This is why God is in charge....

Lord-
I know "You know me better than I know myself" sounds cliche, but it is so true. You knew exactly what You were doing when you threw me into a stressful interview situation that eventually got me the job that I love. I pray that you would continue to help me love these people and pray for them. You are the best. I'm serious.
Love, Beth

So, this week was my first week at my new job. I'm teaching Adult English as a Second Language for a suburb in Dallas. Let me tell you about the interview: I went in to meet with the director of the program and I was so nervous that I completely bombed the interview. I was a nervous wreck and I didn't know what to say. I left feeling completely deflated and not confident in my abilities. HOWEVER, before I could even be considered for the job, I had to do six hours (two of the classes) of volunteering. So, I decided to stay and observe a class after my interview. I was sitting upstairs filling out some paper work and the director, Dr. Cisneros, walks up. We had this conversation:

Dr. C: So, we have a problem. The teacher that you were going to observe is sick. Tell me if this makes you uncomfortable. Would you substitute for her?

(Now, keep in mind these three things: 1) I have never been in an ESL classroom before, child or adult, 2) I have never been in any classroom with Adults before, 3) I have never taught in a classroom before. Needless to say, I was freaking out.)

Beth: (completely calm and collected...on the outside) Sure! I think I could handle that.

So, I walked into teaching a three hour class to 25 adults who wanted to learn about household items....and I loved it!!!! The director was in and out so she got to see me work.

I went back to observe a beginning, beginning class. After that, Dr. Cisneros informed me that she would like to offer me a teaching position for the night classes, which I took!

I was really very nervous about teaching because I have never done it before but I do speak English, so that's a start. The people that work there are wonderful and have given me great ideas on how to make learning fun (the classes are three hours long!).

I have been substituting in the morning classes, but tonight I got to teach my students. They're great. The class is huge but I already know their names. One woman's daughter is going to Iraq in a month and she was very upset. I know that God will give me ample opportunities to help these people. Yay God!

Alex is doing very well. He's extremely tired but he is going to do a great job when he finally learns everything he needs to know. For instance, last week they cut him loose. On the schedule, they were supposed to make $57 profit. That's all the product minus the cost of labor/ingredients/oil. Alex ended up making $2700 dollars. That's right. It's like a billion times what they expected. Needless to say, he should be the CEO of the company by March. :)

Thank you all for your prayers. I love you guys.

A Church Update

Hey kiddos-
Life is good here. My cousin's wedding was this weekend and it kept us very busy. I wanted to update you on our church search. It has been...interesting to say the least. We've been to three in the past couple of weeks, so I'll describe them for you.

1) The Rote Memorization Church

Alex and I went to this one because my grandmother said that they were a socially active church. We showed up and sat on a pew. The pastors were wearing big robes and they had acolytes. The service was one of those where the pastor reads something from the bulliten and the congregation responds. So, we did that for about ten minutes, sung some Psalms, and then read some verses outloud in the typical church drone tone. The sermon was okay but we think that "socially active" really means that they are "open minded" which means that sin isn't confronted, but accepted. After the service, the pastor came up to us and asked if we were new. We then had a mildly awkward conversation about their ministries (which seemed mostly financial giving, which is fine, but Alex and I are more hands on ministry kinds of people) and then he told us to wait to talk to the Associate pastor. We just wanted to get out so we snuck out of the church building (teehee). Overall, the service felt completely dead.
Decision: NOT THERE

2) The Recovery Church

After our first efforts, I decided we should try a different route. I found the Dallas International Street Church located near Downtown Dallas online. We showed up for the service at 11 to find ourselves in a bunch of old couches and walls covered in wrapping paper. The building looked like a big room with Christmas lights strung from the ceiling. There were homeless people milling about. The minute we walked into the door people were asking our names and where we're from. I was introduced to a woman named Mia and she introduced me to everyone we saw. We sat down and the associate pastor sat down and told us about the church. Essentially, it began as a rehab for drug and alcohol addicts who were seeking help. Their program is faith based and is about focusing on replacing their need for addiction with Christ. They emphasize mercy and grace, which is wonderful. The people around us were asking fellow churchgoesrs how life was. There was definitely a family feeling. The service got started late. There were no powerpoints or pianos or even enough Bibles to go around. The service was SO fun. We sung for about 30 minutes- acapella. My personal favorite was "Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party cause a Holy Ghost party don't stop". We sung "If you're happy and you know it, say Amen!" "Amen." The pastor (a woman!) asked people for their testimonies and we heard about how people had been clean for a week and two days and they were thanking the Lord for that and talking about how they felt whole again. That was very encouraging because we could tell that God was moving in the shelter. The sermon was about being intentional (one of my favorites!) and there was the opportunity for the laying on of hands. The offering was great because people were putting in pennies and nickels, which is great because even that small offering is faith based giving. The only thing Alex and I were unsure about is that the pastor would break into uninterpreted tongues for brief periods in her prayers but that was to be expected because the church had a pentecostal feel to it. The goal of the church is to do outreach in the Dallas streets. When Alex and I left, we felt refreshed, like we had had an experience with God.

Decision: MAYBE. We would love to give our money there and do ministry there, but we wanted to keep looking.

