one of the great things about living with people again is now i have people to celebrate occasions with! like easter! and because i live with people, i’ve also become more aware of the long hours i work. so i’m trying to go home at a more normal hour (sometimes) so i can do non-computer activities such has training for a half marathon and sewing garlands. holla.

i know. i haven’t blogged in forever. shame on me.

since my last post i have:

fallen and scraped both knees into a bloody mess
designed a website
introduced my mom to mymomisafob.com
had a tangible encounter with the Lord
bought coffee nearly every day since the 40 day fast ended
got rid of some responsibilities
picked up some others
gathered flowers from an abandoned house
wrote a song
started training for a half-marathon
got hooked onto jamie oliver’s food revolution
sewed 2 dresses
got asked to do photos for a wedding
sewed garlands for same wedding’s decorations
told a friend how much they meant to me
hugged a dog

needless to say, it’s been quite a month. will go more into details on some stuff later, and hopefully i’ll have pretty pictures to show you what’s what.

alright. who wants to do this with me? roll out grass? c’mon! a very good time!

found this delightful commercial at Lobster & Swan

i want to move back to chicago. i want to move back to chicago. i want to move back to chicago. or, my church can move to kansas city. buuutttt i’m thinking it’s easier to move a single girl to the big city, than it is to move 50 families to podunk kc. so….i want to move back to chicago.

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during onething’09 i was talking with my friend, and she asked me if there was something that i needed to lay down before the Lord. we shared about different things that the Lord had asked us to put on the alter, and she noted that the Lord not only asks us to lay down the bad stuff, but He also tells us to lay down the good stuff . bleh. that’s when i realized

i did not want to give up chicago

moving back to chicago was my little piece of comfort. no matter how bad things got, i would tell myself that this was only temporary, b.c very soon i was going to return back to my church. even my identity…..the things that i’m passionate about. youth ministry, worship leading…discipleship. i LOVE and find so much life in doing those things. but for some reason when coming to kc….none of it ever clicked. instead i’m doing the one thing i thought i was never going to have to do ever again when i moved out here: design. so i immediately started freaking out with tears and whines. but at the end of the day, i knew that that’s what i needed to do. bc ultimately…i want God. or well. right now i just want to want God. but that’s a start.

you’d think that living next to a facility that has prayer and worship 24/7 would be awesome. and you’d think that living down the street from a building that hold services that is verging on rrevival would be mind blowing. don’t get me wrong, i think it’s dandy that these things are happening. but sitting in the prayer room or going to the awakening services have been nothing but bitter. not the most perfect analogy, but it’s like going to a birthday party for someone else…..on your birthday. you’re happy to be celebrating the other person’s life, think it’s great that their friends are surrounding them in love, cake, and streamers. but…even though you might be in on the celebration, there’s still that weird feeling of being incredibly left out, b.c you’re also supposed to be blowing out candles and tearing wrapping paper. you’re looking at a scene that could very much, and very easily be yours, but for whatever reason, it’s not. i sit in the prayer room, and i see God’s love. i see His grace, His mercy, i see. but it’s just within my reach. like i’m on the other side of the glass, seeing what could be mine, but even though i’m saying “heck yeah!” it’s still just….on the other side of the glass. in my bitterness i feel taunted. in my pity i feel alone.

the past two months have been hypothetical hell. i have  lost any interest in life. i wasn’t depressed and thinking suicidal thoughts. i just….didn’t care. every day was just another 24 hours to exist. i was on an airplane ride that was lasting for a lifetime, and i was sitting in coach on china airlines. a couple weeks ago i finally called a friend to ask for prayer. she asked me if i wanted to go back to chicago, and i realized that in all honesty, i didn’t.

i don’t want to go back to chicago…..that’s weird.

that’s when processing was jump s tarted. i realized that back during the conference, i actually did lay down the prospect of going back to chicago. it’d be AMAZING if the Lord gave that back to me…..but i only want to do it if that’s what He wants to give me. and these past two months have been the pain of being separated from that hope/dream. again, totally bad analogy, but it’s like breaking up with a really great guy. you make all these plans: imagine your future with them, start placing part of your identity in being a part of him, write “mrs. —-” in your journal….and then for whatever reason, you have to let go of that dream. that place of comfort, security, that place where “happily ever after” feels like it just might exist…it gets pulled out from under you. and all you’re left with is your miserable self and your broken heart.

so now….i’m still pretty miserable. haha. i don’t know who i am anymore, i don’t have any passions, i don’t have any desires, i don’t have any dreams. i don’t even know if i love God. but i must…..bc i’m still here. which means i have a hope, and i have a dream. what those things are…..i don’t know beyond…God. that’s all i know: God. i’ve read “a grief observed” by cs lewis on repeat since Grace passed away (ps. grace, i still love you, and i still miss you). there’s this section where lewis talks about God and pain. Lewis states:

“The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed – might grow tired of this vile sport – might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For not even a moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t. Either way, we’re for it. What do people mean when they say, ‘I am not afraid of God because I know He is good?’ Have they never even been to a dentist?”

i kept asking God for mercy, asking Him to let it stop. but it was actually His grace and mercy to let it all keep going, even though i was cursing His name.

i’m not less miserable. and i’m not less lost. but it all is a bit more bearable. at this point, all i know to do is pray. and the only words i’ve bee praying are “help. Jesus.” God is good, and He’s faithful to finish what He has started. i just…really hope that it’s in me to hold on long enough. because like bazan sang “if this is only a test, i hope that i’m passing. cause i’m losing steam. but i still want to trust you…”

mainly because i haven’t really had a chance to get into it that much. I very much would like to though, but only because i like brushes. i think they look so cool. covered in paint, dripping wet, or just sitting in a jar. There’s something about a paintbrush that is so………aesthetically calming? lol i have no idea what i’m talking about. but you’re here on my blog, which means for some reason you’ve become willing to subject yourself to my ramblings. so here i am. rambling. ramble ramble.

the other day i was driving and all of a sudden it looked like everyone around me was in slow motion and moving to a stand still. it reminded me of the Big Fish and the scene where the main character sees the girl and everything stopped while he was still moving at a normal pace, pushing aside the popcorn that had stopped mid-air. There was a delicate silence about all of it, and all i could think was

“whoa. other worldy”

but then i heard a siren and realized that everyone was pulling over because a cop car was coming up. so i pulled over like the good citizen that i am, got an ear blast of too loud, and then continued on my drive back home.

things have been crazy as we prepare for the onething’09 conference in midst of the IHOPU student awakening services. Needless to say, God’s been rocking the the boat and i’m loving it.

in the meantime i’m making little hand-made delights that i would like to sell in my etsy store which will hopefully be up by the end of the week. In the mean time, I’ve been listening to Katie Chastain. I love her music video for “snowshow,” and love it even more after i watched the making of it. hand-made treats everywhere!

The video:

The making of:

In the meantime, there’s a rumour that a picture a day keeps crabbiness away. So here I go!

a couple years ago i was OBSESSED with this music video:
(actually, still am. when i’m having a crap day it’s still my go to video to watch)

Here’s another video for Outlandish’s rock all day:

i will be blogging on the onething’09 site, so follow me there! I’ll be giving updates on new free resources that we’ll be offering on the site among other updates. It’s going to be grand.

also i know i’m due for an update here….it’s coming……but to hold you over, here’s a picture of andrew from my ministry trip to chicago. (there will definitely be more details and photos from the Uprising conference coming up. soon….i hope……)