Resolutions Month 2

I know you just can't wait for March's update!

• No news news on the job search. Still sending the papers in and waiting for transcripts. The latest hitch in the road was trying to get money orders from Spain that are valid in the US. Note to self: don't try again. I ended up convincing friends and family to do it for me. It would be so much easier to pay for paperwork by bank transfer or debit card!
• Wedding album came in! It's HUGE...I'll bring it home over the summer if I don't break my back first. Photos for others...to be continued.
• My friend Meggan lent me a book called, "Praying in Color," which has an interesting way to pray for others and stay concentrated by doodling. My journal has been resurrected and is now full of colorful prayers, meditations on verses, and self-reflections. I can see God using the prayer time in my life to help me love others more and to slowly change other attitudes as well. 
• With the girls I disciple at church, I've pledged to read at least one verse a week. I'm reading Matthew, a few verses a day, and then write and journal and draw about one about every day. It's enriching.
• The blog...AHHHH!!! By updating you, I am faithful in telling you how terribly I'm doing.
• Calling family: Stayed the same...need to talk more!
• Friends: Jenny and Naila...I should be writing you soon. Or perhaps you could write me to remind me to write to you?
• Exercise: pitiful. I have tried to do more yoga in the living room. Isma walked in on me one day and gave me an extremely strange look. We went to play airsoft and run around in the countryside shooting at each other. Although it's not a work-out routine, I had sore muscles for half a week.

Resolutions Month 1

Well, a month has past since I made my first New Year's Resolutions in many years, and for my own accountability, here's my report.

• The new job in Chicago is going slowly. Slowly, as in I haven't finished the job applications. See, I got my new 5-year professional teaching license in Indiana last week, (Yay!) but I am waiting on getting the license transfer to Illinois' system to finish applications. My thought process is that no school system is going to jump up in down in excitement to hire me if I can't legally teach for them yet.
• The photos of the wedding to everyone...so sorry! I think this one may take a bit more time. The job comes first. On a happier note, I think we'll have the wedding album in less than a month, and we'll be able to show it this summer.
• Praying more fervently has it's ebbs and flows, though I've been enjoying praying for the youth at church and family on my daily commute. That is, when I don't become a space cadet for the entire time...maybe I need more work on that.
• Creating a devotional routine: not happened yet. 
• Write one blog entry a week?? Hmmm...not so hot either. But this one is definitely not the biggest priority in my life.
• Call my family more often: ummmm...uncomfortable silence...This one has definitely stayed the same. Neither less nor more. Will work on this. Colin, call me!!
• Call or write friends more: has improved slightly. VERY slightly. 
• And last but not least, the exercise routine. How do you think this is going?? Pitifully! It is probably the last thing on my mind. However, I have half convinced myself that it isn't necessary by counting up the physical activity I do every day. At eight-thirty in the morning I leave home and walk 10-15 minutes to the subway, ride for 10 minutes, walk 5 more minutes, ride for 1 minute, and then walk for 5 more. During the day I walk up three flights of steps and back down several times. And at 5:00 in the evening I repeat the morning routine. That is AT LEAST 40 minutes of exercise every day. Though yoga would be so nice... 

I'll report again in March if my fifth resolution stays firm!

Amsterdam

Over Christmas break, Isma and I flew to the US for the holidays and to make the trip there lighter, we stopped off in Amsterdam for the night. A friend of Isma's, Vivianne, showed us around and kept us good company. The food is like traditional American food (liver, beets, chicken, cooked carrots, salad, apple sauce) and their cheese is good too! We got to see Anne Frank's house from the outside, since it was much too late in the evening to go inside and visit. We walked by the red light district as well, though it was a bit scary and saddened me to think of the women who work there, their broken spirits and used bodies. 

But leaving all of that aside, I'd say the one true characteristic of Amsterdam is the bikes. They are everywhere! There is even a two-story bike parking garage next to the central train station. There are many more bikes than cars, and perhaps almost as many bikes as people. It's no surprise though, as the city is so flat that biking is not as difficult as in Spain or other hilly places.

It seems like the city hasn't changed.

Beautiful lights and the shops by the canals.

Our Dutch friend Vivianne

The red-light district.

Complexities

Have you ever tried to move from one state to the other? After living in Spain, I've come to realize that moving from one state to the next is almost as complicated as moving from one European country to another. First, you need new IDs: in Europe that means going to get a residency paper, in the US that means getting a new driver's license. And second, you have to transfer professional licenses: I have to get an Illinois teaching license even though I have an Indiana teaching license.


I can't decide whether to rejoice at the states' independence from each other or bemoan the fact that now I have to fill out a stack of paperwork, take exams, and pay for a new license all before I can be hired for a teaching job in Chicago. If only Chicago was in Indiana!! Yes, redrawing state lines sounds like the perfect solution...

Come and See!

I don't know if you've seen my husband (still sounds new!) Isma's website, but I thought I'd show it off before I go to bed today. For the majority, just enjoy looking at his photography, the photos he's particularly proud of. And for those of you practicing Spanish, see how much you can understand of the meat of the site, the blog.


http://iarenzana.com/

Every decision requires a death

About a week ago, Isma received a letter from Moody Bible Institute that he's been accepted for the upcoming school year! We're really excited about the upcoming adventure, though the excitement is tempered with some sadness. A friend of ours, Ben, recently said that for every decision or action we make or do, something else has to die. We are beginning to realize how true the statement is. For Isma to study, his job must die and all of the implications of having such a good job must die as well. For us to move to Chicago and make new friends, some closeness here must die.


But not everything dies. Somethings, rather, change and shift as distance grows for some and closes for others. Some relationships will strengthen with proximity, some will wane as the miles grow between, some will go into hibernation, and others will stay the same. But even change is a death to something, a death to the status quo, to things always being identical to the present. And of that, I am striving to not be afraid.


When June comes, I'll try to accept the odd mixture of sadness, joy, and nervousness and know that the ones we love are doing the same. I pray that everyone in our life will accept the death of yesterday and celebrate the birth of tomorrow.

A New Year

2011 has come to an end, and 2012 is now a week old. I remember when Colin, Mom, Dad and I used to sit down around the kitchen table and tell our New Year's Resolutions while Mom wrote them down on a steno-pad. I think I promised to stop chewing my nails (check), stop hiding to read when I wasn't supposed to (pretty much, check), and read my Bible more (back-slid, uncheck).

After that year, I don't remember making resolutions. But thinking back at the past year and now looking forward to the one to come, I don't think it would be a bad idea to have some goals (and some eyes reading this to perhaps keep me a bit more on track).

This past year was consumed by wedding planning: the dress, the ceremony, the premarital counseling, the trying not to go crazy. Then the wedding itself, the honeymoon, and the first months of marriage getting used to living with the man I've decided to spend my life with. (yes!) That being said, this next year may be a year of many changes as well, so here's what I want to look forward to in 2012 (in no particular order):

• Have a new teaching job in Chicago


• Get photos out to everyone in the wedding photos


• Pray more fervently


• Create a devotional routine


• Write at least one blog entry a week


• Call my family more


• Call or write my friends more


• Start an exercise routine

Here goes!