Working

Hi friends. Well, still no pictures, but I hope to do some after I write this brief update. :)

I started work yesterday. The words from the musical "Annie" play in my head as I write: "I think I'm gonna learn to like it here!" The men and women I work with are all so gracious and humble (seeming, after two days at least) and very fun. They like to laugh and make jokes, they like to talk about Jesus and they are just generally good people. What a joy.

Do you know that until Scotty called me to Greenville I was always the "risky hire"? After I had worked at JCPenney for a few months I spoke with the guy who hired me and he told me how he wasn't sure if they had made a good decision at first; the same thing happened at Eddie Bauer. Granted, you don't hear stories like that unless you've surprised them somehow and turned out to be a very good employee. The point is this. When I went to Greenville I knew that I was called and wanted. Even though Scotty had never worked with me before and didn't have a clue about my resume he heard the Lord and brought me on board. Now I'm in a place where they really wanted me, too. Its so fun to be a person who people say, "we really wanted you here, but those guys in UM really wanted you, too" - its nice to be wanted.

And so I'm faced with that blessing and the responsibility that comes with it to really BE who I am and who I'm called to be. More on that later.

Anyway, there were two open desks in the upstairs office where I knew I would be. One was in a corner between two windows, looking out on campus, with shelves over the computer. The other was against a different wall with its back to the doorway and also two windows and no shelves. The latter was appointed to be mine the last time I was there. But when I walked upstairs yesterday I saw that a sticky note had been put on both computers.... and mine was the corner one - with windows looking on campus and TREES! What a neat deal from the Lord.

I spent about an hour or so getting my desk in order (getting on the computer, putting up pictures, etc) while my boss was in a meeting and then another couple of hours in a meeting with my boss, Don. We spoke about my background, his background and our vision. He has a LOT of experience and I'm looking forward to learning from him.

Today I rode my bike to work (its about 1/2 a mile from my apt.) and then worked for about 4 hours emailing people on campus to set up brief introductio meetings with them. Then in a surprising turn of events I went to New Student Programs in the Student Union Building (escorted there by Matt, one of the NSP men) and met 4 other grad students from my cohort, we decided to go upstairs for lunch and met up with another. It was fun to reconnect with some of the women (these were all women) that I have emailed or met at the March weekend, and to meet some new ones. I think all of us felt like, "wow, its nice to know a few faces!"

So there is the report of my first two days. Lyndsy, a gal from Portland (warner-pacific) who I have spoken to some before and I talked about trying to get together tonight at her house - her roommate is in our cohort, too... and they have furniture. They've also been hanging with Jonathan, a guy from our cohort who I met in March. I'm hoping it works out so that I can get out of my house a little bit tonight. And Saturday I'm hoping to spend a little bit of time with Jennifer, a woman from my cohort who I met in March but who lived about 30 miles from me in Greenville at the time and is now here, too! We are thinking of taking a walk around campus.

Thanks for you ongoing prayers and interest!