Spelling cont...

Nearly four months later, here I am. ;)  While skipping through the alphabet, I hope to share some things that have kept me insanely busy...

M is for Mark Schultz.  I thank God, and thank Mr. Schultz for coming to my area for a concert on June 17th.  Without that concert, I wouldn't have agreed to go see him with a friend who wanted to catch up.  Two months after catching up found me engaged to that dear friend. :)
[You can read a breeze-through of our story at weddingwire.com/craigandjennifer]

N is for nursing, again.  After receiving my CNA, and going through one crazy semester of generals that were required for the nursing program, I've felt led to change my major to Education.  How's that for stereotypical college student???

O is for ohhhhh, God is so good.  Those words aren't flippantly spoken from a girl who is on cloud nine and has everything together. They're spoken from lips that are typically Overwhelmed and Oh-so-often standing in the need of God's grace, which He offers consistently...which is why He is oh so good.

P is for prayer.  Dear friend, it's fast, free, and the rewards are priceless.  We Americans are all about things like that.  But this is something I've struggled to take advantage of to it's highest potential.  I'm praying to be better at that.

Q is for quite a year.  It's weird to think we just have a couple weeks leff of it.  Mine has been FULL, and I don't merely mean my schedule.  It's been FULL...of blessings, of difficulty, of lessons, and of grace.  Has yours been Quite a year?

R is for reading.  Something I've missed dreadfully.  I used to keep updated book lists, and check them off after each book was finished.  I would read books with friends and we'd discuss them--which was so good for fellowship and retaining what was read!  But I haven't been able to do more than a here and there, which is why I needed to put down the Bible Retreat after Psalms. :(  I hope married-life will be paced enough to be immersed in books again.

S is for SWAT, the youth ministry I've been involved in for over two years.  I was one of the few who started SWAT as a small youth group Bible study, and I have seen so many students come and go since then.  All of them have taught me so much, and have become precious to me in cool ways.  I've decided to no longer volunteer with the youth once I'm married--which will be difficult, as much as it will be good for me. :)

T is for True Princess.  For the last six weeks I will be helping with SWAT, I started the Lifeway Bible study True Princess: Embracing Humility in an All-About-Me world with the girls.  This has been one of the best student studies I've found in a long time.  It's rich with the Word, very deep and challenging!  We started a tradition of having tea with the study each week, and we've been going to our local nursing home to do manicures for the ladies there.  It's been amazing. :)

U is for unexpected plans.  If you just skip back a few blog posts, you'll see that even 5 months ago, marriage wasn't even on the horizon of my mind (look at what I had to say about my relationships on my About this Jen page, haha).  I had come out of a difficult relationship early this year, and if anything, I was ready to commit to a lifetime of singleness and servitude. :)  But lo and behold, I'm so sincerely grateful that I have a Father who knows me so well.  His plans for me aren't copies of anyone else's life and plans--they're just for me, and for me to trust Him with.

V is for very scatterbrained.  I think my brain only knows one mode, and it's THAT one.

W is for wedding, which is on New Year's Day 2011.  One of the reasons we chose that day is thanks to Chloe...she blogged about her wedding on July 4th, and the perks of always having your anniversary off.  Since Craig and I will be in school for awhile and working ALOT, it would be nice to have our anniversary on a holiday between semesters. :)

X is for...not very many things. Including this line, haha.

Y is for why are there so many letters in the alphabet? Y is for I can't think of anything for this one either.

Z iz for zuppa, vich iz veady.
And I'm hungry, because my Mom has be on a "your wedding dress doesn't zip and you have two weeks" diet.  Ahem.

Wordlessless Wednesday

Missy - PJ - Kaitlyn

S.W.A.T. girls on the mission field.

Paint and a girl's intuition.

Watch out This Old House.

Life has been absolutely, absolutely, absolutely (is more than one absolutely unnecessary, since it's absolute?) nuts.  Crazy, I tell you.  [thinks for a minute] My life has been crazy for two years.  It wasn't this crazy before...whatever happened, it became my lot in life.  Maybe life isn't so busy, as much as my mind is.  Ever feel like that?  There's a whole lot more going on inside there than there is outside.

