I'm the Kind of Girl...

I'm the kind of girl who

wakes up to something different from Pandora each morning

feels uplifted after reading the Bible

cuddles with dogs and lets them kiss her

loves a good pair of tall boots

could live on popcorn

loves a good time with friends

eats Reese's Peanut Butter Cups way too often

can't pass up an opportunity to shop

would drive home in a tornado to save her dogs

loves a good young-adult book

could dance and sing all night

is just like her mama and daddy

loves having long hair even though it is SUPER difficult

loves sunshine and summer days

would spend all day at the lake (and has..)

loves listening to music every second of every day

tends to be a bit of a control freak

loves laughing and does it often

likes taking naps even though she used to HATE them a few years ago

10 Things I Love About My Husband

While reading through some of my favorite blogs this morning, I came across this post called 10 Things I Love About My Husband !  Her blog is called The Unveiled Wife and she offers many insights on marriage.  She challenges her readers to create their own list so here is mine!

10 Things I Love About My Husband

1.  He is hard-working.

    There aren't many men out there who actually have the option to stay home on Saturdays and still choose to go in to work!  For me, Saturdays are all about staying in bed, relaxing, and reading a good-sized chunk out of whatever book I have that day!  I try to convince him to stay home with me and sleep in but he rarely takes me up on it!

2.  He boosts my confidence.

    I'm not gonna lie, I don't have a lot of confidence in my abilities these days.  In fact, there are days when I'm feeling downright low.  I tell him about my day at work or whatever else I'm struggling with and he reminds me that I am a good teacher or that I am a good friend.  He's great at it!

3.  He is going to be a loving father.

     We don't have kids yet.  We may not have them for another year or two still...but I know he will love his kids and do what's best for them.  I know this because of the way he treats our dog, Caya.  She recently hurt her back and he refuses to let her run or play too hard (no matter how much she wants to go crazy in the snow!)  We both love our dogs like they're our kids and he constantly impresses me with his love for her.  Now, let's not go too far into the detail that we have TWO dogs and the other one doesn't get nearly as much attention from Kyle as Caya does...  we won't play favorites with our kids, PROMISE!

4.  He knows when I'm overwhelmed.

     When I've had a long, hard day at work, he usually offers to start supper for me.  He respects my need to come home and do NOTHING after rough days with 34 preschoolers!

5.  His sense of humor.

    Now this one can go either way.  He makes me CRAZY with this at times but ultimately, I love how fun he is and most of the time, even when he's driving me nuts, I can't help but smile and laugh.

See what I mean?

6.  He asks for my opinion.

     "Are my lines straight?" when he's shaving.  "Does this shirt look okay with these shoes?"

7.  He tries to include me when we are around his friends.

   This one is something we've dealt with more recently.  I expressed to him how I felt so out of place (I am not a science person...) around his geology friends and that's all I had to do.  The next time, he tried to make sure we were talking about things besides geology.  We talked about TV shows and our hometown event called "Walnut Valley Festival."

8.  His common sense.

     There are a lot of times when I am a bit of an airhead.  Trust me, he's NOT!

9.  His interest in geology

    Again, I don't have the brain for science.  I never have.  He blows me away with his ability to sit there and talk science (he's super smart) and still be able to talk about football or shooting guns and all those "guy's guy" things.

10.  He is a problem-solver.

     I struggle with finding alternate solutions when my first choice doesn't work.  I get stressed out instantly when I fail!  For example, when we pack to come back home from a trip to Winfield or to visit his dad in Missouri, I throw everything in the suitcase and get very upset when I can't get it to zip.  Kyle comes in and puzzle-pieces everything in there and zips it right up!  Maybe I will just let him handle that from now on...  (He says he hopes that's not my solution for everything!)

Okay, those are my ten!  I am going to finish this off with a recent picture of us being goofballs.  Thanks for reading!

