A good friend of mine shared this post that she read earlier today, stating that it's one of the best posts she's seen since the shootings on Friday. I would have to agree. Take the time to read...

"In this life, in the muck and mire, in the sweat and tears, we too don’t always know who is winning. It seems very likely that the Evil One prevailed on Friday. If the grief and pain in our hearts is to be believed, he certainly did. But he did not. 

Instead the grief and pain must remind us that we grieve precisely because things are not as they should be; and the fact that things are not as they should be promises that one day they will be. The fact that the Evil One acts in such deranged, malicious ways proves that he is helpless; his very struggles testify to a prevailing and conquering God. Because in battle,only the winning side has the capacity to be generous, to spare the lives of its enemies; the losing side cannot risk it."

Lament

As Christians, i think we often forget that we're allowed to lament. We think somehow that by crying out to God in the midst of our great sorrow and pain, we are questioning his power,  might, or goodness, but lament is not blame. Numerous godly men and women lamented in the Bible. It's okay! God hears our cries. These cries draw us deeper into His grace, and love, and comfort. We can lament in times of tragedy.

This morning, as I was thinking about lament, I remembered this song by Jars of Clay. I always took this to be the singers' cries of grief, but I read something earlier in which somebody stated that they always believed this was supposed to be "God's lament" in a way. Either way, it's a powerful song. (Below are the lyrics)

"Oh My God"

Oh my God, look around this place
Your fingers reach around the bone
You set the break and set the tone
Flights of grace, and future falls
In present pain
All fools say, "Oh my God"

Oh my God, Why are we so afraid?
We make it worse when we don't bleed
There is no cure for our disease
Turn a phrase, and rise again
Or fake your death and only tell your closest friend
Oh my God.

Oh my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief
Weddings, boats and alibis
All drift away, and a mother cries

Liars and fools; sons and failures
Thieves will always say
Lost and found; ailing wanderers
Healers always say
Whores and angels; men with problems
Leavers always say
Broken hearted; separated
Orphans always say
War creators; racial haters
Preachers always say
Distant fathers; fallen warriors
Givers always say
Pilgrim saints; lonely widows
Users always say
Fearful mothers; watchful doubters
Saviors always say

Sometimes I cannot forgive
And these days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we're better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder

Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat all the wounds that money causes,
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God

Praying

Today is one of those tragic days. (And a day that reminds--at least reminds me--that every day around the world some people go through tragedies like this, while others of us are just going about our normal days)*. Today is one of those days that reminds me that this world is so, so fallen and that it needs Jesus. It needs a Redeemer and a Restorer.

Only Jesus can bring peace and lavish grace. And I pray for the family and friends that have lost children, siblings, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, friends today in the Connecticut school shooting. I pray that God will rain down his overwhelming grace and peace on these people. I pray that somehow, some way, God will shine down his glory during this terrible time. Because in times like this, it seems like the world's about to fall to bits. It seems like there is nothing good any longer. And in times like this, I know that the only way that people can get through a is by the grace and peace of God. 

*This is in no way to take away from what has happened, but it does remind me that stuff that is shocking like this happens all over the world, every day, and we don't ever hear about it. And it should make us just as terrified and sad.

Bucket List #1

Sometimes I can't decide what to blog about. And sometimes I get so bogged down with school, work, and social life that I don't have time to blog. So I've decided that one thing that will almost always give me a topic to blog on--whether a short or long post--is my bucket list. It's not something that I will have to spend gobs of time deciding on, coming up with, and articulating (hopefully!). So here goes...this is my first bucket list item. (A lot of my list items will probably be music related and about seeing someone in concert, but I will try to be more specific than just 'go see a concert,' also, these will be in no particular order.)

Number 1:

I want to see ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) in concert--preferably in London. It's a little unclear to me whether or not they're still performing together, especially since one of their founding members died in a freak accident a few years ago. 

I love SO many of their songs, but specifically I would love to hear them perform "Evil Woman" and sing along with thousands of other fans. How amazing would that be?! And yes, as I'm typing this up, I'm listening to "Evil Woman." This is definitely a jam-out in the car song. 

For anybody that doesn't know, a "light orchestra" was popular in England during the 60s. It wasn't a full orchestra, but did include a few cellists and violinists. ELO is popular for Mr. Blue Sky, Don't Bring Me Down, Strange Magic, and so much more!

