a little announcement

hello readers!

i am alive and well and have not fallen off the face of the earth! and i have an announcement to make:

i have a job!

(which explains why i have fallen off the blogging train this week. work has meant a lot of extra hours lately!) after nine months of searching, i am totally thrilled to be working with habitat for humanity providing homes for deserving families in my community.

there were a lot of things i wanted out of a job while i was searching and clearly god had good plans in mind when he blessed me with this position. in actuality, working with habitat fits me better than i could have imagined. as you can probably guess from the entries on this blog, i firmly believe a home should be a sanctuary. everyone should have a space, large or small, in which they feel safe, inspired, and comfortable. and in addition, my love of homes and decorating has cultivated an interest in structures and architechture, about which i am learning every week! i spend four days a week in the office and one on the build site and my position is a great one, as i am able to build relationships with many volunteers, community leaders, and potential and existing homeowners. in the past couple of weeks, i have spoken with many of the women who are working hard every saturday to earn the sweat equity hours necessary to obtain an interest-free mortgage from habitat, and no one should have to live in the conditions they experience. and it's not just a problem here:

it is impossible, anywhere in america, to work a full-time job at minimum wage and afford an apartment at the fair market rent.

i am so excited that amidst all my meetings and conference calls that constitute a regular office job, i am partnering with those extraordinary men and women who not only need a safe place for their families, but work extremely hard to earn it. when i go home after work at night, i am happy to know that there are others living in a warm, dry, safe home in part because of my time at the office that day. there is so much on which i could elaborate...the more i learn about habitat, the more i am impressed with the organization's purpose, structure, and commitment; however, i will close with this: after nine months of waiting for the right job, god has placed me exactly where i belong and i couldn't be happier about being there!

oh and p.s. a new job means the search for a fabulous apartment is ON. if you love hgtv's house hunters, stay tuned for my own version of apartment hunters!

image via rodney smith photography