Weathered Tree

Verse 1:
Weathered tree
It's leaves all scattered
It's branches seem
So tired and battered
Winter's here
The sky's turned gray
The bright frontier
Is gone 'til May

Chorus:
My leaves all decompose
I slowly am exposed
The wind and rain appear
It's here to stay i fear

Verse 2:
The birds are gone
The skies are bare
Of morning songs
They used to share
They will return
Again in spring
So why be concerned
About these things?

Chorus:
My leaves all decompose
I slowly am exposed
The wind and rain appear
It's here to stay i fear

Bridge:
But the wind and the rain have songs to sing themselves
They must praise their God above with everything as well
Though they are ferocious,
Though they are relentless,
And unpredictable,
They continue pressing,
And addressing
Their God as they're able

Verse 3:
The ground will thaw
My branches will bloom
Singing their song
In colorful tunes
Until then
I'll stand my ground
Hearing the wind
Make glorious sounds.

A change of direction

I started working for a small CPA firm in December. They are really nice people and they take really good care of their employees. My old job offered 5k more per year when i took this job, but I quit my other job anyways because this job seemed like it would be a great opportunity.

They did very little training because small firms do not have the capacity of training to the degree that big frims do. They threw me right in with everything and I had a rough time learning from the start. Eventually i caught on and I learned how to manuver through the software fairly fluidly and then i got a few big projects that were tremendously large. Still no training.

Hours got long and soon my days began at 4:55am to arrive at work at 6am and i would leave work around 7-8pm. Of course to get up so early i had to go to bed around 9-10pm. This was my day Monday thru Saturday...and on the occational Sunday i'd throw in a few hours.

Not being trained and having high expectations of me in the workload added stress on me. My heart started to sieze up on occaation. It would cramp and i couldn't inhale for 3-5 seconds. This happened about every other week, but it became more frequent. Last week It happened twice in a day and i went to the hospital.

I arrived at the hospital just before 6pm and waited until 11:30 to get in. I waited and waited in the ER until i finally was able to leave at 2am. They said my tests showed that I was in "Pristine condition" but due to my stress i should take a few days off work.

I didn't.

I kept loyal to my work because when i was hired I was told that they would take care of me. Not to mention the sermon at church that sunday was about serving your boss and being loyal to your work so that through your work Christ might shine.

Well it appears i didn't do that either. I kept working from sunrise to sunset and beyond. Yesterday was surreal that it was over. My desk cleared. I finished my work that was there, and I was looking forward to working an 8 hour day. Secretly i hoped to go home early....however not like this.

I did a few small projects and enjoyed the low key atmosphere at work and about 9:30 my boss came to me and asked to talk with me. Lightheartedly i said "sure" and walked into the office with him and one other partner.

Without a moment of hesitation "We're going to let you go" he said with no remorse. "This is strictly a business decision. We wish you well in the future. You just haven't kept up with the learning curve."
"do you think you trained me well enough to keep up?" I asked perplexed
"We are not a training firm. We expect our employees to take charge of their own training....." and he trailed off on a long drawn out explanation of his expectations of employees that would have been better to hear upon being hired than fired.

They walked me to my desk let me gather my things and escorted me out. They will pay me out through the end of the month but will not offer COBRA or any sort of medical compensation(as they are not required being such a small company).

Being fired after devoting around 80 hours a week for so long isn't the hard part for me. It is being fired. I failed. I have never been fired. I don't think I deserved to be fired. ESPECIALLY not the DAY after tax season was over.

Now I am absolutely boggled. I didn't think that is what I would do the rest of my life, but I expected it to last at least a little longer. It turns out that most CPA firms don't need accountants as much on April 16th as they do before the 15th.

I don't know what I'm going to do. I had made plans with many of you. I had promised to get in touch with virtually all of you. Now i have time, but unfortunately circumstances have changed a bit.

Pray that God leads me where He wants me. Ask Him that nothing will go wrong with my health and that I go where He wants me and not just find the first job that opens up. I guess i have more to learn about surrendering everything to Him.

