A lot happens in 5 years. You go from newborn to the beginning of a long academic journey that starts with kindergarten. You go from dorky 8th grader to confident high school senior; or from confident (and graduated) high school senior to adjusting to your first real adult job. Like I said, a lot happens in 5 years.
As of this past Friday it has been 5 years since I married my best friend Renee and, indeed, a lot has happened. I have gone from looking for a teaching job, through 2 years of substitute teaching and working practically every weekend for the YMCA, to mildly successful bank teller looking to move up in the industry. Renee has gone from working as a bank teller to Physical Therapy Aide to full time nursing student. Through it all we have had our ups and downs, good times and bad, but we still love each other very much. The past five years seem to have passed by in a blur and I am sure time won't be slowing down anytime soon. The next five years will bring all sorts of new adventures for us like finding a nursing job for Renee and adjusting to a life without textbooks (YEAH, I can't wait!). I love this ride called marriage and I couldn't have asked for a better partner that Renee.
In other news that is also quite fun, we got to visit with some friends from college this past week. Our friends Nathan and Mandy were on their way back to Connecticut from Minnesota and decided that Winona Lake was a good place to stop Tuesday evening. We really enjoyed the visit and were glad they could stop by. Also glad they came through on Tuesday and not Wednesday when they would have joined us in riding through tornado laced thunderstorms. Oh well, typical Indiana summer weather.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Massively Overdue Update
Right, so this whole regular blogging thing hasn't worked out so well. The original plan was to use my day off (Tuesday) to post something to the blog. If you have read the previous few posts you know that in May I started at at new branch. As part of that change, I lost my day off so it has become a bit more difficult to find time to write. I do have a nice chunk of time this morning before heading off to work however, so I think it is time for an update.
CAMPING
Back in May, Renee and I went camping with our college friends Joel and Julie and their son Kyper (almost 1). We went May 14-16 to Warren Dunes State Park, so things were a wee bit on the chilly side but actually not too bad. Cold at night, but layers are wonderful things. Saturday morning Joel and I head out on Lake Michigan in his kayak and had a blast; even if getting out was somewhat of a challenge
Obviously the gentle rocking motion of Lake Michigan had a profound effect on my ability to maintain my balance back on land.
In the afternoon Joel and I headed out for a lengthy hike (3 hours) around the park. Due to recent rains we had to take some creative detours around areas where the trail was flooded behind the dunes. It was fun and we did enjoy climbing and then descending the dunes. We could see the entire Chicago skyline on Saturday from the top of the dunes. Just behind the campgrounds is a nice large dune with a great view, so we climbing it Sunday before leaving and enjoyed the great view.
We also discovered that going down large dunes can be dangerous to your health.
All in all we had a great time with Joel, Julie, and Kyper. The weather was great and, unlike the last time we went camping with them, there were no tornadoes. If you don't know that story, ask me sometime.
Memorial Day
Over Memorial Day weekend, we did a whole lot of not much. With Renee in school, she spends most of her time studying. However, we did find time to hang with family and friends. On Sunday we went over to my parents and spent the afternoon with my family. We watched the race and had a great time. On Monday, we went to Ft. Wayne to do some shopping and then up to Kendallville for a cookout with friends. Unfortunately, the rain decided to come down in 55-gallon drums (as opposed to simply buckets) on the way to Kendallville. After barely making it through three separate massive puddles, we pulled over and called for help. Fortunately our friends have a nice SUV and knew ways to avoid the flooded areas; so we were able to enjoy good company and good food. The only downside was that in driving through to puddles, I destroyed the inner fender liner on my car. Not good. Fortunately the repair was not too bad.
