I Did Some New, Scary, Things

If you know me, you might know that while I love people, it's always really hard when I first meet them. I honestly would rather know everyone in a room, even just their name, than meet a whole room full of new people, with new backgrounds, and new blah blah. If this is surprising to you, then that's simply the Lord being awesome, because I never felt awesome at meeting new people.

So in the spirit of being adventurous, I did two new things this week: joined a gym and joined a women's Bible study. The gym story is not so great, but the Bible study story is AMAZING!

Hence, the gym story. So I haven't exercised in over a month and it has really been getting to me. I am an exercise physiologist, so I know what inactivity can do, but more than that I just need exercise every day. It makes me feel alive, healthy, and intentional. So I signed up for a free 7-day pass to the local 24 Hour Fitness and made an appointment to get a tour and activate the pass. I show up, meet my tour guide, go on the tour, etc. At the end, we sit down and I presume we're about to "activate" the pass, whatever that means. Instead, he attempts to sell me membership. Duly noted, that's his job. However, since opening a bank account a week prior, I had not received any way to access my funds (checks, debit card, etc.), and therefore had no way to pay for said membership even if I was interested. I did come in to TRY the gym out, right?

So I tell him this, being honest and letting him know where I stand. Instead of LISTENING to me as I would have done, he tells me that the deal they have going on ends today and it doesn't make sense that I would wait to join. I got a little frustrated and wanted to honestly snap at him, but I didn't. I simply told him again my situation. He repeated his disbelief. I was beyond annoyed. I left not sure if I really wanted to join after that - I did like the gym, it's the closest one to my house, but the guy was rude!

As I pull into my driveway, I spy a small package on the front porch. You guessed it - my checks! I laughed. And then I drove back to the gym and joined, making certain to avoid the first guy as much as possible.

Some things are just funny like that!

Back to how I am not good and dislike meeting new people. I visited a church on Sunday, Austin Bible, and LOVED it. The only reason I can give is that it just felt right. I noticed in the bulletin that there was a Precept women's Bible study on Tuesday night, starting this week. I wasn't 100% sure I was going to join the church, so I felt hesitant about joining a Bible study, but I was really craving (and needing) community. And I love Precept studies.

So tonight, still nervous and hesitant, I drove across town to a lady's house I never met, walked in, and met 8 beautiful and godly women. It was awkward at first, but after realizing we were all there for the same reason, I suddenly felt amazing community and connection. And it felt SO good! We introduced ourselves, and when I explained how I found out about the church (Google) and decided to join the Bible study without knowing anyone, they all were so shocked I was so bold! And so was I! Me, being so courageous! Who is that?

But, I explained, it has to be God in me. I don't normally do these things. And then I realized that He led me there, to that study, to show me that although I don't like meeting new people and being a part of new situations, He will help me, just as He has the past 3 weeks.

And tonight I feel more at peace than I have since moving here. It's awesome!

Moving Day!

I'm moving and so excited!

For the last 3 weeks, I've been living with 4 of my friends in their spare living room on an air mattress and plastic closet. These girls are great and living here has felt like home. There's always something fun going on and it's been a wonderful time. But now I must move on!

I'm moving into a house with another girl that I met through a friend. The owner is a traveling nurse in Alaska for a year, so she's renting her house out to me and my roommate. I'll have my own room, own shower, and own space! Yay!

Here's a link to the Flickr site put up by the realty company a few years ago. The furniture is all different now but it's the same house.

I'm finally a real resident of Texas!

Church Shopping

Ever since moving back to Lawrence, I grew to understand the importance of being in a church community. I absolutely loved my church, and by the time I left, it had become so comfortable and at home for me. I knew almost all the families, if need be could talk to anyone about how I was doing, and was thoroughly enjoying leading a small group and being a youth group volunteer. Before I moved, I knew I couldn't find a church as amazing as the one I was at, so I was trying to mentally wrap my mind about that.

So since moving to Austin, I've been to 2 different churches and find myself comparing & contrasting order and style of worship, sanctuary temperature, lighting, and never seem to be satisfied. And I realized today that I will NOT find a church just like mine before. It will be different, possibly awkward, and hard to get plugged in at first. But there's no way I can feel that instant community and comfort on my first visit. It will take time.

And that's hard. I want it to be easy.

Sigh.

The Texas Highway System

As most of you know, I am from Lawrence, Kansas. Population: 88,000. The main transportation occurs on city streets, with very rare usage of highways.

