Divided but not Broken by Anything

Strength comes in numbers but true strength is found within. 

Someone famous probably said that but today it is on my mind since today is the first day of my new life adventure. I was reminded of that last night and have been several times throughout the years. One is not always a lonely number sometimes it is just right. It is sometimes a choice and sometimes just a happenstance but there are times in all of our lives when we find ourselves alone.

 I have been traveling from MI to FL since early Sunday morning. The picture below was a stretch of road in southern Indiana. Driving for days definitely gives a person time to think, unless you drive like I do which is with the music as loud as it goes singing along at the top of your lungs. Yes, I was hoarse and could barely talk each night on my trip but it was worth it.

So for all those that are wondering what in the heck is going on with us and why we are "Divided but not Broken by Anything" I will elaborate and fill you in on all my recent craziness.

First I FINALLY did it! Took my last class and passed it, as if there was any doubt. So soon my very hard earned and greatly sacrificed for $30+ thousand dollar piece of paper will be arriving at my door. My BA in Professional and Technical Writing with a minor in Business Administration. That got me thinking...

Wondering if the degree could put me in a different or better position as the position I had been hired into two years ago shifted and changed and turned into something that I really wasn't happy with and even though I was supposedly working for myself from home, I had no control over it. So, I started searching and investigating. Ha, you know me got to research, investigate and way over think each idea. Many people think I am impulsive and just leap into things but they don't realize that I research and consider each move for months and sometimes years, I just don't tell anyone while I'm doing that.

Next move for me would mean taking advantage of a great opportunity and stepping out a bit from my comfort zone. My comfort zone is my very tight night family unit, as a family unit I mean my husband and children, they are my best friends and closest confidants. Taking this new job in FL would mean leaving everyone and dividing my family up a bit for a short time. So, we discussed it and tried to work it out differently but it seems as if God has some lessons for me to learn in growing out of my comfort zone. I am ready to learn them and then snuggle back to where I belong.

Jim my fabulous husband is completely supportive and also decided to make a career move at the same time so that our absences coincide and then we would be able to be together again. He obtained his CDL-A and has started driving for a company. He will be out on the road pretty much nonstop for the next 6 to 8 weeks. Hopefully we will have a great home in FL and all be together waiting for him when he gets to have time off. Well, all except Jake who is staying in MI for a while.

So, although we are divided we are actually growing stronger together and not broken at all. Ah this is where another old adage fits in "Absence makes the heart grow stronger".  I have always found it to be true.

I have been in constant contact with everyone. Really, I LOVE this DIGITAL age it makes distance not so bad or hard for those of us who have to leave our families for a time.  So today I'm starting my house hunt got to keep my promise to the girls to bring them down before Thanksgiving. I'm also meeting my new boss for the first time for lunch. I will write more soon especially about the emotions of leaving everyone behind and the strength they are giving me, even though we are not together with their love and constant encouragement.

I'm very excited about the time this new position will allow me to write and do other things as it will not require me to work 24/7 as I have in the past. I already have titles and outlines for my next few posts so the plan is to get back to a regular posting schedule but this is me and irregularity usually wins over plans so although I am going to try and get a regular thing going, no promises yet but I'm putting it in my calendar. LOL

Bittersweet - Last Class at SVSU

I'm both excited and sad to be taking my last class at SVSU.

I have decided not to participate/walk in the graduation ceremonies for many reasons, the two biggest being...

1. Most my friends are already graduated and gone. 
2. It is a very large school and I have a bit of crowd and speaker phobia, so walking across the stage to get the diploma I might just pass out LOL 

Now if I could only get over this huge case of senioritis and get my bottom in gear get into a groove so I can pass this class, GRADUATE finally and move on with my life. I'll do it just hard to get out of working 24/7 mindset and into study and write papers mindset.

I want to take a moment and thank each of my RPW (cough, when I started it was PTW way back in the old days LOL) professors and mentors who never let me give up. Especially Dr. Jorgensen and Dr. Williamson but all the professors are tops for sure!

Okay so now I will get back to the applications I'm filling out instead of writing my one page double spaced paper. I know it will only take me a few minutes to do something like that which is probably why I am procrastinating.

Have a great day everyone and I'll try to write again soon!

Spring Break 2014 - Family and Car & Truck Museum Hopping in Indiana

Spring Break 2014 was probably the best spring break we have had in some time. Took the girls in my new little 2009 Cube car...

Went to the fabulous destination of Indiana for the week. Now I know many people wouldn't say "Wow! Can't wait to go to Indiana for spring break!" LOL Neither did we. But we had a great time and the weather was GREAT all week.

I have family there in Indiana that we hadn't seen in a couple years and so we decided it was time to test the gas mileage in our new vehicle and see what she could do. The cube lived up to the test left home on a full tank put $20 in when we stopped in Toledo then didn't put any more in till our last day in Indiana and added another $20 then stopped in Port Huron, MI and added another $20 I still have 3/4 of a tank and we went back to Port Huron yesterday. My trip mileage was on a bit over 800 miles! I see many more trips in that car coming soon!

Our fabulous time was mostly going to the park, putting together puzzles, cooking together and we went thrift store shopping! We ate at a Chinese Buffet restaurant for the first time and then walked along the river in Bluffton, IN.

Finally we made plans to get up early on Friday and go to the zoo on the way home to Michigan. Ha getting up early was not in the cards for my teenage girls on that morning. Then we had some issues with the bike rack that slowed us down so we made a last minute decision to stop in Auburn, Indiana to check out the museums. We visited the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, the National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States and the Hoosier Air Museum. I have a ton of pics on my Google + and my facebook page from the museums https://www.facebook.com/arvillahowe 

I never would have guessed how much fun we had at the museums it helped that we were about the only ones in there so we could cut up and be silly plus the information was interesting and just being together made it great! Alannah did start to get a little bored and tired by the last museum but I promised her dinner with ice cream for desert and she was back on track LOL. Below are a few of the many pics. 

 
 

So what exotic location did you visit for spring break 2014? Leave me a comment and let me know.