Jill Victoria

I can’t believe this year is now half way over. Where has 2009 gone? It honestly feels to me like it has been going way too fast and way too slow at the same time. Could be because I want to savor all the moments I can as I go through the process of planning both my wedding with David and our lives together. Now is the time when you think about all the things in a more serious light. This isn’t the time to think in hopes and dreams… reality is setting in fast!

I need to go with David soon to get our marriage license. That will be one more thing off the list; one out of the million more things that we’ve suddenly realized we need to do.

Even with just 101 days to go till the wedding, some things still seem like a far off thought instead of a rapidly approaching reality. I usually realize how much of a reality it is when the costs starts piling up for the little things. Do we really need wedding favors? Seriously?

Thank God for the major things being done. Our venue is taken care of, my dress is bought and will be altered tomorrow, and we have a place to live. There’s a tree on our place to live, but it’s still there. *sigh*

I’m really looking forward to this three day weekend. Just a few days after that I’ll also have Campmeeting to enjoy. This job can be rather stressful when the boss is here. When he’s not, things go a lot smoother and we have fun as well as work.

Hopefully David and I along with our parents can get everything we need to do done in a timely manner. I hate leaving things last minute, and even though the wedding is still three months away, I can’t help but panic at times when I think about how fast three months can go by in wedding time.

That on top of starting my teaching degree will be hectic. But honestly, I couldn’t think of a better time of my life to be doing exactly what I’m doing now. I believe I’m finally ready for this.

My mom and I were talking about maturity last night. The difference in a person’s maturity in just a years time, even a few months, is amazing. We really do reach our final maturity (at least we’re supposed to. Some never mature at all) at age 25. I think that things are finally set in my mind. I’m a grown woman who is getting married and finally ready to start working on a real career.

Wish me luck! It will be an adventure, for sure!

Current Mood: Alarmed

I have had some big and fun happenings in my life as of late.

Last week I made the decision to go back to school and get my degree. I had originally planned to go for my Associates in Paraprofessional Education, but after talking to some people (mainly my financial backers, parents, fiance and a close friend) I decided today to change my focus on Elementary Education. It will open up more doors for me in the end and I do believe that it will pay off.

I’ll start going online to the University of Phoenix (again) towards the end of July. I wanted to wait till then so I could get through Campmeeting without having to worry about going to school. I already took off the days from work I needed to go to Campmeeting. I can’t believe it’s only 17 days away! My aunt Ellen, first cousin Rachel and her kids (Lucie, Jack, Joey, JJ, Lillie, Jacob and Jonathan) are all coming down for the week of Campmeeting, which I’m excited about! I really hope I can go with Rachel and Lucie to look at bridesmaid and flower girl dresses together.

My brother Matthew is now back in the States and stationed down in Savannah, GA. He came home on June 20th, had ten days off and left Monday for Ft. Stewart. It’s a comfort to know he’s back home in Georgia and away from that crazy Kim Jong Il. I just wish that his girlfriend was home from South Korea as well. I worry about her being there.

As of writing this, there are 102 days till David and I get married! It really is getting down to the details now. I went and picked up my wedding gown last Thursday. I’m super excited to finally have it! I have my fitting for alterations this coming Thursday; which also means I need to go pick up my bra (finally) from Silver Lining. Plus sized ladies, Silver Lining is a great place to go and find your wedding garment needs!

This past Saturday, David and I booked our honeymoon! We will be going on a five day Carnival Cruise to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas! It’s my first cruise and I’m really excited about it. Krista told me all about her cruise experience and it sounds like something I will really enjoy. David is a past cruiser, but he says he will have more fun on this one since he’s an adult now… plus the whole honeymoon part. Hehe.

Over the weekend, David and I went to the lake house on Jackson Lake twice. Kris and Gabe came Saturday, along with Matthew and his friend Cameron. We all went swimming in the lake and then Kris cooked us dinner. As usual, her food was delicious!

Sunday Krista and Spencer came with us and we went swimming that day as well. Krista and I swam close to half a mile trying to help us get in shape for both our upcoming weddings. Spencer and Krista decided to move their wedding date from next July to this September. Krista is now feeling more of a wedding rush than I am!

For dinner that night, we went to a place called Frank’s. I thought it was pretty good, but it had nothing on Longbranch in Fayetteville!

We did make a surprising discovery when David and I got to our future home Saturday. A tornado that came through earlier had snapped a medium sized sweetgum tree in two and it fell on our deck. Luckily for us, the only damage was to the railing (which was knocked over) and the plastic patio furniture was destroyed. My dad is going to come over and chop up the tree with his chainsaw once he gets the blade sharpened.

