Change the subject, will ya?

OK, so Joel has brought it to my attention that I blog more about Josh being away on trips and how I am missing him and such than I do about anything else. Well then, let me change the subject.

I haven't wanted to post about this topic just because I was afraid that some how word would get back to my boss. I am quitting my job. I don't know when, but I am certainly looking for a new job. As I posted previously our office recently moved from Lowell to Fayetteville. Well in doing so, my commute has increased from 15 minutes to almost 45 minutes. I use a tank of gas a week, and I have to pack my lunch or eat out everyday, since I cannot go home for lunch. Now, the commute may not sound "unrealistic" to most of you, but you have to understand the layout of Northwest Arkansas. Let me show you a map.



Now if you look at the map you will see that there is an interstate (540) running North and South through the entire area. The distance between that northern most city, Little Flock and the southern most city, Fayetteville is only 30.5 miles (according to Yahoo! maps). However because of traffic it takes close to 45 minutes to drive that stretch of road. This is one of the biggest reasons I am looking for another job. I really don't want to drive more than 15 minutes to get to work everyday. There are too many places to work closer to home, to have to drive 45 minutes to get to work everyday.

Now, without going in to too much detail, the other reason stands to a "personality clash" with my boss. I have worked for him for over 2 years now, and just in the last 6-8 months I have seen a change in him that most certainly has not been for the better. About 3 weeks ago, I sat down with him to discuss the concerns I had as an employee, and the result has not been much different than pre-meeting.

I am not happy with my current situation and I am looking to change it. However, I am not seeing much results from my perseverance towards finding something. This has led me to question whether God wants me to stay put and finish the work he has for me here. Maybe his purpose for me here has not yet been fulfilled. I just don't know. Josh and I had a really good talk the other night about delighting in the things you do. Well I have not delighted in this job for a long, long time. But how do I change that? How do I set aside the concerns I have as an employee, and just serve the Lord whole heartedly through this job? I have always heard "Do everything as unto the Lord". I feel like I have kept up my values as an employee and not checked out as I am waiting to find something else. I feel like I have been a good steward of my position.

So, that brings me to the next sub topic of this post:
My calling and happiness.
I have decided that for the first time in my married life, I am going to take a job according to my passions, my interests and not because of the salary, perks, or benefits. I have had to truly look into myself to determine what will make me happy. I am totally at a loss when it comes to my life's calling. I know I am passionate about music, art, drama, anything that has to do with creative arts. I have tried to find a job working for places that are based in any of those fields, but to no avail. Then I began thinking what kind of field do I want to be in besides that. Well I have come up with a few that I think might very well suit me:

Hospitality- I love to make people feel important and treat them with great kindness.

Human Resources- I am very much a people person. I have such a strong feeling towards the rights of employees in a company. I want to break into this field very badly. I would definitely go back to school to get a Human Resource Business degree.

Medical Office- Since I am people person, I think I would fit very well as an Administrative person in a medical office. I would have interaction with the patients, doctors, and all the health care professionals.

I have had a few interviews, employment testings, etc. Each time I have had them, I have prayed that God would make it completely clear whether the position was right or not. So far I have not felt the tug on my heart for any of those positions.

Please join with me in prayer to find God's will in all of this. I am ready to let him be the Big God that he is. I have gotten impatient a few times through all of this, but for the most part I have been completely reliant on him to do what he does best. I heard a saying the other day that has been very profound: "God made me, He can keep me, and then He will take me". Let that one sit for a while! Amazing really, how simple it is, but yet it means so much.

Sorry for the long post. I just figured I would share what has been going on with me lately.

Today's the day!

First off today, I am going to lunch with Michelle, then I am having dinner at Red Robin this evening with my friend Becky.

Then my hubby will be home shortly there after that around 10pm.


Countdown is at:

9 hours, 8 minutes, 25 seconds and counting...

Ladies of KeyPoint Date Night

Let me start off by explaining the title. In an e-mail I sent out to all the wives whose husbands are away, I asked them if we could make a date to hang out and have dinner. So, tonight Stacy, her 3 kids, Sarah, her 3 kids, Lauren, Genessa, and I are getting Applebees appetizers, watching American Idol and hanging out. I am not much into the Idol thing, but I must admit that I was glad that Sanjaya kid finally got booted. I was sick of hearing about him on the radio all the time! So, anyways, I guess I will get my first taste of the current contestants this evening.

Now, on to the countdown. I am very anxious to have my wonderful hubby home. I did not sleep very well last night at all. I kept waking up trying to get comfortable. I am used to snuggling with him, and so I was pretty uncomfortable all night long.

