attempt #1: fail.

my flight to chicago was cancelled due to weather, so i've been rebooked for the same flights tomorrow. 

imagine that- midwest weather problems, in the summer, of all things!  

Come now, you who say, 

"Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 

whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. 

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 

Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

James 4:13-15

Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; 

And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.

For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Isaiah 30:18

auf wiedersehen!

well, it's time to say goodbye once again! i'm nearly finished packing, and i'll leave home tomorrow around noon.

i'm excited to head to europe for the month, and am going to try to share some of my daily adventures on here with you!

prayer requests for now:

no volcanoes!

safe travel, easy connection in chicago tomorrow evening

to be an encouragement to the people i visit

the Spirit's discernment in all things

sunshine :)

and a really blessed month in total!

thanks friends! xoxo.

of late.

it appears as though my month of May has been a bit neglectful toward this blog! here are some thoughts.

beautiful weather is upon us again. spent yesterday afternoon helping my mother to plant the garden. i can't get over how good it feels to use my own hands to smooth the dirt, make rows, neatly plant and cover little tiny seeds, water them a bit, and leave the rest up to a marvelous Creator to provide the life! sunshine, fresh air, and dirt-covered hands are very good for the soul.

i depart in a mere twelve days for the european continent! i am very excited about this trip, which shall encompass the entire month of june. i'll be back in siegen, my old hometown of three years, for the better part of the month. it'll be a delight to see dear friends, to speak german, to fellowship with the church, and walk the streets of eiserfeld once more! i'm praying for good weather, but rain might be the case, as it usually is. i'll also be doing a bit of traveling while i'm there! my friend karen and i are road-tripping for a week, to visit berlin, dresden, prague, and neuschwanstein, if all goes well! i've never been to any of these places, and karen and i get along swimmingly, so i know it'll be a grand adventure. we're also hoping to see the opera [a first for me!] in prague! the following weekend, we'll be flying out to the london area to visit a very sweet family and a local calvary chapel. i am so excited.

my very very dear friend michelle is getting married at the end of june in siegen, so i'm especially looking forward to spending time with her and helping with wedding preparations! currently the project at hand is sewing my bridesmaid dress, and i must say- it has been getting along quite well!

we're on the last stage of lilac days for the year. oh, how heavenly the scent of a warm spring lilac-breeze! our lilies-of-the-valley remain in prolificness, and not a day goes by that i don't sink my nose into their depths and gaze upon their cheerful beauty. i love spring! i haven't been at home for an entire spring since 2005- my admiration for the prairie runs very deep in any season, but i think currently spring is my favorite. i ride my bike around sunset most every evening, on a path bordering "town" and "country" and feel the warmth of the setting sun and the coolness of the breeze [or wind] whipping across my face, delight in the phlox blossoming in their glory alongside the river, and can't get enough of the sight of sunset gold enlivening the dandelion haloes in a field of clover. the other morning i saw a great blue heron swooping majestically up the stream. God is so good.

been meditating a lot on the importance of hearing, even more-so than seeing. that's another topic for another time, i think.

and last but not least, i mixed up another batch of ciabatta last night before bed. mmmm. can't wait to taste it.

let's see, i guess that about does it for now. lots of love. i'll try to post updates and pictures from my lovely europe upon arrival and throughout the journey.

xo!

consider.

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 

and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Luke 12:27

incline your ear.

Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,

And apply your heart to my knowledge;

For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;

Let them all be fixed upon your lips,

So that your trust may be in the LORD;

I have instructed you today, even you.

Have I not written to you excellent things

of counsels and knowledge,

That I may make you know 

the certainty of the words of truth,

That you may answer words of truth

to those who send to you?

proverbs 22:17-21

adventure week.

i've just come back from a week spent in 3 states spread across the northern USA!

what a blessing it was, after 4 months on the prairie, to see old friends and have encouraging conversation.

here's a little post to help me remember all the friends i've seen.

wednesday 21 april: drive 8 hours to Appleton, Wisconsin, with my family and our friends Mel and Eric. arrive very late.

thursday 22: meet friends Kadi and Kristi for sushi and iced coffees. attend evening session of Leadership Conference.

friday 23: fly from Appleton to Seattle. get picked up by Veronica [bride]! see Lydia and meet other bridesmaids. learn how to bustle a dress. attend rehearsal dinner and meet endless new faces, including Clay [groom]. stay at a hotel.

