Life goes on!

Well, here's my update from our busy, yet fruitful week last week and weekend! I spent most of the week getting ready for our garage-sale on Saturday, which went pretty well. Including the futon we sold just before the sale, we made about $650, which is such a blessing! It'll really help with some of the upcoming expenses we'll have with the job search and moving.

On the job search front, we're both feeling pretty good about it right now. Collin has submitted his resume to several different government defense contractors, put in for a few GS jobs, applied with several companies like USAA, HEB, and Valero as well as posting his resume on monster.com. He actually received a phone call last week from the Target Distribution Center in Tyler, Texas about the resume he'd posted on Monster! They were wanting to discuss an "executive management position" with him and were calling to see if he was interested. While we're not closing any doors entirely, we did tell them that we just started the job search and, one of the most important things to our family is to move back home to San Antonio, so for now we're not going to jump on this opportunity. Even if it wasn't our ideal location, it sounded like a pretty good opportunity, and it feels really good and raises our spirits to have companies calling us with job opportunities just because they saw Collin's resume online!

What's most exciting for us right now, is that we were just taken on by Lucas Group, an executive headhunter that also specializes in transitioning military members into the corporate world. Some of the guys Collin worked with have gone through Lucas Group and found jobs that they are very happy with, so we figured it couldn't hurt to have others helping us with the job search! Collin took quite a bit of time last week getting his Candidate Evaluation Package together for them, and we received a call last Thursday that they've selected him as a Candidate! They are well-respected and one of the largest and fastest growing headhunting firms in the nation, so they don't take on just anyone that applies. From here, they'll be working closely with Collin and their corporate clientele to see what opportunities there are that he'd be interested in and attaining interviews for him. The next step will be for Collin to go to a Military Hiring Conference in Dallas on Sept 20 and 21st to be intereviewed by any companies who might be interested in him. Please pray that all these plans go smoothly, as we only have one month before this all happens! All in all, we're continuing to feel God's hand on our lives and His blessings continue to be showered on us. Thank you all so much for your prayers, love and support - as I've said before, keep 'em comin'! :)

In other news, Moira starts her first day in the Pre-K class at preschool tomorrow! We took her to the school on Thursday to meet her new teachers, Miss Jennifer & Miss Sheila, and see her new classroom, the City room. The room was so cute, with a city skyline painted on the walls and a huge dress-up corner, not to mention a treehouse cubby that they've named "fairytale corner" since they hung fairies from the ceiling in there! She's very excited about going back to school after having last week off and starting in a new classroom with new teachers, although I'm sure she'll miss Miss Shelly in the Mountian room too. I'm happy that she'll now be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead of Mondays and Fridays... that was just too long a stretch to go without school for her! :) Poor Ian wants to go to preschool with his big sister so much now, it breaks my heart to have to pull him away crying every time we drop her off and pick her up. They do have a 2 year old class, I've just been hesitant to put him in since we're not going to be here much longer and it would be an added expense - although I must admit that the idea of even just one morning to myself is super tempting! ;) We'll have to pray about it.

As for me, I've going strong with my stamping, getting ready for a party on the 30th and a stamp camp in early September. When we first heard about the RIF, my reaction was that I'd have to sacrifice my Stampin' Up business to save money and do what I can to help out; but after talking to Collin and my mom and sister, they've all encouraged and convinced me to continue. And, I'm so glad I didn't give it up - it's been my sanity for the last few weeks, helping me focus my mind and effort into something that I love, into something that I can actively be doing! Plus, I realized that I'll finally be able to settle down in San Antonio and continue my Stampin' Up business without having to move every 3 years! Yea! :) It's also allowed me to save money by making some fun gifts for some of our upcoming Fall birthdays and Christmas! Here are a couple of recent creations for (I hope!) your enjoyment!

These are hanging photo ornaments for my Grandmother's heart-shaped photo tree that hangs on the wall. She'll be getting them for her birthday later this month. I told her I'd make more for her other great-grandchildren once we get back to San Antonio!

I've signed up for numerous swaps lately, and these are some of the things I made for the Halloween swaps. The first set of cards is a Halloween themed "view master" card, the second is a mini-can of Pringles I dressed up, and the last is just a cute Halloween card that I love!