a little bit of life

Ah.  Wednesday.

I love Wednesdays.  1.) no rushing off to preschool.  2.) my house is normally in some sort of order by this day of the week, so I can get on to other things than cleaning.  3.) its "no weigh wednesday" at the local frozen yogurt place.

really, #3 alone is enough to make Wednesday a great day.

Anyway, I've had a good week!  As usual, this will just be full of random stuff based off of the random pictures I took and uploaded, ha ha.

Hailey started crawling this week.  She is all over the place now!  Luckily, she is super great at just playing with her toys, and I am very thankful for our big open space by the kitchen so she can explore and I don't have to be on her tail all the time.  I can't believe how big this girl is getting though!  It is happening way to quickly!

Ok this is kind of a gross and weird picture, but I painted our windowsill this week.  It was just a natural wood before and had ring stains and stuff, so I grabbed out the white paint and put a few coats on it.  I know, this looks gross, but in real life it makes me much happier when I'm standing at the sink doing dishes.  It is clean, I have some of my favorite things on the windowsill and it makes me want to clean my kitchen more.

This was my catch up with life list.  I was so determined and got it all done in one day.  Phew.

I have been able to mostly stay on top of cleaning this week.  I have been able to get back into my routine (a little bit ) of using my daily checklist, and it has helped the mornings start better when I make sure everything is done quickly before going to bed.  Also, I got that Ikea high chair at Goodwill for only $5 the other day!  I was so happy I found it - Hailey started eating solids (she looooooves eating with the family) and I was putting her in her flimsy bumbo chair on a chair at the table.  Totally unsafe and scary and impossible because she doesn't really like that chair.

Its also great, because she will just sit and play in it for a long time while I'm cooking or doing dishes, and that way I don't need to be constantly making sure Shea isn't squishing her.

Ok, why random pictures of my hair?  I have stopped shampooing my hair.  Yes.  No, I haven't stopped washing it.  I have been reading for the past year about people going "no 'poo" and I have always been a little concerned about the chemicals in shampoo and don't have money to spend on the all-all natural stuff, so I decided to try this method out.  Right now I am washing my hair every 4-6 days.  I use baking soda to clean it and then apple cider vinegar to condition.  It doesn't smell weird at all.  And already I've noticed a big difference in my hair!  It was pretty greasy at first, which is why I have been wearing it back a lot, but now I think I've started producing the right amount of natural oils for it to work.  I haven't bought laundry soap in a year.  This year, I'm planning on not buying shampoo/conditioner.  Hippie much?  Jeremy even agreed to doing it once our shampoo runs out, because I told him I wasn't buying anymore, ha. And the kids will too.  I'm trying to reduce our waste, and so I'm looking at all the things I buy on a regular basis and seeing if there is any way to cut back.  Plus, this seems much healthier for my hair.  (Don't worry, I will not start advocating at you to change your hair washing habits.  You're just some of the people I can tell who will be nice to me about my weirdness.)  I've had fun doing things with my hair lately, anyway!  It's finally long enough again to do some of my favorite styles, and its actually a little easier to style slightly "dirty".

This is possibly the worst picture of me ever.  I took it last night after doing this workout.  I honestly didn't think it would get me as sweaty as it did, but it was pretty good!  I love kettleball work outs.  It takes a lot of concentration, because the form is very important, so it goes by so quickly.

And now, just pictures of my cuties from this week.

Someone doesn't like to get his picture taken anymore.

This was at the church winter auction last week.

Lastly, I have a job update!  I met with Stephen (the lead pastor) yesterday for a more "formal" interview.  It was totally natural and easy and I think it went really well.  I am going to guest lead worship for two weeks in a row on the 24th and the 3rd (which they are paying me for - I wasn't expecting that), and then I guess we see from there if I get the job or not!  We are getting more and more excited about it.  I've kind of gotten past most of the grieving of leaving here and feel really ready to begin something new in Fairwood.  I mean, it still comes down to whether they like me or not on those Sundays.  I think as far as clicking with him and the leadership and our philosophy of ministry and such seems really good.

Oh and Angela - Shea is begging me like every day to go visit your house again, because he wants to play with toy story toys again haha.

