Easter/Ohio/Family/Jared/Etc. :)

Hello Everyone!

The past week or so have been busy! Jared and I visited Lynchburg/Spout Spring the Saturday night and Sunday of Easter weekend. We loved being able to visit with our families and some of our friends!!! For those of you we missed...we really hope to see you soon! On the way home Sunday night, we were driving on 460 West and Jared suddenly realized we were driving to Blacksburg and not to Charlotte! We probably would have drove to Roanoke before it had registered with me! :)

On Monday I flew out to Ohio for a week of training. The training went really well, but I really missed Jared and our apartment! I think I'm going to like my job a lot. I am quite nervous about actually going to my office in Charlotte tomorrow. I think I am more nervous about dealing with rush-hour traffic! :) I have to be to work at 8:00 am and am not really sure what tim to leave to be sure that I get there on time. So I am going to leave super early just to be safe on the safe side. Please also pray, because right before I left Ohio, I was told that my supervisor can be tough and to "tread lightly." I know that God has it all under control and all I can do is my best and represent myself in a friendly and professional manner...but it does make me nervous. Why would someone tell me that? It certainly makes a person have preconceived ideas of what someone's character is like. For all I know, he'll be great all the time. So, I'm not giving it too much thought, but again, it makes me a bit nervous.

This weekend, my parents and sister came to visit me!!! I took them all over Charlotte and showed them all sorts of things. They were incredibly patient with me as I tried to take them to places that I "thought" I knew I how to get to. We finally wound up at Concord Mills last night and spent a few hours browsing/shopping. Bill LOVED the Bass Pro Shop and he and Mom spent an hour and a half in there!! :) Mom and Brandy also helped me decorate and add color to our living room and Bill hung up all of my pictures! :) The living room looks so bright and wonderful now! I ADORE IT! :)

Speaking of things that I adore, I miss Jared terribly!! :( He will not be home until tomorrow afternoon. I am always keenly aware that I have an incredible relationship with my amazing husband, but it's times like these that I completely understand that we truly are not two...we are one. There has been a huge part of me missing all week. I love that God chose me to be Jared's wife. :) I also love that I am going to see him tomorrow after work!!!! :)

I hope all of you have a great week!! :)

More Fun

Jared had today off so we went to a few small towns around the Charlotte area. We stumbled across a treasure trove called Birkdale Village in Huntersville. It is an amazing area to enjoy the sunny weather, mingle with fellow Charlotonians (is that a word?), browse shops, and have a ton of fun! After spending about three hours there, we went to a park a few miles away and watched the sun set on Lake Norman. We also realized that by taking back roads, we can get to this place in about 20-25 minutes (provided we don't get delayed by a lengthy train that goes right through the middle of our town!).

As for my job, my first day will be this coming Monday! I will be flying out Monday morning to Canton, Ohio for a week of training and will fly back to Charlotte on Friday evening. Jared has to leave Thursday for race weekend in Martinsville and will not be returning until Monday afternoon. Therefore, we will not see each other for an entire week! :( That's the longest we've been away from each other since before we were married! We're both a bit bummed about that, but we are so excited for the opportunities that God is giving us that we can't stay bummed for too long! :)

Jared has to work tomorrow until 6pm, and then we will be headed to Lynchburg!!! :) I am so excited!!

We hope everyone has a blessed Easter!! Remember what it's all about: "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said..." - Matthew 28:6

Ice Cream Truck!

I'll update tomorrow or Tuesday to let you know what's going on about my job. I just had to share an interesting tidbit with everyone...after church today, Jared and I pulled into our apartment complex and there was an ice-cream truck driving through the complex! It was a real, certified ice-cream truck with the music playing and all. :) We live in such a quaint place! :) And, no, it doesn't take much to get Jared and me excited.

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!!!

Happy Day!

I got a job! Praise God! :) I am so excited and can't wait to give more details. However, I will not get the offer letter until tomorrow or Monday, so I'll give you more information once I formally accept the position and know all the details. I also got offered another position today, but am going to decline. It just isn't the ideal position for me.

Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement throughout this time. Thank you to those of you who prayed specifically for Jared...he had to put up with my constant worrying and anxiousness and was so sweet and encouraging throughout it all! :)

Sorry that my last blog was quite glum...sometimes life can be hard and it's easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated. I knew all along God was going to help me get a great job and He did! He never lets us down. And now I am feeling just like Billy Graham when he said, "I'm just a spectator standing aside and admiring God at work."

More to come in a couple days... :)

A brief vent

Anyone reading this thing gets to hear (or I guess read) me vent for a moment: I don't like this job search process one bit. I'm completely frustrated. I am 28 years old and career wise have nothing to show for it. :( I know that a person's career doesn't entirely define who they are, but I am a hard, dependable worker and I have a lot to offer a company. I've been on nine interviews (not counting phone interviews) and still don't have a job. Ugh. I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me.

I miss my old job and miss socializing with my coworkers. :( For any former coworkers reading this...you guys were the greatest.

