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Crazy how much has happened in the last 5 months... I know, I know, I am a terrible blog slacker. I apologize to the 2 of you who happen to check ;) My pal Courtney suggested a "blog challenge" to blog 3x/week for the month of March, and I'm home alone on a Friday night so I'm thinking - why not at least attempt it?

I have fairly good reasons for not blogging - I feel like life has just been non-stop. Good, but not enough hours in the day or days in the weekend. Since my last post, where I announced my "changing season", I did indeed leave my employer of almost 5 years and started work at a competitor doing marketing. That lasted for about 3 weeks. I hated what I was doing. I took the clinical liaison job initially to change things up - I was tired of the headaches of my dietitian job with the building, but didn't really want to leave. So when I was ready to leave that company, I thought it was natural to do the same thing. Nope, bad idea. I just really didn't know what I was getting into... or maybe I just wasn't ready for a new mess and wanted to just go back to working in my field as a dietitian. I cried probably every day and after about a week into the new job started applying to other jobs! 2 weeks after I started the new job, the food and nutrition director from a hospital in the same proximity as my old/current job called because I had sent her my resume. I had sent it thinking the pay would not be adequate and hours would likely not be enough, but was desperate. She called me thinking they wouldn't be able to meet my salary requirements but thought I would be a good fit for the job... and she was desperate to find the right person. So, I went in to meet with her that day and everything fell into place. She offered me the job at the end of our meeting and the next day I accepted. Once paperwork was taken care of, I resigned from the very short-lived job and started the next day. I didn't want to be someone who quit a job so early but I realized it was probably better to get out early on than be miserable for a year. Even though I felt bad about it, I don't regret it for a minute.

I've been there now for about 3 months and I am still so happy to be there (even if I did stay way too late today for a Friday). The hospital is a long term acute care facility, which is for patients who need an extended hospital stay (usually 3+ weeks). The acuity is high so I get to do a good amount of nutrition support, which is my favorite area of nutrition. I'm the only clinical dietitian so I have a lot of ownership of the clinical piece and my boss is over food service so for the most part, that's not my headache! (Food service is my least favorite area of nutrition). I was familiar with several staff members and physicians because I used to assess patients from there to go to my old facility so it was a much easier transition than it would have been otherwise. My boss is wonderful. She is a great resource, extremely supportive, and just a nice person in general. Oh, and she's a Christian. Bonus. The only other Christian boss I've had that I can think of was when I worked on a church staff... and she has yet to make me cry, which is more than I can say for the other one (even though I liked him)! My schedule is flexible, I wear scrubs and sneakers to work, free breakfast and lunch... what more could I ask for?+ If you've known me for long, you know how long I tried to leave the old place... and then all of a sudden, God dropped this in my lap. It is such a testament to me to how much he is involved in my life and is in control. He has been perfectly capable of doing this all along, but for many reasons I can easily identify, it just wasn't the right time. This verse comes to mind when I consider how blessed I am:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

So, the job transitions really kept me busy, then we took a fantastic trip right before Christmas to New York for a belated celebration of our first wedding anniversary. Then came Christmas, including my brother being home for a nice extended visit, which was wonderful. We had various members of R's family staying with us for about 2 weeks after Christmas, which kept us busy but was a great time for me to get to know them better. We decided to start training for a half marathon and that went well for about a week - then R started back to school and reality set in. I've been trying to keep up with my running (but not training for anything) and some weeks it goes really well and some weeks there is just too much going on.

We started going to another new church... yes, we are church hoppers, apparently, and signed up to take the "Alpha" course, which is a non-denominational foundational class which we've really enjoyed on Tuesday evenings. It is really a challenge to juggle R's schedule but we are trying to make it work and hopefully find a more permanent church home. About a month ago, some friends started meeting at my house on Monday evenings for Bible study, which has been a great opportunity to have girl time while wrestling with spiritual issues and praying for each other. (Anyone is welcome to join us! Well, girls only, of course.) I was part of another ladies' Bible study and had really missed this time so it has been something I look forward to each week again. R graciously retreats to our bedroom when the girls are over and watches The Bachelor to unwind from his day before hitting the books... haha! We're so hooked on that dumb show. Thank goodness we have DVR so I can catch up.

Is that enough rambling for now? I have some future blogs brewing, so stay tuned! Our trip to NYC, great books I've read and want to share, and of course, I have got to get back on the ball with cooking/recipes!

Much love, B