Bring on the new year!

I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone. We had a wonderful time with family sharing in the festivities and eating lots of goodies. We were able to celebrate Christmas with my folks on the 20th, which working out well for everyone. We got tons of stuff, which is not unusual. I got my new camera and some more of my Willow Tree Nativity. We went to Owensboro to celebrate with Brian's family on the 23rd and stayed until the 27th. It was a much needed visit. We had some yummy Moonlight BBQ and many homemade cookies. This morning I got on the scale and gratefully did not gain an ounce. We got a beautiful new decorative clock for the living room and some curtains for the dinning area. Curtains are not cheap, so we are doing one window at a time. Since we are renting and still not owning it's hard to see getting rods and curtains for windows that we may not need eventually. But it makes the house look more homey and helps keep the warm in. We also brought home a gun this Christmas from Owensboro. I am terrifed of guns and had a hard time shooting it, but with encouragement and Brian's dad there to teach me I did it. I'm still not thrilled about having a handgun, but I understand it's importance and protection. I think if someone tries to break in I will have no problem shooting them.

18 days till Christmas

Things in the Schaad home have been going very fast recently. We have both been working and preparing for the Holidays. I have been spending most of my free time watching movies that we scored on Black Friday and experimenting in the kitchen. I totally cook more during the holidays because I try all these unique things that everyone else makes. Last week I made chicken broccoli hot pocket things. Brian was not crazy about them... he hates most vegetables. But he tried them and I was proud of that.

We are ready to go to Owensboro for Christmas. We haven't been since this past summer. Brian's parents have since remodeled their bathroom and his mom has had surgery. I think once we lay eyes on her we will feel better about her having the surgery. These are the most difficult times to be away from family.

We also got a treadmill since Thanksgiving. Brian has broken two things since he has used it. The "jarring" while running has made a snow globe and picture frame fall. I on the other hand have not broken anything, however he runs a lot faster than I, which increases the jarring.

Brian is now working with the basketball teams at the University. He says he really likes it. He just likes Basketball more. So far he has had a good season. His classes are going well, however I'm not exactly sure of how much he is learning. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do to get my masters. Currently I am teetering the fact of Masters in Teaching or Masters in Social Work. I know... I know. Who would have thought?

Brian let me put up the Christmas tree on Wednesday night!!! It looks perfect!

45 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!

Is anyone else ready for the Thanksgiving holiday? Everyone here at work is ready for it to come and go so that we can prepare for Christmas. This will be my first Christmas celebrating with these co-workers and I am pretty excited. I enjoyed Christmas at my last job. I really just enjoy the season, but mostly I love decorating. We have a new tree this year and lots of new ornaments. We try to get a new ornament when we go on vacation, or when something fun happens that we want to commemorate. Piper got a new one this year to celebrate our first Christmas with her and we also bought one at NIBROC from this woman who personalizes them. We got one when we went on our honeymoon and we have picked up a few along the way here and there. Wal-Mart has their Christmas section up, so of course I had to drag Brian over to look the last time we were there. I think the reason I like Christmas so much more now is because we have a place that we can decorate that is not shared with other roommates or our parents. Can anyone relate with my excitement? 45 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!! But for now, lets enjoy Thanksgiving!

Crummy

Feeling crummy today. I can tell the season's are changing because my head feels like it wants to explode. Achy head, ears, throat... yuck! Hopefully this weekend will be one where I can rest and unwind.

Finished

This is a late post, but those of you in blog land may like to know how Brian and his team did. They did so well! They finished in like 28 hours and a few minutes. I forget where they actually placed among the 120 teams and I don't want to say the wrong place for fear of never living it down if it happens to be wrong. But I was so proud of Brian considering that he had been sick the whole week leading up to the race. They are already planning for next year. Here are some pictures of the weekend festivities, which were not taken by me because my camera is not doing well.

Road Trip!

Going on a road trip this weekend with some of my favorite girls to watch our husbands run a 200 mile race. I'm pretty excited to have some girl time and I'm praying diligently for the health of my husband during the race! Please join me in prayer for him. Asthma is not fun!

Oh No!!!

