Jason the Graduate!!!

I am so proud of Jason!!! He graduated on December 12, 2008 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He completed a 64 hour Masters degree in just a little over 2 years!!

This is us before the Graduation Reception at the EM (Educational Ministries) school and Pecan Manor (Presidents home):



The next day was Graduation Day!!! Here are some photos of the graduate with family and friends!!! (Even my dad came :) )

Proud Mama.

Before the Ceremony!

Its official!Group Pic!

Co-worker Jacob and then a pic with sis in law, Amy :).

Father and Daughter and then sisters!

Proud wife and proud father in law!

Jason's family, sisters, parents and then aunts :).

Jason with his Grandmother and then our Pastor, Scott.

Frito Pie Spread

Right now J's resume is "out there." We are excited for what God is doing in our lives, would like to know what the plan is, but "patiently" waiting.......:). I am still working on my Masters so we'll be in Fort Worth, until God tells us to go :).

Congrats Babe!!! I'm proud of you! -Love-your wife

The Legacy of a Man...

A week ago today, a very close family friend passed away. He had battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma (stage 4) (I believe this is the accurate diagnosis), for about a year and a half or more. I grew up with this family, I remember playing barbies with Mel, and Lance and Nathan producing their own show "My World". (I was the behind the scenes cameraman and Mel was the commercial gal) We had grown apart throughout the years (different grade levels and etc.) but I believe we all knew that if we needed each other we were there.

I will not claim to know Eldon on a very intimate level. I knew Eldon as Mel's dad (and Nate's) and Lorna's husband. Still knowing this very little of him, he was still the most happy guy you could meet. Many times you realize as you grow older, you wish you could of gotten to know somebody on a more personal level (talk about life, etc). Eldon, would of been one of those men, that if not me, even if my husband could of known him, I think would of affected him in many ways.

At the celebration of life, I got to hear of a man I never knew. I got to hear of a good friend, a wonderful colleague, a man of many deep discussions about life and faith, and somebody who was there for you when you needed him the most. The letters written from his son, daughter, and wife spoke words of love, admiration and thankfulness. But the neatest thing to hear of this mans life, was his passion for God.

I always knew Eldon was a Christian,we attended the same church and lead music at the church us kids grew up at. When we (both families) left that church, we looked for a new church home, and both families ended up at the same church. To my knowledge, our dads, attended the most. I know my dad always looked forward to each Sunday morning getting to say HI to Eldon and catch up on the week. They would according to my dad, sit by each other or behind or in front of one another (depending on who got there on time :) ) The pastor who spoke, spoke about the time when they were colleagues, and he could tell that something was different about Eldon, later to find out that something different, was the evidence of Christ in his life. Eldon had a daily quiet time, something that his parents embedded in him. My dad said that every Sunday Eldon was able to be there, he was always taking notes, as my dad said "he was a student of the word." From what was said of Eldon, he knew who his God was. What an amazing testimony. The testimony of his wife, in the letter she wrote to him to say "goodbye" was amazing. Lorna, also I was amazed by and challenged by. In her letter she said "sweetheart, you've got the best retirement package." To know that she misses him, I can't imagine how much, but to the point that she too, knows where her husband is, and would know that he is with our Heavenly Father, what a testimony. Thank you Lorna, for the strength that you wrote in that letter. The words said about this man were words, that many would want said of them. But, the words said about Eldon, were words of truth.

This celebration of life was truly an amazing celebration. Many tears were shed for this amazing man of God. His son promising to go on that motorcycle trip next Spring, his daughter saying "I don't want to say goodbye daddy", and his wife saying just the word "sweetheart" almost brings tears to my eyes as I write this. I cannot imagine the pain and grieving they are going through, and honestly, I do not want to ever experience it.

