Learning to Celebrate

I have this friend who celebrates everything. Last Family Day he insisted we have a Family Day party complete with a delicious meal and many rounds of Family Feud. He’s the kind of person that makes everything into an event. I appreciate this about him. There is this desire in me to be the same. I want to buy people ridiculous cards for random ‘holidays’ and make sure little events in people’s lives are noted and celebrated. Two of my roommates just got new jobs. We’ve been saying we’re going to celebrate for two weeks now but trying to get the four of us in one spot for longer than 30 minutes is proving to be difficult. I think that’s my problem. I have this desire to celebrate things but life always seems to get in the way. Something amazing happens that I want to hold up to God and be thankful for, to show Him my joy, but then I remember that I have to go to work, or I have plans with a friend, or I got lost in the details somehow.

I realized all of this during the week because something really good happened this week. On Monday night my roommates went to check out a house two blocks from the church. They loved it. It has two bedrooms that we can share and an extra room that can house guests and serve as a space for prayer. It also, apparently, has a gigantic bathroom (like, bigger than the bedrooms). I have not seen this house but I trust the girls that it is great. We filled out the rental application and called the landlord Tuesday morning. Unlike other times we’ve applied for houses, there was no waiting. By the end of Tuesday evening we knew that we had a house for Ocotber 1^st. We quickly began making ridiculous plans for what to do with the gigantic bathroom (we’re thinking one bright pink wall with my ‘girls just want to have fun’ poster up, a disco ball on the ceiling and a sweet dance floor in the corner). I was excited for the first day… then I realized that October 1^st is Wednesday and we need to move. I hate that this amazing blessing has suddenly become a stressor and I’ve been fighting all week to change my attitude. I know that part of the issue is that I want everything to be perfect. There’s going to be a fair bit of cleaning for us to do when we move in and we are going to paint the entire house. I, of course, want all of this to be done within a week. I know that is ridiculous and unnecessary so I’m trying to remind myself to slow down.

That’s the big news. As of next Wednesday I will have a new address. We’ll likely move slowly. We don’t have to be out of our current house by a certain date so we’ll clean, paint and move over the next couple of weeks. We don’t actually start paying rent until the 15^th because the landlords have some stuff they want to do and they knew we’d have to clean and paint. It may be an interesting couple of weeks. I’m excited to paint, to set up house and make something beautiful out of this place. I’ll take some pictures once we get the keys and put them up so people can see. I’ll even do before and after shots if I remember. For now, I’m going to go start my Saturday.

September: Gearing Up

September certainly is a busy month. It’s only the 10^th and already lots of things are set in motion. My vacation last week was good. I didn’t end up doing anything out of the ordinary but I did get to visit my parents and my good friend, Christine. I also had some ‘extra’ time to figure things out like what my schedule would look like and what I want to accomplish this year. I have a feeling it will be a VERY interesting one!

Let’s see… what to tell people? Well, we moved… have I mentioned that already? There are now four of us living in the house I lived in when I first moved to Hamilton. It’s going really well. We are enjoying sharing rooms and we are eating some seriously amazing food. Yesterday I ate corn on the cob for the first time ever, and I loved it. Today I made spaghetti sauce from scratch and Gloria (the newest addition to our home) made a delicious squash recipe. We are domestic queens!

Last weekend Esther, Gloria and I went to Locke Street Festival. Locke Street is this adorable street downtown that has neat shops (and a plethora of churches apparently). The street festival was cool because there were booths set up selling things and showcasing different parts of that community. We met up with my friend Sanda and just explored the street. We hit up some great shops (I didn’t buy anything though… I’m trying to be good with my money, but it’s hard). We also met this very nice, and fairly cute, guy who was selling organic vegetables from his front yard. They were grown at a farm not too far away. He works there but lives on Locke Street in a gorgeous looking house. I had a little crush… so we bought some corn from him (which, as already mentioned, was delicious).

Sunday I went to Toronto to visit my good friend, Christine. She is so wonderful and I love her so much. I also love her fiancé so was excited to go to church with both of them on Sunday. Their church seems neat… there is quite the diversity in age groups which I think is really healthy. They also seem to have some great friends and supports there which made me smile. I met a 10-year-old girl and chatted with her for a long while. We kind of bonded and she told me all sorts of interesting things. It was great. I enjoy that everywhere I go I meet children who want to be my friend.

I don’t think I’ve ever realized how busy September is. Generally it takes a while for things at the church to get up and running so the first couple weeks of the month seem slow. We’ve started two of our after-school programs this week but won’t start the other programs until next week or later. One of my wonderful friends here is traveling to Afghanistan for a week… he leaves on Friday. I think he is crazy but I am impressed by his faith that God will keep him safe (in the middle of a freaking war-zone I may add). I think our house may check out the Hamilton art crawl on Friday night. Saturday there is a block party in our new neighbourhood. Next weekend there is a big artist’s market downtown and the weekend after that is apple festival. Lots to do, lots to do!

I am enjoying being back at work. I love the idea of working part-time, and so far it’s going well. I know I will need to be careful once things get started that I actually stick to the part-time hours but I am excited for the various other things I can be involved in. I am planning to volunteer at the school two mornings a week and spend time developing a taste for coffee or other warm beverages through countless coffee dates with friends. If I’m honest, I do feel a bit guilty. Everyone tells me I should be working full-time; I should be making (and saving) lots of money. I am convinced, however, that there are things that are more important than money that God wants me to be involved in. I hope that I prioritize those things this year.

That’s pretty much life right now. Oh, I’m reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and loving it. I never used to like her (or I think I read one book by her in high school and decided I didn’t like her) but this book is really well-written and interesting. That is all for now…

Say Good-Bye to Summer

We have moved. September has come, Mel and Aaron have returned from their honeymoon and taken up permanent residence in our old house, meaning we got to move to what I’m now calling our ‘temporary residence’ until we find a place to live long-term. There are great things about our temporary residence. One of those things is how close it is to Barton Street and all the wonderful run-down yet somehow quaint storefronts there. Another of those things is our walk to church/my walk to work. It took us less than 20 minutes to walk to church on Sunday. We walked down side streets and cut through alleys like mad… it was great! One of the down sides to our temporary residence is that it’s maybe one block away from Ivor Wynne Stadium. Yesterday, we had to stay up until 11:30 to move our cars after the Tiger Cats game (which they lost… but it was close).

It’s interesting moving, only to know that you’ll have to move again in a little while. Most of my stuff is still in storage in friends’ basements. It’s funny that things I think are so important have now not been in my immediate possession for more than 4 months. Danielle and I are sleeping in bunk beds now. I’m on the top bunk. I feel a little bit like I’m living in a dorm room but it’s pretty fun.

I am on vacation this week. I will head to Sarnia tomorrow to visit my parents for a couple of days. I am going to stop in London and have lunch with my sister. I have a couple of things I’d like to try and figure out this week but mostly I’m just looking forward to relaxing. I am also going to visit Christine in Toronto on Sunday. September is always interesting. It is slow for a while… mostly because the summer has been so ridiculously busy that everything feels slow in comparison. I’m only working part-time hours at the church this year. I am looking forward to that and currently trying to craft a schedule that includes the various things I want to be involved in this year. That is another thing I’d like to get done this week… prioritizing the different things I want to be involved in and trying to make myself available to what God might want to do with my time. I’ll let people know how that goes.