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Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Merry Christmas!

Consider this my Christmas card to everyone. It's been a crazy insane wonderful year. I've had some major life changes, ups and downs, joys and hardships, but the Lord has been with me through it all. He has blessed me with a new husband, a new home, a new job, a new church, and a new community group. I am growing into all of these and know that the coming year will bring new challenges and joys. I am thankful for it all and am blessed to have a Savior I can turn to in the good times and bad.
So in this Christmas season of busyness and stress, take a few minutes to stop and thank the Creator for the gift of His Son, who is the real reason we celebrate this time of year. May God bless you richly with His love and bring peace to you and your families.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Monday, 14 December 2009

Maiden name

It's kind of interesting living in a world (meaning the subsection of the country in which I now live and work) where no one knows me by my maiden name. If I'm telling a story that involves my maiden name, I have to make a point to note what it is, because no one here ever knew me by that name, except my husband and a handful of his friends (who are my friends as well, but only know me because of him). It's like having a whole new identity. I'd say it's like being in the witness protection program, except that there's a very obvious paper trail to track me back to my maiden name, hehe.
[Transition to spiritual application, unintended as part of the original post]
When we take on the identity of Christ, there are two sides to the coin. On the one hand, we are still the same person on the outside, but with a changed perspective and hope. This is the part that no one can visibly see, much like changing your name and priorities upon getting married, but you're still outwardly no different.
On the flip side, you should be a different person when you are a new creation in Christ. As I am now no longer known by my maiden name, as a daughter of Christ, I should no longer be known as a citizen of this world, but of the heavenly realm. I have a new name and a new identity.
The best part is, we don't have to hide our identity, as though we were in the witness protection program. We're free to shout to the world our new association and identity as co-heirs with Jesus Christ our Master, King, Hope, and Redeemer.
Just another picture of how marriage is a beautiful picture of the relationship between Christ and His Church.

Friday, 04 December 2009

I got bit by the Christmas survey bug... here you go!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Mmmm hot chocolate. Starbucks in particular (we have a Starbucks coffee dispenser at work, and you can got "Cocoa" too!)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? There's always wrapping paper. Which sometimes seems a bit of a waste, but hey, it's pretty.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Our current little 3 foot tree has colored lights, but only because I couldn't find one with white. No lights on the house this year, other than K's single string of LED lights in the kitchen window.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I would if I had some...

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually Thanksgiving weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? There's nothing in particular that qualifies as a holiday dish that stands out.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Caroling was always fun.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? A couple boys from church informed me... I think I had suspected it at that point, so it wasn't a complete shock. I think I was 7 or so.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My parents always designated the gift to open, which in recent years has been an ornament.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Colored lights (built into the tree), with a collection of gold balls, and random other ornaments that our parents willingly parted with.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! Although it's only nice for short periods of time. And I can drive up to the mountains if I need my fix.

12. Can you ice skate? Theoretically, yes, but it's been a while.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Can't really think of a favorite... it doesn't help that after a year or so, birthday and Christmas blend together (being only 3 weeks apart).

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering the birth of Christ, and spending time with family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I like Starbucks maple macchiatto that they used to have (for a limited time).

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning.

17. What tops your tree? Air.

18. Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? Giving is a lot of fun, especially the shopping part.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Breath of Heaven

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Meh.

21 Favorite Christmas Show? I've always liked the Charlie Brown Christmas. "Loo loo loo lo loo loo loo loo..."

22. Saddest Christmas Song? The only one I can think of is Christmas Shoes.

Merry Christmas!!

Tuesday, 01 December 2009

I don't have much to say at the moment but wanted to drop an update.
I'm recovering from a cold that hit over the Thanksgiving break, thankfully meaning that I only had to call in sick on Wednesday instead of more than one day. On the other hand, I was sick the whole break... but I did get 6 days of "vacation" to rest and recover, as much as possible on a road trip, anyway.
The worst part about going back to work with a recovering cold is that the cold air in the building really irritates my lungs and makes me cough more. And I don't have enough warmish shirts that I can wear to work and strike a balance between shivering my skin off and sweating like a pig. So I usually end up on the colder end. On top of being sick, I'm trying to pick up the threads of things that happened at work the day I called in sick and the day I had planned to take off, and I'm having a hard time getting back into the swing. Good times.
We put up Christmas decorations last night! It's semi pathetic, since all I have is a 3 foot tree and the ornaments my mom generously parted with, and he has some ornaments that are too big for the little tree, and random Disney knick knacks and stockings. It's not much, but it's a start, and we'll start building our inventory together. I bought stockings at our last Target shopping trip, so we have something to call ours.
I am thankful for my husband and the way he takes care of me. He may not be perfect, but he holds my heart, and I love him a whole lot.

Monday, 23 November 2009

Clean house!

I can never appreciate enough the feeling of having a clean house. My husband and I did a thorough scrubbing/cleaning of every room in the house, except the office and the kitchen counters. And boy does it feel better. The kitchen floor was filthy, and was a pain to mop, but it looks so much better now. The dog hair is all vacuumed up (as much as it's possible, anyway), the entire house has been dusted (thanks to my energetic husband who initiated and led the attack with the dust rag), both bathrooms scrubbed to shiny-ness, and we have clean sheets on the bed. My husband even took the time to pick up the dog poop in the backyard (it was starting to smell...). We didn't get to the garage or any yard work, but the inside feels liveable again. We also sorted through the pile of "I don't know where to put this so I'll put it in the guest room" stuff and got it mostly put away, as well as went through the linen closet to get rid of unnecessary/never used blankets, sheets, and other coverings, and consolidated them to containers under the guest bed and a few back in the closet. The only downside to the cleaning is that I washed and dried the comforter, and probably ruined it with too much heat. The liner was starting to rip already, and now it's worse in addition to a new rip. So time for a new one... thank goodness for BB&B gift cards!
And the project I've been wanting to start for the last 2 months: I finally started going through wedding pictures and sorting for various small albums. One is finished, and the next one just requires swapping out a few pictures, and those are done! The next big project is to work on our main album, and maybe do one for the honeymoon/cruise.
It was a good productive weekend, and we had a good time enjoying each other's company while working.

