I am counting...

counting the forms of peace.
Wanna join?

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I'm sorry 3x to the fourth times x to the fourth. Nobody cares.

Even balloons stop floating at some point...
This one is looking for solid ground.

today is excitement.

Dr. Dog
The Dodos
Coffee
Unexpected sweet texts
Peace in trusting
Joy from obedience
...and.......the expectation of tonight!!
Yumminess.
Just.
Everywhere.

Sometimes I forget that....

With true death life inevitably comes.

Greif does not share your soul well.
And for a time it is not supposed to.
But it is crazy of us to forget the sun
while it is dark and moonless at night.

Peace is like a shadow,
over taking and enveloping you
so quietly though, that you almost
forget to say thank You.

Truth goes beyond human faithfulness.
Thank.You.
Hope goes beyond my self control.

The Word is Alive.

I like...

Iced mochas.

When people say my name.

When I all of a sudden easily do something I never could do before.

My crazy hair today.

1 Peter 1:2-5

Long voice mails.

Very large windows.

Questions.

Having the spirit of truth, love and wisdom inside of me.

Unknown places, in-light of the last one.

My roommates & talking/listening to them.

Having what I want redefined by the God of compassion, slow anger and eternal mercies.

It being lower than 100° outside.

My backyard.

I've now been here for two weeks (14 days).

How did we arrive at a sense of time that is so off?

It feels like I've been here for maybe a week.

People are so funny.

I love them (with help, oh so much help).

interesting.

frustrating.

confusing.

hilarious.

slow.

forgetful.

understanding.

disappointing.

spontaneous.

...

His love covers all.

Tonight, it was this:

[so apparently this photo doesn't exactly look like what it's supposed to...She's laughing, not crying...]

Also! I get to see the babies tomorrow!! Not such a long weekend after all..=]

Lots and lots of thoughts.

But mostly.
The Living Word.

Sometimes when everyone is together, and we start watching soccer,
or a movie, I almost feel disappointed because I know I should invest in
the people I'm with now. And doing that is a way. But I can't get enough!
His Word is ALIVE.
There's this yearning. Part of which I've felt for a while.
But never like this.
Sometimes I got to bed and I can't sleep because
I'm excited about His work and His love.
Which is crazy, of course because I do need the physical
rest so that I can do His work and give His love.
But it's just awesome!
I've made a reading list as a goal to try and complete while I'm here.
Every time I see a reference to a book no on my list I want to add it though!
I know I sound nuts, but what could be more reasonable?
When you're in love with someone, you want to know everything about them
in relation to a human being, it doesn't really make that much
sense on surface level...
But with God, how could it not make more?
I feel like I've been a very uninvestive lover (it's a good word).
And for lack of a better word, I'm almost embarrassed by my
lack of depth in His love letter to me.
How have I had so much ignorance for it?
So now I am like a sponge dropped in a bucket of water,
or a kid who just won a candy store.
I can almost feel myself growing.

My one prayer request is just I would continue to be consumed.
I don't want this yearning to ever ever end.
I want to keep learning and being corrected in how to Love.

I will at some point share more stories and thoughts
and not just an explosion of excitement.
But it needed to be share. It needs to be share everywhere.
And I'm praying for everyone that this love and excitement
will be a reality in you're life.
That the warmth of contentment will be given to you.

Some thoughts:

The past couple of days have had rich times in the word! And I've been thinking a lot about hunger.
Since getting here, it's been a blessed thing.
The world labels hunger as a bad thing, as something to be fixed.
But in my recent experience it is not. In a completely materialistic way it's something that can lead to thanksgiving, you can be satisfied and instead of just waiting to be hungry again you can delight in being filled.
Hunger the last few days for me is something that has signified satisfaction.
When diving into the word I'm already satisfied, but I hunger and thirst for more.
even my physical hunger has now taken on a positive meaning. When feeling physically hungry
it reminds me that I feel nothing compared to how hungry for the Living Word I am.
I honestly wish everyone could view their physical hunger like this.
To have food is nice. Food is, like I mentioned earlier a great tool for thanksgiving and praise.
But it is no longer a tool of stability or security.
Food is blatantly not eternal. Bread goes bad in a week.
Produce as well.
But, thanksgiving.
Blessed.
Eternal response.

