It's November already!

I cannot believe it is November. I haven't been here in a long time. I was hoping to keep this blog more up-to-date. Things are going okay. A lot has happened since my last post. I will try to give a run down of all the happenings.

We moved into a new apartment in mid-August. We were fortunate to find a good deal and receive some housing assistance to boot. I am so thankful for the help we received. It was a huge blessing. Praise God for everything working out in the end. I knew it would but it was still so stressful over the summer with everything going on.

Mikayla is in the 3rd grade this year. She attends a new school and is doing well academically. She really misses her friends from her old school.. I feel so bad for her but hopefully things come along for her. She is enjoying her acting class. She wraps that up next week Wed. I am hoping that I can go to her final performance. I will have to see if I am able to go.

Joshua is in Fab 5's this year. He attends a new school and is doing very well. He has made new friends and is very outgoing. I am very thankful for that. He is learning a lot this year. I am so glad I made the decision to wait a year to put him into Kindergarten. He has a wonderful teacher right now. However, she will be moving on in about a week so Joshua will have a new teacher very soon. I hope she has the same energy and can keep Joshua excited to learn.

Joe is still trying to find a job but it is not easy. He fills out applications, goes on interviews and tries so hard to look but nothing has worked out yet. He is very frustrated about the whole situation. I feel so bad for him because I know that he feels awful about it.

I (Jennifer) keep myself very busy. I still work FT and now attend GRCC PT. I am taking Biology and Psychology. I am doing pretty well in both classes. Biology is very challenging for me. I have decided to go back to college to try and pursue a Nursing degree. I just feel that I am not in a good position in life as I had hoped so am trying very hard to make a better life for my family. I am happy to report that at the end of next week, all of my attendance points will roll off and I will have a clean slate again. It has not been an easy 6 months but I DID it!!! I am so proud of myself for staying focused and really trying to be at work sick or not. Believe me, I've had days where I wanted to stay home but forced myself to go to work anyway.

In October, we got a 1999 Dodge Caravan. The Neon was falling apart and I was just sinking money into it. I gave the car back to my sister. It was mostly paid off but just wasn't worth keeping any longer. I had to borrow money (student loan) to get this van but it became a neccessity. I put half down and owe less than $1000. My goal is to pay it off very soon so it is owned outright. I will get another Student Loan disbursement in January and plan to get things that I need and will try to make a larger payment to pay off the van quicker. The goal is to get another vehicle so that it limits wear and tear on this van. So, I am going to look into getting another vehicle from the same place in a couple of months. I just don't want to have two car payments. We'll see how it works out.

Sometime in July, my sister, Jessica, her boyfriend , Daniel and my niece, Danielle moved back to Michigan. I am so happy!!! I don't see my niece as often as I would like due to my hectic schedule but it is nice that they are here. She just turned 1 in October and I took her to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate her birthday since I had class in the evening. Jessica is working at BK right now and living at my mom's house in the upstairs apartment. My mom moved out of the house back in September so now they have the whole upstairs along with her twin, Julie.

Amy and I go to school together. We are going to try and do the nursing program together. It is fun to have class together. Joe's sister Jessie is pregnant again and is due at the end of February. She is having another boy. She plans on naming him Thomas Joseph. I think that's about all for current news.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.