Evil Woman-ELO

Psalm 103

103 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶ The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.He made known his ways to Moses,
    his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame;^[a]
    he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
    he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
    and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
    and his righteousness to children's children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant
    and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Bless the Lord, O you his 

angels,
  you mighty ones who do his word,
   obeying the voice of his word!
  
 
²¹ Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
    his ministers, who do his will!
²² Bless the Lord, all his works,
    in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

(Matt Redman 10,000 Reasons)

Art: Kandinsky

My mom came home one day with a box of stationary that was several different prints of Kandinsky's artwork. I loved his work immediately. In my art appreciation class this past semester we looked at one of his pieces of art and my interest was immediately renewed.  

Composition VII

image 1: http://www.cheryldodds.net/KANdinsky.html, image 2: http://www.glyphs.com/art/kandinsky/

Back Home at Work

This week has been my first week back home since my three week long trip to Michigan. We got home Friday afternoon, so I was able to go to church last Sunday. Driving into the parking lot of church made me smile because I realized how much I had missed community, fellowship, and the place in general. Southside Fellowship is not just the local (little "c") church that I worship at, but it is also where I work. 

This summer has been a summer of growth in my job-which I started two years ago as an intern. Earlier in the summer, my position was "upgraded" to that of  an "Office Assistant." Where as before, I was working in the copy center doing tasks to get ready for Sunday morning, now I'm doing those things in addition to numerous other things. One of the biggest things I've been doing is assisting our Director of City Involvement. This job has been so much fun for me because I'm actually researching things, going to meetings, learning how to serve the church and the local community, and so much more. 

I've learned so many more things about myself-and I feel like I've found my "niche" in a way. God has blessed me so much with my job (which I loved even before all my new work was added on)! He's blessed me with amazing coworkers. He's blessed me with work that is fulfilling. 

For almost all of my high school career, my eyes and heart had been set on going to college in Indiana until God showed me that he wanted me to stay in town and go to a school that I had always stated I would never attend. Looking over the past two years, I can see how maybe God wanted me to stay, in part, because I would have the opportunity to grow into my job. For that, I am thankful. I thank Jesus not only for an amazing place or worship and work, but for the ability to look back over the course of a few years and see that God was at work, and will continue to be at work, in my life.

Michigan Trip: Part 6-Manistee

For the last part of our trip, we headed to Manistee, which is on the west side of the state right by Lake Michigan. As a child, we used to go here a lot during the summer. My grandpa's cousins had a big Victorian house that their families shared, so sometimes we would go to the house and stay over. 

When we arrived in Manistee, we headed to the old Victorian to see my Grandpa's cousin Jim (and his wife Jan). Also, their daughter Rhoda and grandson Zack were there. After visiting and catching up for a bit with each other, us girls decided to make jewelry and the guys went to look at ball cards. After, Rhoda, Joelle, and I went to downtown Manistee to look around the shops. The downtown (the whole town in fact) is so neat and it's really pretty. It's so sad though to see how the downturn in the economy has affected the town.

The ring I made...I love it!

Later we headed back to the house to have dinner...a traditional Michigan food, pasties (I know, I know, you just read it and you're thinking "what the heck is that?" but it's pronounced "pass-tees"). Pasties have rutabagas, potatoes, carrots, and beef in a delicious pie like crust that's in the shape of a half-moon. That were so tasty. We talked and had coffee, and then decided to head down to the beach for the sunset. It was cloudy and there wasn't much of a sunset, but the clouds sure looked pretty. This has been a tradition of ours whenever we're in Manistee, to go to the beach and see the sunset. 

The clouds were so cool. 

The next day, we shopped, and then packed up to head back to Grand Rapids for one more nights at my Aunt Michele's and Uncle Duane's. On Thursday morning, we left for SC, thus concluding our three week trip to Michigan. 

I'm so thankful for what a fun time we had and all the fun memories we've made. Thankful for the time with family and specifically with Grandpa, and thankful that Joelle and I have a grandpa who is willing to do such fun things with us. 

Manistee on Dwellable

Jonny Lang's Testimony

The past few months I've been listening to Jonny Lang. Every time I listen to his music, it's like it gets better and better. I especially have loved listening to his album Turn Around...it's so good. It's an album that shows his transformation in life. You should check out the album and Jonny's testimony.

