God's Plan

It seems like when life gets stressful I tend to stray from things such as this blog, but I'm back and I'm excited to share what has happened and how I can SEE God working in my life. In April I quit my job as a preschool teacher to be an Assistant Director at a tutoring place. The pay was great, the hours were nice, but the job was TERRIBLE. I tried to stick it out, but I just couldn't do it and be happy. I quit 3 months later and returned to the daycare that I used to work at. I didn't have a full time job secured, heck I didn't even have a part time job secured. I was subbing. A month later I run into a family who had taken the summer off and we chatted for a few minutes. I got hugs from all of the kids and we both went on our way. In a week I will be that families Nanny. There are so many places that I saw God working during these few months.

• I  learned that more money doesn't make things better and to judge future employers just as much as they are judging you. 
• I somehow worked a 40 hour week (sometimes more) every week once I got back to the daycare and never once held an actual position. I knew money would be tight taking such a HUGE pay cut, but God provided.
• If I wouldn't have left, came back, and stayed on the sub list I would have never been given the opportunity to Nanny. This to me feels like God's plan in action. 
• The same week that I was asked to Nanny I was also almost guaranteed a head teaching job at the daycare, I was torn, but I ended up not getting the teacher job. Pushing me to the right decision.

Swag Bucks

It's been a while since I've gotten around to posting, but I just HAD to share this one! I found this site through a group of girls on The Nest ( a chat board that I read regularly). I decided to check it out because they had spoke so highly of it. It is a site that has games, a search bar, videos, polls, surveys, and all kinds of other cool things. For each thing you use or do you collect 'swag bucks' Eventually you collect enough swag bucks to be able to cash them in for real prizes. I have my eye on the Amazon.com gift card and the Travelocity.com gift card. It's free to sign up, they don't ask for any more information than what it takes to create a Facebook page and it's rewarding! Pretty cool! You should check it out right here!

Work Out Videos

I'm always intrigued by work out videos at the store, but I never know which one to buy because some of them are too fast paced and I can't seem to keep up with them while others are just too intense for my out of shape self. I struck gold tonight. I was googling work out videos and found this site. It has a ton of videos to try everything from yoga to kickboxing. I did the kickboxing video tonight and while it sure did kick my butt I can definitely tell that if I keep it up I'll be in much better shape.

Kroger Card

I never grew up around a Kroger, but now I live near one and used to shop at it all the time. Steven has a Kroger card, so when I moved near one I started doing our grocery shopping there. Recently I have quit shopping there and moved to Walmart because during the holidays we received 10% off with our discount card. Today I stopped into Kroger on the way home from work. I forgot how  much I loved grocery shopping there. There are so many good deals and I love when you get your receipt and it shows you how much you have saved. Today it was nearly $18!

Relaxed Days at Work

I teach preschool and there are usually about 30 different things going on at once. There are always kids yelling, kids shoving, kids tackling each other, someone picking their nose, someone dumping out toys, and someone tattling at your side. On a typical day I have about 20 kids to try to keep control of and have a good educational time with. Today it was an icy mess on top of it being Presidents Day and I only had 8 kids. While there were still a lot of different things happening at once it was much more relaxed. I was able to spend more time just sitting and talking with the kids and spending quality time. We were able to work on one project or at one center together and then move on to something new. It was a welcome change of pace, especially for a Monday!

A Night Out

It isn't often that a group of friends are able to get together and go out. There is always something that gets in the way, but last night it just worked. We went out for my Brother-in-Law's birthday and it started off as just 4 of us and somehow grew to be about 8 of us. I love when things just work out like that. It's so much fun to spend the night with people that you really care about and with people who can make you laugh.

A Good Hair Cut

It's been a while since I've posted mainly because I've been through a rough patch and wanted to keep true to my 'joys' and not include any negative posts. As usual though whenever I go through something in life I feel for the need for change. This change usually comes about in the form of a hair cut. Today I cut my hair and I love it. It feels so much lighter and looks like it has so much more life! I never go in with a style in mind and typically it comes out alright, but today it came out absolutely great!