who died and made you king of anything?

Finally, the rain is gone.
And I cannot wait for the fall. I'm in love with the changing seasons. Forget the extremes of Winter and Summer, and gimme that breezy, shifting uncertainty anyday. I'm such a commitment-phobe.

Ocean Grove was fantastic. I saw so many people I love sooo much, got to lay on the beach, and ate FAR too much ice cream. I saw the "Newsboys" in concert, which really threw me for a loop - since when did Michael Tate of DC Talk start fronting for the Newsboys? It was more like a Michael Tate show with a few DC Talk and Newsboys classics. But I had the best seats in the house - how can you beat the Northwest balcony in the Great Auditorium?
The drive home, however, was another story. Absolutely miserable. We left just before 6pm and didn't get home until 1:30am because it was raining the entire way home. Hard. I think my eyes are still recovering from the constant state of trying to stay focused.

My computer is dying. The IT guys here at work are currently trying to get the data off of it so I can take it to the apple store - but it's not looking so promising. If you are a praying person, please pray for my dear computer.

Do yourself a favor and go buy Brooke Fraser's new song on iTunes - can't wait til her CD comes out.
I would tell you about all the other concerts i'd love to go to this fall, but they're on my computer which is currently in a coma...did I mention you should pray for it?
Finally feeling pretty settled in this job - almost finished with week three - but still in this state of long-term transition. This summer was crazy and now i've got this job to kind of ground me and my schedule, but i'm still trying to figure out how to balance possible voice lessons and extra babysitting jobs. Navigate Mod 2 will be starting in a couple weeks, and that mixed with some added worship leading at church equals a continued state of transition and falling into some kind of groove. But i'm stickin to my guns that God is way super good and provides absolutely everything I need. Life is in transition, but rich and exciting.

my heart and mind will not agree.

I'm at work this morning - I know, I know, why am I on the computer updating my blog? Because it is just that slow. Last week was a little crazy because I was training during a week with both Rent and Tuition payment deadlines. Lots of students at the window last minute, and lots of new things to learn. It was great - it forced me to get comfortable enough with the systems to do things (mostly) on my own this week after everyone left. My supervisor is gone, her supervisor is gone, another woman in my office just got back yesterday, and our student worker left Wednesday. It has been pretty empty in here. And because we're in the limbo weeks between Summer and Fall semesters, not a lot is going on. I'm ok with it - with supervisors gone, it has been good to know that the stress level is down and most things I have questions about can wait til they get back.
I am, however, told that in a short while, this will all be just lovely memory from the past - that as soon as students start to show up around here and Fall gets into full swing, my job will get pretty crazy. When it's that time, bring it on. Until then, i'm chillin with my coffee and my blog and Needtobreathe playing through my iPod headphones on my desk until it's time to open the window for students. I don't even have any voicemails to return.

I am finally making friends around here - that sounds so lame, but there aren't many students around yet, and just hadn't met many people yet. But the ladies in Admissions are lovely and let me sit at their lunch table every day for a small fee (kidding). I'm starting to feel good and starting to find my niche a little bit around here and i'm still loving the consistency. It's amazing how quickly I fell into a morning routine. I'm obeying the alarm clock more than I had been (we'll see how long that lasts), shower, start the coffee, grab breakfast and take it back to my room to check email/weather/twitter/facebook (the essentials), get dressed, go make my coffee mug and lunch, then finish getting ready. Then I hit the road, jack. And the drive is lovely. New England back roads - I can't wait til the leaves change. It will be GORGEOUS.

The beauty of this job in the summer is being able to take shorter lunches and leave at 2:30pm on Fridays - Elisa and I (assuming she's feeling better) will be hopping in a car right after that the trek down to Ocean Grove. I could not be more excited and it could not come at a better time. My brain is absolutely full. New job, end of summer, transitioning into fall, lots of things going on up there in that noggin of mine and I definitely need the time to step back and clear it out a bit. PLUS the people there just make me feel so good. I'll get to spend time with kids and staff and friends and family and it is SURE to be good for my soul.

My computer is on the fritz and I desperately need to take it to the apple store to have someone look at it, but haven't had the chance yet. Keeps freezing and then not wanting to restart - I realized late last night that today is the deadline for the Donald Miller blog contest and I need to get my entry in. It's already written, so let's hope i'm able to restart my computer later and get it up here before hitting the road after work. If so, you might be getting 2 blogs from me in a day.

Lucky you.

Getting me through:

so, are you a seminary wife?

