feliz navidad.

Merry Christmas to all!

This being my first year away from my family for Christmas made it a tough one. It was sad to be away and not be able to eat my grandma's Christmas fudge and to open gifts with my family on Christmas Eve. I was glad to see everyone over skype, but I was definitely sad to miss it.

Our Christmas lights in our room!

BUT! I did get to experience Christmas in Argentina! It's quite different. Mainly, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. Or it's a big deal in a different way.

On Christmas Eve, which they call Noche Bueno ("Good Night") they have a big dinner with family, sometimes friends. Dinner was around 10 p.m. Pork and yummy  and we sat and chatted about things. The family we stayed with spends the last 10 minutes before midnight in prayer thanking God for sending His Son and providing for us. Then they got out all the deserts and champagne, turned on the T.V. and counted down until the Navidad!

5- 4- 3- 2- 1... FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Then the whole city blew up fireworks! Haha! And since our house overlooks the city we had a prime view! Of course they were small fireworks that you set off with your friends on the 4th of July, and they told us that it was NOTHING compared to what it will be like on New Years!

On Christmas day the family we live with went out to their parents house to continue the festivities but we decided to stay back and celebrate our own way, which consisted of reading the birth of Jesus, making some of Staci's traditional family dishes, watching part of The Grinch, and opening the gifts we got each other. It was definitely different but enjoyable non-the-less.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention we made cookies since we couldn't make fudge!

Hope you all were able to find true Joy in the season and that you can start the new year rejuvenated!

Pastor Fabian, Patricia, Andres and Gabriel, 

the family I life with saying Merry Christmas after the Christmas service!

<3

weekend in irigoyen.

After a great week of recovery, both mentaly, spiritually, and physically, Staci and I went to visit the last of the four covenant churches here in northern Argentina.

This church is in a small town called Irigoyen (pronounced by the locals as "Irigoshen"). It is a 5-6 hour drive north of La Plata. What makes the trip interesting is that we have to stop for gas every hour and everyone has to get out of the car in order for them to fill it up. I haven't really asked yet, but I have a feeling that its either different from what we us in the U.S. or that their tanks are really small. Anyways, we traveled at night, so every hour I would sleep walk my way out of the van and wait for the guy filling up our gas to finish, then sleep walk back in, get comfortable and crash again.

The decorated door of the church in Irigoyen.

The pastor and his wife, Beto and Claudia, with their young daughter Alma have been making this trip for 6 months! 6 hours there after the work week, two or three days there, and 6 hours back on Sunday night. They do this because the church no longer has a pastor and they didn't want the church to close. After the last pastor left, a lot of the people left as well. The church service was only Staci, me, and three other people that come regularly. Beto explained that they have done a lot of outreach and have a few other new believer couples that they minister to, but they don't make Sunday church a priority.

At first I was kind of sad about the situation. But I was really encouraged by their faithfulness. They really feel called to ministering to the small town, and I think that God will continue to bless their faithfulness.

SO! Our weekend:


Saturday we prepared and ran the kids program that they have every Saturday night. We decorated stars and made angels to hang up at the church for Christmas! We also sang songs and Beto told a Bible story and we ended with "merienda," Argentina's official 4th meal that takes place between lunch and dinner. Staci and I tried to teach the kids Jesus Loves Me in English, but they were all super shy. Claudia said they would practice it and when we came and visited again they would show us!

The kids making little angels!

Decorating stars for the door. 

Claudia and Beto singing songs with the kids! 

Saturday and Sunday afternoon we were introduced to a couple of the young families that have recently become Christians in the town. Their kids come to the kids night and they both work on farms, one a milk farm, and the other a chicken farm!

Cezar showing us how to milk a cow. 

After he showed us I got to try, but I definitely need practice!

It was such an eye opening experience! The cows have to get milked every day twice a day! And there were SO many chickens! It was sad to think that all the chickens would soon be food, but it was also a reminder that there are people that do this kind of work to bring food to our tables!

Staci and I in one of 4 chicken pens. They have 25,000 chickens!

