BY: MEGAN DRAKE

Right off the bat, I would just like to say I have a praise report (I’m stealing Sunday school’s coined term):
Jordyn Got A Job! 

Can I get a Whooohooo?! I thought I would share it with you all because Jordy, as you know, is one of the humblest people and would never  publicly celebrate her own accomplishments, so I am going to do it for her. God is so good and opened all the right doors, & although it may not be her dream job, she continues to praise Him for His provision. I thought we could all sing of God’s praises together as a Body of Christ.

With that, I want to talk about something deep (because we always post surfacey stuff, right?). I want to talk about identity. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that identity has been coming up a lot in my life lately. Everything from church sermons to the books I’m reading – I think God is trying to tell me something… I have always heard we are all different, like snowflakes. Each with an individual design, not one the same as the last. Somehow that simile has lost its weight over the years. Now when I hear that I’m special I roll my eyes thinking I’m too old for this (my age is 23 but by soul is 43) as I spend most of my time trying to convince myself I’m cool, not that I’m special. It goes something like this:

Jordyn and I go out for a drink, as we are standing sipping our drinks we are telling each other we are cool enough for this. Much like the Regina’s mom on Mean Girls. “Im not like other moms, Im a cool mom.” It has become the running joke around here whenever we do something out of our comfort zone.

Just yesterday I had to convince myself I was cool enough to apply at a bar as a bus boy (or girl in my case, but the alteration just sounds so much better). While putting off applying for the job, & getting yet another unclear answer as I basically put myself on the front lines of the job hunt battle, I went to grab a cinnamon latte & read. Currently I’m reading the Chronicles of Narnia (Thanks Tim for the housewarming gift!) but I am a slow reader & decided I would take a break to let Jordyn pass me up. So, in the mean time, I’m reading The Truest Thing About You by David Lomas. And as you can guess, the book is about identity.
One particular part of the book pulled at my heart strings. He is talking about his big move to San Fransisco to start a church and says this:

It took several trips to San Francisco, all spent praying. It took many late-night conversations with God. It took me playing what-if with every possible worst-case scenario. And slowly it clicked. If I went to San Francisco and utterly failed, it wouldn’t change anything. I was beloved of God. Even if I earned a reputation. “oh yeah, Dave, he tried, he failed, now he’s back in Bakersfield, working at Trader Joe’s.” So what? That wouldn’t change a thing. (And who knows – it might still happen!) Slowly, achingly slowly, I was learning to understand that I am deeply loved by God, and because of Jesus,God is well pleased with me. Every other identity I create for myself is an illusion.

Wow. When I read those words on the page, it was like Dave was telling my story. But instead of San Fran, it was Ireland, & instead of Bakersfield, it was Golden. I have unknowingly placed my entire identity in moving here to Ireland. I have unknowingly placed my identity in what I do – Hi, I’m Megan and I am unemployed – I am letting those things define me. This identity of an adventurer, traveling the world & moving to Ireland is an illusion I have created for myself. Who would I be if I was stripped clean of all of this? There, in Costa Coffee, I was convicted.

We are all made in God’s image, different than anything else ever created. Did you catch that? Different than anything else ever created, just with that we are set apart. But there is more, we were all created for a unique, big purpose in His Kingdom. Although, even as I write this I am trying to believe I am beloved, I am convinced Jesus takes our unbelief and carries it for us. So, today, as I sit alone at my apartment scared I might fail, might forever be unemployed, might be heading back to Colorado short of the year I planned, I give those things to The Lord and ask He helps me in my unbelief.
So say it with me, “I am special. I am unique. I am defined by God.”
​
And now, the moment you have all been waiting for…. THE BEAT OF THE WEEK!
We’re going to slow it down a bit this week with Bethel and sit in the truth of thissong.