3) The Circus Church!
Alex wanted to go to this church that was closer to us and he had heard good things about from a coworker. We got there a little late and huge parking lot was jam packed with people. We got a spot and walked in. The music was so loud and we were only in the crowded foyer. We walked into this huge sanctuary and we had ushers tell us where to sit. We were directed to a pew near the front. We were sitting down and the ushers kept asking us to move towards the middle. That was the only time that we were spoken to by a member of the church. It was Mission Sunday. The front of the church was covered in huge posters with countries of the world($), a full on orchestra ($$), two giant screens that had videos from the pastor ($$$), and a screen that rose from the middle of the stage ($$$$). I already wasn't impressed. Then they had this large theatrical dance and costume show that showcased the countries that the congregational support was going to. It was entertaining but I was cringing when I thought about the cost. They had missionaries visiting but they didn't get to speak; instead they waved. In short, I never really figured out what the money was going to (the glossy magazine I was handed was very brief) but I heard alot about how necessary it was to give to missions (above and beyond the tithe because the tithe "needs to stay in the local church!!" Where the heck is that in the Bible?). The pastor talked about himself and it seemed that he placed alot of importance on human work, rather than God working through people (i.e. the missionaries were "top citizens" because they were good people, not because God had decided to use them). They asked for first time visitors to follow a lady with a sign to the "reception room" but Alex and I didn't reveal ourselves. It took us so long to get out of the parking lot because people were so rude. Overall, it was a megachurch and not what we were looking for.
Decision: DEF NO.

We'll keep looking. So, no worries. I wish our house church could have just moved with us. Oh well, I'm sure God has a reason for this. :)

The new place!

Hey guys!

We're finally fixed and ready to go. Alex is working away at Frito Lay taking over the company and such. I am being a bum for now because I'm waiting on a job. Here are some pics of our new place. Enjoy and come visit!
The kitchen bar
Diningroom/ staircase
Dining room
Living room with the NEW couches

Bedroom (take 1)
Guest room/office
Beautiful kitchen!
Fireplace art (by yours truly)
Fireplace corner

Bedroom (take 2)

New to Dallas....

Hey all. We're moved. We hung pictures up last night and I bought some curtain rods today, so I'm almost done "nesting". Alex started work this morning and he already called me to tell me it is going well.

We get internet on Friday, so then I'll be able to tell you a little more. Love you!

The Shotgun Toilet: An Alex and Beth Adventure

So, a couple of days ago, I noticed a strange sound emanating from our bathroom. I first assumed that it was construction. I mean, they’ve been “constructing” all semester long at unruly hours of the night, so why not put sheetrock in the apartment right above us at 3 a.m.? However, I decided that it did not sound like a nail gun, but really more like a metal bucket filled with screws and washers and nuts that someone was banging on the bathroom floor every thirty seconds. While this is truly what it sounds like, it is highly improbable because the only reason a neighbor would spend their time banging buckets of nuts on the floor is to annoy us and there are much better ways (as we shall see). So, after finally ruling out the bucket of nuts idea and actually convincing Alex that there was a noise, since he claimed he couldn’t hear it, we decided that it was the toilet. It sounds like the upstairs toilet is fixing to be flushed but then the operation is aborted. Again, it can’t possibly be a human doing this because it goes on ALL DAY and no one wants to annoy their neighbors so much that they don’t go to work or sleep. So, I did some research online….

It appears that our friendly neighborhood toilet has a case of (dun Dun DUN) the Phantom flush. It has something to do with the seal in the back and is easily fixable. However, being that our apartment runs like a public school system or an ill run company, the problem will not be fixed for the next few days, if our friend has even put a work order in for his apartment. Instead, our neighbor, whose bedroom is directly above ours, has decided to drown out the phantom flushing with his television. So last night, as I was laying in bed, trying to get some shuteye, I was wooed to sleep (more to annoyance) by some kind of African tribal flutes or Phil Collins or something of the sort. Note: I resorted to sleeping with earplugs. So, this is my rendition of the Sounds of the Most Ghetto Apartment Complex in the World, composed last night (an original composition by Bum):

Mumble
Mumble
Mumble
Scream
Flush
Mumble
Mumble
Flush
BANG
(silence)
Laughter
Mumble
Clap
FLUSH

All of this translates to me getting up in the wee hours of the morning and relocating to the teeny tiny love seat in our living room and Alex getting zero winks. I hope the problem gets fixed, so our neighbor can sleep without watching action movies all night. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that you cannot submit a work order for someone else’s apartment, although I may try. Are we graduated so we can move yet?

Saving Money= Making Memories

I've got a little story for ya' Ags. It all started on a stormy Tuesday night....

Alex: Hey Beth, will you cut my hair with my new beard trimmer/hair clippers?

Beth: Heck no! I'll mess it up!

Alex: No you won't. I've seen them do it. I'll tell you how. I trust you.

Beth: Fine....

Alex (sitting in bathtub on a stool): Okay, run the clippers down the back of my head. I just want to cut some of the length off first.

Beth: Ooh. This is easy!

(Beth successfully trims the back of Alex's head)

Beth: Okay, it's pretty short now. I'm going to go the other way and get some more off........OOOOOPS!

Alex: What?!? What?!?

Beth (shrinking away): Errr. I'm going to go get a mirror (and a camera).

Alex (after seeing what has taken place) : Oh my gosh! I have a presentation on Thursday! What am I going to do?

Beth (in hysterics): Wait! I have an idea! (runs to other room) Now, just sit still.

(That's right ladies and gentlemen, I colored Alex's head with a black crayola marker. He didn't go for it though. He got a haircut today.)

Just wanted to share that little moment in history from our marriage.

In later news, Alex accepted the Frito Lay job in Irving, so we'll be movin' on up to Dallas in January. I'm still kind of at a loss as to what I'll be doing but I'm sure I'll figure it out. It will most definitely include some kind of higher education and/or tutoring. Yay!

Job alert...

Well, lemme tell you that once we're out of college, we'll write in this thing alot more often. With working and school and church and eating and sleeping, there's barely any time to do anything else. Alex has been applying at different places for a job after graduation in December. He got a third interview with General Mills, a possible second interview with Textura, and he's applied for at least five more, one being a financial analyst for Proctor and Gamble in Egypt (fun!). We're still praying through all these opportunities. God's been really good in the past, so we trust Him now!