simply homemaker

Lately, I’ve been woken up by the birds again.

When May arrives in Virginia and spring fully steps into presence, the birds seem to wake up earlier. Everything just bloomed. We are in full lush mode. And the woods and flowers and trees seem to be at the peak of their growth, full of life and color and a stable sense of someone who just arrived at who they said they’d like to be when they grew up. This person knows that fall is eventually on its way but why care so much when summer has just begun?

When the birds wake up early, I do too. It is simply quite the most delightful feeling, to be gently woken up by the sound of their chirping while you are still under the fleece covers, being welcome by the promise of the day.

And so, we have arrived at the end of Spring, for today it is May.

I’ve had such a full, lovely, fun, and gentle spring – all those things combined. Gaining a third family, interviewing for countless jobs, learning brand new skills and knowledge in my degree, and stepping into what the Lord had promised all along, the season has been growing like none other.

The tulips in DC, however, have been a sweet thing to see, reminding me of the continuity in the season. You can count on their beauty every spring.

When I was a new MBA student losing sleep over what I was supposed to do with my life, I went to church one Sunday morning to hear the Lord clearly directing me to full-time ministry. I wrote that down in my Bible, not knowing exactly what it would look like. Two months later, I was at the local CRU winter conference when I heard of an opportunity where the ministry flies you down to Orlando for the weekend to get to know the headquarters and the teams that work there. I applied and went, meeting a team leader I particularly felt connected to. When I was in Switzerland, this ministry team leader and I reconnected. When I came back from Switzerland, he said there was no vacancy on his team, so I thought the Lord closed the door. Two months later, he reached out about a new role that just opened on a sister team, and he would love to refer me for this role.

So here we are, just 17 days from graduation, with an offer to join ministry full-time as a senior financial analyst!

I remember the days of me trying to push applications and network and interview and do coffee chats, only to get the job that was handed to me on a platter, completely orchestrated by the Lord.

After months and months of homework and (really fun) trips and assignments, I’m excited to return to life before graduate school: pilates, home cooking, pottery, and maybe even weddings abroad! A life filled with sweet community, and margins to invest in them.

The past two years were SO fun but SO hard – playing Tetris with my stuff and where to store them, hiring a friend to literally supervise movers when I’m in class, living in so many different family homes, and commuting over an hour to go to school for most of my time in graduate school.

Not to discount the amazing experience I had in Switzerland – but we did climb a hill pretty much every day at 7:45AM in the dead of winter to go to class at a bunker next to a cattle farm. We did do that. Pretty? Yes. Hard? Yes.

I am so, so, so excited to be driving a car with AC that works, to an office three days a week, seeing the same people and having a sweet team to work with and a caring community to get to know.

I will miss Virginia, especially my church family. But the plan is to do Thanksgiving in Fort Worth and Easter in Fairfax, so we will see each other again. I’ll make sure of that.

The train ticket has been booked, the storage appointment has been made, the friends have been contacted.

The news has been shared. And I’m just so grateful for what’s coming.

May won’t necessarily be simple: we will be taking two more exams, hosting my family from Vietnam and Massachusetts, welcoming the dear Ruffin’s back from France, going to the Grand Canyon, organizing all of my possessions (thankful for my family being here to help), and loading the rest of my stuff into my car.

But May will also be spending time outside with the youth group, celebratory dinners, having my family and the Ruffin’s meet, and getting to know new friends in Orlando!

The hardest part of this is definitely leaving Ruffinville. I get sad every time I start thinking about it. But the girls are leaving for college too, and it will be a new season for the rest of the little ones to step in, and like Priscilla said, “we can always come visit you.”

I am so, so ready. Spring has fully matured, and summer with its fruits is just a page away.

My friends and I are already planning a birthday weekend at Disney World, and I can barely wait. The thoughts of my closest friends together in the most magical place on Earth are too good to be true.

And this blog will be here, still, to capture the moments of making home lovely wherever I go.

Grateful for you, friend.

Love,

Tram