It's hard to believe that Charles and I only have 3 days left in Abilene. Saturday morning Charles, Emmy, me, and the moving van will be rolling out to North Richland Hills to start the next chapter of our lives. I am excited about the change, but a little sad at the same time. I have pretty much already worked my last day at Hendrick. Technically my last day is Friday, but I am just the on-call nurse, and considering we have been lucky to have more than 2 patients in the past few weeks, I'm not counting on being needed. (Isn't it sad that to a nurse it's a lucky thing when people are in the hospitial? What kind of sick, twisted creatures are we?) Anyway, I figure I have to at least go in for a few hours on Friday to say goodbye to everyone, but it's weird to think that I've worked my last shift there. Hendrick has been good to me, and I will miss all the crazy people I worked with on the pedi unit. Fun times.

Last week, Charles and I spent a week at Brookhaven Retreat as camp staff for New Beginnings Camp, which is a Christian camp for 1st-6th graders run by some people from my church in Arlington. I was asked to help out as one of the camp nurses, and Charles was put to work as a counselor and group leader. Having grown up going to camp and being a camp counselor, I was excited from the get-go. Charles was a little less enthusiastic about it all. Ok, really, he didn't want to go. He had been super stressed with looking for a job and studying for his high school math certification which he took the day before we left (P.S. - He passed!!!) But, wonderful wife that I am, I wouldn't listen to him and made him go anyway. He loved it. The kids loved him, and he promised all his little 2nd grade boys that he would be back next year. And I never even said "I told you so." Ok, that's a lie. But I just knew that he had to experience it himself to understand it. Camp is not something that can be explained, it must be lived in order to be appreciated.

Speaking of the job search, Charles got his first official job offer today from Kennedale Jr. High. He has not officially accepted or declined the job yet, because we're kind of waiting to see how the high school search pans out, since teaching high school is what he really wants to do. But things are definitely looking up. He has had several interviews, and sent out a ton of applications.

God is working in our lives in a big way. It has been so cool to me to watch Him work in Charles over the past week or so. Before we left for camp last week, Charles was getting pretty discouraged about the job hunt/certification test. He spent all of his time either studying or filling out applications, without a lot of obvious results. After taking his test on Friday, he didn't feel strongly about how he did, and his outlook was pretty grim. I had been trying to be the encouraging wife, but it gets harder and harder to say everything will work out when you can't see anything happening. Saturday morning we left for camp, and I prayed that it really would be the week of distraction and refocusing for him that I kept telling him it would be. And, as usual, God answered my prayer. I think being around all those kids and witnessing the amazing faith and belief that even a 6-year-old child can possess was what we both needed. When we came back on Wednesday, everything was different. Charles had gotten 2 calls for interviews while we were at camp, and set up another when we got back. He found out the night we got back that he passed his certification test. And his attitude and outlook on the whole situation is like a new person. God has really shown his power to both of us at a time when we really needed to know that He hadn't forgotten us.

Charles and I were talking today about our relationship and our marriage and everything. We decided that we pretty much sailed through our time of dating and engagement without much drama. Everything pretty much went our way and we just had fun. But since we've been married, life has been a bit more hectic. Trying to juggle a move and new jobs and just figuring out how to be married has been anything but an easy task. But I think we've done a pretty good job so far. We may not have always had the sunniest of times, but I think going through all of this together has done nothing but strengthen our relationship with each other and with God. I know there will plenty more obstacles placed in front of us during the course of our marriage, but it makes me happy to know that as long as we have God on our side, we can make it through whatever life throws at us. I am one blessed girl!