Life on Fast Forward

The Day of the Doctor

Saturday, November 23, was a very special day. It was the 50th anniversary of the BBC show, Doctor Who. Yes, indeed, and I will admit to being a Whovian. I enjoyed seeing the special 50th anniversary episode both on Saturday afternoon - I was house-sitting so I actually had cable! - and on Monday evening in a movie theater IN 3-D with a friend. I promise I try to do lots of actually useful stuff with my life.

Thanksgiving at Dowling Park

At the end of November, I was finally able to go up to visit my grandparents in Florida - the snowbirds have arrived down south! When I'm there, I'm the chef and the chauffeur and the IT guy and the Christmas decorator. 

We ate Thanksgiving dinner in the dining hall with relatives, but I there were some traditional family holiday foods that I just couldn't live without. Behold a delicious slice of Dutch Crumb Apple Pie a la mode. Trust me, once you've had this pie, a normal pie crust on top will never satisfy. 

And if you desire a more tart experience for your taste buds, then you might be interested in this Cranberry Apricot Lattice Pie. This family favorite can be found on pages 288-289 of The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. And lucky for you, these pages are available on Google Books for free.

Santa's Marketing Elves

And then, last week, Christmas arrived in grand style. Wycliffe had a building-wide Christmas decorating competition. I work with a bunch of artistic, creative people. Together we decided, go big or go home. Behold the wonder of Santa's Marketing Workshop. 

The Elves have a countdown to Christmas, a live feed to Santa's reindeer, a fire and stockings with their names on them, snow falling on evergreen trees, lots of Christmas lights, lots of paper chains, 6 Christmas trees, a photo booth, Christmas cookies, hats, signs, and presents.

Peppermint "Peppy" Sugarplum is head of Santa's Letter Reading and Response department. She loves reading all the letters that children all over the world write to Santa, even those that are skeptical of his existence.

Merry Christmas!

Mom, Mommy, Mother, Mum, Mumsie, Momma, Mama: Bottom Line = She's Mine

I love my mum. I only have one, and I'm quite satisfied with the one I've got. One is quite enough. I know all this because this weekend mine came down to visit, and we had 4 whole days together that we packed full of adventures.

On Friday we had a SeaWorld day, brimming with fish, aquatic mammals, and a variety of other living creatures. We saw Shamu, rode the Manta roller coaster, thoroughly enjoyed the dolphin show, and froze in Antartica.

It's Christmas in the ocean already apparently. It even started snowing - in Florida, I know! - while we were there. OK, it was only a snow machine.

 I made friends with some manatees.

And a colony of penguins. I may have tried to go native there. That plan didn't succeed. Oh well. What can I say? I like birds.

Saturday we drove over to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. After eating lunch at a special little restaurant named Loyd Have Mercy, where we dined sumptuously on grits, collards, and other southern delectables, we spent the afternoon driving along the Black Point Wildlife Drive observing...you guessed it...the wildlife.

Although it was a gray day, the clouds mostly behaved themselves by not raining on us when we ventured from the car to get a beach picture. After being together at the Pacific Ocean only three weeks earlier, we needed a photo like this to bookend our fall travels.

We went to my church on Sunday and had Tijuana Flats for lunch with my roommates and some friends. In the evening we dined in a restaurant on Park Ave in Winter Park. It's a really fun place to walk and enjoy a Florida evening. And there was a beautiful full moon.

My half birthday was on Monday. I took my mom on a grand tour of Wycliffe. This fulfilled two purposes: 1) My mother had a chance to see where I'm working and learn about what I'm working on and who I'm working with and 2) my coworkers and friends at Wycliffe had a chance to meet my mom. 'Twas a grand success.

No picture for the final event which was five hours of clothes shopping that afternoon. Those of you who have known me for a while know that until about two years ago I was quite content wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie almost continuously. This was my existence for several reasons, but a few major factors involve me being born without certain genes that most other females seem to have in abundance. I hate shopping. And my 'oh, this is SO cute' meter is non-existent. Blessings on my mother for helping me through the transition of trying to expand and mature my wardrobe. I think we are moving in the direction of victory.

My mom's pretty cool. And she's super cute too. My meter isn't that broken.

Good Things

It is now November. Yikes. Well, I didn't post last week about my time in California, so here's a set of snapshots from my life over the last three weeks.

During the mini Stobbe reunion out in California, we had a chance to go walk along Hollywood Boulevard. My adorable mother persistently asked about Mickey's star on the walk of fame. When we found it, this picture happened. I love it. I love her more.

My week with the Nystroms went well. We drove a lot, talked with a lot of people and ate some fun food - including Hawaiian barbecue. I heard their talk so many times I can definitely tell many of their stories myself now. That's totally OK with me because the stories are great.

