a bride, babies & encouragement

This last weekend we were in a wedding. It was slightly stressful, but worth it (?) for the outcome & to be involved in the lives of our dear friends. I love weddings & going to them to show support for the merry marrying couple. I'm a die hard who believes in staying until the bride & groom are off to their next destination before leaving a wedding celebration, no matter how many hours pass. I like to see them off & wave & make noise & be included in the farewell. It's important to me to celebrate these milestones & the serious intention & love shown in the guts it takes to enter into a marriage. Love it! :)
Here's a picture of Emily, the beautiful bride, before she married her best friend, David. I love her joy. :)

Yesterday two of my friends gave birth to their firstborn children. Lysha (married to Chris) gave birth to a girl, Zoey, and Amy (married to Luke) gave birth to a boy, Samuel. Andrew & I went to the hospital to visit them yesterday afternoon. Lots of our friends & acquaintances are having babies this month, an interesting phenomenon to us. I'm encouraging Andrew to expose himself to the newborns who will be in our lives (another one to come: Caleb, Corey & Bekah's son who's due soon). My intention here is to get him used to babies so when it's our turn, he'll be readied. Babies should be celebrated, too, I think, and it was an honor to be able to visit two in the same day at the hospital, hours after their mothers travailed to have them. God is amazing, by the way.

Here's a picture of Andrew & me having coffee in the hospital...seriously! This hospital was like a resort...best coconut soy latte I've ever had. Andrew got a punch card because of all of the visits we'll be making to our friends who are having children at this hospital. We may even go there for dates, it was that good...And then, there's encouragement. Three days in a row, starting Tuesday, I've had talks with people about Campus America (goodsearch.com it) the prayer initiative that I'm involved in & excited about. After each rendezvous with Joel & Krista, Ray & Becki, & Leslee, respectively, I'm left filled... :) Filled and thoughtful & thankful & wondering how God can love me so much. I'm glad, humbled, grateful, curious about the rest of God's plan.

Rich

I feel like a wealthy woman. Late last night Andrew was playing his guitar & writing down lyrics for a song he's working on, as I was baking a cake for a bridal shower/bachelorette party for my friend Emily tonight. As I sat on the couch, I was brainstorming ways to frost the cake this afternoon, when I looked at Andrew creating & looked around me & had the impression that we are wealthy. All of our needs are taken care of & we still are able to give away to other people. Seems like wealth to me.
Circumstances would argue. We're broke. We're also fighting that mentality because we have this crazy idea that we're going on a three week road trip to visit family starting next Friday, and as we were praying yesterday, we still thought it was a good idea. Time (a little less than a week) will tell, but we keep hoping. Monster Mammon doesn't like us right now, but he doesn't matter, I'm convinced.
So, as my 24-7 Prayer Facebook friend Carla Harding likes to say (wouldn't she love that introduction?), if you are of the praying to Jesus persuasion, send one out for us.
In the meantime, I am thankful to be so wealthy. This wealth must be from the One who is Beautiful.

Tony and other matters

We a portion of Independence Day hanging out with Tony (pictured above, far right), a soon-to-bee senior in the youth group who Andrew is mentoring. We went to a town called Harrisburg, where there was a 4th of July parade, and then walked along the riverfront, stopping in a park to eat hot dogs in the shade, talking about Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, sound theology, friends, and whatever else. Then we bought an elephant ear at some booths that were set up for the holiday, and we ate it!

Tony is an incredible guy. We've met with him after youth group for several months, to talk about what's going on in his life, our lives, and to offer any advice he asks us for. Sometimes some of his friends come with, sometimes it's just Andrew & Tony. When we drop him off at home, we pray for each other. It's been such a rewarding venture & we have seen God do amazing things through Tony & his friends. His high school is booming with hunger for God. Once, after the last performance of The Odd Couple, which Tony was in (he played Oscar), every cast member at the cast party at Tony's house asked Jesus into their heart! These were students who were turned off to God, but somehow through Tony & another girl from youth group, Katie, God made miraculous things happen.

After hearing that story, I was thinking, "I wonder if Tony would mentor me?" :)

We're learning a lot from this guy & he is such a blessing to our lives.

Above is a picture from burnPATTERN's concert at youth camp. I love this face Andrew makes.

And this...just a mushy picture of us that I like.

band wife

As long as I have been a wife, I've been a band wife. The band began in September or so, and after a lot of hard work & practices & hang out sessions, the album is finished and for sale. (A couple of blogs ago I posted a pic with Cory Emery passing the finished album to me in memorandumm of the event.)

This Sunday the guys had a five hour practice & the wives (all band members are married) went to coffee together. Something Bekah (Cory's wife) said stuck with me. It concerns Cory & Bekah's recent career change that is now focused on the band & doing music professionally, something God has been obviously leading them towards in the last year. Bekah tells Cory before a band practice, "Go and live the dream!" And when he comes back, she asks him, "How was it living your dream?" That was encouraging for me to hear & I want to start speaking into Andrew's dreams & endeavors more. Especially when he's using his gifts to be a blessing... So I am definately encouraged to do that.

