A Beautiful Walk with my Bible App

Dave is at drill today, flying till very late tonight. I've got a listening ear to the skies for the "wop wop wop.." of a helicopter, in case he flies over the house (we live in the flight path of Fort Indiantown Gap's helicopters). What do I do when Dave is gone on a beautiful Saturday? Cleaning for most of the day, since the place usually needs it after a week of me working - somehow I always get a lot more done when Dave isn't here. However, today the sunshine was calling to me, and finally convinced me that I needed to be outside. I sat out in a lawn chair for a while tanning, and listening to the Book of Esther in the Bible. Then I decided that I should go for a walk, and get some exercise even though it's a lot less fun without Dave.

I did several laps around the park and down Main street, saw my brother and sister in law who were also out enjoying the day, and listened to most of the Book of Job. The Bible app on my phone is AWESOME. It has audio versions of the Bible, and the reader is excellent. It's helping me get through the Old Testament and finally meet my goal of finishing the Bible that I set over a year ago. 

So there I was taking care of my body and my soul, on a great walk, on a perfect afternoon... it struck me that listening to Job was really powerful. Sometimes when I read I am not getting the full impact of the words, but listening to the story, and Job's lament really caught my attention. It was like he was walking next to me, pouring out his troubles.

That's the awesome thing about The Bible. These stories are real. They are about real people who had emotions, struggles, and who lived lives that didn't always go as they had planned. Many of these people did amazing things through their faith in God. When I was listening to Esther and Job, I was noticing similarities to my own life, and identifying with some of their emotions. I'm so thankful to have The Bible, not just for it's instruction, or for God's Word, but to read the stories of people who lived thousands of years ago,  who struggled with the same things we struggle with today, and who believed in the the same God. 

Lately my goal has been to work on renewing my mind by changing the things I am putting in it. Listening to and reading the Bible, Worship and Praise music on my commutes and while I exercise, deciding against a vulgar popular movie on Netflix, and trying to be more positive in my outlook and interactions with others, and trying to pray more often throughout the day. It has made a huge difference for me, and I would recommend trying this for anyone who has been feeling negative or "down in the dumps".

FYI - this is what the Bible App I use looks like

Summer 2013

Summer 2013.... quite possibly more life changes than Summer 2012!

The last time I had a chance to post, David had graduated Flight School, and we had moved back to PA to live with his parents until we found jobs and a place to live. 

In May we had fun buying our first furniture sets, but we had to post pone delivery as we didn't have a place to live yet. Job hunting was stressful and we were anxious to get our lives figured out (if that's even possible - lol). In June we began apartment hunting, and found a townhouse that we really loved. We wanted to sign the lease but were afraid to do so since neither of us had jobs yet and we didn't want to blow through our savings just to have our own place again. Just when we thought we were going to have to give up the townhouse, I was called to interview for a job I had applied for months earlier. The interview went well, and as I was getting in my car to go home, I got a call back that they wanted to offer me the job! God's timing was perfect, not only did I get a really great job, but we were able to move into a beautiful home before I started work! 

Dave was gone the week we moved to Linglestown, so his mom helped me clean our new place and move everything in. We spent the week scrubbing and unpacking. Lucky Dave, he returned home and all the unpacking had already been done!   

Our cute little place! It's perfectly situated to be about a 15 minute drive for each of us to get to work (give or take traffic), close to shopping centers, and across the street from a beautiful park. We are also right off the main street that has cute little shops and places to eat. Dave and I take a walk every night, and enjoy seeing all of the sports teams practicing at the park, in what seems to be a very active community. We can see ourselves staying here long term and raising a family! We are also 5 minutes down the road from David's brother and his wife! Another reason to love the area is that we get to see helicopters flying overhead - not as many as at Fort Rucker, but still enough to get excited about! 

Dave's Mom was a huge help to me during our second move of the summer. She even mowed our lawn! (Real world...having a lawn to mow)

 Living/dining area (not fully unpacked in this one)

My adorable and very helpful husband in the kitchen. 

Unpacked living room. It's very cozy!

Here's our bedroom. We bought our bedspread more than a year ago and I was absolutely dying to get it set up. It looks great with the bedroom set David surprised me with :)

We have a guest room, so friends and family are welcome to stay!

On one of our walks we found a church that is just down the road from our house, we decided to check it out since we were church shopping. We absolutely loved it, and are happy to have what we think will be our church home. For someone who grew up driving an hour to church on Sundays, being able to walk to church is amazing! 

First day of work! Kendall Berry, BSW! 

Now to say a few things about my new job... I love it! I had a difficult transition back to working, but it has absolutely been the best thing for me. Like they say, "For everything there is a season". I spent almost a year not working when we were in Alabama. I needed that time to relax and de-stress after burning myself out senior year of college, and being incredibly stressed all summer planning our wedding and dealing with some difficult things that happened. That time was precious, I gained back all the weight I had unintentionally lost from stress and anxiety the previous year, and I was able to focus on my new role as a wife. I cooked, cleaned, supported David while he was in a critical part of Flight School, and got to read more than thirty books! I volunteered at a senior center, but didn't need to worry about working yet. All of this was great, but I became very inactive. I didn't have a car, so I mostly stayed home, slept in late, read books, took naps, and got to be really lazy. I noticed that I didn't have much energy, and I didn't want to do anything when Dave got home from school either. I honestly thought there was something wrong with me that made me feel so tired and antisocial (there was! it's called inactivity!). I worried that I wouldn't be able to work because I was so tired all the time!  I've discovered that attitude and environment are everything!

I started my new job in July- Social Worker at a nursing home in Harrisburg. The first several weeks my body hated me. It was used to sleeping in, naps and lounging around. I felt sick, and tired for a few weeks. My heart rate felt like it was constantly elevated because just walking around all day was exertion for a body that was used to being at rest. But my body adjusted! I started coming home with more energy than I ever had after a day of relaxing! I spend my day on my feet running back and forth between my Dementia/Alzheimer's floor, and my Long Term Care floor. I'm surrounded by great people. I make an effort to be positive and smile when I am at work, and listen to positive and uplifting music on my commutes. This has made a night and day difference for me - now that I am active, positive, smiling, doing something meaningful, and being mentally stimulated - I feel like myself again! I haven't felt so wonderful in at least a year, and I feel so incredibly happy and blessed to be back to the positive mindset I've always had. 

The real world is definitely a little scary. This is my first real job, and I am slowly figuring out what I am doing. Sure, I have a degree, but there are so many job specific things that I am learning. I can't wait till I feel like I am on top of my work responsibilities! Dave has been a huge help. He has a sporadic flying schedule, so he has been supporting me by making me breakfast in the morning (I am NOT a morning person), and getting dinner started before I get home. With my new-found energy we have been a lot more spontaneous with our free time too! 

 We went on a trip to Memorial Lake on base to watch the sunset one evening. 

 Last night we met David's parents at their camp site at Gifford Pinchot State park for a camp fire, Mountain Pies, S'mores and a nice relaxing evening with family. 

 See the Mountain Pie maker in the coals?

Dave is super excited about Mountain Pies!

We are coming up on our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! Stay tuned!

This Summer flew by! As the mornings have gotten chillier, I am remembering that this is the North, and I will have to deal with a Norther winter soon :( Good thing Fall comes first. I can totally get into sweater and boots season!