Oh Give Thanks!

And I will give thanks for...

* Belonging to the Father.

* Through Jesus.

* By the Holy Spirit. 

* Fellowship with brothers and sisters.

* Disagreements that are discussed because we love each other and we care about what is true.

* Really smart friends!

* Really funny friends.

* MY SISTERS

* MY BROTHER

* The man in my life.

* PARENTS who are wise and loving.

* A job that is super fun.

* Phil, and his new Christmas album.

* Coffee with eggnog.

* A warm house.

* Chickens.

* Pink rain boots.

* Well-behaved, intelligent, and beautiful pets.

* Cute babies.

* Literacy!

* Knowing a foreign language and communicating with people I love in a far away place.

* Traveling.

* Fellowship with the body outside the barriers of my own earthly country.

* The opportunity to serve and befriend in my OWN language again. :)

* Trees.

* Beautiful boots.

* Compliments on my hair, when I haven't done anything. Created this way! ;}

* Blue eyes.

* Singing at the top of my lungs.

* "Oh Holy Night"

* FOOD.

* FOOD.

*COFFEE.

* Married friends.

* Single friends.

* Sunshine.

* Pouring rain.

* My little sister's attractiveness and adventurousness and fashionableness.

* My big sister's eccentricity and intelligence and gorgeousness.

* My big brother's handsomeness and bigness and calm, no-questions-asked, caring-ness.

* My mom's wit, patience, wisdom, and teaching-talent.

* My dad's hospitality, wisdom, discernment, silliness, and his love for the unlovable.

* Talented writers who don't ramble and use too many words like I do sometimes. Haha. 

* My special mug.

* A time to shower every day and dress to impress with earrings that match your shoes and colors that compliment, because it's culturally acceptable in your current location and it's fun.

* A time to keep from showering and wear dresses over baggy jeans, colors that don't compliment, (like plaid with paisley) and scarves every day, because it's culturally acceptable in your current location and it's fun.

* Friends who truly love me.

* Blogs

* Western toilets

* My red 5-speed car.

* Socks.

* Banana bread that my sister made at 11:00pm.

* A chair to sit on.

* Leather stools from Fez.

* Chocolate from Sweden.

* My orange coat.

* Food and shelter and relationships.

* Hope...Even when all these things pass away. 

<3

Go Bake Your Mother Some Date Bars

     This afternoon, I was thinking and interpreting life around me without depending on God’s word as my source of truth. I was depressed. I was making assumptions about my situation because of the emotions I was feeling, and I was becoming uglier by the second.  As I sat in front of my computer, deep in my moody bedroom, I slowly became a tearful extension of the folding chair beneath my rear-end. I suddenly knew I was doing just what I had vowed not to do about 3 hours earlier when life was sunny. Then I had been satisfied with God’s purpose for me. But here I was, being a brat. So I shook myself in disgust and bowed my head to pray. Soon, however, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me that my prayers weren’t going to help right now, because I was still sitting in my chair. “Amy, staying in your room will not help. Get up, go downstairs, and make your mom cookies. You can pray in the kitchen.” I responded, “Ok, Lord. I’ll do that,” and left my cave. 

     The cheery kitchen brightened my heart and Mom was more than happy to help me decide what to make, though the options were slim. When we found that we had no peanut butter, no molasses, and no chocolate chips, I pulled out the dates and declared I would make date bars. I love dates. I can eat them any way and any time. I grinned with sheer delight as I chopped the succulent morsels into gooey chunks, and reflected upon the life of desert nomads and how God provides food even in scorching wastelands. In fact, the last time I made date bars was in North Africa, and quite honestly it was like running through a gauntlet…those dates had maggots. So on that occasion, with every careful chop I was holding my breath and ready to throw the date into the trashcan at the first sign of a fat, wriggling, and lumpy worm. But huzzah! Today’s dates were from sunny California and were probably amply sprayed by chemicals before they were packaged and shipped. And now, they were mine to bake. I boiled them with water and sugar until they thickened to a pudding. Next, I mixed together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt, adding melted butter and egg whites. Half of the crust I padded into the trusty 9x13 pan, sprayed with non-stick, and the date filling I spread on top, finally adding the rest of the crust. After sliding the burdened pan into the oven, eating became something to look forward to. (But when is it not?)

