Thursday, January 29, 2009

Our fleece

As a follow up to yesterday's question, I've been trying to think of any Biblical examples of people trying to figure out what to do.

The only example I can think is Gideon. God told Gideon that he was going to lead an army. Gideon wasn't so sure, so he laid out a fleece. Twice, God honored Gideon's prayers and gave him signs that Gideon was to lead.

Jeff and I have laid out figurative fleeces before. We have been directed by God to take certain jobs and we were sure that we were following God's command because He answered our prayer for a fleece. In our current job situation, we're not sure if God is going to give us a fleece. But I know of no other way to determine God's will.

We have faith that God will take care of us, that Jeff will find a job. However, we're not sure where that job will be or when it will happen.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

God's Will

Ok... so hubby and I are trying to figure something out.

Is it better to:

a. Wait until God's leading is perfectly clear by Him giving a sign and THEN we move forward?

or

b. Move forward while praying that God will shut doors if we aren't supposed to choose a certain path and then we try a different path?

I'm not sure if we should be waiting until we KNOW what God wants us to do or step out in faith that He will close doors and open others as needed.

Updates

Jeff and I met with some friends of ours from church, an older couple who could pray with us and offer some advice. After several hours of conversation and much prayer, we decided to stay in Phoenix until the end of next week.

Hubby has several applications out for local jobs and the church might have a position opening up on Monday. We promised to stay for another week to see if the church position would come through and also to apply for a few more local jobs. If we recieve a job offer by next Friday, we'll stay in Phoenix. If not, we're packing up and heading to Portland.

In the meantime, I had a training call for my contract job last night and an assignment this morning. The assignment is now complete and I'm waiting for my next one. I'm also trying to sell some more stuff around the apartment that we don't need, to bring in money to pay bills and/or move. We sold the Wii this morning. A 9 year old is going to be very happy on his birthday!

Monday, January 26, 2009

What to do?

We're still trying to figure out what we're doing, if we're going to stay in Phoenix and try to find a job or move elsewhere. We have a couple leads, but we're waiting for the final go ahead from God.

In the mean time, I'm trying to sell a bunch of stuff to bring in some money to pay bills. We have someone coming tomorrow to buy our TV and someone coming later tonight or tomorrow morning to buy the Wii. Tomorrow, I need to list the rest of our movies, some clothes, and some furniture on Craigslist.

Life isn't easy, but someday we're going to look back and tell our children how God led us through the tough times.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Laundry mountain no more!

I'm so relieved. I finally caught up on all the laundry. This is the first time in several weeks ALL the laundry has been washed, ironed or folded, and put away. I also vacuumed the bedroom, hallway, and living room. All the dishes are washed, dried, and put away. The bed is made. The living room is picked up and I emptied the kitty boxes.

I clean when I'm stressed.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Diet Update

I'm having motivation issues with my dieting and exercise. My challenges are in different areas than normal, though. In the past, I would get derailed by not exercising, by eating a bunch of dessert, or not reducing portions.

This time around, I'm still watching my portions. I still measure most of my food and estimate portions on the rest of it. I'm still logging my food into Nutridiary and eating less calories than I burn every day. However, I'm not doing well at eating a vegan diet (mac&cheese - yum!). I'm allowing myself fattier meals, but the portions are much smaller than they used to be. I've learned what a serving size is! One serving is a lot smaller than I thought. :) And I'm only eating one non-optimal meal a day or every other day, instead of all the time.

I've only had three days this year where I've allowed myself dessert! Once, it was a cupcake made like pineapple upside-down cake. The other two days, I finished a couple slices of vegan chocolate cake. That's it! I'm avoiding all the dessert I used to eat - ice cream, candy bars, and especially ColdStone. I'm staying away from that place.

It's my exercise that's slipping. I was motivated to work out daily to the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD. I worked out for 7 sessions and then quit. I'm still exercising, but it's no where near as intensive as the DVD. Most days, I'm walking. Hubby and I are walking to all of our errands instead of driving. I'm averaging 2 miles a day.

Is that enough? Can I still lose weight by moderating my portions, even though I'm not eating optimally? Can I still lose weight by walking instead of doing a higher cardio exercise? I guess I'll find out when I step on the scale this Sunday.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Found!



I'm so glad we don't have cable television or watch any of the major networks. It has saved us from having to spend money on the converter!

There's an odd contradiction in our house. I am fantastic with finances. I love putting together budgets, I shop grocery sales, I file our taxes early, and I learned all about Dave Ramsey so that we could start getting out of debt. However, I am terrible with cash. I'm not talking about spending money and not knowing where it went. I'm talking about physically misplacing money. Today I found an envelope with $120 in it. I know what it's for. $60 of it is ours and $60 goes to my brother. I put it "someplace safe" and found it four months later. Smart.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Praise His name!


I love this text:

"For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name" (Hebrews 13:14-15, NLT).

Praise the Lord that this world is not our permanent home! There is too much heartache in this world to want to call it home. Every day, people are getting sick, losing jobs, or facing heartache. Praise God that heaven will not be the same! No tears, no heartache, no sickness, no death. We will ever be in the presence of God.

My praises

  • Hubby has applied for 130+ jobs. Surely we will hear something soon.