1 day, 6 hours, 18 minutes, and 58 seconds and counting...

Let the countdown to his return begin

Things are good I guess. It has pretty much been the same old thing. Work, church, spending time with my husband and friends. Although lately, Josh and I are finding it more and more difficult to have time together. This weekend our church had a men's retreat at a State Park. They were gone from Friday afternoon(while I was at work) until Saturday late afternoon. During the time that he was gone I was able to hang out with some girls from church, get a massage, and get some housework done. When Josh got back on Saturday we got caught up and went to bed early, since neither one of us had much sleep the night before. Sunday, of course brought church, which takes up half of our day, then we grabbed some Arby's for lunch, headed home and ended up falling asleep on the couch. We ended up taking a nap, that we really didn't have time for. Once we woke up we both had things to get accomplished before the night was over. He had to get some computer stuff worked out and I had to get some more cleaning done for this week, as well as some much needed laundry. Now, the reason we had to get this done was because Josh was leaving with the church staff to go to TX for a conference for the next couple of days. Now, while he is gone I have made lots of plans to pass the time. I really don't like to stay at home by myself. So, I have decided to keep myself very busy so the time will pass very quickly. Here's what I have in store:
Working during the day, Chorale Practice, dinner with the other staff wives whose husbands are away, Lauren spending the night(her husband Brock is away with mine), and dinner with my friend Becky. By the time I get done with that dinner with Becky, it will only be a couple of hours before my husband will be home again. So, I am looking forward to some much needed girl time, but I will definetly be counting down the days until my man returns. We have both been pretty busy lately so I am hoping this coming weekend we can go do something and spend some time together. Maybe we can go to the lake and take the dog or go for a hike. We'll see.

2 days, 59 hours, 3577 minutes, 214606 seconds, and counting till Josh will be home again.
http://timeanddate.com/s/cyt

The long road to recovery...

I have been laid up in bed for the last 3 days and have several more to survive. My lower back started hurting on Sunday and has over the last 5 days gotten worse. I did go to a chiropractor and he spent about 20 minutes adjusting me. Then I got my dr. to call in a prescription for a muscle relaxant. I was not able to actually go see my primary care physician since they would have had to take an x-ray and it was broken!!! So, I finally decided today after being miserable all night long to go to Mercy's Convenient Care. I walked in and after speaking to the front desk nurse and explaining my pain was a 7 out of 10(10 being worst), she called out another nurse to speak to me. This nurse preceded to tell me that all they could do was take an x-ray. If any additional tests were needed they would have to send me to the ER. Then she said the magic words... I would have to pay co-pays at both facilities. So, I decided to just go to the ER. So, I went to St. Mary's Hospital. Oddly enough the the process wasn't to painful. I only waited in the waiting area for about 10 minutes before I was taken back to a room. Then after a few minutes back there my wonderful husband showed up to sit with me. We were there a total of 1.5 hours. We walked away knowing that I have sciatica, which is inflammation of the sciatic nerve that runs from your lower back down your legs. I received not just one, but two shots in my butt. Gotta love those...but I did get Daffy Duck band-aids, lol). I was also given two prescriptions. One is an anti-inflammatory, and the other a pain med. I figure I will be knocked out for the next couple of days from all this medicine I am taking.

If you get bored, feel free to call me. I have been pretty bored the last couple of days, and tomorrow won't be much better I'm sure.

Well I am off to snooze, the meds are kicking in!

We bought a new bed.... mattress still to come

On Tuesday night our 24 year old waterbed finally busted on us. At 10:30pm I discovered the leak because of the awful mildew smell coming from our comforter. When Josh and I pulled the mattress up to discover that a previous hole that had been patched was once again leaking. The problem was that the hole was right on the corner of the mattress and we weren't able to get a new patch to stay on. So, after some deliberation we have decided to change over to a regular bed and mattress. We went out today to look for beds and bedroom sets with Josh's folks. After about 4 hours of searching we decided on a platform style bed that we found at Home by I.O. Metro in Bentonville. Here is what it looks like.


We still have to purchase a mattress to place on top of that bed. We won't have our bed frame for 7-10 days so we have a little while to wait before we will get to enjoy it. For the time being we are sleeping on our inflatable bed with frame. It isn't terribly uncomfortable, but I am ready for a softer mattress. We are planning to purchase the additional bedroom pieces as we can afford it. Oh, by the way, we paid cash for our new bed. Man does that feel great!

On another note, I just want to tell everyone:
HAPPY EASTER