an update, long overdue.

I know, it's been a while. I last posted over a month ago, when I was still living in Africa and starting to look toward home.

A friend of mine suggested I write one more follow-up post to my time in Africa. I agree, it would be a great idea. The problem is, I'm not quite sure how to write it. Living in Africa for four months and working with Hope House is like a lot of great life adventures, where they really don't end but instead continue to be a part of your life for a long time. I hope that's true for me - that God has really changed me during my time there. And I also plan to stay involved - to stay in contact with friends in Gabon, to continue to help Hope House, and one day to go back there.

For now, here is what is going on now in my life. I started working for CBN again a couple weeks after I got back to the U.S. God provided a perfect opportunity to continue to do the work I enjoy but remotely, from home. Right now I'm living with one of my sisters, but I'm in the process of buying a home and hope to settle and move in by the end of the year. It's a great house - wonderful location, a great size, and needing just enough work to keep my creativity engaged. That's a muscle I haven't been able to really exercise for the last few months, so I'm very excited about that.

This blog has always been a reflection of my life, even before I had ever considered going to Africa (back when I never thought I ever would), and I will plan to use it that way. I'll continue to talk about the things that I make, the way I renovate and decorate my house, and most importantly, the things that God is teaching me and doing in my life. I would love for you to continue with me on the journey, wherever God leads me.

Here's the story I'll tell my friends when they come to worship,

and punctuate it with Hallelujahs:

Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers;

give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore him, you daughters of Israel.

He has never let you down,

never looked the other way when you were being kicked around.

He has never wandered off to do his own thing;

he has been right there, listening.

 Here in this great gathering for worship I have discovered this praise-life.

And I'll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshipers.

Down-and-outers sit at God's table and eat their fill.

Everyone on the hunt for God is here, praising him.

"Live it up, from head to toe. Don't ever quit!"

From the four corners of the earth people are coming to their senses,

are running back to God.

Long-lost families are falling on their faces before him.

God has taken charge; from now on he has the last word.

All the power-mongers are before him —worshiping!

All the poor and powerless, too —worshiping!

Along with those who never got it together —worshiping!

Our children and their children will get in on this

As the word is passed along from parent to child.

Babies not yet conceived will hear the good news—

that God does what he says.

Psalm 22:22-31, The Message

i forgot about these things.

These are the things that are different in my new working life, that I'm still getting used to:

• I get up before the sun comes up. The last time I did that, Mary and I were watching the sun rise over the ocean. The time before that...I have no idea. (Go ahead, laugh, even tease me that I used to sleep in later than the rest of the world - you know you're just jealous).
  
• I spend a lot more of my day in the car.
  
• Showering and getting dressed first thing in the morning is absolutely important.
  
• I have to keep my shoes on during the day. Seriously, my feet are far too used to being bare or in flip-flops - they're adjusting.

finishing things.

Do you ever feel a little bit like the hamster in the wheel - lots of frantic activity but nothing ever actually gets finished?

I spent most of Monday trying to get things done before I went back to a normal work schedule on Tuesday (and my amount of time at home radically changed). I made a list (because I always make lists) and called it "The Crazy List" because...well, let's just say I dreamed big about what I would be able to accomplish. I made lots of progress on things, but the only thing that got done was a lot of laundry. (Not that I'm knocking the laundry victory, you understand, because laundry ranks up there as one of my most hated household chores, so any victory there is worth celebrating).

Now that I'm three days into my new job, I'm spending lots of time dreaming of ideas on my commute, and trying to remember I have less time to actually do them.

But I'm committing to not starting anything new, until I can actually finish some of these things. Hopefully by the end of this weekend I'll have a post all ready with a list of things that I've actually finished.

bits of randomness.

Just a few random things to share tonight:

I have a new job!

This afternoon I accepted a positon with the Christian Broadcasting Network, and I couldn't be more excited. There is so much that I would love to share, but I'm still far too excited and overwhelmed to put words to it. For now, I'll just say this:

I serve an AMAZING God.

Also, my celebration dinner with Kelly, Victor, and Jocelyn was really good! And now, I have two new recipes to add both to my goal list for the year and my personal make-this-again file, both from Pampered Chef:

Southwestern Pizza Con Queso - this pizza crust with salsa con queso, then topped with chicken and peppers with taco seasoning and fiesta cheese

Easy Apple Burritos - apples, cinnamon, and sugar rolled in tortillas and topped with caramel and ice cream.

And the best part is, both came together really quickly, so I'll definitely be making both again!

Lastly, I finally started to explore some of the wood in the loft above my garage. Tonight Victor helped me by climbing up to see what else was there, and there was some pretty sweet stuff. I've got lots of projects in mind, and I'm super excited to get them done!

laid off.

I debated about sharing this. But since I want this blog to be a real reflection of my life, and since I often use it to process things a bit, or even just to note the things that I want to remember, I'm going to go ahead and say it.

