Adventure Season!

I seriously love autumn. It's definitely my favorite season. The trees are a beautiful mix of reds and yellows and oranges and browns. The air is more crisp, less humid. The sky is a little cloudier (which may not seem like a good thing to everyone, but I love it). And I love the fall flavors...pumpkin, apple, YUM. Warm drinks taste better (I mean, don't get me wrong--I still drink loads of coffee in the summer. It's just much cozier when it's chilly outside).

But what I love most about autumn is that it just feels like change. I don't know why the coming of autumn feels more like change to me than the changing of other seasons, but it does. It just makes me feel like change is okay. Good, even.

This autumn is definitely a change for me. I'm not going back to school. I'm just continuing to work. I'm away from all of the friends that I grew so close to throughout college. I thought I would be much more sad about this than I am. It just feels like...life goes on, and I have to be content with where I am. I can't keep looking back and wishing for what I used to have. There are some exciting changes on my horizon, too. Like moving to Taipei. I'm still applying for jobs and working until the right one comes along, and it's very exciting daydreaming about seeing my friends there, about experiencing the culture, about returning to places I love.

Change is scary, even the changes I am making voluntarily. Being at home has made me realize that I have to move with the changes of life. I'm living at home with my parents and brother, just like I always used to before I went to college. Even though I love my family, it's not the same as it was when I was younger. There's a song I really like called "Painting Pictures of Egypt" by Sara Groves, and some of the lyrics say:

The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads were closed off to me
While my back was turned

This describes how I feel right now. Like where I was in the past isn't right for me anymore, but the future is so unknown and scary. But I guess the scary things are often the things that are most worth doing, because they require a new level of trust in the Lord and where He's leading me. So here's to changing with the seasons; to pursuing new things, even if they're scary. This is adventure season!


The Journey of a Thousand Miles (7155.8 Miles, to be More Exact)

My journey to Taiwan is just beginning. Currently, I am working, working, and working some more to save the money I need. I'm applying for Taiwan jobs here and there if they are something I'm really really interested in and trusting that if I get one of those "dream jobs" then God will make things work out if it's what he wants for me.

I was really hoping to be in Taiwan by now, but for various reasons it just didn't work out that way. You know what, though? I'm ok with it now. I'm working with some pretty great people and getting to know some new people, and I'm really, really glad I have the chance to do that.  I'm finding that the Lord has a purpose for me wherever I am, and that I don't have to be on some grand adventure living in another country in order for life to be exciting and fulfilling. Moving to Taiwan is still my goal and I'm still working really hard to get there, but I'm learning to be content in every situation.

My beautiful friend Lauren has already landed a job in Taipei and is going to be there within the month, and I am so so happy for her. But I'm also a little itsy bitsy bit jealous. :) I know she's going to have a great time and do a great job there, but I can't wait to be there with her!

This is Lauren...look how precious she is with her sugary tomato-prune-kabob!

Whenever I get frustrated that I'm not able to go yet, I just try to remind myself that the Lord's timing is best, so I shouldn't insist on doing things MY way. I have to remember that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim. 6:6). I have more than I need and God will provide for whatever it is he has in store for me...my job is simply to be content with what God has given me.

So for now, I'm living life and taking joy in getting to know the people I have the privilege to be with right now!