Post? OK!

I am 100% not sure if anyone really cares...but I haven't blogged in FOREVER.

I haven't even told you where I work...what I am doing!

Well... I work at Katy High School and I teach IPC and Chemistry...which is basically 9-12 grade.

And it is amazing. I love my kids...there are some that are nuts and need....well I really can't publicly state what they need...but anyways...

Yay for blogs! I miss it! But I do not have time...I don't even have time to catch my breath 4 out of the 5 days of the week.

But know that I love it...and I love them...and I am SUPPOSED to be here with them...loving them and forgiving them...and being tough on them...and being empathetic to them...and most of all teaching them.

Miss Miss...Love Love!

One Year

I’ll start with the most important event …

SEA WORLD…I mean um… our one YEAR anniversary…

It was a shocking realization that a year had passed that quickly…

I think the past year was amazing!! Honestly, it was way easier than I expected. I have posted previously how everytime I talked to older married folks, they would always ask me for an update, and wait with their faces distorted, ready for me to tell them how awful marriage is. It was so bizarre. I kept expecting it to get harder and harder. But it did not!

Don't get me wrong, sharing of vows does not instantly make you perfectly perfect for your spouse...you are still two broken sinful people who live in a confined space (atleast we did...in 777sq ft...sick) ...but its how you handle the miscommunications, the bumps, the moods, the circumstances of life...that makes marriage AWESOME.

We learned a TON about each other…it was a wonderful foundational year …We learned that we are very different…(lets be real, we already knew it, but we actually lived it out… )

Hunter is naturally very hospitable, I try, but I am not.
Hunter likes to try new things, I would prefer to not.
Hunter is pretty spontaneous, I am not.
He is an introvert, I am an extrovert.
I am fascinated by social interactions, he could care less.
I think/analyze until my brain short circuits, he can't even comprehend that, let alone do it.
I multitask, he cannot.
I am always looking forward, he is perfectly content with the present.

This is just the beginning.

Luckily, we learned that we are way similar too…

We have the exact same sense of humor. We have laughed until we almost peed... a lot in the past year.
We are both very clean.
We both are super frugal.
We both like to be listened to.
We have the exact same views on Christianity and apologetics…kind of bizarre if you think about how many ideas there are floating around.
We are both very low key.
We are both very compassionate people towards our respective causes.

It is such a blessing to have someone 100% on your team…who would fight for anything you wanted, simply because you want it. He has lived out what a best friend truly is. He has actively pursued me like Christ does his church. (Ephesians 5:23) He constantly seeks for peace in our home (Psalm 34:14)

The point is…my husband pursues Christ daily and lives it out in our marriage. That is why the past year has been strong.

We really try to constantly examine how to improve and grow in areas that are weak.

Let me tell you…it is WAY easy to be careless about weak areas in a marriage. Just living day in and day out…getting by. Or just being passive, not even realizing you’re upset until you blow up with 6 things on your mind that piled up over the last month. Passive people! How do you do it! Being passive is not found in my gene pool. Us Witthuhn’s, we’ll let you know when we are upset, immediately.

If that happens, you will be halted by a much bigger problem before too long. I gag at the thought of that.

So basically, I am pumped about the next 60+ years...my husband is the sweetest most servant hearted man in the world. I can't wait to be like the old people on UP!...so preshy.

Finally settling down...

This is so me.

The last couple months have been nuts.

Total crazy town

Hunter and I celebrated one year of oneness, we went to SEA WORLD in Florida and had the time of our lives, we both turned 23, I chopped off 8 inches of my hair, I became certified as a teacher by going to 12 hours of class a week, I took my huge teacher test, I got a JOB as a teacher, AND we moved!

UGH.

What were we thinking!!

Now the good news is, well all of the above.

So I am going to back track and post my thoughts on all of the above...because I have time now. and I literally did not until just now.

YAY!

Birday..(Ya, I meant to spell it like that)

Have ya'll given up on me yet?

Like life has taken over and I am just a passenger...and I am NOT ok with it.

I reallllllllly have a TON of exciting things to rant and rave about...but where the flip does time GO. It's like you add 12 hours of class onto your already full time job and marriage..and boom..before I know it...it's MID JUNE.

So...its my birthday. Or Birday, as Hunter and Erin say it :) And I am one year closer to babies. Seriously, that's how I gauge my life progression...I can't help it.

And for some reason, I really want a princess cake. Actually, I want a princess party.

Tomorrow, my fam and Hunter's fam are getting together to celebrate...and I kind of want them to dress up in prince and princess costumes...and I am really not kidding.

Maybe it's my unconscious really sick way of holding on to my youth...

Being realistic, I know that will not fly...with the men...surely they'd turn that idea down...so maybe I can just settle on a princess cake...

SEA WORLD ORLANDO

We are waking up at 6 AM tomorrow...

to go to SEA WORLD! ..in FLORIDA

Do you know why?

Look at that picture...minus the weird looking (but lucky) little girl...

We are going there because they have POLAR BEARS...and SHAMU! and dolphins! and a hotel with a floating river that goes around it! and 11 restaurants in the hotel! and a spa...and polar bears!

My favorite animal in the whole wide world is a polar bear. and Hunter got me tickets to go back stage to meet one.

Ok..no not during feeding time like crazy lady in the news...but like a real life back stage hook up!