I know I don't say it enough, but I love you all more than words can describe.
His,
Joel

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

Refreshing

After a long year at Holland America in Accounting, my busy season is over. This last year has been really hard on me but i learned a lot. There have been about a dozen people who have seen me more than twice a month because i have worked so much. I write now from Honolulu, HI at my friends' house. I finally get a chance to rest and reflect and most importantly...to play.

I have done a good job seperating from work so far. I'm not sure what i'm doing this week yet, but i'm going to NOT do work and love every minute of that. I'll go for a few hikes, sit on a few beaches, and do whatever else I feel like. I am so excited. i'll post pictures later...even though i'm almost certain that nobody checks this anymore. It is nice that I have something worth writing about :-)

Pictures from Timothy and Carlee's wedding. You can order prints directly through this site (i believe they use shutterfly.com.

http://picasaweb.google.com/joeloliver/TimCarleeSWedding

let me know how easy/hard it is to get the pictures.

My pictures web site

To look at the pictures that I have updated. Click HERE Or copy and paste it the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/joeloliver/Europe

Catching up...

So I can't believe that I was in europe a month ago. I have meant to keep my blog up, but I've been working so much lately. So the last thing i want when I come home from sitting in a cubicle all day long is to sit in front of the computer any more. So I'm working on pictures, and I'm going to post some today...but the rest will come soon. My goal is to get some pics up this weekend. Check here sunday night and i'll tell you where the pics are.

The tail end of the journey

So our last day in Switzerland we borrowed the Glaser's car and drove to the alps to go bobsledding! I never knew the joys of bobsledding before! We drove just over 2 hours to basically the other side of the country! Our lunch (as is apparently typical) was just bread, meat and cheese (a sort of sandwich). It was really good! Mark and I had to borrow boots (which were barely too small) and we rode a bus up to about 1800 m (5400 feet) and hiked in the snow to the top of a mountain about 8000ft dragging bobsleds the whole way. We got to the top at 4:00, but our plan had been to be there 2 hours earlier. We didn't care.

At the tip top of the mountain was a bench that you could see the whole alps from. It was amazingly beautiful! I didn't have my camera (too fragile for such an adventure) so mark took pictures, and we ate at a restraunt up there (the building had been there nearly 200 years) then started down the mountain at about 5:00. I never thought I would go bobsledding like calvin & hobbes, but this was 20x better! We bombed down the mountain! It was amazing! However, since this winter there hasn't been too much snow, we had to walk down over 2 hours to the car. We finally made it to the car at about 8:30 but it was really fun!

Driving on the Swiss roads at night are way more scary than driving on the swiss autobahn. The speed limits in the country are 50kph in the villages, 80kph not in the villages and 120kph on the autobahn unless otherwise noted. So their signs say like 90 then not 90. It's odd, but luckily i had it explained to me. I got the hang of it.

We left early Saturday morning; Peter drove us and samuel came. We said goodbye and hopped on our train to frankfurt. Everything went smoothly until we made it to chicago where my flight got cancelled along with half the flights from chicago last night. They were handing out cots, but they said there were 300 cots, blankets and pillows, but by the time we got to that part of the airport, the line was clearly longer than 300 people. We just went to mark's morning flight and slept by the gate using our backpacks as pillows (nicer than the waterbottle i used in Vanuatu).

About 5:30 am Mark woke up to hear that his gate changed to the other side of the airport. We walked there and got in a line that apparently had noone helping anyone, but it was by mark's flight so I was goign to try to get on the waiting list. I made it on the list...but i was #17 on the list. Somehow by God's grace, I was able to get on the flight! The night before I waited on my phone in a line for 1 hour 2 minutes and somehow my phone cut out and we had been comparing times in line (how many minutes we had been on hold) I was winning, but the girl behind me with about 10 minutes less than me somehow got through and after she was done, handed me the phone! However the soonest flight I could get a confirmation for was monday night. So to make it on the standby list was amazing! I am now at home unpacking all my souveniers and about to do laundry. It is nice to type on a keyboard where the keys don't change, and i look forward to showering in my shower.

Mark and I were talking on the way back from the airport and it turns out this was full of firsts for me. It was my first time ever:
1) going to europe
2) riding a train
3) riding a subway
4) staying in a hostel
5) traveling to a non-english speaking country
6) traveling without plans when i arrived
i'm sure there are others, but i have been traveling for close to 40 hours and i'm not with the "program".