No, really, there is! :)

I've been praying about some direction with the Swat girls, and I believe we're gonna start this...

Elizabeth George's A Young Woman After God's Own Heart.  My cousin Rebekah gave me this book when I was around 16, and it was such a critical blessing in my spiritual life.  Elizabeth talks to you like she's your best friend, and her musings are FULL of wisdom/Scripture/stories on foundational things like: prayer, the Word, our love-life with Christ, guys (hard subject, there!), and just having a heart that is inclined to her Savior.  I've used it for lessons and given it as gifts many times cause I loved it so much. :)  She has A Woman After God's Own Heart as well--I'd like to check that out sometime.

The family went to the water/theme park, Holiday World, this week (all ten of us!)--got sunburned, got exhausted, got some REALLY needed family time.  My little brother Caleb is definitely my hero...that almost-nine-year-old-and-very-unadventurous-boy rode every single roller coaster...even The Voyage, which is one of the world's largest wooden coasters, and was featured on Travel Channel's Extreme Terror Rides 2 Death-Defying Drops: The World's Scariest Summits and Plummets...oh yes.  MY brother went on it THREE times.  I have the official picture.  You know, the unattractive ones they take of you as you've volunteered to basically skydive in a wooden cart...and charge you $10 a pop for.  Yep that one.

In the middle of all the craziness, I'm trying to pull my hair out be still.  Because busyness in my mind means I have a hard time focusing, getting things done, and being efficient.  Be still.  When Israel was crazy-busy with things that took their focus, God spoke, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..."  Such gooood words.  Repentence (for loss of focus/idolotry), REST, Quietness, Trust.  Mmmm.  Israel wouldn't have any of it...but I sure do. :)

Back in APRIL, Chloe gave me the Beautiful Blogger award, yay!  I have just had a time with these 7 interesting things...but here we go...

1. 
   
   I am exactly 1/8 full Cherokee Native American, 1/8 Spaniard (from Spain) and alot of everything else.  I could have received free college because of my Native American heritage...BUT...my great-great grandfather was onery.  How?  On the reservation, he would shoot the clay water jars off the women's heads, drenching them.  One of the husbands wasn't happy, and they had a draw.  My Grandpa won, but since he killed a man, he fled the reservation to Mexico.  Changed his name and we have no documented proof.  Oh wells.  Interesting fact though, right? :)
2. 
   
   I am dense.  I lost my sarcasm meter somewhere recently, and I've needed every joke explained.  Unfortunate fact.
3. 
   
   Music.  I love to play guitar, listen to the radio, sing, (I have my Grooveshark playlist going now).
4. 
   
   I LOVE the color blue.  In all hues, it's fantastic.
5. 
   
   Parables, analogies and word pictures make me happy.  They explain deep things so much better.
6. 
   
   It really takes alot for me to be angry.  But lately, self-righteousness/arrogance (expecially if I realize it in myself) makes my blood boil.  I'm trying to work on that.
7. 
   
   I love tortillas, and I will eat very-nearly anything in them.  Anything.

The Beautiful (inside and out) Bloggers I award are:

Jen:  My sweet RanchGirl friend I've known since I was TWELVE!  I answered her pen pal request, which quickly turned to emailing and chatting all the time, which turned to telephone convos, etc.  She's a beautiful blogger, Mama, wife, friend (and has a cool name too). :)

&

Sara: Ironically, Jen's sister!  A beautiful young lady with a heart for foreign missions and a spectacular sense of humor. <3

The end.

P.S. Stay tuned. Once I have Africa pictures to share, instead of posting it all in one gi-normous post (cause there's ALOT), I will post small entries that expound on highlights. :)

Yeah, you got it...

Dog gone tired. :)

I've done more than the aforementioned, in case you were wondering.

--The Children's Home was heartbreaking/awesome, and it was a blessing to spend time with my Placebo sisters.