Hearing stories from people like the Nystroms is a powerful reminder of why the work Wycliffe Bible Translators supports is so important. After one little girl in Papua New Guinea heard a part of the Bible translated into her mother tongue for the first time, she said to her father, one of the translators, "Daddy, this is delicious. Will you bring us some more?"

In the spirit of giving, I invite you to check out the Wycliffe Gift Catalog - you can be a part of helping give this deliciousness to people all over the world.

After my time with the Nystroms, I got to see my lovely little sister AGAIN! She had a crazy week, but by the time she brought me back to her college on Friday evening, she had finished and turned in the first draft of her major term paper. I enjoyed celebrating this accomplishment with her and her friends - all in an honors program together - by dressing up and eating dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday evening.

Once I arrived back in Orlando, work started up again, but we had a special celebration at Wycliffe on Thursday. At our fall Scripture celebration, we made a big to-do about the new translations that were completed or are going to be completed this year. So cool!

There are now just over 1900 languages that have NONE of the Bible translated. That number is dropping as people keep committing to the job of getting the Bible translated into every language that needs it.

Sadly, I don't have photos of my next two events. On Friday morning I had breakfast with family friends who were in town for the Scripture celebration and some other events. It was lovely to talk with people who have known both me and Wycliffe for a long time and who are excited that I am now working at Wycliffe.

Then on Friday night I had a game night at my house with some of my friends from church. Since it's fall (although it doesn't feel or look like that here in Florida), I made hot spiced apple cider. It made the whole house smell delicious. We played Quiddler, Scattergories, and Taboo - all word games = a happy Bethany.

Saturday morning I went for a 12 mile bike ride. Once again I will say how much I love biking - especially on my wonderful bike.

In the afternoon I picked up a college friend from the airport and then we had a Disney weekend. We spent Saturday evening at Downtown Disney - eating Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream and buying a giant, stuffed Eeyore.

Sunday I finally went to Hollywood Studios, the one Disney World park I hadn't been to yet. It was kind of weird being in a place with all the Hollywood names that I had just seen for real for the first time two weeks ago.

There are so many good rides and shows at Hollywood Studios, but one of my favorite things there is the car stunt show. Go see it. It's intense.

So, I've been busy. And the crazy doesn't stop. My mom flies down on Thursday and I get to show her around Orlando for 4 days. It's going to be good.

A Not-Random God Coincidence

This is a story of how God likes to work out crazy coincidences, that aren't really coincidences to him.

I spent this weekend with my mom and youngest sister in and around Biola University in Southern California. We had an awesome time together and there will be pictures and stories from that coming in the near future. For now, though, I'm going to stick with writing about church on Sunday morning.

Since my youngest sister is a freshman, she's still looking around and visiting different churches near Biola. This spring, my parents went to a marriage retreat in Rhode Island run by our friends, Paul and Virginia Friesen. The Friesens had a couple speak at the retreat who were pastors of a church in a town near Biola. So this weekend Charlotte suggested we go visit their church, since it was on the list of ones she was considering.

When we got to the church we began worshipping God with everyone else, first through singing and then listening to the sermon. After the sermon, the pastor said that today was a special day because the church was celebrating the retirement of a Wycliffe missionary couple. I immediately became curious!

When he called them up on stage to have a question and answer time about their 55 years as Wycliffe missionaries, my brain began to have an inner conversation.

"Wait. Dick and Saundra Watson. I know that name. They're retiring. That means they get a commemorative plaque. I've been helping keep track of all the orders for designing and printing certificates like that over the past month."

I pulled out my iPhone (quite a handy piece of technology) and pulled up my Wycliffe emails (yes, I was kind of distracted). Sure enough, there was the email for the certificate for the Watsons saying that it needed to be at the church for this Sunday.

BUT WAIT. It gets better. The Watsons served in several countries over the years, but one of the places they served was Sudan...which is where one of my Houghton professors (Dr. Jon Arensen, who ran my semester in Tanzania) served with Wycliffe for years. Turns out they know each other very well. In fact, Dick used to go hunt buffalo with Bwana Job. [Side note: Bwana just published his third book, The Red Pelican. I got to hear his stories in Tanzania. They are good!]

In summary, of all of the churches we could have chosen to visit on Sunday near Biola, we chose the one celebrating the retirement of a long-term Wycliffe missionary couple. My job over the past month and a half involved helping make sure certificates were ready for events like this. And the couple that was retiring knows my professor from Houghton really well.

And here's a photo to go with it.

Biking, Baking, Beach Time, Traveling

This is a two-week post, since I didn't post last week. Let's see...what's newsworthy? Well, here are some highlights:

I bought a bicycle. This fact in itself makes me super happy because I've been saying that I want to buy a bike since January. Now that I live in Florida, it's perfect that I waited until the fall to get a bike because it's way too hot to go bike riding here during the summer and now I will be able to use it all winter long. True confessions: I hate running. I don't care what you say, running is a form of torture. I love being outside and getting exercise, though, so now I can do that on my bike. And there are even several bike trails in Orlando so I can go use those. Life is good. 

