A new post

I didn't write yesterday.  You may have noticed.  Maybe you didn't.  I was using any inspiration I could muster to try to pray and figure out what to say at Exit on Sunday night.  (Exit 242 is the 20's and 30's group at my church.)  We are having Testimony night and I'm so excited that I get to share about my trip to Mexico and why I think mission trips are so amazing.  The only problem is...I like to talk...A LOT.  So I need to figure out a way to say things succinctly and clearly.  You can pray for me about that if you think of it! :-)

All that said - I am super excited about sharing and am just praying that God will use me to say what He wants to say. Another group is on a mission trip to Mississippi this week.  I'm sure they are having an incredible time and doing amazing things!  We'll get to hear about that trip on Sunday night too!

The past two mornings I have woken up feeling miserable.  I think it's allergies, but my whole head hurts until about the mid morning.  Blech!

I'm hoping I can get some cleaning done tonight.  My room looks a bit like a tornado hit since I've come home from Mexico.  I've managed to wash some clothes but that's about it.  I promised myself I would take at least one night a week to stay at home.  Tonight's the night this week, and I'm so thankful!

I love reminiscing about Mexico.  I've been looking through the pictures a lot, to remind myself of some of the great moments there and what is worth sharing.  Although it may not have been the most spiritual of moments, D's breakdancing - which then turned into Nogales' Got Talent, was somehow a fitting way to end the week.  We really loved and made the most of every moment in Mexico!

Mascara and Lip Gloss with Straight Hair

Alright, I admit it - I can be really lazy about my hair, especially when it's hot and humid.  Most mornings in the summer I leave it curly (because the humidity will curl it inevitably - ever seen that Friends with Monica's hair? yeah, that's me) and it's in a ponytail by the time I get to my office at work.  But this week I've been straightening it, only because I just got it cut.  I will never confess how much I pay to get my hair done, but I believe wholeheartedly that it's worth every penny and it inspires me to keep it straight for at least a few days!

So I walk into the office with my straight hair today and someone comments immediately on how different I look with straight hair and if I just add some mascara and lip gloss I'd have my weekend look ready (I'm wondering if this is a bit of a commentary on my single status)!  I was wearing lip gloss and mascara though!!!  Oh boy - I guess it's time to start wearing more makeup.  I didn't use to wear it to work, but then Mark Clayton from the Ravens showed up and I decided from then on it would be worth it to put a little more effort into my work look.  Apparently it's not been enough effort yet!

I could probably do a whole post of all the funny things people say to me at work.  Some of it I think is cultural differences, but they are still funny, nonetheless.  For example, in the past month alone I've received international e-mails where I've been called naughty, sweet and the devil!!  There is also a plethora of dating advice available from the people in my office.  My favorite was when a co-worker explained to me that my dating disasters all boil down to one fact - my picker's broke! When I stared at her blankly, she went on to explain that women's pickers don't work right, we always will pick the guys that are wrong for us, so we have to let the man pick us.  I think I see what she was getting at, but it still cracks me up every time I think about that conversation.  This is also the person who I overheard telling another co-worker a few years ago that "just cause Britney (Spears) aint wear no underwears, don't make her no bad mom." I'm not EXACTLY sure what that means, but again, can't stop laughing whenever I think of it - after my head stops spinning.  

I wish I had a good picture of my frizzy hair, but apparently it's always in a ponytail, or I somehow manage to have it straight for pictures.  Instead, I'll leave you with this.  I was delirious at 3 am when we took this picture of our mission team about to leave for Mexico.  I meant to blog that morning from the airport, but totally forgot!  I think we look pretty good for 3 am on a Sunday!

 I miss seeing these guys every day!!

Why am I so stinkin' tired?

I love work, and I love my job.  I actually don't even really mind getting up early, but holy cow could the weekend just hurry up and get here please?!?  I have a whole lot of sleeping in planned for Saturday and will probably throw some naps into the weekend mix as well.

