Refreshing

Easter always feels refreshing to me. The combination of the promise of new life through Christ's sacrifice and the new life happening outside due to spring is very renewing. Everything feels new.
I am once again brought back to this truth through Nicole Nordeman lyrics. The last verse of "Every Season" says it so well.

"And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season's change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring"

Happy new season.

Go to Seattle!

The purpose of posting today is simply to say that if you have never been to Seattle, WA, you must plan a trip out there for sometime in your life. It is incredible. There is so much to do and see and eat. Mountains. Puget sound and many lakes. Pike Place Market (you know, the one where they throw fish!). Views of the Space Needle, the skyline, Mt. Olympus, Mt. Ranier. St. Mark's Cathedral. University of Washington. Coffee shops on almost every corner. Tulip and daffodil gardens in Mt. Vernon. Ferry rides to Victoria, BC. So much fun stuff. We took a much-needed vacation of 5 days, but it felt like a week and a half. It was heavenly. And (major bonus), we got out of MN by the skin of our teeth during last Friday's snow storm. Seattle doesn't have snow. Everything is green. Our last three days were mid-50s, not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, our trip brought us back to MN last night. But it's always nice to be home. :)
So, big thanks to Matt and Sarah for their hospitality and 1000-mile-an-hour abilities. We loved it!
Visit Seattle.

Waiting Game

So much of life is spent waiting. Longing. Right now I yearn for summer. Impossible seventh graders and snow in the forecast are trying my patience as I dream of warm sun and ice cream.
Sometimes we can be wonderfully surprised while we are waiting. Such has happened with my incredible husband. Slightly unsatisfied with real estate and stressed about finances, he began pursuing other options a few weeks ago. After more than a few assurances of "I'll mention your name" and "I'll give him your resume," he decided that he couldn't do much but be patient. Of course, he was still active in his search, but he was content that things might stay the same for a while.
Yesterday, absolutely out of the blue, Dan received a phone call from a gentleman in training for some company associated with Best Buy. He said he received Dan's resume from someone, liked what he saw, and wanted to interview Dan. When? Today at 11:00 am. Sure. No problem. Dan took the opportunity in stride and accepted the chance to interview with the (still unknown at that point) company. As it turns out, the job would involve quite a bit of travel, especially in the first six months. But he would be training, and that is SO right up his alley. Heck, he even has a degree in it. We don't know anything about salary or other details, but it sounds as though they are looking for a person to start soon and they really liked Dan. So it's worth a little consideration on our part. Who knows. God does work in mysterious ways.
And now we wait.
Prayers and wisdom are more than welcome. :)

You can't make this stuff up

Writing assignment: Write to a fictitious pen pal, telling him or her what happens at our school dances.
ACTUAL seventh grade response:
Dear Mr. Mink,
Hello Mr. Mink, you are of this moment reading this letter in your very small tin foil hat on the rail road tracks.
You needed assistance with your BBQ?
You said you were BBQing on the tracks and the train hit it? OK...
Fix it using imaginary tools by Magico and follow the east to use the instructions.
Hope this helped!
Sincerely,
Jack
(Name has been changed to protect the privacy of this odd child)

I met this boy's father at conferences tonight. What do you say when all you really WANT to say is, "I think your son is pretty strange." ?

Just keep swimming (in my best Dory voice)

"Trust God to move your mountain, but keep on climbing."
My mom sent this to me today. She reads a devotional called "Daily Bread," and this was the closing quote. I like it because it encourages us to remain active and not get stuck in passivity. We can't just ignore our part. No matter how tired we are, no matter how much homework we have, no matter how people treated us today, no matter how much stress we are under. We can't just sit back and watch our lives unfold. We have to stay right in the middle of it and keep on living.