Oh I forgot one more thing that happened this last week...or maybe its been two weeks now.  Anyway, my mom had two strokes.  She completely lost the use of her left leg, which is the only reason they went into the hospital.  She was at Swedish for just under a week and now is using a walker.  We are going out there today to visit and see if I can help with anything around the house for her. She seems pretty much herself, but my mom is a doer, and not being able to do the things she is used to doing.

And I ordered my bridesmaid dress for my sisters wedding.  She was going to do all different dresses, but ended up finding one she loves on Modcloth.  It is SO very Kaitie and it was only $42 !  so yay.  I'm glad that is over with.

So that's life recently!

It's so cold it's not even funny.

Hi Girls!

This week has flown by! I spent most of it trying to stay warm, the high of the day was around 5F, but felt like -4F with the windchill.  I don't mind the cold as long as I can stay warm, but I found that it was really hard to heat up our house.  We'd have the heat start up around 4PM for when we got home from work, and by 10PM it had just almost gotten to our targeted temperature.  I knew it was bad when Justin started complaining about the cold.  Thankfully this week is way better, we have one day where its going to get up to 50F!

Ok, now that my weather rant is over, I can get on to other things.  Last weekend Justin and I spent the night in Toronto to celebrate our anniversary.  We went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) to see Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's exhibit. They were Mexican artists that I had studied in my Spanish classes, so it was so cool to see their painting in real life and learn a bit more about them.

           

We had such a great time just walking the streets of Toronto and riding on the streetcars.  For lunch we ate at the Village Idiot pub and I had my favorite beer- Innis & Gunn, it's brewed in whiskey casks and has a toffee and vanilla flavor to it- amazing stuff! 

The next morning we just relaxed and went to an awesome Crepe place for breakfast.  I am going to have to try and make breakfast crepe's, they are so good!

So for an update on my teaching job situation.  They asked me to come in and do a demonstration lesson, but I wasn't able to make the date because of work, so I asked if we could reschedule.  So instead they asked me to come in to sub for the day on Monday.  I went in last Monday, and taught two two-hour long classes all by myself! It went really well and I loved it.  I really enjoyed getting to know the students and the staff.  It was neat because there was one girl that I had graduated with who is working there until she has her baby in Spring.  I got to ask her how it was working there and got the inside scoop.  At the end of the day I talked with the Academic Director, and he said that he still wants me in for a Demo Lesson.  I had gotten confused and thought the sub day would count, but they just needed a sub, so I got paid for that day, which was great.   They still haven't contacted me about when to come in to do the demo, but I hope I hear something soon.  I am just so ready to be done at the shipping office!  

The weekend goes by too fast, I can't believe it's Monday already tomorrow.  We hosted our small group from church today, so it was a great motivator for getting our house all clean, hopefully we can keep it this way the rest of the week.  

Other highlights of this week:  I asked two girls (my age) from my church if they would be interested in starting up a Bible study.  I'd been feeling that I need more spiritual fellowship and more depth of study.  I've been praying about it and I feel like the Lord put the idea into my head to ask these two women I'm getting to know.  I asked them a few days ago and they are excited to do it.  I'm so glad and can't wait for it to get going!

Well, I should end this and wake up Justin from the couch so we can take our dog for a walk while it's still somewhat nice out.  Hope you all have a great week!  

need...to...get...motivated...!

Oh boy.  I haven't accomplished much today.

I did get some sleep last night, which was good.  Hailey slept for nearly 5 hours without waking up...but that wasn't until 2 this morning.  Shea woke up at 6:30 to go potty.  So I was up with the kids by 7.

Then we got ready and left for school (we get there at 9).  Got home at 12.  But I just came home to throw a log on the fire and then we went out to Central Market to get some groceries.

Baby went to bed when we came home. Shea and I had yogurt with blueberries and cereal for lunch.  And a kiwi.  Mostly because I was too lazy to make anything else.

Jeremy came home for a late lunch from working at the church.  We relaxed and talked for a little bit.  It feels like we have barely seen each other this week without children in our faces the entire time.  Not that we don't love them in our faces, but adult conversation is nice every once in a while.