I'm getting laid off. My last day with my company is just under two weeks away.

There are so many emotions that I'm still trying to sort through them. And, of course, the prevalent emotion changes from minute to minute. But at least right now, here's where I am.

The day I first got the heads up that this would likely happen (last week), that night as I was getting ready for bed and feeling about a million different things all at the same time, I heard the voice of God so clearly that it quite literally stopped me in my tracks.

"This is it, Kristy, this is the moment of truth," He said. "Do you really believe that I am who I say I am and that I will do what I say I will do? Because this is where what you really believe shows up in your life."

As I thought more about that, I realized something very clearly. There are only two possibilities here. Ether all of the promises of God are true - that He loves me, that He will take care of my needs, that He has a plan and a purpose for me, that He works all things for my good - either that is all true, or everything I've built my life on since I was five years old is utter crap and I might as well crawl into bed and give up.

I'm choosing the first.

travel. that's what i do.

Its been a really busy few weeks - filled with lots of traveling and visitors. I was in California toward the end of last week on business (though I did take some time to just chill at the edge of the Pacific Ocean), then my sister and nephew and six of their friends came to stay at my house on their vacation (they arrived about six hours after I got home, which gave me enough time for a nap and a tiny bit of last-minute cleaning).

Katie et al left Tuesday night for Frederick, and I traveled with them to stay with my mom over the rest of this week, to help her out as she recovers from surgery.

So, if I've been a bit absent...that's why.

procrastination.

One of my professors in college used to say that the root of procrastination was fear. I always thought that was interesting because if I could just figure out what I was afraid of - the unknown, failing, something I didn't understand - then I could move past it. Sometimes naming a thing, acknowledging it by saying it loud means that it loses its power.

I've learned a lot about working from home over the past year or so. I love it, but sometimes its really hard. I know one of the best ways to get myself going is to actually get out of the house - its figuring how to do that inexpensively and healthily that's the trick.

wake up call.

The problem with traveling in California, is that when people on the east coast don't know you're traveling in California, they call you really early in the morning and wake you up.

I'm in California this week on business, delivering Phase 1 of a project I've been working on for the last year. Its the reason that I've been so busy with work over the last few weeks, and I can't wait until its done and I can take a collective breath.

I desperately wanted to come home to at least some Christmas decorations, so I decided to put up my Christmas tree Sunday night. I have an artifical tree, so I dutifully sorted all the branches into the piles according to size, fluffed them, and started putting the tree together. I figured out a few years ago that if you actually string your lights as you go, the process goes much faster. Its much easier to maneuver this way when your tree is in the corner, and if you wrap the strands a couple times on each layer, you actually end up with a lot of depth to the lights, which I love.

The problem was, 3 of my 4 light strands aren't working. And since it was late at night and I couldn't exactly leave all the piles of branches laying on the floor for the dog sitter, I had to put it up anyway. So, I have a tree. Just no lights or ornaments yet.

Isolated

For the most part I like working from home. There are a lot of really great things about it - more flexibility, bits of time to do housework around the house, never rushing home from work just to dart off to the next thing.

There are downfalls, though, and the biggest one is this - working at home can be very isolating. Between the work day and an evening home alone, its totally possible to go a day without having a conversation with anyone. I'm not nearly as aware as I was before of all the things going on around me (like today - until I turned on the radio on the way to FPU tonight, I had almost completely forgotten it was Valentine's Day). The weirdest thing is when I go to lock my door before going to bed at night, and realize that its still locked from the night before. Somehow I don't think spending a whole day without ever going outside is healthy.

Sometimes this whole thing bothers me, but right now, it doesn't. Its just a little weird. If its really true that women speak need to speak about 7000 words per day (compared to men's 2000), I wonder where all my words are going. Am I just storing them all up to unload on the next unsuspecting person who says, "how are you?" Either that, or I'm having way more conversations with my dogs than I think I do.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Except really, I'm not. Its definitely turned colder here, and Delaware last weekend seemed very cold. I don't mind the temperature here - I like that it changes a little during the year. But I don't miss the biting cold, the sleek roads, and scraping snow off the windshield before driving. I might miss the snow days, not that I could realistically claim them when I don't exactly have to leave the house to go to work.

My trip this past weekend was fun, but full, and just a touch insane - spending Thursday night in a hotel in Herndon, meetings all day Friday, my car nearly breaking down in the middle of DC (an area I don't know, at all) at 3:45pm on a Friday, Mom's birthday dinner with the entire family (including potential step-grandchildren to be), spending Saturday night in Frederick while I waited for a part to arrive to fix my car, driving to Delaware on Saturday to spend time with my friend Kate, and back home Sunday night. Like I said, a little insane.