This weekend is the Fourth of July. I’m going to try and cram a lot into three days. Friday David and I made plans to go back to the lake house with Krista and Spencer. Dr. Frank rented a pontoon boat for the day also, so hopefully we’ll also be able to go out on the water in it. That all depends on some family matters first.

Work is going well. There are days when it’s a lot of fun and there are days that drag on forever. Cheryl from work stopped by the lake house right before we got there Saturday. She told me about it at work on Monday.

Life is changing and moving faster than I can keep up with at times. At least all these changes are for the better. School on top of wedding planning? I must be crazy! Keep me in prayers for when I start classes. I’ll need them when I get to the math part!

I have actually never written down my story of my time in France. I decided to chronicle it here.

This time six years ago, I was living in France while I did mission work with my aunt, Ellen; uncle, Ross; and two cousins, Joel and Nate.

I ended up in France totally by God’s calling. I always wanted to go and visit, but I didn’t plan for it to be a year after I graduated high school. I especially didn’t know it would end up changing my life forever.

My Aunt Ellen called from France one evening to chat with my mom; I happened to answer the phone. We exchanged our hellos and then I just blurted out, “Would you mind if I came and lived with you for a while?”.

Yep. That was it. I was actually shocked to hear the words come out myself. Live there? Thousands of miles away from my home? Away from everything I have ever known?

As we made plans for my trip across the pond, God pulled on my heart and told me this was more than just a temporary move; it was an opportunity to be apart of a ministry in his name to reach the Catholics who were not living the life God wanted for them. (For those that don’t know, the Catholic church in Europe is very much into idol worship and recognizes Mary as more of an authority that Christ. My uncle, Ross Hindman, wrote a book on the subject called, The Great Divide).

A month before I was scheduled to leave, we found out that Ross had throat cancer and would need surgery while I was there. It became so clear right then and there why I was called to France.

People want socialized medicine, but don’t realize the toll it puts on a family. My uncle had to be admitted to a hospital two hours away from home and had to bring his own sheets, toilet paper, towels, and sit in a hospital with no AC during the hottest summer in France’s kept history. Sounds wonderful, huh?

I left for France after I got back from a weekend trip to Texas for One Day (which is actually three days), a college/singles/young professionals ministry headed by Louie Giglio. That trip helped get me in the mindset that God needed me in for this total change in my life.

I’ll never forget the feeling I had when the plane touched down in Paris. I felt relieved that I had arrived, scared to death of trying to navigate my way through a French airport and wondering if this was such a good idea after all. I had never been that far away from home on my own. It was a jolt into adulthood. I was on my own.

With the help of what little French I had learned in high school, I found my way to my next gate and boarded the hopper flight from Paris to Lyon, where my aunt and cousins would meet me. It would be an hour long flight followed by another two hours in a car to get from Lyon to the small town where the seminary school my aunt and uncle ran was located. It would also be an uncomfortable flight. A little French woman kept trying to talk to me, despite me telling her in French I didn’t speak the language very well and didn’t understand her.

I was so excited to see Ellen, Joel and Nate waiting for me at the bottom of the escalator. We grabbed my two bags and headed out to their van. The airport was so tiny compared to Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.

Traveling through the winding roads that snaked through the Massif Central mountains and into the Haute-Loir department (like states/counties in the US) and on to the tiny village of Le Chambon de Vorey, a commune of Vorey.

You could seriously put the whole village of Le Chambon de Vorey into a Super Wal-Mart with room to spare. The largest building by far was the one in which my family lived and ran the school, Bethany Ministries, Centre de Formation. The building is what is known as a cheatue forte, a defense castle on the outskirts of a larger town. The oldest part of this cheatue dates back to the 1500s. It has been everything from the fort to a hotel and restaurant and now a seminary school.

Being the history enthusiast I am, it was great getting to live in a building that was older than my own country! Every nook and cranny held something different, something new. You would find a room in places you never expected… like the door we found to another room that was at the top of the hallway wall.

My days were spent doing chores, washing dishes in “the dungeon” (what used to be the original entrance to the cheatue is now the wash room complete with archery window) and helping prepare meals for the students who were staying at the school. I only ever got to meet and eat with them once and they were fascinated with my southern accent. Anyone who believes that all the French are rude and American hating are just ignorant. That would be like saying that all Americans are rich and fat. Stereotypes are just that… stereotypes.

