Blackberry Chronicles: Installment 2

This is our new and QUITE improved laundry room :) For a while Jonathan was calling it the shame dungeon. Anything that we couldn't find a place for, found itself being tossed into the abyss. Our dryer wasn't up and running until Friday, so it really wasn't bothering anyone.

Then, all at once, some profoundly domestic aura fell upon me and I whipped the room into shape while Jonathan fixed our dryer. I wish I had before pictures for you, the "after" shot alone just does not do the place justice.

Not a lot of explaining to do here. My dear friend Mina and I were on our way to our Juvenile Justice summer class, and we just had to sqeeze in a little Starbucks to get our brains functioning.

Grande iced chai. yes. please.

Tee hee. A few month's ago Jonathan's phone went a little cuckoo--but with no insurance and another year to go on the contract, we purchased a GoPhone for the time being. they look like silly little play phones. He can pick between, like, 2 backgrounds and 3 ring tones. So when we saw this sign... i just couldn't resist. He's such a trooper :)

Did you ever crave something so intensely...

...That you simply could not WAIT for dinner time?

pretty pretty.

Happy Father's Day, to my Rock

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

Psalm 103:13

I know, i'm a day late, but I want to honor my dad with this post.

My dad is a rock in every sense of the word. He's rock solid, for one. The man will have his 50th birthday in a month, and to celebrate he is doing a solo 100 mile bicycle ride. i made him this shirt to wear while he prepares for the big ride: He's also stubborn. Apparently, that part is genetic because my husband says i can be a little hard-headed too :) But more importantly, he is my anchor, my stronghold, my marker, and my immovable source of stability and strength; rock-like in every way.

But at heart...
he is a
BIG
GIANT
softy.

My dad LIVES love. He actively pursues compassion.
And he does it because His own heart was softened by a love even GREATER than this.

My dad, in his "rock" nature, is not easy to convince of things. He is a very fluid and a very deep thinker, but to believe in something, truly BELIEVE it, it takes a lot for my dad. He relies very little on "feelings" and puts a lot of weight on cold, hard evidence.

So when it came to the idea of Jesus...He wasn't going to give in easily.

For my dad, it came down to reality.
The reality beyond the world he'd been living in. He was living for himself, no real direction or motivation but to feel good and stay happy.

...And that was beginning to feel empty.

And then there was this Jesus. He came promising new life and freedom. Feelings that had been lost for my Father in a haze of depression an anxiety.

Could it be real?

Could there be new, everlasting life? Could there be freedom from addictions and guilt and painful memories?

Could there be a loving Father who created my father with a purpose and a plan?

So he began to read the bible- and scripture came alive to him, reality showed it's honest face.

Romans 3:21-28

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law (that means NOT by doing good things or trying to earn the righteousness), has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify (read the old Testament- the prophets pointed to Jesus from the very beginning- it's a beautiful picture of God's faithfulness!).This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (doesn't matter how bad you think you are or how impossible your situation may seem), and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement (that means he paid for your sins so YOU don't have to), through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Meaning no one can claim a higher righteousness than any one else, because under our own power- we are all sinful, but under Christ we can all be made perfectly righteous.)

My dad saw that he was sinful. He had felt the pressure of the world telling him He wasn't good enough, he had felt the defeat of the world over him--
And then it all just clicked.
A perfectly just, rock-like God requires payment for sin. But a perfectly loving God sacrifices Himself for the sake of His children so that they can be set free from the bonds of sin and live with Him eternally.
And my Dad ran into His Father's arms for the first time.
And the grace that had been poured out on him, overflowed to us, his wife and children.
And WE came to know Jesus.
My father led me to my true Father in heaven. He guided me to the source of a deeper PEACE, a greater JOY, and a more profound FREEDOM than I have ever known.
Thank you, Dad, for living a life that honors God and that will leave a legacy more powerful than you could ever imagine.

I love you.