No, I'm not a seminary wife.
Evidently that isn't typical for where I work - and i'm getting funny glances that seem to say, "and you work here....why?"

I just finished my first full week as the Cashier in Student Accounts at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Lifelong dream of mine?
No.
2 year prayer for a full-time job fulfilled beyond what I could have dreamed of?
Absolutely.

Basically, my new job is like being a bank teller...but at a seminary. I sit at a window and take payments from students and all different kinds of offices on campus. Pretty much, if you write a check to the seminary, it makes its way to me and I have the joy of entering it into the computer (i'm learning 3 + new computer programs), counting it, re-counting it, making deposits, copying checks....

I love that I get to interact with the students. I love the people in my office. I love working in a place where going to chapel is part of the job in the middle of the workday.
Here are some classy pics of my oh so standard office area (taken with my phone):

My chair, computer, limited counter space, the window with the shade down, and cheat sheets on the wall for entering things into the computer. 

My tall wall looking out into the rest of the office, adorned with my pending box and the cashier's handbook.

My new favorite lunch spot. 

Things i'm still adjusting to:
-My schedule is the same every day. I don't have to fall asleep reminding me of the next day's schedule, what time I need to wake up, and which 3 homes I need to be at.
-What the heck to do with an hour for lunch. I don't know a ton of people yet, and I can eat lunch in well under 30 minutes - i'm so used to eating with children and eating quickly, that i'm swimming in extra time at my lunch break.
-Oh, and my supervisor will be on vacation all next week - so we'll see how much I've actually learned and retained this week.

Moral of the story: i'm loving the consistency.

side note: new people moved in on the floor above us and they're LOUD. a little worried.

When it rains, it pours.

The holding pattern has ceased.
I was offered 2 positions and have chosen one.
I have turned down the awesome role in the musical.

The first position was a job as an office assistant to a psychiatrist. While slightly appealing in some very minor ways, I decided against this offer.
On Friday afternoon, I got a call from Human Resources at Gordon-Conwell telling me that although they were very impressed with me, I was not selected for the job in Registration. However, if I would like to come in that afternoon for an interview, there is another office who has heard about me and would like to interview me. I let them know that I would love to come but had a deadline by Monday to make a decision about the psychiatrist job. I went in for the interview, loved the people, and got called before I even got back home that I was offered the position. As it turns out, the first office I had interviewed with had given me a glowing recommendation to this new office, who promptly told HR that if I didn't get hired for the job in Registration, they would like to interview me in the Financial office.

I am now the Cashier at Gordon-Conwell.
I start Monday and I couldn't be happier.
Well, except for actually having to dress like an adult and losing free laundry access at Casa Baird.

God works in crazy ways.

After all of this job nonsense, I turned down the role in the musical. I'm still a little bummed about this - i've been wanting to get back into theater for a while, and was so excited to be offered a part. (I'm learning more and more how difficult it is to turn down people who compliment you and encourage your ego.) But I just never really had peace about doing the show. I kept telling myself, "it's only 3 months, it's only 3 months," but it would have meant missing out on a lot of crucial community, and i'm already coming out of a summer where I haven't felt like i've been in any kind of groove lately. I'm feeling the need to get back into that groove - and starting a new job and a new musical in the same week just wasn't going to help that. I'll probably go audition again sometime soon - and pray for a schedule and timing that works better. I'm also still waiting on this CD to get finished, and when it does I want to be free to promote it and play out and all that jazz.

So I followed David Burke's advice: "No peace, no go." At least now I know I can do it, and there are options out there for me - this just wasn't the one.

I gotta go back to posting a video with each blog.
I can't say that I love rap music, but I love Heath McNease. He's hilarious and a genius. This one, not so hilarious. This one is rich.

Sittin, waitin, wishin.

How, exactly, do you follow a blog entry about going to Africa?

I thought I would want to come back and write a bunch of stories out, try to paint a picture, and maybe I will at some point, but the mood just hasn't hit me yet. It takes me a lot longer to process the things that i've experienced and learned.

<----My rockstar brother at the concert back home in MD - I taught him everything he knows.

Also, i'm working on a blog entry for a Donald Miller competition. You'll know it when it gets posted here because it will be better written than my typical entry - without tons of dashes and elipses where my brain just pauses and I feel the need to continue hitting keys.

Since Africa, life has been a little crazy. And that, in itself, is crazy because I still don't have a job. Yet somehow, i'm all over the place. Hunting for jobs, applying, interviewing, scrounging part time jobs together for now and taking everything that comes my way. Some days have been super freaking awesome. Some days have been super freaking sucky. I'm waiting to hear back about a lot of jobs, and just feeling a little aimless about where exactly things are headed. I certainly can't stay in this hectic limbo for too much longer.

