Thankful

I'm sure that this week is going to be both full in general and full of Thanksgiving posts....and I don't care. Here are ten things I'm thankful for this season {no particular order}:

• the mercy and love of God
• the opportunity to pursue passions #DoulaAdventures
• good health {and good healthcare when the health isn't good}
• my fantastic family

• the opportunity to pursue passions #DoulaAdventures
• excellent books
• wonderful friends

• a great job with my favorite bosses ;)
• a warm home in which to spend Thanksgiving with my family
• this awesome blogging community :D

What's are you thankful for this season? 

Finish This: Week Forty-One

Hey gang! Joining the link-up party with Nicole at Three 31, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Lisa at Coastlined, and Becky at The Java Mama.

I feel like a badass when my boss {the one who is not one of my parents} is impressed by my work; the dance instructor asks if I've danced the Viennese Waltz before {I haven't}; my fingernails are painted; I remember to change the calendar within the first three days of the month.

One thing that always cheers me up:

The quotes I live by:

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Thanks for joining - catch ya on the flip side!

Finish This: Week Forty

Holy smokes, 2014 is almost over! 40 weeks into a 52 week year... my math brain doesn't want to work, but I'm confident that's a fraction that almost equals 1. Wow.

As is Wednesday's habit, I am linking up with the wonderful hostesses of Finish This: Nicole at Three 31, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined.

I can change the world by glorifying Christ in my life. Jesus is the most amazing Person ever - He doesn't sweep into life dramatically {ok, the manger thing might have been a little dramatic} and turn it upside down; He moves into a heart and slowly but surely life is different.

The best career advice I ever received was dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

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I first fell in love with my bosom friend's son when I held him the morning he was born. Read about that {and my dog sitting adventure} in this post. 

That's all, folks! Leave some comment love, and see you next Wednesday. 

San Antonio + Sickness

Well, gang, I'm home again, home again, jiggety jig. Our event in San Antonio, Texas, was fantastic, and now I'm home celebrating by...being sick. Yep, San An gave me a bug. But let's back up.

Tuesday morning before the crack of dawn, my parents and I loaded up into the car and set off for the airport. We had 6 bags to check {thank you, Dad's status, for letting us do that for free!}, and someone {read: me!} got bumped into first class! Yes and amen, right!?

I won't bore you with all the nitty gritty details of the week {I know you've been on the edge of your seats for THAT}; instead I will tell you that the event went way smoother than Mom or I could have ever imagined, hoped, or dreamed, and we got compliments right and left about how awesome everything was.

My favorite part was Friday night when we down the street to the Buckhorn Saloon and had dinner, dancing {with live music}, and sharpshooters. The food was fantastic, everyone was dancing or laughing at those dancing, and the sharpshooters walked around intimidating people before they started arguing over their girlfriend. It was absolutely perfect.

Saturday was a morning session, conclusion, and goodbyes before I rushed off to the airport. First class both flights - please and thank you! My sisters picked me up from the airport, and we hit up Dick's Drive In before heading home.

The only downside of this trip was the bug I caught. I think it was a combination of the air conditioning {odd, I know, but I'm pretty sure it was involved}, dehydration, and the stress of the event. Add traveling to that mix, and I woke up Sunday with a bad case of I-can't-breathe-so-I'm-gonna-stay-on-the-couch.

Today's to-do list includes watching the Season 1 finale of "Elementary," drinking lots of water and orange juice, and growing a pile of tissue. {I feel like a game show host announcing this list, btw,} I'm on the mend, so never fear! I should be back in the saddle again tomorrow. Giddyup!

Finish This: Week Thirty-five

By now, I'm sure you know the link-up drill. Thank you to our awesome hostesses, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Nicole at Three 31, Lisa at Coastlined, and Becky at The Java Mama.

I celebrated Labor Day by moving Samara out of the condo, moving my new flatmate into the condo, celebrating my sister's birthday with the family, playing hooky out of church to have brunch with Samara, watching "Only Lovers Left Alive" with Cami and Samara, venturing to IKEA with the new flatmate, making dinner with a friend, and attending my second-to-last Bradley class. Phew! Are you exhausted reading it? Because I was definitely exhausted doing it!

My dream job/career would be working as a doula, running a crisis pregnancy center, homeschooling my kids, and maybe writing a travel blog. That last one is just an excuse so I can travel, but who says it won't work? 

I am very fortunate to be able to pursue these dreams; it's such a blessing to have opportunities to do what I love doing, or even start down the path of what I think I want to do. As all the sh*t happens around the world with wars, kidnappings, persecution, etc., I am beyond grateful to be able to spend life in such a beautiful fashion. 

