You guys make me laugh. It's comical to write a post "Weeee....I bought a wedding dress!" and get several comments....then write "Oops....time-out. Post-poned wedding!" and nobody knows what to say. There wasn't a death in the family...so no need for condolences! :) I couldn't be more thankful that I'm in a relationship where I don't feel pressured to follow through with something I may not feel quite ready to do. The situation is really a blessing! So have no fear....I'm not walking around in a fragile state. :)
Anyway...I'm also excited to share that a major opportunity has come my way to head-up a missions program at my church for 2009. Tiffany, another young lady in my congregation, also worked with Let's Start Talking (LST) in Japan for 3 years (for 6 weeks' at a time). She approached me a couple months' ago about the possibility of starting a FriendSpeak program within our community, and knew that I had also had experience with LST. As it turns out, we are both trained LST team trainers, and both miss the work we did overseas. So Tiffany got all the information we needed to get started, presented the idea to our missions committee...and we're off! For a while, I wondered if it was really going to take off....but now I see that it will!
My dad showed a short info video prior to his sermon on Sunday, and gave a summarized explanation of what our congregational goal was. I had also made inserts for the bulletin for people to sign up who might be interested. Then...surprising Tiffany and myself...the elders and mission's committee agreed to let us use tomorrow's adult Bible study hour to present a more detailed powerpoint presentation of the program, to answer anyone's questions.
Tiffany has been amazing at organizing all the details. She created multiple types of flyers, business cards, and informational sheets for members to fill out. When we first sat down to discuss short and long-term goals for FriendSpeak, we wanted at least 10 members to sign up, and at least 25 individuals from the community to show interest. Even after just the short informational video on Sunday, we had 20 people fill out the bulletin insert!! That's so great! Tiffany and I hope that after we present more information tomorrow night, we will have at least that many commit to attending the mandatory training sessions we will hold in January. And our launch-off date will be the week after Valentine's Day.
I'm so excited and so blessed to be part of such a giving congregation. Pray that FriendSpeak will be a success in our community and that we will be able to reach out to those who may feel lost in this world. I'll keep you updated!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
An addiction
I've been holding off on writing this post for a while, because I wanted to give time for things to settle down a bit before an "official" annoucement was made. I have the bad habit of "announcing" something and then it doesn't happen. Then I feel stupid. But not this time, friends! :D
After coming to terms with the reality of our financial situation....as well as a few other matters....Chris and I have decided to post-pone the wedding. Several things surfaced while we were looking at buying a house and making wedding plans, and it made us realize that we are not quite ready to make that commitment. We've got a lot of things to work through and get in order before we attempt to combine our two separate lives into one. So no wedding in May. No buying a house. No more wedding plans for now. Just continuing to date and get to know each other better while we work out some bumps in the road. I just wish we had made this decision before I had my wedding dress hanging in my room. :/
So what are my plans for 2009? Well I'm glad you asked!! If you know me well at all, you know that I not only adjust to change well...but crave change. Not just a change of wardrobe or a change in attending early vs. late Sunday morning service. A change that requires me to be in a setting I've never been in before. One that makes me uncomfortable and pushes me outside my everyday boundaries. As I write this, I'm looking around at my office DYING to rearrange all the furniture. And I think I've convinced Chris to stop by later today and help me do it. :) But I try to make change a part of my life. Let's look at the past 7 years, shall we?
