Pictures of my new house

This past weekend we made the move and now are 3 days into our new home and loving it!! Here are a few pictures...we still have some decorating to do but most things are unpacked.

I'm Moving!

This will be a short post but I promise to post again as soon as I get pictures to post also. I'm moving!! My friend Sandy, from church, and I have been talking about rooming together this fall once my lease is up in August. Sandy is ready to move now because her current situations is dissolving. Well, last weekend we went to look at houses just to see what we could rent and what was out there. I had told her that I could probably afford to move mid summer and pay out my rent at the apartment. We prayed about it alot and God lead us to this awesome house in Martin City! It's a 3 bed, 1.5 bath with a big backyard and garage. It had everything we needed and wanted and even somethings we hadn't even dreamed up yet. Best yet it was in our price range!! God is good!!

It was ready to rent right away so again we talked it over and prayed about it and felt God giving us the green light to go ahead and rent it starting Apr 1st. Someone from my church has offered to pay out my rent at my appartment and so that isn't even a worry. This all happened one week ago today. We got our keys yesterday and I've already been over to clean and start bringing over some boxes that I packed up last week. I am so anxious to get moved in and begin a new chapter.

I will post pictures and maybe even a video of the house once I remember to bring my camera over there with me. Much more to come I promise!! :)

Life Lessons: Patience, Humility, and Ex-Convicts

Well I'm really becoming quite a failure at blogging. Months seem to go by before I get time to sit down and caught everyone up on my life. The normal things are keeping me busy...work, church, and attempting to have a social in between. The past few weeks have taught me some big life lessons.

1) Patience -- So, I'm not the most patient person in the world and it has been a constant battle for me all my life to keep my tongue under control and not get angry about stuff that doesn't really matter. The past two weeks have forced me to dive into the struggle with patience head first. I got to hire a new part time employee to work up front with me and my other full time girl. I interviewed a few people with my supervisor and we both decided Patty was the pick of the litter. Well....it's been two weeks and let's just say maybe she wasn't the pick that we thought she was going to be. Normally after training someone for two weeks they are pretty self-sufficent and can be left alone to run the place. Patty is no where near that phase...it's like each day we start all over from the beginning and she doesn't remember how to do anything!! I about went over the edge a couple times this week but God supplied enough grace and patience to make it through. I've decided however that I'm not sure i could ever homeschool my kids. I can't imagine dealing with that everyday...my mom is a saint!!!

2. Humility -- This week started with me a bit on edge do to the first life lesson. When I get stressed I tend to get a bit crabby and short with those around me. I had come to take some of those feeling out on a girl at work. We don't get along that well to begin with so she was the most likely target for my crabbiness. Come Wednesday I was sitting in church listening to Pastor Jim give the message and God started convicting me of my bitterness and contentiousness toward the girl at work. The whole message was about anger, bitterness, and proper use of authority...how humiliating!!! I felt really bad about how i had been treating this girl and using my authority to be on edge with her when really most of time she has nothing to do with my stress. Thursday morning came I had to go talk to this girl and apologize. It was one of the most humbling thing I have had to do....I don't really like this girl and I wanted to just sweep it under the rug but God called me out on it and so there i was apologizing...God is good! I'm still struggling to keep the right attitude with this girl but in time maybe I'll get it down.

3. Ex-Convicts -- Last Sunday at church i had a very interesting morning. I started the day like any other Sunday. Got ready and headed off to chruch early to help get the kids stuff all set up for Sunday School. The morning was going great and then I met the ex-convict! There is this guy at church who just moved to the area and was coming with his parents. He apparently had seen me the weeks before and decided he wanted to date me. He boldly walked up to me on Sunday and asked if I would want to go out this weekend. We thankfully I knew from a friend of mine that this guy had just gottent out of jail and moved here to try and get his life worked out. Big red flag for the dating situation. I felt pretty uneasy the whole time he was talking to me cause he just was kinda creepy and kept giving me weird looks. I declined his oh so generous offer of a date and hoped that he would just walk away. He did try to push the issue a bit but then finally gave up and left. I'm hoping that he won't keep pushing the issue. Believe me I would love to go on a date but an ex-convict is not really who i'm looking for!!

