Affirmation

I am convinced that God has a sense of humor. It's not that I wasn't aware of this fact before, but yesterday affirmed that for me.

If you aren't a member of facebook, you won't know that I had a rough weekend at work a couple of weekends ago. It wasn't pretty, to say the least. Since then, I have been searching for other jobs, although what I am really wanting is to start a career. A little late in life, I know, but it's what I want. I think. ;)

So anyway, I had an interview yesterday for a billing specialist position. The job sounds like something I could do, so I had applied for it. Keep in mind that I had applied for several positions at this particular facility prior to this; so when I got the call for the interview, I was shocked, for lack of a better description. Sorry, I digress...I went to the interview, and it went rather well I thought (I should hear something by the end of this week). HOWEVER...during the interview, the interviewer was curious about my background, ie ministry. I told him what I had done in the past, and he asked if I'd be interested in something like that (he digressed a bit there, don't ya think? :) ). Yes, I would...so we got back to the interview, and later that afternoon I talked to him regarding the ministry position of which he spoke.

This was affirmation for me.
One, it affirmed God's sense of humor. I can run, but I can't hide. Not that I was even aware that I was running...
Two, it affirmed me in a "working" sort of way. You know when you have been working for a while and just don't feel like anyone is noticing? Well, at the interview, it felt good to be noticed. Thanks, Susan, for that reminder :).
And three, it affirmed that yes, I really do want to be in ministry. After the interview, all I could think about was how much I missed those days...crazy, you might say, but true.

What now? I wait. And you know what? I'm okay with that :).

Restless Stirring and Waiting...

I have had a restless stirring for a while now. I think it started - well, stirred up again I'll say - when Micah and I were out looking for houses. This time the stirring has to do with being home on weekends. I had applied for a full-time position at the hospital, and I was excited about it. It is a job that I knew (and still know) that I would enjoy and one at which I would excel. Unfortunately, I was not chosen for an interview. Talk about a blow to my self esteem. It has taken me a bit to "shake" this one. I also applied for a different job at a different hospital...I was once again not chosen for an interview. Thus, the restless stirring continues. Micah encourages me with "it wasn't meant to be," and, as much as I do believe those words, the hurt (I guess is what I'm feeling) is there. And so the waiting goes hand in hand with the restless stirring.

Happy New Year!

Once again, it is hard to believe that another year has come and gone. It was a great year, I'm happy to say :). Micah started a new job at the beginning of 2008, and this year is once again starting a new job (still at the same place in case you were wondering). I had a great 9th birthday - Micah surprised me by having my family come see me to celebrate. They all pulled it off. McKenna continues to entertain, and she seems to get funnier each day. Of course that doesn't mean she's an angel all of the time! ;) I got certified in my position at work and got a promotion. So all in all, it's been a great year - flooding apartments and all. We had some losses this year...Micah's grandma amongst them...but we got through those times as a family. As a result of that particular loss we were able to reconnect with family. It is sad that it takes a funeral to bring everyone together, but that is usually how it goes.
And the BIGGEST news? We have found a house. We are in the process of buying it. And I said I'd NEVER live in Texas! Haha. Here I am, and I don't think we'll be going anywhere anytime soon...but you never know what life has in store!
So Happy New Year!! :)

It's raining...in our apartment!

