The day finally came

I know, I know...  I'm not very consistant lately.  And I do apologize.  Just have a lot going on and this summer I will continue to have a lot going on.  May be one day I will find the time to post more often.

This past Saturday, Christen walked the field and graduated with honors.  And as people joked (me included) that this wasn't the first time she's gone across that stage, I just couldn't help but thank God with every whispered breath for getting her this far.  Getting us this far.





And it's not over yet.  College is just over the hill and August 12th will come far too soon.

Graduation day was filled with love, family and friends and celebration.  Christen should have no doubt how much she's loved and prayed for.









I may be a little more irritable than usual, a lot more sensitive.  All these emotions and I just don't know what to do with them.

So again, forgive me and my sporadic blogging.  I'm doing the best I can.  :)

Please enjoy Christen's senior pics taken by Shine Rankin.  I think he did a pretty awesome job.  :)

















 

 

 

Attempting a comeback

Wow.  That break took a lot longer than I expected.

I'm glad to type that I'm going to try and not take such long breaks in the future.

I wanted to come back sooner, but for a long while there, I was not in the best of moods and I didn't want that to come through in my blog.  I know there are blogs out there that put everything out in the open and that's fine for them.  It's just not how I want my blog to be.  I don't want anyone out there to think I'm perfect or anything.  I just want this blog to be about things that are on the brighter side of life.

And speaking of the brighter side of life.

I got a new job!

I had been praying for a VERY long time.  Like, since 2007, for God to open a window, door, anything to get me out of where I was.

Don't get me wrong.  I loved the majority of my customers, but I knew I wasn't where I needed to be.  And the atmosphere had been going downhill for a while.  It got to where I hated to be there.  I did my job, but when you're not doing your job with joy, you're not giving it your all.  Going through the motions is what I use to describe it.

Of course, I had my doubts about leaving.  I had been there almost 8yrs and even though I wasn't happy, it's hard to leave something so familiar.  I got my confirmation that I was doing the right thing my last day there.

Now, I have a job with the state.  I love all my coworkers and my supervisor.  There's a lot of training I have to go through, but I'm really excited about it.  It's just awesome to say that I love my job and I'm excited to get up and go to work every day.  Even though right now, I'm just reading the manuals and about to begin online training.

I know I've said that happiness is fleeting but as long as you have Jesus in your heart, you will always have joy.  It was hard to find my joy with the old job and happiness was certainly never there.  It's amazing when God answers your prayers and gives you joy and happiness.

Things are good on the home front.  Christen has just a a little over a month until she graduates from high school.  Wowza...  I can't believe it.

She officially signed with her college choice.  And my friend Amy Goins made her an awesome cake to help celebrate.





We ALL survived her first Spring Break trip without parental supervision.  It helped that the two friends she went with are really awesome girls.



Her team was like thisclose to winning their Region (which, I believe they should have won b/c they beat the team in regulation time while it took OT and PKs for them to beat us, but no asked me) but they are still able to host their first State Playoff game.  You gotta love soccer!





Jon is still loving his Star Wars stuff and getting really healthy.

Our boxer babies are still adorable and still love getting into trouble.





So to recap:

left a horrible place, started a great job, Christen closer to graduation and state playoffs, Jon still loving Star Wars and Brandi & Beckham still adorable.

I will be checking on all you awesome bloggers soon.  I hope you all haven't forgotten about me.  :)

Taking a Break

I need a break.  I think sometimes you need a vacation from things so you can come back to it, refreshed and better than ever.

So, I'm going to take a break from blogging.  And I hope to be self hosted when I come back.  So please bookmark the blog in case I mess up!

I love each and every one of you, and I'll be visiting!  I just won't be writing here (unless I just have something that needs to get out)

I'll leave you all with some things that made me smile this week, insta-style:

 



 



 



my friend Renee's two little boys.  they are all kinds of adorable

 



 



 



 



 

Praying everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!!

Hey, It's Okay!

It's only Tuesday and I'm already ready for the weekend.  Even though I have a lot to do before the weekend gets here.