My Treasure vs. My Faith

Wow, I haven't posted on here in FOREVER! It's been like a year!  But this morning as I was spending a bit of time with God, I stumbled across an answer to my prayers...well, the start of one anyway!

I struggled with sleep last night.  While Kyle was busy sleeping soundly, I was trying to keep myself busy in hopes that sleep would find me eventually.  I was on Facebook, playing Candy Crush, checking the weather, and doing who knows what else in my MUCH too awakened state; but a hymn we sing frequently in church spontaneously popped into my head.  I don't know the exact name of it but it goes like this: "There is pow'r, pow'r, wonderworking pow'r in the blood of the lamb...."  Maybe you recognize it.

But anyway, this song pops up into my head and my mind started reeling!  I started wondering why that song, of all the ones I love to sing on a somewhat daily basis, is the one that came up.  I can't explain how/why my mind works the way it does; I suppose only God can because it's a mystery even to me.. but I ended up in prayer and realizing that I am TERRIFIED to die someday..  I'm not ready to leave this world because, honestly, I'm pretty fond of it.  I'm happy here.  This world has everything/everybody I've been blessed with in my life.  Last Sunday, at church, the sermon was about focusing on Heavenly things and not worldly things.  That might explain some of my thought process I guess...  But as I was praying, I asked God to please show me how to loosen my grasp on the world so that I can be ready when the time comes to let it go completely.

Well, at some point last night, I fell asleep.  But guess what my reading was about in my Women's Devotional Bible! The passage was the story of Hannah and how she dedicated her son to God after He had blessed her with a baby.  (1 Samuel 1:1-27) The devotional, titled "Ultimate Surrender," was written by Katie Brazelton and she talked about how she had a hard time letting go of her house when God was telling her to.  She fought and fought Him but she eventually did it and later came to realize that it was a blessing.  The reflection questions that followed the devotional asked:

• What one thing are you holding back from God?
• What would happen if you released it?
• Why does God insist we sometimes give up things that seem to bring us joy?

Honestly I'm horrible at answering those reflection questions and I usually find some way to distract myself to where I don't have to...terrible, I know.  But the lightbulb clicked at that moment as I was reading them and I realized that this can be applied to my struggles from last night!  One of the biggest things that I'm struggling with letting go of is the WORLD!!!  (Ding, ding ding!!!)  I went on to read the little "Related Readings" portion and went to Matthew 6:19-34.  I don't want to keep you reading my post any longer than you have to but if you're interested, I encourage you to read the passage on your own.  God was speaking (almost screaming, honestly) to me this morning and I know that it's more than a coincidence that I was pointed toward these verses and stories today.  

One. of. my. favorite. verses!  The rest of the passage really hit home too.  

While I know that it's not going to be an instant change, and I'm very aware that I will struggle with this my whole life, I know now where to begin..

I hope I didn't bore you too much.  I just wanted to share my revelation with you in hopes that you can help support and pray for me.  I know this is a worldwide, no pun intended, struggle for many others as well.  Let me know if I need to add you to my prayers and maybe we can help each other!

Also, while I'm going on and on and on.... I know I didn't cite my devotional and its author too well but there's a link here taking you to where you can buy it if you're interested.  Have a wonderful day!!!

Walking in the Spirit...

I have a confession to make.

I am not living the Christian lifestyle as I should.  It's been bothering me a lot recently and the realization hit me the hardest when I found myself thinking about the movie called Magic Mike.  My mother found an eye-opening blog post/article a while back about the unpopular decision to not see it.  You can find the article here.  But I realized that while it was good to decide not to see the movie out of respect for my husband, I never once considered not seeing it out of respect for God.  When it hit me, this girl was blown away...

Today I picked up my Bible for some much needed one-on-one time with my Lord.  I have a book from my younger college days called A Young Woman's Walk with God by Elizabeth George.  I pulled it off of my bookshelf because I don't remember ever reading this one.  It's unusual to have unread books on display in my home.  I have only read the introduction so far but I am pleased to see that it uses the Bible as a reference in just about every paragraph!  It's hard to find that sometimes...