In the pamphlet given, in the inside was a scanned written note of Eldon's that had the verse: Psalm 29:4 "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to mediate in His temple." After this verse, were the words "This is what I want...3/11/2007 ELR" Eldon knew his God, no matter what trial he was facing, he kept his faith and he fought the good fight. The legacy of this one man has challenged me in my own faith, I want to know the God I worship on Sundays and throughout the week. I want to truly say that "This is what I want" when I read Ps. 29:4. I have a long journey ahead of me. Thank you God, for letting this man be part of my childhood that one day, his life would be one that I would like my own life to resemble.

After the celebration of life, my husband looked at me and said "I have never been so impressed by one mans testimony." This truly sums it up, I know that I have left some things out, but this is what I felt compelled to share. The legacy of a man, can truly change your life and challenge it for the better. Jason and I are going to strive to have faith like Eldon and Lorna both had and have, faith like Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

God Bless.

(This was published by permission of Eldon's family)

New Info Regarding Santa's Reindeers:

Hehe, though this is not the true meaning of Christmas at all. This is just a funny little story, and continuing the battle of how men have no sense of direction and women do. Although I cannot claim that to be true in my marriage at all times, (believe me, you'd rather have J driving you), its just pretty funny. So heres a little laugh for you during this Christmas season:

REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

Merry Christmas!

Since the Great Smoke of '08!

Well J and I have officially named this incident as the Great Smoke of '08. :) This past month has been a whirlwind. It has not been a lot of fun, but we have survived. Lynn (J's mom)has been down quite a few times to help, I know we would not have got as much done as we did without her. She came pre-clean with Rodney (J's dad :) ) and they helped us pack up the house. She then came after the company cleaned the place with a chemical and wiped down our kitchen, then put my kitchen back in order. So thank you Lynn!

So if you ever have a "Great Smoke" here is how the process works. J and I first tried to clean the house ourselves with vinager and a carpet cleaner. Give up now, do not try, it will not get the smell out. Call the company to come clean your house. There is no use in you wasting your time cleaning and having no results. (FYI :) )The seminary brought the company in for us, at their own expense, and we are so grateful. There are two options with this company, 1. they come in, pack up your house, and take your items to be cleaned at their warehouse and then clean your house or 2. you pack up and then they will clean the walls and carpet and get the smoke out of that. Choose option 1 if it is up to you, we were fine with packing, we're not complaining, but we pray this doesn't happen again, but if it does, we will choose 1. So they come in and do one round of cleaning, then they do another round that is a therma fog that will "kill" the previous chemical smell. This chemical they use. It does not go away, you have to wipe down everything, like a deep deep spring cleaning. So that was our Thanksgiving break. We cleaned every item we own, with concentrated Lysol. And we slowly moved back into our house after living at J's sis apartment for 3 weeks. We were happy to be home. The smell is still there, but we are thankful for hazelnut candles and apple cinnamon, they make the house smell like home again. I'm told the smell never goes away (unless a new paint job is done I assume). So as long as we live there it'll be there, but we're happy to be home.

It was a long process, imagine deep cleaning everything you own. The baseboards to every dish you own. Some things still smell, so we'll see how it goes. We are so thankful that we were cleaning items and not sweeping them up. We were very lucky. We also had a company come in and clean our carpets and furniture.

We are thankful for the prayers and support from friends and family. Our parents have been willing to help us with anything and everything we need. We are blessed with great parents ;). And family that lets us stay with them (thanks Amy (and Allegro :) )) and store stuff in their homes. A great "landlord" that has helped us to the end (Housing Director and Associate Director of the Physical Plant at SWBTS.

Like I've said, it has not been fun. But we have survived. We are now waiting on what God has for us next. Jason graduates this Friday with his Master of Arts in Christian Education (emphasis: Teaching). He has worked extremely hard and I am so proud of him!!! We are still all packed up, waiting to unpack until after Christmas, so we'll see what God has in store!

We will be seeing J's family during the week of Christmas and mine the week after! We are both excited to be seeing family and relaxing. And J will be singing "No more papers no more books, no more teachers dirty looks!" (he has a revised version, but I can't remember it :) ) Thank you again for all the prayers and we have a few blogs to post that were "Pre-Great Smoke of '08" :)

Merry Christmas and enjoy and savor the time with your family!!!

