Ugh, it's the first day of Fall and it's too rainy to really go out and enjoy it! Our plans for today involved getting hot pumpkin/apple drinks, going apple-picking, and seeing the beautiful leaves and scenery up here as the colors change. Instead, we've spent the day inside in our comfy clothes trying to stay dry and warm (minus the short trip to the PX for wine and a few grocery items...you know, the necessities in life. And yes, we may have gone in our comfy clothes. But seriously, a world where it's not appropriate to wear yoga pants to the store on a rainy day is not a world I want to live in.) The upside is that there is a Dunkin' Donuts at the PX so I at least was able to have a hot apple cider...
On the bright side, since it's been a rainy day at home, I've had a chance to actually get stuff done. Our TV broke earlier this week, so we had to finally break down and buy a new one. H wasn't too upset about that, because it meant we could finally get a flat-panel TV that he's been dreaming of/drooling over for the past year. Thank goodness for clearance TVs and financing options, because otherwise we would have had to move the 19-inch console out of our bedroom and hope that you could see it from across the room on the couch! However, due to making room for a larger TV and stand, plus all the packaging materials, our livingroom was absolutely a mess, so today was the perfect opportunity to get the house cleaned up and do some laundry--oh the joys of being a housewife! :)
It's also given me a chance to start planning out some ideas for my new classroom. This past week, I was hired as the lead preschool classroom teacher at a local preschool & daycare, and I couldn't be more excited! I'll be taking over for the current lead teacher who is leaving next week. Yesterday was my first full-day in the classroom shadowing her, which I will also be doing next week until she leaves so I get the chance to get used to a typical day in the classroom. It's going to be an interesting transition from a Montessori to a public, non-Montessori setting, but I can see already that there are a lot of opportunities to introduce some Montessori ideals into the classroom that the kids would really benefit from. The classroom is already set up in centers and follows Creative Curriculum (which I haven't looked into too much yet), but I see a lot of ways to incorporate Montessori - there are already some Montessori-ish works and ideas in place, they just need focused and used properly. I've been talking about these ideas with the director and with my assistant teacher, and I'm excited about what's to come for my little ones! There's so much potential with a new classroom, and I just pray that I can get my assistant teacher on-board with some of these ideas (she has never seen a Montessori classroom and doesn't really know what it is, so I'm hoping that she'll be open to learning and trying it).
God's abundant blessings just keep coming our way, and I feel so blessed to have a Savior who cares so much for us and who takes care of us! Even when I'm worried about what's going to happen and when it's going to happen, I have the comfort of knowing that His timing is perfect and that He will provide!
-M
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Back at it
Hello.
Remember when I used to blog all the time? Yeah...me too.
Things have been very chaotic around here, which I'll get to, but it almost felt like there wasn't anything to blog about even though there has been so much going on. I don't know, I guess because I feel like this is all becoming a normal part of our life as an Army family, it wasn't interesting enough to actually write about. But after seeing a dear friend of mine pick back up on her blogging, and how maybe if I do the same I'll be able to stick to some things that I need to work on the way she is. So thanks, Katie, for inspiring me to get back to blogging and back to refocusing on my lifestyle goals!
Alright, so let's update!
May: My best friend Krista moved in with me so I wasn't completely alone while H was gone. It was good to have her there, and to know that when I was having a lonely day that she was there to help me get through it. We celebrated my 26th birthday (26! I'm officially closer to 30 than 20...gross) and our best friend Abbie's 21st. H also got a 36-hour pass at the end of the month, so we got to Facetime and actually see each other for the first time since he left.
June: I finished out the school year at the Montessori school, which was exciting but very, very sad. It meant that I was that much closer to being reunited with H but saying goodbye to the kids and the staff that I had grown so close to was extremely hard for me. June also held a visit from my brother, a friend's wedding, and 2 solid weeks of shenanigans with my besties before having to move out of BG.
July: July 1st I moved out of BG for the first time in 7 years, which was truly the end of an era. But moving back to my parents' house was going to be good, financially and emotionally, before I had to move to whatever base the Army would be sending us. Mid-way through July was H's OSUT graduation, too! My parents and I took a week-long trip to Ft. Benning, GA to watch H graduate and get his infantryman cord. I could not have been more proud of him! Georgia was beautiful, and I even had a chance to stop by my sorority's headquarters and get a private, after-hours tour of the building. July also gave me one last chance to head back to BG to spend a night out on the town with my best friends. And of course, July was the Olympics, which Krista and I made sure to celebrate appropriately (aka wearing our goggles and gold medals while cheering on Team USA together!)
