Flowers & Fans

After I attempted to cut my bangs this evening {society will have to tell me how I did}, I sat down in my bed, camera in hand, and started taking snapshots of the things around me. It was in these snapshots that I was reminded that beauty dwells in the everyday, in the things we become accustomed to seeing and experiencing, in the things often forgotten.

I started this blog in June 2011, and my goal was to either find, create, or experience beauty each day, and then write about it. It was to intentionally put me into a posture of thankfulness, where I would end up waking up each day, in search for beautiful things. I yearn to be in that place again.

So, with these snapshots. Here are two of my favorite:

{In the photo above, I see all sorts of things which represent the beauty in my life: dried flowers from my first week with Abe, an empty photo frame (yearning to be filled), candles which evoke peace of mind, and a mug of water (because it's always more fun to drink out of a mug!)}

{This is my bedroom fan...it is loud when it runs, but I appreciate it's consistency, at least! One of my favorite parts of this photo is the small green dot on the right side...isn't light amazing!?}

As I was taking these pictures, it dawned on me: "I am appreciating beauty, and it feels so good!" 

I hope to start to see the beauty in everyday things again. 

Thank you, Lord, for this gentle reminder of your love and goodness.

Gamble-ing

Today was such a good day! There were many things to be thankful for. That's what I love about this blog...as a writer, I am always thinking of stories to document, which necessitates that I live in a posture of gratitude!

Anywho, today I saw my wonderful friend and Sister-in-Christ, Christie Gamble. This lady is beautiful, supportive, wise, caring, and brilliant. We talked for hours over coffee this morning at Panera, and it was so refreshing to my soul.

Christie has been one of my closest friends since our freshman year of college at Biola. She even got me interested in Torrey{because, for some reason, watching a friend stress out about reading a million books and writing long papers was enticing lol}, which turned out to be one of the biggest blessings in my life.

Please, join me on a quick trip down memory lane:

The Biola Fountain Adventure of Freshman Year!

{...insert four amazing years of abiding friendship here...}

Senior Year! Isn't she lovely??

Lord, thank you for Christie Gamble. Thank you for her kindness, conscientiousness, wisdom, grace, dedication, and humility. But, for right now, I thank You for simply putting her in my life. :) 

Perspective

You know those days that challenge you to take a new perspective on your life? Well, today was one of those days, and I am incredibly thankful for it.

For the past few weeks, I have been working part-time at a lovely retirement home, doing various jobs for HR and Administration. My current project is updating the files of all of the residents of the facility. Among other documents, this includes organizing their Injury Reports, Death Reports, and Obituaries. I had many somber and silent moments today when I realized that a resident had died the day I flew to England, and another had died the same day a good friend got married. Every day, people are born, die, and get married. We live our lives, and often times forget that there are billions of other lives happening around us.

Not all of the residents I am reading about have passed away; many are still alive and living in the home right now! These men and women were born in the early 20th century, and most have served in WWII as either soldiers or nurses. It was amazing to read about the lives of these men and women, and the sacrifices they made for their families and country. For example, I was saddened to read of a husband who died thirty years before his wife. To go that long without your best friend! It was amazing and startling.

One major result of working at this Retirement Home is that I have grown ever so much in gratitude for my youth. Friends, let us embrace our youth! Go dancing! Run in the rain! Create things! Be wise, but be brave to try new things. One day, you will no longer be able to do those things, your memory may begin to fail you, and you won't be able to do the things you once did. Instead, you will be in a new phase of life, where you can sit and read the paper each morning with no worries about what to do after. You can scoot across your living room, with curlers in your hair. You can tell young students about what life was like 50 years ago.

Dancing! Walking! Young! Old! They have it all! 

Tonight I embraced my youth. I hung out with good friends, ate delicious food, walked around, looked at amazing art, and listened to bands trying to sound like Journey. {For those in SoCal, I went to Brea Fest...it was fantastic!} And I appreciated every moment of it, because I knew that each moment was precious.

Life really is precious. God has given us the opportunity to spend each moment here on Earth in pursuit of Him, and for those who love Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, that pursuit never has to end. We can spend eternity with Him! So, in light of eternity, my friends, savor every moment.