My first paying job was working in retail my senior year of high school. Babysitting had been bringing in some moolah since I was 12, but my first "real" job was at LifeWay Christian Stores. I stayed busy stocking shelves and chatting with customers. It was mostly fun, and I enjoyed being known as "the queen of fiction" and working with "the Bible expert" and "the Spanish translator."

My current job is coordinating all things meeting-related for my company's peer group clients. It sounds super complicated fancy boring, but basically I make sure everyone has everything they need for their meetings. It involves a lot of phone calls and checklists and email templates, and it's pretty fun. 

Also, even though I'm not currently working as a doula, I definitely consider doula certification a job in terms of responsibility. Currently my "assignment" is to save as much money as I can to pay for the certification program, and since I have 3 babysitting jobs between now and next Friday, I think I can say that I'm on top of my homework!

There you have it! Tune in next week for another round of Finish This, and visit the link-up for more posts this week. 

This Is Real Life

Last week, Holy Week, felt like Completely Unholy Week. Thank God it's over and that He is risen!

There were really only two factors that made last week hard: work and my health. On Monday, I was sitting at work, at the very desk where I'm currently sitting, and I had a revelation. I hate my current job. Yep.

For some background: I work for my parents, and last year when I started working for them full-time, I was worried and stressed and freaking out because I didn't completely know what I was doing or love what I was doing, but I didn't want to disappoint my parents, and if I didn't love this, how on earth would I get another job ever in my life??? Thankfully, my parents eased my fears by assuring me that not working for them was indeed an option; my friend Laurie reminded me that transitions take about a year to get fully adjusted, and so I relaxed. One might even say I flirted with apathy.

On Monday, it hit me: I hate this. I cannot continue sitting at a desk staring at a computer. I need human interaction. Suddenly, I was both so relieved and so frustrated! Relief washed over me because I knew that I didn't have to stay in this job. Frustration filled me because now that I've had this revelation, I have to have some patience before anything changes.

The good news is, Dad and I have talked about me doing something different, and on Wednesday, we had that conversation. And that's that. He's going to make some phone calls and I'm holding onto patience while the ball s-l-o-w-l-y starts rolling. I'm so thankful for a father and boss who are understanding and who want me to succeed.

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Part Two: health challenges.

Both for my dignity and for you weak stomachs out there, I'm going to give you just the highlights of my health roller coaster: doctor's appointment, antibiotics, missing work, working from home, learning that when meds say "take with food" they really mean "take with food so you don't feel nauseous and puke at work," a trip to the ER, and more antibiotics. Ta da!

I find myself laughing at God's sense of timing, because the very week I realize that I hate sitting in front of this computer all day is the same week that antibiotics and ER visits keep me home for about half of my working hours. Thank You, God, for pulling me out of the office right when I needed it most.

To end on a light and fluffy note, I went to my favorite bull's-eye store on Saturday and splurged on some a-freaking-mazing pink nail polish for Easter. So thankful He is risen indeed.

7QT: Fangirl and Funny Friday

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes!

1. This article from Relevant magazine made me stand up and applaud. So good!

2. My roomie from college wrote this beautiful poem. Please join me in praying for her family as her mom transitions to eternity with Jesus.

3. This article about women in ministry is incredible. Suzanne Burden writes about her journey of understanding women in ministry. My favorite line is a quote from Ruth Haley Barton: "When we require women to pay over and over again for Eve's transgression with their silence and submission, we negate the full redemptive power of the gospel."

4. I know that winter in the Northwest is like a wet fall to the rest of the country; therefore, I should not complain about the weather. BUT! The bi-polar-ness of March has been horrendous and my previously-nonexistent allergies have been hosting dance parties in my head and sinuses. Ugh!

5. My dad is hosting a meeting in July for some other business owners, and he's delegated me to get the hotel and meeting space taken care of. This has been an adventure, and it's been fun to learn how Dad thinks and what he means by what he says and what he expects out of me. And when I say "fun" I'm using my high school rhetoric professor's definition of fun, which means the process was challenging but the result is a positive.

6. For consistency, I think this Take has to involve some sort of fangirl imagery. "But wait!" the normal people cry, "What is the fangirling of which you speak?" Ah, yes... I too used to be as you are. Let me lead you to the light. The next two images you are about to see describe the life of a fangirl. Please proceed cautiously.

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If you want some more fandom experiences, you can read Doctor Who love, Sherlock cosplay, fanfiction, and a letter to Moffat.

7. Ending 7QT with a Funny Friday story! As you probably know, my bff and I live in a condo, and to put it mildly, we have way too much fun together! I've lost countless hours of sleep to lying in the hallway or sitting on her floor talking, and ya know what? Those are hours of sleep I don't wish back {unless my alarm is going off}, because bonding with my bestie is sweet, sweet time.

That's not the funny part. That's the serious part and the explanation of the funny part. Just to be clear.