Now, what have I been doing?  Eating an apple with peanut butter and wasting time on pinterest and facebook and doing nothing at all.  I keep thinking about working out (I've found some I really like on youtube and have been pretty good about it lately, and its been fun), doing the dishes, cleaning, etc...but no.  Maybe now I will get to work.  Now that I see my laziness written down.


Oh!  We went and visited the church in Renton.  It's call Lifepoint.  Anyway.  Shea loved it.  We liked it well enough.  The pastors are pretty cool, the people were very friendly, the worship was very...mellow.  They have a few people volunteering to do it right now, but wow, their energy level was like non-existent.  Anyway, we went out to lunch with the pastor and his wife and just kind of chatted a little bit.  The next step is for me to come and lead worship one Sunday and have a more formal interview.  It is actually been really hard to process it all.  Before this, all our moves have felt like a no-brainer in a way, and not that big of a deal.  Now that our lives are more established (and comfortably so) here in Indianola, it is a very hard decision to make to move.  Even though there are so very many pro's if we end up being offered the position.  I am very thankful for how slow the Pastor is taking it.  It is giving me a lot of time to weigh out possibilities and get used to the idea of what we will be giving up when/if we leave here.

Also, I guess Jeremy's dad announced from the pulpit this last Sunday that we were pursuing this.  Ha.  Apparently we miss one Sunday and people start wondering where in the world we are.  Oh well.

Ok, I'm going to go and try to accomplish something.

long beach and more holiday break

the kids are in bed and Jeremy is up working at the church, so I figured I would upload my pictures and post...again!  But just about other things in life.

Christmas/new years break was so so nice and restful.  Jeremy was home a lot, because there just wasn't very much work between the weather and the holidays.  The kids and I spent a lot of time just playing at home, because we didn't have anything else going on.  Here is Shea in his new construction dress up set from Christmas.

New years eve we went up to the church and played games.  Well, at least, I started to...we put Shea down around 8PM and then they started this ridiculou settlers game with teams.  So  Jeremy and I were on a team and an ocean away.  12 people were playing.  Yeah.  I dropped out at 11 because I couldn't get hailey to stay asleep and went home.  Jeremy got home after the game was over at 2:30.  I don't mind playing settlers, but I do NOT do 6 hour games.  no thaaank you.  I am so glad I went home, but felt bad for my husband who got roped into playing.

The next day, we packed and headed out to long beach!  We stopped in Silverdale at the new Panera (we have missed Panera so much since moving here).  Shea loves lounging in the big chairs eating a bagel and looking out the window at cars.  And I love their hazelnut coffee.  yum.

The kids did great in the car.  Hailey is an awesoem traveler because she is just so content unless she is hungry.  We only had to stop twice, and once was just to deposit a check in a bank, ha.  Shea did pretty well too, but we broke out the portable dvd player we got for Christmas and he watched a show once he got a little bit antsy to get out of the car (and we were in the middle of nowhere).

We had our own one bedroom unit.  It was so nice to be able to see family, but then get away to rest as a family on our own too.  We did a lot of hanging out in our Pajamas, and I made a point of not doing anything with my hair. aaah yes.  This is vacation.

It was cold, btu BEAUTIFUL out the first day.  Shea and his cousins played on the playground, we took a walk into town, and the guys played a little football.  The beach was beautiful - although windy.  There is something so peaceful abotu looking out your window and seeing those waves crashing beneath a blue sky.  Love the coast.

Hailey went for her first swim in the pool!  She totally loved it!  I was holding her by her arms while she was on her back, and she just floated and kicked. Shea still won't put his head back in the water.  He is more like Jeremy when it comes to water, I think.  Hailey is my water baby though.  I did kind of freak her out though...bad mommy move.  I looked away for a moment while I was bragging about her "swimming" and didn't notice that her head submerged underwater!  I quickly pulled her out and she was screaming and wouldn't go back on her back for a little while.  Luckily she did it again after a little bit.  I was worried I had traumatized her and she would be scared of the water, but I guess it was a good thing I didn't freak out too much about it.

This was on a cold day out in the town.  We stopped by a local bakery to get some coffee and then hung out in the arcade for a while.