His word is living. Everything else is a means to deeper understanding.

Now? Packed. Tired. Peaceful. Expectant. In need of a cool breeze.
As planned, my next post will be from two countries over.
4 hours and 18 minutes to:
finish a book, take a nap, shower
and leave my house.

Not really ready for any of this on my own.
Good too no? Otherwise I might be tempted to do it that way.

I am not my own
for I have been made new
Please don't let me go
I desperately need You.


"God doesn't want to leave you where you are."

I might be just beginning,
I might be near the end.

home made, whole wheat, sugar free, spice waffles.
with fresh berries.
yum.

Validity. Release.

This is real. Pressure-less.


Complete. Whole. Content. Satisfied.
Imperfect.


Simple. Beyond comprehension. Vital. Liveable.

Irreversible. Unrestrainable.


Extravagant. Excessive. Complete.


[Cleansed.ToMakeThoroughlyClean.
Thoroughly.CompleteWithRegardToEveryDetail.]

Food is a pretty big deal in my life...I think mostly because of what surrounds and is equated with it.

"I have to bieber..."

Happy Anniversary!!

This post is dedicated to my parents.
Unfortunately I forgot to do this this morning. Oh well though, it's still the 14th here.

I hope you find yourselves here right now. But eventually I hope you understand this photo too:

I just wanted to share that finally I do NOT feel like this!:

But rather like this!:

Today really feels like the first day of summer.
Yesterday just felt like hibernation before everything could start.
I'm finished though!! Still super hard to believe.
who am I to say that it's not just a long weekend
without studying? I'll feel it soon though,
because my brother is coming!!!

That's how many hours of school I have left.
And I'm super excited because He's going to rock this thing.

And it's 6:10am, not 4...and I'm sort of winning the being up competition with the sun.

To my one and only Korean Twin...

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I tried to make you a party photo, but mostly this happened:






And after so much success of course this worked out


So even if it's not "perfect", I hope it's complete. =]





I love you.

p.s. I've known you for about 12 years, how crazy is that?? I think you're the person I've known the longest yet being able to remember the day we met (hopefully that makes sense to you...)

Strawberries covered in mint flavored dark chocolate...

That pretty much sums up today.
Today has definitely been an "A day".
I am so thankful for this blessing.
So I decided since I can't really express
it accurately, I would show you a picture.

[two things about this photo a) I am demonstrating
the only way to eat chocolate covered strawberries
(i also recommend paper-towels) b) I realized I look
mad or up set, so here is one that proves that
assumption wrong]

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Ahlalalala Life is wonderful.

I will sing to the Lord
And I will lift my hands
For You have brought me out of the pit.

I have messed up extravagantly,
and that (adjective) is just the way You love.
Thank you for that.

Just now, as I was sitting in my kitchen. I was eating my peanut buttered whole wheat bread after getting home, which is not a special occasion and happens at least daily…Something else happened, that was special, and probably doesn't happen daily. I had been contemplating relationships (not the special thing I'm referring to, this happens almost perpetually). Especially ones that are still relatively new. But faces are familiar and talk is, at the very least, translucent. I've learned so much from these different people. I mean that in the most literal way possible. One example being: I've reconstructed the way I ask certain questions because I've been shown a more unassuming, deliberate (yet still understand hopefully) way of doing it.

I realized though, that there's still so much ground to cover with some many things, not just relationships.

From an airplane you can see the shore line, it can touch you enough to cause you to do something. But you can't touch the sand and leave an indention. It's not going to get on every inch of your clothes from there.

