Proud of him

For 4.5 years now my dedicated husband has been loyally working hard for Hertz. And his hard work has paid off...he earned a promotion! That's right, you are looking at #2 in command location manager at the Austin International Bergstrom Airport Hertz location. So proud of him.

I put together this slideshow for him. I went through all of our photos in the last 4.5 years and grabbed the ones with us in Hertz cars. :) It's a little crazy to think of how many cars we've driven. And where we've driven them...to & from work, around town, all throughout Texas, through California. Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Massachusetts, to pick up our Christmas tree or furniture, to the rivers, lakes and beaches, to pick up our new puppy, on fun date nights and fun family outings. As you can see we've taken full advantage of the free car & gas perk. Enjoy the slideshow...

With this new position comes new changes. He will finally have Saturdays/Sundays off as well as every holiday. In the almost 10 years we've been married this has never happened. We've spent many a Thanksgivings and Christmases waiting on him to get home from work. He will also now work a morning shift which means more family time together in the afternoons/evenings. We'll finally have dinner together as a family every night. It's the little things ya know. 

...and join me in congratulating Stephen on a job well done!

From Madeline :)

From Tante and Oom :)

A Good Ash Wednesday

Stephen's interview went well today, that's how he feels. He did his best answering the questions and talking about why he would be a great candidate for this position. It'll be a couple of days before he gets word of who will fill the position. Please continue to keep him in your prayers, it's in God's hands. Glory be to Him.

Stephen's also been putting in extra hours at work, so lately we pretty much see each other in passing. I know his hard work will be recognized. He wasn't able to go to Mass with us this evening for Ash Wednesday although he really wanted to. The Church was overflowing with people, which I think is awesome because we were all reminded tonight what this season prepares us for, the celebration of Christ our savior and what He did for us. It reminded us to pray to Him and repent, so we may know His mercy. It was a Good Ash Wednesday.

Praying

Some major changes are happening at Stephen's work. And an opportunity may present itself for an opening for Stephen to move up a level in management, hopefully his superiors feel he warrants a promotion. Stephen is such a hard worker and takes care of us. We're so proud of him and what he's accomplished in his working career. Please keep him in your prayers!

God, our Father, we turn to you seeking your divine help and guidance. Stephen needs your wisdom to guide his footsteps along the right path, and to lead him to find the proper things to say and do in this quest. Stephen wishes to use the gifts and talents you have given him, but he needs the opportunity to do so. Do not abandon him, dear Father, in this search, but rather grant him this favor he seeks so that he may return to you with praise and thanksgiving for your gracious assistance. Grant this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Meeting the Illustrator and more...

Last month Madeline's 1st grade class got to meet a children's book illustrator, Doug Kennedy. Madeline was super excited when her teacher sent the flyer home. Madeline loves to draw! Every week for homework she is required to read 4 books, draw her favorite part of the story and write a sentence or two about the story. She always receives great marks for her illustrations. Who knows, maybe one day she will become an illustrator! Anyhow the flyer the teacher sent home said the students could purchase one of his books, have him autograph it and take a photo with him. So I let Madeline get a book. And this is the one she picked.

Madeline was excited, not only did Doug sign it for her - he drew her a flower too! :) I thought it has been awhile (probably last school year) since I shared a video of Madeline reading. I think the grandparents will enjoy hearing how much Madeline's reading has improved. Watch and listen...

Madeline reading (1st grade) from Melissa Spence on Vimeo.

On to another topic. Stephen went into our attic and got all of our Christmas boxes down. We're still not finished decorating, but I was pleasantly surprised to find all the "After Christmas Clearance" buys from last year that I forgot about. You really can get great deals! I had bought gift tags, stationary paper and envelopes, tree garland and flood lights. Everything I bought was under $2! So I've been wrapping all the nieces and nephews gifts and using my sparkly gift tags. And we've started putting up lights on our home and put the new flood lights in our entry walkway planter.

