Three Years

Who would have thought that at this spot three years ago I would begin such a marvelous journey with such a remarkable man? 

Peace

I feel like I am re-surfacing for the first time in a long time. 

Here's why: 
-Christmas time for a graduate student means long presentations, big papers, and finals. 
-Christmas time for a children's director means putting together Christmas programs and planning Christmas parties. 
-Christmas time for a newlywed means double the shopping and wrapping and baking. 

        Now don't get me wrong, Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love the beauty, the joy, and the warm fuzzies that come with Christmas time. I love that people think of other people, even if its just to buy them a gift. I love that we light our houses and our streets to keep the dark from overpowering this winter season. 
     But its so easy to forget what this season means in the midst of a million to-do's. That's why I listen to Christmas music on my way to work, or school, or running Christmas errands. They remind me how joyful this season is, the meaning of Christ's birth for the world, and fill me with the coming excitement of Christmas day. One of my favorites these past couple weeks has been "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." The last two stanzas make me want to cry every time, literally every time. 

"And in despair I bowed my head; There is no peace on earth I said;
For hate is strong, And mocks the song 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then peal the bells more loud and deep:

God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

       So often I feel like I live in between these two stanzas. I am discouraged with the state the world is in, I want to cry about all the pain I see, I get overwhelmed with all the things there are to do in a day, I want more for the people I know, and I wonder why there is no relief. But then God reveals Himself in the midst of the chaos and the pain and brings peace. It's a beautiful thing - a Christmas thing. So I'm going to practice peace during my Christmas break. I'm going to rest and not worry about it. I'm going to spend time in quiet. I'm going to take deep breaths and sit a lot more than I have in awhile. Peace. 

My favorite version of this song is Adam's (of course, right?). But really, when I listen to it I feel despair and then victory and peace. I get so caught up in the beauty and truth of it all. Check it out: 

Thankful

I am thankful for my first Thanksgiving with Adam. 

I am thankful for family and new family. 

I am thankful for a husband that loves me to no end. 

I am thankful for a holiday set aside to be thankful. 

I am thankful for a time to reflect and realize that despite all the comparing and complaining I am blessed beyond measure. 

I am thankful that I spent yesterday with Elle and Kayla Maree, my heart was overwhelmed and spilling over with joy. 

I am thankful that I am able to continue my education and eventually do something I love. 

I am thankful for a job and co-workers that are fun and encouraging and make hours at work fly by. 

I am thankful for holiday traditions and the beauty of this season. 

I am thankful for my country home and our farmer neighbors. 

I am thankful that my life is extraordinary and beautiful and fun and busy and full of love. 

I have so many more things to be thankful for and I plan to make this a year round attitude but Thanksgiving is a good starting point I suppose. Happy Thanksgiving!

Parting is such sweet sorrow

The weather has been hinting that I am going to have to let go of Fall soon, so today I said my farewell with the last of the pumpkin frozen yogurt I have in my freezer. It was sad and delicious......but mostly delicious

Small Town Livin'

So I'm going home from work, driving through the bustling metropolis that is Upland Indiana when my eyes spy something out of the ordinary at Ivanhoe's. A white suburban limo is sitting in front of Ivanhoe's, just chillin'. A driver dressed in a suit gets out of the driver's seat and opens the passengers doors. At this point I'm expecting a local celebrity to hop out (like Garfield or something) but instead an average family of four, dressed in jeans and t-shirts exits the limo and goes into Ivanhoe's like nothing is strange about their mode of transportation. I couldn't believe it. My only theory is that perhaps they were hoping since they arrived in a limo they would be able to cut the never-ending dinner line at Ivanhoe's, if so....I think it was a solid plan. I'm hoping to find out the real explanation in the paper next week, because I know there is no way something this big would escape the Upland paper!

Mammoth Cave

This week, from Thursday to Saturday, Adam and I were in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky with a portion of the Cox family. We had so much fun doing cave tours, hiking, eating, and going to the souvenir shop more than four times (it wasn't for me, it was for the kids!). There was so much that went on in those three days that I'm just going to give a list of my top 8 trip highlights (in no particular order):

1. Mammoth Cave: kind of self-explanatory I guess, but did you know its the biggest cave in the entire world??? The WORLD. Like, the ENTIRE WORLD.

2. Sinkhole exploring: The destination of one of our hikes was a giant sinkhole (Cedar Sink). It was crazy! And the craziest part was that we went all the way into the bottom of it! And once at the bottom of it we realized how cool this thing really was, it was like descending further into the core of the earth like in Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was incredible!

3. Trying to get out of the sinkhole: After realizing how cool the sinkhole was we realized that the signs that said "don't go off the marked trail" were serious and we weren't quite sure how to get out. I used a fallen tree as my way up the completely mud-covered hill and nearly lost a shoe in the process, but I felt pretty accomplished once I was done!

4. Following 3 deer in front of our hotel room: Our hotel was literally on the edge of the national park and one morning Adam and Samantha and I left our room to find the others and we spotted three deer just chillin in front of our room. Sam kept getting closer to them and occasionally they would look up and stare at her with the signature 'deer in headlights' look and then keep chewing. They almost let her get right next to them! Adam caught it all on video, it was great

5. Dramamine-induced productivity: I get car sick pretty easily these days on long trips so I took a dramamine before we left on our trip and I was able to read for my classes the whole way there and back! I got a lot done and slept a little too:)

6. Three trips to the Lincoln boyhood home: One of our stops on the way to Mammoth Cave was Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. We liked it so much we went back two or three times (the left-behind backpack and needed passport stamp were part of the reason too)

7. Spending time in nature: In general the whole trip I just enjoyed being outside, looking at the complexity and intrigue of nature. There's nothing to figure out or to understand, its simple and beautiful and not-so-simple and not-so-pretty (I'm mainly speaking of the millipede) and I love all of that about it. Nature is a great place and I wish we spent more time together but my grades probably wouldn't appreciate that, so I'll just relish in the time we had together and say "we'll always have Mammoth Cave." C'est la vie

8. Making a new traveling tradition: In one of our many trips to the gift shop Adam and I decided that we are going to be magnet collectors:) Its not lame, I swear. We are going to fill our fridge with magnets from all the places we go together in our wonderful and adventurous life and we are super excited! Our Mammoth Cave one is already up too!

Lean on me

Yesterday in one of my classes a professor brought a much needed devotional for our class. You see it's midterm time and that means that we graduate students start to get a little frazzled and slightly out of control. She brought these verses from Exodus 17: 

"So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle."


I was really struck with the beauty of this scene when she read it aloud to us. It was a perfect picture of weakness and how God provides people to support us in our weakness. Sometimes its so hard for me though.... I tighten my fists and say 'I can do this by myself, I've got this, my arms are strong enough.' But that's not how its supposed to go. You are supposed to look at those closest to you and let them see how tired you are, how weak your arms feel and let them give you a seat and some rest from your work. Needing other people doesn't make you needy or dependent or weak, it makes you human - a human that God made with the unique desire for relationship and community.