A Fresh Start

Well yesterday was Mother's Day... my first of those special days with my very own kitty cat! We had a wonderful time with family celebrating Stephen's mom's birthday, as well as both of our sweet moms for Mother's Day. We are so blessed to have them in our lives keeping us all straight! They're so selfless and even on their day we witnessed them yet again putting everyone else first.

The Captain held down the fort while we were gone, so once we were home and I had the chance for mommy snuggles he was verrryyy eager to escape his room and was not to be tied down. What's new. I used to have this little kitty who snuggled with me all of three times, and then he grew up to be an even more active touch-me-not. So here's our entirety of our very first Mother's Day photos. {They turned out differently than I expected after seeing Hilary's pretty all-dressed-up-before-church-with-a-cooperative-cat Mother's Day pictures the past couple years.} Hopefully subsequent years will bring a less active Captain and a better dressed Mama.

Take One: "One, two, three, cheese jump. Flinty wins.

Take Two: "Mommy's strangling me I can't breathe..."

After all that excitement it was time to get ready for... drumroll please... a work week!!! I thought I'd share my top 10 first impressions of the new job... and in six months *fingers crossed* I hope I am almost as excited about the job as I am today.

     10. The office is soooo quiet.

       9. I basically get to set my own pace without waiting on others and streamline my own processes.

       8. While I do share a large office with another bookkeeper, I have my own huge corner desk.

       7. Said desk is covered in not one, not two, but THREE computer monitors!!!! Hello supreme efficiency!

       6. I have a month to train under the sweet lady whose place I am taking. {I'm hoping this doesn't get annoying for either of us but will be a really good transition time.} AND

       5. She has created a step by step manual of all of my responsibilities! Are we the same person?!

       4. The company is big on learning and growing, so we have a small office library of books they suggest we read... and we get $50 for each one we finish and discuss with the manager!

       3. The office is paperless so there are ZERO stacks of papers needing to be filed. I hate having a messy desk, and from the looks of it so do all of my new co-workers. {In addition to the peacefully quiet office, this lack of clutter and well-organized space makes me want to dance.}

       2. The breakroom. It's fully stocked, people. Maybe not with food or drinks (that I have seen), but with plates, cutlery, and *gasp* Dixie cups just in case I forget to bring my own beverage container!

       1. And finally, my favorite part. Included in the employee handbook is an addendum on how to effectively use email, noting that all employees should have no more than TEN emails in their inbox at a time. WHAT?! Did I travel through time and write this rule?

Here I am thinking I'm the only person in G-Vegas who values a life organized with email reminders, Google docs, Excel trackers, and minimal emails chilling in my inbox. But I have found a whole office of others like me who are just as obsessive about completing a task and filing away that pesky email in a sub-folder. They do exist, and I am part of their group now.

There was a time, not so long a go, where I was stressed to the max, having heart palpitations and nightmares about work, and at the office until 7:30 on Friday nights. The Lord wanted me to trust Him; He had a better thing ahead. It was really hard to walk away from our only source of income, and even harder feeling like a quitter. But He provided this position, and yet again asked me to step out on faith trusting that it's going to be a good fit for me. I have left behind all I've ever known in the working world--being an Assistant. Now I've got a whole new set of responsibilities and lots of exciting things to learn!

I know the excitement will fade and the newness will wear off, but goal of mine in this position is to choose to focus on the positive. I don't want to let myself get bogged down once the negatives start popping up, so I have a few strategies in mind for how to avoid that. I hope to be here for as long as the Lord sees fit, and to enjoy it while I'm there! A job shouldn't be a drag or a chore. Life is too short and work is too big a part of our lives to be so stressed every day. It should be fulfilling and, although it won't always be exciting, I want to look forward to each day. That's why I left my old job behind and I'm thankful for the strength and encouragement from Stephen and our family to do that and make it to this fresh start.

~ Buckwheat, The Bookkeeper