Happy Easter! Blessings pour into our lives when we least expect them...

Here in our hilly Ohio Valley area, spring has sprung and April has indeed brought us showers.  Lots and lots of showers, and thunderstorms.  :)  The Ohio and Guyandotte Rivers, that so recently were starting to ebb, are back up, muddy waters churning their way toward the Mississippi, thankfully still within their banks if just.  My beautiful little girl, now a one year old toddler, got to enjoy a little bit of Easter with her grandma Cover, wearing the beautiful blue dress her grandpa Alford picked up for her.  I'm working today, of course, as I've worked most Sundays for the past 5 years, but that's ok.  :)

It's ok, because just over a week ago, we finally got a little break.  Justin, who left an upper management job about three years ago, to take the chance on something better eventually, and to spend more time with his son, finally was given the opportunity to move up the ladder at his current job.  He's been patient, a little irritated from time to time, but overall patient as he slowly tried to work his way up from the bottom.  He'd made a couple moves, and gotten little raises here and there, but this time, he finally got to show his hand at his managerial skills again.  :)  I'm proud of him.  I'm proud that through the frustrations he's stayed and tried to make a name for himself.  I'm proud that he has stuck to his guns and not been afraid to speak up with his ideas for improving things.  And I'm thankful, that he's finally been given a chance to shine a little brighter.  :)  And better still, Justin's schedule will finally for set... no changing from day to day and week to week.  Now, he works the same thing all the time and now I can try to schedule myself for a steady shift as well!  Yay!  Oh how I've missed a steady schedule each week and not having to carry a calendar around constantly just to remind myself of where I'm supposed to be each day.  And maybe, just maybe, we can get Jess to bed on a set schedule again!  It's been months since we could do that.  Here's hoping.

Now good news never seems to come into our lives alone, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that just a couple nights after getting our lawn mower back from my mom and her husband (who had kept it over the winter to work on it for us), and one lawn trimming (first of the season even, and on the same night), our mower was stolen from the porch.  Gotta love thieves.  But things could be worse and I'm still more thankful for Justin's promotion than I am annoyed about the mower.

Anyhow, still working on downsizing some of our possessions, the mower wasn't meant to be among them though.  I'll have to ask for a weekend off soon in order to actually have a yard sale to get rid of stuff (maybe we'll be lucky and make enough to replace the mower).

Well, time for work.  May your day be filled with blessings and a sense of renewal this Easter Sunday.