I would usually apologize for all the personal, wedding-y, gushy posts recently. But frankly, this blog has just become a place for me to write about whatever is on my mind. I learned quickly that writing about things I had no interest in, or about things I had no passion for, got old very quickly. So, with that in mind, I shifted my focus and started writing about me and what’s on my mind at that time whether it be personal, professional, wedding-y, and whatnot.

Back on track.

I’m getting married in 19 days. Whoaly moly I can’t believe it’s almost here.

This is something I have thought a lot about lately – but throughout the wedding-planning process, so many people have asked me, “How’s the wedding planning going?” “What’s next on the wedding planning list?” yada yada yada. And all that is fine and good, but no one has asked me, “How’s the preparation for marriage going?” “Have you guys done any premarital counseling?” “Are you ready for marriage?”

Yeah, the wedding planning is fun and all, but honestly, the thing that’s been most important to me  throughout this process is getting ready for our marriage. Yeah, the wedding is a huge celebration and amazing way to start our marriage. But the wedding is one day. Our marriage is a life time. Till death do us part. And that? Yeah, I’m ready for that.

Finances? We’ve talked about it.

Children? We’ve talked about them.

Communication? Check.

Putting Jesus at the center of our marriage? We’re ready.

So on and so forth. It’s been really important for us to talk about everything. There are no secrets. Nothing. We don’t know what marriage will bring us, what challenges we’ll face, and what we’ll need to work on, but we do know that Jesus, love, and a whole lot of laughter are at the center of it all. And in my humble opinion, if you’ve got those things covered, you can do anything.

I do have to say though, it all hit me this weekend when I moved out of my apartment. I’ve lived by myself in my little ol’ apartment in Carrboro, NC since I moved here in June of 2009. Seeing it all clean and empty (with HUGE thanks to my fiance for helping me… because I never could have done it on my own), it really sunk in that this is happening. That I’m becoming an adult. I mean, I’m already an adult, but when you’re married, I guess that makes you a real adult. But frankly, I’m okay with being an “adult” who is a kid at heart. You know, the kind of kid that eats Chipotle too often, drinks unhealthy amounts of Diet Coke, gets giggly and jumps on the bed when excited, could go to Chuck-E-Cheese every weekend and play Ski-Ball till she drops, and gets a huge kick out of feel-good Disney flicks. #NotAshamed.

John is okay with my shortcomings awesome qualities. I like love that about him.

And whoaly moly. We are becoming one in a short amount of time. And I’m going to live with a BOY. A stinky, messy, devastatingly handsome boy man. My best friend.

And I can’t wait.

It’s gonna be a stressful couple weeks… considering half of my stuff is at John’s, half of my stuff is in storage, and I have two suitcases and a car full of wedding craft stuff while I live with my dear friend Dani until the wedding. Dani and her hubs Keith are, like, WAY awesome for letting me shack up with them for a few weeks. So, yeah, I guess technically, I’m kinda homeless right now. Oh well. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. And it’s a pretty flippin’ sweet light.

I, of course, had to take some pictures to remember my apartment by.

Bye D4, it’s been real.

That’s our self-portrait in my empty apartment. John wanted nothing to do with my nostalgia. One of the many reasons I love that man.

All for now.

xoxo,

Molly

I used to be an English teacher. I am terrible at math.

READ: T-e-r-r-i-b-l-e.

I still have to count on my fingers.

I need help with a real life math problem. Sure, I could ask people I know, but hey, I figured it would be interesting and fun to see what my blog readers suggest / figure out!

See that table? This is an example of the tables we are using for our reception.

Okay, here are the stats:

• There are 11 pairs of two short farm tables together – each pair measures a total of 7′ long
• There are 15 pairs of two longer farm tables together – each pair measures a total of 10′ long
• We have 8 red tables that are 4′ long each
• I have 11 rolls of table runner burlap. EACH roll is 9″x30″ (aka: 10 yards long)

Here’s what I need to figure out:

If I have 110 total yards of burlap – in what increments do I need to pre-cut the burlap in to utilize the burlap in the most effective way (i.e. not have a random 3″ or 6″ at the end of each roll that I can’t use)

Now, consider that each table the burlap runner won’t just go from end-to-end… it will need to hang over A LITTLE bit… now this is where the math really comes in.