  

saturday 24: hang out with V and Jae. move stuff to apartment. dinner with bridesmaids and bride. stay at apartment.

sunday 25: The Perfect Day. finish wedding preparations, get pretty, play music at V & Clay's beautiful wedding. say goodbye to dear friends. stay at Jen's house [new friend!]

monday 26: get picked up by Jess and Peter and Rylie! drive into Seattle proper for crumpets and chai, and a look around Pike's Place market. saw first ever Starbucks [tourist moment!]. fly to Minneapolis, picked up by Grandma.

tuesday 27: hang out with grandma. afternoon at the library. Thai food downtown Mpls with my first-ever roommate, Cali!

wednesday 28: time with grandma, talk with norwegian relative Karin on the phone. haircut at Aveda Institute. dinner, Ikea, and Mall of America with Wendy! pick up mom, 3 hour drive home, to bed at 2am. 

the end.

spring has sprung.

for the beauty of the earth

 

for the glory of the skies

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

this our hymn of grateful praise.

on naming a bike.

the Good Old Days are a thing of the past.

having run the full gamut of biking joys and woes, i am, as of yesterday, the proud owner of a brand new bicycle.

its name is The Zephyr.

upon deciding that i'd soon be purchasing a bike of my very own, i immediately began wracking my brain for name ideas. i had thought "The Mistral," but, as we all know, that is a cold northern wind blown across France and over the Mediterranean via the Côte d'Azur, and for some strange reason, it leaves something to be desired, namely warmth. an infamous bone-chilling wind, albeit poetic, is not quite inspiring enough for a shiny new bike.

i also happened upon the name "Hesperus." i decided to look up its origin, and i'm rather glad i did. the name itself had come upon me suddenly yesterday morning, and i hadn't been able to shake it from my memory. i knew i'd heard it before, and that it must be of some literary substance and worth. indeed, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a stirring poem on an unfortunate seaworthy vessel of said name. nevertheless, "The Wreck of the Hesperus" isn't a particularly appealing fate for my new vehicle of choice, nor shall the "reef of Norman's woe" be on our list of destinations this summer.

...i've sufficient bike crashes to my credit already. 

[no use getting norman involved.]

so, here it is, complete with 21 gears and a bell. we've plenty more miles to spend together! put a light westerly wind [a zephyr, curiously enough] behind us, and we're off! ok, well, where i live it's more like a 40mph blow-you-off-the-road sort of continual gust, but that's where the old "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow" comes in, right?

let the adventures of Anne and her Zephyr begin.

anne-girl.

if you thought Anne of Green Gables [and Anne of Avonlea] were exceptionally quotable movies, read the books!

i just finished reading Anne of Green Gables this evening, after slowly perusing it for the past month or two. while it isn't flashy or demanding of binge-reading, it's effortlessly lovely. i have 5 or 6 continuing volumes on my bookshelf, of which i intend shortly to begin the next! i've read parts of some of them, and the whole of one or two... but this time it's straight on through until i'm finished with them all, no matter how long it takes me.

i am somewhat abashed to proclaim that heretofore i had never yet read straight through my copy of Anne of Green Gables... and i received it from an aunt at Christmas 1990. [p.s. that was 20 years ago] incredible! i've missed out! i thought i had the movies so well-learned backward and forward that i had no need to read the book... and that very reasoning kept me away from it for years, in favor of lesser known titles. well, as Solomon said, "to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven;" and this happened to be my season for Anne! i couldn't have enjoyed it more.

there is something so sweet about these books. the movies are so very endearing, but the viewer of a film can only see to a certain extent, and only based upon one person's interpretation. the reader, on the other hand, can see with even greater clarity through use of their own imagination, as well as tasting, smelling, hearing, and well-nigh touching the lovely scenes through the written page. oh how i love books. and these in particular. they engage the reader in the beauty of the setting and the thoughts and ideals of the characters, not merely just by a quick-moving story. i do love a good adventure story, but there is something so deeply satisfying, and peaceful, and winsome, and wholesome, about savoring bits here and there from a thoughtfully, lovingly written book such as this.

i've come to love the simple delights in Anne's countryside just as much as she loved them. perhaps soon i'll go through this first volume again and write down a few of the most quotable quotes. for now, here's the last bit of the last page.

Anne sat long at her window that night companioned by a glad content. The wind purred softly in the cherry boughs, and the mint breaths came up to her. The stars twinkled over the pointed firs in the hollow and Diana's lights gleamed through the old gap.

Anne's horizons had closed in since the night she had sat there after coming home from Queen's; but if the path set before her feet was to be narrow she knew that flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it. The joys of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers; nothing could rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there was always the bend in the road!

" 'God's in His heaven, all's right with the world,' " whispered Anne softly.

-page 382, Anne of Green Gables

by Lucy Maud Montgomery

what easter is really about.

long before the world's creation, You chose a people for Yourself
You knew the times and places we'd be born
though we'd chosen separation, You already had a plan
to reconcile Your children through the cross

look, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins!

thank You thank You for Your love that saved us Jesus
thank You thank You for the cross!
with our hearts on fire and our hands raised high
we're singing thank You thank You for the cross
thank You thank You for the cross!

Yours the life that transformed history, Yours the truth that sets us free
we stand before You now on holy ground
overshadowed by Your glory, held in everlasting arms
Your life and death turned everything around

look, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins!

thank You thank You for Your love that saved us Jesus

thank You thank You for the cross!

with our hearts on fire and our hands raised high

we're singing thank You thank You for the cross

thank You thank You for the cross!

You have rescued us, bought us with Your blood, thank You for the cross!

[by kathryn scott // check out her whole album "i belong"]