When one of my coworkers left our department in September to go to grad school, her absence made everyone sad for several reasons. One of those reasons is that she's an awesome person. Another reason was that every Thursday she would bring in cupcakes or some other delicious form of baked sugar so that we could have a Sweet Thursday. Luckily, I like baking for people - and it's always better to know that other people will be there to help eat the deliciousness - so I've taken up the continuation of Sweet Thursdays upon myself.

So far I've made beaver houses (you might know them better as no-bake cookies), chocolate covered strawberries, white chocolate chip banana muffins, and pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting. Tomorrow's treat is brownies, half of which have coconut. I'll put a picture up if I make anything particularly interesting looking - then you can all drool and wish you worked with me.

Last weekend my church had their young adult retreat at a hotel in Cocoa Beach. The retreat was an awesome time on many levels, particularly on the levels of 'getting to know other people' and 'God being SUPER awesome like he always is.' The theme verse of the weekend was Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Interestingly, this was the theme verse for New England Camp Cedarbrook my last summer working there. What if followers of Christ actually took time to think about what this verse means and intentionally lived with it in mind each day?

One thing I noticed this weekend is that, in my mind, a retreat equals cabins, woods, lake, hills, and probably cooler weather. Not so in Florida. Here a retreat is hotel, sand, beach, flat, and sunny blue sky days. Not bad, just different.

And to close out with a super happy thought, in about 36 hours I will be Southern California with my mother and my youngest sister! Why? you might ask. Because I have the best job ever. A Wycliffe missionary couple, John and Bonnie Nystrom, who worked in Papua New Guinea, wrote a book called Sleeping Coconuts, and I'm going to be traveling with them around SoCal next week selling books while they speak at different college and church events as part of a book tour.

When I found out that I might be going on this trip, I called my lovely sister, who is a freshman at Biola (one of the colleges the Nystroms are speaking at), to ask her what she was doing the last weekend in October, she said, 'Oh, that's the weekend Mom's coming out to visit me.' Mini family reunion coming up!

Because of this trip, it is possible that I might not write a blog post next week - we'll see. I'm sure a post-California post will have lots of good stories, though. 

P.S. In case you were wondering, yes, I've been to California once before, but I was only six years old. I went with my paternal grandparents to visit my aunt, her husband, and my baby cousin. We stayed in a time share in San Diego. Mostly what I remember is my uncle teaching me how to do handstands in a pool. And having a tea party with my aunt and my grandmother.

Of Pet Sitting and An Artist

This weekend I did some pet sitting. Hanging out by this pool was such hard work. ;-)

I also accompanied one of my roommates to the animation studio at UCF where I played a very small role in helping her make this. It's a beginning step in a long process. 

Here's the artist hard at work. To see more of her creations, check out her blog.

Yesterday was Bible Translation Day

This week I have two exciting announcements. Drum roll, please...

To celebrate Bible Translation Day yesterday, MY TEAM at Wycliffe Bible Translators released an awesome new video: Why Bible Translation?

[Did you click on that link to watch the video? Yes? Thanks! No? Do it now!]

OK, second announcement, I've been working quite a bit this summer on a new website for my grandfather. Now the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency has a brand new website! Go, look, read, recommend it to your friends who have that book they're writing.

Presenting stobbeliterary.com/!

Of course I'm still working on it and thinking of new ways to make it better. That's going to be an ongoing process. Just like the rest of my life.

A Trip to Virginia

So I didn't write a blog post last Tuesday evening because I was up in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Liberty University representing Wycliffe Bible Translators at Liberty's fall Global Focus Week. I spent Monday through Wednesday speaking with students at Wycliffe's booth. So many good conversations! This is a photo of Bob Creson, president of Wycliffe USA, and his wife, Dallas, speaking to students during our Tuesday evening 'Get to Know Wycliffe' event.

It was time for me to take a trip out of Florida - I was at the three month mark of living here and the traveler in me was getting restless. While in Virginia, I got to see mountains and experience a bit of cooler fall air before returning to the flatness, warmth, and humidity of central Florida.

Then this weekend I ran off to northern Florida to spend Saturday canoeing along part of the Suwannee River with one of my friends. We spent three hours just floating down the river, enjoying nature, and then we realized that we probably needed to start paddling if we ever wanted to make it back to civilization.

Notice the subtle Houghton College advertising...

She and I also rode around the village on my grandfather's two three-wheeled bicycles. We definitely wanted to get a picture of that - and of course, we forgot. Next time!

Florida Life: Universal

This weekend I visited the land of Harry Potter, the Hulk, Spiderman, the Minions, and Dr. Seuss. By which I mean that I went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando.

