on this summer.

Being home this summer has been surprisingly good for a few reasons. Here are a few I've been thinking about...

One:

My friend Kevin spent some time backpacking around Europe by himself. I asked him what one of the best things he learned was, and he replied: "that I could stand myself for so long."

When I was originally planning the Kenya trip, I was thinking I would leave right after graduation. Thanks to all those laaame weddings I had to attend (seriously... no fun), my trip got pushed back to fall. A few weeks ago I was on a walk with my roommate Moo Moo

thinking about the contrast between the amount of people contact that I experienced in college life verses the amount I had experienced in the past few days living by myself, and I realized that one of the reasons this summer was good was this: maybe God is telling me that I can stand being by myself, and maybe this is simply training for a lot more alone-ness than I was used to. Just ask our friend Benya: for some that crave people-saturated lives, being by yourself is a straight up challenge. I'm learning how to be still.

Two:

Yesterday I spent some time talking to two wise women I know. 

One of them has been secretly counseling me towards being a successful working women- and by secret I mean, I don't think she knows she is, ha. As a mother of 3 with two recently acquired masters degrees, she's chock-full of insight. Among our recent discussion topics have been: how to look at life in the big picture, how women (and mothers) sometimes have more job options than men, how we can provide for ourselves and our families while at the same time providing for people around us, etc. etc. She called me yesterday to tell me about an organization called Design Corps that provides architecture and design services to people who can't afford them... (aka exactly what I want to do forever...). She was encouraging me to contact them and offering to assist me with all the connections she has. What a gift to have someone take initiative in your life.

My other encounter was with our baller high school small group leader. Last night, all us gals reunited for some old school gab around the kitchen table ( it seats 10... for the family with seven kids... yes, seven). The broccoli salad, brownies, and talk about lives that glorify God were so, so refreshing. 

How satisfying and how rare it is the be able to chat with a god-loving supermother and ask things like: 

"does God care what kind of job I get?"

"how do I find something that I'm passionate about?"

"how do you stay married for 30 years?"

The answer to the first two included some wise words about how God cares less about what we do with our lives and more about how we glorify him in every action of doing it.

The answer to the third included some wise words about communication and forgiveness, but ended in her smiling, pounding her first on the table and saying "You just do it. You're both just stubborn." :)