Sunday evening we had church. It was small but beautiful. Staci and I got to sing a song during the service and afterwards we treated the pastor and his family for ice cream before heading back to La Plata. We arrived back at our place around 4 a.m. and slept walked to our beds.


As always, thank you all for your prayers and keeping up to date with what's happening in Argentina. Here are some things you can be praying for:

- Please pray for Beto and Claudia as they continue making trips to Irigoyen. Pray that the new believers would be strengthened in their faith and that the church would grow. Also that God would show Staci and I what it looks like to continue helping in Irigoyen; whether we should make monthly trips with them, or something of the sort.

- Please pray that God would continue to shape our time with the churches in La Plata. There are a lot of ideas being thrown around, but want God to lead and direct our steps as we put ideas into action.

- Please pray for the relationships that we have started building with the community as well as within the church. There are people we run into a lot (the owner and workers at the local market, the lady that works at the kiosk down the street, and our normal server at the coffee shop in town). Pray that God would use us to encourage and speak truth to them!

- Also! Please pray for my mom back at home as she might have to have surgery in the near future. Pray for healing and a quick recovery if it has to happen. Thanks!


Last night I went to our church's prayer meeting. (When I say "our church" I am referring to the church of Fabian and Pratricia's, which is the church that I am living at.) It was so encouraging and great to see the congregation come together to talk to God. Please email me with any prayer requests as I would love to keep you in my prayers as well as being prayed for by you!


<3

a falling star pt. II

I posted my rainy day poem as I said I would, but I did't want to leave it at that, so I thought I'd share a bit about the happenings around here. (Also, I usually don't like a post without pictures, but I'm having issues getting them uploaded due to wifi troubles... they will be added soon, but here's what's been going on!)

Tuesday and Wednesday have been full of helping decorate for Christmas! On Tuesday evening we joined Patricia (whose home we are living in) in making ornaments to decorate the church with. We wrapped balloons with gluey string and hung them up to dry. The first of a few different Pintrist-y sort of projects.

We were also invited to help out with Pastor Elia's churches decoration night. We had stayed in the home of Pastor Omar and Natalia, who are the assistant pastors of Elia and Martita. Their church is across town so we headed off towards trying to figure out the bus lines to get there (a nearly impossible task..). We got there and were put to work covering stars with tinfoil and tying a string on them to hang from all over the church. The tin foil was like tissue paper, which kept things interesting.

Pastor Elia lives pretty close to Fabian and Patricia, so he gave us a ride home, LUCKILY, because a huge storm blew in and by the time we got to the house it was a icy downpour. The 50 yards to our room left us drenched and we reached our room just in time to stop a flood of water from reaching our suitcases! Close call!

Yesterday we took the afternoon to take a trip to Carefore, which is the Argentine version of a Wal-Mart, ironically, next door to Wal-Mart. After missing our stop and getting off the bus 20 blocks later, moving to the other side of the street, and waiting for the bus back, we finally got there, got the essentials, and took another bus back home. Who'd have guessed that something so simple would be a 3 1/2 hour process! I've definitely been thinking of ways to fill my commuting time.. books, sermons, etc.

Last night we spent another couple hours with Patricia making decorations for the Christmas service. This is a big time of year, and decorations are expensive, so making them is the way to go. She is a teacher, so has all these neat tricks that make decorations fun and less costly. Hope that you enjoy the pictures!

We also got some great news yesterday! We are officially accepted under the care of Covenant World Missions... We found out that this process usually takes 6-12 months, and my pastor in Salina said that a month ago he would have given it a 5% chance of working out. But the right people were here at the miraculously right time (we had to meet with the two directors of South America, who have never visited here until this year and they came 3 days after we arrived here). God has been working things out behind the scenes in SO many ways that I can't even imagine. All we have yet to do is fill out some paperwork and skype with some people so that we can get our account open.

I was just told yesterday that, "God is doing a thousand things in your life and we might be aware of two of them." This is so true! I think that there are plans for me here that I can't even imagine, but I am hoping to be continually guided and see the fruit of His labor, both in and through me.

Thanks for reading! You can sign up for getting these updates sent to your email by typing your email address to the right. Leave a comment or email me at l.iman1989@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you and be able to pray with and for you as you have been doing the same for me!


