so earlier this summer i made the leap up from my A&M leather 5 yr old wallet, to a fancy pants, quasi pricy adult wallet complete with a place for a checkbook.
then i bought expensive sunglasses that came with a warranty and a special case...definitely a step up from "sheek" Target brand.
...my initial steps into adultness
later in the summer came the letter that said despite my enrollment in school, i would no longer be covered under my parents health insurance, but i was more than welcome to take out a plan on my own with Scott & White.
Then began the search for "other options"..aka time to be for real about being an adult..cause 25 was coming soon!
so I applied for 2 jobs.
by August 10th, I was hired by Family Link, a private Christian foster/adoptive agency based out of Austin. Its contract work, i mainly am responsible for conducting Home Study Interviews for potential families in the process of getting licensed to foster or adopt kids from CPS.
Then, August 13th , I received a call for a interview with Big Brothers Big Sisters in College Station...THIS was the job i really wanted. my first real adult job complete with an interview, benefits, great starting salary, etc. so we prayed. drove to Austin. the interview went fine, i was pleased with how everything went..i mean it was my first real life interview..i even went and bought "business professional" like clothes..because when in the past 2 years have i needed them? yeah, i havent :o) at the end of the interview they told me I would hear a yes or no by the 31st, but hopefully before.
August 24th was my last day of work. There has been no mistaking the Lord's hand in all this. I finished and submitted my invoice to Family Link to get paid for my first home study on Monday. Because officially this week..i was technically unemployed.
AND THEN, yesterday I received a phone call that went something like this
"Alisha, we would like to thank you for applying with us at Big Brothers Big Sisters and we would like to hire you for the Match Support Specialist in College Station..."WHOOP.
I'm so excited. I start Friday.
Praise the Lord.
Thank you Jesus.
Answered prayer.
And HE gets all the glory for this process.
Man..all of this is good and full of HIS affirmation and hand working in my life and many others who have been praying and trusting and I can't help but give a shout out to my amazing roommate Valerie, who with her big heart and desire to see good things for me, sacrificially served to get me into adulthood from job searching for me while i couldn't to driving me to Austin.
The next week is gonna be super busy..with balancing this new job, trips to Austin and school.
there ya go..25 will be here in 10 days! and i think i'm ready to be an adult :o)
Well, friends.
I was given our first assignment for my online marketing class..introduce yourself to the class.
so i put the basic information....name, where i did my undergrad..what i'm pursuing in grad school...hobbies, career plans, where im from & current residence...
and...now, i just received an email from my prof...and he's an Aggie, class of '85!
i love being an aggie :)
thanks & gig'em,
alisha
this semester, my back-to-schoolness has been really strange...cause it's been not normal. no new student orientations, no meet & greets, no on-campus jobs...its kinda sad, i'm missing my classmates and the beauiful fall campus at ECU...but on the bright side,
its hopefully my last semester...thats right folks, i will have my master's degree in 4 months-CRAZYFACE!
so my online marketing class at ECU starts tomorrow, as long as my financial aid comes through..pray that the people at Wellsfargo get my paperwork processed quickly.
confessions: i was extremely non-productive on my field experience portfolio, meaning its now crunchtime, meaning, ideally i want to get them in before mid-terms in October!
I have a week til classes begin at TAMU, i'm a little nervous, bigger school so that might mean tougher classes..who knows?!? i've got Policy in Higher Education Administration and Development of the Spanish Language, should be fun.
thats about it...the job situation is still kinda up in the air. my prayer is that the Lord's will be done...more on that later..cause i just realized i never posted about my first REAL job interview in Austin with Big Brothers Big Sisters...more on that later.
happy schooling,
alisha
okay..so i just had to share this coolness.
My job this summer at the daycare has been a little more stressful than i imagined. The flexibility of my hours and inconsistency of tasks really threw my attitude, habits & mental stability out of whack. I've been praying long and hard about what to do come the school year, because i have to work & I want to do well in school and I just didn't know what i was suppose to do.
So, after some more prayer. I called up the bus barn-and they could hire me back. Good news. so then i have the issue of the daycare? I sit down with my boss & well, there had been a lot of miscommunication and so i needed to pray and figure out where the Lord wanted me. I know the Lord wants glory in my grades, He wants me to spend time with Him, He wants me to not worry and be stressed out and last honor my financial responsibilities.
