November whaaaaat?

If I sneak a post in today, then I only missed a month :)  Ideally, I would write much more often...I'm trying to get back into it.  There's something so happy and calming in writing out my thoughts and sharing them.

I got some good news today!  I had an appointment with the Lyme doctor today, and she said in 2-3 months they are going to start tapering me off antibiotics...completely!  Praise God that he has brought me this far.  I have learned to trust his faithfulness through all of this, and although this trial is not yet over, I have no fear.  Whatever happens, he will be glorified...and I will me made more like him as he molds me.

I have started feeling better while i'm on the antibiotics, which is a good sign.  I've had more energy and less nausea - the goal is for me to feel just as good on the meds as I do off.  I think the end may be in sight! :)

Things continue as normal here in the big city.  It's time for fires, fleeces, coffee (ok ok) and christmas music!  I'm tailoring my pandora station at the moment :)  I just love this time of year, but I absolutely cannot believe that tomorrow is December!!  AHHHHHH!

I love my roommates.  a LOT.  Li (my actual roommate) is moving to China in mid-January. I am excited for her, but I am so sad to see her go that I almost can't stand it.  She has become such a dear friend to me, and it has been an undeserved blessing to share a room with her.  I don't want her to go!!!

Speaking of not deserving things, I am still amazed that God gave me this beautiful house with the greatest roommates ever!  I am so thankful :) :)

A few weeks ago, an intern took our pictures together!  It was like a photo-shoot - we walked all over and posed for 2 hours.  It was lots of fun :)  You're gonna love the photos...

Reeeeally happy :)

Love this one!

They tried to push me off...it worked.

I love jumping pictures!  please look at our faces!

sleepy grey saturday..

Today my arm hurts.  and my arm, i mean my shoulder. should blade, rotator, neck muscle connected to it, etc.  I flipping FELL on wednesday night.  I was coming home from bible study, and not in the greatest mood.  It was dark, and a bit rainy,  and the lord has really been showing me what an idol I’ve made of friendships...I’ve come to rely on them so much for happiness that I don’t find my satisfaction in the Lord.  

anyways, this is the mood i was in as I walked up my street and through my gate.  As I grabbed my keys, I noticed a guy walking by on the sidewalk.  Next thing I know, I am laid out on my front steps, and he has passed right on by.  As far as I can tell, this is what happened:  When I was looking for the right key, I put my foot out, and instead of stepping ON the step, I stepped on the edge of it and my foot slipped off.  Of course, since my body was already moving forward, this resulted in me landing on my left hip and shoulder, scraping my shins and knee, and going down.  Ow.

What really sucks is that I totally re-injured my shoulder!  It was just starting to feel better after 5 weeks, and it feels just as bad as it did back at the beginning.  I know that God is sovereign over everything, but I feel so bruised and battered!  Today I am just coming off two weeks of meds (stronger antibiotics than I’ve had in all 10 months of treatment), so I am sitting here with a burning shoulder, bruises, a popped vein from getting blood drawn and very unhappy stomach.  All I want is a home-cooked meal from my mom...and maybe some nursing-back-to-health.  

I’ve got to say...for that book I keep talking about writing, this is just another interesting chapter.  I wonder what God has in store for me next...

gahhh!!! the last time i wrote was june?  holy freaking cow.  lots has happened since then.  lots and lots.  Ok let's see...

July was really hot.  August was really hot.   wait, back up.  July 4th was really hot, but really good.  I was reflecting on my previous one (just 5 days after I moved here), and what a difference a year makes!  How fun to start the day by waking up at my good friend samantha's, then going home to take a nap (haha)?
Then i had some time to journal (and drink coffee of course), and thank God for his many blessings.

In the evening, I went to a cookout at the Bullmoose (the house across the street from the church where 13 guys live...i know i know, how was i invited?).  I walked over to the church to check out the (somewhat exclusive) picnic, and somehow ended up on the 4th floor roof with everyone else to see the fireworks.  It was pretty neat to see them from up there and have a 360 view!  There were actually fireworks all around us, but most of them were illegal.

Beginning of August was family beach week.  I never knew how sweet a week-long vacation could be!  I felt like life was closing in all around me, and then suddenly I was sleeping in, drinking coffee, reading, having meals made for me, laying on the beach, swimming....I just love the beach :)  It was so refreshing to not have a schedule and to be with people I love.

The end of August saw Abby leaving for grad-school.  I drove a packed second car down with her to Williamsburg.  I was glad to be there and see where she would be living, but it was hard to drive away!  I miss having her at work...when we were together we were usually laughing :)

That's all for now :)

<3,
J

Things on my mind and heart

I'm home sick for the second day in a row, so I figured I'd do something useful...instead of laying on the couch watching movies (which is all I've done up to this point.  How can you blame me with my library 10 feet away?).  I hate the feeling of sitting around all day though (even if I'm sick), so here I am.

