possibly be next??

a new job

Two weeks ago I started my new job doing part time speech therapy at an elementary school about 20 minutes from my apartment. I'm filling in for a 12 week maternity leave working Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Another speech path is filling in on the other two days that I have class. I am enjoying being back in a professional realm again and feel the school is a really good fit.

There are two other full time speech paths at my school so they have been tremendously helpful in answering questions. Paperwork is still paperwork...waaaayyyy too much, BUT I love doing therapy and working with the kids. They also have to file their own medicaid in SC so that is an additional monthly task, but something new I am learning that will be good to know should I ever choose to do private practice. About 80% of the student population is African American so I am beefing up on my eubonics. Last week I said more names wrong than I did right I think..."Miss Eller it's DAY-VON, not DE-VIN!" That along with the Quavies, Tanishas, Tyrells, Jajuans, Charlisas, Shatinas...it's a different culture down here. I love it! The kids are GREAT!

John and Tammi's new house

There has been a lot of change for the Burdine family this year. Allison and Beth bothed moved to new places in the DC area. Jim and Lynn are heading back to MN after a few years in ND. I moved to SC last August. Jennifer moved to Korea and Katherine is moving to Honduras in a few days. Brittany and Alex are leaving for college this week. We don't like to let the grass grow!

Mom, here are you looooooonng awaited pics of John and Tammi's new place! It's a one level ranch style (retirement in mind) with the nice addition of a pool in the back yard. They live further outside of Charlotte now in the country, it is a beautiful area!

Beth's Graduation

My cousin, Eliza"beth" graduated this weekend from a 14 week long intensive critical care nursing program at Walter Reed. She has been working this past year at Walter Reed, one of the nations largest military medical facilities and chose to take this course to be certified to work with the most critical military injuries that come through their doors. I have had the honor of praying Beth and her other 6 classmates through their course. It was great to be able to be at the ceremony and meet the entire group. They worked INCREDIBLY hard to pass. Way to Beth! I am SUPER proud of you! (How's that for a "mother moment"??) Congrats!


Walter Reed Hospital


post ceremony shot


Beth's study group

Washington

U.S. Airforce Memorial built in October 2006











A Wednesday afternoon reunion with Logan Hubbard. We went to homecoming together back in high school and connected again this spring on facebook, small world. Great to see you again and catch up Logan!

Jefferson Library of Congress

botanical garden

roses that smell like cinnamon








one of the art Smithsonians on the way

politics

Truth be known I am not a politically savvy person. I should be more involved or aware but reading up on politics is not how I choose to spend my free time. Being that the next election is coming up in a few short months I took a little online quiz to see where I fall on various issues. Kind of interesting if you've never done somthing like it. You can Google "political quizzes" and take one if you're interested. The one I took was at http://www.politicalbrew.com/politest.cgi.

From the quiz I took I found that I am moderately conservative on non-fiscal issues and moderately liberal on fiscal issues. I need to buff up on the specifics of the candidates but it's nice to know where I fall on various issues.

road trip...

shop in Georgetown


Potomac River with the Kennedy Center behind us


Allison and me eating our low end truffles...$2


a yuppie grocery store we stopped in in Georgetown


this store sold truffles for $750 per pound!! WHAT!?!?


Allison's turtle


Beth's new house in Maryland

This past week I worked my last shifts with my families giving personal care and ABA therapy to children with special needs. A couple weeks ago I was hired on with a school district in SC to work a 0.6 speech pathology position for a maternity leave. The job is perfect for this semester! I'll work Mon, Wed, Fridays and have class Tues and Thursdays. To celebrate my break inbetween jobs and classes starting I took a road trip to DC to visit my cousins and some friends.