August

August is almost over-I can hardly believe it. I think a lot about significant times of the year and/or what was happening this time last year. So I read my blog posts from last August.

Wow! August was miserable (okay, a lot of last year was miserable, but August kicked off a new level of miserable). My posts are full of anguish, longing, disappointment and general pissiness. Neither George or I had any clue what the future would hold. Things were hard on all sides!

And now, here we are. Together. Things have changed so much in a year! Sometimes I just want to block out the pain of 2009. In doing that though, I can forget how far God has brought us and I don't want to do that!

God has done great things for us! We are together, we are in a wonderful church, we are growing on many levels and we are at peace. Jobs are our only real area of need-and even that, when together is of lesser concern. So thanks God, and thanks to all of you who have supported us.

Weekend and Apartment Update

We had a great weekend! After a looong week, the Hubs and I wanted to kick off the weekend right! So we grilled on our patio and enjoyed the unusually fabulous weather! The food was super yummy (I highly recommend Sprout's marinaded Kabobs and Carne Asada) but the company was fabulous! I. Love. My. Husband. Excuse the tacky ladder...we're trying to get it back to my brother- in the meantime, we have no place to store it. :) I'm a big fan of Champagne/Sparkling Wine, but not the price. Barefoot's Chardonnay Champagne is a great option for us poor folk! Love, love, love!

Our new home is coming along nicely. We sold a piece of furniture that just didn't work anymore and it has made a world of difference! G also bought our dining room art, which has a huge impact (I'm so proud of my working man:). This didn't photograph very well, but we have built-ins and I love them. Living room.HUGE picture! It reminds us of the canopy walk in Ghana.

Friday!

WOOT WOOT! I am ready for the weekend!

Happenings...

George got his DL yesterday! I am so happy for him and glad that he has this important piece of independence. Thanks SO much Mom, for taking him to the DPS.

Yesterday...and work in general sucked! I was a grumpy ass about it as well, which didn't help anything. I need to figure out how to cope better and I need another job!! I hate feeling trapped, but I may just have to redefine my understanding of work all together. I'm trying to figure that out...

I'm diggin' the new apartment. There are still some finishing touches that need to be done, but it's nice. It feels like home.

I am SO READY for Fall! I just can't wait to put away the tank tops, get the boots out and ENJOY everything that Fall is.

I really love my husband. I wish he didn't have to work retail, but I'm so proud that he does.

Goodbye, Hello!

It was a busy week! Thus, the lack of blogging.

We are completely moved! Moving is hard work! (I can't believe I thought I could move half way around the world...we have way more stuff than I realized!) On top of that, G worked on our two big moving days, so I didn't have him! My mom helped me IMMENSELY! I don't know how to thank her for all of her help, so I'll do it publicly as well. Thank you, Mom!!!

On our last night at the old place, I mentioned to G that I would miss our apartment. In short, he won't. Once we started to talk about it, I realized how sad and hard life was in that apartment, and really, I'm ready to say goodbye. When I moved in there, I had so many hopes and dreams for what life would hold. What happened though, was heart ache after heart ache and a beautiful, way too big, lonely place. There were many sleepless nights and more tears than I would like to admit. The sorrow outweighs the joy by a LOT! Once G did come, the location kind of hindered him getting a job and being able to get out and about. And at some level, that place was a little more mine than ours.

In comes the new place. We found it together. We signed the lease together. We're in it together. George can walk or ride his bike to work, we are closer to family and we are (hopefully) starting a new, chapter of life that is punctuated by more joy that sorrow. I feel like we're finally moving into "normal" newlywed transitions. Life is becoming less and less about immigration or culture shock and becoming more and more about us. I like that.

So goodbye old place. Goodbye sadness.

Hello new home. Hello possibilities. I look forward to what the next 17 months hold.

Weekend/Week Off

WOOT WOOT! I am so excited for the weekend and my week off.

I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my husband and family and for my husband and brother and sister in-law to finally meet!

I'm also pumped for our move. We found out last second that we are getting a first floor after all (instead of third) and we are so happy about it! This time next week, we'll be painting the new place!

