Happy Birthday Josh!

Happy 26th to my cute, sweet husband!


We've had some bad luck with being together for birthdays... For mine in September Josh was at a retreat and I was in Grand Rapids. Now I'll be in Grand Rapids again for his birthday... leaving later today. Not so fun, but we make the best of it! We did a little celebration at home last night (including home cooking, which hasn't happened around here in at least a month) and plan to spend a weekend away sometime this Spring in St. Joseph to check out things for the summer :). Should be fun!

Book Meme! My favorite kind.

Here is a quiz that is near and dear to my heart - books! I got it from this blog and would be curious to hear the answers of other bloggy friends (hint, hint). And because The Bible could be included in so many of these answers I'm going to not include here. Just assume I read it and my life has been significantly changed. :)

One book that changed your life. What's So Amazing About Grace or Cold Tangerines. Or The Irresistible Revolution

One book that you have read more than once. Oh so many of them, including the Anne of Green Gables series (the cover actually fell off Anne's House of Dreams), the Little House series, and the Harry Potter series. Pretty much any Roald Dahl, Lois Lowry, Beverly Cleary, or Judy Blume book would make that list, too. Do you get the impression that was I was big re-reader as a kid?

One book you would want on a desert island. A Diary of Private Prayer. And Redeeming Love.

Two books that made you laugh. Blue Like Jazz and Messy Spirituality

One book that made you cry. Where The Red Fern Grows... but surprisingly not Marley and Me, which is why my friend Kendra calls me "dead inside."

One book you wish you'd written. I know Harry Potter is the obvious answer... but I'll have to go with that, too. Most popular books in history? Come on...

One book you wish had never been written. This one was a toughie, but I agree with Sarah about Wuthering Heights.

Two books you are currently reading. Feed (a young adult book recommended by my friend Lora) and Sacred Marriage (which we're reading with some other couples from church)

One book you've been meaning to read. This list could go ON... but includes Dear Church, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Peppermint-Filled Pinatas, Sin Boldly (which won't be out for awhile), Stumbling Toward Faith, I Am The Messenger, more Jodi Piccout books

I have a couple of additional questions to add:

New favorite author: Charles Martin, author of When Crickets Cry, Wrapped in Rain, and one of my new favorites, Chasing Fireflies.

Books you think you should read but have never been able to get through: The Lord of the Rings series. I don't know how I made it through my bookworm childhood without ever reading these. Still as an adult I can't, even though I've #1 watched the movies and #2 Josh owns the audio books. Still nothing.

Books that have touched your life (but you couldn't necessarily say changed your life): Anne Frank, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, Travelling Mercies, Not For Sale, Number the Stars

Summer Destination: West Michigan?

Just as we had suspected, this past week was crazy, stressful, and difficult for Josh. He had somewhere around 7 interviews for 6 companies, and it was a roller coaster of ups, downs, call backs, offers, and rejections.

We have been thinking about and praying through this Psalm all week, remembering that we have a God keeps and watches over us. It hasn't been easy, but overall I'm so proud of him for keeping a good attitude.

And Thursday evening he got some terrific news! One of the companies he was interested in called him with the promise of an offer for a summer internship! He is SUPER excited about this opportunity and quite relieved to have something in place. We'll find more details next week, but we DO know that we may well be in a little town on Lake Michigan for the summer! And that he'll probably be doing marketing for certain home appliances... very exciting. He has a couple more interviews lined up, so we don't know for sure... but it is great to have at least one exciting offer.

Thank you Lord for your continued provision and direction!

And the Journey Continues

Does life ever get dull? I don't think mine has... it is always changing. And I'm still working on trusting God with each twist or turn.

The next one regards my job. Back in September I took a part time administrative assistant job with the local Chamber of Commerce and have really had an excellent 5ish months with them. SUCH a great group of people who made me feel welcomed and appreciated from the moment I started. And then "Big Z" (as I refer to it in my head) came back and surprised me with an offer to come back with them full time. Josh and I spent significant time thinking and praying about it, and decided it would be the best move. It is definitely an honor to be offered such a great position, and it will be a great way to grow in my career. Praise be to the God that opens the right doors at the right time.