So, who can help me? I need 11 runners at the same length, 15 runners at the same length, and 8 runners at the same length. All with 110 yards of total burlap to work with.

Ready math wiz-kids? GO!

February 18th, 2012. That’s one month from today.

I’m ’bout to get mushy, y’all.

A month from today I will walk down the aisle and marry a man who challenges me to be a stronger, better, and more godly woman. He makes me laugh. He doesn’t make me cry (unless I am crying from laughing). He helps me grow in areas where I am weak. He hugs me and tells me it’s gonna be alright when I’m being crazy Molly. He tells me I’m funny when I’m telling ridiculous stories (even though he probably zoned out 20 minutes earlier). He laughs at my jokes. He lets me cry when I’m sad. And he even let me watch The Bachelor on Monday night while I wedding crafted and only made fun of me, like, twice. THAT is love.

We talk about everything together. No matter what. And we don’t judge each other for our differences. And I hope, that at the end of the day, I do all the same things for him that he does for me. Seriously. I know it’s cliche / trite / whatnot, but he is my best friend and I know that God brought us together.

In fact, I have absolutely no doubt that God brought us together.

2011 was such an amazing year – personally, professionally, life-ly. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2012.

Oh, I also can’t wait to be in the same room as all of the people in my life that I love. AHHH. So blessed.

Okay, enough mushiness. Sorry.

Wait, no. Not sorry.

xoxo,

Molly

39 days. I’m getting married in 39 days. I am so excited / nervous / excited / pumped / excited / nervous / excited all at the same time. For serial.

The more we prepare and talk about making a life-long commitment to each other, the more ready I am and the more I just can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. We’re on the same page. We’re in the right frame of mind. We talk about everything – good and bad – what scares us, what excites us, what to pray about, how important God is to us and how important He will be to us in our marriage. It’s awesome. AHH.

Ugh. Okay, enough of the mushy stuff. Blech. I’m grossing myself out. WHO AM I?

So, in the meantime, until the mushy stuff and reality and real life all set in, we’re, ah hem, I’m prepping for a celebration! I would say we are, however, admittedly, John doesn’t really care about hot glue, or fabric flowers, or twine, or details. He cares about Jesus, marrying me, country music, cowboy boots, and BBQ. Which I’m totally okay with. PLUS, he loves me despite the fact that I have probably burned 129,102,489 layers of skin off my hands from hot glue… while watching The Bachelor. BONUS! That’s dedication. (BTW: I like Kacie B., y’all. Ben probably will dump her soon. That’s usually how those things go).

There I go again with the mushy stuff.

*Slaps own face*

Back on track, Buckley.

I love pictures. I love frames. I hate boring pictures in boring frames.

I decided to spruce up some frames for wedding decorations to then later use in our house. Kill two birds with one stone = WINNING.

I have had this tall 8×10 photo frame thing for a long time and it was starting to look gross. Dusty, the borders were coming off, etc. I didn’t take a before picture because I’m lame and didn’t think it would turn out well. So, I ripped the ugly borders off, replaced the pictures with some amazing e-pics courtesy of our amazing photog, Katelyn James, hot glued some lace around the edges, made a few fabric flowers, and BAM! fancy frames for fancy people. I also took a cheap-o Target sale rack black frame and added some pizazz to it. WOOP!

Please excuse the bottle of Oxi-Clean in the left corner. That’s my washer. Whoops. Probably should have moved the frame away from my laundry area before taking the photo on my iPhone. Oh well. Sue me.

Voila!

What do you think? Have you done any crafty projects lately? Share them with me. 

How often have you burned yourself with hot glue? Are you as clumsy with hot glue as I am?

xoxo

Molly

So, it’s #TRUTH that I have not been on a stage doing comedy bits in many, many months. Almost a year actually. I still love to make people laugh, but I knew that the format through which I were to do that was changing and so I took a break.

