Thanksgiving

My last post contained a bit of complaining in attitude :-] I've been reading the Psalms lately, partially because I've been so lost [in more ways than one] that I don't know what to read. The recent ones have been about giving thanks and praise to God, something which I am not naturally inclined to do.

The house is clean and nice and I'm growing to like it more each day. We have no furniture yet - our priority is getting a bed for my sister so she can stop sleeping on the floor. Strangely, she doesn't seem to mind at all. :-] I'm actually getting around to re-upholstering a set of chairs. I had planned on it for awhile and put it off and now I'm half-way through the first chair and its actually getting me excited. This may be due to the fact that I still don't have job and its nice to have something to occupy my hands.

Unfortunately, we don't have internet access at home. This makes e-mailing, posting, and job searching difficult. But not impossible. At this moment, I'm using a public computer at a library and it sort of reminds me of being in Ukraine and having to use internet cafe's. :-]

I'm still a little lonely because of the lack of friends but I have a sense of peace that blesses me in a greater way that I could ever have imagined. So praise be to God who keeps me and teaches me and never lets me go.

plunge

I'm discouraged, as I knew I would be, but it doesn't make it any easier. If I was home right now, I could sit and read a book with Caroline, watch a movie with Bethany, go for a walk&talk with Hilary, go to Emily's, or hang out with Allison, Joy, or Naomi, drink coffee or tea and laugh with all of them; and I would know the next day was my job with a boss and faculty I loved, a position where I felt confident, capable and even frustrated but in a challenging sort of way. I can imagine that unemployment would be terrible for a man.

I'm also assaulted with those questions which always come with moving: different roles are thrust upon me and I feel as if I'm losing who I was in MS. I recognize that I felt the same way when I left TX to go to MS and the irony is not lost on me.

So my challenges are before me: to not move about in restlessness like previously, but to seek the face of God and believe. To look at His face and see there the truest reflection of me, that is, who I was meant to be: Christ in Sarah Jo. Nothing is ever easy, at least, nothing worth doing. Now, truely I can say, is the first moment of missing. Now, is the first real moment of the loss I knew was coming.

Deep breath. Hold onto God. Plunge.

recent adventures or...

a badly arranged post for lack of time:

I worked hard all last week, including lots of overtime, and packed and hung out as much as possible with all my lovely mississippi friends. So last weekend was great but exhausting. My brother was moving to California, so he brought his u-haul and we stuck my stuff in next to his - so we could save money - and he could just drop me off in Dallas on the way to California.

Monday we loaded the U-haul, I fell while trying to load the beast of a bed frame that I own and took some chunks of skin off my foot. ouch. but only flesh wounds.

Tuesday we left early and hit the road and blinding rain. It was no fun for John driving the U-haul while towing his car and me following in the wake in my little Nissan. We arrive tired and unload everything I own into a storage space (since I don't have a place to live yet).
Then we headed to my parents to spend the night. I decided to go with John to California because I had no pressing engagements and his drive was very long and I wanted to see his new place. So that was the plan.

At this point, the pain in my foot is horrendous and its swollen and red and, oh-no, streaking. So I went to the E.R. in Dallas Tuesday night where they confirmed that I had a staff infection and blood poisoning and gave me some super antibiotics. They also wrote me a prescription for pain-killers but I decided against that :-] opps. Returning late from the E.R., I packed and made it to bed at 2am and woke up four hours later and hopped in the U-haul with John. (this is wednesday) We drove through more rain and all the way until Tuscon, Arizona where we got a hotel room. 14 hours of driving is killer!

Then yesterday, Thursday, we finally made it to California. Its incredibly hard to maneuver moving vans, several times I had to get out of the van and try to direct John into not crushing someone's vehicle or personhood. I was also pathetically hobbling around on my foot. Thankfully, John had a friend who helped us unload the u-haul here last night - only we didn't have electricity (we were supposed to!) and it never came on - so we spent the night with candles and open windows. Also - I was VERY exhausted.

Things are looking brighter now - we have electricty (and internet) and we went to a little french cafe for breakfast and sat on their patio and enjoyed the breeze from the ocean. :-) things are a little more unpacked, I fly out tomorrow to go back to Dallas so we'll try and do some sight seeing. Ironically, my doctor said not to walk around too much and the antibiotic medication said to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun. Hummmm and I'm in California...ummm...

those are the adventures of sarah jo for the moment. stay tuned. :-]