Happy Valentine's Day!

A couple funny things happened at work today that I wanted to share with you. I had the grand idea to have treats in the office for Valentine’s Day. I was making cupcakes on Monday night for something else and had extra, so I packaged 11 frosting-less chocolate cupcakes for work. After baby-sitting in the morning, I stopped by Safeway with the intention of getting more cupcakes and the ingredients for raspberry Italian sodas (thanks for the idea, Lorry!).

Pathetic, I know, but I had no idea where anything was in Safeway! I always shop at Costco, Winco, or Fred Meyer. After wandering around and looking confused, I finally found the club soda, which I set in my basket. Then I picked out a tray of 12 vanilla cupcakes with towering pink frosting and a container of chocolate cookies with mint frosting. I put these in my basket, too, along with canned whip cream. Here’s where things started to break down.

They didn’t have any raspberry syrup. Reluctantly, I put back the club soda and whip cream in favor of three bottles of Martinelli’s apple cider, but then thought that we might not have anything to open the bottles with, so back on the shelf they went. I realized then that my arm was about to fall off from the weight of the club sodas, so I decided to buy two containers of raspberry lemonade out of desperation. As I was making a beeline for the lemonade, an employee asked “Are you finding everything?” I wasn’t about to tell him how I really felt, so I said politely, “Yes, thank you,” and grumbled to myself about why I couldn’t have just used a shopping cart. I’m sure this would have been the solution to my problem. By this time, the cupcakes were quite jumbled.

Praise God, I made it to work and got everything onto the counter in the kitchen. I pulled the cupcakes out of the bag and some of the frosting tops had come clean off! Two guys in the kitchen stared at the cupcakes. Frankly, I don’t blame them.

“Umm…what happened to the cupcakes?” One of them, David, asked.

I told the whole story, and David suggested that I just separate the frostings from the cupcakes.

“After all, some people really like the frosting but not the cake, and vice versa,” he reasoned.

So I did just that. I set out the rest of the spread, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting, raspberry lemonade and ice, chocolate mint cookies, severed cupcakes and frosting on separate plates, and some vanilla cupcakes that still had frosting. Needless to say, the treats got rave reviews and everything had vanished by 4 p.m. except three blobs of pink frosting.

Around 3 p.m., I was working steadily at my computer, and David said, “Elizabeth! Look!”

He had placed a pink frosting top on a chocolate cupcake. I burst out laughing. Somehow that made all the trouble of the morning’s shopping trip worthwhile.

On a serious note, I wrote out a hymn about God’s love for both Partners and Olive Tree this morning. I’ve committed it to memory because I like it so much, so I’m going to share it with you. Here it is:

Could we with ink the ocean fill

and were the sky of parchment made;

If every stalk on earth a quill

and every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

tho’ stretched from sky to sky.

O Love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

the saints’ and angels’ song.

I hope your Valentine’s Day has been full of the love of God, family and friends!

A Tale from Work

My role at work has recently been refashioned. Last Tuesday (1/10), I had finished several projects at work and felt like I had reached a dead-end. I was bored and felt direction-less, so I was in a bad mood that evening when I called my parents to complain and ask for guidance. As usual, my parents gave wise advice, urging me to talk with my supervisor the following morning. I resolved to do just that.

The next morning, I had a recurring meeting at 9 a.m. After the meeting, I was ready to leave my supervisor’s office when he stopped me. “I have some things to discuss with you,” he said. I was intrigued. For the next half hour, he told me all about his vision for events that we could host for users of our software, how he wants to develop a healthy company culture, and how he wants to put more thought and effort into our bi-monthly company lunches. God’s answer to my and my parent’s prayers tumbled out of his mouth as he cast his vision. I suddenly had purpose and a direction, a niche in the company that God had equipped me to fill with my unique personality, experience, and skills.

The first event I threw my energy into was our coming company lunch and training which was to be held in Partners’ spacious conference room next door on January 17. We have simply NO space at Olive Tree; we’re crammed into our space like sardines in a can. In a flash of inspiration, I offered to make the Partners’ staff a lunch of their own as a thank you. The menu for Partners? A triple batch of vegetarian chili, homemade cornbread, and a lemon cream pie.  