So those are just a few of the life lessons I've been learning. I would say I would write more soon but I'll be honest my track records isn't going to back that up. I'll write more the next time a get a chance!!

It's about time for an update!!

Ok so I've been a big blog slacker!! It's almost been 2 months since I've posted anything and trust me it's not been cause life has been boring and nothing to report!! Life has been anything but boring these last few months. So let me start at way back from November where I last left off....

After my road trip to see all my wonderful friends and their new babies things took off! November proved to be one of the busiest months ever for our office. We had a huge patient load and made the best numbers thus far in our short three year existence. So that alone kept me busy as I tried to learn how to handle more employees and more patients. I've had a couple issues with employees who aren't getting alone or pullng their weight so I've been learning alot about what I don't know as a supervisor and trying to learn really fast so I can deal with all this new found business.

As Thanksgiving approached things started to slow up a bit at work and got ready to head back to St. Louis for a whirlwind Thanksgiving trip. My parents really wanted to come to Kansas City to see my brother's new place and but my sister could not get off work. I decided to take the train home for a short 24 hours to enjoy turkey dinner with the family and then ride back to KC with my parents the next day to spend the long weekend with them and my brother. It was lots of fun to see everyone and get to hear all about my brother's recent trip to Africa! Below is a picture of part of the family on Thanksgiving night at my aunt's house.

Thanksgiving came and went and I started thinking that it was time to move on and get ready for Christmas...my favorite time of the year!! That very weekend my roomies and I all gathered together and set up our tree and decked out the house with lights and decor! We even decorated our deck with lights this year...sorry no pictures of that...maybe I'll get a shot before we dismantle everything. It was fun to get decorated and start feeling festive. I enjoyed watching all the classic Christmas movies as they come on tv. We made lots of fires in our fireplace as December entered with a blast of cold air and weekly gifts of snow/ice...argh!

The week before Christmas came really fast and all of a sudden I paniced...only a week til Chirstmas and only one present bought!! I had a couple parties that week and the kids program at church to help organize...whew! I had a stress out moment and then did what I do best...made a list of what had to be done when and plowed ahead. The presents all got bought after a few very frustrating shopping trips and the kids program at church went beautifully. Below is a picture of me, Lilly (on of the kiddos from church) and Veronica (corrdinator of children's ministry at church) the morning that the kids sang.

Once the program at church was finished I took a deep breath and realized....I am now offically on vacation!!! Nothing left to be responsible for just get packed and get on the road home! I spend Sunday doing laundry and wrapping presents. I got home safe and sound and settled in. In the week that I was home my sister, my mom, and I did two puzzles, baked lots of treats, and watched plently of old movies! It was ultra relaxing and I'm not quite sure how well I'm going to adjust to working again!

Christmas day was a blast! We had my mom's family over at our house and everyone was blessed with lots of presents!! My parents made out quite well this year....they are finally getting the pay back now that 2 out of the 3 of us are out of college and working full time. Saturday night we headed to my dad's sister's house for his family get together. It probably had been about 4 years since I had seen most of those folks and it was a blast to reconnect and see how all the second cousins have grown and changed!! I took about a billion pictures over the Chistmas weekend so I'll just post a couple of the better ones below.

Ok that is the last few months in a nutshell. I will try to do better about posting in the new year but I make no promises!! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Fall Road Trip

Last week I cut out of work for 3 days and headed west! This trip came at such a good time for many areas of my life. Things in life have been very busy. Work is just crazy busy which is awesome but tiring. I've had a roommate switch so things at home are busy. Things at church are always changing and growing which keeps me busy helping to meet the needs of the kids in our children's ministry. It was all becoming a bit overwhelming. I was getting to the breaking point! Each day seemed to be packed full of responsiblities and activies. I was quickly wearing out and knew that I had to get away before things started falling apart!

