Job update, etc.

This has been an awesome week for George in the job area and he is very encouraged! He has a lot of irons in the fire and has had some great face time. Please pray that things continue to go well, especially with UT. We have been very encouraged by this progress and the people God has put in our path to help us. Yesterday, he went to a career fair and several people said they couldn't believe he was only two months old in America! I'm pretty proud.

My job has been kind of stressful this week and I'm feeling really trampled and unappreciated. I'm not sure how to deal with it right now. The up side is that the good things going on with my man overshadow the not-so-good for me. :) Still praying for a breakthrough in my job area and figuring out what to do...

George is learning lots of slang and new words and I am getting such a kick out of it! His new favorites are: Duh! Guadalupe (said with correct Mexican pronunciation) and fuzzy (though sometimes it comes out faggy) he also likes to say, ewww gross! In addition, he is learning about stereotypes and is getting good at pointing out when something is a stereotype...as well as making fun of girls who twirl their hair and say "um" and "like" all the time. Some days are like a comedy sketch!

Spring...almost....a little bit....

Central Texas is known for it's crazy weather. It's not "El Nino" it's just crazy. Even though I'm used to it, I still get surprised by it. We all thought (and hoped) spring had come! People were swimming, hike and bike trails were packed and tank tops and flip flops were being worn by all! Then, Saturday-the wind chill was in the 20s. What. The. Heck. Spring ran away and hid from us.

I think our journey is similar. The winter seems so long and dismal, the first signs of spring bring hope and excitement....then BOOM, it's not really spring, it's sucky winter! But regardless of how anyone feels about it (especially me), spring really will come...eventually. And summer (my favorite) really will follow....eventually.

I was reading over some old blog posts (like this one, this one and this one) and was reminded how far we really have come. I still wonder what exactly God is doing, I'm still on a spiritual journey and hopefully, always will be. But I'm not angry anymore. My hurt is less. My despair is much less. It was a hard, very long "winter" and I wasn't sure if we would ever get a "spring". I'm still wrapping my mind around all the things that have happened these past few years, but I do have hope. Hope that spring is coming [or maybe even here] and hope that one day this will be a memory and the hurt will be completely gone. My God can do that.

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5

The same, but different.

Life. This year has been indescribably difficult and full of change. I know I say that a lot. I think change is in every. single. post. You would think I'd be used to it by now! This time last year, I was in Ghana and George and I were in the throws of immigration. We were full of hope and excitement, thrilled to be together and anxious about our future. As the year went on, things just kept getting worse, despair is a word that comes to mind. And now, here we are. We have hope and excitement, we're thrilled to be together and very anxious about our future! It's so much of the same, but so different.

Fab weekend!

We were so blessed with a really wonderful weekend that I'm letting it carry me into this not-so-great Monday! The weather here is ridiculously nice and we are taking FULL advantage! We went hiking/walking at the San Gabriel river on Saturday and had a blast! Then we managed to re-stain our wooden couch and grub on some great fish before going to game night at our new friends' house! It was so much fun! On Sunday we enjoyed another great church service, lunch with my family and more outside time.

George is blown away by how bright it is so late in the evening! Last night he jumped up at about 7:30pm and exclaimed, "My sweet, wonderful Jeesis! What the HECK?!" Ghana has 12 hour days and 12 hour nights-year round (it's pitch black shortly after 6). Never in his life has he seen such a thing. He is REALLY enjoying it. His joy and wonder over things I daily take for granted puts things into perspective and keeps me grounded. I am very blessed to have such a smart man who still gets amazed by simple things.

We are hittin' the job hunt hard and trying not to be frustrated! This past week/weekend we each found jobs that we are VERY interested in! They suit our skills, talents and experience AND they pay well! We are praying, praying that we can get interviews. Not to sound cocky, but we feel pretty confident that if we could talk with the hiring people, we'd be the ones to get the jobs. So please pray with us that God would guide and direct this search, that we would get the right jobs soon and that we would continue to have hope and faith that these things will happen.

