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.

**

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.**

**

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)

**

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.

**

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.

**

**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.

**

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:

Some random photos!

I thought it'd be fun to take a post to show some pictures from the past two-ish months. They're a bit out of order, but I hope not too confusing. It's fun to read about someone's life, but it's sometimes more fun to see pictures. Hope these give you a taste of Spokane life!

The picture above is of our second Partners Bike ride on October 15 on the Fish Lake Trail in Spokane. We had a great time and enjoyed a delicious soup and bread lunch together afterwards. I have been so blessed to take part in times of fellowship with Partners staff. I hope we keep it up in the winter. Maybe a night of swing dancing instead! :o)

This is a picture of our first Partners' biking trip when we biked the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in Harrison, Idaho. I'm in the lower right corner. Next to me is Bob Savage, the other coordinator of the trip. We had a great time!

I teach 5th and 6th grade Sunday School at Colbert Presbyterian Church. The 5/6th graders are teaching lessons to the younger kids at Sunday School this fall. Our first unit was Creation, so our activity had the kids decorating graham crackers with white frosting and a number of ingredients that represented different parts of creation. For instance, chocolate chips were "dark," blue frosting was "sky" and "water," banana circles were "sun," and Teddy Grahams were "animals." This is a picture of the different ingredients arranged on the table in our Sunday School classroom. It came off pretty well besides the hyper-activity from the sugar. haha.

My family went to the beach in early September and tried to take several pictures on the beach with me taking the picture with my left arm. As you can see, I could use more practice. Julie is smiling, I promise. :o)

Here are my housemates enjoying pieces of apple pie after a house dinner in September. I am so thankful for my housemates. They're great!

Back in September, Kari and I made this awesome cake from a recipe sent to me by Lorry Jackson. The cake had several layers and lots of frosting and pieces of strawberry cheesecake on top. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe tip, Lorry!

Okay, I'll have another written update coming soon. Like probably tonight. It's been a little while since I last posted. Life rolls steadily along, doesn't it. :o)

I Survived a 20-mile Bike Trip!

I know, I know, two posts in one day is a lot, but isn't an influx of writing is due after weeks of nothing? I hope you'll forgive me.

**

Before I stopped working at Partners, Bob Savage and I had been planning a company bike trip on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a beautiful 70-mile bike trail in northern Idaho. Fortunately, another woman at work took over the logistics planning and the trip happened as promised on Saturday. I rode with Bob and his wife Martha on the 1 1/2 hour trip to the small town of Harrison, Idaho, on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene. We had a great turnout for the trip, 19 Partners employees and family members. It was a wonderful time!

**

The day was supposed to be in the 90s, so we wisely arrived in Harrison in time to be on the trail by 10:30 a.m. We biked in smaller groups along the trail until around 1 p.m., many of us going 20 miles round trip. Back in Harrison, we enjoyed sandwiches on homemade bread from one of Harrison's cafes. The 19 of us (including a five-week old baby) sat on two picnic tables and had a marvelous time sharing chips, sodas, and muffins, enjoying our sandwiches after a morning of rigorous exercise, and talking up a storm. There's something wonderful about spending time away from all the demands of daily life with good company. It revives the soul. We also got big ice cream cones from a local shop and were thankful we had the foresight to order only one scoop each. One scoop could easily have been considered three scoops in any other ice cream shop.

**

The trip reminded me how much I enjoy and appreciate the people who work at Partners. This might have made me sad several weeks ago, knowing what I was missing day after day at work. But now, I feel joyful to have met them and have resolved to continue the relationships to the best of my ability and as God leads. It reminded me never to underestimate the value of being in a person's life for even a short period of time. God may mean some relationships to last years and some to last only months. But the impact of a relationship isn't always based on time.

**

That being said, I have another funny story. My housemate Rachel and I were on a walk yesterday and decided to cross Mill Road to walk in another neighborhood. We passed the house of one of my college friends whom some of you know. I happen to know the whole family and a light was on in the window, so Rachel agreed to stop with me so I could say "hi." Hannah Whisenand opened the door and with characteristic warmth gave Rachel a big hug before even learning her name. We had a delightful 10-minute conversation and both left with a handful of Tootsie Pops. I know where I'll be going on Halloween. :o)

**

This next thought is totally unrelated to the above two stories, but I couldn't help but share it. You know the reason I love grocery shopping at the Fred Meyer near my house is that I almost always see people I know. Rachel and I were there on Friday, and I saw several different people I know. It was so fun! (Also, making zucchini chocolate chip muffins with M&Ms instead of chocolate chips is a really good idea.)