Lord, thank you for those who are youthful. Thank you for those who are aged. Thank you for showing me both ends of the spectrum in one day. Let me live each day in pursuit of you, until the very end.

Something to Celebrate

I love living in a posture of thankfulness. It makes it hard to be grumpy!

Today I have many things to be thankful for. Should I write about the beautiful sunset I saw on my drive home from work today? Should I write about how I am thankful to even have a job to drive home from? Or should I write about the fact that today is my parent's WEDDING ANNIVERSARY??

I think you know where I am going with this:)

That's right, folks. Today is the day that my parents, Thame and Suzi Fuller, got hitched. Since then, they have entered the ministry, served the Lord and their community in multiple churches, raised (and are still raising!) three kids, all the while teaching me what a marriage should look like.

Look at these crazy kids swing dancing at Downtown Disney! :)

Now, please don't misunderstand me. My parents don't have a perfect marriage. But no one does! However, they do have a relationship that daily seeks to honor each other and God, and that's something to be thankful for. They love and respect each other, and make decisions together; that is something I really appreciate.

I wish I could have found some of their wedding pictures! My mom's hair was so long....and my dad's....well...let's just say he hasn't changed that much over the years. ;P

My mother has taught me to take action and stand up for myself. My father has taught me to love and respect myself, no matter what anyone says. Together, they have taught me to be a lady.

Thank you, Lord, for my parents, their marriage, and the ministry they do TOGETHER for You.

R-E-S-T

Hello friends!

It has been a long time since I last posted on my blog, but I feel like it is time to resurrect it. The purpose of this blog is to remind myself {and whoever reads it!} of the small yet beautiful gifts God gives me each and every day. Ever since graduating from college a couple months ago, my life has been on a roller coaster, and I often times find it difficult to be grateful.

A couple of years ago, when I was going through a real tough time with things at home, this blog gave me hope. Well, the Bible gave me Hope, but this blog gave me a conduit to articulate it. I would wake up each morning, filled with wonder at what I could be thankful for that day. It was such a marvelous blessing in the midst of trial.

So, here I am, a college graduate, working my way through relationships, jobs, finances, and a completely different pace of life. It is time I make my Daily Offering once again. :)


Today's offering is simple: I am so incredibly grateful for a good night's sleep.

I have not been sleeping well recently, and it wasn't until last night that I was able to go to bed at a good time and wake up early to start my day. I woke up thanking God for genuine rejuvenating rest, something I have been deprived of for a while. I was able to make a yummy breakfast, read my Bible, and work on the various tasks I had for the day {one of which was meeting up with a friend at California Adventure! -- difficult stuff, I know ;)}. With out a good night's rest, today would have been simply draining; instead, it was energizing!

Lord, thank you for rest.

Psalm 30:5

Hello friends.

This past week has been a doozy for me. It has been an emotional, physical, and spiritual roller coaster, and, as a result, I have decided to start my blog up again. It is such a healthy discipline to find joy in every day things.

Already I find myself looking for things through out the day that I can thank God for, and it's so much better than moping around! Try it!

Anyways, this past Sunday I was a Scripture Reader at my church, and I was providentially assigned to read Psalm 30 in front of the congregation. Not only were the words of this Psalm coming from my mouth, but they were the cry from my heart as well. Below is what I read:



[Joy Comes with the Morning]
[A PSALM OF DAVID. A SONG AT THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE.]
[30:1] I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
[2] O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
[3] O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
[4] Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
[5] For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
[6] As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.”
[7] By your favor, O LORD,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.
[8] To you, O LORD, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
[9] “What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
[10] Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!
O LORD, be my helper!”
[11] You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
[12] that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
(Psalm 30 ESV)

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning". This struck me the most. To weep and to have joy are to be human. It is OK to feel both emotions, even at the same time. It is OK to both be sorrowful and joyful simultaneously, even though you feel like you shouldn't, or that it doesn't make sense. It's OK. It's OK.

Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful life you have given me. Yes, there is and will be pain, but let that not overpower the abundant reasons for joy that are present in my life, as well. Allow me to bless you and the others around me.

