But I did have a job interview on that particular trip.  One that would lead to the most horrible job I’ve ever had, and but it was at that interview where I met one of the most wonderful, expected friends I’ve made in Boston, Dasha.  And it was after that trip that I really started thinking I should consider moving away from the only home I’d ever known.  And one month after that, God swung open every large and small door there was to swing so I could feel fully affirmed in the decision I made.

And here I am, one year later.  Dasha and I are having dinner Friday night to celebrate her birthday (maybe we should stop by that Barnes and Nobles where she interviewed me for old time’s sake as well…)  The weather is beautiful: In the mid-60′s every day with alternating sun and clouds and rain…which falls vertically.  And almost every day, I’m so glad I moved here…so sad for my friends and family in Kansas…and as sure as ever that I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

If one thing has changed this year, it’s my faith.  At the time when Eric and I met, I was struggling to make my relationship between me and Jesus a relationship between me and Jesus, and not just a reflection of the relationships my friends had with Jesus.  And while, by the time I was ready to move to Boston, I had begun to find my personal rhythm with God’s Grace, it wasn’t until I got here and lived into the immense struggle of moving away from Kansas that I really found my HOME in Christ. 

It’s popular (if not over-simplified) in Christian circles to say that even if something is difficult, if it’s bringing/pushing/thrusting you closer to God, it’s probably a good and right thing.  So if that’s the criteria we’re using to judge my decision to move to Boston, then I must have REALLY made the right choice.  Because nothing in the course of my journey of faith has made me more aware of my own weakness and God’s indescribable strength…my own inability to “do” life by my own means and God’s abounding provision…my own tendency toward insecurity, anger and bitterness and God’s love and charity and grace THROUGH ME though the Holy Spirit…

Sometimes I think God gives us love songs.  They’re not always in the form of actual songs, I believe.  They can be in the form of newly delivered babies…toddlers saying Momma and Daddy for the first time…the smile of your neighborhood homeless friend because today he appears free from the chains of his addiction…friends you don’t expect to make so quickly and so easily in your new home…  However, sometimes it seems God does sing me actual love songs.  Here’s the one God is singing into my ears lately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIfTuQMF75c

And if you’re looking for a less schmaltzy and self-important look back to a year ago, I suggest you click on Del Mundo there on the blog roll and take a look into my friend, Jessica’s journey to becoming a mother…and the love song God is singing to her…

http://photos.aliciaconway.com/2008/05/03/

Events like this take a lot of work and we all at HHC have been putting in extra hours for the last few weeks.  And we’ll all be working from 10 a.m. Saturday through 2 a.m. Sunday.  (In heels!!)  It will all be worth it Saturday night when we bring in more than $1.5 million for homeless kids and their families (hopefully $2mil!) 

My only complaint is that I’ve felt terribly neglectful of my important relationships these last several weeks.  But there is finally light at the end of the tunnel!  I would appreciate your prayers for me and the event.  Also for Eric because he’s just as busy at work (busier!) AND he just moved from one apartment to another in the middle of this week!!!  We both appreciate your prayers and your patience!

Cheers!!

On Friday I met Mom and Cindy at the airport and we, of course, had to begin photo-documenting straight away.

On Friday, we went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a popular spot in Boston’s Fenway area.  Then we did the all important work of gathering provisions for the weekend (translation: grocery store and liquor store!).  For Friday evening, we went to my and Eric’s favorite neighborhood Irish pub, O’Leary’s.  Eric, Harish and Dasha eventually joined us.  However, by that point, the “old bags” (their words, not mine!) were more than ready for bed.  And we had a VERY exciting Day Two planned…

Day Two (Saturday) was WHALE WATCHING!!!  This was really fun!  We arrived at Boston’s Long Wharf area, got on the boat and set out 21 miles from shore!  We saw lots of whales, mostly humpbacks.  Of couse, we captured few (if any) truly representative photos.  And we had even given up trying when three whales came really close to our boat!!  (Isn’t that always how it happens?!)  I thank the Lord for Patriots Day AND for Dramemine!  Apparently, there were a LOT of people getting sick on this boat.  But not us!  We may have been medicated, but we were freely enjoying the majesty before us! 

Then we had lunch at Ned Devine’s (more Irish pub lovin’) and walked through Boston’s historic Quincy Market/Fenuil Hall area.  Then we seriously needed a nap!  Well…actually, Eric and I seriously needed a nap.  So much for Mom and Cindy being old bags!  They were running laps around us!!  Later that night, we enjoyed a trip to a nearby dessert restaurant called Athan’s and shared four AMAZING desserts between the four of us.  Then we went home and watched Juno and ate popcorn and just chilled.  It was grand!  (And Juno is still one of the best movies I’ve ever seen!!)

There’s a white boat top left, but if you look closely in the middle, you can see a black stripe and some mist.  That’s a whale.  I promise.

I realize it looks like I’m competing for Loch Ness Moster photos, but that really is the fin of a hump back whale!

You can TOTALLY tell that’s a fin!  RIGHT?! 