Now my life will be full of catching up on my work, hopefully starting studying for the CPA exam and more outdoor stuff prepping my physical endurance for the next adventures to come. Thanks for your messages and prayers.

Joel

time is almost up!

todaz we walked to some ruins that were destroyed by monkeys (thats right monkeys) 500 years ago. we also walked to france. now were off to town to buy swiss chocolate. I plan on buying lots so i can share...so let me know if you want some...

iäm avoiding the inevitable truth that i must go home saturday...

Switzerland

So this has to be short because we^re going to the bar to watch a big soccer game. Todaz we drove around and saw some fun parts of the culture here. We hiked to the top of a hill with a watchtower about 3x the size of the one on seahome hill and it was glorious! There are castles everywhere, so to them it^s no big deal, but mark and i still get excited. we are sad that we leave saturdaz...maybe i can come back... The glasers are great hosts and have provided everything we have needed. I will write more later...we have a futbol game to go watch!! (Oh, and my battery is dying...i will be short my 100 pictures a day that I initially thought I would have).

playing like there is no tomorrow,
joel (and mark)

France

mark and i made it to france, and the keyboard is even more confusing! we are staying in kendras living room and having a great time! we got in saturday night around 6 on saturday and met some of her friends, and it has been fun! yesterday we went snowboarding in the french alps! there are 50 ski resorts surrounding gap! for 30 euro we got a day pass and rented a board and boots! today mark is going for a hike and i am wandering around town. tuesday we take the train for switzerland!

day ???

so we ran around today and saw a bunch of things and somehow didn't get lost once!!! tomorrow morning we leave for France...as soon as we are starting to get used to it here. I can't believe it. We had a really good time today, and i am now on my second memory card and i need to charge my battery. We look forward to see France and Kendra, but we have had such a good time with melanie and rose we hardly can leave. It seems quite normal here now and these last few days have seemed to be like weeks. It's awesome (and i'm getting used to the keyboards). There's another snorer in our room...we wake up in 5 hours. I am SO far behind in my journal and everything...it's nuts...but fun nuts. I hope we can adjust to France quickly. There's another snore'er in our room tonight...i think i'm tired enough for it not to matter. I hope i can update in france, but no promises.

Days 5 and 6

So if anyone asks, Rome is WAY different than Germany. Mark and I have both adjusted differently and slowly. If we had made it back to the hostel sooner, I would be able to write more. Basically, none of the streets are straight, and streets merge and change rapidly. So it is hardly possible to follow a map (which is mark's natural tendency) and since the streets aren't straight, aiming in a general direction doesn't really work either...and what we have found is that the worst idea is trying to do both methods at the same time.

Over the last 2 days we have been to the Vatican, seen the sistine chapel, seen a numbet of monuments (most of them were unintentional), walked, walked and walked some more. Our brief itenerary has been something like:

Woke up,
walked towards the vatican
got lost
ate gelato
walked toward the vatican
got lost
walked towards the vatican
got lost
found the vatican
waited in line
looked for the sistine chapel
waited in a line
it closed
ate gelato
decided to walk to the spanish steps (25-30 minutes in theory walk)
got lost
found the spanish steps, met up with melanie and found a hole in the wall restraunt and it was the most amazing restaraunt EVER!!! I would eat there every day if i could.
parted ways with melanie
walked to the part (without getting lost)
got lost
got on a bus that said would bring us where we wanted to go
1 1/2 hours later arrived close to where we wanted to go.
got lost
found where we were
got lost
found the plaza
walked around and gathered food at small shops for dinner
met some of melanie's friends (a porta rican, norwegian, an italian, and 2 americans)
Cooked dinner and hung out
ate gelato
walked to the bus (it brought us where we wanted to go...such a surprise!!)
Went to bed

