Sobbing to Jesus

I worked at sifat this past week as a special project for the last week of my internship. It was definitely crazy but awesome! I only went to worship one night and while the campers broke off into small groups after worship, I just laid down in the q-hut to have a minute with the Lord. I asked one of my new sweet friends/the worship leader this summer to play a good song while we waited for the campers to get finished and this is what she chose:

As I laid there thinking about this song, I just thought about how truly beautiful Jesus is and how differently I look from Him. Tears rolled down my face as I listened to the words of this song.

"I know that Your eyes are like flames of fire.

I know that Your head is white as wool.

And I know that your voice, it sounds like waters.

Jesus, You're beautiful."

On my way home, I listened to this song in my car (I might have asked her to burn me a cd before I left camp). I am sure the people driving around me thought I was a complete lunatic because I was literally sobbing/jamming out to this song at the top of my lungs. Man, He is so beautiful.

My simple joy for the day: being saved by such a beautiful Jesus.

Summer Sunday Lunch

I am a little late with this post, but I really wanted to share. :)

(O, I'm wearing the dress you gave me, but rest assured that I

only took my sweater off when I got home)

Sunday afternoons with my family at home are second to none. They mean good food, time spent together, and usually, quite a bit of laughter (Gran said, "I am losing my........and then lost her train of thought which gave Dad an insert here moment. He whispered to me "hearing"). Well this Sunday was one of my favorite family traditions of sitting on the back porch to eat lunch.

Originally mom asked me to check if it was too hot to eat outside, but quickly changed her mind to ask dad because she knew no matter what I would say it felt perfect. We decided to eat outside because even though it was a bit warm, it felt good in the shade under the umbrella.

Looks like I was a big hungry and yes that is watermelon. :)

My simple joy for Sunday: time with family, yummy food, and laughter.

The Things Kids Say

Today I ate lunch with about 30 kindergarteners at a local elementary school. I sat by my new, little 5-year-old friend Katherine.

After asking me where I was from four times, she finally told me she was from Honduras. When I asked her where in Honduras and started offering the names of the cities I knew, she asked me why I was talking like that. Apparently, I am not too good at pronouncing the names of Honduran cities.

Then, she told me she had a cousin from Vietnam and her cousin was teaching her to speak Vietnam. Next, she told me she had a cousin from China. Naturally, I am a bit skeptical at this point.

And then came the best cousin of all. She apparently also had a cousin from Barackobama. Yes, it came out of her mouth as one word "Barackobama." I am really not sure where that country is, and I had to turn my head and giggle after asking her to repeat what she said twice.

My simple joy for the day: learning about new countries from new friends.

Time with Him

I don't really like to exercise alone, but sometimes that is just what my heart needs...if I do it right. Today this is what my exercising looked liked:

1. Making a "Time with Him" playlist on my ipod (I did this because my mind tends to wander on things not of Him when I am walking alone.)

2. Found a beautiful trail outside

3. Forgot everything I was leaving behind, including the ever worrisome thought of, "What am I doing with my life?"

4. Listened to the water running in the creek or the guy playing guitar by himself by the creek

5. Took in the amazing scent of these along the way...

6. Picked a flower

7. Stopped to watch the sun going down

8. Found the Lord in it all

My simple joy for the day: taking time to spend with Him and stopping to take in the beauty along the way.

Sweet Baby Girl

This is Elsie Grace Rose. She is one of my dear friends' baby and also happens to be my pastor's daughter. She is their forth child and just as awesome as the other three.

I got to hold her for a long time tonight at community group while she slept. I have never watched a pregnancy as close as I watched Jill's, and this sweet baby girl reminds me of the pure, perfect miracles sent from above. I love her so much!

(My hair is courtesy of Bethany, their 6-year-old daughter.)

My simple joy for the day: getting to experience a miracle happen before my eyes and snuggling with her.

Don't let anyone tell you that you are too old.

If you look really closely, you can see a sweet 80-year-oldish looking man standing on the railing with a fishing pole hanging into the very small creek running below (I felt like a creeper taking this picture).

This is the second time I have seen this sweet little guy. The last time I saw him he was doing the exact same thing, and I asked him if he had any catches. He had actually caught four very small fish that day. I asked him if he was going to eat them and he looked at me like I was nuts. He said he was going to feed them to his cat. That is one lucky cat! He made me smile again today and I thought I would share.

My simple joy for the day: never being too old to climb on a bridge and dangle your fishing pole into a creek.

Delayed But Oh, So Joy-filled

This past weekend my family came to visit and we had such a good time together. We started off our journey at this beautiful spot that overlooks the city, Lover's Circle:

I might have made poor arthritic Gran climb a really steep hill to get there. She was a trooper.

After our wonderful view we went to the Scarritt-Bennett Center. It was originally founded in Kansas City, Missouri as a school to train young women missionaries, and it was moved to Nashville in 1924. Two of Gran's aunts went to this school before embarking on their oversees missions. I took tons of pictures but here are two:

You probably can't read the engraving over the fireplace. I might have sat in the floor to write it down because for some reason I felt some connection to what it said:

"Wheresoever the gospel

shall be preached

through the whole world

that also which

this woman hath done

shall be spoken of

for a memorial of her."

It was so awesome to be at a place where two brave women from my family were trained to be missionaries. Someday soon I hope to follow their footsteps.

The weekend with the fam was so jammed packed. We went to my friend's organic farm, an Earth Day festival at the park, fed some ducks my old stale bread, and ended the day with some beverages and dancing at the Wild Horse Saloon. Emma had a little too much fun I think! I would have added pictures of the other fun things we did , but I just wanted

to highlight the two things that were extra special to me. :)

My simple joys from the weekend: spending time with the people I love, breathtaking views of the city, and a historic place that gives me hope for my calling.

My P.S. simple joy is that I got baptized on Easter Sunday. Something that was definitely long overdue. That's my friend Robert in the background. He got baptized too!