Hello

Apparently that's the name of an Adele song. I've never actually heard it, but Hannah sings it all the time, and it seemed like a fitting title since it's been so long! I'm very sorry my bloggy-friends for the lack of blogging that's been happening. Life has been a rollercoaster lately, but I've loved every second of it. :)

I suppose I should update you on what's happening! First of all, the biggest thing that's happened to me since my last post is I've started a courtship! His name is Ben, and he makes me the happiest girl alive. I met him at Awana last October. I laugh now, because I honestly didn't want to go. David was invited by some friend's of ours, and came back saying "Mom! We haaaaaave to go! It's so much fun!" So, a few weeks later, we all went. I was debating up until it was time to get into the car as to whether or not I was going to go; I guess I thought it would be little-kiddish or something. I didn't realize that it was going to be age-segregated, and that there were other high-schoolers there too. Ben was one of them. He started talking to me that very first night, which was super nice, because I'm not a super social person, so to have someone who made me feel welcome right off the bat was huge. :) We gradually started talking more and more, and started texting in April. We had invited their family to our church's annual picnic in the park, and so we started messaging on Facebook to coordinate that. We kept talking, and started hanging out, always having one of my siblings around. We'd go to Dairy Queen, to the park, to the movies... Wherever we felt like it. Then, in July we officially started courting! They've been the happiest 4 months of my life. He makes me feel so special, tells me constantly that I'm beautiful even without makeup (which I NEVER would have believed), and constantly goes out of his way to help me. He really is amazing, and I don't know what I'd do without him. :)

Another thing is I quit my job! I'm technically still working there, since I just put in my two week notice last Wednesday, but I have officially quit. I used to have so much fun at my job, and I absolutely loved it, but now there's new management there, and ever since they came it's just been miserable. I constantly feel like I'm walking on eggshells, and I'm always worrying about what I'm gonna do to make them mad next. So, I decided to be done. Not for my sake, because I'm pretty sure they won't be there too much longer, but because it was affecting everything else. I'd go to work, it would be stressful, then I'd come home stressed, which would stress everyone else out... It just wasn't working. So, for now, I'm going to go back to doing the blankets for awhile. :)

Let's see.. What else has been going on? Well, Ben and I graduated from Awana last year (even though I was only in it for like half a year haha), but we both went back this year to help as Journey leaders. Yes, Journey, a.k.a. the high school age. I wanted to help with Cubbies, which are the toddlers, but they put us in Journey. I was hesitant, but decided to give it a try, and it ended up not being too bad. I was worried about how the other kids would respond to me and Ben, since we were just a little bit older than them, and most of them we knew and hung out with outside of Awana, but they actually respond pretty well, which is good. I'm pretty happy I stayed in Journey now. :)

We're also going to youth group on Wednesday nights, which is super fun. Ben invited me there back in January I think, but I wasn't allowed to actually start going on a weekly basis until April I think, and Hannah and Jonathan started coming too. Now Jonathan doesn't go most weeks because he's working, but Hannah and I are still there every week. We used to have a really big group, but then school started and we got new youth group leaders, and now it's just 7 of us on a weekly basis, which I actually like better. It feels more personal, plus we've been able to go and do things like going to Sierra Vista to see War Room, or going up to Phoenix for Winter Jam. It's just overall way better. I mean, I do miss our old leader, and being able to play kickball (you can't really do that with only 7 people haha), or all those other games that require several people to play, but I'm learning to like this new form of youth group.

Mikala came to visit last week, which was fun. It was really short notice, so I wasn't able to get any time off work, but we still were able to go bowling, to the movies twice, to do a photoshoot, to go shooting at Ben's house, and stuff like that :) It was really nice for her to be able to meet and get to know Ben, and they got along really well, which was nice, even though sometimes I felt like I was the third wheel instead of Mikala haha. :)

Hmm, what else is there? Well, I still haven't finished my math. I just lost all motivation to do it, especially after long day's at work. But, I've determined that I'm going to actually buckle down and get it done, even if I really don't want to. And now that I'm not going to be at Safeway anymore, I'll have a bit more time for it. :)
Alright, I think that's it for tonight. I've been babysitting while the rest of the family is in Tucson, but now the little kids are asleep, and I'm really sick, so I need to get to bed. Goodnight all!