Eat, Sleep, Facebook, Look for a job

So, I totally have not written anything since April! I went back and read my other blogs, and realized that I pretty much use this as a way to complain. I guess I have had nothing to complain about since April, because you know, I totally had my life re-figured out and this NEW plan was going to be the one, the ultimate plan, the one that worked out they way I wanted it to! Well, I'm guessing God had quite a chuckle in August when I found out we'd be MOVING again!!!! Now, don't get me wrong, I was and still am very excited to be back in my home state, but I have been very confused as to why it took so long! Why did we have to move? I mean, I was about to start school (something I was struggling with for a long time), I had a job set up with the most wonderful family, and I had and AWESOME group of friends/church family! 


Fast forward:


Now we are entering the second week of November!! We are pretty much all moved in to our townhome, which I must say, is probably the nicest place we've ever lived in together! We live in Homestead, FL which for those of you who don't know your FL geography, that is SOUTH of Miami and is the city that Hurricane Andrew destroyed in 1992! Basically, we were advised to live in a gated community here...um yea. 
Jamison is currently working 10 hour days, 6 yes I said SIX days a week! Starting next year his 60 hour work weeks will turn into 70-80 hour work weeks! Yay! 
Hmm, let's see what else... oh that is right, I have NO job! Oh what bundles of fun that is. Yes, taking a vacation from work is nice, but when you have no money and no place to go, not working is the most boring thing. I applied for a teaching certificate and I am currently trying to work at ANY school that will take me in..or actually, ANY place that will take me! It is not the money that I am worried about, it is my SANITY! I don't know how people choose to be unemployed! 


Well, let's see what else. Oh, I made sure that we found a church near us! We started going there about a month ago and we enjoy it. No church could ever compare to our beloved Trinity, but it will be ok. I am already signed up to teach 3 year old Sunday school and we are thinking if joining a young couples group (kind of like a CG). 


Needless to say, even though I am happy to be home and near my family, I still have to re-adjust! BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT the thing that puts the cherry on top of all of this experience is this: in a little less than a year and 1/2, we will be moving again (a small, minor detail that was not really mentioned to us when this job was offered). Oh joy, another place where I will have to try and make new friends, find a new church, and maybe find a job (ha). 

Jesus is a' callin'

I have REALLY been having a tug on my heart about teaching Sunday school. For those of you that don't know, I teach 3-4 yr. olds on Sunday and I have really been getting burnt out and bored with it. It is hard for me because most Sundays, I am just annoyed with the fact that I have to be there when really I should be joyful in teaching the Word of God. How can the children be excited to learn about it when I am not?! I have really been praying about this and I realized that the preschool age is not the way for me and I am really interested in teaching middle school. Preschool Sunday school is easy peezy lemon squezzy and does not challenge me AT ALL. I can't have deep, meaningful conversations, I don't feel as needed by the younger kids, and the stories are just to easy!! I mean how hard is it to teach about God's love through the story of Noah OR about how flippin' AWESOME Jesus is through all the stories of His mircales?
The Lord has reminded me repeatedly how much the middle schoolers REALLY need a positive role model. I have also been reminded about how much middle school just sucked- I mean so many things are changing, peer pressure, gossip, I mean total nightmare! When all this stuff starts coming into play, I feel that it is the most important time for kids to be reminded of God's grace and that no matter how "gross" their hearts are, He loves us. These kids need someone that they can relate to and someone that can be honest and vulnerable with them about how "disgusting" my own heart is and the challenges I face as an adult. I am ready to be challenged by these kids, to learn from them, and to just constantly remind them of how much we are loved by the Lord. Thinking about teaching next year gets me so excited to have some awesome convos about J.E.S.U.S.!!!!!

