I'm loving my life right now!

Pardon the rambling nature of this post. This is really a diary entry, more than anything. I want to remember these thoughts when I am old, grey, and wearing purple (or going barefoot ;-)

Life has been good the last two weeks. I mean, really, really good. A lot of the work and pushing I've been doing . . . well, pretty much since leaving my parents' house . . . is starting to bear fruit.

First, work is finally becoming everything I hoped it would be. The first six months were rotten, mostly because I wasn't doing anything related to the job I was hired for. Now I'm working with ASP.NET, C#, a little SQL - this is the stuff I was made for. Oh, and I'm picking up new skills left and right. Last week I learned the basics of CSS. This week I figured out some basic AJAX using ASP.NET.

I'm always surprised by how easy new skills like these are for me to learn. Mainly because there are so many things I'm naturally bad at, and it wasn't until fairly late in my childhood that I finally learned that there were things (other than reading) that I was naturally good at. Mind you, I'm not complaining - I learned a lot of life skills by "not being good at anything." God has His plans.

On the "real life" front - home and family - there have been even more changes. The move to our own house last month was a dream come true. Our house is beautiful - everything we need and most of what we want! If I say more than that, I will be blogging for an hour, telling you how much I love this house and its grounds. We need to do a little more work than when we were renting, but it is labor that feels very meaningful.

Of course, moving is a disruption, even when you are moving somewhere wonderful. The hardest thing has been figuring out the tricks for commuting from so far away. We only have one car. We bought it just after we bought the house, a gas-guzzling minivan that we hope to drive very little. So driving alone to work is (a) not good for the environment and (b) leaves my husband home with the kids and no car - and no parks in walking distance until they finish the construction at the nearby freeway overpass. Bussing in (a) requires me to travel 5 miles to get to a bus stop that will get me to work in under an hour (30 minutes if I hit the right bus!) or (b) takes a full two hours one-way.

We ended up getting me an electric eGO scooter from Craig's List for my birthday, and it seems to be working to get me over those five miles. Plus it's fun :-) Sadly, the batteries are three years old and need to be replaced - right now, they are dying after just 10 miles, right on our driveway! If they deteriorate any more, I won't be able to use my scooter. The new batteries were pricey, but are in the mail now.

The girls are so much fun at this age. I really have no idea yet where that "terrible two's" thing comes from. I've been warned that the three-year-old stage is actually where it gets rough. But every day is a new story right now. Last Sunday we took them to grandma's, and went down a steep hill on the way there. Lenora first says, "Down hill!" repeatedly. Iliana chimes in with, "Careful, car!" and then Lenora switches to saying, "Don't fall down, car!" They seemed only mildly concerned - just giving a little advice. I don't know if they were talking to our car, or the cars around us. It was a great little glimpse into how their minds work.

We have a social life, too! We were asorbed into a group of families that meets to pray the Rosary every Wednesday - and to do so much more, as well! We're actually having friends over for dinner this Friday - they had us over last Saturday - and tomorrow I'm going to a baby shower. Next weekend we may be helping someone move and will bring dinner to a family who just adopted a new baby, so they have a little more time with their new family member. I think my husband is a little overwhelmed, but for me it's . . . well, another dream come true!

I've always wanted a group of friends I admire, and who I actually have something to give. These people make friendship so easy and light-weight. I usually am scared that trying to do something will seem, oh, I don't know - patronizing? Overly intimate? Somehow, doing something nice often seems to have so many invisible rules attached to it, and it stifles sincere giving. That's not true with these people. They accept joyfully and gratefully, and give as easily too! After the one-or-two children only, dress-your-kids-hip atmosphere that permeated Seattle, it's like getting a glimpse into something deep and real, but also bright and fresh. This may seem an extreme similee, but it's like a glimpse of Heaven.

If any of the mothers or fathers of these families reads that last paragraph, they will laugh - because there is also so much familial chaos. These are real people, with real problems and worries. But that's what makes them so great - they are so REAL. They worry about their families, their friends, their homes, holiness, work, rest, finances, helping others, and finding time to relax. They don't worry so much about their friends' fashion sense, for example, or the relative sizes of everyone's paychecks. They don't worry about why that family only has two kids (we're Catholic - bigger is better for families, so sayeth our culture of Life ;-) - nor do they act shocked by a family of eight. They recognize the very diversity our culture so eagerly pays lip service to. They try to remove planks from their own eyes before motes from the eyes of others.

I'm sure I'll have frustrations and awkward moments with these people from time to time. But for now, I'm enjoying a freedom to be who I want that I haven't felt since I started college.

This is the life I daydreamed about as a late teen - so close to my imagination, it is unbelievable. Where things are different, they are generally better.

God, I don't deserve this. But I am learning almost as much from these blessings as I learned from periods of relative hardship, so - thank you, Abba. For all the things You have taught me.

What lessons do You have planned for me next, Lord? I am waiting with joy!

But first, back to work . . .