4 months is less than 10

Hello all

 its been almost 4 months since the last time I blogged here. At least I didn't go 10 months like last time lol.  A lot has happened. I've said it before I will say it again. My life rarely stands still. This year has been no different.
Earlier this year we found out about an awesome opportunity for my husband. I did not mention it here because it was one of those things that you just dont talk about unless you get it. And he got it.
Clint got an internship with the youth director a wonderful church - Trinity United Methodist Church in Elkhart IN. It involved yet another move but was an opportunity we could not pass up.
The past few years have been hard on Clint and I church-wise. With our frequent moves and crazy schedule we had a hard time getting settled into any church. And as much as we had a heart for Remedy we were both eager for some face-to-face ministry. So we were hoping and praying that this opportunity would pan out.
 We shadowed the church (yes Kiley and Olivia we did a little stalking of our own ;) ) a couple of sundays before the decision was made. We enjoyed it from the first time and prayed as the decision and application process proceeded.
As we went through the process I also worked on finding a job in the area as well so that the transition would be smooth for us. I applied lots of places including the church's preschool
In late July after some shadowing and meetings with church leaders we found out Clint had been selected for the position. Around the same time I got the call back from the preschool and was offered a teaching position.
So August we made the move to Elkhart IN. It was about our 5th move in a little over 4 yrs. I'm getting to be quite the packing pro, which is both amazing and frustrating.
We have been here for almost 2 months now. A LOT has happened. Some tough stuff. But also lots of amazing stuff. We have met a lot of amazing people and had some amazing times.

Life isnt easy but it is good.

new stuff exciting stuff .. can we all say yay?!?!?!

Hello all,

Sorry for the delay since my last post. Life continues to be crazy but I push on to live not just exist.

Happy #1 -

I got the job at mcdonalds. My favorite? no, but it will do for now. I am not having the issues I had at BK so in that I am very happy. I know that I have made a decent impression on my new managers as my hours have gone steadily up. From training week of 10 scheduled hours, to 18 hours and this week 32. Yay! So the money worry isnt as huge as it was for me. This eliminates a huge stressor for me which great.

I did however get a tip on a full-time job starting this fall that I am looking into and hoping for. More details when I have them

Happy #2 -

I did some figuring and looked at my classes and such and figured out that I am on track to graduate next spring which is almost an entire year sooner then I expected. I am working my tail off this summer, taking 18 credit hours with only a 2 day break between spring and summer classes but it will be worth it.

Happy#3 -

I got enough financial aid that I was able to get some things that I needed for school including a new laptop. We have needed a new computer for a while now so this is a real blessing. We just put in the order for a Toshiba A660 yesterday. We will finally have a web-capable computer with Microsoft Word on it that wont crash every time the power cord gets bumped.

Thats all the post I have time for right now. I have a crazy week ahead of me - finals week for spring term, preparing for summer term, 32 work hours, etc. I do have another silly confessions post planned for later this week so stay tuned :)

LDJE

Life update

Hello blog world!

A couple of updates as far as my random life goes.

Work

Most of you know that, on faith, I quit my job at Burger King a little over a month ago. This was for many reasons that I will not bore you with again.

Since then I have been furiously job hunting because quitting that job left clint and I with barely a third of our monthly income. (yeah big uh oh)

Thankfully we have made it thus far because we used our tax check to pay off everything that was due. I knew that wouldnt last long of course so my stress levels have been sky high in looking for this new job.

In the past few days (literally crunch time for us financially) things have been looking up.

I had an interview today at mcdonalds that I feel I did extremely well in. I should know by the end of the week if I have a job there.

I also have another application (at the mclure by 69) that I am waiting on a call for an interview. I spoke to the manager yesterday and she seemed interested and said she would let me know by the end of this week.

So by then end of the week I will probably have at least one job and an interview for a second one.

In all honesty I am really hoping for the Mcclure job for a couple reasons. I would love to get out of fast food and I know that my piercings wont be at all a problem there. But I will take what I can get. If I am offered Mcdonalds I will take it. I am considering the possibility of working two jobs at least for a month or two so that we can get caught up on our bills. But we shall see. It will all depend on many things including the specific hours I am offered at each place, the rate of pay and the amount of hours I will be offered.

I am not counting on anything though. I am still working hard at putting in apps at other places as well.

Clint is still for now working in Fort wayne at the most awesome Remedy. It is hard for him being as late as it is having 8am classes 3 days a week as well but he has pushed on and made it work.

Clint has also applied for a summer job on campus that we are hoping he will be offered.

School

I am doing well this subterm. Better then I thought I would considering that I have a philosophy class that I knew would not be my strong suit. I am still working on graduating sometime next year. I have made 2 decisions though:

a) While I had been contemplating turning my minor criminal justice into a second major I have decided that it is probably not the best option. It would push back my gradutation date back at least another semester if not two putting me at graduating in 2013. I would just rather not, and I dont feel like God is leading me to that.

b) However, I am looking into getting my masters in counseling, continuing the in the graduate program at LUO. This is not for sure yet and I have a lot of things to consider.

Clint is also doing wonderfully. I am so proud of him. He has so much going on this semester. His classes are not easy at all and working in fort wayne every week night makes things a lot harder. But he has pushed on and has kept his grades up. Did I mention that I am proud of him?

