Finally, Pictures!

Engagement Photos . . .

 . . . coming soon!  We took them on Saturday, and I should be able to post some this weekend (if not before).  Sorry to keep you all waiting.

The (Much Anticipated) Story

Okay, finally, here is that long-awaited blog entry.  Sorry for the delay . . .

As most of you know, I moved to Louisville, KY, a year and a half ago to attend seminary.  Previously I had been taking some online classes, but I thought it would be easier to focus on school and deal with communication issues with the seminary if I were on campus.  For a number of years, I have been drawn to foreign missions, and I hoped that this would be a step in that direction.  Not long after I moved here, one of my professors (who is also an elder at my church) invited me to dinner.  He and his wife try to have people new to the church over regularly to get to know them.  At that dinner, I met Jeff and his good friend Brady, whom I thought were both really great guys.  When I saw them around campus and church after that point, it gave us common ground, and so they both became good friends of mine.  Both friendships grew over the semester, and then during spring break, I began talking with Jeff a lot.  He, also, was headed toward foreign missions, and we thought alike on so many issues.  Our conversations became longer when we would run into each other on campus.

Around that point I knew I needed to start deciding what I thought about Jeff, because we were talking and emailing so much that I figured a “DTR” would soon come.  I had a lot of respect for him and enjoyed his company, and so when he asked me after the semester to consider a relationship, I already knew my answer.  We started dating in mid-May 2007 and began seriously talking about marriage about a year later.  In early July I knew a proposal would be coming soon, and so when Jeff planned a date night for us on July 11, I thought that just might be the night.

First, we were going to eat out, and so we headed for the restaurant.  In typical fashion, Jeff had planned the entire date and would surprise me.  So, when his friend Brady called 10 minutes into the date and asked him to go pick up a teddy bear for his girlfriend and mail it to him in Tennessee, I didn’t think anything of it.  But then, Jeff turned around and started heading to Brady’s.  I started to get frustrated, because Brady lived near me and it made more sense to wait until he dropped me off to get the bear.  The post office was closed for the day anyway, so it wasn’t as though he could even mail the thing out that night.  Jeff said he wanted to go immediately so that he wouldn’t forget, and then he proceeded to fill the space (he could tell I was getting frustrated) by telling me about stuff he had just told me the night before.  Unfortunately, I only grew more frustrated, because we had just talked about these things.  When we pulled into the parking lot at Brady’s, I opted to stay in the truck while he got the bear.  He asked if I would go in to help him look for the bear, and I reluctantly got out.  When we walked into Brady’s, Jeff had prepared a table for us (complete with a “reserved” sign) and put out all the food for us to make together.  I realized that it was all a ploy for us to eat there.  It took me a little while to get over my frustration, but when I did, we made and ate a delicious salmon dinner.

After dinner, Jeff had planned for us to walk along the river, but it was hot and sticky, and the bugs attacked us, so we just left.  He had also planned to drop me off at 9:30, since he was to call his friend at 10:00.  He dropped me off about 9:45, and I figured the night was over.  My roommate and I had planned to take a walk that night (nothing unusual there), and we walked for a good half hour.  Jeff had planned this with her, so that he could get into our house to surprise me.  She left the back door unlocked but warned him that I (paranoid as I am) would likely lock it.  So, she had hidden a key outside for him, just in case.  Unfortunately, I DID lock the door, AND the key was wrong!  After much time being frazzled, Jeff’s roommate got our back door open with his credit card (that’s very comforting!).  Jeff put a line of roses on the floor leading up the stairs to my room and was waiting at the top to propose.   When we got back from our walk, my roommate had to “get something” from her car, and when I saw the roses, I realized what was coming.  So, even though I was suspicious at the beginning of the night, Jeff still managed to completely surprise me, since I had thought our date was over.