Here's part of the lyrics from Jonny's song "Only a Man" that talks about his conversion. It's an amazing song and you can hear his heart in this song. 

I grew up singing songs in church

With questions in my mind

Then turn my back and ran away

From God who gave me life

Then one night His presence fell

I wept, and shook, and knelt

I fell down and cried

Dear Jesus, rescue me again?

I understand, I'm only a man

And He said, "What will it be now

Will you choose Me

Or keep swimming

Upstream now"

"I've been inside your head, hearing you scream out

Well, here I am, just take my hand

And I'll take out all of the things

And all of the fear, all of the fear"

Michigan Trip:Part 5-Grand Marais

After Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island, Aunt Michele, Grandpa, Joelle, and I all headed across the Mackinac Bridge to the UP. Our first stop once in the UP was Clyde's-an old fashioned burger joint/diner. We all sat at the counter and ordered our food...a cheeseburger and chocolate malt for me! And they were delicious. We then headed to my Uncle Duane's sister and brother-in-law's (Debbie and Dave) house to get the key for her camper that we would be using for the weekend. Then, we finally drove to Grand Marais for the family reunion. 

We settled in very quickly, snacked on some Mackinac fudge, and then Joelle and I made a bee-line for the beach. This was our very first time seeing Lake Superior, and boy let me tell you, it was beautiful! It's all white sand and tons and tons of stones. Joelle and I got to collecting the prettiest ones we could find. I had to keep myself from grabbing more and more. We also grabbed enough of the larger stones and made a heart shape. 

One of the beautiful sunsets on Lake Superior

The next day we walked all around the little town. The UP is a lot less developed than the mitten (lower peninsula)-as the towns are all generally pretty small-so in Grand Marais, there are more boutique-ish places rather than large stores that are well known. Joelle and I picked up a lot of different handmade gifts for family and friends...and ok, ourselves too. Later that evening, we headed to Seney to get dinner with Debbie and Dave. It was a lot of traditional Michigan/Mid-Western type food (fish fry, roast beef, etc.). 

This was the cute art gallery in Grand Marais. Joelle and I made a few purchases here. Also, there were beautiful flowers like this all over the place in Grand Marais.

On Saturday, we had the reunion. Meeting a lot of new people is really intimidating, but I mostly hung around my cousins Debbie and Jeff that I met the day before. Tons of food was brought to eat; including the raspberry pie (with berries right off the bush) that Debbie (Uncle D's sister) made for us. What a hit that was! Everybody loved it. Every time a reunion is held, they also have a softball game, but Joelle and I decided to go down to the beach with Aunt Michele. Once again, we added to our stone collection. 

The rest of the time we were in Grand Marais, we walked around, had campfires, made s'mores, went to a silent auction, and enjoyed the beautiful weather with each other. 

As we packed up and were driving down-state on Sunday morning, we went to The Triangle for breakfast. Yum! A few hours later, we were back down-state and ready to head to our next destination.

The Marina in Grand Marais

Upper Peninsula Michigan on Dwellable

Michigan Trip: Part 4-Mackinac City and Mackinac Island

We packed up our camper, and from Harrison, headed to Mackinac City! As a side-note, Mackinac is prononunced Mackinaw. The spellings used to be interchangable, but Joelle and I noticed that on the mainland, the name of the city is spelled with a "w" at the end, while on the island, it is spelled with a "c" at the end of the word.

We got to Mackinaw City just in time for dinner and went straight to Scalawags to get our fried white fish, hush-puppies, and fries. I'm not a huge fish eater, but occasionally I will eat a good mild fish, well let me tell you, this white fish at Scalawags was excellent. The Tigers game was on TV while we were eating, so we chatted and watched the game. After our delicious dinner we went shopping in all of the neat stores around town. And of course, we had to get our fudge! Mackinac-whether the island or the mainland city-is well-known for their fudge. I personally think that it's some of the best fudge around. We got: regular chocolate, German Chocolate, Choc. Pecan, Raspberry, and Claw (which had cashews and caramel). Yummy!We headed back to the campground and prepared to go to the island the next morning.

