Today, I am grateful for...

I just wanted to say that I am grateful for:

My husband who was purposefully kind and good to me yesterday (and today too, but he started yesterday.) I am blessed to have a husband that cares for me and loves the Lord.

My new job, even with its difficulties. I found out if I work over 16 hours a week, I get paid a very good wage hourly. I'm grateful for God putting us in this position and I know that He will give us the strength we need to do the job.

My new bosses, Cindy and Dale. I know God is going to use them to teach me a lot and I hope and pray I can be a blessing to them and show the love of Jesus to them.

My family. My mom sends me encouragement texts every morning. It's a wonderful thing to wake up to.

My new phone. Thanks, Tosha, for selling us your old phone for a very fair price.

Our T-mobile credit that took $9.99 off our bill for this month. Little things like that really encourage me.

Chris's job. He's off to work now and I'm so glad he gets to work in an environment where God is given glory and magnified. I pray that today He will be blessed in everything He does, that He'll be anointed to serve and bless everyone he encounters, that he will support the manager and encourage him, and lead the other employees that he "assistant manages." and encourage them today.

Our new Christmas tree. Pictures coming soon. I got it for $3.75 at a thrift store.

The ornaments on our new tree. They've come from my mom, the thrift store and from a lady who randomly gave them to my mom to give out to "new couples that need them." Isn't it like God to bless me with free ornaments? How silly and wonderful that He cares about those details in our lives.

Christmas Break. I am officially done with class until the start of January. Praise the Lord for getting me through another term! Just 2 more to go until I have my AAOT.

More money than we anticipated this month. Praise the Lord that we could afford to pay our very high electric bill (Darn you, winter!) our cell phone bills and my foolish credit card that I pray God will give me wisdom and self control NOT to use!

Knitting. I picked up my knitting for the first time in about 6 months. It feels good to have yarn in my hands again.

World of Warcraft. I never thought I would say it, but I started playing with my hubby and it's really fun. I am also starting to better understand why boys like the game. I can ask him more specific questions and I am actually interested this time around. :) Who knows if I'll keep playing but thank you, Jesus, for new perspective.

My wonderful friends that encourage me. Hannah, my bread fairy. Chelsea, my coffee fairy. Karina who always encourages me at just the right time. Abby, who always has the right thing to say and makes me feel like the coolest girl in the world. Jessica, whose silliness is refreshing and reminds me to acknowledge the Lord in everything I do.

My first pair of knit socks on my feet. These are my favorite socks and I finally accomplished the "sock mountain" that I was so worried about climbing. i have 1 more sock almost done, then 1 more to do, and i'll have my second pair.

Lord, you made it so we could pay all our bills this month, even with the ones that were unexepected. Psalm 36:5-10

⁵ Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.

⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.

⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,

your righteousness to the upright in heart.

The End of a Season

First, let me say how excited I am that this term is almost over. Fall term always flies by for some reason (I won't complain.) I'm extremely excited to only have 2 terms to complete before my Associate's degree is finished.

Right now, I'm waiting for my boss to return from the other apartment complex so we can finish our training. The only bummer is that I don't know when he's going to be back so I can't stop to take my last quiz in Speech just in case he gets back earlier than the 1 hour they say to set aside (it never takes that long.) The fact that my new method of study is "read only as much as you need to, skim the lectures online and hope for the best!" doesn't exactly fill me with confidence but they keep turning out alright so I'm not exactly being deterred from this method.

Chris is at work all day today. I'm so proud of him for working so hard.

Um....it's cold here (stupid winter!) Quincy's in his crate so I can actually focus on something besides playing with him every second. The new foster lady is going to meet with me today

after work to transfer him over. She has a lot of experience with Chihuahuas so that's really good. She'll know what to do. :) I pray that Quincy finds a really good home that is just right for him and his energy level.

I've been watching a lot of makeup videos lately and getting inspired. Here's my most recent inspiration picture.

I'm loving hot pink lips right now! LOVE.

A $360 lesson

Hello,

A lot has happened in the last week and a half. My bosses went out of town, leaving me alone to run the office with only 1 week of training. That went as well as one can hope! With tons of applications, the first HUGE snow and managers that leave you for a week, what can a fledgling assistant manager do to cope?

Complain a lot, that's what!

haha. I shoveled snow, made tons of phone calls and bundled up at 7 in the morning and 9 at night to go try not to fall while walking the property to lock up.

Phew. I'm glad the managers are back!

So as you know (or maybe you don't,) Chris and I have wanted to get a dog. Our reasoning was this: We're married, we're grown ups, we do what we want! Chris used to have a dog, I had a dog that I had to leave with my parents. Then, when the pet policy changed we decided, nah, lets not just take the great dog I already own (she's a "grandma" dog according to Chris!)

Nope, we decide that we cant take that sweet bundle of cute to our house but instead should get a different dog!

Again, our reasoning: we're grown ups, we want a dog!

So we get Quincy, a Chihuahua mix that is supposedly sweet and loves to sleep and cuddle. The only true part of that sentence is "sweet." Here's Quincy:

Isn't he adorable? Yes, he's adorable. He's sweet, friendly, loves people and other animals and is the cutest thing. The down side? He's a Chihuahua/Miniature Pinscher. I read after we got him that Min Pins have the most energy out of all the dog breeds. Loves to sleep and lay on your lap? Not.

So, after just about 2 weeks of seeing if we could make it work, we decided that we can't. :(

We love Quincy to death but he's making it so we cannot relax unless he's crated. So this is what his life would be like if he stayed with us:

Morning: go potty, eat his breakfast. Get crated for us to eat breakfast since we have to stand and eat if he's out. He boing boing boings up to get food or if you're sitting, he'll crawl all over you to get whatever you're eating.

He's crated while we're at work.

Once I get home from work, I let him out to go potty. Play a litt,e Then it's dinner time, back to the crate. Then we let him out for a little bit when Chris gets home, back to the crate for Chris's dinner. Then, stay in the crate while Rachel does homework.

Back to the crate after going potty and then its bedtime - in the crate again.

We realized that this isn't much of a life for little Quincy. He deserves a family that can really play with him, use up all the energy he has and take time to train him. There's no doubt that he'll be an amazing dog once he's trained but unfortunately, Chris and I just don't have the time or energy. :(

So, we're sad. But the lesson learned?

Pray!

Ask the Lord before making decisions!

Talk!

Talk things out, discuss things before just jumping to whatever you want to do!

So, a $360 lesson learned. We're giving him back to the foster program we got it from, no refund of course. But hey, lesson learned! God is faithful to teach us even though sometimes it hurts, our wallet and our heart. But God is good!

love,

Rachel