July also brought a major change in our plans. Due to some ridiculously complicated Army mumbo-jumbo (for lack of an easier/better way to explain it haha) H's contract got changed at the last minute. For him, this meant taking a detour from his original plan/dream and for me, it meant having the opportunity to move to a base with H a lot sooner than anticipated. While I was sad that H's plans had to take this detour, it was hard not to be just a little happy to be reunited with H sooner than we'd originally though, especially after spending the past 5 months apart.
August: August brought "the move," which meant that it also brought a wonderful going away party where I got to see old and far-away friends before moving to our newest destination - Fort Drum, New York. Don't know where that is? Get a map of New York. Next, locate Syracuse. Okay, now go straight north of Syracuse and put your finger on the Canadian border. Got it? Depending on the size of your map, your finger may already be covering Fort Drum. Yes, that's just how north we really are. But it's beautiful here, and living on post has been great so far. Check back with me in about a month when it starts snowing and I may have a different answer for you... :)
So now we're into September, and things have settled down a bit. H's battalion has been out of state doing some training, but because they left around the time that I moved up here, he didn't have to go because he was on leave. While he's waiting for them to get back, he's been training for his Expert Infantryman Badge and keeping busy on Rear Detachment (hehehe that makes me giggle every time I say it!), but I think he's ready to have his battalion and his friends back soon. I've been keeping busy setting up our new house, getting involved on post through church, and taking care of our new furbaby, Riley. I've also started working a part-time job in retail, but praying daily for God to open up a teaching position for me. I have a second interview at a preschool on Tuesday morning, so hopefully this is the door that God is opening for me!
Faith has been extremely important through all of this. Faith that God would help us get through the separation, faith for what was going on with H's contract, faith while waiting for housing to open up in a timely matter for us (we only had to wait 1 week after I moved here before our house was ready--praise God!), faith that I would find a job, faith that he would help us find a perfect home church up here, and so much more! He has truly taken care of us in so many ways and provided for us when things were tight and scary. He is so good, and we continue to look to Him for strength, guidance, and help as we are adjusting to our new life.
With a new home, a new location, and a new plan for our lives comes a need for a new (or I guess renewed) drive for getting back to my healthy lifestyle again. I'm an emotional eater, and that's nothing new. So while H was gone and I had a lot of emotion running around, it was really hard to stay focused on eating well and working out, which lead to a jump in my weight that I'm not happy about or proud of. I mean, it's nothing major but it's enough that I notice it and don't like it. Now that we're settled, I'm hoping we can get refocused on being back to pretty strict Paleo and getting back into the gym at least 4-5 times a week. It's what we both need and I have got to stop feeling so down on myself all the time about my looks and weight. So hopefully by being back into the blogging world, I can keep better track of my goals and where I'm at in reaching them. I won't give up, because I know how much I need this right now.
So that's our life. Over the past 4 months, I've lived in 4 different places (if you include living at the hotel while we waited for our house to open up), I've reunited with H, we've adopted a kitten, and I've started a new job with the prospects of getting back into the classroom. I've learned to trust God for so much and be patient for His timing. And I've officially stepped into the role of Army wife.
I couldn't love life more right now!
Remember when I used to blog all the time? Yeah...me too.
Things have been very chaotic around here, which I'll get to, but it almost felt like there wasn't anything to blog about even though there has been so much going on. I don't know, I guess because I feel like this is all becoming a normal part of our life as an Army family, it wasn't interesting enough to actually write about. But after seeing a dear friend of mine pick back up on her blogging, and how maybe if I do the same I'll be able to stick to some things that I need to work on the way she is. So thanks, Katie, for inspiring me to get back to blogging and back to refocusing on my lifestyle goals!
Alright, so let's update!
May: My best friend Krista moved in with me so I wasn't completely alone while H was gone. It was good to have her there, and to know that when I was having a lonely day that she was there to help me get through it. We celebrated my 26th birthday (26! I'm officially closer to 30 than 20...gross) and our best friend Abbie's 21st. H also got a 36-hour pass at the end of the month, so we got to Facetime and actually see each other for the first time since he left.
