I’ve started a new project on the house… It’s a mixture of this…
(Taken from here)
And a little bit of this…
(Taken from here)
Can you guess what project I did in the house?
I’ll post a picture tomorow!
Online Style!
Author: Caroline
When I'm not riding in the backseat of my Grandpa's restored vintage car "Mable," I'm doing other things like...
rising to most adventure occasions my husband proposes /
chasing our toddler around Brooklyn /
enjoying neighbors, strangers, and friends /
making countless trips to the laundromat /
writing for various publications and for personal reflection /
loving and serving our local church /
cleaning the bathroom /
hosting small and big crowds in our home /
meeting up with a friend for coffee /
thinking
Vocation is my strange frenemy. Though I have worked and existed in many stations/places, I am convinced that each day has good work to be done and that I am equipped and prepared to do that good work.
This blog explores the tension and the intersection of a constant vocational call - to good work, neighbor love, and living in the kingdom come.
My favorite things are coffee and creating and laughing (preferably with company). I love to listen to sermons and read biographies and make tea before going to bed.
It’s Not Personal, It’s Business {moving on up… outta my cube}
I’ve been feeling anxious this weekend about giving my 2 weeks at work. I know that it’s what I’m supposed to do- the timing is right, it’s been coming for a long time, and I feel confident that this is the right choice… but I keep thinking about what I’ll say, and how they’ll react. I keep thinking about that line in “You’ve Got Mail” that the Tom Hanks character tells the Meg Ryan character… It’s not personal, it’s business, It’s not personal, It’s business. I keep telling myself this.
Christina, you are not the first person to move on from a job!
Christina, you are not irreplaceable! They’ll be fine!
Christina, they won’t hate you!
Christina, IT’S NOT PERSONAL, IT’S BUSINESS.
The problem is, it is personal to me. I’m not a businesswoman. I think that’s one of the reasons I’m moving on from here, truthfully. I’m not a hardened business-lady. I’m not a knock-down drop-out cutthroat, getting the sale. It is personal to me. I feel bad that I’m leaving, and they’ll be left in the lurch. I feel bad that they’ve taken the time to train me, being patient with my struggles in this field of work. In general, I feel bad.
And I think what I’ve figured out is, you know, it is personal to me. I can be patient with the fact that I’m emotional going into this, because even though I don’t like it here, I have done my best and feel a loyalty to this company because it has been my job to do a good job here. And that is OK.
In church yesterday- the pastor gave a message that might as well have been just to me. Thank you Lord, for getting my behind to church yesterday! It was all about how when we follow God, it might not be all hearts and unicorns (my paraphrase)… there may be struggles. There may be times when we don’t understand his plan. With Joseph (that I wrote about here,) he had to wait something like 17 YEARS to see God’s plan in the whole sordid deal. This makes me feel a tiny bit {sarcasm} different about the situation I find myself in. For the most part, I DO see God’s hand in where he’s taking me. I am so thankful that he is showing me the light in front of my feet on this path! And the parts I don’t understand? Those parts that are difficult for me on this journey?
Well, then it’s time to reference these verses the pastor gave…
Weekly Lineup
We hope you liked last week’s posts – we are having so much fun letting out some of our creative bursts and philosophical ramblings for others to see! This is a week for ch ch changes for both Christina and me, so we are going to post around that as a central theme. We are overwhelmed with both stresses and blessings, but we know our hope is secure in the Lord – and PRAISE the LORD for that!
Check out this week’s lineup and read each day to keep up with all the changin’!
Moving on up… out of my cube
To say Christina is in the middle of a transition is a bit of an understatement. There is a LOT moving and shaking in her life, so read about how she is staying grounded and where she is finding joy.
