Mississippi

This past weekend Jared, Joel, Michal and I helped Jared's parents, Loren and Sue, pack up their apartment in Longview and make the move to Biloxi, Mississippi.

Loren and Sue had a tiny one bedroom apartment in Longview, and even though we thought this size truck was bigger than we needed, we ended up just barely being able to close it.

The trip to Mississippi was really beautiful. It's a very pretty drive through trees and creeks.

The mighty Mississippi!

When we pulled up to the church they had a nice sign out welcoming Loren as the new Pastor!

Here is a little taste of the HUNDREDS of boxes that were unloaded. We were so thankful that so many of the church members were there waiting for us when we pulled up. The truck was unloaded in about an hour and a half!

Loren and Sue in front of their new home!

Jared and I are really glad we got to help Loren and Sue make the transition from being Texans to being Mississippians. We can't wait to come back for another visit!

Cleaning out the Garage

This weekend we took on a HUGE project. Cleaning out the garage. We have lived at our house for almost 2 years now and have never parked our cars in the garage. It was just the place where we put everything we didn't know what to do with. So instead of barbeques and cookouts and a nice relaxing Memorial Day weekend we spent 3 very full days cleaning, and reorganizing. We also ran to Lowes 4 times in 24 hours (no I'm not kidding about that. We really were there 4 different times within a 24 hour period) for different organizational tools.

I wish I had gotten a "before" shot of the garage but by the time I thought of it we were about halfway through the project. The above picture is the "after shot". Here are a few more pictures of what the finished poduct looks like.






Yup that's TWO cars in our garage!

We are very tired from all the work this weekend, but also very happy with the end result!

Dirk's Troubles

If you haven't heard about the recent troubles for Mavs superstar Dirk Nowitzki please read this first.
http://cbs11tv.com/mavericks/Dirk.Nowitzki.Dallas.2.1003168.html

Ever since my dear husband introduced me to the Dallas Mavericks back in 2004 I have been enthralled with Dirk Nowitzki. He is an outstanding basketball player. He is so much fun to watch play, especially in person. (I'm so glad we have season tickets) He is also a person I have a lot of genuine respect for. He is without a doubt the best player on the Mavericks, and one of the best players in the NBA. Yet he doesn't seem like other spoiled by the fame or money. In his interviews he always seems genuine and humble.

Dirk Nowitzki has always been great at keeping his personal life private. As much as I love to find out about celebirties and what's going on in their lives ( I think I'm addicted to people.com) I really respect that he wants to keep some semblance of a normal life.

When I read this story earlier this week and watched Dirk's statement about how he does not want to talk about it, I can't help but get a little angry at the media for trying to pry even more into this story. I will admit it is a really interesting story, but if you're a human being at all, you will see that this situation is a very hurtful one for him. As someone who was betrayed 1 week before what was supposed to be my wedding, I know a little of the pain Dirk must be going through. I think the media prying into this situation is probably making it worse for him.

I have decided that the only thing I can do for Dirk is to pray for him and that he will heal from this ordeal.

Lying

A new show that Jared and I have started watching is 'Lie to Me'. It's a pretty interesting show about a guy who has studied people to be able to tell when they are lying. A character on the show lives by an interesting philosophy he calls 'radical honesty'. He never lies and says everything that he thinks. It makes for some funny comments on the show, but I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to say EVERYTHING you're thinking out loud, but I think this character is on to something with being completely honest.

I have felt convicted by the idea of never lying though. Through my quiet times recently I have felt convicted about even the smallest lies I would tell. For example a few weeks ago Jared and I had some brownies in the house and I ate the last one. When Jared asked me about it, I simply said no I hadn't. I realized right after that it was so stupid to lie about that. I had become accustomed to telling what I considered little lies to Jared when I thought he'd be even the slightest bit upset by the truth. I realized this was stupid!

