"But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.“Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web. They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold. They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones." Job 8:5-17
I have blogged earlier about my experience at camp over the summer, but I've come to realize something about it that I did not realize before. Camp had a much much huger impact on my life than I thought possible. My biggest camp rant blog is no longer posted but I can sum it up for you really quick: Camp was really really difficult for me. The hardest, darkest, summer of my life.
But!! Very recently I came to realize a very beautiful thing. God has been growing a garden!
You see, for some strange, odd, crazy reason, I started to apply to work at the same camp again for next summer. I surprised myself by it quite a bit. I'm not sure that I will go through with it and fully apply or anything... idk if that's really my heart's desire. But, one of the questions on the application was "How has God worked in your life over the past 6 months?" Well, let's see, 6 months ago was April so from April to October.. that puts camp right in the middle. I started answering that question in an email and had to start a Microsoft Word document because of all the paragraphs that had to go into answering that question. For real... God has done some crazy big things as a result. He's also done some sneaky, subtle things as well, beautiful things.
"What are these things?" You may be asking. Well, for starters, God taught me a huge big thing on how to be friends with girls. That probably sounds a little silly but, I grew up hanging out with my brothers. Climbing trees, building forts, shooting BB guns, starting fires, digging worms, playing in mud puddles... that kind of fun thing. My friends that are girls are not particularly girly or dramatic..and most of my friends are guys anyways. When staff training for camp started, I didn't know any of the other staff members. Just one of the program directors cuz she is a friend from school. It is my natural tendency to be better friends with the guys and not girls but I decided early on at camp that I probably should do that while at camp as that would be distracting to the campers and not a wise investment of my time as I have a boyfriend and forming any deep friendship bonds with other guys is just not a good idea.
So thus started the first bits of seed plantings in God's garden of me. I learned very quickly some things about girls that I did not expect or know originally. (You'd think that as a girl I would have had a heads up on these things.. but I really didn't have a clue).
The first thing I learned about girls is that they like to talk about boys ALL the time. Cute boys, nice boys, the staff boys, any boys. They compare which staff guys are the cutest, which ones seem to know the Bible best, which ones are treating the girls nicely...... OH my goodness. If *that* is not enough to make one go insane.. I also soon found out that girls cry a TON.
Ok, ok.. yes, I myself cried every day for the first 3 weeks of my being there which is an excessive amount of crying for anybody and probably the most I've cried ever. But I had good reasons for my tears and I never cried a single one of them in front of anybody. I always took them out to the middle of a field and watered the grass a little. But! Other girls, I found out, cry for any and every reason under the sun and they cry in front of people and on people and with people and it honestly amazed me. I am much like a guy when it comes to crying. Not completely, but somewhat. I do my best to do most of my crying away from people. If I see someone crying, my reaction is to walk away and let them cry by themselves as I know that it is what I would want. But! At camp I observed that when one girl would cry, another girl would rub her back and ask what was wrong and listen to her talk about her feelings offer advise and tell her it was gonna be ok and somehow that seemed to work. The first time I witnessed this I was rather amazed at the power of a back rub and the fluffy words of comfort. I got to observe it a couple of times as I roomed with 8 young women during the training weeks with 7 or 8 more girls just across the way. All my observing paid off and I learned how to do that whole comfort girls thing too! A skill that has proved itself to be most useful..especially during high school week where all 10 of my girls cried at different points through out the week and occasionally more than once. I've also got to use it sense the ending of camp. I'm truly amazed. It's still out of my comfort zone, but if God were ever to call me overseas to missions (He mostly will.. or is) my ministry would most likely be women. After all, there are not many cultures where it is acceptable for a woman to be all buddy buddy with the men. So, I'm rather proud of that skill I acquired.
Another thing that God was planting in my garden was a couple of friendship flowers. They were slow to sprout, slow to grow, but they are growing and they are beautiful. One being with one of the young high schooler jr. counselors. A very enthusiastic young lady who reminds me a bit of myself from a point in my life. She has a beautiful heart for Jesus that I am blessed to see take off in different ways.
The other flower being that of my friendship with Jessica. My friend that asked me to work at camp originally. We didn't see much of each other over the summer, but we both saw each other going through a difficult summer and so we encouraged each other along the way. And our friendship has grown a ton since camp. It is beautiful and she is wonderful.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Wait
A poem by Russell Kelfer in his book Wait: a Journey to Discovering the Heart of God
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.
"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"
He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.
"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.
"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.
"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."
"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.
"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"
He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.
"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.
"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.
"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.
"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."