Little Did She Know...

Oh, powerful and omniscient third person perspective. How I love thee. 


Little did Rebecca Fuller know that when she found her assigned seat on her flight from Long Beach to Seattle that it would be taken by a three year old. Little did she know that the three year old's father would say, "Would you like an aisle seat, instead?" and that Rebecca would end up sitting in a different row in a seat she had no power in choosing. Little did she know that all of these small and seemingly inconsequential happenstances weren't so inconsequential after all!

[insert awkward transition from third person to first person here]


I absolutely adore flying. I love taking off, looking down at the cities as they get smaller and smaller, soaring over the clouds and marveling at the beauty of God's creation, and then landing at an incredibly scary yet somehow safe speed. It's all so glorious.

All that said, though, I have to say that my absolute favorite part of flying is the opportunity to talk with the person next to me. I have had so many fascinating conversations with what I like to call my "flying buddies", that I always hope that they will be willing to talk, too. Usually they do. And, boy do I have stories that I could share! But this is neither the place or the time for such stories. I am writing to share one story in particular; a story that the omniscient third person voice knew of all along.

Imagine my pure joy when I sit down in my newly and unofficially assigned seat and start making small talk with my flying buddy that I would hear an English accent in his response! My flying buddy was from the UK! From the moment he opened his mouth, I knew this would be a great flight. Jonathan is his name; an early thirty-something bespectacled man whose Ph.D. is in something impressively scientific that I cannot even remember (he's a genius when it comes to chemistry, that I can tell you). If I were an omniscient third person perspective for Jonathan, I would say something like:

Little did Jonathan know that when he sat down in his seat that he would soon be accompanied by a inquisitive American girl who would ask him all sorts of questions about life in the UK. Little did he know that he would even find himself enjoying the conversation, too. 


The first thing I told him after I found out where he came from was that I was going to Cambridge this summer. I felt that it established my ethos as his conversation and flying buddy. He was impressed, so I knew I was in. He was mine for the next two hours. It was time to ask all of the looming questions I had about life in the UK.

Our flight went like this: while watching hilarious episodes of the Big Bang Theory on TBS, we would chat during the commercials. Here are some samples from our conversation...a medley, of sorts. Enjoy, and maybe even giggle to yourself as you read. That's always fun. :)

Me: So, do you guys have football over there?
Jonathan: Well, yes, we have football, American football, and Aussie Soccer. 
Me: Oh, yeah, that's right! You call soccer, football! Which totally makes sense. What were we Americans thinking? 
Jonathan: I don't know. 


Me: OK, so my co-worker, Carri, tells me that we should put milk in our tea (she went to Oxford for a year), but this morning, my professor (who lived in Cambridge for a year) told me that we should put cream in our tea. Who is right? What do you put in your tea?
Jonathan: Oh, milk, for certain. Cream is much too thick. You might be thinking of Creamed Tea, though. 
Me: Creamed Tea? What's that?
Jonathan: Oh, it's what we drink during Tea Time. 
[insert massive smile on my face here]
Me: Tea Time?? When does that happen?
Jonathan: Oh, around 4 o'clock. 


Me: So, what's it like living in a Monarchy? You know, as opposed to a Democracy?
[yes, I asked him this question. I was curious!]
Jonathan: Haha, well, I think daily life is the same for you as it is for me. The Queen doesn't necessarily do all that much. 


Jonathan: Well, it was nice to meet you.
Me: Yes, it was! I hope you have a Merry Christmas! Wait, do you say 'merry' over there, or 'happy'?
Jonathan: *thinks for a moment* We say 'merry'.
Me: Oh, because in Harry Potter, they say 'happy'. OK. Well, then, Merry Christmas!
Jonathan: Merry Christmas to you, too. 




Oh, omniscient third person perspective, you're so cool. 

A Study Break...in blog form

I'm finishing up Plato's Republic tonight. It's getting late. Nevertheless, I kind of love my life here at Biola, so it's all good. :)

According to Plato, education is the turning of the soul from vice to virtue. I like the sound of that. I should think and write more about my philosophy of education. Later, though. Not now. Time to go read.

