Time goes by. Fast.

I regret to admit it's been quite some time since my last post. That's what crazy hours at the blueberry farm has done to me. I've not had much spare time for, well, anything but eating, sleeping, and relaxing on the couch with Jackson at the end of my long days. The second harvest officially ended yesterday so just like that I'm in need of work again.

Cara Lanterman, I miss your face.

Speaking of blueberries, I just made for the first time a batch of GF DF Jumbo Blueberry Muffins with berries from the farm. Holy cow they turned out so good! Blueberry muffins have always been Jackson's favorite but he's not been able to eat them in a long time. Jackpot.

Speaking of jobs, I'm very excited for a interview I have tomorrow with Roseburg Playschool for an Assistant Teacher position. Playschool is a preschool that focuses on exploratory and creative learning. They believe play is central to early childhood education. All the activities are very hands-on and geared towards giving the children the tools to initiate their own discovery. I would really love this job for lots of reasons and I'm just praying now that my interview goes well. No matter what comes of this I'm really not worried. God is Able. The position is (nearly) full-time and would pay enough to enable Jackson and me to move out on our own. That would be, well, as you know, pretty amazing haha. We've been checking out apartments around here and we can get a 2 bedroom in a fairly nice complex for $525/month!! That's not a typo either. Rent also includes water, sewer, and trash. Can you believe that?! We can't either.

July has been a substantially hot month especially for this area. We've had long stretches of 90-95+ degree days. For free weekend fun we've been floating the river and it has been awesome. I have to say the Umpqua is a much nicer river to float than the Russian. The water is very clean and clear. The stretch we float has some rapids that are pretty good size (for floating in a tube that is) that will flip you if you're not careful. So so so much fun! It's been the best thing we've done all summer. Jackson and I are planning to start a new tradition for our family: an end of summer water balloon fight. We have the balloons and the water spout filler piece and we're just waiting for some hot August weather. That's going to be really great :). We're talking about making a day trip to Crater Lake on my birthday at the end of August as well, so I'm looking forward to that.

In other news, my big sis is now in Australia with YWAM. For those of you who don't know, she'll be staffing the base in Adelaide for one year. I'm very glad to know we'll be Skypeing but not happy to know I won't see her in person for one whole year. Please pray for her whenever you think of it.

If you've not seen the new Catching Fire trailer, wow, you really need to. The Victory Tour, the victor tributes, Finnick, THE ARENA!!! Aaaahhhh November 22!!!

GREAT NEWS

Jackson got a phone call last week from Gary, the Director of the DC Parks Department, offering him permanent, full time employment!! As you can imagine, this is incredible news for us. We accepted this job back in May with a lot of faith that the good Lord would provide and make a way for us. The job was originally only guaranteed through September but we were praying that we would find out before then if there would be permanency. Well what do you know, Jackson had only been with the department two months before being offered permanent work. It's just so amazing to see the good Lord putting all the pieces together for us in Oregon. As previously mentioned in another post, county jobs are highly desirable and don't come along that often. Beginning September 1 we will be getting quality benefits including vision and dental, which we've never had. As most of you know I'm super blind and borderline crazy about dental hygiene so yeah, I'm looking forward to that haha. Jackson will also be getting paid sick days, vacation days and holidays. On top of it all and more important than the benefits is he's enjoying his job and learning many news skills. Every work day is different from the last. The other day he got to go out on the county parks motor boat and move these boowies (sp?) around to make a swimming area. He had lots of fun doing that because then they had to cruise the reservoir looking for any downed trees that needed to be removed. So all in all Jackson couldn't be happier to have this job. He may not stay with the Parks Dept for the rest of his life as they offer lateral mobility amongst other county departments. So down the line if there's an opening he's interested in he already has a foot in the door.

Needless to say, I'm a very proud wife. Jackson went down there and just dazzled them with his work ethic, character and integrity. He earned their respect and has now been rewarded with a permanent job. It's just awesome. This is a big step towards he and I moving out and having our own place. I still need permanent income in order for that to happen so you can be praying for that. The blueberry farm could be wrapping up in three weeks or so depending on the weather. I'm hoping they ask me to stay for the August harvest.

On another note, I've also been experiencing the worst allergies of my life recently. It's been very debilitating and today I even stayed home from work. I've been taking a 24hr. pill every morning that's not been working very well in addition to two Benadryl every night just so I can sleep. There's an allergy clinic in town that, depending on the cost, I may have to wait and see in September when I have medical coverage. Jackson's been taking good care of me and buying different over the counter medications for me to try. I'm hoping to at least make it through blueberry season. I need Jesus to heal me so please be praying for that.