Post from Jared

It's been a couple weeks since I last posted and life continues to deal us some exciting and insanely interesting curves. It's a bit of an adjustment working all weekend, every weekend but who can complain when you're doing something you love? Of course, when that cuts into spending time with the ONE you love, it does make make one more cognizant of the sacrifices involved in covering NASCAR (or just about any sport for that matter) even if it's mostly from an office cubicle in uptown Charlotte. As would probably be true of any new job worth its salt, it seems that mountains of new information are being hurled my way at a sometimes intimidating rate. The biggest challenge is adapting to the technologically-intense nature of the work. As a self-professed technophobe, I've never considered computer tasks my strength. It's fair to say it's a bit out of my comfort zone. Sometimes you'd never know I graduated from the greatest university in the world for all things technology (heck, everything really), Virginia TECH. But on a brighter note, I am getting to write enough to pretty much quench my thirst. Another month on a copy desk, and I would have been as dried up as a carcass. Jennifer has done incredible things here around the apartment, which for the present time still feels exceptionally spacious. She has another interview tomorrow. Please pray that God gives her a good job in a timely manner. I've found that having a job is an even more essential part of her fabric and self-worth than I ever knew, even though her diligence and desire to climb the corporate ladder was obvious from Day No. 1.

Adventures in Charlotte...

Jared was off on Wednesday so we decided to go to downtown Charlotte and see what we could find. We had a great time! We went to some shops, saw a lot of interesting statues and water fountains, visited the Chamber of Commerce (where we got a ton of brochures on stuff to do around the area!), went to the Bobcats Arena (boring for me...not so boring for Jared), and basically just had a blast together! I have attached a few pictures of our adventure. These were taken with my cell phone because I forgot my camera...again!


This is the view from Jared's work parking lot.


Interesting pieces of art...notice that some of the bricks are maroon and orange. Finding those bricks was like finding a little piece of Hokie heaven! :)


We took this picture because there was some strange man walking behind us and we wanted to get away from him. Don't worry, moms...we are being safe! :)

When we left downtown we went back to Mt. Holly and started taking random roads to see what we could find. And we found this...

The only mountain (though most would consider it a hill) that we have seen since we moved here! Thanks to an error with our GPS device, not only did we see the mountain, we ended up going up most of it. :)

The exciting news of the week...we found a broadway show to go to here in May! I can't wait! Jared's excited because we are going to a Bobcats game in April (most likely). We also have plans to tour museums, a couple historical sites, and take a dinner cruise on Lake Norman in the next couple (or few) months. :)

We are loving the weather here! It's been beautiful for the most part. We are also loving spending more time together. After dinner last night we went on a walk around our complex. It was so nice just laughing and enjoying each other's company. I love that man! :)

Jared is working really hard in his new position and is enjoying it. I am still going on interviews and am praying to have a job soon. I am a bit discouraged because I thought I would have a job by now. The interviews I had this week went wonderful. One has to do a background check before moving forward (which will hopefully be back by Monday) and another company is not making a decision until April 1st. If I have to wait until April 1st to get a job, I may as well check myself into the insane asylum now! I cannot stand to be by myself all day. Even though I'm a bit down about the job thing, I still thank God every day for moving us here. I know He knows what He's doing. :)

Everyone enjoy your weekend! :)

Lots going on

Well, we have been here a week and are adjusting to life in the city quite nicely. My interviews are going well. I have three companies interested in interviewing me next week. All three jobs have various aspects that I would really like. It’s amazing how things are falling into place and once I secure a job, I’ll give more details!

As always, God has been moving in many ways. The other day – in the midst of my agonizing over not having a job – Jared and I saw a church sign that simply said, “Where God guides, He provides.” While I have heard this saying before, and have even said it before, I believe it was God’s polite way of telling me, “Calm down and trust me. Let me do my job; I haven’t failed you this far.” I would like to say that since that moment I have been completely calm, but I am human and fail in some way every day. However, as a whole, I have been much calmer. :) We have been worrying about not having a sub-leaser for our apartment in Blacksburg and just found out that that issue has also worked out! God also helped with what most of us would deem a minor detail: Wednesday night Jared and I were talking about how we were overwhelmed by how much there is to do around here and didn’t even know where to start. The next morning, I opened up my email and had an email from a guy with one of the staffing agencies. It basically said that he knew this city could be overwhelming and offered suggestions on places to visit and avoid in the area. It was very informative and just another way God showed he cares about everything in our lives.

Jared is enjoying his job. Check out http://www.scenedaily.com/ to view some of his work. He really likes his coworkers and I think this job is a great fit for him. I am so proud of him and am so glad to have him home at night!

Jared and I are LOVING exploring!! The other night we drove on I—85 just to view the skyline, which is beautiful. We then decided to take an exit so that we could turn around. We quickly learned to NEVER take that exit at night again. There were bars on the convenient store windows, and it was just not a good area to be in. While my Mr. Wonderful remained calmed, I freaked out until we got back on the interstate, and then I laughed. It’s just like us to find ourselves in those situations.

Speaking of weird situations, yesterday we went to Concord Mills! I LOVE that place! After spending a few hours out and about, Jared decided that he didn’t want the night to end so we drove to downtown Belmont (which is like downtown Mayberry…if it really existed). The downtown area was packed with people…there was a barbershop quartet (literally) in the barbershop playing music and the entire area just seemed alive. We decided to find a place to park, but got a little lost in the process. Suddenly, Barney Fife (well…someone like Barney Fife) pulled us over. Jared wasn’t speeding and didn’t have a taillight out. Instead the guy pulled us over to see where we were coming from and to tell us that he thought we might be lost because he noticed Jared was driving like he was lost.?.? Anyway, at least we know the area we chose to live in is safe and secure and being protected by some of North Carolina’s finest. :)