Last topic of this post, I just want to remind all our family and friends when you travel always double check your hotel room or your rental car before leaving! And if you accidentally left something behind, don't hesitate to call the hotel or car rental to see if they found it! Stephen brings home SO many lost and found items that are forgotten and never call or come back to claim them. Hertz has a grace period that they keep lost and found items for - then they trash or give them away. But if the customer never claims them, then whoever found them in the rental while cleaning can have the item (finders keepers!). Stephen has brought home toys, cowboys hats, new apparel, an iPod, duffel bags, a GPS - crazy huh! And yesterday he brought home this nice leather jacket and another GPS! It's a nice Motorola MOTONAV TN30, and retails for a list price of $279. I can't believe people forget such expensive items and then don't bother to call and try and find them.

Their loss and our gain I guess! :)

Finally...

Well Stephen spoke with his new boss yesterday about his annual review (his year anniversary was the end of August). She was gone for over a week in the beginning of September moving her stuff to Austin. So Stephen sent her an email to remind her he was up for his annual. Yesterday she told him she already submitted for a pay raise for him and that tomorrow (today) when he comes in they'll sit down and discuss it. Finally.

My husband is such a hard working man. He deserves a great review and an increase in pay, in my opinion. I just have to say God truly blessed me with a wonderful husband, one who is honest, kind and hard-working, not to mention a great father. He does awesome with Madeline and James with Daddy Daycare in the mornings while I am at work. I miss him tremendously on the days we don't see one another much, it definitely makes me cherish him more when we do get time together.

Thanks to all that have been keeping him in your thoughts and prayers about his work. We love you!

Weekend Update

One of my avid blog readers. :-)

I've been hearing this new Carrie Underwood song, "All American Girl" and it TOTALLY makes me think of Stephen and Madeline. I've added it to my blog playlist, but that randomly plays so if you'd like to hear the song click here.

Well we hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. Can't believe it's September already! We had our neighbors/friends over yesterday for a BBQ dinner. It was lots of yummy food and good company. Above are the boys, Gabriel, Abraham and Quinten. And below are the girls, Madeline, Kayla and Mia. James must have been walking around somewhere, and Ben (Bill and Jimmena's oldest) was on the couch by Stephen and Bill. I couldn't believe it when Jimmena told me that Ben is now 6' tall...he's only in 7th grade!

I forgot to post to Stephen this weekend, Happy 1 Year anniversary with Hertz!!! His start date was August 30, 2007. His work is going great. Can't wait to see how his annual review goes. No other big news at his work except "W" (as Stephen refers to him) was there at Austin Bergstrom International Airport yesterday. He was in Austin yesterday to visit the Texas Emergency Operations Center in North Austin as officials there deal with the impact of Hurricane Gustav. Stephen did catch a glimpse of Air Force One and the presidential limo. Pretty cool.

Small Vent for Stephen

So yesterday Stephen was scheduled to close which generally means he works from 5pm to anywhere between 1-3am depending on when the last flight arrives with customers. He wasn't looking forward to closing last night and then having to be back at work for a 10am shift today, crazy that his supervisor made the schedule that way. I guess because another manager is gone on vacation getting married so the schedule is a little screwy.

Anyhow when I called him at midnight last night to say goodnight and check to see when he'd be off he said there was a flight coming in at 3am with two customers. One was a gold member so he could leave his contract and keys in the car, but the other was a regular customer who needed to be checked in. Note that no other car rental companies at Austin's airport stay open later than 1am except for Hertz. Rule of thumb is if the customer provides flight info in their reservation Stephen is obligated to wait. But he was so tempted to leave at 1am since he had to be back at 10am and just have the customer on that 3am flight wait until Hertz opens again at 5am. BUT since Stephen is working hard at earning that promotion, he knew he better just wait it out. So he did.

The guy finally arrives, he's a man from Israel who works for IBM. The man says he just came from a late flight and has a reservation. Stephen says, "Oh yes, Mr. So-and-So I stayed open late just for you (hoping to hear a thank you from the man which he never said)." He checks him in and gives him the keys to his car already assigned. The man says, "it has GPS right?". Well no it doesn't, you didn't reserve that. The man starts arguing that he needs GPS as he's never been to Austin before, can't he get another car. Stephen didn't have any available and told the man he could provide him with a map and they also have a computer kiosk he can print directions from. The man said NEVER MIND he did not want the car rental then!!! Can you believe it??? Stephen does the right thing by staying and waiting, and this is the result. I'll end this post the same way I ended my previous vent post...Such is life. (BIG sigh)