--Class has been such a good experience--the schoolwork isn't hard yet, but what they're training us to do will be.  But our gracious God is gracious for things like that, yes He is. :)

--Acquire the Fire was phenominal, and the students were blessed by the retreat.  I will have to do a post on that, cause there are some funny pictures to share...and how fun are blogs with fun pictures?

I haven't done a whole lot of crashing, just a whole lot of running.

And while I'm running around, thankful for opportunities to serve, the Evil One hasn't been sleeping.

Praise Jehovah Jireh (my Provider)...there has been equal joy to the weariness. :)

Joys anyone? Okay...

--When I get to see evidence that my family is happy even during hard times--not financial/material/superficial, but real happy.

--Connecting with the students at ATF,  especially with ones I'd "missed" for lack of connection for a long time.

--Going to the nursing home with the SWAT girls and painting the lady-residents nails.

--Learning the beautiful language of Swahili....Hujambo! (hello)
--When I see the glory of God in the circumstances of others, even when they are difficult and wounding.

--Weekly phone calls from girlfriends that never get old or redundant (shpell scheck?)...re-duh-n...yeah that one.

--And Psalm 51.

Until I get to blog for reals, may your Creator God bless your new week.  See the joy/happy in it...even if you're running ragged, and the Evil One is snoozing on your heels.  Remember...your Savior has already crushed his head.

Habari za jioni...good night. :)

Ohmygoodness: JenCode for backed-up-blog. We're gonna need Blogger Drain-O after this.

Tuesday 1. Bible study with my prettymuchamazing college group--on the book of Malachi & empty religion (wonderful study, btw!).  This is the place where Jen dominates at Apples to Apples...a fantastic rare thing, indeed. :)

2. Stay the night with these two wonderful ladies: Ashley & Andrea...

My Bulgarian placebo sisters.  We were triplets in the spiritual womb and no one knew it. :)

Wednesday
3.  Andrea, Ashley & Jen motor to a Children's Home where we will help with any indoor/outdoor work they need accomplished.  That evening, we will hang out with the kids/teens there--have a devotional, worship and games.  Please pray for us--this is kind of our "spring break mission trip", and we hope to be a blessing to the kids there.  It's not about us...it's about our Savior and our "faith expressing itself through His love" (Gal. 5:6).

Thursday

4.  Go shopping for similar outfit to this.  Only without the cute lab coat.  Rebekah (my cousin and fellow future nursing student) and I went shopping for scrubs yesterday.  She made me laugh because our scrubs for class have to be white.  Yes, plain white.  No cute designer scrub-tops here (did you know they actually have name brand scrubs?!  Like Grey's Anatomy scrubs?  No joke).

And Rebekah figured we looked more like we're from the psych ward than cute nurses.  Ha, you never know. :)

Friday

5.  Pack up the cool cats on my sidebar: SWAT--and head to Nashville, TN for the weekend.  We are blessed to be able to go to Acquire the Fire for the second time, and we're looking forward to what God has for us.  It's like mini-Passion for high school/pre-college students.  Again, pray for us--I'm praying sincerely that the students are incredibly and imperishably (which means is lasts forever!) by Who their God is. :)

Saturday & Sunday

6. Return from Nashville and crash.

Monday

7. Nursing classes commence.

See what I mean by ohmygoodness?  I will be backed-up on posts, and unable to vent them until next week when I can sit down and breathe once again. :)  Blogging friends, prepare for battle.  You'll need your infectous blogging-bug sneezes and some Blogger Drain-O.

I've been Sugar Doll-ed!

Sweet Mrs. Chloe at trying to throw my arms around the world... gave me my first ever blogger award...isn't she sweet?? I'm so excited! I never thought I would be given one of these because I don't have a great blog following, I don't post very often, and I don't blog-hop as much as I would like. It's neat how on the world (didja catch that, the WHOLE WIDE WORLD) wide web, you can meet kindred spirits. You would love Chloe's posts--her sense of humor and perspective on her daily-to-do's brighten my day...stop by and see her sometime.

