WHAT A WEEK!!!!

i can't beleive that its already been a week of living on my own. i *heart* my apartment. :) i have unpacked all of my boxes 'cept one: my box of elephants. waiting to really be "organized" so i have a place to put all of them.

funny (perhaps ironic...perhaps not) stuff: i don't have any pots. i have no way to cook my dozens and dozens of packages of top ramen. lol. and i don't have a kitchen table...or a couch or anything in my living room but my rocking chair. kind of looks sad and lonely. chris is planning on bringing his couch over for me to use, but thats a matter of finding a truck to use to move it. we'll see what happens.

its strange...i am hardly at my apartment, though. feels like i just come in the door, crash in bed, wake up, shower, and leave again. crazy busy week. crazy but fun!

tuesday: worked and then came my first official post as greg and channa's chapherone. LUV THEM. :) we went to "the big easy" concert hall for the augustana concert. GREAT STUFF!! they are the band that sing that song "boston." its like my theme song for my move to spokane. good music...good fun!! tonight they also asked me if i would like to be channa's 4th bridesmaid in their wedding! i am so excited and privleged. what a night!

i am sooo falling in love with this city!

wednesday: worked all day. that was fine. i really like the girls that i work with. and we all mutually detest the manager! lol. then we had our TMS and service meeting wednesday because the other congregation was having their CO visit. every two weeks the ASL has their own school...and this was one of those weeks. i went and actually understood part of the talks!!! not everything, of course, but i'm picking up new signs all the time...and then including them with ones i already know and understanding concepts and things that people say. sooo cool! :)

thursday: was another full day in service. i got to work with mersades all day. she is the deaf pioneer sister. she is so great! it is amazing to me how much i am able to pick up the language already. mercades is really helping me. she is patient with me and willing to teach me. she is working on coming up with a name sign for me. only a deaf person in the deaf culture can give you one. she wants to really get to know me first so that my name sign has to do with my personality. i have a teasing name sign for now...its the letter "S" next to your ear. supposed to be because i'm always on my cell phone! lol. then i went with channa and greg and her family to the bookstudy. had a great day!

friday: went in service in the morning with mercades again. we are actually having full conversations together. it is amazing the power to understand and be understood. so cool! then i went to work from 1-6. and you'll never guess what happend!:: i got a raise!!! WAHOOO!!! thank you jehovah. i so need it right now. things are pretty tight. i expected it...but this will for sure help! :) then after work greg, channa, and i went and saw "night at the museum" at the IMAX. loved it. funny movie! micky rooney, dick van dyke, owen wilson, robin williams, and ben stiller, to name a few. if i could i would see every movie at the IMAX. very neat! then when we came out of the theater it was snowing soooo hard! almost 2 inches in 2 hours. we walked back to the car and we were covered in snow. so beautiful! the lights the snow the city. loved it. a quick stop at sheri's for an early breakfast (2 am) lol. and then home.

saturday: i worked until 1. then i met up with channa, her mom, and 2 other bridesmaid's @ David's Bridal to go shopping for our dresses. this is the one i got:

her color is apple red. love it! its going to need some alterations cuz she wants them shorter and stuff..but i feel so pretty in my dress! the wedding is in July...so its going to sit a bit in my closet. poor dress! lol.

then i was invited to Deb (my old pioneer partner from omak) son chase's place for dinner and more wedding chat. debbie's daughter is getting married in march and they wanted to "pick my brain" (deb's words; not mine) about invitations and photography and decorations and stuff. we went shopping and stuff together. good fun. and deb gave me my going away present: the cutest cup and saucer set with matching double-sided placemats and napkins. and lots of hot chocolate. so perfect. i love them! :)

sunday: ASL watchtower @ 9:30. i gave my 2 prepared answers and everyone said that i did a pretty good job. i am feeling good about the ASL group. loving being a part of it. and i am learning every day. it makes me so happy that i get to serve jehovah in this new avenue of service. what a privelge. then i spent the afternoon at home finally. some quiet time and such. i got all my thank you cards done and finished unpacking. its feeling like home.

life is good....life is busy.... what more could i ask for? :) night all.

