It has to start somewhere

About a year ago, I took action on a dream I've always had- I started to take guitar lessons from one of the wildly talented worship leaders at Mosaic- Matt Shockley. I went it knowing nothing. The first song he had me learn was this one- I fell in love with the lyrics and my new 4 chords (he gave me a CD with the original song by the artist, Joy Williams) and how this reminds me of how I sometimes stop and take a look at my life since choosing to follow Jesus:

I saw you today
My familiar stranger
Everything's changed
You have come so far
You're different now
Would you go back, would you want to anyhow
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Face to face
The present and past collide
And it's no mistake
I see the future in Your eyes
You seem so free
Like nothing's ever gonna keep you down
You're different now
You're different somehow
You’re different now
Say goodbye, say goodbye

Part of the start of me and Jesus was when I received a controversial 'Absolute Truth' ad for Genesis the Church, in Royal Oak, Michigan. Through many connections I was given that flyer, and met many people who were close to God and wanted me to be too. Through those people, through Genesis, through my choice, and through God's hand in all of that, I became a follower of Him. Now many years later, many connections later, including an important one via Genesis that led me to Mosaic, that let me back to Michigan and Genesis, I've been given the amazing gift of a job at the place where it all began for me. Today I accepted a job at Genesis the Church and officially called off the nearly 6 month hunt for a job. WHAT a great feeling. This job will give me a chance to use the gifts, talents, and strengths that I was created with, along with a big old heaping pile of passion for connecting others to their Creator, to their Savior. God agreed with me on this one- a few months ago on a few occasions I prayed and asked God to hook me up with a job at Genesis. It seemed like a good idea to me and a good use of me for him. It seems he thinks it's a good idea too.

So here I am, back at where it started, back at where I had my genesis at the Genesis and I couldn't be more thrilled and grateful.

God is good and faithful indeed.

Jeremiah 29:12
"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

Let the sunshine in, let the sunshine in

What a beautiful Saturday. Slightly cold, but sunny- not a cloud in the sky. Perfect for a run. A 7 mile run to be exact. I'm trying desperately to get back on track with my training schedule for the Martian 1/2 Marathon I'm training for on April 1st with my friend Kelly. It's been hard for me, harder than other races I've trained for. This will be my first race outside of California. I was so blessed to be able to become a runner in So-Cal- something I never thought I'd be- ever. All my other training schedules involved shorts, t-shirts, tank-tops, sunscreen, visors/hats, sunglasses and lots of sweat! Here, in this slightly foreign season to me called winter, I am lacking the motivation on most days to get out and run in the cold. Having to gear up with several layers and preparing for potential wind-burn/ frost-bite, makes me not want to be a runner- scratch that, it makes me want to go back to LA and run in my beloved Griffith Park- LA's 'Central Park' (it's much bigger though and has some serious elevation for those calfs and hamstrings!).

I miss LA. A lot. I miss the views- those beautiful mountains, the Hollywood Hills and the hills in Griffith Park. I miss meeting good friends early in the morning at great little cafes for coffee with the sun shining in at 65 degrees. I miss my good friends- some of the best friends I've ever had. I miss my old job, my old boss, my old co-workers. I miss LA's Trader Joe's- they're so much better out there- better selection. I miss the option of going to Malibu, Santa Monica, or Pasadena. OHHHHHH I miss Pasadena. I miss running around the Rose Bowl with my good friend Cindy and grabbing lunch at Noah's Bagels afterwards. I miss my crumby old apartment (only a little). I miss Runyon Canyon behind my old apartment- an awesome hike up the Hollywood Hills, with heart-stopping views of LA, the ocean, and snow-capped mountains. I miss Mosaic like....there's no tomorrow. This is one of the things that I miss the most. Too much to speak of. I miss Studio City- grabbing a movie, red-vines, and diet cokes with Andrea and vegging out in our old apartment. Ache, ache, ache. I want to visit, but I'm afraid I won't come back if I do!

Tonight I'm going to see the new movie Amazing Grace with my folks and older sis. I'm excited. I'll give my expert review afterwards.

Many blessings for you this last weekend in February of 2007.

Glimmer of Hope!

Today I got called for my first interview (after 30+ jobs applied to)! Hurray! About 2 weeks ago, I sent in my resume and cover letter in for a Community Outreach position at the Leader Dogs for the Blind. Next week, Wednesday, I'll have a phone interview for that position! I've just spend the last hour on their website- there's lot to read/learn- obviously it's pretty amazing work they do. I'm excited, nervous, hesitant, and curious all at the same time. It surely would be a blessing and an amazing opportunity to serve people in need while also being around some amazing animals, both would fulfill passions of mine.