BY: JORDYN FERRARO

Two posts in one week?! Hold onto your hats, it’s true! We said changes were coming and one of them is this – taking this whole writing thing more seriously. As we shared before the spiral of doing nothing that leads to a lack of wanting to do anything but nothing (and Netflix) made us realise it was time to focus in on what we do have & what we can work on : our blog. We decided its time for some changes – a few updates here and there – and most of all, a greater level of commitment to writing.
​
I’ve never thought of myself as a writer, always enjoying it but never seeing it as a talent or skill of mine. I see writers like Shauna Niequist, Hannah Brencher, and the countless others who write with such wit and depth, that I’ve always seen them on one side of the ‘writers’ column and myself on the ‘if-only’ column.. Thinking if only I had that flow, that ability to make words jump off a page and hit the soul. But for my external processing self, writing has always been an outlet. One of my top go-to outlets when I’ve talked the ear off of those around me (or am trying to restrain myself from doing so). It’s my ‘me’ thing – where I can write it all out without the mistake of saying too much or saying the wrong thing as my eloquence quickly subsides me in times of external processing (it’s quite the combination, let me tell you). It’s not written with pretty handwriting and has more mis-spelt words than I’d like to admit. But all the same, its writing. And while I promise to not spill all my ups and downs of every day life on this blog, I do promise with these changes, we are going to be writing more. Often times together as we normally do and sometimes separate (because yes, we do some things separately), sharing more depth to what life has been like out here and what the Lord does through this season of laying it all on the line – knowing fully that He’s going to take care of us. I declare, here and now, that these insecurities and lies of labels will no longer be a reason for holding back, no longer being a reason for silence on this blog I really love pouring into.

We say we want to do life with you, so it’s time we made a dedicated & committed effort to do so – every small step counts, right?

BY: MEGAN DRAKE and JORDYN FERRARO

We have been getting asked a lot lately what a typical day looks like for us & as you know, we are currently unemployed, or (f)unemployed as Jordyn’s sister, Chelsea, says. You would think we do really exciting things in-between job hunting and Netflix marathoning, but the truth of the matter is,  we lead a pretty simple life. A normal day is usually marked with browsing every job website possible, a walk into town (if its not too rainy or Hurricane Rachel isn’t making an appearance), a stroll around the city centre, and lots and lots of coffee as we learn to adapt to life on foot. It may not sound like much, and it really isn’t all that exciting, but its life right now. Its simple & sometimes boring, but on the sunny days like today, it’s given us the freedom to explore this new city, captivated each day by the beauty that surrounds us (we promise a city tour is coming soon!).

Last sunday at church we were reminded to dream. To dream those dreams that God instills in each of us individually & to let God breathe life on those dreams, being reminded how dreaming big honors God. After a couple of weeks going mad with the job hunt and the feeling of restlessness, we decided it was time to take action again – after all we always take pride in being not only dreamers, but doers. So over tea and carrot cake, we made a plan, a plan to take action. We woke up bright and early (does 8 am qualify as bright and early?) determined to get our website updated & rid ourselves of the neglect we’ve sadly given to it lately. We found inspiration yesterday in newly bought notebooks and a spotting of a Starbucks cup. You read that right, a Starbucks cup! We had thought that Starbucks was no where to be found in Galway! We have never been so happy to be wrong. The University has a small Starbucks stand in its cafeteria and we were determined to find it. As you might have guessed, we were successful in finding the Starbucks, because these two girls were desperately (3 weeks worth) deprived & while it may not be as good as our baristas at home used to make them, it was something. And often times, those little somethings mean a great deal.
We’ve shared the struggled of this job hunt, but one of the hardest parts of living your life through online applications is what it does to motivation. Probably not for all, but certainly for us, it completely zapped us of it. All motivation & productivity was being poured into a one-sided conversation of applying to job after job, that by the time the final ‘apply’ button was clicked, it felt like all motivation & productivity was drained, leaving us both feeling empty and with sparse dreams (& this is when the appeal of Netflix becomes dangerous). So after that message & reminder this weekend at church, we both decided we needed perspective to slap each of us the face, calling us out of this rut we’ve dug for ourselves, and commit new purpose & perspective to this season of unemployment.

