Hellooooo Lubbock!

Wow—this past month’s been a roller-coaster ride full of surprises! I don’t even know where to start…

Well Fuzz and I have known for the past month or so that he’d be finished with the army officially April 13, 2011 (yes, that’ll be this Wednesday!!!) Up until the past month or so, we’d been expecting to be finished in August—but his unit is deploying then so they’ll be spending the next few months in preparation, thus moving up Fuzz’s ETS date.

In the meantime, we’ve had our eye on a specific home in Lubbock, that we were hoping to be able to move into upon Fuzz’s completion of the army—but having his ETS date moved up kinda put a wrench in everything. We were hoping to be able to qualify for a loan for the home, but were told that I’d have to have a job there first to even have a chance of qualifying without needing a cosigner. My very good friend, Alan, used to be a store manager of Dillards and was generous enough to help me get an interview at the Dillards in Lubbock. We knew that they only do training for new hires once a month, and it just so happened to be scheduled just days away. With all this taken into consideration, I packed up my car, said goodbye to my sweet husband, and headed to Lubbock. I was interviewed that afternoon, and hired that evening. I was just so grateful that things were working out so well, and for all the love and support I felt from my friends and family—but a meltdown was inevitable. I was in such a foreign place to me, relying heavily upon my gps, without a place to sleep, and not knowing a single person there. I felt so vulnerable. I didn’t know for sure that I’d be hired, so I hadn’t made any serious plans on what I was going to do when I got here. That night I just stayed at a random hotel as it was conveniently the week of spring break and all the Extended Stay hotels were overbooked. I can hardly remember a time that I felt so alone, and completely out of my element. The next day was my training—I was astonished to find a room full of newbies just like me! They were ALL so kind—I felt so blessed to be able to work with such neat people. I was officially hired as the Specialist—super fun brand! Here's a link to that site: http://www.lillypulitzer.com

We’ve got some exciting ideas planned to help improve this new line at Dillards. I’ve been able to work in several different departments, and it’s been so much fun! The more people I meet the more I love this place!

My ward is filled with such amazing people, I’m overwhelmed by their generosity. I’ve had several families offer for me to stay with them in bunk beds and such—some of these people I have never even met—but they were willing to invite me, a stranger into their home, because they saw a need and jumped at the opportunity to help. I still am in awe! However, I couldn’t know that some little kids were giving up their bed to a stranger just so I’d have some place to rest my head at night, so I have just been staying at a hotel—like an extended stay—for the past few weeks. It’s been fine, really. First couple weeks were a little rough when I realized what kind of people live in places like this—and my totally broken toilet didn’t help any, (which was broken before I even got here and then took an ENTIRE week for them to finally fix.) Yea, I still was charged full price for my room—I sure as heck fought em on it, but at the end of the day, I didn’t have a choice- I'm still considering a nice chat with our BBB. Anyways, things really are just getting better and better every day;) Fuzz will be here on Wednesday! I’m so excited! He’ll be here a week with me in the hotel and then next Tuesday. . . we will finally close on our house!!! We are stoked! We’ll have a few projects right at first to keep us busy. . . we want to refinish the wood floors, tile the bathrooms and kitchen, and repaint most of the interior of the home—other than that, just little things here and there. It’s about a 70 year old home, just down the street from Texas Tech—so Fuzz will get to ride his bike to school every day—he’s so excited!

Things have just been working out so good for us, we feel so blessed. Last weekend Fuzz was able to visit and we were able to watch conference together- what an inspiring weekend! I love conference—so does Fuzz ;) It’s always a great time for us to really sit down and analyze our lives and recommit ourselves to just always try a little harder to be a little better. I know for me, conference always puts me in check. I love hearing all the talks and looking for those ones that I swear were prepared just for me—I always find plenty of them. One in particular that stood out to me was the “To be or Not To Be” talk by Lynn G.Robbins of the Quorum of the seventy. Here's a link:

http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/what-manner-of-men-and-women-ought-ye-to-be?lang=eng&query=to+be+or+not+to+be

I love how we were encouraged to work on becoming more than just checking things off, but recognizing the significance of the process. I am all about “to-do” lists—which are great for some things, but other things require a constant effort, and there is never a check-off date, like we can never be finished having integrity, or being humble etc. Elder Robbins talked about how important it is not just to look at our kids report cards and commend them for their grades, but even more so for their great study habits or perseverance. I love that!

Well this past month has been filled with adventure and I can only see more of it ahead. . . we can’t wait! Haha but we’ll for sure keep ya’ll posted—I’m getting accustom to the language of Texans…. They're “Fix’in” to do just about EVERYTHING haha and people don’t understand who or what I’m talking about unless I throw in a “ma’am”, “sir”, or “Ya’ll” in there. I’m working on my communication skills. . . haha doesn’t come natural for this Utah’n—haha I’m makin progress though;) We’ll for sure keep ya’ll posted on all of our craziness—Thanks for readin’ . . . “Ya’ll have a blessed day!”