Gearing Up for the Next Big Move

I have been packing up my apartment little by little this month and taking car loads of boxes over to Brook's house (and my soon-to-be house). As all the little things that make my apartment feel like home are being packed away piece by piece, box by box. . . the place is gradually beginning to not feel so much like home anymore, which is a little bitter sweet.

It's been a good year and a half here in my little apartment in Carrboro and seems that it wasn't too long ago that I moved in this place with not much more than some boxes of clothes, my guitar, and more books than I really need, but just couldn't bring myself to get rid of when I moved up from Georgia. I remember that my first few months here were pretty tough for me. I was still a bit lonely for my family and old, familiar friends. I was strained financially from recovering from a 3 month time frame of not having steady employment. But it wasn't too long that I got back on my feet financially and didn't have to feel all the stress and strain of not knowing how I would pay my bills and still have money for gas and groceries, and little by little as our church grew, I found more friendships and began to feel not quite so lonely. Then I got a roommate. Then I found Brook. The church continued to grow. My roots here continued to grow. All in all, it has really been a wonderful chapter in my life. I know that when I look back on this time in my life I will always smile and think that this was all so good and good for me. Lots of stretching, lots of growing, lots of learning, but still lots of fun :)

But as wonderful as it has all been, I am so ready to move on to the next chapter in my life. I am so ready to really begin my life with Brook. It feels like we have been planning our wedding and going through premarital counseling for for-freakin-ever! I know that we chose a 10 month engagement for alot of good reasons, but I was really ready to be married at about the 6 month mark and have felt like the last 2 months were kind of torturous . . . and still 2 more months to go. Well, my consolation is that the next two months will likely fly as I will be in a whirlwind of moving out of my apartment and into a friend's guest house for a month, a few out of town trips, bridal showers, fixing up Brook's house as much as possible, more wedding planning, and all the usual work and church activities. I will try my best to just enjoy the moments I am in and not focus on the future so much that I miss the present.

Funny Story

I work 8:30 am - 5:30 pm Monday through Friday as a legal assistant. Most of the time the job is pretty mundane I must confess. Some days the only person I see during my work day is the mailman. I answer phones, type, file, pay bills, mail letters, check my boss' email for him, shred paper, and various tasks that I find no fulfillment in, but. . . it pays the bills and for now. . . that is good enough. But today, I actually have a funny story from work! What a treat!

Phone rings.
Dottie: answers the phone with the normal intro for the office.
Lady calling: Are you a paraplegic?
Dottie: silent and bewildered. . . then realizes she means paralegal, but then still silent on how to respond without being insulting or condescending.
Lady calling: (after a few seconds of silence and realizing her own mistake) I mean a paralegal.

:) It made me laugh anyhow.

The Big News!

Hi there friends,

Some of you may have already heard my good, good news, but I am engaged!

I would love for you all to meet him, and I sure that most of you eventually will, although I don't know exactly when (especially for those of you who are living abroad). He came home with me for Thanksgiving to meet my family and some of my friends; however since we were only in Augusta for 3 days, it was impossible to meet everyone. I will be in Augusta for Christmas, but he will be spending Christmas here in North Carolina with his family. Oh well, in the meantime, I will tell you all a little bit about him and our relationship.

Brook is 34 and is originally from Pennsylvania. He moved to Durham, NC after college. His older sister had settled in ths area and he had a job opportunity here at a computer software company, so to Durham he came and stayed. He grew up in a family that had some church affiliation, but no really strong ties. About two years ago, his best friend was going through a difficult time and the two of them decided to try out some churches together. After visiting Brook's sister's church and one or two other's they both found a church home and both committed their lives to Christ. From then on, Brook has continued to grow and change and reprioritize his life. He is an amazing, generous, kind, thoughtful, gentle, humble person, and I love him.

