Some updating..

I did not realize it had been such a long time since the last post. A lot has happened during that time. To start off, I quit my job and now have a new job, Joel turned another year older, Joel left to go to Yuma, Arizona for two months, I was able to go with most of my family to Las Vegas to watch my cousin, Erin, get married and my parents came to visit and spend time with me during my mom's spring break.

After lots of prayer and God giving me the strength to trun in my two weeks notice, I decided to quit my previous job. Although I was worried about going insane from having nothing to do during the day or being able to find a new job, I was happier and more of myself than I had been in a while. A week after my last day, I turned in my application to the Child Development Center on New River (which is the same base where Joel works) and not long after I got a call to come for an interview. The interview was long and they asked me what seemed like every question possible for working with and teaching children. Then to my surprise a day and a half later they called offering me the job. I am so excited about this job and thank God for answering my prayers!

Joel had a great birthday weekend! To start off the weekend, Mr. Warren drove up to surprise Joel for his birthday and spend the weekend with us. Saturday, I woke up early to go for a job interview and while I was gone Joel and Mr. Warren played a round of golf. Once we all were back home, Joel opened all of his presents and cards and we enjoyed eating his cookie cake. Overall, Joel had somewhat of a relaxing birthday weekend and that was exactly how he wanted it.

About a week after Joel's birthday, we found out that Joel definitely had to go to Yuma, Arizona for two months and this was not what either of us were hoping to hear. When the day came for him to leave, I took him to the airport and we said our good-byes. As I am holding back the tears driving home, Joel sends me a text message to come back and get him. I thought he was playing a horrible joke on me and continued driving home until I knew he was being serious. Well, it was not a joke. His flight was cancelled and we were so happy to spend another day together. Then the next morning we wake up at 4 a.m., drive to the airport and once again his flight was cancelled. They assign him another flight for later that day and believe it or not it was cancelled as well. We were both starting to get our hopes up and think he was not going to leave after all, but the fourth time was a charm and instead of leaving March 1st he left on March 3rd. Troy, Taz, and I are all ready for him to be back home and I am happy he is almost half way through with what he is having to do while he is there.


The weekend after Joel left for Arizona, I made a last minute decision and went with most of my mom's side of the family to Las Vegas to watch Erin and Ron get married. It was a quick trip, but we had a lot of fun and were able to do a lot in a just a weekend. The day we arrived, my parents, Uncle David and I checked into the hotel and then met up with Larry and Shelia to eat lunch and explore Vegas. Although at times my mom and I had to pry my dad off the slot machines, we all got lots of laughs and I was happy that I was able to go shopping with my mom again during our spare time. Erin was an absolute beautiful bride and I really enjoyed being able to spend time with my mom and dad and my family that was able to come!


Last but not least, last week my parents were able to come and spend the whole week with me. The first day they were here my mom and I went shopping in Wilmington for my dad's birthday and after we found everything we thought he would like did a little extra shopping we ate dinner and headed back to Jacksonville. The next day was my dad's birthday and since it was rainy we spent most of the day at home, but bought him an ice cream cake and took him out for dinner at Red Lobster that night. The next few days it continued to rain so we rented some movies and I enjoyed being able to relax and hang out with them. When the rain finally stopped, we decided to take on what I thought was going to be a small project, but turned out to be harder work than I thought it would be. Although my dad did most of the work, my mom and I helped as much as we could. We cleaned up the flower bed area in front of our house and pulled out all of the weeds, cleaned up the area around all of the bushes, poured mulch over the areas we cleared out and planted some flowers. Our front yard looks so much better now! Toward the end of the week, we made another trip to Wilmington to go to a few places we wanted to go the first time, but ran out of time. Again I was really happy that my mom and I could go shopping together just like we did all the time before I moved to North Carolina. The last day they were here, I had asked my dad to help me make sure I knew how to cut our grass with a push mower since I had never used one before and since Joel is gone I am the lucky one that has to do it. To my surprise, it was not as hard as I thought it would be and after my mom and dad gave me some tips the grass was cut in no time. The time they were here seemed to fly by, but I really enjoyed spending time with them and were glad they both had vacation so they could come.