I have been here for two weeks and have only written one blog. I feel like I have been very bad about this. Well, the reason I have not updated is because things have been crazy pretty much since I got here. At the same time, nothing has really happened. When I first got here, I had moved in and shopped for things that I needed. I had not had time to see the city or really get to know my new surroundings. There is only so much you can do driving around the city and seeing what franchises you can get to.

But I digress. There was a reason I moved here, wasn’t there? Getting into UT was one and seeing new areas of the country were two, but I also was able to come here because of a job with the behavioral wing of Conanent Health at Peninsula. I’m not going to reveal where I work in the Peninsula system because of confidentiality, but I can tell you I will be getting a good amount of experience from it. Covanent Health itself is a great company with very good benefits and a wonderful reputation in the community. Of course, it is a company and it has it’s issues, and those issues can be especially hard on the behavioral division of healthcare systems, but I still know will be happy there. The pay is not great, but it is enough to live. It worried me at first, but if PBA kids can pay for WPB apartments with part time jobs, I can make it with this. My main worry now is grad school next year. How am I going to manage grad school and a job at the same time? I don’t want to be in grad school for five years and graduate when I’m almost thirty.

As you can see, I am still learning to live in the moment and trust God with my future. Part of living in the moment is joining a church family. I have grown impatient with searching for a church Sunday by Sunday. I have been to two so far: Milan’s old Presbyterian church where she works and First Baptist Concord. I have decided that it will be hard to judge a church based on one service (even though I am very sure I will not be a fan of FBC), so I have decided to try a prolonged stint at Cedar Springs. I am going to try going to the young adult group meeting on Sunday mornings, even though I will likely be going alone this time (Milan is probably going to visit her brother this weekend) but that is okay. I did like the church a lot from what I saw of it, and I felt like I was worshipping God while I was there. I am just overwhelmed by all the churches there are here. Talk about a saturated market. I feel like a situation like that calls for just settling somewhere and then moving on if called for.

Milan and I are having fun together as roommates, but I cannot wait to make more friends in the area. My first step will be the aforementioned church group, and I hope to meet people through Milan’s old neighbors and family. I already met a few DIS friends – the Navas – who are a great couple. I have a few more DISers I want to meet, and I also have several old freinds from the surrounding states I want to catch up with. I am praying that the friends I do meet are not trapped by a 9 to 5 work schedule. Working 4 to 12 will hamper me from going out for drinks most nights, unless I switch with someone. That is another thing I’m worried about with this job (honestly, what DON’T I worry about?) but I’m sure it will work out, especially since I’m not in school now. I just hope that no matter how busy my life gets, I can spend time with myself, friends, and God. Since I got here, spending time with God has been limited to the occational prayer, but I want to change that. I am aiming for morning devotionals. It is remembering to do them that will be the challenge.

A few other miscellaneous things are going on:

My room is still bare. I have not hung my pictures yet and I have not wanted to buy more artwork until I had more money.

I have started reading the Harry Potter series, and I realized I must have had terrible ADD as a child to not get through these books. They are great!

Milan got a new full-time job with benefits! Her official title is “Patient Manager” for a therapy center. She will be getting paid a lot more than me, but will be having a less sure schedule. She seems more sure about it than me, and is excited to start. This will be a good change.

Still no word from Lauren. I feel guilty, because I was a doofis and forgot my phone at home during a time when she said she was going to call. She did call, I missed it, and I did not get a chance to call back. Like I said, I’m a doofis. We still have yet to have a conversation with her since our move. Pray that happens soon so we are all on the same page.

Lizz got engaged! I am so excited for her! I plan on going to her wedding to be a bridesmaid this summer. However, I did get my first real desire to be at home when she told me. All I wanted to do was hug her and take her out to celebrate, but I couldn’t.

A spider crawled on me last night, and a bird has made a nest on one of the supporting beams of our porch. It’s like Wild Kingdom on our doorstep.

I got my Tennessee driver’s license finally. I hate my new picture, but the new license is nice. I also registered to vote in Tennessee. After all that, though, I am still having a hard time believeing that I am actually here. Has it actually sunk in? Has it sunk in and I just took it REALLY well. I don’t know. It’s a weird feeling. Other than feeling sad when Lizz got engaged, my homesickness has been minimal. I think it might be because Milan is with me and I’m used to being away from home. It will probably finally get me hard around the holidays. How I will react remains to be seen.

Okay, that’s all for now. I did finally take pictures, but Milan’s dead camera is taking them hostage. I’m mad, because I took some good ones. Oh well, you will see them soon. I’m going to wait to take pictures of the apartment until it is more homey. For instance, we want to get a coffee table and have artwork in my room before we show it to you. In the meantime, search Google for Knoxville pictures.