The first week

It's 2:45pm.  I'm at work.  Yes, I am blogging.  Why? you ask.  Well, it's something to keep my mind occupied and right now there is nothing.to.do.  I've been through the job website, I've filed the papers that I could, I've read the magazines and organized the folders I have.  I've called the people I'm supposed to call, sent the emails I needed to send.  I answer the phone on the 2nd ring (don't want to appear to eager) and have researched all the things that I can research for now.  I know that in a month or two things will pick up.  Heck, tomorrow things could pick up, but right now, it's pretty-kinda-sorta quiet.


It's only been three days.  I can already tell you that I like the two office coordinators, they have been awesome, that there is a gentleman who eats his lunch precisely at 12:30pm everyday, at the same table.  Maybe tomorrow I will get his name.  I can tell you that the chair I'm using right now is awful...I definitely need to get another one.  I can also tell you that I'm not so much a fan of the amount of gas it's taking to get from home to here and back.  The bus/light rail and an extra 1 1/2 hours each way of commute is looking better and better.

I'm starting to slowly add things to the office that will make it mine but also theirs at the same time.  Tomorrow I'm going to bring a picture in...this one on this post, actually.  There isn't a window in this 133 sq. ft. office, so I need something to "look out".  The beach is good.  :)  I added my picture cube today, along with my Louisiana pencil...it has an alligator on it.  I can be business, but fun is always lurking beneath the surface.

Tomorrow the computer arrives, along with the printer.  And hopefully more work will follow.  Until them, I'll just be grateful for a new job...and I am.

Young Adults

One of the hardest parts about leaving my former job was knowing that I would lose connections with the young adults.  Not that we wouldn't still be friends, but that I wouldn't see them on a regular basis.  Like Jon-boy.  I would see him two or three times a week.  Lately, I get to see him once a week and there is no real conversation.  That would be because we are too busy dissing "The Bachelor"...and I only started going to watch "The Bachelor" because it meant I could hang out with Jon-Boy and a couple of others.  I miss the long conversations standing in the parking lot after youth group or the impromptu Taqueria gatherings.  I miss the conversations about faith and life and humanity and all of the different things we would talk about at any given moment.  I miss the opportunities to be on the sidelines, to encourage and to gently guide.

Last night, though, last night the opportunity arose to hang out with some of those Young Adults.  We laughed, played games and started the deep conversations as the evening was winding down.  Typical.  I was up for a couple of hours after getting home just thinking.  If I could go back and do one thing over, I would have started that young adult group years before.  I would have invested more of my time and energy into being with them and helping them navigate the world outside of High School.  Because outside of High School is where the real conversations started happening.

I've been doing a lot of reading about Young Adults and the Church lately.  I've read the articles saying that Young Adults are walking away from the Church in droves and I've read a lot of speculation about why that is happening.  Last night, as I was talking with a few of the young people, I would have to say that this article by Tim King is dead on.  While that article has a definite political leaning, the ultimate meaning is the same, the Young Adults of this age are turned off by the hypocrisy in the Church.  While we're at it, I'm pretty sure it's not just the Young Adults of this age that are turned off by the hypocrisy of the Church.

During the discussion last night, one of my Young Adult friends said "I wish there was a way to be Christian without being labeled a Christian."  There was weariness in her voice.  A weariness that caught my heart.  She is entirely too young to be that weary of the Church and Christianity.  Sitting in the back of the car, there was nothing else that I could do then let my head fall back and let out a sigh of sadness.  I get it.  I understand.  It still hurts to hear that statement falling from the lips of one so young...

I have no answers.  I only have my thoughts, my concerns, my speculation and the desire to continue the conversation...and to continue to care for, love, encourage and gently guide the Young Adults as God brings them into my path.  

Just gotta laugh

There are moments in life when things just become comical.  I can be completely together, dignified, hold myself well most of the time and then the awkward, geeky, clumsy girl emerges...oh that clumsy girl.

Last night after a day of productivity which included a lot of laundry and hanging up the new office-y clothes in preparation for the beginning of my new job, I jumped up to put one final load of laundry in the dryer.  Somehow my left big toe, got caught on my right pant leg.  For one moment I was sure that I was going down, that I would head into my new job with either a black eye or stitches.  I managed to keep myself up right but that big toe...it's not so happy with me.  It isn't broken but it is definitely strained.  Yowza.

It would have been nice if clumsy girl stopped there.  She didn't.  This morning I went into the bathroom to find that I had forgotten to replace the roll of toilet paper.  I've tried to be pretty sneaky about hiding rolls of toilet paper in the cupboards and other places so that there is always ONE around when I really need it.  I'm pretty sure that I brought in multiple rolls the last time I needed toilet paper.  This morning, as I reached into the cupboard in the near dark to get a replacement roll, something went crashing to the ground.  Finding no extra roll, I reached down to pick up whatever had fallen out of the cupboard and came up with a small bottle of special laundry detergent...or rather I came up with the small plastic bottle cracked open and the special laundry detergent gushed onto the floor and down my leg.  Lovely.

My bathroom smells now (hopefully it won't trigger a migraine) but the bathmat is realllllllllyyyyyy clean.  And I brought in three extra rolls of toilet paper from the garage this afternoon.