But later, as I was buying cans and cans of beans at Fred Meyer, I questioned my offer to make Partners a meal. After all, we’re talking at least twenty people! As Olive Tree’s company lunch approached, I worried about the details of trying to coordinate both meals at the same time. I felt like my coordination of the meal for Olive Tree was a litmus test. In my interview, I professed to be skilled at planning events and organizing. Could I live up to my profession? Through a miracle of God’s grace, both meals came off without a hitch.

 

I used the website PerfectPotluck.com to track what Olive Tree employees were bringing to the potluck lunch. We had six kinds of chili, five salads, four pans of cornbread and bread, and five yummy desserts. The events planning committee, of which I am now the head, helped with set up for Olive Tree’s meal and everything ran like clockwork—there were enough places at the tables for everyone, there was an abundance of food, and the presentations and training by several Olive Tree staff came off without a technological hitch. Several people complimented me on the coordination of the meal and others eagerly discussed what kind of potluck we could do for February’s lunch. I even had helpers for the grunt work of cleaning up and taking the garbage to the dumpster in the cold wind.

After work, I went over to Partners and washed some of my dishes from their meal. There was an abundance of leftover chili, so a number of us enjoyed another warm bowl of chili on Wednesday as the snow swirled outside. I received many compliments about the meal from the Partners’ staff, too.

However, it wasn’t the compliments I was after with the two meals. As I reflect back on Tuesday, it was the community that was created around the meals that was the goal. Meals have the ability to foster in our hearts a sense of belonging to a community. Perhaps this is why one of the Sacraments is a meal. It signifies belonging to the family of faith and belonging to a community means that everyone has a place, that everyone matters. I’m praying that both Olive Tree and Partners’ employees know that they belong to a community of faith as many more meals are enjoyed together in the coming months.

P.S. I’m not sure where the idea originated, but Olive Tree will take on Partners in a Ping Pong Doubles Tournament starting this coming Thursday. It will be fun! Partners has been referring to the Olive Tree team in general as the “Olives.” This should be interesting. :o)

Part One: I know, I know...

…it’s been forever since I wrote. I promise I have a good excuse. I have a job! Praise God! Truthfully, I have not been as thankful for this job as I should be. I confess this shamefully. So let this blog be one of praise to God as I tell you a little about the job and how it came about. I realize there’s a lot to tell, so I’m going to break it into two posts. This post will be a little bit more about the history of how I got the job and the next about what the job actually entails.

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I work 25 hours at Olive Tree Bible Software, which leases its building from Partners. I was actually first connected to Olive Tree at a lunch hosted by Partners for its tenants. Ironic. From there I had two interviews for two different positions over the course of a month and a half. I received a call from the business administrator offering me a job on the morning of October 28, as I sat in the Spokane airport waiting for a flight to Mt. Hermon Christian Conference Center outside of San Jose, California, for a Partners conference.**

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I was a little taken aback by the call at first because Olive Tree had taken a couple weeks to get back to me after the second interview. Also, the company has doubled in the past couple years, so the position they wanted me to fill had just been created. I knew I had a job, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing. There still isn’t a job description, but I’m figuring it out. :o)

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I was traveling down to California with four older women from Partners, and their joy and delight in hearing about my job surpassed my uncertainty. To have Partners people surround me that weekend with enthusiasm about this new job was a great help! God has been so good to me to heal my heart of any hard feelings towards Partners for letting me go. In fact, as I’ve been next door to Partners this past month, I’ve been over for lunch most days to maintain these relationships that God has given to me as a gift of grace.

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The other neat thing was that we had a long layover in Portland. My mom and I had already arranged that she and I would meet at PDX for lunch. It was great to talk with her in person about the details of the job and to eat the delicious lunch she prepared. Thanks, Mom!  After a lovely weekend, I started my new job as Project Coordinator at 9 a.m. sharp on Monday.

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**Quick note about the conference. It was hosted by Partners for current and previous staff and long-time donors and it was a wonderfully celebratory weekend with many staff members from overseas (Senegal, India, Indonesia, etc), who gave presentations on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning about God’s work in the different areas around the world where Partners works. It was a delightful time of fellowship with Partners staff, past and present. I had several wonderful conversations over meals with older men and women who remembered a particularly influential Partners’ president named Allen Finley. His wife, Ruth Finley, was at the conference.