Here are some pics from a day in Rockport last week with Elisa.
Rockport + cameras + wandering + iced caffeinated drinks + sunshine = good times.

On a more interesting note, I auditioned for a musical on Monday night, got called back Tuesday night, and was offered a part today. It's a great role in the show Once on This Island - and I would loooove to do it, but it would require a lot of missed church community between now and October, AND just to spice life up a little bit, I can't commit until I hear back from some of these job interviews. The job I would LOVE to have would work perfectly with the rehearsal schedule. The job I would not LOVE but would take if I got it would not work with it. I feel like i've been put on hold. The waiting game is not my favorite.

I wish interview results came as quickly as audition results.





<--- This one is fun because I started reading a Bill Bryson book today with a very similar image on the cover. 

I also posted an ad on Craig's List as an amateur baker looking for experience making cakes. I've had 2 wedding cake requests - one that was a little absurdly large and last minute that I didn't feel comfortable committing to, and one that hasn't responded since I sent her photos of my work. BUT, one of the mothers I nanny for commissioned some cupcakes from me this week for a birthday party. THAT was fun...here are my teddy graham beach-tastic cupcakes. Please take note that some are swimming and some are lounging on beach towels. 

Note to self: Pretty drink umbrellas are sharp and not the best cupcake accessory for fiesty 2 year olds. 

Anyhoo, that's all i've got for now. Stay tuned for more African stories (someday), job results (hopefully), musical adventures (possibly), and photos (most definitely). 

just a taste...

I went to Africa.

It was beautiful and painful, inspiring and scary, challenging and stirring.

There were moments when I was in absolute awe of the beauty of the city and the ocean, the traditions of the culture, the honor of women’s heads wrapped in colorful scarves, the new flavors of cous cous and tajine.

But other moments I was frustrated with gender issues, scared I would suffer death by taxi, sick of frites being served with every meal, no vegetables, language barriers, and my lack of ability to go out at night or anywhere on my own.

It was a very hot and cold struggle for me for two weeks, but here are some things that I learned or were stirred in me.

-I want to immerse myself in a culture that is not my own and become fluent in a language that is not my own.

-Children bring me joy and I would love to end up in some foreign country working with orphans, teaching them praise songs, or teaching English to school-age kids.

-The love of Christ is so rich and so free. I met so many amazing women, several who love and fear God, but who feel so far away from Him because of their culture’s need to achieve His love and earn points for their salvation. My heart broke for their pure hearts so exhausted by the striving nature of their faith.

-I am so thankful for freedom and vegetables.

I am still processing so much from this trip, but will share as it comes. For now, these are the big things that are lingering on my heart from my 2 weeks abroad.

The job hunt is still on. I had 2 very good interviews this week and have one more scheduled for next week. I already know I was not offered the first job, which was hard because it was the one I was most excited about and felt I had the highest chance of getting. But life continues. I am exhausted of the search, but there is a perfect plan waiting for me to fall into it.

I got a crazy last minute experience to go to Fenway on Thurs night for free. A friend didn’t want the tickets she bid on at our auction, and I got to spend my first MLB game in the Pavillion Box – and it was sweet. Except for the minor fact that the game itself was a bust. It was a lovely first experience.

I’m in Maryland for a nice long weekend. 2 college friends got married on Saturday and it was so great to see bunch of college friends I haven’t seen in way too long. Stickin’ around a few extra days to spend time with family I also haven’t seen in way too long. I played a concert last night at the barn – it was a very casual, last-minute kind of event, and we didn't get a bunch of people to show up, but the people that did blew me away. I got to see a bunch of people from all different random areas of my life - people I didn't I was going to get the chance to see in my brief time at home. But it was great. My brother played some music with his friends to start off the night, then I played some and ended up jamming with people a bit. Music and friends = good times. 

energizer bunny.

I'm being a bad blogger.
Don't worry, I don't really hold it against myself. It's not a character flaw, really. It just means that a lot has been going on and my attention has been focused on other things. I went to Africa. I went to a Red Sox game. I went to a few job interviews. Today, i'm going to Maryland for a wedding. Then i'll probably come back here and go to more job interviews. Lots of going lately.
I'll tell more soon. I have lots of good stories and have learned lots of big things. For now, I have to go make myself look somewhat professional and then climb in a car driving south for way too many hours.

But one thing is for certain.
I love my life.