Some encouragement...

Last night we went to a young marrieds small group through our church. It was so wonderful! We didn't actually get to the study, because after prayer requests everyone talked and had questions for us! People were so sweet and open and encouraging, unfortunately, I'm not used to that. It was nice to tell the story on this side of the outcome.

One of the things we really enjoyed was hearing the prayer requests and what's going on in the lives of other couples who are just a little further down the road (one couple is going to be foster parents and another are considering moving to East Asia). We are still gasping for air from our immigration battle and the whirlwind of settling into American/married life that the we have trouble considering what life may look like down the road-we're still pinching ourselves that we are together! It was a really great reminder that we will actually find our normal and be able to see what God has for us in various areas of our life. We were sweetly reminded that it really hasn't been that long and the dust really will settle. Really.

George had a great time talking to the guys and everyone was very encouraging to him about his job situation and acclimating to America. They were also very complimentary about his English, which was great boost of confidence. It was just good and we were both so blessed by it and thankful for such a sweet time.

Keep on truckin'

Yesterday I was writing a post about being discouraged. I ended up not posting it...it was yucky and not very me.

Life is truly wonderful in so many areas, but I still worry about the what-ifs. I worry a lot. I worry that maybe my husband won't get a job and I'll lose mine and we'll end up in massive debt and everything will go wrong and then we'll get deported. Yes, it sounds ridiculous. Less so in my mind. I wonder sometimes if the struggle ever ends. Will we ever have smooth sailing? Then I answer myself, do I deserve smooth sailing? I don't.

I remember the first time I went to Ghana (and met my man!!!) things started out a little rough. I was mugged only a few days in. My dreams of this wonderful trip turned into fear and doubt in an instant. I thought it was HUGE! I was ALONE in AF-RI-CA(!!!!) and had been VIOLENTLY MUGGED. Gasp! It was scary, but it wasn't the end of the world. I soon refocused and allowed God to be my comforter and to move forward in the purpose of my trip. It wasn't that big of a deal and only added to the adventure. One of my fellow volunteers commented that I just "keep on truckin" meaning when I hit a bump in the road, I keep going. That's what I want to do. Life is hard, even when it's good and I need to keep on truckin'!

I am worried, and I'm spiritually worn out from our immigration struggle. I know my God is bigger than that, but I don't even pretend to know what the outcome will be or what God being "big" looks like. So the adventure continues...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -Philippians 4:6

Hello, March! Hello, Stress! Hello, Bliss!

I can't believe it's March already! Last weekend was packed, which has bled into a tired (and too busy for my liking) week. My little sister got married on Saturday! We enjoyed the festivities, but there wasn't much resting going on.

Here we are at my sister's rehearsal.

We are both still on the job hunt, which can be very stressful and frustrating. Okay, it IS very stressful and frustrating! I am really, really not enjoying my job! It's changed a lot recently and to be extremely frank-I hate it. I feel underpaid, under appreciated and really just kind of abused. I'm also in a precarious position, because though they haven't told me, my boss will be relocating soon. I feel like if I speak up, they'll just let me go and hire a temp who doesn't know the difference. So I'm searching, searching and trying not to lose it in the meantime. Thanks for letting me complain. As for George, we did get some encouragement this week! We tried a new Career group at another church and it was FABULOUS! We are excited about the next 7 weeks of it and are praying for great things! Please pray with us that we will get better/jobs soon!

With all that being said, we still recognize how far we have come and are still thankful to be together and blissfully happy! Life is still good even when one part of it totally sucks.

I'm bad about posting (and taking!) pictures, but here are a few of the recent additions to our home. I'm pretty excited about them!

I'm so glad we finally put up curtains in the dining area-it's been my vision for months!

AHHHHH!!! The KitchenAid! This was my huge thing! George didn't really get the need for one of these, but he understands now. He's loving the cookies and breads I've been able to make in my limited time.