Ole de Olives

Hello Blog Followers!

Hope these last few days have been swell for you. I know for one certain family (the Groves') yesterday was especially super. Congratulations to Ms. Meredith Groves and her fiance.

Today was a celebration of olives and as much fun as it was attending the Olives Ole, I am now very tired and in need of a nap, dehydrated from too much sodium, and stuffed to the gills with cheese. It was a delightfully fun time though. Plenty of olives to go around and I have officially tested the old theory too much of a good thing can indeed be bad. I have had my fill of those little green and black balls of goodness and I have also realized that I feel fairly content to be without cheese for a while too. Like I said though, fun day. I would do it again for sure. In addition to this day of celebration that has left me void of any more energy, I have plenty of school work to accomplish as well. I am thinking a one hour nap can help me be more efficient in my studies, don't you? Tomorrow has promise to be a busier day than I originally expected too. Lunch and West Side Story at the Majestic Theatre down town. Completely unexpected but greatly exciting. However, on top of that, I again have plenty of class work needing to be done. It is just looking like I will be unable to spend much time slacking off and watching movies or The Office while "working" on school related things. Although this weekend has turned into more than I had expected in terms of having time for education, I could not be more excited about all the fun opportunities that have come about. YAY for good things that distract me from school :).

Tonight was a good night for Robby because he was able to meet his dad for dinner. It is such a blessing for everyone that they are close enought to meet up with one another. Tomorrow has promise to be a great day as well because Robby will get to go to church with his dad and they will follow up a hopefully great sermon with lunch and fellowship.  Also starting tomorrow Robby will begin a new work schedule that will require him to be in the TOC from 4pm-12am. Despite our natural tendencies to be like WHAT?! He is actually pretty excited about this new shift because it will still allow him to get 8-9 hours of sleep and leaves the afternoon open to get other things on his "to do" list done. He has more than one job and he definitely stays very busy and can use those afternoons to accomplish all his assigned tasks/duties. So, overall this new shift is something he is looking forward to; sadly, however, it only lasts 2 weeks and then we shall see where he goes from there.

In addition to our everyday lives, Rob and I have both been learning how to be thankful IN every situation. Singing songs of praise is hard when you are walking or stumbling rather through the valley, but we are blessed. In order to remember God's graceful gifts we try to tell each other daily what we are thankful for because sometimes the negativity can be just so overwhelming and it is good for both of us to mentally spend time honing in on those things which are indeed blessings. Even those smallest gifts are worthy of our admiration and praise. God is faithful and for those who suffer during any given time it is important not to lose sight of his goodness so we can remain hopeful and reliant on Him. Finding joy in a desert place can be hard, but it is a lesson that is worth learning and one we are both learning and trying to be thankful for in the process of learning. Fortunately we already have a good foundation, now if only our hearts, feelings and minds weren't so stinkin' stubborn and deceitful...

On a completely different note that has nothing to do with Robby or myself, Lilli (the little 6 month old baby girl I nanny for) is blowing rasberries. SO precious. She has been doing it for a while now, but I just got to see her do it for the first time last week and it is THE CUTEST little thing anyone in the world could witness. Her little cheeks all puffed out and her tiny little tongue blowing and making a slobbery mess... seriously TOO cute.

Okie doke! I hope OLIVE you enoyed reading the happenings of the lovey dovey Martins and that you will stop by next time when when I update you about whatever there is to update you about.

Have a splendid weekend!

OLIVE you!
Tammy