I've been thinking a lot about this verse lately "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28  I seem to be missing out on this rest thing a lot and I've really got the whole weary thing down.  I know I'm not alone in this, but I really don't know why we so often choose weariness over rest.  I guess it almost seems to me that work is so deeply ingrained in our culture that we/I don't feel worthy of rest until I've worked really hard to get there.  Instead of coming to Jesus, resting and trusting Him to guide my steps, I run around like a crazy person trying to work my way to earning God's love and finally one day feeling like I deserve to take a rest.  God's way is so counter-intuitive though - earning isn't part of the plan and rest is almost a side-effect of the work you are doing when you're walking with Jesus.  Oh that I could walk with Him that closely - that my work really was rest.  And that my rest was true rest....like this little guy (Thanks to Liz for the photography!):

I was reading in Luke this morning when Jesus says we should come to Him like little children.  I think this is partly what He was talking about.  We often talk about the faith aspect of it - having faith like I child, which i know is part of it too, but kids know how to rest.  Especially the little babies like Daniel (above).  When they are in the arms of someone they trust, they are often so at ease they just fall asleep.  I know this is not true for all babies, so I'll admit it's a bit of a generalization.  However, I do think it paints a good picture of how at ease we should be with God holding us.  


For me, getting more rest is probably also a matter of being more careful with how I spend my time.  For example, staying up late to catch up on SYTYCD last night was probably not the best use of my time when I was already so tired.  (BTW - thoughts on who's going home tonight??)  


It's a journey :-)

wordless wednesday

Napping is my favorite

God did and is doing some amazing things in my heart since Mexico, but right now, what I'm missing most is SIESTA!!!!

I don't have any pictures from our after lunch siestas, probably because I couldn't keep my eyes open once I sat down.  Take my word for it - it's a picture of complete peacefulness.

Nogales isn't as hot as you might think.  The town where we stay is up in the mountains at an altitude of about 4,500 feet.  In the mornings and evenings you could wear a jacket or sweatshirt and be comfortable.  The mid afternoon sun can be pretty scorching, but it's not hard to find shade and let the breeze bring you to a quick slumber!  I think sometimes we don't really realize how tired we are until we stop all the busyness and give ourselves a second to rest.

I guess you could say that is one of the amazing things God did in my life this past week.  The importance of rest and simplicity really made an impression on me.  I know this might be starting to sound like a spa vacation, so trust me, we worked hard!  Shoveling dirt and rocks from the side of a mountain or mixing concrete with a shovel are not the simplest of tasks.  It was eye opening though, to see how productive you can be when you are well rested.

Why, when Jesus tells us that He will give us rest, do we say - "no thanks, I'd rather stay busy and stressed out?"  Maybe you don't say that, but I surely do.  I fill my life with so much clutter that I sometimes don't even enjoy the work I'm doing.  That has got to change.

The material clutter has got to go too.  I seemed to sense a correlation between the amount of stuff I have to my level of stress.  I lived with so much less than I'm used to this past week.  I wore shorts and tshirts everyday, showered in cold water with a spout that just dumped the water on you, slept in a room with no AC, on a bunk with just a normal sheet, pillow and blanket, in tiny room with 7 other women and walked wherever I needed to go.  Instead of TV and my ipod I had chats with friends, books to read, naps to take and this to look at:

Not sure if even SYTYCD could hold a candle to this entertainment.  And although I seemingly lacked much, I wanted for nothing.  Truly, I was content and so blessed with just what I had.  It got me to thinking that I could simplify a lot of my life right now and brought to mind the end of Matthew 6 (If you don't know what I'm talking about, I encourage you to read that chapter.)  So that's my goal - simplify and trust!

How can you simplify and bring some rest to your life?

Where to begin...