Blessings,

Curry's :)

A message from the Smokies...........

As some of you already know, last Monday an accident occurred at the Curry’s residents. I (Tonya), went home on a break to start boiling chicken, Jason was home, so he would be able to turn it on low, well he left for class and forgot to turn the burner down (not putting blame on J, it was a joint effort :) ), we came home at 1:00 p.m. to a house full of smoke.

Since then, we have had to pack up about ¾ of our house, and prepare for a company to come in a and clean. The smoke was in everything, not one thing did not smell as smoke. We had begun that Monday night working until Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m., cleaning ourselves. My boss (aka: Housing Director) on Tuesday , learned of the events, spoke with the physical plant, and they graciously brought in this company to clean out our house of smoke smell.

On Wednesday, Jason’s parents came and helped us pack up our house from 9am to 8 pm that night. Having to clean every single item, sort out food, and etc. The prior night, Amy came and helped. Also our friends the Ericksons, took us out to Souper Salad and then today her David brought us soup that Amanda had made :). Amy Welker, my co-worker, has offered to come over tomorrow night to help with the putting the house back together. We were very grateful to all of them.

This past weekend we went to Jacksonville to do laundry, Jason’s family all lives on the same land (aunts, grandmother, and his parents) We had 3 washer and dryers this way. We did a total of an estimate of 20 loads of laundry, this was from every sock to the curtains on the wall, the bath rugs and etc. We got home this morning at 1:00 a.m., well to our temporary home, Jason’s sister Amy’s apartment. She has let us live w/her this past week now. Along with her puppy Allegro,which if you see us, ask Jason how he likes his "nephew", Allegro and Uncle Jason have a special bond... hehe.

The next few weeks will be long, we have to wipe down furniture, clean the pots and dishes that were left in the house, and unpack and put our house back together. Unfortunately, we will no longer be going to Kansas to see my family for Thanksgiving, we are going to spend the week putting the house back together and organizing. We are grateful that we only had to wipe down our belongings, and not have to sweep them up. We feel blessed that the situation could of been worse and it was not.

We would appreciate your prayers, as this is going to be hard with final projects for school to be completed and in general for our health, as well as for our sanity and just to bring peace. The moving and bending hurts Jason’s back and the packing and wiping things down flares up the Rheumatoid in my wrists. Many thoughts go through our minds like "are we moving" , "what does God have in store for us?". We really do not know why this happened, but we are getting through with a lot of help from prayer. We are tired and worn down, but are doing good! We thank you again for those who have been praying for us and we want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! (We will be celebrating with my co-worker Norita and her husband Earl. And Norita has graciously offered for me to help w/decorating for Christmas :) )

I will end with a quote from Jason, as we are sorting laundry, he says "Well, that was that was the most expensive pot of soup we've ever made, and we didn't even get to eat it! :)"

From the one and only.....JASON!

Ok, My first try at this blob, I mean blog thing.

I hope all know that I am finishing up my Seminary Masters degree this December, Very important for everyone to know this. I hope to be serving in a church soon, in the capacity of Minister of… have absolutely no clue. God has always called me in steps, never revealing what is next until His perfect timing comes about. I pray that He moves in our life in this manner soon. I am looking forward to serving the Lord doing what I hope He has been preparing me for.

Tonya’s Work, I think, is going great. I do have to continually remind her that she is talented, capable of making good grades, the best cook a man could have, good looking woman. She also as if that was not enough has a great deal of potential to serve God in ministry. I would not have made it where I am without her, God planned her to work in my life the way she has. She is my help mate. So it has now passed to me to be her help mate. So her studying habits still need working on. The one thing about trying to get her to study, I love her cleaning the house, love it, love it. (this means I do not have to clean) But she has been cleaning the house to “get out” of doing school work, see my problem. On the one hand: I am a selfish man, I don’t want to clean the house. On the other hand: I know she needs to study so I want her to leave it to me. So if you see her, tell her “read every chance you get, let the Husband do the cleaning”.
Glad that was said.

