Shaky Ground

Well the earthquake hit while I was at work. There was a noise and a sudden movement feeling like a bus or truck hit the building. But the building didn't stop moving, it began to sway more. I looked out the window and the trees were moving. Everyone stood up and kind of looked at each other torn between the decision to bolt out the door or wait around and see what kind of an earthquake it was. What a strange feeling....it didn't last long and it wasn't very violent. Nothing crashed or fell down. Afterwards I felt a little weird, kinda sick. Other people in the office felt sick too. I'm told this is due to gravity and your equilibrium (or whatever that thing is), apparently it makes you feel like you have motion sickness after an earthquake. I guess our bodies aren't used to the counter movement of the earth. I found out a few people in our building ran outside once the ground started moving. These are the same people who were around in 1994 when an earthquake devastated the LA area, including the flattening of the mall and office buildings in which our building is located. Since then our building has been re-built with state of the art earthquake stuff, hence the swaying feeling of the building in the earthquake. I can't help but wonder what being in the world trade center must have felt like on 911. To feel the building move underneath you with you inside, knowing it could collapse at any minute. It must have been strange and scary. I now know that when an earthquake hits you are supposed to hide under a door frame or a desk, though I think I would probably want to run outside too. James thought the earthquake was really neat, he was at work too when it happened.

Along with earthquakes, I feel like in life right now I've been on shaky ground too. Being new at work I'm constantly trying to figure out my role, and what that means. I hate being new and having to sift through everything. I love it when I can get down to business and cross things off my list. I know this comes with time so I'm just praying that as I continue to plow ahead, that I'm able to meet the expectations laid out before me by others and myself. I also pray that I would continue to adapt well in my new surroundings. James and I are also still getting used to the LA area and learning our way around. We don't have the friend base here that we had in VA to turn to for help, or our families to assist us in close proximity. There is something to be said for knowing your local area and where to go to for what. I hate googling everything, but I love that technology has made getting to know a new area easier. All in all we're making our way through doing the best that we can with adapting to life in southern CA. So far there have been some shaky times, but we're diggin in and learning a lot in the process. I can't wait for everything to feel like an old hat!

Today James fixed our car, so its currently running again yay!!!

All of the earthquake news reminds me of how important foundations are:
Matthew 7:24-25
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Anticipation

Well the past week has been filled with anticipation. As you know I had had two verbal job offers of employment from two different companies for two totally different jobs. The first verbal offer was with a financial/insurance company, to be an executive assistant to the Marketing CEO. The second verbal offer was with a specialized technology company that serves schools, government, and cities. The position that they had called me in to interview for was a marketing project specialist, to assist the Marketing Team with managing various marketing materials and projects. Since they were both verbal offers I was waiting upon the completion of background checks to be cleared and for the formal written offers to come through. I had decided beforehand the company #2 was the job that I had really wanted. The business casual environment, friendly staff, upward movement possibilities, and highly motivated/skilled staff made this job more appealing. Not to mention the job description/duties were more in line with what I was looking for. The formal offer came in on Tuesday, July 2nd and I quickly accepted!

This made the 4th of July a great celebration weekend for James and I :) On the 4th of July James and I headed over to Griffith Park to watch the city lit up with fireworks. The view was amazing I've never experienced July 4th fireworks like that before. It was dark and we could see all the lights of the city from the mountain view of Griffith Park. There were at least 20 different firework shows that we could see happening all around the city instantaneously. It was so neat the fireworks would pop up all over the place. It was truly beautiful!!!

Then on Sunday after church James and I decided to go the LA Farmers Market. We walked around the very cute and posh area. We heard some live jazz, ate at one of the quaint eateries in the Farmers Market, and people watched in the beautiful and trendy shopping area/outdoor mall next door. It was nice to see. It is located right next to CBS studios and seems to be a pretty popular spot to hangout/eat/shop.

Today, Monday, was my first official day on the new job. I was nervous about going in. I hadn't heard back from the HR department about the materials that I had signed and sent back...But the papers I signed explained that I would begin on Monday at 9am. I was excited to find that when I arrived, I was not the only new kid on the block. There were two other employees whose first days were today as well. One of which was working within the same department as I, and sharing the same office area. She was really nice and I have a feeling we will be good friends. I received the tour, some trainings, a lot of learning and intake of information. Best of all, the whole team took me out for lunch. I felt welcomed and appreciated :) So my fears of having a horrible first day experience are relieved and now I'm just trying not to worry too much about the next few weeks. I hate new stages and feeling like I'm missing information. I have a lot of new lingo, policies, practices, documents, and information to learn. Please pray for me as I do my best to soak it all in as quickly as possible and that I adapt well. Today I also found out that I most likely will be traveling to Las Vegas for a week for a work conference. Most of the office is attending the conference. I've been told that James may come along as well, so I'm really excited. I was also excited to find out that I should be receiving a laptop for work purposes. Yay!!! For those of you who remember my work at MBC you'll know that I love being able to stay connected/updated with a laptop.

So all in all it was a great day. Tiring...yes, but all first days are. I really enjoy my director and the team I will be working on. I'm excited to get past the new stage and jump in but I also realize the importance of the new stage and soaking it all in. James' schedule and my own is soon to become quite busy, in a good way. Pray that as things pick up that I would also be able to get used to my new job, and new schedule.