I now live in Austin, Texas. Population: 709,000. The main transportation occurs on highways, these things called "frontage roads," and very rare usage of streets.

You can see my culture shock. And the shock poor Derek is going through.

Derek is the alias for the 97 Pathfinder, who has brought me through the last years of college, ridiculous amounts of trips to and from Texas, and close to $3000 in repairs over the years. He is my ally and friend; and I intend on keeping him until he croaks. However, he is going through a particularly rough time because prior to coming to Austin, Derek has been stuck in 4WD, which puts a lot of strain on his engine (and my wallet since it causes gas mileage to SUCK). Now I'm putting all this stress on him, driving on the highways for 40 miles each day, and I feel bad. Anyways, this post is about the highway system.

So, here are a few rules you should know about Texas highways:

1. They are in very good shape and are marked very well. While working at Camp Eagle, I couldn't help but notice that they repaved the road twice in the 3 years I worked there, as well as really helpful signs everywhere you look.

2. EVERY highway has two or more names: a number (e.g., 360, 2222, or 1) and a name (e.g., Capital of Texas Highway, Konig/Northland, or Mopac). This is important because either may be referenced at any time.

3. In addition to #2, the numbers may have an array of letters before them: FM (farm to market), RM (ranch to market), RR (ranch road), or CR (county road). Don't be fooled, because they ALL MEAN THE SAME THING. Again, don't be fooled at the lack of consistency.

4. Frontage roads are like mini-highways you ride on until you get to the entrance you want. They're right next to the highways, which sometimes defeats the purpose of having the highway, but most of the time you use them to save time. I'm actually still uncertain of their true purpose, as they don't exist in Kansas and we did just fine up there!

5. Finally, if you ever fail to follow the above rules or plain get lost, there are these MAJORLY HANDY "u turn" thingies under every overpass that allow you to make a u turn and get back to where you missed your turn or forgot to get on the highway. Lifesaver.

I haven't decided what my official opinion is yet. For now, it gets me to work. And it may be that I'm just not use to the change.

My First Week

Exactly a week ago, I was saying goodbye to my mother and brother, and trying to settle into the idea that I was now, from that point forward, living in Texas.

Let's start at the beginning.

Ever since working at Camp Eagle starting in 2004, I'd always liked the idea of living in Texas. It's big, has lots of outdoor activities, and camp helped me meet some of the most awesome people I know. After graduating from JBU in 2006, I began applying for grad school at KU and UT. I was really heartbroken that the Lord didn't lead me to UT, but my years at KU in Lawrence were wonderful and I'm so glad that was the plan.

Then came time to look for jobs.

All my searches turned up jobs on the East and West coasts, but I knew that I was a Midwestern girl at heart, and I wanted to stay close to my family. Several times a week I would search again (using google!) to see if anything fit what I would be ok with. Then one Tuesday night before Thanksgiving I spotted a FULL TIME position for the JOB TITLE I was looking for with QUALIFICATIONS I could meet, and best of all, it was in TEXAS! And, more specifically, near Austin, where I knew most of my friends! I put all those in caps because only the Lord could've brought this job together - it honestly was the perfect job at the perfect time. I lost my voice on the day of the phone interview, yet I was called back for a face-to-face interview the next week. Two days after I graduated from KU with my Master's, I flew to Austin to interview; the next day, only hours after landing back in Kansas, I was offered the job!

That week was so crazy - we were due to spend the rest of the week in Western KS visiting family for Christmas celebrations & I had a final presentation in one of my classes to finish up. When my extended family asked what I was doing next, I told them moving to Austin, yet I still hadn't realized it yet.

The truth is, I never really thought about leaving or moving from Lawrence. It had become comfortable and predictable. And that's what I like. So while the idea of the perfect job in the perfect city was ahead, I was having a harder time that I thought letting go and saying goodbye.

But here I am!

This past week, I've set up my temporary "room" in the spare living room of some of the funniest girls I know, gotten to know this part of Austin enough to get around, and learned that Austin is a LOT bigger than I though it would be. I've gone through orientation after orientation, spent only 5 hours with my predecessor at work, and acquired and healed from pneumonia. I'm now awaiting my FIRST real day at work and so excited! My predecessor's last day was the day I was sick, so I'm really on my own now. But I can't wait. I know the learning curve will be high and take a long time, but after awhile, I'll get the hang of it and love it. I know. The Lord is good!