A Chunk of My Heart Lives in Washington (Part 1)

   I have been avoiding blogging lately. It is such a sweet place to reminisce and clear my head, but, it can also be a painful place as I hash through the issues of life in writing. Sometimes it's easier to take a break and not think for a while. To say the two weeks preceding my trip to WA were awful, would be a complete understatement. So, for now, we will focus on the trip and maybe come back to the other stuff later.  
   So....the trip. It was long and short at the same time. I never understand how that happens, but it does. It was so fun watching Rebekah meet Kai for the first time. He loved her. We had 24 hours with him and Jefri right when we got to Tacoma. Jefri picked us up from the airport, then, the agenda contained A LOT. We took pictures with the easter bunny, ate chipotle (for Rebekah, who begs for it every time she is near one), went to swim lessons, drank Boba Tea, perused Pike Place Market, Uwajimaya Market for Sushi and Pho (MMMMMMMMmmmmMMMMMM!!!!), had movies and cheesecake at Jefri's condo, a good night sleep and a great morning conversation with the Geortzens and breakfast with Jefri. Whew, it was a packed but AWESOME 24 hours!
   After breakfast, Seth brought me and Rebekah our parent's Toyota Camry, which he had brought back with him when he went to visit them via bus a few days earlier. Seth went home then Rebekah and I took off. The road trip was SO FUN! We talked, laughed, took pictures, played in the snow on the passes and just plain ol' bonded. It was great! By the time we got to Endicott, it was mid afternoon and we were so happy to be there. Mom took us on a walk to see the "thriving metropolis" of Endicott (as my parents like to joking call it), which took all of 15 minutes. haha. On the walk back around to the house (it is located right next to "city hall"), my mom noticed the door to city hall was open and there were people there. We went in to check out what was going on and found out it was a food bank run by Second Harvest. SO COOL! Second Harvest is an organization that our church back home partners with once a month to do a food bank for the community. Anyways, that evening we made dinner and chilled.
   Friday morning, Rebekah, Dad and I walked to "coffee with the guys" at "Jenny's Store" (the only store in town). The guys got a total kick out of Rebekah because she could "shop talk" with the best of 'em. They are mostly farmers (or were at some point in time). This group of guys goes to coffee every morning and hangs out together until about 10am. Sometimes, Jenny serves breakfast and coffee. Other times it's just coffee. Every Friday is breakfast sandwich day. This is a big deal, mind you! After coffee, dad had a dr appointment in Colfax (closest "big" town), so mom, Rebekah and I went along to see the sites. We stopped at "Tick Clock" to get dad's meds. It is an adorable gift shop/catch all type store with a pharmacy inside. Next stop was the grocery store to get stuff for Easter breakfast at the church. We couldn't find what we needed (mini donuts) for our little Pinterest project, so we went to the gas station and found them there. At home, we hung out and mom and Rebekah gardened. After that, we made dinner then did some prep for the easter egg hunt the next day.
   To be Continued......

Surprisingly Similar Sermon

   This morning, as I was sitting in church, it was kind of obvious that God was speaking directly to me. It didn't really matter who else was in the room, because God wanted ME to hear him speaking through our pastor this morning. It was one of those deja vu moments. "Hmm..I'm pretty sure the blog I wrote last night was about this EXACT same thing." (I even texted Julie and said something to the effect of, "this is all sounding really familiar.") God is funny like that.
   The Sermon was on Progressive Sanctification. Our Pastor was preaching from Romans 6. We didn't stay there for long though.  It was a sword drill kind of morning, for sure (flipping from one Bible passage to the next to the next). The verses that hit me the most were verses I actually memorized during at Wildwood (summer camp) the summer following senior year of high school. Romans 12.

Romans 12

English Standard Version (ESV)

A Living Sacrifice 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,^[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.^[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,^[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.^[d]

Gifts of Grace

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members,^[e] and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,^[f] with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, withcheerfulness.

Marks of the True Christian

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,^[g] serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.^[h] Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it^[i] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

   Roger that, Lord. I hear ya loud and clear. Thank you for knocking me upside the head until my pitiful little brain comprehends. 
   I have been hearing this song (see below) on Pandora a lot lately. To say I have fallen in love with the words doesn't even begin to explain it. It came on today while I was thinking about the sermon and doing some baking. The words struck me even harder than before. "My WHOLE life I place in your hands." Think about that. Do you mean it? I do. At least, I want to mean it. I know God is helping me to understand how to do that. Here I am, Lord.