So our upstairs neighbor is a lady who is really quiet. Samara and I have both met her once...I think. She works a lot and is super quiet and those are great qualities to have in a neighbor, may I just add. But just about once a month, Samara and I will be chilling on a Saturday morning {ok, fine, afternoon} and we'l hear the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. Perplexed, we speculated and finally concluded that our neighbor must participate in a "Rent A Toddler" program and that's what we were hearing.

Last night was the annual home owners' meeting, and I ended up sitting next to this upstairs neighbor. She's quite nice and smart, and after the meeting as we were walking back up to our respective condos, I told her that if Samara and I were ever too loud, she should feel free to tell us to shut up immediately. And she laughed and said we'd never been a problem {PHEW!!!!}. Then she said, "I'm having some people over on Saturday, and there's going to be...a few kids..and a two year old."

I then felt compelled {by what awkward social forces, I don't know} to tell her about Samara and my line about her "renting a toddler" and {thankfully!} she started laughing and said, "We tell him not to run around, but he just runs laps around the living room!" And I started laughing {both out of amusement and gratitude} and told her we wondered what was going on because it did sound like a toddler running laps...and that's what it was!

So we had a good chuckle and then I fled inside and said to Samara: "You know how we joke about Rent A Toddler upstairs??? It's real!!!" and we laughed at both how prophetic our hearing was and what dorks we looked like to the neighbor. Such fun.

Ta-da! Head over to Conversion Diary for more 7QT, and happy weekend!

Blog Every Day in Feb: Day Nine - A Day in the Life

Linking up with Bailey Jean as we continue with her February challenge!

This prompt reminds me of one I wrote for Victoria's October challenge {see Creative Writing tab for those posts}. Just to keep things interesting, let's use this style. 

5:43 AM - alarm goes off. Snooze is promptly hit.

Nine minutes later...

Alarm goes off again. Decision time: hit snooze again? The answer is almost always yes.

Another nine minutes later...

Doesn't Apple know how to make an adjustable snooze time??? Seriously. 

With this thought, I get out of bed. With either a worship song or the audio Bible playing, I get dressed, put on make-up, fix my hair. Shoes, scarf, purse - check, check, check. Grab water bottle and lunch from the fridge, and out the door I go.

Driving to work = audio book! This makes my commute so much more peaceful, it's unbelievable. 

7:00 AM is the official start to the workday. Emails receive responses, phone calls are answered, clients are cared for. 

Noon brings a lunch break, usually with my parents and I stealing the newspaper and interrupting each other to read whatever headline we're engrossed in. 

12:30 PM - back to work! More phone calls, some typing, a bit of editing, lots of reading and searching for share-able material {I manage our social media}.

Monday-Wednesday, I leave the office at 3:00. Thursdays are my volunteer day, so I leave at 1:30. Friday is done whenever the phone stops ringing, which means between 2 and 3.

After work, there is usually a Zumba or dance class to rock out work out. Dinner with the bestie, maybe some classic Doctor Who, and then reading before bedtime - all of these are important. 

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When I type out this description of my days, it sounds boring and uneventful and life-less. But there is life here, in each day. There are conversations with my parents {perks of working for them}, there are conversations with my bff, there is laughter with my co-worker, there is gentle teasing of clients. 

At home, there is the rhythm of household activities: laundry loads through the cycles of wash and dry; dirty dishes arranged carefully in the dishwasher; checking the mail and feeling like a grown-up for taking care of bills {online bill pay = hallelujah!}; coordinating dinner plans and deciding how adventurous tonight's meal will be. 

My life is full of life and I love it. This season is really wonderful, and while I can see changes ahead and have vision for things to be different, still each day soothes my heart and I must declare: 

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7 Quick Takes: Encouragement, Tom Baker, and Humility

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes!

One: The last paragraph of this post is amazing. She resolves the conflict I so often feel, that I need to go somewhere to help but I also am burdened to stay and bring positive change. She says it so simply: "I can choose both here and there - because I have enough and can share with others." Beautiful, peace-filled words. Thank you,  Emily.

Two: Just when you thought Pope Francis couldn't get any more awesome, he does. Bam.

Three: Wow. The articles you find at work but apply to life. This is really cool.

Four: This weekend, Samara and I are going on our Jesus retreat!!! I'm so excited to spend some quality time with my best Friend and my bff :) My goal for this weekend is to work on some of my life goals with Jesus, as well as get some specific answers to some things I've been mulling over {side note: isn't that a great expression? I feel like drinking some wonderful sangria while mulling over deep and intense thoughts}.

Five: For my birthday last month, my youngest sister ordered me a phone case. I know this because she asked me what I wanted and I told her...and then I sent her the links to my favorite cases...and then she told me that she ordered one of them. We're cool like that - the surprise is discovering which one she ordered :) All this is to say that it finally arrived in the mail! So I'll be swinging by my parents' house this evening and having an abridged and delayed birthday celebration - picture forthcoming!