Wednesday, 04 November 2009

What is joy?

I wrote a blog a few years ago entitled "What is love?" I'm starting up a new one today called "What is joy?" since that's an issue I've been dealing with lately.

Joy can be defined as contentment or even happiness, in spite of your circumstances or life situation. It means not looking at the temporal or immediate effects, but looking to the long term and how you will let things affect your mind. Joy is a choice, not a feeling (much the same as love).

In my current job I haven't been able to find any joy, in spite of the fact that I am blessed to have a job in this economy. In fact, I almost dreaded going to work this morning, which I haven't done since Samsung. Maybe the problem is that it doesn't excite my passions or utilize my interests the way my previous job did... I really wasn't excited about it from day one. I was excited about the other job I interviewed for, but had to cut the interview process short because of this offer and couldn't hold out for a job I may or may not have gotten. I'm certainly a project-driven person, and have to have tangible goals/results or something to show, however minute. I have projects to work on here, but they're not as tangible... it's figuring out how to improve a process, rather than a product.

I am so blessed to have a husband that encourages me in spite of my constant negativeness about my job and situation. He reminds me to look at the positive, while still prompting me to keep my options open and not just settle (which I fear I did).

I'm sure God has something in mind for this, although I don't feel like I've heard His voice in a while (other than obvious confirmation to both me and Kevin about where to make our church home). I never felt a confirmation about this job and was hesitant the whole way. I just need some peace and clear guidance. Starting up a quiet time again would surely help... there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.

So there's my rant and ramble... I should go attempt to be productive and make some progress on my projects.

Tuesday, 03 November 2009

Everyone seems to be abandoning xanga. Which means I don't have a means of monitoring anyone's updates anymore. Should I remain the lone holdout for xanga and just deal with the fact that I have to go out of my way to see what's going on in everyone's lives? I'm already out of touch with people, and this just makes them that much farther away.

Monday, 02 November 2009

Currently
Merlin (The Pendragon Cycle, Book 2)
By Stephen R. Lawhead
see related
I know it's been a while since I've blogged, so here's a bit of what's going on in my life.

Life in California is good thus far. I'm enjoying every bit of the weather, even when it's warm, cold, rainy, etc. Maybe it's because I have someone I love to share it with. <3 We're settling in to married life, and everything is going pretty well. We have yet to have a major fight, although we have our occasional disagreements and/or miscommunications, but who doesn't? Most days I'm in charge of dinner plans, although sometimes I'll call K on my way home and have him start something on the stove or whatever. But every now and then I put him in charge, and he does pretty well.

My new job is... a job and I'm getting paid, so that's good. It's been extremely slow, since I'm engineering support for the manufacturing line and deal with issues as they come up. Not nearly as project based as I thought and would like, since that's how I'm driven--goals and tangible outcomes and deadlines. It's a bit more like Samsung than I would like, but I'm hoping things will pick up soon. My boss was out the last 2 weeks, so now that he's back maybe he'll start giving me projects to work on.

I bought a new car! A shiny sparkly pearly white Nissan Sentra. Name is forthcoming... depending on how he/she behaves. It gets 26/34 mpg, as opposed to poor Tracker that gets 20/24 mpg. With my 26 mile communte, I need all the help I can get. And the Tracker is nearing 100k miles and is starting to have minor issues (just a window that's off track and a door handle that won't open...). I'm still getting used to Zippy/Pearl/Sentra after driving an SUV for years, but I think I'll settle in nicely.

We're done with the insanity of traveling and weddings, at least until Thanksgiving, which starts the road trips back up, followed by a wedding in December in Phx. But we're staying home for Christmas, and it'll be just the two of us. I'm kinda looking forward to the quiet, and staying put. My parents are planning on coming out here the day after for a few days.

That's about all for now. I'm going to try to be better about updating, but life is busy at home, and I try to keep personal tasks to a minimum at work... although with as slow as things are lately, there isn't much else to keep me occupied.

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Jelly Belly's

The audio visual group at my church here (with whom I volunteer) gave me a small gift as I'm getting ready to move. It was a hand-made journal, and a cup of orange and white (french vanilla) jelly belly's, to remind me of the Longhorns who will be missing me. I brought them to work today and have been munching all morning (if you can use the word munching to describe eating jelly beans), and they are absolutely delicious! It was so sweet of them, and I will miss them, and for once I don't mind the orange and white.

Monday, 10 August 2009

The depression of missing my friends and saying goodbye has started to set in, on top of the stress of packing to move and wrapping up wedding details. And the heavy reality of not having anything with which to occupy my time during unemployment (unpacking my boxes and rearranging the house will fill up only so much time) is daunting, and it scares me, and I'm beginning to freak out again. I think I picked the wrong field of employment, and nobody wants an inexperienced engineer.

On the bright side, I get to wake up to Kevin's face every morning. I really hope that (and the grace of God) will be enough.