A highlight: butterbeer in Hogsmeade.

My Job

So what I am doing for work? I mean, I moved down here to start a job with Wycliffe Bible Translators and then my posts all turned into Disney, culture shock, the Suwannee River, and books I'm reading. Here I will provide the brief history (so far) of me and my first ever real job.

I was hired as a marketing coordinator in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) department of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA. My job was to help the two marketing strategists and the director of communications do whatever tasks they put on my plate. I also ended up helping our project traffic coordinator* and our director of public relations.

Then things changed. Our department reorganized, and I got a new boss and a new job and a new title. I'm still waiting to hear what my new title is - I'll let you know when I know. My new supervisor, formerly one of the marketing strategists, is now the head of our digital marketing team, of which I am now part.

I'm still working on my short, interesting, understandable description about what I do. Here's the current version: Wycliffe wants to provide people with the information and resources they need so that they can get involved in Bible translation. As part of the digital marketing team, I am using new technologies, such as cool ways to create and send emails and communicate through other digital mediums, to provide our individual audience members personalized, relevant information as they take steps to learn about and get involved in Bible translation.

Right now this involves me learning a lot. And I get to work with cool people, which makes me happy.

*What is a project traffic coordinator? you might ask, as I did when I started my job. She helps all of our marketing projects - whether they are web, print, video, or otherwise - actually get done by making sure all the team members know what they need to be working on when. Pretty important.

2013 Summer Reading List

Well, clearly I did not follow through on my intentions to write up a post on Tuesday about how my job has changed since I started. My excuse is that I spent Tuesday evening working on creating a new website for my grandfather's business. (Once that is completed, I'll share a link so you can see my handiwork.) For now, I'll say that I'll try again this coming Tuesday to write about my job, but today I wanted to share with you about some books that I've been reading - or have on my 'to read' list.

I am not only a writer (and evidenced by how long this post turned out), I am most certainly also a reader. This was made clear in several posts I shared last summer - one about the reading suggestions I requested from friends and the other about the books I actually read on my daily Metro commute.

When I left North Carolina in April, my church choir friends generously gave me a Barnes and Noble gift card. Once I arrived in Florida - and actually had a mailing address that would last longer than a week - I ordered four books:

• Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church by Philip Yancey - 
• I actually read this one this spring while living in North Carolina (my grandfather has a copy signed and addressed to him by the author...) and found its perspective on life and faith so incredible that I decided I needed my own copy to highlight and take notes in to try to absorb and adopt some of the important thoughts and perspectives it contained. I would highly recommend this book to two groups of people: 
• Anyone who is a writer/author would definitely benefit from this book. Of its 13 chapters (all of which are excellent), 7 of them are on people who specifically wrestled with their faith and influenced the world through their writing (G.K. Chesterton, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, John Donne, Annie Dillard, Frederick Buechner, Shusako Endo, and Henri Nouwen). 
• This book is for anyone who has been hurt by or frustrated with the messiness of the Church and people who are or call themselves Christians. Yancey doesn't claim to have all the answers - he is very honest about the questions he has - but he seeks to share the stories and thoughts that have helped him to daily gain a better perspective on who he is, who the people around him are, and who God is.
• Permission Granted: And Other Thoughts on Living Graciously Among Sinners and Saints by Margot Starbuck
• I'm still working my way through this book but I would recommend it wholeheartedly. It's serving as a convicting reminder that I certainly have a LONG way to go in actually loving people - whether I categorize them as Sinners or as Saints - the way that God loves them.
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown, Ph.D., LMSW
• I heard about Brene Brown through a TED talk of hers on vulnerability that I watched this spring with the youth group of my North Carolina church (she also did another great one on shame). Turns out my parents were actually reading this book at that same time, so I got to read part of it out-loud with them while driving home from western New York after my college graduation in May, but I haven't had a chance yet to open my own copy and keep going.
• The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus by Brennan Manning
• I've heard about Brennan Manning for years (he also wrote The Ragamuffin Gospel), but I haven't ever read anything by him. When he died this spring, I read a Christianity Today article about him that made me decide it was about time I read one of his books.

I also visited my library at the beginning of the month (now that I have a permanent address!) to get that wonderful piece of plastic: a library card. So far I have read the following:

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4, for those of you who don't know) by J.K. Rowling
• I hadn't ever read any of the Harry Potter books until last year when I discovered that my little sister at Houghton absolutely loved them. I figured that was as good a reason as any to finally catch up on the Harry Potter-ness that so many of my peers grew up with. To be honest, my parents never said I couldn't read them, I just hadn't made the time until now.
• My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke (actually I listened to this while driving to and from work as a book on CD read by the author)
• I grew up on Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as some of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Enough said. 
• Wish You Well by David Baldacci (an author suggested by a friend last summer)
• The part of me that wishes I lived and worked on a farm in the mountains surrounded by woods loved this story.
• Priceless by Tom Davis (a novel/author suggested by a friend last summer)
• I stayed up past midnight to finish reading this one. People who know me know that this is dedication because I usually turn into a pumpkin at some point around 11 pm.

