OKC Update

We are officially in Oklahoma City.  We will be here for 2-3 months.  Tyler will be training for 4 weeks and then working with someone for a hands-on experience.  When they feel that he has learned everything he needs to know, they’ll send him home.  However, “home” is relative.  We are still searching for a place to live in the St. Louis area since we have some more time.  We want the place to be what we really want since we’ll be living there for at least a year.

We are currently living in an apartment here in OKC.  We thought we’d be in an extended stay hotel for 8 days, but Tyler got the keys to this apartment after one night at the hotel.  That was a surprise since everything has been seemed to take longer in this process.  The apartment complex is huge.  It sits on a 9-hole golf course and takes about 30 minutes to walk around (if you’re trying to keep your heart rate up).  There are 48 apartment buildings with 6 apartments in each building.  I went on a walk yesterday to scout it all out.  It’s a beautiful property (probably even more in the Spring), and according to a maintenance guy, the complex is “out in the middle of nowhere.” 

I took some pictures of our apartment.  Here’s our bathroom, which is just off the bedroom.

Here’s our bedroom.  We even have a tv that is about the size of our own computer monitor. :]

Here’s our kitchen, which is somewhat frustrating.  It is “furnished,” however it doesn’t have the luxuries of my own kitchen, which I am starting to miss.  I had to cut up potatoes, carrots, and onions with a serrated knife, which is really difficult!  The oven is somewhat older and definitely not as hot as what I’m used to.  It took 20 minutes to bake canned biscuits.  I think I'll have to experiment with it...it might get interesting. 

Here's our living room, complete with a loving husband on the couch!!

We might not miss our 51 inch tv too much...we have a pretty big one here.

It's a cute, little place.  It will suffice for now, but we will be glad to get our own place in St. Louis.  I've already started making a list of places to go see and things to do in OKC.  I did find the outlet mall here and it has a Maurices, which I'm totally excited about! :]  We're hoping to get to go to an Oklahoma City Thunder game...I've never been to an NBA game before, so this will be exciting.  I think my brothers are hoping to come down for a game sometime.  I talked with my old youth minister who's from OKC and he gave me lots of good restaurants to check out and some church options.  It will be an interesting couple of months here.

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I know that this is the 7th of January, but I thought I would share some of my goals for 2012.  I don't really make "New Year's Resolutions," as I think that phrase has a negative connotation, but I don't think it can hurt to make goals for myself.

I've been thinking about what goals to make for myself, and I actually heard a sermon last week in STL about what God would want from us in this new year. That put a good spin on things and got me thinking.

• I want to put God first in everything.  I want Him to be the center of our decisions, and I want to grow closer to Him every day.  I want people to be able to see His light shining through me.  

• I want to be healthier.  I want to make better decisions for myself.  I haven't made a goal to lose weight because weight is just a number.  I haven't let it define me, and I don't think anyone should let it define them.  I haven't told myself that I can't have dessert or pop.  I just want to feel better about myself in the skin I'm in and take better care of the body that God has given me.  I want to get back into my old routine of working out every day.  I didn't even bring a scale to OKC.  I really just want to be healthier.

• I want to read more.  I've started a list of books that I want to read this year, and these are only part of them.  Some of them I have started, but I want to finish them.  I think I'll even have time to since I won't be taking classes!

• I want to make more crafts.  I would love to sew my own quilt.  While that may be out of the question for awhile, it is a goal for my future.  I also want to crochet my own afghan. :]  I'm gonna learn to be as crafty as my momma!

I don't have too many goals, but I think each one of them that I have set for myself is attainable.  I will be working hard to reach them.  I'm excited about this new year, but I think the theme of the year will be "Flexibility."  It's important to be flexible, especially when we don't really know when we'll be getting back to STL.  We have to be flexible when looking for a place to live.  Flexibility is just a good thing to have, so when things go wrong, you can still have a positive outlook.  I want 2012 to be fantastic!