Empty Room

This little song is a gem.

Garden of Love

In the midst of moving, changing addresses, requesting records, packing, cleaning the old house, cleaning the new apartment, unpacking, driving, dropping things off, picking things up, and general mayhem, today I received a little pick me up at one of my least favorite places on earth: the post office.

Aren't these stamps adorable?

Farewell Feline Friend

Now comes the time in our move where we are desperately trying to find a home for our feral barn cat not so feral, inside/outside house cat.

Before all you haters gonna hate, it was either a cat or a mice-infested home. Clearly we chose wisely.

We've literally asked anyone we could think of if they'd be interested in a cat with extra toes and a slight eating disorder. So far, no takers.

We even asked my parents, and they live 600 miles away.

Rudy came from Dusty's parent's stock of (at the time) 4 cats with the condition of "no givesy backsy" which, in all actuality is exactly what we're going to have to do while we try to find someone to take him.

He is hilarious! How can this not make you laugh:

 I've never seen an animal that literally looked like it would kill you, if only it could.

And really, his favorite past time?

As much as we hate (hate) admitting this, Dusty and I have grown rather attached to this little guy over the years we've been in Meade County. We always joke that one of our favorite past times is making fun of our cat, but deep down we know it's not a joke. He's infamous around our circle of friends for his curmudgeonly old man cat-itude!

So! Who wants him? No seriously, he's got to go. Santa hat not included.

Boxes, Thanksgiving Feast, and Standardized Testing

Well, we're getting into that part of the move where things start getting real.

Up until now, it's just been this big plan that we've had in our heads. We have a course of action but it just seemed so far away!

This was taken last week. Things are looking much, much worse.

But, of course, life can't be as simple as just packing a U-Haul then unloading it again.

While cleaning out the chest freezer in our garage we found, buried at the bottom, a 14 lb turkey.

Naturally, Dusty thought this would be an ideal time to cook up the bird. So while I'm (still) packing stuff up today, he's preparing a Thanksgiving feast, which involved re-opening boxes that were already taped up and ready to go. ("Where's my carving knife?" "Where's the olive oil?") Do you think I'm joking?

On top of that mountain of poultry, today I found out that in order to get my scores in time to apply for grad school, I will have to take the GRE next Tuesday. This was not negligence on my part; the GRE is being revised and test scores starting in August will be delayed by three months.

Jesus take the wheel!

What am I doing to combat the grumpies? Playing Tiny Tower on my iPad in between boxes, listening to a little Flo+The Machine, and enjoying the turkey aroma that will soon be permeating my home. Possibly some light cardio, and definitely a glass of wine tonight.

BIG News

I can finally write a post about what's been going on around these parts lately! Freedom, sweet freedom.

For a short, short exposition:

Last year I decided I wanted to start my Master's degree. There were two problems with this:

1. The program I wanted to attend is at WKU in Bowling Green (which trusty Google Maps says is about 2 hours from where I live)
2. We're broke. 

So I kind of put it on the back burner. It was one of those, "Maybe I'll do that some day," kind of things. That is, until the Lord brought it to the front. 

As of August 1st I will be an employee at Lindsey Wilson College, in Columbia, KY! I will be joining the Residence Life and Student Activities departments as an Apartment Manager and Assistant Student Activities Director. Dusty and I are so incredibly excited about joining the LWC community! We've been looking for jobs since about January, and this was the first one that we both felt we really, really wanted. 

So- what does getting my Master's degree and getting a new job have in common? As it turns out: everything!

Usually when someone gets hired at a college or university, they also receive as a benefit free tuition at that establishment. 

Listen to how good the Lord is right now: as an employee at Lindsey Wilson I can choose to go wherever I want! And guess what program is a mere hour away from where we'll be living? None other than the one at WKU, where I've been wanting to go all along.

Did you catch that? God took my two biggest obstacles and demolished them, like completely. 

Currently, our house is in shambles, I don't know where anything is, and Rudy is starting to have crazy eyes all the time. (Incidentally if anyone would like a cat with 7 toes on each paw and a slight health condition that is completely taken care of with a certain kind of food quite easily located at your local Wal-Mart, you're in luck!)

In my first draft of this post I had written out a very detailed bulleted list of our Relocation Timeline, but who cares right? Just know that we will be between Columbia and Meade County a lot, a lot, a lot this month and our last day at Buck Grove (and, consequently, Dusty's job) is July 31. 

Dusty is still looking for employment down there. Are we worried? Hello! Have you read the rest of this super long post? Of course not! The Lord is good and he will not leave us destitute. 

Phew! It feels so good to get all this out. The best part about waiting so long to tell everyone is I've largely avoided Tweeting/Facebooking in a very whiny fashion every step we've taken in packing the house so far. 

More to come! (Fun news, not whiny news. Promise.)

Neglect

I have really neglected the ole Bloggy lately.

I mean really, it's just a season of busyness.

Of summer, of youth camp, of Vacation Bible School, of... of lots of stuff.

I wish I had something fun or witty or entertaining to share with my two readers. But I don't. Fact of the matter is even if I did I've been so busy lately I probably wouldn't remember what it is.

Soon, like this fall, things will slow down. Until then, I'll have much, much more to type about this time next week.

Come back soon!

Today

Today my brain is full of about 15 different to-do lists.

I'm grouchy about gas prices and the amount of driving we're going to have to do this summer.

Money, I just keep thinking about money (or the lack thereof!)

Today, I helped a woman whose brain is full of "how am I going to feed my children?"

She's grouchy because she doesn't have a car and has to walk everywhere this summer.

Money, she's just not sure how much longer she can survive the lack thereof.

Isn't it funny how someone's "lack thereof" is another person's abundance? Today, I recognize that the Lord is the giver of my abundance, and today, I remember that with abundance comes the great and wonderful responsibility to give it away.

And I will do just that. Today and always.