2010 Goals (I know I'm a little behind)

Most people set their new year's resolutions at the very beginning of the new year, but here I am, a month late. Like the saying goes, "better late than never".

1. I want to lose at least 30 pounds by the time I graduate
- I plan on getting up every morning and working out at the fitness center
- I am going to eat less at sittings and make smarter choices about when I eat and what I'm eating

2. I want to run a mile in 7 minutes or less by March 1, 2010
- For those of you who know me, I tend to "run" a mile in about 10-15 minutes...ha, which is not really running at all
- Anyway, I plan on starting out at a moderate speed and each week I plan on increasing the speed a little until I reach my goal

3. Continue editing my resume and start sending it out by January 2011
- Work on it as I receive more experience with school and hopefully work
- Under the education section, I want to make sure that I include my GPA and my pending graduation date

4. I want to have my own photography website and business cards by May 2010
- Figure out how to upload pictures to my domain address
- add harmoniousportraits@gmail.com as my contact e-mail
- build my clientelle mostly by word of mouth (senior pictures, child portraiture, weddings...)

5. The most important: I am going to trust God more in everything I do and to seek His will in my life
- I don't want to rely on my own planning and my own will
- I'm going to read God's word daily and continue to pray about every decision

Upset

Well today we got the news that we most likely will overqualify to live in the house that we were hoping to get. It is frustrating because they figured in a raise that Pat could POSSIBLY get, but probably won't, so that put us over the top. They also based our income off of the bonus Pat got around Christmas time and made that a constant for the entire year which is about 50% higher than what he normally receives. On top of all of that, they took my two largest paycheck stubs and based my income off of those, which shows us bringing in about 50% more than we actually do. It's a bummer, but we know that God is good and as long as we are doing our part of the deal, He will do His. We are kind of on edge trying to figure out where we are supposed to go because in order for our apartment complex to confirm our rental history, we had to let them know that we plan on leaving. So we turned in a letter to our front office informing them that when our lease is up, at the end of February, that we will not be staying here. It's tricky because we're in a catch 22. The housing place will only refund our security deposit if we are ineligible to move into the house. If we withdrawl our application, they keep the security deposit, which is quite a chunk of change. So, even though we don't think we're going to qualify to live in this house, we have to continue with the process and let God do his thing. Since we had to tell our current place that we are no longer staying here in order for them to get the paperwork filled out that has to go back to the place we're wanting to lease the house from...well you get it...it's a viscious cycle.

We believe that God has a plan for us and that He will lead us in the direction he wants us to go, wherever that may be. I'm sad that we're probably not getting the house but I trust in God completely to take care of us, so I'm not worried!

Update

So if you didn't know already, we're trying to move into a house hopefully by the end of February. They are just waiting on some verifications and we should hopfully know by the end of this week if we are set to move. We will be in between Troy and Wentzville in a quiet neighborhood and we are SO excited! As excited as I am, I am not looking forward to the packing and unpacking part, but the overall outcome is going to be MUCH better, which makes it all worth it in the end! God is already blessing us and the first month isn't even over yet!

Yesterday, I went to get my hair trimmed and my eyebrows waxed and decided that Alaina needed a trim, too. She has this one curl in the back that always ends up tangled and knotted and so we had Trista cut it off and make the back a little more even. We also had her trim the front since it kept getting in Alaina's eyes. The front is a little shorter than I wanted, but it will grow out, so I'm not too worried about it. Since she got her haircut she looks a little older.

Update from the last blog post...since Alaina is now 2 years old and has all of her teeth, we decided it was finally time to take away the bink or as Alaina calls it, her "b". So she now only gets it at nap time and bed time and she has been talking alot more. Although the first 3 days or so were rough, she's been really good since! Now if you say "Alaina are you a big girl?" she says "No, I baby" because we told her that "b's" are for babies, so now she tells us she is a baby in hopes that we'll allow her to have it. No such luck but it's really cute to hear her say it!

My 2 year old

Alaina is now 2 years old and now tells me she is not a baby anymore :o(