Reflection....

If you all have some time to read along…I would like to go back to October of 2010. This was a time in my life where I have gone through several transitions that I am extremely grateful for. One very important moment of my life during that time was my son, Brandon’s birth on 10/15/2010. Prior to Brandon’s birth my husband, Markus decided that he wanted to quit his full-time job to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. This was not at all an easy decision, but we both spoke and prayed about this major life changing decision.  We took the leap of Faith as a family into the entrepreneurial world two months before Brandon’s birth. The road to entrepreneurship started out great for Markus, but shortly after Brandon’s birth (like two days after the birth) his dream of becoming an entrepreneur got a little rocky as things began to fall apart between he and his business partner.  During that time we remained prayerful and realized that everything happens for a reason and not to question what God was doing in our lives. We decided that he should continue to press toward the goal of achieving his dream of entrepreneurship.  However, while trying to remain faithful you could only imagine what I was going through. I was very upset with how the relationship between he and his business partner changed so quickly. I started to wonder how would Markus achieve his goal and most importantly would we still be able to afford to pay our bills and maintain our current lifestyle.  Now, let me say this….we don’t live lavishly (like the Joneses), but we do live comfortably. I was on maternity leave for 2 months after the birth of our son and my hormones were certainly out of whack and that was a not so good time for all of this to go down. However, we pressed on and continued with life and we remained hopeful, faithful, and believing in God to provide and make a way.

Now, I fast forward to June 2011 and I have been off of maternity leave for six months and working at my job as a case manager supervisor and business is booming for Markus. An opportunity at my job opened up, which would be a promotion for me from supervisor to director. However, two years ago, I had once applied and was interviewed for this same position, but was not chosen. So, I was a little hesitant about applying for it again because I didn’t know how long our family would remain in this particular area. Well, let me be real…I was afraid of being turned down again and the challenge and responsibility of becoming a director of a program. That is a huge title to carry and a lot of responsibility considering that this was a social worker position and the decisions that I would have to make when deciding what route to take in order to save another child’s life was a very hard pill to swallow. But, I realized I was already making those decisions because I was a supervisor of a unit but not a whole program. Anyways, I spoke with Markus and prayed about this opportunity and decided to take my leap of Faith toward my dream of becoming a director. I applied for the position on the closing date. I received a call the next day and I interviewed for the position. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I’m going to. I felt so comfortable and relaxed during my interview that I blew everyone’s socks off with my responses and from my observation of how the interview was going…. I had the job. The only thing stopping me from starting immediately after the interview were the policies and procedures of our human resources department. Anyways, I left the interview feeling like I had the job, but I left it in God’s hand and said if this is for me…God will work it out. Well, shortly after the interview I got a call offering me the position. Needless to say, I was happy and excited about our future.

October 2011 is here and everything is going well in our lives. We have a handsome one-year-old son and we are at the height of our careers. Well, I thought we were at the peak of our careers. What more could I ask for; I’m happy, hubby is happy, the baby is happy, and we love our careers! At this time in our lives, Markus’ consulting business picked up so much that he was traveling back and forth to New York City. With him frequently traveling we rarely were able to spend time together as a family.  This situation led us to make another life changing decision that would affect both of our professional dreams and uprooting our family to allow Markus to pursue an unbelievable opportunity in NYC.  We prayed, weighed all the pros and cons we spoke with our parents, our pastors, and friends about our move. This upcoming change weighed heavily on my spirit because I was finally in a place of true happiness with my new position as director of program and I did not want to give it up because I did not know if I would ever be given the chance again. I also did not want to turn in my letter of resignation because I did not want to drop this bomb on upper management considering I was only in this position for three months. I invested seven years of my life to this agency and worked hard to get to this stage and now I’m wondering how are they going to look at me when I give them this letter of resignation. Well, we knew that moving was the right thing to do because we believe that God spoke to us and said that we should go to NYC and not to worry about what other people may think. So, we packed up the house in less than two weeks because Markus had to be in NYC before the end of October. This was so hard on me because we left everything we built to start over in a new place without any relatives or friends and I wouldn’t have a job to go to.

We made our move up to the east coast! We are excited because we reside in northern New Jersey, which is not too far from midtown Manhattan where Markus is working. We can literally hop on the subway and be in Times Square in no time. We have so much culture and opportunities at our fingertips. This scenery is totally different from what we are used to. Well, our transition up the east coast was fine until we got news about our household items and vehicle.  Our family flew into New Jersey and our items were to be delivered to us in a week. However, that never happened because a freak accident occurred with the moving company’s truck and the brakes caught on fire, which engulfed the back of the trailer where our items were being stored.  We practically lost everything either due to water, smoke, or fire damage. I was a hot mess emotionally and literally. Once again Markus and I had to sit down and talk about some things and we prayed about this situation. I started to question whether or not we made the right decision to move here and leave everything behind in Florida.  I became depressed very quickly over this. Markus started working at his new job, my son and I are in an empty house, and we know no one in this state. I had to get myself together before I went deeper into depression. I started reading my bible daily, going for walks with our son, and I found a moms meet up group to join.  During this transition God has spoken to us several times and with the fire incident He said to my husband and I that He will provide for us and will never leave us. He wanted us to have a fresh start all away around including a new job in a new state; I’m a full-time mommy (which is a job), new home, vehicle, furniture, etc. We took this as a lesson and learned that no matter the situation we need to sit down with one another and discuss our family situation and include God in everything that we do.  