David Williamson MUST pray every Tuesday

Holy cannoli! What an amazing two weeks this has been! I found out I was accepted into the Mental Health Counseling program at ODU! I was really excited about this until I thought about how the hell I was going to pay for it?! Here is the deal: I have been waiting to hear if I have received an assitantship to help me pay for grad school, but the problem was that I had to accept my invitation to the program within TWO weeks of receiving my letter. ACK! This decision weighed heavily on my mind for a whole week: Do I just accept it and if I don't get an assistantship, just don't go? Do I go and take out 3967483769846984736ion dollars in loans? OR Do I just defer my acceptance into spring, in hopes that maybe my, what seemed so FAR away, dream would come true? Well, thanks to you, David Williamson, my prayers for getting into ODU have been answered. But let's take this even further by saying, THANK YOU David, God must have heard you, yes only you, and answered my money situation! The program can be done part-time, which means I can continue to work and go to school at the same time!! Whoop whoop!

On a more serious note, I have, myself, been praying about this issue for a long time. It was really weighing on me and thinking about this was so exhausting! Tuesday night I feel asleep praying to God that I would somehow work this out and that I would be content with any decision made. You know, my prayers were answered, maybe not the way I really expected them to be answered but they were answered....

So David, please please please, pray every Tuesday: ONLY your prayers will do!

I got my mind on my money, my money on my mind..

Money.....
Ohhhhhh.emmmmmmm.gggeeeeeeeeee

One of our biggest idols. Money. Crap. I am totally guilty of LOVING money, the idea of money, and LOVING all the things that money can buy! I find myself daydreaming ALL the time about things that I can buy; I even have a list on my fridge of all the things I need/want and will probably be getting in the near future.

I defintely have a LOVE/HATE relationship with money. By that, I mean I LOVE having money and spending it, but I HATE not having enough money and having to worry about how the hell are we ever going to afford a house,GRAD SCHOOOOOOOLLL, kids??!!! How are we ever going to get our life started?! You know, get all the things that you are supposed to get after you get married?!

Here comes the dreaded thought, rising up from the pit of my stomach like word vomit:

..Student loans..

But wait. That is not part of our plan! More money? Take out more money?! But we've already taken out enough! This isn't fair. We were going to save some money!

Money. Money. Money.

It is so hard to not think about it all the time when living requires you to have a lot of it. I think this might be one of the hardest things and will continue to be one of the hardest things to ever just let go of. Why is it so hard to be faithful enough to know that we will be taken care of, no matter how many dollllaaaas we have in the bank? How do you do that? Am I a bad person because I feel like I might not be able to EVER get over this?

Extra Virgin Olive Blog

Sooo, I honestly have no idea what I am doing or what to write about. I am currently not working (not for long, thank goodness) so I honestly have NOTHING to do on a day like today when I feel I might be getting sick and there is snow on the ground. I will not be driving anywhere today, because honestly, I do not know how to drive in the snow, nor does anyone else in VA for that matter. Maybe I should start doing the challenge of reading a book every week, but I have a feeling that task might fail once I am enrolled in school and probably won't have much time to really think for myself.

Ohhhh, school. My one and only child. Unfortunately, the program I am interested in is a MUST full time program and they "suggest" not having a job during it. Well guess what ODU, some people need to work to pay for their credit card bills that they have maxed out because of being in school. Needless to say, starting in August, I will no longer have time for myself or anything else. Between working 5 days a week and 4 classes, I am pretty sure I won't even have time for my hubby or even sleep. But hey, who needs sleep? Yes, maybe when you have a degree you make about $25,000 more per year than if you didn't, but I have come to realize that this statistic is crap. I say this because I have already spent about 30 grand on my undergrad degree and will be spending another 30-50 grand on my Masters. Well, I won't be making 100 grand when I graduate soooo...I should have just stayed working at the grocery store, the hours suck, but I wouldn't have any debt and I'd be making really good money. So really, once I am done with college, my job will basically pay for what I spent to go to college and I will paying it for the rest of my life. But nooo, we were told to go to college, get a good job, get payed well, blah blah blah....frustrating!