More prayer. His answer was to not do the daycare and I would trust that He would provide because with only driving those yella-dogs, i would be on an pretty tight budget. Then came 3 openings: 2 part-time & one full time. I submitted my resume. now the waiting.
Today I gave my official resignation at work. It went better than I couldve asked! (thanks for the prayers mom!). still nervous, because I'm still waiting, right?
And then, heres the cool part: 2 hours later, I had a phone interview with the Christian foster/adoption agency i applied with & I'm hired-headed to Austin tomorrow and Friday for training and hopefully starting home visits Monday! While I can't depend on this job as steady income, (its technically "contracted"), I will be able to breath easier every month. PLUS, I'm really excited about getting to be part of meeting needs and giving precious children loving homes! Man, I'm definitely excited about this ministry because ever since i can remember, i've always wanted to be a foster/adoptive parent..but what an opportunity this is: to be there first hand!
okay. thats it, back to cooking some dinner!
grace & peace, lish
so this weekend was a wonderfully fun reunion...
Ms. Ashley Rodenberger is now Mrs. Ashley Pagenkof...yes is was a lateral name change :o)
Our little gang slumbered it up together in William's two bed/one bath apartment in Irving for the festivities in Aledo...it was definitely a fiesta!
7 people & one shower definitely equals tardiness
Justin..Hannah's fiance received his stamp of approval from us ladies.
I don't know how *;)* but we seemed to be the rowdy table at the Rehearsal Dinner..it was great having everyone together..catching up, reminescing & joking around, stuffing our faces with queso, tortillas & fajitas at Pappasitos
Micah and Hannah played & sung beautifully at the ceremony
Eric & Will were the best, most hansomest ushers in salmon.
Amy, Kayla & I strutted our stuff in the House Party...making sure not to fan our Japanese props :o)
And Ashley was a beautiful bride.
At the reception we danced the night away with the fabulous DJ stylings of Clayton Shepherd...by the end of the night our hair was up and make-up sweated off..and the cake was amazing..i think the best wedding cake i've sampled!
with us all growing up, being in the adult world..it seems our only chances of getting together are weddings..luckily, we have another one coming up in December..and with Amy catching the bouquet, who knows?!
ok, so i've a working number.
yea-my number didnt change..so you can still reach me at the same number!
i have my doubts about the life of my "new" (old & falling apart) phone, but for right now, it will have to suffice...duct tape & all. really i'm not complaining...on friday they told me i would have to pay full retail price (meaning about around $120-200) to have a working number & now I reactivated my line for free.
but, I wouldnt be opposed if you (or anyone you know) has a cingular phone that they aren't using & would like to donate to me, that will last for another 2 years...send it my way :o) i would be so thankful.
and again..if you havent sent me your digits...shoot me an email or facebook msg !
this will be a pretty random post, because well...i don't have much time, but my readers deserve something...so
first: thanks for all who participated on interactive blog reader day. keep your eyes open for another poll! and by the way, my favorite adventure happened a couple weekends ago..Val and i journeyed to San Marcos to kyak on the river, then we headed to austin to watch Michael Moore's new documentary Sicko and then we ate a delicious dinner at Macaroni Grill, followed by dessert at the Cheesecake factory...it was a near perfect day!
moveing on,
apparently, bad things happen in 3s...
well, i just had a pretty exhausting week-which adds up to more than 3 bad things...
weekends are suppose to be relaxing right...well, while i did have fun this weekend with Libby and old college friends (am i old enough to say that?)..i think i need another weekend to get over the craziness!
for those of you that did not make the facebook group or email list...my newly upgraded phone was stolen on before i left for arlington on Friday. sad face. But, PTL, i found out today I can bring in another phone and reactivate my old line for free...and super cool Valerie has a mom that has an extra cell phone, which she graciously letting me use for the duration of my contract. cross that frustration off my list..
i can't believe the summer is almost over.
school will be starting back up..and well..i'll be buckling down to writing those 5 essays i think i mentioned earlier this summer..ya know, the ones i was suppose to finish this summer..yeah well, my major deadline is December.
i'll be driving those yella-dogs again in the fall..
okay..more later, its the little sister's bday today..so i gotta go bake!
its interactive blogtime my friends.