Here's a clip from the job:

Leader Dogs for the Blind, in Rochester MI, is looking for a FT Community Outreach Associate. Major duties include but are not limited to the development and program coordination of opportunities within the community, schools and other organizations to promote Leader Dogs’ mission; managing the Kids & Coins program to include monitoring requests, identifying representatives for engagements, providing relevant information and maintaining communication and follow-up.

Regardless of where this goes- me ending up with or without a job there, I'm so thankful for the tangible piece of hope God has given me- this little interview. If this is not the spot for me- onward I will continue to march by faith! I know God's got something special for me somewhere.

Family for sale on ebay

Check this out- this is my grandpa, from my mom's side- he died just after I was born...I think my mom is going to bid on it...

click here because it's too long a link to paste

:)

The French Alps

That's where I'm off to in a few weeks-- no actually, I've been sitting here trying to think of a perky title and I just received my title from the fabulous, high-flutin' Evian Natual Spring Water bottle. Is that water really from the French Alps? Seriously. It does say Product of France, so it must be true. It seems like it should cost $40 a bottle to have water shipped here from France. Amazingly it only cost $1.49 (it was on sale at Kroger this morning).

Anyways...this past weekend I went up to Traverse City to visit my grandma, who we thought was going to die on Friday, but it turns out she improved enough to be allowed to go home this week sometime! Amazing! Thanks for all the prayers and concern. Grandma was pretty sleepy during my visit, but she was chatty when she was awake, saying lots of jokes and asking for things like lobster and coffee! It was a short trip, but a nice time with family. The hardest part of the visit was watching my grandpa sitting very silently and very exhausted next to my grandma in bed. He's normally a very spunky, flirty, cute old man with lots of one liners shooting out all over the place. But not now. It was hard to look at his sadness and think about the nearly 70 years they've been married. Can you imagine?

Here's Ruth and Ruth:


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Tonight I started a new group through Kensington led by older women, attended by younger, single women-- this intro night was fun- we introduced ourselves by using a movie clip that best describes/ portrays us. I chose a clip from the French film 'Amelie'- I can related to Amelie a ton- she's very quirky, contemplative, empathetic, and she schemes (in good ways). Other ladies showed clips from 'Lord of the Rings', 'My Cousin Vinnie', 'Shrek' and a few more. The coolest part was how the mentors, one in particular shared that they've been praying for us for a while. Also they shared a unique scripture that God revealed to them particularly for each of us. Here's mine. It's pretty amazing and speaks perfectly to me...

Acts 9:15
But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel."

The original Ruth

Some of you heard that my Grandma Geib is in the hospital in Traverse City and her health is declining. I know she's hooked up to oxygen, has fluid in one of her lungs, and her intestines are failing some how. Here's an email from a relative who stopped by the hospital yesterday. I'm on my way up there today, returning Saturday night. My Grandpa (Fritz) just started to show signs of Alzheimer's this past fall, but he has always known who my grandma is...

Hi Rick,
We went to the hospital and saw Fritz and Ruth. Ruth is unresponsive, on oxygen and morphine to ease her breathing. I held her hand for a few minutes and she held on tight, but I don't think she had any idea who I was. She didn't open her eyes. There was a very nice gal from Traverse Manor there with her, holding her other hand. Fritz seems to understand the gravity of the situation, although he's confused about other things. He didn't know who Dick was - and didn't recognize his name. He couldn't name his daughter, and he doesn't know where she lives. Fritz expressed that this is very hard for him - he was holding up well, but I'm sure he'll be exhausted at the end of the day. I gave him a big hug, and stood by him and patted him on the back, and stroked his back a little - and he said "You don't have to keep rubbing my back." So there's really not a lot to be done!

Keep in touch, Nancy

Here's photo of me and my grandparents just before Christmas this year. I went up to visit them and be their guest at their community's Christmas party. Also a pic of Grandma opening a Christmas present. I'll update when I get home tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers...

Moved. [to tears?]

Oh man. I just had to switch it. Too many bugs in the other site- ones with lots of legs and big gross shiny shells- things not working. Hopefully my very gifted brother/computer helpline will be thrilled to be relieved of his duties of fixing things that have weirdly gone wrong.

