Memorial Day

 

We woke up to go hiking at 7:30. Josh decided not to go because his knees/legs were bugging him after all of the crazy dancing we did at a wedding the night before.

  

I cleaned most of my house while waiting for my hiking buddies to get here. 

The three of us went to Fellows Lake and started off on the 2.5-mile trail. We got just a couple hundred yards in and realized that we were covered with ticks. There were big ones and little baby ones. They were on my shoes, and crawling down into my socks, and scuttling up my legs. We decided to abort the hike and return another day when we had bug spray.

 

 Josh and I went to the Springfield Cardinals ball game. It was great!

They hit a home run in the 6^th inning, so we could go to Andy’s and get $1.00 sundaes.

 

After that we crashed a picnic. That was quite fun. We flew kites and played dominoes and bocce ball. We won!!

 

After the picnic, we went and bought some food for our own cookout and went home and ate dinner while we watched a program about aliens. (I believe!)

Josh and I were burnt to a crisp, so we smeared Noxema all over us.

After Noxema-ating, Josh read while I filled out job applications in Minnesota. Not sure how I feel about that, but I think Gina will be happy.

All in all a great day.

from this side

The other day Josh and I were talking about how it would be fun to open a coffee shop and use it for ministry, maybe near a college campus. Josh, referring to my time working at Starbucks, said, “Who knows where our past and present experiences are leading us…”

Sometimes in my life it has felt as though I have no control over what is going on. I take a job because it is the only one available, or we move somewhere because nothing else seems feasible.

Many times, when we set out to some new place, I have a lot of questions. Always about what the future holds, but sometimes even about whether we are making the right decisions. Inevitably, things work out. Josh and I always have our reasons for doing things, but every time we look back at our lives, we see that there was a bigger purpose there, a bigger story being told than the one we had planned or could even see.

It reminds me a little of being on hold on a phone call. I put a lot of people on hold, and I realize that they don’t know what is going on while they are on hold. They don’t hear the five phone calls I make to try to get them an answer, or me going to check the fax machine for their fax, or even me going to talk to a supervisor to try to resolve the issue. All they hear is the hold music.

Life is like that. Many times we don’t realize what is happening behind the hold music, even if it is happening inside of us, until it’s all done. But I believe, because I have seen, that God is working, even when I don’t see it from this side. 

May 21, 2011

Josh and I slept in.

Mom left us a message on the machine saying that Ben had made it safely to Minnesota with the bluegrass band he was hitching a ride with.

Josh and I went mini-golfing. I won!! I laughed at Josh a lot, mostly because he is better than me at almost every game we ever play. On a par 50 course, I got a 65 and Josh got a 73. We are not great golfers to say the least.

After golf we went to the taco wagon. It was, as always, AMAZING!! If you live in Springfield and have not been there, go now.

We decided to go to ABC Bookstore since we were on that side of town. Josh got Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galations by Ben Witherington III, The Letters of John: A TNTC Commentary by John R.W. Stott, and Biblical Criticism: Historical, Literary and Textual by Harrison, Waltke, Guthrie, and Fee. I got The Wind Singer by William Nicholson and Unwind by Neal Shusterman.

We hung out for a bit at the thrift store.

We came home and had dinner.

We’re going to go for some ice-cream later tonight.

It’s been a really nice day. 

 

Moving

So, I started this blog to talk about travels and moving, and we haven’t really done any of that since I started (other than my trip to PA). But, we are in the process of looking for a place to move to, so I guess I will talk about that.

Before this move, Josh and I have always just moved wherever we felt like and figured it out after we got there. We have never had jobs or places to live lined up before we pulled into town with everything we owned. That always worked pretty well for us up until this last move.

Springfield has been a bit difficult. We found a perfect house to live in, we’ve made great friends, but the job situation has been less than stellar. I figured it up the other day, and out of the 22 months we have been here so far, I’ve worked full-time for 11 of them. During one stretch of non-working I told Josh that I’m done moving without jobs. Ergo, this move has been less about what seems like the most exciting place we can go and more about job applications, which I hate.

So far Josh has been the one doing most of the applying. We figure that his job field is a lot smaller than mine, so he is going to try to get a job first, then I will try to get one in the same area. At first whenever Josh would find a job that interested him, I would immediately start looking for jobs in the area. I soon quit when I realized that most jobs I would be trying to get would require me to get certified in that state before even applying. I really don’t want to get any more certifications unless there’s a good chance that we will be moving.

The good part about this move is that we could end up anywhere. Really, anywhere. That is pretty exciting.

The bad part is that we don’t know where yet. I hate not knowing things. I like to have a plan, or at least an idea of what is coming next and at this point, it’s just a big blank.

I don’t know how other people do moves. I haven’t known many who have moved as much as me and Josh, and I don’t think I’ve known any who have moved as many times as we have with literally no idea how they were going to make it once they got there. It just all seems pretty stressful to me.

Maybe after a few more times, we’ll get the hang of it. 

___________ would have been so much better if:

Dr. Who “Day of the Moon”:  we understood why the Silents were so bad.

The Happening:  the creepy old lady was controlling the plants.

Last season of Project Runway:  Mondo had won.

City of Fallen Angels:   Jace’s rune had made Clary go along to the crazy with him instead of just knocking her out.

Firefly:  it had been longer than 14 episodes and a movie.

Hello Again!

Well, folks, it has been a while.

Here are just a few things I've been up to:

Full-time job: Yes, I finally got a permanent one. What can I say? It seems money is necessary for living.

Out-patient surgery: It went fine. The coolest part was the post-op appointment where I got to see pictures of my insides... pretty nifty.

Trip to PA: It was GREAT to see my brother, sister-in-law, and two little nephews. Also, I got to see my grandmas and all of my aunts and uncles, except one. I did not, however, see any of my cousins, which was sad.

First trip to the dentist in 11 years: NO CAVITIES!!!

Job applications: Josh and I are looking to move yet again. I've been spending pretty much every free minute looking for jobs for him to apply to, plus filling out a few applications myself. 

Cleaning house: Luna is shedding and tracking in mud... every single day. Speaking of pets, Tink has had a couple of feral episodes lately. During one, he was running across the back of the couch, and landed on Josh's head. He gashed his scalp open pretty badly.

Ben's graduation: Yay for Ben! Yay for my parents, who managed to get all four of us through high school.

So, that has been my life lately. I'll be trying to write a bit more frequently from now on, but you know how life goes...