It’s been a good break, but I got really excited a couple weeks ago when the inimitable Paula from DSI Comedy Theater emailed me to ask if I would be interested in being a guest for MISTER DIPLOMAT, the FREE flagship show at DSI. I jumped at the chance! I’m really excited to see old friends and hang out with funny people for an evening!

Now I just need some people I know and love to fill the audience and laugh / cry / show some sort of emotion when I tell my stories. They could be embarrassing, they could be endearing, suspenseful WHO KNOWS? So, are you going to come hear me tell stories? You should.

Here are the show deets:

• DATE: Friday, January 6th, 2012
• TIME: 10:30PM (yeah, I know it’s late… but we’re all still relatively young, right?)
• PLACE: The DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro, NC
• COST: FREE!
• OTHER: The show is an improvised show, so the content cannot be guaranteed to be PG. Although my stories will be PG, you never know what may come out… with that being said, I’d leave the kiddies at home.

Also, there’s going to be a CHARITY aspect to the evening, too! So, you can help support a good cause in the process.

And, if 10:30pm is just too late for you, no worries, there’s TONS of great comedy at DSI all the time so you should check out one of their other shows including Ladies Night which kicks off tomorrow. We all know how I feel about funny lady comedians.

Anywho, I hope to see you in the audience or some other time. Let me know if you have questions.

xoxo

Molly

Okay, so since I like to write about anything that’s going on in my life, and since I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the wedding lately, I figured I’d blog the latest awesomeness that we finally finished last week.

I preface this with a few things:

1. I am not a professional designer
2. I’m no wedding expert
3. I am not the craftiest person in the world
4. I am no invitation expert
5. We saved money on invitations fo’sho’
6. These took FOR.EV.ER.

But, I did learn a lot along the way. AND, I am really happy with the way they turned out.

Here’s the skinny on how they went and what I used and how much they cost.

Materials Used:

• 1 ream of 120lb white OfficeMax brand card stock – $15
• 1 package of white Avery print and tear envelopes – $18
• 1 package of white Avery print and tear postcards – $18
• White size A-9 envelopes – $20
• 10″ square paper doilies – $24 (eBay)
• 100 yards of navy blue twine – $5 (Save-On-Crafts.com)
• 100 yards of sangria purple twine – $5 (Save-On-Crafts.com)
• Custom photo stamps – Stamps.com ($115 with a coupon code)
• Custom return address stamp – $40 (Sweet Papery)
• Quatrefoil stamp – $5 – etsy
• Last minute George Washington $.20 cent stamps (more on this later) – $30

Total cost (INCLUDING POSTAGE): $290

Now, for 150 invitations, I’d say that’s not bad.

Obviously the photo stamps and custom return address stamps were splurge items, but I justified the custom stamp because we can keep that for a long time… and, well, I really wanted the photo stamps. Creative googling gave me the coupon code so I saved money on them. WOOT!

For the invitations themselves:

1. I designed all three printed elements in Adobe Photoshop.

• I took inspiration from The Wedding Chicks Mason Jar printables but I didn’t want them to be exactly like the other wedding invitations out there.
• We really wanted the invitations to feel like us – both of us. The mason jars really go with our country theme (cowboy boots, FTW) and everyone that knows me knows I love quatrefoils. So we wanted all of those things to be incorporated.
• I searched and found free fonts on DaFont.com that I loved and used those
• The script font is LaPointe’s Road
• The regular font is Promised Freedom

2. I cut the edge of all the business cards, RSVP info cards (we went green and are doing web / email RSVPs), and invitations with Fiskars Paper Edgers – since I printed all of these invitations on a home printer on the 8.5×11″ card stock (which was a HUGE pain in itself and is not something to be taken lightly) this was really the best way to cut away unwanted white space away from the edges after cutting the 8.5×11″ card stock sheet in half.

If you are going to go this route, I HIGHLY recommend having something mindless to watch on TV whilst printing and cutting. Seriously. I’m not kidding.