Today:
I slept well because our snoring friend checked oout.
Woke up and walked to the subway
barely squeezed onto the subway(no joke)
stood in a line about 1-2 miles long
made it into the vatican]
walked around for a couple hours seeing just a few things (really crowded)
got busted for trying to take a picture of the sistine chapel
left the vatican at 1:30.
tried to make it to the pantheon
got lost
found piazza navona (2 blocks away from the pantheon)
got lost
found the piazza navona
got lost
found the piazza navona
got lost
found the pantheon
walked around with melanie and her friend rose
found a restaraunt and ate lasagnae!!! (amazing!!!)
walked around
ate gelato
Rose showed us around and gave us a city tour. She is a jewish italian and knew a TON of stuff. Mark and I were impressed with her random knowledge.
Played frisbee in front of the colloseum
Ate pizza in the jewish ghetto
walked around
parted ways
got lost
found the piazza venezia
got lost
found the colloseum
my camera battery died
almost got mugged by the italian police
got lost
walked aimlessly talking about what we would have done differently
got more lost in the process
found termini (train station)
made it to our hostel
updating my blog while mark is getting into bed

Tomorrow
8am colloseum (inside)
10am leave for the catacombs with melanie
2pm meet up with rose
???

All i can say is that things are different here. I haven't really even had time to update my blog. Needelss to say if you come to rome, DO AS THE ROMANS!!! Otherwise you will get stresseed out! The romans are laid back, but sound intense.

I have enjoyed myself, but if you come here, you need to do 1 of 2 things. 1
1) Read and memorize the map before you come.
2) RELAX, walk aimlessly(you will anyways) and JUST ENJOY IT!

Sometimes we find ourselves walking intensely past giant monuments that are amazing just to get to another place. The best thing is just to enjoy where you are. Okay, i'm tired. I hope to explain more later. We shall see, for tomorrow is another adventure...

(OH, and although gelato is good, it's expensive...the best gelato i've ever had is still the gelato I had in Tonga)

sleep...

As i lay in my room with 11 other people asleep, i am very tired and cranky because there is one guy who is snoring louder than i thought was humanly possible. i slept less than 2 hours and of course being a hostel, customer service isnt the best. i am tired and frustrated that mark and i are paying $50us per night...i think mark is sleeping through this though...not sure how. I had my ipod on as loud as it gets and i can hear him faintly over my ipod. i seriously think he is snoring about 70 decibles. i am now going t otry talking to the guy at the counter again...pray that i get sleep tonight.

day 4

this morning we woke up at 8am and went to a kloister (nunnery_) and it was beautiful! Our walk was a little longer than i expected. worth every step! after that we packed up and said our goodbyes and began our travels out of germany. 3 trains, 2 busses later we arrived the airport. what they say about italy is true. it is definately different from germany! it took us 9 hours to get from tubingen to rome.

upon arrival, my friend melanie met us at our hostel and showed us around Rom. we left at 930pm and made it back at 2am. it took us about an hour to make it to our hostel from the other side of town. i ate 4 scoops of gelato already! it is way more expensive than it was in tonga, thatàs for sure. (the keyboard is different again, but not as bad as germany).

it is way late and were sharing a room with 12 people. this hostel thing is definately different! im beat. tomorrow is the vatican and a bunch more walking around. i think i have walked over 10 miles today. weàre exhaused! too much to talk about and i will be done with my first 4gb of memory prolly in the next day or two...too much to see!

more tomorrow or the next day.

Day 3

So I see now that only 1 paragraph was posted. That saddens me. All the settings were in German and I had a tough time. I spent 20 minutes typing up my blog to find that only that little got posted. Sad!

Well yesterday we went all over Munich and saw the city from every angle. Mark and I stayed in a hostel (Our first hostel experience). Our roomates were a guy and a girl who are traveling the world and they're 6 weeks into a 18 month trip around the world. It was a relief from my fears of sharing a small room with strangers.

Mark and I are getting used to using the train. We rode the train from Munich to Fussen to see the neushwastein castle and then from Fussen to Tubingen. It was really smooth and it's not so bad. The castle was beautful and we got some good pictures despite the bad weather. We ended up taking pictures of posters. I thinkI got a good one.

Germany is a beautiful place. I can tell that this time of year it isn't in it's full splendor, but just looking out the train durring our ride it is amazing seeing in these tiny villages huge churches. I have been trying to read Cost of Discipleship, but even while we're on the trains i think about the book and the amazing scenery.