There were a couple of evenings that my Aunt Ellen and I visited fellow missionaries living in the nearby city of Le Puy. It was interesting seeing how people there lived. Air conditioning was a rare thing to find. Even grocery stores weren’t cooled. I remember being happy to visit their version of Wal-Mart, called Giant. It had A/C and everything else I wanted to find to be comfortable while living in France.

We also went on tours of the city, visiting the historic district and the Cathedral there. The city’s idol, The Black Virgin, is hosted in their cathedral. On a certain day during the summer, they parade the doll through the streets and people pray to it.

On the top of a very high peak in the city is the Saint Michel d’Aiguilhe Chapel. Pilgrims still come to this spot and will climb to the top of the stairs carved into the mountain on their knees.

The city also hosted two large statues of Mary and Joseph, both holding the baby Jesus. They faced each other from either side of the city and were made from the melted canons of Napoleon’s army.

The story goes that the architect who designed the statues placed Jesus in the wrong arm of Mary. He was so distraught over this, he climbed to the top of her and jumped.

After the seminar was over, my uncle went in the hospital for his surgery. Like the idea of socialized medicine? Yeah. Try staying for a while in a country that has it. I’ve seen public restrooms cleaner than the hospital in St. Etienne.

While my aunt went back and forth for two hours nearly every day to be with my uncle, I stayed and helped take care of the grounds with my cousins, Joel and Nate. We weeded the yard, cleaned the kitchen, cleared stones out of the ground for the garden and got to swim in the Loire River to cool off.

It wasn’t all work. We did get to take excursions into the nearby villages of Le Chambon, Roche-en-Régnier, Polignac and Le Puy. One day we made a long trip and stopped in Orange to the Roman amphitheater and to Marsiella.

In Orange, we toured the Roman amphitheater. It was dated to be older than the amphitheaters in Italy. At one time a whole city was inside the building. Everything from homes to business were run inside it’s walls. Ruins of an old temple were also located next door to the amphitheater.

Marsiella was amazing! We visited friends of my aunt and uncle’s in their home, where I was introduced to the French version of Kool-Aid. I became rather addicted and even brought home some with me. We toured the harbor, saw the Chateau D’If (one setting for Alexandre Dumas’ <u>The Count of Monte Cristo</u>) and went to the Notre Dame Cathedral.

It was on the hill up to this cathedral that the Americans overtook the Germans in World War II, saving France. Bullet holes still scar the face of the building. Inside, tiles thanking the Virgin Mary for miracles lined the walls. It made me so sad to see the glory that should have been given to God instead given to a mere human, sinful woman.

We visited a topless beach in Marielle. No, I wasn’t topless. All I wanted was a chance to wade in the Mediterranean Sea. I also took the opportunity to scoop up some of the tiny, smooth rocks that make up the beach. I still have them in a little glass jar that includes contains some of the water from the Sea.

I also had the chance to visit the highest peak overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Europe. That was quite a view! The French mafia also liked to roll people in their cars off the edge of the bluff to get rid of bodies. It’s impossible to reach where these cars are, so when you look down at all the shining metal at the bottom near the water, you’re looking at someone’s tomb.

I was having the time of my life! Not only that, but my life was changing for the better… finally. I was finally able to hear God and hear what He wanted for me. I was becoming a better version of me.

I wish I could go into the detail only my mind can vividly enough show. Just being in France, away from everything I had ever known, was enough to awaken me from a depression I had been in for years. God sent me to France for many reasons. I was able to hear Him clearly there for the first time in my life.

I will forever treasure the time I spent in France. Even to this day I get a warm feeling when I think of France and the people there. It doesn’t take being a citizen of a third world country to need the love of Christ to be brought. Pray for the people of France. They have it a lot harder than we do, but they are on their way to making a change for the better in their government. With the new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, they may be able to become the great nation they have the potential to be.

I just wish America wanted to be as great as we used to be now.

I have so many stories I wish I could put here. Finding the secret door in the top of the wall; how I nearly drowned in the Loire River; hunting to see if someone had broken into the school after I heard a noise one night; discovering the ruins and caves around Roche-en-Régnier; how I popped a wheely on the tractor; getting my hair chopped off and dyed firetruck red, and so many other stories!

France will always be dear to me. I really hope I can take my children there one day. We have roots there, afterall.

Current Mood: Cool

I finally have time to sit down and do an update!

I started working regularly on Monday at my new job. So far it’s not my favorite job ever, but it’s also not my most hated one. I do enjoy most of it. Working with Laura is fun and the other women in the office are nice.

