Its been awhile!

It has been a long time since I have attempted a blog post. We do not have internet at the parsonage and to get internet we have to drive 25 min into town and then find a place and then more than likely buy something to use internet or pay for the service. So, that is the reason for the silence.

I love the parsonage! If you had told me that I would like living in a parsonage, I would have thought you were out of your mind. We live in the nicest home we have ever lived in since we were married! Our dogs like it too!

School starts on Monday. I am still trying to figure out where my summer went! Oh well!

Lizards, Deer, and Bears, Oh My!

Wow! Its been a really really long time since I posted. There has been so much going on that has made posting difficult. We are now living at the parsonage and I really enjoy the peace and quiet. Living out so far, we do not have internet, cell phone service, or cable. So, posting is a bit more difficult. Clayton starts at the St. James on the 5th and we are having a semi open house, cookout after service at out new place! One the way home Saturday and sitting in the middle of the road was a Black Bear! I have never seen a bear that close before. I seem to be geting closer to nature. Our first day at the new place we saw two snakes and on Friday Clayton and his parents saw a brand new baby deer! I was so jealous! They were close enough to touch it!
Currently, I am teaching summer school, but I am looking forward to a trip to D.C. with one of my friends from Vegas at the end of the month. It will be good to see Krista again.
Tomorrow I get to go see the newest edition to the Marston Family. I cant wait to hold a new baby! :)

Movin' On Up

Today Clayton and I went up to the parsonage at Beulah. I cant quite bring myself to call it our place yet. Maybe I will be there when I our stuff is in the house. We are not supposed to be the ones cleaning the house but the man who is the caretaker has family in the hospital. Since we have to be out of the our place by the 15th we need to get the stuff packed at the parsonage. move in! We spent the afternoon cleaning the kitchen, the fridge, and the downstairs bathroom. I hope to get things clean before we While I was cleaning, I couldnt help crying. God has blessed us so richly with this place! I am in amazement of how he takes care of us! The house is wonderful and so large!

Keys to the Kingdom

We got the keys to the parsonage yesterday and it feels like we were given the "keys to the kingdom." We are really excited. As I have said before, we have never lived somewhere so big! Clayton and I took some boxes of books up there this afternoon. I had so much fun going from room to room turning on lights, opening closet doors, and simply looking at the place. Every time we have been up there we have been in a hurry so this was the first time I could look around and truly marvel at God's blessing. I cant wait to move in. Our little house in Lynchburg has been sweet and its been a year of growing closer together.
I am still waiting to see where I will be placed next year. I got an email today that said it would be sometime in the next couple of days but I am starting to get a little antsy! I want to know if I am moving my house and my classroom. Summer is almost in full swing. We only have two full days left of school and then exams.
Annual conference is at Virginia Beach and we are looking forward to a few days away. Besides some trips to Bristol and a few cities within about an hour radius, I have not done much traveling this year. My friend from Vegas, Krista, is coming to visit in July and we plan on going to D.C. for two days. We are going to do the cultural thing... all of the Smithsonian Museums, the Holocaust Museum, the Vietnam War Memorial, Lincoln Monument, and the National Gallery of Art. Even though I was born about 3o min. outside of Washington D.C., I haven't really been back since I was in grade school. It will be exciting to see these places as an adult.
What a summer new house and Washington D.C..... if only there was a President that I liked in office..sigh... well you cant have everything!

Life Choices

Lately, I feel like my life is passing me by and I am missing it.
Five years ago it seemed like life was full of possibilities and adventures.
My heart feels so restless, discontented, and lacking complete peace.

How do I get to the point where I wake up every morning and say,
"This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it," ?

the good, the bad, and the complicated

Lately, my answer to everything seems to be, " I dunno." There are some really cool things going on in our lives but in opposite balance some tough decisions too. I have been recently criticized by those close to me that I am too negative. I hate to admit it but I feel that way a lot. Perhaps because I feel like I lack direction with my life right now. Not quite sure what needs to happen for it to change. Either way...



The good:

Clayton is being appointed at Beular (sp?) camp and retreat center. We get to live in the parsonage and it has four bedrooms! I cried when we walked in because I have never lived in anything so large since we got married almost two and a half years ago. It is so beautiful out in Amherst! I cant wait to see the stars at night! I have been offered a part time position at Linkhorne Middle School and have a meeting with the principal on Thursday. I have a job interview for a secretarial position at E.C. Glass tomorrow! Please pray! God is providing for us in a mighty way. I know in the deepest part of my heart this is Him working.

The bad:

We have to move. Please don't criticize me for feeling this way. Since we got married, this makes my fourth move in less than 2.5 years. I moved from Tennessee to Nevada, three months later into a new apartment in Vegas, a year later to Lynchburg, and now to Amherst. I really hate moving because something always gets broken and things you care about get lost. I still can not find the painting that Clayton and I bought on our honeymoon and we moved over a year ago!

The complicated:

I don't know what I am doing with my life. The idea of starting over at a new school for the third year in a row makes my stomach twist into pretzel knots. It means starting from the beginning all over again. With Clayton pastoring a church, I fear that too much change will put a strain on us. The position is only part time at this point, so it does not include benefits, but it leaves room for going back to school. Yet, on the flip side, it means just getting by still. If they offer a full time position I have a difficult choice to make. The full time position would mean paying off our car and other misc. items. Do I continue to work in a job that do not find satisfying so that we can have financial security? I know that I can not handle a full time teaching job and school. Does this mean that I should postpone school again? If I am putting school off again and starting another teaching job, does that mean we put off having kids another year?

One thing I am for sure about is that God is good, He is not bad, and He only seems complicated to my finite mind. If God is good then I guess He is the one to talk to!

An Appointment!

No... I am not talking about a trip to the Doctor's office but a placement for Clayton. At the present moment I am not allowed to say where but we will be moving in June. We are really excited. Its been a bit of a rough year with losing my job and the craziness that we have had with our landlord but its funny to see how God was preparing us for this! As a result of all of the hassels with our property managment company, our lease ran out while we did not have a company and by the time we had a new one I had found out that I was losing my job. So, we didnt sign a new lease and it will mean that we will not be breakind lease when we move!
I have always said that I did not want to live in a manse/pastor's home/parsonage because the idea that I am living in someone else's space freaks me out a bit. God needed to bring me to a point that I was ok with it...which basically means that we need to live in the parsonage.
God is SO good! Its been really hard to say that things will be ok, that God is taking care of us. But, it has been true all along. God takes care of us...all He asks is that we trust him to do that.