Well in other news. My Bro. in-law has mono, if anyone remembers or cared I had mono last year and I felt for the guy. He had a chance to possibly get a job but he had conflicts getting to the interviews because of… you guessed it mono. God must have something better for him because he has not been able to get back with them and they essentially have moved on. We talked on the phone for about 15-20min I shared some groans and moans of my experience with mono. And tried to encourage him with wise words like: “don’t worry you’ll feel better in 2 or 3 weeks.” “Only exhaustion awaits you after the aches and pains go away.” Make sure you spray disinfectant after you’ve used something.” “Hand sanitizer will help people not fear your disease.” Get the idea, the guy still said thanks like I had actually given him hope that this will go away. I still get exhausted abnormally after a days work. I wish that could improve, but it seems that I must feel tired more than usual a bit longer.

My sister Amy got a job this week after visiting with one of my teacher, Dr. Marcia McQuitty, about Amy looking into children’s ministry studies. I had no idea of what would happen for Amy this week but Monday morning she met with Dr. McQuitty, I took her over to the Day Care center on campus, and left her getting an interview with the boss. She got a job that day, on the spot, and started the next day. All on a Monday. God does some things when we least expect and most of the time when we quit looking for it to happen. This was an answered prayer. She is applying for seminary now and we hope that she will get in with no problems or hold ups. She going to pursue a Masters in Christian Education in Children’s ministry.

I will leave you with a thought I have had for a couple of days now. I wish that ya’ll, could appreciate the art of listening to scripture, or hear it the way I do. Not that I have the marked on it or something like that. Just strictly for conversation reasons. I listened to first and second Samuel. I find myself just amazed by Samuels words to Saul. God will choose for himself one after his own heart. (1 Samuel) when referring to David I know not one man that could say he was better than him. My hope is that just like I did, you could hear that we are all after God’s own heart, adopted children that God chose himself. Listening to David’s life anew and hear all his struggles, victories, sins, joys, and sorrows, this man chosen by God, helps to give me courage, hope, and assurance of his love and power in me to do whatever He has for us in our future. My prayer is that He shows you that you’re His child and if you become president, get a doctorate, become homeless, get it all or lose it all, you still never lose that standing. You’re a child of God that is the least you or I will ever be. You are a child of God that is also the greatest you and I will ever be. No matter what, we are His children.

In Christ,Jason Curry

Look in the sky.....is it a bird, a plane? No...........Its Indiana Jones?

Well this past weekend the Welkers invited us over to play their cool new Wii. Amy and I had planned on going to downtown to Uno's Pizza but the plans changed at last minute when we heard about 5 times each from our husbands, "are you sure that'll give us enough Wii time by going downtown, eating, then getting back that late?" Ok, let me clarify, "that late" is about 7:30 or so. So we get in the car and I look at Amy and say "are you sure we need to go downtown?", she gets the clue, and says "no, lets go to this pizza place that Jason (her Jason) and I love". So we go.

Then we get back in time for the boys to play Wii. The played Indiana Jones, and before we got to the Welkers I asked J if he wanted his Indiana Jones hat, he said, oh yeah! So here is the boy w/his hat playing Wii with his buddy Jason Welker.




Here he is concentrating really hard! (And don't be confused this is Jason not Indiana Jones, for those that may need clarification :) )




You may be thinking, what did Amy and Tonya do? Well we went shopping to Cotsco, Bed Bath and Beyond and Krogers. We got ready for the party the next day at the Welkers. :) When we got back though, it was time for me to try the Wii. I played Tennis, bowling and cow racing! All in all the Wii is a pretty cool little gadget, quite fun. And we enjoyed our night with the Welkers!

Welcome Basket (A Work in Progress).........

Jason worked hard to put together some Welcome to our Neighborhood baskets on Sunday while I read on my Swing may I add :)......

The awesome guy even made cookies and here is the documenation to prove it!