June: I finished out the school year at the Montessori school, which was exciting but very, very sad. It meant that I was that much closer to being reunited with H but saying goodbye to the kids and the staff that I had grown so close to was extremely hard for me. June also held a visit from my brother, a friend's wedding, and 2 solid weeks of shenanigans with my besties before having to move out of BG.
July: July 1st I moved out of BG for the first time in 7 years, which was truly the end of an era. But moving back to my parents' house was going to be good, financially and emotionally, before I had to move to whatever base the Army would be sending us. Mid-way through July was H's OSUT graduation, too! My parents and I took a week-long trip to Ft. Benning, GA to watch H graduate and get his infantryman cord. I could not have been more proud of him! Georgia was beautiful, and I even had a chance to stop by my sorority's headquarters and get a private, after-hours tour of the building. July also gave me one last chance to head back to BG to spend a night out on the town with my best friends. And of course, July was the Olympics, which Krista and I made sure to celebrate appropriately (aka wearing our goggles and gold medals while cheering on Team USA together!)
July also brought a major change in our plans. Due to some ridiculously complicated Army mumbo-jumbo (for lack of an easier/better way to explain it haha) H's contract got changed at the last minute. For him, this meant taking a detour from his original plan/dream and for me, it meant having the opportunity to move to a base with H a lot sooner than anticipated. While I was sad that H's plans had to take this detour, it was hard not to be just a little happy to be reunited with H sooner than we'd originally though, especially after spending the past 5 months apart.
August: August brought "the move," which meant that it also brought a wonderful going away party where I got to see old and far-away friends before moving to our newest destination - Fort Drum, New York. Don't know where that is? Get a map of New York. Next, locate Syracuse. Okay, now go straight north of Syracuse and put your finger on the Canadian border. Got it? Depending on the size of your map, your finger may already be covering Fort Drum. Yes, that's just how north we really are. But it's beautiful here, and living on post has been great so far. Check back with me in about a month when it starts snowing and I may have a different answer for you... :)
So now we're into September, and things have settled down a bit. H's battalion has been out of state doing some training, but because they left around the time that I moved up here, he didn't have to go because he was on leave. While he's waiting for them to get back, he's been training for his Expert Infantryman Badge and keeping busy on Rear Detachment (hehehe that makes me giggle every time I say it!), but I think he's ready to have his battalion and his friends back soon. I've been keeping busy setting up our new house, getting involved on post through church, and taking care of our new furbaby, Riley. I've also started working a part-time job in retail, but praying daily for God to open up a teaching position for me. I have a second interview at a preschool on Tuesday morning, so hopefully this is the door that God is opening for me!
Faith has been extremely important through all of this. Faith that God would help us get through the separation, faith for what was going on with H's contract, faith while waiting for housing to open up in a timely matter for us (we only had to wait 1 week after I moved here before our house was ready--praise God!), faith that I would find a job, faith that he would help us find a perfect home church up here, and so much more! He has truly taken care of us in so many ways and provided for us when things were tight and scary. He is so good, and we continue to look to Him for strength, guidance, and help as we are adjusting to our new life.
With a new home, a new location, and a new plan for our lives comes a need for a new (or I guess renewed) drive for getting back to my healthy lifestyle again. I'm an emotional eater, and that's nothing new. So while H was gone and I had a lot of emotion running around, it was really hard to stay focused on eating well and working out, which lead to a jump in my weight that I'm not happy about or proud of. I mean, it's nothing major but it's enough that I notice it and don't like it. Now that we're settled, I'm hoping we can get refocused on being back to pretty strict Paleo and getting back into the gym at least 4-5 times a week. It's what we both need and I have got to stop feeling so down on myself all the time about my looks and weight. So hopefully by being back into the blogging world, I can keep better track of my goals and where I'm at in reaching them. I won't give up, because I know how much I need this right now.
So that's our life. Over the past 4 months, I've lived in 4 different places (if you include living at the hotel while we waited for our house to open up), I've reunited with H, we've adopted a kitten, and I've started a new job with the prospects of getting back into the classroom. I've learned to trust God for so much and be patient for His timing. And I've officially stepped into the role of Army wife.
I couldn't love life more right now!
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