you read that right. remember back in july when our apartment flooded while we were on vacation? well, this time it was a doozy. we had water coming out of the ceiling in our bedroom, the walls in the living room, the light in the utility room, the ceiling fan in the dining room, and the a/c vent in the kitchen. i'm glad we were home when this one happened, or i probably wouldn't have a computer to type on right now! as soon as i realized what was happening, i paged maintenance - you know these things NEVER happen during "regular business hours" - then i proceeded to my new neighbor's apartment, who i just happen to know is on the maintenance staff. this was about 11 pm, so i woke him up...he came over, surveyed what was going on, and ran upstairs to get the woman upstairs to find out what was going on. the problem? the woman upstairs didn't hear his incessant banging on her door. he went to get the key to her apt from the office, only to discover that key wasn't there. he ended up drilling her lock off to get in - she was asleep. how anyone slept through the knocking...no pounding...i'll never know. anyway, she had thrown a load of laundry in before heading to lala land, and lo and behold her washing machine hose had detached...so she didn't have the water up there - it was all down here. keep in mind mckenna was in bed for all of this...
so the "on call" maintenance guy gets here to help. the two of them get the wet/dry vac to at least get some of the water up. they did what they could, and we were told that the carpet company would be there in the morning to do more. i had to be at class, so micah was here when the company got here. the worker asked micah - who doesn't get paid to do this job - if he thought the padding needed to be pulled. micah said "whatever you think," so the guy DIDN'T pull the padding! as you might imagine it STUNK in here by the time i got home. YUCK. on monday morning i wrote up a nice letter for the management about the situation, and that day someone else from the company came and tore up lots - LOTS - of padding. once that was out, it was much better. during all of this, our living room furniture had all been put in the middle of the room, and mckenna's room was the same way - her room is adjacent to the utility room, so her floor was SOAKED. the guy said they would be back on wednesday to lay new pad...
so yesterday the original guy from friday came to lay pad. i'm SO glad i was home when he was doing this job. first of all, he was convinced that we were going to have to move additional items to replace the pad...i of course was not about to have to move anything else back, so i objected and found a way for him to be able to do his job. i moved a few boxes, moved the table and what do you know? i was right :). secondly, i walked in as he was laying the carpet back down in the living room. we have direct tv, and the cord is above the carpet...he had it under the carpet, which would have been great if this were our HOUSE...so he had to lift up his work to get the cord back out. and the best thing...he and his helper moved mckenna's crib out of her room into the hallway to do her floor. problem? they couldn't get the crib back into her room because the door was in the way. getting it out wasn't a problem. his solution? i guess you'll have to take the crib apart (smirk). my solution? i'll take the door off the hinges and get it back in there. he left, and i proceeded to get out my handy-dandy cordless drill, took the door off, got the bed back in, put the door back, and fixed the bed (a bolt had come out, causing the mattress to slope in one corner). TADA! what a woman. i then vacuumed areas that hadn't been cleaned since we moved in...all throughout the house!! who needed the gym yesterday? :)
so now our apartment is back to "normal"...that is until they come and tear out the ceiling in the utility room. never a dull moment!

A Good Feeling

this is crazy. i feel at a loss this morning because i was not able to go to the gym. i had to take my car in to get an alignment done, so i'm without a vehicle. and it's a good feeling - because i WANTED to go the gym. it's hard NOT going. that is a new feeling for me. how many days does it take to form a habit? :)

Bruised feet?

so the other day i was changing mckenna, and i noticed she had what appeared to be a bruise on the top of her foot. it wouldn't surprise me - she has scrapes and bruises from all of her tumbles! as i looked closer, i noticed she had several of these "bruises" on BOTH feet. this is what i saw:

bruises? i think not. no, they are TAN LINES!! she wears croc shoes in the pool!

and an update on the gym sitch...i took her back last week, against her will, for only 15 minute segments. i didn't get the greatest workouts, but by friday she was playing with the kids instead of sitting on one of the workers laps. this morning i took her - and she told me bye! maybe this is a breakthrough...i can only hope, because i had a great workout!! :)

Water Water Everywhere

We are back from vacation! It was great. We went up to IL, spent a night at the casino, a night at the country, and a night at home. The casino - on the river; the country - on the lake; and home - near the flooding from the Mississippi - but not too close! We saw lots of water while we were gone. And what do we come home to? Standing water in our bedroom.

Let me explain. We have a vanity that is part of the "bedroom" area; the toilet and shower are separate. So apparently a pipe busted under the sink...and we have no idea when this happened. What I do know is that we were all exhausted. On that Monday morning we had gotten up, gotten packed, and headed to St. Louis. We went to the brewery for a tour, then drove downtown to Hooters for a late lunch. We left from there for the airport. McKenna did not have much opportunity for a nap, so she was not the happiest camper by the time we got to the airport. We did, however, get to upgrade to first class - definitely the way to go! Our flight was good - other than the tired child - and we got in on time. It was almost 9:30 by the time we got home...we didn't bother unpacking. We headed straight to Stan and Sue's, where we resided for the week while our carpet padding was replaced - in the bedroom, the hallway, and the closet! We had to put it all back together on Thursday - our bed was in the living room when we came home that day! We stayed here on Thursday night and headed back to the rents' house for the 4th of July. We had a great time that day, too :).

Now I am anxiously awaiting McKenna to get back into somewhat of a normal schedule...her sleep schedule was all of out whack for almost 2 weeks!

And speaking of McKenna...Micah and I joined the gym a few weeks ago, and they offer childcare there. Well, the first couple of days were great - I got to workout for over an hour each day! But the next two days I was paged to come get her - she was screaming when I walked in! Vacation came along, so we've been out since then. I attempted to go back this morning - after talking to her about where we were going - to no avail. We didn't even make it inside the building before she started crying. I'm not sure what to do about this!!

And...work. I currently work from 6a-6p. That will be changing very soon to 7a-7:30p. YUCK. I am not looking forward to that time change...so I am seeking other types of part-time employment so I don't have to do that for very long. Keep us in your prayers!