Friday, September 23, 2011
A Quick Jog Memory Lane
This serves no other purpose than entertainment and comic relief:
So, I was looking through pictures on my computer and came across some winners that never made it to facebook (for good reason) But I decided all of the sudden that it was such a happy memory I wanted to make it known. But first.. there is a story behind the picture.
So, WAY back a LONG LONG time ago before I was old enough to have claimed to develop much common sense and what not. Way back when brilliant ideas are instantly acted upon and tend not to turn out the way one is originally hoping, back when we're told to dream big and our results are always small... back when I was just an 18 year old caught in the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college, my brother Ken and I had a BRILLIANT idea.
So, when we were younger, my father kept about 50 live alligators in our basement in some pond liners. (They're like kitty pools but bigger and cooler). When the alligators grew up and moved to a different home we were left with the lovely pond liners that now did not have much of a purpose in our lives.
As time went on these poor little pond liners, feeling useless and lonely, began to sustain injury in their lack of being used. One had a large hole burnt into when a wild fire swept through and took all of our pine trees and half the garden. Another was made into a storage tub I think.. or maybe even borrowed and put to good use on some other farmer's land ( I honestly don't remember what happened to it) But that left us with one good pond liner still sitting innocently in the back yard relaxing by the chicken coop.
Which is where Ken and I found it on that fateful day. It was early June and the sun was gaining power in heating up the earth around us and we were starting to dream futuristically about the coming summer heat waves and our need to keep cool. Upon the finding of the pond liner, Ken and I observed it a little and than decided what we must do with it. We decided we MUST dig a hole in the back yard and put the pond liner into the ground like was its original intention and fill it with lovely water that would be heated in the summer sun and we would have a jacuzzi in our backyard! Well, okay, maybe not a jacuzzi exactly.. but we would have an in-ground pool!!! BRILLIANT!
So with a brief scoping outing of our back yard and the slope and all that stuff..(it was probs still about 10 in the morning on that fateful day) we first got out the lawn mower to contain the grasses and wild plants that were so rudely living where we wanted our pool. In our excitement to start digging we were mowing on the almost fastest setting (riding lawn mower) and maybe accidently mowed down a very large rock, a strange large chunk of metal and a garden hose. We have a push mower now. Any ways! With all that out of the way we returned ourselves to the garage and loaded ourselves with tools needed to perform such a task. With a couple shovels, a pick ax, and a sledge hammer in hand, we ex-marked our spot and began jumping on our shovels and began to dig our pool.
Perhaps if we were thinking we might have thought to ask Dad if we could dig up the back yard and plant a pool in it, or perhaps we would have picked a different location where the sheep hadn't lived for 10 years and trampled the dirt into being like cement, and perhaps we wouldn't have started digging on a hill.... meh.. who thinks before such things anyway? We are act-in-the-moment sort of people.
So anyways, it seemed whenever I jumped on my shovel, I just fell off of it. Ken could at least manage to break at least an inch or 2 into the ground. So that left me standing with the pick ax and encouraging Ken in his efforts. Along our way we uncovered a whole 8ft by 4ft metal fence that had fallen probably when we moved the sheep to the pasture and then had become eaten by the growing grasses that had taken over the spot where we wanted to dig our pool. We found some other treasures too, I think, but the fence was most exciting cuz it was very big and once it was removed we realized the ground actually wasn't as hard as we originally thought.
So, an hour or so later with sweat glistening on our brow, we took a break to drink the koolaide Eva had brought out as sustenance. We were very proud of our work as we stared at a 6ft by 5ft hole that was a proud 4-6 inches deep. After that we decided to take a break from our project and do other things inside the house.
Dad did not seem terribly disappointed by the hole we'd put in the back yard when he returned from work. It's not the first time we've brilliantly decided to dig a gigantic hole in the yard some where.. if I recall correctly, he gazed at our diggings, picked up the shovel we'd managed to break in the process of our diggings, offered a little encouragement by saying that it was a good start and then went to work on his garden.
Well, as often happens when Ken and I take a break from pursuing our dreams, we never went back to work on digging a place for the pool. Which was kind of nice when it rained a good 10 inches a few weeks later.
It was a Sunday afternoon and after I had been out and about doing something or other I went to my room to lay down for a nap. It was not more than 10 or 15 minutes later that I was awaken by a knock on my bedroom door. I opened it and was greeted by 2 very muddy, dirty, slimy looking boys.
