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...)