Moving on out… from my new favorite city
Almost exactly one year ago, I made the Southern trek and days after connected with Katelin, who led me to meet my core group of Austin friends. I jumped in without hesitation and now, a year later, I am saying some emotional goodbyes. In a rare center stage moment, I convinced my community group to have a talent show instead of a farewell party! Read about all my mixed emotions…
Election: Who to choose when neither seems right
Okay, so we’ve been teasing you with this whole election idea for a couple weeks now and have not delivered. Apologies all around! It’s just that, politics isn’t the first or easiest thing for us to write about. But, the thing is, we want to be informed and we want to encourage others to be informed as well.
Labeling my life one box at a time: The making of a minimalist
I own one tube of insect repellent. I own one bottle of Tums. I own nineteen necklaces. That’s right – I am taking inventory of everything I own. The original motive was mandatory – so my packages would pass the x-ray screenings on their way to Honduras. But, now I’m finding conviction and liberation in knowing just what I’ve collected and stored over this year.
The Simple Life: Clearing out the clutter
Christina is always great with new ideas, but this one is a must-read. Her latest project – getting rid of half her stuff – sounds a little more intense. And it is. Christina is getting serious about the clutter in her life, and she’s starting with clothes. One pile for ‘keep’. One pile for ‘give away’. And one pile for ‘ask a fashion-conscious friend’ (probably not her sister Caroline!).
I think that should about do it. No guarantees on these posts, folks. We are admitting from the get-go of this week that our limits are creeping up fast. But enjoy what you find!
As always, feel free to comment or email – we’d love to hear from you!
Start the day off right
WHOLE WHEAT/ OAT BRAN PANCAKES
2 cups whole wheat/ oat bran flour blend
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil or applesauce
I add in about 1 teaspoon each of ground flax seeds and wheat germ too
Stir together dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, and oil. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened (batter may be lumpy). Cook on preheated griddle until bubbles form and edges start to dry. Flip and cook until lightly browned.
I’ve been making whole wheat pancakes for about a year now, and frankly, no one really wants to eat them with me because they are very, well, whole-wheaty. I think I found the solution this a.m. when I used my new oat bran mix flour. It’s basically unbleached, unenriched whole wheat flour, and oat flour mixed up. I swear these pancakes were as light and fluffy as any white flour pancakes- so delish. Plus, look at the ingredient list. All healthful ingredients- love it 🙂
Also- my roommate moved out today. The house is too quite and empty, so I’m blasting praise music and making piles all over the house trying to utilize all the new space to get some organization back in my life.
If you are spending time today trolling the blogs- check out my new friend!
Things on my mind/ Why i’m not returning people’s phone calls
Best friend baby, Ti. Isn’t he just amazing? I love him so. Can’t wait to see him at (other) best friend wedding next month!
1) Giving 2 weeks at job, next week
2) Mission Trip, in August
3) Roommate is moving out tomorow
4) Accepted p/t position yesterday for when I return from trip, trusting God and applying for other p/t positions
5) House-sitting in Ankeny all week this week
6) Budget crunchdown to save for job-quitting and mission-trip
7) Sister moving to Honduras in a few weeks
8) Planning Meg’s bach party with other bestie, Tina
Hmm, I think those are the biggies. Lots going on, eh? I wouldn’t say I’m stressed- I have my moments but all in all I know that this is God’s best plan for me, and I’m thrilled to be along for the ride. LOVING IT!
{going to lunch now- will write about one of these topics when I get back 🙂 }
Preparation, Packing, and Peril
Okay, so I couldn’t think of another “p” word, so I just used peril. .. I thought it would give this post an illusive, mysterious tone (completely undeserved as you’ll soon find out).
I’ve been running around like a crazy fool lately, trying to get ready for my most Southern move yet. Per instructions from my future employer, all my things must fit in boxes equaling no more than 30 cubic feet, specifically labeled and every item inventoried (so that it can make it past the x-ray machine). This has led to an all-out inventory of all my belongings, which has been quite the ordeal. It didn’t take me more than a night and a half (which thrilled my inner-minimalist), but still, to look at everything on paper is kind of sick. I have so much stuff.
