What a Great Day!

From sun up to sun down, today was a day that put a smile on my face!

At my church, we are in a six (or seven) week series called I Am.  This week Brian, our worship leader,  preached on how God is the Light of the World.  This sermon really hit me today because as I have written previously, I am stressing about finding a job.  But though I am stressing, I am putting all of my worries in God's hands because I am blessed to have that relationship with him.  I was reminded this morning that if I Live (actually have that deep connection) with God, Talk to him and actually Listen, then I will have his Light shine on me.  If i try to go through life on my own, I will be in the dark and I won't be able to get out.     But that reminder was only a start to my great day.

When I got home from church and having lunch with three of my best friends, I decided that it was going to be cleaning day.  Now, I try to clean my house every other weekend from kitchen-bathroom.  But because of Spring Break, I had not cleaned in a while.  So today, I did.  I started in the kitchen from sweeping, mopping and vacuuming the floors; scrubbing down the counters, sink and table; vacuuming (the floors and furniture) and dusting the living room;  vacuuming my room, shaking out the rugs, dusting and organizing my closet shelf; mopping the bathroom floor, cleaning the sink, counters, mirrors and shower.  WHEH sounds like a lot but it NEEDED to be done.

During the midst of my cleaning frenzy, I found out that I had been accepted for another round of the interview process for YES Prep in Houston.  I am so ecstatic because my interviewer told me that I would not find out if I would move on until Thursday, and here I am finding out the next day, let alone a Sunday.  So please keep me in your prayers because I think that this would be a great job for me, but I am also not giving up on the job hunt, so if you hear of anything then feel free to let me know!

To end the night, my friend Christal and I went to our church to watch the Mwangaza Children's Choir.  This is a choir that is on an American tour from the Central part of Uganda.  All of the kids are have sponsors through African Renewal Ministries (I have blogged about this program before).  They were absolutely phenomenal! Christal and I both were moved to tears because they were so precious and they were full of the Lord.  This is a great program to support and I know that when I have a job with an incoming salary, I will sponsor a child.

Now that I am ending the night, sitting here in my comfortable bed, I am listening to great music and watching an awesome rainstorm outside with a big smile on my face.  I love thunderstorms, especially when they are at night.  I just open my door, light some candles, put on soft music and get lost in my thoughts.

My Wish

So this morning I had a phone interview with an inner city charter school system called YES Prep.  I think the interview went well, I could answer confidently to all of his questions and we talked for about an hour when the interview was only supposed to be about 30 mins.  The interview really got me thinking about how much I do want to move back to Houston to work for them, but yet I don't want to get my hopes up either.  After reflecting back onto the interview and how much I would love to work for them, I started to think about why they would want to hire me; a brand new college graduate who is not certified in Texas and has a semester of teaching experience.  So I started to pray.  Thanks to my friend Christal's wonderful advice, I have begun writing my prayers down in a journal, that way I am fully concentrated on talking to God and so I can go back and see how he has worked in my life.  So as I was writing, I began questioning myself and my skills. This week was one of those tough weeks where I feel like if it could go wrong it did go wrong.  So naturally, I started stressing out almost to a point to tears.  But then, something happened.  In the background, I had pandora running on a country station, but I was not paying attention to it.  While I was praying about how I am not good enough to get a job, my music became louder and something inside me told me to focus on the song.  The Rascal Flats song, "My Wish" came on and I just sat there and listened to the lyrics.  It was literally like God was saying something to me.
My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold

And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' to
I hope you know somebody loves you
And wants the same things too
Yeah, this is my wish


I know I keep blogging about this, but I just know that I need to stop worrying and let god handle my life.  


Oh and want to hear a funny story?  I'm going to tell you anyway...


I thought my second interview was today at 4:15, so I got ready and set up my computer ready to Skype. No answer because it is definitely scheduled for April 26 at 4:15!  I know, I am dumb.  Better a month early than a month late!  

Life In The Fast Lane

So back to the real world!  I really enjoyed Spring Break, but it took me these past three days to get back into the groove.  It has been an adjustment not only for me, but also my students to get back into routine of school (it also does not help that they know that they are in the final 9 weeks).  But WE WILL PREVAIL! Spring has sprung and it is now life in the fast lane!  24 days left of internship, 6 weeks until graduation, more job applications and an interview...YES INTERVIEW!  I know I am probably over reacting, but I have a phone interview coming up for a Middle School Social Studies position in an inner city charter school in Houston.  I am so excited!  Even if I don't get the job, in the end it is at least practice and one step closer to that glimpse of hope.  So move aside slow pokes and debby downers, I'm in the left lane and not even a speed bump will slow me down.