Tonight my family is coming over for dessert and a good time. I may or may not have made WAY too much cheesecake dip! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to take care of it.

Here are a few things that made me laugh this week:

I was pounding meat for dinner one night and G was worried about the noise and disturbing the neighbors. So he offered to hold the meat in his hand...while I pounded it...with a hammer. I declined, but it was still funny!

G is also learning some borderline bad habits from my dad. One of them being a burger stop after going to the grocery store. This is what he told me while we were grocery shopping, "You know Babe, I was talking to Dad.....HE said that he and Mom go to Whataburger every time they go to H-E-B.....I think that's a good idea." After verifying with my mom, one or both of those men is exaggerating the frequency of Whataburger. We did get burgers that night though. :)

I went to the mall today with my charges and a friend and her two year old, S. There was a very nice and stylish lady (in the play area with us) who happened to have a shirt on with sparkles across the chest. S was so mesmerized by this shirt that she walked up to the woman and grabbed her in the boobs! Be careful where your sparkles are placed.

Parallel parking.

Whaaambulance...

I'm not sure what happened last week, but I felt like it would be okay to start whining about life. Did I take a blow to the head or something? I'm not sure, but I was in a whiney mood. Things have not changed to induce said whiney, I was just tired of being a big girl about it. I've decided whining sucks though, so I don't want to do it anymore.

The fact is, work was tough last week and I'm missing my man. The factual flip-side of that is, I have a job that provides for our needs and my husband is working too. Thanks, God.

Two working people, odd hours and one car have made life interesting the past few weeks. The biggest adjustment is meals...we need to get more creative in the food department! Moving will also help. We are so pumped to be moving!! (Things will settle down when G can walk to work.) One of the things I am super excited about is cooking with my mom. We're moving pretty close to my parents (who are almost empty-nesters) and both my mom and I are getting stumped with this whole cooking for two thing. She's been cooking for 8 or more for a very long time and that's how I learned to cook. So we're going to get together and cook a bunch of things and split and freeze them. Cool, huh? It should help a lot. I'm such a nerd...but it makes me excited. :)

In other news, my brother Joe and his wife, Sara are coming to visit this weekend! Joe is in the Navy, so we don't get to see him very often (and he's been at sea for the last 7 months or so). We're excited to have them come to town-it's gonna be a crazy few days, but it should be lots of fun, too!

Also, I get next week off and who wouldn't be excited about that?

Tuesday....

What a weekend! It's taken me until today to even know how to recap...and still, I don't know how well I will do.

Babysitting on Saturday was quite the task! Words really wouldn't do it justice. I do have to say though, at one point, G and I decided that we are allergic to children. :) It was a looong, hard day. It pales in comparison however, to what our Friends M & S do everyday! Their foster daughters have been through more than we can imagine in their short lives-the result is pretty terrible behavior! We are so amazed by this couple, who have stepped out in faith and obedience to God, to be foster parents to these kids and a light to those around them. Bravo to them! And to all the foster and adoptive parents who may check this blog out...GOD! BLESS! YOU!

On Sunday, we recovered from Saturday and spent time together, knowing we'd be apart more during the week. Yesterday, today and Thursday, George's work schedule makes it where we don't see each other ALL DAY...as in 14+ hours! I don't want to whine, but I do have to admit, it's NO FUN. It's no surprise that G has a better perspective on this and it's helped me out. I felt like, we haven't worked and waited this long to be together to not be together. His thought, at least we're in the same place. He is right. This is temporary. I'm going to be a big girl about it. I will add though, that this will be much easier when we move!

And one more thing, all this driving around for a low paying job that gives "great experience" and a sense of independence...it's exactly what my mom/parents did for us when we were teens-SIX TIMES! Sheesh, Mom! (And, she's helping again!) I feel like God is double stretching me sometimes-teaching someone how to drive and taking them to work and various activities are typical responsibilities for a mom of teens...not a newlywed in her 20s. Hopefully by the time I'm doing this for my kids, I'll be super awesome and have some sort of system down. That, or have invented a drug that magically makes one know how to drive...the drug that makes me not care how someone is driving is already out there-I'm not interested. :)