Our Growing Family

Well we have some exciting news....Our family has grown! 

We are now the proud parents of 8 week old TWINS! 

Meet the newest Thurmons: Draper and Dillon

 

  DRAPER

(namesake Don Draper of MadMen) 

DILLON

(namesake Dillon Panthers of Friday Night Lights)

Our little boys are adjusting quite nicely. Mom and Dad are still getting used to 2 AM potty trips and not being able to look away for fear of carpet disaster or couch mutilation.
Draper and Dillon are brothers born on 9-15-12. They are at least 3/4 lab which is just fine with us! They play together a lot, thereby pretty much entertaining themselves. Squeak toys are in high demand as are evening cuddles with mom. Bath time is less anticipated but is much needed. 

Our new additions should keep us pretty occupied for the next several months. My sisters about died when I told them we needed a Skype date because "we had news."  Puppies weren't the expected announcement. :) 

For now, I'm just ready to get through potty training! Two pups.. what were we thinking!?

Seasons

It makes me sad to see that my last blog post was three months ago.. Good grief.. Can I just chalk it up to being in a crazy season of my life? Well I'm going to and you can secretly look upon my lack of dedication in disgust. Thank you for visiting.

I suppose I left off in the midst of house-purchasing, work-event-planning, and nephew introductions. To catch you up...

Work has been a lot of fun lately. I helped to coordinate our departments' Halloween party/decoration contest. Our team has won two years in a row and we were aiming for a three-peat. I had my work cut out for me but everything turned out great! We kicked some serious Halloween butt and took home the trophy! Can you guess what our theme was?

Since softball ended, Aaron and I joined an office kickball league. One would think that we would all be stellar at a sport that you're pretty much required to play in every P.E. class you'll ever have. This was not the case. We went 0 - 8 but had a lot of fun in the process!

We finally were able to close on our house in late September. This was not without heartache. Our loan fell through a week before closing and we took a pretty significant (and unplanned) financial knife-to-the-chest to get it sorted out. Still, we are here now and it feels amazing to be in our own place again. We are so incredibly blessed and humbled by the love and generosity of everyone who prayed for us along the way. I must say though that we would not be where we are now without our amazing brother and sister in law! Any attempts that I might make at trying to come  up with the right words to express my gratitude would fall so So SO incredibly short. Thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU!

And as ready as we were to settle down and re-enter life with just the two of us, I was not at all ready to leave my sweet niece-babies and new little nephew. My heart was heavy with thankfulness and sadness as we pulled the U-Haul out of their driveway. I am so grateful for the nine months that we were able to share with Adam & Lisa. I don't think I would have had it any other way. We are so lucky to be so loved.

We still have a lot of unpacking to do. With every box I unpack I'm hit with memories of the season of struggle we had just been thrown into when everything was being boxed up. A year ago this week, I had just lost my job only to have Aaron come home to tell me he'd been laid off too. We were confident and hopeful that God would have a plan for us that would be greater than anything we could have imagined for ourselves. Now, we live in a whole new city, have great jobs, and own a house! What an incredible, amazing and wonderful season we are entering into and I can describe the one we just left the same way.

Everything happens for a reason and my God has ALWAYS been faithful to me.

Baby Raylan

I have a NEPHEW!!!!!

Presenting baby Raylan Givens Thurmon!

Just kidding - 

Judson James was born at
12:58p on 8-1-12 weighing 7lbs 14oz!

Now that you've arrived, I thought I'd take the time to introduce you to life out here...

For starters, you have three psycho sisters: Crusty, Terrorist, & Filibuster. One stubborn, loves-you-to-bits momma. A hard-ass, gun-wielding daddy. More aunts, uncles and grandparents than you'll know what to do with... all of whom prayed for you and have loved you since we knew you were coming. 

Not to brag or anything but you have a pretty freakin awesome Auntie who is chomping at the bit to cuddle you and watch you grow. (Not going to lie, not looking forward to the diaper changing logistics.)

Most importantly, Jesus loves you!  He's loved you from before you were even a speck in your mommas belly or a thought in your daddy's mind. God will NEVER fail you. Trust in Him. He made you perfect and to be loved! And that you are. 

Not a Post About a Baby

This will not be a blog introducing the world to my new little nephew. Yes, this is me crushing your Thurmonstrosity blog-reading dreams. The hospital pushed my sister-in-law's induction date to Wednesday. I know, we were all bummed.. though not nearly as much as his momma!

