Mary Poppins Wasn't Perfect

I agree. 2.5 weeks is entirely too long to let this blog sit idle. But if you're curious, my journal has been left idle as well. It's not like all kinds of stuff is happening and I'm just forgetting to tell you. But a few things that ARE happening. April 19th I'm traveling to SC to sing at my friend's wedding. So excited for Katie! And excited that living in Florida has allowed me an easier opportunity to not only attend, but BE in her wedding. :-) And June. Oooooh June. I'll be running my first 1/2 marathon. In San Diego. Yup. I registered. I bought new shoes. I've been training. And I'm loving it! (MINUS the guy who said with a disbelieving expression on his face "Are you in SHAPE for that?!" Grrrr.) There's a REASON I'm TRAINING.  Anywho. Putting the soapbox away. I had a birthday. And it was a sweet day. I went to Tampa and had a glorious visit with my friend Helen. And the past 5 days, I've been immensely homesi...

I’ve been thinking about this blog post for a while, but just hadn’t felt it was completely formulated in my brain until this past weekend. The night of my going away party, I had SO many friends share things with me that left me speechless, encouraged, honored, etc. I mean, really. I was blessed. After the group prayed for me, my friend Benjamin came and shared a verse with me, shedding light on this particular verse that I’d never noticed before. He read the verse to me, “To the faithful, you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked, you show yourself shrewd.” During the time in which people were standing up and sharing words about me, the word ‘faithful’ came up almost every time. So I assumed Benjamin was going to highlight that portion of the verse. HA! Was I wrong. He then says “the part that stuck out to me was “but to the crooked, you show yourself shrewd.” Oooh dear Benjamin. You sure ...

The movers are scheduled to be at my apartment today with all of my belongings. I plan to have my camera ready to take pictures of anything that looks damaged or broken. For those who’ve followed me on Facebook/twitter, you know I’ve been waiting. They picked up my stuff on the 10th of October telling me it would be 7-10 business days before arrival. I was aware of that and totally ok! After they’d had my stuff in their possession 7 days, I thought I’d just give them a quick call to say “Hey, just checking in…Making sure everything is ok…and getting an update on where everything might be. In no way was I pushy, aggressive, or demanding. Just wanted to check in. I called the main number where I was prompted with either 4 options. 1. Customer Service 2. Sales 3. Billing 4. Dispatch I selected option 1….I was given an answering machine. I didn’t leave a message at this point- tried the dispatch option next. Upon selecting #4 I was told “this number is not a working number.”...

One week ago today, I got up at 4:30 in the morning finished loading my car, and said goodbye to Texas. The older I get, the faster time seems to go....but this week. Has been a REALLY long week. It feels like I made the drive a month ago! Helen, one of my dearest friends and old roommate, made the trek with me on Saturday, October 15. My car was loaded down with all my hanging clothes, my keyboard, my kitchenAid mixer, AND my coffee pot. :-) Since I'd been in San Francisco all week, Helen had a travel bag packed full of snacks and drinks for the ride. We were on the road at 5:30 and began the long drive. We were 2 hours into the drive before we even stopped for coffee. Crazy, right?!?! Yes. But so fun. :-) We drove through Shreveport over to Jackson, Mississippi- then headed south from there to Mobile, Alabama. From Mobile, we jumped on I10 and headed East. Oh. Also before leaving Texas, I'd meant to get my oil changed as it was past time and knew it would be wise to do ...

I've turned in my 2 week notice. I've announced it on twitter and facebook. I'm going to Florida next week with my  mom to find a place to live. This. Is. Really. Happening. Last night was my 2nd to last service at Gateway Church (in person, anyways. Thanks goodness for live webcasts.) The first song had some technical difficulties (which hardly EVER happens, but must admit, I REALLY love it when it DOES happen....reminds me that this church is normal.) ;-) and the first 2 notes of the 2nd song had played and I felt it. Yeah. I felt the tears start to surge up my tear ducts. There was nothing I could do. It was coming. The first waves of emotions/tears in regards to the big adventure I'm about to embark on. This was the song that played to start off my night of tears...and if people can claim songs....Then I am claiming this one. It's my song. Seriously. Written for me. Listen. You'll understand.