This was Cindy’s first time to Boston and first time ever on a Subway, which was fun for everyone!  Also, it was on Cindy’s “bucket list” to go whale watching, so check that one off!!

Sunday started with church at Mosaic Boston.  Mom and Cindy got to meet the wonderful women in my Small Group – Heather, Megan and Cindy – as well as our fabulous pastor and lots of other friends.  (On a random side note, it was my mom who decided our Small Group was really a Tiny Group.  We group members thought that was so cute and funny, we proudly call ourselves that!)

Our Mosaic community always extends the worship beyond the “service” with a group lunch so we gladly partook.  We went on to visit the Charles River and Beacon Hill area.  Then we all walked around the Public Gardens (all good pictures were taken on Mom and Cindy’s cameras, so I got nothin’ for ya there other than some slightly questionable pictures with the sculpture inspired by the children’s book, Make Way for Duckling…) and THEN we went back to the apartment to get ready for our fun Sunday night surprise…

Mom, Cindy, Eric and I all went to The Beehive, this fabulous restaurant/club where we at great food and listened to live music.  It was so fun!!

(Yes, those are fold-out lunch tables that the YMCA where we hold services so graciously let us borrow.  ‘Cause that’s how we roll.)

Our final day together was a very exciting one!!  Nothing could have prepared us (or, me at least!) for the BUZZ and EXCITEMENT of the Boston Marathon!  Of course, it helps that my apartment is ON the route!!!  And it’s fairly close to the end – between miles 24 and 25 of the 26.2 mile race.  It was very cool and inspiring to see the wheelchair racers first, then the elite women, then men…then tens of thousands (literally) of people running by while we clapped and cheered.  It was SO FUN!!  Definitely something you can’t get anywhere else (there are other marathons but I’m told there’s truly only one like the Boston Marathon!) 

After that we had to do the VERY sad task of taking Mom and Cindy to the airport.  Oh, it was so good and sweet and wonderful to feel the loving embrace of my Mommy!  And so hard to feel it for the last time for a while.  (I don’t have my next trip planned but I’m hoping to travel to Kansas the week that July 4 falls within.)  So as with any time spent with family and friends, the parting full of sorrow…and there isn’t much sweet about THAT!  However, Eric and I both are SO grateful for all Mom and Cindy did for us (who was hosting whom here?!) and SO grateful for the great conversations, experiences and laughs we all shared.  THANK YOU, MOM AND CINDY!!!  WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU ALREADY!!!

This one is from my apartment a while before the marathon got into full swing.

And this is looking in about the same direction at the height of the marathon.  That sea of people you see heading off into the distance is hundreds of runners and thousands of fans.

PS: Yes, I shamelessly asked my family to wear Horizons for Homeless Children t-shirts, supporting our Boston Marathon Run for Homeless Children team.  No one complained: They matched our sunburns from whale watching perfectly!

PPS: And yes, I am trying to break the record – not for running – but for longest blog post EVER…  Did I win?…

Eric turned 29 on March 20.  (As an aside, his sister Anna’s birthday is also March 20, which is crazy and cool!  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to them both!)  We went to Border Cafe, the only great, cheap Mexican place we’ve found so far in the Boston area.  (Thanks to our friends, Derek and Liz Medlin for showing us the way…now Derek and Liz are back living in Atlanta where they can enjoy the Gunkels and where great Mexican food reins abundant.)  (Speaking of the Gunkels, check out their new blog, Del Mundo, on the blogroll…)  (“Somebody get this girl back on track!“)

Border Cafe.  Great Mexican and Cajun food.  Eric’s new fave, and therefore his birthday spot.  They even sang to the birthday boy!

As I had mentioned in my “lost camera” blog, that weekend (the weekend before last) was the first relatively nice weekend – by Boston standards only of course! – and the city was really alive.  This pictures doesn’t capture it, but it tries…

Okay, on to New York City!!

We had to get up way too early for a Saturday to catch the Greyhound.  Because we didn’t get in line to get on the bus until the last minute, we were in the back of the bus next to the bathroom.  That wasn’t actually the painful part.  The painful part was that our driver was either drunk or had a sick sense of humor because he was driving like a maniac and…let’s just say being on the back of the bus is like being in the last car on a roller coaster ride.  (Or so I hear.)  Therefore, when we finally got off the bus, we were nauseous and pissed.  BUT WE WERE IN NYC!!!  So we got over it.    The bus ride did make for some fun pictures…

Then we pretty much spent the weekend walking around New York and taking pictures.  Lots of good ones are on Eric’s camera, too, but some of these aren’t too bad.  We were blessed with pretty great weather.  We went to Washington Square Park, Madison Square Park, spent lots of time in the Villiage, East Villiage…and there were plenty of times we had no idea where we were, but it was still great!!

We met up with Eric’s friends from Univ Texas Austin grad school Saturday night.  I only got a picture of Danny, though.  We also met up with Analiza, her boyfriend Michael, and their friends Katie and January.  I wish I’d gotten pictures of the great little Thai place Danny took us to and the dive pool bar we went to to meet up with the rest.  But alas.  They’re on Eric’s camera.  

