How Deep The Father's Love

On summer days I see the beauty of God. He is the still breeze as a write out my prayers. He is the whisper that tells me I am okay.

I am okay and I can breath.

God is faithful. This characteristic keeps me going. He is faithful with his time, love, and promises. God never revokes. Never stops. He is endless. He knows me by name. He loves my soul. I am okay. I am okay.

I hope you know God. I hope you feel this. If you just stumbled across my blog and want to talk about who God is, drop me a line. I love talking and tea.

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocing voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that helf Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I knoww that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast inJesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Shish Kebabs and Sucalditos

Aaron and Laura came over tonight and we cooked kebabs on the grill. The process took a little longer than anticipated, but the payoff was priceless. Chicken with peppers and onions. Yum! They haven't been to the new house yet, so we caught up and they listened to my stories about Ireland. I love sharing about the people that impacted my life and the God that works all things together.

"You know the depth of my soul and you love me the same. You are amazing God!"

Then, as an added bonus, Jes and I spent some time catching up. It's so great to be able to talk through this readjustment process with someone who's been there. Jeremy and I caught up on Sunday. I cannot wait for them to come to GRap. They are good for my soul!

Goodnight all!

If You Give a Mouse Some Peanut Butter

Since I've been home, we seem to have a forth roommate. He's not very clean and often leaves his poop anywhere he pleases. Now, this is against house rules, so we very kindly asked him to leave, but he's a crafty fellow and has been hiding out. Our landlord says he's never had problems with this kind of tenant before.

Last night Emma tried to entice him out with some nice peanut butter. Who doesn't love that? This did indeed bring our friend out of hiding, but he eluded our capture. Instead, he ate the peasut butter without tripping our trap. When Emma went to inspect said trap it closed quickly on her at the slightest touch. Crafty guy!

This whole cartoon set of events made me think of the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. The stories goes, if you give a mouse a cookie, he'll probably want a glass of milk, and then a story, and then...on and on. Well my remake goes, if you give a mouse some peanut butter then one day we'll wake up and Emma will have been eaten. What kind of vicious cycle have we brought upon ourselves?!?!? :D

I'm in VBurg this weekend and there is something so soothing about the country. I love being able to walk down the road without being watched. It feels freer here.

What I've been learning:
1. God is faithful and I am okay. Regardless of what the future hold, God is faithful and that is enough for me.

2. I'm a lousy speller. Even on programs like this, where there's spell check, some words seem to slip through. Spelling always make me think back to elementary, with me crying behind our big arm chair as my dad went over my spelling words with me. Spelling is probably my #1 nemesis. One day spelling, you'll get yours.

3. I think I've shown up to my life a little late. This trip has shown me that there is no point in participating in things that don't make me come alive, when I could be doing something I love. Obviously there are a lot of factors that go into that statement, societal obligations and being able to pay the bills for one, but there is a lot in my life I'm reexamining. It's a freeing time!

4. God has blessed me with some amazing friends. Thursday night was especially hard on my spirit. It had been a long day at work mainly for reasons in #3. Within a two hour block, three friends had called and we were able to catch up with one another. Friends are certainly a blessing from God!

What a wonderful night. I was able to talk through some things with Katie and Kerry about Ireland and what I've been feeling. It's so nice to have someone willing to sit and listen to you. What good friends.

One things God showed me on this trip was the power of listening. It's sometimes a skill that gets over looked, but I beleive it is a ministry. My ears desire stories. Tell me about your day, your life, your fears, and dreams. I want to listen. I'd say I'd love just to listen for the rest of my life, but we also all need someone to listen to our hopes, dreams, fears and joys. Don't underestimate your skills of listening!

Really, if you have a story and can't find someone to tell it to, call me up, I love a good story!

I would love to know who's stopping by and now you can leave comments, regardless if you're a Google user.

My bedroom looks like my backpack exploded all over it. There are clean clothes, dirty clothes, souvenirs, and receipts all over the place. I have not had the gumption to clean it and a perk of having my own room is that no one cares. Maybe it will get done this weekend. Maybe.

As I settled further into work today, I found myself sighing a lot. This job seems even harder after tasting passion for three weeks. My mood stayed down for most of the morning until suddenly I found myself grinning uncontrollably. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, but I theorized someone must be praying for me. So if it was you, thanks. It made my day!

Welcome to my new blog. Xanga has made one too many changes and I have considered switching over for a while. For older posts go to http://www.xanga.com/HolyMonkey510.

I made it back! My coworker said it best today, "Welcome back to reality." That's for sure what it was. Today was a struggle. To go from doing what I know God created me to do to working at a job that sometimes feels like it is crushing my soul, made me realize some things today, but that's for prayers. I did find out that my boss reconsidered my raise request and although I did not get what I asked for, I'm appreciative of what I received. And my cubicle was not on fire when I returned!

I've been praying through some things since I've been back. Mainly, what the next step looks like. I have a few ideas, but I want to seek the Lord on what he would have me due. It's all very exciting!

Tonight Emma cooked some potatos and peppers on the grill. Yum grilled food.

I posted an update about my trip at http://mandainireland.blogspot.com/
Check it out!