Six: Since I finished my TARDIS purse and my sister's birthday scarf, I'm itching for my next crochet project. I'm thinking that I should make Tom Baker's Doctor's scarf, especially since I have half the colors already. If anyone wants to donate yarn to the Doctor Who cause, I'll make something for you!

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Seven: Next week is Valentine's Day, and since it's on a Friday {meaning 7QT Day}, I won't spill the details of what my gal-pals {oh, hey there, 90's expression, long time no see} and I are doing, but just know that it's awesome. And you should know that it was my idea. And you should also know that humility is my most prominent character trait. Others have told me that; I had no idea. But I did have the idea for Valentine's Day. Wow, full circle, looks like it's time for this post to end riiiiiiight now. 

Happy Friday and happy weekend!

Blog Every Day Feb: Day One - My Story

Welcome to February and the Blog Every Day in February challenge! Here's the link from Bailey Jean so you can add your own {hint hint}.

Let's start at the beginning...waiting for the chorus of "the very best place to start" to ring out from the hills. See what I did there?

Like most children, I was born. :) And then my sister was born. And then my next sister was born. And then my next sister was born. And that is how the Fabulous Four came to be. Watch out, Washington!

My parents homeschooled us and I was also involved in a co-op for a few years. Childhood consisted of ballet lessons, bike riding, and book reading {wow, alliteration *pats self on back*}. The summer before 6th grade, my family moved to an island. This was a challenging time for me, as is common for adolescent girls. I didn't know too many other girls experiencing this, though, since after a couple of years on the island, the friends I thought I'd made turned out to not be true friends. 

Cue lifelong best friend. Enter Samara. Yes, we've been best friends since 6th grade :) 

After a couple more years of homeschooling, my parents heard the Lord that we were supposed to move back to the mainland and enroll in my church's private academy. In my teenage wisdom, I refused. And in my parents' wisdom, they ignored me. 

I entered 10th grade awkwardly. Samara was the only person I knew beyond a name-only basis, although I had grown up in Sunday School with the majority of my classmates. Also awkward: there were 2 other girls besides Samara and me, and then 8 guys. Culture shock, anyone? {For those doing the math, yes, that is a sophomore class of 12 students. Did I mention that this school is really small?}

However traumatic those first few months were, I survived. High school eventually became fun and enjoyable, and those stranger-classmates became good friends. Yes, there were ups and downs, but I think that there were more ups. 

senior ladies with just one month before graduation!

Senior year required a thesis paper {25+ pages} on "God's calling for your life." Gulp. I've always been the person who loves a schedule, a plan, the details spelled out. If God and I could sit down and He could tell me the story of my life, I would fill out my calendars in permanent marker and then go on living happily. Unfortunately for us Type As, that's not always how it works, and so I wrestled and cried and struggled and prayed and cried some more. And then God gave me an answer, and so I wrote my thesis. 

Ballet had still been a part of my life throughout this time, and I wanted to keep dancing, but in a different capacity. The answer to my thesis question and the direction of my life at the time was to go to school for physical therapy and then use ballet as therapy for children. This encompassed all my loves of dancing, children, and running a business {and it filled twenty-five pages quite nicely}.

Before I started college, though, I wanted to solidify my relationship with Jesus. My church offered the Master's Commission as a discipleship, leadership, get-to-know-Jesus 11 month school, and I filled out the application nervously. I'd seen "MCs," as students were affectionately referred to, all my life, and I was anxious about what would actually be in store for me.

MC Class of 2007-08

My year in Master's Commission was one of the hardest and best of my life {up to that point}. My 23 classmates and I grew to love Jesus in new ways, and we also grew to love each other. We toured the country in the summer of our year, and that trip is still one of my fondest memories. 

After Master's Commission, I started college. My first two years were spent at a community college {that turned into a four-year college while I was there}. Instead of taking the route of many of my friends and classmates and transferring to the University of Washington {or U-dub as it is called by locals}, I chose instead to go to Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. 

Berea was amazing. My roomie and I really hit it off, and we actually compiled a list of reasons God made us room-mates. Catherine and I chose to stay roomies for our second year, and I'm so grateful for our time together. She and I were both transfer students from out of state, had both been homeschooled, and were both older than the huge flock of freshmen with whom we went through New Student Orientation. 

old people surrounded by freshmen

While attending Berea, I went to church in a nearby town. My church back home was connected to a local church, and so there were a few families who adopted me on the weekends and let me get out of the dorms and back into a family structure for a few days, and I am so, so grateful for both the chance to get off campus and for the relationships with those wonderful people. AJ is my bosom friend from Kentucky, and her family considers me one of their own. So blessed by all of them!

some Kentucky family!

Class of 2012!!