2001 - moved from North Carolina to Oklahoma to attend college
2002 - worked 3 jobs - Resident Assistant, Taco Bell, and Front Desk attendant in dorm
2003 - got engaged for the first time/broke off engagement/joined LA Weight Loss and lost 40lbs
2004 - took my first trip overseas for 6 weeks/hired as a Freshman Resident Hall Director and Counselor
2005 - returned to Europe initially for 8 weeks....but canceled return trip ticket and stayed an extra month alone
2006 - accepted an invitation to move and work in the Netherlands for a year by myself/sold or threw away everything I owned
2007 - instead of returning to Oklahoma with all my friends, moved to new city in NC with my parents
2008 - got engaged 2nd time/moved in and out of my parents' house 3 times... :D
So what's in store for 2009? Well I don't have a visa to return to Europe for more than 3 month's time....I COULD move to Missouri if I wanted, but probably won't....and unless Chris reproposes this year, I don't plan on being engaged to a third individual. :) So that leaves me with a job change. Much more feasible than the first three, dontcha think? :D And again...most of you that know me know that I've spent my whole life wanting to be a teacher. Some of you may or may not have questioned why 5 years of college has resulted in a secretarial position at a University. And that's a whole other blog in and of itself. However...I think 2009 is the year to go for it! I called the county school system and asked them to walk me through the requirements of becoming a certified teacher in NC. As it turns out, I meet almost all of the qualifications for getting an alternative licensure. I have just come up 3 points shy on the State Education Test. So I have registered to retake it on January 10th....and as soon as I boost my score up 3 points...I'm in! I'll get my results in February, and from there, I look for a job! My hope/goal is to find a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade teaching position for the 2009-2010 school year.
*happy sigh* Feels good to know that I will be doing something out of my comfort zone this year. And if Jenny Craig was less expensive, I'd look into losing a sizeable amount of weight again. But there's always 2010.... :D
After coming to terms with the reality of our financial situation....as well as a few other matters....Chris and I have decided to post-pone the wedding. Several things surfaced while we were looking at buying a house and making wedding plans, and it made us realize that we are not quite ready to make that commitment. We've got a lot of things to work through and get in order before we attempt to combine our two separate lives into one. So no wedding in May. No buying a house. No more wedding plans for now. Just continuing to date and get to know each other better while we work out some bumps in the road. I just wish we had made this decision before I had my wedding dress hanging in my room. :/
So what are my plans for 2009? Well I'm glad you asked!! If you know me well at all, you know that I not only adjust to change well...but crave change. Not just a change of wardrobe or a change in attending early vs. late Sunday morning service. A change that requires me to be in a setting I've never been in before. One that makes me uncomfortable and pushes me outside my everyday boundaries. As I write this, I'm looking around at my office DYING to rearrange all the furniture. And I think I've convinced Chris to stop by later today and help me do it. :) But I try to make change a part of my life. Let's look at the past 7 years, shall we?
2001 - moved from North Carolina to Oklahoma to attend college
2002 - worked 3 jobs - Resident Assistant, Taco Bell, and Front Desk attendant in dorm
2003 - got engaged for the first time/broke off engagement/joined LA Weight Loss and lost 40lbs
2004 - took my first trip overseas for 6 weeks/hired as a Freshman Resident Hall Director and Counselor
2005 - returned to Europe initially for 8 weeks....but canceled return trip ticket and stayed an extra month alone
2006 - accepted an invitation to move and work in the Netherlands for a year by myself/sold or threw away everything I owned
2007 - instead of returning to Oklahoma with all my friends, moved to new city in NC with my parents
2008 - got engaged 2nd time/moved in and out of my parents' house 3 times... :D
So what's in store for 2009? Well I don't have a visa to return to Europe for more than 3 month's time....I COULD move to Missouri if I wanted, but probably won't....and unless Chris reproposes this year, I don't plan on being engaged to a third individual. :) So that leaves me with a job change. Much more feasible than the first three, dontcha think? :D And again...most of you that know me know that I've spent my whole life wanting to be a teacher. Some of you may or may not have questioned why 5 years of college has resulted in a secretarial position at a University. And that's a whole other blog in and of itself. However...I think 2009 is the year to go for it! I called the county school system and asked them to walk me through the requirements of becoming a certified teacher in NC. As it turns out, I meet almost all of the qualifications for getting an alternative licensure. I have just come up 3 points shy on the State Education Test. So I have registered to retake it on January 10th....and as soon as I boost my score up 3 points...I'm in! I'll get my results in February, and from there, I look for a job! My hope/goal is to find a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade teaching position for the 2009-2010 school year.
*happy sigh* Feels good to know that I will be doing something out of my comfort zone this year. And if Jenny Craig was less expensive, I'd look into losing a sizeable amount of weight again. But there's always 2010.... :D
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