Missing a truly great man

My grandpa, Lewis Reams, went home to be with Jesus on Monday evening. It is such a tough loss for everyone that knew him because he was such an incredible and exemplary husband, father, grandpa and friend.

There are hundreds of little things I love and cherish about my time with my grandpa. I loved playing cards with him, taking family vacations, going out to breakfast, enjoying a cup of coffee. I loved hearing him tell stories about my mom and my aunt and uncle as kids. I loved hearing about how he served in his church. I consider myself so so lucky to have had him around for my 25 years of life. He attended all of my graduations from Kindergarten to Cal Poly, came to countless performances and sporting events and was a part of every family holiday. He was faithful man and everyone who knew him could rely on him for just about anything.

The thing about my grandpa that I am most impacted by is his selflessness. My grandparents were married for 61 years and throughout their marriage my grandpa served my grandma sacrificially. He is a true example of the call in Philippians 2, to consider others better than yourself and look to the interests of others. When I first heard the news that he had passed away I immediately began to think about the passage in 1 Corinthians 13 that describes love and at the end of his life I see how my grandpa has given me such a full example of how to love others in marriage, in family and in friendships. Grandpa was patient and kind, forgiving and courteous, gracious and sacrificial. Over the past few years as both of my grandparents health has declined he has vigilantly looked after my grandma, making sure he did everything to help keep her healthy and happy. To his last day he fulfilled his marriage vows sought to take care of my grandma.

His own health situation was really rough this past year with many trips to the doctor and stays at the hospital but I never heard him complain. Even on the day he passed away and was in so much discomfort, he was more concerned with his wife and his family and how we were doing. He was an eternal optimist, he could always find the silver lining in even the worst of situations. There are not enough words to describe the impact my grandpa has made on me. I love him so much and I am going to miss him terribly. Even now, though I am so heartbroken by this loss, I know that I am so blessed and lucky to have had such an amazing grandpa. He leaves behind an incredible legacy of faith and love for the Lord. I hope that I can live my life like grandpa's: with the strength of character, devotion to my faith and my family and overflowing joy in all circumstances.

On turning 25...

For a good couple of months I had been dreading turning 25.  16 was cool because you could get your license, 18 was cool because you could vote and and go to Indian casinos, and 21 was novel because you could purchase alcohol.  25 seemed to me to be a big deal in that same sense as the afore mentioned ages,  but the big deal about 25 was that it seemed old.  Not old like being in your 70's is old, but old as in I finally had to come to terms with the fact that I'm an adult.  I am no longer a kid and I'm no longer even college age.  I am grown up.  Maybe finally realizing this now at 25 makes me a late bloomer, but I'm okay with that.  

So my birthday was totally wonderful.  Waking up to a house filled with balloons and decorations reminded me of how blessed I am by my caring, thoughtful housemates.  I felt so loved!  Then it was off for a fun day at the coast with Greg.  We went to Cannon Beach for lunch and adventuring around Ecola State Park.  It was such a beautiful, sunny day, which is sort of rare on the coast!  We also drove up to Astoria which just so happens to be the oldest seaport in the Northwest and also is where the movie "The Goonies" takes place.  We visited the Astoria Column which is this crazy tower at the top of the city that is fully painted in a mural of the city's history.  We climbed the 163-step spiral staircase for an incredible 360 view.  We then drove across the four mile long Astoria-Megler bridge into Washington where we visited Cape Disappointment.  It was true to it's name, so we turned and headed home for Tigard where we enjoyed some tasty Chinese food!  Once home we played darts where I secured a birthday win! Yes!  I did however lose the timed 24-piece puzzle challenge.  You win some, you lose some.  It was a truly amazing day and I am so thankful for my awesome boyfriend who made it happen!  

I have quickly realized how silly it was to be concerned about this birthday.  Life is so good and it could not be this good without 25 years of life behind me.  So bring on the next quarter of a century, life!  

it's been awhile...

I just realized how negligent I've been in my blogging as of late, but the pace of life just keeps picking up more and more!  I have now completed my training and worked a full week at the restaurant and things seem to be going pretty well...of course I've had the occasional mistakes but I figure it's par for the course at a brand new job.  Serving is a pretty fun gig and I enjoy my co-workers and customers quite a bit.  It's been cool to be working with so many people close to my age and I've been able to establish some fun new friendships.  I've also had the opportunity to share about my faith and life and my reason for my move to Oregon a lot during this "getting to know each other" phase we're all in, so that has been a huge blessing.  So far, I have been scheduled only nights, which has been an adjustment for me coming from a 8-5 schedule but most nights I've been home before midnight, so that's good.  It's physically demanding work, and the schedule can be tough, but I am constantly reminded of how blessed I am to have gotten a job up here so quickly!  

Another sweet blessing in my life has been the start of a relationship with Greg!  We have known each other for several years since we went to college together, but over the last several months things have developed and now we're dating, which is awesome and I'm so excited.  I really see how the Lord has orchestrated this relationship and it's exciting to see how Christ is the foundation of it all. We have a lot of fun together, like a ton of the same things and share the same sense of humor, which lends towards lots of laughs. I'm sure I'll have more to say about all of this in the future, but for now I just wanted to share my exciting news!

The community here through the church continues to be such an encouragement.  There seems to be a constant flow of people through my house, which is so much fun.  Someone is always coming over to watch a game on tv, have dinner, use the internet, do laundry, etc.  I really enjoy the opportunities for conversation that this has allowed and I've seen again and again the Lord's purpose in placing me in this living situation.  I am super blessed by what the Lord is teaching me through my roommates and my friends at the church.  

