This weekend: We had two of our friends up here staying with us for the weekend (James and Steph) and our dear friend Andrea drove up for the day Saturday from White Fish Bay. It was such a fun, festive fall weekend. Except the weather felt more like winter up here! 28 degrees in the mornings, but oh well! We went to a local pumpkin patch yesterday, which was incredibly enjoyable! We all carved pumpkins together, and each of our pumpkins turned out perfectly unique! Alex and I actually both ended up making designs with words. Alex wrote "Boo", which turned out incredible. Mine said, "treat". After years of my parents carving my pumpkins for me, I had never realized what an arm workout it can be. It also turns out words are harder to carve than I had anticipated. Andrea chose a pumpkin full of warts, she then made it into a traditional face pumpkin that turned out so Halloween-like! Steph made one side of hers a spider web and the other side said "LLL" for live like line. James was likely the most out of the box pumpkin carver. He made a running man being chased by an ice cream cone...
When our friends left this afternoon, Alex and I definitely felt an hour of 'homesickness' for family and friends. We then proceeded to watch the Packers game which did NOT HELP! What a bummer! In fairness though, it has been such a joy to be living in Wisconsin during Packers season, because people LOVE it. Sundays are often full of green and gold jerseys at the grocery store as well as our church. Good thing I was born and raised a Green Bay fan!
Now to give you more of an update of where we are at and where we are headed here...
As many of you know, I earned a degree in Social Work from Iowa. Howeverrrrrr, I did a 450 hour internship at the Crisis Center this past summer and was utterly burnt out. My heart and soul ached all the time. I could not separate the pain of the suicidal clients I spoke to for hours each day on the crisis line from my "outside of work life". It left me feeling empty and unable to pour into the other relationships in my life--including my relationship with myself as well as family and friends. This left me in a strange state of not wanting to pursue a social work related career in Wisconsin, yet having no idea what kind of job I would look for there.
Alex was offered a job in the spring at Kohler in Kohler, Wisconsin as an accountant. He accepted the job, and he moved up in June. I stayed in Iowa City and completed my social work internship until August. We got married on August 4th, went on a honeymoon to California-- San Francisco, Napa Valley, and ended our honeymoon at Alex's aunt and uncle's home on Lake Almanor. It was wonderful and too fast! We then headed from the Des Moines airport to our new home in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Which leads us to where we are now. What a whirlwind of an August month!
I have thought for some time now I wanted to teach in some capacity, but I did not want to jump into schooling for it if I had no experience to tell me I would actually find it enjoyable. I decided to apply for jobs in the school district here and was lucky enough to land a para educator job at the middle school about four minutes from our home. It has been such a gift to do something I actually enjoy. It is challenging and frustrating at times, but the majority of the time the students make me smile and laugh more than I could have anticipated. I feel many of my gifts being used each day. I love teenagers deeply, and I think I have only realized more and more how rare that can be. This causes me to want to use this gift more and more. They utterly deserve our love and attention.
That brings us to the "now"...
Alex's job is steady and financially great, but it is not fruitful for him in the least. He has such a youthful, playful spirit, yet he has such little interaction with people. His job is solely an income for him. It brings him no sense of purpose or joy. Gosh, this is far from what we want for him. He deserves to do something with his life that uses and nourishes the incredible spirit he has been gifted! So, we've been praying and asking God to guide him/us.
Alex's job is steady and financially great, but it is not fruitful for him in the least. He has such a youthful, playful spirit, yet he has such little interaction with people. His job is solely an income for him. It brings him no sense of purpose or joy. Gosh, this is far from what we want for him. He deserves to do something with his life that uses and nourishes the incredible spirit he has been gifted! So, we've been praying and asking God to guide him/us.
It looks like we are both at a state of unknowns! Neither of us are content with what we are currently doing, and feel the pull to do more-- to be used to our potential. I am fairly certain I want to go back to school for a teaching degree, but we have no certainty of where we want to pursue this goal. For Alex, this season of life is spent exploring the question of what his dreams are-- what brings him joy. What we know so far: his joy comes from reading and discussing theology and drinking coffee! So, who knows where that will go! Ha
Moving here, it was really important for us to find a community up here in which we were being poured into as well as pouring out. This past year has been full of grief over the loss of our dear friend. We have become entirely aware of our desire and need for friends to do life alongside. We have found a Vineyard church up here we have really begun to love. We have also joined a small group with three other young couples, which is a fun way to get to know people. You forget so quickly how much of an adventure it really is to make new friends and gain a sense of community from scratch.
During our free time we try to spend time outside whenever we can. Many times it manifests itself in a walk along the interurban bike trail behind our home or with a nice walk to one of the local coffee shops. In my free time I have also rekindled my love to craft and to write. I had two weeks up here with Alex working before I found a job and I crafted extravagantly. I've made countless paintings and random things for our home. I treasure using my creativity in this way. I have been fabulously blessed to have the time to work on any projects I want to! Admittedly, I haven't spent as much time crafting or writing as much since starting my job at the beginning of September, but I try to make time for it as much as I can.
We are currently at a coffee shop right now and Alex is lost in the ultimate adventure of The Fellowship of the Ring while I am writing to you.
Cheers to the utterly ambiguous state our future is currently in! May our adventures be more exciting than we can begin to dream, and may we choose to step out of our "hobbit hole" and discover the world around us!
Shannon Marie
James told us it was the guy chasing the ice cream cone, not the other way around. Your description sounds much more "Tim Burton."
ReplyDeleteHope you don't need to spend 40 days in the desert as you listen for your calling.