Teacher by Association

When I was at home this weekend, I ran into an acquaintance from college at church.  Attempting to make small talk, I asked how school was going-knowing that she was still in school. In turn she asked me what grade I was teaching now and how I was liking it. I then awkwardly had to respond saying, I actually got my degree in Communication Studies. This got me to thinking...EVERYONE (almost everyone) I know is a teacher. I've thought about this before, but seriously, I am surrounded by educators. There's nothing wrong with that except that people think that I too am a teacher. I did consider it at one point, but it was not in the cards for me. So, maybe next time I will play along and talk about my pretend classroom, or maybe I will someday go back to school. Who knows.

Boxes of Love

(2 posts in one day...I'm catching up!)

I wanted to give you a glimpse of what I've been working on at my new (I think I can still say new) job. For the last 2 or so months I've been working on details and logistics for an outreach called Boxes of Love. Here's Life Inner City partners with inner city churches and, in this particular event, provides boxes full of food for them to pass out to those in need in their community and provides an opportunity to share the gospel with them. This past weekend I got to see all of my hard work and planning come together! Hundreds of volunteers came to our warehouse to fill 2,750 boxes of food that were/are being distributed in the twin cities area. Here are some pictures...

 One of THREE pallets of cookies!

The assembly line...

 A completed box of love :)

Each box came with a 10 pound bag of frozen chicken...we had a freezer truck with 27,500 pounds of chicken!

The volunteers hard at work-SO great!

Packing the boxes strategically to make them all fit.

And that is a glimpse of what I do :)

holidays

Not until now, do I realize how much I took living in the city across the river from my parents for granted. With Thanksgiving 2 days away and Blizzard Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories in the forecast, it makes the trek home a little more daunting. No longer is it just a 5 mile drive, but 280 miles...or something like that with freezing rain and snow flurries.  One way or another I will see them...I'm sure the Forte will pull through, I just haven't been able to see her in action yet. I do miss the party van some days because it was so faithful for many years. Long story short, going home for holidays will be different because I never really left. So here's to change, family, and good old Minnesota winters! Enjoy your turkey :)

much to anticipate...

As I continue to "figure things out", I know I can wait with great expectation for what is to come...even though I have no idea what exactly that means. For now, I embrace where I'm at and say, we'll see what happens!

SNOW

Winter is here, I woke up to 6 and a half inches of snow this morning. I love it!

my first "real" job.

I've been a nanny, a cashier, a barista, a student orientation counselor and the list could go on. Over the last 5 years, I've had more jobs than my dad had in 33-woof. I know it is a generational thing, but it is hard to believe that things change that dramatically. Yet here I am, in yet another place of work already wondering where I will be next. And although it is not at all where I ever imagined I would be, my job and the people I work with are wonderful.

For those who don't know, I work at Here's Life Inner City-the compassionate urban ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. I am an administrative assistant mainly helping with the Compassionate Products ministry aimed to help meet the spiritual and physical needs of the poor in the inner city. People in need are reached through these resources so they can be enfolded in the body of Christ through the urban churches we partner with.

Right now, the main item on my agenda is helping prepare for the Boxes of Love outreach. These boxes are packed with enough food to feed a family of 6, along with scriptures and other evangelistic material. and are delivered just in time for Thanksgiving, to families who may not have the means to have a meal otherwise. This year we are packing 2,750 boxes-that means we have the opportunity to feed and impact 16,500 people with the truth of the gospel! What an opportunity to be able to serve in this ministry.

Enough of me going on about my job. Right now it's good and administrative assistant has a nice ring to it, but who knows where I'll go next! And though I'm not as organized as I may like to be, I just hope that I get everything done that needs to be completed for the day.

This is what my desk looks like...

Ok, so maybe not quite this bad, but it will be a bit scattered until I have my own desk. Ha!

looking back

It's been awhile...so long in fact that it is a new month! Crazy. I feel like the last 2 weeks, before this past weekend, I was in survival mode flailing my extremities to try and keep my head above water. Success. (And I only wanted to quit life once if I remember correctly.) I suppose it is a positive thing that I am keeping myself busy and have managed to accumulate activities since recently moving-which actually isn't all that recent anymore, in a week it will be 3 months that I've lived here.

Looking back on my transition, sometimes I wonder how I made it through. Simply stated, God is good. I have never been one to handle change well, but who is really? Yes, I feel as though I've become more adaptable and have better learned to take the curve balls that life throws at you sometimes, but it's still hard. As one who is easily consumed by circumstances it is easy to lose yourself and make mistakes. But it's  these mistakes and self indulgences that hit you hard and make you realize the need for eternal perspective and give you the comfort in the amount of grace that is poured upon us.

All that said, I want to live freely and without hesitation or regret in a way that brings all things back to Christ, because it is only by his grace and love that we'll ever be able to handle the constant transition we live in without going completely nuts. That's all I've got for now...peace.