Category: Journal

I have a torn rotator cuff which is keeping me in constant pain and causing difficulty sleeping.  I spend all day on the computer at work and the injury is probably due to overuse – so typing and working on a paper is hard.  I am going back to the Dr tomorrow for a follow up visit.

I have to work 3 hours this Saturday [and make two airport runs]

One of my daughters is home for 6 days before heading back to college and has been sick these 4 days.  Meanwhile I am coordinating the repair of the car she totaled earlier this summer (minor accident/old car) so she can drive it back to Chicago.

We are invited to two parties this weekend [only the 3rd and 4th invitations we have received since moving here 1.5 years ago, so we don’t want to turn them down].

Then we have 3 house guests coming this weekend through Labor Day [my nephew is getting married on the 2nd] and 7-14 more the following weekend since my sister-in-law’s house is overflowing with guests.

Both my daughters will be home for labor day for the wedding [having both been gone all summer].

My husband just returned from a week on Martha’s Vineyard and will head to Chicago this weekend and Rhode Island late next week.

A paper was completed for grad school this past weekend, and another longer paper is due soon.

This is normal life!

have you ever had someone tell you they had a dream about you?  a dream with meaning?

it was a first for me. but here is Joe’s dream from quite some time ago and how i see it playing out now.

“I want that one” were my words in his dream.  we were driving along with a young boy in the backseat, my nephew?, and we had stopped at a yard sale.  I was looking at some pretty glasses or goblets and chose one.

Joe seemed to think that the dream had special significance and it related to my search for what was next in life.  I did apply for two jobs in the same organization and after the interviews, i felt drawn to one job and not the other.  Thankfully, that was the one that I was eventually offered … and now here i am one year after starting the job and perhaps two years after the dream …

God is faithful to grant us the desires of our hearts and to provide for all our needs.  Sometimes we are even blessed with choices and with getting the sparkly, cool things that catch our eye!

So, I’ve been trying to come up with a theme for 2012.  Will this be a year of adventure … love … journey … how can i fit it into just one word?  God has taught me so much in 2011 and I am eager to see what 2012 will bring.  He is teaching me to wait on him, to trust him in all things, and to love wholeheartedly.  The year 2011 was a year of travel and transition.  I am so eager to be done with transition, to be in a more permanent home and to be settled.

In my childhood, if we asked my mother what was for dessert, she would sometimes answer “Wait and See.”  Sometimes I think that God says that to us as well.  We are eager to know the future, but our wise parent knows that we don’t need to know everything in advance and that some things are better as surprises.

So my theme, at least for now, is EXPECTATION!  I eagerly await the unfurling of His Plan for this year.

up at 7 to exercise
off to meet a friend for Bible Study at 8 at the local Starbucks
an unexpected opportunity to encourage an acquaintance and pray for him
stop at the post office to mail a package
pick up daughter and take her to extra help session for math [logarithms anyone?]
grab lunch
drive daughter home for more homework
accomplish 8 hours of work for full-time job while juggling life
drive daughter to volleyball game
cheer for team
drive home
fall into bed
sleep
get up and do it all again

ah, this is the life.  I wrote this just over a year ago.  little did I dream how different things would be one year later: new city, empty nest, quieter life!

Got to visit beautiful Seattle again this fall.  Sunny and warm, dare I say hot? at 85 degrees.  SPU is a beautiful campus.  Discovered a nice trail along the canal nearby.  Got to see Lake Washington and visit two old friends.

Dropped my younger daughter off at freshman orientation … the emotions took me by surprise.  Until I realized that this has been a year of too many goodbyes.  As we fell asleep in the hotel the night before orientation started, I began to pray, realizing i would be alone in the hotel the next night.  Pray, pause, wait for response, pray, pause again, realize that she is sound asleep!  Not surprising since we got 5 hours of sleep in Denver the night before and traveled 3000 miles and adjusting to a 3 hour time difference.  Bittersweet moments.

We said goodbye in January (twice – once while at a funeral saying goodbye to a beloved grandpa), then again in June when she went off to sailing camp, and then finally in September.  The adventure of college begins for my youngest – and the adventure of a new stage of life begins for my husband and I.

My friend Liza turned 40 last year and celebrated through the year with 40 experiences which she then blogged about.  I thought this was a really fun idea … and I will be turning 50 this spring, so I am beginning a list of 50 fun things to do this year to celebrate …

Here is the beginning of my list:

• go to an art museum and make a sketch of one piece of art
• go cross country skiing (done – blog photo coming soon)
• go to Virginia Beach
• bike along the Schulkyl River
• see the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.
• go to the Smithsonian
• climb the Rocky stairs

I’m open to suggestions for more creative experiences to enjoy life.  

Enjoying my second week at Eastern University.  I’m working with a great team of people.  The campus is beautiful with paths, ponds, interesting buildings, and lots of snow. 

My office is on the edge of (almost off) campus in a three story tudor house.  The photo gives a glimpse of the building and lawn which seems to be popular for sledding.  I’m in a tiny little office on the 2nd floor. 

The student center is in a fabulous old stone mansion which was the original house/estate donated to form the college.  There is a nice coffee shop/grill where I have had lunch twice.  I was able to take Deryck & Gennie there and on a campus tour.

I’m excited to be part of a team and look forward to being able to serve the kingdom in this atmosphere of higher education and dedication to justice and faith.  My boss has encouraged me to interact with students and get a flavor for the school in that way.  I’m also supposed to spend time in reading and other professional development in the library and/or coffee shop.  Just my idea of a great way to spend a winter afternoon.  

we have taken the first step in this new journey and it was a big one.  the fog rolled in and the path is completely obscured.  but we walk in faith.

the day after i arrived in PA, my father in law passed away.  we are moving here to be close to our in-laws and to other family, so this was a big shock.  we are confident that this is God’s plan for us and that this is His timing.  He is the giver of life and the only one who knows the number of our days.  Life is in His hands.  So we give Clayton back to  him and rejoice in the knowledge that we will see him again one day on the streets of gold. 

but in the meantime, we struggle with sadness and grief.  the fog threatens to overcome us.  we are distracted and confused.  we are human.  yet we know that our family needs us in this hour and we are thankful to be among loved ones and offering love and support.  Deryck and the girls will arrive on Saturday and we will be together for the funeral and some family time. 

thank you all for your love and prayers.  we are sustained by your prayers and lifted up.