It's almost here.

Before you get married, most couples go through premarital counseling of some sort. One of the purposes of the counseling is to eliminate false expectations of certain situations (i.e. how much money to spend of gifts, who will take care of the finances, which family you will spend the holidays with, etc.) I found this part particularly helpful, but here's one thing that should have been added onto the false expectations list. How to Move. Seriously. We have had more disagreements about this silly moving process, than anything else lately. How are we going to move? Will we use a moving van or just make several trips back and forth? (heck no!) Where do we get the boxes from? Do we purchase them or pick through the boxes behind the grocery stores and restaurants? (Ugh) What boxes should we use to pack (fill in the blank)? How heavy should the boxes be? (don't even ask me to help if they weigh more than 50 lbs) Who is packing what articles? Does this really need to packed into a box? (of course it does) Do we really need to pack the clothes in the dresser drawers? (yes, of course). Wait, don't pack those blankets, I need them to pack the glass tabletop!

This is how it has been. And now I am a firm believer that the next person that writes a premarital counseling curriculum should have a section about moving in there.

But the good news is that we are almost done packing.

Over the last couple of days, I've been too preoccupied to cook anything. So our diet has consisted of Hot Pockets, leftover Christmas candy (somehow we ended up with a lot of chocolate this year...not that I'm complaining), and quesadillas, and sandwiches. Last night I was so hungry, I finally gave in and made spaghetti (from a jar of course).

Yesterday our internet/phone service provider got confused and shut off our account, instead of waiting until Monday like we had requested. Do you have any idea how much of a conflict that is right when you are about to move? It is for us anyway, because pretty much everything we do requires the internet. And despite of all that, I did not have a melt down yesterday. And that's quite the accomplishment for me. Ha ha.

Tomorrow we're dropping off our truck at the new house and picking up the Moving truck. The move is coming so fast.

Lessons Learned in 2007

Lessons Learned in 2007

about life:

• Forgiveness takes a lot of work
• consider the source of the criticism before you take it to heart
• God does not do things to us out of spite.
• Ultimately God's opinion of me matters far more than others.
• Move on from past hurts. Dwelling on them keeps you in the past and hinders growth.
• You can only spend so much time worrying about others before it leads to stress. Pray is far more effective.
• God's timing in perfect.
  

in marriage:

• admit when you are wrong
• an apology can go a long way towards a good relationship
  
• sometimes it doesn't matter who was right and who was wrong, the important thing is to move on.
• forgive your spouse
• when you keep God first in your relationship, everything else falls into place
• friendship and communication (and God of course) keep a relationship strong
• dedication to working through conflict only makes you stronger.
  

Some of these lessons I have learned, I am still in the process of putting them into practice.

Moving time is almost here. Close to half of the house is packed. We have a moving truck reserved, and this weekend starts the moving process. I am excited, nervous, anxious, and scared all at the same time. I can't believe how limited the time we have here is.

Consider the source.

I've been thinking about one issue in particular recently. In the past we have had some individuals make false accusations about Joel and I, but even if these accusations were true, it was not their place to address them. It was just none of their business. Some of them even had the audacity to sit us down and inform us of our "issues." After all of this arose, I became very paranoid. I was heart broken. I was depressed, and hurt. I was constantly crying over what others thought about Joel and I. I was in a constant state of worry. But recently I came the realization that these issues were not OUR issues, but THEIR issues. These were never issues we had, but issues they had. Their issues come to light more and more everyday. But instead they put their own problems on us. They made up issues that we never really had. They made an issue out of something that didn't exsist. And honestly those people that made these false accusations didn't know us as well as they thought they did, quite obviously. People can be so mean. But I have come to the conclusion that they're dumb. And I don't care what they think. I think that concerning this issue, I've learned to consider the source before you take what they have to say to heart. And that feels really good. Really good. And I feel so much better.

We had a good trip this weekend. Joel did lots of paperwork at the headquarters of his current job. I sat in coffee shops, drank coffee, read books, and went out to take pictures around town. Friday it started snowing, and therefore I lost interest in taking pictures. I took a couple, but at one point it started snowing heavily and I had no desire to stand around, shivering, trying to get a good shot. Joel also had an interview this weekend for a potential job and it went well. He has a follow-up interview soon. There's a good chance that he will get a job offer from this company. We'll see. We also looked at houses and houses and houses. We'll be renting a house for the first part of the year, improve our credit (which isn't terrible), and then buy a house in the fall sometime...hopefully. We found a house to rent and put in an application. So as long as we get approved, we should have a house. Things seem to be coming together for the move...which is in about 2 weeks. I haven't packed yet. yikes. I should do that. But I hate packing. I'd rather clean the house.

Almost time.

Next month we move. I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly. I have so many mixed emotions about this next step in our lives. On on hand, I am eager to live in a large city again, to have a mall and a walmart nearby, and to be a part of a church plant in its beginning stages. (Did I tell you guys about that? I can't remember. We will be helping out a church plant (which is a church just starting out)) But on the other hand, I am seriously going to miss things about this town. I will miss:

• my neighbors - spending time hanging out, talking on the phone, cooking steaks, watching movies, and playing music together.
  
• my piano students - I seriously love all of my students. They have taught me how to become a better teacher. It breaks my heart to not be able to finish what I have started with them. (Some of them actually plan on driving 2 hours to come and continue piano lessons)
• Zachary - the funniest teenager ever!
  
• many other people
  
• my cute little 100-year-old adobe house. It used to be a stage coach stop in the wild west days.
• the convenience of living being only 3 minutes away from the store, the post office, the bank, etc. And no stop lights. I hate stop lights.
  

but you know what I will NOT miss? I will not miss the rodent (rat/mouse?) that has been lurking inside my ceiling for the past couple of weeks. The exterminator came and put out poison to kill it last week...but it hasn't taken effect yet. A couple of nights ago I listened to it run around inside the ceiling and gnawing away at the house. I swear that thing was going to chew a hole through the ceiling into the house, and then jump into bed with us....I didn't get that much sleep that night.