3. After all the pieces were done being printed and cut I got the paper doilies out and laid the pieces in order on the doilie

4. To make the paper doilie envelope, I just centered the invitations on the diagonal doilie and folded the sides tightly over and then folded the bottom tightly up towards the center. After those parts were tight, I folded the top down over the middle to cover the side and bottom corners. (I hope all that made sense)

John was a really good doilie folder. He will hate that I am posting this picture. Teehee

5. To finish securing the envelope, we cut the two-color twine into 2/3 yard and tied it around in a bow.

Look at my dad and Bonnie go with the twine cutting!

Ta da!

6. Then after stamping, addressing (my sister is AWESOME for helping hand write addresses), and stamping again the regular envelopes, we put the finished product in and VOILA! DONE!

Here are the envelopes:

I love our stamp!

Yeah, I sealed the envelope with a quatrefoil. Sue me.

Also, you will notice the nice George Washington stamp. No, we did not plan that. We stopped at the post office before mailing them to make sure we had enough postage only to learn that the twine, yes the twine, adds $.20 cents an envelope because that means they can’t put them through the machine. GAH. Any ribbons, anything that makes the envelope bumpy jacks the price up. SO, it’s a good thing I checked or else we would have been in deep bull-poo. Yeah, I said bull-poo.

Anywho.

These things were DEFINITELY a labor or love but in the end we are really happy with how they turned out. Considering invitations, especially 150+ invitations can cost hundreds even THOUSANDS of dollars, we saved money and they had a personal touch. If you decide to do your own, just be prepared that saving money doesn’t always save headache.

What do you think? Yay? Nay?

Did you do your own invitations? Would YOU do your own invitations?

YAY! Now, to collect RSVPs.

Okay, so this is my quick Sunday afternoon plea.

Some of you, if not all of you, know that I volunteer and serve a few times a month at the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women in Raleigh, North Carolina with my church newhope Church. It’s a humbling experience every time that I serve. Every time.

Well, this Tuesday, we will be heading there to hold a Christmas service for the women, and we want to serve them by bringing a little something nice.

Now, our definition of something nice is completely different from what is actually allowed. So, we are bringing toiletry bags for the women – however, there’s a catch… we cannot bring ANY of the bags if we don’t have enough for every one. (Sad but true common sense). We are short right now about 20-30 bags.

That’s where you come in.

Would you like a quick opportunity to serve and bless a woman in need this Christmas? Gather these toiletries, place them in a clear ziploc / hefty bag, and bring them to ME (I will meet you and get it from you) or you can bring the bag DIRECTLY to newhope Church in Durham, NC by 6PM TOMORROW (that is MONDAY, December 19th, 2011). Mark the bag to the attention of Amy Lynn.

Here’s what the bags need – and I cannot stress enough that it has to be THESE EXACT ITEMS – I know we all feel generous and want to put in other things, but this is a prison and they will not allow it.

• 1 TOOTHBRUSH
• Colgate classic medium or soft FULL HEAD toothbrush
• 1 TOOTHPASTE
• Colgate gel toothpaste (4.2 oz)
• OR
• Colgate mint toothpaste (6.4 oz)
• 1 BAR OF SOAP
• Dial Gold Soap (3.5 oz)
• OR
• Ivory Soap (4.5 oz)
• 1 DEODORANT
• Lady Speed Stick Shower Fresh (1.5 oz)
• OR
• Secret Solid Powder Fresh (1.7 oz)
• OR
• Suave 24 Hour Protection Fresh Invisible Solid
• 1 SHAMPOO
• Suave Humectant Shampoo (14.5 oz)
• OR
• Suave Naturals Shampoo Strawberry (15 oz)
• OR
• Pantene Pro V Shampoo (12.6 oz)

To be fair to you, whomever you are, I must preface this post with two things:

1. It may not make total sense.
2. It’s a complete stream of consciousness because there’s a lot running through my mind right now.

There. Now, if you’re still around reading this, here we go.

