grace eventually.

...that camels live only one hour from Ruston? Yep, it's true. There's a Safari Park in Delhi! I thought Claire was crazy when she called to tell me that our Saturday evening plans were to ride in a WAGON through an animal farm! Well, we ended up not riding in the wagon after all, but we did drive-thru in our car. It was seriously like a drive-thru zoo! This guy above decided to stick his head in my window! And since when do reindeer live in the South? The boys told them all to say hello to Santa for them. I just knew they were going to start spilling out their Christmas lists:) There were also goats, deer, zebras and ostriches. This one below was quite intimidating. All of sudden we looked out the window and saw him RUNNING towards our car. I snapped this pic right before I rolled my window up! I'm sure he was harmless but that beak looked awfully large! All and all it was quite an adventure and it was FREE! Apparently it normally costs like 12 bucks, but Bob Odom (I think) was speaking out there, so they opened it up for a few hours. If you live around here, you should check it out.

And of course, I took a few pics of the Godchildren! As you can see, the boys were worn out!



Tomorrow I'm taking Josephine in to see if she's worth repairing. She's worth it to me but maybe not so much in the eyes of my insurance company, so we'll see. Dad thinks if they do total it I'll have a hard time finding another car for the money they offer me and at this point I can't afford car payments! Praise God for paid-off vehicles! I certainly enjoy this luxury! I also get a rental car tomorrow which will be a huge help since I've been coordinating schedules with my parents all weekend! Of course, they don't have to be at work at 5am so that's certainly not a conflict! I finally went to the doctor today...I have a mild case of tonsilitis! The doctor said I should feel better in 3 days...just in time for my LaborDday weekend trip to Houston! Yay!

Today I accepted the job at Trinity. I'll be the assistant to the DCE, Director of Christian Education. I'm excited but also nervous. I suppose that's natural. Andy's been very encouraging through the whole process. He understands that this will most likely not be a long-term job for me but a place to grow and gain experience until God opens the next door. I won't officially come on full-time until the end of September/beginning of October. I want to ensure that I have enough hours at Starbucks to keep my health benefits through the end of the year. After that, my plan is to continue to work at Starbucks about 10 hours a week for a little extra money and because I love it there so much.

I don't really have much of a car update. We've both filed claims with our insurance agents and we should get the police report on Monday. My agent told me today that I should be able to rent a car at the beginning of the week so that will certainly be helpful until we figure out what the status of my car is. There's a good chance they'll total it, but Dad seems to think we can get it fixed. We shall see.

Today I wrecked my car, Josephine. (I like to name my cars.) I was driving down 167 North and this sweet lady decided to stop do a U-TURN right in front of me. I slammed on my brakes and tried to honk, but quickly realized that I was definitely going to hit her. So...I gripped the steering wheel and closed my eyes. For some reason, closing my eyes makes it less real? I'm not sure. Thankfully neither one of us were hurt...my airbad didn't even deploy which sort of surprised me. Her minivan barely looks scratched. My little Saturn...well, I think you can see. The lady was super nice and incredibly apologetic. She said she would even pay my deductible. I have no doubt the adjustor will total Josephine due to her age and mileage. It's a shame...she's a good car. My insurance agent said this should be a smooth process since we're both with State Farm...I sure hope so.

...or so the old saying goes. Today has been one of those rollercoaster days. Isn't it interesting how we wake up and don't always think about what the day will be like, but then it hits us and we know, "Oh, it's going to be one of THOSE days." Now this type of day was completely different from my random drive-thru day at Starbucks...today I found out the fate of my future employment at Trinity. Andy called me yesterday afternoon to see if we could meet at 10am this morning. Sure...we meet every week to check in, etc., etc. And yet, more than one person asked if this was THE meeting when I would find out about the job. I didn't think so, but apparently these people have some strong intuition into my life that I was unaware of. Remind me to track these people down when my life could potentially be in danger. Now these meetings are always a little strange...you sit there, waiting for the words to come out of their mouth. When it takes a long time to get to the point, you get a pretty good idea that they're trying to make up for the fact that no matter how much they sugar-coat it, they're about to reject you. Okay, so that's probably a tad dramatic, but you get my point. There's no easy way to tell someone, especially someone you know well, that they're not getting the job. And even though Andy was incredibly encouraging, in my head all I could think about was the negative aspect. However, after the initial, "We offered the job to someone else.", he offered me another position, assistant to the Director of Christian Education and Discipling Ministries. It's also a full-time salaried position only without benefits and ironically, the person who did get the job is a friend so I would be working closely with them. I've yet to decide if this is good or bad. Working for a peer? Something to consider. I must admit, I cried for awhile, not in front of Andy...for some reason, I didn't want to expose that much of myself, but more so after I was able to get to my car and drive away from the church. 8 hours later I am better and am able to see things from a more positive perspective. I'm still not sure if I'll accept this job. I was able to sit down with my parents for a few minutes and do some budgeting and pros and cons (you know how I love my pros and cons!) and they're certainly supportive either way. The great but also challenging thing about being an adult is we get to make our own decisions. I'll be praying through this all week. Might you join me?

