Italian

So I'm trying to learn some italian.  I have been for a while and I think I'm getting somewhere but I'm not doing enough as I think I can be doing.  So today, I did a few lessons on Rosetta Stone and I labeled pretty much everything.  Everything from the flour to sink to toilet to the countertop.  I even debating on putting a label on the ceiling, but I restrained.  But I just want to get as much vocabulary in my line of sight so I'm looking at the words and reading them everyday.  Jeff and I need to set up a schedule to ONLY speak in italian so he can keep in practice and I can learn more.

A Little Note From Jeff

So Jeff sent out an email to our families explaining our situation the past couple weeks.  I thought I would copy and paste it here for those whose emails we didn't have.  Before I do that, I wanted to give a quick update on my health.  So while recovering from mono, I get the flu.  However, it is a blessing to me because all my symptoms that I felt from mono are going away aside from a stuffed nose.  I was talking to a friend of mine who also had mono and she said she got strep instead of the flu so count my blessings!

Anyways, without further ado....

Hey guys,

For those of you who don't recognize this email, this is your brother-in-law Jeff Fletcher.  I just wanted to tell everyone how things are going for us, because we have been receiving a lot of blessings since we moved out here.  I just got a job working for a construction company, and Ali is working at a steak house called Flemings.    

Since the government jobs were taking a while to respond to me, I have also been looking for a lot of random types of jobs in the city where we lived.  So I applied to work as a driver for a construction company.  Just moving materials back and forth.  I talked to the guy a bit before I came back for Dad's wedding, so i told you guys that I had an interview when i got back.  Well, when I came back and had the interview I showed up, and met the guy at his warehouse.  He started showing me around, and the more we talked the more he seemed to like me.  Right off the bat he said the driving jobs pays 8 an hour.  I had been hoping for at least 9 or 9.50.  He said that he had two positions open, so i asked him what the other one was.  He said that he was also looking for an administrative assistant, to help him with all of the paper work, and sending emails.  I told him that I am good with computers, and between school, work and the army I have had my fair share of writing papers, and sending emails.  So he was interested more in having me help him out on the administrative side.  When I asked him how much that paid he told me 12-13 an hour.  I was pretty psyched.  I showed up planning to get a low paying job, and got offered one that was much better.  I definitely felt like it was a huge blessing.

Ali had a similar experience with her job.  She got a job as a hostess at a nice steak house in Michigan when we were living there.  She liked doing it, and she was able to do it even though she was still recovering from mono.  The reason why she got it was because she had found that they had a second location in Northern Virginia not too far away from where we live.  So she transferred her job and she was loving it here to.  When she had been working in Michigan she had been making about 9 an hour, so I was expecting her to make at least that if not more when we moved out here.  Well she finally got an answer from her boss, and we found out that she is going to be making around 12 an hour as well. 

We found out her pay as well as me getting offered the job around the same time.  So we were feeling really blessed that week.  I have now worked there for a week, and it is fun.  I basically am just in charge of talking to his crew of cabinet installers and making sure that they have everything that they need, while he is busy running back and forth between the job site and his ware house.  Plus doing reports, and sending emails.  Pretty easy.  Apparently I was doing a half decent job, because when we went to finalize my paperwork, he said he was going to pay me $15 an hour since I was taking care of a family.  So the blessings keep on coming.  Ali had a baking job lined up as well, but when we found that we were both making good money we decided that she didn't need a second job.  She had been turned off by how unorganized they had been through the interview process, and how they didn't seem to care that much about her, even though she hadn't even been officially hired yet.  Since it might have interfered with her job at Flemings (the steak house), and it didn't sound like she would enjoyed it she was glad to know that she didn't have to have a second job.  So she just told them that she had changed her mind, and didn't want the job.  

I have been trying to get my job at target transferred down here as well, but that whole process has been a pain, and I don't really know if I want to work there anymore.  I still might get another second job, since I get off work early enough to have a second one, but we are in a good enough position that I am not in that big of a hurry to get one.  I am still working on getting a government job, that is still our main goal.  I even met a guy on the airplane ride out to Utah that does government contracting that I am going to get together with and talk about any opportunities.  Our ward is also full of people that do, or have worked for different agencies, and they all seem willing to help me out.  So I am feeling pretty confident.  

Ever since we moved out I just feel like we have gotten one blessing after another.  I know that we are in the right place, and that the Lord is looking out for us.  It has just been surprising me how much we are getting helped out here, so I wanted to tell everyone.  We love all you guys.  I hope that the lord is looking out for you to.  

Jeff and Ali.