**

A final note, the article I wrote for Partners several weeks ago has been published in a local newspaper Good News Northwest. It's a good article because I had two excellent proof readers to help me along (thanks Gordon Jackson and Amber Holloway!). If you can't find a newspaper copy, you can find the recent issue online at http://www.goodnewsnorthwest.org/Paper/index.html. The article is on pages seven to 11. It's a great example of a local Spokane church partnering with a ministry called Christian Outreach Fellowship in Ghana, West Africa. God is doing great things in the world. Hallelujah!

Car Shops and Sushi

I have two main stories to tell in this blog, one from home and one from Spokane. Last Wednesday (6/22), I drove home to participate in some wedding activities (Bridesmaid Tea, Rehearsal and Rehearsal dinner, and wedding) of a good friend from my home church, Cassie Shaw (now Cassie Plucknett). It was so good to be home and spend time with family and friends. I had a lovely couple hours with my grandpa at his farm on Thursday and enjoyed my graduation party on Sunday. Thanks to all the friends and family who were able to make it to my party. I am so grateful for your support in my life!

On Friday, my dad wanted me to take my car to a shop in north Portland for a tune-up. I invited my friend Ruth Benzar to join me. We were at the shop by 9 a.m. on Friday. I expected that we'd be done by noon, if not sooner. "What are you planning to do while you wait?" The shop owner asked us. "We'll probably take a walk," I answered. "It'd better be a long walk," he said. "We don't expect to be done until 2 or 3 p.m." I was shocked, as I'm sure Ruth was, too. We left the shop and sat outside a nearby Starbucks, trying to decide what to do. In a burst of inspiration, we decided to walk to the University of Portland, Ruth's school, though we really had no idea how long it would take. What did it matter? We had all day.

After setting off in the direction of UP, we happened upon New Seasons, an upscale grocery store with tons of organic, ethnic, and whole grain food. Not paradise, per se, but something very close! We wandered through the store for a good half hour before deciding to buy our lunch here. We bought two freshly-baked rolls, a big yellow heirloom tomato, hummus, and a pint of Oregon strawberries. The walk to UP seemed long, especially because we were hungry. And I really think it was a long walk, perhaps six miles round trip. Halfway to UP, we got a call from Stan.

"Okay, your car is ready to go, Miss Brink."

10:52 a.m.

"Umm...we're a couple miles from the shop. Can the car hang out there for a couple hours?"

After his "yes," I hung up the phone and told Ruth the news. We were properly outraged. The folly of people! But soon we were able to see our situation in a better light. We resolved to continue our walk to UP, where we enjoyed our lunch immensely. And, as usually happens, the walk back to the shop didn't seem nearly as long. We were pleasantly full and had yet much to discuss and talk through. We retrieved my car and set off, an adventure under our belt that we couldn't have anticipated. Who knew that Stan the maintenance man was also a prophet? We had indeed had a long walk!

That's a rather long story, but the second story is too fresh in my mind to not write about. If you're bored, save the next story for another day. :o)

Today was June's FIRED lunch at work. (See the previous post for an explanation.) The elected choice was Wasabi Bistro, a sushi place on Division and Hawthorne. I've had sushi once before and enjoyed it, so I was excited to try it a second time.

I ended up sitting by Bob Bowen, Bob Savage, and Jon Lewis, a VP, a long-time PI employee, and the president of PI, respectively. I ordered a Philadelphia roll, which is sushi with smoked salmon, avocado, and cream cheese. My plate came with eight tidy sushi rolls and a pair of chopsticks. Everyone else at the table picked up their chopsticks with confidence and began to eat. I had a choice before me. I could fake chopstick confidence or look like a total novice. I decided to look like what I was and admitted my ineptitude to the three men.

I was promptly shown three different ways to hold my chopsticks by Bob, Jon, and Robert Huggins. I rotated back and forth between the methods, not wanting to offend anyone. I was actually able to manuever pretty well. But I did not want to put the whole sushi roll in my mouth at once. I was sure it would be a disaster. However, these men would have nothing of it. All of them have traveled in Japan and China and assured me that slurping noodles, chipmunk cheeks, and the like are common sights. They wouldn't continue eating until I had downed my roll. I did. They applauded. As I thought about it later, I figured this was a pretty good way to develop humility, all things considered. :o)

The only other mishap during lunch was that I swallowed an ice cube by mistake. My face must have looked ghastly because I thought Jon was going to freak out. But there was no real cause for alarm. Fortunately, I felt better when Bob Savage admitted that when he had eaten wasabi (a VERY spicy paste) for the first time, he hadn't known it was hot and so ate the whole ball of it on his plate. He claimed that he went unconscious for a full minute and saw bright lights. In light of this, I'd swallow an ice cube any day. :o)

Other than that, I had a delightful lunch. It was so fun to get to know people better and feel comfortable with them. Thanks God! And thanks to you for reading both stories.

Wishing you a blessed Fourth of July weekend! May it be fun and restful!