Instead, I thought it'd be nice to let you in on a little bit of life's happenings outside of house-buying and nephew-birthing. Here goes:

1.  I've been taking a class at work to learn how to eat healthier and it's working! I've lost 7 pounds! Woo hoo! Who knew I ate that much cake and pizza???  ({Points to self.}This girl.) The great part is, everyone at work who is participating in the program is seeing results! It's awesome! We have such a unique culture at the office. It seems like everyone is into eating right and exercising. (Except on the days when cookies are left on the filing cabinet outside of my cube. Today.) I just feel so much better about my body right now, which is exactly the confidence I've been praying for.

2. Aaron and I collectively make up 12% of my company's co-ed softball team! I play right field mostly. I guess that means they trust me to throw far and run after a ball. Though I'm not very good, to say the least. Still, I got to design our shirts! 

Please excuse the insinuation of waste abandonment. 

Our team is going to compete this week in the playoffs. Apparently, we are so intimidating that our competitors can't muster up enough players and end up forfeiting.  

Probably the ONLY reason we've made it to the playoffs! :) 

3. I've signed myself up to co-coordinate several Fall office events. The first, a company-wide talent show, will be a volunteer opportunity to showcase the best talent the rebate-marketing-world has to offer. We will be putting on the show for kids, families, and staff at a local non-profit hospital! The thespian in me is a little bit excited! The second, and historically most-enthusiastic, event is a massive Halloween exhibit. Each department chooses a theme and very truly goes all out with decorations, costumes, games, you name it. The CEO picks a winning department and treats them to a happy hour! We've already started working on it and it's not even August! I've definitely got my work cut out for me!

4. Okay I know I said I'd steer clear of anything house related, but I've also been busy brainstorming all the creative and crafty projects I want to take on in our new house. Pinterest is totally my friend! Check out all my pending ideas here! You just have to promise if you come visit me not to point to everything and say that you saw it on Pinterest. Hmmm.. Maybe I'll add that to my house rules craft project. :) Houzz is also a great resource for anyone in future-homeownership-la-la-land.

There's really not much else to report.
I'm very anxious to move. We are super ready to settle in and feel stationary for the first time in almost a year. What I'm most looking forward to is being more involved in a church. We are so limited right now with our social capabilities purely because we live so far away. I've been praying for good, Godly girl friends. I know God is going to provide them because He promises to listen to us and answer our prayers in accordance with His will and purpose for our lives. I know that Godly fellowship is key to a healthy faith and can't wait to see who He brings into my life!

Blessings!

Being Efficient

"Efficient" has to be in my top 10 list of favorite words. I love being efficient. I hate things that interrupt my efficiency. It is very important to me that I be characterized by this word.

The jump back into house hunting was quick. We found out last Wednesday that we'd need to start looking for a new home and Friday we already had viewings scheduled. Again we spent hours viewing this floor plan and that... one builder here, another there... houses both new and old.

It takes a lot of vision to buy a home. You're likely going into a home that has yet to be adorned with drywall, plumbing and other pleasantries. You might be fortunate enough to view a house that is ready to go, neat and tied up with a bow. Or you're going into a home that belongs to someone else, with their food in the fridge, their furniture on the carpet, and filled with their love. In any situation, you have to figure out how these four walls can be yours. Sometimes it means hypothetically re-painting, mentally arranging, and emotionally filling a room.

Every time I walked into a house, I would stand in the kitchen and relive our church small group meetings. Could I see a pot of queso on the counter? Upwards of 15 people fitting on and around my imagined furnishings? I would walk into the backyard and picture my husband mowing the grass, growing his garden, and our future babies playing with our also future puppy. I'd picture our bedrooms. Where will we put Tyler & Aubri when they most certainly come to visit? (Hint.) Is the sun going to wake me up every morning? (Not a morning person.) Where will we put our kiddos? (Not a hint.) 

When we finished walking through our future home, I called Aaron into the bathroom. I wanted to see what he was thinking. We are very stoic house hunters. I don't like giving away my feelings about a house, especially if a salesman is present. I'm sorry, no I do not in fact like to be stalked through each room. No I don't need you to try to put a positive spin on every negative thing I point out. And no, I will not call you back as your house sucks. But I digress... I called Aaron into our future bathroom and didn't even really have to ask him anything. We both smiled. I, in my ever-energetic nature, started jumping up and down and doing my I-LOVE-THIS-HOUSE dance.

A few hours later we'd finished paperwork and drove home, crossing our fingers in hopes the builder would accept our offer. By Sunday afternoon, we were homeowners again! (See, I told you I love being efficient!)

