First week

Front View 

The floor creaks.  The woodwork is old.  A couple of the chairs are uuuuu-gly.  There are bugs once in a while.  BUT:  The creaking floor is somehow a comfort.  The woodwork is 100 years old and just gorgeous.  Slipcovers for the chairs will be ordered soon.  Bug spray has been purchased and used plenty.  I love my new home!  I love having a place that's my own again.  I don't have the money to spruce it up much, but I can and will do my best to make it my own.

Living room (you can see one of the ugly chairs to the right)

The house isn't the best part though.  The best part is the relationships that are already being formed.  It's walking over to hear the youth worship team practice and being welcomed in like family, laughing and enjoying each other's company.  It's support from the senior pastor.  It's feeling so at ease with this huge change that it doesn't even phase me.

I dropped my mom off at the airport in Philly on Monday evening.  It was a very quick and easy 25 minute trip there.  My drive home was just as easy and as I sat down to eat dinner in the house by myself for the first time, I was ok.  My mom is incredible.  I don't think I'd be nearly as settled already if she hadn't spent so much time helping me.  Somehow, figuring things out when someone else is there figuring them out with you isn't so bad.  She helped me get places and buy stuff.  She emptied boxes, washed dishes, set up my kitchen, and helped me organize nearly every room in the house.  She was patient with me when I was crabby and just very selfless in every way possible.  She attended church with me on Sunday and she had dinner with the pastor, his wife, another church family, and myself.  She got to meet lots of people and I believe she was comforted, knowing she wasn't leaving me without anyone.  Thankfully no tears were shed during the goodbye, but I already missed her as I drove home.

Saying goodbye to my nieces wasn't quite as easy, but I'm pretty sure if I write about it I'll start crying.  Let's just say that lots of tears were shed.  We had a good last night hanging out before I left.  We popped popcorn and they got to stay up late to watch a movie with me.  We also spent a lot of time together over the weekend right before I left.  Alex and I went went to downtown Naperville to feed the ducks and have a picnic.  Then we all went to the pool (Kayla, Alex, and I) for a few hours.  We painted nails, colored pictures, and cuddled.  

I talked to both of them two nights ago.  Alexandria (5) actually talked to me for a good 5 minutes before losing interest.  She was so cute and asked lots of questions about my new house and job.  When I talked to Kayla (7) she quickly informed me that she did well after I left, only crying once the next day because she missed me.  I love them both so dearly.  I decided that I would start writing them little cards or letters once a week.  So this week I sent them both their own cards.  They're going to be pretty excited to have their very own things in the mail!

This week has been spent preparing for camp next week.  There's a big camp meeting (retreat/revival-type event) at Delanco camp, a very well known camp in New Jersey.  I was asked to be in charge of the programming for the teenagers next week.  So I've been busy getting lessons and games together, on top of trying to settle into office hours and figuring out how things work around here.  Pastor Tom, the new senior pastor has been gracious to allow me to spend this week focused on out of church stuff already.  I've met some of the youth and they all seem pretty excited.  We've started discussing making changes to the youth room and I've come up with a couple of ideas that we'll work with.  We've also talked about different plans for the summer.  I'm excited to get back from camp and get things going here!

It still hasn't quite hit me that this is my new home.  I know I've talked about this before, but I haven't been able to grasp that yet.  I've done so many "big moves", mainly to another continent that this still doesn't feel permanent.  I know that as time goes on and I become more comfortable with the area and the culture I'll sink deeper into life as a Jersey girl.  

I'm making my first trip to "the shore" (they don't call it the beach here) in about 10 days.  Wawa (a gas station/market) is place that I've already visited numerous times, as I was told would happen.  People here drink soda, but I'm pretty sure I'll always drink pop.  No road starts off heading one direction and ends heading that same direction... it's like a maze trying to get just about everywhere.  The roads were built along the same paths that have been around since the birth of America... crazy early settlers not knowing what a grid pattern is!!  New Jersey, being the Garden State has already provided me with some very yummy fruits and veggies, which is exciting.  

