halloween

Don and I had fun playing house on Halloween and hosting trick-or-treaters coming by. We loved seeing the little ones. One forgot his line and said "Happy Halloween!" another one waddled because he was so little and had on such a big firefighter outfit, cuteness!

We made really cute pumpkins kissing each other and ate some candy while watching the U of O game on TV. Wow, we STOMPED USC. It was great.

Dimen doesn't love Halloween, but it's ok.

Tonight is another celebration, Don's bday! I will post more later after our celebrations :)

gratefulness

One of my favorite things about working at my job is being inspired by the clients I work with. They do really hard work every day of the week. I was more aware of this when I first started working there, but I am reminding myself that the little lessons we teach our clients are lessons we can benefit from too. So in light of that I will add a list of things to be grateful for in my life just because... (and one friend did this on her blog this week and it was a good reminder!).

I'm grateful for:
1. beautiful trees on my drive to work. I love to see the change over time! Right now it's a rainbow of colors on each tree.
2. My husband! He is becoming a better cook and has been working really hard to keep me fed and happy lately :)
3. Dimen. She is my mom's dog and she is a sweetheart. I love how her whole body wags when she sees me coming home.
4. My family. My mom has been so helpful this last season and we are grateful for the time we have had with her.
5. being able to continue in my field of work and be employed at a place with a great staff and to be paid ... all in this really rough economy!
6. 6 months of free supervision that my previous supervisor offered me, he's awesome!
7. health!

What are you grateful for?

life update

Don and I are living with my mom right now saving money. Our first plan was to buy a house before 11/30 when the tax credit runs out. Turns out we don't have enough employment right now (I just got my job at De Paul and Donovan is looking) and Portland has a tough job market. So we are so grateful to my mom, and so anxious to see how this step leads to other things that God is doing that we seem to not always be aware of :)

We are planning on moving back into the same community we lived in before. Same complex, new building. We will have a 1 bedroom this time, and with the economy being bad right now they have a huge sale, so we feel super blessed that this happened at just the right time. So we're excited, truly, to have our apartment community back, glad to not be underemployed and over stretched financially and so excited to move in (free cable, sauna, hot tub, pretty walking trails, and a convenience to work, friends/family, and fun places on the west side that we grew accustomed to within the last year).

I felt before that "permanency" in our mid twenties (Don's 26th is in two weeks!) was impossible without owning a home. But my mind has shifted and I really feel like our apartment will be our home in every way and the house thing was just my plans, not God's. In the meantime our 10 week stay with mom so far (we will move in the first week of Nov) has saved money in so many ways and I have enjoyed some communal living, some reminders of childhood, and some things we can't get when we are out on our own (puppy kisses, for one!).

So our address will be a bit different than it was last year (different number and apartment letter, but same street and city)... we will update you more via email as the time gets closer. I'm looking forward to this transition.

death

Death seemed so mysterious, so impossible to me for so long. Maybe that's the part of being a child and a young adult, thinking that the world is yours to create with and nothing will ever end.

Since my father died I have found myself from time to time watching the world pass by in slow motion, often when I'm driving, I'll see people on the sidewalk, people in their cars, people I can observe without others knowing I see them and I realize, we will all die.

It's not sad, it's just true. We all die. And the Bible says our life is a breath in comparison to eternity. I like thinking about that, about my dad having a very wonderful and healthy breath with God and then suddenly my mother will show up in heaven, and in another breath so will I, my sisters, my brother in laws, and my husband.

I saw a man when I was thinking about these things sitting under the fall trees one morning on my commute to downtown just looking around and enjoying things. I realized how short life is, how very seriously I take my life and create stress when it doesn't need to be there, and how it might serve a much better purpose for me to live life in light of these things instead of marching along without a stillness and a peace that comes from this realization.

stories

I recently read Donald Miller's new book. It was very inspiring. Basically (without ruining it for you) it simultaneously discusses what stories are and why they are important inspiration, criticizes the American status quo, and makes you want to just straight up do something with your life. After reading the book I was pleasantly (is this possible?) shocked and appaled when reading this article on Miller's blog. Needless to say, I have a lot of growing to do in my life.

