Hey everyone! I know it's been awhile, but in my defense I have been without internet for a month which makes blogging a teeny bit difficult. Grant and I are at my parent's house right now for the Cowboys game. Football season is here! As you can tell I am so interested that I am writing a blog. =) I love "The 'Boys" but I don't usually get into a game until at least the second half because then it gets more interesting.

Grant and I have been doing great in our new apartment and we are really getting settled in. We have been very into watching whatever TV show just came out on DVD at blockbuster and this last week that show has been Season 2 of LOST! That's an awesome show btw. But an even better show which we just watched the first season of a couple of weeks ago, is Prison Break. Truly awesome show!

I have been starting training for a permanent position at work which is a VERY GOOD SIGN that they want to keep me, since they have to show me all this confidential material Temps aren't usually allowed to see. I think they are waiting for my 90 day contract to be up (which is aprox. 20 days away) before they hire me on and they want to make sure that I will be good at the job, too. So patience is my motto these days. I am just praying that I learn everything quickly and well and that if God wants me to have this job that they will quickly hire me on.

I have been learning a lot lately about how easy it is to get distracted by just doing stuff (like entering data into a computer) and thereby stop my communication with God. It is something I have been working on and growing in a lot lately. Another thing I have been thinking about, which is related, is about how peaceful life is when we just put all our focus on God. The whole world and us can be spinning in circles and yet if we look to Him we will never get dizzy. He is ALWAYS constant and eternal and still. And when we are looking to Him then our life becomes that way, too. It's a wonderful thought in crazy times, bad times, confusing times, and good times too because He is the only steady and enduring thing in existence and we have full access to Him!

Well that's all my thoughts for now. I hope it was a good enough update and please have mercy and patience with me if it was long winded (as I often am).
Love to all my brothers and sisters in Christ,
tamara

This was my sister Katrina's 18th birthday! We took her and her friends out to Kobe Steaks on my Dad's request and credit card! It was such a treat and a great time. This place is a japanese resturaunt where they do a cooking show in front of you and you have AMAZING food! Shrimp and steak and rice an sake! We were stuffed full!

P.S. I know that I said I was tanner now than I used to be but let me put a disclaimer:
1. I haven't gone swimming since the last time I made that claim which was about 2 weeks ago, so I have lost some of my tan.
2. The flash light on this camera made Everyone look pale.
3. It is not fair to compare my tanness to my sister's because she tans religiously and in normal light looks like a Mexican these days!

Hi everyone! Things have been busy in my world. My job is going well, although I am still waiting for them to make my position there permanent rather than temporary. From everything I hear from other people it seems like this will happen eventually, the question is just When?! Anyways, besides that ....Grant and I found an apartment! Yay!
We are so excited to have our own place again and the place we found is a great deal for this area. It is a better deal than any other place we found and we searched hard, then all of sudden the Lord just plopped this place right in our lap and it was perfect for us. We love it. It is nice and has a spacious Fitness room, a beautiful pool and the apartment is a perfect size for us. It has plenty of space and a sink separate from the shower which means I can put on my makeup and do my hair while Grant is taking a shower and the window won't be foggy! The kitchen is bigger than your average apartment kitchen and it has a bar counter so it is more open to the living room. That was something I was really hoping we would find. Unfortunately it doesn't have a washer&dryer in the apartment but we made sure that we would be moving into the unit which is directly next door to the laundary room (which has 10 washers and dryers in it by the way) so we have to walk like five steps out our door into another and there we are! Also the washers&dryers don't run on quarters, but instead you put money on a card and it takes the money off your card. Now we don't have to wait to do a load of laundary until we save or scrounge up enough quarters to do one!
We move in on the August 12th and we can't wait!

Personally the Lord has really been growing Grant and I and teaching us how to be good servants to each other and to our Church. I feel that lately I have really been relearning what it means to selflessly love and serve all the people around you as if they are Christ. I used to understand what that meant when I was younger and I am so unbelievable joyful that the Lord is reteaching it to me and softening my heart with more understanding and wisdom.
I pray that the Lord is working in all of your lives and that He constantly brings you closer to Him and teaches you how to depend on Him and love Him with every breath.
I miss all of my friends and siblings in Christ who reside in Oregon. Know that my thoughts and prayers are always with you.

in love,
tamaramara

So I should have blogged last night, but in my defense I wasn't feeling very well. Besides that, though, I had a wonderful day yesterday. Do you know why?.........because............

I GOT A JOB!!!! WOOHOO! PRAISE THE LORD!!

That was pretty much my exact reaction when my agent from Express Personnel Services called me yesterday afternoon (while I was sitting on the couch and watching TV doing my best to give over the worry I have felt over not getting a job yet) and told me they had a job for me which would start immediately if I wanted it to. Ha! If I wanted it to? Of course I want it to start immediately! So, I just got home from my first day there! I am a receptionist in the accounting offices of an air conditioning company. I basically open, sort, stamp, and distruibute mail, buzz people into the building, answer the phone and take messages and other miscellaneous office aid tasks. It pays well and it's full time. It is the perfect job for me right now. And I really like it. It is a quiet atmosphere where I sit down all day long and do tasks which are easy to achieve (but time consuming) and the time goes by quickly! This was such a blessing and I know the Lord had His hands all over it. Well that is it for now. I am pretty much too excited to think about anything else.

