Finding Purpose

For some of you, this is the exact message I sent to you on FB earlier this week, so feel free to skip this blog :) 

So there's this 36yr old woman, Lisa, from the church I've been going to, and she is seriously so nice! When I met her, right away I was thinking, "I can tell that we are gonna be friends"...just like the song :) Last week I met someone my own age at the church band rehearsal (which I'm probably not actually going to join, so don't get the wrong idea haha)! Lisa (who happens to be an increeeedible singer for the band) is all about getting me to know more people around, so afterward she was like, we should all hang out soon. We decided to go to Traverse City for dinner/movie last night with the 3 of us and later one other 22yr old kid from church.
At dinner, Lisa asked how I was liking work and I filled her in on how very little there in to do and just said (like I keep saying) that I just hope that I get to the end of the year and can see why I was here. She said, "I think you're here for lots of reasons...it's not just going to be SEEDS. Look at this - we're all here together because of you." Then we started talking about how/why it's hard to recruit kids to the after school programs and she said she would love to help and has been trying to figure out a way to be at the school to be around kids to eventually help the youth population at the church grow. I said that I feel if I get involved with the youth at the church, it will help get more kids to come to SEEDS too bc it'll let me get to know them. Apparently, there hasn't really been a youth group since these 2 guys were in high school...and now, since our pastor is leaving :( and Lisa will soon be pretty much totally in charge of the youth, she's been thinking of how she could start one back up. She said she's been praying for some help from younger people (majorly lacking in Frankfort) and I told her that I've been praying for more to do and ways to be involved with the youth at the church...umm do you guys believe in coincidence? Cause I don't! It was so amazing! So then the 2 guys, Lisa and I sat there for over an hour, writing down ideas of how to basically rebuild a youth program from the bottom up. We're stooooked!
I seriously cannot even believe how all of that fell together. What started out as a sweet chance to just hang out with people close to my age from Frankfort, turned into a perfectly coordinated group of 4 people who all happen to want to be part of building a church youth program! Seriously, what are the chances? Between Lisa being in charge of the church's youth, these 2 guys who were in this church's youth group when it still existed (so have tons of insight on what worked/didn't, best memories, etc), and me being at the school to have first-hand contact with the kids to get them involved...dang. I just can't believe how perfect this is! More to come on this crazy adventure :) 

And seriously, thanks so much for all the prayers and good thoughts bc I'm feelin em!

Burnt Cookies and A Hippie Bed

Sooooo break is over and it's back to good ol Franky! So far, so good I shuppose! Friday, I met with the pastor of a church I've been going to on Wednesday nights and it helped a ton in deciding about going there for real. I checked it out on Sunday and it's way more traditional than anything I'm used to, but I really like the people and their mission and beliefs. I'm thinking that (aside from the fact that my options are super limited) it's most important that I find somewhere with a good community feel even if it's not what I'm used to. As long as I feel fulfilled at the end of each service, I'll keep going there...plus Wednesday nights are more contemporary so it's otay! Alsoooo when I met with the pastor, he talked to me about chaperoning the youth for a trip to New York and another to North Carolina this summer for rock climbing, hiking, white-water rafting, etc...sweeeet! Hope it works out!!

Not quite done with the move, but it's actually starting to look like I live here now wooo! Uh speaking of my apt, so my stove/oven is this tiny thing... it's gotta be from the 50s! Needless to say, the numbers on the dial are having a rough time holding on. In other words, they're totally wiped off (at least on the oven dial). Sooo I wanted to make my brother and cousins cookies for bringing my stuff up and I feel like the most stereotypical thing possible happened. I couldn't tell what temp I had it on or even whether it was the highest or lowest setting, but I could feel that it was not getting very hot. I turned the dial to the opposite side and put the cookies in and just figured I'd check in a few mins and see how melty they had gotten. Welllll not even 5 mins later, I found this -------------------------------------------------->

Sad day! I had turned it to broil dang it. So these cookies (which Mal would have loooved), were clearly scorched on the tops, but the bottoms were perfect! Luckily my second round was quite a bit less black. Stereotype of a girl in her first solo apartment burning the first thing she attempts to cook...check! 

In other dumb news, my box springs for my bed wouldn't fit through my doorway/stairway, so I have only my mattress sitting on my floor like a little hippie haha! I need to make a choice - do I stick with this so I can keep my big kid bed...or do I trade it for a small bed from home, so that I actually have a frame and box springs? What should I dooo? Ehhh life is full of tough choices. *Don't mind the purple wall :/ Hopefully I'll be painting it yellow soon!

Yesterday I drove passed this restaurant that had a sign out for singer-songwriter night...in FRANKFORT. Oh.My.Gosh. Something to do in Frankfort in the winter. There's hope! I was planning on going, but then I had to try every possible combination in my living room sooo maybe next week. Just another one of the simple things that will get me to summer! That along with these pictures that I put in my window. 

This way, when I get up in the morning and look out at the snow, I can also look at the goal! Snow...Goal...Snow...Goal. K I'll Stay another day. That's how it works :) 

Work is slow, but it's whatever...oh and I'm turning 24 in less than an hour :/ yikes! hahaa