So many e-mails!!!  My phone has decided to stop downloading my email, unless I specifically refresh my inbox...so I have a lot of catch up to do today.
Totally worth it though.  Mexico was amazing!!!  It's hard to sum it up in a quick sentence, but in short, it was really a week of doing God's work!  I want to share more with you about Cuirim House, what a day looks like there and the testimonies of the people who run it , but today I thought I'd tell you about a family we worked with.  The best thing about the outreach at Cuirim House is that the work we do really opens doors for the church to be a light to the community.
This is Gabriella and her sons Daniel and Angel.  The boys' dad is out working at the factory.

They migrated up to Nogales from their small town near Navajoa, which is actually where the church in Nogales has started sending their own mission teams.  I can promise you, it's more than just a coincidence.  But back to their story.  Gabriella's little family was trying to reach the border in search for a better life, but like most who attempt this, they ended up stuck in the slums of Nogales.  Only the Lord knows how they made it as far as they did.  Navajoa is about an 8 hour drive, so making it to Nogales is nothing short of a miracle.  We weren't even scheduled to work on their house, but the site manager heard of their need and was on the ball and sent our team right over there.  They squatted at this shack, and we were able to greet them their first week in town, paint the inside and outside of their house (a whopping 2 small rooms with dirt floors and cardboard/pressed plywood/metal scrap walls), as well as give them a cement floor.  I've never actually seen a place so destitute - no water, a toilet stuck in a mound of dirt outside the house, nothing to cook with or on.  

If you're like me, you might wonder how much of a help concrete and paint can really be.  I learned that paint on the outside of the house can extend the use for an additional year.  We paint the inside of the houses a light color so that scorpions are easier to spot.  And the concrete goes a long way during the 2 weeks to a month of monsoon season, when it rains nearly every day.  You can imagine the muddy mess that happens to dirt floors on the sides of mountains when the rains come.  Even though it might not seem like much, it opens the doors for the church to come in and really minister to these people.  The pastor of the church actually came and helped us on the day we did concrete, which is very meaningful.  The way it all worked out was truly God ordained.  We had been planning all week to throw a party for new moms in the neighborhood so that we could give them some gifts and celebrate them - something that is completely foreign to them.  We were able to invite Gabriella and give her some necessities for the house and her babies!  It was really neat to be there for them and hopefully give them a little bit of hope!  
There is so so so much more to tell you - I'm just bursting at the seams to share, but that's it for today.  Time for me to look at some more emails!!

Mexico for a Week

I leave for Mexico in about 4 hours!  We are meeting to drive down to the airport at 3 am.  It's going to be a loooooooong day, but so worth it.  Have a told you about how amazing Cuirim House is yet?  Set on the hillside, in between other concrete houses in the slums of Nogales, Mexico, Cuirim House is actually a monastery.  From the street it looks like any other house on the block, and we live like our neighbors...no AC, no flush toilets, no water heater...just cement buildings and some picnic tables.  Once inside, you realize there's much more than you can see from the street.  There are 2 beautiful chapels, a Greek staircase looking out over the mountain and a fountain that many chose to sit by during our meditation time.  Because Cuirim House is a monastery, we follow the Celtic monastic tradition of work, study, pray.  Each day follows this rhythm, where we spend time together in chapel, spend time with God alone and spend time working together.  What I love the most is that it never requires a watch!!!  The day just moves along as it should, without rushing or stressing.  It's truly amazing.

Working in the community can involve anything from painting projects to mixing cement manually, which is the most physically exhausting thing I've ever done.  I can't wait to see what projects are in store for us this year!

If you are someone who prays, please pray for our team this week.  We believe that God is planning to do amazing things.

Here's some pictures of last year's team.  We are much smaller this year, but know God can still use us to do a lot!!

Have a great week!!

This is harder than I thought...