Also, I'm listening to The Civil Wars...again. They are now my favorite band. I now have an answer to the question, "what is your favorite band?". I am very happy about this.

Here's something to think about: why do you get educated? why do you go to school each day? what's the point? to get smarter? if so, why go to school to learn things you can just look up on google? so why go? I think I know...or, Plato does. what do you think?

Insta-Smile

I give her my Panera Card, and watch with anticipation as she swipes it. 

"You get a free pastry and a free hot drink today", she says with excitement. Even the employees love it when customers get free things! 

"Really? Yay!" I respond with a massive and instantaneous smile. 

It's the little things in life that oftentimes bring the biggest joy. 

And in case you are wondering, I got an orange glazed scone (heated, of course) and Earl Grey tea with cream and sugar. Yummmmmmm. :) 

I am in Love....

....with the band, The Civil Wars.

They are so good. I'm kind of obsessed. Especially with this song. The lyrics are incredible. I think I like this duo so much because they are so authentically human. And their voices together are impeccable. Take a listen, if you'd like.

 I just really love this song. 

Ok, back to homework. 

:) 

Contrary yet Simultaneous

I'm sitting in Common Grounds (a coffee shop at Biola), sipping at my perfectly heated London Fog, and reading Edmund Burke's Reflection on the Revolution in France, and it hits me: I'm not frantically running around right now! I often characterize my life as one which is always moving, always busy, never really at rest. But, this morning, as I became aware of the fact that I was calmly sitting and reading and sipping, it brought a slight smile to my face.

The life God has given me here at Biola is so incredibly beautiful. I love my job. I love my friends. I love (for the most part, hehe) my classes. I am blessed.

I love that I can sit in a coffee shop at 10:07 in the morning on a Thursday and hear Sufjan Stevens in the speakers, and look around at all of the happy coffee shop people reading and talking with their friends.

Amidst the things that I love are things that cause me pain. Sick grandparents, siblings going through hard times. It's sad. God is showing me the rightness of feeling two emotions simultaneously that seem contrary in nature: joy and sorrow. Isn't it interesting how we can both feel incandescently happy and detrimentally downcast at the same time? I think so. The good thing is, for us who have come to life in Christ, the knowledge of our salvation should be enough to cause a joy that puts our sorrow to shame.

All that to say, I'm happy. I'm resting. My day will be busy, don't doubt that. But it will be a day that began with rest. Thank you, Lord, for showing me the little things you love to show me.

Beautiful Music

A couple of nights ago, I watched a fantastic movie called "The Brothers Bloom". It is such a great movie, and I highly recommend it for everyone in the world to watch...right now. :)

One of the best things about this movie is the soundtrack. The music is so beautiful! It cuts at your heart. It makes you smile. It makes you want to cry. I've been listening to it all weekend, and it hasn't gotten old.

One of my favorite songs is titled Penelope's Theme, and it's just so darn beautiful. If someone were to write a song that describes me, I would want them to be inspired by this song.

The piece starts with just a piano. A consistent bass line. A jumping melody. Then enter the strings. Beautiful harmonies abound. Amazingly complex yet so beautifully simple. Just like Penelope.

This soundtrack makes me sway. It causes me to move with the rhythms. But not too much, since I'm sitting in a Starbucks right now as I write this and listen to the soundtrack. That would just be embarrassing.

God is a being of beauty. Music is a reflection of His goodness and absolute beauty.

Listen to this song. I mean, please, listen to this song. :)

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

People

This week I am so incredibly thankful for the people God has surrounded me with here at Biola. 

In the midst of going to class, working, and doing homework, I am blessed to be with my friends. 

Never feel like you are too busy for friendship. You are cheating yourself and those around you when you do. 

Just Ask

Well, I've been back at Biola for exactly one week now.

And what a week is has been.

Making new friends. Seeing old ones. Laughing. Crying. Reading. Sleeping. Working, Resting. Praying. Praising.

I'm exhausted, but it is such a rich exhaustion, developed as a result of doing good things all week long with good people.

