the searbys

I received a call from the Hilton this morning and I went in to fill out all the paperwork this afternoon. My official Hilton training starts tomorrow. My title is “Sales Receptionist.” I’m a little nervous about starting a new job at such a huge, respected corporation. However, with the nervousness comes a lot of excitement! Who knows where this job could take me. Hopefully after a promotion or 2 I’ll be able to call it a career. Joel is done with his training at Coffee Culture and is enjoying his job more each day.

Last night we went to Lee-Ann’s house for a birthday cookout for her daughter who turned 4. We were able to meet new people, go swimming, and eat some good burgers on the grill. Tonight we’re headed to the Christian Campus House at UF for another cookout. All of this equals free food!

This morning we went through volunteer training at the St. Francis House here in Gainesville. It is one of the biggest homeless shelters in town. We enjoyed getting to know the volunteer coordinator and we’re excited about getting involved at the shelter. Joel is going there in the morning to help serve breakfast.
So, that’s the news for now. Hope to here from some of you soon!
- Jen

SOME assembly required!! 

Well, I made it through my first day at Coffee Culture. I worked from 7:00-12:30 which was pretty much busy the whole time. On weekdays the shop opens at 5:30, which I am hoping to do. It went well, I'd say, and I think I'm gonna like working there. I know a lot of the basics already from working at the Warehouse on LCC's campus but there are also lots of new things to learn. They use a different machine and have different names for some of the drinks but more or less, a coffeeshop is a coffeeshop. The nice girl I worked with this morning (Aisha) even gave me some of the tips she made since I helped out quite a bit. I'll be working again tomorrow morning from 7:00 to 10:00 so that we can go to church. We're still trying Harvest Christian and taking our time in our decision. There are lots and lots and lots of churches here in Gainesville and choosing one to call home, a place to be a part of the body of Christ, is tough. All in all, it's been a good couple of days with lots of blessings.
-joel

As Amanda would say, “Everyday is Saturday when you’re in Florida.” Well Friday was our last “Saturday.” We both have jobs. Joel started at Coffee Culture this morning. So, we took Friday as a fun-day. We packed a picnic and went to the beach. We spent a good three hours playing in the waves, enjoying the sun, and even got some reading done. On the way home from our perfect day at the beach, we wanted ice cream. I was so surprised when we couldn’t find a single “mom & pop ice cream place.” Everything was DQ, Cold Stone Creamery, or Marble Slab. We always try to find the local place to support but having no choice, we chose Marble Slab. Peanut Butter ice cream with M&M’s in a medium size cone-dish with two spoons was our choice and while the girl mixed it on the slab, I went to the restroom. Both the men and women’s doors had handwritten signs on notebook paper that read “Restrooms are for Marble Slab customers only.” Fitting myself into that category I started to enter the women’s room when I noticed the “out of order” sign, also handwritten on notebook paper. I thought, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to use the men’s room, I opened the door and the lock had a piece of tape over it, preventing me from locking the door, I could just see some guy flinging the door open on me. Fed up with the whole bathroom thing I decided I didn’t have to go that bad after all. I returned just in time to pay the ice cream bill: $6.26. What? Call me a cheapskate but I didn’t think 2 little scoops of ice cream was worth it, especially when I couldn’t even use the toilet. We ate the gourmet ice cream outside and decided we would continue our search for a “mom & pop ice cream shoppe.”
-Jen

Well, just minutes after that last entry I met the owner of the coffeehouse I was in, "Coffee Culture." He wanted to hire me on the spot and having talked it over with Jen, I'm starting Saturday morning. They are looking for someone to open and have trouble because I guess their whole staff hates opening. They even pay more for the openers! I'm excited about it as it is an opportunity to meet lots of people and do something I enjoy. I'll get as many hours as I can, hopefully lots! There just aren't jobs in Gainesville for a guy with a degree from Lincoln Christian College in ministry. But I'm ok with that. God willing, I'll start grad school next year anyways and I wouldn't want to get into a career job that I'd have to quit. Besides, I really want to work hard and support Jen right now in this exciting time for her as she starts work at the Hilton. I think she'll do great and work her way up fast. So, that's the news from today. I'll let you know how Saturday goes at Coffee Culture!
-joel

So here I sit in a coffeehouse trying once again to get someone to hire me! The market seems not good in Gainesville right now for full-time work. There are loads of part-time jobs but not much more than that. If I don't have anything by the end of the week, we've decided I'll start hitting the restaurants as many of them have "now hiring" signs out. I was just hoping for something I thought I'd enjoy a little more. So, I've prayed that I'll end up where I can be a servant, work hard and befriend many new people which, I guess, is pretty much anywhere if I'm honest with myself. I know something will work out, it's just the waiting that is tough.
-joel