<3

 

a falling star.

Catch a falling star
And put it in your pocket...
What happens on that rainy day?
Do the clouds get tossed away?
As if they're less than this star
You possess?
This is the start of the mess.
Judging beauty by function,
Making assumptions,
Not having the gumption to look in the mirror,
To not see flaws, but drops of rain.
None the same.
Known by name and cherished
By every flower
Every tree, blade of grass,
Bees that pass;
They rejoice!
Loving the booming voice
Of thunder!
The wonder!
The plunder of worms it brings.
And the baby bird sings
As it's mother returns.
It's a dance;
A chance to renew.
A time to find life
Whether it's in the midst of a storm
Or the clearest of nights.


<3

rainy days.

A storm rolled in early this morning.  A cold relentless downpour, followed by ten minutes of calm, then a light drizzle that hasn't stopped. Seems kind of synonymous with how life has been in the last month.

This week Staci and I are finally settled into the house that we will be staying in. Take a visual trip with me. ^_^ You walk through a gate, unlock the door to a cement hallway. To the left there are doors that enter the sanctuary. The hallway is about 50 yards or so. If you go straight, you turn the corner to a patio, with nothing overhead. Bathrooms to the right. If you turn left after the hallway there is a staircase. Our room is half way up to the right. Keep climbing the stairs and you reach a huge room with tables and chairs set up like divided classrooms. Off to the left is our kitchen. And across from the kitchen there are more stairs that lead you to the roof, where there is another patio, a guest house, and a two bedroom house of the pastor and his family. It's a blessing. Cockroaches and all. ;)

The last month has kind of caught up with me now that we're settled; concluding in a lot of tears and wondering what God is up to.  It's a conglomeration of everything: the trauma of having to leave the organization I was with, the struggle of culture shock, homesickness in the holiday season, worrying about money coming through, and just trying to trust God through it all.

We were talking the other day about how we have started expecting for things to go wrong. Like, how God has been faithful to take care of our needs, but if it's not absolutely necessary, it has not been consistent. We didn't have running water this last week. We toted up water in buckets to the kitchen to clean and cook. Taking cold make shift baths. No one has air conditioning here. It's alright at night, but with the tin roofs, our bedroom becomes an oven. We keep the windows open at night for the breeze, but it lets in the bugs. Haha this morning I kept waking up to the buzz of a mosquito in my hear and started dreaming of being covered from head to toe in bites. Of course, wifi is a luxury when it's working. I know it's not a need of mine, but it's hard to feel so disconnected, especially when it's already hard enough to feel connected with people here being non-fluent in the language.

All this to say. God has definitely been showing me that He is all I need, which led me to listen to Nothing Without You, by Bebo Norman on repeat.

"All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing without You."

It's crazy that you can give up all you have to serve in another country, just to be taught more about God and needing Him than you could ever teach anyone else. It's humbling. And of course makes me question my usefulness. But as I was reminded before coming here: God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

Thank you for all your prayers. And for listening to my semi-sad processings. I wrote a poem about how rainy days are just as beautiful as starry nights =) I'll share it on another day.


<3

The other day I was chatting with a friend back home. After a while she asked, “So what are you up to down there?” As I fill her in, I realize that I’m doing the same thing she is doing in her town. Some mundane, like cleaning. Some essentials, like cooking. And some church functions, taking the youth group on an end of the year trip, going to prayer meetings, and listening to people. Of course there’s things like drinking máte, eating at weird hours, having to take 30 minute bus rides to town, and worrying about drinking the water and eating the fruit. But no matter where you are, you’re serving “overseas.” Ha! I learned this in Indonesia, when I heard they were sending missionaries to other countries. The main difference is there are a lot fewer believers and less opportunities for people to hear the gospel here.

It has been a trip. Kind of what I expected, but, a lot of unexpected. Like leaving the group I came with and joining another one. Like traveling to a different location more than every week for two months. Like not getting to cook for myself until today! Then, not knowing what to cook or how to buy what I want when I can’t read everything on the labels.

