Erika's Journal

erikavanhuis · 12-27-2006, 12:49 PM

Thanks!
We had a pretty good Christmas. We got to visit with all of our immediate families, so that was nice. We were supposed to go see his mom's side of the family on the 23rd, but it snowed and they didn't want us driving in the snow, so we went and visited with them on the morning of the 24th. Then, my family came out on the evening of the 24th and we celebrated with them. That night, late, we left to go visit his dad's side of the family, just barely made the 10:30 ferry, and got up to Mt. Vernon by about 12:30 in the morning. Poor Molly was so confused as to what was going on! We had a great time in Mt. Vernon and just got back last night. We got some pretty good gifts, but honestly, we were more excited about giving gifts this year. It really frustrated my family because they kept asking what we wanted and I kept telling them that I really didn't know because there wasn't really anything that we really "needed". It was just good to be able to spend time relaxing with family. We're going back up to Mt. Vernon on Saturday for new year's, which I'm completely looking forward to. We have our last obedience training class on Saturday, so we'll leave as soon as that is done. It's going to be wierd to not have to go to petsmart on Saturdays for class anymore...I think we're going to sign up for the intermediate class as soon as there is one offered that works with our schedule.
Anyway, that's about it...4-day weekends are great, 3-day work weeks are even better! I get the office to myself today and tomorrow...I hope the days don't drag like they sometimes can in this situation...so far today seems to be going okay...I'd like it to go a little faster, but I can't complain!
So, if I don't get on before to write, have a safe and happy new year!

erikavanhuis · 12-28-2006, 11:56 AM

Just found out this morning from a friend that I haven't talked to in a while that a family that I know, that I used to go to AWANA camp with (and haven't been able to keep in touch with, but still think about them), were in a very bad car accident this morning. The parents weren't in the car, so they're okay, but all the kids were hurt...all 5 of them. The one that I was closest to was hurt the worst...she had to be revived at the scene and her prognosis is unknown, another one had to have surgery for 3 hours to remove skull fragments from his brain, and the other 3 were banged up pretty bad, but were released later. Prayers would be appreciated for them. Once I know more, I'll update. What a way to start the morning...

erikavanhuis · 01-05-2007, 03:44 PM

I'm bored...I have this huge report to do at work, and I don't want to do it. It's making my eyes cross...somewhere around 300ish pieces of equipment to log in to the database. Once I'm done, I print it out, it gets checked over, and I get to re-do the whole thing to correct things I missed or someone put down in error the first time around. My back hurts too...I may take the laptop and sit on the floor and finish.
We're doing a wedding this weekend, it will make for a long day, but it should be fun. The rehersal's today, but I'm not going to it because it starts before I get off work. Sunday should be a low key day...sorting out all the pictures from the wedding.
Have a good weekend!

**Leboman** · 01-17-2007, 09:54 AM

I am leaving CGR. I have left links in my blog to places where I can be found.

I've enjoyed hanging out with you.

In His Service,
Lee

erikavanhuis · 01-23-2007, 02:52 PM

I got a promotion at work!!!

Of course, along with that, I've got a whole lot more work to get done, and less time to kill, which can be a good thing...I'm finding that I've been way more productive, which makes me feel good. We hired someone to take my place and do everything that I had been doing so I can completely focus on my new duties here at the office. It's really wierd to train someone to do my job, but so far it's been really good. We're getting along well, and she's learning really fast, which makes the transition easy.
In any case, I don't know how much more often I'll be here during the day...I may be able to stop in during the evening hours for a bit, depending on how busy I get doing stuff at home.

erikavanhuis · 02-15-2007, 10:26 AM

Well, the girl that we hired to do my office management duties quit on us yesterday...I'm back to basically having 2 jobs at work again. Doesn't exactly make me happy, but I'll definetely be busy. I'm not sure if/when we're going to hire someone else. I'm sort of bummed about it, but in a way I'm not so bummed either...call me silly, but I sort of missed doing the stuff that I was doing, even if it did get boring. She was just starting to get the hang of things around here too. Oh well, we wished her the best of luck, and we're moving on from there. Even more crazy busy work, here I come!
In other news, we had a pretty good valentines day! We actually celebrated the day before because neither of us really care for valentines day anyway, lol. He cleaned (and I mean really cleaned) the kitchen for me, and bought me flowers! He also got a huge chocolate chip cookie for us to share. It was yummy. We did go out to dinner last night though, so the day wasn't completely without any kind of celebration! Well, that's about all for now. Until next time...