Andrew's been away for almost three days (at youth camp, he's a counselor) and I miss him. He's coming home for the night, late tonight, though, & I'm thrilled to see him. Burn Pattern's concert @ camp is tomorrow night & I am really looking forward to it. The band wives got a taste of the song set when we dropped in on their practice on Sunday. New songs are already being incorporated, and one that Andrew wrote! I'm so proud of my man. :)

Erin's visit

My sister Erin has been in town visiting & it has been such a blessing. The first couple of days were rough because Andrew & I returned from Texas with bronchitis, apparently. I didn't have it as bad as he did, so he was home all week resting, reading & consuming vitamin C. After a couple of days in our little teeny tiny one-bedroom apartment, Erin was offered a place to sleep at her friends Mary & Karri's apartment & it was a good thing for all. Exposing a house (apartment) guest to bronchitis is not showing loving hospitality, methinks. :)

And so, I wondered if I'd ever see Erin again, her schedule being filled with the tons of friends she has in this place...but I did. :) Especially in the past few days we've had some really good time together. I have Wednesdays off from work (note: I am so thankful for my job, it is such a blessing, and I'm glad), and Erin & I spontaneously spent it together...it felt like a day off. No laundry, dishes, housework, etc. We visited Priscilla, a lady who formerly employed us both at the campus library. She gave me lots of papers & magazines for my artistic pleasure & I've been ripping out pages furiously to make into creative envelopes. Erin & I had a chance to go to my favorite coffee place & get real coffee (sorry Starbucks, sometimes I'd like a shape on top of my foam) plus lunch, & played Bananagrams! An amazing game, like speed Scrabble, that's what Bananagrams is. Then we went to this amazing gift shop that is a "sister store", meaning when I need a gift for any of my sisters, that's the place to find it.

Yesterday evening Andrew, Erin, Karri (one of the girls Erin's staying with) and I ate at a southern cooking restaurant... Oh my goodness. Pulled pork, collard greens, yams, beans & rice, sweet tea, all amazing. Before when we went to this restaurant, Andrew's Southern accent came out, but it didn't so much this time because I was teasing him about it, I think. I'll play it more subtle, next time.

After dinner, we went to a free outdoor play of Peter Pan. It was entertaining, but hard to follow sometimes because the wind & sound system caused the actors' lines to be lost. The little girl who played Wendy did an excellent job.

We had more dessert after the play, I admit. Well, coffee/tea/and I had something like gelato/ice cream that is vegan and safe and coconut tasting. It's was delightful.

Sometimes when relatives come to town, we go all out. Like eating a huge dinner, ordering dessert afterwards, and going out to coffee again. Why, even this morning Erin & I went to see Jamie, my dear friend who I want to keep forever (she's a treasure), over coffee. Then Erin has a friend who works at a bakery who can make leaves in the foam of a latte, so in order to see her again before Erin's departure, we visited another bakery. I got a vegan almond delight cookie, compliments of Amber, which I'll consume soon.

Restraint will be exercised soon. It's nice to have relatives in town, it's like a celebration, and a lot of coffees, meals, trinkets are purchased in those times (sometimes), and I think it's okay. Within reason. The reasonable season will begin Sunday, officially, but I'm glad Erin's been around.

Thanks, Abba. It's beautiful, this family idea that's Yours. Great idea. :)

Texas Surprise, etc.

This last Friday, Andrew & I rocketed away on another fun-filled adventure to surprise some family members by showing up last minute for cousin Heather's wedding. The best of the surprise was reserved for Sue, Andrew's mom. She had no clue we were coming & even was talking on the phone to cousin Jill, telling her everything in Texas was going well, except Andrew & Rachel weren't able to make it. Little did she know, a mere number of hours later we'd come in the door of Uncle Jeff & Aunt Yvonne's kitchen door behind her back, causing her to respond in shock/delight/tear-filled exclamations. It was so worth it. Such a blessing to surprise her! One of the highlights of life, I think. Jessica (my sister-in-law) and Jon (father-in-law, Sue's husband) even planned it so that Sue would get us to herself as she was working on Heather's wedding cake & the rest of the family was at the rehearsal.

Here's the glorious wedding cake Sue created for Heather's wedding. Isn't my mother-in-law gifted? I'm amazed.

Since returning to the Northwest, Andrew has developed a fever and my sister Erin is in town for a much anticipated visit. It's crazy in our little apartment. Andrew's fever, my newly acquired cough, and Erin's allergies all flared up last night...we were quite a group. I'm looking forward to health & more good time spent with Erin (so far we've walked, picked flowers, played Bananagrams). Andrew's fever was lower this morning & Erin & I have plans to go get coffee & bring our books along.

In other news, yesterday Andrew & other Burn Pattern band members received the official first copies of their newly recorded album! Since Andrew has been ill, I was his ambassador to pick up some of the CDs for us. Here I am with Cory at the tradeoff, at the appropriately titled Trader Joe's store. Ha ha. Irony I wasn't intending. Unfortunately, we're in front of the dairy section. :( Where's the soy? Anyway, Andrew was so thrilled to get the album. Hard work paying off. I'm proud.

prayer for the nations

In my last blog I mentioned the book Red Moon Rising, which has to do with the 24-7 Prayer Movement. Today I found these videos of key 24-7 people speaking about destiny-shaping events that are happening in the nations right now: UK's elections, President Obama attempting to bridge the gap between Muslims & Christians in the Middle East, elections in Lebanon. There will be one video for every day this week. They're short (around five minutes each) and informative and also offer ideas about how to pray. Please give them a viewing & pass on the word.

Here are the links for the first two videos (others will follow, keep checking the site this week):

http://www.youtube.com/user/247Pray

For more, you can go to the 24-7 website:

www.24-7prayer.com

Love to you!