Shea had SO much fun riding on all the random bikes and car games, pretending to play.  Who needs to actually pay for a game? haha.  We all played some bowling and skeeball (sp?) together.

Happy red-eye baby in her swimsuit!

Driving home.  We celebrated Jeremy's birthday while we were down there.  I gave him the scarf he is wearing.  He also got a new book and some really nice discs for disc golfing from his mom.

Anyway, we were gone for 4 days and it was a perfect amount of time.  We got a lot of rest, ate a lot of food, I was brave enough to get into a swimsuit, and were happy to be heading home.  We spent a LOT of time with Jeremy's family this Christmas and we have been happy to get home and have some seperation.  We love 'em, but when you are around his brothers for very long, you get a little tired of them.

Hailey is being a crazy baby and scooting all over the place too!  Not an official crawl yet, but she gets around!

I just ate a ziploc baggy of trader joe's pirate booty knock-off and am drinking some white and green fusion tea (still my favorite since Amber introduced it to me YEARS ago).  I just got a book from the library yesterday called "7 - a mutiny against excess" by Jen Hatmaker.  It's about her experience fasting from 7 different things, one a month, for 7 months.  She is a funny writer from the south, but even though her writing is lighthearted, she definitely gets you thinking.  My husband is home now, so i'm going to go cuddle and read my book.  Goodnight!

The flu had me down for a week.

It has been a crazy last couple of weeks around the Fernandez household.  First I was working a ton, two 16 hour shifts in a row and then an 8 hour shift.  I took care of patients with the flu (and I didn't know they had it at the time), Scabies (came home a showered), patients who spit their pills in my face while restrained and still managing to nearly kick me in the face with their feet, let me tell you, it was interesting.  I felt good, not too tired after all those shifts, had a few days off with my love and life was good.  

We had waffles for dinner, sat and snuggled on the couch.  I made this AMAZING tomato soup and tried on some new scrubs hoping the small would fit me.  No such luck, they make the shoulders so small, it's quite a bummer because it fits so much better around the waist.  Oh well, not like I need to look good while I work or anything. :)

I went to Salem for Christmas, though Paul had to stay home because he worked the 24th till 10pm and had to work at 7am on the 26th.  We kept in touch through texting and were able to hang out the 27-28 and have a wonderful time together. :)  While in Salem I got to hang out with my awesome cousins and hold my second cousin for hours.  I wish they lived closer than San Francisco (they may be moving to Portland soon!). 

That picture of me tired was during one of my 16 hour shifts, by the end you are just kinda blah, and pray your patients behave and nothing crazy happens!   I did see the most awesome of Sunrises though.  I stood there and watched it with one of my patients for nearly 5 minutes.  Ironically he was the patient that days before was trying to kick me in the face, but he was better that day and we watched the sunrise and enjoyed each others company.  What a difference a few days makes.  

I miss my little bro, it was good to see him at Christmas even if we were staying at different houses.  Oh, and I love his new shirt! 

Eric is a heating pad snatcher.  I got up for not more than 3 minutes and when I came back he was camped out on my spot!  The little girl to the top right is Gabe's niece.  We hung out one day after I had picked up just 4 hours of work.  She told me she was  going to draw "her princess" and I told her to do it and she said "but I already did, see".  According to Gabe it was the first time she has drawn a stick figure, she isn't quite 3 if I remember correctly, she is a total sweetheart. 

Over Christmas my friend Sara (she was the maid of honor in my wedding) got engaged!  She has been wanting this for a long time, but wasn't sure it was going to happen because her man kept wanting to wait till he was more financially stable.  She will be getting married this summer on Mt. Rainier with just a few people at her side (I may or may not be there because I don't know if my knee can handle a long hike up Mt. Rainier!) and then she will be having a reception in Moses Lake in July or August. :)   

Since Paul wasn't able to be with my family on Christmas I texted him a picture of his presents. He pretty much got the hook up with awesome presents and a stocking even though he wasn't there! 

So after I spilled 1.5 gallons of paint all over the garage floor and Paul's motorcycle we decided to take out the plastic garage floor.  I miss it, but was so glad I hadn't spilled paint permanently all over the concrete.  We tore it out, and ran around like crazy fools trying to get everything done before the dump closed at 4:30, we made it- thanks to God for making EVERY single light on our way there green!  