Now I still have on my 'checked out library books to read' list:

• Absolute Power by David Baldacci
• This one sounds very different from my usual book choices, so I'm getting ready for a new literary adventure when I finally have the time to crack this one open.
• Childhood, Boyhood, Youth by Leo Tolstoy
• Yes, this choice as well as the following book by Dostoevsky were influenced by Philip Yancey's chapter about them in Soul Survivor. 
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• I started reading The Brothers Karamazov once and got about halfway through that tome before I lost the (library) book for several years. It did show up again at some point, but I haven't had the heart to start in again. I'm just moving on to the next one for now.

And last, but not least, I am quite excited about two books I just ordered from Amazon:

• The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin
• Seth's blog is pretty awesome. I was introduced to it by my fellow marketing people at Wycliffe, but the ideas he writes about cover so much more than 'just marketing.' Oh, that reminds me, I did read another book this summer, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, also by Seth Godin, that my boss's boss lent me. I'm still working on figuring out what I want to do with my life after reading the challenges in that book.
• David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
• I just heard about this one through Seth Godin's review. That's pretty much all I know so far, but I'll give an updated report once it arrives and I've read it.

After all that reading, I have lots of new or rearranged thoughts floating in my head. Now I have to sort out how I want my life or thinking to change based on everything I've learned. That's where the rubber meets the road.

What have you been reading lately? Any good suggestions to add to this list? If you got to the end of this, you must be a reader, too.

Way Down Upon the Suwannee River

I'm going to start this post with a promise: Next week I will write about what I've been learning at work and how my job is changing. It's all good news, so be excited.

Tonight, though, I want to write about my weekend. On Thursday after work I ran away up north...to Dowling Park. Never in my life did I think that I would live somewhere where I would travel north and be in Florida. And yet here I am.

Anyway, I left behind my big city life and traveled to the land of Florida's first retirement community on the banks of the Suwannee River. My grandparents are up - truly north - in Maine for the summer, so I actually went to spend the weekend with my grandmother's cousin.

This picture doesn't do the Suwannee River justice. It gives you an idea, though.

We had a lovely weekend. After I finished working remotely on Friday, we talked, went on adventures, and told stories. Having grown up with my grandmother (their fathers were twins), she has lots of good stories about my grandmother as well as many other relatives and long-time family friends. :-)

One of my favorites is about her great-granddaughter: While on a visit to Dowling Park a while back, this little girl was quite excited to see the Suwannee River. When everyone walked out on the dock, though, she turned around and said, "Excuse me, I have a question: Where are the swans?"

I also have a friend up there that I was able to spend some time with over the weekend. We made delicious pumpkin pie ice cream, and I helped him and his dad haul chicken manure as one step at the very beginning of his plan to start an all natural farm.

One of the evenings, he and I also had a long conversation about God, Jesus, the Bible, Christians, the Church...and all the frustrating messiness that goes along with all of that. I don't have nearly enough space or time to cover our discussion here right now, but I do pose to you this question: If I truly claim to love God and say that because of his love I am able to love the people around me - no matter who they are - why am I not living a life consistent with this truth?

This summer, my new church has been going through the Not a Fan video series (and book of the same name) by Kyle Idleman. The foundational message of this series is that God has called us to be his Followers, not just Fans who cheer from the stands but aren't willing to participate out on the field. As Followers of Jesus Christ we have been saved by God's grace, but have we really allowed God to change how we live our lives?

Ultimately, "We know that we have come to know [God] if we keep his commands. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did" (1 John 2:3-6).

This is no easy task, but I've found no other calling in life worth living for. So, step by faltering step, I choose to continue living life, learning how to love the messed up people all around me (including myself), and ask the hard questions that often don't have easy answers.

I am a Writer

A friend asked me recently to explain what I mean when I say that I am a writer. I wrote this for him, and then when I was done, I figured what I had written would actually make a pretty good blog post.

I am a non-fiction writer. I wrote fiction in middle/high school when it was assigned, but it is not something that I feel compelled to do or talented in. The stories I do love to share are true stories of people around the world who are making a positive difference in the lives of people around them. That is why I wanted to work in the communications department of a Christian non-profit.  There are so many amazing stories of what God’s people are doing around the world, and I want to be part of the crew of people who get to hear those stories and write them in accessible and compelling ways for readers.

Foundationally, I like writing because I love reading. I grew up reading as many books as I could – mostly fiction but I also would read biographies and books containing the stories of important social movements. I found this second group of books inspiring and challenging. They called me to be a part of a world bigger than myself and far more exciting than I could imagine as a girl in grade school.