Ken has this friend named Nate who is often at our house on Sunday afternoons.. and in the summer a lot more often than that. But anyways.. Ken and Nate.. were standing outside my door absolutely COVERED in mud. Ken was like "Hey Fern!! Come play in the mud with us!" and Nate was like "yeah! It's so much fun"
I was a little groggy at that moment from being awoken from the early stages of a nap and a little bit baffled at how they had snuck past Mom in all their muddiness and had entered the house, gone through the mudroom, the kitchen, the laundry room, the South living room, up the stairs, through the hallway, through Kyle and Kolby's room, and all the way to my room, tracking mud the whole way, and not getting caught or in trouble. Of course my response to such an invitation of playing in the mud was "OK!!! I will be right there!" and then threw a towel at them and told them to clean up their tracks.
So, I was looking through pictures on my computer and came across some winners that never made it to facebook (for good reason) But I decided all of the sudden that it was such a happy memory I wanted to make it known. But first.. there is a story behind the picture.
So, WAY back a LONG LONG time ago before I was old enough to have claimed to develop much common sense and what not. Way back when brilliant ideas are instantly acted upon and tend not to turn out the way one is originally hoping, back when we're told to dream big and our results are always small... back when I was just an 18 year old caught in the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college, my brother Ken and I had a BRILLIANT idea.
So, when we were younger, my father kept about 50 live alligators in our basement in some pond liners. (They're like kitty pools but bigger and cooler). When the alligators grew up and moved to a different home we were left with the lovely pond liners that now did not have much of a purpose in our lives.
As time went on these poor little pond liners, feeling useless and lonely, began to sustain injury in their lack of being used. One had a large hole burnt into when a wild fire swept through and took all of our pine trees and half the garden. Another was made into a storage tub I think.. or maybe even borrowed and put to good use on some other farmer's land ( I honestly don't remember what happened to it) But that left us with one good pond liner still sitting innocently in the back yard relaxing by the chicken coop.
Which is where Ken and I found it on that fateful day. It was early June and the sun was gaining power in heating up the earth around us and we were starting to dream futuristically about the coming summer heat waves and our need to keep cool. Upon the finding of the pond liner, Ken and I observed it a little and than decided what we must do with it. We decided we MUST dig a hole in the back yard and put the pond liner into the ground like was its original intention and fill it with lovely water that would be heated in the summer sun and we would have a jacuzzi in our backyard! Well, okay, maybe not a jacuzzi exactly.. but we would have an in-ground pool!!! BRILLIANT!
So with a brief scoping outing of our back yard and the slope and all that stuff..(it was probs still about 10 in the morning on that fateful day) we first got out the lawn mower to contain the grasses and wild plants that were so rudely living where we wanted our pool. In our excitement to start digging we were mowing on the almost fastest setting (riding lawn mower) and maybe accidently mowed down a very large rock, a strange large chunk of metal and a garden hose. We have a push mower now. Any ways! With all that out of the way we returned ourselves to the garage and loaded ourselves with tools needed to perform such a task. With a couple shovels, a pick ax, and a sledge hammer in hand, we ex-marked our spot and began jumping on our shovels and began to dig our pool.
Perhaps if we were thinking we might have thought to ask Dad if we could dig up the back yard and plant a pool in it, or perhaps we would have picked a different location where the sheep hadn't lived for 10 years and trampled the dirt into being like cement, and perhaps we wouldn't have started digging on a hill.... meh.. who thinks before such things anyway? We are act-in-the-moment sort of people.
So anyways, it seemed whenever I jumped on my shovel, I just fell off of it. Ken could at least manage to break at least an inch or 2 into the ground. So that left me standing with the pick ax and encouraging Ken in his efforts. Along our way we uncovered a whole 8ft by 4ft metal fence that had fallen probably when we moved the sheep to the pasture and then had become eaten by the growing grasses that had taken over the spot where we wanted to dig our pool. We found some other treasures too, I think, but the fence was most exciting cuz it was very big and once it was removed we realized the ground actually wasn't as hard as we originally thought.
So, an hour or so later with sweat glistening on our brow, we took a break to drink the koolaide Eva had brought out as sustenance. We were very proud of our work as we stared at a 6ft by 5ft hole that was a proud 4-6 inches deep. After that we decided to take a break from our project and do other things inside the house.
Dad did not seem terribly disappointed by the hole we'd put in the back yard when he returned from work. It's not the first time we've brilliantly decided to dig a gigantic hole in the yard some where.. if I recall correctly, he gazed at our diggings, picked up the shovel we'd managed to break in the process of our diggings, offered a little encouragement by saying that it was a good start and then went to work on his garden.
Well, as often happens when Ken and I take a break from pursuing our dreams, we never went back to work on digging a place for the pool. Which was kind of nice when it rained a good 10 inches a few weeks later.
It was a Sunday afternoon and after I had been out and about doing something or other I went to my room to lay down for a nap. It was not more than 10 or 15 minutes later that I was awaken by a knock on my bedroom door. I opened it and was greeted by 2 very muddy, dirty, slimy looking boys.