The end of the introduction has a small spot for notes and studying.  The title at the top of the page reads "Would you like to know more about walking by the Spirit?"  I decided that I definitely would!

Try reading Galatians 5:16 today.  Ask yourself what we are being called to do in this verse.  Then go on to read verse 17 and decide what you think your biggest struggles are when it comes to lusting of the flesh against the Spirit.

I've realized how I have been living my life as a young, Christian woman in the last several months.  I wouldn't want to be called an example to any new believers.  This post is to remind myself to put my life back in order and put God back where He should have been all along.  Please pray for me and stay tuned...

old news

I am a horrible blogger.  When I created this blog, I really did see myself being totally into it but it's been four months since my last post and SOOOOO much has happened since then!

Anniversary:
For our first anniversary, we went to Lone Wolf, Oklahoma to stay in a lodge buried in the Quartz Mountains.  It was no Disney Cruise, folks, but it was just what we needed!  I still feel that when we were in our room, it felt like we were on our cruise again.  We hiked, we ate, and took TONS of pictures!  It was nice to actually have a real camera on this trip.  I won't post them all of course but I will show you my favorites!

This is the lodge and the mountains in the background.  Kyle had no idea that Oklahoma had such a thing!

Our fabulous room! Super cozy!

In the cave!

We did a lot of driving...

Stole this idea from Pinterest!

Eating the top layer from our wedding cake...uhhh...

Nephew:

Our first nephew was born last weekend!  Kyle's sister did a wonderful job of patiently waiting for baby Rhys to arrive.  Rhys was born weighing 7 lbs and 9 oz, 19 inches long!  I have never felt such an attachment to a baby in my life!  This has definitely started the baby fever in me though...  no good!  But that's a story for another day! 

Thanks for visiting! Maybe in four months I will have something else to post about... :-)

2+2=4

On Friday, Kyle and I drove back home to pick up our doggies and bring them back to our house to live with us!  This has been discussed ever since we moved to Wichita but we were waiting for the right time to add to our newlywed lifestyle.  The time finally came and our household of two has become a household of four!  We were so excited up until Friday actually got here.  It was then that we became pretty nervous about the whole ordeal.  What if they don't get along like we think they will?  What if we are taking Legit back to his old personality by taking him away from where he's comfortable?  What if we can't keep up with Caya's endless supply of Husky hair?  What if? What if? What if?!

But we still went through with it.  They had never met until they were both in the car and even then, it wasn't a good opportunity to meet each other.  They both tend to get carsick and with the hour drive, they were definitely more fidgety than happy to see each other.  I was disappointed that when we all got into the house, there was no rear-sniffing or anything to meet each other.  They didn't really seem to acknowledge each other until we were walking around on leashes out in our backyard.  Once we got inside, Caya tried to play with Legit but he snapped at her and since then, I have been on edge when they're next to each other.  They seem to have no problem following Kyle and me around the house together, but if she's right up in his face, he's going to make it known he doesn't want her there.  (Legit is a bit of special case for those of you who don't know about him already...)

My sense of contentment with the situation didn't really start until last night when I witnessed this:

They both finally ate their food today and we have gotten a pretty good "potty schedule" down so that this week while Kyle and I are at work and school, we can know that they should be able to hold it while they are at home alone.  (Still a little bit worried though...) The dogs aren't getting along as well as we would like but I do honestly believe it will come with time!  Kyle's and my void has temporarily been filled.

Now if we can just find time to cuddle again without our furry friends in between us... :-)

2011..

My 2011 consisted of 11 major things:

1) recovering from the most painful surgery I've ever had...just a tonsillectomy, but still! (I'll spare you the picture, it's not pretty...)

2) my first "big girl job" interviews

3) kicking into high gear with wedding plans (first time going to a bridal fair, first wedding shower, first time registering for gifts, etc..)

4) accepting my first teaching position!