But where to get started? Work in the therapy realm can be exhausting stuff. Often unappreciated hard work. Is being drained and doing something great for the less fortunate God's calling for us? I'm not sure. I do know that therapists who have rich friendships and support networks, who are constantly learning (about leaves and trees and their beauty as much as recent research and how it applies) are those that are excellent - not just good - at their jobs.

Today we spent some time in Forest Park. We were pleased to find a quiet and fun road on the way up, to find leaves that had started turning already, and to find dry ground under the forest roof although it rained this morning. I think God calls us to be with Him, and I think I experience that in the most deep way when I am hiking in the trees far removed from anything to do with the city.

I'm compiling my list now of things that really make me engage, things that are difficult but will make for a good story in my life (rather than just staring at the TV, which I admit, I do too much of now!). Somehow, in some context, being in Uganda and supporting my brothers and sisters there is a part of my story. So is working as a therapist, even when I don't fully understand that. I'm just not sure what else at this point...

Fall is here

So I am back from my summer break from blogging. Fall is in the air and I'm so excited to say it's the first day of fall!

I'm now working at De Paul which is a drug and alcohol center in downtown Portland. I am the family therapist (one of four) and I work mostly with couples and parents/adult children. I also do a women's group where their family members are invited and they learn about how addiction affects families and support one another in recovery. It has been challenging, new, hard, and exciting. Working with other really sharp clinicians who have totally different experience and academic background has been one of the best parts.

September is a month we have not fully experienced here yet together, since we moved from LA 11 months ago. It is definately my favorite month! The air is warm and the days are sunny (but not too hot) and it is crisp and cold in the mornings. Ahhh.

Donovan and I have also enjoyed spending more time with my mom lately, now that we are living with her. We have enjoyed walking and playing with Dimen regularly too. She is such a gentle dog. I will post funny pics as soon as I can.

I hope you are all doing well and had a fun summer! Let me know how you are doing!

busy bee

So work is busy... and so great! The thing I want to communicate here though is that my new job is rad, my boss is the bomb, my coworkers are great, my closest coworkers (all family therapists and all Christian ladies) are even greater (one is from Enterprise, to boot). I think I enjoy remembering it being 10am and then not knowing how it got to be 4pm, that happened today! I definitely enjoy being downtown and eating at food carts every day! It's really engaging and the clients are so grateful for their services and I feel like it's such a good fit for me to be there.

Today one of the long term clinicians left the agency today and as they all did their termination/processing the top boss lady talked about spirituality and work as a therapist and how we all should feel called in our being to be a better person as we work... summing it all up by saying "we get paid to learn about ourselves and become better people!" I love this place. Although I would potentially make about 40% of what I would make doing private practice if I kept this job over my entire career, I am still seriously considering never changing jobs, it's that perfect of a fit. Who knows, maybe some years down the road from now things will change. Maybe.

In the meantime I'm getting in 5-10 client hours a week in my private practice. So I'm kinda a workaholic, although I despise that word, what it represents, and never thought I would say that about myself. In fact, I pride myself on not being that person in a lot of ways. But duty calls for now, and for a while there Donovan and I only had those two jobs to depend on. Although just within the last few days he has gotten paid for an old job AND received another project to work on.

Don is learning to cook and cleaning more in the meantime. We are also moving out of our apartment in two weeks to save some money and look for our own house. Pray for us on this big endeavor, our transition period, and our financial situation!

Right now I am sitting on my porch, about to do my session notes for the evening and enjoying the last bit of summer sunshine of the day feeling very tired, content, and excited.

For the future: we are going to Seattle to visit my great friend Lindsey who will leave for Africa for a year soon. Pray for our travels and for our time with her and as a couple while we're in Seattle. Also, Donovan and I celebrate 3 years on the 22nd. This also is a prayer request because this time of year often brings up big questiosn for us while we do an (informal) evaluation of where we want to go in the next year and what our plans are.

I love you all!