New ways the days are taking shape

Good morning!  I have a bit of a life update.  It is a good one as far as I am concerned, and I have enjoyed sharing it with friends and family.  I completed my full time job at Southern Miss on Monday.  Due to budget cuts I was no longer able to continue working there.  I knew that was a possibility when I was hired on last summer, and it certainly wasn't a waste of my time.  I acquired fundamental office skills and loads of customer service skills.  All of which I can put to practical use in the future.  Also, I have decided not to continue with grad school.  Some of you know I have been taking prereq's for the counseling psychology program at the private university here in Hattiesburg.  However, I have really wrestled and prayed about whether or not I needed to pursue further education for weeks.  I constantly brought up the decision I was trying to make with Casey.  He was supportive of both sides.  He walked me through the pros and cons of continuing with school, and he gave me the pros and cons of life without school.  Ultimately, he said I had to make the decision.  I finally came to the conclusion last weekend, and I feel completely at peace with it.  This personally brings all of life's hustle and bustle to a stop.  I am not comfortable with not knowing what my purpose is in life.  God knows that, therefore he is teaching me that it is okay to slow down.  Life has been at full speed since high school, and I know that if and when the time comes for us to have children it will pick up again full force.  That is why I have to embrace the stillness that has been handed to me now.  I have been met with great encouragement from the people who surround me, and it fills me with joy.  For once, I am letting go of expectations that I have placed on myself, and I am following my heart.  
So, yesterday was my first day on my new "job."  I thoroughly enjoy keeping house, cooking, and hosting people.  Now, I have time to do all of those things.  In the next few weeks, I am going to start volunteering at different places and searching for a part time job, but it is not quite time for that yet.
Here is a brief overview of how I spent my day yesterday...
Casey was walking out the day for work at 6:30am and told me that we were hosting our community group at our house that night.  I shot him a disbelieveing look, and said, "Oh really?  Good thing you told me."  He said, "Yeah, I know they really are coming.  I love you, bye!"  Due to me writing many research papers, being out of town for the past couple of weekends, and working full time, our home was a wreck.  I happily got busy.
  

I caught up on laundry. 

Dry and wet swiffered all of the floors.

Cleaned the bathroom.

Vacuumed.

Wal-marted.

Bought more mason jars at Wal-mart. Mason jars are one of my favorite things.  They deserve their own post.

Bought valentine M&Ms.

Made a new table arrangement.  Since it consists of mason jars I will show more pictures in the mason jar post.

Checked the mail.  Real Simple came - thanks Roomie!

Casey came home and hung up the canvas I made during Thanksgiving.  I modpoged tissue paper on a blank canvas and then modpoged our wedding program onto it.  My mom supplied the tissue paper - isn't it pretty?

He also hung the washboard given to us by Casey's Nanny.  We both agree that it adds lots of character to the wall.

Lastly, we put together all supper for our community group.  We had chips and dip, sandwhiches, and cookies.  We had a great time fellowshipping and learning how to better defend our faith.

Whew! Long post, if you made it all the way through you should get a prize.  Next post = Mason jars!