The Move

We finally have our own place! It's incredible to think that Jacob and I have been in Florida since August of last year. Just to refresh your memory, Jacob and I heard God's call to move to Florida last summer and without even blinking we packed our things and headed to a place with no jobs and no house. We were blessed to have been able to stay with my parents (what was suppose to be 6 weeks turned into 6 months). But now the moving process has come full circle. All of our belongings are out of the storage shed and placed in our new home. We found a beautiful condo in the same area of town where we had our wedding reception, the Meadows. I'll post some pictures once we get a little more unpacked, but it's two bedrooms, two baths, and has a spacious lanai that looks out onto our palms and other botanical flora :) I love it! We were so blessed to have SO MUCH help from our church family. Victory at Sarasota started a 21 day fast this weekend and help arrived Saturday to move my parents and Sunday to move Jacob and I, even though no one had a meal for 48 hours! What a joy it is to be surrounded by such amazing people!

To all of our friends in Maryland and elsewhere, we miss you dearly but can finally send word back that we are settled and God most certainly is directing our path! We love you!

And to all of our family and friends here, we are so thankful to have all of you in our lives! Thank you for all of your help this past weekend!

Life Fast Forward

It's amazing how quickly life begins to travel. When you are 6 you can't wait to turn 7, then you eagerly await becoming a teenager. Once you're a teenager you can't wait to become a driver (sweet 16), then an "adult" (18), then "legal" (21), college, job, marriage, kids, etc.

Remember thoughn those stretches that seemed like eternity, waiting for the next benchmark of life? You thought you would be a child forever.

This week I have been strangely and swiftly reunited with my recent childhood. I'm 24, so I've still got many benchmarks to go, but sitting around a folding table in my old youth room with many of my childhood friends and a slideshow of pictures from when I still wore braces reminded me that life is always in fast forward.

We are those adults we dreamed about being only yesterday. We are pursuing real dreams, passions, visions that seemed like fairytales to our starry eyed hearts.

Some days I want life to slow down a bit; to not pass me by too quickly. But then I am struck by the beauty of life in fast forward. I wouldn't trade a split second of it.

New Season

It's hard to believe how quickly time has gone by! We are currently on I-95 somewhere south of Savannah, GA with a huge 16' Penske and our '93 Accord in tow, on our way to sunny Florida...to stay.

The past 2 years living in Gaithersburg, MD have flown by! It's been a rich couple of years growing in a culture somewhat foreign to me. Jacob and I were blessed to work at a large church full of wonderful people where we've grown in our character, our skills, and our relationships with God and each other. And hopefully left a little something behind in the AMAZING group of young people we hugged good-bye.

Change can be hard. Even "moving home" is a little intimidating. I've lived away for 6+ years now and have only been in state on breaks and vacations. Now I've hugged good-bye the people I've spent the last two years pouring my life into (I tend to love hard, with everything I've got) and am embarking into the somewhat unknow. Just me, Jacob and God.

And yet there seems to be something radiating in the distance ahead of us as we pull this bigrig south. There's a glow of Hope, backlit by Faith and filled with the Promises of God. Change is hard but when God leads you there is nothing more satisfying than following Him thru it all.

I can't wait to be in Sarasota. I can't wait to pour my heart out in a new way. I can't wait to see what plans God has for Jacob and I in the Kingdom, in the Church of Sarasota.

Incredible Day with Jessey

Today was an incredible day spent with a good friend of mine Jessey. She has spent the past 24 hours being monitored (as you can see in the picture) to find out if she has seizure activity. Brave soul that she is, she came to youth last night wired up and disguised with a bandana and skater hat!! Today she got to take the device off though and I was honored to help her in the tedious process. As I sat there peeling off the patches from her hair I thought "this is why I love youth ministry." There's nothing humanly glorious about it; it's just loving teens in every way, being there for them, and in doing so showing them the love of Christ in a way they will never forget.

We managed to get the mess out of her hair and as a reward I took her for starbucks and a small adventure. We drove five miles out into the country and found a field of sunflowers spanning one square mile! Now we are all fairly desensatized by tv and movies but this was an incredible sight. I kept thinking of the song by Jars of Clay that says, "In open fields of wildflowers she breathes the air and flies away..." I was breathless at the sight.

I am so glad that in one afternoon God blew me away by getting to share his love and being blown away by the beauty he created. I think it blew Jessey away too!

