Five happy things

1. I'll start with the biggie. I got a new job! Or, more specifically, I got a promotion. It all happened so fast my head is spinning...the day after we returned to town with our new car (the same day we had a long talk about adoption and finances)...the very next day, I found out about this job opportunity. I applied immediately, got an interview the next week, and was offered the job this past Monday. Crazy! I have to keep pinching myself because it seems so surreal. And the timing...the extra money will definitely be a nice boost to our adoption fund!

About the job...it's prompted a lot of interesting reflections. Like: this is the first time probably since my wedding that I've heard "congratulations" so many times. Now of course deep deep down I'd like to hear that word for a different reason...but it's still pretty nice and very affirming! And: we have a friend who applied for a job the same week but didn't get it. I was very sensitive to how I told him my news...catching the parallel? =) Being on the receiving end of pg announcements has taught me a thing or too!

And probably the strangest effect of the new job...for the first time in a long, looooong time, I've thought, "It's okay that we don't have kids right now. I'm pretty excited about what's ahead." Don't get me wrong: the desire for motherhood has not gone away! But having a new, exciting opportunity to sink my teeth into is taking a bit of the edge off the longing. And to be perfectly frank, this new job would not have happened if I would have gotten pregnant on my time schedule. Yes, I know that's assuming a lot, but the fact is that not becoming a mother when I wanted to meant that I could build up the experience and skills needed for this job...I still want to be a mom more than anything else, but I'm not un-grateful for my new job! (if that makes sense)

And one final funny story - it's been a bit of a whirlwind getting connected to all the new people I'll need to work with in my new position, and in a flurry of emails, I look at what I'm about to send to a new contact and read, "I'm looking forward to working with me." Whoops! Thank God I proofread that! I'm not that narcissistic, I promise =)

2. On to another happy thing...college football starts today. I'm happy about this mainly because it makes Mr. M happy =) We will be watching the ND game with our two little neighbor boys upstairs, who Mr. M is trying to indoctrinate into being ND fans. He bought them hats and everything...and he bought me this:

notre dame dress with leprechaun

It needs some leggings before I wear it in public...but it's comfy, and if it makes Mr. M happy, well that's pretty easy!

3. Last weekend when our priest friend visited (the priest who married us), he said mass in our living room! That was really cool. 

Our living room set up to say mass. The pitcher is full of water, which we got blessed.

After mass, Father blessed our home. He forgot his aspergillium (the stick with the ball top that's used to bless things) so I pulled a small evergreen branch off a tree outside. That worked quite well!

4. Our garden is cranking out the tomatoes! My favorite: cherry tomatoes. 

Yummmmmmm

We're also getting a lot of Romas, basil, and zinnias. I love summer gardens. 

 

5.  Last happy thing: three day weekend!!!! I needed this so badly after such an intense - in a good way! - work week. Besides the Notre Dame game, we're having a cook out with friends and my parents on Sunday, and then have nothing planned for Monday. Just the way I like it =)