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The Good Kind of Busy... An update

It seems like it has been months since my last post. The reason I have not posted as often is certainly not because nothing is going on around here. We have been so busy since we moved! Here is an update for you.

Dustin's Job
Dustin is enjoying his new job, especially since he gets to hang out with his dad alot (they even get to eat lunch together). He likes being around all the bike and fitness stuff, and it has really inspired him to get in even better shape. He works from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays, and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturdays. It has been hard to get used to him being gone on Saturdays, but it is fun for him to have a day off during the week (which he gets every week). I am so grateful to Dustin for working so hard for us.

Jennie's Job
I still do not have a job, but it is not for lack of looking for one! I have given up on the tutoring idea after realizing how unpredictable and time-consuming it could be. I started advertising on websites, in bookstores, and in schools in the area four weeks ago, and I have not gotten any response. It has been a little discouraging, but I know that God has a purpose in not allowing it to happen. You may remember reading in a previous post that my goal in this new phase of our life is to be a better wife. Therefore I want my main "job" to be fulfilling that goal. There are alot of people who would see that as a lowly position, but I do not understand that mindset!

When I was a teenager, I prayed that God would show me His will for my life in terms of a career or purpose. After praying fervently and seeking God about it for months, I remember feeling as though it hit me like an eighteen-wheeler. I always wanted to get married and be a mom, but I had never really seen that as a "calling." But one day I realized that God wanted me to focus on that, and to dedicate my life to serving Him in that way.

Some of you may be asking "well why did you bother getting a four-year college degree?" Well, I did that for many reasons. I chose a wonderful Christian college because I wanted to take time to mature and learn more about Christ. Also, I want to homeschool our children when they come along, and I knew that a college degree would be helpful to me at that time. I also wanted to be equipped just in case it becomes law some day that one has to have a degree to homeschool (this law's arrival may be closer than I thought; see my last post). I was also hoping that God would show me my future husband, and He brought Dustin to me during our first semester at Southeastern. It is also helpful to have a degree when you're applying for jobs, as most of you know.

Over the past few years I have realized how much time it takes to be a good wife. Dustin and I do not want to be so busy that we don't remember where the days have gone. To prevent this common state, we have decided that my main goal should be "wife-ing." I am so thankful that Dustin is "bringing home the bacon" by working full-time, and I do not want him help me cook and clean on his days off. I want him to relax when he gets home from a long day, and I want us to have the freedom to have fun and just be together when he is home (although he does still help me around the house sometimes). Therefore, my job is to make sure that the house stays clean, that a healthy lunch is packed, that a healthy dinner is ready when Dustin gets home, that the groceries purchased, that the errands are done, and that I still have energy at the end of the day (which was almost impossible when I was trying to do all of that AND work full-time). I LOVE this job! I feel fulfilled as a feminine woman, and as a wife. What a great feeling.

Make no mistake, I am still looking for a part-time job, but now I know that tutoring is not it. I would spend so much time looking for students (I already found that out), planning lessons, worrying about what to do during the summer when people take their breaks, etc. Ideally, if I have to work, I would like to go to work and come home, and not have to worry about being on the phone or internet at night when Dustin is home. So since I do have to work, I am going to try and find something a little more simple. We knew when we moved here that we did not want me to just "settle" for a job. We are looking for the right one, and we are confident that God will provide it, and that He will provide for us in the meantime. I'll keep you posted on that!

House Stuff
It has been really nice to have so much time while I have been looking for a job. I have gotten alot done in the house (as you can see from some of the posts below). I have been able to clean everything, unpack, organize, decorate, paint, and much more! Right now I am painting all the doors in our long hallway. The walls are a pretty grayish color with white trim, but the doors were brown. So I am painting them white, and it looks so much better! Here is a picture of our dining room right now. I need to move all of this into our guest room until we get the bed set up, and I plan to do that today.
Paint, Paint, Paint.
Fun Stuff
We have had so much fun since we have moved here! We have had more time to have fun together (just the two of us) because of what I have already written in the post, but we have also had so much fun with family and friends. It is great to move to an area where you know so many people! We are very close to Dustin's family, and they are GREAT! We have had alot of fun eating dinners with them, seeing them at Church, watching American Idol with them once a week, etc. I am so thankful for wonderful in-laws and great sisters-in-law. Some people really struggle with these relationships, and I praise God that Dustin's family is now mine too. His parents are like second parents to me, and Kayla and Jessica are truly sisters to me.

I do have to say that I have missed my family LIKE CRAZY. It is definitely hard to be so far from them. We are excited about being with them for Easter. I am glad that my Mom has been here twice to see me, and I am really glad that we have free long distance and I can talk to them whenever I want!

