Multicultural Day at 3302

Never in my life have I been the minority in my friend group. Anna, my roommate, loves to point out when I am. Like when we went to the ballet the other night, it was Anna who is Nigerian-American, Stephanie who is Haitian-American, Monica who is Chinese-American, and Renee who is Thai-American. Oh yeah and there is me, the only white kid. Sometimes they make the world seem just a bit smaller after all.

This Saturday Anna's parents came in town and her mom "taught" us how to cook Nigerian-style. I use "taught" loosely because she was so fast we could barely keep up. Monica's mom also came with all of her Chinese ingredients in tow. And this was Multicultural Cooking Day at 3302:

Nigerian Stew and Chinese Pan-Fried Noodles

Left-side: Monica's mom and Monica, Back: Stephanie, my little Haitian delight, Right: Anna's mom and Anna

KIDS TABLE!!!
Left: Mimi, originally from Zambia and me, Right: Elen, whose papa is from Eritrea and Reebs

After our delicious meal, we were all super stuffed and super tired. The results are below:

I am so thankful for my friends who teach me so much about the world outside of my view and who show me Jesus daily. Yay for multicultural day! 

the joy in being small

what I love most about the seasons is that they change, but my favorite season is the one that is beginning. i love the way it smells. i love the hwb's, which stands for "hot winter beverages" in my house. i love the colors. i love crocheting. i love the way the breeze can sometimes take your breath away. i love anything related to pumpkin. i love getting to wear layers. and i love good hammocking weather. come on, what's not to love about fall?

for some reason with the changes in season, my mind (or satan) likes to play tricks on me. i remember that i am entering another season alone. i remember that i have no children to care for. i remember that i won't be graduating with any new degree or specialty. i remember that i will be at the same job during this season. all of these things make my heartache and invoke envy that everyone around me is changing, as the seasons do, but i remain at a stand still.

as these thoughts encroached, i began to doubt the promises of the Lord for His children. he surely has forgotten me. no husband. no children. really? at 24, i am practically a grandma. for a good two days, i had convinced myself that maybe this thing isn't worth it. maybe i can marry a wonderful unbeliever who would make me very happy in this life and forget this whole God thing. yep, i though it and believed it for a few days. and then i remembered...

i remembered what and how the Lord has changed and shaped me. i remembered that my Father knows what is best for me. i remembered that He finds joy in loving me even when i think that He isn't sufficient. i remembered that this life is so much bigger than me. i remembered the pain of my brothers and sisters in comparison to my finite complaints. i remembered that i wasn't created for the purpose of marriage or bearing children. i was created in His image to be loved and to love. when i remembered the big story, the story that makes me seem so small, i am overcome with joy. i can laugh aloud at myself for my silliness in ever thinking that He is not enough. i can smile that He is so much sweeter than all this life can bring. i exchange the lie for the truth and peace flows in abundantly. 

so as the seasons change again and i remain the same, i rest in the amazing promise that my life will fulfill a greater purpose than i will ever know...

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

and if all else fails, i could always be a cat lady... who wears cut-offs. :)

the harvest is plenty

 

A side shot of the small garden which has turned into a beast.

For my birthday this year, I asked my parents if they would give me a garden. So in April, because of course I was waaay too impatient to wait until my actual birthday, they helped me plant two small raised beds. It actually was a super fun process because a couple of my friends came over to help and we made it an afternoon event. My favorite part was digging up earth worms to put in the raised beds. Sounds gross but I found it really exciting!!

My friend, Kitty, from work gave me seedlings for spaghetti squash, coosa summer squash, eight different kinds of tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, banana pepper, zucchini, ground cherries, and eggplant. My mom had a kit for gardening that had seeds for cucumber, string beans, snap peas, yellow summer squash, tomatoes, and tri-colored peppers. Although some doubted that I would be successful, including my 60-year-old neighbor Jim, the garden that I have labored over for months is out of control with fruit!

Here are a few pictures of the crop:

spaghetti squash, yellow squash, and zucchini

chocolate cherry tomatoes, sun sugar tomatoes, and string beans

spaghetti squash growing wild

I was also able to make some yummy refrigerator pickles with my cucumber and fresh dill sprigs from my herb garden. 

                     

Lately, the drought has been taking a toll on the garden especially my baby watermelon that just began to grow, but today a miracle happened. We had a huge rainstorm come through! I was outside picking tomatoes and my Lebanese, 15+ cat-lady neighbor was taming her incredibly overgrown backyard, and the bottom dropped out. She looked up at me and threw her hands in the air pumping her fists with joy and I responded with a hallelujah and threw my arms in the air to praise God for the much needed rain as well. It was a special moment between the two of us and our love for plants and the outdoors. It still makes me smile thinking about it........

I feel very blessed to have such a plentiful harvest because I am able to give so much to others including sweet cat-lady neighbor. This garden has brought me much joy and continues to due so. :) 

Community

my church. chad, a previous tattoo artist, used to do graffiti illegally.
as the cops drove by he felt odd that he was using his gift to beautify his church.

