Joys!

When I was still attending a Methodist church we had this thing during the service called, "Joys and Concerns" which was a time for the congregation to raise the hand and share something good that has happened that needs praise (Joy) or something that needs prayer (Concern). Lately, I've been having a lot of joys so I wanted to quickly share them because I know I get awfully full of complaints!
First, this last Saturday my little sister celebrated her 11th birthday! This is so surreal for me because unlike my older sisters, I was there the day she was born and watched this little baby grow into an 11 year old! I think about this every birthday because I'm so fascinated by the miracle of life. This must be what it's like to be a parent watching your baby grow up... Scary! I wish the best for her in her 11th year of life and I hope she can also survive her first year of Middle School!
Second, the joy of being BUSY! I've been helping Adam's aunt, Tia Patty with her son the past few weeks. He had about a month of no full time camps to go to and he's still needs a little bit of supervision and chauffeuring to tutoring and football. All I have to say is Portland was not built for traffic so driving across town to football practice is like a part time job! However, another joy has come from this which is that I'm really getting to know how to get around town! For the longest time I only knew the most direct route from getting from our apartment to Tia Patty's house but now I'm finally figuring out which streets go through and which don't!
Third, making new friends and connecting with old! This month has been the most social month I've had since I moved here. I met a new girl at our House Church who is also a CA transplant and we've managed to meet up about once a week. She's a pretty cool chick. I also received an e-mail from a girl who lived in Tucson, AZ who was family friends with my Aunt Jan's family who lives in Tuscon. She's new to Portland so we're going to meet up at some point! Lastly, my good friend from high school moved up here to live with her Aunt and Uncle and we got to meet up for dinner and gelato which was fun!
Adam told me a couple weeks ago when I was having a really bad day that I needed to create a list of short term goals for myself. Just about all my joys were in some way my goals. Even better news is that he worked a ton of shifts last week and he ended up getting an overtime shift today and works his normal shift tomorrow. We were worried that I would be sitting at home depressed with nothing to do but I'm actually needing to stop blogging to get ready to go do my drug test for The Container Store and head up to Tia Patty's to check on Leo (Adam's cousin).
Once last thing, I spoke with Adam's Abuela (grandma) on the phone the other day and she was congratulating me on the job and she said, "See! Your patience has paid off!" Yes Abuela, my patience, prayers, and pleas to God have paid off/been answered! I love her tid bits of wisdom! All for now, have an outstanding week everyone!