There’s not much to tell when it comes to what we do. Mostly it’s making phone calls. I do also do data input and help ship out orders.

Getting a job when I did was great. With my last boss still owing me close to $1,000, I was getting way behind on bills. My parents and David were helping me with what they could, though I hated having to rely on someone else to support me. I know they did it out of love. If they were in my place and I in theirs, I would be doing the same thing.

It really is great to see how God works things out. He tends to make things happen exactly when I need them to, even if it’s not in the time frame I had in mind. Obviously, He knows best.

Tomorrow David and I are going up to Chattanooga to get our engagement pictures done by David’s cousin, Kathleen. She is an excellent photographer and was even nominated for a Pulitzer Prize! We’ll be going up Saturday morning to do some inside shots and then we’re spending the night and doing photos outside on Sunday morning as well. I went and picked out some outfits, so hopefully those turn out well. Just need to get with David and coordinate them.

Please pray for good weather and for good hair days for me!

Oh, and I’m still doing Mary Kay! We have some great new products for the summer, so make sure you check out my website and order while you can!

Current Mood: Cool

Today was my first day at my new job. It was just Laura and I along with another girl (whose name escapes me right now) all day, so it was very leisurely and nice.

Laura trained me how to do the input for the spread sheet, how to fill out forms and what to say when we answer the phone. It should be a good job and she says that everyone there is very easy to work with. And since I filled out my direct deposit form, I know I’ll get paid on time every time!

While at David’s house this evening, we got a surprise! A group of balloonists dropped in on the field next to David’s. I haven’t been up close with a balloon in about ten years. My uncle Steve owns a balloon and I’ve been up in it a few times. I have always loved going up in a hot air balloon! The best time of year to do it (in my opinion) is in the winter. The warm blast from the fire feels so good mixed with the cold air surrounding you. That was when we always went up anyways. That could also be because my uncle would come for Thanksgiving and bring the balloon then.

At least it wasn’t a house being carried by thousands of balloons like in the movie Up!. I still need to go see that. I love Disney movies!

David got to take a ride up in the balloon. The people who owned it were training another guy to pilot a hot air balloon. So, when they landed, they had David get in to help with weight and balance while the guy learned how to lift and drop a few feet off the ground.

I was a little jealous I didn’t get a chance to go up, even if it was just about six feet off the ground. I think it would have been a lot of fun to get back in a basket again!

David and I worked on some wedding stuff we have to give our wedding planner soon. Every time we have to make all the choices, I feel overwhelmed or like there’s just too much involved. Everyone has an opinion and I get tired of trying to fit ours as a couples in and filter out everyone elses. It’s not like we don’t appreciate the input, because we do. We actually take it into consideration; but when we make our own choice about something, it doesn’t help to hear others say they would do it differently. Thanks, but that’s you. We want things a certain way, seeing as we’re only doing this once… unlike my dad’s brother who has divorced and remarried the same woman at least ten times now.

Now we just need to pick out our first dance song, father/daughter, etc. It sucks! There are so many good songs for the dances, but none seem special enough. At least not yet.

This really has been a good weekend thus far. I hope Sunday is just as good or better!

Here’s a life update on me.

Today has been a very good day! I had my second meeting with Leslie, my wedding planner. Felisha, the proprietor of the Hazlehurst House, was also present for this meeting. My mom and Emily came and we all talked flowers and center pieces and cake and layout for the ballroom. It was a lot to take in, but I’m glad it got done all at once. I have some paper work to fill out for Leslie so she can get the ceremony planned and timed out, and then our last meeting will be in September.

It’s a lot closer than I thought!

Before I got to the meeting, Laura called me to tell me that her boss at her new job was looking for someone to do data entry. She asked if I would come in for an interview and bring my resume. I told her I could be there after my meeting with Leslie, so I headed out there right after I finished up.

The interview was very quick and I was hired on the spot. I go in tomorrow so Laura can train me.

So, that is one prayer answered! And not a moment too soon, either.

After the interview, I stopped by Moye’s so I could give some of my Mary Kay customers their orders. Then I went to meet my two maids of honor, Emily and Krista, for lunch at La Parilla. We had a good and cheap lunch there and then I headed to get my eyebrows waxed. They were long overdue.

Tonight I’m eating at Baci’s in Fayetteville, where mine and David’s rehearsal dinner will take place. It’s a family owned Italian place with excellent food! My stomach rumbles just thinking of it!