your mission (should you choose to accept it) is...to answer the following question:
And by adventure I mean any trip, activity, event or time spent outside of ordinary work or school..even if you absolutely love your job :o)
so i think this summer can be generally titled "the summer of moves".
i currently am in the processing of rearranging because my previous roommate has moved out and my future roomie is movin' in.
thankfully, i think i have everything i want in my room for the next year in the parameters of the master bedroom..in total disaray!
needless to say, i think val and i are going to have a pretty cool set up...a little office, a little living, split up by the bedroom. PLUS, we have roofing tin on our wall..thats right so we can display our totally rad magnet collections and leave fun notes to each other in letters!
all this rearranging is taking place beneathe our ghetto ceiling fan of whose switch has been ductape covered because we can't use it until Friday when the electrician comes to replace it...
our handy-dandy selves tried to fix it sunday and blew the circuit in our room...whoop! PTL that Val didnt electrocute herself. i'm glad we're not silly girls :)
pictures/virtual tour will soon follow..be ready for them up on our new house blog (1014foster.blogspot.com).
for now, its back to arrangin', movin', shakin' & organizin'.
..if you notice on my Blogs I Read list, there is a new addition!
Bananas Foster is our new HOUSE blog!
with the upcoming school year, and our oh-so-busy-crazy schedules, we thought it would be good to have a roommate blog to stay connected since meals & roommate bonding is a bit hard to find time to do with 5 girls who are in school/grad school & working.
the hope is that everyone will post once a week..(i think one of our weekly chores is going to be to come up with a topic)..so we'll see!
give us a couple days and i'm sure there will be quality reading about the happenings in 1014 Foster Ave
no..i'm not talking about the gross tobacco dipping that baseball players & cowboys do..i'm really referring to the thing that makes eating so enjoyable...
..DIPS and not just some fancy appetizer, but pretty much any liquid-type to cover a food.
Whoever can up with this art form of eating, was a genius, especially for types like me..or can sometimes be considered picky..
through the phenomenon of sauces & dips, any ordinary food can be made EXTRAordniary!
strawberriesas alone = yum
strawberries +chocolate or +whipped cream = DEE-licious!
theres your classics: ranch, barbeque sauce, ketchup & honey mustard, queso, avocado
the food: spaghetti'os & grilled cheese, broccoli & cheese, cookies & milk
what are your favorite dipping combinations?
some of my favs are:
potato chips & ranch
oreos & peanut butter
french fries & cane's sauce (yes I know i'm a heathen for liking Cane's)
chocolate & fruit
Day 2 of the Canton Young Filmakers Workshop..did you watching my award winning performance as the old lady & the Mayor of Cantown?!?? (in the previous post)
yea..fun in the sun at Perdido Key Pensacola, Florida...we applied sunscreen almost every 30 minutes..proudly spending two days in the sun without getting severely burned..no skin cancer for us!
Lambert's cafe...home of the famous flying rolls...yes they really chunk them at you!
reliving childhood vacations to the beach: go-karts. and sadly my kart was slow..i came in second!
Fun in New Orleans..yum beginets!
i'd like to thank the academy first...my family...friends...:o)
so i'm live from brandon, MS. i'm on vay-cay!
we drove in last night/this morning at 2am..
everyone's gone for right now and i thought this would be the perfect time to update somethings ive been on mind my mind lately...that i know are eager to leave the brain! so here's a serious post..
i love that life is an adventure. that i've learned to keep plans in the back of my mind..of knowing what i would potentially like to do with my life, but knowing full well that is all the Lord's and i've been given TODAY to glorify HIM.
it makes me excited that life is an incredible adventure and challenge-that i'm a messed up girl in need of Christ, but with Him NOTHING is impossible.
God is great and gracious. This community is a blessing. Last week, on Thursday, I had a really busy day..I had to open at the daycare, and then immediately babysit 3 girls (who are quite a handful) and then after that go to the bank so I could go to SuperWalmart (urgHh) for work..come sitting the motorbank, I was give out: stress and it seemed my to do list was just getting longer..this story does have a point....so in the midst of making a deposit at the ATM, I drove off and left my check card in the machine...yes thats how tired I was! BUT praise the Lord, the couple behind me, followed me into the SuperWalmart parking lot to return my card to me...who does that? i mean not that they would have tons of access to a load of moolah, but still...i was so overwhlemed with gratitude and awe..only the Lord couldve orchestrated that.