Life has been busy.  There are so many things I want to do and people I want to spend time with that I never have time for everything!  As I get more involved in church, there are more and more opportunities...small group, bible study, friends, helping cook meals, childcare, etc.  I've had to remind myself to slow down.  It is really easy for me to spread myself thin, because I still want to do everything I did before Lyme, before this treatment.  It's hard for me to accept this, and it's easy for me to get frustrated with myself.

Lately, I've been having more and more side effects.  I'm on month 7 of the treatment (which is supposed to last 12-18 months), and I keep feeling worse.  I thought I would feel better by this point, but, like many things, it has to get worse before it gets better.  As this disease lingers and I feel progressively worse, I am learning to trust God more.  Each time I feel like I can't go on, each time I feel my hope slipping away, I am reminded that He is all I need.  He is enough.

Last week was really difficult.  Each day, something happened push me closer to the edge.  When I emailed my PA to ask her about my new side effects, she said that as I continue my treatment and the medicine and dying off gets "deeper", my symptoms will most likely intensify.  Boy, that was hard to swallow.  Praise God his faithfulness in providing friends who support, love, encourage and pray for me.  I couldn't do it without them.

<3

May - the new beginning of blogging!

I was just about to go to bed, but I had the sudden urge to visit my blog.  how is it possible that I haven't written since March?!?!  I have wanted to write so many times, but I just never had the energy to sit down and actually do it.  I've missed it though...it's an awesome way to kind of process things, while at the same time giving me the opportunity to share what's been going down in the life of Joyce.

Let me tell you, God has just given me blessing after blessing!! I'll start with this weekend, since it was just amazing.  I have a TON to catch you up on, but I better take it slow...or else I'll get overwhelmed and not end up writing for 2 months!  Or, I'll just write such a long novella that you will get bored and go to hulu instead.

This was a sweet weekend of fellowship.  Friday night after work, I drove out to Harper's Ferry for a girls getaway.  The ride was a blast!  It may or may not have had something to do that I was sitting next to Samantha (one of my favorite people!).  When we are together, it is absolute craziness.  It's like we had 50 pixie sticks and 4 venti starbucks....you can imagine the level of hyperactivity.  So fun :)  We lately discovered our mutual love of disney's robin hood..between the two of us, I think we quoted the whole movie!

Lunch date with Samantha!

Anyways, back to the weekend.  I was so thankful for the chance to get away, spend time with good friends, meet new girls, watch movies and sleep in.  On Saturday morning after a leisurely breakfast, we walked down to the river...we were on the AT!  pretty cool stuff.

This was on our way to the trail...somehow the trip ended with us having the nicknames
butter buns, bun bun and honey buns...

The day was cloudy and windy, but it felt good to be out in nature.  I was on a picture taking kick...

Love these ladies :)

We hiked the AT!  and by hiked, i mean we walked about 1/2 a mile...

We had a sweet time of singing hymns down by the water.  It was beautiful :)

We were only away for one night, but it was so refreshing and relaxing.  I absolutely love DC, but it is nice to get out in nature sometimes.  I also really appreciate having the opportunity to get to know girls from church on a deeper level...all of these blessings that I don't deserve!

xoxo

It's About Time...

oh dear.  It's been so long since I've written a post that I couldn't even remember my blog address!  yikes.  that's definitely a bad sign.

I keep thinking about writing a post, and then I don't.  I've been tired...and unmotivated.  But there have been a lot of good things happening in my life!

Something that I am most thankful for right now is my roommates.  Ever since moving up to DC, I had been praying for a good housing situation, and he went above and beyond.  I live with 3 wonderful, genuine, godly and hilarious women.  When we're all together...things get a little crazy.  This picture is from a Valentine's dinner we had at our house:

I've been so encouraged living with them.  After several rough living situations, I am so grateful for this blessing that I by no means deserve.


My coworkers are still great.  In December, my office moved, and instead of having a little cubicle, I share a larger space with Abby and Colleen (we are the three Program Assistants).  We have affectionately named our place 'the zone'.  We have a lot of fun together...Abby has story time throughout the day ("ok ok, LAST story".  I think we hear that about 15 times a day.  oh abby...haha).  Today we had zone lympics...colleen tried to throw a paper clip across the room into a little container.  she had 10 tries...fail.  We also shared a whole bag of peanut m&ms (actually, m&ms are a regular part of our day).  Random dance parties while listening to rap are also quite common..we have to do something to stay motivated!