He first tried the bowl (please notice my nice China bowl, but the wife does not complain when the husband makes cookies)......... he then transferred them to the Kitchen Aid Mixer (which helped make the chocolate chip cookies into chocolate cookies :) ).......

The finished Product! Good Job Babe!!

A little Video for your enjoyment!

My New Swing.......

Jason worked hard and got this swing put together from a frame that we got from our neighbors. This is my new spot at home, I love it! Thanks Jason :).

Didn't he do good??!!

Busy Weekend........

Jason and I had a pretty busy weekend. First thing we did was go out with the Ericksons Friday night and went to Souper Salad!, our favorite place to go :). Then Amanda and I went to Garden Ridge and we bought some items to decorate for fall. I bought 4 wreaths, they were all from the summer and were 90% off, so they were from $1.00-2.00 :), and then I bought a "garland type" of leaves, and a few things to stick in my wreath, to make a Fall wreath! I looked at all the wreaths for sale, and they just were not in my "budget". So for 7.50 I made a wreath that looks like the ones for 25.00, tell me what ya think:

Next items up that I bought were little porcelin pumpkins and squash to make a centerpiece, and I bought a cheap mat to put under it, again, tell me what ya think:

So we "decorated" a small bit and the next morning we cleaned up the front porch. Jason was awesome and painted a table, made a swing (from a frame that the Mays gave us) and cleaned up our "landscaping" area. So here is our front porch!

This is where you'll find us now!!! :)




The rest of Saturday we got to watch an adorable little guy Eli until Sunday after church! We played outside, saw fish up here at the seminary, and even got to see the one and only Noche (our Presidents dog). We had so much fun and were ready for rest!

My Brothers Wedding 8-8-08

My brother got married last month and I wanted to post a few pics of the very happy newlyweds! :)





And here is one of Jason and I with my grandparent's! :)

A good day and night :)

I went to class today and chapel today and both were good! After work today I thought what can I do for dinner? I forgot I had steaks that I bought on quick sale, so we had steak, free wild rice a roni (coupons rock :) ), cheap broccolli and cheese, and free croissants! Thank you grocery game for a cheap and delicous dinner. I keep getting reminded how lucky Jason and I are, to never worry about if there will be food on the table, we are very blessed and God takes care of us everyday, its a good reminder :).

On another good note, I got to talk to an old friend, that I haven't talked to in about 8 years, it was really good!

Hope you all have a great evening and I'm going to go start that thing they call reading.........

"He" works hard for his money.........

Well Jason went to his parents this weekend to start the many phases of remodeling their home. They are doing room by room and the first room was Amys "old" room. Amy just moved out, so it worked out really well.

The whole process took 3 days, that was preppping/kilz/painting walls and doors,pulling up carpet, putting down laminate wood floors and adding white trim. It looks awesome! When the whole house is done, it'll look new! :)

I studied all weekend and read theology books that didn't make a whole lotta sense to me. We stayed at Jason's grandmothers house and it was nice and quiet.

On Labor day, we labored all day and cleaned, put up laundry and washed laundry for about 5 hours. From mopping the floor to my awesome hubby scrubbing the bathroom even using a toothbrush at times! That night we went to Jonny Carinos and got the family platter (half off Monday nights) and got lasagna, pretty good! (had it for lunch the next day too!)

So that was our Labor day, we were pretty pooped from a long weekend of working and studying so we went to bed at 9 and woke up at 7 this morning :).

Hope you had a great day too and got a lot done too!

Where have we been?

Well after the cruise, life got crazy. Jason had wisdom teeth surgery, and two weeks later and dry sockets he survived. My office got busier, we have moved in quite a few people over the last few months. I had a root canal and found out I am claustrophobic. I rode my new bike once before the chain broke. We celebrated Lynn's 50th and first ever birthday party! :) Amy, J's sister moved up here and is job hunting. Its pretty fun having her and her dog Allegro up in DFW :).