  • I received two checks from my contract job! I don't make much money, but it's enough to pay the internet bill.

  • My mom has lost 30 pounds so far.

  • I've been vegan for 16 days now!

  • Hubby and I are both healthy.

  • We have Bible study tonight.



May I ever praise God's name and uphold my allegiance to Him!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Still applying

Hubby and I applied for quite a few jobs today. We found listings for jobs online and he still has a stack to work through. I hope one of the jobs comes through. Hubby has two interviews tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

I also found a job I want to apply for, which would require a commitment of 20 hours per week. I'm out of time today, as we leave for Bible study in 45 minutes. Tomorrow I'll be working on my cover letter and resume so that I can apply for the job.

On a completely unrelated note, several people around the web have posted links to get a free bottle of Suave. The offer is only good today, so if you're interested, make sure you sign up for the coupon soon!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Timely Encouragement

I've been struggling to remain positive this week. I know that God provides and that I shouldn't worry. The Bible says that I am not to worry about tomorrow. But I still worry that my hubby won't be able to find a job in time for next month's bill payments. We're going to wipe out our checking and savings in about five weeks.

I'm trying to find work as well. My contract job promises work but they are slow to assign. I'm trying to find something to fill in the gaps in work.

Today we received good news, evidence that God does provide and that things will work out. My husband's request for student loan payment deferment was approved until July. That provides a bit more breathing room ($150/month).

I have to remind myself of this verse:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

Friday, January 9, 2009

Happy Sabbath, all. :)

Hubby and I are headed to church shortly. We've been meeting at someone's house for the past couple months. The couple who is hosting the service needs to attend regular services on Sabbath mornings. Thus, our study was moved to Friday nights.

Tonight we'll be studying the plagues of Egypt and how God brought the Israelites out of slavery. If we have time, we'll also be talking about the passover and its symbolism.

How fitting, then, that the encouraging word on KLove is this:

"But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Romans 5:8 NLT

My God is an awesome God.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A not so traditional homemaker

I am on hiatus from full time homemaking this week. Oh, I've been keeping up with the basics, ensuring we have clean clothes and food to eat. But that's it. Our house is still really messy in that you can tell we came back from vacation and left everything where it fell.

My husband was laid off from his job two weeks before Christmas. Actually, it was on a Friday afternoon, two hours after I purchased my plane ticket to Wyoming. Ouch. While I felt incredibly guilty going out of town right after he was laid off, Jeff told me to go.

Now that we're home from visiting Michigan (tickets purchased last May, thankfully), we're job searching. I've spent a lot of my time helping hubby with his cover letters, resume, and job searching. He does all the local job searching and I look out of state. It's been slow going. I can't tell if people aren't quick to respond because they haven't mentally returned from Christmas/New Years vacation or if it's a sign of the economy.

Maybe my work as hubby's "job searching assistant" still counts as homemaking, just not in the traditional sense of the word.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Today has been a fairly productive day. I've completed three loads of laundry and have one more in the dryer. I've applied for a couple freelance jobs. I caught up on all the dishes and put away most of the stuff that was on the table. And now I have bread dough rising!

I'm probably about half done getting the apartment back into pre-vacation shape. I still need to scrub both bathrooms, sweep the kitchen, and finish picking up our computer and living room areas. I can't wait to have the apartment looking nice again. It was really clean and tidy before I left for Wyoming.

The diet/fitness goals are going as well as they can, considering it's only the 6th of January. I've exercised every day except Sabbath (my one day off). I've also entered all of my food into nutridiary so I can analyze my calories. So far so good! I hope the scale will be friendly on Sunday and reflect some of the positive changes made this week.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Goals: Physical

I'm going to spend the next day or so thinking about and writing out my 2009 goals. I love new years resolutions. I love reflecting on last year's goals and seeing how I can improve this year.

Last year's diet/fitness goals:
• Exercise regularly. Find a form of exercise that I enjoy and stick with it long enough to reap the benefits.
• Eat a balanced diet. My diet this past year has gone from one extreme to the other. I need to find a balance and stick with it.
• Train for and run a 5k. I’ve been saying this for over a year now. This year, I’m actually going to do it.

How'd I do? Well... I was better at exercising regularly. I trained for and ran/walked three 5k's. I still haven't run the entire distance, but I ran about 2.5 miles of my last one (Thanksgiving day). Balanced diet? HA! I still fluctuate from one extreme to the other. Raw vegan for awhile, vegan for awhile, vegetarian for awhile... the only part that's healthy is the raw vegan, as I can still eat pretty unhealthy on a vegan or vegetarian diet.

This year's diet/fitness goals:
• Exercise at least 5 days a week.
• Eat a low fat, vegan diet. Achieve 80/10/10.
• Finish training for a 5k and run the entire distance. Increase race distance to 10k by the end of 2009.
• Drink my daily requirements of water!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Breadmaking!

My hubby is so sweet. :) I decided that we should bake two loaves of bread. Unfortunately, I haven't quite gotten the hang of kneading dough and I can only do one loaf a day with my present arm strength. Hubby mixed up the other loaf of dough and kneaded it for me. I am so lucky to have him!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!