So Valerie got a slackline for her bday. in a nutshell: its like a tightrope except done with webbing. sunday after the rain, we set it up in the parental's front yard. and the Lord really taught me something. You see, the trees werent the best for setting it up at the height we needed & the wet grass made the webbing slippery. anyways, as i was attempting to balence on it with my left leg the whole contraption was shaking almost uncontrollably. Val was spotting me, and she kept saying "committ. put you other leg on and committ." so I tried, knowing full well that i wasnt putting all my weight on my legs, i still wanted the security of the ground. and what happened? i fell off, got wet and snapped my foot on the webbing, breaking my baby toe. And the Lord was saying "i need you to committ..all the way". not like a get saved, but a give Him all parts of me. I've ended up in a rut of complacency which for me is really easy to do without routine and my independent self which i know is sin. my daily schedule is always changing so its been hard for me to the time to the Lord He deserves. sin. i give some of me, but not all and its hurting me..and my broken baby toe is a sweet reminder to spend time with Him. i confess my schedule & pride is a sin and i want more intimacy.
following this honesty, I want to talk about communication. I think in the multimedia world we live in, its easy to fall into the trap of not confronting and trying not to communicate well. our culture is one of people pleasing and not "stepping on toes" which is so harmful and deterrmental to relationships. Biblical communication requires grace and truth, its about preserving love-real honesty that betters all who listen. I know i'm not the best communicator. I naturally flee from confrontation, but i'm learning that its not a bad thing and i can communication in a way that expresses my hurt/anger/frustration in a way that is not hurtful, angry or disrespectful. communication invovles having grace, patience & love from beginning to end including words, meaning, tone & volume. Communicate in a way that serves-that bring listeners closer to Jesus.
okay..that wraps it up..my plan is to be at the film workshop by noon..can i do it? maybe! more fun posts this week about making movies & the beach.
alisha
okay so the aforementioned birthday pics: (in no particular order)
me, the birthday girl & her cake, Valerie & the birthday castle & party people in the kitchen...
this is my sad face-as you can see i was SUPER disappointed..because for the 3rd time I have attempted to fly in the go-cart and the weather has been bad...maybe i'm not supposed to spread my wings....but it was a fun trip..my grandpa is a trip..we walked around downtown Wharton, ate at the Grand Buffet where i impressed my family with my mad chopstick eating skills & then had cake back at grandpa's while watching the US Open.
my apologies faithful readers...it seems a full time job where i actually do work & playing hard this summer has taken away from my updates. i never dreamed i would become a blogger that hardly updates this thing...
its been a busy month..i did give you the update on the muddy buddy...
so memorial day weekend we planned to go out to lake bryan & ride bikes..but due to rain our plans were thwarted...and that became the theme of the week..due to the rain we couldnt do ______...but i watched a bunch of movies, relaxed, played some 42 with the parents. the next weekend I headed out to Waco/Meridian for a reunion with the one and only Libby Leatherman. We camped it up at Meridian State Park complete with grilled hotdogs, Dr. Peppers, 2 thunderstorms, the longest walk ever and quality conversation. man i love that girl!
what else do i also love?
Living Hope.
I've been regularly attending since the move back & am going to join-i love this community. its refreshing, honest, and home...I went to Hope Group for the first time last week. We helped at the food bank & then headed over to the Palermo's house for dinner and Bible study and it was an awesome time to think about our mission field and sphere of influence in our daily routines & lives.
This past weekend Val and I took a little roadtrip out to San Antonio. Her aunt had free tickets to Fiesta TX;...her aunt's cooking was amazing, enchiladas, guacamole, rice...mmmm & a little cake to celebrates val's bday. Saturday morning she cooked us eggs & pancakes with coffee, orange juice & fruit..and then we headed off to the park. overall..we had fun, but for the most part it was frustrating..2 of the big rides we rode were broken..we waited for 2 hrs on one & 1.5 on the other AND got stuck while we were ON the ride!!! boo.
Yesterday was Val's 22nd bday. i'll post pictures when i get my camera back. good times: balloons, streamer, fajitas, icecream cake, friends & a birthday crown.
Valerie & I built a cake...yes built. A castle cake. It was an experience. I never want to be a professional cake maker.
