Monday, September 20, 2010

Random facts

1. I love coffee in any form. Mostly though as an iced coffee with 2 pumps of both mocha and white mocha in the summer, and an extra hot mocha in the winter.

2. Over the last 6 months my life has completely been turned upside down and I have come to realize "the plan" is no doing of my own.

3. I'm extremely claustrophobic but have been spelunking.

4. I've never been more excited to see what the future holds.

5. In almost exactly EIGHT months I will be done with grad school. Less than TWO months until I work on the comps. My heart stops momentarily every time I think about it.

6. I love my friends dearly and am so grateful to have them in my life.

7. I never realized how close you could get to God when things feel like they may never change, that you may be stuck in a certain situation forever. But a little light shines down and you feel a peace and you know that some how everything is going to be o.k.

8. I love working on any sort of project (minus yard work) and watching it go from start to finish.

9. At some point in my life I would like to live in the middle of no where.

10. Life is full of ups and downs, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Thoughts

So here is an update of my life in its current state :)

I have a phone interview tomorrow morning at 10a.m. with a city called Trophy Club in the good 'ol state of Texas. I'm excited to see what comes of it. It amazes me that any of these interviews could turn into a job in a blink of an eye.

Still sending in applications. Yesterday: Fair Oaks, Ca. Today; DeSoto, Tx.

I took a glorious 1.5 hour nap today and loved every minute of it.

I'm heading back home next weekend to see the girls and the Grandma. I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm excited to hang out, see my friends and family and take a moment.

I finished all my readings for this Thursday's class on Tuesday night. Go me. The paper due next Thursday: haven't even started. Ah the procrastination.

Speaking of procrastination: I checked out 10 books for my research paper but have yet to start my outline.

I started walking with Karen in the morning. My drive to exercise got lost along the way. To think last year at this time I was training for a half marathon. I'm pretty sure if I tried to run more than a few feet I would have to be taken to the hospital.

So that is the excitement in my life. Hope everyone is having a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Humble Pie

These are the questions that have been running though my head since yesterday:

Where is my unemployment check?

How am going to pay the rest of my bills for the end of August when I only have $30?

When am I going to catch a break and feel like I can breathe again?

I've been waiting for my unemployment check since last Thursday and was starting to wonder if the change of address and the temp job had affected things. And I got a letter yesterday stating that my benefits have been delayed until they speak with me during an eligibility interview next Tuesday. Seriously?

I'm writing this post in Starbucks, trying very very very hard not to cry. I can feel my tear ducts welling up. I hate hard lessons, I hate not having idea what my next step is. I wish sometimes that hard lessons came with a handbook. And they don't. The only thing they come with are hard pills to swallow and the chance to cry out to Jesus and pray for guidance and direction.

But of course in the midst of my pity party God always finds a way to put a lesson in front of me and yesterday he put two.

The first is this: Every once in a while MTV actually has decent shows on (gasp!) And yesterday they had an episode of True Life. Most times when I watch this show I know that real people are experiencing this and while I feel bad for then I have no real idea what they are going through.

I watched two episodes: I'm a teenager and I'm homeless, and I've got broke parents. Both of these shows tugged at my heartstrings. The first episode had a girl and her mom who were homeless and living in their car. She celebrated her 17 birthday living in a car, without anything to eat. The second episode had a dad who had lost his job in Flint, MI when the car industry collapsed. He was willing to work for $5 an hour but wasn't able to find any work to support himself or his kids.

And here I am with a roof over my head, a car to drive and food to eat and I'm complaining. And it took a second after my pity party to realize that things could always be worse. That everyday that I wake up to a new day is a day that I need to be grateful for. That I need to realize that I am closer to God than I have ever been because I have nothing to rely on but Him. That I cannot stand on my own to feet before I'm on my knees.

The second lesson yesterday came in the form of a worship song that I haven't heard in a long time, but last night it was exactly what I needed.

Here are the lyrics but check it out on youtube: Mercy Me - Bring the Rain

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Friday, September 3, 2010

We're your people

The title of my post was from a text between me and my dear friend Miranda. I will admit I teared up. My life has been in the last three months nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster, so I could blame it on that. But in truth I think it made me tear up because I've come to realize the importance of true friends.

This week as I packed up my darling house on Stanley Ave in Reedley I had a chance to look at pictures I hadn't seen in a while. Many memories came flooding back from the last seven years, from my college years at Fresno State and even the times since. Though they were great times in my life and had a part in shaping who I am today I realized that I am completely different from the person I was 7 years ago. I have grown and in growing I realized that besides facebook I know little of what's going on in my friends lives. Life took over and for one reason or another we haven't talked or gotten together.

I've always heard my friend's parents say that your group of friends grows smaller as time goes on. In college I would have called that a lie, I thought for sure that all 20 of us would be friends forever. But for the most part we send a message on facebook and leave it at that. I'm not sure if I had stayed in that crowd if I would still be alive, but that is a story for another day.

Though this post sounds regretful its not. They say some friends are in your life for a season or a a reason and I feel that way about many of my friends from college.

But then there are friends like Miranda. Who write things like We're your people. And that is when I realized that my group of friends may being getting smaller as the years go by, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Friends like Miranda help me grow in my relationship with God, hold me accountable, keep me laughing and keep me sane. And I know that some friends come and go but I plan on holding onto this one for a very very long time.

She's my people :)