the past 3 months, pt.1

on june 11, carlen and david got married!

rae..

sometimes you just take a picture of somebody really beautiful.

june 26

The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything.
God is the ground, the substance,
the teaching, the teacher,
the purpose, and the reward for which every soul labors.

-Julian of Norwich

cast away

today, we went to crab dock to float, eat watermelon and boiled peanuts, and just spend some time together before campers (!) arrive tomorrow. here's a picture i really like from today.

month of may

there has been so much going on recently. i have a lot of things i want to blog about - finals, graduation, plans for the fall, growing up. there is much to be said, and too much to be said right now. but those posts will come with time, and with rest.

in other news, i am at camp. a wonderful place, a place that feels like a sort of home now. and yet, i am realizing (maybe the hard way) that things never turn out the way i see them happening in my head. even at camp. but though there are some areas where i'm hurting, i know the Lord is good.

encouraging sisterly affection

something to be thankful for: an amazing sister.

i love that emily and i have fun doing pretty much anything together. she is so warm, loving, and sweet. i love coming home because she is always excited to see me. she is simply awesome.

some of our favorite things to do together are laughing, cooking, baking, watching pride and prejudice, thrifting, watching glee, drinking coke floats, singing, dancing, getting frozen yogurt, playing board games, watching old movies (mostly musicals and anything with bing crosby) and sleeping with our beds or mattresses pushed together.

everything is bound to change

once upon a time, i graduated from high school and went to college. lora wong made me a mix cd, and written on the cd in sharpie were the lyrics from a sean mcconnell song: "you know things can never stay the same, you know everything is bound to change." truth. things were bound to change then, in summer 2007, just as things are bound to change now. this is the course of life.

when i experience major change, i feel there is a lot to grieve: the loss of the things that have been. new, good things will come, but it's hard to deal with closing a chapter of life. i am truly a creature of habit. change is hard for me. i can't think of any other time in my life when i've felt this frustrated with the things God is doing, or in my case, the things i feel He isn't doing. i know He's working even though i don't understand but i want answers to my questions. when is He going to make me excited about the future? when will the confusion disappear? what exactly are my passions? what is my specific calling in life? these are things i really desire...

maybe the issue comes down to what everyone else is doing. other people are getting jobs in areas they're really passionate about. other people are moving to cool cities. other people are getting married. other people have actual jobs where they will make money and support themselves. other people have internships that will eventually get them jobs. other people have perfect plans developed. other people are looking forward to the future. i know i shouldn't be playing the comparison game... but sometimes, compared to all this, i feel like i have nothing.

i know the Lord has specific, perfect, individual plans just for me. i have hope that He will bring to completion all the things He's been starting in me (though i don't know His timeline). i have faith that the Lord is still good, still strong and powerful, still sovereign, still loving and kind and gracious and merciful, still righteous and holy, still perfect, still all-knowing... even though, in some moments, i often don't feel that these things are true about Him. they are still true. and Jesus is still worthy of everything: all my strength and hope, all my love and devotion, all my trust.

elissa has captured my prayer for this morning:
"i do not need to know Your schedule or Your plans
Christ died so i can live is all i need to understand
i put my trust in You and on Your promises i'll stand"

help me to know this is true, Jesus. help me to trust You.