Thursday, July 24, 2008

~ News ~
Let me start by saying that Blogger tells me this is my 100th post and I know there is a bloggy rule about doing a “100 things about me” post, but I have bigger things to talk about today. The 100 things post will come later – I promise.

I’m not sure exactly where to start… Oh, let me just tell you the good news and then I’ll tell you how it came about. I’M STARTING A NEW JOB TOMORROW!!!

As some of you know I was/am working at the church that Jay and I attended. Well, on June 1st our church split and we were on the leavin’ side. This is a whole story in it’s self, but I grew up in the church, I’ve attended services there for 28 years. It was a hard decision, but God, on more than on occasion, confirmed that we should stop attending services there. This obviously put a strain on my working there and with the relationships of those who stayed. My title was Pastor’s secretary, well the reason the church split was the fact that some didn’t like the pastor and they pretty much backed him into a corner and made him resign. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I decided that I would most likely be next on the chopping block (oh, did I mention that we were 84,000 over budget at that time?). So, I started praying about what God had in store for us and where He was leading me to work – I just kept coming back to the idea of going back to school and getting my teaching degree/certificate. I talked to several of my friends who are teachers and they encouraged me to apply at some local schools, just to get my foot in the door. So, I did and for 6 weeks I’ve been putting applications in at schools, county/government offices and any other place that I qualified for their job and NOTHING. As of Monday of this week I had put in maybe 12 or 15 applications (I lost count) and had had NO call backs. So to say that I was discouraged was an understatement. Meanwhile, for the last 6 weeks I’ve been trying to lay low at work and just go with the flow – even though the flow has been very inconsistent and there have been numerous talks about pay cuts (totaling between 7 & 12 percent), cut in hours or even some of us being “laid off”. It’s been a very emotional few weeks. Finally on Monday of this week I got a phone call from the assistant principal of Clements Middle School in Covington asking me if I could come on Tuesday for an interview. Let me give you a disclaimer here – I don’t like middle school aged kids – they have big mouths and they are just weird, I prefer the ones who are cute and under the age of 5!! So, to say that I was apprehensive about this interview – another understatement, but I went and the interview went well. I had applied with the Newton County School System for a parapro position, but the job I interviewed for wasn’t actually an “in classroom” type position. I will be the assistant for the registration office, right up my ally… I will make sure that all the kids who transfer to/from the school have the documents they need and have complete information in their file. Mr. Stephens called me yesterday to offer me the job and I start tomorrow!!! How awesome is God’s timing.

I’ll check in with you tomorrow and let you know how my day went and how AWESOME my new job is.

I just realized that I left you hangin’ on where Jay and I are attending church… The 150+ of us who left the old church started a new church. We have about 140 – 175 people each week and we are back to “havin’ church”. Check out our website Berean Baptist Church. If you are looking for a church in the Covington area please come join us.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

~New Summer Dos~
Jackson and I have donned our summer dos. I've been sporting mine for about 2 weeks and Jackson just got him this week. Tell us what you think...

Jackson First:
Before:



















And After:



Now it's my turn:
Before:
(this is an old picture, but it's the only one I could find. My hair was down past my shoulders!)


And NOW!!!






This cut makes me feel SOOO sassy. Excuse the huge purple shirt, it's my sleeping shirt. These are horrible pictures of my, but it's all I have for now. I'll try to get some that are more flattering soon!!!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

A Big Week Ahead!

This week 2 things will happen on Tuesday.

#1. Jay will turn 30.





Baby Jay

























14 month old Jay














This is 30 year old Jay!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY -- I LOVE YOU!!!!!

#2. Sassy will turn 1.


This was taken in early August, the day after we brought Sassy home.



She weighted almost 4 pounds...











This was taken right around Christmas, Sassy was about 6 months old and weighed in at about 10 pounds.









Here's one taken last week. She was playing in my chair with a new toy. She now weighs in at 14 pounds. I'm sure glad she a miniature!!! :)









HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASSY -- WE LOVE YOU!!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Alive & Well!

I'd love to tell you that live has been so exciting and busy that I just didn't have time to post, but that wouldn't exactly be the truth. The truth would be that I'd been too lazy to post. I've been reading alot of posts and even commenting some, but I just haven't put the energy into writing my own. So here are a few things that have happened around the Henderson Homestead.
Jay and I went to Charleston, SC over Memorial Day weekend. I didn't take to many pictures, but here are a couple:
This picture was taken down by The Battery. The wind coming off of the water must have been blowing 70 miles an hour. You can see that my hair and shirt are blowing, it was so bad, Jay actually had a handful of my hair and was holding it down so that it didn't look so bad in the picture...

Here's one of Jay and Jeff "playing" in the ocean. There are NO pictures of me and Andrea throughout the whole trip. Go figure.




This is a Carnival Cruise ship that passed right by the beach as we were hanging out on Monday.





We had a wonderful time away and really enjoyed ourselves! Thanks to Ms. Vickie and Mr. Randy for letting us stay at their house.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Menu Monday

Here's my attempt at a menu plan:



Monday ~ Pork Medallions Alfredo / Green Beans / Pear Salad

Tuesday ~ Creamy Broccoli -Stuffed Chicken Breast / Veggies / Rolls

Wednesday ~ whatever is provided at church

Thursday ~ Bacon cheeseburger roll-up / chips

Friday ~ We're packing up mid-afternoon and heading for Charleston, SC for the weekend, so there is no plan for Friday


Saturday ~ Hyman's Seafood Restaurant


Sunday ~ No meal plans / we plan to spend most of the day at the beach and the open air market.



We're off to a pretty good start on our menu, I followed thru with Monday's new recipe!!


Thursday, May 15, 2008

That Kind of Week

I decided 2 weeks ago that we really needed to start menu planning again in an effort to save money. That worked great for 2 weeks... This week I planned my menu using what we had at home because I knew I would not have time for a grocery run until Friday afternoon. Well, my week didn't quite turn out like I'd planned. We've had SO much going on with Jay's softball games, extra hours at work and the rest of life that our menu didn't quite turn out like I'd planned this week. I thought I'd take this time to share my PLANNED menu and our ACTUAL menu... Enjoy!

Planned:
Monday: Chicken sandwiches and chips (before Jay's game)
Tuesday: Grilled Chicken, rice and green beans
Wednesday: whatever was provided at church
Thursday: Breakfast
Friday: Grilled Hamburgers
Saturday: no plan
Sunday: eat out as usual

ACTUAL:
Monday: Jay ~ chicken tenders and chips (we had no bread for a sandwich)
Michelle ~ soda crackers with melted cheese - this was all I had the energy to make
Tuesday: Chinese Take out
Wednesday: at church ~ pork roast, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas and peach cobbler
Thursday: Jay is picking up hot wings as I type
Friday: Maybe that grilled chicken from Tuesday???
Saturday: Maybe I'll actually cook a meal
Sunday: out with the gang

AND there you have it. Our crappy diet for the week, but tomorrow is grocery day and we'll be eating on a menu plan next week... NO EXCUSES!!!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Hair!

I've been trying something new with my hair this week. I've been wearing it "natural", that's a bit misleading, but I'm using my natural curl and just enhancing it a little. Here are a few picts. so that you can tell me what you like better... Please be kind.


This is my "straight" hair. It's much longer now though.


This is a more recent "straight" hair picture.


This is the curly version... What do you think?

I know what you're thinking -- she really needs to do something about those roots. I agree, but our entire budget is going to gas and groceries now so there's no extra money for color...

Go figure!!!