Opportunities

Yesterday a man talked to a group of young people about taking opportunities even if they are bad ones. He read the story of Paul being on trial for his life and taking that opportunity to give his testimony and tell them about Jesus. That would generally be thought of as a bad opportunity. He also reminded us of God's promise that men will hate us. Isn't that a great one?! That will really draw people in. But really... I want to take more opportunities. I don't want to be typical annoying, Bible pushing Christian, though. I'll keep trying.

The Contract

Way back in May I was getting so excited about moving back to Sactown and living with my dear little twin sister again. Now I've been living with her for about 3 months, and I'm still not sick of her. One of the reasons why I was excited about living with her was because I had high hopes we would be able to keep each other accountable to living well... watching our money, keeping up with the spiritual disciplines, eating well, cleaning our poor little house... Until a couple days ago that wasn't really happening. Then we wrote a contract. This is the Bible verse we wrote on it:

"Give me understanding, that I may keep thy law and observe it with my whole heart."
Psalm 119:34.

So far it's been working. Thank God for people around us that can help. And for the excitement of living in a way that is pleasing to God.

Driving Miss Rachel

Yesterday I drove to Auburn. On accident. Auburn is about an hour away from Sacramento and I made it there in about 45 min because I didn't want to be late for a session in El Dorado Hills. Turns out I was on the wrong highway. Despite my speeding I was about 30 minutes late. Yikes! I've grown up in Sacramento but I don't know my way around all the different highways and surrounding cities. Now I know for sure where El Dorado Hills is.

Still nervous about doing therapy. Still doing it anyway.

Kitties and Kiddies

This past week I've been working two jobs. It always happens that way for me: I'll be unemployed to the point of almost completely living off the charity of my family and friends and then suddenly I'll have multiple jobs. This time around I've been house and kitty sitting as well as continuing my training with CARD.

The kitties are beautiful but they like to jump up on me while I'm sleeping and rub my face with theirs. Needless to say, my night time situation hasn't been as relaxing as I might have hoped and my eyes are really itchy. There are four of them so I spend a lot of my time wandering around the house checking in with each of them. They are all Tonkinese and are very soft and intelligent. They open cupboards and closets and can get themselves into amazing places around the house. One even jumps from the floor to my arms. Here are some pictures of the boys: Spike and Neeko, respectively.



As for my work at CARD, I passed the field exam and am now doing sessions one-on-one with kids. I am a bundle of nerves. I don't know a lot of the kids I am working with so it's hard to understand what they want or need because most of the time they can't communicate very clearly. I'm glad I have this job, but I know that until I get the hang of it I will be pumping myself up before each session and trying not to have a heart attack because of anxiety. I want to do a good job, but I still have so much to learn and improve on. So far everyone has been very understanding and encouraging. And I actually feel like this is something I'm supposed to be doing... for myself as much as for the kids I'll be working with.