The "challenge" part of my photo challenge is what's standing out to me right now.  There was a great thunderstorm last night, but I just couldn't figure out how to best photograph the eerie sky and crazy wind.  Definitely a portrayal of God's power....definitely a portrayal of my lack of photographic skill and creativity.  It's about growth though right??  Instead, I chose a subject who was much more still.  This is Willie, my friend's Jack Russell Terrior, watching SYTYCD with us.  How do I see God in the picture of Willie, you might ask?  Good question, I say!!  To me, this is a picture of peace.  I love how dogs can just cuddle up with their master (or Aunt Val) and not have a care in the World.  Isn't that what we should be doing with God?  We don't have to worry and fret, and can just rest easy when we are wrapped up in His arms, where He eagerly invites us.  It reminds me of Matthew 6: 25-34
 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
   “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
If you've known me for any length of time, you know what a battle I fight with worry and anxiety.  Let's try to remember this picture of worry free Willie and let it guide us to the arms of the One who loves us, rather than let worry and fret have any place in our lives.
So, this means I am NOT going to fret about all the packing I still need to do before leaving for Mexico bright and early Sunday morning (3:15 am to be exact!)  I'll be joining 6 others from the young adults group at my church, along with a group of highschoolers on a mission trip to Nogales, Mexico and I cannot wait!!!  We'll be living at the Cuirim House and working with Cuirim Outreach for a week, serving in the slums of Nogales.  This is my second trip to Cuirim House and I'm so excited to share what God is doing there.  The transformation that's happening is truly amazing.  I promise to share much more of the details about the trip with you tomorrow before I leave.  Until then, here's a picture of my friend Yami, I met last year.  My team built a cement floor for her family's home and she loved helping us.  I was a much bigger fan of hanging out with her than shoveling the rocks and sand to make the concrete.  

Happy Friday!!

So I Know I Can't Dance

...is it weird then that I'm obsessed with all of the dancing reality shows?  Right now, I can't get enough of So You Think You Can Dance on Fox.  I've been known to dvr Dancing with the Stars when it's on (I know - so embarrassing!), but SYTYCD is by far my favorite.  (You know you watch it too!!  Who are your favorites this season?) I don't really know anything about dancing, and although I have rhythm from playing music growing up, I don't have that style that those who can dance have.  AT.ALL.  :-)  I wish I did though.  Isn't it funny how we sometimes dream of the things we are least likely to do?  I have heard people singing along to the radio and admit, with one breath, that they can't carry and tune, and in the next, divulge that their secret dream is to be the lead singer for a band.  What's your hidden passion?  Why do you think they always seem do be so different and "out there"?  Have you ever pursued a dream like this?  I'm so curious.
I have to go against my first rule of blogging today - always have a picture.  I've got nothing.  Along the same lines of dancing, I so admire people with great photography skills, but I feel like I am so not artistic.  I have friends who have started blogging a picture a day, some to document life and some to challenge their creativity.  Maybe I need to try that and see if I can be a little more creative.  Sort of like a babystep towards making it on SYTYCD :-) (or maybe Dancing with the Stars is more realistic?  I think I could beat Hines Ward any day!! - side note...CAN'T WAIT to start talking about football and my extreme dislike for the team the Dancing Champ plays for.)  But I digress...
Pictures it is!  Maybe the theme will be seeing God in everyday life.  Wish me luck!  And maybe I'll throw in some Just Dance on the Wii for good measure.  Who knows where all this creativity could lead.  Oh - and for all you aspiring singers out there - I also have Glee Karaoke, so you can come on over!

Did someone say work from home?

The AC is out in the office today (again)...
How long should I wait for them to fix it before I go home to work?  That is definitely a perk of Finance - excel spreadsheets can be worked on anywhere!  (On a side note, my co-worker is very depressed that he can't use his new I <3 spreadsheets coffee mug today, because it's too hot for coffee...no joke!) I'm somewhat afraid to get out of my chair at this point.  I made a lucky last minute wardrobe change this morning from pants and a top to a summer dress, but I'm still sweating profusely!  Let me tell you, my office is not a pretty place today!!
I was working on a 4th of July post yesterday, but my laptop at home froze in the middle of writing it and I lost my enthusiasm.  I'll get that up soon I hope.  It was a great weekend though, with lots of celebrations, great weather, friends, family and baby holding.  It's a short work week and then I'm off to Mexico!!  I'll have a post about that this week too.  Sorry for all the teasers and none of the juicy details this morning.  The heat is affecting my ability to think.  In the meantime, here's a picture from Saturday night's celebration:

My good friend C is home from Africa unexpectedly for a short while.  I got to celebrate with her family at Oregon Ridge and the BSO on Saturday night.  I'm so blessed to have such a great group of really amazing friends.  C and her family are great!

Living Generously

Meet my small group (although we're a few more people than this picture shows.)

This amazing group of people gets together every Thursday night at my house to study, worship, fellowship and pray together.  What's even better is that I see or talk to most of them all week and I feel like we truly are living in community.  Together, we encourage, serve, lift up and hold each other accountable to live the lives we are called to live.  If you don't have a small group of people who you can be vulnerable with and trust to care and pray for you, you need to go find one now!  Like, stop reading this blog, get up and find community :-)  Just kidding - maybe finish the post and then start looking.  The amazing thing is that once you take the initial steps, the right community will find you!

Anyway! This summer we've been talking about prayers God always answers.  Last night, the prayer was "God, outdo me in generosity." and it centered around Luke 6:38 "Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you, full measure, pressed down, running so much over that men will heap it into your arms."  Whoa - is it just me, or is that verse a lot of handle?  What the heck does it mean anyway?


Unpacking this together last night was so inspirational and I wanted to share a couple quick thoughts from that time.  The first idea that was really eye opening was how much of a role control plays in our propensity to give.  As humans we have the perception that we can somehow control what goes on around us, at least to some extent.  Many of us trick ourselves into thinking (myself included) that our 401(k)'s and savings accounts keep us safe.  If we can control the money we set aside for a rainy day, control our budget for exactly what we need and then share what's left over, we essentially are telling God we don't need to trust Him.  Rather than give the Maker of the Universe control over His blessings that He's shared with us, we prefer hold onto the control because it feels safer - at least it does for me!  Here's the thing though...who's to say our 401(k) will be worth anything when it's time to retire or that we'll even have a car to use that money we're saving for flat tires and repairs.  Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying don't save.  What I think I'm starting to understand though, is that our reasoning is pretty flawed and that we are VERY mistaken if we think we can control anything!  So why hold on so tightly to the things that our "ours", especially when God promises that His generosity back to us will always be more than what we give to others.


The other idea that really stood out was how it easy for us to be generous with some things, while at the same time holding back what really counts.  I like to think of myself as a generous person.  My house is always open anytime people want to come over.  They know they can walk in and eat whatever they want and use whatever they need (or so they think).  What about the last brownie, though, that I make sure to stash away, because I'm happy to share when there's plenty, but when there's not an abundance, I want to save what's left for myself. (Let's not talk about the fact that I'll typically forget about it and it will go bad anyway!)  Or how about a gift you received, is that easy to share?  It's not for me!  I even think about giving to those in need.  The other day I bought a homeless person a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee with a Dunkin Donuts gift card I got for my birthday.  The gift card still had some money on it and for a second I thought, she could probably use this more than me.  But the thought that erased that one was, well, it was a present for ME, I should keep it!  I mean, there was like $10 left, I could find that in a jacket pocket I haven't worn in a while, or stashed in a corner of my purse I forgot about.  It wasn't about the money, but my entitlement.  


So that's what I'm thinking about today.  If my theme in life right now is living abundantly, I'm pretty sure giving generously is key to that.  The question then is, how can I be more generous?  I challenge you to think about that as well.  Can we rely on the promise that God's going to give back to us so generously that it will be spilling out of our arms?


I know you're really here to read about my crazy misadventures in the world of dating.  Don't worry, I'm working up to that :-)
Have a great holiday weekend!  What are your plans?