Brian got home from another win for the Patriots last night (Go Patriots). However he came home with the funk. He didn't fall asleep until about 1:00 this morning and then I was finally able to convince him to take some cough medicine, because he kept coughing. As a matter of fact while I am typing this he is in the shower and all I hear is "cough cough cough". Poor guy. Well this morning he had a fever of 100.9. I got ready for church and before I left his fever had reached 101. I was really worried! He stayed home from church and I spoke with his primary care doc at church, who is also my boss, and he wrote Brian for some Tamaflu. SCARY!!! He told me he thought Brian has H1N1. NOOOOOO!!!!!!

When I got home Brian's fever was still high, so I gave him some Tylenol. It so far has worked, but ever 3-4 hours his temp is back in the 100's. Geogy, our doc/boss, called and asked Brian how he was feeling. Geogy thinks that he has a really bad cold. Whew... It's good to have friends in high places.

I ask you all who read this to please pray for Brian to get better. He has a 200 mile relay race on Friday night/ Saturday morning. Please pray for his health!!! Thanks!

Going to watch Tamra play some Volleyball tonight. I hope they win!!! Go Cards!

And the Season's Have Begun!

Sunday: Amazing Race

Tuesday: Biggest Loser

Wednesday: Wipeout

Thursday: Survivor and The Office

It dosn't get much better than this!

Dear Santa...

I really want a new camera so I can take some good pictures!

No real title

Sometimes I sit and think for a long time about what I am going to blog about. And I feel it never fails that I still don't have anything interesting to say. So I will bless you w/ a recap of my weekend.
Brian went out of town on Friday morning to Mississippi for a football game. Friday wasn't bad since I had to work all day anyway. After work I went to the Thomas' house for dinner. I am so blessed by them and their hospitality. I really wanted to stay and watch Cool Runnings w/ them and their children, however Piper had been in her cage since 8:00am and it was going on 8:30 pm when I left their home. Friday night I did not sleep well. When we first got married it was hard for me to sleep because I was in the bed w/ someone else. Now I can't sleep if he is not in the bed w/ me. I put pillows up where he would naturally be.
Saturday I didn't get out of bed until 10:30. That is so unusual for me. I guess because I didn't sleep the night before. I ran like 10 millions errands. First to London to get dog food @ tractor supply, then to the Wal-Mart there because it is so nice. The one in Williamsburg has NOTHING!!! Then I came home and went to the grocery. By the time I got home and pulled the groceries inside and put them away it was like 3:30. My day was almost gone all together. So I cleaned a little, made me some tuna helper and sat on the couch and read. Brian finally rolled in the door @ 3:00am.
I really miss him when he is gone! It makes me appreciate him that much more.

10K

I finished my first 10K. It was grueling... More hills than imaginable. But I finished. And even thought it was not the greatest time in the world... I finished and I conquered the hills.
After the race we went to lunch and then I came home and did the dishes then went back to bed. It's amazing how running wears me out.
During the race it rained a little before and some toward the end, so needless to say my socks and shoes got wet, which in turn caused blisters to come on the balls of my feet. They are not too bad though because I can wear dress shoes to work today w/ out any problem.
I wish I had some pictures to show from the race. All in all it was a wonderful weekend spent w/ friends and I loved every minute of it!

Running in the rain

Recently I have been attempting to prepare for a 10K on Sept 7th. I have not been as disciplined as I would like to be, however. I really love to run in the mornings when a lot of the world is still asleep and I can weave on and off roadways without the fear of getting hit. (The cars are still there, but not nearly as many.) Since Brian has to be at work earlier, we have not had the opportunity to run in the morning. So we went for a run last night... and this is why I don't like to run in the afternoon/ early evening.
6:30 Brian gets home from work
6:45 Drive to running destination (pouring like crazy)
7:20 Drive to another running destination (small drizzles)
7:30 Start run... get stopped by two different people to chat. Nice, but not running condusive.
8:10 Finish run
8:30 Eat dinner
And then... my whole evening is OVER!!! And to top it off I was running up this huge hill on campus and to my left I hear it... THE DOWN POUR. You know the rain that you can see and hear coming? So I hightail it up the hill and by this time Brian has gone after the car with the dog, who mind you is disgusting from the lite drizzle rain. And it hits! Needless to say we went running in the rain. A monsoon. Ahhhh.

