And kitty makes three!

Joel and I got a kitty two weeks ago! Her name is Penny and she's a sweetheart. A two year old calico with loads of energy. She follows us around the apartment... especially Joel. :) We have two big windows that she LOVES to 'watch tv' through. The birds and squirrels offer her much enjoyment. One time she tried to jump through the window to get a bird! It was hilarious! Joel and I laughed SO hard while Penny pretended nothing happened. :D

I've been working a lot at Green River Child Development a lot lately which has been fabulous for our bank account and my stay at home wife gig... cause that was gettin' old real fast. I'm trying to get work at my other job FWPSD but it's hard to come by. :(
We started having a weekly game night with some friends and that's been really fun so far! We're going to teach them how to play Five Crowns tomorrow. We're babysitting for their son this coming Friday... I haven't babysat since high school. It'll be fun. :)

And the holidays are upon us

This past Friday... my 24th birthday I had an interview in which they offered me 10 cents more than minimum wage. My Bachelor's Degree and I were inclined to not work there. :p Oh and my sweet husband got up really early to get ready for work AND make me breakfast. I'm so lucky to be married to such a thoughtful man. :)

Then I spent the weekend in Yak with the fam. We went on a walk, a Costco run and to see New Moon... and we watched slides. And of course there was the time to hold little Graham. <3 Joel stayed in Federal Way because his dad was in Seattle for a few days. They got to hang out which was so nice because that doesn't happen much with Brad living in Alaska and all.
I have an interview tomorrow at Toddler Town in Kent... let's hope it's better'n the one at Kid's Country in Auburn last Friday.

For Thanksgiving Joel has to work the day after so I'm staying in Yak without him again. :'( I love the extra time with my family though. And possibly I'll be hanging with Cherize. That would be awesome! :)

Life Marches On

Graham Weston Carnagey has arrived! He was born one day before his due date! He is the cutest little boy ever... but I might be a biased Auntie. :) He'll be a month old the day after Val and I turn 24 years old. How crazy to be almost that old. So Joel and I might be headed to Yak for that weekend to celebrate my birthday and Graham being a month old. :)

Joel and I officially joined a community group through Mars Hill! We were nervous, but the people were welcoming and very nice. It was surprising how none of them were our age without kids. Most were in there 30s (at least) with a couple of kids. There was one couple who looked our age... but they too had a baby. It's not bad, just surprising. I guess we expected a group with young marrieds like us. Oh well, in this case we have loads of good people to look to for guidance in our walks with God. :)

AND we finally got a big screen tv. Joel was SO super excited! He literally jumped up and down when I told him to go buy one. It was cute and very funny. :) If only we could get a kitty. I'm going to ask if it's allowed now cause they said in a month it would be and it's been about a month, maybe longer.

I am employed!

So I was officially hired yesterday by the Children's Home Society of Washington as a substitute for the Kent Child Development Center otherwise known as Early Head Start. :) I am somewhat saddened that it is only as a substitute but my hope is that I get a lot of hours and that they discover I'm awesome and when a full time opening arrives they'll hire me. God has this all under control so it'll work out. Plus I work 11 minutes away from Joel. Weird. That'll be good for carpooling. :) And now we get to look at getting a cat for Sally and a TV for Joel! That was our deal; once I get a job we get those two things. SO excited for a kitty!

In other news we went to Yakima this past weekend for Laura's baby shower. It was so nice to be back in Yak. I missed that town. And the people. Now we wait for Graham Carnagey to arrive. We (the Graham clan) are all SO excited for him to come! October 22nd is coming fast. :)

Still job hunting

I'm still a housewife. So sad. So boring. No job yet. It's not for lack of trying though. I've applied in Federal Way, Auburn, Kent and Renton.... and nada. Only two interviews. And they came to nothing. Lame.

On the upside I have gotten slightly addicted to Hulu.com. It's awesome. You can watch a multitude of shows for free and it's legal. :) Oh and netflix is pretty amazing too. :) Another upside is one of my best friends, Kim has moved to Federal Way to student teach until sometime in December so we hang out. It makes my day. Last week Mom, Grandma & Barbara came to visit too. This past weekend Joel and I hung out with friends in Redmond on Saturday night and Sunday we went to Jordan & Barb's for dinner. :)

Joel made it through another round of lay offs at his work (hooray)! God is looking out for us.

Other'n that it's same ol' same ol'.... sadly. I long for the day when I can announce that I have a job. Until then it's back to the grindstone tomorrow. :p

Jobless Sally

So I have an interview at Kindercare on Thursday. This is my first interview to come from the job hunting. I turned in an application for Federal Way School District today. I'd really like to be a Para-Educator (para pro). We'll see if anything happens there. I really want it to...