After earning my B.S., I moved back home to Seattle. My parents wanted to hire me at their company, but wanted me to get some experience first. So after a summer at home, I flew to the Frozen Tundra to live with my grandparents and work at an internship. Laurie is my wonderful friend from that experience, and she and I have had some wonderful adventures together {including the thrill of being in the same ice skating rink room as Kristi Yamaguchi as well as the joy of seeing The Lion King on stage.}.

In March 2013, I finished my internship and moved back home again.And then in July, after travelling to Nicaragua, I moved into my own condo! Samara is my flat-mate and the past 6 months {our six month anniversary is on the 3rd!} have been awesome. 

As I type all of this up, I realize that there are so many more facets that could be included, like my passion for the preborn and my volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, or the way I crochet like an old lady, or my obsession with British television, or that time I dyed the lower half of my hair purple-that-turned-pink, or the way that my sisters and I get together and sit around the table and just laugh the night away. But since this post is already one of the longest I've written, I guess more of this story will have to come later. Feel free to do some stalking reading of earlier posts, and do please say hello if you're here from Bailey Jean's link-up. Until tomorrow!

Dropping Off the Face of the Blogging World: A Tutorial

Do you blog faithfully? Are you ready to shake things up a bit? Keep reading for a how-to guide of dropping off the face of the blogging world!

Step One: go back to your parents' house for a few days without your blogging device. This also helps if you go home while your sisters are working on finals and therefore cannot lend you their technological devices.

Step Two: take a week-long class and leave the house every day at approximately 5:15 AM every day.

Step Three: sit in aforementioned class with five gentlemen and listen to them talk about cars...ALL...DAY. That way, when you finally get home, your brain has completely stopped functioning in complete sentences.

Pretty simple, right? Go forth - I have faith in you!


Yes, this is a facetious apology for my big fat fail last week. The whole thing took me by surprise, and I was so exhausted I didn't even think of blogging until Thursday. So yeah. But it's a new week and it's almost Christmas and the temperature is above 30* and so let the heavens rejoice!

More Tales from Nicaragua

Happy Thursday!

I have no transition here... basically, here are some more adventures from Nicaragua.

People have asked me what was my favorite part of the trip, and no contest, it was doing VBS and then playing with the kids. 

Here are some pictures from our VBS time:

The first two pictures are the kids leading the songs. We had papers with both words and pictures, hoping this would help them learn the songs.

From left: Carlos, Maria, Jose Lois, Fabian

From left: Alexandra, Larry, me, Calloway, Elena, Nadaling, Fabian

On the last day, we had a party. Paula brought face paint materials, and after every kid had one painting, several came back for seconds...or thirds. Here is Stella and me each painting an arm for Carlos.

We had crafts each day, usually involving coloring. Here are a couple of the kids with their artwork.

This is Noel. Check out those dimples!!!

This is Jose Lois, one of the sweetest boys there.

And here's some of the gang working on their pictures.

Here is Mauricio with his finished art. The story was of Jesus multiplying the fish and loaves.

Now that everyone is on cuteness overload... :)

One of my favorite things was playing cards with the kids after VBS was officially over. There were a lot of kids who would jump rope with me for about an hour after VBS ended, and then there were two kids who usually stayed until after our lunch and would play cards until their moms were ready to leave. {There were a handful of ladies who came every day and cooked lunch for us- such a blessing! And the food was delicious, every single day.} 

Playing with these kids was the highlight of my trip. It was amazing how quickly the group grew. I originally taught Go Fish to two kids; the next day, there were 5, and the day after, half of VBS was asking to play! I was so grateful that Stella had brought two decks of cards so everyone could play, and I was so impressed with how well the kids all played together.

Here's what blew my socks off: I was feeling guilty or weird about playing cards with the kids in the shade for most of the day while my team was outside in the sun sweating it out and moving boulders. I mentioned this to Stella, who mentioned it to Bill and Gina {my Kentucky parents and Nicaraguan missionaries}, and they both told me that I needed to keep doing what I was doing and that building relationships was more important than building the houses. They told me that being with the children was obviously a strength of mine, so use it! That really blessed me, and it freed me to be able to wholly give myself to the kids, because I wasn't distracted by thinking I should be outside laboring. God is so cool like that!

I count this trip as one of the best things that I've ever been a part of. Can't wait to go back!

So Many Thoughts

Well, here goes. It feels like I've been thinking I should blog about that for too long, so I'm going to try and get a few thoughts out. Brace yourselves.

1. Dahlia and I have made it official: we are going to Prince Edward Island in August!!!
   
   Woot! We are super excited because a) we got tickets at a GREAT price and b) we found an adorable little inn {Sherwood Inn and Motel-how perfectly quaint and Island-ish!} for a magnificent price AND that has a shuttle to and from the airport! Oh, and yeah, because we found an Anne of Green Gables itinerary. We are totes going. It's ok- you can be jealous. I would be, too!
   
