She is a beautiful flower even in the midst of snow.

satisfying, joyful, deeply meaningful, challenging, frustrating, and in the end simply rewarding- this is the way "work" should be.

I can't tell you how happy I am to be working for The Salvation Army. Just to be working for a nonprofit again is incredibly fulfilling. Dustin has remarked that I am myself again. I hadn't realized how awful I felt having to go to jobs that I hated everyday and didn't find meaning in at all. I have missed this -working long hours, putting in extra effort, being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, because getting the job done means people are fed physically and spiritually, children get toys and clothes and can have a glimpse of true childhood, families are relieved if even just for one night of the stress of putting food on the table or the worry of how they might pay their water bill. This is true work. I have missed it. I am thankful beyond words that God has given it to me again.

I missed out on fall while living in Florida for the past five years. Fall is my favorite time of the year. I would much rather be cold than hot, which is probably why I prefer fall to spring. I can live with and even delight in knowing that cold is coming. Hot is a different story. Fall in Oregon is living up to all of my patient expectations. The trees have begun to change colors a bit. The tops of the trees are turning red while the rest is still green, so beautiful! The crisp air is so refreshing and encouraging to me. Knowing that the hot, sweaty days of summer are coming to an end makes me smile. I never want to live without fall ever again.

I have been patienting waiting for this book to arrive in the mail and now that it has I can't seem to put it down. It's amazing. Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcapal Priest and this book is her journey of faith. I highly recommend it. Here are a few nuggets which I'm still thinking about:

"Is the Divine Presence in the world or in my eye?"

"God uses whatever is usable in life, both to speak and to act, and those who insist on fireworks in the sky may miss the electricity that sparks the human heart."

"Being ordained is not about sering God perfectly but about serving God visibly, allowing other people to learn whatever they can from watching you rise and fall. You probably won't be much worse than other people..and you certainly won't be any better, but you will have to let people look at you. You will have to let people see you as you are."

Maybe the biggest tragedy in modern day church is the unrealness that we often find there. I don't know how the expectation started but I mourn it. I really appreciate books this like because she speaks truthly and openly about whatever doubts, fears, false expectations, hurts, etc. she found within her faith. These things aren't living outside of her faith or outside of her, they weren't taking stabs and then going away. They are part of the faith, the part that makes faith strong, the part that often causes us to stand up another day.

Finally the pics.

This is what you see when you first walk in, our little eating nook/ Dustin's study space. The table has wheels, so we can roll it out of the way when we have to do laundry (the door is behind the table to the left)















This is our kitchen. Not having a dishwasher sucks, but we're getting use to doing dishes non-stop.















Dustin is in our living room located in the north wing. As you can see our bedroom is located in the south wing.
















We really are enjoying our little studio. It definitely makes you aware of how much wasted space we often live with. However, there are frustrating moments, so far we've been able to laugh about them...let's hope that continues. =)

It's the best friends that need you
Sometimes they leave you
It's the best friend's lives' kiss you
In my case, I'll miss you

It's the best friends that make you
Sometimes they break you
It's the best friends that move you
In my case, see through you

It's the best friends that need you
In my case, believe you
It's the best friend's lives' kiss you
In my case, I'll miss you

by Denison Witmer

I recently read “Travels with Charley” by John Steinbeck, what a timely book for us!! Mr. Steinbeck spent 3 months traveling across the United States with his dog, Charley. I can’t begin to describe how timely this book was for me or how the more I read Steinbeck’s work the more respect I have for him. Where I had no words he put into words what I was thinking, feeling, and seeing. Here are a few excerpts that I loved.

“I had not heard the speech of America, smelled the grass and trees and sewage, seen its hills and water, its color and quality of light. I knew the changes only from books and newspapers.”

I have wrote before about the tugging inside of myself to be at home close to my family and to travel and explore and live in different cultures. When I read of another land I want to go see it for myself, that will never change. I always want to be one who sees for myself, I just need that for some reason.

“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.”

I am encouraged that others are feeling as I feel. I have been blessed to have the ability to go and move all throughout my life. Dustin and I have talked of settling in Portland. I fear that freedom of going might be fleeting with future plans of buying a house, having a baby, and starting a church. Whatever happens, I appreciate my past and hope in my future.

“I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate…And in the humid ever-summer I dare his picturing mind not to go back to the shout of color, to the clean rasp of frosty air, to the smell of pine wood burning and the caressing warmth of kitchens. For how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?”

I know that I harp on Florida a lot, specifically how I don’t like living there. Steinbeck puts into words what I’ve felt but am not articulate enough to convey myself.

I recommend this read for anyone, especially those that are traveling. One friend that I thought of the whole time I was reading was Jamie Simkins. Have you read it Jamie? I don’t know why, but I thought of you.