Gratitude

I feel like I am in kind of a lonely place right now. I don't feel abandoned or left out; I just feel a little like I am doing life alone. A couple months ago, I would have said it was a very painful place to be. Now I think I'm actually learning some from it. God is making me look at things differently. I'm more appreciative. I remember praying and asking Him to get me out of the crap I was dealing with within myself. He didn't answer that prayer, and now I'm thankful for it. He opened my eyes to something I have known my whole life, but didn't appreciate in its fullness until now: I am fully aware that God answers prayer. However, He also knows what is best for us and where he needs to challenge us, and what we are praying might not be in line with that. So I am learning to desire His best for me rather than my own agenda. Funny that it took me until now to actually put that into practice; heaven knows I have heard it enough times. Nichole Nordeman has a song that really summed it up for me. (Unfortunately, it left me crying while driving down 610 one afternoon--not a safe combo for me...)

Send some rain, would you send some rain?
'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
and the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade.
Would you send a cloud, thunder long and loud,
let the sky grow black and send some mercy down?
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid.
But maybe not, not today;
maybe You'll provide in other ways, and if that's the case,

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
for lessons learned in how to thirst for You;
how to bless the very sun that warms our face
if you never send us rain.

Daily bread, give us daily bread.
Bless our bodies; keep our children fed.
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight.
Wrap us up and warm us through,
tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs.
Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time.
Or maybe not, not today;
Maybe You'll provide in other ways.
And if that's the case,

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude.
A lesson learned to hunger after You,
that a starry sky offers a better view
when no roof is overhead, and if we never taste that bread.

Oh, the differences that often are between
everything we want and what we really need.

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace.
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
between alibis and enemies tonight.
Or maybe not, not today.
Peace might be another world away,
and if that's the case,

(fabulous key change here)

We'll give thanks to you with gratitude
for lessons learned in how to trust in You,
that we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
in abundance or in need.
And if you never grant us peace,
but Jesus, would You, please?

A beggar's kingdom

"We dream of Christ's love for His bride reading like Romeo and Juliet; two equals enflamed in liberal love. I think it is more like Lucentio's pursuit of Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew. That is, the groom endearing the belligerent bride with kindness, patience, and love.
Our 'behavior' will not be changed long with self-discipline, but fall in love and a human will accomplish what he never thought possible. The laziest of men will swim the English channel to win his woman. I think what Rick said is worth repeating that by accepting God's love for us, we fall in love with Him, and only then do we have the fuel we need to obey.
In exchange for our humility and willingness to accept the charity of God, we are given a kingdom. And a beggar's kingdom is better than a proud man's delusion."
-Donald Miller, in Blue Like Jazz

I love this. That's all.

I love my job

My seventh hour reading class is a great reason for single mothers not to have 32 kids. I almost lost it today. Well, I did lose some stuff. My patience, my tact, my desire to be a teacher (for 45 minutes, anyway). But in the end, when all was quiet and I could actually hear myself talk, I realized that deep down, on an individual level, they are pretty good kids. They are just children, for Pete's sake.
I'm just a child. Sometimes I am stupid. How fortunate for me to have all the patience in the world from a loving God. I should be taking notes.

Heaven minded

I found out yesterday that my high school best friend's dad died last week. It affected me more than I would have thought. It seems like it often takes death to make me realize just how precious life is. It shouldn't take that, but it does. I was at a funeral for a family friend's mother last month, and I left with the overwhelming desire to tell everyone close to me how much I love and appreciate them. We simply aren't guaranteed tomorrow, and we often ignore the fact that time is a God-given gift.
If I let my mind wander around this whole deal, I begin to dream of heaven. It's a weird place for me to be. It's hard to think about. We weren't created to comprehend forever, but gosh darn it, I'm going to try. The fact that there will be no end boggles my mind. But that's what it is supposed to do. It's supposed to make us think. It's supposed to make us look forward to it. Not in a morbid way, but in a "that's going to be one heck of a home for a while" kind of way.
In A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken writes, "Golden streets and compulsory harp lessons may lack appeal--but timelessness? And total persons? Heaven is, indeed, home."
I want this stuff to stay with me. I don't want to forget about it until the next time I hear someone has died. Father, keep this in my heart.