What Lies Beneath.

All was quite in the house. Well sorta. Several girls had just finished watching a movie. It was decided that something was needed in the basement. When Asia opened the door, there were noises down there that sounded strangely like someone rummaging around done there. She slammed the door back, ran to her closet, grabbed the shot gun, and told Sarah to get a cell phone. Meanwhile I made sure the rest of the doors where locked. The rest where laughing a bit nervously, and pretty soon everyone was in the kitchen. Agatha brought rationality to the group by explaining that when you are at the top of the stairs to the basement and there are people in the kitchen, it sounds like someone is down there. Asia then opened the door to the basement, cocked the gun, and said "If anyone is down there, you better leave. I have a 12 gauge with buckshots in it. If you do not know what those are, you are an idiot. Basically, you are about to get your face blown off. "

Of course, upon investigation, no one was down there.

Oh, how I love living with Georgia girls.

After...

Goodbyes.
A restless night.
More goodbyes.
Backing up miserably.
Many hours on I-75.
Enjoying the time alone to just be still.
Stopping for the night at my dad's.
Making pizza and drinking Bulmers.
Moving junk from one car to another.
Loading up thing one and thing two.
A couple hours on I-20.

I arrived. In Augusta.

Target and Mark

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble....the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed." Deuteronomy 31:6,8

~I do believe these verses will hold a special places in my heart for the rest of my life.~

Almost three years ago, I, at age 17, had my car all ready to leave the next morning to start live away from my family up in Michigan. It was a Wednesday night, so after meeting they had a little good bye party for me. One of the men came up and had me read the above verses, and some surrounding them. He said "Now darlin', you are going into enemy territory." (For those of you don't know, enemy territory means the North.) But then he reminded me that no matter where life would take me, the Lord would go before me and they would be praying.

Then tonight, two days before I am leaving Michigan, I was given a little plaque with these verses on them as a going away present.

Many things have changed between that first night and tonight ---circumstances, thoughts about things, relationships with people, and experiences. But it is great to be reminded again that no matter where I go, the Lord is going before me.

Yesterday I found these cute little guys in the wood box. They are so tiny and just at the point where their eyes are opening up. They are helpless. They lay in the box on top of each other to keep warm, waiting for their mom to come feed them. Yeah, I am pretty much the same way...we all are, actually, pretty helpless. But God is worthy of my trust.

"In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in thy righteousness."

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart..."

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him..."


The Lord has His ways of showing me He knows me better than I know myself...my needs, wants, and the desires of my heart. There have been several seemingly insignificant circumstances that the Lord has placed in my life this week to show me that He cares and that He is there.
And while the kittens are oh so cute, I hate cats. I named these Target and Mark. :)

Springtime.

The Beloved Chair

Last fall, Christina and I went on a walk. After a few minutes we stumbled across a chair. Sitting all alone at the end of a driveway. The leaf cover orange leather was torn and dirty. I. fell. in. love. It was awkward to carry back, so I pushed it down the dirt road. You should have seen the looks. Barb let me keep it to add a flair of color to my corner of the office.

Well, today, when I got back to the Barn, my chair was no longer there. Christopher is up for a visit, so he is taking it back with him to North Carolina. I will get it from him once I move south. So, I shall see it again. But the desk does seem a bit empty without it.

The real story is that I had always wanted to blog about finding the chair, but never did. Then it just got to the point that it would be weird if I did write about it for no good reason because it happened so long ago. So in the end, today was just my excuse for being able to blog about my beloved chair.

Life is not all black and white pictures.....

The above is what my room has been looking like the past few days. Clothing all out of sorts, empty walls, boxes of junk, suitcases open and half packed. Most of the time the bed is full of stuff so I don't even make it. It is big enough for me to sleep on one side and push the stuff, mostly a hodge podge of books, to the other. A far cry from this. Most of the time I am really organized and cannot go to sleep unless the room is picked up, clothing put away and the books nicely lined up on self. Not so after the past week or two. Why all the choas?

MOVING! Yup, I am moving. This time it will be back to the good ole AUG. That's right Augusta. My hometown. While I have wanted to move back there, I never thought that I actually would. But then God stepped in as only He could, working things out in ways that I would never concoct on my own. Anyway, through several different circumstances, desires of my heart, open doors, and people, God has made His next step for me perfectly clear.

So I am moving to Augusta sometime in the next 10 days. I will be living with some very dear friends of mine and a few extra girls. There will be six of us all together in the house. I am looking forward to all the adventures that will bring! I am looking forward to time with my siblings and the rest of my family, being back at Believers, hanging out with friends, getting to know my neighbors, and serving my Lord and be a blessing to people in the place of my childhood....a place where when I go to Walmart I meet five people I know....and everyone else there at least knows one of my brothers or sisters, or my grandparents, or used to date my dad, or went to school with mom, or something like that.

And to tell you the truth, I am scared to death. I want to share the gospel with the people God puts in my path, but I rejection does not sit well with me. I mean, what will my roommates think when I go knock on the neighbors' door with a plate of cookies and gospel literature? How what I have learned in daily life? What will it be like to share Christ with someone who works with me day in and day out and not just someone I meet at the end of an open air meeting?

Basically, what does life really look like? I live with Christians. I work with Christians. I hang out with Christians. And not just Christians, but ones who have similar goals and desire to serve their God. I want to serve the Lord, but I also realize that failure is an option. The challenge will be thrilling, but sometimes mundane. I hope that my tune will be "I just keep trusting my Lord....He will see me through."

Last night a group of college and career age people that I hang out with got together over at Christina's. Most Tuesdays we meet at a coffee shop called Tim Horton's. They have a sweepstakes going on right now, where you roll up the rim of your cup and it lets you know if you win our not.
Last Tuesday, the only sweepstakes cups that where left were the extra large. So we all pulled our change and bought a couple hot chocolates. And proceeded to act like complete goof balls. Oh, and both times we got the "Please Play Again" Anywho, last night I was given an extra large roll up the rim cup from Tim Horton's which everyone signed as a going away present. And in keeping with our luck, I won a "Please Play Again" Those people are going to be dearly missed.


And finally, when I was going through some papers at a very ungodly hour last night, I found this with a letter on the back from one of my sisters a couple of years ago. It warmed my heart. And brightened my face.

Downtown

Royal Oak. Saturday we were going go back out to the streets with the paintboard because it has been nice and warm the past few days. But with April sunshine comes April showers. When I got there, it looked like the sky was about to erupt.
So we followed the good ole advice.... Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. We went to dinner and for coffee :)


And in case you have not noticed, I have really had a thing for black and white pictures recently.

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