Moving

Hey, thought I should write a quick update to let everyone know that I moved this past weekend. Elizabeth moved to Idaho over Labor Day weekend, and this past Saturday I hauled all of my stuff to my new room. (With some help from Jared and my friends Krista and Larry...thanks guys!) I decided to live with the Teagues (a family who goes to my church) at least until I find a job. Anyway, the move went well, and so far I really like it here.

Speaking of finding a job....it's not going too well. I'm having a hard time finding places that are actually hiring and even a harder time finding places that are hiring for a job that actually sounds like something I would enjoy. I had an interview a few weeks ago that I'm still waiting to hear about. They're waiting for a few projects to come through before they actually hire, so I don't know how long I'll have to wait to find out. At least I'm still in the running, so hopefully these projects will come through soon and maybe I'll have a chance of getting hired there.

In other news, on Thursday Jared and I are leaving to go visit his family in Minnesota! I've never met any of them before, so I'm really looking forward to it. Plus Jared is constantly talking about all the fun stuff to do on his parents' mini-farm, so it should be a good time.

Backpacking

Since my last post was somewhat depressing, I decided I should update you all on a slightly more exciting part of my life....

Last night I returned from a 3 day, 2 night backpacking trip. I've been wanting to try backpacking for quite a while, and it finally happened. I absolutely loved it! It was just Jared and I, and he carried most of the heavy stuff (tent, food, etc)...I felt sort of guilty, but he didn't complain. Luckily I was able to borrow a backpack and other supplies so I didn't have to buy my own equipment. We went backpacking near Lake Wenatchee (which is a couple hours east, in the Cascades), and we hiked about 8 miles each day. The weather was perfect, and the scenery was beautiful. We hiked through a valley/meadow area and then up to Spider Gap where we had a great view of the mountains and a lake down below. We decided to hike down to the lake because it didn't look very far away....we were wrong about that! The farther we hiked the farther away the lake seemed, but we made it. There was also a huge glacier and a really cool waterfall in the valley. Jared has all the pictures on his camera, but I will post some on facebook or picasa as soon as I can get them from him. I'm feeling pretty worn out today, and my legs are covered in mosquito bites, but it was worth it! By the way, if you ever go backpacking, I recommend macaroni and cheese for supper. It was easy to make and tasted amazing after a long day of hiking. Oh, and I nearly forgot to write about this, but we got up in the middle of the night to do some stargazing, and I saw a shooting star for the first time in my life! Actually I saw three of them. I was pretty excited.

In other news, I have a couple possible leads on a housing arrangement, but no leads on jobs yet. I wish it was the other way around. Having a job would make the living situation so much easier...and more affordable!

Hello again. Sorry it's been so long since I wrote anything on here. I decided it was time for an update to let everyone know what's going on in my life lately.

First of all, I still don't have a job. I've been applying to so many different places I'm starting to lose track of all of them....I'm somewhere in the triple digits at this point, and still no luck. I'm getting a bit frustrated with the whole process. Many of the companies with job postings on their websites turn out to not actually be hiring which is very annoying. I've been praying about whether I should expand my search to include places outside of the Seattle area, but I don't really feel God leading me either way on that one, and personally I'd rather stay in Seattle.

And now, in addition to looking for a job, I'm also looking for a place to live. My roommate got laid off and is going to be moving back to Idaho to be closer to her parents and her boyfriend while she looks for a job. Since I can't afford our apartment on my own, I'll be moving out when she does....in about a month...I'm just not sure where I'm going to move to yet. I want to find a place that will allow me to rent month-to-month rather than sign a long lease since I may have to move again if I find a job.

So yeah, I'm a little overwhelmed and stressed out right now, but I'm trying to have faith that everything will work out in the end. In the meantime, please pray that I'm able to find both a job and a home in the near future! Thanks! Love and miss you all!

my thoughts on unemployment and poverty...

I got my first unemployment check yesterday. It actually surprised me (and a few other people I told) how much money you can get while you're unemployed. It made me realize how lucky (blessed) I am that I live in a place where I can get more money in a week for doing nothing than many people in the world can make for a year of hard labor. I've learned/read a lot about poverty over the last few years, and I've seen a lot of it in my travels around the world, but somehow I always let it slip to the back of my mind and never think about it....so today I'm thinking about it for once. When I was at EMI one of the staff members gave a presentation on poverty during our week of orientation. I was just looking over some of the notes I took during that presentation, and the statistics are staggering. Approximately 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day. $1 a day! Another 1.5 billion live on $1-$2 a day. I get about 40 times that much each day just by being previously employed in the state of Washington. It's ridiculous. And here I am pouting that I can't get a new pair of jeans because I'm unemployed and can't afford things. I was feeling convicted about it today, and figured I'd share my thoughts with the general public. Hope you don't mind. Sorry if I made anybody else feel guilty for being privileged....I don't think we should have to feel guilty for it so long as we're using our blessings to bless others. Anyway, I'm not much of a theologian, so I'll stop preaching now....

So yeah, I got my first unemployment check yesterday. I'd rather be earning a real paycheck, but at least I'll have enough to live on until I can find a job....which looks like it might be awhile. I've been finding fewer and fewer places that are hiring lately and I'm started to get a little discouraged with the whole process. Please pray that something will work out soon. (Even just getting an interview would feel like an accomplishment!) I'm really starting to miss engineering stuff like drawing up plans, designing sewer lines, even writing drainage reports....the other day I was explaining to Jared what an NGPA area was (native growth protection area) and it really made me miss my old job....

I'm still enjoying being back in WA though. We've been having remarkably good weather lately, and I've been able to spend a lot of time with Jared which is awesome after nearly 5 months of only phone conversations. Last night he cooked for me again, and then we went to see the new Pixar movie Up. It was cute, and funny....I highly recommend it.

This coming weekend Jared and I and a few other friends are going on a rafting trip in OR with a group from his church. I'm pretty excited and hoping that the weather will be nice. Also, in a couple weeks I'll be making a quick trip to GR, so I'm looking forward to that as well. As long as I don't have a job, I may as well find other things to do with my time!

Not much to write about....

....but I thought I'd just let you all know that I'm still trying to find a job. I think I've applied for about 50 of them now. I'm hoping something works out soon because I'm starting to get bored sitting at home all day....though I must say this might be the first time in my life that I've actually looked forward to having dishes to do! At least it's something to pass the time. This past week I finally figured out the unemployment system, and I should be getting my first check tomorrow, so it will be nice to have at least a little bit of money for gas and groceries. That's about all I've got for now. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting news to write about soon!

Well, I have now been back in Washington for just over a week. It's been a good week too. This past Saturday Elizabeth organized a 'welcome back' party for me which was really fun. I got to see all of my friends again and the weather was gorgeous so we got to spend some time at the park. The weather has actually been pretty awesome ever since I got back here, so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can. I've also been able to spend time with Jared finally which I really enjoy. He cooks me dinner and stuff which is always nice. I'm still searching for a job. There doesn't seem to be too many possibilities out there, but I'm applying for anything I can find. I'll keep ya'll updated if something works out. Other than that, not much new to report about. Hope you're all doing well!

Home Sweet Home

I don't have much to write about, but I just thought I'd let everyone know that I made it back to Washington safely. I still need to finish unpacking a few boxes, and I'm still looking for a job, but it's definitely good to be back home.

Speaking of unpacking, I should probably work on that now....