In other news, my room is well on it’s way to being cleaned and packed up and ready for the big move in October. I get a weird sensation whenever I think of moving. It’s crazy to think that I’ll finally, and I mean FINALLY be out of my parents house! Not that I don’t love them, I just want to be out of their house and out living my own life. I’m sure they want me out as well.

Hopefully David will be off soon and I’ll see him. I haven’t been able to get in touch with him all day, so he doesn’t even know I had an interview, let alone that I got the job. He’ll be excited to hear it!

Maybe life will get back on the right track now. *crosses fingers*

Current Mood: Esctatic

It’s my last day of dog sitting for Kris. I feel like after tonight I can try and regain somewhat of a normal life again.

A week ago today life got really complicated for a short time. It was a holiday weekend, Pop died and then dog sitting all added up to my life feeling way out of the norm. At least I got to spend most of the time with David, which was nice.

I can’t believe it’s June! Time is flying by so quickly and every time I realize how close the wedding is now, I semi freak and get excited at the same time. Four months. Just four very short months until I’m Mrs. David Cole. That seems so far and so very close at the same time. Why do I feel like it won’t happen? Too good to be true?

David and I went and picked out wedding bands yesterday at the Shane Company. We figured since we’re up here in Gwinette at the closest Shane Co to us now, it would be a waste to not go ahead and pick out what we want. David picked out this titanium ring and I chose this simple, 14k white gold one. I like how mine is plain, so that is blends in perfectly with my engagement ring and doesn’t take away from the beauty of the solitare diamond. It’s just my own taste, but I prefer the simple look when it comes to wedding rings. Too much bling makes you look like you’re desperate to prove to everyone that you’re really in love… or that you have way too much money to spend.

There is still a lot to do for the wedding. I haven’t bought my dress yet, and that is a rather important thing top have. I’ve had three people offer to give me bridal showers, which is very nice. No set dates yet, but I’m sure that they will be set soon.

This Friday I have my second meeting with my wedding planner at the Hazelhurst House. We get to discuss flowers… yay. I also have to tell her that our wedding party is diminished by one since we lost Pop. It was something we all knew would happen before October, but we still didn’t want to not count him as someone who would be there.

My brother, Matthew, will be coming home this month for good. Well, when I say “home”, I mean the USA; Georgia in specific. I’m glad he’ll be back soon, especially with that power crazed North Korean communist dictator, Kim Jung Il getting ready to go psycho over there. Matt will miss his birthday, which is next Monday. My baby brother will be 21. Oh, my God!

I’m applying for a few jobs. Please pray that I get one of them!

This week certainly didn’t go as I had thought it would. Memorial Day morning, David’s maternal grandfather, Aubrey “Pop” Varner passed away. He had been going down hill since the day after David and I got engaged. We honestly thought he was going to die that night, but he made it another three months.

Pop was a great man. Even though I got the briefest of time with him (just over a year), I felt like I had another grandfather for a while. I have two of my grandparents left (on my mother’s side), but I lost my paternal grandparents at very young ages; my grandfather at age three and my grandmother at age 10. Having David’s grandparents in my life meant a lot to me. Still having his grandmother means a lot to me even now.

I felt like I lost a grandparent too. It really hit me that Pop was gone when I walked up next to his casket and for the first time since I’ve known him, he didn’t reach out his hand for mine.

This whole week has been emotionally draining. Wednesday was the viewing, first from 2:00 to 4:00, then another one from 6:00 to 8:00. Yesterday was the funeral, which I’m sure Pop would have loved. After Laurie (David’s aunt) read the eulogy she wrote, she invited others to stand up and tell stories about Pop. It was a great time and we all had laughs. Pop loved to tell a story. I don’t think I ever saw him without him talking. Everyone in the family agreed that Pop would have loved to hear everyone telling stories about him.

We laid Pop to rest up in Commerce, Georgia. He was buried close to his son, Terry, and his granddaughter, Emma. I’m going to really miss him.

As if I didn’t know it already, this past week proved even more to me that I am marrying into one of the best families in the world. I come from a family that is close and connected, and I always knew that I’d have to find someone whose family resembled my own. Finding a guy who values his family and actually knows his grandparents, his aunts, uncles, great-aunts and uncles and cousins is a hard thing to find these days. So many families are broken and distant. David’s family, both the Cole side and the Varner, are amazing families. You know that a family has come together when people from the Cole side were bringing food and attending the funeral for a family member on the Varner side. It really touched me to see that.