This weekend my family is headed out to my granpa's...hopefully I'll have some pictures if we get to do the power parachuting..its like flying a go-cart in the air....anyways..i was suppose to do it at christmas but the weather was never good enough.
me, Val, my sister and one of her friends are taking my 13 yr old cousin to Schlitterbahn in two weeks..we're way excited; more on that later.
other fun summer things:
we attended free float night at sonic
ultimate frisbee
jj's sno cones
tuesday morning pancakes
lunch & doogie howswer, md.
okay..well, I have to get ready for work.
hopefully i'll start updating this more frequently...but mo promises :o)
i was going to wait until i was able to post a fully storyline of our adventure in austin this weekend, but unfortunately the pics on the website still arent up and andrea hasnt emailed us the before shots we took before the race...so i'll post some pics & give yall the low-down.
let me just say it was AWESOME. it consisted of 5 legs of which val & i alternated running & mountain biking to checkpoints where there were obstacles that included a balance beam, cargo net/inflatable slide, mini rockwall, a bar weave & last but not least a crawl/swim through a ginormously deep, thick mud pit.
with andrea, jocelyn & katie's help on Saturday night, we complied our costumes for the contest..we decided to be beauty queens..wearing the most spectacular 80's dresses ever, complete with tiaras taped to our bike helmets and official sashes that read "Miss Muddy Buddy '07".
we woke up bright and early sunday morn at 5am, got dressed, ate breakfast and drove out to johnson city for the race. after walking almost a mile to registration, we barely made it for the contest & unfortunately lost to the abiguously gay duo....maybe next year we'll get the adventure road atlas...
finally, at 8:45, the gun for wave 9 went off and val was off on the bike & i was running! from there we switched after each obstacle (which means I ran 3 legs & biked 2) & finally, after practically carrying the bike up a mountain on leg #4, we arrived at the pool of mud...there was no escaping! due to the tiaras atop our helmets, we were forced to army crawl through the mud, under the cargo net to the finish line..every inch & crevis was covered in mud...really dripping with mud! i have never been so dirty in my entire life....
was it worth it?!? HECK YES!
hopefully i'll get some more pictures up soon.
this was after we had been rinsed off a bit...can you believe how muddy we were?!? :o) every kid's dream!
now that school is over, i'm really enjoying the sabatical from "being connected" and feeling like Donnie (my laptop) was attached to me. but with vacationing away from my inbox, work & all things facebook, my poor blog readers have been left with nothing to keep them busy to read at work.
a lot has gone on in the past week..and it feels as if i've lived 2 weeks in 1...Final Review came & went..quite an exciting day spent with Val's family! I moved Val & Britney into their sweet new pad at the Enclave, and I'm officially living at Foster-whoop!
On the flip side, i've been sick-or rather coughing since Friday. I went and saw the dr and have meds, but they really dont seem to be doing anything...and i'm pretty sure i overdosed on something this morning..its been a long/rough day & i really havent done anything productive except make breakfast.
This weekend is the dualthon/partner race "MuddyBuddy" Valerie & I will be competing in in Austin. We're super excited.
anyways, more to come later when i'm feeling better.
alisha
so, I'm back working at the daycare.
man i feel old.
my babies I had in the infant room (my very first room) are graduating this week...it was pretty funny though when I was getting on to some of them and they looked at me and said "how do you know my name?!?" & I responded with "I used to change your diapers!"
sometimes its hard for me not to feel a little bit lame about going back to my first job when i'm really qualified for more challenging work..but I was really encouraged after talking with Ken. He was so excited to see me & loves having me there...just to be at the center..whether floating or in a room or in the office...because he knows my heart and passion--that i want to the kids & staff to see Jesus. I'm gonna be a more behind the scenes kind of gal, trying to make the center more efficient...yes its quite a task i have!
this (daycare) is definitely a hard environment to work in, and after being there an hour i could see the burnout & frustration on all the teachers faces--and the Lord has graciously given me the patience to love aggieland despite the hard times, to love on the kids, and have a godly attitude. and i will continue to pray for more as the summer & semester continues.
man, i've missed kids.
and today i got to play with some really sweet ones.
i love it...taking care of kids...mmm, good times minus the baby vomit & poo.
grace & peace,
alisha