It is quite ironic, actually, because when I was in elementary school my mom basically gave up on making me write. I was homeschooled starting in first grade. Sometime that year, we went to the zoo. When we arrived home, my mother asked me to write one sentence about what I had seen at the zoo. I started crying hysterically and hid under the dining room table. At a loss, my mother decided to just encourage my reading and hoped that I would absorb spelling, grammar, sentence construction, etc. (all the basic building blocks of writing) for the time when I would need to write in middle school and beyond. Her plan worked.

For me, saying “I am a writer” means more than “I write.” I love words. I love well-constructed sentences and paragraphs. A well-used vocabulary word, a properly placed comma, and a complicated thought made clear in an understandable sentence all give me joy.

I am an internal-processer – there are so many times when all the thoughts inside my head get jumbled up and won’t sort themselves out. When I take time to write it all down, my thoughts start to make sense. Rather than being overwhelmed by what’s going on inside my brain, I can start to own my thoughts and harness the power in them to positively change my life and encourage change in the people around me. As a writer, writing and thinking are inseparable. But I am certainly not a philosopher. Philosophy, thinking about thinking, theoretical propositions – all these either confused me terribly or bore me to death. I am interested in practical life application.

Right now, most of the writing I do is journaling. I also have this blog, on which I mostly share anecdotes from my life. I love making people smile – I think my sense of humor comes out differently in my writing. I’m not a comedian by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I have the ability to use words to show the humor in situations.

Overall, though, I feel that in journaling and blogging, most of the writing I’m doing is actually for myself. At some point I may feel called to write more for other people, but right now still have so many questions about life and so few answers that it would feel presumptuous for me to write authoritatively on any subject, other than my own life and experiences. I don’t think I will ever write a book – certainly not fiction and non-fiction is still unlikely. I am definitely the kind of person who wants to live life myself, not just write about it for other people.

So there you have it.

Just because, here's a photo of my Maine island. True confessions: I miss it.

Random night

Tonight is random night. I’ll post a whole bunch of random paragraphs, and if you have extra time with your life, you can creatively come up with some theme that brings them all together (other than the fact that they all have to do with my life).

After being in our house for almost 3 weeks, we finally got the key to our mailbox. Yay mail! I got a letter from my mommy; therefore, she is the best. Thank you, USPS, for doing your thing, however long it takes you.

I sponsor a child in Ethiopia through Compassion International. Her name is Mihret, and she’s 10 years old. I need to write her a letter because then she can say ‘Yay mail!’ too. Hold me accountable.

Tijuana Flats is a Tex-Mex fast food chain I’ve been introduced to since moving down here. It’s several steps up from Taco Bell, which I think I’ve eaten at only once in my life. A group from my department goes to Tijuana Flats for lunch on Taco Tuesdaze.

My middle sister is back from her summer in Costa Rica. My whole family called me on Sunday evening to tell me all about the wonderful barbeque they were having at the cottage on the lake. And to say that they missed me. I’ll admit it: I miss them too. And the lake. In contrast, I was at the Orlando Premium Outlets on tax-free weekend cause you know that shopping is my addiction. J

They announced the new Doctor on Sunday! In December we have to say farewell to Matt Smith and hello to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. If you haven’t ever watched Doctor Who, you’re missing out on some lovely British sci-fi telly.

I’m in the middle of applying to be a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida. I am so glad for the time I was able to spend with my Little Sister at Houghton, and I am looking forward to getting to know another one here in Orlando.

After all that, I did sort of come up with a theme. Did you find it? Happy Tuesday evening!

A Tour

When I went to my blogger dashboard tonight to write this post, my stats said I was at 1000 pageviews. I would just like to mark this moment. Huzzah! Now onwards...

Tonight you get a tour of my new room because finally I am all settled in my new house. Be warned: My room is definitely decorated Bethany-style. There is no rhyme or reason to why things are the way they are other than the fact that they are the way I like them to be.

Mostly I love my room because it reminds me of so many people who have been or are a part of my life. As I sit and type, I feel surrounded by the love and care of wonderful friends - some new and some as old as I am.

When you enter my room, here's what you see:

For starters, the quilt was made by my paternal grandmother for my high school graduation. Lovely, isn't it? The puffin photo above the window was a gift from my youngest sister as a memento of a family vacation to Acadia National Park and a whale and puffin boat tour. The fabric over the headboard of my bed was a present from my town homestay family in Tanzania. And on the wall is the Tanzanian flag.

Then if you turn to the left, you'll have this view:

There's so much here, I don't even know where to start. I'll give bullet highlights.

