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| I have finally obtained employment with Liberty University! I felt that was post worthy.
More details on blogger.
It will be great. Such a blessing financially. Tuition benefits plus an income twice what I was making. Our savings account will become quite hefty in the next few years. Hopefully that means that once we're done with graduate work and figure out where we're settling we'll be able to buy that sweet, perfect house we're envisioning.
I start Monday. That gives me two more days with my beloved children. I will miss them. I hope I don't cry all day Friday. The kids would probably think I'm dying or something. Well, a part of me will be.
My parents were visiting when I was offered the job. My mom outfitted me well for my new position. At the preschool I could wear jeans and tees since we're on the floor playing with the kids and often very messy. Yeah, that's not going to work in a professional office setting.
Definitely an answer to prayer. Our whole extended families and most of our friends have been praying hard core for this to happen since mid-spring. Thank you, Lord. God is so good.
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| Michigan is spectacular. Seriously, Grand Rapids is amazing. I can't wait to move back. Hopefully the next three years will fly by.
Jon and Andrea's wedding was beautiful. Andrea was the image of perfection. Jon was just as handsome as ever. And the best man was smokin! Andrea was so sweet and had Matt and I do an anniversary dance! She even remembered our wedding song! Now there's a selfless bride!
Our anniversary was wonderful. One year down, eternity to go. I got a beautiful diamond tear drop journey necklace. There's a good husband!
I basically restocked my entire wardrobe for the next year! My mom and I went shopping and I went a little overboard. Time for all the high school-ish clothes to disappear forever! I'm finally giving my wardrobe the makeover it's so desperately needed. I can hardly wait to get home to wear all my new clothes! And these clothes should last me for the next decade (I have clothes I wore in junior high! They still fit and they're still stylish so why not?) so I'll be one sassy mama! I really don't want to end up being a "throw-whatever-is-clean-on-just-to-get-out-the-door" moms. I know, it's ridiculous that I think about things like this.
And now we're getting all packed up to head home to Virginia tomorrow. Boo. At least we'll have our kitten again! She's been staying with my sister for the past week. She'll have one more traumatic day in the car and then we'll all be home sweet home.
Long day of travel tomorrow. Now to find hidey holes for all the stuff we somehow accumulated while home! Including a rather tall and awkward coat rack, a standing clock, my hamper full of new clothes, and hopefully a small rocker I'll use in my classroom next year. Since we have the kitten with us we have to give her enough space to wander around. So it all has to fit in the trunk. I never was very good at puzzles...
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| I think a lot of discouragement in life comes from waiting. Waiting in line... waiting to hear the "news"... waiting to see if he/she really will call the next day... waiting for the pregnancy test to show one line or two... or waiting for the results of a successful job interview. Just to name a few that discourage me at times. I just have to keep reminding myself that patience is a virtue. And life goes on. Oh bla dee Oh bla dah.
So after waiting for something for three days when I was told I'd only have to wait one... I am a bit discouraged. I'm trying to keep my mind off the waiting. Unsuccessfully. I keep telling myself that no news is good news. People get busy. Life happens for the rest of world. Everything does not revolve around me. In junior high I sure thought it did. Ask my male interest at the time who so cleverly nicknamed me "Miss Universe". It's just that sometimes you'd rather know and have a let down than not know and have to just keep waiting. My waiting should be done sometime next week for sure, if not later today. I just was expecting to know Wednesday. Maybe the holiday weekend had some effect on it. I don't know. If you haven't guessed, my waiting is for the last item on the list. I had a great interview for a job I would really enjoy and I believe I would be good at. I was told by someone "on the inside" that things went really well and everything was looking positive. Now I just wait. On the other hand, I have been offered a much better position at my current job for next year. So either way I'll be happy. I just want to know already!
We thought we were moving to Upstate New York after one year of marriage. That was the original plan. Then we changed to moving back to Michigan across the state from our families. All of this centered around Matt's grad school options. Then we were considering making Lynchburg our permanent home because of a job offer for Matt. Then we were positive we were moving back home with our families. Now his family is moving to So Cal. And we're right back to staying here in Lynchburg. Wow. That's a lot of changes for me to process since I can convince myself to love or hate a place. In this case, I go back and forth about Lynchburg. Lynchburg would be a nice place to raise a family. Not too busy, close enough to some good vacation spots, within driving distance of my family, good schools for the kids someday, good jobs for Matthew and I. But I just can't get used to being a Vriginian. Plus I don't like hot weather. Summers here are too long and too hot for me. Right now our plan is to saty here for a few more years, hopefully both of us working and saving lots of money and hopefully Matt getting his Masters, possibly from Liberty. Then we'd like to move back to Michigan. I'd like to already have baby number one. That's quite a downer after we thought we'd be moving home next summer. Oh well. Life changes. And, once again, it goes on. I'm a planner. I like to have everything planned out far far in advance. I'm learning to move with the punches though.