erikavanhuis · 01-28-2009, 05:58 PM

Wow, what a difference 2 years makes! I guess it has been that long since I've posted in here. It's not that I haven't lurked...just haven't had much to say, I guess. Still married and madly in love...5 1/2 years already now! Puppy's doing great...still rambunctious, but settling down! Still living in the same house. I'm working at the same job, although I'm looking for a new one...long story, but it's looking like I'll most likely be out of work by the middle of the year because the company is splitting and moving the office to Seattle. I told them that my family is too important to be spending that much time commuting. Speaking of which...the biggest news...we had a little boy in August! I can't believe he's going to be 6 months old here in a couple weeks! Time sure does fly by. He's the happiest baby I've ever known...sleeping through the night since he was 6 weeks old, although I think he's getting ready to hit a growth spurt because he's been waking up hungry at 1am for the last week or so. I love being a mom, and ideally would like to find a job that is part time, but still makes enough money to make the mortgage and van payments. Hubby started a new job a week after the boy was born. He's working nights so we don't have to put the boy in daycare. He's made such a huge sacrifice for our family and I'm so appreciative of him. He doesn't get much sleep, which is another reason I'd really like to find a part time job. His mom comes out a couple times a week to help out so he can get some sleep, so that makes it nice.
Anyway, that's the biggest updates for now. Things sure have changed around here...

erikavanhuis · 02-02-2009, 12:52 PM

I'm at my wit's end with my job...I'm frustrated and feel like I can't do anything to make anyone happy right now. I'm the middle-man (woman) in a huge website overhaul and nothing seems to be working right, and I can't communicate enough to my boss that there's nothing...absolutely nothing that I can do to make things work. I so want to quit and be a stay at home mom. The only thing keeping me at my job is the simple fact that it's a paycheck that makes the mortgage payment...
Help...

**Epaphras** · 02-09-2009, 10:35 AM

Glad to see you back here Erika, and to be your friend on Facebook!

Sarah and I will pray for you regarding your job. It sucks having working a job just for the paycheck. It sounds like God has already provided in the form of a job for Mark and help with the baby from your mother-in-law. Trust Him - He will continue to provide for your needs!

Does Mark still do wedding photography? That should pick up in the spring, right?

erikavanhuis · 02-09-2009, 12:11 PM

Hey, thanks Sean! Last week was just a bad, frustrating week at work. Haha, it's amazing what a little bit of prayer does.

I was at the point where I was pretty fed up with the project...nothing was working, and there was nothing that I could do to fix anything...it was out of my control, and that wasn't sitting well with my boss. Oh well...it looks like things are moving along with it now, and we should hopefully be finished with the project soon.
I'm busy checking out classifieds, submitting my resume to places online, and just keeping an eye out for openings. It's kind of hard, because I'm worth more than an entry-level paying job, and those are really all that's out there for job openings...well, that or jobs that are way beyond my qualifications. I'm not worried or stressed about it...yet. I know God will provide, just like He's been faithful to do all along. Doesn't mean that I can totally relax on job searching though, ya know?
As far as the photography goes, we're going to start that up again probably here in a couple of months. Mark took time off from that to just be able to spend time being a dad. It will be nice to have a little bit of extra income from that when we pick it up again, but we're also going to be a lot more picky about the kind of clientele that we have too. We'll see what happens. Mark doesn't quite have the in with the kids anymore for senior pics now that he's not working at the pool. We feel like we're on the brink of something huge happening in our lives (again). It's exciting, and scary to see what is going to happen. We've definetely been going through a weird season for a while now.
Well...I really should get back to work now. I've got to keep at it as long as I'm still here.

erikavanhuis · 06-04-2009, 01:23 PM

I can't believe I'm a mommy to an almost 1 year old. He's such a joy! Crawling and in to everything, and just about ready to start walking. He's cruising now...holding on to whatever he can pull himself up on and walking that way. Crazy!
Life on the work front is about the same...still looking for a job, however passively. They're not sure how things are all going to happen here, so I'm staying put for the time being. I'm not going to pass up an opportunity that comes my way though. Mark is passively looking for new work too...it's no fun with him working night shift. In fact, it downright sucks. He doesn't get nearly the sleep that he needs, and we don't get as much time together during the week as we thought we would. As soon as I get home from work, he goes and sleeps for a couple hours while I get dinner made. We eat dinner, then he gets ready for work, then I put the boy down to bed and then I go to bed. He gets home about 15/20 minutes before I leave for work in the morning. We're definetely not going to be doing this kind of schedule forever though.
It's been pretty hot here in the northwest this week. Up in the 90's the last couple of days! We broke down and bought an air conditioner to make the house tolerable for the few days in the summer where it is hot enough to actually need air conditioning. It's one of those portable ones so we'll keep it in the garage or the shed when we don't need it. Anyway, that's the update for now.