God left me with a picture, because I've been contemplating how you have to discuss things down to the hair in the sink to really be in life changing relationship. You can't start with talking about the hair in the sink, and you can't stay there. But hopefully you get my picture.

The picture is this, my realization was that we have to smell peoples breath so that we aren't solely convinced by their words. That may not make sense to anyone else, and you probably wont sit and contemplate it at your kitchen counter for 15 minutes. I do hope that you understand and cherish the idea though. Every pearl is completed with a grain of sand (one that irritates, nonetheless). If you don't see the dirt and grime, you don't see completely. People chew gum, brush their teeth, bleach their teeth, carry breath mints with them everywhere. But it's not gone, our breath is still there.

I judge the drunkard because his breath is more poignant, because he doesn't cover up his dirt and grime. It doesn't matter if underneath it all my breath smells the same, at least I can cover it up with trident tropical twist. No his actions are not justifiable, but shouldn't I desire how much more quickly someone can touch his life? (this is an analogy so please don't rip open it's loop holes, I know it's not perfect).

In a community, our desire should be to gain the level of breath sharing. I know the Ultimate Tooth Brusher Teacher and we can seek Him best when people show us where the poppy seeds are stuck. I guess we should seek our teeth being as white as bleach, we just shouldn't seek it the same way the majority does.

It's not a thought I haven't thunk…

I hadn't been given this picture before though. Sometimes its easier, or more real, to seek things when you've been given a vivid picture. For me many times it is.

My life is complete.

I'm definitely glad it's not Tuesday
or Wednesday.
I'm oh so very glad it's not Thursday.
But it could be Friday...
All the same...I'm glad it's Monday.

p.s. have I told you yet that I have the best english teacher ever? Craziest, hardest, smartest one ever, but also the nicest most considerate one. [Example: I am doing this alternative research paper, different than the rest of the class did. Mine involves reading an almost 300 page novel. My rough draft was due today and it was more than rough (mostly probably because I had a second research paper due last week and didn't get to this until now). My second draft is due Wednesday and I asked, though I knew he had to grade this one, if he could send back comments on my second one. He said he'd just wait to send comments and grade until he got my second one.] And I am thankful for that.

An extra credit assignment started 23 hours before due. Never really finished...(which means don't judge)

p.s. go watch it on youtube, the quality is better.

Class buddies are the best.

Just sayin'...

on a side note: coffee, being sore and classical music are blessings. And reading out loud helps.

Everytime I listen to
[the intro/end of]

"Lifeline" by Angels & Airwaves

I want to watch reading rainbow.

Friday, a week ago, I bought some seeds in the dollar section at target (that place is the equivalent to candy land in reality). I planted a couple sunflowers in the little pot it came with. I knew I'd probably forget to water it regularly, but I think it should be okay if I remember every so often. Today I checked it and look! Already new life! One of the little guys had already shoved the shell off his back. I helped the others...

(that might be cheating, because I'm pretty sure they're racing...but I'd like more company rather than one winner, ya know?)




p.s.
funny story about when I bought the seeds:
I was getting a car looked at to see about buying it. So I was carless (left mine at the dealership, left the other at the shop) and walking. I bought 3 "seed starter kits" and 1 bag of wildflower seeds, I also bought organic fair trade coffee and a pack of 3 recycled "going green" journals. The cashier, I think, was a little scared. Unfortunately, my burlap grocery tote was in my car, so I had to use a new grocery bag...

So far interesting week.
Realistically though, could we expect less?


Edit:
Reasons for an interesting week:
I. a. I broke my first lens (my first real lens to own, and my first lens to break)


b. Which lead my to taking it apart and eventually

c. discovering:
- Abelardo Morell


- Simon Lee (& along with him)
- Bus Obscura
[for some reason the link isn't working to embed, so we'll have to go with this]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUgLzSbIaUI&feature=related

To be continued?