We are both feeling MUCH better about this house. We got a great deal, a stellar interest rate, and will have a lot of space to fill. The best part is that we will move into our home just in time to start decorating for Halloween!! I cant wait for Trick-or-Treaters!!

Now we just have to continue praying that God will align all the final details and we will be able to close on this home without any major complications.

God knows exactly what we need and when we need it. We are so fortunate in that He has provided us with the means to own our own place!

God is good.

Get excited! The next post should be about the little one headed our way this weekend!!!

Nesting

Well, I'm sad to say that Aaron and I are no longer invisible-homeowners.

To make a long story short, there were conditions presented at the point of sale that played a significant role in our decision to purchase our would-be home. These conditions conflicted with what we were presented with several days after the contract was signed, due to a clerical error. Despite providing our builder with every opportunity to act with ethical values and correct their error, and having done everything short of pursuing legal action, we decided it would be best to sever the contract.

As you can imagine, Aaron and I are very disappointed with the end result as we begin our pursuit once again. I'm probably taking it a little harder than Aaron is. I had already started nesting if you will, picking out colors, arranging furniture, and the like. I was beginning to envision bringing home our first puppy, watching our future babies learn to walk, and dream-coordinating family get-togethers. Women do these things.

Aaron is doing his best to make the right decisions for our family. I am blessed that he, in love and his desire to provide for us, refuses to let any ounce of bad business play a part in the establishment of our new home.

I am very thankful that God has given us the means to dust ourselves off and redirect our search efforts. After all, if it wasn't meant to be, then I'm even more excited about the prospect of what He has in store. Knowing that our future home is out there takes the edge off of my discouragement, though it is not completely erased.

Anyway, I don't suspect it will be long before I have news of our next-first home. I am confident that if God wants us here and wants us to have a home of our own, He will provide. We are getting anxious to have our own place as talk of babies is filling our current home.


Ha! Don't get too excited. I say babies because not only is my sister-in-law about to pop any day now, but Aaron's cousins just welcomed their new baby girl this week!

Isn't she precious? I cant wait to squish her little face! Soon enough, our new little nephew will be here and we will have a new roommate! Have I mentioned ever that I love being an Auntie? Though, I've long said that we cannot move out of their house until the youngest niece can say Auntie. I'd even settle for "Cwair"! I can't believe I've been so lucky to get to spend these last nine months watching my nieces (and my sister's belly) grow! I know I'm going to miss them terribly when we do find a place of our own. #FavoriteAuntForLife

From Homeless To...

Surprise!!

We're HOMEOWNERS!!

Okay, Okay so we're land owners... or better yet, owners of the first invisible house! As of last week, we are under contract to build our beautiful new home! This is our little piece of [future] heaven on earth.. on a corner lot!

 

As I'm sure you can imagine, we are super excited! Our little home will be anything but. We are going to have so much space in our three bedroom, two and a half bathroom, two car garage, two story home with TWO flex rooms! Sounds like something you'd pick from The Game Of Life, right??

Check out our super sweet floor plan!

 Why yes that is a laundry room upstairs and we will most certainly have that amazing island in our kitchen.


Our neighborhood is going to be awesome, too! We are just feeling so wholly blessed and our cup is so full! God is so very good and faithful!  Now we get to learn a little extra patience by waiting until... wait for it... Thanksgiving to move in.


Never the less, we are ecstatic and can't wait to open up our home to our friends and neighbors and use our little claim on this earth to bring glory to God's kingdom. Thank you for sharing in our joy! Six months ago I would have laughed you out of the room if you'd told me I'd be a homeowner before Christmas ! It just goes to show that His plan for you is greater than you could ever imagine. From homeless to homeowner in less than a year!

Never once did we ever walk alone.

Finally Home

Today marks absolutely nothing special. For once, I happen to have a moment to breathe and catch up to the rest of the spinning world so I'm taking advantage of it and sharing my little marathon with you! Aren't you lucky?