In other news, this past weekend Joel and I bought me a new laptop and Joel a bike... that made me wish my bike wasn't in Yakima and that there was a good place to store it here. Nearby is a nice trail that I usually walk on, but biking on it would also be most fun... :)

Oh and I've started writing wedding thank you cards. How I want to be done... and I just started yesterday. Bleck. At least Julie helped me pick out fun cards on the cheap at Ross in my early months of being engaged...thanks sister, they break up the monotony. :) No Joel hasn't helped yet but he won't escape the thank you card writing fun, no worries! :p

Married Life Has Begun!

I LOVE it! It makes my day that we no longer are in a long distance relationship! It seems so normal to be married. :)

Anaheim was VERY fun AND relaxing. A nice combination for sure. We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, SeaWorld and Universal Studios. Our favorite ride was the California Screamer (an awesome roller coaster!) We had a great time but were happy to return home when it was over. :)

We live in Federal Way in a cute little one bedroom apartment. Now that it's unpacked and organized I feel a lot better! Winco is right down the road (quite literally a 4-6 minute walk away) and a library is right across the road (although it's closed right now.) As for church, we attend Mars Hill in Bellevue for now... the worship is amazing and the sermons are quite awesome so we are content for the time being. :)

Joel returned to work (at Food Services of America as an accountant in case you were wondering) and I reconnected with a friend from junior high who lives up the road. (I think I got the better end of the deal. ;)) Except I do want a job... I'm in the process of updating my resume and filling out job applications-- what fun. ;p

A new adventure is at hand!

So in FIVE DAYS (from tomorrow) I'm getting married to Joel! I couldn't possibly be more excited! (Or nervous!) I don't like standing up in front of lots of people... at least I'm not doing it alone... Joel gets to suffer with me. ;D I am SO lucky that I get to spend my life with Joel- God blessed me. :) And then we're off to Anaheim for a week! Yay for Disneyland! It's going to be fun! AND THEN I will no longer live in Yakima. That is weird and hard to comprehend. We will live in a little apartment in Federal Way across the street from the library and I will job hunt AGAIN. (It'll only be the second time in 9 months.) :p But I will finally get to see Joel as often as I please and that will be amazing!

And Grown up Life Begins

So I finished my internship at ccr&r-- thank the Lord! on August 7th and by August 21st I was hired by the YMCA as a Site Supervisor at Gilbert Elementary's BASE (before & after school care.) I started when school started-- the 27th of August... I think. Meh. I have an assistant; Ben. He's a good guy... 19 years old. The kids love him... he was there last year. I also volunteer in mom's kinder class except not at present 'cause I'm sick. My boss did tell me that this would probably be a very sick year for me. *sigh*

Joel's employed in Kent as an Accountant for Food Services of America... he's too far away. Hopefully the long distance relationship will change within the next 9 months or so. We'll see what God has planned. I get to see him semi regularly, but definitely not often enough. Oh and I got him sick when I was in Seattle this past weekend; poor guy. :(

It's so weird not to go to school. I LOVE the no homework parts, but I miss people and the AMAZING schedule you get as a college student. I miss living at the Rock with 11 crazy girls and Joel a ten minute walk away (instead of a 2.5 hour drive). I miss seeing God work on campus through Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I miss the "relaxed" lifestyle with not as many worries and complexities. But you got to grow up sometime... so I guess this is it. Now on to life's next great adventure... as for what that is; I think we'll all find out together. :)

Blessings from Heaven

God has blessed me beyond belief. Everything in my life isn't going smoothly, but that's okay because I know God is good all the time and all the time God is good. I have an internship at Catholic Family and Child Services this summer. I have NO IDEA what happens next, but that's okay.... for now. ;D What I'm really blessed by are my amazing support networks.... family, friends and my boyfriend. Intervarsity is another amazing support network as is my house full of crazy women of God. They are all there for me in my times of need... even when I'm about to cry from stress....but in my happy times... like when they tell me I should do homework and I ask them what homework is.... =D I am content... peaceful....my future is in God's hands.... thankfully. =) I couldn't ask for more.

About my home church....

I just found out the youth pastor's leaving on the heels of the associate pastor, children's director, and pastor all in a little over a year. Oh and the music director left two years ago... I think. It's hard to keep track. Are you freaking kidding me? Seriously. And the not so funny part is the same thing happened when I was 15. The associate pastor left followed by the pastor and youth pastor as well as the children's director. So we now, at present have a pastor, secretary, children's intern and music director. Period. All in less than 10 years. And to top it off there isn't any money because people are leaving the church (wonder why) and no one wants to give. How 'bout that? It pretty much pisses me off. The reason for all the upheaval is centered around scandal of one type or another, if you boil it down, that is. At least this time around. Last time around it was around relationships between the leaders of the church.

