life ebbs and flows

All of my life In every season You are still God I have a reason to sing I have a reason to worship This is my prayer in the harvest When favor and providence flow I know I'm filled to be emptied again The seed I've received I will sow Hillsong:Desert Song A while back my best friend told me to listen to this song because she thought it was beautiful. I did and I agreed fully. My list of favorite Hillsong songs grows weekly, I think. Tonight, it came on one of my Genius mixes on itunes and the last verse struck me like I'd never heard it before.  "I know I'm filled to be emptied again. .."  This is something that's been on my heart a lot lately and i think it is one of the most beautiful parts of life. We are filled to be emptied to be filled and so on and so on. It seems like each time I am emptied a little more of me is removed so that I can be more filled with God. I've got a long way to go so I will continue to be emptied...

Spring is arriving...thank goodness. Although I am more than excited about a day that entails a high of 31 (THIRTY ONE!) all the snow and ice is melting into the dirt filled streets leaving a slushy, dirty walk anywhere. When the green shows up on those trees, you'll be able to hear my joyful cry from wherever you are.

A few weeks ago a cooking class spontaneously came out of a day of baking. The ladies at church asked me to teach them how to make cake. I was excited about this opportunity for many reasons, but mostly just to share and interact with these ladies that I have come to love so very much. We made some cupcakes and cookies. It was a mess to say the least. I did not think about needing to convert the measurements into the metric system for them. Eventually, we figured it out and we had a lot of fun. I'm not sure who came up with the idea to have cooking class every week but we decided that it should and that it should be international, learning how to make foods from all over the world. We started off with French food. The quiche was quite a hit and very delicious. The next week we made Mexican food. You can see pictures from that delicious taco-filled day at our baking blog, here .  In the next few weeks, we'll be making Indian food, Korean food, Mongolian food, Greek foo...

"Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people's birthdays every day, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection. These are ways of saying: "It's good that you are alive; it's good that you are walking with me on this earth. Let's be glad and rejoice. This is the day that God has made for us to be and to be and to be together." Henri Nouwen: Here and Now, page 21 One of the greatest joys I have had recently is getting to share one of my youth's birthdays with her. Tumee has quickly become one of the kids I am closest with. She is hilarious and sweet and has such a joyful spirit. I was excited just to get to bake her something special for her birthday but when I arrived at church that morning, she had something even better in mind. She asked me if I wanted to go to the movies with her (I think you get in free on your birthday). I was so excited that she wante...

I won't turn left and I won't turn right I will not stray from the path that's right But I'll keep on singing and I'll keep on reaching And I'll follow, follow, follow Jesus Christ If you know me at all, you know I don't like to dance. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I was not one of those kids who took dance lesson after dance lesson. It never really amazed or intrigued me. Someone once told me that I would find my "dance" in college. That has now come and gone and I still haven't found said "dance." A couple of weeks ago they sang this song at church. I'm fairly certain that it is from a Vacation Bible School somewhere but it was easy enough for them to learn in English, so they did. I didn't mind, I was happy to be able to read the words to a song. This song immediately stuck with me. Not just because of the English words but because of the dance, too. Nearly every song we sing at church has a dance that goes with i...

A while ago while walking to church from my bus stop I turned around to make sure a car wasn't about to run over me (that is a common concern) and I was stunned. What I saw when I turned around was the most beautiful view of the mountains. Ulaanbaatar is a little city (the biggest in Mongolia) set in the middle of the mountains. It is a rare occasion in the winter that you can see more than 10 feet in front of you. The smog is usually so thick you can barely breathe. But that day, you could see. It wasn't clear by any stretch of the imagination but it stopped me. Right there, on the side of the road, I stopped and I stared at this beautiful place that I call home. For a minute I thought to myself , "I wish I had my camera." Then I realized that I was grateful I didn't. Lately I have been thinking about the things that are un-capturable (new word, probably) by a photograph. I love the idea of filling my heart with photographs that maybe no one else will ever see. I...