June
Not much to talk about for June. It has been a pleasantly quiet month with Renee working on school and me working on work. I did achieve one major goal. Last week I finished my year long journey through the Bible. This was about the third or fourth time that I had attempted to read the entire Bible, but I never seemed to make it in the past. This time I kept a journal to go with the reading and that really helped. In the past I had no problems with action books like Genesis, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 1 & 2 Kings, the Gospels. I also found most of Paul's letters interesting. My problems centered on the Prophets, Leviticus, Numbers, and Revelation. I used the NIV Study Bible this time and it contains some excellent notes that really helped me understand what exactly was going on.
Anyway, that is all for now as I must get ready to go to work. I will try to post more regularly, but I won't promise anything.
CAMPING
Back in May, Renee and I went camping with our college friends Joel and Julie and their son Kyper (almost 1). We went May 14-16 to Warren Dunes State Park, so things were a wee bit on the chilly side but actually not too bad. Cold at night, but layers are wonderful things. Saturday morning Joel and I head out on Lake Michigan in his kayak and had a blast; even if getting out was somewhat of a challenge
Obviously the gentle rocking motion of Lake Michigan had a profound effect on my ability to maintain my balance back on land.
In the afternoon Joel and I headed out for a lengthy hike (3 hours) around the park. Due to recent rains we had to take some creative detours around areas where the trail was flooded behind the dunes. It was fun and we did enjoy climbing and then descending the dunes. We could see the entire Chicago skyline on Saturday from the top of the dunes. Just behind the campgrounds is a nice large dune with a great view, so we climbing it Sunday before leaving and enjoyed the great view.
We also discovered that going down large dunes can be dangerous to your health.
All in all we had a great time with Joel, Julie, and Kyper. The weather was great and, unlike the last time we went camping with them, there were no tornadoes. If you don't know that story, ask me sometime.
Memorial Day
Over Memorial Day weekend, we did a whole lot of not much. With Renee in school, she spends most of her time studying. However, we did find time to hang with family and friends. On Sunday we went over to my parents and spent the afternoon with my family. We watched the race and had a great time. On Monday, we went to Ft. Wayne to do some shopping and then up to Kendallville for a cookout with friends. Unfortunately, the rain decided to come down in 55-gallon drums (as opposed to simply buckets) on the way to Kendallville. After barely making it through three separate massive puddles, we pulled over and called for help. Fortunately our friends have a nice SUV and knew ways to avoid the flooded areas; so we were able to enjoy good company and good food. The only downside was that in driving through to puddles, I destroyed the inner fender liner on my car. Not good. Fortunately the repair was not too bad.
June
Not much to talk about for June. It has been a pleasantly quiet month with Renee working on school and me working on work. I did achieve one major goal. Last week I finished my year long journey through the Bible. This was about the third or fourth time that I had attempted to read the entire Bible, but I never seemed to make it in the past. This time I kept a journal to go with the reading and that really helped. In the past I had no problems with action books like Genesis, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 1 & 2 Kings, the Gospels. I also found most of Paul's letters interesting. My problems centered on the Prophets, Leviticus, Numbers, and Revelation. I used the NIV Study Bible this time and it contains some excellent notes that really helped me understand what exactly was going on.
Anyway, that is all for now as I must get ready to go to work. I will try to post more regularly, but I won't promise anything.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
New branch
Okay, so first of all, this whole posting every week thing is just not going well. The problems is that I don't really have much to post. My life is full of lots of routine. I get up, go to the gym, go to work, come home. BLAH,BLAH,BLAH!
Every once in a while something does happen that deserves posting. This week I started at my new branch. I had mentioned in a previous post that this was coming. So far everything is going well. I am still getting adjusted to everyone and how things work. Despite being within the same company, the branch has its own individual quirks and such that I need to adjust to. Anyway, this branch is definitely busier which is nice. I now work five days a week instead of four, but my days are shorter. It's a trade off. Anyway, that is all for now. When something else fun happens, I will post again.