The next morning we woke up to go to breakfast at the Pancake Chef (I thought it was awesome that the restaurant has such a huge emphasis on pancakes, as I am obsessed with pancakes). I got pancakes with Michigan cherries and whipped topping. Delish. After, we headed to the ferry. In 18 minutes we docked on Mackinac Island and we were ready to start our adventure on the island.

For anybody that hasn't been before, it is a beautiful island with only bikes and horse carriages for transportation (and snow-mobiles for the residents in the winter). The island is located in Lake Huron. The houses are all beautiful and colorful! But there are flowers EVERYWHERE and it's just a gorgeous place to be. It's seriously one of my favorite places ever.

We shopped and bought jewelry and snacked (and praise the Lord! I finally had my Starbucks) and had a fantastic time. My favorite part was going to the museum. I love art, so to see art that was special to the island made me love it even more. And to celebrate the Grand Hotels 125th Anniversary, they had a special exhibit and included local artists artwork. It was all beautiful and Joelle and I wanted all of it! (I hope to post some more pictures on here once I've uploaded them onto my computer).

Some day, I hope you will go and visit beautiful Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island...I really think you'll enjoy it!

Here's the view (and Grandpa's head) while sitting in front of the art museum.

Mackinac Island on Dwellable

Michigan Trip: Part 3-Harrison

After leaving Grand Rapids, we headed to Harrison to visit my (Great) Aunt Karen, cousin Richie, and his wife Kat. Harrison is a really small town (with no Starbucks) in the middle of Michigan. My Aunt Karen lives with her four dogs in a really neat log cabin with a big porch on the front, and Richie and Kat live right next door.


While we were here, I enjoyed myself by sitting on the porch and enjoying the beautiful weather. I worked for several hours on different things for work and listened to lots and lots of music. (Lots of Jonny Lang and a new artist I found-Elizaveta). We also went to a local restaurant and before we left after dinner, Aunt Karen told us that there was a quarter game in the back. You know, those kinds where you insert a quarter and a tray pushes it into more quarters, and it's supposed to push some quarters down and you win those. Well, this is when I discovered that Joelle should never gamble. She would become addicted. We all laughed a good bit at how funny this was.


It was so much fun to be able to hang out with everybody and catch up and relax. Tons of good laughs were had.

These are two of Aunt Karen's dogs-Charlie and Allie

On our last day here, Aunt Michele came over from Grand Rapids and we packed up the camper in order to head to....

Michigan Trip: Part 2-Grand Rapids

On Saturday (the 21st), Grandpa, Joelle, and myself made the trip to Grand Rapids where my Aunt Michele (who also deserves a post of her own) and Uncle Duane live. Uncle Duane works late, so besides him, we all headed to get Chinese for dinner. Later, back at the house, us girls decided that it was necessary for us to paint our nails. Usually, this is something Joelle and I do at least twice a week, but we hadn't been able to paint our nails for a week! We picked our apple green, teal, and mint green polish and went to town.


Yesterday, we went to church and then came home to hang out for a bit. We talked for a while about random memories for a while, then grandpa and Aunt Michele decided they needed to go pick something up.   Aunt Michele once Starbucks was jokingly mentioned, I jumped on the chance to go out with them because I hadn't had Starbucks in over a week. (While working in my church offices where almost everybody enjoys their bold blend Starbucks coffee, I have become quite the little coffee lover).  After, we went shopping and bought even more Michigan shirts, because a girl really can't ever have enough Michigan clothing.


Afterwards, we came home and hung out in the backyard while we waited for our delicious rib dinner to be prepared, and we discussed our trip to the UP that's coming up. After dinner, Uncle Duane, Joelle, and I walked down to the 7/11 and got Coke slurpees...it's a tradition. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful day, but still a fun and relaxing day.

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Michigan! Next it's off to Harrison, Mackinac, and Grand Marais.

Michigan Trip: Part 1-White Lake & Detroit

We left SC on Monday the 16th for our three week trip to Michigan (we being myself, my little sister Joelle, and my grandpa). We split the drive up to Michigan into two days; Monday night we camped between two corn fields in Piqua Ohio. (I will have you guys all know that I proudly wore my Michigan shirt in Ohio.) 