The begining of the end

The beginning of my last second week of class has arrived. For everyone else. I do not have class on Mondays. Cool, no? =) Never going to happen ever again so I aim to enjoy it. By doing homework. Sadness BUT I didn't do any during the weekend. And at least I'm going to do it in a nice warm place which would not be my house because warm and my house are like oil and water. But it's all good 'cause I have 6 blankets AND a comforter.

My classes are as follows:
Tue/Thur
Spanish 102
HD 300
SOC 332
SOC 351
break
HD 497

Wed/Fri
Spanish 102

PS- Human Development (HD)= major
Sociology (SOC)= minor
Spanish= random class I'm auditing for fun


My mom & dad are visiting this coming weekend! It twill be fun fo sho since they have yet to do just that this school year. =)

Life

So my VERY last fall semester of school is OVER! Thank the Lord! I've never been that stressed or busy at the same time before, seriously. I'm kind of worried about my grades, but since I can't really do anything to change them at this point I guess I'll keep on keeping on. *sigh* SO weird that one more semester of school's left and then NO MORE! I hate school, but I love my house & house mates... and other friends at school. I also love the blue blanket I Indian gave to Joel. It's warm and soft... perfect for freezing cold Sally in her ice like house.... =D

You know God is so amazing. It's crazy how he likes to surprise you... give you the desires of your heart and then laughs when you're astounded. At least that's what I picture him doing; laughing at me. He might as well join the fun, eh? It just will never fail to amaze and astound me to have God actually answer prayers & give me what I want. That's why I'm not currently worried about the future. Weird, huh? I don't know what I would do without him. Probably fall apart. I feel very content even in the midst of craziness and unknowing. I have only God to thank and praise, as usual. =)

Changes...interesting, funny & crazy. =D

Life has changed a lot in such a short amount of time....I swear, it's crazy.

I live in this awesome old house with no heat basically with 10 amazing Christian girls...it'll be 11 next semester. It's crazy & fun...never a dull moment for sure. =D I feel very lucky that God blessed me with this chance that'll never happen again.

I'm on leadership with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship with has been an awesome experience so far. I'm getting to know more of my fellow leaders a lot better which is so much fun... the guys are crazy...the meeting are so much fun if only because of all the crazy guys. =D
One of the new members of Intervarsity is a lot of fun and I'm so glad I get to spend the year getting to know her. =)

I find myself with a boyfriend. How crazy is that? Single for almost 22 year and then not; it seems sudden. He's pretty awesome, I think. The only sad thing is: he's graduating in December and blowing this popcicle stand...I am not....at least not until May.

I'm soooo tired of school! My classes are so boring! I feel as if I'm not learning anything of interest in any of my classes except my lab in the CDL- child development lab. I'm also pretty sure I'm earning a C in at least one class which depresses me especially since I'm freaking working my butt off. Grrr. In other news, school will get better next semester 'cause I only will have class on Tuesdays & Thursdays....all day long mind you, but I still get 4 day weekends every weekend and a nice day off in the middle of the week. I could totally get a job and/or take a Spanish class.... cool, huh?

Recently

I've been doing fun stuff. Last night a few of my house mates and I dropped 17 big garbage bags full of balloons in our brother house's living room, left and were chased home. It was great. We got some awesome pictures on facebook. =) Having a brother house is way better than a brother dorm for sure.
I went to my first and last cougar football game on Saturday. It was fun. We lost, but only be 3 points to ASU which is 18th in the nation, I believe and we're not even ranked so it's all good. And I actually have an understanding of football now, kind of. Now I wait for basketball season and go to a basketball game. That should be great fun too. =)
School's busy and stressful as usual. Three papers, a quiz, a project and two tests this week. But I turn in two of the papers today so really only one paper left....anyways, it would be really nice if it was Thanksgiving Break if only because the bulk of everything is due right before and right after....plus it's my birthday during break. =)
It's so beautiful here in Pullman. I love this time of year. The tress are so pretty. It makes me happy to walk around campus and town for the beautiful trees. I always become aware of how awesome God is during fall 'cause the creator of the earth did a fantastic job on the trees and if he does such great things for them, won't he do so much greater things for me?
Mom and Dad are coming to visit in 2 weeks! Daddy's never seen my home away from home....he's never taken any amount of time to hang out is this tiny town I love....or met the people I spend time with....

