Everyday update

We went for a great long walk at Falls Dam today and were thinking that we should probably update about some of the every day stuff going on with us. We are still looking for jobs... Matt heard back from a church in Iowa, and after a little bit of family discussion, we unanimously decided we really don't want to commit to moving to Iowa (This is Matt: Also, the church did not want to grow and, having learned that, it did not seem like a good fit for us as we would like to serve somewhere where we could help grow the church). He's had a couple of responses and is going to the next level with a couple of churches. That usually means filling out a type of survey or questionnaire regarding the background of his faith, his specific beliefs, and our beliefs as a family. We are still trusting God to bring us exactly the right thing! I'm also going to be looking for something else besides Target, if possible. It has been great as far as flexibility right when we needed it with Mom being sick, but now I'm feeling the need to move on because it reminds me of that awful time. It's also frustrating to be working nights and weekends when Matt is working usual daytime hours. It's the same problem we've had for a couple years now, conflicting schedules, so I'm hoping to find something a little more 9 to 5 to try to have more time together.

What we did decide to commit to (although unrelated to jobs) was Weight Watchers! We've both been frustrated at gaining more than a couple pounds through the stress of changing jobs and family sicknesses and deaths, especially of my Mom. I still struggle with that daily (sometimes hourly, it feels like) and I'm totally trying to find my comfort in food. It's a cycle that I've dealt with pretty much my whole life, and it's a process to teach yourself to turn to something else for that comfort. So, we're going to take advantage of the fact that we're constantly on the internet anyway and try out weightwatchers.com to log our points. We'll let you know how it goes! Bathing suit season is approaching.... (eek!)

My trip down to Orlando with Alisa and Dad was really productive. I felt like God really blessed our time there, as we were able to get a lot done and keep a positive attitude about it for the most part. That's not to say that it wasn't hard and full of lots of bittersweet memories, but it was a great time of bonding with my sister and getting some things accomplished that Dad couldn't have done on his own. That was the important part! We're all going to be making a couple more trips here and there to start collecting up the stuff that we sorted and organized, and bringing it back to Raleigh. I'm really excited to get some projects finished, and to start some new ones with all the amazing supplies we've inherited from Mom... especially with a certain someone's birthday coming up soon!

For now, I am off to work (on a Sunday night, unfortunately) leaving Matt and Pontouf to their own devices for dinner! By the way, I'm doing a "color week" on my ellebee studio blog that is turning out to be a lot of fun!