The Brothers Awesome

Thank God it’s Monday.  It’s the second day of the weekend (for me) and I’m off to a lovely start.  I rode my bike to the closest Starbucks to meet up with Shivyon before she scooted off to school.  The java-charged conversation and hamstring-stimulating ride home have me fully awake and all too excited about the prospect of blogging. I’d love to fill you all in on the exciting goings-on of the Mid-Columbia basin…but there are none.  So let’s do a book review instead.

I tried to scrounge up the notes I took on the books I’ve read since graduation but I’ve misplaced the journal that I was using for a couple summer months.  So, while I can’t really back up my recommendations, I would say that God’s Will as a Way of Life by Whitworth’s own Jerry Sittser and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (a Holocaust victim) are both worth the read.  Luckily, my current journal picks up on July 28 and catches the reflections on my favorite book to date—The Brothers K by David James Duncan.

This novel tells the story of a family from Camas, Washington from the late 1950s up through the 80s.  The Chance family is composed of twin girls, four boys, a Seventh Day Adventist mama and a baseball hero papa.  Each member of the family offers an opportunity for Duncan to comment acutely on some facet of religion, politics, philosophy, and human nature.  Peter is a Buddhist, Everett’s a draft-dodging hippie during the Vietnam War, Irwin is the lovable all-American family man, Kincaid plays the quiet observer, and the twins find opposing fulfillment in science and Christianity.

I stumbled across this title while perusing a list of favorite books of Whitworth faculty members.  About half the staff had chosen The Brothers K as their book of choice and I have to follow the crowd on this one.  I got to know the characters so well and was deeply emotionally involved with the storyline.  I would laugh out loud at Everett’s wit and cry for the twisted injustice portrayed in the last 50 pages.

I won’t give any more details in case anybody is planning on reading it.  If you do, let me know so we can compare notes.  Love to all.

Gotta keep your nose to the grindstone

Ahhh the last day of summer. So sad to say goodbye to 100 degree weather and lazy days at the river. Oh wait, I was in SEATTLE this year. Scratch the line about summer, I’m ready for fall.

I need to leave for work in about ten minutes but I want to get a blurb in before I start my third week of craziness at Habitat. After an enjoyable Sunday-Monday weekend filled with cocoa-banana muffins, awkward Jonah Werner concerts (no one told me that you had to be a high schooler to go), guitar lessons, and my second attempt at sambar curry; I’m rested and ready to get back to scheduling volunteers and being the tech girl at work.

Working for Habitat is not what I expected in the slightest. I have to remind myself (often) that it’s a blessing to even have a job in this economy and to thank God for the good things rather than focusing on the negatives. I think that everything will get better as time goes on and I get more acquainted with my duties but right now I feel overwhelmed and unprepared for the infinite task list that awaits me in Richland.

Here’s a look at today’s to-dos:

Pray-pray-pray

Check emails that I missed from taking Monday off

Schedule corporate groups to volunteer on Saturdays

Make sure the store is stocked with volunteers

Meeting with my boss

Revamp the current system for scheduling volunteers online

Enter data for the past 3 weeks volunteers

Update our website and facebook pages

Get a table ready for a street fair tomorrow

God help me.

My first week as a grown-up

I’m home. I’m in Kennewick. I slept in my own bed last night and my two best friends from high school (Corrie and Shivyon) came over last night. It’s hard to believe I’ll be living in one place for more than a five month stretch. Since heading off to school four years ago I’ve been caught between Kennewick, Whitworth, South America, and Seattle. The funny thing is, as much as I’ve longed for more stability in my life, I find myself eager for the next adventure.

I started work on Wednesday at Habitat for Humanity. I took a tour of some of the homes that we’ve recently built with my boss Theresa and then got thrown into my job. There was no training, no time for training, no bulleted list of things to be done…just an office and the last Volunteer Coordinator’s sticky note filing system. The first two days were admittedly rough. I didn’t have any perception of what my priorities should be and I constantly was running between offices trying to get a feel for how things work. Friday felt so much better. I made phone calls, scheduled appointments, translated for a couple of women looking for help from Habitat, and got ready for my first day out at the construction site.

It’s an amazing and humbling experience to be working so closely with volunteers. On Thursday I realized that the women who had been working full time on a fundraising even right outside my office were UNPAID! Talk about a way to keep paid employees accountable.

Saturday is a work day for me but I’ll have Sundays and Mondays off. Hopefully next week will result in more understanding and better stories. I’m still hoping to get guitar lessons and a gym membership penciled into my week, but who knew how exhausting 9-5 could be? My mom, probably.