The next day, we arrived in Michigan around 1ish and headed over to my (Great) Aunt Nivra's house. We spent the night there, and then my sister and I headed over to my Aunt Anita's house-who, by the way, deserves her own post. We (my aunt, sister, cousin, and I) all just laughed and laughed and laughed...and cried from excessive laughter. Numerous movies were watched including the new Madea movie, and three of my favorites: 13 Going on 30, Remember the Titans, and our ultimate "laugh til you cry movie" Miss Congeniality 2 (seriously...that movie is hilarious).

Late Friday afternoon, after filling our tummies with deep dish pizza and malted ice cream, we headed to one of my newest and most favoritest places: Comerica Park. Home of the Detroit Tigers. We had all our Tigers clothing and accessories on and were ready to cheer on our Tigers. As a side note, Joelle was probably experiencing small heart attacks the entire night because "her Tiger" Justin Verlander was pitching. I was pretty excited also...one of the best pitchers in the whole major league system and we just happened to get tickets for the night he was pitching?! Perfect weather, a great outing by Justin, great hits and catches made by my Tigers, tons of laughs, postgame fireworks, AND a win do in fact a perfect night make. 

Beautiful Comerica Park before the game against the White Sox ensued. 

I will be back with my latest adventures from my Michigan trip soon!

Psalm 19:14

Found on Haven and Home

Excuse the language, but seriously, how true is this? I know that this is kind of delivered as something to make you laugh, but it also makes you think....we are so blessed here with safety, material goods, food, shelter, etc. that a lot of people around the world don't have. And then we complain about the little "injustices" that happen in everyday life. And just because I point this out doesn't mean that I don't complain about stupid little things that don't matter, but it definitely makes me think...


The thing that amazes me, is that the people in the other parts of the world that don't have a lot of the things that we in America are blessed with, are so much more thankful for what little they have than we are thankful for the large amount that we have.


Okay...my tirade is complete. You may now chuckle some more at this.

Un Pasion de Mi

No puede esperar para visitar Barcelona en el futuro y veo la arquitectura de Gaudi. Es muy interesante y diferente. En los semestres proximos, es posible que visite Espana para estudiar porque especializo en espanol. Es un pasion de mi.


"I can't wait to visit Barcelona in the future and see Gaudi's architecture. It's very interesting and different. En the next few semester, it's possible that I will visit Spain to study because I major in Spanish. It's a passion of mine."

Moving Music

My friend Sharon Gerber is an AMAZING cellist. The original of this is song is awesome, but when Sharon plays it, it's even better.

Sharon plays all kinds of events. She even plays baby showers. This past April, she played for a baby shower being held at my house, and everybody was captivated by the music. When Sharon played Safe and Sound later that night, my sister was literally in tears.

You should check her out! On Facebook, on Gigmasters, and on her website.

Me

It's not really appropriate for me to say that this is just another "part" of me....because this is all of me and it hopefully pours into every other thing that I do in my life-every decision I make in my life. God is THE most important thing in my life.

A Little About Me: Music

I can't pinpoint just one type of music that I like: Folk, Liturgical Post-Rock, 80s Rock (and other variations of Rock), R&B Cajun Blues, Spanish Urban Hip Hop, Spanish Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Classical (singing), Classical (instrumental) and so many more styles.

I don't generally listen to a lot of mainstream stuff. To me, it all sounds the same...and it's just not artistic to me. I wish the music industry had more real artists that didn't all sound the same. I love listening to an artist and literally getting goosebumps. And I love it when I listen to an artists whole album and think "This is my favorite song by this artist. Oh...this is my definite favorite." They're so good that I can't pick one favorite.


I love classic songs...songs that you never get tired of playing. I love songs that are written "smartly." By this, I mean that they include literary allusions, wordplay, there are tidbits of everyday life. They're songs that aren't just the same words repeated. These songs and artists make you think. That's the kind of music I like.


These are the artists I like: Josh Garrels, Jars of Clay, Leigh Nash, Sixpence None the Richer, Sharon Gerber, Delta Goodrem, Phillip Phillips, Marc Broussard, Jonny Lang, John Mellencamp, REO Speedwagon, Carrie Underwood, Tristan Prettyman, Jason Mraz, Ingrid Michaelson, Mat Kearney, Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, Ana Tijoux, Nelly Furtado, Katherine Jenkins, Gungor, Brooke Fraser, Jenny & Tyler, Journey, Adele (and obviously more).