2. Update on the job thingy: I interviewed for 2 Saturday positions, and one I knew wouldn't work out and the other didn't call me back, which was fine because I realized I don't want to be tied to a consistent weekend schedule. So God knew what He was doing {as per usual!}, and actually I interviewed with two different families to babysit and so that will be fabulous. One family will call me eventually {the dad is going to China for a month, so no date nights for a while!}, and I'll be babysitting for the other family for the second time tomorrow. Totes perfect. Thank You Jesus!
   
3. Grandma is getting settled. I think we're all getting more used to each other, and things have been working out pretty well these past few weeks. Again, thank You, Jesus.
   
4. I would really like to blog every day in May like Jen is doing, but May is like the craziest month for me! I leave Saturday to go to the Great Nation of Texas for 5 days, then I'm home for less than a week before I go to the Bluegrass State for work {and play!} for a week. Blogging is highly unlikely this month, let alone every day, so I will do my best to do something fun in June. :)
   
5. This week was my second time volunteering at Care Net. I'm really enjoying it. Technically, I'm still in training, so my 4 hours consist of watching videos that we show clients and reading the volunteer handbook. Still, it's been amazing. The clinic has such an atmosphere of peace and honor and service; I feel God's peace when I'm there. Oh, and crazy thing! The other volunteer who is there for the Thursday afternoon shift -Brandi- is a cousin of one of my friends from Berea! Small world.
   
6. Speaking of this afternoon, I almost passed out today. Yeah... So I don't do needles... or blood or guts or anything that is yucky...as in, I don't like to see them. And I really don't like to hear about any of that.

   

   These lovely Crate and Barrel sheets perfectly matched the color of my face.

   The first time I passed out was in the 4th grade when I found out that my wrist was broken. The pain didn't do it; it was looking at the x-ray {which looked pretty normal, bee tee dubs} and hearing the doctor say, "Here's where the fracture is..." Boom. Down I went.
   So today I was shadowing Brandi's parenting class client, and the video we watched was about the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and then it went into labor and delivery. Now, I've known about the birthing "activities" since I was probably in 2nd grade, but it has always been one of the aforementioned topics that give me the heebie jeebies. I was doing alright with this video, until the narrator started talking about this little surgery-like cut the doctor can make during labor...and so I went into the kitchen and put my head down and waited for blood to return to the upper half of my body. Yep. Second day volunteering, and I have to go lie down in the other counseling room. Awesome.
   
7. I'm excited to go down to Texas next week {technically this week} because I get to see my friend Laurie without having to visit the Frozen Tundra! :) And also because we are planning on watching Season 2 of "Call the Midwife," yet another BBC show that has captured my attention. If you have not seen it, finish what you're doing and go watch it. SO well done. Not like steak. Like a dozen roses...perfection.
   

Well, 7 seems like a good number to end on. I hope that this brings us up-to-date on most items of late... oh, and as for the last post, I think that writing things out and then going to Book Club {a group of us are reading and discussing Lady In Waiting} and talking with the bestie for a good hour afterwards helped me move forward in my thinking. I'm still thinking and praying about things with my parents, and I think God and I are getting closer and I'm comfortable thinking more openly about the future. So, thanks for listening. :) Happy May!

Thoughtful Tidbits

In no particular order, here are some thoughts...

Grandma told me last night that she is very glad to live with us and that she's grateful she's not alone. She said that even when we're in different rooms doing different things, it's ok because she's not alone in the house. This really made me think, because Grandma and I are very much alike: we are both firstborns {that encompasses A LOT}, we are both very organized, and we both like to be around people. But it's been a big change having her with us... to be fair, I got home only a day and a half before she moved in, and that was less than a month ago, so everyone is still adjusting.

Like the new look? I finally sat down and learned how to make tabs up there- woot! Feel free to check it out and give suggestions, either for the Intro page or for future pages. What do you want to see?

Mom and Pops are in Texas for a couple days, enjoying the 90* weather...I'm not jealous...well, not very jealous. 75* is my ideal temp, but I'll take 90 over 40 :(

Speaking of Texas, I'm heading there myself in a couple of weeks. My internship in the Frozen Tundra ended, but I agreed to go to Dallas and help out with their big event there. Yay for business travel! It will be fun to see my co-workers again, and the sunshine sure helps :)

My weekend plans consist of the Ladies' Conference at church and maybe painting my nails. How about you?

Hey, I'm Alive

So, sorry for dropping off the grid there, folks! I ride two airplanes and suddenly can't put my thoughts in order. Sheesh.

Actually, the airplanes are not to blame. I got home safe and sound, and so did my luggage. That night I stayed up really late with my two at-home sisters, and we laughed A LOT and talked about boys and sister stuff like that, and then we finally went to bed and thank God that we were all on break!