On Sunday we found a nice cafe with outdoor seating for brunch (delish!) and then basically walked back up Manhattan (stopping at some book sellers) before getting back on the bus.  (The bus ride home was MUCH better.  Greyhound redeemed themselves.) The weekend went WAY too fast!!  We saw so many things that made us say to each other “We have to come back soon and stay longer so we can do/see/eat that!”  We also missed seeing some of Eric’s good friends who were out of town.  So I see another trip in our future soon!…

Until next time, we’ll miss you New York!!

Then on Saturday, the city of Boston was electric with “warm” weather (40 degrees and partly sunny)  and I had great pictures of all the people and dogs and activity at the Boston Common and Boston Public Gardens.

Then sometime Saturday night, I lost my camera.  Or it was stolen.    I’ve already re-traced my steps and called everywhere I’d been and there is no trace.  So the sad part is that I’m currently without camera.  The REALLY sad part is that I lost those great pictures!!!  So just pretend for a while like there are pictures present…

Eric’s parents generously gave him a compact digital camera for his birthday (he already had a fancy, expensive camera with which to take all his amazing pictures), so we do have a camera with which to capture shared moments and hopefully I can use those BECAUSE we’re going to New York City this coming weekend to further celebrate his birthday!  So I hope to have some great pictures from that after this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Here’s a good analogy for how Lent has gone for me this year: It’s as if I gave up chocolate, and then proceeded to eat through a different Hershy bar every day for the last 40 days.  I gave up obsessing about the past and projecting into the future.  (The idea, I believe, is to give up something that will be a true, daily struggle and sacrifice, and when I find myself desiring that thing, that desire will trigger my heart to surrender to its truest desire: Jesus.) 

My idea for a Lenten fast this year was to give up being anywhere except for the present in my heart and mind.  In CS Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters, writing from the perspective of Uncle Screwtape, an assistent to the devil, to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon, reminds us that “the Present if the point at which time touches eternity.  Of the Present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which [God] has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them.”

Sounds like something we should all want to experience every moment throughout every day, right??  So why, if we allow ourselves to be conscious of this fact, do we find that we spend the vast majority of each day thinking on the past or projecting and trying to predict the future?!  God knows I was not able to reach any Zen-like state in my attempts to stay warmly nuzzled in God’s presence throughout each day.

But if there was any victory, it’s that I’m now aware (and want to share that awareness) of how woefully non-present I am – we all are!  And I want to move beyond the calendar-confined season of Lent in a life time commitment to discovering the only place I can truly BE: The time at which “time touches eternity.”

Eric expressed interest in going so we started going together.  We both really like the community and the way they do things.  For example, every single Sunday, different members of the congregation bring lunch so that we can all break bread together as part of our worship experience.  Also, they have community groups for prayer, social justice concerns, and one just for women.  Lastly, they try to do a lot of “non church” things as a community, which Eric and I have always really enjoyed attending (such as swing dancing).  It’s a small congregation, but they [dare I say "we"] are really trying to live out authentic relationships, community and worship.

So last weekend, one of the members’ roommates threw her a birthday party at the Sam Adams Brewery here in Boston.  (It’s a fun, free tour that involved a souvenier glass and free beer tasting of three different brews…now if that isn’t incentive to come visit me here, I don’t know what is!!)

Here’s Megan, the birthday girl, with me.  Then a look at the tour.  Then the whole group that went.  Our pastor, Joseph, and his wife, Salina, are on the far right.

Here is the Women’s Community Group.  It’s very new and we three are the three who are consistently there on Monday nights.  We hope others join us, but we certainly like each other just fine!  From left is me, Megan (again) and Heather.  I’m really, really grateful for these girls and this group!!

It was a long weekend.  These New Englanders really know how to celebrate their holidays.  Eric and I both have all sorts of holidays off we never had in Wichita, including MLK Day. 

Friday night I had to “work” at the Celtics game.  It was really cool and really fun to be there.  It was Horizons for Homeless Children Night at the game, which meant we had a well-placed informational table (where I was working) and were presented with one of those big checks at half time on center court.  And as an added bonus, the Celtics won!  It warmed my heart when, during the announcements for the starting line up, KANSAS got a big shout out thanks to Paul Pierce!

On Saturday night, Eric and I joined a group from church for dinner and swing dancing.  We had great pho at a restaurant we hadn’t ever been to (which we always love finding good, inexpensive restaurants, and this was was even just a few T stops away so it’s in the area!)  Then we had a swing dance lesson, then got to dance to a really, really good live band.  It was so dang fun I can’t even describe it!!  Eric and I had a really good time learning and dancing together – and we were even kind of good at it!!  Here we are and a picture of the group.

I’m super busy at work already and I like it!!  There are so many fun and different events to work on.   It’s very fast paced but I’m getting into a rhythm.

There is nothing remotely exciting coming up that I know of so there may be quiet in blog land for a while.