when do you feel most alive?

I've been going through this book called Expecting, which goes week by week through pregnancy & describes the baby's development & the development of the mom & there's a prayer that ties in to the week's developments & finally a page to briefly journal. I've been procrastinating with it, now being in my fifteenth week of pregnancy, so I am going back over the previous weeks & reading & praying what I've missed. Tonight I just finished week 6 & the journal question is: when do you feel most alive? I wrote:

"It always has something to do with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it's celebrating-a wedding, a graduation, or watching spontaneous baptisms at church! Sometimes it's on a date with AJ when we really get to talking & merely holding hands is electrifying. Sometimes it's talking with a friend (like with Jamie last night) & hearing her stories of God's provision-I get such hope! Sometimes it's when I create-paint, cook. Sometimes it's when I'm on a walk & the breeze hits my face & the air smells like Michigan. Or in the summer when I've just gotten out of a lake & the sun warms me dry. Or when I finish reading something good, or experience something beautiful in an unexpected place. Like a cellist playing in the Portland airport as I wait for a flight."

Kristin's bridal shower

Also in the month of May (gotta come up with more creative ways to say it)...
another felicitous happening in the month that Lerner & Lowe wrote a song about for Camelot (Richard Burton's original Broadway rendition of "How to Handle a Woman" is better than the one in the movie): Kristin's bridal shower!!!
My good friend Kristin is marrying her love, John, who's the one who designs cakes & shoots guns with my husband. Here's the cake he made for the shower:

We celebrated Kristin's upcoming marriage with lots of the color green, and some impressive toilet paper wedding dress fashion. My team won. Here's Leslee in a sort of Bohemian/Grecian gown with a bouquet that resembles an Olympic torch:

And here, Kristin displays one of her gifts from Jamie & me. It's a vintage (tag that phrase on anything & it's automatically vogue) spice guide to hang in your kitchen.

It's actually a Goodwill find that I gave once to Jamie, but we agreed that based on John & Kristin's preference for green, red & gold on their gift registry, they deserved to have it. And when they choose to give it away, we only ask for it to stay in the family.

just another little reason to be proud of him

The day I returned from the ladies retreat, AJ was asked to play a show that night. His friends from Burn Pattern were playing a show at a local coffee & pizza place & the opening band they'd had scheduled couldn't make it, so they, appreciating the musical genius of my husband, asked him to fill in.
Oh, the moments that make me proud. First, I was thankful for his good friends who don't hesitate to ask him to be a part of what they're doing because they recognize a good thing in him. Maybe I'm gratified because I'm not the only one who sees the good things in him, but others see them too. Even apart from his band mates from Without a Poet, he has quality to offer, a good gift to give back. I think it's a beautiful thing when he has a chance to, as Cory says, "explode", because it's complete Jesus worship.
May more of these opportunities come, and may there be more explosions.

retreat into luxury

Also in May...I went to a ladies retreat put on my my church. It was very lovely. We stayed at Embassy Suites. We were pampered there. Breakfasts with made-to-order omelets. A catered lunch. Angel hair pasta. Angel hair pasta is my favorite. A daily snack bar with chips and salsa. I really like both of those things. Hmmm. Food seems to have been a highlight from the retreat...could I be pregnant!? ;)

We went to the Cheesecake Factory. Those of you who know me will think, "Rachel! You mean to say you entered dairy territory of your own free will? Rachel, do you realize that the word "cheesecake" begins with the word "cheese"? What were you thinking?"
I do realize the dangers that faced me in that place, and that in a moment of weakness I could have risked an allergic reaction of epic proportions, but I ordered a dairy free smoothie and shivered through the night, safe from the dairy monster.
Above is the ceiling of the Cheesecake Factory & I thought it impressive.

I didn't take so many pictures from the weekend, so here's one of the only good ones I can find of Tiffany (center), Robin (right), and me.