We have also had so much fun with friends! One of my best friends, Ashleigh, lives about 5 minutes away. We were bridesmaids for each other, and she is one of those friends that you can call after not talking for months, and it feels like you just had a conversation yesterday! That had been the extent of our relationship over the past few years, so we are so excited to be close. Dustin and Jon (Ashleigh's husband) get along famously, and Ashleigh and I are constantly laughing at them. We have had a blast getting together with them every Monday night for dinner and games (and one of these days Ashleigh and I WILL win at Spades). They just had a precious little girl about a month ago. Her name is Carleigh Elizabeth, and I call her my niece. I have loved holding her and smelling her. Babies smell so good.

We have also been able to get together with Dustin's cousin Meredith, and her husband Nathaniel. They have two precious children, Eli and Indy, and one on the way! They are a sweet (and funny!) family, and we love them! We are looking forward to seeing them again on Friday night!

We have also met a number of wonderful people at Church! This place is packed with incredible couples and families, and we cannot wait to get to know all of them more!

Church
We have found a Church. Grace Baptist Temple is on Peter's Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get there from our house, and we LOVE this place! Dustin's parents have been going there for about two years (I think??), so we visited there alot when we would come to see them. Whenever we visited we would say "I wish there was a Grace in Wake Forest." So when we moved here, it was pretty easy to decide where to start visiting. Now we are not interested in visiting anywhere else!

One of the things we love the most is the reverence and honor that this Church gives Jesus Christ. They preach from the Bible (not just on random topics), they are more of a "learning and worshipping center" than a social gathering place, they sing both hymns and praise choruses, they give a large percentage of tithes to missions, they send out missionaries and go on short-term mission trips, and the list goes on. Pastor Ed Sears is sold out to Christ, and you can see it on his face during the worship time. He is full of wisdom, humility, and humor, and we cannot wait to get to know him and Mrs. Sears better. The Minister of Music, Jeff, is also both humble and talented. He has a wonderful way of keeping the congregation focused, and he also does a wonderful job of directing the orchestra and the choir.

We have felt so welcome by the people at this Church. They are all so sweet, and so enthusiastic about Christ. People who have met you one time will come up and hug you, and we love that! The last two Sundays we visited a Sunday School class for couples without children, and we really learned alot and enjoyed the fellowship. Last weekend I went to a women's conference at Grace, and I learned so much and met so many incredible women. I will write more on that later. We cannot wait to see what comes of being a part of Grace Baptist Temple. It has been such a blessing so far.

We'll Keep You Updated!
Like I said, we have been really busy! But it has been the "good kind" of busy. We can actually remember our days, and we have already made so many worthwhile memories since the move. God is so good.

I'm off to put another coat of paint on the doors.

Winner of the "Most Improved" Award!

You may think it strange that we are posting pictures of our bathroom, but it has won a very special award in our "new house!" When we looked at the house the first time, we were sad that the bathroom was in such terrible shape. The shower tiles and grout had black mildew, the walls were paint-over-wallpaper with rip marks and stains, the ceiling was leaking, the bathroom fan was clogged with hanging dust, the toilet was chipped and dirty, the linoleum was dirty and uneven, and the sink/vanity was rotten at the bottom.

About two weeks before the move, Dustin's parents were sweet enough to arrange for a good friend to renovate the bathroom! We were so relieved! They tiled the floor, replaced the vanity, fixed the ceiling and the bathroom fan, re-tiled the shower, and replaced the toilet. What a difference!! This week I have been painting the walls and replacing the fixtures. I have to say that I am QUITE relieved to have a nice clean bathroom now! Many Many Many Thank-You's to Dustin's incredible parents for helping us with this HUGE project!!

BEFORE

AFTER!!!! What a difference!! I still plan to paint the doors white too.
I love the floor!
The walls were so uneven and damaged that we could not just paint over them. I found a really neat texture paint at Lowes, and I created my own method of texturizing (beating the wall with the paintbrush!). It covers everything really nicely. It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but the color is light blue.

"After Photos" of the Kitchen

Here are some photos of our kitchen. It is definitely still a work in progress. The goal is for it to be rustic; we are using red, yellow, and blue. We are looking for a valance for the windows, and mats for the floor. But here is is for now!

I love the built-in hutch!

"After Photos" of the Foyer

Okay, I'm going back to house pictures! I took a little break over the last few days, but I still have more pictures of the house for those who have asked to see them. Today I will show you the foyer, and tomorrow the kitchen.

