starting to see that sweet silver lining August 2, 2011

i love my life and am truly blessed, but i do feel that a few things are missing. it’s no secret that i have been unhappy with my career. i have worked for about the past 6 months to find other employment. i had recently resigned myself to teaching another year of high school. classes start back next monday, so i am preparing myself mentally for going back there. yet, i still have held out hope that something better would open up for me.

things have changed dramatically for me over the past week as far as my career goes. i was contacted by a local gym to begin teaching zumba classes. i signed up for a certification workshop which i’ll complete the weekend after my hubby leaves to go back overseas. i will get half of what i charge for the classes, so it could pay pretty decently. also, i would already work out on those days anyway, so why not have some fun and make money doing it?

on the first day of our trip to New Orleans last week, i was contacted by two colleges to teach English classes part-time. one was offering classes that were scheduled for day, so i had to turn them down. i was really bummed about that, but the second college, East Mississippi Community College, offered me a few night classes. i am really excited about this, because as the English department head explained to me, those that they would consider for a full-time position usually have to start out in an adjunct position. it helps them see if you are right for the position and college, and it helps you as an instructor get your feet wet and learn the ropes. with teaching high school full-time and two part-time gigs, i am going to be crazy busy this semester. i hope i can handle it all. i am also still trying to build my team beachbody business, but that doesn’t really take up a lot of my time.

jamie and i have been spending as much time together as possible. we went to New Orleans for a few days to shop and eat good creole food. we stayed in the Royal St. Charles and really liked the hotel. we did so much walking! even eating beignets and tons of salty, spicy rice dishes, i still lost weight last week. we also stopped in a few other cities in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, for some shopping. Sunday was the baby dedication ceremony at our church, and several of our friends’ children were recognized. then, we had a big fifth Sunday dinner in the activity building, and i’m so glad jamie was here for that. he really misses church while being away. we spent the day today antiquing, and tomorrow, we plan on lounging by the pool and taking it easy.

Summer is Coming to an End July 21, 2011

I can’t believe July has passed by so quickly! I remember wanting to blog about going to the Mississippi Braves game with my parents on Independence Day, and I just realized how long ago that was now. It is amazing how swiftly the days pass. I spent the majority of my summer looking into changing my career, applying for positions, and weighing my options, but nothing came of that. Last spring, I felt really convicted that teaching wasn’t where I needed to be, but no other opportunities opened up for me. It’s been really bothering me that I’m going back to teaching in a couple of weeks, so much so that I’ve been suffering from anxiety and insomnia, but this morning, I woke up with a sense of peace about it, feeling like even though I’m not happy teaching anymore, this is where I need to be for the moment. God has me where He wants me. So my days of stress-free summer leisure are coming to an end. I just pray that if God wants me there this year, He will give me strength and comfort through the parts of teaching that are so difficult and frustrating.

My husband is coming home for his R&R leave in a few days. I am so excited to see him. I made up a ‘welcome home’ sign that I’m going to put at the road, and someone at the church also changed the sign outside to welcome him home. He is going to be really touched by that. We have been so blessed to have such a loving, supportive, and helpful church family through this deployment.

I was worried about having to go back to work his second week here, but I just got an email from my principal excusing me from the teacher-work-days (basically the whole first week) and open house! Jamie will be excited to hear that. I may have to go in for one workshop for the National Standards we’re having to adopt, but that’ll only be a few hours. I am going to go in tomorrow and get my room ready so I won’t have to take any time away from him to do that. He said in a message last night that he is having flight issues, but he still hopes to be here on time. I am so ready for him to get here.

Easter April 25, 2011

when i was little, the whole family would go over to my grandmaw’s house for Easter. if i didn’t get to see my cousins all year, i knew they’d be there on easter. she’d have her entire table covered in dishes of homemade food. it was all so good, and then we’d sit around stuffed or go outside to play some of our meal off. she died several years ago, and since my immediate family doesn’t have any children, we don’t do anything for Easter. this year, i had planned to do a big meal like my grandmaw used to, but with jamie gone, i just wasn’t in the mood. luckily, my cousins from germany came to visit, and i invited them and their little 2 year old son to stay over the weekend. i didn’t do a big meal, but we did have a yummy chicken taco soup and cheese cake pie with pineapple. we hid plastic eggs with candy and money inside for Lenny, because he’s never done an Easter egg hunt before. he had a ball finding the eggs as we tried to tell him in English where they were and his parents translated. we came inside and he wanted to open each egg (there were over 30 of them!), and he would exclaim, “Auf!” which means open, when his little hands couldn’t hope them. he learned when he saw quarters or dollars to say, “Money!” it was really cute. i think i learned more German words this weekend than he learned English words. it was nice to have them and my parents over.

the next day, we headed over to the Cotton District Arts Festival, and I ran the Old Cotton Mill 5K. it was awesome weather for a race, and i came in at a decent time considering that i have barely run any this month because work has been so busy. after looking around for a while, we ate lunch at Grumpy’s and headed to Tupelo to do some shopping. my cousins love going to the mall while they’re here. my favorite part of the day was playing with Lenny in Barnes and Noble. we played hide and seek with my mom and his papa. and if i got tired and stopped hiding, Lenny would run away from me for about 15 feet, turn around as though i’d just found him, and come squealing to me to tickle and hug him. he is a definite heart-stealer! i will miss him until next year.

i concluded my Easter weekend by going to sunrise service at Tomnolen Baptist. i missed Jamie not being beside me, but i still enjoyed the service. we had a big, delicious breakfast in the activity building afterward, and i went home and slept for several more hours. the weekend had worn me out but in a very good way :o)