simply homemaker

Dearest readers,

After the whirlwind that is the move on Sunday, it is Wednesday and I have officially worked for 3 days as a full-time ministry worker (as you can tell, this blog is a little bit like a week one diary).

That is so crazy to say.

I ended up really tiring myself out, wanting to go 110mph as always. I tried going to all the grocery stores, jumping straight into work, and constantly unpacking when I was not working. So here we are, determined to end work right at 5 (accomplished at 5:06), showered and cozied up on the couch to write this week’s blog.

It’s quiet when I’m at home. I haven’t seen a single person today except for a truckdriver when I was grabbing a couple things from my car this morning, and about 3 people total when I was on my morning walk. The only person I’ve really talked to is my manager for a quick check in and project call at 3 o’ clock. The rest of the time, I’ve spent by myself – watching onboarding videos, cooking, unpacking, working some more, and watching the rain fall hard outside of my window because it is Florida we live in now.

So it’s definitely been very different from living with a family of 8.

When I was on my walk this morning, I felt a little lost. I am supposed to feel not lost (I got a job, and I just moved to an amazing spot!), but here I am, a little lonely, churchless, newcomer, and no friends yet in Orlando. To be fair, I know I’ve been here 3 days. But it seems like I keep moving from spot to spot yet never seemed to “arrive.” Like I never had the feeling of, “wow, this is home.” Instead, in a way, all the different stops somehow became a home.

I was only in Switzerland for 3 months but can tell you even now how to walk to the marketplace and back from my university and can tell you the best cheesecake spot in St. Gallen, where I got all my emotional support cheesecakes. I was in Texas for only 3 months last summer but can tell you all the things about the Southwest Headquarters and the hours we spent hanging in mama Julie’s pool and the sweet kids I got to play with and hang out with all day after my internship ended and the number of 100lb bags we packed for the trip to Ethiopia and the best car washing spot in Texas. I have just been in Virginia for 6 months, but I can’t even begin to tell you the moments I had with the Ruffin’s parents and children, the memories I made at GWU before I graduated, the amazingly smelling spring walks, and the many visits to Trader Joe’s (which is sadly no longer a reality for me now). Each place has become a home for me, in the little or longer time I got to spend there, and I know Orlando will come to become one too.

At this point of writing this blog, I had invited someone to lunch and was invited to a dance class after work on Monday. Big yay!

How is Orlando, you might ask? Well, it’s very different. On the way to the train station, I kept looking for the evergreens I had gotten used to and never found them. Instead, I found palm trees and swamps and a lot of big birds. I don’t have a TJs anymore (big sad), but I have Publix, and it’s been an amazing grocery store (shout out to the young people who work there and are so friendly!). My team is a little quirky, but they are all nice, and I’ve been warmly welcome by so many at Cru. I even got a shoutout from the Cru President on the first day of work, which is such a fun story to be able to tell: My first day of work ended up being the US Capacity staff connection day, and it was just the President’s turn to be the speaker! So, after my manager dropped me off in the big auditorium, out of a little nervousness, I stood up to go find the bathroom and was literally stopped by a tall smiling man who shook my hands with a “Hey! How are you?!”

“Good, thank you!”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Tram, and today is my first day!”

“That’s awesome! I am David!”

David and I ended up talking for a bit and I told him I just moved from Washington D.C. and he told me he had lived in all these different places like Italy and Morocco. And then I noticed he was wearing a mic. And then I realized that he might just be someone big at Cru.

And since I definitely looked a little lost, he added “I’m the President.”

And proceeded to give me a shoutout when he got on stage about 15 minutes later.

So that was pretty fun!

My daily rhythm looks very different too in general. I don’t have little ones in my room or office anymore, instead, I only see my roommate for 30 minutes combined each day. Instead of the 1 hour and 10 minutes commute, it’s only a very nice 15-minute drive to work. Maybe 20 minutes when there is traffic. I also don’t have homework in the evening, and my day is filled with meeting new people at Headquarters, which is something I’m a little out of practice of.

I know I just got to Orlando, but I have already come up with big dreams, and I’m submitting them to the Lord in prayer because I know He answers to even our biggest prayers! The older I get the more I struggle with staying present, and I’m trying to change that!

Work has gone pretty well. To be honest, this job is way above my pay grade. Like, I should not be the one doing it if I could pick – I’ve never held a single finance job in my life. But the Lord has brought me here and has confirmed to me again and again that this is the place He wants me, so I’ll stick it out and learn as much as I can. Grateful for friendly coworkers, an amazing office, and working with like-minded people who share a love for Jesus and His coming kingdom!

More than ever, I feel both humbled and confident to choose the life that is rich not in the material sense and pick security and long-term planning over temporal gratification. Moving to work for a full-time ministry and taking a pay cut is sobering; I am reminded every day of the good life He promises: sweet communion with Him and other believers. I am treated so well here, but I am in such a difference place in life than I was three years ago, and man am I thankful!

Today is my first Friday of my first week!! It feels so wonderful to leave work and go home and cook dinner and snack on a lot of popcorn and update my blog. I pretty much spent the day alone at the office today and watched tons of training videos and worked on a data project and had a call with a friend who is raising support to go into mission, which pretty much inspired me to reconfigure my whole giving plan! Yay! I’m so excited to be able to give to friends who I was able to give to in the past and continue supporting them in God’s calling for their lives!

And… today is Saturday. It’s the day the blog comes out! I just had my first weekend day in Orlando and it was really good. I woke up, called my family, made some pho for breakfast, and then went to Aldi and made a German lunch (bratwurst and spaetzli!). Today is my neighborhood’s summer kickoff day, so I went to the pool, had free BBQ and a snow cone, made a friend (let’s see if I ever catch Joe, a retired New Yorker at Boxi Park), and finished The Last Battle. It was so good. Then I went home and showered and am now cozy in bed ready to go to bed! Tomorrow I will come to a couple’s house for breakfast and attend church with them, which I am so excited about.

Trying to be present here during my time in Orlando and not be anxious about what’s next, because this is the green pastures He has led me to for this season. Lots of yays in this blog, and I know there will be nays at some point as it happens, but I know He is good, and I can count on Him.

I hope your summer is off to a great start, friend. Thank God He made summer. Can you imagine the world without one? Talk to you next week!

Love,

Tram