Something Beautiful

There was this game that I liked to play in grade school called upset the fruit basket. Everyone was assigned a fruit and one person was "it". Then when whoever was it called out a fruit, whoever was that fruit had to get up and find a differenet seat with whoever was "it" trying to find a seat. Then just for fun if whoever was "it" called out "Upset the Fruit Basket" everyone had to get up and find a new seat. So why am I telling you about this fantastically amazing game that I loved to play when I was younger? Because it is completely applicable to my life right now. Let me give you a short run down of the last couple of days...nope...that's too complicated... I'll skip right to the end of the story. I just withdrew from graduate school. Yep, legit dropped all my classes and am no longer pursuing a graduate degree. And I am RELIEVED!!! I feel like a dark cloud that was hanging over me has dissipated, and I'm now standing in the suns...

When you see the way things are, all the hurt and the waste fall away, and what's left is the beauty. - Dr. Rosalind Franklin (Race for the Double Helix) mt victoria, wellington, NZ kudos to moi Things never seem to go quite the way that you plan for them to go. That's kind of how my retreat ended up...completely different than I planned. God showed me a lot of stuff that is in my heart and in my mind that quite frankly I don't like or want to be in there. Now I kind of feel like I'm waiting for Him to fix it. Mostly what it comes down to is that I have a proud heart. I think I can fix myself, but I can't. I've been thinking a lot lately about grace. Probably triggered by this friend's blog on the subject. Something I've been pondering about grace is how we tend to be so proud about grace. I know that I have caught myself several times thinking: "How could God ever forgive me for this?" or "There's no way He can forgive me for this a...

Ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to find the beauty in life? I hate days like that. And I had one today. I feel like all the stress of the last couple of days has just been building and building, and I'm just about ready to break. Today has been the final straw. I can't decide if I just really want to scream and punch something or if I want to cry until I can cry no more. Maybe I'll do both. My car continues to have crazy problems that seem to come out of nowhere. I can't figure out why it keeps breaking down, and I don't have the time, energy or money to take it to a mechanic. I literally just want one day where I don't have to deal with my car breaking down or an issue related to my car. I want one day where I don't have to get under the hood of my car.It's stressing me out just a little bit. I'm ready to have my Mini back in working condition. May God speed the day of her return. I'm also stressed about what I'm do...

I am bidding adieu to my summer. It doesn't even really feel like summer actually happened. And I really have absolutely no clue where it went. All I know is that I wish it would come back and stay a little longer. Tomorrow life (aka school) begins again. I guess it's technically today...late nights always seem to catch me. My favorite coffeeshop is getting ready to be legit open for the school year. And I am excited to be making coffee again. Job predicaments are going to work out...hopefully. And I will be getting my beloved Mini back soon. Mom and Dad are just finishing up the last little bits of repairs before we can do a vehicle swap. In the mean time...I have to crawl under my car in the morning and figure out what is going wrong with the radiator...it's leaking like crazy...again...lame. And I have a tonne of errands to run tomorrow...of course. At least Penny got me to my church speaking engagement and back today. I was reminded this morning that I need to have grac...

Wow...classes haven't even started yet, and I already have homework. 3 chapters of my textbook (which I don't have yet) and a 23 page paper to read on the last weekend of summer...Lame. I guess that's what happens when you only have the class once a week. Had a job interview yesterday...hoping I will get a call sometime soon. I really would just like to have a job...yes, that would be nice. All in good time, I suppose. Had Bible study this morning with K...that was lovely. We took a sort of unintentional mini break over the summer, so it was nice to talk about the Bible again. We had curry chicken salad with crackers and fresh honeydew from my parent's garden. A wonderfully delightful summer lunch. I was going to try to fix my car today, but Dad and I decided that it was probably too complicated and I don't really have the tools to fix it, so I'm just going to keep nursing it through the next week until I get my car back. I am so excited to have my Trudy back. I...

The lovely Connally tagged me in a post based off of Cassie's Therapy Video . I know I've done this before, but I guess we'll have another go at it. The rules: if you're tagged fill in 12 likes, 1 love, and 8 hates; then tag three other bloggers; and don't forget to include the words in bold. Sorry to be a party pooper, but I'm not going to tag anyone. Yes, I realize that means I am not following the rules, but there are just sometimes when I feel like not following the rules. abracadabra, wow! i like boys with sweetness, charm, and good character and girls with loving hearts and genuine smiles i like making my family laugh i like friends whose presence I crave i like pubs i like watching children learn something new i like thinking great thoughts i like discovering other cultures i like being organized i like dreaming i like trying new recipes i like trinkets with meaning i like soaking in beauty i love traveling ...

