Well Tara said that I haven't been doing a good job at updating my blog which is VERY true. In all honesty I haven't had a lot to share, which is surprising considering we are living in a whole new city, but I'll explain.
So basically my life has consisted of cleaning, cooking, and applying for jobs....which I am getting rather tired of. I thought that with my experience and education I would be able to find a job fairly easy here. Apparently I was W.R.O.N.G! I have had a few interviews, but nothing has come through. I am having a hard time staying positive, but I just keep applying and hoping that the right job will come a long...and preferably soon. :)
So the reason that me and Trav don't have tons of new adventures to share is because the studying is STILL not over. Trav has been studying since we've been here and really kicked it in to gear these last couple of weeks because his Pharmacy Boards are coming up. Basically how it works in California to get licensed as a pharmacist is 1)You turn in your application 2)You wait forever 3) You finally find out that you are eligible to take the exams 4)Schedule exams 5)Take Exams 6)Wait for scores 7) Pay Money 8) Finally get a license. It didn't help that we had a little hiccup between step 2 and 3 which I'll have to explain later. So he is taking the NAPLEX on September 19 and the CPJE (California Test) on September 23. So we will both be over joyous when they are over and we can take a trip to the mountains to the east and the beach to the west.
Because we are so far away from our families, we are enjoying getting to know our ward. It is the largest ward in Visalia, which makes us happy. I got called to be a Relief Society Instructor. I teach the 4th week of every month so I get to teach a lesson on one of the recent General Conference talks. I'm so excited to study the words of the church leaders! Travis is the 11-year-old Assistant Scout Leader. He has only gone a couple of weeks, but he always have fun and was excited for that calling. We gave our introducing talks in Sacrament Meeting this last week. They were on Service to Mankind and Service to the Lord. I think it was probably a good reminder to us that thinking of others is the most important thing.
So the church owns a vineyard in Madera, CA which is about 1 hour north of us. All the wards in the Central Valley are assigned 5 rows of grapes. So our ward had rows 96-100. The event was talked about since we moved here and they have made it clear that everyone needs to come and help so it can get done. So we got ourselves some gloves and grape knives and headed out Wednesday night to pick grapes. It seemed like everyone in our ward already knew what they were doing, so I asked if we could get a 2 min grape picking 101 lesson. ha ha. They said that basically you cut the grapes on of the vine and put them in a bucket, when your bucket gets full, you dump them on a piece of large paper that has to be laid flat, and then spread them out evenly so they can dry out in the sun to become raisins. It was so fun to see all of the families in our ward coming out. The kids were so energetic and they helped out alot! It was nice to serve. The raisins from the grape vineyard are used in the Bishop Store House and to send to anywhere that needs relief. It was cool to literally work in the Lord's Vineyard. We were really glad we took the opportunity to help.
We have been so welcomed into the ward. Many people have invited us over for dinner and we are so glad we are making new friends and can't wait to have more time to spend with them.
Well I am watching the Miss Universe Pageant as I type this so I know that my thoughts are all sporadic, but hopefully this give you a little update.
