December has been a challenging month for me. This was the first time that I really missed friends and familiar faces. As I have moved into my new place, the realization that the friends I had in Santa Barbara or close by to help me pick out furniture and make decisions weren't so close in distance this time. Andrea and Jen V. were a huge part of that season when I first moved into my own place back in Santa Barbara. Andrea helped me test sofas by jumping on them, stayed at the house until the cable guy came and furniture movers came, and screwed my dining room table and chairs together (that took effort uh Andrea!) Jen V inspired the papason that I now can not live without and they both agreed or disagreed with the things I wanted to buy to make sure my place looked good. Without Andrea and Jen V, I felt kinda lost, lonely, and so very indecisive about what to buy. I wanted to set up cable but I work full time and therefore had to wait 2 weeks for the installation to happen. I know it was only 2 weeks, but 2 weeks without facebook and the internet felt like much longer! I have also been missing the Lomelino family a bunch! I missed the ability to pop over to their house, see the wonderful kids, and have Holly convict me on how unhealthy I am eating and what I can do to change it. I have been wanting to just go to their house with a bag full of groceries and see what we can blend in her magical blender...
Although I have been a little down, God continues to encourage me and remind me that I am suppose to be here in Seattle. I got a card from Lily Reeves (one of my old pastors kids) and a video from Jason and Samuel (their 4 yr. old child) telling me how much they love me. Thank you Jesus for using these wonderful kids to lift my spirits! When I finally found the furniture that I wanted to get, instead of mobbing around I would just bite the bullet and run. I didn't want to pay $100 for delivery since its only 2 miles away from my apt. so I rented a uhaul. I decided that I would just pick up the furniture and believe in faith that when I got to my apartment some guys would be walking down the street would be willing to help me move my stuff in. I know it sounds kinda crazy, but I don't really know anyone yet or anyone with a truck for that matter. It completely worked out! When I picked up the dining room table at goodwill, one of the guys helped me unscrew the legs so that I would be able to get it through my door. After I picked up the sofa and got to the apt. there were two guys at the stairs and asked if I needed help! They moved my table, 4 chairs, and a sofa into my place. Thank you Jesus! I was in disbelief, but God just reminded me how he is watching out for me and will provide. I even got 50% off of a brand new couch! Other things that have happened this month is that my old college roommate from the IV ministry days visited me and told me that she was moving up her in January. I was leaping for joy at this news! I have met some sweet girls at the church finally, spend xmas eve with the pastors and got to spend xmas day with a family who have 3 girls under the age of 4. Not that the Lomelinos could ever be replaced, but the girls are so cute! I could see one of them hooking up with Samuel in the future, haha. The kids have been a refreshment to my soul.
Well know that I have been thinking, praying, and missing you guys back to SB. MP I know you can do it, it will be challenging, but I know you can. Meal, I do miss you. I love you dearly. Porters, I can't wait to catch up with you guys some time soon. Aya, you gotta come visit and eat sushi on the roundy things, it is awesome! Fort, I'm always only a phone call away.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Home
Each morning I wake up and walk 10 minutes to the bus stop and the whole time I have the biggest smile on my face even if it is freezing cold. I can not believe that I am in Seattle, and I can not believe how faithful God has been to answer ever need that I have had. Things that normally would bug me I have been able to find joy in them now. After riding on a public bus system most of my life since my Dad didn't drive, I had grown to dislike the buses quite a bit. Now I have to take a bus most days to work (when I wake up on time) and enjoy the air, the scenery, the people that get on and off, and the free 80 minutes a day I have to just think, ponder, pray, and watch. I am becoming a city girl each day more and more...what can I say?
I can not believe I have been in Seattle for 2 months, it seems as though I left Santa Barbara longer than that. I saw a video of one of my most favorite kids in SB and she seems so much older than when I left her 60 days ago, so grown up! I do miss the people that live in SB, but Seattle is becoming home and fits me perfectly. With that being said, I have found a new place to live! Each step of this journey I have had dates/times that I felt like God would be providing from when I would be moving to Seattle, when I would be getting a job, and when I would be moving out of my sublease, and the time was December 1st. I have been looking into apts. for the the last month, but almost daily for the last 2 weeks. I felt like I am suppose to live by myself again, which I think is wonderful! On Sunday I went to a place that I had seen a month ago on an ad but didn't think I would like it. Well, it ends up being absolutely perfect for me. It is small, but warmly. It has a fireplace (super stoked) and an incredible view of the space needle and city, breathtaking really! There is even an open area in the front where I can have BBQs. It is cheaper than I expected and the landlord seems awesome - no offense Dave :)
I will post more pics soon!