The Blackberry Chronicles

I've noticed that all the cool blogs have weekly "things." Like "Me in Threes on Thursdays" over at Yellow Songbird, or "Where I Live Wednesdays" over at After, I Do. I thoroughly enjoy these as I feel they give readers a unique and thorough look into the writer's life. So as I was attempting to share some photos with you and found that my camera was in an incredibly uncooperative mood, I defaulted to sharing random pictures from my phone and their corresponding captions. And at the very moment, my "thing" was born. I hope for it to be a Friday installation piece- introducing:

The Blackberry Chronicles

This is the lovely place I come to work each morning. I know you can't tell in this picture, but it's actually a luxuriously spacious office on the top floor of a very important glass building...

...ok, I'm in the basement.

...and the walls are cinder block.

BUT in all seriousness, I couldn't ask for a better place to work. I work with two of the brightest and kindest attorneys I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Pam, the office secretary has also been an incredible resource and welcoming face each and every day. I am so fortunate to be working in such a pleasant and laid back environment. I am learning a lot at a comfortable pace. I love getting to work with actual PEOPLE every once in awhile instead of "hypothetical" ones (thank you, law school.) I have also been encouraged to see that jobs with flexible schedules for lawyers who are moms actually DO exist. Not EVERY lawyer works 80 hours a week- Revelation!

Pretzel spelling is a special skill of mine...also a great distraction when studying for finals. One day I hope to make the entire alphabet in a single sitting.

High aspirations, I know...

...Don't act like you're not impressed.

During a little visit to the Carnegie Museum, we happened upon this bird exhibit--

Can you believe this?? Nice going Carnegie, way to break a child's heart.

A brief word to the person who posted this fiery note about people's disregard for the environment : When accusing others of being "stupid," it is best to not misspell the word.

And a personal favorite of mine...

Each and every morning I drive my little car over to the WVU Coliseum parking lot where I conveniently hop on a shuttle bus for the parents of Freshman who are here for new student orientation.

Pros:

-I don't have to pay for parking.

-I've made friends with the orientation leaders

-Sometimes a friendly mom will sit next to me and strike up a random conversation-my favorite!

-and most importantly, I get to see this guy. He works as a live advertisement for the Book Exchange by dressing up like a priest and holding up a sign that says, "Lowest Prices in Town, Would I lie to you?" Every day I ride the bus with a new set of parents that think this is hilarious, which is great because it makes me feel less nerdy for laughing out loud every single time.

Cons:

-none :)

Have a pleasant weekend!

*Oh, and I'm making a surprise trip home on Sunday for Father's Day! Shhhh! Don't tell Dad!

When life gives you cabbage...

My loving husband and I made a trip to Aldi for groceries on Saturday. As I wandered off to peruse the frozen goodies, I asked him to grab a head of lettuce. Later that evening as we were enjoying a lovlely salad with toasted almonds and poppeyseed dressing, we realized that the lettuce was a little tough.

And then we realized. What we had originally believed to be a head of lettuce was in fact...

a head of cabbage.

quite a different thing altogether.

But no worries! Because I whipped up my (not so) famous...

Cabbage roll casserole, yummies! Ok,ok- so maybe it wasn't our favorite meal of all time, but it was ok. Especially if you come from a family where cabbage rolls are a way of life, it's a nice little way to sink back into your childhood without the hassle of actually making real cabbage rolls. (Which I will manage to do eventually.)

Needless to say, Jonathan was more than gracious and ate an entire serving (along with half a loaf of italian bread.) And even complimented my efforts afterward. He is a genuine sweetheart- how fortunate am I?

(seemingly unrelated) moral of the story: It is AMAZING how much easier relationships can be when both people make it their primary purpose to love the other one. I mean really LOVE the other one. When you don't make this a practice, little things like cabbage can become big ordeals. I know it sounds silly, but I've seen myself do it. I could have belittled my husband for picking up the wrong thing at the grocery store, and he could have given me a hard time about a fairly crappy meal. But neither of us went down that road. We laughed it off, excused and encouraged one another, and had a lovely evening.

