May was quite the busy month for us. It started out with a girl's weekend in Dallas, with 2 different parties. First, we had a party for my aunt Robbie. She has been going through a terribly tough divorce for the past 2 years, so her daughter (my cousin, Brook) planned a special night for her. It was a time to celebrate her & to remind her how amazing and wonderful she truly is. The girls spent the next day hanging out in Dallas, and then Saturday night was my cousin Amber's bachelorette party. The weekend was a great time to hang out with the family & just relax. Matt was on a business trip to Chicago, so he missed out on all the girlie festivities...I'm sure he was heartbroken!
The next weekend was Amber's wedding, so we headed up to Norman for that. It was a great wedding at Thunderbird Chapel in Norman. The setting was gorgeous! The chapel is in the middle of trees, with glass windows all around. A beautiful place to have a wedding. Despite the pouring rain that morning, the evening turned out perfectly. Here's a pic of Amber, Brook & Adam and Aliyah (ring bearer & flower girl):
For Memorial Day weekend, we made the 10 hour trek up to Kirksville, Mo for Matt's cousin Hayley's wedding. She was a beautiful bride, and it was fun to spend some time with his family. Brook & I became cupcake decorating master's as we helped Aunt Elaine decorate 300 cupcakes! Here's a picture of the happy couple-Hayley & Derek Rouse:
This year seems to be flying by...it seems like just yesterday that we were packing up our things and moving from California! Matt's job is going well. Although this month is busy with business trips, he doesn't work nearly as much as he did at KPMG. Which is good, considering he was generally working 80 hour weeks out there! He seems to be much less stressed, and I think he really enjoys his work, so that makes me happy! As for me, the job market for teachers is looking pretty bleak for the upcoming year. I have my teaching certification, but so far there are no openings posted for elementary positions. Luckily, I'm still doing the online teaching, which keeps me pretty busy! Not having a full time job has also given me the chance to spend some time with family & help out with some things that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. In the last few months, I was able to spend several days in Oklahoma City with Jen, helping her out with the girls when she was sick, help Brook cook & decorate for the party weekend, accompany my mom & brother to some doctor's appointments, and just spend time with the family. It's so nice to finally be close enough (and to not have to have a full time job) to be able to do those things. I'm so thankful that Matt is understanding of the difficult job market (they weren't even hiring subs in California or Texas) & that God has blessed him with a job that allows me some flexibility on the job front.
As far as Dallas goes, we are getting settled in here, although I think all the traveling prevents us from really feeling like it's "home" yet. The few weekends that we have been in town we have enjoyed exploring the city & trying out different churches. We loved our congregation in California so much that we are finding it hard to find a place here that we love just as much. But, our search will continue...as soon as we are home on a weekend! I think our biggest struggle comes from not knowing where we will get a house. There are so many suburbs, neighborhoods, etc. to check out, and DFW is so big, that it's hard to choose a congregation until you know where you're going to live (long term). So, we have found a congregation near our apartment that we will probably call "home" until we buy a house (which will probably be January of next year, when our lease is up). Moving & making a transition to get settled into a new place can be pretty challenging, but we still manage to have fun along the way. Every city that we have lived in has given us new opportunities, but also new challenges. So, we'll hang in there & keep working to make Dallas feel like home.
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