Hello everyone! I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Also I have not posted a blog in a while so I am here to update my profile. I will be working on Christmas day but thats ok, the time and a half pay will be very nice too. Hopefully the Lakeland kids are not in bad moods tomorrow though. They tend to be on holidays because they are not at home with their family. Anyhow, this week on Monday, I got my car back. I was soooo happy to have it back! It took them 3 weeks exactly to get it back to me. The past couple of weeks I have been thinking about joining the Air Force as an Officer. I have talked to a lot of people about it including Sarah Craig who is currently in the Air Force. She went in as enlisted and has been with the Air Force for at least a year now I think. We met at Starbucks Sunday evening and talked over coffee. She had some really good incite and also shared things that she had been through. She text me on Monday night to see if I had thought anymore about it. I told her I was still interested. Since Sunday I have been trying to get myself more prepared by practicing pushups and sit ups and today I jogged in the house for 10 minutes (it was nicer outside today but still too cold for me to want to go jogging out there) ;). I need to go in to speak with a recruiter....I have not decided for sure yet, but I think I may wait until January to walk in and talk to them. That gives me time to think about it more and also prove to myself I can physically do the basic training. Anyhow, I guess thats it for now. I hope we all can get together again sometime after the holidays are over. Talk to you all later. :)

Accident

I was in a car accident tonight. It was a dark and rainy street I was traveling down leaving from a coworkers house out Battlefield. I had been invited over for dinner and games and finally decided to leave about 9:30 to get back to Ozark and get ready for work in the morning. I was coming to the end of the street from where they live. The road appeared to curve off onto the next street as opposed to making the usual 90 degree intersection. Without warning I felt my car dropping off the road and heard the banging and scraping of my car against the pavement and ditch. All I could think was "what have I done?" Within seconds an older gentleman from one of the surrounding homes was about to pass by. He stopped his vehicle to see what had happened. He commented that I was about 4 feet into the ditch and that I would probably need a tow truck to get out. I called back to my coworkers house to ask for help. All of the men that were over for dinner came down with a truck and a chain to see if they could pull it out without a tow truck. They studied it for a while and made a plan to get it out. The first pull dislodged more of the front fender. With multiple other pulls they were able to fully recover my car from the ditch. They pulled the front fender off the rest of the way and stowed it away inside my car. My car was still driveable at that point but they wanted to take a look at the front underside of my car to check for severe damages so one of the guys drove my car back to the house and the rest of us followed in the truck. They were able to shine a headlights on my car and noticed a stream of fluid leaking. One of them told me it was radiator fluid and that either my radiator had a hole or the hose had been pulled off. The total damages are uncertain at this time still and I will not know the full extent of the damages until at least Monday sometime.

Quantity Control

This has been my third day in a row that I have gone to work out so I'm pretty proud of that ;) I'm hoping to keep it up! Anyhow, I joined on Friday after work. I have not set any strict goals on myself at this point in time. I'm trying to work out at least an hour each time I go. I also would like to become more familiar with the wait machines so I can start working on building up muscle in my arms especially (I hate that my arms are so flabby :( ) but also my legs and butt. I'm trying to work on my eating habits again. My biggest issue with food is eating large quantities and I've tried just cutting back on the amount of food I eat before but later I would pick it back up again. So I am attempting to cut back again. I have not started counting calories really, just not allowing myself to eat more than I need to of anything and limiting the amount of sweets I eat. Here's to my first month working out!

The Shack

I am currently reading book called The Shack. I don't read very often but on a rare occasion I pick up a book that actually draws me in and makes me want to keep reading it. This has been one such book. For those of you who have not read it, its about a man who takes his three children out on a camping trip and his youngest daughter, Missy, is abducted. Her body is never found only the dress she was wearing was found but it is covered in blood. This event begins 3 long years of sadness for the man named Mack, his wife and their two other children. After 3 years Mack receives letter in the mail. Its very mysterious and simply request that Mack return to an old shack where Missy's bloody dress had been found. It is signed "Papa" which is how his wife would often address God. Mack is shocked and unsure what to think but finally works up the courage to return this old shack in the middle of no where. When he arrives he discovers the old rugged looking shack looking the same way it did that horrible day when they found all that remained of his Missy. Mack walks in looks around, hoping that he might encounter or find God there. He breaks down and cries out to God only to find himself standing alone in the shack. In a rage he begins to pick up old pieces of furniture that still remained in the old shack. He yells at God for not being there and questions if he is even real. How could God let such a terrible thing happen to an innocent child? Mack turns in anger and walks out of the cabin. Somewhere down the path he turns to find the old shack transformed. It was made anew and had smoke rolling out of the chimney. Mack is astonished at the sudden change and returns to the shack to investigate. He is greeted by a black woman named Elouisa who we later find out is "papa" or God. He meets Jesus (a man) and another lady named Sarayu, who is the holy spirit. Papa is the housekeeper and cook, Jesus fixes things in the shack, and Sarayu is "The Keeper of the Gardens". Each of these 3 take Mack on a quest of teaching him about being relationship with God and finding healing from years of hurt. Mack spends time with each one and learns something new. I am at the part now where Jesus has invited Mack to go on a hike. Jesus leads him out to the water and teaches him how to walk on water just like Peter did in the bible. He steps out on faith and makes his way across the river with Jesus.
I decided to post this blog on what I have read so far in this book because it reminds me how amazing God is. I'm enjoying reading about Mack's walk with God and its cool to think about God walking that close with each of us everyday and we don't even realize it :) I only wish that I could be as aware of God everyday as Mack is in this book.

