Where does the time go?

I would have swore that I posted something in September, but checking the blog out I guess I haven't. I guess I'll try and catch everyone up with what we've been doing.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, days seem to run on together, and I'm amazed how much time has passed. We are still absolutely loving it here, I wish we had moved earlier! We drive around and it feels surreal that we actually live here and we're not just on vacation. Of course, not having jobs probably enforced that feeling lol.

I guess for myself, I have been really debating what to do with myself and work. We've never really been in a financial position where we could survive on only 1 income, and its a very liberating feeling. In September, I made the decision to get my MBA in finance and change careers from technology to finance. PSU has a pretty good MBA program and I plan to apply there. Unfortunately, I have to wait till next fall because they only admit new MBA students in the fall terms and you have to apply by March. By then I'll also be an Oregonian resident instead of playing non-resident tuition costs. My ideal would be a full-time student, with maybe a part time job to help pay for misc. expenses. But that is a year away, so the issue I have been struggling with has been what should I do until then? Thinking back to the past, I remembered I did really well at the tax course I took about 5 years ago. I almost worked for H&R Block then, but at the time we were too busy for me to fit in a part time job on top of my full-time work. I found I had made the decision at a perfect time, since it was the day before classes were about to start. I registered on a Sunday and started class the next day.

I know taxes sounds like the most boring subject in the world, but its been fine. The class is 9 hours a week (Mon, Wed and Thursday nights) and probably another 9 hours of homework per week. Its been nice to keep busy while I've been unemployed and I have applied to work there part-time during the tax season. When I started the class, I had just about decided to just pursue this, and stop looking for a full time job. It would give me income through Dec-April, leaving me free to become a full-time student next fall. But a few weeks after I started the class, I got a call from a job that I had applied to back in July. If it had been any of the other jobs I had applied to, I would have turned them down flat, but this was with Portland State University in the same department I had interviewed with in June. Even though I didn't have the right experience for that June job, I liked the people that I had met and I think they liked me, so I decided to give it a chance. I had a phone interview in mid Sept, and a 2nd interview last week. Both went really well. I should hear if I got the job in the next couple days. Part of me wants the job because I'll get a 25% discount on my MBA if I stay working while going to school, but another part of me was looking forward to concentrating on my tax work, which would be better experience for my future in finance. So I'm just leaving the decision in God's hands. One way or another it will work out. =)

As for Mark, he has an interview tomorrow for Portland Community colleges as a technology trainer for staff. His absolute ideal job would either be an IT jobs in the elementary school district or the community college system. It has been a very slow process, since both those systems are very bureaucratic. He's been very patient, but I know that he's anxious to get something. We made a decision when we moved here not to just go for any old job, but to really try to do work that we would be interested in. So he's excited about tomorrow's interview.

Other than job searching, we have been enjoying living here. Fall is definitely coming in, and the trees here are all red or yellow. I've been doing a lot of reading, mostly non-fiction stuff. We have decided that we will not buy a house for the next couple years until I'm done with my MBA. The housing market is a little shaky as well, and so we want to wait it out a bit. So we are planning to do more unpacking and really get comfortable here since we'll probably be in this apartment for a while. We moved the computers into the 2nd bedroom and made that our office. We bought some new bookshelves and are slowly unpacking and rearranging the apartment to a more permanent arrangement. I really love our apartment, its cozy and the view of the trees outside makes it seem more private(See the view from our living room window)

In the last couple months, we have found a church that we really like. Its about 2-3 blocks away from our apartment which is really nice. It has a modern feeling, with a nice worship team and the pastor is pretty good. Its a young church, meaning in age rather than in history. We attended a newcomers event and got to meet the staff as well as several other new people. We aren't in a rush to get involved but its nice to start meeting people in the community. I really thought it would take a long time to find someplace, but we checked out several webpages, and this one really seemed be promising. Feels weird to go with one of the first church's we visited, but maybe God wants it that way. =)

Anyways, I've blabbed on for a long time and its getting late here. I'll stop now.