I like the windows in the front door.

Looking from the living room through the french door into the foyer.

"After Photos" of the Office Area

This is our office area. If you come in the back door you will enter this room to get to the kitchen. I really like the location of the room. It is right next to the kitchen, and it is nice to be able to get some work done as I make dinner, etc. I also like all the light coming from the windows. I am still planning to put some valances above the windows, so I'll take more pictures when I do that! Normally our laptop is on the desk.

"After Photos" of the Dining Room

I am adding pictures of one room each day for those who have asked to see our "new" house. This is the dining room. It is one of my favorite rooms because it is so bright and airy! We have never had a real dining room, so it has been fun to set the table and have a romantic dinner in a special room!

"After Photos" of the Bedroom

For those who did not read our last post, I am putting up pictures of one room each day. We have a lot of family and friends who may not be able to make the drive to Kernersville to be company in our home, so we are doing this for them!

Here are some pictures of our bedroom in the "new" house. We are still trying to decide what should go on the wall behind the bed.
I love all the light from the windows!
One of my favorite parts of our bedroom (in each house we've had) is the "dried flower garden." They are some of the flowers that Dustin has given to me over the years that have been dried and displayed. I love them!

"After Photos" of The Living Room

Okay! We are all moved in, organized, and (for the most part) decorated! It has been so fun for me, and I am so grateful to my Mom for making the trip here twice to help me decorate. She has GREAT taste, and I love having her help me out. I am going to post pictures of one room each day for those of you interested in seeing what our new house is looking like. Enjoy the living room today!
I love the french door leading to the foyer and front door!
The walls look more pink in these pictures than they really look in person.

Before and After

Alot has been happening in our house the past few weeks. I thought I would share a few snapshots with you! The goal is to get everything packed and moved into the living room so that all the other rooms can be cleaned before the move-out date. Then when we get everything loaded on the truck, we will just have to vacuum/mop the floor and go!

Before

After

A Tour of The "New" House

Some of you have asked to see pictures of our "new" house. We will be moving in on February 9-10. Dustin's Grandaddy has been sweet enough to make the house available to us for a great rent rate! We will be here until we can save up and find a house to buy.

The house has a lot of character! It is old, and it has alot of really unique features that I love. It does need alot of loving' though. There is some work that needs to be done, but that is to be expected with an old house. We are looking forward to the big move! Enjoy the tour!

This shot was taken from the living room toward the front door. This is one of the unique parts of the home that I really like! The foyer area has a great storage closet, and it is seperated from the rest of the house by a french door. Love it!
This is the living room. The couch is not ours, hopefully it will be moved out this week. This is a dining room that we might use as our library/office. It is bright and airy! There is a door on the left that exits to a side porch.
This will be the guest room. Come and stay with us!
This is the master bedroom. I'm glad there are great windows to lighten that wood panelling!
Here is the kitchen, and you can see the dining room straight ahead.
There is a built-in hutch in the kitchen, another unigue part of the house.
This little area is next to the kitchen and exits to the back yard. We may use this as a table area.
This is Dustin walking from the back door through the fenced-in back yard to the car.
Thanks for stopping by! We'll post more pictures once we get settled in.

Not Quite a Foot...

Last Thursday night Dustin and I were watching the weather on our local station. We had heard that we would get some snow over the weekend, but Greg Fishel (our favorite meteorologist), was saying that we would get more than everyone originally thought! Our section of the map was forecast to get SIX to TWELVE INCHES of snow!!! Dustin and I LOVE snow and cold weather, so we were beaming when we heard the forecast! I was praying inwardly that God would give us a whole foot of snow.

So on Friday night we went out and bought the regular staples: milk, bread, and candy. We stopped and got some movies from Blockbuster, and then we came home and got our warm clothing ready, hoping to wake up to a foot of snow! Well, Saturday came, but the snow did not. We waited and waited, and looked out the windows every few minutes. Finally, just as the sun started to go down the snow began to fall. We were as happy as two pigs in the mud (I love that expression!). But unfortunately the forecasts were wrong. We got some snow, and you will see the extent of it below. It wasn't quite a foot, but it was still beautiful!

When the snow started falling
Dustin's car at dusk
It's snowing! It's snowing!
Icy branches... I love it!

My car the next morning
Look at that sky! Proof that there is a Designer!
When we woke up on Sunday morning, Sophie was snuggled up on the couch looking out the window. She must love snow too!

The post below shows a picture of my handsome husband enjoying the snow.

My Incredible Man

I just have to announce that I have a wonderful husband!