The last year and a half has been a transformative year for me. It’s really been a year where, for really the first time in my life, I’ve been able to have honest heart-to-hearts with myself about what I want in life, who I really am, what my beliefs are, what I see myself doing in 2, 3, 10, 40 years, etc. I’ve had to make extremely tough decisions, I’ve come into my own skin, I’ve lost friends, I’ve gained friends, but in the end, I can honestly say that at this moment, I am the happiest I have been in a long, long, LONG time.

I could go on and on about a lot of that stuff and delve into the details. And perhaps I will. But that’s not what this particular post is about.

And some might even be thinking, “Well, what IS this post about? This blog sure has switched topics and awful lot over the years.”

And to that I say, yes. It has. And I wouldn’t change a thing.

Quick digression: You see, my whole life I tried to write in journals. I love to write and I love pretty bound journals from Barnes & Noble or some craft fair, but I am terrible at committing to writing in them. I think it actually has more to do with the fact that I’m left handed and my hand always cramps and/or gets a whole bunch of ink smeared on it. I’d start writing in a journal and be good for a week and then BAM, stop writing in it because it bored me or whatever. So, needless to say, writing in journals is not my thing. Therefore, blogging over the last 5-6 years has become my journaling. I can look back and see where I was at that time, what my goals were, what my focus was on at that time, etc. It’s amazing. I wish blogging existed when I was younger because I’d love to see what I would have written.

Back to the topic at hand. Where was I? See? I told you this would be all over the place.

Okay, so the main thing that has been huge for me in the last year and a half has been the strengthening of my faith. My faith in myself, my faith in those close to me, but most importantly, my faith in Christ.

This is not some religion post. This is a honest account of the true impact God has had on me.

Here’s my story, my very long story, the condensed version:

I grew up Catholic. Well, my parents both grew up Catholic, but were adamant about not forcing beliefs on me. They let me make my own decisions. But I was christened as a baby and attended Catholic mass with family and friends growing up. I never really understood why, but it just felt like that was what I was supposed to do.

In middle school, I started attending a non-denominational Christian church with a friend and eventually got connected with a group that wanted to start a youth worship band. Thus began the Doubting Thomas era. Yea, best Christian band name EVER.

But still, I knew the words I sang when I led worship, but I didn’t know the meaning.

Middle school and high school were really challenging years personally. I went through some really serious depression, a self-esteem crushing relationship, other major life crisis, and my mom’s health continued to deteriorate. God was not someone I trusted.

As I continued to watch my mom struggle with her health and I watched how hurt she was when her side of the family turned their back on her, it broke my heart. When she finally passed away in November of 2002 after almost 10 years of battling her illness, I hit a point at which I was angry with God. I was mad. Really mad.

Why would someone like MY mom, someone who was selfless, caring, and unbelievably loving be treated that way and ultimately die before her time? Excuses, excuses on my part. I needed something to blame. And God was my scapegoat.

Fast forward to college – I started attending InterVarsity Christian Fellowship with my roommate in college and I participated in my sorority’s bible study – all in the hopes that I could somehow reconcile my relationship with God. And, of course, there He was. He didn’t leave, I just wasn’t fully ready to admit that I needed Him more than He needed me.

Fast forward to Molly is out of college. I stopped going to church. Didn’t participate in a bible study. Just went about my business. Often not even admitting that I was ever a believer in the first place… just to fit in. I call that period my almost-quarter-life-crisis.

But the whole time, I knew, deep down inside, there was this thing that kept tugging at me to go back to God.

Fast forward to a year and a half ago. My fiance, John, and I started dating. At the time I didn’t want to admit it, but I knew within me that this guy was different. The whole thing felt different. And I knew, really early on, that I loved him and I was probably going to marry this guy. I also knew he was a Christian.

Well, one Saturday, he mentioned he was going to check out a church he used to go to that moved to a new location, newhope church. That voice inside me that had been talking to me for quite sometime spoke yet again and said, go. Go with him. So, I selfishly invited myself to go with him to church that Sunday.

And I haven’t missed a Sunday at newhope since.