I'm Confused

Do people not realize that they live their life as a double standard?  You can't expect someone to hold their tongue when you don't hold yours. Just saying....

"I write as straight as I can, just as I walk as straight as I can, because that is the best way to get there."
~H.G. Wells 

A Tejas Spring Break

So, I didn't go here for Spring Break

Or Here

I just went to the Wonderful Lone Star State

While I was home, I did some of this with my mom 

Got these done

And caught up on some of this.

But most importantly, I filled out ALOT of these

 the HORRIBLE NEVER ENDING JOB APPLICATIONS. duh duh duh...

To me and for probably most others, filling out multiple applications is EXCRUCIATING. I have to repeat myself over and over and over and write multiple essays.  But the worst part is that these are applications for jobs that are not even available yet.  I am very spontaneous, but when it comes to big decisions, I like to plan ahead.  For example, I did not know where I wanted to go to college, but when I finally figured it out, I applied and was excepted in September of my senior year.  When I decided what I wanted to do with my life, I picked my major and stuck with it throughout my 4 years in college.  Now, I just want to know where I am going to work.  The only problem with my profession, positions really won't start opening up until May/Juneish.  This just sucks because I want to make my plan.  But after talking to my friend Morgan and hearing her story about how God put her where she needed to be, it reassured me.  As I was thinking about this on my 2 hour drive back to Auburn from Birmingham, good ole Garth came on the radio and his words said it perfectly.

"Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers 

Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs 

That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care 

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers"

Patience

(Mandi, I stole this from your facebook) 

My Life's Alphabet

I stole this from my friend Katie's blog and thought it was cute, so I decided to do it

A: Age: 21 until MARCH 20!

B: Bed size: Queen and its AMAZING! 

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning up after others

D. Dogs: They're Ok, I'd rather have my kitty because you can just leave him for a weekend by himself

E. Essential start to your day: COFFEE! I am a MONSTER without it

F. Favorite color: PINK

G. Gold or silver: Silver

H: Height: 5'5'' 

I: Instruments that you can play: Piano (if my mom shows me what notes to play), Flute (I'm a PRO at "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and Row Row Row Your Boat on the Recorder.  

J: Job title: Student Teacher

K: Kids: Love them! That's why my future profession will be hanging out with them everyday.  

L: Live: Auburn

M: Mom’s name: to me, Momma

N: Nicknames: Jules 

O: Overnight hospital stays: none since I was a baby 

P: Pet peeve: Messes 

Q: Quote from a movie: "Nothing is stronger than the heart of a volunteer"

R: Righty or lefty: Right

S: Sibling: JOHNNY BOY!

T: Time you wake up: Now, 5:30

U: Underwear: Yes, but it also depends on the outfit.  

V: Vegetables you dislike: Brussels Sprouts (STINKY!)

W: What makes you run late: my stupid hair-can I just shave my head?  

X-rays: I've had plenty of teeth X-Rays for all of my wonderful metal work.  

Y: Yummy food you make: I love my homemade Carrot Cake! 

Z: Zoo favorite animal: Giraffes 

A smile a day keeps the doctor away

So every morning when I go downstairs, I turn on Good Morning America.  I love Good Morning America so much more than the other news stations because it is much more positive and upbeat. It really does say "Good Morning" to America and it starts my day off on a good note.  On this mornings show, one segment really stood out to me.  They talked about how optimistic people statistically live longer than pessimistic people.  Their focus study was on patients with heart problems and those with a positive outlook on recovery, lived longer than those who did not.  On the show, they related this to real life.  They talked with the doctors about those who had a positive outlook on life had less stress than those who have negative thoughts.  Stress is not only the leading cause of heart attacks, but it wears our bodies down overtime.

 SO, even though I may not know what the future holds and at times that can be stressful and scary, here is to keeping up my positive outlook.  I am going to let God stay in control because he has a plan and I don't want to die when I'm 40.

If you want to look into the article, here it is...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartDiseaseNews/coronary-artery-disease-optimism-linked-improved-survival/story?id=13021156