All this dinner talk reminds me of a fun recipe I wanted to share with you guys. I made this last night and it was a hit!

Coca-Cola Chicken

4 chicken breasts

1/4 cup honey BBQ sauce ( i only had original so i added some honey and a little brown sugar)

1/2 cup ketchup

1 can of coke

Put everything in a medium size saucepan and bring it to a boil

Turn the heat down to medium, cover, and let it simmer for about 30 mins while occasionally mixing.

Take cover off and let simmer uncovered for about 10 mins.
I recommend letting it sit off the heat for about 5 mins before eating to let the sauce thicken.

and then...

Enjoy :)

I also recommend making everyone guess what's in the secret sauce. They'll NEVER come up with it.

Children all over the world make me smile :)

How can you not love these precious faces?

Mondays can be rough. Nobody likes rolling out of bed after a {satisfying, relaxing, full, lovely} weekend to return to the daily grind. Whether you sit behind a desk or drive a bus or, whether you bring home the bacon, or the bacon bits, whether you're living the dream or just scraping by, whether you're doing what you love or doing what you have to--everyone needs a reason to go to work in the morning.

And these children are mine:)

I don't know their names and I've never met them. I don't know where they live or what they like to do for fun.

But I know that 1.1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water.
I know that every 7 seconds a child dies from hunger. I know that there are 27 million slaves in the world today- more than ever. I know that 1 million children are exploited in the global commericial sex trade every year. I know that there is so much hurt in the world, and I know that I want to be a force against it.

I've never had a passion for a career. I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. And maybe just because I'm wired that way, law school can sometimes have me looking around at early mornings and the late nights, the memos and exams, interships and resumes- and i wonder what in the world I'm doing. I grumble at the alarm clock and the casebooks. Then I take a deep breath. I think of their faces. I think of all that I have been given and all that I have. I think of the resources before me. I think of how so many could never dream of a world where women can be empowered, and children can go to school. A world where you don't fall asleep in fear and hunger every night. A world where you don't work 20 hour days to pay off an impossible debt. A world where you are FREE. And I think of how law school is an invaluable tool, how the things I learn could impact them forever. I think about how if they had the opportunity to do what I take for granted, they would read the casebooks cover to cover without complaint. I know the power that law can have in the pursuit of justice.

So I'm looking at Monday differently. Monday is a day where I gain a few more ounces of knowledge and experience. I am one day closer to having the skills that will make my passion a reality. It's a beaituful day. a fortunate day. a day set in place by the creater and orchestrator of the universe, and I am so excited to find out what He has in store.

Some scripture that speaks to my heart:

when I forget that I am weak, but He is strong:

Psalm 35:10
My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you, O LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

when I forget that nothing I have is truly mine:

Proverbs 3:27-28
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow” when you now have it with you.

when I feel like getting lazy:

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

When the cause seems too big or I feel too small:

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

What are your passions? why do you get up and GO in the morning?

Be refreshed and encouraged as you embark on this exciting week!!

The things I'd do for seven Fridays a week...

I woke up this morning to Eric and Kevin yelling at me from inside our radio alarm clock. I snoozed them from 6:30 until 7:40 as they continued to interrupt my dreams with their morning show banter every 9 minutes. My eye lids finally peeled back and my still sleepy brain began putting together little pieces of reality. Eric and Kevin, I decided were, in fact, still in the radio and not in my bedroom as I was beginning to suspect.