Take a listen.....

Letting Go. Then what?

   Letting go....it's not easy. It's not even slightly simple. Have you ever heard God asking you OVER AND OVER AND OVER to let something go but, you (being your lovely stubborn self) reply, "God, you're kidding right? I can't let that go. It's too much a part of my life. I'm not addicted or idolizing it, I just, I just, I just....uh....like it."But, again, He patiently says OVER AND OVER AND OVER like he does in Deuteronomy, "You shall have no other gods before me." Well, crap. I guess he really means it and yes, in fact, YOU ARE IDOLIZING IT. Oops. Shoot. Dang it. ok ok ok ok, FINE!!! I'll let it go. 
   Now, what do I do with my time? What's that you say, Lord? "Have an eternal focus?" As in, learn to be more like Jesus? Ok, let's look at what Jesus spent his time doing. Ready for this (I'm not sure I am)? Here goes:
1. Teaching
2. Discipling 
3. Praying
4. Loving 
5. Stepping outside of himself to help people
6. Feeding the hungry
   These are just to name a few. Well, crap again. So if I want to be more Christ like and have an eternal focus, I need to teach, disciple and pray more often. Stop filling my time with meaningless junk. Sarah, you spent an entire year at Bible college preparing to be a missionary. Just because you didn't end up being called to a mission field in a foreign country, does NOT mean you have an excuse to hole yourself up in your apt and ignore the mission field at your finger tips. 
Ouch. 
   Matthew 28:16-20
¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Yes, Lord.
     

3am is the new 6am, right?!

   What is it that people are saying these days? 30 is the new 20? Well, I guess I am just taking this advice to heart in every area of my life, even when it comes to sleep. I have blogged about this before and tried everything under the sun to get it in order, buuuuut, my body hates me. haha. So, that leads to me wrapping my mind around the fact that 3am is my new 6am. I guess I'll just have to live with that fact for now until by God's saving grace, SOMETHING starts working.
   Eating healthy, going to the gym, taking supplements and just plain ol' relaxing my mind have not done a single thing and it only seems to get worse as I get older. So, here I am on the brink of 26 years old, aaaaand I sleep like a 3 month old. Oh well, one day, when I have screaming infants and no choice of whether I do or don't sleep, I'll be thankful for learning how to function on no sleep. Until then, well, I'll just be thankful for the very few good nights of sleep I get per month.
Holla!!
White girl out.

Ever Wonder Why...?

   Have you ever wondered why it hurts more to watch someone else go through a painful situation than it does to go through it yourself? I think it's because you can't do anything to fix it. At least when it's you, you can self soothe or just sit around and feel sorry for yourself. When it's someone else, all I want to do is reach in to their chest and cradle their heart!!
   I'm learning that I'm just plain 'ol doomed in this area. Being a tender hearted person, who truly and genuinely loves people to their core, comes at a very high cost! It makes me also wonder how Jesus did it. I mean, obviously he was Jesus, so that part about being fully God helped, but being fully man too? How could he walk this earth and not be depressed ALL OF THE TIME?! When my friends and family hurt, I hurt bad! Jesus loves EVERYONE on this lowly earth so much that he died for us to keep on living our messed up lives and still spend eternity with him!
   Welcome to my thoughts. I have very high highs and very low lows. My dad likes to call it being "passionate." I'll stick with that description because this world would probably label me as "dramatic." Thanks for helping me put a positive spin on it dad.

Heaven

   I have been thinking about heaven a lot lately. Is it possible to miss a place you've never been before? Because, I do.....a lot. I can't wait to not have to miss anyone again, but rather, be kneeling side by side with them singing "holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come."
I miss my family, my cousin, my sisters and their families and my friends.
My heart hurts.
Jesus, hurry for me.

Domestic Princess

   There is no earthly pleasure, at this time in my life, that makes me happier than being domestic. After church on Sundays, I tend to go home and "Pinterest it up." With whisk in hand, the culinary adventures begin!
   Today I made Taco Cupcakes, Chicken and Salsa (in the crock pot), salads (for lunches this week) and, to top it all off, a no flour chocolate cake. My kitchen was a mess! Although the dish washer has been run twice this weekend, my heart couldn't be happier!

  Taco Cupcakes