On a different non-food plane, during this retreat I had the opportunity to co-teach a workshop with my friend Sherri. Sherri is a spiritual mama, she loves to cook (YES!!!), she loves to pray, she loves her husband, loves her kids, loves being a grandma, and she asked me to co-teach with her at this retreat! What!? The timing of her asking me to do this was really something. I had just finished completing a spiritual gifts assessment & much to my chagrin I scored the highest in the gift of teaching. I use the word "chagrin" because of my dismay to discover this, having avoided the teaching avenue because of my desire to be different from my parents, my sisters, my aunts, who all teach. But Sherri approached me & I thought it might be a providential opportunity to exercise my so-far ill used gift. Our topic was investing in others. When the time came for me to present my piece of our subject at the retreat, I went through my notes as best as I could, but faltered. Sherri had shared before me and during her part she called out to individual women and encouraged them with something specific God had given her for them. It moved me to witness the Father's love for his daughters in this way; hearing Sherri speak encouraging things to women who soaked it up like daughters enraptured by their Daddy, hungry for His attention, really moved me & I was a potential mess when it was my turn. I think it went well, despite my croaky voice, and I spoke what God had been giving to me, so I'd say it was a good learning experience & we'll see where this teaching thing goes. I'm not going to be adverse to it anymore. (And thanks, Erin, for your pep talk about this.)

And to wrap up, here's my fun friend Anne, (another of the few pictures I took), wearing a hot pink suit I told her to put on in the middle of the store. She was buying hot pink shoes that matched, so how could I let her get by without this?

celebrating his 24th year

There's been a lot going on in our lives in the last couple of months, and I've been remiss in blogging about it all, but hopefully I can catch up with the highlights in the next week.
The first most important thing to say, in May, my beloved AJ turned 24! (But he's still younger than me.)

Diane, our pastor's wife, presented AJ with a cupcake on the morning of his birthday before worship practice, and we all sang happy birthday! I really appreciated that (also Jerry bringing him coffee) because waking up early every Sunday morning to lead worship can get to you, and when you're doing it on your birthday (although he didn't lead that morning), it's nice to be celebrated a little. I...really...appreciated it.

For AJ's birthday cake I attempted baked alaska for the first time and it was a success! I had made a pear ginger cake (which was flatter, easier for the birthday candles to go into) and the baked alaska. AJ's friends demolished the baked alaska in no time. Thanks to Aunt Jane for the baking cookbook!

For the occasion of AJ's birthday, one of his best friends from Arkansas, Justin, conspired with me to surprise AJ with a visit, just in time for birthday celebrations. This plan was put in motion in December, and we managed to keep it a secret for that long. It was worth it! I love watching AJ respond to surprises, good news, etc., and he was so surprised.

Here are the two friends inside of a beach shelter displaying pieces of driftwood. Men & wood...my sisters & mom & I have this running joke about conversation topics that men have (from where we're from). Firewood & weather are the topics of choice for them.

Our friend Tia graced us with her company a few times while Justin was in town, although she refused to eat our seafood. This picture is my attempt to capture the four of us, AJ, Tia, Justin and me, as we're playing Rook and enjoying root beer floats.
It was so good to have Justin in town for AJ's birthday week & we missed him when he had gone.

Pause

Here's an article I just read & loved! This quote from the article stuck with me:

"A journalist once asked the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton to diagnose the leading spiritual disease of our time and he gave a curious, one-word reply: ‘Efficiency’."

Hmmm...

P.S. The picture of the ocean is just a bonus.

this guy

See this guy*? He is wonderful. Why, you ask? Because this afternoon he bought me a plane ticket to go to Minnesota in June. Why does that make him wonderful? Because he knew that I wanted to go to my sister's sister-in-law Katie's wedding for the chance to not only see her become wedded into nuptial bliss, but to also spend some quality time with my family, who will all be there. That is why he is wonderful, and generous, and loving, and self-sacrificing, and...many other things.

*A note about the picture: this was taken immediately after Andrew finished the book The Great Divorce. His reactions to things are so fun to experience. He loved this book & after he finished I heard him laughing and exclaiming & I just happened to have my camera handy & snapped this photo. Another reason that makes him wonderful: he has great taste in books.