5th week

Isn't that crazy that I'm in my fifth week of class already? It sure does to me. Yeah, classes are time consuming & boring for the most part. My SOC class is about men oppressing women as of now...I got to watch a women get gang rapped on a tv show....I NEVER want to ever see anything remotely similar to that ever again. It was horrible. What else of note....I was told by a 4 year old that I had bad breath....I'm still laughing....it was funny. I have SO much to do & yet here I am blogging instead....bad me. It's really cold today.... Intervarsity's way fun except the guys on the event's committee with me aren't exactly the kind of guys I would hang out with, given the choice. The dinner & worship & whatever else is maga fun 'cause you get a chance to chat with folks...and of course we do ice breakers which are always entertaining..... =D Yep, what else? My house mates are great especially lately because they've become more involved in my personal life....seriously... =D Oh and recently I've been introduced to Ultimate Frisbee which is so much fun. If you've never played, I suggest you do.

And so it begins...

Senior year of college. Crazy. I'm living in The Rock. It's been fun. There are, at present, 11 of us girls.
Classes started day before yesterday & I already wrote a paper & was suppose to read this boring article about NEAYC, but haven't. And by the time I buy the last of my books, it'll be over $400 that I spent. So far I have like 13 books & I still need three. Suck.
My classes are going to be very time consuming & hard this semester. I'm taking two writing in the major classes... those are the ones that are the deciding point on if I graduate or not. Fun times...or not.
I'm on leadership for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I'm on the Events Team with three guys & Mae, one of the Intervarsity leaders. It's been fun so far. We had a Spa Night in one of the all girl dorms last night... we got 10 girls which is pretty good. I think we'll be returning for another one sometime in the future 'cause the girls really liked it. =) Tomorrow we're handing out notebooks on The (Glenn Terrell) Mall (the main way to class) & having a BBQ for dinner. =)

One week

That's all I have left 'till I head back to Pullman for my LAST year of college. So crazy I'm on my out of my 16 years of school. For so long it seems never ending until it's right in your face that you're facing the end of the known and the unknown is rapidly approaching. Who wants to be an adult anyway? This year is about as not scary, but for lack of a better word it'll do as last year. This year I'm living in a house with 11 strangers. I never thought I'd be able to say that & be in my right mind, yet here I am. I'm not sure exactly what to expect, but I guess it could be a lot like growing up with a few added extras (people). The few girls I've met are really nice, so that's good. If nothing else it'll be a good experience right? Of course. =D
More and more I think on where God will lead me after graduation. This summer I surprised myself with REALLY enjoying working with school kids which was new, but where does that lead me in my plans? My plans were with the preschool age, but now I'm not so sure. Recently I've had a weird thought. Val wants to go back to school & get a teaching certificate; crazy huh? And get this, for kindergarten. (according to Mom). And I like kindergarten too. We could teach together! No so much, but that would be fun, I think. Plus I'm getting trained for preschool, a bit different than kinder. So I'm not sure where that leaves me. Somewhere special 'cause of Jeremiah 29:11. If only I knew....

Job opportunities

This has been a great summer! God has blessed me. I couldn't find a job, but he still provided many little jobs. Right now I'm subbing at a daycare center which I love & at their day camp for school age kids which was surprisingly fun. A little bit of every age, it's great! Today I also started babysitting for a 9 year old. Next week I'll be helping with VBS at my church...I can't stop thinking about how clear God has made to me Jeremiah 29:11- For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you & not to harm you. Plans to give you hope & a future." I've always struggle with my faith & still do especially pertaining to my epilepsy, but no matter what happens, it's for my good. I still pray for no seizures to come so I can keep my freedom, not to mention my sanity though. Now that I go to college 3.5 hours away from home, I want desperately to keep both of the above. I hate being fearful with a passion!

Independence Day

So I'm getting some good hours in at Carroll which is very exciting with the no job thing I have going on...I work tomorrow & Friday this week in addition to yesterday and next week I'm working for sure Monday & possibly Friday. I could get use to this earning money thing. =D
Which leads me to Barbie's bachelorette party in Couer d'Alene & Spokane. We're gonna ride a boat around for awhile in Couer d'Alene & then have dinner in Spokane.
And then up comes VBS.... I am a crew leader or whatever they're called this year. I get about 6 kids to love on for the week....I had fun the last time I was one. I got a whole bunch of Trailseekers. It was great. =)
Right now I'm contemplating where God will lead me after graduation. I have to do an internship which I could do anywhere....that's what I'm thinking through as of now. I could stay in Pullman over the summer & do it there or I could come home & do it here.... choices choices....where does God want me?