Ken has this friend named Nate who is often at our house on Sunday afternoons.. and in the summer a lot more often than that. But anyways.. Ken and Nate.. were standing outside my door absolutely COVERED in mud. Ken was like "Hey Fern!! Come play in the mud with us!" and Nate was like "yeah! It's so much fun"
I was a little groggy at that moment from being awoken from the early stages of a nap and a little bit baffled at how they had snuck past Mom in all their muddiness and had entered the house, gone through the mudroom, the kitchen, the laundry room, the South living room, up the stairs, through the hallway, through Kyle and Kolby's room, and all the way to my room, tracking mud the whole way, and not getting caught or in trouble. Of course my response to such an invitation of playing in the mud was "OK!!! I will be right there!" and then threw a towel at them and told them to clean up their tracks.
When I got myself outside to our happy mud hole, the happy boys were back sitting in it and enjoying it for all it was worth. So it wasn't quite a jacuzzi... but it was relaxing and wonderful all the same.
After I greeted my mud monsters, they greeted back by throwing mud at my face.
And somehow all that lead to me jumping in the mud with them and having a very fantastic time of it.
And then I realized there were worms in the mud and so we biked down to the flooded ditches and went swimming to wash off.
The End.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Life is Good
I really don't have a whole lot to say. I just figured it was time for a new post. Since the most previous one seems a little dark and depressing.
For those of you who seem concerned by it, no worries! I'm not depressed at all. I just had a little left over sadness that I needed to puke out of my system before moving on in life. It is now all vomited out of me and I am MOST joyful. In fact!!
I find this to be one of my most fun-filled semesters I've had thus far! I even had what may have been the best birthday in the 20 year history of me. :) :)
I have GREAT roommates, A lovely apartment, a very wonderful boyfriend, lots of friends around me that love Jesus a lot and a wonderful college ministry to attend. Honestly, I'm living the sweet life right now. Every day is full of joy and it hasn't been particularly stressful of a semester either.
Well, yesterday was a *little* stressful. But that's cuz I'm a very prompt person, I want everything to be exactly on time when it needs to be, I *hate* making people wait. Also! I *hate* traffic. Driving in a city is stressful enough, but throw in a couple hundred drunk pedestrians and a lot a lot of random other people trying to leave a football game by vehicle, you get traffic which adds to the stress of being late.
So, basically, I was running late to pick up a car and there was also lots of traffic going on. I walked to my sisters hows and very unexpectedly found myself in tears over the being behind schedule situation. She was super patient and sweet and I was very blessed by her. :) I think I would like to avoid such melt downs in the future tho.
Hmmm... lets see what else..... my life is pretty routine. oh! I now have a futon in my living room! Thanks to my boyfriend. (We've actually been dating 71/2 months but I only recently adopted that term into my vocabulary. )
A futon might not seem like a very big deal, but seeing as it is the only piece of furniture that is in my living room right now, it's a big deal to not be sitting on the floor any more!! :)
Uhm yeah, that's basically it. :) :)
For those of you who seem concerned by it, no worries! I'm not depressed at all. I just had a little left over sadness that I needed to puke out of my system before moving on in life. It is now all vomited out of me and I am MOST joyful. In fact!!
I find this to be one of my most fun-filled semesters I've had thus far! I even had what may have been the best birthday in the 20 year history of me. :) :)
I have GREAT roommates, A lovely apartment, a very wonderful boyfriend, lots of friends around me that love Jesus a lot and a wonderful college ministry to attend. Honestly, I'm living the sweet life right now. Every day is full of joy and it hasn't been particularly stressful of a semester either.
Well, yesterday was a *little* stressful. But that's cuz I'm a very prompt person, I want everything to be exactly on time when it needs to be, I *hate* making people wait. Also! I *hate* traffic. Driving in a city is stressful enough, but throw in a couple hundred drunk pedestrians and a lot a lot of random other people trying to leave a football game by vehicle, you get traffic which adds to the stress of being late.
So, basically, I was running late to pick up a car and there was also lots of traffic going on. I walked to my sisters hows and very unexpectedly found myself in tears over the being behind schedule situation. She was super patient and sweet and I was very blessed by her. :) I think I would like to avoid such melt downs in the future tho.
A futon might not seem like a very big deal, but seeing as it is the only piece of furniture that is in my living room right now, it's a big deal to not be sitting on the floor any more!! :)
Uhm yeah, that's basically it. :) :)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Blessings in Friends
What a fantastic weekend it was! Even with the crazy dad happenings, it really was wonderful.
