Snow Day Snow Day!

It has been nice to stay home the beginning of this week and finish the online class for my Real Estate License.  I just finished taking the online test and am planning on taking the REAL test tomorrow at 1:30!  My biggest worry at this point is just finding it- it's 45-50 minutes away from my house.

February 22- I spent a large portion of the day tracing, cutting, and placing contact paper on our front door's windows to make them less creeper friendly using this tutorial.  Our house is a split level, and if you are standing at the front door, you could look through the window and see right into our bathroom!  Not exactly ideal and I love the way it looks... Subtile but also just an extra "something".  Here's a better picture from outside!

 *side note- we are SO BLESSED to have this wonderful home.*

Sunday, February 23- this picture is very dark but we took our students to WinterJam at the Scottrade center!  10 artists for $10, it was a lot of fun!  We waited in line outside for about an hour and a half, and as you can tell our seats were not great, but we all had a great time and it was really nice to do something with them outside of our routine Sunday activities!

February 24- I spent my entire day on the futon with my laptop working on my online class.  Not the most fun thing in the world but it was nice to stay inside with all the snow and cuddle up!


Finally, just a quote that got me thinking the other day...
"Giving to those in need what they could be gaining from their own initiative may well be the kindest way to destroy people"- Robert Lupton in Toxic Charity

 

Back to School, Back to School, to Prove to Mom I'm Not a Fool!

Short update on my past two weeks:

 

February 9- LOVE lazy Saturdays at home, wearing my best friend's volleyball sweatshirt that I "borrowed" probably over 5 years ago!

Sunday, February 10- Jr. High Valentine's Day party after church!  Ate pizza, played a game I found on Pinterest, then Catch Phrase, and freeze tag!

February 11- My first day back in class since I graduated in 2010!  It was kinda fun!

February 12- Taco Night at the Branch house... yum!

February 13- Cuddles with my "baby"!

February 14- Had a nice Valentine's Day.   Steven and I used this "mailbox" at our wedding by the presents for the cards to go in.  Now I keep all of the cards that we give each other in there.  There is over 6 years worth in there!  I write the occasion and the year on the back of each envelope.  I love going through them and love thinking of our children going through them one day and reading about the different phases in our relationship.

February 15- went shopping with Lauren and bought this new sweater!

February 16- bad lighting, but we had our Valentine's Date at a really nice Italian restaurant.  It was the best meal we've had in a long time!!

Sunday, February 17- this afternoon, a dog was loose in our neighborhood and I made the mistake of trying to save it and call its owners (it had a collar on with tags on it.)  It did not wish to be found and bit me.  :(

February 18- "mint" nails!  :)

February 19- lazy night watching Mizzou play

February 20- We had the day off of class to study for our Final Exam, and I made good use of it by getting my Birthday Massage!  Steven had bought me a Groupon for my bday (in MAY) and I needed to use it by the end of this month when it expired.  It was amazing.

February 21- My first SNOW DAY in 2 years!  It was bad because we were planning on going to Kansas City for the weekend and the roads were so bad we couldn't leave.  But it was a nice quiet day snowed in at home with a fire, cookies, and hot chocolate.  :)

February 22- I passed the first of two tests for my Real Estate license (best score in my class!  :) ) and then we went to the Adkin's for game night!

And one more pic just because he is SO cute...

Good night world!

 

I Wanna Talk About Me

I mostly use this blog as a way for me to record memories and God moving in our lives... a diary of sorts. This post is just so I can remember how GOD worked in my life two weeks ago!

From Day 1 at Delmar Gardens (back in August, 2011), I knew that this was not a Forever job.  I grew to love it and to love the staff and the residents.  But I have never pictured myself as wanting to build a career and work 50-60 hour weeks to make the big bucks.  I've always wanted to just provide a supplemental income to Steven's, to allow us to build our savings and to do some fun things.  Lord willing, it will be the same when we have kids.

But the biggest reason I couldn't work at Delmar Gardens forever was because of their Holiday policy.  ALL staff members have to work one of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Day holidays, but even if you get Christmas Day off, you HAVE to work the day before and the day after.  You are not allowed to use Vacation Days the last week of November through the first week of January.  I understand how this can work out for people with family close by (and I understand WHY the rule is the way it is... the Residents are there 24/7, so the staff must be as well), but it did not allow for Steven and I to go home or to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  While this was not ideal, but tolerable, for now, you can bet that when we have kids we will be seeing our families for Christmas!

So I have been praying ever since I got my first job there, that God would bring me the next thing at the right time.   Then they offered me the full-time job as the administrative assistant.  It was the only open door at that time so I went through it, having faith that the next thing would come at the right time.  The Holidays came, we stayed in O'Fallon for both of them, and I prayed even harder that by NEXT Holiday season I would have a job that allowed us to go to Oklahoma... but I also tried my best to have a positive attitude and be content wherever God had me.