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been a little under the weather with this cold. Today it seems I can't go 5 minutes without an all-out coughing fit! Might I add how embarrassing this can be in public?! Anyway, last night I had to close at Starbucks, meaning I went in at 4 and got off a few minutes shy of midnight. They put me on drive-thru which on most days is not my favorite, especially when you open the window and all that hot, humid air hits you in the face. But I haven't been on it all week, so it was my turn. From 4-6 there seemed to be a steady stream of folks coming through ordering their frappuccinos (our cold, blended beverages) and occasionally a hot beverage. What I began to notice was that every car seemed to be intent on driving me crazy! For example, I had one lady come through and order 4 different drinks (no big deal) but then made me repeat her order back to her 3 times because her kids were so loud she couldn't hear me! When she got to the window and I began handing out her drinks, I would tell her what it was, she would look at me blankly and say "What is this again?" As she got ready to leave, she said, "You did a really good job." Was I being tested? I continued to wonder. The next car was a man and a woman. I started taking their order before the previous woman had left which can sometimes be confusing because you're having to pay attention to 2 conversations. As I feared, I missed part of their order and had to ask them to repeat it. This led to the gentleman YELLING their order at me. Geez, Mister, I'm not deaf. We discovered that the woman had given the order the first time from the passenger seat so the man thought he would overcompensate by talking loudly. As I was handing out their order, he said, "You did outstanding." Seriously? The next car that pulled up was a young lady and here's how our conversation went. Me: "Thank you for choosing Starbucks. This is Cynthia. What can we get started for you?" Her: Silence. A few seconds pass. Often people don't roll their windows down when they get to the order menu. Absurd, I know. Me: "Order whenever you're ready." Her: Silence. Several more seconds. Me: "Are you ready to order?" (in a polite voice). Her: Silence. A few more seconds. Her: "HELLO???!!!" As if I had been ignoring her all this time! Thankfully I work with people who are able to find humor in situations such as these, so I didn't really have time to be annoyed but had a hard time not laughing at her. I waited and waited for the camera crew to come out of hiding and say "You've been punk'd!" but no such thing happened. Apparently it was just one of those nights.

Thank God It's Naptime...for Lora, who recently posted a blog about letters! And for the record, I have an MDiv (Master of Divinity)...meaning I'm a Master of the Divine? I don't think so:)

I must admit that I've been looking forward to my "Sabbath" the last few weeks. I had to be creative this week since there wasn't a full day I could take off from both jobs. This morning I opened at Starbucks (5am!) and worked til 10am. I go back tomorrow afternoon at 4pm. It's been a crazy week full of meetings and SICKNESS! I've developed a summer cold. Monica and I decided this morning that summer colds are definitely worse that winter ones, especially during Lousiana summers when it averages around the 100 degree mark! So today, for my Sabbath, I will be napping as long as I want, then sleeping in tomorrow. As my professor Chris Kiesling once told me, "Sometimes there's nothing more spiritual than taking a nap." He may have stole it from someone else, but I'll give him credit. Speaking of interesting quotes...here are a couple I've received from friends in the last week or so. In reference to my recent waiting period on the job at Trinity, Becca said, "The wait is always worth your while..." Although I know this to be true, my response to her was "Depends on what's on the other side." God's been reminding me of HIS promises and purpose for my life. I've been feeling a little discouraged about what lies ahead of me. He called me to seminary and yet, here I am, working an hourly paying job at Starbucks that ironically I absolutely love! So goes the ever-present battle of enjoyment versus money. Of course, it's a known fact that ministry jobs don't pay that well, but it would still be more than what I'm making at the bucks! So, I'm learning how to trust...again! A second quote from my friend, Luke, in response to my job interview, "The first train is always the most tempting but all the drunk guys are on the next one....whatever that means." I don't know what it means either, but it made me laugh!

Jenn moved to Lubbock on Monday. Now even though I'm way excited for her to move out of Ruston for the very first time, it also makes me sad seeing how she's one of my few close friends that was still living in Ruston that I've known most of my life. We went on one last shopping spree before her big going-away party last weekend. I miss her already.
On Friday, Dana, one of the shifts at Starbucks, moved to SC. This is most of our Starbucks family here on the left. I've been at this store for almost 5 months. That's hard for me to believe...I was at my store in Lexington for 6 months. If you're ever looking for eccentric, fun, and downright awesome friends, work at Starbucks!

On Thursday I interviewed for the position at my church, the one I've been sharing my pros/cons list about. It was a good interview. Regardless of whether or not I get the job, I'm glad a I did it. I've learned that staying in Ruston is not the worst thing that could ever happen to me and that by living here, it does not mean that I'm moving backwards. This has been a big realization for me. However, I will say that the 100 degree weather might, in fact, kill me. Last week I started "running" again. This week I threw in the towel. There is no reason to purposely be outside. I figure if I'm not exercising AND it is ridiculously hot outside, I might as well treat myself to numerous bowls of Blue Bell icecream. When my clothes no longer fit, I will certainly regret this decision.