North Carolina Residents :)

Well, it has been exactly one week since we arrived in NC with the last of our belongings. We said good-bye to Florida as we made the long drive up I-95, stopping at rest areas along the way to capture some video of our trip (hope to be edited soon!). I'm happy to say that the majority of our stuff is organized into some designated area here at my parents' house and we've had quite a productive first week!

On July 4th we attended my family's church where we were greeted with warm smiles and welcomed into the area. We spent the evening watching fireworks at the town next to ours and were able to enjoy a day at Tweetsie Railroad on Monday. We went as a family since my dad was off of work and my youngest sister had a friend with her. I had not been to Tweetsie in over 10 years and it was quite the treat. Matthew and I marveled at how peaceful and relaxing the park was compared to a busy Disney World. We decided we'll certainly take our own children back there one day so they can experience the train adventure and the beautiful mountains (ah, mountains make my heart sing!). We thought our niece and nephews would love the place as well. Following Tweetsie, we drove down the road to Blowing Rock and paid the small fee to see the sight, an Indian legend. After taking pictures and eating some much needed ice cream, we loaded up the cars to make the 3 hour drive back home.

In the meantime, I have applied to approximately 5 more jobs and was called for an interview on Thursday! My sweet husband drove the hour long commute to drop me off and picked me up after with a pretty bouquet of flowers. I love his thoughtfulness :) Overall the interview went well and I will find out the decision sometime next week. I'm hoping to get the rest of my paperwork in Monday/Tuesday and will continue the waiting period from there. We've been praying and listening during this time of waiting and Matt & I know God will certainly take care of us and show us the right way. Aside from my job hunting adventures, Matthew hopes to be in the office of a production studio helping out in the next week or two. He received an e-mail about coming in to assist with editing and we pray that will lead to something great!

We had lunch with friends, the Elias, in Durham on Thursday and loved the time we were able to spend visiting and chatting with them at a great place called Parker & Otis. Tonight we are going out for pizza in downtown Raleigh as we are now a part of a pizza club (woohoo!). Friends of ours, a couple we did video work for in their wedding down in Florida, has moved to the local area here and invited us to join. They are heading it up and were a part of a pizza club in Orlando in the past. We get to eat pizza at popular places once a month as we search for the best. We're excited to be with old friends and meet new ones, as well as get some good food!

We'll be leaving Borders soon to head out for dinner. Internet at the house is sadly very slow... so venturing out for internet will be quite frequent for us. Thankfully the library in the town over from ours is very nice and has great internet service. We just happen to be at Borders (a favorite of mine) in Wake Forest because we shopped around the Raleigh Flea Market today. It's tempting to buy all the wonderful things I see, but I am reminded that we don't have a place of our own yet, and we don't know what our next place will look like. We will have to share our interesting finds in another post though!

I'll close with a picture of us on top of Blowing Rock. Look at those mountains!

Job Searching

"Do you have a job lined up for when you move?" is a question both of us get asked at least once a week since we announced our decision to move to North Carolina a while ago. We understand we aren't exactly doing things in the "normal" order - like not having a job before we move to an entirely different state and leave our other jobs behind (scary, I know!). We do know that this is what God has planned for us, meaning He will most certainly provide as He always has. God is the source of the comfort and peace we feel about making such a big decision - although I'll be honest and say that there have been times here and there when I have a moment of brief panic about not being able to support ourselves! Thankfully my thoughts are redirected by Matthew's solid thinking or through scripture.

Philippians 4:11-13

¹¹ Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. ¹³ For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Ah, see? We'll be taken care of :) I put this verse in a frame when we were first married and it's one we have both come to memorize upon seeing it on a daily basis. And along the lines of being taken care of, Matt established contact with a video production company this past week when we were in NC. He met the owner and left feeling quite good about the connection. This company has seen his work on his website and would like to use Matt to edit some projects beginning as soon as we move - starting off on a volunteer basis like most free lancers do to get established. Once he's shown them what he's capable of, they can hopefully use him regularly and pay too. Yay! Aside from that, we're working on marketing TaflanPictures for wedding videography in the local Raleigh/Greensboro area.

Where do I stand in the job search? Well, I sent out 10 applications to Wake County yesterday. It's a bit far from where we're staying, but that'll be fine if I get hired! These 10 were in addition to about 8 I've sent out to other counties. My NC teaching license is now official so that will definitely help the process. Time to wait and see...

Keep us in your prayers as we continue searching for work and listen for God's voice through it all.

Gentle Rain and an Oil Lamp

It's Sunday evening and my husband and I are sitting in the tiny room of our apartment that we like to call the nook. It barely fits the table and chairs for four, but we love the two large windows and the storage closet :) It's where I set up my sewing machine and where I sometimes bring my computer to accomplish things when I get distracted in our office. Tonight a light rain falls outside the open windows and my husband has lit the oil lamp I bought him for Valentine's Day (see photo below of how I modified it). He and I need to take more moments like this to enjoy the simplicity of our little home. If only the weather would stay this cool when it rains... we do not look forward to the humid afternoon short Florida storms that leave steam rising off the streets in a matter of minutes. For now, we'll enjoy the weather as it is.