It is our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY this Sunday....and we are going on another vacay. = no work for 10 days!

When we get back...I will definitely have plenty to add on:

the past year..YEAR!? what!

where I am in my "career"...check last post for recap

um...another huge change...I freaking chopped off all my hair..like all of it..

and SEA WORLD!


love love..

I'm a grown up now..dangit.

I made a big girl decision this past week.

As much as I wish I still this little, I'm so not.

Let me recap.

I have a major life decision going on right now: Where am I headed in my career and/or do I want to change careers?

Option one: staying at MD Anderson and being promoted within the institution doing research related jobs

Option two: change paths completely and start teaching high school science (preferably biology or chemistry)

For a few months now, I have been pursuing both endeavors wholeheartedly so that any burnt bridges were not my doing... but the Lords doing...

I am enrolling in an alternative certification program this summer, to be ready to teach by THIS FALL. what? that shouldn't be legal. But it is...and I am already preparing for this crazy opportunity...

I also applied for a promotion position at MD Anderson.. I would still be under a research grant (safe in this economy) and I would be working directly under a prestigious doctor in neuro-oncology (brain cancer) research. Needless to say...huge deal. I would be getting up to a 15% raise if I was chosen for this position...not to mention the endless professional connections in a medical area of interest for Hunter and I (brain and spine issues are an area of expertise that Hunter possibly wants to pursue).

This was a HUGE interview. I did not take it lightly at all. I took tedious and detailed notes because I knew that with the upfront perks, it would be hard to say no to this opportunity if it was given. (Perks are mischievous and they can trick you into choosing a job that you hate day to day)

Without going into too much unnecessary detail, I thought the interview was awful. I walked out of there feeling more unwelcome and socially cold than I have ever felt around living human beings in my life.

I have thought about this from all sides...I mean they could have been doing a scare or intimidation tactic...to see how much stress I was capable of. I get that. But if your going to do that...in the last 3-5 minutes of the interview...lighten up a tad, you know? Or just be warm and welcoming for 60 seconds. JUST 60 SECONDS. That would be enough for me! Just so I know that if I get the job, I am not going to work for unhelpful overcritical colleagues.

Twist.

I get a call from HR...and I got the job...if I want it...

Great. Not only did the doctor like me, he wants to give me almost a full 15% raise...

My thoughts: ...wait ...did I read this guy wrong? He liked me? Is that how he shows people that he likes them? AM I MISSING SOMETHING?!

I tell H.R...I need time.

They say...you have a day. 24 hours. go.

CRAP.

I then proceed and try to figure this out with my own wisdom. I weigh options...I do pros and cons....I talk Hunter's head off...even though he knew the answer all along...

See, the answer would be simpler if this was just a matter of..do I take the promotion or not...
I would surely meet with that doctor again and do a round two interview...this time with me in control...and see how personable he can be.

But there was more...I am choosing between career paths! Do I take a job where I am in a lab...not around a whole lot of people...and the people I am around...are ..well..lab people. (just a different realm of social ability, but there's nothing wrong with that! it just may not be plausible for an extreme extrovert like me to work everyday with just as extreme introverts)..

Or do I take a job..that I don't have yet...and am not even qualified for YET!..but that will be working with people everyday..(more than I probably want to) ..that will kill me daily..but also bring me to life just when I think of giving up..and that I will love...and that I continually am encouraged that I will be good at...and have so much passion to do!

With an hour until I had to call HR, I pried my fingers off this decision and let it go to the One who is way more qualified to decide. I prayed for half an hour straight..in the middle of a work day...and for some reason, I felt like I was supposed to check my email...

I had just emailed my former biology teacher an hour earlier, so I thought it pertained to that. But no.

Just sent into my inbox was an email from a scholarship website I had joined in highschool...and the title was : "How to evaluate a job offer".

Oh yeah. Chills? I had them...

I read it with my mouth wide open. Heart pulsing. In complete gratitude to the Lord. Do you know that feeling? When you are smacked into humility. That was me....I was so thankful for that COMPLETELY UNDESERVED guidance. The email broke down every aspect of a job: salary, job duties, boss, colleagues, etc. Every elaboration on each section pointed to NO. I would be settling with this job. It was not for me. Someone would love to have this job...but I was talking myself into it...

So, I turned the job down.

I am not done pursuing teaching. If I don't get a teaching job this fall..or if teaching ends up not being that path for me...then I will apply for another promotion later...I am at least very encouraged by the HR department. They completely respected my decision and actually think I made the right one. PERFECT.

Now I just have to convince everyone else who looks at me crazy when I say I turned down a promotion...in this economy ...

Like I said...I made a big girl decision ...but because of the graciousness of my sweet Lord, I am positive it was the right one.

Love Hung on a Cross

"He looked around the hill and foresaw a scene. Three figures hung on three crosses. Arms spread. Heads fallen forward. They moaned with the wind.

Men clad in soldier's garb sat on the ground near the trio...

Women clad in sorrow huddled at the foot of the hill...faces tear-streaked.

All heaven stood to fight. All nature rose to rescue. All eternity poised to protect. But the Creator gave no command.

'It must be done...' he said, and withdrew.

The angel spoke again. 'It would be less painful...'

The Creator interrupted softly. 'But it wouldn't be love.'"


-In the Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado.