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I love fresh starts.

I hate starting new things.

Confusing? Yes.

I love that feeling when everything is fresh and organized. When you've just cleaned out that closet for springtime or balanced the check book. I find it humorous how much joy I get out of getting all the bills paid and the check book balanced. I don't look forward to spending the money we get on fun stuff so much as I love putting aside grocery money or paying off that credit card balance. I love when I have a FULL gas tank, which is hard to come by these days. When that needle is on the F, I can go anywhere I want without having to stop. The world is at my fingertips.

I hate starting new things. New jobs are particularly hard. You don't know anything, you don't know anybody, you feel stupid when you have to ask where the bathroom is. Very uncomfortable. If it is a new art style or hobby it takes awhile before your sculpture goes from a lumpy, deformed ashtray to a beautiful, useful vase.

I love moving to a new place.

I hate moving.

Joey and I are getting ready to move out of our beloved House of Doom and into a one bedroom apartment of our own. For those of you who don't know, House of Doom is where we have spent the last year and a half living a communal lifestyle with some of our best friends. There has always been at least 5 inhabitants at a time in our three bedroom apartment in Westminster which we lovingly named the House of Doom. The reason for naming it this is a bit of a long story which I will tell at another time. This is the first time that Joey and I will be living by ourselves in 2 years. Though we are sad to see our house family part ways, we are also very excited to see what is in store for us next. The whole process of moving is just annoying. Boxes, packing, transporting, unpacking, painting, cleaning, ugh. I hate it! But I love waking up in a new house, a new room, a new start. 

This is one of our fresh starts. 

Another one is that Joey is currently looking for a new job. He needs one by the end of this month and just when we were starting to bite our nails in anticipation, today he got not one but TWO job offers. Now the dilemma is which one do we take? What a pickle to be in - to have to choose between two blessings from God! He is so faithful, but usually a little late in my opinion.

These two things set the scene for what is really important to us at the moment. 

Recently Joey and I have been filled with a passion to serve our current church family in Garden Grove. If any of you know Joey, you will see how this is a miracle from Jesus! Joey loves the church but has had struggles in the past with how to be a part of it. Since this change of heart, God has already blessed us with some incredible opportunities to serve using gifts and desires that we already had but didn't know how or where to apply them. We felt this calling so strongly that we changed our deeply-rooted plans to move to Northern California this summer, and decided to stay in the OC.

We have been given purpose. 

I can't explain how much this has influenced our life and opened our eyes to true reality. 

We have purpose.

As a Christian I have always known this to be true. You hear it constantly in church sermons, songs, prayers, Christian lingo, everywhere. 

Until a couple months ago, I had never been so unbelievably honored as by being given the gift and responsibility of true purpose here. To realize that God knows us, sees us, and trusts us enough to give us something of worth to carry out is amazing. Because of this, living in an unattractive, overpriced area is beautiful; working a job getting paid just enough to get by is abundance; feeling the pressure of deadlines for moving and employment getting closer is freedom; struggling side-by-side with my husband to serve Him the best way possible is heaven on earth.

I think God likes fresh starts too. 

He is the only one who can make our lumpy, deformed ashtray into something beautiful and useful.