I have since decided to really try hard not to lie. I don't think it benefits me or Jared or anyone at all when I do this. Now I don't think I will be trying radical honesty and saying everything that I'm thinking. And there may be things I simply don't answer or honestly tell people I can't talk about something, but I have decided to really try hard to live honestly.

So far it's been about 3 weeks and is going really well. I'll keep you updated on how this is going.

Divorce

I have been hearing a lot about betrayl, adultery and divorce lately. It seems like every day this week I have heard a new story about it. Everytime I've hear a new story it hits me hard emotionally. It hurts me to even imagine the pain that each of these situations is causing.

Matthew 19:5-6 says:
‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Jared and I took these verses very seriously when we got married. During our premarital counseling we both agreed that divorce would never ever be brought up. It's not an option for us, no matter what. I don't think that makes our marriage any easier than any one else's. But I do think it makes us more committed to our marriage. We know we each have to continually give 100% to our marriage to make it work.

So many people enter marriage with the thought 'if it doesn't work we can always get divorced' in the back of their heads. To me this isn't 100% committment.

A few years ago the actress Tori Spelling left her then husband of a year for a man that she has. When asked about the divorce, she simply said "you can't choose who you love." This statement bothered me greatly. I don't think of love as only a feeling, it's a choice and committment. It's something you do more than something you feel. I choose to love Jared and I work hard to make sure he knows that I love him.

I'm so thankful to God for the absolutely wonderful husband He has provided me with. I couldn't have imagined a better one if I tried. We have a great marriage, but we have this amazing marriage because God is at the center of it and He reminds us that it takes each of us giving 100% to it to make it great.

Job!

It's been a long time since my last post, so this is long over due. Since my last post, God has blessed me with job! I am the assistant director at Huntington Learning Center. I really like it. The first half of my day is spent doing more administrative things, that aren't as bad as I thought they would be, and even better I'm not as bad at them as I thought I'd be. The second half of the day I get to work with kids in all ages k-12. I manage their academic progress and keep teachers on track and best of all I still get to teach students. I love working with varying ages, and I've found that although I haven't had much experience with high schoolers before, I love working with them, although some of them have started testing my math memory by making me drag back my good old Algebra 2 skills, (which amazingly I remember pretty well!)

The best thing about my new job is the stress levels. I'm not usually stressed about much that happens. I don't think about work much when I leave, and I don't dread going into work every morning. I don't think I realized until recently just how much stress I was under when I was working as a teacher in inner city Dallas.

I'm very thankful to God for my job. He always takes care of me.

Consulting God

All summer, I had one goal in my mind, get a job. I woke up every morning and went straight to the computer to look at all the different school districts around and saw what job openings they had. I then spent the rest of my morning emailing principals, filling out applications (I now can fill out a job application in less than 30 minutes. It used to take at least an hour), and printing off resumes to take into schools. I would then eat lunch and begin to look at the sites again to see if any new jobs were posted. Through this process, I ended up having 9 different interviews throughout the summer. I did not get any one of the jobs.

About two weeks ago I became very discouraged. Up until this point I had been positive and upbeat and hopeful I would have job by the time school started. But as the start of school drawed near I began to realize I still didn't have a job, and my outlook started to become very dark.

All summer I had been focused on getting a teaching job. That's most of what I thought about, most of what I did, and it's what I prayed about. I even had my family and friends praying that I would find a job. Last Tuesday I suddenly realized, that my goal (getting a teaching job) may not be God's goal for me. I realized that as well intentioned as my goal was, I had not consulted God in this matter other than to say "Give me a job!" I had completely ignored God in the plans for my life, I didn't ask if I was acting in accordance with His will or plan for my life, I simply thought I knew better. Boy was I wrong.

Over the last week, I've asked God to change my heart, my desire and to help me to just listen to Him. Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you' says the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'

Jared and I both have been trying to just sit and listen and have faith that God knows what's best for us. Please pray for us, not that I find a job, but that we are following God's will.