In the meantime, our realtor and a member of our church, Lisa Adkins had mentioning to me that I should get my Real Estate License and become part of her Real Estate Team.  I told her over 6 months ago that I wasn't really comfortable taking a commission-based position in an industry that I knew nothing about... I would rather have an hourly position such as an office assistant where I could get to know the behind-the-scenes process before I jumped in with both feet.  She understood, and although she had two assistants, did not have any openings at that time.

As I mentioned, when the Holidays came, I really began re-evaluating my options.  I talked to Lisa and Steven more about going into real estate.  Lisa said that if I wanted to pursue working with her, she wanted me to be Licensed by the Spring so that I could train with her when the season was good.  She referred me to a Licensing class which was held 10 minutes away from our house, but that started on February 11.

We prayed a lot about it, and Steven and I agreed that, although it was risky, the reward far out-weighed the risk.  I could set my own schedule and make more in fewer hours!  That weekend, I went home because of my 3-day weekend and discussed it with my parents and my friends, who all agreed it sounded like an amazing opportunity.  One of my parent's Sunday School class members reminded me that they had been praying for me to get a new job, and that even when God opens a door, you are still the one who has to go through it.  Though I didn't know anything about the industry, I would have the advantage of training with someone who has been a top-seller for 15 years.  And starting off on a "Team" would automatically give me referrals and other advantages.  However, Lisa felt hesitant about asking me to quit my job for a commission-based job, when I would likely not make any money for at least a few months until my first Sell.

Starting class on February 11, meant that my last day at work had to be February 8, which meant my 2 weeks needed to be put in by January 25 (that Friday).  I knew I needed to talk to Lisa about how serious I was about working for her, so I text her on my way back to O'Fallon from KC, asking if we could talk that night because we hadn't talked about it in a few weeks.  We talked on the phone really quick and she said that something had come up and she needed to work it out before we talked again, and she'd call me in a few more hours. 

When she called me again she had a few things that blew me away:
1.  Her daughter, Cassie, had found a Groupon for the EXACT Licensing class that I was wanting to take- for $140 instead of the regular price of $325.
2.  THAT DAY, one of her office assistants came to her and said that she wanted to renew her license and become an agent again.  So now she had an hourly position available, where I could risk-free learn the industry and see how everything actually works behind the scenes.

I told her I'd talk to Steven and we met on Wednesday for me to accept the position!  I was and continue to be 100% at peace with the decision.  I know that it is what is right for us and can see it being an opportunity which I can pursue for years- even after children- because you can set your own hours and work load.

The next day, I gave my two-weeks notice at Delmar Gardens. I am still going to continue working for them "PRN" or as needed, and of course on my last day (Friday) they gave me a shift to cover already.

God is SO good.... He's SO good to me!

 

I am working on a much longer post that will explain what is going on in my life in a little more detail, but for now here are pictures from my last week!

 February 2- Steven and I went to my friend Lauren's house and got to spend time with her and some of her other friends.  We were also so happy to see her parents for a little bit!  (They let us live in their basement for 5 weeks when we first moved here.)  When we left around 11:00 to go home, it was snowing huge snowflakes outside.  We let Barkley play in it for a little bit and he LOVED it!  The snow was about 2x this high when we woke up Sunday morning.

Sunday, February 3- We attended a Super Bowl party at our Pastor Dan and his wife's house!  There were several people there from church and we had a great time talking, watching the game, and eating GREAT food.

February 4- on Friday the 1, I entered a Super Bowl pool at work.  I wasn't going to, but one of the girls I work with wanted to but didn't have the $5 cash to put in.  I just had a $10 so I figured we would just both put our names in.  Turned out, I WON!!!  $250 cash was a sweet surprise when I got back from my lunch break!

February 5- nothing exciting happened today... Only picture I took was this one which I sent back to my sister Kyla after she sent me one with the same "lip-thingy."

 February 6- This is a picture of my walk to Delmar Gardens from my parking spot behind the Villa's.  I half took it because I was upset at my LONG walk after I had just been spoiled with the Employee of the Month spot, and half because I know I won't be making that walk much more...

February 7- This is where I found Barkley when I woke up that morning!  He has never laid on our cedar chest before... what a dummy!

February 8- I stopped in Starbucks on my way to work to celebrate it being my LAST day!!  Had a great last day, had Chick Fil A with the Activity girls, and got to train the girl taking my position.  Last night we went to our friends Steve and Cassie's for game night!


 

What A Wonderful World it is...

I'm back with daily pictures from the end of January!

January 28- bought a print at Gordman's and hung it up in our bathroom!  Love it.

January 29- made Sausage Cheddar Balls.  Soooo good!  When we were in Tulsa over New Year's, my cousin Dayna made them and I craved them ever since.   They are also great to grab a couple and microwave them for 20 seconds before work!  But the BIG news from this day is that Dayna and her husband Levi found out that they are having a GIRL!!!  So excited for them!!!

January 30- stayed home from church that night because I wasn't feeling well.  I was doing some laundry and making our guest room bed when you-know-who jumps on the clean sheets!

January 31- had dinner with Cassie and Karsten, then back to our house to play some games!  We were all concentrating hard on this game of Scattergories.

February 1- Steven's Valentine's Day present came in the mail!

Have a great week!