With Starbucks now on our side, we set out to make some changes. And these changes are coming. This blog has turned into such a fun way for us to both express this adventure and to document it, sharing it with anyone & everyone who will read it – even if that means just our families. Because, as we’ve said before, we want to share this life with you. And so we call out, asking you what you want to know, what you want to hear about, & how we can do life alongside you from thousands of miles away. It may be big or it may be small, but this blog is about more than the two of us.
​
But for now, we keep the changes coming, living with the renewed ‘live the dream’ perspective & lifestyle, we’ve decided its time to add a little music to this shindig – so we’re trying something new,  introducing to you, the beat of the week. A way to express in music what we’re feeling and encourage you to join along – because this week we choose to dance in the kitchen (Meredith and Christina style for all you Grey’s Anatomy fans), learning to fight back with joy, & we ask you to do the same. For all the highs and lows this week is bound to bring – turn up the speakers and simply let loose as if you were at the final dance in Footloose.. & there’s no better way to do so than with some T-Swift..


Bear with us, we promise it won’t always take an extra click.. We’re saving for premium (perks of the unemployed life)

BY: MEGAN DRAKE and JORDYN FERRARO

Don’t worry, we are still alive! We would like to apologize for our absence, life has been pretty hectic here in Galway the past couple of weeks. We both returned from meeting up with our families for the holidays and hit the ground running with the job hunt and good intentions to regain inspiration to workout.  Life has been so excitingly new yet extremely uneventful as we have both felt the weight of what we call the post-grad blues (and the heartbreaking Broncos loss), struggling to find the balance between making the most of every day and unemployment.

One of the greatest things though is at least having a best friend to experience it with, is having - almost all - our lows, thankfully, on opposite days (because there is just not enough popcorn in the world to handle us on those days). Today, was one of those. A high in the other ones low.

For Jordyn, its trying to find purpose (& handle the restlessness) of being unemployed and for Megan it was the struggle of getting out of bed and pulling away from the temptation for an all day Gilmore Girls marathon (we finally found our TV soul sisters who love coffee & sarcasm as much as we do). Eventually we got dressed, and headed for a walk by the water – motivated far more by the promised stop for takeaway coffee and the bit of sunshine breaking up these stormy days than it was for the actual workout. With coffees in hand, and the topic of conversation for quite some time, the walk turned into a verbal processing of all that has been going on, learning and wrestling through books recently read and She Reads Truth devotions that all so uncoincidentally have been pointing to the same topic, and rounding out the walk with prayer by the water. A rainless walk (a big deal for us out here) that washed away many of the doubts, worries, & concerns growing as rapidly as the bank accounts are diminishing.

It is so easily a looming, discouraging, & seemingly endless process. Countless resumes have been sent out and the lingering hope for a flood of responses each time the email inbox or voicemail is refreshed has yet to deliver. It’s left us both feeling lost in our purpose, questioning what that even looks like right now.

John 6 describes Jesus as the Bread of Life, saying He supplies everything we need. He should be what we crave, what we hunger for. It seems as though we try and make Jesus the center of our life, letting Him supply and give us everything we need, but when it comes down to it we’re both living as though its not enough. We live needing Jesus and something else. Like, Jesus and coffee, or Jesus and friends, or Jesus and a good paying job. Jesus plus something, thats how our lives look.
​
When the bottom line is all we need is Jesus, Jesus plus nothing.

We can only pour out so much, and live our lives for Christ as much as we spend time with Him (& imagine what that would look like if time spent worrying and stressing over the job hunt was spent in time with Him instead). John 6:35 says:

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'”

Being here in Ireland has been affirmed, doors have swung open for us to be here & this place is daily feeling more and more like home. But even though the doors opened, it never meant this was going to be easy. There are days when bank accounts seem to be draining at an unbelievable pace, & days when friends are few and far between, but such is life. And that is what this season is. It’s already looking so different than either of us ever experienced.

​But despite the changes and the learning to be brave and bold in stepping out of our comfort zones and entering into (the often awkward) experience of trying to make friends and build a new life,circumstances should not control the quality in which The Lord is to be praised. & for now we wait. Whether that email or call comes tomorrow or in a week, this time isn’t a waste and truthfully, this time may never come again. So until we each find out what our job descriptions will be, He will be praised because I am convinced that His word is true & can be trusted. We’ll type our fingers raw from resumes and cover letters, ready and willing to go where He leads, & until that door opens, we’ll continue to learn to embrace (as Jordyn’s sister fabulously pointed out) the life of the funemployed.
​