I added artificial red flowers with stems to the base, along with valentine stickers that can be read when the lamp is lifted, to give the red tint and filled with oil. The flowers in the chimney were just for show of course.

Spring break has come and gone. Even though it was only two short weeks back, after going back to teaching this past week I feel as though break was eons ago. I can't believe there are only 8 weeks left of my first year of teaching! To make the most of my break, I created a long to-do list of all I wanted to accomplish before the week was over. This included groceries, shopping for items for my classroom (this happens most constantly), finishing plans and paperwork for when I returned to school, sewing anything just to satisfy my desire to do so, reading up on blogs, packing for our brief trip to NC, among other things. I'd like to share some of my spring break efforts.

*Easter started my break. Matthew and I were invited to have an Easter lunch with a couple at our church and their family on Saturday. We really enjoyed ourselves as we played Bocci in the yard, conversed with church family, and ate yummy food. The next morning we went to church for the Easter service and headed over to the beach for some fishing. We certainly did our share of fishing... only without the fish. What we did catch was too small. We saw more wildlife that day than we had in a long while. We love going to Canaveral National Seashore because of the privacy of the beaches and untouched nature. We saw raccoons on the bank searching for clams, many many porpoises (it was unreal how many we saw that day - usually it's countless manatees), and horseshoe crabs that swam quite close to me.

Outside our apartment Easter morning. Notice our apartment number is on the ground. Guess the painters didn't feel like replacing it when they finished their job.

Taking a break from fishing to move to another location in hopes of more fish. No such luck.

*Before we left for NC, I tried my hand at sewing again. When you don't really have anyone to show you how or what to do, you spend a long time looking at photos online or reading pattern after pattern - at least I do. I thought I'd be basic and sew a simple skirt, and by simple I mean no zippers or buttons, just some handy dandy elastic. Using some fabric I had lying around, I set to work and the skirt turned out alright. It's a bit big, but I wore it to school this past Monday. I began working on another one and need to finish the hem and waist. The Wal-mart closest to us hasn't remodeled yet like the others meaning fabric is still there! For a little over $5 and some time, I can have myself a new skirt. I don't wear shorts much when it's warm, so skirts and sundresses are my favorites. Having more skirts for school is always a bonus! Here's a photo of the navy skirt I finished, the almost finished skirt, and then some fabric I haven't yet touched. I'll have to think of something crafty to do with the scraps.

I hope to be able to whip these skirts up in an hour or less one day. I do love the idea of making my own skirts for $5.

*I have also been working on a crocheted fabric rug. I was browsing Wal-mart's fabric section over the break and came across these rolls of fabric called Stripz. I had always wanted to buy some, but couldn't decide if spending the $20 would be worth it. To my surprise, they were marked down to just $9! There happened to be a print I fell in love with so I snatched it up and headed home. I had a vision of this pretty crocheted rug in my future laundry room. Right now our "laundry room" is more like a closet so the rug won't work in there. I began working on the project and love it. I sewed the strips end to end and used two rolls. I believe I'm going to go back and crochet some rounds of darker green fabric to finish it off. I bought 3 rolls, and am saving the last roll of my stripz for some sort of matching curtain? when we have a laundry room. Maybe I'm thinking too far ahead, but what wife wouldn't want something pretty to look at while doing the chore of laundry?

I finished my second roll of fabric and am now on the hunt for a darker green to finish it off. Such a simple project!

*In North Carolina we had a relaxing time. Sadly, my youngest sister and mom were away on a trip to Europe with my sister's school. Ok, sad for us, but definitely not sad for them! We really missed seeing them though. We did enjoy visiting my other sister at UNC Chapel Hill for a day and hanging out with my dad around the house. Matthew and I visited my grandma and cousins in Virginia, and played in the tall wildflowers at my papa's house. We were sure to stop by Missy's Grill, the local hotdog place, to get our fill of the delicious hotdogs. The 10 hour drive was worth it as always, and we look forward to the day we are there for good!

Outside of Missy's Grill. Hotdogs with ketchup and slaw... yum, yum.

With the sis at UNC. Can't wait to see her more!

Wildflowers a.k.a. weeds. I tell my husband that I've always wanted to wear a white sundress with a straw hat, and have my photo taken in a field of all sorts of wildflowers. This is the closest I've come, lol.

That about sums up my break. It's dark out now and my mind is slowly switching into school mode as I think about what I need to gather for tomorrow. We've planted lima bean plants this week and our caterpillars arrived as well! Much excitement in the classroom as always :)