I’m linking up with Amber at Airing My Dirty Laundry, One Sock at a Time and telling everyone what I’m Okay about this week.  Hope you can join us!!

This week, It's Okay:

To not be officially celebrating Valentines Day.  Jon is sick and Christen has a soccer game tonight.  No big whoop.  As long as I get some chocolate, it's all good. Even if I have to buy it, I won't complain.

To blame Jon when my throat started hurting last night.  I took some of his meds and don't feel worse today.  I don't feel much better, but at least I don't feel any worse.

To be making Christen's Senior Memories Book.  Do you know what this is?  It's like a scrap book.  You can purchase them through the school or Herff Jones, but I decided I could find one cheaper.  I was wrong.  Now it's too late to order one, so I'm making hers.  And no, this is NOT the cheaper route.

To have not blogged my second installment of "Music Monday".  I just wasn't feeling it.  It will happen next Monday.  I hope.

To be sad about Whitney Houston passing away.  I really love her music. I grew up listening to her.  I know she had some rough times, but I hope her family will remember her fondly.  I pray her daughter will be okay.

To be addicted to Pick Your Plum and Mindy's Minute Market!  Seriously, I should own stock.

To not have a picture that applies to anything in this post.  So enjoy this random pic of Christen from last soccer season:



She's the one w/ the ball.  :)

 

Hope everyone has a happy Valentine's Day!!

 

 

InstaFriday!

It's Friday! And it couldn't come at a better time.

I feel like I'm going in about 30 different directions at once.

Christen's game went really well.  So well in fact that the ball only got near her about 3 times.  And only one of those times did it get past her defense and she had to stop it.  So, one kick on goal and she saved it.  (She's the Goal Keeper)

This weekend is jam packed with barely any breaks.

And that being said.  I need to remind myself so I'm going to put it out there.  Don't judge someone because you NEVER know what all they are having to deal with.  I really need to let go of what others think of me.  Or really, what I THINK they think of me.  Does that make sense?  Yes? No? Anyways...

Some times I just have to remind myself and everyone else that life isn't perfect.  But because I serve a perfect Lord, there is hope and I have joy in my heart.  I may not feel that joy all the time, but it's there.

Okay, on to the instas.

I'm linking up with Jeanette from Life Rearranged and sharing the snap shots of my week via camera phone.  You can link up too!  Just make sure your pics are from your camera phone.



Web conference at work.  Christen's note there get me through many a tough day at work.  (along with prayer too)  This conference was actually informative.  Until the end, when people were asking questions that, if they were listening in the first place, they would know the answer to.  One person stumped the trainer though.  And I've yet to find out the answer.  I'm on pins and needles people.



If Brandi had her way, there would be no books and only snuggle time.  Here, I was studying my lesson for Mission Friends.  She was not impressed.



She got Beckam in on the pity party too.



I caught this on my way to work Thursday morning.  I didn't even notice the huge bird until I uploaded the pic here.



It's soccer time people!!!  Our girls scrimmaged Sherwood Academy (yes, as in the same Sherwood that produces those awesome movies like "Courageous" and "Fire Proof".  They need to put some of that movie budget $$ into getting more training for their soccer program.

Well, in all seriousness, some of their girls were younger than our girls.  So I'm sure they are good.  Our Varsity girls played first and we won 4-0 I think.  Then Sherwood's coach wanted to try another formation and we played them again for 10min and we beat them again 3-0.



Somebody's got a new nickname!!  The seniors made signs for each other.  This one is too cute.  See, there's Christen in the goal holding the ball.  :)

There were a lot of people in Christen's cheering section!  She has such an awesome support system and so many awesome people in her corner.  We have great friends and family!

Praying everyone has a great weekend!!


I'm also linking with these parties, come check them out too!

Soccer Season Kick Off

Well, today is the first day of Christen's last High School season playing soccer.





I've got my shirt ready to wear.



Our cheering section continues to grow.



And I'm praying I can hold back the emotions until Senior Night at least.





And I'm praying for NO injuries.  Nada...  NONE!







Go Boogie Go!!!