Oh I am so excited to move in next week!! I wish Andrea was here though to help me shop for furniture...who is going to jump on the couches for me now...shoot
Seattle keeps getting better!
This past month has been learning to adjust to living in the real world of "work" again and remembering how I can not stay up until 3 A.M. and expect to function and be alert for work, haha. So working at Amazon has been fun so far. I have been learning a lot about their computer system and will be taking over their new hire orientation. I am basically doing anything that relates to temp employees to/through new hires. I do have to say that Amazon has been a great company to work for so far with the amazing cafeteria in the building, ability to wear flip flops, sweatshirts, bring your dog (maybe I should get one) and don't forget our weekly "snack time" that we have marked in our calendar . They do a lot of things to try to make it fun for employees which I think is fantastic.
What else....oh a church in town had this 14 day revival meeting and a bunch of amazing speakers came into town like Che Ahn, Stacey Campbell, Georgian Banov,Patricia King, and Bill Johnson. It was so much fun to get to see them. On one of the nights I got to pray for a woman who was having digestive problems, as we were praying, Che Ahn said that there was someone who was having digestive issues and God was healing them. After a couple of minutes, I asked the lady how she was feeling and she said that she no longer had the pain that was in her stomach and was feeling heat in her abdomen! She walked away healed that night!
Well, that's it for now but I would love to hear from you guys and what is going on in your lives!
What else....oh a church in town had this 14 day revival meeting and a bunch of amazing speakers came into town like Che Ahn, Stacey Campbell, Georgian Banov,Patricia King, and Bill Johnson. It was so much fun to get to see them. On one of the nights I got to pray for a woman who was having digestive problems, as we were praying, Che Ahn said that there was someone who was having digestive issues and God was healing them. After a couple of minutes, I asked the lady how she was feeling and she said that she no longer had the pain that was in her stomach and was feeling heat in her abdomen! She walked away healed that night!
Well, that's it for now but I would love to hear from you guys and what is going on in your lives!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Friendiversary
I had basically a week and a half of free time from the time that I got the call from Amazon.com telling me that I got the job and when my first day of work would be. I was talking with one of my best friends Kari who just moved to North Carolina for a job about how we had been friends for 10 years now and how we should celebrate some how. She asked me like what...I paused and got the random idea of booking a ticket and flying down to see her. I do not know when I became this spontanous person, but somehow I have. In less than 48 hours, I had booked a flight to North Carolina, got on a plane, and arrived in my best friend's town of Sanford. We decided to name our adventure/celebration as our Friendiversary weekend. Over the weekend I got to do a lot of firsts, we got to visit Fort Bragg (which was pretty neat to see,) I ate at the Waffle House (thought it was this fancy diner, no its a fast food chain!) drove to Charleston, SC and had fried pickles, drove to Savannah, GA to see a lighthouse, Atlantic Ocean, and tour of a graveyard. Oh and don't forget the visit to the South of the Border in NC and almost getting killed by a black baptist woman (I saw this huge red hat (the ones that ladies wear in church and have a fan in their hand) and put it on my head and said out loud Hallelujah, Praise the Lord... forgot I was in the south..oops.) All of these experiences were a first. Kari was amazing to all that driving in a 36 hour period, but we did have so much fun. Here are a few pictures.
This is what I picture when I think of the south.
Butt Stop, NC, Fried Pickles
Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA, Lighthouse
Graveyard, Atlantic Ocean, Pedro town
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Good news...NO GREAT NEWS!
I GOT A JOB!!!
I have had a couple interviews during the middle of October and was offered a job in the HR department with Amazon.com. Thank you everyone who has been praying, I am super excited for this opportunity!
Some fun things I did in October
Went to a book reading by Mitch Albom Fall in Seattle!
Sarah and I went to Snowqualmie Falls for the day. Absolutely beautiful!
Some girls I met from church went down to Portland, OR for the day. Went to a greek restaurant that served this enormous pita bread thing and the most amazing bookstore ever: Powells. That piece of paper that she is holding is a map of the facility, NUTS!
My roommate Natalie and I at Fremont farmers Market.