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One particularly delightful time was on Saturday night. A number of Partners’ staff members were chosen to wear beautiful outfits that Ruth Finley has collected from all over the world in a Parade of Nations. I wore a costume from the Philippines with HUGE gold earrings. So fun! Here’s a picture:

Part Two: The Daily Duties

Now to what I actually do from day to day. Oh boy. It’s complicated. People ask me what I do and sometimes I honestly don’t know what to say. I’ll start by explaining what Olive Tree Bible Software does. Olive Tree has several applications that run on mobile devices like the iPad, iPhone, and Android, Mac desktop, and will soon run on PC desktop. When you purchase and download the app, which is called BibleReader, you can read the Bible, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and many other Christian books and use the special features that the app contains. It’s a cool resource!

**

I work right under the company’s president. Because it’s a small company, the president has direct input into most of the details of the company, which currently has six-ish departments. The basic tenor of my job is to manage projects that involve individuals from more than one department, but I’ve also been helping with customer support, submitting in-app purchases to iTunes, typing up Christmas carols for our Christmas party, making a chart of coming projects, sitting in on interviews, etc…

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As you can tell, the job varies from day to day, which is actually quite fun. Every day is different. I have learned SO much in the past month and a half. I’m finally to the place where I’ve been managing simpler projects on my own. Next week, I’ll be managing my first bigger project. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m slowly getting to know my co-workers better. We had our office Christmas Party on Wednesday night at a gorgeous place called Beacon Hill that overlooks Spokane. It was a great chance to get to know my co-workers and their spouses. I had several enjoyable conversations. And the food was great! It helped me feel more like I belonged at Olive Tree.

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I have still been baby-sitting two kids from 7:15 to 8:45 a.m. Monday through Thursday. The money helps pay for my student loans, and I’ve gotten to know the kids. I like them, though they certainly have their ups and downs. Last Thursday, the ten-year-old girl and I were making eggs-in-a-nest (a piece of bread cooked with an egg in the middle) for breakfast, and I cracked my egg over the hole in the bread. It felt different than normal because it was hardboiled. She and I thought that was so funny. We just cracked up!

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(Pun intended.)

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One last highlight, I went to a 80s dance party fundraiser for clean water last Saturday. My housemates got really into my hair crimping and make-up, so I looked pretty awesome. I’ll include a picture here. I love to dance! I may or may not have been dancing around my kitchen to Christmas music this week. :o)

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As you can see, God has been so good to me with this job. It uses many of my gifts and talents, though in unexpected ways, and it’s a great work environment. We have lots of laughs and jokes, and there’s always a tempting basket of chocolate in the break room. :o) For the record, I plan to start writing on my blog at least once a week. If I’m going to go to the trouble of having a blog, I might as well write! Check back soon!

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May God bless you this Advent day to look forward to Christmas with joyful anticipation!

When it Rains it Pours

The past two days--Wednesday and Thursday--have been crazy. I want to have a record of what happened, so I'm writing it down here. No doubt the title of the blog will become clear to you as you continue reading.

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At the start of this week, I had several meetings planned regarding jobs. On Wednesday, I started one of the childcare jobs, which is watching two kids, ages seven and 10, from 7:15 a.m. until their bus picks them up at 8:40 a.m. An easy job and the kids are great. On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I had childcare jobs at Colbert Presbyterian Church. On Thursday afternoon, I was meeting with a woman, Catharine, at 4:30 to discuss helping her do household chores (grocery shopping, gardening, etc.) and transporting her 13-year-old son to his various activities. With all these job possibilities, the week looked promising.

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When Monday rolled around, I still hadn't applied for the World Relief job that two friends had recommended to me. One of those friends called on Monday and said, "The search committee for has been reviewing applications and my brother-in-law said he hasn't seen yours yet. They'd really like to see your application." I'm not sure why I was procrastinating, but that phone message kicked me into gear. I updated my resume, cover letter, and submitted my application within an hour's time. On Tuesday afternoon, I got an e-mail from the director of World Relief, Spokane, with an essay prompt attached. To be considered for an interview, I had to write a short essay. I wrote the essay from 9 to 10 p.m. on Tuesday night without any review from my dad (who always looks over my written work) and sent it back to the director. I expected an e-mail back from the director on Wednesday with an interview time, but still hadn't heard by the time I went to bed on Wednesday. I had told him I was available for an interview on Thursday afternoon or any time Friday.

**

Back to Wednesday morning. After I finished with the two kiddos, I drove to Partners to volunteer for two hours, attend Chapel, and eat lunch with my former co-workers. The next day, Partners was hosting a BBQ for its tenants in either wing of the building, and I was invited. Great! I'll take any opportunity to visit Partners. And because I hadn't started on a project during my volunteer hours that I knew needed to be done, I decided I would stay after the lunch on Thursday to help.