Some of the biggest news is that Jason and I no longer felt called for Jason to do the Ph.D. program, after talking and praying we made a decision not to even apply. So we thought we might be done, but oh no..... I am now the student! I am pretty excited about it, I will be getting a Master of Arts in Christian Education with a concentration in Women's Ministry. Pretty exciting news :). Jason has been very supportive and excited for me, there was a little sadness in him no longer pursuing the Ph.D, he had worked so hard on it. We are now looking for ministry positions, to where we do not know! :) I am starting my classes, and there is so much reading to do I should not be updated my seriously past due blog. But I needed to do it! Jason is taking one class and will be done in December with his MACE in Teaching :), that's not a teaching degree like a high school teacher, its more like teaching others to teach in the church (Sunday School, small group).

Other exciting things have happened, my brother Lance got married to his sweetheart :) Elizabeth, and we got to go home to KS for this event and visit with family including my brother and sister in law as well as our nieces :). We got to go to Chuckie Cheese as well, all to say it shows that Uncle Jason and Aunt Tonya do not have kids, we liked the games, but it was loud! Us and my parents were overwhelmed and ready to leave the noise :) haha. We had so much fun though and would of done it again in a heartbeat! To play with my niece was priceless and get to meet my new one was amazing. Its fun to grow up some days, and this was one of them. Its pretty neat to see my brother a daddy, and I have to say he is one darn good dad, I'm proud of him. He has an awesome teammate as well-my sister in law is an amazing mother.

Well that is us summed up in one blog over the last two months, from weddings to birthday parties and having fun in the sun during the hot summer days, we are ready for Fall! I would blog about the Olympics like some are, but I'm sad to say I have not been watching them :(. I saw a few races of Michael Phelps, but not enough to be a Phelps Phan :). Jason just built me an outside swing out of an old swing that he "refurbished" in a sense for me, I"ll get pics up of it soon :). (Elizabeth-the one you gave us :) )

We have new neighbors, two guys Chris and Tim, we plan to have them over soon and visit. Our first neighbors the Mays left in May :), and then the Sixes left about a month ago, its been sad not having them here, but I'm excited to meet our new neighbors :). Well time to wake up the hubby from a afternoon nap and time for me to get some reading done.

I pray that if you go to Church, you had a blessed morning and message like I had, and if you don't I pray that you go visit a church some Sunday morning and you'll be blessed :).

In Him,

Jason and Tonya

Last Few Days and Comments

Well after all the shore excursions, we got to rest for a couple more days on the cruise. It was a sad day when we left, the Cruise was an amazing trip. Jason and I really needed to get away, and this was honestly an Answer to prayer. I hope you enoyed reading about our cruise, it was so much fun. This was truly a relaxing time and we honestly think God for it! :)

Thank you mom and dad Curry for answering our prayers!

Day 6: Cozumel

Day 6 of our cruise.

We went to Cozumel, Mexico. All 6 of us decided to travel to see the Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico. Getting there was an adventure itself. To get to the Bus to take you the the Mayan Ruins, you must first take a ferry. These ferry's are pretty much a big speedboat that holds a lot of people. If you don't take the nausea medicine ever on the cruise, take it for this ride. You will be very nauseous. So this ride lasted about 30-45 minutes to get over to Playa de Carmen. We arrived at the dock and people were very happy to get off!




We then get off meet our tour guide and wait to walk to the bus. The walk to the bus was only about 5 minutes, we get on and our adventure begins, we are on our way to Tulum, Mexico. Raul,was our tour guide, a very nice man and a Mayan himself, he had a lot of historical facts about the Mayan ruins (hes a history teacher as well) and very passionate. We stopped at a little shop on the way there, Jason got his shot glass for his collection (it was started by family- some gets spoons, my husband gets shot glasses). We then got back on the bus and traveled to Tulum, once we got there, it was like a shopping center of the front of a Zoo, very interesting. We walked about 10 minutes to get there and finally did. The pictues will say the rest!





Jason, Amber and Lynn probably enjoyed this trip the most, but the rest of us did have fun.

I got to play in the ocean, get taken down by waves, and walk with sand in my feet. Overall this was a very cool place to visit, enjoy the pics!