Life

Well, it has been a while. I now live at the Blanchard Mazzios. :-) No, seriously, I helped clean and set up before training the week before thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun. training went well. The kids went home with a friend from church who has a son and a daughter. Chris picked them up after work. They had a great time. I trained from 4-10 on Thursday, 7:45am-noon, and 4-10 on Friday, 7:45am-6:30pm on Saturday and 2-6 sunday. Lots to learn. much like Pizza hut was in high school, except that Mazzios has so much more on their menu and corporate office wants it to be a mix of pizza hut and olive garden, so that is fun.
Chris by the end of his first week was no longer working there. He has been working with Aunt lisa on the possiblity of working a govt. job. For right now he is at home, which he is enjoying, but is hard.
We went up to Kansas Tuesday morning to hang out with the family for Thanksgiving. We had a good time. Wednesday we went down to my grandmas to see her. She had me cut her hair and the kids helped her clean and Nathaniel helped her peel apples in a spiral. Chris went with Dad to the dairy farm to help him grind feed. He said it was really neat to see how that was done. He got to get a good visit in with Uncle John and Aunt Joy as well as Erin and Tryon. Karen and Mary arrived Wednesday night. Thursday we had turkey, noodles, rolls, green bean casserole, sweet potatos, mashed potatoes, and a sweet dessert, thanks to mary. It was chocolate galore!! We went outside to have a tire race and came in to eat some more. Jon was able to make it for a few hours and that was a lot of fun to be able to hang out with him for a while. We played some board games and then went to bed. Friday we got up and packed up the car to head to Grandmas for the big cousin thing. It was supposed to be come and go, but ended up everyone being together, which I was super thankful for. Kristen and Cory weren't able to make it as well as Yachal, but it was so good to see all the babies. Everyone's family was so precious. For me, to see everyone and how they are with their kids is such a blessing. I don't feel as alone anymore.
We left around 5, as Lorrie and her kiddos did as well. It was her birthday and she was meeting Yachal in town to go out for her birthday. Everyone was so much fun to visit with and watch. I wish it could have lasted longer, but....
We got home around 11:15 and put the kids to bed. I had to be at work this morning at 8am. The store manager is hoping to train me to be one of their shift leaders since I am the only one with pizza experience. We were hoping to get to some of that today, but with the Bedlam game, we were steady with business all day long. I headed up the make table area as well as some of the dough with the assistance of another worker named Mike and the store manager from Anadarko. It was good to get back into the swing of something I knew. Minus finding where things belonged and where to find stuff, it went pretty smoothly. I got home around 5. I need to go in for register and safe (the money) training tomorrow morning, so sadly I will have to miss church. This will be my last weekend to have to work, so that will be nice. On my availability, I put Monday- Friday 8-2 and they are going to honor that. They just want to complete the training proceedures before settling into a routine. Seemed today they are evaluating who works best together doing what also.
That is about it. I am doing a little housework tonight and then heading to bed. I am tired!!! I am sure I assisted with the making of over 100 pizzas today as well as at least 15 pastas and sandwiches and prepping 5 batches of dough. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and I will write again soon, when I have another break in my new schedule.
Please continue to pray as the kids are having to adjust to my working and we will be pushing it pretty tight as the Christmas season comes on. Kind of sad in moments when I think that this year we won't be able to do much. Takes me back to not understanding why God is allowing these things, but then I have to encourage myself with the verse that says, "These light and momentary troubles are achieving for me an eternal glory that far exceeds it all. So I should fix my eyes not on what is seen, for what is seen is temporary. What is unseen is eternal."

Chris' 1st day at the new job

Ok, so many of you want the scoop on how his first day went. Well, here it goes...
He was super nervous about the title "store manager" because he has never had that title before. And over a company that he is unfamiliar with made him even more nervous. I reminded him that God doesn't give us more than we can handle without Him and that God had fully equipped him for every good work. So, I sent him into OKC after prayer around 11:30. He was ok, but feeling a little overwhelmed.
In visiting with him tonight, he said the day was full. Full of trying to learn something foreign to him from a lady who was doing her best to show him all they did, all the while speaking in spanish, since the store he was at was mostly hispanic. He said the most stressful part was the fact that he had no idea what anyone was saying. "How can I learn when I don't know what they are talking about? "So, that is how it went. Right now he is taking a super hot bath and just vegging. Continue to pray for him. He has been so anxious to get into a job and do something and now that he has one, he is frustrated that he has no idea what is going on. Considering he is going from a multi-million dollar company to a small business, it is a hard transition for his mind to make.
Anyways....
I filled out paperwork for Mazzios Sunday afternoon and recieved my shirt, apron and visor. I will go in this week to help them clean up after the construction workers and attend my first orientation. I am excited. They seem to be really flexible and organized. There is a possiblity that I will be able to work the morning dough shift, considering I have pizza experience. If I do that, Chris will take the kids to school and I will work 7am-2pm and pick them up. We will see. They haven't gotten that far. Right now they are just trying to get the building built and ready for training and setting an opening date.
We are planning on heading to Kansas some time thanksgiving week. I am excited to see all my new baby cousins and their parents!! Finally the family has family!!!:-)
Until next time, thank you for all your prayers and we will keep you posted!