This past weekend I found myself continually surrounded by great company and good fellowship and I would count it as a decently ideal weekend.
As some of you know, I'm a people person. I like to be around people as much as possible. At least... I've always considered myself that way. Over the summer I found myself constantly seeking solitude from people and I was rather worried that my people liking days were over. BUT! To my wonderful surprise, it was really just exhaustion and negativity that drove me to hide from people and now that I have been away from that and have gotten to spend many a good hour alone in my apartment, I am most certain that I do draw my energy from people.
So my weekend! I don't have class on Fridays and thus after spending my morning with Jesus and afternoon on homework I was thinking I would simply find myself a book and sit on the floor in my unfurnished living room for the evening. Thankfully my good friend, Kira, was also bored on that fateful Friday and so we met up at the library, got us some movies to watch and we kept each other company as we sat on the floor in my unfurnished living room in front of the TV. While the movies were rather lame, it was a wonderful time.
Then Saturday came and it was cloudy and overcast. I was very excited about this as I feel it is an essential part of fall to have overcast rainy days. But I actually didn't really have any food to eat in the apt and so Kira and I walked the mile back to the Burge dining hall. As we started our walk, it began to rain.. and then pour and we were SOAKED. I generally LOVE walking in the rain and getting soaked. But I had expected it to be rather hot out that day and thus had dressed accordingly and once we got our sopping wet selves to Burge we discovered that some fool had set the A/C to some crazy cold setting and it was a little unpleasant. But we drank coffee and it was wonderful. But after the time in burge drying off ever so slightly, I found myself walking back to my apt in another down pour and thus being more cold and soaked than before. But it made my dry clothes and hot tea back at my apt even more enjoyable than ever and so it was quite alright.
Then! My sisters invited me to go to a thrift store with them and it was absolutely delightful, especially with the rain still going on outside. We tried on old hats, found ourselves amongst old books and antiques, playing with toy light sabers and wondering at how a little plastic army man could be priced at $1 when we had shot them with bb guns by the 20s and 30s when we were children. Had we known they would be such valuable heirlooms in a thrift store years later, maybe we would have thought twice before lining them up for execution. A second thought is all it would have been though, I'm sure.
After that little adventure I was dropped back off at my apt where I got to watch the football game with one of my roommates before leaving again to go see David Crowder and Charlie Hall in Davenport with Josh and his family and a lovely lady named Christy. It was raining all up until the concerts and we got allllll wet but it was SO worth it and SO wonderful fun. I LOVE praising Jesus with lots of other people! Truly my very favoritest way to spend a saturday evening.
I probably didn't fall asleep til somewhere around midnight and I slept fairly soundly til 7am the next day where I woke up to find a text from my mom saying dad had had 2 seizures during the night and was in the hospital. It's not the first time news like this has been how I started my day but it certainly isn't very pleasant. Later that morning Dad was moved to ICU and given some meds for the siezures. Since mom was home alone with 3 children under the age of 12 and unable to be at both the hospital and home, my sister Pearl and I decided to make a trip home after church.
Kira, being present for most of the drama unfolding as Pearl and I had communicated home about our visiting, decided she wished to join us on our adventure and thus the three of us found ourselves driving back to Storm Lake on Sunday afternoon whilst singing opera sounding hymns along with the radio and taking turns singing like a man. I laughed *so* hard that my sides ached and I developed a terribly bad case of the hiccups that seemed to act like a punctuation mark at the end of my operatic sentences. I'd be in the middle of holding out some glorious man-opera sounding note and then all the sudden *hiccup*. Ruined.
Also, with all the stuff going on with dad I received loads of encouragement from friends via text messages saying they were praying and asking for ways they could help. Even from friends whom I hadn't told directly of what was going on and I found all to be so wonderfully encouraging.
Time at home was wonderful too! Especially since i hadn't expect to have the opportunity to go home. We fed the children when we arrived home and watched Tangled and just relaxed a little while mom visited dad. Kira and I found it to be rather cold outside and amused ourselves by running laps back and forth in the front yard but that did absolutely nothing to warm us up and so we drank cappuccino in the kitchen and it worked great. Around 10pm the majority of us were quite drowsy and resolved to go to sleep. I went searching for Kira and Eva to inform them of such plans and found them star-gazing out on the roof. This looked all too exciting and so I joined them for a little while. But, I was falling asleep so I gave up on that and went to find a bed for sleeping in. I often play musical beds when I'm home for a visit and since my bed was unmade because I haven't been home and sleeping in it for the last few weeks, I decided to find a bed that was made since making a bed for one night seemed pointless. With some seeking and a little finding, I opted for Kit's bed on the third floor as it had sheets AND blankets and no bodies in it.. which was more than the other beds I found. So, that's what I did.
