A Much Needed Rest

This weekend was really great. First of all, I didn't have to work and I was not on-call :) That means that on Friday, it was truly the weekend! But, to explain how great my weekend was, I really need to start on Thursday night.

Sam and I had the blessing to go to a family's house that are members at our church to eat dinner, play with the kids and watch them while the mom was at music practice for Sunday morning (the dad was in India for business). We LOVE this family and try to get out there as much as possible. It truly feels like a home to us and we are incredibly blessed to be included in their family sometimes.

Friday night, we had learned about a band playing at a local brewery that we had been wanting to try, but hadn't been able to yet. Also, the band knew someone from our church. So we had a great time listening to a new, fun, blue grass band with church friends drinking beer and even doing some square dancing (well me, not Sam of course!).

Saturday morning we got up and got to hang out with two of our pastor's kids. He just had his tonsils removed and the recovery is quite tough as an adult. Sam and I offered to take their kids for the morning and we did "normal family things" like go to Target and to the swimming pool. We had a great time! That afternoon, Sam brewed a beer and yet another church friend came over to play games/hangout which turned into dinner together.

Then this morning, we had the opportunity to worship at church and eat lunch in fellowship with some church members (plus a new visitor too!). As you can see, we had a very fun weekend full of different people from our church.

For those that don't know, when Sam and I moved here just over a year ago, one of our biggest concerns was finding a church body to be a part of. Well, God had big plans for us that were far bigger than we could have imagined; why am I always surprised by this? We worship with a new community here in Raleigh at Midtown Community Church. Currently our sermon series covers the values that our church carries and what that looks like. Today, we learned about being a renewed community and that it means we "eagerly look for ways to bring about transformation in our lives through worship, bible study and dialogue with God and others" (check out the website). And that is what we did this weekend. We lived in community with a body of believers that we worship and study the bible with. We enjoyed one another's company and shared our struggles with one another to be uplifted and held accountable to what we believe. How can that not be a great weekend?

God is doing great things in our lives here in Raleigh and the people in which we commune with are authentic, beautiful and uplifting. Now if only tomorrow was not Monday....

It has been a while!

So...I am not very good at this blogging hobby and don't even know if anyone will read this, but I have found some time tonight (surprisingly!) to reflect and write. I also have recently been enjoying reading a lot of others' blogs and having a glimpse of their daily life and observations. However, I have often found myself thinking, "Wow, they are so much better at life than I am." Or, "I wish that I were artistic, thoughtful and good at blogging." And most of all, I think "How can others sound positive all the time even when they are blogging about a bad day? I cannot seem to do that well." But then I realized how much I may have (or not have) to offer the world of blog readers out there. If anything, this may help me keep up on life and keep track of the positive events that I experience each day and use this as a way to look back on my growth.

First, an update! I have now finished one year of grad school and one year of being a Residence Director here at North Carolina State University (NCSU). And let me tell you, it has been quite the journey! I have learned a lot, grown a lot, made a lot of mistakes and am looking forward to another year like it (but feeling much more prepared). Sam and I lived apart this summer during the week as he had an internship in Virginia for the summer. That was hard and a blessing (but really it was hard) and we hope we never have to do it again. Best of all, we have an AMAZING church here in Raleigh. Our biggest fear for moving was finding a body of believers to live in community with and God provided that for us on our first visit to a church. And I can tell you, that this body of Christ has uplifted me this past year and a large reason that Sam and I are so happy here in Raleigh. Praise be to God!

This does not mean that life is grand all the time because we all know that it is not. In fact, my job causes a lot of frustration and stress in my life. I cannot explain my job to anyone on the "outside" (those that I do not work or study with) well enough for you to understand. Maybe this blog will help in the upcoming year, but if not, I guess that is okay. I think one of the biggest frustrations in my job is the long hours that I do not receive recognition or credit for. Yes, we all have long hours at work and I understand that. But it is much easier for someone in the medical field to explain why they worked long hours (especially my dad or father-in-law doing emergency and on-call work). Or someone who works with money; those numbers need to be crunched and perfect, so that takes a long time. However, how do I explain that the emails I sent helped my student staff connect well and build relationships with their residents? How do I explain that upholding community standards when a fire alarm goes off in my building at 1am is working long hours? How do I express that my work with a student in crisis (even small) is important to the world?

I feel as if my work is not understood and that I cannot explain it well enough myself to be understood. And this frustrates me because I don't have a lot of encouragement to keep me going. In fact, what I usually need most during these hard times with long, unpredictable hours is to be in the "real world". I need to be able to grab coffee, read a book for pleasure, connect with a friend. However, I struggle because my world is rarely understood by others. But, I am looking forward to this year ahead because I have learned to be better at unpredictable and live life amongst the craziness.

I found myself during RA training this year not as stressed because something didn't go according to plan, but already thinking of a new plan. I was shocked at how much I was able to create relationships with my student staff better from the start because I knew what needed to happen rather than fretting that I forgot something. I find this as a positive signal that my year will be better than last and a lot of the busy work will be naturally cut out having a year of experience already. This next year will bring many challenges, but I hope that I can carry my positive attitude through this. I know that this post is long and if you are still reading, thank you! I hope that you can help me through this year by reading my updates (which I hope will be shorter in the future), leaving comments for me, and praying for me. I want to be able to take a more positive perspective in whatever may come my way and also remember to rely on those around me.

Here's to a new attitude, approach and blog for the next year!