Workin' For The Weekend

I haven't written anything in a while mainly because most of my free time went out the window with my job, which showed me into reality right around my last post.  But I really love it thus far, so I feel pretty blessed.

A few months ago, post-CMC-rejection letter, I had resigned myself to working retail for the rest of my life and was mad at myself for picking a major that chewed up and spit out all possible free time in college, as opposed to, say, psychology.  But then I got this awesome job and am successfully using this degree of mine :)

I thought, after my rejection letter, that since God didn't put me into a new grad position at CMC, that I should be totally psyched about what was in store for my life, but it was really hard to believe that.  So I called CMC, gave up on any dream that I ever had of working with women's and children's and begged/pleaded for any position that they might have (med-surg, nurse tech, secretary, janitorial services, whatever would get my foot in the door) and was denied.  I cried.  Presbyterian had told me that they would be hiring 18 people, all from within the system, and even after listing all of my fantastic credentials, was assured that since I didn't work for Presbyterian before, I wouldn't be now either, so all was lost.  I felt like an over-achiever in college, and was really irritated that I'd done so well in school and been involved in so many extra-curricular activities only to be turned down for not living in Charlotte during school.  So after teaching me plenty of patience that I don't ever want to use again, God came through as always in the 11th hour and I got a phone call from Presbyterian offering me exactly the position that I wanted in women's and children's in the neonatal intensive care.  So in effect, I was right.  I should have been SO excited that I didn't get the job that I applied for at CMC, knowing that God had something so much better and cooler in mind than what I had limited myself to being able to do.

Anyway, onto what we've been doing in the mean time...

We saw Cirque Du Soleil's show, Totem, which is easily the coolest thing I've ever seen.  I'm a huge fan.

I planted a garden.  Basil, Rosemary, Catnip for Mogs, Onions, and Cherry Tomatos.  Our green thumbs are at work.  It's modest, but it works.

We had a progressive dinner with our small group that I wish we had pictures of that consisted of super high class appetizers compliments of Jana and Blake, dinner at Jessica and Ben's, and puff pastry dessert at Ginny and Jonathan's.  Sean and I did the salad, and we were very outdone.

 I finished making my bag :)

 And I made my first envelope pillowcase.  I was psyched about how well this would match our bed (see below), but I think I'd rather it go on a chair in our room, and maybe make a solid green one to go with it.

And lastly, we've been looking for houses like we're getting paid for it.  Where to live, how high are the taxes, do we need a yard, HOA, neighborhood pool, which kitchen do we like, how many bedrooms....there's more to buying a house than I thought.  More on that when a decision is made...don't get too excited, it'll be a while.  I like a house in Stallings and a new development in Steele Creek.  Any opinions would be helpful...

This is LOVE!

Last week, our church sponsored an event in Charlotte along with 26 other Charlotte area churches called LOVE Week (watch the video), designed to show LOVE to the city of Charlotte (Charlotte Observer).  The goal was 25,000 hours of service to the city between February 26 and March 6.  Sean and I served 20, and wish that we were here for the second weekend because we had an awesome time.  In this one week, 60,000 meals were made for families.  30,000 sandwiches were made for the homeless.  28 tons of trash were collected.  17,000 pairs of shoes were donated.  And of course, 34, 257 hours of service were given to the city.  Providence campus alone made over 20,000 meals for people in Haiti via Stop Hunger Now in just a couple of hours.  I think that that's incredible.  Pastor Steven Furtick said in his blog that this is what the church exists for, to show the city that they are LOVED, by their church and their God.

Photo online of Providence Campus's meal prepartion

LOVE Week Photo Video by Sean Lyon Photography

Our God is LOVE

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4: 7-12

On being FOR:

The idea behind LOVE Week was to show the city of Charlotte what Christians are FOR and to be known for that, since so often, we are known for what we are against.  I agree that it's obnoxious to watch people who claim to love picket outside of institutions and put people down.  That's NOT what Christianity is about.  And I don't think that that behavior is driven by and rooted in love.  But nontheless, Christianity IS a religion that's against a number of things, so I feel like I should address that before I press submit on this blog.  Christians are against certain things because we're FOR certain things (honor, marriage, life, honesty, and love), and you can't truly be FOR anything unless you're against something else.  Jesus said in Luke 11:23 that 'whoever is not with me, is against me..', so while that's out of context, I agree.  Other notable souls in agreement are Helen Keller who said that apathy is the greatest human evil of all, and a nursing textbook that I read that said that what you permit, you promote.

For example, you can't truly be for marriage, unless you're against divorce.  You can't be for life, unless you're against murder.  Thus why the notion of "being open-minded" kind of confuses me.  If you're for both marriage and divorce (and therefore open-minded), than you're not for either of them.  What you are, is ambivalent and apathetic.  True ambivalence and ampathy is a personality trait with which I have never come in contact with, probably because most people who are truly ambivalent/apathetic, are people who believe that there is no such thing as right or wrong.  Ted Bundy (a known serial killer) used this platform in one of his final interviews, so there ya go.  I wouldn't marry someone who was ambivalent about it, and I would worry about the children of parents who were openly AMBIVALENT about their child's health and wellbeing.  I think that most people, Christian and non-Christian alike, probably agree.  Mark Mittleburg said that without God, and thus without a true guiding post for what is right and what is wrong, what you're left with is preferences (I would call that ambivalent).  Murder might not be my thing, but that's great if it's your's.  I don't think that anyone wants a world like that.

So all of this to say that yes, Christians are against murder, dishonesty, dishonor, gossip, divorce, and that hasn't changed.  But that's because we are FOR LOVE.  Not the other way around.  We are not FOR love because we're against other things.  We're against things because we're FOR love, loving our God and our neighbor, SO WHOLEHEARTEDLY, that it makes it impossible NOT to be SO WHOLEHEARTEDLY against anything that gets in the way of LOVE.  And that is what we should be known for.

This Land Was Made For You & Me: California

Sean and I had the opportunity to visit my family out in San Francisco for the past 4 days and had an AWESOME time.  We started out with a bang by oversleeping through our first flight, and then somehow ended up getting there anyway.  Went hiking, out to Sonoma Coast, and into the city for a day, showed Momo and Papa all of our wedding pictures so they were practically there now, and headed back just in time for me to start work tomorrow.

Sean and I overslept and missed our first flight out.  But no big deal.  The nice lady at Continental Airlines hooked us up with some new tickets.

I wish that pictures did the beautiful Muir Beach Overlook justice.  We woke up super early on Friday to be here by a little before 7 am.  It was SO peaceful, because since it was so early, we were alone at this beautiful place.

Walking out to the cliff

Then we went out to Muir Woods for some hiking.  We were still all alone since it was so early, which is so neat since last time we went, there were tons of people.

This makes me feel like a tiny person in a GIANT world.  I seriously cannot believe how MAGNIFICENT these ancient trees are.

Momo, Papa, and my Aunt Jette took us out to their favorite view, Bodega Bay up on the coast of Sonoma County.  SO Beautfiul.

Bodega Bay

The ocean crashing onto the rocks at Bodega Bay.  Sean and I walked up along the edge of this cliff for a half mile or so.  It's so incredible how POWERFUL and AWESOME God is, and so obvious when you watch something as beautiful and dangerous as the pacific ocean crashing up on those sharp rocks.

Papa managed to beat Sean in chess.  Somehow.  Momo and I watched.

Heading across the bay on a boat :)

Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  San Francisco's specialty.

Alcatraz from Pier 39

We love San Francisco :)