I don't think I knew the real definition of community until I moved to Nashville. Now this is what I know to be community:

throwing a huge party every few months for the community

seeing a 60-year-old woman get baptized for the first time after a life of hardship

pooling money to pay for daycare for a friend

having tornado parties in our basement 

meeting over coffee for conversations focused on Him 

showering women from the mission with love on valentine's day

having a small family that I have earth shattering conversations with every tuesday

making coffee and setting up communion every week for my family

nine people baptized on one sunday

your pastor weeping with joy and unable to speak after witnessing baptism 

having a child write math problems in sharpy all over your backseat and then taking him to the preds game the next week

sobbing in front of your pastor and his wife during a moment of darkness 

having random guests show up to our house daily 

seeing a precious baby grow up when you held her in the hospital

showing up unannounced to your pastor's house and staying for hours

looking around you and seeing people from all walks of life

meeting with a pregnant mom to help her with her gestational diabetes meal planning

having boy friends come over to watch jane austen movies

feeling like you could say anything and they would love you anyway

seeing the young reach out to the old and the old to the young

knowing the deepest secrets of your brothers and sisters and seeing them as Jesus does

being asked if you want to be prayed for by a stranger

investment and intentionality in relationships

being comfortable to be yourself around these people more than anyone

fighting in prayer for each others family

the poor wrecking the perception of the rich

doing life, not just sundays with an amazing God-fearing group

...and talking about the Lord all the way through

These thoughts are brought to you by sitting at my community group outside tonight and tears welling up in my eyes knowing that I have found a picture of heaven on earth. This is community:

faith like a child

at my work, there aren't many men. out of about thirty people, there are two men. but these men are absolutely precious. one is an older Indian(dot not feather) man and Ed, a 24-year-old man with aspergers, a mild form of autism. I tell you this background to preface my story...

everyday, sweet Ed comes into my office, shakes my hand, and asks me how my day is going. somedays I will shamefully admit, I get annoyed with him. other days, he makes my heart leap. today was one of those days.

Ed walks into my office trying to sell me some candy that another co-worker but him up to for her child's school fundraiser-he is an amazing salesman. :) we did our usual shpea. he asked me how my day was. I asked him how his new job was(he was recently moved from a front clerk position to an outreach job entering shot records into our computer database.

today his answer to my question about his new position was a bit different. he said, "well, lauren, have you seen the movies facing the giants?" I said yes. he said, "well I never would have learned this had it not been for that movie." I said learned what? he proceeded to tell me that he learned that no matter what job you are doing that you should give it your all and do your best. then, he said, "and if I fail, I will praise him, and if I succeed, I will praise him. But, no matter what, I will give it my all." He repeated himself once more by saying, "I never would have known this without seeing facing the giants." my reply was something about how great I thought that outlook on work was.

but wait, there is more. then, sweet Ed sees the book I am reading on my desk. he says the title of the book out loud, "have a little faith." then he says, "you know lauren, that book is right. did you know that with just a little faith you can ask a mountain to move out of your way and it will?" I  said you are so right Ed. he said, "Yep, you can wipe that mountain down to the sea with just a little faith."

Ed. he is a beautiful picture of the child-like faith and simplicity that I so desire, but allow the worries of the world to cloud. the Lord uses the most basic conversations to remind me of Him. of the purpose. of faith. of trust.

today I am thankful for Ed and his sweet spirit that is completely sold out, without a shadow of a doubt on His creator and sustainer. I know he could move any mountain.

never a dull moment

soo, my job. everyday I am guaranteed: to have a surprise, to practice spanglish, to use my arms in an "ape-like" fashion to signify too much weight gain, to be attacked as I exit my office by someone saying, "excuse me, ma'am," to counsel a minimum of three different ethnic groups. there is really not a dull moment.

lately, I have been rocking some of my parents' worlds by offering simple advice. we sometimes take for granted things that seem like common sense to "most" people. let me offer you some examples: you should brush your teeth daily, it is bad for your teeth if you eat candy and drink soda everyday, it is not appropriate for your two-year-old to stay up until 3:00 am on the computer, you should not chew food up in your mouth and then feed it to your child, you are the parent and your child should not tell you what to do and my personal favorite-it is okay if your child cries when you don't give them exactly what they want (the response to this one, "oh no ma'am. it is bad for him to cry. he will get sick.")

it blows my mind the response to my advice. it is usually something like, "I had no idea. thank you so much doctor." yep, that's right. in case you didn't know, I am now a doctor.

all of these examples make my job look a bit like a joke but these are just the ones that make me laugh. there are many instances when I feel the Lord is telling me this is exactly where he wants me. like today when I talked to a mom for an hour about her child that was failure to thrive. these are my favorite moments. the moments when i realize why i went to school. why i am where i am.

i would be lying if I said that I am completely content with my job every second of every day. i have a pretty incredible case of wander lust most of the time. always waiting for the next thing. place to move. people to meet. what i am learning now is: our God is not a circumstantial God. whether here or there. married or single. alone or surrounded. clothed or naked. content or discontent. beneath shelter or in the pouring rain. He is in me and using me exactly where i am. this is where i find rest in the moments when my heart wanders to what will be.

"the Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." Habakkuk 3:19

ps i got to see this lady last weekend and it was incredible. she needs to make like a bird and head south.

some things change

It is absolutely incredible to look back over the past year and see how drastically different life looks. Some changes were good. Some changes broke my heart. Some changes made me stronger. Some I still don't understand and may never will. But, I can always find comfort in the fact that whatever the change, I know His greater plan is being fulfilled and all these things will work for the good of those who love Him.

I haven't posted in a while, as my sister notified me yesterday so here is an update on my changes:

a. i have a big girl job

2. i am slowly becoming fluent in Spanglish

d. i won the Christmas door decorating contest at work - yes, my door was phenomenal

5. i found out that i am going to get my lactation certification in February (i was randomly picked as one of the dietitians to attend) I can only contribute this to the Lord. Obviously, he thinks I would be the bomb at teaching women to breastfeed. :)

8. one of my bestest friends, lacey, moved out and went home to NC

e. one of my bestest friends, elizabeth, moved in her place

b. i have taken up crocheting and i might not be too terrible at it

4. i have the most awesomest friends and family ever but maybe you already knew that

c. i love Jesus more today than I did yesterday

I think that just about covers it for big changes. No marriage. No babies. No moving. Just sitting back and watching the world change around me and attempting to stay faithful to the changes the Lord has for me.