He means so much to me, and he is special is so many ways. Two things have happened lately that have made me realize (again) my appreciation to God for Dustin. The first thing happened on Sunday night. We were getting ready for bed, and Dustin asked me a question. He said, "Is there anything that I could do better as a husband?" He has asked this question before, but this time it was totally out of nowhere, and I could tell he had really been thinking about it. That meant so much to me! It is wonderful to know that the man God gave me is dedicated to being a good husband. Wow!

The second thing happened just today. I checked my voicemail at lunchtime, and Dustin had called to tell me to be careful driving home from work. It has been frigid outside the last few days, and we had a little rain this morning. He said that there had been reports of black ice and a few accidents, and he just wanted me to be safe. I felt so loved, protected, and warm inside when I heard his concerned voice. I am so thankful that he loves me so much.

These may seem like little things to some of you, but I don't want to take anything for granted. I am incredibly blessed, and I praise the Lord for His gifts me!

Dustin has been working really hard lately. He was able to go back to work for the school part-time, and he has also been putting up fence posts part-time for our Landlord. It is really hard work! He has to dig a big hole with post-diggers, make sure the post is perfectly straight and even, and then make sure it stays that way as he covers the hole. The posts are really big and heavy. He is hoping to get alot done before we take off in a few weeks!

Look at that straight line of posts!

Some BIG News!

No, we are not having a baby... yet. The big news is

We're MOVING!!!

To Winston-Salem!!

It is still a little hard for us to believe because it has all happened so fast. Last Monday Dustin started a new job, and we were thrilled about the pay increase and the weekends off. However, on Tuesday night we sat down with the benefits package for the new job and tried to work out a budget. It turned out that Dustin would only be making a little more than his previous job paid him. And it was not an amount worthy of driving 30-45 minutes to work (and back) each day.

It has been very difficult to find the "right" job for Dustin because we have so many criteria. We have been hoping for a job that he would enjoy, that pays well, that provides inexpensive benefits, that allows him to be off on Sundays, and that allows flexibility for time off so we can go on mission trips in the future.

So we weighed our options and thought and thought and thought. Dustin talked to his Dad about the situation, and a solution arose. There is a position open at the store that is managed by Dustin's Dad and two of his uncles. It is a bike and fitness store that has been the family business for many years. Dustin worked there before we were married, and he has always said that it was the job he enjoyed most. And this job meets ALL of our criteria!

At the same time we found out that Dustin's Grandaddy has a house that we can rent at a great price! We will live there until we can afford to buy a house of our own.

All of this happened so fast! We found out about the job and the house and we decided to move all within 24 hours. It has been amazing. I never thought at the beginning of last week that we would be planning to move at the end of the week.

We are so excited about this move for a number of reasons. We are thrilled that we now know where our home base will be located. For those of you who don't know, our plan as future missionaries is to follow the example of Paul in the Bible. Dustin learned about this way to do missions when he went to Ecuador with Mr. Tim Bunn (author of God's Plan for Church Planting, a workbook that is solely Biblical with no personal commentary). We hope to go to different South and Latin American countries (week- or month-long trips) to teach people how to plant churches. Then we will go back regularly to support and encourage those churches. We have often wondered about the location of our home base, and now we know!

Another reason that we are excited is that we will be near Dustin's family. Most of them live in that area, and it will be great to be able to see all of them regularly without having to drive two hours! We are also happy because we will get to see my family more! Yes, we will be further away from them, but now we will be able to go and spend a whole weekend, rather than just going for an afternoon. AND I am thrilled that I will be close to my sweet sister, Katie. She is at UNCG, and only 25 minutes from where we'll be living!

There are some sad parts of this decision. I have had a great job as a nanny for a sweet little boy since he was three months old. Now he is 2 years old, and it will be very hard to say goodbye to him. It has been such a fun two years, and I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a part of this little guy's life. Telling his parents that I would be leaving in a month was one of the hardest things I have had to do.

We are also very sad to be leaving our sweet little house. We have enjoyed living here so much. It has been great to live out in the peaceful country, surrounded by fields, trees, and fresh air! We will miss feeling like we live in a mountain cabin. We will miss hiking in the back woods, the bike rides, the big back porch, and our sweet neighbors.

We will also miss the friends that we have made in Wake Forest over the last five years. Thankfully we will only be two hours away, and we hope we will still see many of them regularly.

Anyway, we will be moving out of our house on February 8-10, and Dustin will start working on February 11. Once we get there I will start looking for a job, hopefully one that will allow me to use my English degree.

Please pray for us as we embark on this new journey. It will be a big change for us, but we are ready to jump in with all four feet!