a better me

I wish I could say I am surprised it has been over three months since my last post but, unfortunately, I am not.  You see, blogging and I have a very unstable relationship.  At the first sign of busy-ness, I turn my back.  Then, days, weeks, or months later, I come running back to pick up where I left off.  Fortunately, I am not nearly as flaky in any of my other relationships.

As a follow-up to my last post on personal goals, I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news:  Rob and I have been attending church regularly and attended a class on Sunday to begin the process of becoming new members!  We’re both excited to become a part of the church and start getting to know more of the congregation.  The bad news:  I have not been as diligent in my daily thankfulness as I had hoped.  I thank God for His many blessings on a regular basis, but only in fleeting thoughts or quick prayers.  I certainly have room to improve the quality of my thankfulness.

For starters, today I am thankful for the train.  That’s right–I am thankful for public transportation.  I just started my job at a law firm in center city and love having 20 minutes in the morning on the way to work to catch up on e-mails, read, or just zone out… none of which I could do (at least not safely) if I was driving to work.  I am very blessed to have such easy access to the city from my apartment.  Plus, the Narberth train station is across the street from my apartment and is only 3 stops away from suburban square, which is 2 blocks from work.  So blessed!

Speaking of blessed, I’ve experienced a lot of amazing, life changing events in the past few months.  In the end of July, I took the bar exam to be admitted as an attorney in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  18 hours of testing split into three days–two days in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey.  It’s quite the test on a number of levels (i.e., mentally, physically, academically).  Unfortunately, we do not receive our results until October/November so I am still waiting to hear that I passed.

New Husband:
Several weeks after the bar exam, Rob and I got married.  We had an unbelievably perfect wedding!  I am not saying that everything went exactly according to plan, but everything worked out exactly as it was supposed to.  Most amazing of all was that we had perfect weather during our outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour.  It wasn’t too hot and the rain held out until right after everyone had headed inside for the wedding reception and we had gotten some great photos in.  Amazing timing!

We also had a blast at our reception!  There was so much dancing and hugging and dancing and cameras flashing and dancing and… did I mention dancing?!  We even had my brother-in-law whipping out his awesome break dancing skills at one point.  SO much fun!  And, the wedding reception was only the beginning.  The day after our wedding we left for Hawaii for 10 days!  It was gorgeous and so much fun!  I cannot wait to go back and explore more of the islands someday.  I’m thinking 5th year anniversary trip already!

New Name:
As of today, my name is no longer Maria Rose Rubadue.  I just received a new social security card in the mail with my new name:  Maria Rose Granholm!  It’s official.

New Job:
About two weeks after Rob and I returned from our honeymoon, I started work for a 700+ attorney, international law firm in center city Philadelphia.  I feel so fortunate that I was able to line up a job before graduation… it’s such a tough time to be looking for a job, let alone looking for a job to start out a legal career.  I’ve been working now for just over two weeks and so far so good.  I’ve done very little work on the weekends or on week night evenings, which is far better than I expected.  I also got my first paycheck in over a year today.  The paycheck makes the job that much more worth it!

I would have to say, for a person not keen on change, I have been handling these life altering changes pretty well.  Of course, having an amazing husband, a supportive family, and great friends certainly helps!

Several girlfriends and I met last night for the second meeting of our newly formed book club.  Right now we’re reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (http://onethousandgifts.com/).  The book is about learning to live fully right where you are, wherever you are.  To live fully, you have to learn to be thankful for the gifts you’ve been given.  The author was able to learn thankfulness by making a list of one thousand gifts from God for which she is thankful.

Last time we met for our book club, we discussed how easy it can be to take things for granted and forget to be thankful for the many blessings we receive every day.  We’re all so busy that taking a minute to say “thank you” is often the last thing on our mind.  Even finding time to spend with God is difficult… but really, that is my own fault for failing to prioritize properly.  God should be priority numero uno.  To help with that prioritizing, last time I met with the girls, we decided to set goals to encourage us to work on our own personal challenges including finding time for God and being thankful.

Last night we discussed our goals.  The girls had great ideas:  reading the Bible every day, doing daily devotions, praying several times a week with their significant other, being less judgmental of others, sending an encouraging note to someone new every week, etc…  I wish I could start doing them all, but I’ve decided to start small.  I want to make these goals to be sustainable and become habits and then challenge myself further.

My two goals are:   (1)  Go to church.  (2)  Thank God for something in my life every day.

Ever since Rob and I moved back from California (almost three years ago) we’ve only gone to church sporadically.  At first, we tried a number of churches in hopes of finding a home, but with no success.  It is so easy to get discouraged and relinquish Sunday mornings to sleeping in.  After that, we attended different churches sporadically, but never consistently.  Now, that is going to end!

Just a few weeks ago we tried out a new church for the first time.  Two of our friends invited us to check it out and we took them up on the invitation.  Other than being a little farther away than we’d prefer, it is tremendous!  The congregation is primarily young adults… but our age, rather than college-aged.  The worship is inspired and the messages applicable.  Rob and I have gone three times now and we’re hooked.  Looks like we’ve found our new home!  The difficulty will be forcing ourselves to get up and go every Sunday… but, we’ve come up with a pretty good method.  We take turns being responsible for getting the other up.  The accountability makes it so much easier!

My second goal is to thank God for something every day.  I thought about writing a list, similar to the author’s list of one thousand gifts.  However, I think for now, I’ll just start getting in the habit of thankfulness.  There are so many things I have to be thankful for, coming up with something new every day should be a breeze!

Today, I’m thankful for avocados.  Muy delicioso!