Thoughts on Unemployment and Tuesdays

Today is Tuesday. And lately I haven't really been a big fan of Tuesdays. On Mondays I'm still coming off the high of relaxing with my wonderful hubby all weekend. On Wednesdays I get to look forward to date night, Thursdays are Bible study nights, and Friday is the start to the weekend. But Tuesday has been the black hole in my weekly routine. There just isn't much to do. Of course there is the typical laundry, washing dishes, grocery shopping, and LSAT prep (yes, Nathan, you read correctly), but these don't exactly light my motivation fire nor do they come with a deadline, a seemingly mandatory component of helping me accomplish anything.

If there is anyone reading this who doesn't know me that well, I've always had a lot to do and a lot of groups in which to participate. My mother can attest to my ridiculous schedule even as a middle schooler, and my college schedule was more of the same. I was constantly meeting with different people and working on different projects until the veryedge of the deadline. I loved it! Now God has, quite forcibly, put me a place where I must not only slow down but to all but stop. And I don't like it very much. While I've always had a tendency to be a calm person, I struggle with being still. So while Nate is at work, I sit at home alone...in the stillness...and I fight it with all the vigor of toddler who just got her favorite toy taken away.

Yet our God is sovereign and omnipotent..and ridiculously persistent. So here I sit on a Tuesday, still waiting for that that job offer to come, still waiting for Nate to come home. But today I'm starting to recognize that while I'm still waiting for work, I can work at being still. While Nate and I were a long-distance couple, I clung to Psalm 37:3-7, and I'm still slowly learning this truth:

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

Starting Life as the Summers

We are officially Mr. and Mrs. Summers! And we are officially starting life as residents of West Des Moines. After our relaxing honeymoon in Riviera Maya Cancun, Nate resumed his position in Marketer Services at Principal Financial Group and I resumed my position at the computer searching for jobs. While I'm still searching, we know God has been faithful so far, and He will continue to be faithful in providing a job for me, as well. In His timing!

Our first month of marriage has been filled with settling our apartment, celebrating the beautiful wedding of my lifelong friend Christine and her husband Brandon, helping my parents and my brother and sister-in-law celebrate 34 and 6 years of marriage, respectively, getting together with both old and new friends living in the Des Moines area, and relaxing with the Summers family at Lake Ponderosa. It's been a busy time, but we're thoroughly enjoying being married. Though it hasn't been too long, we have learned a few things such as: how to make the words 'adjust' and 'compromise' a regular part of our vocabulary and actions, I am not a natural water skier, Nate's seemingly unflappable calmness is a good influence on me, our oven runs approximately 50 degrees hotter than it says, Sunday afternoons when neither of us has to leave are the best, and we love living together in our marriage covenant. God is good.

There are a few more lessons in there somewhere, but that's what comes to mind for now! Thanks for checking in with us. Love to you all.