Rose Monkey... where'd that come from??

Well, it's an hour until my first class here at Southern... and I am camped out in the hotel with Ava, nice and warm while it's cold and snowy outside. Speaking of snowy, I went to Indiana last night, because that's where the closest Super-Wal-Mart was, and I had to call a friend just to say hi from Indiana. Indiana just seems so... cold... snowy... non-Southern... faraway! Obviously I'm showing my lack of an exciting life by saying this, but it's true.

So when I was talking to my friend, she asked what's with the name Rose Monkey? Wellllll, when I was tossing the idea of keeping up a blog, I couldn't think of a clever name. And that transported me to another time and place... 6 years old, on vacation in Arkansas with parents and grandparents... and going through a phase in which I named anything that came into my life Rose. In fact, had Ava come along back then, I'm sure Ava would have been Rose Bird. (That softens the blow a little bit, doesn't it, Ava? I mean I know Ava's not the most manly name around, but Rose?!) At some point on that trip, someone bought me a stuffed monkey wearing a pink dress - who became none other than Rose Monkey!

That story just illustrates how my odd little brain links random places and events... and really I could do no better coming up with a blog name than just going with the classic Rose Monkey.

Pluckin' out the old feathers...

So we did it!!! We are IN Louisville, ready to start school at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary tomorrow. I would say we have moved to Louisville, but we are currently living out of a hotel.

We were supposed to close on a house on Friday, but alas... apparently the closing process is a good deal more complicated than it was six months ago, so here we are, chillaxing with a contraband bird in our room. That's right. Ava, our parrot (who we originally thought was a female but later learned from the vet that he's a male), is currently shuffling around in his cage and intermittently calling out, "COME HERE! COME HERE, BABY! HEY BIRD!!!! BIRDY BIRDY BIRDY BIRDY!!!" all while we try to keep him undercover so we don't get kicked out of the only home we have.

Ava has also been plucking out his feathers - a truly disturbing habit he develops when he gets too stressed out. I think it's a visual representation of how we feel right now with all the waiting, waiting, waiting! :-)

I know this all sounds rather dramatic, but really we are loving it... for the most part! We are quite blessed because we aren't having to pay for the room. Because the banker feels bad for setting a closing date (and time) for Friday (at 3:30 p.m.), she is graciously covering the cost of our room until we finally move into our home. Which we hope will be tomorrow.

Until then, we're adjusting to Louisville life... to the Eastern Time Zone... to life in a place where we only know a couple of people. I think this will be an adventure. I will keep you posted on this blog as we go along, so buckle your seat belts (cheezy I know) and get ready for a ride!!!!!