R&R (and berrypicking)

This week I'm up in Eagle River, Alaska (near Anchorage), visiting my good friend Kathryn for ten days as she prepares for her upcoming wedding. I wanted to come to the wedding in any case, and we decided that if I had the time it would be great to extend my visit so that the two of us could really spend some time together and catch up. So I've been relaxing and hanging out with her here, accompanying her on all the random tasks that precede a wedding and ensuing move to Washington D.C., as well as just being a general help around the house as her family prepares for out of town guests and the Big Day. I've gotten to do a lot of cooking and bread-baking, which I really like, and tons of berry picking and jam-making. Gooseberries, currants, red and yellow raspberries....I love it. I get to bring some of my own homemade jam back with me.

As far as my *cough* professional life is concerned, I am still looking for my next cruise job. i would really like to work for a few months this fall, from mid September until Christmas, and am still waiting for that call. The good news is that I re-auditioned last week for my agency and have sent in the audition dvd - now is just a waiting game. Re-auditioning has put me in the race for some jobs on higher-end cruise lines, something I am really interested in and very excited about. So once my audition is received and viewed I will be hopefully considered for those jobs, possibly more full-time and better paid. Now I do my best not to obsessively check my email several times a day hoping for an email offering me a job. :-) But I feel very good about the audition, and am hopeful I will be hearing from them soon. So for now, I'm just relaxing and enjoying Alaska. :-)

In other news, I am now 25 years old. Also known as my mid-twenties, also known as downhill to 30, also known as halfway to 50.

Back home

Tour ended about a week ago after having our final concert in Hemet, CA.  My exhausted mind and body were so thankful. :-)  It was a great time of being stretched and learning what it takes to be a leader.  After surviving this experience I find myself more willing to consider other leadership opportunities, as well as teaching opportunities, which never appealed to me before.  "God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called," as I read on one particular music minister's office wall this summer.  Am I being called to music ministry leadership? Am I being called to teaching? Only time and prayer will tell, but now I know that in those situations I can rely on Him for strength, and through Him I can accomplish all things, if I am in His will.