At the Jennings-Lutz wedding

Life is trucking on as usual. Actually, I feel like that is (still) all we are doing on a daily basis. The alarm clock rings for this night owl at 6:10a. We're out of the house by 6:30a, though lately we're pushing 6:45a. This puts me at work just before 8:00a, time we fill by listening to our YouVersion Bible app read us through Exodus, Leviticus, and now Numbers. At work, I hop on the treadmill for as much as 30 minutes.. or the elliptical if I'm feeling especially lazy. Then, I'll shower and head to my cube for the daily grind. About that time, Aaron is arriving at his preferred destination (we carpool) and clocking in. Before I can get through  half of my Outlook tasks and emails, it's 5:30p and Aaron has already been in the car for 45 minutes. If I can bring myself to leave my to-do list undone, we'll hop back in the car and pray that the food is still hot when we get home at 7:00p. If we don't have to cook our own meal and after dishes get cleaned, food put away, and we're changed into our evening attire its at least 8:00p again. My territory on the couch has been sufficiently marked with a nest of pillows and blankets just in time for us watch some awfully addicting Redneck TV like Swamp People, Justified,  or the new favorite, Duck Dynasty. If it's the right cable season, the alternative is typically some Zombie/Apocalypse/Survivalist show... eg. Doomsday Preppers, Walking Dead and the like. If I'm smart, I'll snuggle into my bed before 10:30p to finish all of my 'DrawSomething' games and pray that I hear my alarm in time to do it all again.

See why breathing is a little difficult?
I'm sure we could have it a lot worse. And I keep reminding myself that it's only temporary.

In fact, we are going to look at houses this weekend! I'm very excited. Aaron is very adamant about wanting to live outside of the city so we're hoping that we can find a little brick and mortar to call our own Home Sweet Home. I feel like such a grown up sometimes it makes me sick. Can I please just go back to college? Life was hard but I at least didn't have to think about mortgages and property taxes. Oh the joys of adulthood.

Planning to buy a house has challenged us to consider exactly where we want to be, not just an address but actual roots. Unlike an apartment (or mooching off of the good grace of others), buying a house kind of plants you for awhile. This makes me nervous. I'm not sure that I want to live in Dallas for my whole life. Okay, that's a bit dramatic but even thinking that we will probably start our family here is a little YIKES!

Lately I'm wanting to run away and start over. I totally would be okay if God was like, "Claire.. Aaron.. move to Zimbabwe and live in a hut and kill your dinner with your bare hands!" Of course, I say that now and I know God is just laughing at how much I think I know. I suppose this discomfort is one of the burdens we bear knowing that this Earth is not our final home. I can't wait to finally be Home. Well, I can... and I will. :)

Providence

Everyone-visit-Claire's-Cube day at work! Free Donuts!

One of the most frustrating challenges I'm experiencing with my new job is having three hours of my life sucked away every day to commuting. It's a wonder my laundry gets done. Please excuse the lapse in blogging you may have noticed over the past few months. I had forgotten how much I enjoy penning my troubles and homely adventures for public display and had traded that satisfaction for the comfort of a full eight hours of sleep and other absurdities, like dinner. I need to do better. I'm hoping that things will settle back down once we do.

If you've been keeping up with my life via other social mediums you may already know that my sweet husband is also gainfully employed once again! He is now finishing off his third week as a Project Coordinator for the Information Services department of a pediatric hospital. I'd love to tell you what he does but I don't even think he knows the full scope of his title just yet. He's important and he's going places - take my word for it. ;)

On the other side of the city, I work as an Account Specialist for a rebate processing company. Sounds fancy, right? Well it actually is a lot more challenging than you might expect. I manage about twenty unique accounts for clients who run rebate promotions for their products, and co-manage even more. This week actually marks the end of my training, or at least I'm going to say it does since I'm now training the new girl! Of course sitting in a cubicle all day isn't exactly living the dream, but I've certainly done what I can to make it home. I even have a window view!

My office-Beta, affectionately named "Rebait" (Get it?)

Slowly but surely we are both making friends. We are still attending a church that is of course no where near our home or where we work, but it's probably the best place for us while we are in this transition period. We participate in a young, married couples small group (when we can) and have developed relationships there. We go shooting often and continue to stock up on explosive target powder.

This girl is walking now!

The nieces catch a lizard!

Mostly, we are looking forward to being in our own place again. We have really enjoyed living with the brother and sister in law but the drive is not manageable long-term. Plus, we cant drink the water (they are on baby no. 4)! With the horrendous price gouging that seems to have caught on like Swine flu (...too soon?), we're abandoning the hope of finding an affordable apartment within a <30 minute commuting window from work. It's looking as though this Thurmon duo will continue to live with the aforementioned Thurmons' until about the time that their newest rug-rat makes his debut. While putting away our paychecks, we are hoping to save up to buy a house!

I think that should get you up to speed. With holidays, weddings, bridal showers, graduations, reunions and what ever else you want to throw at us coming up in the next few weeks, life is going to continue in this bliss of chaos. ...Aside from that you can continue to pray for us to find a home, a church home, friends and a little peace.