It's crazy to think how much a part of things I feel and I've only been here a little over a month and a half.  I am so humbled by the Lord's goodness to me and the ways that He has provided for me above and beyond my expectations.  In no way do I deserve all the blessings I have, but the Lord, in His goodness, has seen it fit to pour them out on me and for that I am so, so thankful.  The other day during my quiet time I flipped through some journal entries from earlier in the year and I was reminded of how incredibly scared and conflicted I was about making the move up north.  As the entries went on, it was amazing to see just how much the Lord has done in my heart in terms of bringing me healing, giving me clear direction and increasing my faith in Him.  The Lord has offered me so much confirmation in being here in Portland and everyday I am thankful that He has brought me to this place.  

Happy Birthday Kelly Hogan!

Kelly has been one of my dearest friends over the past several years.  Also, she reads my blog, so I decided to give her a shout out!  I wish that I could be with her today to celebrate the awesome girl she is (I would have said woman, but I know she doesn't care too much for that word, and neither do I). Today is her  24th Birthday, so Happy Birthday Kel!  Love ya!

Hello Job!

That's right, I got a job!  So today I decided that I would stop in to Famous Dave's and fill out an application because I knew they were hiring.  I have never worked in the restaurant business before, so it was a bit of a gamble but I decided to go for it.  I talked to the managers a bit, told them that I have no experience, but told them I was confident that I had the right personality for the job and that I could learn to serve.  Well, the took me at my word and I am pretty excited to share that today I got a serving job at Famous Dave's BBQ!  I am pretty blown away by it considering I have never worked in a restaurant, but I am definitely looking forward to learning the business and think this is going to be a great fit for me.   Also, I can't lie, I really love BBQ, so this is exciting! 

Over the past few weeks that I've been in Oregon, I have been evaluating my hopes and expectations regarding my employment and what I was realizing was that I held some pretty off ideas.  I had begun to see how much of the reason I was chasing after office jobs was because I wanted a higher pay, just so I could afford to move out on my own, have nice things, maybe buy a new car... and I realized that I was pursuing things that were not going to fulfill me or satisfy me...it was all just stuff.  I also realized that I was trying to get an office admin job not so much because I love that type of work as much as I thought it was the most responsible thing to do.  After realizing these things, I decided to expand my search horizons and that's kind of what led me to apply for a serving position.  I see great potential for meeting some more people near my age and really being able to have an impact and ministry at work and I'm excited by that!

two weeks...time is flying by!

As you can observe from the title, I've now been in Tigard for two weeks which is hard to believe!  On the one hand, time seems to be flying by so quickly I hardly know what day it is, but on the other I already am developing a sense of familiarity and community that seems almost too established for having just been here a couple of weeks. 

I thought I'd share some highlights from the past couple of weeks so you know what I've been up to:

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm:  A week ago, my friend Greg and I took the drive down to Woodburn to see some spectacular tulip fields.  Even though it was a Monday morning, the place was full of people, mainly the elderly and mother's with small children, but never the less we persevered and saw some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen.   They have planted over 40 acres of tulips in so many beautiful colors and varieties.  Row after row of tulips, I continued to be amazed by these flowers...it just doesn't get old admiring God's handy work in creation!   Here are a few pictures I stole from Greg:

Rebuilding Center / Mississippi St:  Setting off on what was originally intended to be a coffee date, my new friend Amanda and I headed up to North Portland to Mississippi Street, an area that has recently experienced a bit of a rebirth.  One of the highlights of this little district was the Rebuilding Center, a massive warehouse-like store that sells everything from doors, to mantels, old floorboards, shutters, windows, tiles and cabinets...everything including the kitchen sink!  The charming thing about the Rebuiding Center is that everything in the store is donated from people who are gutting, demo-ing or remodeling their homes so the place is a wealth of vintage-y goodness all at really cheap prices.  I adore old things and I appreciate that all of this amazing stuff isn't just discarded to rot in a dump.  I will most definitely be visiting this place again once I get a job and have some more discretionary cash flow!  Amanda and I also perused some cute antique shops and boutiques in the area, ate some delish sushi and had a fantastic time.

Portland Waterfront:  On Thursday I met up with Melissa, an old friend from Cal Poly, and we walked the Portland Waterfront.  It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and we enjoyed the afternoon sitting on the grassy bank, catching up on each others lives and watching the boats drift by.  It was really fun to get to sit down with someone else from SLO and chat about the things we love about Portland but miss about our old college town.

So those are just a few of the highlights from this past week.  I feel like I have been pleasantly surprised by how busy I've been keeping so far.  It's been a tremendous blessing to see how caring, generous and encouraging this body of believers at Colossae is...I have felt so incredibly adopted into the community up here!  While it has certainly been fun to get to explore and hang out a lot, I am looking forward to and praying that I soon land a job and get a bit of a schedule going in my life.  But for now, I am enjoying, trusting, resting in the Lord and soaking this all in.

Until next time, 

Thoughts on reaching the one week mark...

So as of today, I have been in Oregon for one week!  It's a funny thing, but I feel like I have been here a whole lot longer, not in a bad way, like the days have been dragging by, but in a positive way!  I feel very much myself and very much at home here.  Normally, it takes me some time to acclimate, and test the waters before I feel like I can fully be myself, but I'm happy to say that I already feel well on my way.  It has been a pretty great week and I'm really excited to be here.  I have felt so refreshed by the new friendships, the sweet conversations and the extra time that being unemployed affords me to journal, and spend time in the Word and cook...all things that had honestly slipped to the wayside as of late.  All in all, I am so glad to be here...and not just here as in location but here as in my experiences, and my state of mind.  I feel very near to the Lord and I have a satisfaction that is only found in Him.  I feel Him near in this time of transition and I am so comforted by His steadfastness as all else changes.  It's been a good week with Jesus!

I feel like there should be a lot more to say here, but for now this will have to suffice.  Life is good, God is good.