Matthew 6: 25-28 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.....Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?....Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
Yes I did have "little faith" and probably will again at some point. But God had mercy on me and brought me the Light. Praise God for His mercy and love.

provided for by God (as always),
tamaramara

Hello beloved readers! Just an update on the job front. I was declined for a position as a Processor at a Credit Repair company. This was the job that I went to 4 interviews for and was told that they want to keep my resume on file and possibly be called in for another interview in 60-90 days when they will be hiring someone again. Hopefully I will have a job by then.
I posted my resume on www.monster.com today and I also applied online to UPS for a receptionist job. I was in the process of applying to another job agency (whom I have an appointment with tomorrow afternoon) when their website started experiencing difficulties. I am supposed to have that application finished online before my meeting/interview with them tomorrow, but oh well! I will check it tomorrow before my meeting and if it's not fixed by then, then it's not my fault.
I know God is just waiting for the right job to open up for me, but I have to confess that I have been struggling with discouragement today. Please pray for relief from the adversary's emotional air-raids on me and a renewed spirit of trust and encouragement from the Lord.
Love to you all!

engaged in battle,
tamara

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't posted before this. I have sat down at the computer several times in the last 2 weeks but I didn't know what to say...."I went to an interview today. I will hear back in a couple of days."
"I went to a second interview today. I will hear back in a couple of days."
"I went to an interview for a different job today. I will hear back in a week."
I just was waiting until I secured a job before I posted again because not much has really changed. But I do have two jobs on the line right now and I will for sure hear back within 2 days on both of them. One of them I will hear about for either an interview or just to say that they are trusting Express Personnel Services (the employment agency working to get a job for me) to hire someone good for them. The other job I will be finding out if I actually got the job, and if I did then I will start on Thursday.
Grant and I have been having a wonderful time hanging out at the church and with the church members. Especially with the pastor's family.
Well anyways I have to go watch the 6th game of the Basketball Finals. GO MAVERICKS!!
Keep me in your prayers to get the job that God wants for me.

much love,
tamara

Hey everyone! So I got another job lead yesterday, and catch this: It was from the same lady at church(a.k.a Vicky) who let me know about the possible job opening at her work. First of all, her husband, Steve tried to get me a job at his work answering phones the first week Grant and I arrived. Guess who he worked for? Mark Cuban a.k.a owner of the Mavericks! But unfortunately Grant and I arrived in town a little too late and they had already hired everyone they needed.
Then the next week his wife, Vicky, told me that there might be a job opening at her work to be a Processor. I went in for an interview and they really liked me, but they aren't sure that the job will be coming open soon. There will almost certainly be a job opening up in 60 to 90 days, and before that the job might open up in the next couple of weeks. They won't find out until certain things unfold in the next few days, and if there is a job opening then I am their girl. I will find out probably early next week.
Then just yesterday Vicky called me letting me know that she knows a psychologist who is looking for a receptionist a.s.a.p. and she told him about me. So I called him today and set up an interview for Tuesday! Vicky told me that her boss is still waiting to see if that job will open up soon, but in the mean time she wanted me to consider all the options and get every opportunity available. Isn't that sweet? I mean this family is like determined to get me a job!

Grant is still doing well at Grace Church and of course loving his work! I am transcribing tapes for the Church when I can make it up there. We also got to hang out with some of my good friends from high school last nite and that was a bunch of fun to see them all again. The Mavs are 3 and 2 against the Suns in the series and we are having a great time watching how playoffs unfold.
Well that's all the updates I have for now. Give me a shout and let me know how things are going in your world.

Eph. 6:23-24
"Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen."

t

Hello! I hope everyone's weekend is going well. Grant and I have been doing great here in Texas. Grant has been jumping right in to ministry with Grace Church and today was his first Sunday School class. He and Ralph also have some awesome plans for the summer. I am so excited for him and for the church. I know God has some amazing things planned for the future.

So Grant and I have been on the job hunt this last week. We hadn't turned up anything of significance until today when I had a conversation with a woman at church. She heard me saying that I was looking for a job and she asked me what kind of work I was looking for. I told her I was looking for a receptionist or phone answering job or something of the like. She then proceeded to tell me that she was about to let go a girl who has been doing processing for her and therefore the job would be open. Could I come in tomorrow with my resume? OF COURSE! This woman is an outgoing and fun person. As far as I know she has a great relationship with the Lord and I think it would be awesome to have her as my boss. She seemed really excited at the idea of having found someone to fill the position and at the idea that that person would be me! I don't know how much the job pays yet, but I will find out soon. Please keep this in your prayers because it could be a huge answer to ours! Either way I know God will take care of Grant and me as we continue to submit to His will and joyfully do His work.

much love,
tamaramara