It's funny how God works. I know you don't need to hear that but from this end of things, having played witness to a bit of His Providence, things aren't so bad. I began this blog having just lost my job only to have my husband lose his weeks later. We moved, not only to a new city but into someone else's home. We sent hundreds of resumes, went on dozens of interviews, and are finally here. I am so thankful that God brought us through it all, not just that things are semi-normal again but I am thankful that it happened. God is so good and even though I don't understand why these things happen, they do. I'm blessed to know that God trusts me with a little struggle every now and then.

Coasters Cupcakes and Commuting

Well my first two weeks of work have gone great. There is a lot to learn so I'm super busy all day. This is a much welcome change from my last job. The biggest downside is that I have an hour and a half commute each way. [Hence my lack of blogging.] I've taken to leaving the house before 6:15A so that I can hit the in-office gym for about half an hour before work. This is nice because I just go to bed in my workout attire and grab my bag in the morning and go. It makes for an easy morning.

On Friday, me and 100 of my closest friend-commuters were stuck for four hours behind the cleanup crew of an early morning accident. I had just passed the last viable exit as I came to a parked halt on the road, blocked on one side by a cable fence and on the other by a ditch. So for the majority of my morning, I rationed my phone (no car charger) and radio (for fear of draining my car battery). I changed out of my gym clothes in the car. And abandoned the car to hop the freeway to use the restroom at some tractor company. It was an eventful morning. Thankfully, my boss thought it was rather funny and didn't mind at all when I strolled in for work just before lunch.

My Desk!

I can tell that I'm going to like working here. We even had a mid-afternoon ice cream social just because. Ahhh snack time. Someone knows the way to my heart.

Aaron spent all of last week camping in Oklahoma. Ever the survivalist, he fashioned himself a bed out of rope and thick branches, sleeping under a tarp.

Turns out, despite his lack of a comfortable nights sleep, he was the only dry camper, as it poured for the first 48 hours of his little adventure. It was a great time, or so I'm told.


Now that life's starting to look more normal, we've had a few fun adventures around the house.

For my boss's birthday, I made DIY coasters! I swear these are the easiest craft ever - so cheap and super fast to make. I ended up making four sets. They turned out great!

Coasters

The father-in-law came to visit this weekend, which meant a trip to the local gun store. Thankfully, no one came home with more than what they intended to purchase.

Between my sister and myself, SIXTY cupcakes have been made in the past week. I revisited my go-to French Toast Cupcake recipe for "Cupcake Wars" that took place at my sisters office.

Aaron and I played house a little bit on Sunday, we took the older two nieces to see The Lorax. Everything went so smoothly. Both the girls stayed entertained throughout and we didn't have to take anyone to the bathroom mid-movie! Quite a successful outing if you ask me.

Now we're just waiting for things on Aaron's end to come through, jobwise. I'm getting super excited about the idea of having our own place. It's actually rather bittersweet. I like living here a whole lot, but it's going to be fun to have our own home. I'm too much of a Susie Homemaker to be restricted to being hosted and not getting to play host. It's going to be nice.

Someone please point out to me when we are in the moving process that I actually put in writing that I was actually looking forward to it. I'm sure I will need the reminder.

In the mean time, pray that a job comes through for Aaron. Pray that my commute is light and swift. Oh and pray that The Walking Dead comes back soon!

Submission

Today's blog is about submission. It's also about jobs.
Niether are "fun" topics. But there is much to be said.

My last post had quite a hook to it and I'm happy to say that you shant be disappointed with your wait.
Our patience produced a lot of fruit these past few weeks... Aaron likes to pray that God would give us fruit from the Tree of Wonderful Jobs. Well, God definitely came through.

Earlier this month, I was nearing the end of my sanity rope. I finally broke down and applied for a sort of 'sure thing' job [though nothing in life truly is...] Within 24 hours they had given me an offer. As politically correct as I can be while saying this... I did NOT want this job. It would have likely been a fairly well-paying opportunity, however my creative soul just couldn't bear the thought of making 100-plus calls from a cubicle farm during a 50-plus hour workweek.

But I need a job because we need money.. and now. So my sweet husband, in his ever-faithful efforts to provide for us, asked his teary-eyed wife to take it anyway. And I did, though not quietly.

...

I think it's important to distinguish the differences between Godly submission and being a doormat. Godly submission does not mean that you are voiceless. It does not mean that you cannot make your case, state your opinion or pour out your heart. It also does not mean that he chooses everything we do, his decision could be to let me decide.  It just means that ultimately, with loving consideration of me, my husband makes the decision, be it in my favor or not. It does not mean I have to be happy with his choice. But it does mean that I have to respect it.

Submission does not make you feel like a doormat. I have never felt taken advantage of. I have never felt that he did not consider my feelings and opinions. Before he makes a decision, we talk about it... A LOT [much to his exhaustion, I'm sure.] I make sure that he is fully aware of where I stand and why I believe the things that I do. I make sure he understands how a decision will affect me. He seeks to know me as a Godly husband should (Phil 2:3-5 & 1 Peter 3:7). In love, he chooses what he believes will be the best thing for our family and indeed, it makes me feel very loved.

...

Though I had accepted that job, the next day I recieved a call with a second job offer. My dream job! I'd have an office with a fancy desk and I'd get to manage people. I'd get to work at a fantastic institution in the beautiful wooded parts of Texas and I'd be living my little marketing, creativity dream. Though my heart was leaping for joy, Aaron's was very concerned.

The area that this job was in would significantly limit his career opportunity, among other, smaller things. But, we talked about it a lot. He faithfully prayed and God revealed to him scripture that convicted him of his role as a self-sacrificing husband (Ephesians 5:22-33 our wedding verse!). Through this, he felt that God was telling him to let me take this job, which I did.

...

Though this would be my dream job [my 99% fantastic and wonderful dream job], I was still super nervous about Aaron. I knew that this would mean we were going to struggle financially, live in a town we weren't yet comfortable with and he would have to wrestle with not being a typical "provider" for me. Still we moved foward with plans to take this great, great, great job.

...

But wait! There's more! [Gosh I should do commercials]

Yesterday, I was offered a third job. This job would keep us here near the city, allow us to be more financially conservative and would retain greater career opportunity for Aaron. But this was not going to be the job like #2 was. I'd work with a wonderful group of people and for a dynamic organization in a position that had lots of room for advancement. Still, it was not the job.

But once again, my sweet husband asked me to take this final opportunity. This time, with much, much discussion and with many, many tears I did. I'm trying really hard not to look at this as though Aaron made me turn down my dream job, though that's kind of what happened.

I dont want to confuse you. This job is going to be great! This company is going to be fantastic and I'm super excited!! I HAVE A JOB!!!

Being with Aaron and trying to attain a Godly marriage has not been easy-peasy. It's taught me a lot about compromise. My new job will give us the best of both worlds. I will have a good career, with a good company. We will save money. Aaron will have better opportunity here. It's a win-win, I guess. If I had made the decision, we would probably be doing something different. But that's not my burden to bear, no matter how much I sometimes wish it were.

I'm still disappointed that I dont get the fancy office and the management role.. that things couldn't have worked out to be favorable for us both in that area. But if this is God showing us He can be faithful and giving Aaron opportunities to be a Christ-like leader and me chances to relenquish control. I'm going to submit to God and to Aaron and Jesus will give me the joy I need!

Even though I'm bummed, I feel very, VERY loved. I know that Aaron wouldn't ask me to do this if he didn't love me because I know how much he hates to see me upset. I know that he is lovingly providing for us in the best way he can. What wife wouldn't respect that?



Princess Pibbit

Check out my super adorable niece singing all of

Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid from memory... 

Shes FOUR!

 [[I know.. I'm bragging]]

(I should mention.. she's also fascinated with watching herself on my computer...)

Spoiler Alert

Man, I've been such a slacker on keeping this thing updated with life's happenings but so much has been happening that it's been hard to stop to write it all down! You can give me an 'F' for the month of February.

To pick up where we left off...
My corny husband planned a super cute Valentines date for the two of us. We spent the Day O' Saint Valentine at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens! His rationale [and yes, he actually said this to me] "I didn't want to get you a small bouquet of flowers. So I thought I'd take you to see a whole field of them."
Doesn't that just make you want to burst into confetti sprinkles?Yeeahhh, he's got that affect on me.

Dying to see pictures?
Jeez Louise. Hold your horses!

This is me!

 

Super pretty flowers!

 I learned that you should plant tulips underneath pansies
because as the pansies die off the tulips are just sprouting up through the ground!

 

Aaron walking through an archway of trees!

  

Goofy headband that reminded me of a spider!

A fun time was had by all!

Alright now back to the topic that is today's disclosure.

Unfortunately I cant divulge a lot of details because we are still in the process of some big decision making. You'll have to fill in the blanks on your own. 

It turns out that even if your living with family, you still can't be unemployed forever. We are getting closer and closer to having tossed all our pennies into the Fountain of Never-Ending Bills and Expenditures [aka the Fountain of Real Life][aka the Fountain of Youth's evil stepsister]. I don't know about the husband, but wifey here has just about reached the end of her sanity rope. It takes a lot out of me to get excited about a potential job only to be turned down after weeks of waiting and waiting and ... you get the idea. 

We have been fervently praying that God would 'get-after-it!', so to speak. In addition to spending a lot of time praying over our situation, we've also begun a chronological one-year Bible reading plan. It's been awesome. Though we miss a day every now and then, we just wrapped up Job and are back into Genesis. I felt rather convicted the other night because I had been asking God to work in MY timeline and not remaining patient with His plan. 

Funny though, the next day He moved! Having been turned down for the hospital job I'd been praying for, I was feeling very discouraged about not having as many irons in the fire as I'd like.  Well God was so faithful and knew just what I needed. Not only did he give me the courage to apply for a job I wasn't feeling confident about, he also sent a great potential opportunity my way! 

So this past week has been filled with a lot of excitement with interviews and 

SPOILER ALERT

..job offers??? 

Yikes! 

Stay tuned for what may be an end to the blog tale of the homeless, jobless, moneyless, bum bride!!

LoveStory

Ahhh Love is in the Air! 

Valentines Day is near and what kind of wife would I be if I didn't dote on my sweet husband every so often... 

Today I'm linking up with From Mrs. To Mama to share our love story!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Since June-ish of 2009 

 

 

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met in college. We worked in the same building on campus and Aaron actually was my ex bf's boss! (SCANDALOUS!) Summer of 2009 we started dating after my boss at the time, knowing I was newly single, decided to hire my crush to be my assistant! Thankfully, he was feeling it too! 

 

3. If married, how long have you been married? {do tell}

We have been married for 1 year, 1 month and 22 days! 

I definitely knew he was "the one" long before we were engaged. In fact, we'd only been dating about four months and I just had that feeling. If you've ever had it you know what I mean. The best way to describe it is a feeling of inevitability.. like no matter what happened or what I did, we would end up together. I just knew!

 

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? 

We had a SUPER small wedding near Corpus Christi, TX. I mean like 30 people.

I go into a lot of detail on my "We Do" page.

  

 

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

 Lovey! And we share it interchangeably!

 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1. He seeks God and lovingly leads our family. <<This affects EVERYTHING about our marriage!

2. My honey has such a generous heart.

3. I've never known him to turn down a helping a friend. He is super loyal.

 

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

Ha! Aaron proposed after I had finished [jokingly] arguing with him! He had just accepted a position in another city. We were at a small group and someone asked if that meant we were moving, I piped up and said "Well, HE'S moving. It's up to him if he wants a wife to go with him!" Later when he walked me home I told him that I didn't care if he had asked me by then or not, but I was going to start planning our dang wedding. He asked "Are you done?" I said "Yes" [through gritted teeth]. And he dropped to his knee and asked me! The first words out of my mouth (and I'm not proud of this..) were "Are you shitting me?!" And I proceeded to push him around until I knew he was serious!

Though it wasn't how I would have planned my own proposal, it was perfect because I wouldn't have been surprised by something romantic. Plus this makes for a funnier story!

 

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Hmmm.. I would say neither.. He's more of a candles and music kind of guy. 

[Because he knows I'm a bubble-bath kind of girl.] 

 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I am a sucker for doing something to celebrate an occasion. We can do movies or dinner anytime. I want to go and visit a museum or go snowboarding. I'm not into tangible gifts as much as I am into outings.

 

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

I would love to visit another country together. I've done a lot of traveling on my own and we've gone many places since being together [he calls me his travel agent]. But there's something about serving God side-by-side in a third world that would be amazing to do with my best friend! 

 

Also... I'd be totally okay with going to Disney with him. I went at an age when I didn't appreciate being there as much as I could have. Going with Aaron would be an adventure.

 

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day. 

I have no idea! This is bad. I usually leave this up to him but I guess I should come up with a few little-somethings, huh?

 

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

All I ever ask for is for something well-thought-out. I don't like cop-out gifts. I want something he's put thought, effort and energy into.

 

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. 

The number one thing you can do is seek God together, but in that.. I've found that submitting to his leadership when it really counts makes our marriage that much stronger because he sees me relying on him and I see him providing for me. This is how God designed it.

 

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

 

My sweet hubby lets me be such a weirdo and is a weirdo in return. It's one thing to have someone in your life who lets you be you. It's another when they join you in your quirks!

 

 

Gods Hand

Yes I'm still alive..
No I did not fall off the bandwagon..
And sorry for not giving any notice!!

