I am very excited for this new year. I’ve begun cataloging posts by year as well as by topic (see below), and it’s remarkable to realize I’ve been writing on this website for about 8 years. Most of what I write falls into the essays and articles category, and probably not enough goes in the life category. Today, I want to reflect on our life, share some plans for the new year, and show some photos.
I have a suspicion that in 8 more years when I look back, I’ll care more about seeing a photo of that old friend, or drone footage of our house, or reminiscing about the time I got a year’s supply of Buffalo Wild Wings (yeah!) than about reading my musings and cultural observations – as fascinating as those are!
So here is a quick video of our place.
The People
In our house is me, Aleisha, Ava, Luke, and our dog, Teddy. Ava is almost six months now, and she is getting baptized at Midtown Presbyterian next Sunday where we attend. We really love our church family, and being a part of a community group that meets to share a meal every other Sunday afternoon is really special. The church is a small group of people (maybe 60) that meets in Hope Women’s Center.
One of the hard things about moving away from where you grew up is that you have to make new friends. But it’s also really special because the people you get to know are the ones you found (or who found you). My good friend Collin and I started a book club that meets about once a month via Zoom. It’s not as good as in person, but it’s a great way to keep up with old friends and stay reading.
The Jobs
I have worked at Grand Canyon University for almost three years in the admissions department. My job has evolved quite a bit, and I now work solely with theology students. I work on a small team that enrolls both undergraduate students and seminary students. I work from home some days and some days on campus which is just a few blocks from our house. On occasion (such as below photo), we also travel to churches or other colleges to present. In this role I interact regularly with the college of theology and seminary faculty which is a fun, and I’ve gotten to travel to quite a few states. We also get discounted season basketball tickets which is great.
Aleisha has two jobs. She works for Aim Right Ministries as the program director. She’s been involved with Aim Right in some way for about eight years, from an intern to coming out for summer programming to moving to Phoenix for a position. She spends two or three nights a week there. She also works for City of Joy, a non-profit based in Rwanda that does a lot. Mainly it’s a school located in a rural community. Her role involves helping to coordinate and sell the baskets which local women weave to make an income (I also made a video about the amazing process). In March of last year, we got to visit the school and meet the basket weavers as well as the school staff.
The Neighborhood
Phoenix is laid out like a very large grid. We live at 37th Avenue and Missouri which is about 6 miles from downtown Phoenix. We love our neighborhood and are getting to know our neighbors. They are very kind and we’ve exchanged some gifts, and I’ve borrowed tools. It feels safe to walk around, though there are stray dogs that run through the alleys. Our goal is to throw a neighborhood block party this spring to get to meet more people.
Growing up, I did a lot of construction work. And, largely because I was so unskilled, I came to really disdain it. Now my workweek consists of working inside at a computer in an office (or at home). With this change, I’ve also noticed I really enjoy working outside and taking up home improvement projects, so long as I get to do them at my leisure and pace. So in the nine months we’ve lived in our 1950s house, I’ve made countless treks to Home Depot, and feel really proud of some of the things we’ve done. We got grass to grow in our back yard, added a small fence in the front, replaced the fence in the back, added plants, painted the windows…things like that.
We’ve also started Greenhouse, a concept based on the fact that our house is green(ish), that we have an espresso machine, and that we love to have people over. We got the idea from mutual friends who do the the J and R coffee bar in Colorado. About two Saturdays a month we open our house and serve coffee and some sort of breakfast. It’s been really great – we’ve met some new friends, and we have some regulars who come each weekend. Last week, Luke had insider info from a GCU classmate about a Buffalo Wild Wings Go grand opening. The first 50 people in line would get free wings for a year. Several of the Greenhouse faithful have secured this insane prize, and we went for a free round of wings for lunch yesterday.
The Goals
I have some goals for the upcoming year. Tomorrow I am meeting to finalize my internship site. My master’s in mental health counseling program requires a 9 month internship after I complete coursework (around October). So I’ll get to start that in October assuming I successfully finish my six remaining courses. During this time I also plan to get therapy myself.
Our car is great, sort of. I would like to find a vehicle for our family that gets better gas mileage and is in a bit better, more reliable shape – and which shifts from second to third gear without lurching.
I have a goal of writing here on this site at least monthly. In the past, that’s been pretty attainable, and I’d like to keep that up.
And my strange new year’s resolution is to be more calm and steady while talking and maintaining eye contact. I am pretty good at listening to people, but sometimes I get really uncomfortable when I’m speaking for fear the other person is bored. I would like to learn to be a bit more present and steady when speaking face to face.
javen.bear. 