Today was my last day at the Chamber, and I'll be back full time with Z starting on Monday. This new job will involve some travel, but not too far or too much. I'm excited to learn some new things... and I know I have a long way to go! And I'll be back in GR a little more often, which is sad in a sense as I'll be away from Josh but nice in the sense that I'll get to see family and friends a bit more.

... and the Chamber folks were sweet enough to send me off with a really nice card and gift certificate to a yummy local place. How nice is that? I'll definitely miss them.

A Pilgrim on a Journey

I'm loving this Psalm right now...

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Im learning how it was actually sung by Jews who were making their way to Jerusalem for various feasts and festivals. The literal references to a journey are everywhere - feet, sun, coming and going. I love imagining God's faithful on that trip to the promised land, trusting him for safe travels.

But I don't think that a literal journey it all this is talking about. I'm continually learning about the journey-ness of life. There are so many things I want to do and be and am just not "there" yet. And won't be this side of Heaven. Sometimes just putting one foot in front of another is all I can do. Acknowledging the journey is key for me. Its okay for me to be unfinished, in process. As Shawna Neiquist puts it, "I imagine God noticing all the things about me that should get fixed up one day, and loving me anyway and being okay with the mess for the time being." Exactly.

Then there's trusting God with the journey. Acknowledging the journey only gets me so far. I'm such a planner, such a security-lover. Where will Josh work? Where will we live? Will we have a family someday? I'm slooowly working on, as I walk through life, trusting the One who does not slumber or sleep, who watches over me now and forever. I don't like the phrase, "let go and let God" as I think you can take that one too far. But working on trusting God for the next step, and for his continuing presence and guidance, is what I'm doing right now. I know there will be bumps and bruises as I travel, but God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, promises never to leave or forsake me.

LeCompte Visit

A random weekend with longtime friends... what could be better?

We spent a fun, lazy weekend with Chris and Dee Dee, complete with late night chats, The Office, outlet shopping, a quick, cold campus tour, and lots of good food. Dee Dee was even sweet enough to run my 2 miles with me on Saturday. It almost killed both of us, but we did it! On to 2.25 tonight...

Anyway, here we are at Oliver Winery, a super popular wine tasting spot here in Bloomington.

Highlights?
-Good old fashioned conversations about life, jobs, homeownership, etc. I love catching up!
-Walking ALL around the HPER (old student gym) to find treadmills that we eventually discovered just aren't there
-Eating cheese fondue twice in 1 weekend
-Testing our ability to tell Coke apart from Pepsi (3 out of the 4 of us were succesful!)
-Finding excellent deals (including a $65 Ann Taylor suit) at the outlet mall




And now we're looking forward to what will inevitably be one of the craziest, busyest, and most stressful couple of weeks in the business school process. Internship interviews start tomorrow and Josh has 6 scheduled in the next 3 days. We're praying for successful interviews, calm nerves, and, well, internship offers, but also for the right perspective in all of this...


Running Update: I ran that 2.25 m only by the grace of God tonight. Definitely a toughie...

Happiness Is...

I enjoyed reading this post and this post and thought I'd throw in mine as well...

...FRIDAY

...a cute husband who brought me my special latte from Starbucks (grande vanilla with skim milk and two pumps of syrup) out of the blue this week

...a visit from my parents (see below for a picture of my mom + Riles)

...taking an afternoon nap with Riley (who is always up for naps!)

...friends coming to visit for the weekend. the kind of friends you don't have to entertain but are happy to watch The Office or play Guitar Hero with us all day long. we will miss caring for Natalie this time around!

...organizing my scrapbook paper into 3 foot shelf I bought on sale this week at Hobby Lobby

...trips to Hobby Lobby, and un-spent gift cards to use while there

...a bubble bath with a good book, like this one or this one

...digging into the Psalms of Ascent (more on that later, I'm sure!)

...a birthday party planned for Josh, Amber, and Chad tomorrow night (and the cheese fondue we're planning on bringing)

...a clean and tidy apartment, which was done today in preparation for our friends' visit! otherwise we're not all that on top of things...