I've officially decided to change my 'policy' from posting everyday (which I became very poor at near the end of the summer anyways), to once a week. This blog helped me so much this summer; when I felt that there wasn't much to be thankful for amidst the pain, God showed His face, and taught me to praise Him every day for His blessings, both big and small.

So, what am I thankful for today? So many things.

Today, at church, the pastor preached on prayer. He summarized his sermon by saying this:

"In light of God's promises, ask big. Despite disappointments, keep asking."

God used this one-liner to convict me of my lack of prayer about the big things in my life, and really challenge me to faithfully pray for those who I have not prayed for as much as I should. The promises that the preacher was referring to are found in the Gospel According to John, when Jesus is giving His last words to His disciples before His death on the cross. Jesus says,

"Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." - John 14:13-14 ESV

Did you catch that "anything"? I did. 'Anything' is a lot of things. This means that absolutely nothing is too big for God to handle, or too small. Sometimes, we don't want to 'bother' God with what we perceive to be trivial matters, but He cares for us and wants us to come to Him as a child goes to their father to ask them to open up the bottle they cannot. A simple request, yes, but an amazing picture of a child's dependence on their father, and our dependence on our Heavenly Father. The other side of the coin is true as well. Sometimes life's situations are so overwhelming, it's easy to not pray about them, because then you don't have to think about them. This is not what God wants. He wants us to take our problems to Him, tell Him we don't know what to do, and then wait for instructions. Today, the pastor shared a quote from his wife that said,

"Prayer is our declaration of dependence on God."

The 'power of prayer' isn't what is important. It's the power of the God who hears our prayers.

So, today I am thankful that I know and serve the God who not only created the universe, but sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins, and allows me, by His amazing grace, to seek Him and His perfect will, day by day.

God listens to your prayers. All of them. Rest in that.

How to be Un-Dragoned

C.S. Lewis paints the most beautiful picture of the redeeming grace of Christ in his fifth installment of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when the pessimistic and sometimes downright mean boy, Eustace, is led by Aslan, the Great Lion and Son of the Emperor Beyond the Sea, cleansed of his wickedness, and transformed into a new boy with a completely different outlook on life.

In the story, Eustace has been transformed into a dragon, which coincidentally reflects his greedy and ugly-like behavior and attitude. After being a dragon for a few days, he is absolutely miserable and lonely as a result of it. One night, as he is away from the camp, he suddenly sees a lion coming toward him. He describes the event to his cousin, Edmund, as such:

"Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly toward me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it - if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it.”

There is just so much goodness in this one small quote! Aslan is producing light; He is  light to the dark and lonely Eustace. Also, Eustace recognizes the power of this lion, and even though he closes his eyes to try to ignore His presence, the voice of Aslan prevails.  Edmund and Eustace's conversation continues:

“You mean it spoke?" 

“I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well. 

“I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells - like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not. 

“I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe."

Eustace tries his darnedest to rid himself of his yucky outer layer; that which causes his dragon-ness. What I interpret C.S. Lewis to be portraying here is man's attempt to make himself presentable before going to God; man trying to make himself good enough. What man (and Eustace) find out, though, is that it is impossible on his own. Eustace continues:

“But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.
“Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good."

Hopelessness. This is what I imagine Eustace to be feeling right about now. He has taken off three layers of dead skin, and is still not clean enough for a bath. He's tired. He's lonely. He's trying with all of his might, but it's still not enough. This is what life must be like for those who don't know the grace of Jesus Christ. For those who work so hard each and every day to be 'good people', and constantly fall short. For those who want to believe in God, but can't bring themselves to do it because they can't bear to look at the sin in their life, let alone show it all to God. Amazingly enough, it isn't up to us, just like it wasn't up to Eustace, for he continues his story saying:

“Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.
“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” said Edmund.