Wednesday, I seriously rocked. I unpacked all four suitcases into my new room {as in, my room was moved to another room without my presence, and then my sis on Spring Break crashed in there, and it was chaos...actually, it still is; it's just shut-up-in-drawers chaos now.}. Like a boss.

Thursday, #bestierunion!!!!! Totes fun. We talked about Doctor Who and sexuality and passion and oh yeah our future place together. You know you're best friends when...you talk about all of that during a 30 minute lunch period. Yup.

Also, my grandma moved in with us. We had the MCs come and help us load things in the truck and drive the mile down the road and then unload. We got it all done in just a few hours, which was nice. Grandma's been getting settled pretty well, and I think it's all going to work out for us.

I started work this past Monday. It's been fun. I'm learning a lot, mainly that getting up before 6am is NOT my favorite thing, but oh wait, I already knew that. :-p But seriously, it's been great. I've also been getting my name out there for some tutoring and babysitting jobs, and I have an interview for a receptionist position tomorrow, so hopefully I can start making bank and get a place sooner. Apparently the old saying "Cash is king" applies to the housing market too. So if you think of it, please pray that I find the perfect position{s}.

In other news, I'm really looking forward to sharing tomorrow's Funny Friday, because it's a doozy. AJ, you know what I'm talking about. Heck to the yeah.

Alright, peeps, I hope that I've convinced you that my heart still beats. Peace out til tomorrow!

Work

My BFF just posted her amazing and brilliant thoughts. Read her and then check out my response. This started as a comment, and then I realized that I was finally articulate what I was trying to say in the second half of this previous post, so please enjoy my fuller articulation here.

My thoughts tend towards "what am i actually accomplishing with my life? why am i going work doing something that i'm not very passionate about when i could be, oh i don't know, living in Africa feeding children, or volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, or building relationships with people. "Work" seems so pointless when it just involves email!

But then I realize, this is why I'm in Business Leadership School right now- work has eternal value, God is a worker, and THIS place is my ministry! It doesn't feel like it right now when I have one co-worker who is a strong Christian, but it is, and it will be, and i know that God has great plans for me and they start HERE, in the office, in my inbox, in my heart.

I realized that there is was dualism in my heart, that I was separating in my mind the work done in a business and the work done blatantly and openly as a ministry. WRONG! God's ministry is wherever He has placed you, and how stupid of me for not recognizing my own feelings of frustrations and applying the teachings that I'm hearing. Duh, Bek!

So there. I think that I've said enough. What do you say?

The Cold Scale and Snow in the Morning

Before we jump into this tale of Tuesday, I should probably give you the Cold Scale.
In my mind, this is the Cold Scale {to be qualified with appropriate descriptors depending on the effect from the wind chill}:

• "cold" = below 40*
• "cold" = actually below 32*
• "cold" = single digits
• "COLD" = below 0*
beyond that, the Cold Scale breaks

As you may remember, Tuesday is the day I go work out on The Farm Office. My boss usually picks me up since a) he's coming from the same direction and b) it's almost an hour-long drive. So this morning I woke up to my alarm {the rooster one, in case you were wondering} and started getting ready. You know, clothes, hair, make-up. Normal things.

Last night, the weatherman had said that it was going to be cold today. And I think, of course it's cold. This is the Frozen Tundra. Little did I know...

So I finish the hair, make-up, clothes, etc., and head upstairs for breakfast. As I come up the stairs, Grams says "Did you see the snow?"
Snow? What snow?

Friends, it had snowed... a couple of inches. That's all. It was "cold" and there was snow on the ground. It was not really a Winter Wonderland, but it was pretty.

One good thing: I don't feel so bad for my NW homies who can't drive in snow, because the news this morning was reporting accident after accident after accident of people in the Big City. Don't be ashamed, Northwesterners! Snow is common here, and people still wreck! {I'm probably being too gleeful about this, but I am appreciating the irony.}

Anyway, that happened.

Post for the Week

In an effort to post this week in keeping with my resolution, I am posting to tell you that I will be posting more on Monday. I know, it's lame. But I've been working an event all week in the Sunshine State {at least, I think this is the Sunshine State. Sister who knows everything would know. Or I could google it, I suppose. But like I said, I've been working...}. The moral of the story is, I will tell you all about this event as soon as it's over. As in, on Monday, when I'm home. So hold tight.

Just to make this an actual post, here are some topic teasers:

• our butler
• book signings
• fruit leathers and their imposters

See, this will be a good post! Just wait for it :)

What a Week

Thank God for those brief respites where you can sit back and think, a heck of a lot just happened in {however many days} and I’m just gonna sit her for a second…

As you know, I went on a road trip with my bestie last weekend. Then on Tuesday, another friend and I left for Orlando. It was a red-eye flight, but something made it better- at our layover, we got to see a friend! He’s in the Army and was on his way home! It was sooooo good to see him; I had been bummed that we were missing him by a day. But God is good, and we got to hang out for almost an hour while we waited for our connections. Thank You Jesus for surprise encounters!

