Settling in and settling down...

G and I both realized this past week that something has changed and we are so glad about it. The stress, the hubbub, the anxiety, the insane planning and generally the craziness our life has been has pretty much settled down. We have stopped planning all of our time together to get the most out of it (like we did when we were just visiting-we even planned 'down time'). It's just great, we are really starting to slow down and enjoy the ride of life, instead of worrying about immigration, being separated or just life in general. We feel like a normal couple, it's hard to explain it, but it's wonderful!

We've also been looking back at what life held for us this time last year. Wow! We were stronger than I realized and God really did see us through...it's funny what you don't notice in the midst of things.

I have had several half work days recently and we have had so much fun! George couldn't swim when he got here-but in the last week, he's pretty much taught himself! I love watching him learn and challenge himself and I'm so impressed with him! (I also laugh my butt off when he tries new jumping styles!) I think we've clocked about 15 hours or more of swimming in the last 4 days. Now that he's been fairly drown-proofed, we'll be enjoying Schlitterbahn this weekend! We are both super pumped about it and excited to hang out with my family at such a fun place!

Last night we went to a minor league baseball game with friends-another great time! It was George's first time to watch baseball and first time to eat a ballpark hotdog! He was really into it when we got there...around the 5th inning however, he announced, "Baseball. It's a boring game." I'm glad we went, I'm also glad we left before it was over. :)

Life is just good. We still want and pray that things will change on the job front, but while we wait, we're going to enjoy everything we do have going for us!

Great interview!

G had his very first American interview today and it went fabulously! I am so excited for him and so proud of him! He was so charged when I talked to him! This is such a wonderful encouragement and we are praying that he gets the job-he'll hear back in two weeks (I'm hoping less).

Thanks for your prayers and SUPER thanks to my parents for working out their schedules to take him! Y'all are just too great!

Life Update

I'm seriously becoming a bad blogger. I feel like people don't care about the boring stuff or I write something really deep or theological and decide not to post it. So here's a quick run down.

George has a job interview on Tuesday! We are both cautiously excited and praying like crazy. It's with a Christian non-profit here in Austin that works with low income and "at risk" communities.

Mother's Day was great! As you know, I love my mommy! We had a small lunch (not normal in my family) at our apartment and it was very nice. We really want to start entertaining more!

We're getting more connected to our church and small group and we feel so blessed by that! We really love our church and have been hungry for some couple friends-this has been a real answer to prayer. Our group is going through Experiencing God and we are really enjoying it. This week was about prayer. Sometimes it's hard for me to study prayer with church people because I feel like I'm the only one who has experienced or is willing to admit that God is silence sometimes and it's frustrating and I just don't get it. I hate Sunday School answers to real life. Thankfully, this group and this study are not like that. The thing that stood out to me most this week was remembering God's faithfulness and calling on your life through the silences and through the hard times and seemingly closed doors. God's call and faithfulness don't go away when the circumstances get hard. That's a tough thing to remember sometimes.

Today I took my kiddies to my mom's pool and she hung out with us as well. It was so much fun! It was very refreshing and hopeful. A great reminder that I won't be a worn out nanny with an ever changing job forever. One day, these will be my kids and we will be happily chillin' with Gigi! (Hopefully I'll have a different job before then though.:)

Oh yeah! Another thing in our study was the physical markers people had in the OT of God's faithfulness. Sometimes God told them to make a marker for the future generations and sometimes they just did. I think that is so cool! I want to try and think of good physical markers (that aren't corny, huge, ugly, or too Family Christian Bookstore) to have for our family. So far, I buy purses or furniture when great things happen (or really bad things happen)-but they aren't exactly things for the generations. Do and of you have things like that?

Water

As you know, I am a nanny. As you probably also know, I live and work in Central TX where it's been in the mid 90s this week and a bit humid...it's not even summer yet. It's now officially too hot for our afternoon walk to the park and play time. The kids' cheeks are red by the time we get there and the playscape is too hot to play on. I'm not taking them to the pool either because the 7 month old doesn't like the cold water and the 2 year old has no fear. I'm getting to the point...

In comes the shaded back porch and a five gallon bucket. I filled the bucket most of the way with water and got some cups and smaller buckets (a tip from my own rockin' mom). The little guy played happily for TWO HOURS!! He just poured the water back and forth, named his buckets (after the important men in his life-himself, Daddy and Pa-Puck) and had a blast. Baby sister enjoyed watching him have fun.

It hit me while I was watching him how easy it was for me to supply him with gallons of water-just. for. play. I walked a few feet and turned on a tap, knowing water would come out, because it always does. It didn't matter if the water got in his mouth, because it was clean. On top of that, it's cheap enough that he can simply play with it. What a tremendous blessing. A blessing that is easy to forget and easy to take for granted. Thank God for clean, affordable water that is oh so easily accessible!

I hope it never gets old!

I am still in awe that my man is here and so happy about it. The last couple of weeks have had some extra drama-something I really don't like. George has been so loving and encouraging through all of it-he was also righteously indignant and offended on my behalf. Life moves on and drama happens, it did when George was thousands of miles away and it does while we are together. Life's trials are so much easier to handle with him here, it makes all the difference in the world. I'm just so happy to have him by my side, he brings me so much joy and strength...I hope this feeling never gets old.

Wonderful Weekend!!!

G and I went to Weekend To Remember by Family Life....it was great!!

If you've ever thought about going-GO! We went because the opportunity presented itself and figured it would be a good thing to do, especially as a sort of preventative maintenance. We had no idea it would be so fabulous! We were so blessed and learned SO MUCH! I'm pretty much recommending that every married couple I know go!

The group is diverse and the teaching is too. It's not geared to couples who only have problems or have been married for a certain amount of time-it's for everyone. There was a couple there who had been married for two weeks, as well as one that had been married for fifty-five years!!! There were healthy relationships and relationships that were all but over. There were all ages as well! We got so much out of it-so much more than we expected! We were really able to shut out all the stress and things going on around us and truly focus on us and invest in our relationship and really strengthen the foundation of our family. We came home with wonderful tools and encouragement to use now, as well as great things to file away for the future (like how to keep our marriage a priority when we have children). It was funny, engaging, full of biblical truths, and all around well done! We are thankful that we were able to go and if we could, we would send all the married couples in our family!

These conferences are hosted in nice hotels, all around the country, all year long. We will go again and again! I really encourage married people (and pre-marrieds) to look up their nearest conference and try to go-it was that good.