I am very thankful for this long weekend. Matt is working Monday. Oh the joys of hospital work, holidays are rarely off.
Well, I just wasted another half hour online. And still no news on the job interview. I hate hate hate waiting.
Have patience. Have patience. Don't be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember remember that God is patient too. And think of all the times when others have to wait for you.
I think that's the words. I need to brush up on my Sunday School songs.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
And Happy Wedding Day to Joe and Jodi Monopoli-to-be.
And Happy Wedding Eve to Kevin and Stephanie Bernhardt!
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| As of Thursday at 12:15 pm, I have been on spring break. It is such a wonderful feeling. So much better than spring break from my own personal school work ever was! I think I rather enjoy working over schoolwork though. Odd, as I am a perpetual student and wish I knew where I wanted to go in life so I could pursue my Masters. It just seems kind of pointless since by the time I'm finished with my degree I'll want to have babies and be a stay at home mom. Maybe I'll just ex grad school altogether. We'll see what the next few years bring.
Plans for Spring Break 2009: shopping. Lots of shopping. Mainly for household items. A day at the Natural Bridge, I hear they have a small Safari right now? I hope so. A day in Roanoke doing all sorts of shady things. Finishing Moby Dick and hopefully a couple other books. Finding us a new insurance carrier that covers pregnancy and delivery costs... just in case. Yes, Matthew's insurance through work just isn't cutting it. Ironic since he works for the hospital. Getting Matthew fitted for his tux for Jon and Andrea's wedding. Hopefully finding me a suitable dress for Jon and Andrea's wedding, after months of searching. And pampering myself silly while Matthew is at work! It will be a wonderful spring break.
My parents are covering my cell phone bill since my sisters, my mom, and I are all on a family plan. I fussed and said that if they were paying for my married sisters phone bills they should cover mine also. My dad willingly agreed. I'm far too spoiled. Well, Matthew has been on his family's plan as well. But it was past time for us to get him his own plan and a new phone. So yesterday we passed an Alltel booth at the mall. I have Alltel so we thought this would be a great way to go. We checked out the phones and of course, there were all sorts of Easter sales going on. We left the booth 1.5 hours later with a new Motorola smartphone for Matthew and another addition to our monthly bills. Since I have a blackberry Matthew had been wanting a phone as cool as mine. Yeah, I'm just cool like that. His new phone has Windows on it so it will be perfect for when he starts grad school and has to write all his papers and stuff. He spent about four hours setting it all up and getting it just the way he wanted it. We also bought him a 2 GB memory card so he could put some music onto it and store his documents. It was a very successful trip. In return, I was allowed to buy three new cardigan sweaters. If you know me, you know I'm all about the cardigan sweaters! I wish it were perpetually autumn so I could wear cardigans all year round. Which is part of the reason I want to move to New England or Washington State. I doubt that will happen though. I have a feeling that in another year we'll be moving back home to Michigan. As long as we find jobs and Matt gets accepted into Grad School. We'll just have to keep praying.
Easter is tomorrow. Passion Week is my favorite holiday time of year. I enjoy refelcting over the Scriptures of prophecy over this time and the gospel accounts of this Christ's last week on earth. Oh what a glorious day. I wait in expectation for the day He will once again return to earth. His feet landing at the exact place He ascended into Heaven from. He will tiumphantly march down the Mount of Olives to the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. He will destroy all obstacles the world has literally put up in front of the gate to keep Him out and He will return victorious to His city. Oh what a day that will be. I just hope I am alive to witness it.
Happy Easter!
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| I have had two personal accomplishments today. I felt that was worthy of a xanga post.
