New things and next steps...

As the title suggests, this is all about the new things in my life and next steps I am taking as I'm dealing with life now. As time lengthens from when my mom died, I am learning to process through all that finally. It still has been hard to wrap my mind around her not being here. I have noticed that as more time passes, it becomes a little more real. It is all a new process for me, so I don't really know how to progress down this road. I've seen how it has affected me in such different ways than my dad or sisters. Honestly, I have some days that I don't really think about her being gone. Other days, I can't seem to remove the thought from my mind. It is really a product of my life the last few years.

I moved from home to transfer to the University of Oregon three years ago. That really became the start of a pretty independent life for me. I still talked to my family pretty regularly, but nothing like if I was living with them. And after I graduated, I started getting ready for leaving for Croatia and finally left about a year ago. My mom started getting sick after I left for Croatia and I was in limited communication with them during the five months I was there. So, I write all of that to say that this last month and a half since my mom has died has at times felt unreal. It has often felt like I have just been away from her for another long period of time. I have expressed to many people that I almost feel that it will continue to feel unreal for a long time. And each step along my life that I always expected her to be there for, and she isn't, the realness of her loss will hit another level.

Another new thing in my life is a new job. I was just hired today by a non-profit in Portland called Transition Projects (click on name for link to website). In a nutshell, they provide services to the homeless population in Portland. The services include transitional housing, food, clothing, and many other things. My position title is "Residential Advocate", which means that I will be working with the people in helping provide them with the services they need. I am really excited about this job. It is similar to what I would like to do in the future as an occupation. It will be great experience and hopefully a meaningful way to spend my year before going to seminary.

I also recently bought a new mountain bike that is pretty sweet. It is a fun little thing that allows me to ride down hills really fast and go off some jumps every once in a while. I will post some pictures of it soon after I get it nice and dirty.

And one other new thing is I am going to be an uncle again in about seven months. My sister, Amy, is expecting in April for her first child. I have four crazy nephews from my other sister Carolynn. Carolynn and I are silently hoping Amy has a little girl, so we can have a niece. It will be fun to have another baby around in a bit. Being an uncle is great! All the fun things like seeing them, but not having to keep them very long!

Amazingness is afoot!

Check it out here

The Mysteries of Signs - part 7

My time in Croatia was filled with random, nondescript signs that I never understood. When I drove, I just tried to follow the cars in front of me to stay out of trouble. Here are just a sampling of those I saw.

Yeah, you try to figure those out. The ones with the writing under them probably give a clue to what they mean, but try reading them with the Croatian language level of a two year old.