There.  Now you have all the gory details.:)  Oh, and we plan to get married in December, probably in Camarillo (although there have been some hitches in that, so it could change).  Thanks to all of you for being part of my life–I am thankful for you!  If you want to know more or just chat, feel free to call or write me.  Of course, I do stink at keeping up with email (as many of you already know), but I should get back to you at some point.  Oh, and I actually have laryngitis right now, so I may not be able to talk much this weekend.  Hopefully, that will be gone by Monday, so that I can talk for our last week at camp!  Speaking of camp, I could tell you lots of crazy stories there, but I’ll save those for another post.   This has been long enough, as it is!  Thanks for persevering.:)

Update - Summer Work

It’s been a while since I posted an update, and so I thought I’d write a little about my plans this summer, since a few people have asked.

I’m going to be staying in Louisville and working for 8 weeks at a day camp for teens with special needs.  My group will primarily be kids with Down Syndrome, but we will also have a few with Autism or Mental Retardation/Developmental Difficulties.  The camp runs 8-4 each day, and 6 of those hours we will spend out in the community: swimming, hanging out at the waterpark, visiting the zoo, going bowling, playing at the park, etc.  We’ll also do a few other activities, like gardening, art, and sensory technology (which aims to help our kids use technology).  I’m really excited, and also a little nervous.  I know it’s going to be a very fun job, but it will also be challenging and stressful in many ways.

Two afternoons a week, I will also be helping an 8th grade Korean student with his writing and speaking (English).  That job has also been a challenge, since I must listen carefully and try to explain how to alter his sounds ever so slightly.  But my student is very motivated and his family is so kind and gentle.  I am excited to be working with them.  God has really blessed me with work this summer!

In between, I’ll be doing a little housesitting, working at Vacation Bible School, helping with the kids Wednesday nights as we teach them about unreached people groups in the 10-40 Window, reading a bit for the fall, and getting to relax.  That last one is a big one for me after such a difficult semester.  I hardly know the meaning of the word anymore!;)  I also want to be sure to set some goals in various areas: exercise, Bible study, focused time in prayer, and a few other activities.  I want to be able to look back at the end of the summer and see how God has grown me and helped me to live in a more disciplined way.  Recently, the brevity of my life has hit me afresh.  I have only one life–how am I using it?

I hope it is a profitable summer for all you readers out there as well!  To those in CA, sorry I will probably not make it out there this summer (I’m pretty bummed about that, but it just isn’t realistic right now), but feel free to come visit!  And if any of you talk with me this summer, feel free to ask how I’m doing in those areas of discipline I am trying to work on!  I’m thankful for all of you:)

Get Service

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago when I found it on Todd’s blog, but I never did.  You really need to watch it!  I’ve already seen it four or five times, and every time it strikes me again, forcing me to ask myself, “Am I focusing on myself today or on how I can serve, love, and show Christ to others around me?”  Get service!

Please Pray for me

I ask that–if you think of me–you would please pray for me over the next few weeks.  I am struggling through a few things that came up unexpectedly, with which I do not know how to deal.  Please do not pray that God would take the struggles away . . . but instead pray that through them, He would grow in me greater love for Him.  I am thankful that God is committed to this project!  He will complete the work He has begun in my life (Philippians 1:6).  And, I look forward to seeing how He will use this week’s trials to accomplish another small piece of that goal.  Thank you so much for your prayers!  I am thankful for you all:)

Photo Posts

Sorry about my posts that (formerly) had pictures.  Switching my blog so many times meant that they got lost along the way.  I didn’t want to spend a lot of time shrinking and then posting them all again–since most of you have seen them already anyway–so I went ahead and deleted the posts.  I’ll just have to post new pics whenever I take some more.  Maybe I’ll get the one up that we took last night with a group of us posing with Shane and Shane after their fabulous concert!  We’ll see . . .