It’s a learning and growing experience. But I want you to know that you can learn and grow where you are. You can meet someone at the park or at work just as easily as I can on a bus getting lost on my way back to my host home. I read an article recently about how missions is everywhere. And something they said that stuck with me is that we are all called to be a neighbor to those on our street, it’s just that some people live on streets in other countries.

Bendiciones mi amigos. (Blessings, friends)

<3

international festival.

Yes, there's been a lot of transitioning through some difficulties, but through it all there has been grown and good times.

Patricia was sad to have us leave. She said that she has lived alone and happy with God for 8 years and never thought she would enjoy living with other people as much as it had been with us there. She welcomed us and made us feel at home throughout our stay. Couldn't have chosen a more encouraging place to be.

On our last day there, she gave Staci and I two of her CDs that she had recorded. Both with all original songs. I had wanted to record a song that she played for us, so this was like 10x better than I could have imagined.

That evening the four of us girls headed to Rosario's International Festival. They have it every year and have food and tents set up representing all the different cultures that are represented in the town.

Each of the countries had a stage for them to show off their traditional dances.

We strolled through Germany, Israel, and Iran. Mikayla ate in Peru. Staci and I ate in Austria and bough snacks in Siria. It was the first time I've had baklava. So. Good. I was surprised to see that the Japan line was like... 100 people long! There also wasn't a station for the U.S. Not that I would have eaten the food there, but it would have been fun to see what they had there.

Entering Peru. It doesn't look like it in the pictures,

 but there were hundreds of thousands of people there.

Yesterday we said our goodbyes and took a bus to La Plata. I'm sure there will be a lot to write about here so I'll just leave it with that. The family that has welcomed us is great. I'm currently successfully burning my tongue on maté and brain dead from comprehending and speaking a foreign language.

Mikayla within the first 5 minutes of being at the festival haha!

Until next time,


<3

Rosario's flag monument at night

vessels.

The last couple of days in our group devotional times we've talked about the lady in the old testament that was widowed and had a bunch of debt to pay off. And she was asked, "Well, what do you have?" and she responded, "I have this vessel of oil."

She had a vessel of oil. And in faith she did what she was told and went out and collected vases and cups and bowls and jars from her neighbors and God multiplied that oil to fill every single one of them. And when she filled the last of the jars, the oil ran out.

I am still without a home, but have been welcomed into the house of a Christian lady, Patricia, who is faithful and trusts God with all that she has. She has cooked meals for us and each night after dinner, we pray together before bed. Hah, she joked about it being the "tower of Babel," because we use what Spanish we know and she uses the English she knows. It's a beautiful beautiful thing.

Staci and Patricia singing after lunch on the first day that we met =)

We've been able to experience God's faithfulness in many ways lately this week. Staci and I met with a family that we met on the sidewalk one day while we were reading our Bibles. Her and our daughters had us for coffee and tea and shared stories about what God was doing in our lives. We prayed together and left feeling blessed and like we had made some new friends.

On the way to move in to Patricia's we talked to our taxi driver who at the end of our ride said that we had helped him understand things about God that he had been questioning. He has been angry at God and had thanked us for the long overdue heart conversation that we had with him.

The last couple of days we have been walking all over downtown trying to find realtors so that we can start viewing apartments. Tomorrow we have two appointments set up. Also, Patricia found out that a friend of hers from her church is renting a "large house" in the center that we are hoping to see sometime this week. We know that God will provide and we are hoping that we will see a place and know that it is the one we should stay in!

Until then, Staci and I are figuring out the bus system so that we can get into the center. Today was our first day. I found what I hoped to be the right line, and God worked out the rest. We didn't know where the stop was, we had to walk across this field and lo and behold, we look to our left and the bus is sitting there. The bus driver had to go to the bathroom so it was just.. waiting for us! Ha!

God is so good.

Goodnight.


<3

argentina time.

 Finally getting time to sit down at my computer and blog! So much has happened the last couple weeks and I'm finally at a place to sit and breathe for a while! This is where I am going to be living the next 8 months! Rosario, Argentina!

This is a picture from the top of a huge monument in the down town area. I think the plan is to live pretty close to this part of town as there are a lot of chances to talk to people in the shopping streets down here. Everything is walking distance.. like.. 20 blocks tops.. ish. Haha!

