simply homemaker

Hi everyone,

The snow has melted in Virginia, and I’m sensing spring in the air.

The past two weeks have become busier and busier as homework schedule picked up and I started my internship with World Vision. We’re officially coming out of hibernation, and I’m thankful for it.

It’s been a blast having a job again. How crazy it is to get the exact job you dreamed of when you were 19. Here I am with the rhythm of Microsoft Teams, Workday, and sending out virtual coffee chat calls, feeling like the whole thing is unreal. Because the difference here is that I’m scheduling calls with colleagues from around the world and am attending a weekly chapel as part of my job. A global team, supportive male AND female colleagues, a remote schedule, prayers to open every meeting, and the opportunity to serve the most vulnerable people in the world. Pinch me.

Plus, I always have a Ruffin in my corner who keeps me company when work from home gets boring.

I have been thinking of how it has been a full circle, the Lord allowing all my young and naive dreams to come true, from working at Southwest to working at World Vision, from studying abroad to living in my “own” apartment for a season with my favorite people. He gives me the desires of my heart, and in His time, He fulfills these desires in His own way.

As winter is fading and spring is coming, I think more and more of the Lord and His will. I know He wants me to follow Him and carry my own cross – oh, how deeply do I desire to do so and walk toward Him with almost a blind confidence, regardless of whatever this next season holds.

The past year has trained me in more areas than I thought possible. Being frugal. Pursuing simplicity. Getting things done, fully and immediately, simply for the sake of order. Committing time and energy to my priorities regardless of the season. Honorable mentions of what life has taught me: get a physical checkup whenever I can, do not buy an old car, have a dental insurance, and also check my emails.

It’s also taught me that while life feels completely uncertain, it is important to go on a good date, invite your friends over for a meal, go for a walk, and call your parents. It’s never too late to come to the Lord in simple prayer and surrender to what He has for me that day.

Tomorrow, I am spending almost 12 hours with my youth group, at potentially the last lock-in I will be a part of unless the Lord allows me to stay here. I am helping cook and serve breakfast to 40 teenagers and just trying to entertain them for 5 hours straight. I consider this a great blessing. These teenagers fill my life with excitement, friendship, and purpose – the young people whose hearts and bodies are filled with dreams and struggles and pure joy. I feel younger each time I’m with them!

It’s tempting for me to keep thinking about what’s next. Where will I be? Where will I live? Where will I go to church? What is community going to be like? I wanted to experience something new, and I got to do it, in crazy and beautiful ways. Now after coming back home, I hold on to familiar things like a child on the first day of class. I’m not letting go. I’m crying and kicking and screaming about it, mostly internally. I want to stay here.

I want the weekly dinners, the morning routines, the community gatherings, the usual grocery stores, the things I can count on.

And then I remember how I’ve always had a thing to count on, and that is enough.

Jesus’ faithfulness. His promise of a new life rooted in Him.

Jesus, I pray for utter newness and freedom this season, like a little plant budding from the ground.

Isn’t it crazy that February is in two days, and soon, we will have flowers and cherry blossoms and walks in the park and graduation and my parents visiting?

May my life on earth reflect even a glimpse of what it will be like with you in heaven. When I wake up and log in to work. When I metro into DC for 3-hour classes. When I walk in the grocery store. When I play games with the kids. When I bake on Wednesday afternoons. When I read your Word and hear Your voice. When I dream and toil for those dreams, holding on to the hope that one day You will fulfill each and every single promise.

Let me be thankful for the day.

Love,

Tram