Paul got all of his old childhood toys from his parents house.  He has tons of toy cars (Shea should come visit again!), toy trains, Sesame Street figures, more toy story figures, and a bunch of cool stuff.  I sorted it all and now I just need to make labels for it.  It's current home is on the top shelf of the closet in the guest room, works for me! 

Sunday I woke up with what I thought was a chest cold.  Paul's boss is on vacation this week so he had Sunday off (he had the managers schedule).  We got up and went to church and I could barely pay attention.  I was so tired and freezing cold.  We came home, I napped, and we made chex mix.  Then we went to Paul's parents for the Seahawks game, I still thought I had a chest cold.  I was still freezing cold and spent most of the game laying on the couch.  I lost my appetite and Paul's mom said I looked night and day different from the time I arrived to the time we were leaving.  The picture to the top right was when whe got home, I went straight upstairs to change, then napped on the couch while Paul watched tv.  He bumped up the house heat to 70 for me (felt amazing!) and then I took my temp, 102.2, no wonder I felt like crap!  The next morning I felt worse, I had a temp all night (except when I broke it with tylenol but it came right back), so Paul's mom took me to the Urgent care so I could get some tamiflu (slows down the multiplication process of the virus so your immune system can attack it better).  We got me some gatorade, meds, and I spent the whole day napping away the fever. I had a fever for 4 days!  I kept up on tylenol (something I never do) because every time the fever came back I felt like someone was pushing on my head from all directions. 

My kitties napped with me all day long for days on end, I was so happy when my temp broke (again because of tylenol not for real) that I texted a picture to my mom.  Once I felt a tiny bit better (thank you meds!) I organized my side table so everything would fit.  I always had gatorade and water at my side.  The Dr. wrote me a note to be off work all week (4 work days) and I didn't know if I would take him up on his offer.  I definitely did.  This would have been my last day at work today before vacation (we leave for Maui in the morning) but I didn't feel I had enough energy (and I still have a wet cough) to go to work, so I called in sick, emailed my manager, and chilled at home.  

Yesterday I did go out and do a few errands.  One hour of a mani/pedi and then I returned things to a few stores.  That two hours out of the house meant I had to nap for hours, my energy level still so low! 

The picture of Paul's wallet was because he couldn't find it in the morning before work on friday and I was freaking out.  "you can't have lost your wallet the friday before we leave on vacation, you need to go to the DOL on your lunch break!".  Turns out it was on the bedside table...yeah, we must have been blind (and I was half asleep) while we were looking for it at 6am. 

So there you have it. First I worked a ton, then I was sick for a week.  I have loved reading your girls posts this week!   

I have spent all day  ( a few hours) vacuuming, mopping, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge, taking out trashes, and last minute packing for our vacation tomorrow.  I think I will watch tv the rest of the day till Paul gets home.  I am so glad I called into work today, it just didn't seem worth it to wear myself out for one day before vacation, because no matter how much work and running around I do at the house, it is nothing compared to taking care of people at the hospital.  

Over and out. 

so I had my phone interview yesterday...

and it went really well!

The Pastor is really cool and easy to talk to.  It was crazy how many similarities Jeremy and I have to him as far as our ministry experience.  I haven't met anyone in ministry yet who had experienced the sort of things we did at the Sunnyslope church, but the first church he was a pastor at was very similar and it seemed everything the other said about things we've learned, and our vision for the church resonated with each other.  It was cool and encouraging.

It's funny, because we actually barely talked about the actual "job" at all.  He was happy with my videos and said, "you obviously are capable and talented, your videos were great", which was a little surprising to me because it was the thing I was most worried about, of course.  I was convinced that he would only be interested in hiring me because of things like ministry experience and our affiliation with Church of God, things like that, and I would just be "passable".  So it was a bit of a relief to hear that he wasn't worried about that aspect of the position.  I know what its like to lead worship at a church where the lead pastor doesn't back you or believe in your calling.

