MONDAY: 7:34am Wake up, stumble around the room in the dark trying to get ready for work without waking up roommate. Whip up some chocolate chip pancakes, start the coffee maker, and grab my lunch from the fridge while the Google home I got for free tells me about the weather, the traffic, and the news. If I am really on my game I’ve gotten ready fast enough to have ten minutes left over to read my Bible before I head out the door. If for once I am on time to leave for work, I of course then remember my car will be covered in frost which takes an extra few minutes. Oh well.. Utah Time. 8:33am Arrive at work jamming out to a playlist the Fellows made together on Spotify. Sit in my car for a second and take a deep breath preparing myself for a day of caring for six month old twins. I walk in the house and my boss greets me and kindly offers some coffee. I greet each of the babies with a quick snuggle. 8:52am The days cycle begins—Play with the little ones of the floor for a while until someone gets fussy. Warm up bottles and feed them then begin the juggle of trying to get two babies to sleep at once. Eventually they are both down and I have a few minutes to tidy up the house, do some dishes, and then maybe read a little. When they wake up we’ll get bottles then bundle up for a walk. I pop them in the stroller and head out for a walk. Even though I start walking in the opposite direction I somehow always end up at the coffee shop around the block buying myself a chai latte with a shot of espresso and a bear claw. I think it might be partially because the baristas are girls my age and it’s nice to talk to a grown up since my “co-workers” can’t form words yet. Anyway, when we get home we do it all again a couple more times. Bottles, naps, diapers, play…. Some days they are crying more than they are not—so much so that it makes me cry. But then other days they go to sleep in 3 minutes and wake up smiling ear to ear for hours. Sometimes I hate my job and go all day thinking about quitting. But then others the mom comes home and I am sad to leave them. 1:13pm On Mondays I get off early so I head up to Brighton to ski for a couple hours. It is pretty cool to live somewhere where I can leave work and be at the top of the slopes in 37 minutes. 6:01pm Arrive at the Loho’s house where we will all eat dinner together and catch up on our weeks. We play a couple games as a group, then Justin, another fellow, leads us in a time of worship, confession, sharing, and prayer. I honestly love Monday nights. Even though sometimes I hate walking in the door. If I have a hard day at work or am just tired the last thing I want to do is be around a big group of people. But then Lauren walks up and hugs me. Then Grayson and I do our secret handshake. Then Katie does something that makes me smile. Dana can see I am in a foul mood so she just lets me sit next to her and cuddle. Ben shares some deep metaphor. Anyway, somehow the night always make me feel happy inside. Sometimes at the end of Monday nights I just sit on the couch and think about how much I love these people and how much I appreciate being loved my them. 9:46ish pm Head home and reflect on the day, plan out tomorrow, maybe chat with a housemate for a while when we get home. Then I head to bed. TUESDAY: 7:34am Wake up and repeat morning from Monday. Head to work. By some miracle both babies are already down for their nap when I get there so I study for a while before they wake up and we repeat our day. 6:03pm Head to community group. For me, and introvert, Sundays can be hard at church. There are so many people to talk to but you don’t really know many of them all that well. This is where community groups come in clutch. I enjoy getting to spend time with a few families at a time. We all eat dinner together and I chat with a couple ladies. They we send all the kiddos to another room and talk through a Bible passage. After a while of exegesis, we go around the room and share what’s on our hearts so we can be praying for each other. Another of my favorite nights of the week. 8:32pm Stop by Trader Joe’s on the way home, partially because I need groceries, but partially because I am craving some chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels. Get home, cook lunches for the rest of the week, then head to bed around 10pm. I am in bed for two seconds when my roommate walks in. It feels like we haven’t talked to each other in days, so we chat for a while about life, jobs, which ski jacket to buy, and which coffee shops we’ve been frequenting. Actual bedtime: 11:32pm. WEDNESDAY: 7:34am Alarm goes off. I ignore it. 8:03am I wake up in a panic, throw some clothes on, grab a granola bar and lunch, and head to work. 4:32pm After 5 poopy diapers, 6 naps, 8 bottles, tons of spit up, slipped coffee, and lots of tears later, I am off work and head to meet a friend for a walk around Liberty Park. Each week we have a one-on-one meeting with another fellow so we are able to build closer relationships with each member of the group. In a group of twelve fellows, there are going to be some people you are closer to than others, so sometimes one-on-ones are fun and light-hearted and chill and other times they are way deep and you share hard things and struggles. Either way, they are a valuable part of the fellows experience. 