Why moving back home was the best decision I didn't get to make for myself.

Exactly a year ago today, I made the necessary move back into my parents' house after the devastation of losing my job. After the move, I felt small, I felt defeated, and I felt incredibly depressed. I didn't have a job, I didn't have a purpose, and I didn't have an ounce of independence. I didn't want to do anything...I couldn't do anything except watch Penelope on a loop all day. I had lost any reason I had ever had for getting out of bed.

A year later...I can say that moving back to Visalia has been the biggest blessing in my life!

Friends- I have a sitcom-like group of people in my life, and I'm not sure how I got this far without them! I have been more social, been on more adventures, and have had some of the most fun I can imagine in this past year: Beach days, mountain weekends, theme parks, 5Ks, Denny's, spontaneous ice cream runs, movie nights, sock golf, movies, mini golf, game nights, sevies runs, you name it! These people make my life better then it's ever been!!

Work- I feel like I have really found my footing teaching preschool. I really feel like this is what I was meant to do. I still get to hang out and help out with the youth, which I love doing...but my heart is that of a preschool teacher. I am so much happier in this career then I was in youth ministry. I get to hang out with children every single day. I get to do arts & crafts, I get to sing silly songs, I get to hold tiny hands and I get to hear things like "Miss Lauren, you look pretty today"...such a self-esteem boost!! I work with an amazing and supportive group of women so I pretty much have the best job ever!

Church- I have always considered my church here in Visalia to be my home. I literally grew up at Christ Lutheran, and the members of that church are my family! Ever since I've been back, I have felt so supported and encouraged. I feel so filled with worship, and ironically...the church that has known me since I was a baby treats me more like an adult and with more respect than the church that I worked for. I have even been honored to serve as a presiding minister, which has been so incredible. I am so humbled to be trusted with such a big responsibility.

It is incredible to look back and reflect on the awful experience of losing my job and see all the good that has come from it. Even though I'm still stuck in my parents' house...I can confidently say my life is about 88% better now then it was in SoCal

TGIF??

It has been so long since I have had a day off that has actually been a 'day off' that I have no idea what to do with myself this weekend.
I honestly don't know how I am going to occupy my time today or tomorrow. My apartment is clean, because I had company last night. So I don't need to clean. I went grocery shopping earlier in the week, because the company I had last night was for a dinner party. So I don't need to grocery shop. My children's sermon for this Sunday is written. Check.
I almost want to go to Disneyland since I have my pass, but I'm not sure how much fun it would be to go by myself. I guess I could read. Or watch a few DVDs. Or organize the files on my computer. Not sure what else there is to do.
I was going to use today to prep for having my girlfriends over for dinner tonight, but we bumped that to last night.
Two of my college roommates came over and I made baked ravioli (which was delicious...ifIdosaysomyself). I hope we are able to get together more often, esp since one of these girls is moving to The OC soon...which means instead of 20 minutes to get from her house to mine, it would take 1 1/2 hours...sad day. It was so great to have them over last night, it was almost like college all over again. 'Family Dinner', walking to 'sevies' (7-Eleven) for dessert and massage trains in front of the TV!! And what did we watch after our 'grown-up dinner'?? Glee, of course...duh!
My mug doesn't tie-in with any of this, so instead of trying to bridge the gap between the above paragraph and the photo below, I will use this sentence as an awkward segue. Here is my mug of the day:

I got it at the Rainforest Cafe...the frog's name is 'ChaCha', which I found amusing, since my newspaper-nickname in high school was Cha...because since there were two Laurens, that's what they would write on the assignment board. (Opinion>golf carts on campus>Cha)...and eventually they started calling me that too!