What I am to do is post 10 things about myself, and award my favorite bloggers. :) I'm having a hard time thinking of things to write, so it may be COMPLETELY random, but real...which I believe is the nature of it anywho. :) Here it goes:

1) Something I enjoy: Anne of Green Gables. I read some of the books growing up (I would love to finish that series sometime), and watched the movies in my early teen years. Those movies still make me laugh and cry! They are squeaky-clean too, which is rare these days. I recently watched them again, and I've found that I'm alot like Anne in the way I perceive and respond to things. Don't know if that's good or bad...especially in the love-life department, ahem.

2) Something that changed my life: Central Mexico. When I was young, I begged God to never make me a missionary (thanks to persecution/martyrdom stories). As I've gotten older, I've been drawn to it. I was able to go to Mexico for my first mission trip last year and it changed me in this way...we are called to one mission field: wherever our feet are. Whether it is here in my hometown/workplace/school, or on foreign soil, my heart for mission work should be based on my heart-in-love with Jesus Christ and sharing Him. :) God opens doors and nudges us here and there, but I don't think the "heart" of it should change with geography. :)

3) Something I find funny: my 5 year old sister Jaelyn (see pic from previous post). I wish you could meet her! She is positively hilarious. She is a drama queen and her sarcasm capacity grows by the day. I could write a book on the many funny things she says!

4) Something I want: I would really like to be married and have little ones one day. I would like to make a home, and have my own kitchen. I would even want the fires and tears that come with all this.

5) Something I confess: I sometimes struggle with #4. Thanks to my gracious, gracious, gracious God, I've never fallen into "the depths of despair" (aforementioned Anne quote). And because of that grace, I may tend to have a "mask" that says I don't struggle in this department. But my friend, I do indeed. I've had my heart broken. And my hopes deferred. Then again. And yet again. I am so happy at home, and content with where the Lord has me. But I confess, while I try my hardest to be strong and remember my God is in control, once in awhile, there comes a day to cry about this. :) Maybe I'm just a woman that way. His grace is sufficient for me (and for you).

6) Something that rocks my socks: the students in our youth group. I never would have thought I would be able to work with teenagers and keep my sanity and most of my hair. But they make me laugh. They are patient with my insufficiencies. They help me remember the important things--about God and life--and teach me more than I could ever teach them. I wish you could meet Levi, or talk to AJ and Jessi. I wish you could play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with Alex. I wish you could be prayed for by Tekoa. I wish your day could be brightened by Missy, or be encouraged by Emily.
There's many MORE of them, and they all would rock your socks too. :)

7) Something that confuses people: I am a living paradox, let me tell you.
--I thrive on organization; it comes with being the eldest child, and a woman. My desk and it's contents are an absolute mess at the moment.
--I think things through. I am incredibly spontaneous.
--I would love to fellowship (or "church") in homes/spontaneously, rather than in church buildings. Yet the Lord has led me to fellowship/serve at a church in my hometown.
--I would love to be married. I have considered celebacy too.
--I share my opinions. I strongly dislike, and avoid, controversy.
--I'm on top of things. I tend to do things last minute.
Stuff like that, ya know?

8) Something that makes me so happy: early mornings, just before the sun rises. Everywhere, there are people awake and buzzing. Animals have been out and about long before you. But that stillness...indescribable. The air, the soundlessness, the sunrise...it's quietly liberating. :)

9) Something that I currently find positively amazing: a combination of the Holy Spirit and the book of Romans. The world can have this world. Please, just give me Christ. Check them out, you will love them both.

10) Something I'm thankful for: for you, dear friend. :) I can't believe you made it through this ramble of rambleness. Wellgeethanks for bearing with me.

I award:

Jen at Ranch Girl Diaries

Ash at once upon a dreamer...

Angie at From Center to Circumference

M at Musings of a Ranch Wife

I would award Chloe

or

LeAnna at Thoughts n Whatnots

but they have been awarded. :)

Changes...

Ohmygoodnessgracious.

The weather has been positively gorgeous.

Too bad that I haven't been out in it hardly at all, thanks to the 9 to 5.

I'm thankful for the 9 to 5. (smiiiilleee)

I'm also thankful for anytime I can spend outside...like flea markets, family pictures, and on my way to the car.