I am who I am and I can honestly say I’m confident in that now because of Christ.
I’ve met an unbelievably amazing man who loves me and who is my best friend. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him. And I know I owe it all to Him.
I’ve reconciled old relationships that I missed so dearly, and I wouldn’t have had the courage to do that without the strength and courage that God has given me.
I went to Kenya and gained the experience of a lifetime and learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. But most importantly, my eyes were opened to the beauty that lies in the world.

I got baptized. And it was my decision. I did it for me. No one else.

I could continue to go on and on… but I won’t right now.

I do, however, want to make a few things clear.

I’m not religious. I’m faithful. I know, first hand, the impact that God has had on my life over the past 26 year and especially the past 18 months. My life has done a 180. In more ways than I can EVEN begin to write.

Another quick digression: What frustrates me so much about “religion” is that people that don’t know Christ lump Christians into a group among awful, hateful groups like the Westboro Baptist Church. That, to me, is not Christianity. That, to me, is not what real love is about.

Christ was about love, acceptance, encouragement, support, growth, faith, and again, LOVE. No matter the race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, age, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Christ didn’t see people for who they are on the outside. Period.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” -1 Samuel 16:7

I want to be just like that. I want to be that person that shows others that it’s not about what you are but WHO you are. No judgement, no prejudice, just love. Unconditional love.

Well, this whole post… all of this stream of consciousness was spurred because of the Transforming Hope ministries launch that happened tonight at newhope. It’s a ministry that is aiming at raising awareness and bringing a solution to the child sex trafficking epidemic that is honestly getting out of control. (You can find out more about the ministry here). I had the honor of serving on the Worship Arts Ministry team that led worship tonight, and I can honestly say that tonight was unbelievably powerful. This is a ministry that is going to change lives. As I listened to Dee, a survivor of human trafficking, give her testimony, I was overwhelmed and humbled. This is something, that once people are educated, can be tangible and have an immediate impact on our community. Right here.

That’s what it’s about.

It’s about bringing the broken, the lost, the weary, the tired, the strong, the bold, the brave, the men, the women, the children, the seniors, anyone to Christ and showing them that no matter what they have hope.

Okay, I’m going to stop there, because I could write forever, and it’s getting late.

I have more thoughts, of course… because honestly, this isn’t exactly a topic that can be resolved in a single blog post. But anyway.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Either way. Any way.

All for now and much love.

There’s never usually an easy way to do this, and I guessed a 140 character tweet or Facebook status wouldn’t really do it justice or explain the situation, so I figured writing a quick blog post about it would be easiest.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT: I have accepted a position as the Director of Marketing and Business Development for rAVe Publications here in Chapel Hill, NC. I start October 1st.

For those of you who know my current role as Duchess of Digital Media for 1360 WCHL and Chapelboro.com, you’re probably
wondering what I’m thinking.

First and foremost, the past two years at WCHL have been incredible – I have learned more than I could have ever possibly thought to learn, I’ve grown to LOVE this community and all that it has to offer, I’ve made amazing friends, (I met my future husband!), and I’ve grown by leaps and bounds both personally and professionally. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve had successes. It’s time for a new adventure. Making the decision to leave WCHL was definitely not an easy one – but there are times when taking a risk and stepping outside of our comfort zone towards a new opportunity and venture can be rewarding beyond belief.

It’s not like I was out there actively searching for a job, but the opportunity at rAVe came about, and I knew that this was an offer that doesn’t come around often. It’s a HUGE professional growth opportunity for me and I couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead.

About rAVe Publications: (From rAVEpubs.com) rAVe [Publications], founded in 1998 by Gary Kayye, is a news organization that provides coverage of the commercial (ProAV) and residential (HomeAV) audiovisual trade industries via e-newsletters, blogs, video, social media, and a variety of other mediums.

