Big Happenings

This has been a big week for Dan and me. Wednesday Dan made a delicious steak dinner complete with candles and rose petals in order to ask me to marry him. I said yes! I spent the rest of the night calling family and friends to share our exciting news. Dan closed on our new house yesterday morning. He moves in next weekend. When my lease ends in February, Dan will move out of the house and I will move in. We are planning a wedding for October of 2012. We are super excited and thankful!!

A few days of fun

Since my last day at Drake was Tuesday the 23rd I have a few days off before I started my new job on the 29th. Dan and I went to Nashville, IN yesterday and visited a lot of neat shops with handcrafted items and what not. We also got to visit with a couple that worship with my parents in New Haven. We had a great dinner at the Farmhouse restaurant in Bean Blossom, IN. How cute! All the vegetables are grown there and the peach tea tasted just like I was eating a peach. Today I got to visit one of my best friends Lindsey and her family. Her husband just started at the police academy in Louisville. We had a great lunch with some delicious gyros then headed to Cherokee Park for a walk and some play time with her precious little girls Kaylee and Grace. They are both very good and generous with giving hugs and are always smiling. They are such a joy to be around and it's easy to see why when you know their parents. It's been a great past 2 days of visiting and spending time with some of my favorite people.

New and Exciting Things

After accepting a position at Children's I found out my good friend Erin and her husband bought a house and she had 5 interviews for classroom teaching positions. She wasn't expecting to even be able to interview for classroom positions when they moved to Houston due to budget cuts. However one school district was able to re-hire for positions they actually could afford and those people already had new jobs which led to postings for new candidates. Among other good news my best friend Lindsey and her husband Logan accepted a position in Louisville which has been in the making for quite a few months and are moving next weekend. Another friend of mine Sarah is leaving her overly stressful and dangerous job for a much better one. My best friend Kristin and her husband Matt have also bought a house. It seems like a lot of changes with jobs and homes/moving as been going on this past week. It's exciting for all of them with answered prayers. When it rains, it pours blessings.  

Perlman Center

It's official...I have accepted a position with the Perlman Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. My last day at Drake will be August 23 and then I start at Children's on August 29. I have waited almost a year for this position and the timing is finally right. God is good.

Distractions

I find myself easily distracted by TV when I get home from work. I usually walk in the door go to the coffee table to grab the remote to turn it on then walk to the counter to the computer. I have this need to have constant noise and distraction. Sometimes I think it's to drown out things God may be saying to me. Why? I have no real good answer other than that maybe I won't like what God is telling me. Sometimes I think I have become so conditioned to having constant noise in the background and I can't stand to be alone with my own thoughts or just with the quiet. I forget that it's in the times of quiet I can hear my heart and longings and God's voice. Along with trying to save money, I have decided and called to cancel my TV cable services. I am looking forward to the new ways I will spend my time, hopefully more productively. Maybe I will spend more time reading, listening to sermons, keeping in touch with people...I think this is a change that has needed to happen for a while. I know for some people TV is not a big temptation or they have maybe never had cable but I can see the negative impact it's had on how I spend my time. When I called to cancel my services the person I spoke to (I felt) tried to make me feel guilty: "Do you not watch that much TV?" "Why do you want to cancel your services?"  I'm trying to save money..."Well you're saving by bundling your internet and cable." Yes, but $53 is still less than $112, right? That's the point...less money. Anyway, I am looking forward to being cable-free next week!

Cincinnati Visit from New Haven and Nashville Confers

Denver, Audrey, the boys and my parents came to visit this past weekend. Dad, Dan and I went to Harry Potter Thursday night and Friday consisted of the Zoo and a Reds game. Saturday included EnterTRAINment junction (the largest indoor train model display) which the boys loved! We had a great time. Hudson is talking and they are both into exploring. This is such a fun age!

Lakeside

This weekend Dan and I went to Lakeside which is on Lake Erie (appropriately named) to spend the 4th of July festivities with Dan's family. We had a great time with all the kids and siblings. Lakeside is very cute and charming. The best part of the weekend was Dan's baptism right before we left to come back to Cincinnati.