• Starting on the top left of the bookshelf you'll Swiss Miss, my chocolate lab puppy from Celebration, FL, when I visited Disney for the first time (and only time before moving down) in 2004; Loony is back!; the candle was a graduation present from my aunt; I'm plant-sitting Miss Cactus for my maternal grandmother while she's up north for the summer; and the kanga (a piece of cloth which, sadly, you can't see) was brought to me from Kenya by a good friend.
• On the second shelf, those binoculars traveled all through Tanzania and western New York on birding expeditions.
• The TARDIS makes an appearance on a mug on the third shelf - a present from my youngest sister.
• The little woodstove on the fourth shelf joined the collection during a family road trip out to Montana, during which we stopped at the Laura Ingalls Wilder homes. This memento, actually a pencil sharpener, hails from her birthplace of Pepin, Wisconsin.
• On the very bottom shelf you'll see a tile on the left. That was a gift from a good friend who spent a summer in Mexico.
• Above my bed on the wall you'll see a poster of a painting by Monet that's at the National Gallery in London. It's actually of the Thames River and Elizabeth Tower. You may know the tower as Big Ben, but that's actually the bell in the tower. Formerly known as the Clock Tower, it was renamed in 2012 in honor of the Queen. I don't tend to buy stuff for myself, but I got this in London as a reminder of my semester there. (True Confessions: The flag I actually bought in Epcot at the United Kingdom Pavilion in World Showcase.)

And moving on, you have the less exciting area of...my closet:

It does have going for it the plus that it is the largest closet I have ever had. By about 3x. So much space! The cloth you see there is a kitenge, brought to me from Tanzania by yet another good friend. On the door is a drawing of me with a frying pan in a tree as Rapunzel made by a good college friend. And on the wall to the left you'll some photos from the wedding of an awesome girl I've known since I was born, accompanied by a cool tiny quilt made for me by one of my college roommates. It's based off a photo of a boathouse on my family's island on a lake in Maine. Makes me want to be there.

And last, but not least, I have a dresser!!!

With way more drawers than I have stuff. That's a good thing, I guess. The t-shirt quilt on the chair was made for me by my middle sister. Soooooooooo many good memories associated with the t-shirts in that quilt. My mommy gave me the bird-ness hanging on the wall, and the kanga on the dresser was a present from my village homestay family in Tanzania.

And there you have it! I'm here for a whole year. That will be a first. I've NEVER lived in one place for an entire year. Ever. Even though my family has lived in the same house for almost my entire life, we would pack up every summer and move to our cottage in Maine for several months. So here goes a new experience: living in one place.

P.S. All the furniture was either donated or loaned to the good cause of getting me settled. Many thanks to a church friend, a roommate, and my manager at work for their thoughtfulness. The only way I can repay you is by passing on the favor to someone else in the future.

Day by Day

This weekend my new roommates and I moved into our house! Hip hip hooray! Well, really they moved into the new house, and I brought some of my stuff and put it in my closet. I slept on our couch Saturday night because my room currently has no furniture. That's coming...later.

In my life, I haven't ever truly moved, that I remember. When I was about 2, my parents moved out of our condo in Boston into my great-grandmother's house, so they could help take care of her. I don't remember that, though. Since then, I grew up packing to go to Maine every summer, but that's not really moving. I've done a lot of traveling and lived in a lot of different places (especially over the last four years), but I haven't ever totally moved out of one place into another. I still won't really be able to say that I have done that even after this move, since my bed is coming from one place, my dresser is coming from another, and I am coming from a third (with my clothes). Eventually we'll all be together. Happily ever after.

I did learn, however, that moving mostly involves a lot of cleaning. Cleaning the old place. Cleaning the new place. So much dirt and mold. Yuck. And lots of phone calls to take care of so many details. Being an American adult means keeping track of lots of random pieces of life, most of which involve a bill of some kind.

Once I'm all moved, I'll share some pictures of my place. For now, you can enjoy this view. It's the one I see behind my office building. I don't usually get this fish-eye perspective, though. That's thanks to the panorama photo-taking abilities of my iPhone 5.

My coworkers and I have many wonderful ideas of ways to make good use of this body of water. We would love a combination of the following:

• Slip-n-slide
• Sunfish
• Paddle boat

We'll just avoid upsetting the alligator who calls Lake Tyndale home.

Loony, I've a feeling we're not in New England anymore

You might think moving from Massachusetts to Florida wouldn't involve much culture shock because they are both part of the United States. Mostly this line of thinking is correct, but there have definitely been moments when I've thought to myself, "Oh Bethany, you are not in the Northeast anymore."

