What's been going on...

It's been awhile since I last wrote.  Life is good but it continues to be a roller coaster as well.  As we navigate Bryan's first quarter of school, we are constantly faced with how to prioritize, with a lack of family time and stress.  His classes are going well but they are really intense.  He is taking Spiritual Formation, Hermeneutics and Hebrew.  The first two are reading intensive but (thankfully) do not involve any really long research papers.  Hebrew, however, is the cause of much stress.  This is the 3rd week of class and he has 700 phrases to know plus a lot of other stuff.  It is taught via audio and picture lessons........and it is insane!!  It seems as though he could spend all day everyday just studying Hebrew and still not know everything.....but obviously he cannot do that anyway.  We are just trying to find the balance of how much studying he should do, when and where he should study, when we should have "mandatory" family time, etc.

I continue to look for a job without much success.  I have applied for several different positions in a variety of fields that I feel that I am qualified......and so far have not heard anything back besides rejections.  I did work 2 (10 hr) days for the temp agency this week so that was nice to have a little bit of cash inflow.  The really hard part about temping is that you have very little heads up and it's very inconsistent.  This then throws in a little more craziness for us to deal with as we then have to switch plans around so that Taylor goes to a sitter while Bryan is at class, Noah stays longer at school (he is not a child that deals well with change in case you have not gathered that by now) and Bryan tries to study with the children around (yeah right!).  Noah's behavior has steadily been getting worse again and I really believe that it's in part due to everything being so inconsistent right now.  I do feel that I learned a lot after going through the September School craziness so I am using some tools and suggestions to help keep emotions under control.....and I do think that Bryan and I have been doing an amazing job of keeping open and healthy communication through all of this stress.  I am looking forward to some sort of normalcy falling upon our family at some point in this process.

On a lighter note, I did get away for 2 great breaks last week.  On Tuesday, I went to get a haircut at a great salon named juut salonspa (www.juut.com).  My friend Nikki recommended it and I am so glad she did.  It was in uptown Minneapolis so it was a bit of an adventure getting there but with the Garmin, I can get anywhere!.  When I arrived, everyone was very friendly and I was given a rather thick book written by the owner as a gift.  I was then offered hot tea and asked if they could take my jacket.  I started to look at the book.  Turns out the owner had a life-changing epiphany some years  back when he actually saved a suicidal woman's life one day just by fixing her hair and just having a nice convesation with her.   He didn't know of her plans when he was fixing her hair but later she told him that she'd planned to kill herself that night and that his kindness had changed her mind.  It was at that point he started being a "daymaker."  As a result, each person in his salon is a daymaker also.  He screens the stylists carefully and they all work hard to be sure that your day is made while you are under their care!  My stylist, Maria, was really wonderful.   The cut starts with a scalp, neck and shoulder massage, then you get to lie down on a massage-like table while they wash and massage your scalp.  (ahhhhhhh)  Maria did a great job and we had great conversation too.  It turned out she is a strong Christian and had a pretty amazing story that she told me after she learned I was a seminary wife.  While the Master Stylists at juut charge $90 for a haircut, the stylists in training only charge $25!  The cool thing is that the Master Stylists are right there and check on each step of the cut.  Maria had actually been a stylist at other salons for awhile but she was going through her juut training.  Anyway, it was a well needed break and I am definitely looking forward to my next haircut!

On Saturday, my new friend and neighbor down the hall, Rebecca, and I went on our first "girl outing."  I even called her before-hand to say "I'm dressing up and Bryan's taking our picture for our blogs so you might want to dress up too!!"  We felt kind of like we were on a date but hey, who knows when we'll get another chance to get away?  We wandered around the Mall of America for awhile and then headed to the local (awesome) thrift store "Unique" where the prices were more in our range.  What is the price range of an unemployed person, you ask?  Well......low! 

As you have probably heard, we've had two snows here in the twin cities in the last week.  One a light dusting and the other was about 2 1/2 inches but melted almost completely by the end of the day.  Although is was shockingly early to see snow, I have to say that it was very beautiful to see snow on the autumn leaves.  I heard on the news that this was the earliest snow in 20 years!!  I'm not sure what that means for our winter?!?

I better wrap it up here.  To conclude, things are pretty good but also stressful.  We all wish we could see Bryan more and I am sure he wishes he could see us too.  We would appreciate prayers for my job search and for our family as we manage this crazy schedule and try to maintain some sort of routine.  No one said this was going to be easy (as a matter of fact, they all said the opposite) so it's not that we are surprised.  It's just one thing to know it WILL be hard and another to being LIVING through it.  We're gonna make it though and we still thank God everyday (well almost.....hehe) for putting us on this path...

Taylor-Mommy date at a McDs playland in Minneapolis

This McDs is old school on the outside

Autumn leaves

more Autumn leaves

Me and the kids watched the MU v NE game upstairs

at a Husker's apt (Bry had class) so I made these brownie cupcakes...

they didn't help obviously!

 

First snow!  Taylor loves to eat it nonstop!

Not enough to sled in so they just rolled!

Noah was so excited that he made a snow angel even

though it was just a dusting.  : )

Rebecca and I on our "date"

Snow # 2

A snowy bench down by the lake behind our apts.