10 Months!

I've never been one for month anniversaries. I've always thought they were kind of silly to be honest. Mostly because the very word describes a yearly remembrance. Wikipedia defines it as, "(from the Latin anniversarius, from the words for year and to turn, meaning returning yearly." 

From the first month Brian has at least acknowledged our month anniversaries. And even with all my skepticism, who could scorn that? I thought it was incredibly thoughtful until about 5 months ago when I found out that his twin sister texted him on the first of every month and wished him happy anniversary. Thanks Michelle ;)

But even on the months she doesn't text him, he still remembers and sometimes even does something a little special like picking up a bottle of wine on his way home. I know what some of you are thinking, "Newlyweds." And I'm sure it's true, but I'm still going to enjoy it. 

Tonight when I got home Brian kept commenting on how great my parsley looked. He's not the gardening type, so after a minute or two I poked my head outside and there were three friends for my parsley plant: Oregano, basil and chives. 

I'm headin' up to the Walmart first thing in the morning for potting soil. 

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day folks. I kicked off my national holiday at Target for new team member orientation. Brian took my picture this morning in my Target red shirt (Beside me is my new Parsley plant. Isn't it sweet?)

The HR rep that did my training was awesome. I could tell that she genuinely liked working at Target. And the typical cheesy training videos weren't that bad. I actually learned a lot. Target has a customer service motto of "Fast, Fun and Friendly." And as I walked through the store and met other team members I got the feeling that was really true of the culture of this particular store. 

After work we went to Vic and Sandy's to BBQ with the fam and our friend Alex came along. 

As we finished up burgers and brawts Brian read a excerpt about the history of Memorial Day. It was very appropriate and moving to stop in the midst of festivities and reflect on the reason for the holiday- the service men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy.

I'm back from my blog sabbatical

It's been a while, I know. And to be honest I feel a little sheepish writing after so long. So much has changed since I last wrote here. Let me try and sum up quickly:

January:
Brian was job searching and we were pretty sure he would get an engineering job before our lease ran out. At the end of January we put 95% of our possessions in storage (yes, I parted with my dishes and pots, and pans. It wasn't without tears) and we moved to the Springs to live with Brian's folks while we continued to job search.

February, March and April
We started February with a long awaited trip to Tennessee. For a week and a half Mom and I did the two things we do best: shop and eat. Meanwhile Brian dutifully job searched and met with contacts in town. After our trip South, we settled into Brian's parent's basement. Brian started working part-time at Aspen technologies and I suffered rejection at the hands of Eddie Bauer, Origins and WholeFoods. So in March I employed myself to read the entire Harry Potter series. I also tried to steward my time and few resources well by babysitting for busy moms I know and being useful around Brian's folks'. Brian had a lot of great interviews in March and in April we found out that while his interviewers agreed he was great, he was not chosen for those jobs. The end of April was a real low point for us. We never thought we would be in the Springs for three months and after so long we were back at square one.

Job searching is not something Brian does half-heartedly. It is a job in itself. It's a rare day when Brian doesn't put in a full eight hours either at Aspen or at Starbucks filling out job applications. Words cannot convey the admiration I have for how hard Brian has worked these past five months. So you can imagine how disheartening it was that this season of working in the waiting was not over.

May
In May we realized that our hopes of moving straight from Brian's parent's to our new place with a new job in a new city might not happen as quickly as we thought. And I (after having finished my Harry Potter stint a couple weeks prior) decided to job search again. I landed a job at Target and we then had the income to move out and get a place of our own here in the Springs (with no lease just in case we need to move quickly for a job for Brian).

So we are settled comfortably in our new apartment for the third day. Brian had a job interview in Denver on Friday. And I have my first day of orientation at Target tomorrow.

A lot of people are going through much harder things than we have these past five months. I'm under no illusion that being unemployed and temporarily displaced is the worst of fates. But compared to the rest of my fairly comfortable life, these have been trying months. I'm thankful that while circumstances have been unpredictable and nearly all things uncertain, that God has not left us comfortless. We have experienced the indwelling of His Spirit in greater measure, our sin has become more bitter, and Christ has become increasingly sweet.

If you asked me what it was like living with my in-laws, I would have to say it was like living with friends. I enjoyed Sandy's company immensely. I'm thankful for the friendship we cultivated in my time there. I would also have to say that living my in-laws has given me insight into all those little things that used to make me wonder "Where does Brian get that from!?" Now I know ;)

So now that life is a little more normal, I will probably update more often. I better go iron my khakis for tomorrow!

Love,
Ash

Help Wanted

Brian is reading Safely Home by Randy Alcorn. It's a fictional account of the persecuted church in China. I read it years ago and loved it. I suggested it to him and now I'm regretting that. He's so into it that he reads it every chance he gets. And that would be fine except I'm jealous because I don't have anything that gripping to read. 

I'm reading Grace-Based Parenting and Counterfeit Gods, but that's a disciplined sort of reading. I want a story. It could be fiction or creative non-fiction. Just something that will keep me as entertained as Brian is with his book. 

Please give me your suggestions!

You Can Homemake That?

I am so stuffed. Good Stuffed, not gross stuffed. This evening I made homemade cream of mushroom soup. I did not know you could make condensed soup from scratch until recently. I know it sounds very obvious that down the line it had to be "homemade" by someone, but it honestly never occurred to me. 

I used the cream of mushroom in a chicken, broccoli, and wild rice casserole and it made all the difference. You have have not had chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole until you have made it with homemade cream of mushroom.

I write this to urge you at least once just for fun when you have some time make your own cream of mushroom soup. It's so easy and so yummy that it will make you lick the serving spoon as you load it into the dishwasher.

Pass the Blog

Here are some things I read this week that I think are worth passing on:

My friend Lisa wrote a little blog about her bra. I  know some of you participated in the breast cancer awareness effort by posting the color of your underwear on facebook and I know others of you were completely outraged by the awareness effort. I'm not including Lisa's take on it to shame or validate anyone, so hear me on that. I think she makes some good points and she blogs so infrequently that I want to reward her when she does in hopes she'll blog more. Hear that Lis?

Tim Challies is one of my go-to daily blogs. From time to time he writes little e-books. And this one for men is particularly fabulous. This e-book Sexual Detox has two versions, one for married men and one for single men. It's probably the best resource for men about purity that I have ever read and I worked for a singles online magazine, so I've read plenty. But I'm also a woman, so what do I know?

Not only am I entertained by this lady, I'm also challenged by her love for Christ and her commitment to her family. Put her blog on your feed and you'll be the wiser for it.

This is for my writer friends and English geeks. You know who you are.

Read Proverbs

Brian loves Proverbs. Some stints of time he will read the "Proverb of the day" (there are 31 Proverbs, so you read the Proverb that goes with that day's date) and when he is feeling at a loss that's where he goes.

We met with our pastor a while back to see if he had any wisdom to offer us about the job search and planning our future. He told us to read Proverbs every day, and to trust God and a lot of other stuff that's not relevant to my post. So this year we committed to read Proverbs every day. 

We are a whopping 12 days into the New Year and I can already feel this book changing me. Isn't that how the Scriptures are supposed to affect us? Glory! I was walking around the city talking with a friend of mine this morning and the words coming out of my mouth sounded a lot like the words I have been reading in Proverbs. I haven't been memorizing them, just stopping from time to time to think about what I'm reading and Brian and I talk about them as well.  

If you haven't already committed to a Bible reading plan for the year, I would urge you to read the Proverb everyday. Read it, think about it, and apply it.