New Beginning

Jimmy and I, as well as several friends and family, have started thinking that along with health problems STRESS may be a factor with the baby process.  I have also been struggling with the issue that maybe God is waiting to give us a baby until he knows that we are where we need to be in our everyday life and that includes work.  As many of you know I was a retail Manager at Stein Mart.  I loved my job, I started when I was a freshman in college (2002) and worked until the summer before I got married (2007).  When I moved to Murfreesboro after our wedding I started looking for jobs and what did I come across?...a posting for the new Stein Mart store they were opening in Murfreesboro.  I had my doubts about going back but nothing else was really coming though so I applied and was called back within a couple of days.  I went for the interview with the Store Manager (Joy) and we really kicked it off, she didn't offer me the job on the spot but I felt really good about the interview. Sure enough she called within a day or two and offered me the job and I was starting what I call some of the best days of my life.  I have met so many people that I'm proud to call "best" friends. 

So much has happend in that past four years that it would take me about a day to write it all down.  In the end I was under alot of stress, working long days for corporate leaders who may or may not show up, working nights and weekends and so on.  Although I loved the people I worked with and generally loved my job it got to be way too much and I was looking for a way out.  I started searching for jobs online and nothing was popping out at me, one day I casually mentioned to Tiffany that I wish her parents would hire me.  Her parents, Joe and Debbie Sheetz are some of the sweetest people I know and I just knew they would be awesome bosses!  They own Two stores in Historic Bell Buckle, www.bellbuckle.com, Designz by You/Coffeez by Us, www.designzbyyou.com, and the newest store Designz from the Heart.  Tiffany called her Mom and mentioned to her about hiring me to help her and to help out with the new store and her Mom loved the idea but wasn't sure she could hire me just yet.  So I went on with Stein Mart and one day Tiffany called me at work, this is not something she usually does unless she has to tell me something, her Mom had decided to hire me! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! Of course I had to talk it over with Jimmy and get back  to her.  So I went home to talk it over, he was little leary at first after all I would be taking a slight pay cut but he said that seeing me happy again would be worth it, the icing on the cake was my boss calling me that afternoon and telling me I had to work open to close for the next 9 days cause we were having a lovely visitor from our Regional Director.  Needles to say we were both "OVER IT." 

I felt that there was something or someone behind this, it didn't quite work out the way I had hoped the first go around but the offer came back to me.  I work 9:45 to 5 Monday-Thursday and 9:45-7 on Fridays, and I only work one weekend a month and special events, that means NO late nights and almost NO weekends! I get to enjoy my family and friends again and that is something that I haven't been able to do in a long time.

I may be going out on a limb here but I feel like God opened this new opportunity for me.

So Friday September 17th was my last day at Stein Mart and Monday September 20th was my first day in my "New Beginning."  I am working in the new store Designz from the Heart, its been great so far.  I will get to meet so many people since this town is a huge tourist attraction.  I have wonderful bosses, Im not responsible for anyone but myself and I get to interact with all my visitors (customers), I couldn't ask for a better job!

God is in Control

If you are anything like me you at times "forget" that God is in control, that he has a plan, and that although he knows the desires of our heart he is still working on his time not ours.  One of the biggest obstacles that I have faced though our battle with infertility is remembering just that as well as the battle of handing everything over to him.  I pray and cry out to God on a daily basis but yet I still feel like I'm holding on to my troubles instead of trusting him. 

God is working in my life, my husbands life and our marriage.  He continues to show me that he is there and that indeed he has a plan for our life.  I have two stories to share with you that proves he is in control of every aspect of our lives from death, sickness, marriage conflict, infertility to placing people in our paths to be there for us and to be a prayer warrior for us.

I received a call from a friend this week that left me feeling helpless.  She had left town to go see her mother who was in the hospital having tests run, soon after she had gotten there her mothers test results were back...she had progressive cancer in her kidney and needed surgery to remove the tumor, without the surgery the doctors were giving her a year to live.  I was basically speechless...what do you say to someone who has just heard this news?  By the time I got off the phone with her I felt like a complete idiot and a awful friend because I didn't have any encouraging words for her.  I thought about this friend and her mother all day and prayed that God would give them peace.  After I got home that night and was getting in the bed my phone starting blowing up with texts, I thought who in the world is texting me back to back?  Turns out it was a text from this very friend telling me a story that sent chills though my entire body..."she was on the plane heading to see her mom when she started talking to a young lady that was sitting next to her, the conversation somehow ended up on the subject of God and how he was helping her through some tough times in her life.  In the terminal as they were walking their separate ways the young lady she was talking too asked my friend if she could pray for her? my friend of course said sure and they went on their way."  God knew that my friend would need prayers and knew that she would need every prayer warrior she could get.  You see he knew what her mothers test results were going to be and he put that young lady in my friends path...GOD is in Control!

This week I had another friend that had been in my mind and heart for several weeks now and I knew deep down that things in her life weren't going well.  I have been so caught up in the things in my life that weren't going great that I kept putting off contacting her, I sent her an email on Friday night asking about her and how things were going and when she emailed me back I was floored at what all she had been though.  Her marriage was falling apart and she was at conflict as to whether she should leave or work it out.  She went to her parents for advice, one said leave, one said go back and work it out with her husband and God.  She prayed and cried for a few days and in the end she said that God spoke to her and told her that he wasn't done with her marriage and that she needed to go back and work it out.  She told me that couldn't even imagine living with her husband and dealing with all the hurt that had been caused but she couldn't shut out the tugging God was doing in her heart.  Once again God is showing us that he is in control of everything and if he isn't done with his plan for you he will show you.

We all have to learn to trust God and trust that he knows what we can handle and what we cant handle, he will not put us in any situation that thinks we cant handle.  When I have been at my deepest point there has always been someone or something that has shown me that God is in control and I believe with all my heart that these two friends and their very different situations were brought to me because God wanted to show me that he is there and that he will always be there.

Life is all about Curve balls...

Well the past few days have been pretty hard on me...we found out that we weren't pregnant once again on Friday morning...blah.  I took it extra hard this month, I just knew that things were different and I could have sworn that my body was changing. I guess I shouldn't have had my hopes up so high cause man I fell low! 

I closed at work on Friday so I was home that morning and had a HUGE meltdown...of course I texted Terri and Tiffany as soon as I "found" out the awful news and as always they were so supportive and positive and tried to lift me up but even that didn't help this time.  In the middle of my meltdown I received a Facebook notification that I had a message, I went to read it and I can tell you now that God was in COMPLETE control of that message.  It was from Terri's sister in law Stephanie and she gave me some very encouraging and positive words, I cried through the whole thing but smiled at the end because I just knew that God was behind it.  It seems that every month that I'm thrown a curve ball someone different steps up and tells me their story and it gives me more Hope then they will ever know.  I hope I can be that "someone" someday.

In other news...on Saturday morning I woke up to not only the worse cramps I have had since before my surgery but I also had a HUGE rash growing all over my body! Jimmy and I both freaked out and we went to the walk in clinic.  I basically stunned the doctor...the rash was pretty ugly but it didn't itch nor was it painful...so she really didn't know how to treat it.  She called me in a steroid and sent me on my way.  I'm chalking it up to stress...it got worse before it got better and its not completely gone but at least it doesn't itch and isn't painful.

I have a few more exciting announcements but I cant let the cat out of the bag just yet so I will leave you with your wondering minds!

I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Labor Day! I will be working...of course...