So I realize that I have not been the best blogger since I opened this account... I just find that I am so busy with life that I hate to sit and stare at a computer screen.

So here are some updates from the Schaad family. Brian had a crazy pre-season, but thankfully nothing was not as crazy as it could have been. He worked a lot and slept more than last year, so I was thankful for that. We still didn't see each other much, but I have come to an understanding that it's what happens when pre-season rolls around. (It still doesn't make it any easier) So this fall he is working with football here @ the University of the Cumberland's and taking about 9 hours of grad work. After football is over he will go work w/ basketball. Needless to say this is going to be a busy fall/winter for him.

Work is going really well for me. My duties are so less stressful and I have not cried in this position, which was not out of the ordinary for me in my last job. I feel blessed and capable, which is huge in the professional world I feel. I have been working on the house when there is time and money available. I really want to get some curtains for the house, but I never realized how expensive they can be. We did buy a patio set yesterday since they are going out of season, and Brian spent nearly 3 hours putting it together. But it's nice and we can't wait to use it when we have company over.

Other than that there is not a whole lot to report on. We hope to have dinner with my sister, Christy, who now lives in Tenn, this Friday. Then we are having our friends come over for a fun weekend of wedding festivities and a race here in Jellico on Monday. Things are bright!

Guess Who?!?!

July 28, 2009

We just got home from vacation two days ago, and let me tell you it was much needed indeed. We went with Ash, Forrest, Jon, and Alisha, and I think this was the most fun I have had on vacation in a long time. We laughed, shared, read side-by-side, and enjoyed some domino's this past week. It was so peaceful and fun filled. I love being friends with them!
______________________________________________
Let me share a little of my devotion that I had this morning. It comes from My Utmost For His Highest. Today talks about God's purpose or mine. It discusses how God's plans for us are not our dreams of success. I tend to think that if I follow what God is telling me to do than I will be successful, which his purpose may be exactly the opposite. "What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself."

These few sentences chimed my heart this morning... "What he desires for me is that I see 'Him walking on the sea' with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see 'Him walking on the sea'. It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God."

Piper Girl

Here is our new addition.

Piper

Home

We are finally moved into our new house. We are more than blessed to have such great friends who came to help us move. No joke, we had everything loaded in the UHaul in 45 minutes. To be honest I think it took about the same amount of time to get everything off of the truck as well. Granted we don't really have that much stuff, however it felt like a lot. Brian's parents stayed the night along with his sister to help us unpack and get our house organized better. That was a blessing as well. We had everything but one box for the bathroom done by Sunday and we moved on Saturday. The only reason we didn't get the one box done was because we don't have much bathroom space and needed to buy a self/cabinet for towels. Now we have that.

We also went and got our dog on Sunday night. She is a boxer beagle mix and her name is Piper. She is so mellow and lazy. I am so glad. She is the best dog ever. I will post a picture when I get my stuff together for the computer and camera.

Shew...

Life has seriously been a whirl wind. We have been so busy.



Work is still going well... I love my profession even though a lot of people don't understand it. I really feel like social work is the Lord's work. Extending a hand to those in need was the main message Jesus came to deliver (other than that whole son of God stuff).



We are also moving. We got a house in Williamsburg right in between Jellico and Williamsburg. It will cut out a lot of driving for the both of us and save some money. I am so excited to finally have a house and not an apt.



Also... I went to a birthing class last night for work. I work with a lot of pregnant women, so this was helpful. Anyway... it was quite an experience since I am not pregnant. Learning how to breath and push... interesting. Also yesterday I got to watch a C-section. THE BEST BIRTH CONTROL is watching someone give birth or have a C-section. WOW!!! I thought that I was really good with blood and guts since I worked in surgery and recovery for so long. Negative... I almost passed out, and this was the case when I watched my younger sister give birth over a year ago. I don't think that birthing and labor are so good for me. :O(

Life... in general

My new job is going great! I love the atmosphere and am blessed by the work environment. It's so much less stress and enjoying not to have to drive nearly as much. I have been working with the current care manager and seeing how she interacts with the patients. All of them are currently pregnant or just had their baby. Most of them are smokers and/or teen pregnancies. However there are some who have drug or alcohol addictions or just need help with formula or other resources within the community. The more I am interacting with the patients the more I realize how amazing God is. Who would have thought that this opportunity would have worked out so smoothly. I guess God.