5) experienced the happiest day of my life by stealing Kyle's last name!  May 21, 2011! 

ps-within a few months, all of my bridesmaids were blissfully married as well!

nothin like a family picture...lol

6) a honeymoon and my first cruise!

the Disney Dream!

7) moving into our first place together in Wichita

I actually took this as we were moving out of it because I forgot to take any when we moved in!

8) my 24th birthday! (and i forgot to take any pictures?! what?! haha)

9) the beginning of my first year of teaching

10) moving into our first house (those pics were just posted not long ago so I won't repeat them!)

11) our first holidays as a married couple (those were also posted a post or two ago..)

I know that there were more things that happened but those events stand out among the rest.  I could not have asked for a better year.  Getting married was something I've been waiting on for a long time and it happened in 2011!  The next step is getting ahead financially so that we can start planning on....BABIES!  But, unfortunately, that financial stability could still be a few years off so it might be a while!!

Enjoy your new year everyone!

new.

I have a ton of stuff to blog about!

First, I want to ask for help from some of my blog expert friends.  How do you guys get the cute header designs?  I finally figured out how to get a new background through a design website but I'm not finding any header templates to use instead of my picture that I have.  Since I know so many bloggers have all the info on the creative designers and whatnot, I figured I should just ask!

We have moved into our new place and while it does have its little quirks, it is finally starting to feel like home.  I have pictures of the house from before we moved in but the proof that it's actually lived in will come later after I get it all decorated!  

I'm not proud of the exterior.  I think it looks ugly.  But the inside...

This is the living room!  Yep..hardwood floors!

The green kitchen!  It was an ugly color at first but it has grown on me quite a bit!

The spare bedroom.  Must have been a little boy's room previously!

The master bedroom!  I'm not a big fan of brown but I still like it!!

I also got my Christmas tree!

This was a new experience for both Kyle and me this year.  It was our first Christmas as a married couple!  We got to celebrate with both of our families and it was perfect!  

Christmas Eve at his mom's.

Our little family at my parents' house (minus Caya Ann!)

Hope your holiday was just as special as ours was!  Happy New Year to everyone!

new residence!

My husband and I will be moving into our first house soon.  I say "our" but it's actually a rental.  But it's ours!  I'm not proud of the way the exterior looks.  I think my first words about the place were that it looked like "somewhere my grandma would live."  Kyle told me not to judge the place before we go inside and I doubted him.  He was right.  The inside is INCREDIBLE!  It's no dream house, but it's perfect for what we've been looking for!  It's in a good location, it's got great space for a married couple without kids, two bedrooms, a garage, and a huge yard for our puppies to romp and run in!  My biggest setback at the moment is the fact that we will be losing our U-VERSE.  We found out that it's not covered in the neighborhood.  I will have to find something else to do with my evenings I guess..


Maybe if we move quick enough, I can still get a Christmas tree?  Hmm...

tis the season to be happy!

I am joyful today.  I am happy and mostly content with my life.  This morning in Bible class we discussed the difference between contentment and thankfulness.  A Christian should never feel content with where they stand with God.  Chances are, if you are feeling like things are perfect, then you could be doing something that could stand to change.  I am nowhere near perfect in my relationship with God, and that's something that I am working very hard to change.  But, I am happy with my life here in this world.  I have been given a wonderful husband and a roof over my head.  My car gets me from point A to point B and USUALLY doesn't give me any grief in between!  Kyle and I have both been blessed with great jobs that provide a paycheck that is just enough for what we need.  We aren't starving.  We aren't freezing.  We have an awesome church that we have intentions of placing membership with.  I am joyful today because of those things.  It's the season that reminds us to be thankful for the things we have in life.  While it is wonderful to have this reminder every year, we should be thankful for things such as these all year...every year!  Please don't forget to be happy with what you have already.  Things could always be worse.  Take it upon yourself to think of others this Christmas season.  You'll feel better about life!!!

