Boulder Life

Don’t worry… I’m still breathing. If I’m honest, at times during this transition I’ve felt like that’s all I’ve been doing. While I’d like to say I moved out to Boulder, found a job, a place to live, and built great relationships right away, I can’t. That’s probably not a shock to anyone seeing as that is simply not how transition works. It’s been a challenge. I’m finally starting to feel settled after a month, but the use of the word settled is relative.

I’m still living with a family from church but they’ve been a huge blessing to me. They’ve welcomed me into their family and made me feel at home. Lisa, the mom, has gotten me plugged into her bible study. In addition, we’ve recently started a tradition of Tuesday game nights.

I’m just starting to develop relationships. It’s been tough to find people I really connect with. I frequently find myself doing the comparison game of the friends in my life back home to the girls I’ve met out here. Let’s be honest, it’s not a fair game to play. As Seth is always quick to remind me, my friends back in Madison have about 3-23 years advantage on them. It’s simply going to take time to develop those kinds of relationships here.

I’m still jobless… kind of. The job hunt has been tough and exhausting. Days on end staring at a computer screen searching will make anyone go crazy. I’ve had a couple prospective jobs that have fallen through for one reason or another. Each time it gets harder as you build up hope only to have it smashed. I have begun substituting with an after school program and will be doing that until I find a job. I have an interview for an athletic training position with an orthopedic clinic. It would be part time in the clinic and part time at a high school. This may be the ideal job for beginning a career in athletic training. After having so many ups and downs during this job hunt, I find myself not wanting to get too excited. I get scared that I’m getting my hopes up only to have them dashed again. I don’t think I’ve quite mastered how to be hopeful and yet not have any expectations. Maybe because that’s not possible.

Through all of this God has been teaching me a lot about patience and trust. Sitting around all day every day job searching you begin to feel useless and like you’re wasting your time. As I’ve gotten more settled and am finding things to do to fill my time that has gotten better. It’s funny how many of the lessons I thought God was teaching me in El Salvador about patience, rest, and value I feel like he is teaching me all over again. I guess I just didn’t quite get it the first time…

It's strange to see your story end...

It’s a strange night for me. Tomorrow my life of 23 years in Madison will draw to a close. I’ve left home, I’ve traveled, but I’ve always come back. It’s weird to think that this time… I won’t be, at least not to stay. Next time I come to Madison I’ll be the visitor. The streets that I know so well and can navigate with my eyes closed are bound to change. Potholes will be in different places, new stoplights, and more lanes. The trees I climbed as a child may be dead and gone. New buildings will

be built. People will move away. It won’t ever feel quite like the Madison that was my home. It’s strange.

Goodbyes are hard, there’s really no way around it. For so long it’s always been, “See ya!” or “Later!” but on many occasions in the past couple days I have found myself about to say that only to realize… that’s not true. I won’t see you, at least not soon. There’s an awkward pause after every goodbye as if there should be more to follow it up. But there’s not. That’s it. Goodbye.

Tomorrow I’ll be landing in a strange city, surrounded by unfamiliar roads, where very few people know my name. It’s exciting and daunting all at the same time. I’m excited to call a new city my home. To learn the streets, bike paths, fun coffee shops and places to eat. To meet knew people and develop new deep relationships. But all of that will take work and time. So as I begin a new life out in Colorado, please be praying that God would surround me with a strong community that would readily draw me in as own of their own, a place to live where I can truly feel at home, a job tha

t I will both enjoy and be challenged by, and the ability to quickly learn the streets of Boulder so that it would begin to feel like home.

Madison – It’s sad to see your story end.

Boulder – I’m excited to see where your story will take me.

Transitions

These past few weeks I’ve found myself in the midst of huge transitions. I’ve been in 5 countries, driven halfway across Central America, spent time in 4 different states, and driven halfway across the United States. I’ve stayed at 5 different homes in the last 2 weeks. I’ve met upwards of 50 new people. Many who will likely become a regular part of my life. A new year has begun and I am jobless and homeless.

I’d love to say that it’s been easy, that I’ve been able to sit back and enjoy the ride. That’s simply not the case. I found myself many days spending all day online job searching, contacting people, and not making much progress. It only made me more discouraged. But I couldn’t stop and not feel guilty. It’s like there was a dark cloud of guilt for being jobless and homeless looming over me whenever I was doing anything else. I’m learning to let it go. In the past few days I realized that all this searching wasn’t because I don’t trust God to provide. It was because I feared the opinion of others. Would people think I’m lazy and not searching hard enough? That I should be doing more? Am I irresponsible for traveling and doing other things when I don’t have a job lined up? I realized that the guilt I was experiencing wasn’t true convictions from God. It was tearing me apart inside. Stressing me out. Sucking the joy out of my life. Since then I’ve been forcing myself (and having others hold me accountable) to take time to simply enjoy life as well; to spend some time searching, but not all my time.

I had the opportunity to spend some time in Boulder recently. Despite all the amazing people I met, it was a difficult time for me. Driving in I started to tear up a bit, and even had a few tear filled nights. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel welcomed, I did. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Boulder, I do. It wasn’t that I’m scared of moving even, I’m excited. It was the realization of having to start over. Starting to rebuild my life… from scratch: a job, a home, friends, high school students, soccer, church, everything. I’m confident that God will provide for all my needs, but that doesn’t mean it’ll all be easy. I’ve been in transition a long time and long for deep community. I long to be rooted in a place I can call home. It’s been a long time now since I’ve had that and it’s starting to wear me down. I think the hardest part is realizing that even once I move, it’ll take time to establish a rhythm of life and create deep connections within a community.

I was recently offered a 3-month position at the University of Denver working with the gymnastics team. For many reasons, I decided not to accept this position. Despite this, it’s given me more confidence and hope that I will be able to find a job. I have a few other people I’ve been in touch with about jobs and truly believe that it will come together. But beyond this, I’ve seen the generosity of the Calvary community out in Boulder and their willingness to help me until I can get back up on my feet. It’s a community I’m excited to get to become a part of. As hard as this time has been and will be, I’m excited to be able to look back on it and see exactly how God’s hand was at work and providing for me through it all. I would appreciate prayers during this season of life and thank you for all of you who have helped and continue to help me during this transition. I love you all and am so grateful to have you in my life!