He just wants to be sure we are the right people.  He is looking for someone (in this case, our family even) who feels called to be a "part of their spiritual family".  Someone who is interested in putting down some real roots in the community of Fairwood in order to make a big impact with the people they are serving.  They've had two worship pastors since he came to the church.  The first one was a college student at northwest and she left after graduating, and the second was living in Kirkland and just got tired of the commute.  So I can see why he is looking for someone to stay and be a real leader in the church.  Hearing his passion and vision and where the church has come in the past two years since he has been there was really cool and Jeremy and I are both very excited about this opportunity.

So at this point, he just asked us to think and pray about it more.  Then he wants us to come out and visit the church and see what we think, and have lunch with him and his wife.  So, we'll probably schedule that in the next few Sundays.

It will be hard to leave in a lot of ways.  Jeremy's mom is going to be so soooo sad.  We are planning on telling them that we are pursuing this tomorrow so they can kind of adjust to the idea of us being gone.  Jeremy does a lot at the church and we are up there all the time, so it will be sad.  Its also hard to leave things like the moms group, because it's really gained some momentum in the past few months, but at least now I think other ladies will take up the responsibility and keep it going.  We love Indianola, and I will miss having the puget sound across the street, but I am so excited about this!  Jeremy and I were both thinking about it a lot last night, and I think I was up most of the night praying about it.  But Jeremy said something that makes a lot of sense to me.  He said in the past we have always looked at situations like this as being a "step of faith".  That we are going to do something new and uncertain and trust in God because we know it is where we are called to go.  This applies in this instance also, but he said we are also called to be faithful to our calling.  We know what our calling in life is, so what helps accomplish overall, the bigger calling of our lives?  Being here in Indianola was an important time for us to detox, to refresh, to learn more of God's goodness and faithfulness in our lives, and staying here would be an easy thing to do, and possibly still a good thing to do.  But I don't believe it will help us get to the bigger calling of our life.  

With moving, our hope is that Jeremy will be able to go back to school at Seattle Bible College and get his Bachelors and then move on to the master's program at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.  This is the first time since we've been married that more schooling for Jeremy has even been an option.  Also, going to this church allows Jeremy to go back and finish his pastoral credentialing/licensing process that he was in the middle of with the Church of God.  It also gives me an amazing opportunity to develop my skills as a worship leader (oh boy, is there a lot to learn!).  And what an amazing blessing to find this all in a place that we know and love to live!  We have loved Indianola - but I am so excited about the idea of being back in king county and up in Fairwood, I can't even tell you!

It will be a little bit of a process yet, which is good.  And of course, it is not "for sure" yet, but we both feel pretty confident that this is a next step for us.   If it doesn't end up working out, that is okay.  Even just the process will be good for us.  But I could easily see us transitioning back to Renton by the end of March.

Anyway, enough of that for now!  We just had a playdate with a mom I just met and her two little boys.  Always a lot of work and refereeing when you have two three year olds together!

Back to the Same Old Same Old....or not?

Hey!  I first have to say, it was SO GREAT to hang out with all you lovely ladies.  I still can't believe how well it worked out when it was such a challenge to schedule things with my family.  I had such a great time, and it just makes me wish I lived closer to all of you.  You are such great women, so fun to talk to, and so loving.

After such a wonderful visit in WA, I found it a challenge to come back to the grind here with a positive attitude.  It didn't help that when I started work again (Dec. 31st) I was sick with a head cold and cough.  I still have it, and I can just feel that I don't have the energy I normally do.  People at work have asked if I am about to puke because I look so pale or they say things like I have glassy eyes and don't look well.

Work drama has really put a damper on things, and I found it tough not to feel discouraged and fearful that I'll be stuck in the shipping department and never get a teaching job.  I had my worst day at work last week, where I finally got angry because of how one of the guys I work with was treating my other co-worker.  We had a discussion about it, and I was so worked up I was shaking.  I didn't yell or anything, but I was firm and  confronted the guy.  After all that was over, and the guys had left the room I just started crying and needed to pull myself back together.  I ran off to the bathroom hoping no one would see me, but one lady I work with did.  She was really sweet and gave me some encouragement and advice.  So after a hug from her I talked to my managers and they came and talked to both the guys.  I felt better after the whole thing (lasted about 2 and a half hours) and although I don't think they are going to be any big changes with the dynamics at work, I feel that at least my managers are more aware of the situation.