I honestly did not plan for this blog series to turn out this way. I did not know that I'd be the finishing story. If that's the case- I would have done this blog series several months ago! :-) But here it is. My story. That finally unfolded in the past week. The Backstory: I’ve been really excited about this particular blog post for 4 months now. I’m not joking. 4 months. And 4 months ago, I had no idea what this post would say- but I KNEW that it would be an account of God’s faithfulness. 3 months ago. I still didn’t know what this post would say. 2 months. 1 month. 3 weeks. 2 weeks. Yeah. 2 weeks ago- I was REALLLLLY excited for this blog post, but still had no idea what it would say. But again, I KNEW it would be an account of God’s faithfulness. 1 week ago. Still didn’t know. On Wednesday, September 14, 2011- God revealed to me in a most incredible way what this blog post would say. He revealed to me yet another piece of my story….Another account of His faithfulness...

2 years ago, my community of friends at Gateway got a HUGE blessing when James and Christian Lee came around.  I'd tweeted one afternoon that I was wanting to get my rollerblades out of the closet and was looking to see if anyone I knew had blades to come with me.  James tweeted back to me and said "my wife Christian loves to rollerblade! We'll come meet you!"  And that's how I met Christian! We went blading that day around a park in Irving and when you've got plenty of time- that's a LOT of time for ME to ask questions. And asking questions, oh- how I DO love that. :-) Christian is a woman that I have been SO encouraged to watch. She was one of the first married ladies in my current community and watching her relationship with James has been nothing short of inspiring. The way she honors her husband in speech and in action...The way she has made her house into a HOME...The way she loves Jesus.  She has navigated this season ...

Alrighty, peoples! Next up is my dear friend, Jennifer .  I met Jennifer back in 2008 and quickly realized that this woman is strong.  Her faith is strong. Her heart is strong. Her love for people is strong. This woman is an encourager. She will look you square in the face and call out giftings in your life. She will do whatever is within her to help call out the lies that the enemy might be feeding you. She speaks Truth. She speaks love. Jennifer is a stunning woman that exudes femininity.  And she is a woman of great faith.  Here is her story: Time was running out. This was the last weekend before I had to sign a contract of some kind. I had been doing what I knew to do, but nothing was coming through. Weekend after weekend, day after day...nothing. I knew God had put this search on my heart, but didn't He know that this was cutting it a *little* close? On Memorial Day 2010, I asked my dad out on a breakfast date. Conversation flowed over coffee and massive IHO...

The next count of God's faithfulness comes from my friend, Osame. I met Osame while in college and were part of a small group together in which we started out each week by playing the game "Big Booty."  Don't know the game?  Don't ask. Either way- I got to know her more through that small group- but really began to connect with her when myself and 4 other girls began to meet up for a more connected/purposeful time of accountability and prayer. 7 years later, this girl is still one that I know I can call any time of day or night if I need something. Her heart for me is huge- but her heart for Jesus is even bigger. The past 5 years I've been able to witness her steadfastness to the Lord in a job/school transition that seemed insane. The whole time- trusting that God would come through. Trusting His heart for her was good. Here's her. She makes me want to Trust Him more and remain Faithful to His Word. God's faithfulness in my life has never ceased to ...

Well. The next post on Faithfulness is coming from my little sister, Caralyn . And let me start of by saying- I've prayed for lots of people in my life. Lots. But when I pray for this girl...my baby sister....I can't help but tear up. Every time. Every morning when I sit on my couch- whenever Caralyn comes to mind, my heart is overwhelmed with emotion. Because if God has been faithful to anyone...it has been to her. If I know she's walking through something tough, I ACHE for her. If I know she's in a good place and happy- I get emotional. Because I'm so grateful for the Lord being BIG in her life. So, Caralyn, good or bad season of life, my heart is overwhelmed with emotion- because I love you so much. I cry when she's hurting. I cry when she's happy- because it makes me so happy to know she's happy. :-) Here's her post. (side note- it starts off with a post she'd written a couple of months ago- then continues with the 'follow up') (sid...

Last week, my friend Leticia sent out an email update sharing the mark of 1 year living in New York. As I read the email, I was reminded of different events that had taken place during her first year. Areas in which we'd pray to see the Lord move. Reading that email did something to my faith. It was as though it was a present-day part of the bible. Where I'd just been reading about Daniel, Moses, Joshua...I just picked up that morning reading about Leticia too. The Lord came through for her just as He'd come through for those in the Bible. Every area in which we'd prayed about had been answered. This email from Leticia prompted me to ask a couple other friends to share a story of God's faithfulness in their life.  If reading stories of God's faithfulness could increase my faith even a little- then I needed to start reading LOTS of stories, as I'm in a place right now of needing to see Him move. And of course, I figured, if it encouraged me...