I am thankful for...

Family that is loving and supportive

Friends that are loving and supportive

A God that knows what He is doing

A perfect nephew

A car that works

Safe snowy traveling

A job that is so much more than an 8:00 - 5:00 responsibility

An awesome church home

Christmas music

Christmas lights

Christmas GIVING

My three foot Christmas tree :)

Good stories

Good food

Good cooks in the family!

Completion of Semester #1 (out of 6)

Good books - any recommendations?

... a more thourough blog is on it's way

two things

I've got two things to say:
1. I admire dilligent bloggers
2. I am not one of them

I'm not even going to use the "b" word (busy) b/c everyone can use that 'lack of time' excuse. I WILL blog soon. In fact... I WILL post a new entry by next week. Hold me to it!

God is good!

This week has been the craziest most eventful week of my life. I have become 3 new things all in a matter of 2 days. I have begun my full-time nanny position with the most awesome kids and parents :) I have become a graduate student in Boise State’s Counselor Education program. And by far most importantly I have become an Aunt to themost beautiful, perfect, sweetest little boy named Timothy David :)


Usually these big life events are spread out in time and staggered among family members… but this time our entire family had huge events happening. Lindsey started undergrad college at Boise State and moved out of “the nest”. My parents sent their youngest kid to a faraway land for school – I am told that is somewhat of a nest shaker ;) They also became first time grandparents – also a huge event I am told ;) I already mentioned my school and work changes. After a day and a half of labor, Nicole freed Timmy from the dark abyss. Apparently he loved it there… it was quite a struggle for her, Mark, and the doctors to get him out. If you want an awesomely detailed version of the story, see Mark’s facebook – the Dad’s perspective of birth :) The short version: 32 hours of labor (correct this if I’m wrong Nicole), 3.5 hours of pushing, lots of anxiety and prayer, and no baby. A C-section was in order… but even that was a fight – Timmy was positioned in the birthing canal just right/wrong so that he couldn’t go the natural route and had to be shimmied a lot to be manually pulled out of her uterus. Make sense? However, he was born at 2:01 on August 25th – 8 lbs 15 oz. and 21 inches of beautiful baby :)


The coolest part of all of this is seeing that love gush from Mark and Nicole… it’s quite a sight.

kersplat

I've been ignoring this blog.... no reason, no good excuses. So I'm just going to type stuff as it comes to me... if you don't like reading disorganized ramblings.... just go eat a cookie or something.

I've been in Idaho for a month now, and quite a bit has happened... and not happened.

I feel dumb saying this because it's so apparent... but God has been guiding this new part of my life from the very start. I've been frustrated, royally pissed, stressed to almost the max, and ridiculously excited all b/c of all this mumbo jumbo.

I've been looking for an apartment since March/April... and I am just now applying for my first one. I'm not one to make quick decisions or to choose something when I haven't seen all my options. So it took a lot of searching to find the golden ticket. This place that I've chosen to apply for has met 90% of all my requirements. But... that doesn't mean that's where I'm supposed to be - so I'll be excited when I get the call. Patience is being tested and stretched - but all for a good reason... right God??

Speaking of searching... Chris is still searching for a job out here and has resorting to searching/applying for jobs in CA b/c no one is hiring out here. I know he will be where he is supposed to be... but we both thought that that would be Boise in a very short time. And maybe it will be.

I've been rescued from a $1,500 Volkswagen service department bill - ya. Thank you Jesus for warranties. I lost my phone for a few hours... and luckily found it in a park on the AF base... had I dropped it 1 second later it would have been parking lot roadkill.

I work for two awesome families - families that hardly know me but are so generous to me... how did I land such a great job? I have so much freedom at this job, and they are so trusting - it's a great feeling. Working at the daycare was awesome, but this job has such a great pace...it's exactly what I needed.

I've been spending a lot of time with my sister and bro-in-law and the bun in the oven - it's crazy to say that this is the most time we have spent together in 5 years? That doesn't sound right b/c it's so long...but it's true. Timothy is going to have such a great life :) The kid already has an awesome room... mostly everything on the walls were made/decorated by Nicole.

I'm tired of typing. And if I were you...I'd be tired of reading by now.

More frequent updating is in the future!

The journey

Here's a few pictures of our journey West...

The Tetons... if you have never seen them... you NEED to go. They are nothing short of majestic.

More to come...

*sigh*

Here I am... fartin around online... when I should be packing and sorting. I am really excited to leave tomorrow - but now the jitters are setting in. I'm not looking forward to waking up at the crack of dawn... but it will be all good once we are in the car and on the road.

The picture above is of me and a little girl and baby girl from the daycare - I think it's the cutest picture! I would post other pictures of the kids... but I don't want to unless I had permission from their parents.

This morning I had breakfast at the cafe with Al and Wyatt did a little shopping in town. Then we had to say goodbye :( We both agreed that we are bad at getting together...even when we are only 30 minutes away. I'm going to really miss being near them :(

In a little bit I'm going to go hang out with my Grandma - it's going to be really hard to say goodbye to her. And then tomorrow, it's goodbye time with mom. But it won't be too sad b/c she will be coming out in August to see Timothy!

I cannot wait to see Mark and Nicole - Timothy has grown so much and apparently he is really active...so I hope to see some womb sumersaults! Painless ones of course!

... I'm hoping the audiobooks from the library are good ones. Music is great... but it's nice to mix it up a little.

I'm really going to miss being around my Mom and Dad and the rest of the clan out here :\ The 4 years that I was away at college, I really did miss them. It was a lot of fun being so close to my Aunts and Uncles and Grandma - even though we didn't get together much with some of them... it was fun when we did.

Well I should go finish packing. So my dad doesn't have a panic attack when he gets home. "YOU'RE NOT DONE YET?! WE LEAVE TOMORROW! ON TIME!!" ya... let's prevent that.

yahoo! but...

Currently, I am thinking that...

I am reeeally just anxious to get on the road and move out to Idaho...
... but I am definitely NOT looking forward to Tuesday b/c it is my last day at work and I just don't want to say goodbye to all my little munchkins! Working at the daycare has been such a blessing - God really knew what he was doing when he chose that job for me. My co-workers and I all mesh sooo well - it's almost crazy. It's great to have co-workers that you can depend on have fun with - even on days where the kids are NUTSO. My schedule is great - I get to sleep in and mosey on over to work at 10:00 a.m. I get to hang out with kids that are just plain cute and stinkin hilarious. Don't get me wrong... they have their moments where their cuteness is nowhere to be seen - but I still love them :) It is going to be a sad day on Tuesday :\ But... my co-workers are throwing a 'going away' dinner for me at a local restaurant... and I'm super excited for that. I just hope there are no tears - I hate tearful goodbyes. Yes... that means that I prefer cold, heartless, quick and meaningless goodbyes. K not really.

oooh! I get to babysit my friends little baby boy now... I'll continue this...someday :)