One of the blogs I follow is Lisa Lenoard Designs. I love her necklaces...soooo pretty and fresh!! Well, today is her birthday, and she is giving away a present (on her birthday (!!), how cool is that). All she asked for was us to say what our favorite kind of cake is. As much as I love cooking and food, that is a difficult question for me. I like all kinds of cake. However, if I have to choose, my very favorite cake in the entire world, is homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Just typing that makes me want to go make some right now...too bad my roommate doesn't really like red velvet. :( Well, maybe I'll just make a chocolate cake instead. Because I like that just as well!! :) Happy Birthday Lisa! And I hope you got your cake and ate it too!! :)

I love food. That being said one of my very favorite foods is peaches - fresh Colorado peaches to be more specific. Most people think Georgia peaches are the best, but I would take a Colorado peach over every other kind of peach there is. They are so juicy and delicious and excellent to freeze, can, and make into pies besides eating them. Right now I have two peach pies in the oven, and I just enjoyed a lovely, juicy peach for lunch. What a wonderful surprise for me to have when I came up to visit mis padres!! This is one of my favorite times of the year because all the fresh produce is abundant. I will be picking up sweet corn from my aunt on the way back home. Yum!! Yesterday was my G'pa's 80th birthday party. I missed most of the party because of having to drive up from SGF yesterday, but I did get to see my extended family some, and hang out with my sister for the evening...not to many more of those times to be had. I was reminded that God is good - always, and that He has ...

Traveling with a friend can either make or break your friendship. It teaches you a lot about living day to day with another person. It teaches you things about your friends you never would have thought about before. It can be an incredible bonding experience or it can destroy your friendship. one of my favorite views near Picton, NZ I am thankful to say that my latest journey made my friendship with E and did not break it. We actually only had one minor tiff, and it was quickly smoothed out. I will chalk it up to both of us are easy going, adventure seeking individuals, and we are friends who really care about each other. We both wanted the other person to have an agreeable trip, and I think that is the key. Anyway...it was such a lovely holiday. Possibly the best holiday I have taken in recent history. It far surpassed my expectations and was so incredibly restful. I had plenty of time to relax, soak up the gorgeous views, sleep, and take pictures. Did I see everything I wanted to? No...

I'm home again. As I walked out of the airport, I was greeted by the sticky air of August in SGF. Then I was greeted by the smiling faces of three dear, dear girl-friends. Each one of these friends in unique and different, and yet my heart rejoices at seeing each one of them. And trust me...after 2 weeks spent with almost all guys, I was very glad to see and spend time with mis chicas. The evening consisted of catching up and hearing all about what has happened here at home. Followed by 2 episodes of Burn Notice (I have so many episodes of shows to catch up on!!). Now my weary eyes and body are telling me that it is waaaay past my bedtime. And I'm afraid that the evil jet lag is going to catch up to me much too soon. So for now I will bid you good-night...and sweet dreams... Sooooooo excited to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow!! Peace out yo!

I've been thinking about Peter a lot lately...probably because I've been reading about Jesus walking on the water in Matthew. There is so much I have to learn about faith. Everyone always talks about how much faith Peter had because he gets out of the boat. But the only problem with that is that the doubts that cause Pete to start sinking once he gets out of the boat are doubts that he had while in the boat. In the boat he says to Jesus " IF you are the Son of God..." (emphasis added). He still didn't quite believe that Jesus was the Son of God. He had enough faith to climb out of the boat and walk a couple steps, but then his doubts caught up to him. If we have doubts to start with, they will eventually catch up to us. And God isn't a God of doubts. He chastises Peter for his little faith. "Why did you doubt?" My life is in the air...I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know where I'll be in 6 mo...

Beauty. Pure. Unaltered. Unfiltered. Rugged. Untamed. Real. Beauty that calls to my soul. It calls me to something I have never imagined before. It calls me to want to be more than I am--to be brave and bold beyond what I know. It awakens a part of me that I never knew existed. That's the beauty I was surrounded by yesterday--beauty that defies description--beauty that refuses to be captured. I took no pictures...and somehow that seems poetically just because the pictures wouldn't even begin to capture the scene that was before my eyes. There are plenty of pictures of the rest of the trip, but those two days remain perfectly beautiful in my mind. It remains waiting for me to come back and for others to find it. I'm sorry that I won't be able to share pictures of that bit of the trip...my apologies to you...but that will be my little bit of my trip that I keep to myself...stored away in my mind. Coming home in a week...

Many lovely things surround me everyday. Granted right now I am in an extrememly lovely country. But this day has been filled with many lovely surprises--sunshine, good company, delicious food, a shortcut to mushrooms , and a rose garden on the verge of blooming to name a few. Today was filled with walking and good conversation while walking. There were exclamations of "Wow! That's gorgeous!" There were plans made and plans carried out. There were many hundreds of pictures taken to be shared later on. Basically, I've decided that New Zealand loves me. The weather today was perfect!! Several times it looked as if it would storm on us, and then it just dissipated as the sun continued to shine down on us. Tomorrow will be filled with museum visits and cooking dinner for our incredibly amazing family we are staying with. Then we are off to visit friends all the way up to Auckland. So many lovely experiences yet to come. Peace and Mercy.

This will just be a quick update because I'm going to bed here soon. Still haven't quite adjusted to the time change...and it's been a bit of a long day. I'm on day four in New Zealand...and loving this country. The people are super friendly...E and I are currently installed at the house of some people I met on the airplane from Auckland to Wellington. In just a couple days we will be headed north toward Auckland with a few stops along the way. And we have places to stay all the way up. I love having connections and friends in foreign countries. Coolest experience so far was star gazing on the shore of Lake Nelson...and seeing 5 shooting stars as well. Reminded me of when I came home from London 2 years ago. Reminded me of how faithful God is. Reminded me that God has a plan for my life, it is good, and He is in control. Reminded me of how incredibly small I am in the grand scheme of things. Reminded me how much God loves me. Hoping and praying for some lovely weather ...