In the morning I found out that Kit had actually come home at 3 in the morning and had spent the night sleeping on his clean laundry in the corner when he had discovered his bed was occupied. My bad.
Anyways, Dad came home from the hospital midmorning and apart from his tongue being all mangled from biting it during his seizures, he seemed pretty fine. He was tired tho, so he took a nap. I got to spend my day with my little siblings and rounding up needed objects that I hadn't been able to bring with me to school originally on account of only having the van and having 5 people in the van along with all of my life's possessions. Well.. not all, obviously, cuz some had to be left behind.
So! Before we left that afternoon, Kit stocked me with all the watermelons my little heart could desire, dad gave me some fresh honey and we had a lovely drive back to IC. :)
This past weekend I found myself continually surrounded by great company and good fellowship and I would count it as a decently ideal weekend.
As some of you know, I'm a people person. I like to be around people as much as possible. At least... I've always considered myself that way. Over the summer I found myself constantly seeking solitude from people and I was rather worried that my people liking days were over. BUT! To my wonderful surprise, it was really just exhaustion and negativity that drove me to hide from people and now that I have been away from that and have gotten to spend many a good hour alone in my apartment, I am most certain that I do draw my energy from people.
So my weekend! I don't have class on Fridays and thus after spending my morning with Jesus and afternoon on homework I was thinking I would simply find myself a book and sit on the floor in my unfurnished living room for the evening. Thankfully my good friend, Kira, was also bored on that fateful Friday and so we met up at the library, got us some movies to watch and we kept each other company as we sat on the floor in my unfurnished living room in front of the TV. While the movies were rather lame, it was a wonderful time.
Then Saturday came and it was cloudy and overcast. I was very excited about this as I feel it is an essential part of fall to have overcast rainy days. But I actually didn't really have any food to eat in the apt and so Kira and I walked the mile back to the Burge dining hall. As we started our walk, it began to rain.. and then pour and we were SOAKED. I generally LOVE walking in the rain and getting soaked. But I had expected it to be rather hot out that day and thus had dressed accordingly and once we got our sopping wet selves to Burge we discovered that some fool had set the A/C to some crazy cold setting and it was a little unpleasant. But we drank coffee and it was wonderful. But after the time in burge drying off ever so slightly, I found myself walking back to my apt in another down pour and thus being more cold and soaked than before. But it made my dry clothes and hot tea back at my apt even more enjoyable than ever and so it was quite alright.
Then! My sisters invited me to go to a thrift store with them and it was absolutely delightful, especially with the rain still going on outside. We tried on old hats, found ourselves amongst old books and antiques, playing with toy light sabers and wondering at how a little plastic army man could be priced at $1 when we had shot them with bb guns by the 20s and 30s when we were children. Had we known they would be such valuable heirlooms in a thrift store years later, maybe we would have thought twice before lining them up for execution. A second thought is all it would have been though, I'm sure.
After that little adventure I was dropped back off at my apt where I got to watch the football game with one of my roommates before leaving again to go see David Crowder and Charlie Hall in Davenport with Josh and his family and a lovely lady named Christy. It was raining all up until the concerts and we got allllll wet but it was SO worth it and SO wonderful fun. I LOVE praising Jesus with lots of other people! Truly my very favoritest way to spend a saturday evening.
I probably didn't fall asleep til somewhere around midnight and I slept fairly soundly til 7am the next day where I woke up to find a text from my mom saying dad had had 2 seizures during the night and was in the hospital. It's not the first time news like this has been how I started my day but it certainly isn't very pleasant. Later that morning Dad was moved to ICU and given some meds for the siezures. Since mom was home alone with 3 children under the age of 12 and unable to be at both the hospital and home, my sister Pearl and I decided to make a trip home after church.
Kira, being present for most of the drama unfolding as Pearl and I had communicated home about our visiting, decided she wished to join us on our adventure and thus the three of us found ourselves driving back to Storm Lake on Sunday afternoon whilst singing opera sounding hymns along with the radio and taking turns singing like a man. I laughed *so* hard that my sides ached and I developed a terribly bad case of the hiccups that seemed to act like a punctuation mark at the end of my operatic sentences. I'd be in the middle of holding out some glorious man-opera sounding note and then all the sudden *hiccup*. Ruined.
Also, with all the stuff going on with dad I received loads of encouragement from friends via text messages saying they were praying and asking for ways they could help. Even from friends whom I hadn't told directly of what was going on and I found all to be so wonderfully encouraging.
