The January that was different.

Last year, January drug painfully by. As it approached, I braced myself for the same sluggish pace as last year, but have been pleasantly surprised at the difference. The amount of new people I'm meeting exploded in January and I've been spending most of the month building these new relationships.

January in pictures:

Bowling at The Clique.

Katie's Birthday. LaKeri said, "Move closer." I did. She was talking to Katie. We bumped our heads.

Our first house party: LaKeri's birthday. We're trying to get the party started.
Notice Emma's face.

Laura and I

I've gone rock climbing quite a bit this month at GVSU. Katie and I decided to climb every other Monday, alternating with book group.

I hosted a dinner part at my place this last Friday. We had Mexican Casserole to eat.

Andy sat up this pulley system in our doorway. If you'll notice, I've pulled myself off the ground.

This is Holly.

Micheal, Daniel, LaKeri, and Brooke

Katie and I making our silly faces.

Ben's here!

Ben telling the gas can story.

A push-up contest broke out. Me, Parker, Pat, Holly, and Emma.

Yesterday, as I was walking, into the mall, I had the sudden realization that I was not self-conscious. I wasn't thinking about who was watching me or what to do with my arms, or where to look. "What the heck," I thought. "When did that happen?"

Emma Grace is coming!

Becky's being induced tomorrow morning and with any luck Emma will be here tomorrow night. I cannot wait to hold her and will hopefully make the trip to Port Huron on Sunday. I love Becky!

An Unexpected Life

In the last few days my life has been infiltrated. New actions. New thoughts. New experiences. All foreign, and yet...my breath is caught up in the wonder and the thoughts of how comfortable the turns of this journey are making me. I laughed with my heart this weekend and cherished my friends without being told I should. God bent down, grabbed my hand, and said, "Look! This is who you are, so go be it."

This is an unexpected life I am leading.

On Being Single

I very much like this article. I've been thinking about who I'm becoming and how singleness plays a part in this.

Recently I removed my relationship status on Facebook, which resulted in a Live Feed posting of, "Amanda is no longer listed as single." For two days now, I've been getting inquiries from friends, co-workers, and family about the details of this sudden change. Each time I laughed and said, "If I was in a relationship EVERYONE would know."

I sat talking with a girlfriend the other night and commented about how finding someone doesn't feel as pressing now later in my twenties than it did at the beginning. She commented on how I seem more comfortable with myself. I'm getting there. I'm trying to own my feelings and actions and to take the constant spin off my life. I don't want to live like I think I should live. I just want to live.

There's a lot a things about being single that I've grown to love and know I'll have to work out when/if a relationship comes along. I love not checking in with anyone; free to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I love the freedom to travel and to stay out late. Though a boyfriend/husband would be nice when there's snow to shovel or garbage to take out. HA!

However there's aspects of close relationship that I would never give up. Soul-searching conversations and tearful confessions. Having someone know you so well, that they've seen how you've changed. Friends telling you things you need to hear and what you've never seen in yourself. Yes, I love deep relationships.

So right now it's not a matter of trying to feel content. I am content. RIGHT NOW. That's a good place to be.

Response to the Good Morning America interview.

Wendell Berry

Have I told you that I'm in a reading group? Katie ushered me in and for the time being we're reading Wendell Berry. Check him out if you aren't familiar. Last night we were encouraged to bring a reading and I wanted to share this one with you:

Manifesto:
The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

by Wendell Berry

One of the articles in Reclaiming Politics (IC#30)
Fall/Winter 1991, Page 62
Copyright (c)1991, 1996 by Context Institute | To order this issue ...

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Those are the first two stanzas. My favorite lines are italicized. These words stuck in my brain today. Do something that does not compute. I think that's what it means to live out the teachings of Jesus. Does not compute. The world does not understand loving someone who does not deserve it. The world does not understand living beyound the republic; living in a different kingdom. I like that thought.

Someone called me MRS. Waldron today and all I could think was, "My mom's not here."

Shout Out To Cornerstone

WZZM
Good Morning America

Sundays and Coffee Shops

There are a lot of activities I don't think of Amanda Waldron doing. Coffee Shop-ing is one of them. Somehow, in my mind, myself and a coffe shop don't click. Don't you have to like coffee? Aren't you supposed to have an ounce of trend to participate? Shouldn't I be smoking a pipe and reading Dickens?

But I come, and often. The Bitter End is within walking distance, but more ofter then not I find myself at The Sparrows in East Town. Thankfully both shops carry a great seletion of teas.

I came today, after church and a little work. I wasn't ready to call it a night, so stopped by and ran into some people I'd beginning to get to know. This city is beginning to feel smaller. Finally after (what) five years, I'm beginning to feel like I'm carving a small nitch. It sometimes feels like I've been crawing and crying for my own space in this town, but other times, like today I can turn in at night in MY city.

2009: A Year of Questions

New Year's Resolutions are hard. For me to feel successful, means that I'm still remembering and/or working on them by Dec, which is often not the case. However, this year instead of having a set task, I'm opting for a defining idea.

Legalism and passivity seem to have taken hold of the latter months of 2008. Routine acceptance is never something I want to fall into. I want to experience the world and ask why I experience it this way. Why do I believe what I do and why do I act this way? What would happen if we saw the world through a different viewpoint? What questions accompany growth?

So this year, I will be asking questions. No guidelines other than that. No time lines and maybe no answers. BUT please feel free to add your input.