My lifestyle has definitely been altered! As expected of course, just in ways unexpected! I went from eating healthy, sleeping 10-7. Running daily. To 6 hours of sleep. Lots of meat and fried food. Lots. Of. Meat. Like... Huge steaks every day unless you make a point not to haha! But they're good!

Argentina has a rest time during the day, like 3-6 or something. Then they open back up their stores and stay up till 2. Dinner is at like 9 pm with ice cream afterwards most days haha! Wow. Meat and icecream! Todos las dias! But the icecream is also homemade so, can't complain!

(Pastor Stan is the guy on the far left, 

Pastor Drew is from Tennessee and led a lot of our devotional time. 

Karen is sitting on the couch in the green.)

We were in the capital for a day, spent a couple days in Uruguay sharing the gospel with people and having morning and evening sessions/sermons. These two weeks are set up like a conference so we have a lot of preaching and then a couple times a day we have been going out and talking to people.

I went out with a couple Spanish speakers yesterday and actually got to help lead a gal about my age to Christ! We started to pray with ehr and I was like... "Uhhh, this is really happening!?" Praise the Lord no? It's just confirmation that God is going to use us here! He's going to use me here! Crazy cool!

The next morning Staci and I were sitting outside of the place we were staying and this lady and her daughter were like "Are you Christians!?!" She said that she thinks God brought her to us and wanted to go get lunch sometime! It was exciting and encouraging for sure.

The rest of the team went on to Chile and then back to Peru. So Staci, Karen (Pastor Stan's wife), and I are now in a hotel and have a chance to explore the city and catch up on sleep. I have a cold right now so it's appreciated. The Rosario team right now is Staci, Stan, Karen, myself and a gal named Mikaylah. She was in Peru with Stan and Karen last year and is a bundle of fun! We will be joined by 1 or 2 guys from Ecuador and Peru in January!

We still don't have a place to live yet. Hopefully that will work itself out at the beginning of next week. We have passed several apartment buildings that say they have places for rent, so we will just have to search around and find the one God has for us!

(This is a street of one of the big shopping streets 

in the capital of Buenos Aires. 

The colors were SO cool!)

Thanks for reading! And for all your prayers!


<3

grace and peace.

Visiting Manhattan for a couple days. Got the pleasure of joining Nav Night and heard this glorious song.

 O, what an amazing mystery.


 


<3

september.

Trials and change as fall sets in

September breeze flows through my skin

Are you aware the state I'm in?

With sighs and lies trapped deep within?

There's hope and joy for you and me,

But with blinded eyes it's hard to see.

Awake my soul and let me be.

Awake my soul and set me free.

September 2012

<3

let not your heart be troubled.

I was reading in John 14 yesterday and was pretty encouraged by Jesus's compassion.

Ever since our sermon at Faith E Free last week where our pastor encouraged us to put ourselves into the position of those who Jesus has compassion on I have been trying to identify myself with different people in Jesus's life.

So I've always liked John 14:1:

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."

Of course, I've never really read it in context. I have just always been like. Yea, my heart is troubled. And Jesus doesn't want my heart to be troubled, and by coming to Him and the Father my heart will be trouble free!

But if you look at the end of Ch 13 you see that Jesus just told Peter that he was going to deny him 3 times. Yikes. Talk about humiliating and disheartening. Sucks to be Peter.. saying "I will lay my life down for you! Where you go I am going too!" Jesus: "Actually... you're not just going to deny me once, but three times... soon. Like tonight." ... Come on Peter, really? Don't you know how fickle your devotions are!?

Oh wait.

I'm identifying myself with people who Jesus encountered... This includes Peter.

But really, how true is that?! I know for me I am quick to say, Oh yea, drop everything and follow you! That's me! But Jesus KNOWS that I will not follow him perfectly. And he tells Peter that. And I can feel how Peter feels! Disheartened. Troubled at heart because at the time he can't imagine denying Christ because he is determined to love Him ALL OUT!

But Jesus knows how he feels, and has compassion. Let not your heart be troubled. It's okay. I still love you. And I am preparing a place for you in heaven even though you will not follow me perfectly.

