Church Family Philosophy #1 : Pursue what you love.

OK, first things first.. Poundland loves us! I got an email today saying that Poundland Administrator commented on our blog.. You can see it for yourself if you go back to November and check out the comments on the post 'Here Goes..." Apparently we mentioned their name enough times they decided to return the love and inform us of some new developments they have. Hilarious! I though that was amazing and had to share.

Now, here's what I really wanted to post about...
While we were visiting the Ellis family at Thanksgiving, they began to develop a list of family rules relevant mostly to things that are important for Lily, but we had fun with it and made up all sorts of rules. Some recent happenings have lead to the Church family imitating this, except we are developing a list of philosophies for obvious reasons :) Our first philosophy is “Pursue what you love.” This sounds cliché and simple, but it has become very important to us during the last week. I have spent most of my time through this last semester job-hunting. I was hoping to have obtained a job within a month of being here. We are now well past our 3-month anniversary and I still have no job. I was incredibly discouraged about this, really worrying about finances, and considering taking a coffee shop job that would be stressful with very bad hours for the sake of some income. Upon further deliberation, the Church family has decided that it’s just not worth it. I do not want to spend possibly the only year of my life that I will live outside the US working a job like that and missing opportunities for travel, socializing, and generally learning about life in Scotland. So we have decided to tighten the reigns on our spending (hence the Christmas postcards rather than proper gifts for Christmas :)) and make do with what we have. I can’t tell you what peace this decision has brought me. My entire first three months here was spent with so much stress and worry about this, and I didn’t even realize how much it was affecting me until it was gone! We are in the Lord’s hands and there is no safer place to be. So, in lieu of a formal ‘job’ I am taking on a number of fun, smaller things that will bring in some income for us…

1. I am going to beef up my graphic design business into something a little more significant. I will be using the next few weeks to develop a website and really get moving on putting myself out there. I have also signed up for weekly newsletters from two Graphic Design magazines and will be requesting some instructional books from those of you who are looking for Christmas suggestions.. Hooray Ombelico Artworks!!! (please refer to the May blogposts for a description of why I chose such a unique name, aside from the obvious factor that I tend to occasionally do odd things)

2. I have decided it's time to get back in the habit of doing daily paintings, as well as pursuing some more long-term paintings. I have contacted two galleries here in St Andrews who are more than willing to show and sell my work if I would just produce some!

3. I will be giving art lessons to the large community of home-schooling families in St Andrews starting.. sometime soon :)

4. Not only am I a freelance artist, I am a freelance babysitter!!! Call me if you need one and you don’t live an ocean away :)

That’s the scoop for now.. Depending on how busy I make myself with these things, I may also do some tutoring in the spring (Ian may too actually!). So. We are quite content with our current situation and are so thankful for the Lord’s timing and purpose for us here (and the other wise voices that took part in making this decision!)

If you have any need for a graphic designer let me know :) It works even if you are an ocean away.. And the Church family is certainly open for other Church Family Philosophies if you can think of any.
Oh, and just for fun, I ‘simpsonized’ myself.. here I am as a Simpsons character.