sweet victory

Trader Joe's had a cereal for a while that was lovely. It was called Trader Joe's chocolatey filled, whole grain cereal squares and it was wonderful.....until they discontinued it. Sad day. Well, today I went treasure hunting at Goodwill with my sister in law, Ellen, and we found many treasuer for $1.50 - good day. Then we stopped at Aldi. I was overjoyed to discover that Aldi now carries an even cheaper version of this fabulous cereal!!! Happy day! And it is delicious! Yay for Aldi! You have won my heart yet again.

Job search

I (Tim) am in the midst of searching for a job. It's not an enjoyable process and it is certainly a slow one. Most days I spend a couple hours searching job sites and applying for the jobs that look interesting. I am amazed by how everything happens through the internet now and how you do not interact with human beings until the interview stage (which is usually preceded by a phone interview) of the hiring process. There are several kinds of jobs that I would enjoy. Any kind of parachurch ministry would be great. Heidi and I love our church and are not interested in a church job since it would take us away from there. I am also looking at social service jobs and HR, mostly in staff recruiting. There have been some great leads but no interviews yet. The rejection letters and emails get a little discouraging but I am in a good place of trust.

In the last couple months I read the first five books of the Bible in my personal devotion time. In this time of transition I feel like the Israelites after they escaped from Egypt. Their job was to trust God and worship Him. He pretty much took care of the rest. He gave them food, directions, and gave them a tangible means to know He did not leave them. All they had to do was look and see the pillar of fire or smoke and know that God was watching out for them. Yet still, they rejected Him. I feel like my task now is to keep looking for a job and to trust God to take care of us. So far I have not made any golden calves or prostituted myself to Baal, so that's good. Heidi and I do appreciate your prayers in this. I'll keep the Blog updated when there is any movement in the job front.

Duplex

Please pray that Tim and I would have wisdom to know what do with our duplex. We really need renters for the upstairs and we're praying about whether to open it up to Section 8 again. We have had some bad experiences with Section 8 over the years, and were hoping not to have to "partner" with the state of MN again.

There hasn't been much interest in that unit this past month so we have dropped the price a couple times already. We are considering moving back into the duplex (again), but until we have some income coming in, we'd prefer not to. Please pray that we would hear the voice of God, that the perfect renters come along and that our management company would be blessed with the wisdom of God as well.

Thanks!

double coupon day?!?!?!

I thought that double coupon days were a thing of the past, like Tab and Deloreans, but I was wrong. I am ALWAYS looking for a new edge at savng money and much to my joy, double coupon days are alive and well at Rainbow Foods around the metro area! Hip, hip, hooray for hump day! I saved a bunch of money and then hit up the Rogers farmer's market for some sweet deals on fresh veggies, yum-o. Couple that with Goodwill and Aldi and I am a money-saving machine. It really gives me a thrill, in case you can't tell... :P

On another note, I have been exerting a half-hearted effort at losing the rest of my baby weight. Some days I try...and others I don't. It's not a method I recommend! It's working, but VERY slowly. Anyway, today I was really trying and was doing a great job....until....Tim. We were at the farmer's market, I was looking at some tasty squash, and I turned to Tim, only he wasn't there anymore. So start to look around for him only to discover he has somehow made it aaaaalllllll the way down to the other side of the lot near the, go figure, ice cream truck. Hmph. This does not bode well for my diet, I think to myself. As I walk down there, I see the ice cream man handing Tim spoon after spoon of samples. This story ends with us sharing a small cup of delicious maple lusciousness, so I will spare you the details. I did, however, eat lots and lots of veggies today :)

A Jackson Update

For all of Jackson's fans, here a few cute ones!

At Panera

In the sweet chair my mama scored for me at the thrift store.

With my first girlfriend, Miss Ivy. She's reeeeaaaal cute.

My early morning survey of the estate with my nana.

Rice cereal for the first time!! (this one is a few months old already)