Time at home was wonderful too! Especially since i hadn't expect to have the opportunity to go home. We fed the children when we arrived home and watched Tangled and just relaxed a little while mom visited dad. Kira and I found it to be rather cold outside and amused ourselves by running laps back and forth in the front yard but that did absolutely nothing to warm us up and so we drank cappuccino in the kitchen and it worked great. Around 10pm the majority of us were quite drowsy and resolved to go to sleep. I went searching for Kira and Eva to inform them of such plans and found them star-gazing out on the roof. This looked all too exciting and so I joined them for a little while. But, I was falling asleep so I gave up on that and went to find a bed for sleeping in. I often play musical beds when I'm home for a visit and since my bed was unmade because I haven't been home and sleeping in it for the last few weeks, I decided to find a bed that was made since making a bed for one night seemed pointless. With some seeking and a little finding, I opted for Kit's bed on the third floor as it had sheets AND blankets and no bodies in it.. which was more than the other beds I found. So, that's what I did.
In the morning I found out that Kit had actually come home at 3 in the morning and had spent the night sleeping on his clean laundry in the corner when he had discovered his bed was occupied. My bad.
Anyways, Dad came home from the hospital midmorning and apart from his tongue being all mangled from biting it during his seizures, he seemed pretty fine. He was tired tho, so he took a nap. I got to spend my day with my little siblings and rounding up needed objects that I hadn't been able to bring with me to school originally on account of only having the van and having 5 people in the van along with all of my life's possessions. Well.. not all, obviously, cuz some had to be left behind.
So! Before we left that afternoon, Kit stocked me with all the watermelons my little heart could desire, dad gave me some fresh honey and we had a lovely drive back to IC. :)
Friday, September 2, 2011
Surprised by Joy
This morning I woke very excited about life. I'm not exactly sure why.. but I am.
Perhaps it is because today I declare myself to be 99.9% healthy again. (Still a little bit of a cough)
OR! Perhaps it is because last night I had some really good time with my friend, Jenny, and my other really good friend, Jesus. Oh yes, me Jenny and Jesus, us three hung out last night.
Jenny and I are wanting to lead a connection group (Bible study) this year but we have run into a little bit of a problem... we only had one person want to be in our group. That has much potential for an awkward CG night. So! We got together with Jesus and we're asking for 7 ladies by Christmas time so we can have 9 lovely ladies loving Jesus together. :D I'm very excited for the ladies Jesus is sending because I have a feeling they will be wonderful.
But i got to thinking. It takes some faith to pray specific prayers like that. And I was reminded of a verse in Romans 12 that goes
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."
That little part about the faith God has distributed is was sticks out to you. God gives you the exact amount of faith you need and tells you that your faith is enough to move mountains! :) SO! I'm really excited about that.
I'm also really excited because God has given me the awesome pleasure of having to pray fervently and wait patiently and walked with me through some very faith testing times and so I know how good it is to trust him. It's just so sweet!
Oh! Another thing and I'm just really excited to see God do is bring one of my good friends into his kingdom. This friend doesn't love Jesus yet... but soon, he will!! And it's gonna be SO great and wonderful and I'm gonna be all over the place praising Jesus about it. I mean.. I already am! I'm excited to gain a new brother in Christ. It's kind of like when a family is anticipating a new baby. So much anticipation and excitement a little impatience cuz you just want it to get there already. I'm super excited for my friend to fall in love with Jesus. I just want him to get here already! But I'ma wait patiently while God develops him a little more so he doesn't come prematurely and have lots of difficulties and troubles surviving.
Siiigh... I just really love Jesus.
Perhaps it is because today I declare myself to be 99.9% healthy again. (Still a little bit of a cough)
OR! Perhaps it is because last night I had some really good time with my friend, Jenny, and my other really good friend, Jesus. Oh yes, me Jenny and Jesus, us three hung out last night.
Jenny and I are wanting to lead a connection group (Bible study) this year but we have run into a little bit of a problem... we only had one person want to be in our group. That has much potential for an awkward CG night. So! We got together with Jesus and we're asking for 7 ladies by Christmas time so we can have 9 lovely ladies loving Jesus together. :D I'm very excited for the ladies Jesus is sending because I have a feeling they will be wonderful.
But i got to thinking. It takes some faith to pray specific prayers like that. And I was reminded of a verse in Romans 12 that goes
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."
That little part about the faith God has distributed is was sticks out to you. God gives you the exact amount of faith you need and tells you that your faith is enough to move mountains! :) SO! I'm really excited about that.
I'm also really excited because God has given me the awesome pleasure of having to pray fervently and wait patiently and walked with me through some very faith testing times and so I know how good it is to trust him. It's just so sweet!
