Wheeeee!

In a more-complete update on the last post and some previous ones:

I've found an awesome church where lots of people I know go (which I didn't know before I go'ed), and I'm very much looking forward to getting to know them and getting closer to God again and not having to carry things myself as much anymore. Definitely feel like it was God's doing that I ended up at that specific church.

After being turned down from jobs again and again and severely moping on Monday because of getting turned down again because no one wanted a short-term hire, I resigned myself to retail and working weekends (no dis on retail, and it's a pride fault that makes me see it as less, but also because I just don't want to work Sundays). So I printed off a stack of resumes and was about to go knocking on doors, when my mom suggested I take a look at this aquarium store about a half an hour away. So I printed off my "aquatic husbandry" resume and went down there. And, though they said they had no openings, we got to talking, I got to interview with the store owner and...hired! It was amazing. And they've got all kinds of delightful aquatic creatures there, including a 9' diameter tank with sharks! I think they'll probably have me primarily work with turtles, but hopefully I'll get well-versed in lots of aquatic creatures and how to care for them.

And then...I got the doc's ok to get my SCUBA certification this weekend! Wooooooooooooo! I've been studying like whoa, and start tomorrow evening.

And then...all my grad apps are done (except one mysteriously missing set of GRE scores). AND I heard back from a potential grad school about interviews. YAY!

I'm pretty incredulous over it all. So much tohu bohu before, so many grace-given surprising resolutions to it all within this week. There aren't really words for it, just sitting here grinning like a little kid who got a plesiosaur in the swimming pool for Christmas.

And really, this was deserved even amidst the tohu-bohu (it's just much easier to see when the darkness is lifted):

Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!

Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and for evermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
The LORD is high above all nations,
and His glory above the heavens!
Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high,
who looks far down
upon the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust,
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!

Ps 113.

Stagnancy

So things back here in the ol' homestead have been fairly dull and stagnant of late, and so many things are still up in the air. We usually think of stagnancy as being in a rut of activity, but I'm in a stagnancy of uncertainty. It's like being stuck in Limbo (see: Rasputin in "Anastasia"). Nothing is certain, there is no direction, yet the lack of direction and solidity is unchanging.

I'm hoping, though, that something, anything, will change soon.

- I'm still looking for a job and had some interviews before Christmas. One seemed very promising but I still haven't heard. I hate applying for jobs, too, and have pretty much been constantly looking for a job since leaving college. Now that I've got an end time limit on my availability due to grad school, it's hard to find anything above retail. Pray for a job, any job, to work out, and for God's direction (and my listening, and for me not to be too proud about what kind of work I do).

- Even if I get a job in downtown Philly, I may just try to carpool with my dad rather than get a new apartment for just 3-5 months. Need direction with that one, too. And if I do live at home, lots of prayer for sanity and flexibility and humility. Living at home is something else entirely after having lived on one's own.

- I had been waiting to find a new church until I knew where I was living, but the job/housing stuff is taking too long and I'm going to seriously start looking tomorrow. I'd like to find a place solidly rooted in the Word and that has a welcoming community. I'm also hoping to find someplace with a young adults ministry or Bible study, because being out here in the suburbs is lonely as all get out, and I'd like to make a few friends. It's been a long time since I felt connected to a church. So yeah, prayer for that would be super.

- And, of course, grad school. I still have no idea where I'm headed, if anywhere. If I don't get in, the current idea is to just move back to Savannah and start over from there. Definitely need prayer for God's will to be evident in grad school decisions.

Oh yeah, and I'm incredibly bored, as evidenced by the carrot creations.

>{EDIT 1/6/08: God found me a church this morning, and surprised me with lots of people I know well and the potential to make friends of some folks my age. God is a good God, yes He is, wu-hoo!}<

>{EDIT 1/8/08: I got a job today at an aquarium supply store with fish and herps and inverts and sharks! They said they weren't hiring, but then there was a shift change with a new manager, and he liked my resume (which I just happened to have with me and it piqued their interest), and then he took me back to meet the store manager and they hired me then and there and they'll let me have Sunday mornings off and WUHOO!}<