My new life: April 2009

Oh...what can happen in 6 months time....

1) Went from only had best friends in other states to having one just a couple blocks away

2) Learned a significant amount of French

3) One of my best friends from High School moved halfway down the country...with his girlfriend, got engaged, moments later his cell phone died due to drowning in the Atlantic, bought a house, lost a job, got a job. Whoa.

4) Seen way too many marriages of people our age go bust.

5) Jon finished seminary, candidated, got hired, we moved, he quit 2 jobs, I quit 1, he started 1 new job.

6) Over 25 sermons.

5) Met two of my closest girlfriends at Gordon..ok so that was about 2 days, but we became very close within 6 months.

6) Got engaged. Got married.

7) Couldn't tell I was pregnant. No WAY I wasn't pregnant by the looks of me.

8) Baby born. Joseph. His being, personality, he laughs, giggles, cries, smiles, almost sitting on his own, eating from a spoon, sipping (sorta) from a cup, rolling over by himself, on and on...

9) From now until Joseph's 1st birthday. He'll be eating food...like the kind we eat...on his own, crawling, probably walking which I'm sure will mean running, eating birthday cake, on and on...

We had yet another period of freaking out over lack of money. I have this feeling of not wanting much, just be able to pay our bills, food, diapers, gas, and maybe a little extra. I wish we could put away to savings, but even just an occasional pizza or paint for these projects I've been wanting to do for months. We'll get to that point, I know. I have to have patience and I'm naturally patient, so having to try to be more patient is sometimes hard for me. Despite this I know I need to focus on the things that I can get down on my knees and thank God for. In this last time of freaking out over money these things happened within days of each other, all within the last 10 days or so.

A parishioner of the church called and asked if Jon would help her clean out an apartment she rents out: $30/hr. (probably around $200 total)

Jon's car needed to get a lot of work done in order to pass inspection the end of March, I thought it was going to be around $350, first quote was $1,300, went down to $1,248. Literally on the way to pick up the car, Jon got a call from a Minister's Council organization in MA that Jon had been playing phone tag with. He said he could send us $1,000! (note the combination of the last two minus the total car bill = $48 out of our "pocket")

We were sweating doing our taxes. Last year Jon had 3 jobs, one of which was the church which his paycheck doesn't take out taxes. I LOATHE doing taxes. Jon asked a lawyer who does taxes in the church what he would charge to do them for us "I'll do yours for free". He called one night and gave us an estimate of what we would owe. It was a little under what we had saved away. YEAH! The next day he called and said "I found you another $600 last night." Can you say "Hallelujah"?

A friend of ours does a story "hour" (it's 30 min) for 0-2yrs. at the library two times a week and is thinking of cutting back or retiring from it next fall and asked if I might be interested. When I left my job on the North Shore (working for a PT) my boss said "If you need a reference for a health office, just let me know. I'll sing your praises!" I told him I was actually thinking the next job I would try to pursue would be at a library. I truly LOVED every job I did working at good old Jenks (Gordon's Library). This would be not lots of hours, but a little money and Joseph could be with me. Our friend brings her 2 year old and has been doing this for over 10 years. How great is that?!?

Bills still suck, but...

..the Red Sox are opening during Holy Week. My mom is coming up this weekend. My husband is such a wonderful man who is patient, understanding and loves me no matter what, not to mention our beautiful little boy. Seriously, what is more important? Stupid question I know and for all of you that know me well know that for me it's even more ridiculous a question to ask.

So, here are a few pics of the things that matter most to me.