About 4 weeks ago one of my dearest friends had her first baby, Lawson. Getting away to visit them was a perfect solution to my worn out state. They happen to live very close to a couple of my other good friends so I hopped in my car and headed to central Kansas for a 4 day road trip. The whole trip proved to be very relaxing and peaceful...granted I did loss some sleep with all the babies not quite sleeping through the night ;-) It was nice to get away from the hussle and bussle of daily life and I have to say it was really nice to have a few days where I wasn't in charge of something or someone. Don't get me wrong I love my job and my church and my roommates but being responsible and in charge of all those things is sometimes a bit over rated!

Visiting my two friends and their babies also brought some very good perspective and appreciation to my current state of life. I've always dreamed of the day I get to be a mom and spend my days raising my kids. I still dream of that day and feel that that's the real job I've been created to do. But since I'm no where near that point of life now...this trip helped me realize how grateful I am that I have the chance to travel, work, be involved at church and so much more. I love that I'm free to do as I please and spend time helping others and serving at church, work, and home. The trip made me remember to love the time of life that I'm currently in and never wish away the present for the future. God is so good and I'm blessed beyond what I need. What more could I really ask for!

Okay here are some pictures of the babies and Auntie Han!

This one is me with my friend Bitty's baby Lawson....he is so adorable!!

This one is of me with my friend Sara's baby Leah at 8 months....she is getting so big!

Fall Fun

Whew....it's been a busy Fall thus far but it's been a lot of fun! I've been all over KC doing all sorts of fall activities. I attribute all these fun activities to my friends cause on my own I never would have thought of all these cool things to do.

A couple weeks ago some friends of mine, from church, took me to the corn maze in Gardner, KS. I had never been to a corn maze and it proved to be lots of fun! We had some little kiddos with us which made it even more fun. They were so excited to find their way through the maze and I was glad they were paying attention cause I would have gotten us lost on my own!! After going through the maze we indulged in some yummy kettle corn...perfect fall treat!

The next trip was with my friends Sarah and Leslie. We again headed to Gardner, KS (it's the happening place for fall activities!) to the Wagon Wheel Orchard. It was a newer orchard that had apple trees and a pumpkin patch. This trip brought back many found memories of picking apples with my family as a kid. I got to pick out a pumpkin right from the vine for the very first time on this trip! I haven't carved it yet..not sure if that will be happening or not. ;-) I got a bag of very nice fresh apples now on my counter...I really want to make applesauce out of them, but again not sure if I'll get to that or not.

My next adventure was last night....me and a bunch of my friends went down to the American Royal Rodeo!! We got awesome seats in the front row which was great, but a bit dusty! The Anheuser Busch Cycadales were part of the entertainment at the rodeo....they are some of the biggest horses I have ever seen and they did some pretty amazing tricks. Another bit of filler entertainment was a cowboy monkey! It was the oddest thing!! There was this little monkey dressed in a little shirt and cowboy hat riding a dog. Where do people come up with this stuff? The best part of the whole rodeo event though was afterward. Josh Turner was in concert and it was awesome! He as the deepest voice ever and it was really cool to see him live!

On top of those activites I got to see my sister last week!! She was in town for a few days and we got to get breakfast together one day and catch up a bit. I've also had a roommate move out and a new roomie move in over the last few weeks. Gosh the month of October has been packed but as I look back over all the fun stuff and change, I see God's goodness in it all. I love fall because of all the colors changing and it reminds me that change can be a good thing.

Procrastination at its best...

My friend Milli had this tag on her blog, and I thought it was hilarious. What you do is answer the questions and type the answer into "google images." Whatever image pops up; you add to your answer...

My first name: HANNAH

My last name: GORMAN

My age: 24

Place I would love to travel to: HAWAII

Favorite place to visit: ST. LOUIS, MO

City I currently live in: LEAWOOD, KS

Favorite Cuisine: ITALIAN

Favorite sweet treat: CHEWY CHOCO. CHIP COOKIES

Place where I grew up: KIRKWOOD, MO

Favorite animal: GIRAFFE

Favorite color: YELLOW

Relationship Status: SINGLE

What I do for work: OFFICE MANAGER

So, this is what I did this afternoon instead of a lot of other things that I probably should have done. Oh well it's the first day of the weekend so there will be plenty more time to get the boring housework and errands done ;-)