an update!! :)

Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
-Psalm 27:14

"Gratitude is central to the life God made us for. Until we can center ourselves on what we do have, on what God has given us, on the life we do get to live, we'll constantly be looking for another life."
-Rob Bell

So the past two weeks have been quite the trip!! Two weeks ago I moved from Bourbonnais, Illinois to Anderson, Indiana... but I wasn't quite done with my internship... so after an awesome weekend with my family and Ryan's family in celebration of Ryan's ordination in the Nazarene Church I popped in my little wagon and drove back to Illinois to stay with Brenda for a week, finish my internship and work a bit at Barnes and Noble. It was a rough week... I was so excited to be finished, but goodness gracious, the stress of moving and not knowing anyone or anything and not having any job secure except for a transfer to Barnes and Noble in Noblesville, IN (which was TOTALLY a God-thing, praise the Lord!!) completely overwhelmed me. To top it off... on Thursday as I had gathered up my last papers for the hospital and finished my last class at Olivet ever and was driving to the hospital, I got in my first real accident. I rear-ended a pregnant lady at a red-light. It was horrible. Check out my sad little wagon now... it needs a nose job! :)

Thankfully no real damage was done and while I am currently unable to pop my hood, my car is drivable and the week before I'd gotten an oil change, so I have a little time before I have to worry about fixing the hood. So... I drove to Indiana after being rescued by the Heubners (bless you!) and Friday was Ryan's birthday. I met up with him and then that night we had a huge party in his backyard... the next few pictures are of him and his cake, the band he got to come play for the night (plus the incred Christmas decor he had in his barn that they took advantage of!), and then of us the next two days as we hung out together and got to go to the zoo (which was disappointing... did you know that there are no camels in the Indianapolis zoo!?! Who has a zoo with no gamels!?!) and we went to Kings Island with his youth group. It was a great weekend in the midst of all of my stress!!




I came back to Anderson to this incredible little house I live in with my Aunt Nancy...

And I started working at Barnes and Noble on Wednesday. It's been so busy!! I've been working in the cafe which definitely is stretching me... I miss those books, but I'm striving for excellence and just to be a servant... and I worked every day this week. Tuesday is my first night off... and that's been really good to have so many hours. This week my goal is to get my resume out there hardcore and just be praying and hoping that doors and oppotunities will open up and I'll find a full-time job sometime in the near future. I love living with Aunt Nancy, but it's been an adjustment... I didn't quite realize how alone I would be and I've been real frustrated as I got lost twice on the way to and from work, and I'm pretty good with directions. Sometimes I wonder if I'm in the right place, but then I do things like get to work the cafe by myself one night so that the other girl scheduled to work can go home early (not her idea!) so that she can be with her husband who's in the Navy and she hasn't seen since January and he leaves again in a week... and I know that even here God can use me and little things like his and her smiles make it worth it!

Pray for me these next weeks if you think of it... and if you're in Lima Friday night the 29th 7pm-9pm, well you should stop by my house and give me a hug!! The following pictures are of my incredible new yellow room and me in my work uniform on Aunt Nancy's incredible front porch!! One thing I am looking forward to... learning how to garden and become a better cook!! Aunt Nancy ROCKS!!! Have a great night and many blessings on you as you and I strive to trust God more together!!