Now, I'm switching gears..  I forced Kyle to take a few pictures with me for our first Christmas card!  If you're on my Facebook, you've probably seen them already.  These aren't all of them but they're a few of my favorites.  Hope you like them!

my face is very pale in this one!

some mush...

my absolute favorite!

earthquake!!!

I just experienced my first earthquake EVER!!  I live in Wichita, Kansas and I felt an earthquake.  According to Facebook, there was another one last night too that was felt across Oklahoma and around the Wichita area, but I felt nothing during that one.  I definitely felt this one!  The news said it was a 5.6 magnitude.  My first instinct was to pray to God for safety.  I had no idea what was going on.  Kyle was in the bath so I grabbed my phone and jumped up to run to the bathroom while calling my dad to see if he and my mom felt it.  They did.

Because I grew up in Kansas, I have not been taught how to react to an earthquake.  I had no idea that you're supposed to hide under something sturdy.  I just sat here on the couch...  Hopefully we never experience one big enough to need something sturdy over my head.  I will die.

P.S. I am thankful for the whole day of relaxation.  I did nothing but clean my cabinets and cook.  Life is good...  God bless!!

thankfulness.

For the last few days, I have been posting reasons why I am thankful on Facebook.  I have decided to take it to the next level and explain those reasons a little more in depth.  Some of them are pretty self-explanatory but maybe it would be good for me to look back on these during days when I'm feeling sorry for myself...haha!

Today I am thankful for my husband's love for math.  Because he loves math, he takes care of the bills and the checkbook.  I always told myself I would never be the wife that lets her husband control how she spends money, but it's just so much easier!!!  Before I buy something (groceries, lunch, stuff for teaching) I always text him or call to find out how much money we have and what bills we still have to pay.

If this task were left up to me, our credit scores would be terrible and my student loans that are taking most of my paychecks would tell me I'm delinquent! I'm not a money person.  I am good at spending but not so good at saving.

Anyway, Kyle does so much for me.  This is just one thing that I'm thankful for today!  I am one lucky wife...

God bless!!!

the search for a church

Since moving to Wichita, my husband and I have been on a search for the perfect church for us to attend regularly.  It's hard to move from my small town churches to a city where there are several to choose from.  We belong to the Church of Christ.  I was raised in the church back home and even when I had the chance to go search for what fits me better, I found that I still belong there.  I believe the way they believe.  They believe in what the Bible teaches.  While I was in college, at Oklahoma Christian (a Church of Christ affiliated school), I realized how different some Churches of Christ were from others.  When you have a college like that, you have a very widespread group of people from different churches with different ideas and styles of beliefs.  I learned quickly that it was important to find one that was based on sound doctrine and strictly followed the Bible without adding or taking away from it.

Now that I'm away from my Church of Christ "community" where I was surrounded with a support system I knew I could always count on, it's very difficult to find the right place for us to worship.  We have been to several around the Wichita area and we have walked out of a couple of them saddened by another church we could never feel comfortable attending.  We have been looking for one that had a good group of young married couples because we have hopes of gaining some wonderful Christian friendships.  There has been only one that has that, but we didn't feel as if we "fit" with them....until today.  

Today we attended one that was a pretty lengthy drive from our apartment.  But it was fantastic!  We were greeted by many of the younger couples in the congregation (as well as the older members) and it felt like a good mix of newer songs with the old-school style that I'm used to.  We have already been invited to join in on some of their upcoming events and had a hard time pulling away from one couple we met after services were over.  We felt comfortable being there.  They showed us no reason that we shouldn't return.  I feel such relief to know that God may have answered a prayer that I've been asking to be answered for a long time!

Have a wonderful week!!  Let me know if I need to add anything to my prayers!!! 

boy meets world day!!!!

Since I am home alone all day while the husband goes to work, I have decided to watch the MANY recorded episodes of Boy Meets World. 