Read further and Thomas and Philip have other questions that I find myself asking. "Lord show me the way!" and "Show me the Father (reveal yourself to me God!)."

And again Jesus knows they don't understand, that they are not perfect and don't know everything He knows. So he tells them how it is: "I am the way! And you have seen God in me (and through His Word in your hands!) Don't worry about what you're suppose to do, because through me, you are going to do great things! And if you need help, ask, and I will help you!"


I know this is a lot of my interpretation of these things, but this is how they spoke to my heart. I find myself asking God some of these similar questions and I am glad that He is consistent in His loving-kindness. He is always patient and compassionate and does not look down on me for not knowing all the answers. Mmm. To know and experience His character.


<3

there and back again.

Here's some pictures and highlights from Spring Break 2014! 

The first morning there I woke up early for a run.

 Their neighborhood has a boat dock down the road

 so I headed there and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

That day was going to be the warmest day so Staci put on her wetsuit

and headed into the deep blue.

She made a friend and fought the waves clear out there! (Staci is on the left)

The next morning we woke up early and saw the sunrise before the rain moved in.

It rained from Sunday afternoon until around... Wednesday evening.

Kind of a bummer, but we found things to do!

Like bowling!

This is Staci and her two nephews. 

This is us possibly going stir crazy? Haha!

Friday the sun came out again and we went to the beach for a walk 

with Staci's grandma that came from Idaho.

This is the same day that we went back to look for shark teeth.

After we looked for shark teeth we went out to eat with Staci's whole family.

I got to take a bunch of family pictures for them ^_^

These area all her nieces and nephews. 

I didn't really get one where everyone was looking haha!

The drive home was long.

Again we took several pit stops; a couple by water.

This one was a lake that we saw advertised on the highway.

It was full of boat docks so we found one and laid out for a bit.

Down the road we found a river that had white water rafting

as well as a bridge that took you to a zip line/obstacle course.

They said we could go explore their obstacle course fort thing by the river

so of course we did!

Praise Jesus that we didn't get in a wreck or slide off the road like we did last year!

We made it back safe and ready for bed.

Anndd not so ready to go back to work.

Hopefully it will be a smooth transition back into the normal routine.

<3

shark teeth.

This is where they come from...

This is what it leaves behind...

And this is what we find!

Lots and lots of shark teeth!

We went to the beach this morning and got tipped off by a surfer (who got tipped off by a collector) that to the left of where we were standing the water churned up a lot shark teeth and sea glass (which is the first time that I ever heard of such a thing...Those green things in Staci's hand above are examples) (Also.. I just forgot about this until just now, but we were watching sharks out in the water! AS these people were heading out to surf! It's a miracle that we got to talk to her ^_^)

So at low tide we headed out. Staci, her dad, her grandma and I on a hunt for shark teeth!

Stace was the first to find one! I picked up one that I thought could be one... looks more like a tooth shaped rock, I thought. But I went to the expert and showed her what I found and sure enough! My first tooth was found! It happened to be the biggest one I found that day. Staci's was small and I couldn't even believe she found it! That's when I knew the hunt was on!

We walked around scrunched over and looking at small pieces of shell and rock that were spread out along the beach. It's crazy really.. how there is SO many little pieces of treasure in the midst of what most people ignore. Mainly because the big shells seem prettier than a bunch of small chips of shells. It's also crazy how many we probably didn't find... because we got bored and moved on, or stepped over a patch to catch up with the rest of the group.

It made me want to be more patient with life. And enjoy the things that just seem to get shoved aside as unimportant or uninteresting. There is so much there to uncover! Even with the things and people you think you know well.. there's always more to see; to go back and sift through what you might think you already looked at. Think of all the things in the Bible that you've read fifty times! There's still treasure in it all waiting to be discovered!

Near the end of our time I saw a lady that was among us also looking around. I said hello and showed her my handful of tiny teeth and I asked her what she was looking for. Sea glass. She opened her hand and I saw beautiful huge pieces of smooth glass. I ooh'd and ahh'd. She had huge pieces that were obviously from the bottoms of bottles and curved pieces of broken glass that were perfectly sanded and smoothed by the oceans waves, salt, and sand.  She smiled, shook her jacket and said, "I've got a pocketful here!" What a sweetheart. ^_^ It made me want to start looking for glass! Haha!