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On Wednesday evening, I was at Colbert to do childcare for one hour for the younger kids of parents who were at a youth group parent meeting. It would have been fine except that we had two younger, high strung, tired boys who got into frequent clashes and seemed to have a breakdown in every game we played. Because these two boys demanded attention, I felt I was unfairly ignoring the more mild-mannered kids. I was delighted to see the parents come. As I waited for my ride home, I felt exhausted. Then, as the youth director and Janet Neder were cleaning up the leftovers from dinner, I somehow ended up with a gallon bag of sloppy joe meat, a gallon bag of salad, and a jumbo-size Italian dressing. In any other state, I could have dealt with the excess of leftovers more easily. But because I was tired, the bag of sloppy joes seemed to weigh 100 pounds, and I had visions of the sloppy joes in my freezer for years to come. I fell into bed that night, exhausted.

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I woke up at 6:15 on Thursday morning and spent time with the seven and 10 year old. From there, I went straight to Colbert to watch any kids whose moms came to the Women's Bible study. Fortunately, there were only two young boys. Easy.

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As I drove to the BBQ at Partners, I felt worried that I was spending too much time at Partners. Is there a gauge for such things? I expressed that concern to several former coworkers and they all said, "You're always welcome" or "We love to see your smiling face." The lunch was fun. One wing of Partners' building is an accounting firm and the other is a Bible software company called Olive Tree. We prayed together, got big plates of BBQ, salads, and dessert, and ate together at tables. I was helping clean up when Bob Savage introduced me to the president of Olive Tree. Olive Tree will soon hire a temporary administrator with the possibility of the job becoming permanent. At the president's insistence, I went over to Olive Tree, talked to the administrator, and agreed to send in my resume and some contact information for references. Wow! What providence!

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Back at Partners, I found out I was volunteering that afternoon with Forrest Baird, a beloved philosophy professor at Whitworth. Our task was to fold invitations, stuff, and seal nearly 700 envelopes. I folded, and Forrest stuffed and sealed. At first, I wasn't sure what I would talk about with Forrest for two hours, but I shouldn't have worried. We had a marvelous time working our mail room assembly line. We talked about everything from the history of the recent popes to the expense of weddings, my prospects of finding a husband to the differences between a nerd, dork, geek and dweeb for which Forrest kindly supplied me with a chart. We were talking so animatedly that a number of people in the office came through to join the conversation or comment on our enthusiasm. With the fluidity of our conversation, it was 3:30 when we sealed our final envelopes. I didn't leave Partners until 4 p.m. and realized that I was supposed to meet Catharine at 4:30 and didn't have directions to her house.

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I raced home and found clear directions from Catharine on my e-mail. Her house was a mere five minutes from mine. Thank you, God! But as I scanned my e-mail, I saw an e-mail from the World Relief director that started out like this: "Obviously you did not get my earlier e-mail about your interview time today at 3:30. We would like to reschedule..." Oh my gosh! I had missed an interview at World Relief because I hadn't checked my e-mail at all that day. Instead, I was talking with Forrest about what constituted a nerd. I was mortified.

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I drove to Catharine's and had a good meeting with her and her son, Andrew. I had promised to cook dinner for my housemate, Rachel, who had a big test the following day, but I hadn't been shopping and could hardly tell you what I had in the fridge. Fortunately, my experience with preparing meals kicked in and I was able to make zucchini fritters and a fruit salad, which I served along with cherry tomatoes from a Water Aerobics classmate, salad from Wednesday night, and corn from home. Yum! After dinner, I spent an hour relating all that I just told you to my parents.

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So, I do have an interview at World Relief today at noon. At least, I hope I do. I'll show up and see if they still want to interview me, even with all the trouble I've caused. Even with the relative chaos of the week, I have seen God's hand moving in mysterious ways to provide for me. It's almost laughable because I have done so little to deserve any of God's goodness. While a little chaos is fine every so often, I want to have more quiet time. I don't want life to be so crazy busy that I hardly have time to stop and take a breath. I think this lifestyle is more detrimental than we imagine. With that in mind, you can see why I titled this blog the way I did. Hits the nail on the head, I'd say. :o)

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May the Lord Jesus grant each one of you rest and peace this weekend!