There is a lot of noise, demands and expectations. After returning from California, we took a trip with Wanderlust to Bucuresti and met some new great coffee friends. The best part of it was the 7 hours drive, single task focused, shoulder to shoulder, daydreaming planning, taking in the beautiful scenery, driving through the Carpathian mountains under the tall blue skies with patchy fluffy clouds.
I get the feeling that I went back to my roots, remembered who I am, surrounded by people who love me, who bring out the best in me. I have proven myself in California professionally, built friendships slowly, built roots in church, built wonderful friendships with Conrad’s family, and I have delighted in my independence even as a married woman.
Returning to Cluj, I even loose track of the slew of ongoing projects. While my days are completely flexible, I have a feeling that my time is more burdening than when I had a full time job.
I am in the loop with all our Altmannhaus projects, and act as a project manager of sorts. Invoice all clients, keep track of payments and I just filed our Altmannhaus US taxes on my own. We prepare for a product launch in April and a website launch by summer time as well.
For Wanderlust I am busier and busier as the primary accountant with more bureaucratic monthly work, working on a regular basis with the expert accountant for filing paperwork. I take care of banking and shipping, and we have two big shipments in progress. Upcoming is our dividend calculation and consequently and social and health insurance processing for us as administrators and owners of the company. Lots of local shipping and payments processes, translation of new products offered on our website, tested and collected from our trip to California. Pricing is actually a hard job. Conrad just photographed all of them.
We started collecting the documents for adoption. Notarized papers, birth and wedding certificates and property documents, letters of characterization, police records, medical records, psychological evaluation, a picture of us, proof of income or proof of financial stability etc.
We are also installing a new bookshelf in our living room, and trying to build a loft in the bedroom, reorganize our storage room, and trying to stay on top of getting rid of clutter, especially after just moving another 100 pounds of books and other personal effects from California to Romania. It’s so easy to collect stuff.
I am overwhelmed by people. I love people, but I feel this inherent need to build a time of solitude in my every day. I have a few groups of people I served the best I could in 2015, and it was all good, but too much. I overdid it and I am not yet recovered from it. I can’t do more than two bible-study fellowships. Along with the personal relationships on the side. And personal relationships outside Inului. I keep thinking about Elsie and what and how she does it. And Brian and the leaders at PBC.
And then there are my parents living nearby, the neighborhood friends, and coffee friends all over Cluj. I get this burdening sense that much is expected of us, and I am on a quest to lower their expectations, be upfront about what we can or can’t, want or don’t want to do.
And there are some upcoming trips, or unplanned fun and adventures we want to be open to. This list was just off the top of my head.
In the midst of this I remembered how hectic life was at the Apple Store. Then I had learned to zoom in on one task at the time. Focus on one person at the time while being bombarded by requests and noise. He higher up on the ladder, the more I had to discern, to prioritize, to focus. Remember why I was doing what I was doing. Remember to enjoy the ride.