Don't rush through tomorrow! Talk to someone new and learn something new about an old friend. It'll be worth it!


<3

trip to the east coast.

So... we decided on Sunday that we should go to North Carolina. 

Exciting but also a 24 hour or so drive.
(This is long, but I put in fun pictures! Because I'm a good blogger like that!)

I took this picture after we ran about 4 errands.  

We were all packed but we had to get gas, go to the post office, 

run back to work, then go back home to get something. 

So we were sitting outside our house and I said,

 "Finally our road trip begins!" 

I snap a picture and Staci says,

 "Oh we need to go get cash.."  

Doh! -_-'

So we drove to Kansas City after work on Wednesday 

and got to hang out with my cousin, Amanda. 

She made us some awesome fish and asparagus! Yum!

She works nights so we slept, 

packed up and hit the road by 6:30! 

Of course, day 1 (1/2) we were ready to go!

Then we drove.

 And we drove.

 And we drove and we drove.

 8 or 9 hours later we arrived at the music capital of Nashville!!!

 ...At our jank hotel =\ 

Ha! it ended up okay but it was kinda creepy. 

The traffic was so awful though. 

(a traffic jam before we weaved our way through city roads)

Google maps showed there being a wreck on every main highway 

so we weaved around town and made our way to some eating places. 

Ended up deciding on Hard Rock cafe since neither Staci or I had been there. 

I must say, though it was expensive it was so so good! 

We went back to our room and we feel asleep 

to the lulling sound of planes landing less than a mile away... 

after watching American Idol of course..

Day 2:

We were a little less enthused. 

We got coffee.. but I unfortunately found a Starbucks on the wrong highway.

So we ended up getting a little off course.

Frustrating.

So once we were back on track we saw a river weaving across the road.

Took the next exit and weaved our way down the Tennessee 

road to find a nice boat ramp to the river.

Yum!

Whoo!

So after that we decided that it would be a lot nicer to stop more often 

and try to have more fun since we still had a 12 hour day ahead of us.

So about an hour later we stopped at an antique store.

Fun! Haha!

And then a couple shifts later we were getting kind of restless:

 I was checking out the map 

and saw that a mile or two off the highway was a HUUUGEEE lake!

less than a mile from the highway.

I found a small highway that went beside the main one

and saw that there was construction ahead so I was like,

"Lets take the scenic route and see this lake thing!"

Haha! So we seriously went a mile or two off the course

to this suppose to be "island" in the midst of this huge lake and this is what we saw:

HAHAHAHA!!! It was like DRIED UP!

"Wouldn't it suck to build a house on this island 

and then the lake completely dry up and ruin your beautiful view!?" (me)

"Yea... poor wealthy people, to have these beautiful houses out here."

I think all that was before noon on the second day. It was fun.

The rest of the day was pretty hard to get through.

But we made it! 

<3

another lyrical lament.

Threatening to steal
My joy revealed
The troubles of life
Is what they wield

Yet what they can't see
Is while knocked to my knees
I pray to the Lord
And with Him I plea:

"Lord save my soul!
Forgive my sins!
Make me full!
Make my amends!

"I want the joy
of your salvation!
Fill the void
From condemnation!"


This life is a gift
But pleasures are missed
If we are weighted down
By the burdens we lift

"Come to Me,"
He says, "I could be
Your strength and shield
That sets you free!

"Just take my hand
Let your worries stray
I'll help you stand
And show you the way

Lift up your head
Trust in what I've said
And where fear once swelled
You'll find hope instead."



<3

time flies.

Time flies by
when you know your free.
But as soon as your being watched
The second
hand
won't
move
fast enough.

The door creaks,
and time freezes.
Eyes dart.
Wandering
are they watching?
Wondering if they judge.
Wondering if you're
messing
things
up.

Or doing your job
to the best of your abilities.
Don't fret
if you're doing best.
But time
still
flies
when the boss is gone.



<3


A shout out to Julia, who says she checks my blog once a week. This has been a long time coming ;)