I have to admit, it will be hard to leave tomorrow, but the thought of being in Rome will be motivation enough. Going back to a cubicle will feel unnatural. Unless God changes my heart, I think my calling is not an accountant.

God has made things smooth. We waited for less than a minute for 2 of our trains and we have made it by learning just a few German words, and our host that we're staying with (Chris and Jenn Atwood) have been amazingly helpful. I am loving this trip!

Day 2

Today was another good experience. I onlz have 9 minutes of time in the lab here, so mz tzping will be a little different due to the kezboard. (the "y" is a "z" and visa versa, and manz other things, so bear with mz worst tzped blog zet) Todaz we woke up earlz and took the train from Tübuingen to münichen and our bus didnät come so we had to run at least 2 miles t oget to the train. we got there just as the conductor blew the wistle and she allowed us to get on just in time...so much for taking time to shower.



All in all, we#re having fun...however this kezboard is driving me nuts! mz time is up! Iäve alreadz taken 250 pics...good thing

Day 1

It is 6:25am. Our flight is in 2 hours. Matt woke Mark and I up just now. Oops! Luckily we were up until 3am packing. After a speedy morning routine we're out ofthe house in 10 minutes. We got there in a perfect amount of time. Our 5 hour layover in Chicago was mostly spent walking around the airport and practicing our languages. We arrived in Frankfurt at 11am German time and took the 1pm train to stutgart. The train was late (they told us why in German, so we still don't know why) so we missed our connection to Tubingen, so we just walked around the train station then finally made it to tubingen at 4:00. Chris met us there, and showed us around town and is going to help us decide what we want to do. Our plan is currently to go to the Neushwastein castle tomorrow, then to munich, then back to tubingen and fly out to Rome. We're tired. Oh, and we love our cameras!

Off to Europe...

So friday morning before the sun rises, my friend Mark Christophersen and I will be flying to Frankfurt, Germany for a 15 day adventure. We will be in Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland. Our plans are mainly to see some friends, take a LOT of pictures, and capture God's beauty. We will be reading Cost of Discipleship during our train/plane times. I can't describe how excited I am. I'll post pictures and tell stories when I get back on the 24th...or shortly thereafter.

Birthday...

After weeks of doing basically nothing but work and sit at home, I took friday off from work. It was SOOO nice to sleep in. Although I didn't really have a birthday "party", I celebrated my birthday more this year than any other. I think I had 3 cakes, a pie, 4 different sets of cookies, plus some sort of desert that I couldn't identify while at the Spaghetti factory. I went out to eat probably more this week than any other week of my life. On top of that, I spent a lot of money buying a digital camera. However, I am excited for it to arrive! i bought a Canon Rebel XTI so I'm excited to take some good Pictures!

On February 9th, I leave for a 2 week adventure in Europe! i'm going to Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland. I'm spending about 3 days in each city, and my buddy Mark Christoperson is coming with me! Our plans are not certain yet, but I'm really excited!!! If you want a postcard, send me your address via email before i leave, and i'll do what I can to remember to mail you a postcard from somewhere. I have never been to europe nor have I ridden a trian, so it will be an adventure full of new experiences! I will either post more details before I leave, or right when I get back. I can't wait to go!!

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm going to be really busy these next 3 weeks before I leave. So much to do at work and so many things to look up before I leave...so I'm going to be quite busy. I'll keep you posted on my journies.

Year in Review...

This year has been one to remember. I spent 3 months in Hawaii, then 1 month in Fiji, 1 in Tonga, 1 in Vanuatu, 1 in Fiji, 1 at home, 1 in alaska, then moved to Seattle. Now I work and live in Seattle.

I have learned a lot this year from my travels. There were times that were hard and times that were amazing. I loved seeing some of the most beautiful parts of the world. It was painful through all the sicknesses.

It has been nice living with my brother and some friends in Seattle and finally owning a real vehicle. I bought a 2007 ford ranger and I hope for it to be paid off in 2 years. It will be nice to be able to drive around and own my own vehicle.

So far I haven't really liked my job, but it is where God wants me, so I have accepted it. It is good to make some money and get some work experience.

It was overall a good year. I wish I had something more profound to say, but I don't. I hope that I will have some more good adventures this year. Thank you for your prayers and support through it all.