Saturday, May 29, 2010

Memorial Day Weekend

My wife is awesome-she made me chocolate chip banana pancakes today.  We have a quasi tradition where we make pancakes and coffee every Saturday.

We watched some HGTV and I read a few more pages in the book I'm reading right now, Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey-a birthday gift from my mother in law.

I gave myself a haircut, did the dishes, vacuumed, and got ready for company tonight.  Our friends Danielle and Jose are coming over for dinner tonight-fiesta lime chicken and Settlers of Catan-two of my favorites!

Malibu is a truly beautiful place-Amanda and I are so blessed to get to enjoy it while I work at my first full-time job and finish up my MPA and while she finishes up her JD-God has given us quite the life!  I'm going to get to go outside in just a sec to grill the chicken-mmm.

I have been working hard at building up my social and professional networking skills.  Check out my twitter, linkedin, and facebook and let me know what you think of all my hard work =).

Amanda's been setting up a photography business today-Amanda Schmitt Photography.  Check out her facebook fan page and her photo blog.  Let me or her know if you are interested-she'll give discounts to poor college/grad students =)

Well, I need to keep being a good husband and help get ready for company.

Sola Scriptura
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Solo Christo
Soli Deo Gloria

Friday, May 28, 2010

Amanda's Birthday Trip to Montana

Amanda and I are back in Malibu.  It was so nice to take some time off.  I may have worked hard this week, but you can't beat only working for 2 days and then getting 3 days off =)

Amanda's 24 now!  Her birthday was on Tuesday-a beautiful day in Montana.  We were supposed to go bike riding down a mountain pass but found out the day before that the shuttle at the bottom that takes you back up to where you start won't be working until this weekend-bummer =/.

So, we watched home videos and Amanda's mom made a wedding-style birthday cake instead!  To top it off, another horse was born on Amanda's birthday.  It was a Bay stud-colt and its name will be McClay.  It was a fun day.

It was so green up in Montana.  I love the Rockies!

I got to play ball with Austin, learn how to ride a motorcycle and a ripstick, meet Kaci, and celebrate my birthday early too!  It was great to get to see Matt and Meredith-I told Amanda that if we lived in Montana, I that I though Matt and I could end up being pretty good friends-they're a great couple!

This trip up to Montana really made Amanda want to move back there again.  I have to say that I'm not opposed-I love the mountains and her family and I could get involved in local politics there a lot easier than I could in California.  However, we have not heard anything definitive from God yet-so post JD and post MPA is still up for grabs =)

I got Amanda Adobe Lightroom 2 for her birthday and now she's starting up a photography business-check out her facebook business page and her photo blog to see what she's got.

OK-time for some ice cream!

Sola Scriptura
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Solo Christo
Soli Deo Gloria

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Test from my phone

I'm watching the History Channel right now-I love history.  There is a program on about Robin Hood.  Courage to stand up for what is right is a beautiful thing.

I just learned how to upload posts from my blackberry. Now all I need is to be able to text to upload a post to my blog-hopefully that means that I will be able to stay dedicated to keeping up my journal and keeping anyone interested posted on what's going on in my life.

Sola scriptura
Sola fide
Sola gratia
Solo Christo
Soli Duo gloria

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Introductory Post

I already have a twitter, a facebook, and a more-formal blog focused on building up the family, but I want to have a blog that will really be more of a type of journal.

In high school, I found that keeping a journal helped me to focus and solidify what I learned by putting words to my life.  I am hoping that by starting out a blog where I can just talk about what's going on in my life that I can regain focus as I transcribe the things that are important in my life.

So, I'm not going to attempt to tell you all about my past to give you a background all in one sitting-you'll probably get glimpses into my past in future posts because I like to use lessons from my past to help me to understand what it is I should do with my future.  Therefore, I'll just start off with where I'm at right now.

Right now, Amanda and I are up at Victor, Montana-where she is from.  We came up this time primarily to visit our friends Matt and Meredith Hoffman because they just had their first baby-Olivia.  Meredith had been Amanda's Maid of Honor and they were close since childhood.  We also get to visit her family over her birthday.  I am glad that she gets to see her family so often.

Speaking of family, my brother in law-Andrew-is about to marry Kaci (you can see some of their engagement photos on Amanda's facebook)  We are coming back up to Montana in less than a month for their wedding.  Amanda and I are happy for them-it seems as though God has been showing them a lot of favor-from Drew having a pretty successful fencing business (Skyline Fencing-if you need a fence and you live in Montana, give him a call for a quote-406-381-3764), and they should be able to move into a house of their own right after they marry.

I mentioned pictures in the above paragraph.  This is actually one of Amanda's main passions and hobbies.  She is becoming quite the photographer and is building up a portfolio of engagement, baby, graduation, landscape, and event photos.  I am glad that she loves it-it's a neat hobby for her to have.  If she stays interested in it, I'm going to encourage her to do it part time as a business once she's done with law school at Pepperdine's School of Law.  She is entering her third and final year and has been pretty successful at it.

Amanda and I got married shortly after graduating from undergrad at Pepperdine, so since I knew we would be together and that she'd be going to law school, I looked for work where she wanted to go to law school.  After she got into Pepperdine's law school, I had a friend, Lillia Chang, recommend working as the Admin Assistant and Records Analyst in Pepperdine's Convocation Office.  I applied for the job and got it the same day that I quit my paid internship and signed a year long rental agreement.  God's faithfulness and provision have been constant themes in my life ever since Amanda and I have been together.

I have been working for the Convocation Office for just over two years now and have been blessed to have a job that I have been appreciated, enjoyed, and-thank God-kept.  I got my job just before the economy weakened and "the housing bubble" burst.  God took care of me and my new bride by placing me in a department that had open positions that it could lose without having to fire people in order to cut back.  I have also been blessed to have found favor in the eyes of my colleagues and superiors and have been promoted 3 times now.

I am working on my Masters of Public Administration (MPA) at an online school-the University of North Dakota and have been blessed there in that I have been getting nothing but straight A's.  I have loved playing city simulation games (especially the SimCity game series) since I was a boy and loved building Lego cities when I was even younger, I believe that this could be something that I could be successful at.  Recently, I have been thinking about the possibility of being a city manager after receiving my MPA in May 2011.  However, I know that that would have to fit into my larger passion of building up the family in America and striving to live a life that draws others to Christ.  I am anxious to see what happens.

Amanda and I are going to intern at Focus on the Family this summer to see if living and working in Colorado could be a direction where God may want to lead us.

Well, we are a young could trying to figure out exactly what we should do with our lives...I am sure that we are not alone and that there have been many couples in our position in the past.  We are praying a lot about this (I've been praying about it daily), seeking counsel, and sitting down and trying to discern what the most logical path is.  There are some things that seem sure, but there is little definitive direction from God.  I'm not really that worried about not having explicit direction from God because I know that He usually waits until the last minute to show us where he wants us to go in order to build up our faith and trust in him.  We know that God is good and that he will provide for us.  We are not worried, but every once in a while, I get anxious and want to know what the next step will be.  As the man, I feel it is my responsibility to come up with a plan and direction.  My understanding is that you don't just sit back and address life reactively, but that you make a plan, place it in God's hands, follow it, and then expect for God to "throw you a lateral" and guide you in the direction he wants you to go.  Right now, though, I feel that my plan isn't very solid and God is making Amanda and me put even more trust and faith in Him.  We will see what happens-I will keep you posted.

Sola Scriptura
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Solo Christo
Soli Deo Gloria