New beginnings

 

New beginnings and changes are always a little scary. 

I’ve been preparing for two weeks. Tons of notes and videos to help my boss ingest my knowledge (per his request). Going through my closet and cleaning out all of my dress clothes that was in poor condition and donating those items that no longer fit and taking in the pants that could be salvaged until I find something smaller and at an affordable price. Cleaning up my offices and permanently cleaning out my actual office location.  New people and a few familiar faces.  New duties and a few familiar.  I’m doing what I told my 18 year old daughter to do a few days ago. Closing my eyes and jumping in.  God led me here. It’s time to follow and see where it leads. 

Another ending

 It’s another last.  Another ending   Another senior sad moment. 

She unexpectedly began running xc her freshman year (half way through after the coach and runners pursued her) and she grew to enjoy the running and the friendships. We grew to enjoy the 30-60 minute drives for a 22 minute event. 

She would get done with track at the end of May, take a week off and start 6 day training weeks for cross country.  She never made it to state as she’d hoped.  But she kept it up and was a great cheerleaders to her entire team the whole way. 

It was an unexpected sad day for her. I’m not sure she really expected it to hurt so much to end finally. But she’ll have more of these this year and she’ll get used to it before she starts a lifetime of firsts next year. I was happy that when she saw me I was the person she wanted to fall into in tears.  After our long hug she got a other from a teammate and was able to go on with the day.  

Hello October

 

I feel like fall now. I know it already is but I was still hanging on to my summer decor.  Luckily it’s a quick and easy transition. Once you have all of the new seasons decor in foam you just pull it out of storage and put it in your centerpiece. Less than 1 minute and done! 

I love how easy this idea is for every season and it takes very little storage since I use the same candles and tray. 

 #fallishere #falldecor #easydecorchange 

People at school

 

Went through the camera roll of the 15 year old and he had this from his science class. I love these sweet little pictures of him and his classmate. 

You can never be too careful so it’s wise to randomly check their camera roll as well as texts. Just remember apps do exist for kids to be able to hide photos and they’re conveniently disguised as calculators and other helpful apps. 

Guess they had to do the condensed version

 Since they gave the condensed version of everything this high school senior does I’ll add that she has been an officer of NHS for 2 years, currently President.  She has been a class officer all 4 years of high school, currently as Vice President.  She has been a leader of Fellowship of Christian Athletes for the past 2 years. She also works at a local restaurant, babysits, house sits, cleans houses and tutors. Not to mention far more volunteer hours than she is required to do by any clubs.  

She is definitely someone young kids should look up to. I do. 

The little things

 It really is the little things. 

I was sitting with my youngest daughter, the other night , as I have so many nights lately while she brainstorms her many scholarship essays. I looked over and saw this beautiful, dainty, opal ring on her tiny hands and it just made me smile. My mom had given me my first ring when I was 13. And then I got a pearl ring later in high school.  When each of my girls turned 13 I passed one onto each of them.  Chelsi has hers sized down to a 4 to fit her and it’s just beautiful to see her wearing it daily now that she’s 18.  My girls make my heart full and I couldn’t love them more. Every moment with them is a treasure.  

Even these moments of staying up super late because late is the only time she has available to work on these essays and she needs someone to bounce ideas off of. I will always be there for you two. 

Trusting in God

 

Sometimes I don’t have enough faith in myself to believe that I can be very strong and be more like this ant on my pool deck. Most times to be honest. But I’m trying hard to just trust God. 

When I don’t know what to do I have a little talk with Him and tell Him that if He makes it known I’ll follow the prompts. After 21 years in the same department, various jobs and promotions, I applied to leave for a different department. After over 18 years of specializing in what I do and over 6 years of asking to be paid like someone who specializes and knows what no one else does, for the department I decided it was time to look elsewhere. For several years I’ve been told that I could only be considered for an increase if I had an offer. That seems real appreciative doesn’t it?  While a coworker with less experience, that does know some things I don’t but I know things they don’t, gets a big bump over me. We do have different managers so that’s part of it. But I think I just needed the push. 

I went out of my comfort zone and applied for the job. They told me it could be a few weeks to get through the process but they called me just 3 days later to offer it with a little more than the posting.  It’s the perfect location, seems like a good unit and office culture and the money was definitely a factor. But it was also a position that sounded interesting and made me feel excited again. Something I hadn’t felt in awhile and somewhat due to feeling looked over and ignored.  

I haven’t officially accepted yet but plan to soon. I was told to think about it for a few days and give my office time to try to counter to keep me. Apparently my manager told them he was going to try, but I’m honestly not sure I’d stay. 

So mostly, this weekend, I’m focusing on researching the new department, figuring out who I’d work with etc and planning to wrap things up, pack things up and making plans for my family to move onto a different job. I’m trying to listen to God. I’m trying to continue to have faith that He’ll lead me down the right paths if I have faith and try. 

So here’s to praying I’m strong enough to do something new, to change our lives and go where I’m supposed to go next. And praying this is a beautiful move for my family and myself.