We had Mardi Gras last weekend, and it was gorgeous out for both the flea market AND parade. I love flea markets. SWAT's fundraiser booth was pretty laid back this year--we had a bake sale and sold gourds again. Well...we sold 2 gourds. We're still stuck with a bazillion of them. I think next time we'll give them away. :D

We have some incredibly sweet ladies in our church...not only are they amazing cooks, but they blessed us with so many baked items. One of the ladies has a 6-year-old that has a crush on me...he's soooo sweet. He once told someone, pertaining to Phelisha and I, "they make my heart feel good." He and his mom baked several cakes and banana bread loaves for us and when they came to drop them off at the booth, I told him that since he worked so hard, he could pick out a gourd. He didn't even inspect them (we did have some cool Spiderman/Superman ones!), but asked, "Which one did YOU paint?" I pointed to the one I'd painted a glittery dove on, with the words "Peace" and a Scripture in Isaiah. He still didn't inspect it...just snatched it off the frame and tucked it under his arm. Boys are something else. :)

The whole day was fun. I browsed the booths, ate a Gyro and got my face painted (it's been several years since I did that). I let the artist just go adlib and it was an intense face painting...

Little paint. LOTS of glue. Add 2-inch-white eyelashes and a glue on nose stud. :) Hmm....

..I've thought about getting a stud for real for quite sometime. Of course this glue-on is a boulder compared to the pin-dot I would actually get. For one, it takes bravery I haven't figured out if I have? And for second...hmmm. Yes. Hmm.

What do you think?

I can't believe it, but I've been working on our Christmas card today, and I'm going Christmas shopping this weekend. --gasp-- I can't believe we've only got a little more than a month left of the year. For me, the year has been blurry. Probably because it's been so busy. It's been very full. Full of immensely good things and difficult things. Full of changes and chances of growth. I can tell I've changed this year, and haven't yet concluded that it's all good. I pray so. But if not, I pray that it will be...thankfully He's not finished refining us yet. :)

How about you, friend? Have you noticed a change in you over the course of this year? If you could describe this year according to what you're experienced and/or learned, what would you say?

Mexico

17 days. :)

Tu propósito Dios, amen.

(Your purpose, God, so be it.)

Summer '09 Bloggin' Catchup: Chapter One

May 31st, 2009 marked the sad end of a long six weeks with SWAT. We started True Love Waits with high hopes and excitement, but I don't think we really knew what an awesome thing we were getting into. It was amazing to split into guy/girl groups and talk real on a subject that's generally awkward! Amazingly though, awkwardness only lasted the first couple Wednesdays, and any to follow was cause for the classroom to errupt with laughter. Because of the split though, I'm only able to share the good things from the girls' side of the 6 weeks. ;)

Each session had a whole-group game, and once the guys went to their classroom and the girls to their's, we had discussion, Bible study and a small group game. We made hilarious poster board collages, and afterwards compared it to the guy's posters. We talked about Biblical principles, ideal dates and boundaries, had guest speakers who answered some hard questions, and joked about unintentionally picking baby shower colors for the purity banquet. :) Each of the girls were so incredibly special! I enjoyed getting to know them individually and see them interact as a group.

Though it was fun, alot of things would break your heart. Sexual purity is such a delicate and important factor for a person's lifetime. It influences their relationships, their confidence, their marriages, their parenting, etc. Because it's so effective for destruction, of course, it's obviously a favorite for the enemy's attack. My upbringing has taught me that sexuality for marriage is the black-and-white-Biblical RIGHT lifestyle. And when I wholeheartedly choose to follow God's order (not just because it's black and white right, but to please Him), He will bless me with His best. With a conforming generation, you frusterate yourself by hoping you don't sound like a salesperson.
However...after breathing through frusteration, you find yourself swallowed in compassion. Most have been taught by peers, secular classrooms and experience. None of which tell them that in Christ, they are victorious over compromise. They aren't promised that true, pure, Christ-like love is possible in marriage when they desire and follow God's plan for their life. They aren't encouraged to know that this choice of a lifestyle doesn't matter what's already been done. It depends on what we do from here and on.