Here’s a picture of my packing thus far:
I packed the bedspread and pillows right off my bed!
In other preparation news, I have been spending some decent time in patchwork Spanish conversations with my housemate and her guests from Colombia. The 8-year-old Paula just laughs and shakes her head when my efforts frustrate her.
I’m also trying to study the psychology text I’ll be using. I have the unfortunate tendency to get way ahead of myself, planning activities before I fully read the content.
Well, this must be short. The only peril I face right now is fitting everything in! Today and tomorrow my office is getting painted and I can’t be in there for the fumes. Tomorrow I’m having a morning worship service at Mt. Bunnell with my friend Joy and then going to Fiesta Texas with Adela, Losmarina, and Paula in the afternoon. I’m gearing up for a long day.
If you’re interested in my adventure in Tegucigalpa and want to follow along in my journey, I do have a website: Adventures in Tegucigalpa. Don’t expect anything spectacular, or even ordinary. I just wanted to make information about background, updates, PDF newsletters, pictures, and other interesting tidbits available for those who were interested.
Adventures of the Life I Wish I Led, Part 2
If you missed the first little blurb in this series, check out part 1. I’ll just say again that this is a joyful exploration into my life as it would be if wishes came true. It’s not meant to be realistic or prophetic, but just my hearts desires at this point in time.
This afternoon unfolds as beautiful and tragical as a flowering lily, whose beginning and end span a few short hours…
I shook the poetic nonsense from my mind to focus on the task at hand, or packs at hand rather. I somehow managed to recruit seven 14 and 15-year-olds for this maiden voyage into the mountains of Celaque National Park for a week of adventuring and soul-searching. Just then I had nine packs and contents covering the floor of our small home. I had another hour or so to get everything done and cleared so I could replace the table and chairs for dinner.
My former employers would be in complete shock at the lack of risk management paperwork I went through for students to jump on my little plane and fly out of their village with myself and Jeremy the only chaperones. I suppose Jeremy’s medical background provided a certain level of confidence, but our backpacking experience was limited to the trips we’d taken together.
We managed to scramble and borrow amongst missionary friends to come up with all our supplies. We ended up buying a few necessary things, but as I attached the last Nalgene I couldn’t help but think of this trip in terms of that silly Mastercard ad: priceless.
I had presented the idea after a conversation with dear Flora prompted some intense prayer time. After Jeremy and I talked and prayed, we knew the Lord was leading us to offer an experience outside the village and away from routines. Flora was one of our favorite and most avid pupils. Though her family wasn’t much interested in church, they were glad to see her being useful, so she spent most of her free time at the meeting house and on our open front porch. She was so hungry for Truth – her questions seemed to have no end! Jeremy and I spent hours with her in Scripture, but her questions were finally exhausted. She looked at us, both vulnerable and scared, “I know this is right.”
Our swell of joy and gladness was quickly tempered by Flora’s resistance to any kind of decision. Her fear for her family overwhelmed her understanding of “right.” She remained our most regular visitor, but our discussion (especially regarding spiritual things) stayed safely philosophical.
So, with the summer months coming and school ending, we knew the parents might agree to a week away. After four years in Yamaranguila, we had all but been adopted by several gracious families. Though some were still skeptical, seven families agreed.
I placed each pack neatly up against the North wall and went over the list once again. Jeremy would be home in about 15 minutes and we were meeting the kids and their families that night in the meeting house for a final farewell before heading out bright and early the next morning.
"The Shack" built on shoddy foundation, according to Challies
Heard about all the hype about the best-selling book- The Shack?
Proceed with caution, my friends.
Check out our new guide to discerning reading on the right, courtesy Tim Challies. After reading this article about The Shack, I was more than motivated to be discerning in my reading. Tim Challies has an amazing website, Discerning Reader, with book reviews and resources, if you want to check it out.