Testing 1,2,3

Today I was off from work. Its was great not going in but I definitely had to work hard to get the off. At my job everyone has to work every other weekend and this was my weekend to work. Earlier this week I had received an email that I was scheduled to take test, one for a Family Support Eligibility Specialist and the other a Child Support Specialist. My boss tells me everytime I do not ask for days off 6 weeks in advance I have to find someone to fill my spot at work. Well, all week I had been asking around to see if someone would take my shift. No one seemed to available and/or willing to work it. I was bummed. I hated the thought of being honest with my boss, telling her that I was needing the day off to take test for different jobs. Not exactly something you want your boss to know. Several of my co-workers told me to wait until the night before and call in sick, but somehow I did not feel at peace about doing that and I tend to be a bad liar at that. Besides, just last week I was sitting at the cafeteria lunch table with my boss and another co-worker and my boss had mentioned the previous weekend being hectic because of a lot of call-ins. She mentioned that she felt that a lot of employees often lied about being sick just to get out of work and that she would rather for them to just be honest. So I decided that maybe honesty is the best policy and I talked to my boss about needing the day off because I had to take test today. I did not go into detail what the test were for, but just that they would take up most of the day. She did not question me about it, but at first wanted me to find someone to take my place for the shift. I finally got it approved by talking to the staffing supervisor who convinced my boss that they were going to have extra help and it would be just fine to let me take the day off. So it was nice not having to work a Saturday for once. My first test was at 8am, for the Family Support Eligibility Specialist. I'm not even sure if it is something I would enjoy, but sometimes you never know until you try it. Besides, is there any job I am really going like in this world, I ask myself that question all the time? When I finished my first test I left campus, I was hesitant to leave the Missouri State University Campus parking space I had because our testing instructor informed us that later in the day they were expecting around a 1000 people to be on campus grounds for some event. I went to eat lunch at Panera. It was a nice quiet atmosphere to hang out for about 2 hours until my next test. I talked to my mom on the phone and called a few other people as well. I left after about an hour of being there to go to a nearby park to take a walk. The day was beautiful, a little chilly at first, but still very nice. I left the park to return to campus. Driving back I noticed the crowds had all ready started to show up. A lot of people were walking around and a lot of people were looking for parking places. 'Great I thought to myself, maybe I should have never left.' My patience often wears thin in crowds. I drove back towards the the parking lot where I had parked earlier that morning. There were several men standing around directing traffic. I approached the parking lot and saw the sheriff directing traffic. Someone had distracted him momentarily to ask a question. He saw me and motioned for me to move forward.'Can't I turn back into this parking lot where I was this morning', I thought to myself. Why is he standing here directing traffic, it was not even at an intersection or some place that even seemed people needed to be directed. 'oh well, maybe he doesn't know I want to park here.' As I started to pull into the parking lot the sheriff exclaimed "HEY!". "Can't I park here?" I asked. " You can't park here!" he said in a very authoritative voice. His voice weakened, "You have to park in a lot over there". He pointed and said the name of the lot which I did not hear. "OK", I said and drove off. 'Gosh, I thought this is a mess, I just want a parking space so I can go in and do my test!' I finally just parked in the lot closest to the testing building. There were two other cars just parked along the curb side so I drove up feeling a little frustrated with lack of parking and just parked there as well. I finished my last test and left campus. This evening was great. I got a pedicure. They did a great job. You sit in a chair that massages your back, you have a remote to control the speed and location of the massage. While you wait you soak your feet in a tub with lights that change the color of the warm bubbling water. The employees did a great job with the pedicure and they even massage your lower leg. All for the great price of $25. I highly recommend it. Well, thats the story of my day off. I will hear about my test scores in about two weeks and then be put on a registry if I pass the test. If any counties in MO have job openings I should receive notices in the mail from counties who want to interview me. We'll see. In the mean time I am continuing to apply and look for other jobs all throughout MO and KY also.