And if I thought our family was crazy and loud before, its nothing compared to what it is when you add two more kids - it really just borders on chaos. Especially when you go out to eat. Jacob had a styrofoam cup at dinner, and while playing with the tiny sword from Katie's drink, stabbed his full cup of lemonade. Since this already created an almost-fountain effect, Vince started to set up something more elaborate - he overturned and stacked glasses, cups and bowls, sometimes dumping their contents on other plates. Should I clarify that Vince isn't one of the kids, at least not technically? No, this is Katie's boyfriend. Who is older than me. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be going back to that restaurant any time soon.

I'm still decorating my house - some of my projects are taking a bit of time. But, I hope to be completely done this weekend, and then I'll take photos and write up a little tour.

Random

Just a couple random things...

My custom Etsy sign arrived last night, and I love it! Its going over the archway into the dining room - I'm just waiting for someone else to come over who can help me make sure its hung evenly.


And this? This was the view outside my hotel room last week. And, oh yeah, behind the boats? That's the Pacific Ocean. I love that.


I have a bigger post planned for tomorrow - I've decided to participate in a month-long organizational challenge, hoping the motivation will help me get a couple of areas here under control.

Back from Cali

I'm back from California, after a long day of traveling yesterday. Its so absolutely beautiful there, and I got to do a little bit of sight-seeing, around all the work, especially as we traveled back to the airport via the Pacific Coast Highway. I took a bunch of pictures, but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I'll post a few here when I do.

Working from home & Harvey

I've been working for home for a week and a half, and you know what? I think I like it. There are the obvious perks - no commute, being able to work outside if I want, being home with the dogs, starting a load of laundry in the middle of my workday (not that I'm any better at get laundry done). And the things that I thought would be challenges - the distraction and need for careful self-discipline, haven't been issues as yet. I've been keeping to a regular schedule, which is going well.

One of the best benefits I've found to date, though, is the freedom to schedule things like vet appointments in the middle of the day. Harvey was due for another heartworm test, so while she was there the vet implanted a microchip. I also asked them to send blood and urine samples for testing, because her peeing has, overall, not gotten that much better. I can avoid it, mostly, when I walk in, but she does it for almost everyone else, regardless of how much attention she gets and when, or how recently she's gone outside. It may be that its just something I have to live with, but I want to make sure that's my only option before I do. Between all those things and more heartworm medicine, I spent over $300 there. And that's before I even figured out if there was anything wrong. I should hear the results from the test sometime today.

Hello, fall

Fall is definitely here. Although I don't go to school, I don't have kids, I don't even do Young Life and run off that school schedule, I can still feel things change in September. Summer seems to have such a sedate pace, but in fall, life gets busier and everything just seems to be in transition somehow.

As for me, life certainly is getting busier. Life groups started last week, though this was the first week we actually met. I'm going to the Neptune festival on Saturday with Heather, then Sunday I'm driving to Frederick to spend the night at my parents' house before a work meeting near DC on Monday. And, Wednesday, I leave for Catalyst in Atlanta with a bunch of friends from church. We'll be back Saturday, and I think by that time, I'll be grateful to have Monday off for Columbus Day.

The biggest thing going on, though, is that after Friday, I won't be returning to my current job at the base. My contract expires at the end of September and isn't being renewed, so starting next week, I'll be working on other things for LJT (hence Monday's meeting). I'm not sure yet what I'll be working on or where I'll be working, but at the moment, my philosophy is just to wait and see.

Hockey: I went to a hockey game tonight. The very first game I ever went to was while I was in college, and the only thing I really remember about it is the disappointment that there were no fights. Well, there were some good ones tonight!

Work: Work has been absolutely ridiculous, not because it's been busy - just the opposite. Because of contract and security issues, I've been virtually unable to work for the past two weeks. I could read and send email, and I could access most websites - except the one I needed to do all of my work. We finally got things straightened out at the end of the day Friday, so Monday should be much better.

First day at work

I've finished my first official working day in Virginia. :-)

I spent most of today on administrative stuff - filling out paperwork, figuring out how to submit my timesheet, being re-introduced to many of the people that I met two weeks ago. Tomorrow will be more of the same, as I have to complete a pretty length security form to kick off a security investigation (not even for a secret clearance, that comes later). Then, I can get the accounts and cards I need to actually get started with the work.

Tomorrow night I'll experience Life Group for the first time (the weekly meeting for Nick & Heather's church - The Bridge Church of Suffolk). I've actually met most of the people who come each week, so it won't be totally foreign. I'm excited, though, to start experiencing more of the work they're doing here.

I think the person I miss most is Jacob, although there's a part of me that misses Dakota, too. Is that weird? I talked to Jake on the phone tonight for a little while - he held a block up to the phone, and Dad had to tell me what color it was. I asked him to color a picture for me so Mom & Dad could send it to me. Leaving him might be the hardest part of moving.