During my time off I spent a lot of it visiting with family. I went to Bardstown to be with my sisters and mom for one night. I went to Georgetown to be with my other mom for mother's day, and I spent a lot of time sleeping. It was refreshing and much needed.

Brian is out of town until Friday in Nashville at a conference. He left last Thursday to go to DC to help friends move and he came back on Saturday, however since we were with friends we spent little time together. We came home Monday and he did homework all day and then when I got home from work on Tuesday he had class. So... I have not really had time to visit with him since last Wednesday, which is fine, but I hate being here by myself. WE NEED A DOG!!! (sigh)

"Oh the Places You Will Go..."

I GOT A NEW JOB!!! I am so excited to begin this new adventure. It's with Dayspring Health Clinic in Jellico TN. I will be working with the general population hooking them up with resources within the community to better assist them care not only for themselves, but their family. I don't think that I can say enough how excited I am. Due to this I will be taking some time off from my current job to rest before I begin. A total of 9 days. What will I do? It's almost two whole weeks.

Due to this new job we are now looking for a residence in Williamsburg so that Brian is closer to work and I am as well. Corbin is just too far away and there is no need for both of us to drive so far. I guess my vacation will consist of looking for a new residence and packing up the apartment.

God sure is funny!

To update on the last most recent post... I did not get the job in Knox County. However the following weekend I was presented with another opportunity to use my talents and gifts (if you want to call them that) to work for the Lord. I don't want to elaborate much more on it because I want to be sure it's not my emotions running off with me.

Something else to think about concerning running. I have recently been running a lot. I am probley in the best running shape that I have ever been in distance wise. I am thinking about running my first half marathon next spring/ summer. Any thoughts for those who actually read this?

Waiting Patiently

I was a little apprehensive to post this on my blog because I wasn't really sure who read this thing and who did not. Well... anyway.... for the past two weeks I have been waiting very patiently for the Lord to reveal his future plans for me concerning work. Don't get me wrong, I like my job presently, but recently my sister-in-law called and told me that the state is cutting back on a lot of state grants. Turns out I work for a state grant and since it's a non-profit christian organization, if I loose my job I can't collect unemployment. With all that said, the same day Jenny (sister-in-law) called I also received a call from the Knox County DCBS Supervisor. This is also known as child protective services. She asked for an interview. So I went on February 16th, and am still waiting to hear if I was a candidate selected for hire. This process takes a while because it needs to be approved by the state. To sum it up... I ask that anyone who may read this to please pray for us concerning this matter. I don't know what is going to happen, however I really feel like the Lord has set this up to give me an out before things get potentially bad. It's difficult to be patient in this matter, however I will wait for the Lord to confirm what and where he wants to use me.

Defeated

Today I am... exhausted! I went out for a home visit to see one of my favorite clients. I mean she is really my favorite! She has a 14 year old grandson who lives with her and is smoking pot. Today he ran away. Well because of all of this I had to close their case because his whereabouts were unknown. This really made me sad because ultimately the one who will be hurt the most is the grandma! I have cried with her, laughed with her, and rejoyced with her. She really feels like my close friend. Today when I left her house for the last time she told me that she loved me... This is how I know the Lord is doing a good work through the agency that I work for. Even though I feel defeated by this childs actions, I know the Lord is still using me! What a blessing!

Post Holidays

I am so glad that the holidays are over. I really look forward to that time of year... decorating the house, making yummy treats, and spending time with family. This year was just a huge adjustment for us. Now that I have a full-time job I have to work more over the holidays. I was not as prepared for this as I would have liked. Plus trying to decorate our first place together was interesting. For Christmas we did get a lot of new decorations for the house, which I love. Little plates with trees, stockings, and candy canes... who would have thought that would be such a fun Christmas gift?



Now that my house is back in order, I feel... at peace. This time of year also helps me to recognize the blessings that I have and appreciate the small everyday things in life.