6:38pm Come home and crash for a while. I start to walk upstairs to my room but stop by my housemate’s room to say hey for a minute. Next thing you know, its several hours later and the whole house is sitting around her room asking each other questions from an article titled, “36 questions to ask on a date.” Eventually we tire out and trickle out to our rooms for bed. THURSDAY: 7:21am Alarm goes off a little early this morning in a vain hope I might actually make it to work on time and in matching socks. Nope. 8:36am I roll up to work and walk into two hangry, crying kids. Mom in a panic running late for work apologizes and runs out the door. An hour later both kids have been soothed, changed, fed, and are asleep. I shut the door to their bedroom and tiptoe down the hall only to realize in my rush I left my lunch on the table instead of putting it in the fridge and the dog has helped herself. Oh well. I’ll load up my double stroller and head to the coffee shop for lunch later. 4:39pm I am off work and drive to my mentor’s house. As part of the program, each Fellow gets paired with a mentor from the church or community. Basically just someone a little older to build a relationship with and check in with. The Smiths are fun and quirky people. They feed me a lot which is also a plus. After their kids go to bed we sometimes do puzzles, or eat ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, or sometimes just sit on the couch and talk about life. 9:12pm I leave my mentor’s house and head to the other girls’ apartment where the girl fellows are having a wine night. We sit around drinking wine and chatting about anything and everything. 11:46pm Home and bed. FRIDAY: 7:34am Alarm goes off and I lay in bed scrolling through Instagram for a while before rolling out of bed and getting ready. I grab my book I am suppose to have read and take it to work to hopefully skim before class the afternoon. 8:32am I arrive at work *almost* on time. By some miracle both twins take a two hour nap at the same time and I am able to get my reading for class almost finished. 1:02pm I leave work and drive to class at the library. As usual everyone is roughly 10-15 minutes late, but eventually class starts. Every week is slightly different, but in general we have a speaker from the community for two hours and Ben, our director, leads a book discussion for a couple hours. 6:00pm The library closes and we head to family dinner. Every other Friday a family from Church graciously welcomes us into their home and provides us dinner and company. Sometimes this is super fun and I love being around the Fellows. Some weeks I leave as soon as I deem it socially appropriate because I’ve had a crap week and I am ready to be in bed. Either way, it is a good time to be together as a group for a while. SATURDAY: 9:57am My alarm goes off and I mosey down stairs to eat some cereal before heading to the grocery store and run a couple errands. 11:46am My housemates and I are sitting around the living room trying to decide what on earth to wear/bring on this adventure Ben has planned for us. We know we are snowshoeing but we don’t know where or how far plus none of us have any clue what to wear for snowshoeing. Eventually we make our bets and drive to meet at the trailhead. 1:44pm The group straps on our snowshoes and heads into the woods seeking whatever adventure might lay ahead. After tripping over my awkward feet about six times and falling face first into a snowdrift 3 feet high, I finally figure out the whole snowshoe thing and start catching up with the rest. We wander into the woods for about two miles we find a cool frozen over lake and stop to play for a while. We take some pictures, throw some snowballs, and laugh lots before turning around to head back. 4:48pm We make it back to cars and thaw out our fingers before heading in Park City to wander downtown and eat burgers at Squatters. SUNDAY:
8:21am My alarm wakes me up for Sunday school then church. After church we have a potluck and I chat with a couple friends. Sunday afternoons and evenings are a nice resting time to chill or do whatever before the week starts all over. This particular week I went to a bookstore to Christmas shop for a couple hours. 7:08pm I am back home and get snuggled up in my pj’s to write a blog post. Meanwhile housemates wander in and out and we chat some about our weeks and such. A lot happens in a week. Good, hard, boring, busy. But I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.
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AuthorSalt Lake Fellows Collaborative Archives
November 2020
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