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 :)

Life.

      I realize that it's been more than a month since my last post.  I would say that life has gotten away from me, but it hasn't.  It's not that I've been too busy to blog...it's that I haven't felt like it. 
 

     Life has been hard lately.  Every day seems to be another test of my endurance, my faith.  After being sick for so long, I had pretty much given up hope of ever getting better.  So, when I was finally diagnosed, I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful.  Although I knew that treatment would be lengthly, at least there was the possibility of feeling better.

     This started my regimen of remaining on a strict diet, taking a huge handful of pills twice a day, injecting myself in the stomach twice a week, and getting blood labs every three weeks.  In and of itself, these things are not a big deal.  I mean, swallowing 27 pills every morning and every evening is annoying, but it's not painful or even that difficult.  And sure, the thought of giving myself a shot totally freaked me out at first, but now I'm used to it.  

     Since going on the medicine, I have noticed a slight improvement in my stomach, but sometimes it goes to feeling even worse than before.  Since it feels better than it has in a long time (sometimes), I am hopeful that the meds are having a positive impact. 

  
     Everyone knows a few things about Lyme Disease.  You get a bull's eye rash.  Your joints hurt.  Ok...so I think that's about where the general knowledge ends.  What most people don't realize is that it greatly affects you neurologically.  It can cause depression, mood swings, disorientation...as well as feeling like you're going crazy.  I have been in all of those places.

     Before I was diagnosed, I didn't understand what was wrong with me.  I didn't feel myself and it scared me, because I thought it was my fault.  The hard thing about psychological symptoms is that they are so much more intangible, and easier to explain away than physical ones.  But they are no less real.  Being diagnosed with Lyme and learning about the neurological side of the disease relieved me and helped me stop beating myself up so much.

     In this area, I think the medicine has actually had a negative affect (ostensibly getting worse before it gets better).  I find myself being edgy and anxious, getting frazzled extremely easily, forgetting words, losing my train of thought, and in general being a basket case.  Sometimes I think it is a miracle that I get through each day. I am often overwhelmed, and have trouble making it to the end of the work.  By the time I get home, I have to rest for at least an hour before I have enough energy to do anything.  Most nights though, I end up staying home to curl up in bed to watch a movie or read a book.  Most of the time, I am perfectly content to do this, since I have always loved movies and books.  It has sort of become a routine, and is almost comforting.  

     But, at other times, I get so frustrated that I don't have the energy to go out.  I feel like I'm being anti-social and wasting my time.  It has been especially hard in that I haven't had as many opportunities to meet people and make new friends.  Plus, I often don't have the emotional energy to put myself out there.  Being in a new place, this has been really tough since I get lonely just sitting at home. 

     I know this is a lot...this is the culmination of feelings, frustrations and realizations from the past several weeks.  I promise there are lots of good things going on in my life right now as well.  I just felt like I needed to get this off my chest first (bad news first, right?).  

Having Lyme has been one long trial.  But God is faithful...with each thing He takes away from me and every difficulty added to my life, He is showing me that He is enough, and teaching me to rely fully on Him.  I am learning to take on day at a time...and I'M SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!