So I just got back from Florida Monday night (as in, Tuesday morning) and yesterday went to work. For an hour. Then I came home and took a nap. :)

Some of you may know that I was working on my application for a job in Wash. D.C. Well, I found out yesterday that the position has been filled. Yup. No job there. So my dad and I were talking about it, and I started crying and I was like, Dad, I just don’t know what I’m doing anymore!  And Dad, being the wise, amazing dad that he is, said, you miss the structure of school. That’s all. You’ll get into the structure of home pretty soon. That was reassuring, a bit. But at the same time, I’m still disappointed that the position filled before I even had a chance. And then I’m mad at myself, because my original goal was to apply by the end of June, and I wonder if I had actually done that if I would have had a chance. But oh well. Those are “what-ifs” and I try not to play that game any more.

Yesterday, in my depression and upset-ed-ness, I kept thinking, I want to move back to my Other Home!!! and while part of that is true, I know that it’s really just me wanting to run away from tough situations here, and that moving is not for right now. But friends in my Other Home, know that I miss you all like craaaaazy and am praying about the right time to come back. Because oh yeah, that internship nearby? Not a guarantee. And I’m the type of person who likes to write things on my Life Calendar in permanent marker, not pencil, so hearing that was like, really? is nothing for sure??? And that makes me nervous and frustrated, and sad, because I don’t know when I’m going to see my Other Families again, and I’d love to curl up into a ball right now and sob my eyes out. But I have to go to work today, so I shouldn't. But you understand, I’m sure. Everyone’s been here, or is going to be here in this position, so I know I’m not alone.

Thank You Jesus for my parents and their wisdom.

Well, I don’t really have a strong conclusion to this post. Pray for me if you think of it, please. I appreciate it.
Hopefully I’ll have news by the next post. 

Thank God it’s almost Spring Break

It’s that point in the semester. You know, the point where you think, can any more be piled on top of my plate right now? Oh, apparently yes. Thanks. Yeah. That point.

The point where you’re trying to work ahead in order to stay afloat, and while nothing super bad has happened, you can feel its inevitable arrival and the slowwww drift downward into chaos…

The point where you make a to-do list in order to clear your brain out but in the end you freak your brain out because holy {expletive of your choice} that is a heck of a lot on this list!

The point where you turn on worship music and pray for peace inside your head.

The point where sleep is both the best thing ever and the worst thing ever, because it’s pretty much all your heart can desire, but it means you’re not doing the things on that to-do list.

The point where those “keep calm and carry on” signs begin to have real meaning…

The point where priorities are revealed… do I use my spare minutes to read Les Miserables in order to accomplish my goal of having it done by graduation {which is in 74 days, btdubs!} or do I read ahead in whatever class, or do I clock in and read the book my students are reading {the one that I’m almost-hopelessly behind in}?

Any way. That’s the point in the semester that I’m in. On a more happy note, this weekend is going to be amazing and that’s what I keep telling myself as I get bogged down in the craziness… and it maybe sorta adds to the craziness because I want to get stuff done so I can have fun this weekend, and so I get worked up in both a good way and a bad way thinking about it. But mainly good way, and the best part is, there are no classes next Tuesday, so if push comes to shove, I can hole up in my lovely little dorm room and crank stuff out.

Like I cranked out two pages of my research paper on Saturday. *pat on the back* That’s 20% done, baby. Heck to the yes. And I’m on track for reading for by biz capstone course. *hi-five* And my favorite class is awesome, and we’re making super cool stuff and I will tell you all more about that when goals have been accomplished.

Note: this was not a bragging sesh; this was a hey, Bek, you can do it; you’re staying afloat talk. Thanks for listening. ;)

Oh yeah, about the title of this post. Spring Break is in like 3 weeks. Praise. Jesus. For. Real.

I’m going on an airplane to see my mumzy and her parentals, so it should be fun. Apparently it’s becoming a tradition while I’m at school away from home, because this is what I did last year, too. But I guess that tradition is about to end, because this is my LAST SPRING BREAK. Ahhhhh. Part of me is happy and part of me is sad. Because that means that I’m almost done with college, and again, that makes part of me happy and part of me sad. But I know that my sisters will be in school for a while, so I can always take Spring Break trips with them {why, yes, there are benefits to being the oldest sis!} so it’s not completely over.
Well, this lovely break from homework has taken almost 20 minutes, so I should say adieu and get some reading done.{(I decided that I will “shake a tower”{lemme know if you figure out what that means} and then I will clock in and read my students’ book.} Thanks for listening, friends. Good night.