 

Our U-Verse started telling me that it was going to delete them because it was getting too full so it sounded like a good way to spend the day!  Of course, at some point, I'm going to have to be productive and do some work for school next week, but that's for later.  Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!

tis the season!

I woke up this morning with a very low-grade fever.  I still went to work because I didn't feel the need to use my sick time just yet.  I knew that eventually all of the runny noses and sneezes in my classroom would get to me.  It usually does.  I am lucky to have made it this far without coming down with anything.  Anyway, I went to work with the help of Advil and willpower.  But by lunch, I was feeling aches in my muscles and chills again.  So I went home.  Luckily, Kyle was off work today and had some soup waiting for me when I got home.  What a wonderful husband I have!  Then I took some of my precious liquid Tylenol and fell asleep for four hours!  I may not be able to sleep later but it sure felt good to sleep that long uninterrupted!

But, now that I'm awake, I feel it's time to work on the vocab words I need to get done.  So, pray that I'm healthy enough to return to work tomorrow!!!  God bless...

blog frustrations!

So I have been messing with my blog design all morning.  I am still not completely impressed with what I settled on.  Most of the blogs I read regularly have blogs that don't seem possible while using Blogger, yet that's what all of them use!  So if anyone can shed some light on how to make it more unique, I would love the input!!!!

I'm looking forward to having the whole day to be lazy and sit around in my pajamas!  It seems like forever since I've had the opportunity to do this.  With my job taking up the weekdays, Kyle and I can only go take care of out-of-town business on the weekends.  But, in the last week, he has taken a new job and won't always have weekends off.  So here I sit, on the couch, preparing to have the whole day to myself!  (Not that I don't love spending every spare moment with my husband; I just enjoy time alone sometimes!)

Next week, I am teaching my kiddos at school about Fall.  Today will also give me some time to catch up on some preparation for that!  I love coloring all of the leaves I felt would be a good idea to print off.  I believe the grand total was 50, but it definitely feels like hundreds by now after all of the cutting and coloring I've been doing!

So, I've made my waffles for breakfast, I've got my comfy pj's on, and I've got the remote sitting next to me.  Let's enjoy this day!!!!  :-)

better late than never

It's been forever since I've blogged.  Not sure where my motivation has gone to so here we go...

My preschoolers are back!  They came back yesterday and I would say their first day was better than I expected it to be!  We only had three criers (that word looks weird when you type it out) and only one of them cried later in the day.  They all struggled with the concept of rest time.  I have a room of 17 four and five-year-olds.  They were whiny, they were cranky, and they weren't havin it!  Today was a little more stressful.  They got....comfortable.  I had to stress how important it was that my friends absolutely CANNOT go outside without my saying so.  We were lining up to go enjoy the day outside and next thing I know, there goes three of my kids.  We had a nice little talk...  But, I am pleased to say that they seem to like me and we get along pretty well so far.  Does that sound like a jinx???

On another note, my husband has given me the news that he has to leave next summer for five weeks to go on a trip for school.  Those who are military wives will probably make fun of me or even call me stupid to complain, but I'm not cut out to be left alone for that long!  You can laugh, it sounds ridiculous, but yet it's true.  Five weeks is more than a month!!!  When he graduates and becomes a geologist (man, that word looks funny too) I might be okay with the fact that he had to go away for a while because I will then be able to stay home and not work.  But for now, I'm not okay with it!!!  What school doesn't consider their students' family lives?  Some of them have to work to support their families.  I will be receiving unemployment next summer and I don't think that will pay the bills.  We certainly do not have children but what if we did?!  We would not survive without another source of income for a month.  I just don't understand...   Anyway..  I won't whine about it on here anymore.  I'll wait until he gets home from work!  :-)

Okay, I hit a rut.  I have nothing else to say!  But, I hope you're having a wonderful evening and God bless!!!