Here are some of the sights and experiences that have brought on these moments:

• Spanish Moss and Palm Trees are everywhere.
• Bird of Paradise grows right outside my front door.
• Roadkill I've seen several times is...an armadillo.
• When driving, watch out for the Sandhill Cranes, not moose.
• The ocean water is warm! Quite pleasant, but the natives think it is quite cold.
• U-turns are common - on major roads. People make u-turns all the time. We just don't drive that way in Massachusetts.
• Stores and malls are everywhere. The number of stores and restaurants I drive past every day is positively overwhelming. Especially after spending several years at Houghton College.
• There's a Christian music radio station. Oh wait, there are two! (Shhhh, don't overwhelm the girl by telling her that there are even more...)

So, I'm adjusting.

I spent the weekend with a Houghton friend and her family. They just moved down here last month from Pennsylvania, so we were able to compare notes. Among other fun-ness, we created this gem:

Chickens, beware!

America, Spread Your Golden Wings

I don't know about you, but my 4th of July ended with a bang. St. Cloud, a city south of Orlando, had quite an impressive fireworks display over East Lake Tohopekaliga (try saying that 10 times fast). I had a great view of it all from a camping chair on the beach.

It's interesting, though, because fireworks now seem a pretty normal part of life. Down here in Florida we love our fireworks - or maybe it would be more honest to say that our tourists love our fireworks. In the past month, I already saw fireworks three times over at Disney World. Both Magic Kingdom's Wishes and Epcot's IllumiNations shows have fireworks every night. That is a lot of fireworks!

Epcot IllumiNations June 2013

When I think of July 4th, I think of time with family, burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and lake boat rides. Despite having moved about thirteen states south of the 4th of July location of my youth, I was able to have all of these in Florida. Although I am usually quite quiet and reserved, I do know how to speak up. This year I used that ability to get invited to spend the 4th with a family I met when I moved down. The husband and wife work at Wycliffe, and I got in touch with them because the husband's sister and her family are long-time friends from MA. My new friends were so welcoming and encouraging as I transitioned to living in Florida. I had a great time getting to know them better last Thursday. It certainly helped that they had a pontoon boat to take out on the Florida lakes. Never mind that we got caught out in one of this season's daily afternoon rain storms. :-)

Saturday I learned an important lesson: the Florida summer sun is powerful. I went to the beach with the young adults group at my church and despite reapplying sunscreen multiple times and sitting under a towel whenever I wasn't in the water, I still managed to get a sunburn on my shoulders. Lesson learned.

Work is going well. Today I learned that I successfully completed a crucial step in the first big project given to me when I started. Wycliffe has several representatives attending a large conference in Texas this coming week, and several weeks ago I was given the task of pulling together materials for them to use at their booth, setting up the booth in the office and taking photographs, and then mailing all the supplies and emailing instructions to Texas. I heard today that the boxes of supplies arrived in Texas. Success.

P.S. The title of this post, for those of you who don't know, is from a song played during the show in the United States at Epcot's World Showcase. The music is quite majestic...and definitely emotionally manipulative.

Florida or bust!

It's about time for a post! I am in the middle of week three of working at Wycliffe Bible Translators and week four of living in Florida. So here's an update (and a goal of posting each Tuesday).

I could start way back at the beginning but that would take quite a long time. Instead I'll start now-ish and give you flashbacks later.

This past weekend I took advantage of my Disney World Florida resident annual pass to go visit Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom with some friends visiting from Massachusetts. We visited with Nemo and Dori, escaped trolls in Norway, and learned how to be pirates from Captain Jack Sparrow!

In line behind us at the Peter Pan ride was the cutest family - their oldest daughter (about 8) was dressed as Wendy, their son was Peter Pan, and their toddler daughter was Tinkerbell. That' s the way to do it: Leave behind the poorly-designed, hideously-colored, strangely-punny Disney family vacation t-shirts. Pick a story and dress up as the characters!

As for work, I'm quite happy to have joined the Wycliffe team. I'm learning the ropes of being marketing coordinator for the integrated marketing communications department. There's so much newness - at this point I'm in sponge-mode.

I Like Old People, Don't You!

Today is the end of my fifth week of living with my grandparents - three weeks in Florida with my mother's parents and two weeks in North Carolina with my dad's parents. While talking with my paternal grandmother and one of her friends during choir rehearsal on Wednesday night, I was reminded of one of my favorite cassette tapes growing up. Mommy, Gimme a Drinka Water by Danny Kaye contains a delightful selection of songs sung from the perspective of a small child. Thanks to Spotify I was able to find and re-listen to all of these songs yesterday - and I found my theme song for this period of my life: "I Like Old People, Don't You!"

I like old people, don't you? 
They never tell you what you shouldn't do 
They buy you toys and candy 
And extra toys are dandy 
And Nanny's always baking something new 
I like old people, I like them 
Don't you? 
They're nice, old people, they're nice 
They tell you funny stories once and twice 
Cause they're never in a hurry 
And they don't have to worry 
That there's a zillion things you have to do 
I like old people, I like old people, I like them 
Don't you?