It has been one year since my last blog post. I can't really call myself a blogger can I? Well, I did sit down to write several blogs during this last year. But I never completed them. I think some of them were really good ideas and I'm bummed that I never completed them. I'll try to write more often in 2013. We are currently sitting down as a family to write goals. Maybe my personal goal will be to blog more frequently. For now, I will use the rest of this blog to look back on my 2012.
January: The attempt to find a job and move to Florida was in full swing. I spent many a night online submitting resumes and filling out applications. There were several that rejected me and several that I rejected. We knew that we wanted to move to Florida (well I had some thoughts about North Carolina). The house repairs, painting and remodeling would soon be in full swing.
February: Working with the middle school students at The Bible Chapel was a blast. I really love those students. I feel like I was doing some of the best teaching that I've ever done in February and March. I love to teach Biblical principles to youth. The spring of 2012 really felt like a time that I was doing something that God wants me to do.
March: This was probably the most awkward month for me. Plans to move to Florida hadn't really made any serious progress yet. But I was starting to feel like it was a foregone conclusion. I noticed that I started to withdraw from things in Pittsburgh. It was a self-defense mechanism. I didn't want the move to hurt so much. It really was the worst month of the year for me.
April: We put our house on the Market in April. We got an offer in 4 days. We didn't have a job or place to live in Florida yet, but we accepted the offer anyhow. It was a dreadfully wonderful experience to just throw logic aside and trust God with absolutely everything.
May: I got a job offer in Jacksonville Florida and headed south on May 15th after my last day at Dick's Sporting Goods. We found a place to build our new house on the 17th and a short-term rental on the 18th and I started my new job at Stein Mart on the 21st. The world was spinning fast in May.
June: We officially headed south with all of our belongings on June 1st, after Paige's last dance recital. We had closed on the sale of our house 2 days earlier. We also officially became members of our new church and jumped right into a small group. Small group is a great bunch of guys and ladies who we really love. I think we could spend every day with them, but they'd probably get too tired of us too quickly.
July: Perhaps the least eventful month of the year for us. The major event was that we hosted our first visitors from up north as Tammie's brother and his family came and spent the week of the 4th of July with us. We spent a lot of time at the beach :) I think July is also the month that our friends, the Olsons, took us out for a day of jet skiing. What a blast!!!!!
August: Early in August, out of the blue, I got a call from a corporate recruiter for DMEautomotive. Normally I just let unexpected calls go straight to voice mail but for some strange reason I answered this one. A few short weeks later, I started my new job. It has been a long time since I have learned this much, this fast at work. It is both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.
September: The main event for September was a camping trip to Navarre Beach, near Pensacola Florida with our friends from up north, the Konrads (now living in Mississippi). There they told us that their dog was soon to have puppies. We asked if we could have the runt.
October: Perhaps the most stressful month of the year. Our house was scheduled to be done being built by the 31st. We didn't ever think they'd get it all done in time. But thanks to a bunch of great guys from small group, we had a very easy move to our new place in time for Halloween.
November: Our first full month in our new house. Lots of little things happened in November. New furniture arrived. I got a 60 inch HD 3D TV and DirecTV to watch the Penguins and Steelers (ok so not everything came up roses in 2012). Thanks to friends from small group, I had my first fried turkey for Thanksgiving. YUM!
December: Perhaps the best thing in December... NO SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We picked up our dog, Cocoa. She is easily the best puppy that I've ever had. She is some kind of a Chocolate Lab mix. Everyone who meets her tells us that the mix is Doberman. I can see it in her coloring, but her sister had unmistakably German Shepherd coloring. We may never know.
There is way too much more to write about 2012. But you're certainly bored already. To be sure, God is good all the time and 2012 was no exception.
Wishing you a richly blessed 2013!
