Pit stop.

We're making another pit stop. We arrived home this evening from a wondrous time together in the Dallas area! We got to see Aunt Nana, an old friend of Chris's, we went to Hurricane Harbor, we did it all!!
Well everything you can do on a budget in 2 days...
But I am certain that the kids felt really special and that was the whole point! Lots of laughs and fun memories were made.

I have an interview Friday morning and then it's off to the races again.
We'll drop the kids by my parents and they are going to see my grandmother, then Chris and I are going to Austin. I have to make sure I know the song I am singing. And then we have to hope against hope that we can find the Villa this shindig is taking place in...

I will try to update after the interview. I don't know what our timeline is tomorrow exactly...
Whatever happens at the interview - you can rest assured, I'm gonna look great!
In the .2 seconds we've been home, I made it a priority to get my nails done. If you know me at all, you know my hands look like mechanic hands and I felt insecure about going to an interview with them looking like barracudas had gnawed on them. So pretty nails it is. Also Shan made it her business to help me find the right get-up while I was in Arlington, just to make sure I went in shining!
Thanks Shan!!

We will return Sunday evening. See you soon!

Home for a little while

I got home last night from the 'Walk'
It was so much more than I thought it would be.
I learned a lot, cried a lot (shocker), and felt very loved.
Thanks to those of you who played a part in that.

One thing I can say is that most of what I learned cannot be verbalized, but one thing I learned can...
It's Emmaus, not Amaeus.

Incidentally, if you are ever asked to go on a Walk, GO.
Time well spent. I wish I had done it a long time ago.

Elevator Music

I am leaving in the next few minutes - and I wanted to leave you with someting that might
annoy you for the next few days...

news in bullets

• I have been scheduled for an interview. It's Friday, August 1 at 8:30am. The most important thing is that I want to be where I am supposed to be. I keep praying for direction.
• I took my very first ever violin lesson today! It was so much fun.
• I am apparently "The Wedding Singer" and I didn't realize it. Yes, Shan - they have sucked me in...
• I have fallen completely off the workout wagon - at least this week - it has truly been all but impossible to get to the gym this week. So busy!
• I leave tomorrow for the Walk to Amaeus - there won't be any way to contact me - if for some reason you must find me, call my parents.
• Jenny took pictures of my kids last night - I can't wait to see them! It's cool to see someone you know as a friend be so professional!

Not my child...

I drug the kids with me to Target on Monday night.

Is that the right word? "Drug?"

Anyway, the only things on my list were 1. a birthday present and 2. sunblock.

I was so looking forward to this outing as we had been cooped up in our house all day - waiting on a phone call from our ISD which never came...

Also, I had not been to Target in quite a long time in an effort to keep our unnecessary expenses down.

I strolled around the store leisurely. I ran into seph and we had a marathon conversation - the kind that mommies who have a sum total of 3 1/2 kids with them do not ever get to have - and then the kids and I checked every nook and cranny that clearance items are usually stashed.

Finally, I realized that I had forgotten to look at something I had been meaning to look at - stalling for time - and as I went back to the area of Target where our journey began earlier that evening, A. said, "I am exhausted of this!"

How can this be? A child of mine getting 'exhausted' by being at Target? Not possible.

inconvenience.

Have you ever walked around a train of 5 or 6 laundry baskets in your bedroom for a week and huffed because they were so 'inconvenient' to have to walk around?

Your answer: Who has 5 or 6 laundry baskets?

the happenings.

Next week is a busy week for us.

Starting Thursday at 6pm, Chris will begin his last vacation for the calendar year.
I am going on a "Walk to Amaeus" - (I think that's how you spell it.)
I have never been on one of those, nor do I know much about it. A good friend of mine said she'd like to sponsor me and she handled getting me a scholarship to go, so I am going.
I don't really know what to expect, but I have been told that it's a 'personal spiritual journey of a lifetime.'
Aren't all of you girls excited about the potential there? Maybe I'll grow up a bit and re-emerge as a slightly less high-strung person. Revel in the possibilities! :)

Anyway, Chris is going camping with his high school buddies for a bachelor party that same weekend so our kids will be staying with my parents.
Can you imagine a sweeter deal?
My parents are awesome for being so available to us!!

Once all the chickens get back home, we'll turn around and go to the Dallas area to see my lovely sister and unleash the fury of the O. family at Hurricane Harbor!

We'll get back Thursday night, just in time to once again, deposit our children at my parents' house and take off for the wedding of some of our friends.
I am supposed to be singing at the wedding. I have yet to crack open a soundtrack and practice. I guess I am not too excited about what I'm singing, I don't know.

Also, I am hoping that whatever happens with our local ISD will happen before Thursday so I won't have to be a full-time nail-biter for the whole week while we're traveling.

I guess you all have our itinerary now...

roller coaster.

i am so exhausted by myself.

i have been having such enormously high highs and tremendously low lows today.

it's stinkin exhausting.

every 5 minutes i'm checking a certain web site for jobs.
there were three openings for my area of specialization two days ago. today there is ONE.
the one i want is the only one remaining. i have heard nothing.

i sit by the phone and every time it rings, my heart goes into my chest - then i realize that it's a friend or family member - and i'm relieved and disappointed all at once. thank God for caller id or everyone would have their feelings hurt by the all-too-obvious tone of pure dejection i would have once i realized it wasn't the school district...

i have the single most impatient personality of anyone i've ever known.
i want to have figured it out yesterday...

unfortunately, i know nothing. it's friday. i won't know anything for several more days. if, in fact, i am even under consideration for this job, i won't be given the opportunity for an interview for at least three more days.

three more days of this rollercoaster?

somebody call me and distract me from this ridiculousness.

oh wait - that might be too disappointing... ;)

Pray

If ever there was a time that we needed prayer, it's now.
Nothing dramatic. Nothing life or death.

There is an opening at our ISD.
An opening that I would click my heels together all the way to, if given the opportunity.
It's elementary.
It's an answer to prayer.

Pray that I will:

1. be given an interview.
2. not be a weirdo at the interview/ appear like I am the one for the job
3. be offered the job.

Those things are obvious - but sometimes in my prayers, I overlook the obvious...

God knows what we need.

Pray also that His Divine Purpose for our lives reigns supreme so that if this isn't as good as it looks, I will be shielded from it.

This looks like an opportunity that could get the ball rolling in the right direction for us. Chris would no longer be hamstrung to a dead end job. A job that sucks the life out of our family.

Yes, I'm being dramatic but just the mere taste of the possibility of freedom from that job makes my heart rate go up!

Thanks for your prayers! And thank you, Jenny, for looking out for us!

(She's the one who tipped me off about it.)

Living with Giggles.

if i were given full license to blog...
blog without sparing any detail...
you would never believe the stuff that goes on over here in my casa.
i must be married to the funniest human being alive!