May 8 “Scripture” Entry

This morning I read Psalm 38, a prayer of mourning that David makes to the Lord, first over his sins and later over his oppressors.  The section where he mourns over his sins struck me, particularly verse 4: “for my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.”  What came to mind was the image of carrying a large sack on my back.  It is heavy and unbearable, and I cannot walk with the weight of it upon me.  In the same way, my sins are more than I can bear.  Yesterday as I read in Holiness By Grace, Chappell made the point that we need to own our sin.  We need to look and point at it and say, “That’s mine!”  I am fearful of doing this because I do not want to sacrifice the “image” I think I have before those around me.  If I own up to my slanderous tongue (instead of making excuses for it), or if I admit my selfish heart (instead of masking it), others may look down upon and scorn me.  I forget the One whose gaze I ought to be most concerned about: the Lord.  And He sees it all: He knows me through and through!

In truth, I AM selfish and covetous, often jealous of the attention and recognition others receive.  I DO have a loose tongue, quick to criticize, slander, and gossip.  I AM prideful, doing almost everything each day for the approval of others.  I am utterly sinful!  Those—and countless others—are MY sins!  I own them.  And THEY are precisely why I need Christ.  I do; I need Him.  I cannot do “okay” without Him, for without Him I am lost.  I need a Savior!  Each of the innumerable sins I commit every day are strikes against the infinite God.  Thus, each merits for me an infinite punishment—death—the separation from God forever.  I can never make them up; I can never make amends.  Only Christ can pay my debt.  Lord, help me not to cheapen your grace!  Help me to say with David, “my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.”  Thank you for sending Christ to take my heavy yoke and give me his own, light one, instead.  Thank you for His carrying my burden to the cross and paying my debt in full!  I am overwhelmed at such mercy!

February 26 “Life” Entry

Lately God has been teaching me much of my own weakness and need to depend upon Him.  Last weekend I had great difficulty studying: I sat down to read my Mark commentary and simply could not understand what I was reading.  I read and re-read multiple paragraphs, struggling to focus upon every word and process the information, but I felt as though I were reading a foreign language.  Intensely frustrated, I wasted an entire weekend of study and never even finished that one reading assignment!  Late Sunday night, I realized that I had not committed my study time to the Lord or asked Him to help me read.  Perhaps the difficulties I faced were His gentle nudge on me, reminding me that I need Him in order to complete my studies?  The following day, I had to tutor for four hours but felt unprepared, since I had focused upon my own studies over the weekend.  My energy was waning, and I dreaded those long hours.  Thus, as I drove down Interstate 65, I cried out to the Lord in tears and frustration, begging Him for wisdom, strength, and perseverance in this difficulty.  The night went smoothly, and I drove home satisfied about the sessions.  I realized after an hour or two that God had answered my prayer abundantly and graciously, but I still had not thanked Him for doing so!  Convicted, I immediately praised God for His mercy and grace.

The next day, I began to get a migraine during my first class.  I tried to ignore it and push through school, but by the time I started tutoring, it had become unbearable.  I took no medication, and by my final session, I felt as though I could vomit at any moment.  I excused myself, rushed home, and spent the night and following day in the midst of the worst migraine I have ever had.  Yet through it, I was reminded again of my great weakness and my infrequency in turning to the Lord.  Most days it is easy for me to live independently, to go about my daily tasks without even giving a thought to the Lord, but in those six days, God gripped me.  He reminded me of my need for Christ, without whom I can bear no fruit (John 15:5).  He showed me the value of the off-quoted Proverbs 3 passage, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.  It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones” (3:5-8).  Finally, He reminded me that I am to cry out to Him in my weakness and rely upon His strength alone, as Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12.  Every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord, apart from whom I cannot study, work, or even function.  Praise God for His mercy toward me, and for the reminder of such truths this week!

The Persecuted Church

I found this video today on YouTube, which you need to watch!  It tells a little of the life of Dr. Wong, a professor at The Master’s College, and the persecution he faced in China before beginning his teaching career in America.  For those of you who have never had the privilege of meeting Dr. Wong, he is one of the most humble, prayerful men I have ever met.  My most vivid memory of him was knocking at his office door and having to wait a couple minutes until he answered . . . because he had been on his face praying. 

I greatly encourage you to take ten minutes out of your day for this–you won’t regret it.  Click here to watch.