We love having people visit the zone...and we inevitably brighten their day with our ridiculousness.  This afternoon, we were trying to get pumped up to finish the last 2 hours (I was falling asleep), so we got The Sound of Music playing, and we had a sing-along.  As we yodeled along with Julie Andrews, our boss (whose office is right across the hall) said, "are you listening to the sounds of music?  I love it!".  We kept singing and she just started laughing.

:)

Pictures are worth a thousand words...

I love pictures.  I love how they capture moments, how they hold memories.  I love how they show just how crazy my family is.  

'Nuff said.

numbers and thoughts

10 reasons why my work is awesome:

#1.  I have awesome coworkers (remember how I invited them to my birthday party and it was a blast?).

#2. My boss is amazing! (Fun, understanding, and kind.  And she lets me leave early when I'm feeling sick - major plus, because I never know when it's going to hit)

#3. We have a coffee club. 'nuff said.  (ok, maybe not.  I LOVE coffee!  And I am surrounded by people who are just like me.  It is just the best thing in the world to come into the office and get coffee before anything else!).

#4. Abby Bates.  I wouldn't be able to fit everything I love about her on here! She is just great :)

#5. People stop and chat about mmmmmm about 10 times a day.  Sometimes it's tough to get everything done...but I'm not complaining.  It's nice to have things to break up our work that can be...monotonous.

#6. I wear corduroys every (other?) day, and no one cares (my boss even wears them sometimes).  Sometimes I forget to take my sneakers off...It's nice not being required to wear business clothing, since ISEP does NOT pay us enough to afford to buy that kind of stuff! Yay first job out of college (that I am so thankful for and gaining a lot of knowledge and experience!)

#7. I get to write emails/talk to people in French (not as often as I would like, but it's better than nothing!)

#8. The office atmosphere is so friendly and relaxed.  Yes, job is in Washington DC. No, it's not stressful.  I know, who would have thought? What a great place to be during this season in my life!

#9. Abby, Colleen and I (the three Program Assistants) have our own little space!  It is so nice to be together and be able to chat/laugh/ask questions/laugh...well, you get the idea.  I just love being with people.

#10.  Abby Bates.  Oh wait, I already said that :)

Lunch break.  Abby and I watching a show together...yes, we are sharing a pair of headphones.  

The End!

Ode to my sbux

I'm having one of those days where I don't know what I want to write about.  Usually when I start though, the words just come tumbling out...
I'm sitting in my new favorite cafe.  I am ashamed to say it's a Starbucks...but what can I say?  I've definitely had better drinks at other cafes,  but this place is just so cozy.  And, no matter what people say about Starbucks, it is nice to know that you are getting exactly what you ordered (and it's always the same).

Side note: It's hard for any cafe to measure up to my standards because my Starbucks was the best place in the world!  We were amazing at customer service, made excellent drinks, and had a blast.  Seriously.  Half of the job was working and half was goofing off...always with my coworkers, often with customers.  We loved our regulars, who became like friends, and always had their customized drink waiting for them. 

 Brian, Mark and Will were so great with the customers.  Brian would joke around with the customers, and give them free drinks.  Mark knew all things Starbucks, and would chat people up and share his knowledge.  And Will...what can I say.  He knew every customer's name, made friends with all of them, and always put his whole heart into whatever he was doing.  I have never been anywhere in my LIFE that had better customer service.  We had so much fun hanging out and working, that the mood was kind of contagious when people walked in.  When customers came in, we would drop whatever we were doing to welcome them and make them feel valued.  It's hard for me to go to other cafes and not compare them to mine.  I just get so annoyed that their service is SO bad, and you can tell it's just a job to them and they could care less about you being there.  I miss my Starbucks!

Drinks: I absolutely loved working at the bar.  There's just something so fun about creating the best drinks ever, and making people happy!  I know for a fact that people loved us :) I hate airy foam (you know, the kind the hardens and is gross), so I always made it a point to make it as silky as possible.  I even had customers come back and say "this is the best foam I have ever had!".  That always made me smile :) 

Brian was the drink master, and such a natural at the bar.  I really loved working with him...especially when there was a line out the door - we double-barred the espresso machine like nobody's business.  There was just something about the seamless flow of creating hundreds of drinks, without ever spilling a drink or bumping into each other.  So fun.

There are so many more great memories, but these are some of the highlights...we also did pranks on a regular basis...Brian tied my apron stings to the cabinet, Will made a prank call from the back room and had me going for a good 5 minutes before I realized it was him.  I was so stinking mad but it was impossible not to laugh when I went to hit him and he was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.  I put coffee grinds down marks shirt.  I tried SO hard to prank Brian...but he was so smooth that it was impossible!

One of my favorite pranks is the picture below - our back room was TINY, and when we got our shipments in, it was almost impossible to put it away.  Will was in the back corner on the computer, so focused that he was oblivious to everything around him.  Mark and I ran in the back and stacked all of the heavy, full boxes into a wall... 