Oh! Another thing and I'm just really excited to see God do is bring one of my good friends into his kingdom. This friend doesn't love Jesus yet... but soon, he will!! And it's gonna be SO great and wonderful and I'm gonna be all over the place praising Jesus about it. I mean.. I already am! I'm excited to gain a new brother in Christ. It's kind of like when a family is anticipating a new baby. So much anticipation and excitement a little impatience cuz you just want it to get there already. I'm super excited for my friend to fall in love with Jesus. I just want him to get here already! But I'ma wait patiently while God develops him a little more so he doesn't come prematurely and have lots of difficulties and troubles surviving.
Siiigh... I just really love Jesus.
Psalm 43:3-4
Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Life in the apt.
So! I have energy and time, time and energy.. so I decided to blog again. :D
The most exciting news of my life the last few days is that I've been rather ill. Well.. really horribly sick to be honest. Probs one of the worst sicknesses I've gotten since the food poisoning that landed me in the hospital the summer before my Jr. year of High school. It was so very miserable. There was not much sleeping involved in my being sick, except for afternoon naps after sleepless nights, and a very terrible large amount of head pressure and upset stomachness and sore throat business. Oh! And a fever. Lots of the fever stuff actually. And that was my life. But I still managed to make it to all my classes (perhaps I've gotten all my classmates sick) and am not too terribly behind on readings.
So.. not all the way better yet, but PTL I'm getting close. Phew.
Anyways.. I live in an apt. now. :) It beats the dorms by a long shot.
A quick tour..
:) So.. all these lovely pictures are taken at such an artistic angle because I accidently left my camera at home in Storm Lake and thus used my mac book to take pictures which is a little bit awkward to angle and such.
Our dining area is rather small.. as you can see the size of a card table ish.. but! There are only three of us living in the apt so it's perfect! :)
And the living room
<----- so very sad looking. The futon is not yet put together because apparently the bolts and screws or whatever you call them are misplaced (not by me) and thus we sit on the floor... :(
We will fix this problem soon I hope.
And decorate! We def could use some color.
Oh! And you can't see it but there's a door to a bedroom in the living room as well. My other apt. buddy lives in there.
----> The little hallway :)
On the left ( the bright room!) is mine! Also.. the other door on the left is a closet..
And then Amanda's room and the bathroom is also to the right.. but you cant see it.
Woohoo! This is where I spent the majority of my miserable existence. (being sick)
It is also very plain like the rest of our apt,
but perhaps I will one day feel artistic and change that. It's very nice to not have a roommate tho. I like it very much.
The most exciting news of my life the last few days is that I've been rather ill. Well.. really horribly sick to be honest. Probs one of the worst sicknesses I've gotten since the food poisoning that landed me in the hospital the summer before my Jr. year of High school. It was so very miserable. There was not much sleeping involved in my being sick, except for afternoon naps after sleepless nights, and a very terrible large amount of head pressure and upset stomachness and sore throat business. Oh! And a fever. Lots of the fever stuff actually. And that was my life. But I still managed to make it to all my classes (perhaps I've gotten all my classmates sick) and am not too terribly behind on readings.
So.. not all the way better yet, but PTL I'm getting close. Phew.
Anyways.. I live in an apt. now. :) It beats the dorms by a long shot.
A quick tour..
 |
| The kitchen! Cute and Concise. :) |
 |
| Our dining table (next to the kitchen) |
 |
| Our very sad looking living room.. |
 |
| The hallway to mine and Amanda's bedrooms. (mines on the left :]) ALSO! the bathroom and a closet are in that hall way too.. |
 |
| Yay my room! |
:) So.. all these lovely pictures are taken at such an artistic angle because I accidently left my camera at home in Storm Lake and thus used my mac book to take pictures which is a little bit awkward to angle and such.
Our dining area is rather small.. as you can see the size of a card table ish.. but! There are only three of us living in the apt so it's perfect! :)
And the living room
<----- so very sad looking. The futon is not yet put together because apparently the bolts and screws or whatever you call them are misplaced (not by me) and thus we sit on the floor... :(
We will fix this problem soon I hope.
And decorate! We def could use some color.
Oh! And you can't see it but there's a door to a bedroom in the living room as well. My other apt. buddy lives in there.
----> The little hallway :)
On the left ( the bright room!) is mine! Also.. the other door on the left is a closet..
And then Amanda's room and the bathroom is also to the right.. but you cant see it.
Woohoo! This is where I spent the majority of my miserable existence. (being sick)
It is also very plain like the rest of our apt,
but perhaps I will one day feel artistic and change that. It's very nice to not have a roommate tho. I like it very much.
That's basically it. :)
 |
| My study area |
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