a bullet'd update post.

Ok, I'm home sick after a fantastic thanksgiving trip to Oklahoma to see my family.  It's not debilitating illness, but enough to keep me home from work (pretty sure it's contagious), and I'm thankful to spend a day at home on the couch recovering...and for those windows of time when I get to breathe through my nose....like right now.  ahhhhhh.  Here we go with an update- bullet style.

• Denver was good.  I've come to call Trent's friends, Jonny and Shannon, my own.  Their community exhibits a refreshing amount of candor, and we consistently asked one another, "How's your heart doing?" We were quick to pray for one another and offer words of encouragement.  Coming home from Denver was difficult, as the next time when Trent and I would see one another next was unknown at the time.   
• Going to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving was not something I had anticipated.  When I expressed the possibility to Mallory, her excitement made it impossible for me to refuse.  So, I was able to find a flight.  
• On this note, I think I should share how thankful that I switched over my finances a few months ago to a credit card, which allows me to earn travel points.  If you had told me that I'd be doing this last year, I would have slapped you.  Shortly after Trent and I started dating, I considered it for a couple of weeks...and now looking back, I can say that I'm SO glad that I did!  I'm almost to a free flight, and it's much easier than using cash to keep track of spending (mint.com).
• I do feel like I should put a disclaimer at this point.  Credit cards can be very dangerous.  I'm being vigilant over my spending, and making sure that I pay my balance each month.  The last place I want to go is back into consumer debt, especially after getting out of it earlier this year.
• I've also taken a trip with Joel to Richmond, VA to hang out with Jonathan and Leslee, who got married in September.  I really liked Richmond for the following three reasons-
• Joel, Jonathan, and I ran races on Saturday morning.  I ran the 8k and J&J the half marathon.  The awesome part was how gloriously flat the course was...and the giant downhill at the end.  
• The architecture of the buildings and homes.  Richmond is so charming.
• Jonathan and Leslee were GENIUSES in choosing an apartment right across the street from the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.  It's free. I went there 3 times in 4 days.  There was so much more in the museum that I didn't get to see.  I just love art museums.    
• I feel like so much else has happened in the past month which I've skipped over...which I'm ok with right now.  I will share with you one thing which I feel that the Lord has said to me over and over recently- "I want all of you."  
• I had a particularly hard weekend a few weeks ago, and consequently spent the majority of a Sunday afternoon pouring over old journals, trying to find some kind of anecdote to help myself feel better.  Looking back now, I see that I was looking for something other than the Lord.  
• Matthew 11:28-30 has taken on whole new meaning these past few weeks.   All that He asks is that we simply Come.

no-space jam! alright!

by no-space jam, I mean there is no space in the next week! Next wednesday and thursday, I'll be heading to Boston for a church planting seminar through peoplegroups.info for UACP. I am very excited about this. (Went to a church planters' network meeting last night. So encouraging.)

I'm fighting for some rest time this weekend...but am finding this might be a hurdle to overcome. Seriously...when I sit down to do my monthly budget, there really needs to be some budgeted (pun intended) time for figuring out my priorities.

In two weeks from today, I will be in Oklahoma! I am so excited!

In other news, I want to find an old polaroid camera...or at least something similar. Anyone have any ideas on how I might do this?

Found this website...my creative juices are flowing. :-)

Taking it day by day. His mercies are new each morning (Lam 3:22-26).

i'm bad...

Ok, so remember this? I give you permission to kick me in the shin next time you see me (be gentle, please! bear in mind the subject of the accountability)

Some of my most ardent readers (ha) may recall that I wrote a few weeks ago about taking a wee little trip out to oklahoma at the end of april. I decided last week to go ahead and sign myself up for the dern OKC half marathon. Yes...I know. I had put my foot down. No more half marathons. But seriously, guys. The ING was so fun. It made the training all worth it.

So, April 22nd, after work, I'll be on the road again with Miss Jen (an OK native herself and an OSU cowboy!). It will be epic! It will be soooo good to the faces of my family members!

Easter was yesterday. It was a good morning. Last week I took some extra time to dive into Charles Spurgeon's passion week sermon series (so good!)- here's a little quotey quote.
"...I felt the burden of my sin...but the moment I saw there was nothing whatever for me to do, that Jesus did it long long ago, that all my sins were put on His back and that He suffered as I ought to have suffered, why then my heart had peace with God, peace by beleiving, peace through the precious blood...There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus." -Spurgeon in "The Precious Blood of Jesus"

It was a beautiful weekend to be outside. Also, the weekend brought with it some anxiousness, about which I was reminded over and over to leave it at the feet of Jesus.

With that in mind, here's another little quote from Spurgeon:
"Be thou perfectly content to leave the result of thy prayer in His hands, Who knows what to give and how to give and when to give and what to withhold. So pleading, earnestly, importunately, yet mingling with it humility and resignation, thou shalt yet prevail." -Spurgeon in "Gethsemene"

peace out.