I have really been working and praying about trusting God with getting a teaching job.  I have felt that the reason I have fear and despair is because I just can't see what is ahead and I need to be trusting and totally relying on the one who  can.

Becca, this morning your post was such an encouragement because it reminded me of how situations with work can change so quickly.  And I have my own exciting news to add, everyday I have been applying to at least one ESL job.  Tonight I finally heard something back!  I got a reply from a small ESL school in Toronto that is looking for someone for the end of January/beginning of February.  They asked if I was interested in an interview, so I wrote back saying of course!  I just feel so uplifted just from getting a response and knowing that my applications haven't just been getting lost in the internet abyss.

More happy things, we finally have reading lamps in our bedroom!  We have been searching for months for the perfect ones.  We wanted some that were a bit antiquey, something that you couldn't just pick up in the store.  It has been so hard to find ones that we like that are in our price range and that are a pair.  This weekend we finally found them.   They were $8 each, (I think they were over priced, but I was so happy to find what we were looking for, I didn't care).

We went out and bought lamp shades and some blue spray paint (Justin made the final decision), and were able to use the space in our basement to spray them. It was a bit tricky because we couldn't remove the cord. 

So happy with the result!  I had been using a tissue box to reach the light switch from our bed, it's so much nicer to just reach over with my hand and turn off my lamp.  Plus the lighting is way better. 

something sort of exciting...

A real post about our trip to long beach will have to wait, but I wanted to post really quickly to tell you about something exciting I haven't told anyone but my sister!

Over Christmas break, I applied for a job...in Renton...for a worship leader.  It is only part time, but it actually makes about 10-15k more a year than we make right now with Jeremy working full time and at three different jobs.  It was kind of random how we found it.  Jeremy was looking on the Church of God website where churches post jobs for pastors to submit resumes to, and this one popped up.  Anyway, I was absolutely convinced that if I applied for it I wouldn't get it, but Jeremy encouraged me to try anyway.  I quickly put together a resume, labored over a "philosophy of worship" and then we also recorded me playing four different worship songs (they requested a video of me leading worship, but I didn't have one) on my phone.  I emailed it all off over the weekend after Christmas and heard back on Monday.  I thought for sure it was going to be a courtesy rejection email...no, an apology for not getting back to me sooner and that I should expect to hear back after they look over everything that week.

So today, I got a second email.  Asking for a sort of informal interview on Thursday.  This will be exciting to hear more about the church and if this position is something that will work for our family.  There are a lot of reasons why timing-wise this would work out beautifully right now.  1.) I don't really HAVE to teach at the preschool anymore. I mean, I never really did, but now that Savanna left, its only Shea and his cousin John, and neither pay.  I am already going down to two days a week, and I'm really only still doing it for Shea's sake.  2.)  Right now, Jeremy's mom watches Shea and Hailey during preschool most of the week.  But in March, Hanna is having a second baby, and her first is only 15 months right now.  He was a hard baby because he got very sick and has a lot of allergies.  They have no idea if their next baby will have the same issues or not, but I'm thinking that my mother-in-law will need to be more available to help her, and if we are gone, it might be a really good thing.  3.)  Jeremy's work is VERY slow right now and although we don't worry and know God will take care of us if we were to remain here, at least his employer will have lots of time to find a replacement for him.

Also?  The church is in Fairwood, which is the place we have loved living the most.  We never intended to end up in or stay in Indianola for long.  We love it here, but we have always known we will move on from here eventually.

I know, it isn't for sure yet.  It might not be the right time (even if it could be a "good" time) or the right place.  But I am very excited about the possibility, because I know that if I actually got hired to do this, it would be ALL God and I would be challenged and grow so much.  There are a lot of other exciting possibilities that could happen if this were to happen.  Anyway, I just wanted to share with you girls about it and ask for your prayers of wisdom on whether this church is a good fit for us and so on.  We already know what its like to be staff in a church that is NOT the right fit, so I know we will be very careful about moving our family for a job like this.

Time for me to go get my kiddos ready for bed!