i think it's about time to actually tell people that i have a blog. i'm ready to develop routine in my life again, including the discipline of writing on a regular basis. so i figure that if i know people are actually expecting to read something, then i'll feel responsible to dig into my head and heart and spill it...makes perfect sense to me! spilling it...transparency has been much on my mind lately. i know that i've isolated myself in the past year, and those thoughts and emotions that can become toxic have been doing just that. isolation is dangerous, my friends. i've been super-blessed to have friends that don't mind when i just spill out onto them, and they do the same to me. there's a priceless safety and joy in that! the real safety, though, is in spilling out onto jesus. that's a habit i've gotten out of. that's a habit i'm trying to regain. i have to admit that it scares me a bit, though - i don't want to start speaking with that cryptic "uber-spiritual" vocabulary that i've heard too often from those around me. oops! watch out for the cynic! anyway, this month has been one of renewal. i have a new job - one that fulfills my calling to be a tool for healing in families, and one that provides me with great support. my coworkers are two fabulous women who laugh and teach me every day. we're a crazy mix - joyce is a middle-aged lesbian who shows me jesus every day, and karis is a 25 year old ghetto girl who keeps me real. actually, both of them keep me real. then there's me - the mennonite pseudo hippie/punk rocker with a nicotine addiction and a history of communal living. i like my life. and right now, my life requires that i get back to work. more later.