Today was an extremely stressful day. As I hang in the 'mean-time' until the not-for-profit job I'm searching for surfaces, I'm doing time in a pediatrician's office-- I'm one of those people you see behind the window when you sign-in to see the doc. Yikes. Suddenly I'm processing referrals and dodging questions about why so-and-so's kid is constipated/puking/coughing. I feel tense just typing about it. It's very stressful since the person I replaced is gone and my training was frighteningly minimal and no one is really supervising me. Last week I thought everything was going to be ok, I seemed to be getting along with everyone better- Monday was a sharp contrast from Friday- Monday being the day I was treated like a leper, Friday being the day I was 'accepted'. Well, as I pass my 2nd Monday, things seem to be getting worse in other ways besides my social standing in the office gossip. My brief lunch break today was a tearful one as I sat on a bench looking out into cold Michigan, wondering how I was going to make it through the rest of the day. The afternoon started ok, but quickly returned to a frustrating time for me. I nearly lost my composure as I expressed in a serious "I can't handle this any more" tone with some of my co-workers who some how expected me to know how to read a patient's chart and figure out when the mom who was on hold forever's 2-month-old should come in for shots. I was so frustrated, tense, and tired. Still tense and tired. I'll send out the Evite for my pity party soon. Ha ha.

Thankful I left the madness at 5:00 sharp. A few moments later I was sliding all over the road with everyone else as the snow dumped down- it still is 5 hours later. I picked up my dad from the school he teaches at, just a few miles away. He thrives on car-pooling to work and now with me in the area, he no long has to find a ride home! We crawled along in the snowy mess for what normally is a 20 minute drive home, for nearly 45 minutes. It was rough- the driving conditions, the stress I was feeling, and my dad was starting to feel as though he might have the stomach flu or something. He's been in bed since we got home.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow- it's my day off. It's my day to sleep in a bit, to run, to drink coffee, to job search, to movie watch, to hang out with Ari, and to go to New Community at Kensington. All some of my favorite things (minus the job search- although I have more inspiration than usual ;).

Off to watch another version of Jane Eyre. Thanks Kelly!

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Now officially the archives:
http://jenny.standland.org

Paging Dr. Geib

Tuesday went…pretty fine. I think I went in with a few expectations that I shouldn’t have, because when I left I felt like such a moper. I went to Target on my way home to pick up a few things and if some who knew me saw me, they’d think someone just died! I was such a poop. Overall the A*gel H*use is a really special place- I need to remind myself that. I thought that I might be sitting down with Diane, the lady who runs the show, and just chatting- about the place and about my aspirations. It got really busy there right away and I ended up basically observing for several hours. I sat in on an ESL class, which I really really enjoyed watching and helping a few women sitting near me (the whole class was Muslim women from Yemen- they were learning words like burning, bush, snake, stick– I realized later they were teaching about Moses!)- then I went down to a citizenship class and listened to them teach the women that they are not Communists, terrorists, prostitutes, or Nazis! They apparently ask them if they are any of those things on the citizenship test. Then I headed down to the childcare room and played with some little ones for a while, read them books- The Cat in the Hat and a 4 paged long version of baby Moses being plopped in the river. Every child in there soaked up the love and attention like the driest sponge, they’re in such need of it. I did get to chat with a few volunteers and I discerned quickly that the whole ministry is basically run by volunteers and Diane and her assistant are the only paid people. Being in my robotic “I must find a job” mode, I couldn’t help but be disappointed when I discovered that little fact. I think Diane thought I just wanted to volunteer. Which, of course I would volunteer there (although, I don’t think any time soon), but it felt like this (my high school analogy)- as if a boy you have a crush on invites you out, but when you get there there are lots of other girls who he also invited, so it’s not so spectaular and special after all- still nice, but the excitement is gone and a bit of dissappointment replaces it. But the good news is, is that the A*gel H*use is doing amazing work in the name of Jesus. How can I be a poop over that? Can’t really.

Ok, now on to some other news…since volunteering to lead up all the “Connections” teams at Genesis for both services (set-up, tear-down, meeting/greeting new people, basically connecting people to whatever they need- one of my loves in life!), I’ve met lots of new people, great ones at that. Last week I was talking with a few folks and telling them how I’m looking for a job- Frank, the head usher (ha, not really, but I gave him that title because I think it makes him work harder!), mentioned his office is looking for someone to help out- he is a Pediatritian. I sent him my resume that night and I got the job (totally because I let him be the head usher)! I’m going in tomorrow to Troy Beaumont to check things out. I’m thankful that now I won’t have to be searching for two jobs- now the ‘in the mean time’ job search is off- the regular career search is still on.

Happy February…………….