Now that Pop is laid to rest, David and I will be spending the rest of the week and on till Monday at Kris’ house while we dogsit. Obviously, I’m writing this from Kris’ computer. David is playing XBox live and Finn is begging for both of our attention. I swear, he could fetch a ball all day!

David and I will be going down to Fayetteville for dinner with David’s parents, John and Yoly and maybe GrandMom. I am so looking forward to getting at least a little bit back to normal.

I’m still doing pretty well with Mary Kay. I need $76 more dollars in sales to reach my goal for the month and to be able to get a $100 rebate. If anyone wants to purchase anything, let me know!

Hopefully I’ll reach my goal and have a good weekend. I’m still looking for another job and debating going to learn to be a nurse’s aid. I hear it’s a quick training and that they are in high demand right now.

I hope everyone else has a great weekend!

Current Mood: Bored

List three experiences you’ve had, that you wish every single person could have.

1) Getting to live in a totally different culture and realizing that the world is so much bigger than you could imagine it is. You never know how small your own world is till you have leaped out of your comfort zone and into someone elses. It gives you a whole new perspective on your life and it opens you up to a dialog with God you may have missed in your own world.

2) Falling in love with your best friend and finding out in the process that everything you thought you knew and wanted in a spouse is totally trumped when you find the person God had set aside just for you. It’s like getting your heart wrapped up in a warm and fuzzy blanket. You feel safe and warm and secure.

3) Beating off the demons. Everyone has their own demons and we all have to do battle with them. The hardest part is never giving up and to make sure that you keep believing that there is something better. Success is one reward you get for not letting any demons keep you down.

Taken from Soul Pancake.

There is the old saying that when God closes a door, He opens a window. I’m going to have to go with that right now.

Friday night I was out with David, John, Yoly and their cousin Zack and his girlfriend, Ilia. We went to Don Pablo’s for dinner and then planned to see Angels and Demons afterward. While at dinner, I got a phone call from my co-worker, Jerry. He told me that my boss was letting me go and that he would pay me the money he owed me. I’m not holding my breath to the the close to a grand he owes me. It would really come in handy, though.

Jerry told me that my now former boss said that when business picks up, he’ll bring me back. Again, I’m not holding my breath. I had a feeling it was coming to this anyways. I mean, the man couldn’t even afford to pay me $160 a week.

I’m really counting on Mary Kay to help me out while I look for a new job. If you want to host a party or get a free facial, please let me know and give me a call. My info can be found on my Mary Kay website.

Despite the bad news, I still had a lot of fun with everyone. Angels and Demons was so awesome! It followed the book really closely and it did a fantastic job turning one of my favorite books into a movie. I wasn’t disappointed!

Saturday night was the benefit dinner and dance for the Joseph Sams School. I had a lot of fun there. I got to dress all pretty and visit with the Coles and a lot of other people in my impending family. My mom and grandmother came as well. My grandmother is a big fan of Ferrol Sams, so she got to meet him. I hope that made her happy. She was happy at Christmas when David and I gave her autographed copies of his books.

David and I danced our first dance ever to “My Girl”. It was sweet. We also bid on a golden rose at the silent auction and won it. It really is pretty.

Sunday Lauren and I had our Mary Kay booth at the Taste of Fayetteville. Despite the rain, the cold and the fact we both got pretty miserable really fast, it was a productive time. We got a lot of leads and hopefully that will turn into a lot of customers.

After we enlisted David and John’s help in getting the tent and the table packed away, Lauren headed home and I went with David, John and Yoly to eat at O’Charley’s. We went to visit with family at GrandMom and Pop’s house afterward for Patty’s birthday. Pop seemed to be having a pretty good day. He at least knew who everyone was. We sang “Amazing Grace” for him as a family. It nearly made me cry. Even typing about it gets me teary-eyed.

Today I decided I needed a haircut. At least Mary Kay has been good enough to me that I could pay off some bills and get a haircut. I’m really happy with how it turned out, too. I’d highly recommend people going to The Ten Salon for their next haircut. You won’t be sorry! I told Leigh, the girl who cut my hair, that she gave me the exact haircut I have been trying to get other stylists to give me for a long time. It’s the best haircut I’ve ever had!

Now I have to look for another job. I’m not thrilled with it, but who would be? I know that God has His hand in everything and that I will be just fine. It doesn’t make this any easier. At least with my GPE job I knew that money would come in eventually. I guess I have the same situation with Mary Kay. I will make money with Mary Kay only if I put work into it. I have a lot of calls to make.

Please keep me in your prayers. Pray that God leads me to the job I need to have, whatever that may be.

Current Mood: Cool