He and I have been seeing each other for nearly five months, which is a relatively short period of time. For the first two months we were just getting to know each other and I didn't really know how I felt about him beyond just knowing that he seemed like a nice guy. During month three things began to be more serious and intentional. I invited him home with me for Thanksgiving. We began seeing each other more frequently. He visited my church with me a couple of times. By month four I think we were both pretty sure that this was it

On December 6th he pulled out a ring and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I was suprised. I knew that the proposal was coming, but didn't know it was coming so soon! Of course I said yes. And that is about that.

We are planning for a wedding in October of 2009, more details will be provided in the future. Rodger Otero will be officiating the ceremony. Rodger and Angela will be doing premarital counseling with us once a month up until we get married, and Greenleaf Vineyard Church will be our church after we tie the knot.

Miss you all and hope your lives are going well! Please write and let me know how things are going with you!

Dottie Lee

A Great Time of Year

Fall in North Carolina is just beautiful. After a year of living here, I have decided that fall is my favorite season here. The colorful leaves just make driving to work and walking all my little doggies just an absolute pleasure.

Saturday I went for a scenic motorcycle ride with a friend of mine. It was my very first motorcycle ride. We drove out and about in some more rural areas with a lot of pastoral scenes to take in. It was really nice. I wish I had pictures to share, but riding a motorcycle and taking pictures at the same time is probably a bad idea. But I did see one crazy thing that I just had to share with you all. We were driving around somewhere in north Durham County. There were cow pastures galore. We saw all the typical animals you might see in such a setting. You know like cows, horses, sheep, goats, chickens, and even a donkey or two. However, there was one field that had three zebras just grazing away. So that was quite the unexpected suprise.

Sorry for two months of no posts. Life has been hectic and until very recently, I have not had a computer at my home. But thanks to my friend Philip, I now have my very own computer. YAY! THANKS PHILIP! So, hopefully, I will find the time to post a little more now.

Mountains and Milestones

Mountains. . .

It's official, this whole working three jobs thing is killing me. 76 hours of work per week lately and I am dying. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't love my job as worship leader, like my job as a pet sitter, and sufficiently tolerate my job as a legal assistant. Also, I wouldn't say that any of my jobs are exactly high-stress jobs. It is just too much. I have next to no time for myself and I constantly feel like there are things I want to do as a worship leader that I just don't have the time and energy to do at the end of the day. I even find myself allowing things to happen in my life that I don't want and I know are no good for me, just simply because I am too tired to fight these things. . . does that make any sense?

Anyhow, I have no solutions yet, just needed to vent. Of course there are the obvious answers. . . don't work so much, cut back hours, learn how to say no once in awhile, and even quit the pet sitting job. But that opens a new can of problems. . . money. Sigh. This feels like a never-ending battle.
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Milestones. . .

This Sunday Greenleaf is officially one year old! My one year mark of being in North Carolina is not until October, but Greenleaf had its first official meeting this time one year ago. It is an amazing accomplishment and I am so pleased that I got to be a part of this. Read Rodger's blog. I ditto his sentiments.

In our first year we have seen several people from many different backgrounds and walks of life come to be a part of this little family. We are blessed to have each other. I would feel so lost if it weren't for my church family. The older I get, the more I realize how much people need community. We encourage each other, correct each other, and point each other to God's love. It is a beautiful thing.

Craigslist is good for almost everything, but . . .

. . . buying a car on craigslist just seems too scary to me. Perhaps I am paranoid, but the people that emailed me back about my interest in the car they advertised have all seemed completely skeezy. Sigh. As if the car dealership people seem any less skeezy. But I don't know what a good alternative is. Double sigh.

Anyhow, I am coming home to Augusta this week. I leave tomorrow after work and will stay till Sunday. I am looking forward to it. Seeing family and old friends. Good stuff. I am praying my good old Honda survives the trip :)

In the Market for a Car

I am hunting for a car (of course on Craigslist). I just emailed a guy named Michael Bolton about a car he advertised on Craigslist. It made me giggle.