Ok......

Ok, here is where I update you on all the things that have happened in a week that has seemed like a month.
The mcdonalds thing fell through, which, oh well. I looked into preschool stuff, since that is all that is on my resume, and I need an associates in child developement to do any more with that. I can't sub for more than a week, a month unless I am a certified para. So..... I have an interview with Mazzios on thursday. if that turns out, awesome. if not, I think I am going to have to go back to school.

As for Mr. Chris Crosswhite, he was asked saturday to run the Your-tel store in Oklahoma City. He is excited but really nervous. He doesn't know much about phone service. I have reminded him that he knew hardly anything about mowers when he started at Lowes, so I was sure he would do great. He went in yesterday to do a background check and a drug test. If all that turns out well, which it should, then his first day will be the 17th. He will be working Monday through friday 9:30-6:30 and alternating saturdays 10-2. He is really excited about that.

I helped with our church's first ever children's clothes swap last friday and saturday with a friend of mine. It was a lot of fun. We had 7 full tables of girls size 4-5. we are planning on doing another one in the spring. Just in time for everyone to pull out their clothes to rotate and toss the small ones. It is nice to know that rather than go and invest a few hundred dollars in clothes that we as a church family can just trade with one another. And the best part is that you don't have to bring clothes to take them. We had such a blast. I really enjoyed it.
Yesterday I went in to resolve my situation with DHS in regards to the kids medical insurance and also to get us on food stamps. We should know something in 10 days.
That is about it. I am super behind on the house work and yet here i sit typing on my computer. :-)
Our only event coming up is a trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving. and a birthday party the weekend of the 22nd. I hope this finds all of you doing well.
I need to get some laundry done and vacuum, so until next time.....:-)

Correction

Ok, so went to orientation and found out that I didn't have the paperwork I needed, so they sent me home. I went to the store on hwy 9 and another manager forged all the paperwork so they could get me into the orientation tonight. I mentioned that I wasn't ok with their documents and that I was unable to attend tonights orientation because I had church commitments, to which they said either tonight's orientation or not at all. So, I am NOT employed with Mc. Donalds and am still looking as well as Chris.
I am contemplating just moving in with Mom and Dad and I can sub at USD 251 and we can help out at the farm in place of my dad. Seriously, that is a thought in my head, but it is not a plan in the works as of yet. We are waiting to hear from the Yourtel people. We are just praying that an answer will be obvious to us soon. This is wearing on our emotions, especially mine.
Thank you for your prayers and more to come soon!

Since last time...

Well, since I last wrote, I subbed for Ms. Colvin's 1st grade class, which was a lot of fun. The kids were great. The end of that week was the Book Character parties. I spent the 2 days I had before them getting ready. Hannah's class did Curious George. A dad came dressed as the man in the yellow hat. Nathaniel's class did Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and they decorated sugar cookie babies. It was a lot of fun. We were also in on the planning of a surprize retirement party for Noel. Brent, Sarah, and their kids as well as us were going to meet in Gainesville, Tx to decorate a hotel room for Noel. Lorna was going to drag their trip out as long as she could to give us time to be ready. It was a fun time. He didn't know about it until Lorna started getting all kinds of texts from Brent and I about how we were progressing on getting there. We went out to eat at the Main street grill and then went back to the hotel for cake and to toast him with juice. Then all 11 of us went swimming. It as a lot of fun! We were home Saturday in time for the Texas vs Texas Tech game, as there were church commitments that kept us from celebrating the whole weekend. What a game!!
In coming home from Texas, we stopped at the Mc.Donalds on Hwy 9 so that Hannah could go to the bathroom. There were signs all over begging for help during the day, so I asked the lady for an application while I waited on Hannah. They didn't have one in english, but told me to take a 20 questionairre to see if I needed to bother. After doing that, the asst. manager visited with me and told me she would like to hire me, she just needed paperwork. So, sunday after church, I went to tri-city to their mc.donalds and picked up an app. I then ran it down to hwy 9. She scanned over it and handed me all my paperwork and said to be in OKC Wednesday morning to fill out final paperwork and attend orientation. They will have me work 8:30-2:00 whenever the kids are in school. She said they would work with whatever I needed.
So, starting tomorrow, I am employed at Mc.Donalds. Chris is still waiting. Trying not to be discouraged, as he has had many emails saying that companies are "going another route". Much more has gone on at Lowes, meaning he has gotten calls from the Oklahoma Business association and the ethics commision for Lowes. He is hoping for the best and trusting that God is challenging his faithfulness. He says, "God gives and He takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I just want to be found faithful."
Kids are doing well. Our next day off is thanksgiving break, which will be here before we know it. Anyways, will post picts when I get more photo disks burnt and can upload the photos from my camera of Book character day and the trip to Gainesville!!
Till next time, all my love to all of you!!