and so the packing commences... we close May 28th, my contract is up May 31, and we move in the weekend of June 6-8, with the wedding of one of my friends (and cousin!), Kara, on the 7.

Busy next few weeks preparing to have more 'major life changes.' I think they called it 'eustress' in 11th grade health class.

Congratulations to my friends who graduated this past weekend!

Congratulations to Lou, on the birth of her son, Gabriel.

Congratulations to Rachel, on the birth of her daughter, Micaela.

Congratulations to Danielle, on the birth of her daughter, Isabel.

Soon, I will be an aunt again... any day baby #3, Chuckers, will be born. Pray he has no food allergies and that the delivery will go well. Poor C. and S. will have some major adjustments coming - especially S.

Fjord is stalking around the apartment - I think he enjoys having boxes and piles of laundry out to hide/jump/play/sleep in.

mmm also made this delicious orange chicken recipe - I'll try to post it soon, but I'm off to do some pack/sorting before bed.

- M

Let's try this Again...

So I am now job hunting due to the necessity of my contract ending in May. Initially I was told that my contract would be renewed, no changes, no problem. So Spencer and I proceeded to continue on the mortgage application (more on houses later). About 3 weeks later, I found out that I would have to take a $100 pay cut per week if I wanted to stay on. Well, financially I couldn't do that, so I was honest and said I couldn't do that. Basically I was told that I needed to find another job. So I applied to work through a nannying agency. Found out yesterday that I got an interview with the agency (after having my application less than 24 hours!) so things were looking up. Then, today my boss informed me that they were turning down one daycare option, and that they hadn't heard from the other option they wanted. So now I feel slightly guilted into staying with my current family because I don't want to leave them in the lurch. However, I also have this new opportunity (assuming my personal interview goes well) to get matched with families that pay 50-100% more than what I make now. If i get one of those jobs, all our school loans and car payment would be paid off in 1.5 years. That seems amazing to me. I'm torn because I know that it is better for my little baby if I stay with him since the first 2 years is when he establishes trust. But, I would potentially be with a new family until we decide to start a family some years from now (I'm looking at an infant job). Also, I think that the mom is a little jealous that her son is so close to me - but I spend substantially more time with him than she does. Yesterday when she got home from work, Baby couldn't have cared less. He waved "bye bye" to her.

Opinions are welcome as are prayers.

Now onto the house!

We are going house hunting with a fantastic realtor in two weeks. We were told not to even look at houses or anything due to the stress buying a house can induce. However, I have to research EVERYTHING and every little aspect of everything, so I of course had to look at houses. We found one that was absolutely PERFECT - beautiful kitchen, 1.5 mi. from S. work, 4 bed, 2 bath, attached garage (2 spots) and rehabbed inside and out. Not to mention across the street from a small lake, and .5 acres of land in the back. Our realtor tried to schedule a showing for today, but the house had sold after being on the market for less than 3 days. As I said, it was perfect. So now, we leave things up to the realtor and up to God.

I'll try to post more updates on our lives...