Relationship Strife: Cause and Cure
Yesterday, I went to the 9:15 service before I got my Spanish on at the Spanish service. I knew they were studying James, but I was so glad to be blessed with the message from James 4:1-10 on relationship strife. James is so perfectly practical – he gets down to the nitty gritty details of our spiritual lives. And this passage in James really reminded me that God designed our hearts and minds in such a way (His image) that we seek to live in harmony with others around us. Though not always the case, our relationships should reflect our Creator.
James writes about the frustrations of relationship strife, but re-directs the question to one of personal nature.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
Our relational struggles often come out of our own personal issues about wanting things we don’t have.
You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
So, it’s kind of a dreary cycle: We want something we do not have -> we get jealous and covet and hate -> we still do not have it -> this leads us to quarreling and fighting -> we do not ask God -> when we finally do ask God, it’s because we want for our own selfish pleasures -> then there will inevitably be more jealousy, fighting, and self-seeking.
I know – it sounds so base, but this is what I do left to my own devices. Sometimes I get so down on myself about relationships – feeling guilty about not keeping in touch and wishing I could be more to more people. What I am realizing after reading and re-reading this passage is that if I’m truly desiring good relationships, I have to be serious about my personal relationship with the Lord. Instead of trying to find external reasons why I quarrel, I have to first examine my heart. Francis Schaeffer writes in True Spirituality about sin always starting inside (often unseen) before it manifests itself in an external act, like harsh words.
James gives a painful admonition when he says,
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?”
What then? We are a depraved people – as Isaiah said he was, “a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.” We all feel the physical separation from our Savior, but what are we to do?
James responds with a reminder that God gives us more grace and a reference to Proverbs 3:34 …
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Humility? Is that really the key? My pastor talked about perfect submission… that we would come before the Lord and say, “You can have me, all of me.” The practical things will follow: resisting the devil, drawing near to God, cleansing through repentance, grieving the weight of sin. God promises to lift us up when we humble ourselves before Him.
Somewhere along the way, we got convinced that relationships were about other people. But, I really don’t think that’s how God has designed us. We are made to worship our Creator first, in personal relationship. Relationships with others grow wearisome when we are not living in submission to the Lord.
Oh, heavens, how I need help with this one! Especially now when I feel all a jumble!
Weekly Lineup
Well, folks, can you believe another week has come and gone? Let me tell you – denial doesn’t work. The days still peel off the calendar with not a touch of feeling. I’m consistently weepy if I let my thoughts wander in any sort of farewell direction, so I try to stick to safer subjects. For this week, I can assure you I’ll overflow at least once onto these electronic pages, but here are some other things that you can (hopefully) expect.
Strife: Cause and Cure
Read Caroline’s reaction to a sermon on James 4:1-10 about the root of our troubled relationships. How much of our relational confusion could be solved by the advice James gives?
Hostess with the Most(less)?
Some people really can throw a party … and then there are others that are pretty obviously gifted in other areas. How can we be hospitable, even when it’s not our forte? How can we make our homes happy and welcoming without breaking the bank or overwhelming guests?
Adventures of the Life I Wish I Led, Part II
If you read the first part, then you’ll be wondering where the next wish will take me – Michigan, Iowa, Honduras, who knows? We’ve established I’m a missionary… I work in some sort of education complex with a husband who is some sort of medical doctor, and I have some sort of granola fashion style. Let’s see what’s next!
Election Season: Unspun
We’re no experts on politics, but we do get pretty serious about making every aspect of our lives match up with our hearts. Because of all the propaganda, it’s hard to know what a candidate actually stands for – you know, what’s behind all of the motivational speeches and slogans. Well, we may not know more than the next guy, but we’re working on it.
Okay, that about wraps it up. Definitely still expect some surprises – we don’t have this planning thing down pat yet, but hopefully we will keep fine-tuning the process. As my departure for Honduras gets ever closer, I’m thinking I might need to do a little extra blogging for updates and things. So, look for that on here or for a link to another site. Hope you are all having a HAPPY monday!
MUSINGS IN THE MIDST 
