Packing

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate packing of any kind... but that I hate unpacking even more. Unfortunately, I have a big move coming up, and so I have to start thinking about packing on a very large scale. It is a bittersweet thought- I'm excited to move to a new place, but I have come to love this apartment and I finally have everything where I want it... 15 months later.

As a part of this move I have had to get some moving quotes. I'm planning on actually moving myself (because I'm crazy, I just admitted I hate packing!), but this is a work move so I had to get a quote. It is the weirdest thing I have ever done. Or at least close. You invite someone into your home, and they walk around, opening all of your cabinets and inventorying your life. Some of them like to comment on everything you own, others are quiet and just make notes. They count your cups, your clothes, your picture frames, everything. And these people are good- one glance and they know if that stack of plates is for 8 or 12.

Every person has commented on my diplomas and made snide remarks about me having two. Seriously. Don't get me started on how much that annoys me. Really dude? I have 2 degrees. Get over it. Nobody asked you. They aren't hung in a particularly prominent place, they are pretty much on the wall I look at the least. But if I don't hang them up, I have to have a place to put them, and I don't really have any extra storage. Besides, those 2 pieces of paper represent a combined 5 years of blood, sweat and tears. And more money than I care to admit. Why do people feel the need to comment on them??

Moving is weird. And hard. Anyone want to come wrap dishes?

Believe

The best place to start is always the beginning... but I'm not sure where this story begins. So I'll start with the moment that I made this picture the background on my computer.

I was going through a stretch of time where I was having trouble trusting that there was a purpose for everything going on around me. I've been going through a work merger for about 8 months (my client's, not my company) and it had really begun to wear on me. This combined with the fact that my loving boyfriend had just moved back to MY home state without me was really starting to get me down. It felt like my dreams were floating further and further away by the day. And then one day, perhaps from desperation, I google image searched the word believe. I desperately needed a visual reminder to do what should come so naturally to me. And I found this picture. Now, it is not the most professional background I've ever seen on a work computer (although neither is a drooling baby, so I'm not exactly concerned about it). I've actually had a coworker mock it in a way, not knowing what it meant to me. But for me, this image has reminded me every day that there is something bigger out there. That these 8-10 (or 12 or 16) hours a day at work are not the most important thing. That when all I can feel around me is despair and fear, that I am safe in the belief that my God is bigger than all of this. That though I may (and will) face many earthly struggles, He is going to be right there with me. That this world is not what I am living for, but for a home I can't quite imagine.

All that believing has helped me lower my stress (somewhat). And now... some of those dreams I have believed in have started coming true. More on that later. But sometimes, all we need is that reminder to believe. To believe in our dreams, to believe in ourselves, but most importantly to believe in a God who loves us and is bigger than all the things we are facing.

It's been awhile...

It has been awhile since I've blogged on a regular basis (to the point that part of me doesn't even want to go back and read old posts because let's be honest, sometimes that is like picking up an old journal and it makes you cringe).

But life has thrown some new adventures my way, so I figured why not put it down on paper (so to speak). I can't promise it will be worth reading, but this is the kind of adventure you only get once in a lifetime, so I might as well attempt to document it.