Some amazing chocolate in Seattle! CarmelPassion fruit and Argentina dark chocolate truffle
Pruning
I can not believe that I have been in Seattle for 2 months now, 2 MONTHS! WOW! There has been days where I feel like I completely trust and have faith in God and know that He has called me to Seattle, and then there are days in which I have no faith, feel so discouraged, and alone. Each time I doubt, God is right by my side confirming that I am suppose to be here, to be patient, and trust Him. There are so many stories of God’s confirmation of God reminding me of His love and provision for me. I was talking with a friend one day about how I wanted to get a haircut but did not want to spend money on a haircut while I didn’t have a job. I went to a women bible study that week and they were handing out raffle prizes. One of the prizes was a free haircut to an expensive salon and I was thinking in my head “I would really like that God” and guess who won that prize…God is so faithful to provide even in the little things we desire. It was just another whisper "May, I have you in my hands, don't worry."
There is a friend that I had met on online when I first looked into moving to Seattle. She felt called to move up to Seattle around the same time I was moving. It has been neat to have here in Seattle as we both are going through the same journey. She has taught me a lot about myself, how selfish, self centered, impatient, and unable to really take the time to look around and see what God is doing….It has been a humbling, painful, repenting, and amazing time. I am truly thankful that God has given me the last couple of months to break me down more than I thought I needed and rebuild me again. There was one day that we decided to explore Seattle together and head down to Pikes Place (huge Farmers Market in the downtown area.) We walked the 2 miles down, which should have taken more than 30 minutes, but somehow took over 2 hours to get there. I have discovered that when I am focused on something, I just go for it and not really pay attention to the journey of it because I am so focused on the end result. This friend of mine on the other hand just took her time heading down…she would stop and talk to people who were selling newspapers, and homeless people. She was really taking in exploring Seattle, while in my head thought exploring would start when we got to the location. That same day, there was a homeless person who asked for money, and although my friend didn’t have any she walked the homeless person to find a hamburger and paid with her card….the closest thing we found was a gyro which we told her was like a Greek hamburger, haha. As we continued talking with the homeless person and asked how we could pray for her, she said that she has breast cancer and that she is homeless. If it wasn’t for my friend, the homeless person may not have had a meal, she may not have known that there people who care, and that she is not alone. This woman is battling breast cancer by herself with no health care! It absolutely broke my heart! I have learned so much more about the love of Jesus through this friend, and so grateful that the Lord has opened my eyes more. Each person on the street has a story to be told and if we can just take a little time to feed them and sit and listen, how much more God can shine through than just handing a dollar bill to them and walking away. I am being pruned and so grateful for it.
There is a friend that I had met on online when I first looked into moving to Seattle. She felt called to move up to Seattle around the same time I was moving. It has been neat to have here in Seattle as we both are going through the same journey. She has taught me a lot about myself, how selfish, self centered, impatient, and unable to really take the time to look around and see what God is doing….It has been a humbling, painful, repenting, and amazing time. I am truly thankful that God has given me the last couple of months to break me down more than I thought I needed and rebuild me again. There was one day that we decided to explore Seattle together and head down to Pikes Place (huge Farmers Market in the downtown area.) We walked the 2 miles down, which should have taken more than 30 minutes, but somehow took over 2 hours to get there. I have discovered that when I am focused on something, I just go for it and not really pay attention to the journey of it because I am so focused on the end result. This friend of mine on the other hand just took her time heading down…she would stop and talk to people who were selling newspapers, and homeless people. She was really taking in exploring Seattle, while in my head thought exploring would start when we got to the location. That same day, there was a homeless person who asked for money, and although my friend didn’t have any she walked the homeless person to find a hamburger and paid with her card….the closest thing we found was a gyro which we told her was like a Greek hamburger, haha. As we continued talking with the homeless person and asked how we could pray for her, she said that she has breast cancer and that she is homeless. If it wasn’t for my friend, the homeless person may not have had a meal, she may not have known that there people who care, and that she is not alone. This woman is battling breast cancer by herself with no health care! It absolutely broke my heart! I have learned so much more about the love of Jesus through this friend, and so grateful that the Lord has opened my eyes more. Each person on the street has a story to be told and if we can just take a little time to feed them and sit and listen, how much more God can shine through than just handing a dollar bill to them and walking away. I am being pruned and so grateful for it.
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