the past vs. the present

After chatting with an old friend today who has found complete happiness, I have decided to post about some things that have been going through my head lately.  For those of you who know me well, my road to married life was not easy.  I had never wanted anything so much than to just find "the one" who I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with.  This quest consumed me and made me look like a fool many different times.  I was the girl who always thought she'd finally found "him."  That girl realized every time that she shouldn't put her heart out there so easily but couldn't help doing it over and over again.  That girl and I begged God for the next one to be our soulmate.  So, after praying constantly and reading a lot of Christian books that are supposed to help girls accept being single, I gave up.  The summer of 2010 was probably the most fun of my summers so far in life.  I wanted to have fun and started to actually date around.  This was something I had never been able to do and somehow finally managed to succeed, not without a few false hopes though.  Anyway, that summer was carefree and fun for me, and ended with the beginning of the rest of my life.  I met Kyle at the end and things kicked off so quickly and wonderfully.  He pursued me and fought for me.  You can imagine the shock when I started to question whether or not I was even ready to give up single life to let this beautiful thing run its course!  Obviously I gave in, and here I am a year later....MARRIED!!!  Never again will I ever have to worry about being a third wheel during a group date.  Never again will I ever have to worry about being the only one without a man to snuggle with while camping on a cold night.  Never again will I ever have to dwell on failed relationships and what I did wrong.

Never again will I ever have to question God's reasoning for making me wait so long...

Enjoy these pictures from the best day of my life...

blog depression

I think I've been in a sort of "blog-depression mode."  I have wanted to write but I just haven't felt like anything in my life was worth blogging about!  I have still been reading the ones I follow but I haven't had any motivation to write myself.  So let's make an attempt and see if I can pull myself out of this funk!

I went back to my "big girl job!"  That being said, I have been doing nothing but pre-service meetings since then.  I have decided I'm ready to apply for a lead teacher position.  It's killing me during this back-to-school season.  I haven't been able to shop with my students in mind.  I keep being haunted by the idea of having my own classroom and wanting to set one up that's MY OWN!  It's time...

Okay, got that off my chest!  So here are some wedding pictures!

Me walking down the LOOOONNNNG path to see Kyle for the first time!

I was starting to sweat.  That dress was not easy to carry!!

Almost!!!!

Stay tuned for the first glance!!!

yesterday

My husband and I received some bad news yesterday.  He was hired on at Lowes at the beginning of the summer as a seasonal employee.  He's been looking for a replacement for over a month because he knew the end of his employment was coming soon.  On Monday, the Lowes HR department called him telling him they wanted to interview him for a permanent position.  So he went in yesterday hoping for the best but once he got there, he found out it wasn't even an interview at all.  They were simply letting him know that Thursday would be his last day because corporate told them that there couldn't be any seasonal employees left after that!  He called and told me and I lost it.  We have been struggling financially already!  I can't believe they're allowed to do that on such short notice.  Any employee would be expected to give a two-week notice and I think it's ridiculous that they are giving him two days...

So anyway, after going through the whole day thinking that we wouldn't be able to survive this, we did our daily Bible study.  We have been studying the Psalms.  Last night, we read Psalm 26 through 34.  I have been using my New King James Bible since I was a teenager.  It has been to many sessions at church camp and Bible classes with me.  It has been marked in and I'm beginning to think there are no pages without highlighter on them.  I found several verses that I'd marked in Psalms that would help with stress relief.  I even wrote the words "stress relief" next to a few of them.

Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"

Psalm 29:11 says "The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace."

Psalm 31:24 says "Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

Can you see why we feel sooooo much better now?!  After reading these awesome words, we started making plans that could help us survive our time of hardship.  He had an interview just last week for a job that would honestly be perfect for a man who is a full-time student and a husband.  The lady who interviewed him seemed to like him and told him he has a start date, as long as all his references check out.  I hope that Lowes can put in a good word for him.  I think it's the LEAST they could do after this..  Please pray for us during this time.  We will be praying constantly.

P.S.  Don't ever forget that your troubles are in God's hands.  He will take care of you in a way that will work out for the best.  Have a wonderful day!!!!