Awesome God

So I have to share what happened yesterday. As you may know by now Jacob and I are moving to Sarasota on July 30. Moves are no small project and are fairly expensive so things have been a wee bit tight. On that note Jacob and I were very disappointed Saturday night when our car started steaming...! The last thing we needed was an expensive repair. We took it in and the diagnosis was pretty major; we essentially needed to replace all major components of the radiator. I was nervous but Jacob prayed and we asked God to provide. Monday we gave the shop the go ahead to start repairs and wouldn't you know that when we got home from work that day there was a check sitting in the mail for $6 more than the amount we needed. Isn't that so cool? We weren't expecting a refund and not only that we turned our taxes in April 15 and here we are July 20 getting the money we need on the day we need it. All I can say is, isn't God amazing?!?!

Family and Friends

This is going to be just a short reflection. Today I woke up in Stillwater, Oklahoma. My home away from home. Or maybe it's just one of my homes. It's been 6 months since Jacob and I have been here to see OUR family (his by birth, mine by marriage and love) and that was far too long to go without. Jacob and I have been living in Gaithersburg, Maryland for the last 2 years of our life; far from both sides of our family and constantly having to divide our vacation time between the two of them. It's been so hard at points, and this has been one of those points.
I've always been a family person. I'm not really a home-body--I went to Oklahoma for school while my family lives in Florida; I spent 6 months living in Spain learning the language; I traveled solo (or sometimes with a couple of friends) through England and continental Europe. So I don't consider myself a home-body. But no matter how many adventures I take, no matter how many new places I see and love, the saying is always true for me. "There's no place like home."
Home really is where the heart is. Coming from a girl who has moved 14 or 15 times in her life, I know that home isn't a location, not a town or a building you live it. It's where you are surrounded by people who love you and know you. People who don't base your love on performance or what you have to offer. It's being with people who laugh with delight when you do something embarassing because you are so precious to them, they don't laugh to make fun but laugh to love.
It's good to be home. I get to go home to Florida in a couple weeks too! I love being home.

Fireflies and Bunnies

So Jacob and I are having the time of our lives babysitting 3 of our most FAVORITE kids in the world: Jordyn, Camden and Morgan. Their parents are world travelers and we are live-in sitters for a few days. Well wouldn't you know that when babysitting 6, 8, and 10 some good stories are bound to arise. I thought this one was definitely worth sharing...

Last night we put the kids to bed and were down stairs quickly cleaning up the dishes so we could go enjoy cable t.v. for a little while (we don't have cable at our house) when Morgan - 6 came downstairs sniffing. "I'm scared..." of the dark it turns out. So I walked her back to her room where I prayed with her and sang her a song I remembered from my Children's Church days. I was just beginning to explain to her that "God gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all of our ways," and that right then in that very moment there were angels guarding all around her room, when a firefly sparked right in front of our faces! I was shocked. It was one of those moments that stuns you with its perfection and timeliness. I was speechless for a moment then all of the sudden I said, "See Morgan, God wants you to know that He's here and so are His angels." We watched the firefly dance around the room for a little while until he took his post by the door. She was so excited/happy I can't believe she went back to bed; this time not out of fear of the dark but excited about God's Firefly. It was so sweet.

I went about my business for the rest of the night and into the next morning, forgetting what had happened. We dragged the kids out of bed, ate breakfast, fought hair tangles and got ready for VBS. As we were leaving the kids noticed 3 baby rabbits out in the side yard. They quietly followed them around the house while Jacob and I looked for the minivan keys and put our shoes on. I went out back to tell the kids it was time to go and Morgan started whispering something to me. She was whispering because she didn't want to scare the rabbits away so I bent closer. She asked with the sweetest, most innocent look in her eyes, "What's God telling me now?"

I could have cried for joy in that moment. The precious reminder I had so quickly forgotten the night before had stuck in her memory through to the next awesome moment when God's creation declared His glory! Psalm 19:1-3 I'm so busy, so anxious, so "productive" most of the time that I miss the whisper of God speaking to my heart, "I love you child."

'He loves you Morgan. That's what God's telling you right now. Every time you see a bunny, every time you notice a pretty flower, every time a bird chirps or you get to play outside on a sunny day, that's God telling you how much He loves you." I was speaking to her but also to me.

"The Heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." He's speaking right now. Are you listening???