Quick Update

Other than our Christmas show, here's what's been going on in our life:

1. I'ms till struggling with underemployment. God is good, though. See # 3 to find out why.

2. I retook the PRAXIS (this time in Early Childhood Education) in November and got my score report this week. not only did I pass, but I blew that sucker out of the water. Highest score is 200 and I scored 188. Not too shabby, considering I didn't take any ECE classes at Lindenwood. This means I just have to send in paperwork to DESE to tack on certification for birth-grade 3. Woo hoo!

3. My church family is amazing. After we ran through the program yesterday morning, I returned to my purse to find a red envelope. A very thick red envelope. I opened it and inside I found four gift cards: one for Target, one for Wal Mart, one for QT, and one for Dierbergs -- each for $100. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. I have NO idea who it's from -- they signed the card "Santa." We have our suspicions but I don't want to ask around. Jesus teaches us not to give if you're giving so others will see you and I want to do the same as a recipient. I had jsut gotten make up put on for the show and I had to try soooo hard not to cry and ruin it. Our church family is AMAZING and I really don't think we could have made it through the last year without the blessing they have been to us. God has used them immensely this year as a source of support and prayer.

4. I'm sooo excited about Christmas. That gift from the people at church made it possible for us to be able to purchase gifts for everyone whose name we pille as well as our niece and nephew. I got Kailey and DJ bible storybooks -- The Jesus Bible Storybook and My First Study Bible -- and something for my brother that I'm not revealing here since my blogs move to Facebook and he might be reading. I got Jerome a CD he's been wanting (see this entry) and a devotional he had pointed out a couple of times that he was interested in having.

5. Our friend Laura is moving out of her apartment and in with her almost-fiance who is incredibly allergic to cats. She needs a place for Sebastian, we want a playmate for Paulie, so we're adopting Sebs. She brought him over today and he wasn't very happy, LOL. Paulie was real curious and looking and everything but when Sebastian started hissing, so did Paulie. We're giving them a few days to duke it out through the door of the guest bedroom before we let them roam the house together. Our hope is that they are both so mellow that they'll get along great once they get used to each other.