I find this part to be absolutely and astonishingly beautiful. Here, Eustace makes himself completely vulnerable to the un-tame but good, Aslan, by laying down on his back and letting him peel off his filthy dragon skin. That is what we need to do with Jesus. We need to be vulnerable with Him and ourselves. We need to lay back and let Christ go down deep into our hearts and cleanse us, no matter how much it may hurt us. Like Eustace said, it's a good kind of pain. Eustace finishes up his story by saying:

“Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. You'd think me simply phoney if I told you how I felt about my own arms. I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad to see them.
“After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me –“
“Dressed you. With his paws?”
“Well, I don't exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other: in new clothes - the same I've got on now, as a matter of fact. And then suddenly I was back here. Which is what makes me think it must have been a dream.”
“No. It wasn't a dream,” said Edmund.
“Why not?”
“Well, there are the clothes, for one thing. And you have been - well, un-dragoned, for another.”
“What do you think it was, then?” asked Eustace.
“I think you've seen Aslan,” said Edmund.

Eustace is a boy again. But notice how he is not the same pessimistic and hate filled boy he was before. He has seen Aslan, and his whole life is changed. He is dressed in new clothes, and I like to think this represents our being covered with Christ's righteousness when we give our lives to Him and accept His free gift of salvation and redemption. Even Edmund notices the change Aslan has brought to Eustace.

There's just so much about this story that amazes and inspires me.
Aslan is Jesus.
Aslan redeemed Eustace.
Jesus redeemed me.
Both Eustace and I are new creations.
And you can be a new creation, too. You just need to be 'un-dragoned'.

Peace is Possible

I know that I haven't posted in a few days, and it's not that I can't find things to be thankful for, it's just that life gets crazy and exhausting and it's hard to sit down and write amidst it all.

But, here I am, sitting and writing. Life is still crazy and exhausting, but I'm writing.

This morning my dad, sister, and I went for a walk through a park near our apartment. The sun was shining, baseball teams composed of middle-aged men were playing, and the ducks were waddling. There was a park bench at the top of a grassy hill that you could sit on and see the tippy-top of the mountains in the distance. There was a playground with a tire swing that my dad swung my sister on, and swings that she and I competed to see who could swing the highest on.

I was at peace. Even in the midst of a crazy and exhausting life, this morning in the park was proof that peace is possible.

Blogging and Dancing

Right now, as I'm blogging, my sister is dancing.

I love how different we are, and how much we love, accept, and encourage each other, even in our differences.

I'm going to miss Colie so much when I go back to school. Thank you, Lord, so much, for this summer we have spent together. She is growing up into such a wonderful young lady.

Father Daughter Date

Tonight I went on a date...with my Dad. :)

We went down to  Edmonds and visited the Waterfront Coffee Company, got our delicious drinks (I ordered a Mexican Mocha and Dad had an Iced Coffee), talked with the Barista for a bit, and then headed down to the water to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Since my summer is about to close, I wanted to spend some quality time with my dad before I headed back to school. And quality time we had. We spoke of our summers, our thoughts on C.S. Lewis' many books, and more. We had great conversation, and I am just so so glad he is my dad, and not anyone else.

I wanted to take a picture of the two of us in front of the water, but lucky for us there was a nice man near us who was willing to take our picture, so it didn't have to be all 'myspace-ey' haha.

Thank you, Lord, for this fun time I had with my dad. Let us continue to grow in our relationship with each other and with You.

Jeep!

"Are you saying that I get to go test drive a Jeep, while getting paid to work, and   I get a gift card to the mall for driving the Jeep?" 

I asked this question to my manager after he told me I could do exactly what my question posed. 

"Yeah, I'll just say it was your ten", my manager responded. 

"OK! I'll be back, then!" I said with a smile. I was so excited! 

That's right, my friends. While I was at work today (I work at Brookstone), the Jeep company was doing a promo where people could test drive their vehicles, answer a couple of questions about the car they drove, and then receive a gift card to the mall where I work! I got to drive a super nice 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee around the block and have a great conversation with Chase, a pre-med student at the University of Washington, who was working at the promo event this weekend. He was there to make sure I didn't run away with the vehicle haha. It was so much fun!

It sure was nice to do something out of the ordinary and not stressful. Thank you, Lord, for this random excursion of fun. :)

Tonight's Plan

- I drink a delicious mug of hot cocoa
- Nicole drinks a delicious mug of chocolate milk
- We sit together and finish reading Lewis' Prince Caspian

Thank you, Lord, for this fun night of yummy drinks and great literature.