Look at Will!  Hahahahha I will never stop laughing about it.

Anyways, my side note turned into my story.  I was privileged to work with these wonderful people.  I am so grateful that God gave me the blessing of working at a place that I enjoyed so much.

The end!

Long overdue...

I don't think I give my parents enough credit.  In fact, I know I don't. 


My parents are incredible.  The older I get, the more I realize this.  I am amazed by how much they have sacrificed to raise us.  Dad works long hours at a demanding and stressful job, and yet he never complains.  He has always provided so well for our family.  I have such fond memories of him teaching me to ski, going to the grocery store with him (we always got in trouble with mom for getting sugary foods), playing jail with us (freaking amazing family game, I know you're jealous), and so many other things.  It has been a privilege to get to know him as a friend as I get older.
   Mom is one of the hardest working people I know.  I don't know anyone who could homeschool 7 kids.  Every morning, she made sure we were dressed and at the table by 7:30 in time to eat and have family devotions.  What a blessing to have parents who make teaching us about our Savior such a priority!  One of my favorite memories of growing up is mom taking us on field trips to the library.  We would spend hours pouring over books, then take a massive stack home.  I still love reading :)
Every night, mom had (and still has) a delicious and healthy dinner ready...I used to complain about her lentil soup, but most of the healthy things I had to eat growing up are now some of my favorites!  If I didn't know her, I would probably think she was crazy.  How could anyone do all of that and remain sane??  But I have seen her in action, and I know firsthand how graciously and tirelessly she does everything.  I don't know how she does it!



I love you guys.

Encouraged.

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the LORD your God, 

the Holy one of Israel, your Savior".

Isaiah 43:1-3

I think I've been giving in to despair a little bit to much lately.  Sure, it sucks being sick, wondering if I'll ever be better.  It's incredibly hard to be so exhausted that I don't have the energy to do anything, and so depressed that I don't want to anything.  

And yet, I know God is in all of this.  I know everything He does is righteous and just.  I know he uses trials to shape and mold his children.  I know He will bring me through.  

He is good. faithful. loving. merciful. gracious. patient.  When He decides to bring me out of this season, I am hopeful that I will be more faithful, humble, loving, gracious, compassionate, patient, kind, gentle and wise than before. 

My prayer is that instead of dwelling on how I feel, I would be captivated by my beautiful savior...living each day for His glory.  

birthday!

Ok, so I know that as you get older, your birthday isn't as magical as when you were a kid.  No more breakfast in bed, no more piles of presents or special cakes (I always made my mom make me an ice cream cake), no more day-off-from-school.  (Just kidding, my mom didn't let us take advantage of that...she only gave us days off for important things like skiing...but then we had to do work in the summer, which i thought was totally unfair).  

Anyways, this year my birthday was great!  I decided to have a birthday party, even though I've never liked planning parties for myself.  It just feels weird, you know?  But some of my coworkers started asking me what I wanted to do, a dinner party just sounded so fun.  You know how I've mentioned how awesome my coworkers are?  Well, I like them so much that they were the only ones I invited to the party.  What a blessing to have such awesome people that I enjoy spending time with even outside of the office!  We all get along so well and always have a good time.

The week before my birthday, I found out we had thursday and friday off!  How. Awesome.  This was due to the office move, but I could care less about the reason :)  I was thrilled, because that meant I would have all day friday to get the food ready.  I also wouldn't be exhausted after working all day.

When I first started planning the party, I was going to make lasagna, bread and salad.  Tasty, but easy and cheap.  When I told Abby and Nora, they were like, "Joyce! You can't eat any of that! You need to make something else".  Me: "It's ok guys, I'm used to not being able to eat what other people are eating!  I'll just make something else for me".

They finally convinced me that I was being stupid and I needed to come up with a different menu.  So, I settled on Chicken Tortilla soup, butternut squash with apples, and salad.  I convinced my guests to bring something, so I had appetizers, desserts, and coffee provided (and mom, I made your cheese ball and everyone LOVED it). 

The soup came out great (always good when the food doesn't taste like crap when you have guests), and the time around the table was a blast.  I was about to ask if anyone minded if I prayed for the meal, when Spencer said, "should we say a prayer?".  Everyone said "yes!" and we all held hands and someone said "It's just like family Christmas!" :) So cool.  What followed was 2 hours of talking, laughing, swapping stories about work, laughing, eating, laughing and more talking.  At one point, I grabbed my camera and passed it around the table.  I made everyone take a picture, which ended up being really fun.

Here are some of my favorites...

There were 12 of us around a 6 person table..nice and cozy!

See how happy?!

Ok, I know this looks totally fake, but it's totally real!  I swear.  That's why it's so funny!

                         And these are my coworkers....hahahhaha.  What a fun night :)