Adventure Update - A Year Later

I cannot believe how fast a year has passed.  Today marks the one year anniversary of when my new adventure started.  The journey has been challenging and yet sweet.  One of the blessings of this new adventure means I don't dread Mondays anymore!  (See above picture.)

If you recall, I decided to begin pursuing a job overseas and almost immediately lost my job of 7 years.  I am still in pursuit of the overseas job.  The company has a long-drawn out process which has been frustrating at times.  There is a method to their lengthy madness and a significant part of that is trying to discover whether applicants are willing to persevere and also digging into their hearts to see if they can adapt well to the stress of a new culture.  I have currently completed 3 out of 5 steps.  One of the things they check for is physical health and trying to resolve issues that could only worsen in the stress of another culture.  I am now impatiently waiting to be medically cleared.  If things continue to move forward at the projected speed, and I continue to gain approval, I could be moving overseas by the tail end of this year.  I will be honest that the delays and waiting make me adapt the attitude that “I won’t believe it till I see it.” or until my feet are on foreign soil with my belongings.  God has used much of this journey to show me scarred areas of my heart, ways in which I do not trust Him, opportunities to practice trusting Him, and areas of weakness to be strengthened.  He also tries to hammer in my skull that my timing His timing is perfect.  

In other news, I began working from home doing freelance architectural drafting.  I have discovered that working from home is not all it’s cracked up to be.  If you have an office job and are wishing you could work from home, it has some struggles.  True, I get to work in my pajamas if I want and I can set my own work hours but there are downsides.  One downside is that as a freelancer, I am not guaranteed a set paycheck.  I also never know when I’ll have work.  Some days I think I’ll have work and I don’t or I’ll finish early.  Other days I expect to have a day off and it seems everyone wants me to work.  A second downside is that it is ridiculously hard to accumulate a good chunk of hours worked.  My extracurricular activities get in the way.  Friends stop by. I have to stop to make lunch and clean the kitchen.  I have to change out laundry loads.  It seems like there were less interruptions at the office and even if there were interruptions, I was paid the same nonetheless.  Speaking of housework, that is another downside.  I have discovered that I can never escape housework or paid work.  When I worked in an office, I could leave all my cleaning chores at home.  From the office, I could not do anything about laundry so it didn’t weigh on me.  Similarly, at 5:00, I left work at the office.  While working from home, I never get away from either and it’s always a battle to figure out which is the priority.  Another downside to freelance work is self-employment taxes.  I learned that as an employee, my employers paid part of my taxes for me.  As self-employed, I have to pay my own taxes.  Lastly, working from home is lonely.  And yes, that last statement was made by an introvert.  Having a roommate that works 12 hour shifts during the day, means there are days that I see nor talk to anyone.  I have to be intentional about making plans with friends so I don’t go insane.  

Over the past year, I have had 6 jobs.  I freelanced for two separate guys doing drafting work.  I finished teaching my art class last spring.  I babysat for a couple months.  I also began driving a van for the local international school.  In addition to all of that, I am currently the assistant coordinator for the international festival at the local university.  If you think it’s a bit chaotic to juggle all of those jobs, I also took 4 seminary classes with a ridiculous amount of reading and this comes from a person who loves to read.  In addition, I began volunteering weekly at the local pregnancy center and started an internship with my church.  This is all in addition to existing extracurricular activities that were ongoing before the job loss.  Through the juggling of all of these things, God has been stretching me to be more flexible and less of a control-freak planner.  

Throughout the past year, God has proven to be a faithful provider in spite of my pitiful trust in Him.  I made more during the first 3 months of 2013 than I did the last 9 months.  My original budget projected that I needed to work 20 hours a week and I only averaged 10.  In spite of all of this, I never missed a meal due to lack of funds.  In fact, most days I ate better than before because I had time to prepare home-cooked, healthy meals.  I was never late on any of my bills.  I paid for 4 seminary classes and still have a bit of money in savings.  In addition, by some strange miracle, I did not pay in quarterly self-employment taxes and yet I miraculously got money back on my return rather than having to pay in.  As I write these words, my finances don’t make sense on paper.  All I can say is that God is a faithful provider and I am thankful.  I still have many moments of doubt but He always provides.  

Additional Adventure Sweetness    

-So many warm days at the park

-Seminary knowledge and time to gain it (even if I didn’t enjoy it at the time)

-Trip to the Creeper Trail with my parents

-Trip to Orlando with my bff

-Extra time with my family

-Language School driving adventures

-Volunteer opportunities

-Gulf Shores Vacation with my family

-Unrushed morning quiet time with Jesus
-Starting the day slowly often

-No need to shower every day

-Overseas travels with my mom (and the money anonymously provided for that trip)

-Extended holiday time with my family

-A chance to get counselor training

-A week in Peoria resting and visiting friends

-My first ever staycation

-Quality time with my dad on a hunting trip

-Extra time with Mashaael before she moved

-Weekday hangouts and travels

-Extra time to hang out with friends who won’t be overseas with me

-Created and sold several art pieces

-Many opportunities to share my passion

-My first ever Ben Rector concert

-Made a new friend, Ashley

-Movies paid for by the Language school

-Ridiculous outpouring of gifts of money or food from friends

-Getting paid to work with internationals
-Learning to embrace weaknesses and the stretching
-Learning to take the weeks with little work as gifts where He leads me by still waters