The last couple of weeks had us moving around so quickly that I didn't get to even think about stopping to breathe for a little bit in the blog world. Now that I've had a moment to rest, there is a lot to catch up on!

This is what my calendar looked like...

Here are the highlights:

Aaron and I both had interviews with the same company
 

We got to stay with great friends while we were in Corpus

[This involved making DIY dinner menu frames, bubble pizza and partaking in a lot of cookie & cake-ball consumption]

We spontaneously purchased tennis racquets

[and discovered how much fun it can be to be horribly bad at something]

We had a romantic overnight stay & date night in East Texas

[Everyone swears by this restaurant and now we do, too! So yummy!]

Superbowl Sunday was spent with family

[though I was the only one rooting for our 2012 victors]
 

We spent 21 hours in the car for a total of 1,248 miles

...

And what of the fruits of our little interviewing adventure?

Well, I was offered the job I interviewed for in Corpus before I'd even left town. I tried really hard to keep my cool and get through my other scheduled interviews. My heart was in the UFC octagon with my brain. Aaron really wanted to be in Corpus. It is where he grew up and where the majority of his friends still reside. For me, Corpus was my college home and not a place where I expected to end up raising a family. But out of love for my husband and a desire to serve him, I was seriously entertaining this job. The position was a great fit for my skill set but I wasn't passionate about the type of work. Furthermore, moving to Corpus for this particular position would have put a huge financial burden on me for providing for our family till Aaron found a job.

With all of this in mind and after a LOT of tearful prayer, I turned the offer down. I wanted so badly to please my husband and to go for the sure thing that was a job with a paycheck versus risking waiting out the other positions I've been interviewing for. I jokingly told Aaron that I felt like I was on Deal or No Deal. Though, I did not like my odds.

Ultimately, our marriage needs to be driven by Aaron fervently following God's call and leading me alongside him. This situation didn't unfold with Aaron's leading or with the peace that comes from assurance in God's hand completing the puzzle of our life. I'm still pretty bummed about it.

...

Yesterday I was notified that I wasn't selected for the job at the hospital that we'd been praying for. In fact, I'd prayed not five minutes earlier that I would hear something today. It's hard to do so cheerfully but I did rejoice that God had given me an answer.

If I can be honest for a minute, I feel rather defeated. It's wearing on my soul to put hope and energy into the prospect of a new job and get excited about a particular position only to be turned away. I wont hear anything about the last outstanding interviews for another week or so. This whole process of waiting is tiresome. My heart is heavy with uncertainty and rejection.

Still, we are confident that God has a place for us. Furthermore, God knows that we need to feel His peace in our decisions to be able to discern His calling. Since we haven't felt that peace yet, I suppose we must be where we need to be right now.

Robot Culture

I've become increasingly aware of the progression of media in our lives.

This morning, I was bombarded by a wealth of information about the changes taking place in the social realm.
For example, did you know that we are currently witnesses to a cold-war between Facebook, Twitter and Google?

Read the Article!

As each site struggles to become more relevant to users, it makes me wonder when (not if) the day will come when we go through one site to receive all our information. Facebook will have a world news feed (no not status updates), weather features, political debates, email, chat, phone conversations, recipes, blogging features, etc. all within the company's own platform. We will never have to leave!

This worries me.

Thanks to the genius of online marketing, all of the advertisements, daily news, networking suggestions that I see and more are tailored very specifically to me, the user, via the information that I make available, read, and search for.  Don't get me wrong. I have a significant stake in the progression of social marketing. It will influence nearly every aspect of my future career and likely my children's education and how I connect with the world. While this a fantastic opportunity for businesses to grow and marketers, like myself to reach their audience on a much more targeted level, it makes me question how this information will shape us.

In generating media from a users network, do we risk creating a culture that is spoon-fed it's information thereby jeopardizing our generations intelligence? For example, because my LinkedIn profile is filled with resume data that alludes to interests in social media, marketing and event management, all the news stories filtered to my homepage are related to such. What about politics or environmental issues? What about education or world issues? What about information that we don't know we should know?

We are fed content that only perpetuates our niche of interests. What is the likelihood that an individual will actively seek out information contrary to what is currently provided to them? Probably slim to none without a significant catalyst to initiate such a change. Even if a change is initiated, then they just become part of another niche group that largely seeks out A but also has a small interest in B. Eventually, wouldn't we all just end up in little specialized information-demographic groups? 
Specialization over differentiation.

Wouldn't this lead to our media being controlled by those who have the greatest stake in the content?
Are we to become something of a robot-culture that is taught what to think about, what to talk about, and what to do based upon this extreme media marketing?

1984 anyone?