9.13.08

This week has been pretty crazy. With all the normal things in my life going on, (ie. laundry, cleaning, working for my dad, going grocery shopping for my mom, and running 5 days a week) life can already tend to be just a tad on the busy side. Then add to that the fact that we are going to be moving into a new house in the Austin area just two weeks from today, and I start a new job on Monday, and we seem to have been running on high speed this week.

Mom has - in between schooling and 'normal' life - been trying to find a new house for us to move into and it looks like, as of yesterday, we may have found one that will work. And I have been trying to finish up two rather big projects for my dad before my job starts on Monday, and at the same time try and help mom keep things running around the house.

In the past few weeks I have been trying to help mom by taking over the laundry and grocery shopping, because they are things that I can do, and, before you think that I am some amazing servant daughter, I really actually like doing them :) Laundry isn't really my favorite, but I love jobs where I can see results. And let me tell you, there is definitely room for alot of 'results' in our laundry room! It is amazing to me how much laundry we dirty in a single day. I mean, we couldn't possibly be wearing that much in ONE day, could we!?! But all the same, it shows up one way or the other and I love the feeling of having all the laundry caught up at the end of every day. Such satisfaction. I know, I know, alot of you are probably laughing...I mean after all, it's just laundry, right? Huh. You haven't seen our laundry room after going just one day with no laundry being done. NOT a pretty sight. Some close family friends of ours, have termed laundry "Mount Never-Rest". Pretty applicable, I think. I know all you others from big families will know what I am talking about :)

But grocery shopping, now there is something I LOVE to do! And I especially love it when I can take my siblings with me. It sounds kind of crazy (who likes taking 6 children with them while grocery shopping?), and it is, which is why I like it :) Last Saturday I went shopping and took the five youngest with me. I love taking normal everyday things an making memories out of them. We had fun, from singing along (well, some of us anyways) at the top of our lungs to 'Clean Pickins' Bluegrass music on the way there, to letting them help me decide what to buy for certain meals, and then going through the self-check line at Wal-Mart with an over-flowing cart full of food (not something I would recommend exactly:), and taking about 20 minutes to check out. Oh yes, and then the lady asking me, as I was walking out the door with five children trailing after me, if I "only had five?". Because "she has seven" herself. Ummm...yeah. Right. I just keep telling myself that surely she didn't get a good look at me or she would never have thought that I was old enough to have five children. At least I hope that was the case.

So, just trying to make memories whenever I can. Trying to turn the fundamental everyday things of life into memories that will nestle down into my heart and stay there long past the time that we did them. I am loving being home with my family right now. Getting to be a part of their everyday life. I had missed all the laughter and giggles, the hugs and sweet kisses, the inside jokes that only family would understand, and being around the people I love most 24/7.

I guess I have been thinking about that a little more than usual this week, with the thought of starting a new job on Monday that will have me out of the house Mon-Fri. from seven thirty in the morning, to six or seven at night for the next two months of my, life looming in the back of my mind. I know I have told some of you about my new job, and others of you have asked about it, so I thought I'd tell you a little about my new job.

I will be working at the same place my dad works, for a company called ACS. I am going to be working in one of their call centers answering calls from people who have questions about their company's medical policies. I will be going through about five weeks of training for only three weeks of "real work" in the call center. I am a little nervous about it, because this will be the biggest job I've ever had and I want to do a good job and be a testimony to those I will be working with and for. I had been praying all summer asking God what he wanted me to do about making money because I have several things I want to pursue in the next year (photography courses, international trips, etc.) and they all take more money than I currently have. So when this opportunity came up to work in the same building as my dad with only a two month commitment needed, and still make a good amount of money, I was very glad. I look forward to the ways that God may chose to use me to reach out to those I come in contact with.

So I am hanging on to these last two days I have at home before the whirlwind begins. I would ask for your prayers for me, especially in the next few weeks as I try to orient myself to the new job. I will continue to keep you updated on my life as much as possible over the next two months, though they may come a little bit more spread out depending on how much time I have :)

Rejoicing in His love. . .

~Jessica Shae