The target audience for rAVe’s publications is what we call “AV Insiders” – AV dealers, integrators, consultants, designers, etc. that deal in the sale, specification, design and installation of audiovisual products. We do not target what most people call “end users,” though a small percentage of rAVe’s readers may qualify as such, especially on the ProAV side of things.

rAVe is an opinionated news organization, providing news and commentary that reflect the opinions of its authors. We believe that all news is heavily affected by the views of its author, so we state up front that ours is going to be. We are also heavily biased towards the AV integrator/dealer’s perspective since, well, that’s our audience. However, we do NOT get paid by manufacturers, or anyone, for running off our editorial mouth. We run what we run based on what we think, and that’s it.

My position at rAVe will evolve over time, but to begin with, I will be in charge of expanding the marketing efforts of the company along with identifying areas in which the company can grow and diversify itself. This is an opportunity where I can be creative and continue to hone my professional skills.

I am beyond grateful for the time I have had at WCHL and this opportunity would not have happened if it weren’t for my experience and the fact that the staff believed in me enough to let me screw stuff up sometimes and figure other stuff out on my own. I will continue in a contract role at WCHL over the next few months helping cover some events and train the person who will fill my position. And don’t worry – I’m not going anywhere, you’ll still hear from me, fo’sho’.

Thank you guys for all your support!

BTW: Here’s the job description for my current job. So, if you know of anyone who might be interested, send it to them!

I’ve been home 5 days.

It’s been hard readjusting to normal routines – a lot harder than I thought it would be. I’m tired all the time, I don’t feel well (like a bad cold or something), and pretty much all I can think about is Kenya.

Saturday evening was nice – it felt so comforting to be back with my betrothed (as I like to call him) – he took me to Chipotle and to get ice cream and just let me talk. I went through all my pictures and videos and told story after story after story. I kept apologizing for the word vomit I was doing, but he kept saying he wanted to hear more. Whether or not he was telling the truth, it really helped to just be able to talk nonstop about what I experienced, how I felt, what I was thinking, what I learned, and what my goals are. John is such a good listener – plus he’s been through similar experiences so he offered insight where needed, but mostly just offered an ear. He’s the most important person in my life now, so it meant so much to me to be able to share all of it with him.

Church on Sunday was good, but equally difficult. I don’t know why, but I just cried through the whole first half of worship. Every song made me cry more. Now, I did this in secret because frankly, I was embarrassed – I know I shouldn’t be, but I was. I kept picturing the kids and the people of Kiria singing and waving their arms and clapping in praise – and that just made me want to sing louder and praise harder. Their love of worship and their love of the Lord is so pure – and that just served as fuel.

Then, of course, Pastor Benji brought the word.

The message, titled “Soul Custody: Soul Sabbath”, focused on the fact that we are go go go all the time and we never take a moment to rest. Keeping the sabbath, a day of rest, holy is the longest of the commandments. Yet, so often, we forget and we don’t take time for ourselves.

This was something that became very apparent to me while in Kenya. It was hard for me to shut off “work” – and I don’t mean my job in America – but I mean that when we were working, it was difficult for me to leave work mode to play or relax. I was so focused. I think is really just an example, or a microcosm of a larger issue in my life where I just don’t know how to turn it off. I’m always go, go, go. Always have been. I’m always busy. And I don’t know how to say no and shut it off.

I’m not saying don’t work hard and slack off – what I’m saying is I don’t want to look back at my life in 5, 10, or 40 years and say – what did I do in my 20′s? Oh I worked. A lot. All the time. And that I was tired. A lot.

I want to say I spent time with those that matter – I had fun and enjoyed planning my wedding – and contributing and giving back.

Pastor Benji hit the nail on the head with this message – and it was so timely because this is exactly what John and I had talked about the day before – making sure we take time to shut work off and just be together. It’s so important.

The Kenyans know the meaning of work hard, play hard, rest hard. It’s no wonder they’re so joyful.

Pastor Benji shared this quote: “Sabbath is the need to rest and be available to God by being unavailable to the world.”

(I’m not sure who the quote is by (could even be pastor Benji)).

I’ve got a lot on my mind, and frankly, that’s okay. I’m okay with that. But Lord knows, as I prepare to go into the really busy season of my job, I’m gonna take time to rest and spend time with my future husband, my nephew, my family, and those that matter to me in my life.

All for now and much love.

Molly