Well I suppose since this blog has my name on it too, I should do some of the writing. So I thought I’d write about my exciting morning. I got a phone call about 9am from the HR department of the Hilton asking if I would have time to come in for a drug test today. Although the drug test did not sound so appealing, I took that as “better make sure she’s clean before we hire her.” So, I went in to the Hilton and filled out some paperwork and they sent me with a map to a little office stuck in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure the people passing me on the road laughed as they saw this girl (with Illinois license plates) trying to read the map, drive, and find her turns all at the same time. Gainesville has this crazy number system for its streets, that I’ve been told makes sense. Well, I haven’t figured it out yet. Anyways, after circling the building a few times I found a parking spot. I went in, signed my name and took a seat next to the copy of “Southern Living” magazine. I picked it up and started reading. The girl next to me decided that I needed to hear her complain that she’d been here for half an hour and didn’t understand why they couldn’t go faster. She was quite impatient. I smiled and said, “well at least there’s a tv to watch or a magazine to read.” My answer satisfied her just as her name was called. When my name was called a woman with an accent that I could barely understand met me at the door. I’m sure I said “pardon” at least 5 times in the 15 minutes I was with her. All I had to do was pee in a cup and go home but all I could think of was “have I eaten any poppy seeds lately?” (for you Seinfeld watchers) When I left the building my next thought was, “How in the heck am I going to find my way home?” I took a few lucky turns and ended up on Route 121 and knew I was on my way. So long story short, I took my first drug test, hopefully I passed and I can start working at the Hilton and be promoted and make lots of money.

Today we went to the town of Cedar Key located an hour west on the Gulf of Mexico. It is a sleepy little fishing and art town, a bit touristy but small and quaint. We had intentions of sitting on the beach but after we'd walked the main street to check out the shops a storm blew in so we figured we'd weather it inside. We found a local restaurant and bar on stilts called Frog's with tables looking over the gulf and had an afternoon snack and 2 for 1 drinks. We had corn fries, a local specialty, which were basically french fries made of corn meal instead of potatoes and served with salsa and ranch sauce. Very tasty! So we watched the storm roll in and bring a little rain and just soaked up the fact that we were sitting on the Gulf of Mexico enjoying a cold beer and a beautiful summer storm. God is so amazing. After some more walking and more rain we decided to head back to Gainesville on the scenic route. There wasn't much to stop for so we didn't, until we hit Gainesville and one of the local Starbucks'. We looked over the classifieds, homes for sale and generally enjoyed our coffee and each other's company. Having no friends and no social life, we decided we'd just drive around Gainesville and look at things. What we found was a homeless man named Michael. His sign said, "just plain hungry." We both wanted to help so we drove through Wendy's and got him some chicken strips and delivered them and I chatted with him for a few minutes. He had a bad infection in his leg and said he'd been barely surviving here on the streets. He looked tired and weary. I believe God may have been speaking to me, leading me to look for an opportunity to plug in with local homeless shelters or outreach. So, I'm gonna start looking. I was struck, our first day here, by the number of homeless people I saw as compared to Bloomington-Normal or Champaign-Urbana, both very comparable in size and culture to Gainesville. I think it is no coincidence that this has impacted me so much. So that was our day on our new adventure in Florida. The Gulf, coffee and a homeless man named Michael who represented to me every homeless person in Gainesville and a need that I may be able to help fill.
-joel

Doing dishes in the bathtub!!! How fun! 

We spent the afternoon visiting garden centers and landscape professionals around Gainesville to see if anyone was hiring. Most of them said that it is the slow season for them and to check back in October. One, however, was quite enthusiastic. The place was called Angel Gardens and is run by some very interesting people. They have plants, herbs, antiques, gifts and water gardens. The woman that runs the place is quite interesting, an ordained minister in the church of the divine love, with aspirations of having an organic gardening school and a training school for the mentally disabled. She says because of all the growth their experiencing, she really needs help. She was impressed with my experience and basically offered me a full-time job. So, now we have to decide if it is an opportunity I want to pursue. As of now we're leaning toward continuing the search because she really wants someone committed for the long-haul to come on board and be a part of her venture. She seemed very nice and we met her family as well, all of them work at the center. There is also a restaurant on the property that serves "fusion" food which is basically a mixture of all different cultures, with a leaning toward latin american food. A real interesting place as I'm sure you can tell. But, not sure it's the right place for me. We'll keep you posted! Hope to hear from some of you via comments or e-mail. (by the way, you can comment by clicking the statement below that says "no comment" and then clicking where appropriate on the next page)

As we drove home (that sounds wierd) from Target and Walmart tonight I had the first realization that this is where we'll be calling home. The town, we're discovering, is driven by the university and has a definite college-town flavor. Which is great and exciting but quite different from the rural town of Lincoln, Illinois. It was interesting, though, that the most "normal" place we've been so far was the Walmart. I heard at least five different languages, saw people of all colors, classes and cultures and felt, "this is where the normal, everyday people come." It didn't feel elite and academic, like most places in Gainesville. This isn't to say that I'm not really looking forward to being part of those special places that only happen in towns like this but... I guess what I'm saying is, I never want to lose my roots. I'm a midwestern boy who likes to know that people are just people and life is lived day by day. What I learned today is that when I need to remember that there are lots of us who still have to struggle to make it, to look for bargains and buy cheap instead of gourmet, to get the knock-off brand instead of the name brand, and just generally make-do (even though sometimes we'd like to commit to an organic lifestyle or research all our products to see if the labor wage is fair and on and on and on) there is a place, take it or leave it, called Walmart where people like us go. And I like it that way.

Our living and dining room all settled in. The table on the left is an old oak table that was left at the house and is now ours! 

We now have our very own blog! We hope many of you will stay in touch with us by reading our blog, commenting, e-mailing, calling and of course, VISITING FLORIDA! Hope you're having a great day.

Our temporary Florida home!! 

Our lives are changing and so is our website! Thesearbys.net will now get you to our blog so you can keep up with us and keep in touch! Stay tuned for more...