Single Waiting

So I've got a newsletter on it's way and I hope to have it mailed off for the supporters and I'm looking forward to finally be putting all of my thoughts out on an actual format with some pictures! This is basically a tweet, but because not everyone has Twitter, I've resolved to updating here. :)

Just something I began writing from when I was still in Italy. It's already been a full month since I've been back and I'm happy more than ever that I documented what I saw from my window, I won't get to see it for some time. Or perhaps ever. I'm almost beginning to wonder if there is something in the rain because the Italians have a way of scurrying about the streets like God is going to make it flood again and if they don't hurry they will miss the Ark. Well it's not like that, but it's the closest thing to a visual I can give you. Across from my bedroom view there is an old man that looks out of his window on the 5th floor everyday. Always consoling his hands with his head, looking like he doesn't know what to look for beneath his window; but he stares for a good 5 minutes looking at passers-by. A woman who occupies the same flat is often hanging tons of laundry, of which most of the contents hanging up do not resemble any article of clothing...

I look to the left and right of me and it all looks the same. The life of singleness in a perpetual motion. I don't think friends mean any harm in the questions they ask, but I will give you some insight on what it looks like and feels like for me to be a single woman approaching my 28th birthday having no relational attachment to a significant other. The story goes a little like this: Every several years, usually around New Year's, I, as a single person, have built my hopes up in excitement of maybe this being the year God is preparing me to meet that person. That person who, unbeknownst to him, I shed tears over, prayed about, talked about endlessly to my single comrades, and painted a lovely picture in my head of what he'd be like. And every year I go through hi-s and lo-s and overcome new things that I never knew I had in me. Things that change me, things that push me into the direction of pursuing God a little bit more than I did the year before. During that seas...

Practicing how to get back into regular routines is not an easy task, but I think when coming back from a trip like I just have, the routines are the things that I once had are not what I want to fall back into. My challenge to myself is to out in 100% of effort towards my goals. To challenge my walk and have people challenge me in my walk. To learn what it is I value and what needs to be laid to rest. The thing with routines and habits are that they can be conflicting at times and control you in the worst possible way if you let it. In my case, I haven't had many steady routines since I graduated college. I knew everyday when I had class, from blocks of scheduled time. When I needed to be at work, and back at school to work on projects, and how much extra time I could have outside of all those areas. But now, I don't have school responsibilities weighing down on me, but more adult responsibilities, financial goals and responsibilities to be met, career responsibilities, et...

I can not believe that I have been on American soil for almost a full week now. Time has no concern for rest. I am steadily bringing myself back into society and by that I mean I have been out and doing something ever since I got back into town. I will give a more detailed account on my last week in Italy, including me giving my testimony to a room full of people that included students and their family members. I think that this trip has only pushed me in the right direction of moving forward in a more efficient way. And it came at a great time since after last year, I had been struggling with feeling adequate in my goals, and even though I had gotten my diploma for my degree, I still didn't feel as if I had completed it because I still needed to take the examination to be a licensed designer in order to work on commercial designs. So, to give you a really quick follow up of what's next, I will be studying up on my testing to be a licensed commercial interior designer. I...

My deepest apologies for being gone for far too long. This is not normal for me to think that people are reading these blogs, because for the years that I've been writing online, I barely got responses to entires. So now I keep writing for myself mainly to have an online journal that documents different moments in my life in a more well-rounded way with music and pictures. Now that my trip is drawing to a close, the question I will most often get is: "What have you learned/gained from this trip?", "What's next?" and so on and so forth. To answer those questions would mean that I have an answer for what God is going to do next, and I honestly have no idea what He is planning next. I do know the next rock for me to balance on, that is conveniently bubbling up from the water, is to get back to Orlando and start tweaking my habits. To take the next steps of becoming more business minded, learning things that I have been putting off learning, and being the confid...

During Passover here in Italy, I got to see it in a different light. As an adult. The last time I remember seeing the gigantic chocolate eggs that could feed a family of a thousand, I was only 8 or 9. The symbolism of it as a child meant I had a lot of chocolate to consume, and that there was no symbolism for me. Seeing now as an adult, the tradition of getting children these large eggs is like watching Christmas time in spring where kids can't wait to crack open their eggs. No they don't do Easter egg hunts, and they don't talk about large rabbits either that hid all of the eggs around the city. They get together in masses, they come from all over Italy and celebrate Passover with their families. The traditions of corporate Easter have never been much of a glorified holiday in our house, so as I got older, I never really understood the whole egg hunting thing aside from it being fun, kids ending up with a little more cavities in the year and corporations banking on a h...