Every once in a while something does happen that deserves posting. This week I started at my new branch. I had mentioned in a previous post that this was coming. So far everything is going well. I am still getting adjusted to everyone and how things work. Despite being within the same company, the branch has its own individual quirks and such that I need to adjust to. Anyway, this branch is definitely busier which is nice. I now work five days a week instead of four, but my days are shorter. It's a trade off. Anyway, that is all for now. When something else fun happens, I will post again.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
More impending change
So there is some really BIG news to share with everyone. In fact, it is very exciting (and scary) news.
Renee got into summer classes WOOHOO!!!!!!
Why is this such big news you ask. It means that Renee graduates this December as opposed to next May. We are both excited about the news although it brings some serious anxiety a bit sooner. We have to start thinking about where to get a job, if that means we need to move, what that means regarding my career and a whole host of things. If we move then there are the attendant issues of finding an apartment, church, doctor, dentist, etc. Right now we are more focused on the "what hospitals should we apply to" question. The rest come after that one gets closer to being answered. Please pray that God will help us know His will and that He will guide us through this time.
Renee got into summer classes WOOHOO!!!!!!
Why is this such big news you ask. It means that Renee graduates this December as opposed to next May. We are both excited about the news although it brings some serious anxiety a bit sooner. We have to start thinking about where to get a job, if that means we need to move, what that means regarding my career and a whole host of things. If we move then there are the attendant issues of finding an apartment, church, doctor, dentist, etc. Right now we are more focused on the "what hospitals should we apply to" question. The rest come after that one gets closer to being answered. Please pray that God will help us know His will and that He will guide us through this time.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Change has come
Several weeks ago I posted about dealing with change and the possibility that it might be coming. Well, change is definitely coming. In May I will be moving to a different branch in Warsaw. I am looking forward to the move as it will give me some new experiences and help position me to advance my career. At the same time, I am worried about getting adjusted to a different group of people and how they will adjust to me. I really like the people I currently work with and leaving them will not be easy. However, I trust that it is all in God's hands and that he will help me make it through the coming transition.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Devotions
For many years I struggled with doing daily devotions and spending time in the word. I talked with others and they made various suggestions from using my music as a devotion to various books that I might want to look at, but nothing never really took hold. Finally last summer I got an NIV Study Bible and found a plan to read through the Bible in a year. Along with reading the Bible, I started writing about it. Often this takes the form of a recap of the passage, but sometimes it gets more in depth. Anyway, things have gone well, but I didn't realize the true impact of my devotional life until this past weekend. Renee and I went to visit her parents and I had every intention of not getting behind on my reading, but I did. By late Saturday/early Sunday I was actually feeling the effects. I wasn't my usual self. I don't know if anyone else knew it but I felt off. Having not done devotions since Wednesday, I was out of sorts. It was an interesting revelation that I have finally gotten to the point where starting the day with devotional time actually has a profound impact on my day. I'm not sure yet what I am going to do when I get through the Bible. I may read through it again in a different order (chronological vs. cover to cover) or possibly find a good devotional to read each day and meditate on. Whatever it is, I know that maintaining a devotion is an important part of my life now and I can't afford to get away from it.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Spring Break
YEAH!!!!! Renee's Spring Break is here and I am taking the week off.
BOO!!!!! That means it is time for the annual spring cleaning - YUCK!
Actually its not that bad. So far today we have cleaned out the filing cabinet and desks, sorted through the clothes, removed unwanted books (going to used bookstore), cleared the balcony, and arranged the storage area. Still on the agenda - the bathroom and our cars.
Tomorrow Renee has to work so I will be working on getting the CD rack reorganized (several new additions require the update), making sure DVD's are in order, dealing with the living room in general, and organizing the pantry/laundry area. Tuesday is also laundry day so I will be washing, drying, and folding clothes.
Wednesday we tackle the kitchen as well as dust, sweep, and vacuum the apartment. Then we go to Fort Wayne to take the books and possibly do a little shopping. As a reward for all of this hard work dinner will be at Mad Anthony's, one of our favorite local restaurants.
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