I haven't posted in forever. Mostly because I have been busy with work, with life, whatever. Blah, blah, blah. I just have not shown my commitment to this blog. So even though it is currently 10:30 p.m. and that is past my bedtime, I've decided I need to write.
Because the purpose of this blog is to somewhat chronicle my life (and help me remember awesome things that happen), I'm just going to give a rundown of my day today.
This morning I slept in until about 7:15 a.m. I didn't have any foster home visits today, so I didn't have to be up at a certain time. I got up, got on my computer, checked work emails, ate breakfast and actually spent some time with Jesus (whole other post-I desperately need more time with Jesus!) While hanging out with Jesus, I got a phone call from one of my Nepali friends who lives in my apartment complex. She was calling to see if I could give her mother a ride to work. This was at about 8:20 a.m. Of course, I can, what else am I doing? So I hop in the car (dressed in my p.j.'s still-which totally consisted of tights, sports bra, tank, sweatshirt oh and my black, furry boots from Greece-they are my fave.) I looked awesome. Headed over to apartment #311, picked up my friend, S, who happens to be 8 months pregnant, and then we drove over to her mother's apartment and picked up the mother. Then we all headed to work. Thankfully, S, has driven her mother to work plenty of times and gave me great directions to the workplace. (Because if you know me, you know I get lost, anywhere, even and especially in malls, parking lots, places I've been numerous times.) However, thanks to S, we made it to work, dropped mom off, and headed back to the apartment. Got back and S and I both realized I have not visited S' apartment since she moved back in over here with her husband. We decided that I needed to see all of S' baby stuff that she just got at her work baby shower. I went and checked that out with her and we talked about her apartment and how she really misses her old apartment because it was bigger, etc. We also discussed what it is I actually do for a living. It is really hard to explain foster care to refugees-I'm pretty sure they all think I don't actually have a job since I work from home so frequently. But anyways I did my best to explain it and talked about how some parents make bad choices and don't keep their kids safe. We talked about how some people choose to use drugs around their kids-S said "why are they so stupid?" I ask myself this a lot. But then we talked about addiction and how it is hard to stop these choices after you start making them. And then we talked about her two younger siblings who are in high school and middle school and how she doesn't want this for them. I love S and how she looks out for her family. She is a fighter for sure. Finally after about 30 minutes of chatting, I said I needed to go back to work. Again, probably didn't make a ton of sense, but she let me go.
So, went back to work, still in my p.j.'s. Answering emails, talking to foster parents on the phone, writing up a home study-pretty exciting stuff. I also may have played Scramble with Friends on my new Iphone!!! It's addicting. And I'm kind of terrible at it, which just makes me want to play more so that I can beat people and feel smart. But that is besides the point.
I finally took a shower around 2 p.m. Around 3:30 p.m. the door starts getting beat down by kids who live in my apartment complex and who probably also don't think I have a real job because I always seem to be home...And they don't just knock. Oh no. They turn the doorknob, they beat on the door, they let the clacker thing bang on the door and then when all else fails, they yell "Jess, hey Jess, are you home? Jess?" It's great. So I couldn't answer the first wave of kids because I actually was working (on the phone with a foster parent). Then a little bit later, some more kids came by and I went to the door and talked for a few minutes, but explained that I had a lot of work to do and they could not come over today. While talking to these girls, I saw the Nepali grandma that lives next door. Oh I love her. She is tiny and beautiful and she gives me hugs and smiles so brightly at me every time I see her. So we hugged and each talked to each other in our language and did not understand each other at all, but it was wonderful. While talking to the grandma, another Nepali lady walks up. I assume she is visiting my next-door neighbors. But she is interested to see me. So my Nepali grandma goes inside her apartment and this other new friend comes inside my apartment. Yep, just comes in, looks around, starts asking me questions about who all lives in the apartment, where do my parents live, am I married (nope..), etc. She is really sweet, just very curious. We chat for awhile, I explain that yes, I am actually working. She continues to chat about various things, her children, how old they are-2 girls, 1 boy, ages 22, 21, 19. Then I get a work phone call so I say "I'm sorry, this is for work, it was nice to meet you." I'm assuming that she will let herself out of the apartment because I had left the door open. So I'm talking to one of my foster parents and then I hear my roommate's toilet flush. A few seconds later, my new Nepali friend comes around the corner where I am sitting at the kitchen table and lets me know that she just took a tour of the apartment. You know, just a look around in our bedrooms, etc. I'm still on the phone at this point, so I just say "ok, thank you." What else do you say? If she wasn't a sweet, older Nepali woman, I would think she was casing our apartment so she could come back later for the good stuff. Ha. Really, all I could do was laugh. I think she and I are friends for life now.
Around 4:30 p.m. a few more kiddos drop by. They say lots of "pleases" and give me puppy dog eyes, but I don't budge-I really have to get documentation done for work today.
Then at 6:30 p.m. I get ready to head out because I have a date with my neighbors down the way. They are from Burma and they are the sweetest family because they are my family! They love me to pieces and I am so thankful for them. The mom had an appointment with Aveda Hair Institute at 7:45 p.m. but before the hair appointment she wanted to take me to dinner, so we headed over to the Jumbo China Buffet. I have seen the sign for this place a million times, but have never been until tonight. It was me, my neighbor and her 9 year old daughter. We had a great time. They were so excited to show me the buffet and encouraged me to eat "more, more." The food was good and we had a good time just talking about our days, what is going on in their family and most importantly, how she wanted to get her hair cut!! We finished up at the buffet, read all of our fortune cookies and headed to Aveda. I did not know this but at Aveda (where there are students learning how to cut hair, etc) they estimate up to an hour and a half for a haircut!! Yikes! Thankfully Aveda is located in this outdoor mall area, so the 9 year old daughter and I took a little walk to Old Navy and bought a few clothing items. That was way more fun than sitting in the waiting area at Aveda. Finally around 9:15 p.m. my neighbor came out looking like a model with her brand new haircut and we all headed home. All the way home in the car she kept saying "I'm so happy!" She loved her haircut and I know she also loved that we got to hang out for several hours.
All in all, a really great day. I get super wrapped up in my own little life schedule some times and I forget to enjoy the moments I am in, but today was good. There was joy, laughter, hugs and just this feeling of knowing that God is good and he is in each of these moments. He cares about each of these moments. In my life and yours.
P.S. It is now 11:20 which is way past my bedtime.
P.P.S-I don't have any pictures to go along with this post. I'll work on that for next time. :)