I delayed actually getting out of bed, as I always do, until I think of what I want to wear. I reason that standing in my closet and staring at everything doesn't help me come to a decision any faster, and staying nestled under my covers is much more inviting. Finally I decided on a simple gray top and jeans with a striped fall sweater. An odd choice in June, to be sure, but my office is more like the arctic tundra, so I must plan ahead. Layering is crucial because of the commute to my car after work under the hot summer sun. Fall sweater gets stuffed in my bag to avoid melting and weird looks from passers-by. I pair this little ensemble with large tarnished silver earring from a market in Guatemala that say, "No-she didn't pull her hair back in a bun this morning because she woke up late and couldn't get it to cooperate with her (yes she did), she did it because she wanted US to be the focal point!"

Somewhere en route from my bedroom to the bathroom I remembered that to today was Friday! The gateway to a wonderful weekend. It will actually be our first together at home since the wedding--which was over a month ago. For one reason or another we have had to trek back to Weirton every single weekend. We absolutely love spending time with my family, and I don't like being 2 hours away from them...but there is something to be said for sleeping in instead of getting up at 7:30 am on Saturdays to eat breakfast at Town Hall. There is definitely something to be said for tidying up the apartment, relaxing at the pool, spending time with friends, and having a romantic date night with Jonathan rather than babysitting 2 little nerdballs, (albeit, they are, in fact, my two very FAVORITE nerdballs in the whole entire world.)

I will leave you with a photo of nerdballs and well as some others that encapsulate what I HOPE my weekend will look like :)

The nerds.

...And now for my weekend plans :)

Spend some much-needed time with this lovely lady.

Find a field, or a coffee shop would do, where I can think and pray and read and be with Jesus.

Have a bowling & dinner date night with Jonathan--my goal is to bowl something with 3 digits. I never ever have!

I would like my apartment to look like this. Pristine. Yes, please.

After I finish all that cleaning, I'm going straight to the pool!
Three cheers for funny tan lines.

and of course, LOTS of snuggling and laughing and chatting and relaxing with this stud.

Bookshelf expressions

Let me begin by saying that you can decorate your bookshelves however you want to.
Even with ratty old birdcages that you got at a flea market years and years ago,
and vases filled with sand.
Even when your husband thinks it's very silly :)

Speaking of bookshelves...

I would love to put this in a child's room some day (complete with the little rainboots!) I bet it makes the books more magical :)

The apartment as a whole, including the bookcase, is all coming together slowly. There seem to be small heaps of things in various location that will not go away. But little by little, piece by piece, everything is finding it's home. It'll be nice when we have living room furniture and a tv. We HAD a tv until a certain Papa G pulled a certain cable cord directly out of the tv, thus stripping the cable thingy and destroying our little baby television forever. a sad day indeed.

Good news however: I've been desperately trying to figure out a way that we can spend a weekend in Sandusky this summer for a fun-filled Saturday at Cedar Point with the Bozic's. Our budget wasn't really allowing for it until- PRAISES! My new friend Mr. Brian "off-campus housing direcor" Walker introduced me to a little part time job called "SAT/ACT test proctoring." Pay ranges from $80-150 ish per test. They're only on Saturday mornings/afternoons and it's certainly not a fun job, but-hey-if it's gonna get me on the Dragster, bring it on baby. I'll proctor till my eyes fall out.

4:14, Think I'm going to start wrapping things up for the evening.

Thanksgiving in June

Everybody knows New Year's resolutions don't stick...
...but I hear some people are having luck with summer ones :)

It's summertime and I am thankful.

Thankful for not having to dig my car out of the snow.

Thankful for a job that I love.

Thankful to be getting my seminar class out of the way.

Thankful to be done with finals.

Thankful for an apartment that feels like a home.

Thankful for a mother who taught me to cook.
Thankful for far-away friends who keep in touch.
Thankful that my parents made my car pretty and new again.

Thankful for some quiet time.

Thankful for the little electric piano that brings me such joy.

Thankful that I was able to celebrate our marriage with all of the people we love most.

Thankful for 2 new sisters.

Thankful for a husband that just feels like another part of me.

Thankful to the Lord for all these things and so many more.