Time for Me

When our family moved to New Jersey from Florida in October of last year, my husband and I knew that this would be a challenge for us because we are in a new city without family or friends. I knew that I would have to get out of my comfort zone and learn a whole new world and find activities for my son and I to get involved in.  So, I decided to join a local moms' group to allow Brandon to participate in play dates and to develop his social skills. This group has been a lifesaver because we are always out and about doing something and learning Jersey City. However, I realized after reading YUMMommy post here that I have really been neglecting myself by only focusing on getting Brandon involved. I love being with my son and watching him grow and explore the world, but I have to remember about ME. 

Through the local moms’ group I learned about The JerseyBeans, which is a home-based drop-in center. I enrolled Brandon over the winter session to allow me time to clean up around the house, grocery shop, and attending medical appointments. However, I realized that I was still neglecting ME. So, I decided to enroll Brandon for the spring session where he will attend two days a week for three hours and I made the decision to take full advantage of doing something for Me….like working out, having a much needed mani/pedi, massage, or going to the movie theater alone.

As a stay at home mom I think we all need to find ways to focus on ourselves and not lose our identity. How do you find time for yourself?

Easter weekend wrap-up

I hope that everyone enjoyed Resurrection/Easter Weekend!

This was our first Easter in Jersey City and we enjoyed it. Our festivities began on Thursday with a play date that I hosted for our local moms group to participate in egg coloring and stuffing with Brandon and I.  This is a first for Brandon as he never colored/dyed eggs before and of course he was not really into this activity as much as I was. However, I was happy to be making memories with my son on his first time coloring eggs. We donated the eggs to our church for the Easter egg hunts. Here are some pictures:

The hubby had Good Friday off and we enjoyed some family time with just the three of us. We took Brandon to Lincoln Park for a play date that was hosted by a member of the local moms’ group.

We had lunch at a local pizzeria in our neighborhood and later on Friday night I had to get ready to participate in the first performance of the fairy tale Easter play that my church put on. It was awesome and we had a packed house on Friday night.

Saturday we had breakfast at the Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory, which was featured in Diners, drive-ins, and dives. Later in the day I decided to make our Easter dinner because I knew that we would be busy on Sunday. I made a slow cooker whole chicken with carrots and potatoes, and rice and peas. The chicken was very tender and the taste was great and it was easy to prep. I'll probably add some new ingredients to the recipe the next time I make this, but since this was my first time I didn't want to deviate from the recipe at all. I also participated in our fairy tale Easter play on Saturday night and again we had a packed house.

Sunday I participated in and all three shows of our fairy tale Easter play at 10 am, 12 pm, and 2 pm and the hubby was an usher/greeter.  We had a packed house at each performance on Sunday and The Jersey Journal wrote a column on our Easter play as they came to our 2 pm show.  After each show on Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt for the children ten and under and here is a picture of Brandon participating in the egg hunt.

After church we went to Rio Rodizio Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner with our Pastors and we stuffed ourselves as we enjoyed good conversations and laughter. After dinner we came home and prepared ourselves for bed and crashed. Here is a cute picture of Brandon playing with his Easter basket before calling it a night.

How did you enjoy your weekend?

Settling into our new city!

That’s actually a good thing because that means we are keeping ourselves busy and touring North Jersey and New York City. Also, we found a church that we really enjoy and the Pastors and the congregation are very friendly and helpful. I have become more involved in this church and been offering my time to volunteer and help out wherever I can, which leads me to tell you all about the upcoming Easter play this weekend. It is a Fairy Tale Easter play and we take you on a journey into this mysterious world where you see an epic battle between good and evil….it is going to be an awesome production. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that yours truly has a part in the play as weeping beauty’s sister and I am excited to be a part of this life changing experience.

So, two weeks ago I was out with the women of the church to pass out door hangers to invite the community to the play. We had a great time fellowshipping with one another as we walked around Jersey City hanging the hangers and getting to know one another. After our trek around the city we decided to have dinner because we were starving after pounding the pavement as hard as we did. I must say that I was happy to get out and be in the company of other awesome women. I have not participated in a girl’s night out (since our move here in October 2011).  I was out from 7-11:30 pm and that was waaayyyy past by my bedtime and YES I did miss my hubby and baby and was wondering what they were doing without me, but at the same time I was happy to have some much needed girl time away from my boys. I am super excited for the next girls night out…..whenever that is.

S/N, I was EXHAUSTED when I woke up the next morning from the walk around the city and being out soooo late, but it was well WORTH it!! J

Awkward Situations!

Have you ever felt like you’ve been in several awkward situations and you’re not sure on how you should react? Well, I know it’s happened to me plenty of times. I recall an incident in high school and it was the last day of school and my friends and I were having fun and running around and chasing one another. Anyways, long story short while chasing one of my friends I ran into these huge wooden double doors and boy was that an awkward and embarrassing moment for me.  I didn’t know what to do so I ran off. Do you know how long that vision haunted me? 

I wanted to share this link with you because you won’t feel alone in those awkward situations. My husband introduced this website to me and we had a great time laughing at the webisodes. The cast is hilarious! Check it out and tell me what you think.  Enjoy!

P.S. I am going to make a contribution to the site because I would like the show to continue.

http://www.awkwardblackgirl.com

Date Night!

Finally, the hubby and I were able to have a date night since moving here to Jersey City. Our pastors were kind enough to watch the munchkin for us as we enjoyed ourselves at Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson Immortal Tour. The show was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which isn’t a bad ride at all.

I didn’t know what to expect from the show, but what I did know….is that Cirque du Soleil always bring it! The acrobatics, choreography, and the songs from MJ’s collections were awesome. The hubby purchased floor seating for us, but we were quite disappointed because we had a hard time seeing over the audience heads that were in front of us. However, that got a little better as some of them requested to change seats.  All in all we had a great time at the show and we can’t wait for our date night next month. Here are a couple of pics of us at the show.