Random Other stuff

Life in general has been stressful to say the least. Clint and I are both concerned because we are not steady financially but we have confidence that God will get us thru this rough patch just as he has every other one.

Gabriel is just the same bratty lovable cuddle bug. He is not amused when clint and I both have to be gone all day for work or homework but he will learn to manage. When we are home we both try to spoil him with lots of love, cuddles and a healthy amount of treats. He has learned to behave himself enough that we can sometimes leave him out of his crate when we are not home.

We are working out plans for this summer including seasonal jobs, visits to family, and school. We are not all that focused on that right now though. Our focus is on our homework and remedying our financial situation so that we can finish strong this semester.

Prayers appreciated. Love to all our awesome friends and family.

LDJE

take it or leave it....

So I mentioned in my last post that I was excited because having quit my job I feel more like myself and in many ways less stressed out. I mean yes, I am stressed about finding a new job but in many ways I am so relieved to be out of there. If you know me at all you know that there were many reasons for me to get out of there and just how bad that job stressed me out to the point that it was even affecting my health.

I am just really excited because being able to wear my chunky earrings and my nose ring I feel more comfortable because like it or not that's who I am.

I am a crazy random girl. I love my tapers,my gauged out ears with a billion holes, my nose ring and short choppy messy looking hair (and someday colored). I love purple and fairies and black. My favorite clothes to wear are guys hoodies, dark torn up jeans, random goofy t-shirts and either vans or flip flops. I love goofing off with my friends, playing video games and watching crazy television shows like Dr. Who. I can be the loudest most obnoxious person in the room or the one sitting in the corner that you barely notice all depending on my mood and who I am around. I have a heart for people.I love studying psychology and criminal justice and i am eager to have my degree and start working in some capacity that uses it.

I have had people hint to me that I need to grow up. Forget about my tapers and crazy bunches of holes in my ears and my ideas for tattoos. People have said oh hey well if your gonna have kids some day you are gonna have to grow up. Get rid of all that and start looking like a grown up.

I counter back with this. I AM grown-up! Just because my looks, hobbies , interests don't seem mature or grown up to you doesnt mean that I wont make it in life. Like it or not times are changing.

I am not sure what career I will have but I am confident in the fact that my quirky looks arent going anywhere. Unless God leads me otherwise I will continue to be the pierced quirky person that I am inside and out. I know that God has a plan for me. Like I said, I dont know what my future job will be. But I dont plan on changing my looks for a job unless God leads me otherwise.

I feel like the world is changing is so very much and I want to be a part of it. I think the church is on the verge of change as well. There are so many problems with todays church that I think our generation is going to at least attempt to change. But that is a post for another day.

And as far as the having kids thing. I do not think that having short hair, piercings, tattoos or playing video games is being a bad example or make a person a bad parent. My husband has no problem with the way I look because he knows that it is who I am as a person. He encourages it.

Being judged is a part of this judgmental world. We are all guilty of judging books by their covers. Thing is I dont care any more. I am who I am unapologetically. Given certain situations I will tone it down in order to be respectful but I will not change who I am simply because some one thinks it is immature or unchristian.

Outward appearance does not determine salvation. God takes us as we are. Having piercings and tattoos and girls having short hair is not a sin.

This is something that I have been working on a lot lately. Being myself no matter what. I, like most people tend to care too much about what others think of me. I was fake for so many years. That is no more.

This is me. Take it or leave it.

(LDJE)

lil ol' me is back at it...

I started a batch of boiled peanuts on monday but decided to experiment and do them in the crockpot this time so there isnt as much stress and mess. So far so good.

in case any one is wondering they are really easy to make - just soak some raw peanuts (either fresh or dried but dried does take longer to cook) in water over night with a lil bit of salt. the next day put them in a big pot (or crock pot) with a decent amount of salt and literally boil the heck out of them.

I put mine in the crockpot yesterday and started it on high and then switched it to low while i was at the radio station last night and while i was sleeping then turned it back on high when i woke up this morning. I tested them and realized they needed more salt so i fixed that and they are getting there texture wise. They've still got a few hours at least but probably til tomorrow. and i am getting very impatient.

For those of you who are like "what the heck? boiled peanuts? sounds gross!" they really are not. they are an amazing salty little snack that is commonly found in road side stands down south. (though the roadside stands typically cook them in a giant[55 gallons or more) barrel over and open fire or butane)

I cant say whether you'll like them or not but this is what i have heard and so far i have found it to be true:

If you DO like roasted peanuts you wont care for the boiled ones. However the opposite is also true. If you DONT like roasted peanuts you will probably like boiled peanuts. which like i said i have found to be true because i dont like roasted peanuts at all.. i barely like peanut butter either. but i LOVE boiled peanuts.

ANY WAY.....

Today i had a sudden burst of confidence and decided to call 2 places about jobs. One is a daycare. I know a girl who works there so that is helpful. I am gonna try to go in next week and fill out an app. The other place would be nice if i got the position i wanted but they have several that i applied for.

I also sent in 4 more apps for nanny jobs. One of them is only a temp job (6 months) with kinda crazy hours but would probably work out nicely because i am hoping that in 6 months i will have the money to go to trade school and the money i gotta say .. is nice. it's about 40ish hours a week and the pay is negotiable between $300- $400 a week. which i am not gonna lie would be amazing. Gonna keep looking today. cause i need to find something anything by the end of this month.

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