     As I sit here at my computer, waiting for dinner and then dessert, I know I’m already starting to feel bored and depressed again. I think now is the time to sit with my Bible and let His words be the source of my attitude for the rest of the day. Sometimes I need to get up and DO something if I’m thinking too much. And after God calms my mind through the activity, I’m able to sit down with His word and let Him fill my mind with His truth. I’m thankful for His still, small voice that tells me to “get up” when I need to get off my bum, and to “rest” when I’m going too fast, and to “get over it” when I’m only thinking of me. If you’re anything like me and think too much, consider doing things. Don’t just sit. If you do sit, be sure you are thinking on whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise [Phil 4:8]. And sometimes to do that you need to get out of your dark, depressing bedroom and go make your mother some cookies. 

Back to Work

     When you come home from 5 months overseas and you know going back to your barista job of five years isn't where your heart is anymore, and when you're living with your parents and not sure what else you'll be doing for the next 3-12 months of your life, it's usually the time to look for a place of employment. For me back in September...that place was big blob of mystery. All I could think of were waitress/barista positions or receptionist jobs. (insert sub-culture reference here) I didn't want to do coffee again, because my loyalties lie with my beloved job of 5 years, and so Starbs was not an option. But what do I like besides coffee? Teaching...but there's that problem of a degree. I finally realized near the end of September that I really like shopping at REI and that it is considered one of the top 100 best places to work in the nation. So I applied, and am very thankful to say that I now have a job! I was officially hired at REI about three weeks ago, after a long and dramatic application/interviewing process.

     I began by writing my resume for the very first time. It turned out pretty great, and I was encouraged when I saw my life experiences written out on paper; I have been places. The next step was filling out the REI online application, which was extensive. I felt the first twinges of dread and discouragement when I came to the part that asked me to rate my knowledge of activities such as rock climbing, snowboarding, canoeing/kayaking, snowshoeing, cycling, camping, etc. I had to put a 0 or a 1 on most of these, though I said my knowledge of women's clothing/shoes was "3" and I got REALLY excited when at the bottom of the list it said "travel" and I got to put a 4.Mmmm-hm, that's right.

     I showed up at the job fair on Sept 29 waaaay early, and was 2nd in line at the door. As the time got closer, I looked behind me down the side of the building and saw that I was 2nd out of over 250 hopeful applicants. My odds seemed grim. Like a fairytale.

     We were in line for 5-minute mini interviews done by REI employees. When my time came, I was immediately put at ease by the friendly guy who seemed just as unsure about what he was doing as I was. Somehow, I answered every question without any hesitation and didn't even feel weird talking about myself. But he didn't ask me the one question I prepared for beforehand: "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" Phew. After this, I had to wait two days before knowing whether I was called back for a second interview or not. Even though deep inside I had an inkling from the Lord that this job was from Him and that it was in the bag, I was SURE they didn't want me. But they did! And I was called back for the second round, which was a hairy scary group interview, a week later.

     The group interview was a little fun but mostly on the awkward side. There were twelve of us in this group (there had been another group of 12 that morning) and the overall feeling in the room, to me, was something like this: "I want this job and I will fight you to the death for it, but I will pretend to be your bosom-buddy for the next 2 hours because they want to see us have fun and be friends and work together on all these interactive activities." Since this was my FIRST INTERVIEW EVER, I'm not sure how this one compared, but I really did enjoy it. And by the grace of God, I was able to be myself. I didn't talk a lot and I was honest about my "love of the outdoors" without making my experiences out to be bigger than they were. We got to perform skits and practice selling things. I was discouraged again when I was stuck as the one selling a pair of boots, and it became very clear that I had no idea what I was talking about. I went home again with the attitude of a deeply down-trodden bunny-rabbit wallowing in a pit of complete and utter despair.

     But oh how I jumped for joy and how my parents whooped and nearly cried when I received a phone call from a manager who first asked me if my requested days off were negotiable or not, and after I said yes they were, he said, "Well then I'd like to offer you a job, if that's ok." Um, YES!

     The following two weeks were back-to-back training days with the entire group of 12 new seasonal hires (who finally DID act like bosom-buddies!), and the third week was specified training for us cashiers. (I'm a cashier!) I am now fully trained and have my first official work day this week. I'm thankful to the Lord for the long process that made me trust Him with where He's taking me and with the skills and personality that He has given me and I'm excited to see how He uses this experience later in my life. Most of all, I'm thankful for the blessing of having a job and being able to support myself as I try to live life joyfully being back home again. Though there's still plenty of pain in being patient, I AM having loads of fun being a working woman again.

     "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act."- psalm 37:5