We ended the 6 weeks with a ring ceremony and banquet, and had 22 kids (with their families) make a commitment to sexual abstinence until marriage. One thing we girls talked about was the statistics of youth who make this commitment; approxminately 95% don't actually keep it. So we encouraged one another in the seriousness of the commitment made in our heart.
Now, we wholeheartedly pray for each of them and their promise; that to them, it's alot more than rings and commitment cards.

Tuesday To Do...

Oh my goodness, dare I sneak this moment? *gasp*
Another blog entry. Wow, this feels strange!
Of course there's always something to be done...like change my clothes and tame my hair because I should be leaving for CYA in 3 minutes. :)
Or clean the kitchen.
Or straighten my room. But I can do that tomorrow. :)

I have, indeed, been productive today...this is what I've been up to...

This friday we have a fundraiser and we paint and sell these! :) The red ones will have nice DuQuoin Indians logos, the white will have Pinckneyville Panthers, and the green John Deere! Sound like good choices for Southern Illinois? :)

I feel really good too--I got the first session of True Love Waits done. :) This is an accomplishment for me, since I'm usually running out the door Wednesday nights with materials fresh off the printer. It's all done, just needs more prayer and skimming over. I'm really excited about TLW, I've already been blessed and pray the girls are too. I hope to keep you "posted". Da dum tssshhh.

Happy Tuesdee....off to cya!
Jen

Thursday (technically Friday) Thoughts on the World...and SWAT. :)

Jen creeps into blogging text box...cyberly tiptoeing, feeling for familiarity...'have I ever been here before?' She wonders. ;)

Good very late evening. :) It is nearing one in the morning and as I was readying for bed, I had a sudden, strange urge to "clack". So here I am, sitting in this overgrown office in the first spring thunderstorm, to visit with you. Be it brief, or long-winded, I'm so glad I've stolen this moment instead of stolen some sleep! I've definitely missed it, and lately, if I feel the tiniest of a writing hair, I had better take it. They are so rare these days, and writing is such a part of me that I'm feeling less and less like myself. :(

Tonight, my two brothers in crime--haha, ummm--joined me at my kitchen table for some good discussion and fellowship. Daniel and Steven are the two young men the Lord has blessed me with to teach at SWAT, the youth ministry at New Hope Community Church. A week ago, we decided to get together every Thursday evening to discuss the previous night, and plan for the following week. We are so spontaneous, even I (a very spontaneous person) get frusterated with our game-plans. But each week, I am blessed by the lessons and the kids, and we've been humbled to see fruit in the Spirit leading, not us. Though structure is WONDERFUL, I know sometimes that I can put more structure than Spirit in a plan.
Tonight was refreshing (thank you guys!!). We talked, laughed, planned, hoped, and studied together, in hopes the Lord would be in our midst to lead us to what the kids need the most. Since my house is generally a noisy place, we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and pray outside. Praise God, we were all blessed by that time, and afterwards, we lingered while the thunderstorm rolled in and put on a breathtaking lightning show.

After they left, I read 1 & 2 Timothy, as I studied for next week.
"There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..." 2 Timothy 3:2-5
Sound familiar?
After our conversation tonight, my heart hurt. The things of this world, the traps, the attitudes, the training. And the things that the kids--the ones we're trying to reach--face on a daily basis just makes me sick to my stomach. What we say and instruct, how we live, how we love...I desperately pray it all reflects the power of God. The world and its depravity gets them for every other moment, but He's given us a 2-3 hour time on a Wednesday night that I pray we make the most of Him with!

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline."
--2 Timothy 1:6-7

Himself, His Spirit.
The spirit of power--to overcome, to understand His Word, understand others, heal, rebuke and teach. The spirit of love--to sacrifice, to give wholeheartedly, to be patient, not boastful or conceited, but considerate and serving. And the spirit of self-discipline...not self self-discipline! The spirit of self-discipline...the gift of His power (not mine) to keep us focused and steady in the things that are important and imperisable.

Wow...I want to build my house on that Rock, mmm?