Sunday, February 24, 2008

Job update...

I just wanted to post an update on the job hunt. We started applying about January 1st and as of last week, we have applied to 94 jobs and 9 of them have been filled. We have applied to jobs in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Abilene, Lubbock, Amarillo, Killeen and Colorado Springs. We have applied to companies like: Pantex, Dell, City of Austin, University of Texas, CSC, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman...

There is a career fair here this Wednesday that John is going to. It is geared toward prior military and especially those with some kind of clearance. We know there will be many companies there that have jobs in Texas and Colorado.

We don't know how many jobs people usually apply to before having interviews and offers, so we are content to wait a bit to see what happens over the next couple of weeks with the applications we have out.

We will keep you updated; just wanted to give you a little more detailed information!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Snow Day!





Hallie and Rachel

Hayden and his sled!


Jesica & Hayden

Emma & Sarah


Time to warm up!


Well, we got a few inches of snow overnight and woke up to a 2 hour delay for school. After about an hour, they changed it to no school! John and I LOVE snow days; it means we can stay in bed. Since there was no school, the kids all ate their packed lunches for breakfast. We wasted the morning away and then decided to have lunch and get bundled up for a little fun outside in the snow. While we were out, there were 6 cardinals in our neighbors back yard, so I got a few pictures.
After playing in the snow, we came in for hot chocolate and warm cookies. Yum! Kate went to the big hill to sled with her friends, so I only have a shot of her for hot chocolate and cookies.
We always seem to draw a crowd on snow days. I think there are 8 kids in our house right now! I have many friends with large families and I just can't imagine trying to feed them all. It gets a little crazy around here just having friends over; I hate to think what it would be like if they were all mine. You'd have to have 2 dishwashers for sure. I do a load every day as it is. Can you imagine the laundry? I'd love to see my friend Beth's laundry piles and her pantry. Beth has 10 kids, or is it 11? I've lost count... Sorry, my mind wanders some times.





Monday, February 18, 2008

Spicy Chicken Broccoli stir fry

Can you smell it?
Yum!


The original recipe is Spicy beef broccoli stir fry, but since we are trying to use what is in our freezer, we had chicken instead. It was still delicious. I wanted to share the recipe again incase you haven't tried it. Our kids love it and so has every kid that has joined us for this meal so far.
Just click on the link for the original recipe. The only change I made was to substitute 4 chicken breasts.

Sarah's new haircut

Before

After

Sarah got her haircut today and we did a before and after for you!

Sarah and Meredith




Sarah had her friend Meredith over the other night. They had been working on this Ello (legos for girls) house for a few days. They finally finished and wanted me to take pictures. They designed the entire house and included all the details. They had 3 bathroom stalls, an outdoor area, a basement with a window, and napkins and plates for the table. They had so much fun putting it all together. Meredith is the friend that we met as soon as we moved in.


The day we got to our new house, this young blonde girl kept riding her bike back and forth in front of our house. I told Kate and Sarah maybe they should go outside to meet her. They became instant friends. Meredith lives about 6 houses down from us and she and Sarah are seen around the neighborhood frequently during the summer. I spoke to Meredith's mom a little while after we moved in and she told me that Meredith had been the only girl on the street over the age of 5 for some time. The neighborhood was full of boys; I think there were about 8 boys when we moved in. When Meredith saw us pull up and unload 3 girls that looked her age, she was so excited. Becky told me that they had been praying for girls to move in. We are so blessed to have such good friends and God is so good to have them ready and waiting for us each time we move.

Lily the Gypsy

"Go away with that camera, I'm trying to get my beauty sleep."

"Save me!"


Rachel is so proud of her makeover talents.

Rachel has been pretending she is a vet here lately and poor Lily is her victim, I mean patient. She told me that Lily had an appointment to get her teeth cleaned. Oddly enough, Rachel probably really cleaned her teeth. John called me into Rachel's room earlier tonight to see if I'd seen Lily. Rachel had dressed her up as a gypsy. When I walked into the room, Lily was wagging her tail like she was just excited to be included. I snapped a few pictures to share on the blog. We had Lily groomed last week, so the top picture is of her with her Valentine's day bow and bandana.

Wii love Pizza night!

Kate and Zachary

Wii Tennis

Wii baseball

Wii love Guitar Hero III

As most of you know, Friday night is pizza night in our house. We love to make homemade pizza and have a fun evening. Well, last week, we invited some friends to join us. We had a great time. After dinner, we sent the kids upstairs and let all the adults play the Wii. Some of our friends hadn't played before and it was so fun to watch them experience the Wii for the first time. It is so much fun. It is what video games were meant to be. Wii love it! Our neighbor Ward brought his Guitar Hero III over for the wii and the boys had a great time pretending to be a rock star. Hayden really gets into it. I should do a scrapbook page of just the faces he makes while playing the guitar.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Brrrrrrr!

Okay, I give, I don't want to stay in Ohio. It is so cold here. I don't have the right clothes for this weather. It is 11 degrees here and there are wind gusts up to 60mph. Brrrrr! If I could stay inside, I would. Okay, enough whinning.

We are still job hunting. John has his resume out for several jobs, but no reply yet. We are still really wanting to move back to Texas. I can't imagine not calling Texas home. While in the military, you can still move around and tell everyone you are from Texas. If you get out and move somewhere else, it just doesn't work. I can't imagine not being a Texan anymore. There is something about it that is deep down in my bones.

Please pray with us that God will continue to prepare our new location and that He would give us clarity and direction as we seek to follow where He wants us to go. We have been praying for several months now about this move. We trust in the Lord and know that He has a place ready for us and that we will know that place in His time. My friend Ronda has a devotional that she does called, "Hurry up Lord, I'm tired of waiting". That is how I feel right now. But, I know to be patient for God's timing. Please pray for our children as we make yet another move. They are so good about being positive; we look for the good things that can come from a move and encourage them to do the same, but it is still hard for them to leave their friends.

I know many of you are wondering if we have heard anything, so I wanted to share a little update. We will keep you posted on our plans as they come.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

And the winner is...

Driftwood...
I love your creativity, enthusiasm and most especially, your participation. This is the most comments I've ever had on one post. It was hard for me to decide with clever titles like "TexaCaliFlorMissTexNewMexihio and beyond", "ramblings from the end of Audie's rope"and "gettin' pruned for Him". I think it is funny that many titles related to my tree theme. Driftwood really seems to fit where we are right now. Just when we thought we were firmly planted, we've been reminded that God sets us afloat, like driftwood, to move us where He wants us. My friend Ronda just sent me this verse. I think it is a great reminder that God knows everything about us, even the places we will live.


From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Acts 17:26


Okay, here is the prize! A Picfolio minutes album in a chocolate brown with coordinating papers and journal boxes. You can literally create an album in minutes with this set. Congratulations Candi! Who knows, maybe I'll have other contests from time to time. My sister did have a contest for her 100th post and she gave away a few of her favorite things. Who knows, that may be just around the corner...