The three "p's": patience, prayers and packing

Hi everyone, from a very lame blogger.  Wow, time flies...doesn't it?!  I'm sorry for the delay.  My gentle loving mother asked if I had forgotten my password (lol).  Nope, life is just a little chaotic right now. 

Thankfully summer has been lovely, although I always crave more time for hiking.  I will need to tell you all about our amazing camping adventure with our fearless outdoor leaders Emily and Todd, my lovely birthday (yay for 31), and well...the big news...we're moving!  The condo sold in two days! 

So, here is what the three "p's" have entailed:
Patience.  You may know that I am not the most patient individual on this Earth, thankfully Tyler has been blessed with this virtue.  The home buying and selling process is overwhelmingly complex, as I have learned.  And, most houses that you like will also be liked by many other people who are apparently very wealthy and can outbid you, even if the home has only been on the market for 2 days.  Thankfully, though, with some "wonderful" tests of my patience over the weekend, our offer was accepted on a great house in a cute neighborhood of Issaquah.

Next comes Prayers!  This is where you will hopefully help.  We need your prayers for a smooth home inspection process this week and for all of the details to fall in line nicely with the sale of the condo.  If all goes well, we will be in the new home at the end of September and only "homeless" for a week!  I can hardly wait (oh, I already forgot I have to be patient)!

Last but not least, packing.  Tyler and I got a good dose of packing in this weekend but it seems as though we have only made a small dent.  I really had no idea we (or really I should say "I") had so much stuff.  Perhaps I need to be reminded of the importance of a fourth "P": purging! 

Well folks, that's all for now.  Thank you for everyone who has supported, prayed, and assisted in this endeavor.  Love and hugs, L

p.s. On friday, we are off to N. Dakota for vacation, more reason to fall behind on blogging, sorry!

Life and gratitude

Not so much blogging going on in my life these days, sorry readers.  Work has been calming down a bit which is a nice respite from the craziness of early/mid May.  This time of year at SU is filled with a lot of end of the year celebrations and events.  The variety is nice!  I saw Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation speak about "The Business of Doing Good".  It was wonderful and humbling.  He shared a story of a family with a 'dairy farm' in Africa who the Gates Foundation helped.  The mom and dad's goal was to have 3 cows again 'someday'.  They sold two cows to pay for their daughter to go to college.  I can't imagine making a living off of one cow.  Again, just a very humbling experience.  Makes me so very grateful for the privileges and opportunities that I have. 

In other news, I have enjoyed tutoring once a week at Washington Middle School.  It's an interesting shift to go from hyper middle schoolers to working with grad students.  Kinda makes me want to be a teacher.  Not sure I have the stamina for it though.  Feeling blessed that SU allows me to tutor on work time. 

Last weekend, Tyler and I enjoyed time in Auburn.  Becca and I made homemade pizza, we watched Isaac at the Puyallup Marching Band Extravaganza, spent time with mom and dad, watched baby chicks be born...all in all, a *lovely* weekend!

I'm really looking forward to a weekend of simplicity.  I have decided to turn off facebook, google reader, and gmail for the weekend.  Bright and early Saturday morning, Tyler and I are headed out to the coast for a much-needed adventure!  Can't wait to get away from the city and enjoy nature.  We'll hug some trees, enjoy the rain if nature so chooses to continue with this "wonderful weather", relax at a riverside resort, see a few lighthouses, test out our cool new shoes, and of course...take lots of pictures to share with you next week!

What's up?

I've been pet/house-sitting in the beautiful NW Queen Anne neighborhood lately.  I am loving this neighborhood and have fallen in love with a new boy.  Meet Mak, an English Mastiff, full of sweetness.

Work has kept me busy recently with so many things going on, it's hard for me to keep my head on straight.  Maybe I am exaggerating, but it has been quite hectic :)

An exciting development in my life is that I now have an iPhone!  As Tyler says, now I can leave his alone, haha!  It has been fun to play around with and organize my life better.  I haven't figured out an app to blog from it with yet.  If any of my readers have tips, please let me know.

Last night, I went out bowling with work folks.  I received constructive coaching from a professor to slow down, hold the ball lower, straighten my wrist, and step to the right a bit.  Even though I perfected my 'form', I didn't score very high.  It was still a lot of fun to casually hang out with professors, administration and other staff that I typically only say hi to in the hallways.  Organizational culture and enjoying the place that I work is so important to me and I have had several instances this week where I have felt extremely grateful for the SU community.  As a new policy, SU staff are allowed 3 community service leave days per year to use in a chunk or spread out.  I have elected to tutor middle school students one hour per week.  This was week 1 and it went well.  I am in a 6th grade language arts class, so it should be entertaining to say the least.  These kids are so much more socially aware than I was in 6th grade.  I guess that's what happens when you grow up in such a diverse neighborhood in the "big city". 

I guess that's all for now.  Have a great weekend, all!