Things have been a whirlwind lately! The move was a big fiasco... not because anything bad happened to my stuff, but because they were probably the slowest, most inefficient moving company ever. Thankfully that's over with and I shouldn't have to worry about moving again for a while. The people at the church have been nice and helpful and giving me time to get settled, although I basically had to start working right away. I had some wonderful friends who came and helped with unpacking and assembling some shelves, so I was able to get a good amount of my stuff unpacked and organized in the first few days here. I've never had this much space, so figuring out where I want everything to go is taking a while. My bedroom, guest room, bathrooms, kitchen and dining room are all basically put together, but I still have quite a few boxes in my living room and office. I also haven't really hung anything on the walls yet, since it's difficult to do without some assistance, so I think I'll probably wait to do that when my parents come to visit in about a week. I know my mom is excited to come and it will be nice to have them experience my new home.
Even though I've been pretty busy with settling in to the new house and new job, I've tried to fit in things just for myself to keep from losing my mind. I've been getting back into a good running routine, continuing the training for my first marathon. I've been trying out different restaurants in the area, and let me tell you, the seafood at these places is GOOD, and most of it is caught locally. I've only gone to the beach twice so far, but I plan to do a lot more of that. I'm trying to do a better job of planning out my meals for the week, instead of waiting to decide what I feel like each day. And along with that I'm trying some new recipes. Today I made a Southwestern Corn Chowder, which was pretty good. AND I finally finished my first quilt! It's definitely got its imperfections, but I'm still really happy about the way it turned out.
So it's official: I have been called as pastor of a Lutheran church in New Jersey... at the shore! I'm pretty excited and a little scared to start this new time in my life. It's what I've been working toward for the last four years, so it's great that it's finally here. I just hope I do a good job! I will only be one block from the ocean, so that's pretty sweet, and it's also not too far from where I did internship so there are people in the area that I know. Mostly I am just thankful to God that this has all worked out. My call process moved very quickly, but I think it's working out for the better that way. And because it all moved so fast and I need to start right away, I'm moving today! I have a moving company, which is great, so I don't have to do any of the heavy work myself. But since my stuff is all over the place we will be making multiple stops and I'll have to give some direction. So I'm just praying that it goes smoothly and we don't make it to NJ too late tonight!
