Homesickness

Missing all these faces right now...

The last few weeks I have been so homesick...the kind of homesickness you feel in the pit of your stomach. The kind that makes you burst into tears at the most random times. I think a lot of the reason I have been feeling so homesick has to do with starting a new job and feeling yet another big change. I am very thankful for my new job, but with it comes the stress of a new thing. I have only seen my parents and brother once since the start of the new year and it was for a mere 36ish hours as we were passing through Redding during our move to Washington. I am really missing my family. I miss the Ellis family a ton too. When I fell in love with Tyler, I also fell in love with his wonderful family. I gained 3 brothers and a sister, not to mention my 2 beautiful nieces. I miss watching Leila and Sadie grow. We have just been through so much change and I am longing for the familiar. Have I also mentioned that we also do not have a Target or a fro-yo place here? (I think I have lamented about it in previous posts, but just thought I'd mention it again.);)

Tonight as I was sitting at the dinner table in tears (I think my tears often seem to surface at the dinner table because it's the time of day that Tyler and I process through our day together) I was telling Tyler that one thing that really helps me with my homesickness is to remember ALL that I have to be thankful for. First of all I have Christ in my life who has and continues to guide me through all of the big changes, a wonderful husband who loves and cherishes me, supportive family and friends who rally behind us even from far away. Tyler and I both have great full-time jobs (many people can't say the same right now) We have food, clothes housing, and transportation (many people on the east coast are facing losing all of these with Hurricane Irene on its' way...definitely saying prayers for them right now). We have the means to do fun things. We belong to an amazing church where we are loved. We both have an education that can't be taken away from us. We are blessed abundantly. Sometimes it's easy to dwell on the not so pleasant things, but when I reflect on my many, many blessings I soon realize how good God is and that He has us right where we are supposed to be.

Summer Craziness

This summer has been crazy and has absolutely flown by. I really can't believe August is already half gone. Summer 2011 has been a good one, but a busy one!

After kicking off our summer with the Urban Plunge trip and a fun day trip to Seattle, we jumped right into more summer activities. At the end of June Tyler and I both volunteered at VBS. He was in charge of recreation and I was blessed to be a VBS teacher. I came down with a wicked flu 2 days before VBS which left me feeling pretty fatigued throughout the entire week, but it was still fun to be a part of an AWESOME VBS!

Here is a cute picture of Tyler and Gigi, his little girlfriend from VBS. She was very attached to him the entire week.
The week prior to VBS I interviewed for a teaching job at Moses Lake Christian Academy. The following week I was offered a 2nd grade teaching position! I am very excited about this new opportunity. Tyler and I talked a lot about whether I would work part time or full time here in Moses Lake. With Tyler being in full time ministry, I really want to support him and be available for different activities. I taught 3 days a week in Riverside and absolutely loved my schedule, Moses Lake definitely does not have as many part-time teaching opportunities (they are actually pretty hard to come by). We put our decision in God's hands and He made it very obvious that I was to be a full time 2nd grade teacher at the academy. School hasn't even started yet and I am already feeling the pull between my job and Tyler's ministry. I am already finding myself having to tell people no and having to have good boundaries so I do not take on too much. Tyler is so super supportive of my new job and understands that I won't always be able to be at every event or go on every trip. It's hard because I want to do everything and I hate telling people no (I must admit that I am not very good at this, but I am working on it), but this is a perfect time for me to trust in God to help me find balance. I have worked very very hard to finish my Masters Degree and now it's time to put it to good use!:)

On July 17th Tyler and I celebrated 2 wonderful years of marriage. I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. He challenges me to be a better woman and follower of Christ. It was fun to spend some time on our anniversary reflecting over our last two years as husband and wife. We have been abundantly blessed and can't wait to see what this next year holds for us. We are going into our 3rd year of marriage knowing that we must find balance between our very important commitments to ministry and teaching and our very important relationship as husband and wife. That may present some challenges, but as long as we put God at the center of our marriage I believe He will guide us and help us find that balance. We celebrated on the 17th with dinner out, a walk by the lake, and ice cream. We had to leave the next morning for a youth trip to Portland, but we knew that we would celebrate even more on our trip to Florida at the end of July.

My sweet hubby and I before dinner out on our anniversary:)

As I mentioned above, we took off on July 18th for 5 days of Youth Quake in Portland with our junior highers! It was a great week of serving, learning, and of course some fun! We had a great time getting to know our students even better (trips definitely make you bond quickly!).

Me with some of our students helping clear a trail as part of a service project. Let me just tell you, I have never had poison oak before, but I got the nastiest case of it during this project. It's been almost a month and it's still healing!

The day after we got home from Youth Quake we headed out to 3-6th grade camp at Camp Wooten (which is about 3 hours away). I woke up the day we were leaving with a fever, terrible ear pain, and a sore throat. I had actually had a sore throat and ears the whole time we were in Portland (the summer has just not been kind to me: first the flu, then poison oak, and then this!) and it progressively got worse. I was in denial and hoping it was just allergies. I went up to camp but had to come home just a few hours later. It was awful. I got into the doctor a couple days later and found I had a double ear infection. No fun at all. I was bummed I had to miss out on camp, but with how sick I was it was much better for me to be at home. I missed Tyler terribly the next 4 days and just wished he was home to take care of me! I was thrilled when he finally came home.:)

Three days after Ty returned home from Camp Wooten, we left for Florida! I won't bore you with too many details, but we had an AMAZING time! Disney World was wonderful! I want to go back already! I am such a Disney girl! We had a spectacular vacation and got to truly celebrate our anniversary and my completion of my Masters! We lounged by the pool, spent time with Mickey and Minnie, ate out at yummy restaurants, had ice cream every single night, slept in, stayed up late, laughed, and just enjoyed being together. We weren't quite ready to come home, but kept telling ourselves that the sooner we were home, the sooner we could start planning our next vacation! :) I will post more pictures of our trip in a separate blog, but here are 2 fun ones!

Celebrating with Mickey and Minnie:)

Just this week we experienced our first Grant County Fair! We had a great time. I think my favorite part was the funnel cake! It was our first small town fair and another reminder of just how different Moses Lake is from So-Cal. I love the sense of community here and the slower pace of life. Businesses actually shut down during fair week...it's a big deal (and so foreign to Tyler and I!). I wish I had some pictures of our night at the fair, but did I mention our camera died in the middle of our vacation.:( Time to buy a new one I guess!

We are entering the Fall with excitement and anticipation. Youth group will be starting back up in about 3 weeks. Tyler is planning some awesome events for the fall. School starts for me in just a week and a half. I will be living out my calling to teach....so blessed. The holidays are just a few months away and we are planning trips to see both of our families. Life is full and busy, but good.:)