MOVED IN!!!!

on saturday my parents and came from omak with a u-haul full of all of my stuff. chris was here already, and so we all got together with some of my other friends and moved all my stuff into the apartment in less than an hour. wow! :-0

i can't beleive im really moving in and on my own.

in other news: lory is no longer moving out with me. some things have happened and decisions made...so right now is just not the right time for her to move.

but jehovah always provides! the same day i found out about the things with lory, a sister in the ASL group, jade, found out that she had to find herself a new place to live. so...jehovah answered both our prayers in the same provision. she has a place to live and i have a new roommate. i'm so excited. i dont' really know her very well, but she seems so sweet. and having her around all the time will make learning asl easier. i'm really looking forward to getting started!

that is all for now...working, service, unpacking.

so grateful!

sometimes....

life is not what you'd expect...

i just hope that my relationship with jehovah is strong enough to get me through.

i pray.

my pretty lory. what fun we have!!

snow fall and city lights


tonight was "first friday" downtown spokane. artwork all over the place...galeries....people....
but oh was the snow falling and the wind blowing. quite a night.

there was a big group of us walking around downtown from place to place. looking at all the artwork and just hanging out. lory's mom, angela is an artist and had a lot of her work on display and entered one painting in a contest. great stuff.

then we had reservations at the coolest place called ella's. its a jazz lounge. awesome! good music; good food! great people.

i had a wonderful evening.....


today wasn't that bad either. early morning service with jade and mercades. bus stops and deaf search and telephone witnessing. then regular service. i'm learning more signs every day. and just being around it all the time, i'm slowly picking up on it just from watching conversations.

i went to work @ 1. was late... still getting used to timing the drive. it will be no problem once we're in our apartment. its only 5 minutes from the bank. but i did a bit better today. i got 2 sales and felt productive. still a learning process. but i'm trying. really trying.

tomorrow i work in the morning and then i'm planning on going to wenatchee to see chris. i hope that the weather will cooperate with me. :P we'll see.

blessings

this day in service.

sunshine...new friends...learning....growing...finding joy....laughter....signing...

this was exactly what i needed!!!

today...

the first day of the rest of my life.

not the greatest day, by far. 1st day at the bank was harder than i expected. not harder really...just different. you might think: "oh yea...i've done this before." but its not the same. not the same at all. as i have now learned, every bank runs things their own way. i feel very inadequate and strangely out of place in a world that should be familiar to me. i've been a bank teller for 9 months. i cried today. yeah...pretty bad. pretty pathetic too.

but i'll be okay.

i know i can do this.

its just a matter of pretty much erasing everything i thought i knew about banking and starting from scratch. maybe i'll learn it right this time.

in other news: the other aspect of my move is off to great start. i went to my first meeting in my new hall on tuesday night. the sign language group meets with the regular english congregation, so i am still able to get spiritual food from the meeting, even though i don't understand all the signs yet. but cool things: i was a substitute householder for a talk, and gave a comment on the bible highlights and in the KM parts. i met the brothers there, got my magazine order done and joined the school. and made arrangements for service for the rest of this week. :) :) good evening.

i feel wanted and needed. i feel like i can perhaps be used by jehovah in his organization. i'm going to try my best. a younger sister in the ASL group is going to be helping me with signing. right now they don't have a class like they normally do, so she's kind of going to take me under her wing and study over things with me. i can't wait. i'm so looking forward to this!

so service tomorrow and friday morning. that will be good.

then i'll try the bank again friday afternoon. i'll keep you posted.

(and micah....thanks. i love you)

this is my new adventure

I AM IN SPOKANE!!! today was the big day. the first day of the year and the first day of my new life. things feel so fresh and new. for the next two weeks i am staying at lory's place until we can get into the apartment on the 13th.

i can't believe that its already the first day of 2007. when did that happen?

umm....shaina....it happened at about midnight. lol.

i am so excited about this. or to use lory's word: "stoked!!" can't wait. it just feels like time....to move out on my own and start my own life. i think something i'm really looking foward to is just making my own name for myself...with the community and with jehovah. i can just be me. :)

plan for tomorrow: sleep sleep sleep. yay. one last day. i start my new job on wednesday. speaking of sleep... should probably get some now. so, tata for now.

g'nite