I'm so grateful to be here and feel so very welcomed by my new church family.  The first week I moved in I had many visitors drop by to bring muffins, flowers, and even gift cards for Wawa.  I can't remember many names yet, but by the grace of God I will by the end of the summer... just in time for more new people to start coming to church again.  

Will you join me in praying for Clarksboro and the surrounding areas?  Pray for revival and the spreading of the Kingdom.  In Jesus' name, many will be saved and come to learn what it really means to live as a disciple of Jesus.

Big Girl Tears

I've been quiet the last few weeks because I've been busy.  Really busy.  My hope is to see as many people as I can and spend as much time with my family as possible.  Sadness is threatening to make it's way in as I meet with people, but for the most part I've been good.  As I said before, this is a time for jubilee, not mourning and I'm certain in this particular calling.

I have to admit though, that the night I accepted this new job was a huge mixture of initial emotions.  I was babysitting me nieces that night.  Kayla and Alex had just had their baths and were brushing their teeth when I received the call.  Once I was off the phone I went to tuck them into bed.  Kayla had heard me on the phone and knew that I had a new job that would make me have to move.  So she started asking me questions about it.  She wanted to know if I was going to work at the church I used to work at and live just down the road.  No.  She asked me where I was going.  New Jersey.  Is that as far away as Africa?  Nope, you'll be able to come visit me there!  As I tried to help her grasp the distance between here and New Jersey, giant, adult-sized tears began streaming down her little cheeks.  She wasn't sobbing or crying like a 7 year old does.  She was crying like a big girl... silently releasing her hurt and confusion.  Naturally, at seeing the pain on her face my own big girl tears began to flow.  So we sat there; I held her and we cried for a few minutes.  Then I kissed her, told her I loved her, and said good night.  

Since then we've talked about the fact that within just a few years she'll be old enough to hop on a plane to come see me.  Even at 9 or 10 years old it's not that big of a deal for a kid to fly alone anymore.  They make it so that my sister can walk her all the way to the gate, a flight attendent will seat her, and then I can meet her at the gate on the other end.  She'd only be "alone" for about 2 hours and I'm sure she'd be fine playing her Nintendo Dsi or something.  Knowing that it's possible to see me has been a comfort to her, I think.  It has for me!  Alexandria still doesn't quite grasp what's going on.  Plus, she's used to me leaving.  I left for Uganda when she was 15 months old, got home when she was two and a half, left again when she was 3, and got home when she was 4 and a half.  I don't know that it is shocking for her when I say I'm leaving.  Somehow that makes me sad.  Aside from being in Uganda, I've seen Kayla weekly if not daily, since the day she was born.  She is old enough to remember coming to my house to play.  She remembers going to Disney and Arizona with me.  The day I leave will be emotional and packed with tears, I'm sure.  

It's quite strange to think that I'm not just leaving for a "short" time, like a year.  New Jersey will be my new home.  When people ask where I'm from I think my answer will always be Chicago, but who knows?  30 years in one place constitutes that answer, but maybe eventually the answer will change to New Jersey.  I have friends and family who have relocated and settled into completely different states.  Two of my best friends have done it successfully.  For now though it's weird to think of Jersey as home... to go from being a midwesterner to an east coast girl... to not live with or within walking distance of family.  

God being the amazing God that He is, continues to give me peace.  I'm sure He knows just how much peace it's going to take to get me to New Jersey and out of my comfort zone.  I'm ok with not being comfortable, even for long periods of time.  However, I don't believe it's going to be long before my house is a home and my church is my family.  Praise God for being my Comforter and for knowing how much peace I need.  Praise God for friends and family here who have been and continue to be so supportive.  Praise God for the maturity of my two sets of beloved youth kids who are actually excited for me.  Praise God that people's response has almost always first been, "road trip!!"  I'm resting in John 15 today, as is true most days.