First, we have been battling the hospital and insurance company about Matt's outpatient visit to the clinic on New Year's Eve. In case you're not familiar with our tale of woe, Matt was working on the Adult Pysch Floor New Years Eve. He gives me a call midway through his shift to tell me he's going to get his head checked out because he was attacked by an aggitated patient. I, of course, think he's dying and I hate all the mentally ill for a split second. He assures me that he's fine and the check up is just a precaution. He was hit in the face by a flying meal tray (not a flimpsy one either) and given quite the shiner under his left eye. (I took a picture and put it on facebook, but it was already looking better by that time) His eye heals and we move on with life. At the end of January we received a notice explaining the outpatient visit, the fees, and the date of payment and the check number by our insurance. Again, we move on with our lives. The following week we receive notification that our insurance, in fact, does not cover pre-existing conditions and would we please verify our previous insurance for full coverage of this incident. As this was obviously not a pre-existing condition, we once more move on with our lives. Two months pass. Last week we received yet another notification from the hospital, a bill. Um, excuse me? A bill? When Matthew was injured on the job by a patient who was not restrained because the hospital staff had been negligent? We call the hospital and talk to some people in human resources, we call our insurance company again. Everyone says we are responsible for the costs of the visit. It is around $70, so not the end of the world, but I was pretty sure this was covered under workman's compensation. I finally got through to some helpful people today. I called around at the hospital and was put on hold a lot and transfered and was given new numbers and names to contact. Finally, I was told we were not responsible to pay the bill and we would be issued new paperwork within a week dropping all the charges and as verification of this incident. So that is all cleared away and we are going to sleep much easier knowing that if something truly terrible happens to Matthew on the job (he does work with mentally disturbed patients for a living) we will not go into debt for his medical expenses. But my accomplishment: I am extremely hot headed. My anger escalates over the littlest things, but I am working on it. I know it is one of my biggest character flaws. As this was a pretty substantial issue and we were not being helped by anyone we called for information, I was getting pretty upset. I had talked to my Dad would works at a hospital in Michigan to verify that we should not have to pay this kind of medical fee. I had checked over our insurance policies and the hospital policies. I did not understand how anyone could charge us this visit. It was aggravating. But I got on the phone this afternoon and forced myself to remain calm and collected, even when the hospital rep I was speaking with had a personal conversation going on in the background while she was supposed to be checking out records (if you're going to do that at least put the phone on mute or hold, honestly). I spoke clearly and made sure to repeat our entire situation to every person I talked to. I was literally shaking with fury as I spoke calmly and patiently to the different operators. Once the situation was resolved I felt all the tension leaving my body and felt so proud of my self control. A sign of growing maturity- I am not a very mature person if you truly know me. But again, I'm working on it. I have had far too spoiled a life up until now for maturity. And I'm still overly spoiled now!
Accomplishment numero dos: Taxes! Boo. I sat down to begin filling out our tax forms. I started filling out the one I thought we needed and gritted my teeth as I turned the page in the manuel and saw we actually needed a different form because of our gross income. I have this irrational fear of getting fined or going to jail for misrepresenting yourself on your taxes! I would never lie to the IRS on purpose, but I could easily put the wrong information in the wrong box and add incorrectly and all would be lost. Like I said, I know this is irrational. Anyways, I got fed up so decided to just file online even if I'd have to pay a fee. I used TaxCut which seemed like the simplest option. I only ended up having to opay $9.95 to file our Federal, Michigan, and Virginia tax forms! Michigan was a waste of time because we didn't owe or receive anything since we didn't work there. But we were required to submit a form anyways because we technically lived there until we permanently became Virginia residents. So we paid $9.95 and we're getting back about $2500! That's right! We apparently did things right this year! We're going to put most of it in savings but a little can be mad money. Part of me really wants to splurge on a Macbook... but we should save it. I'm learning to be a better steward of our finances. It will all be worth it later once kids come along and we have private school tuition to pay, and a mini van to buy, and house payments.
I was stressed at the beginning of today knowing I had these two things to deal with. Now, I am as free as a bird!
I have a bridal shower for a work friend on Sunday. So exciting. I love everything wedding! I ordered my wedding album this week (I know, I'm nine months behind!) and am so excited to receive it in the mail! I wish it had arrived in time for the shower so I could bring it along, but I'll still take it to work with me to show anyone who is interested. Some people won't be, but I always enjoy looking at wedding pictures! So Sunday should be a fun time. I'm also going to visit a Presbyterian church that meets about 10 minutes from my house. Another work friend recommended it. I like the Presbyterian denomination for the most part, we'll see if we become members in the next year. Problem being: Matthew and I are both Baptists. Maybe we can make a switch. Truly we are Protestant Evangelical Christians so it really shouldn't be an issue which denomination we attend, right? We'll see. Hopefully I'll like this church. I'm tired of church hopping.
I feel so refreshed! Have a wonderful first weekend of spring!
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