The MOXY Project!!!

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know about the awesome person in my life named Michele Mollkoy. I could just go on and on about her (and, in fact, I have), but this particular time I would like to rave about her new business. One of Michele's greatest gifts is her ability to mentor and coach in a fresh, uplifting, and effective way. The Moxy Project is all about this gift. I strongly encourage you to check out her site, and her blog! I am so excited that Michele has a blog - she has incredibly insightful and thought-provoking things to say. Also, she's an incredible writer.

I am so blessed to know Michele. Go check out her site and see for yourself what an amazing and gifted person she truly is!

www.themoxyproject.com
www.themoxyprojectblog.com

three saturdays a week is something i could definitely support.

Today was a good day.

It snowed today.  And though I have written that sentence in this blog many times in the past seven weeks of my newfound Colorado life, this is the first time that I can say it SNOWED today.  Multiple feet of snow are on the ground outside of my little red house.  The trees are bending under it's weight and my arm muscles may never recover from the strain of all the shoveling.

As a (beautiful and glorious) result of the snow, however, school was cancelled.  And when school is cancelled, so is my job!  I have never been more happy to be awakened at 5:00 in the morning.  And as an added bonus, school is cancelled tomorrow, also.  So tomorrow I get the joy of the unplanned day off without even having to endure the early morning phone calls that typically accompany such days.  I'm so happy - it's like being given the gift of two extra Saturdays!

(Side note - where were all of these snow days when I was a kid?!  I mean, sure - there's a lot of snow.  But when I was in elementary school, this NEVER would have passed as a snow day.  Instead we all would have made the trek to school and spent the day inside wishing we were out in the white washed wonderland teasing us outside those classroom doors.  I think that the Jeffco School District is growing soft in it's old age.)

Today was a day of sweats, reading, tomato soup and grilled cheese, wii fit with my dad, and some good tv.  And, to top off an already fantastic day, I got the joy of talking to Eric AND Renee today.

My heart feels cozy and warm as I bring this day to an end: wrapped in a blanket and wrapped in happiness.

amazing grace.

Tonight I opted out on a haunted house outing with some new friends in favor of a movie night in with my daddio.  This decision was partially because on my list of things to do in the world (particularly on a Friday night at the end of a long week), going to a haunted house is at the bottom, followed only by being forced to swim with sharks or spelunking.  (I'm very claustrophobic.  And sharks are just plain scary.)  But mostly I skipped out on the haunted house extravaganza because Dad and I decided to watch the movie Amazing Grace.  If you haven't seen it, go watch it.  Right now.

I'm sitting in bed now with the pressure of unshed tears behind my eyes.  And they aren't tears of sorrow or of loneliness or of anything to do with me, but tears of being completely overwhelmed by the beauty of a story and the wonder of grace.

I long for more moments like this....moments when I am overwhelmed by grace.  This is a moment in which I am remembering my insignificance and the fact that God's love has made me...well...significant.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

mourning the loss of my dear Ralphie.

Today, friends, is a very sad day.  Today is the day we mourn the death of Ralphie aka "Little Bitch."

Ralphie was a great hamster, aside from the short phase of biting with razor-sharp teeth he went through when he was newly purchased.  Besides the fact that he's the cutest animal I have ever personally owned, he was a precious and entertaining pet.

Ralphie went peacefully, enjoying his favorite activity: napping after a vigorous run on his wheel.

He will be dearly missed and never replaced.

Rest in peace, Ralphie...all of your mommies miss you!

waiting for the laundry to dry.

I'm beyond ready to go to bed right now.  So why am I still awake, you ask?  I will tell you: because I'm waiting for my laundry to dry.  Seriously.  I suppose I could just leave it be and get it out of the dryer in the morning, but then my clothes will be all wrinkly.  Not to mention the fact that the buzzer on the dryer would scare the living daylights out of me if it went off after I fell asleep.  So, all things considered, lying here in bed completely ready to fall asleep and waiting for my clothes to dry seems like the best option.

Maybe I should have started it earlier...oh well: such. is. life.

one of my proudest moments:

College was awesome.

making lists.

My friend (and fellow Coloradan) Kurt is currently traveling Europe on the same study abroad program that I participated in two years ago. I'm loving his blog for selfish reasons (namely, living vicariously through him and pretending that I'm back on the best semester of my life) but also because Kurt is an incredibly insightful and intelligent human being with very interesting things to say. Go check out his blog - you won't be disappointed.

I like to make lists. Mostly I like them because it helps me to stay organized and to accomplish everything that I need to in any given day. But I also like to make lists because I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I cross something off of my list. Example: sophomore year at Westmont, during finals week, I made a to-do list that was four pages long. I taped it up on the window next to my desk and crossed things off with brightly colored markers as I completed them. When the last thing had been crossed off, I had a celebration with my next door neighbor that consisted of dinosaur shaped Ritz crackers, hot chocolate, dancing and watching Friends. It was great. And I'd like to attribute some of that greatness to my list.

Sometimes, though, I am guilty of adding things to my list simply so that I will have something to cross off (example: make a to-do list). This stems from the same part of me that would always write my papers single-spaced so I could go at the end and make them double-spaced and feel really good about the amount of pages I had written.

Today was an add-unneccesary-things-to-the-list kind of day.

(Proof: number 3 on my list reads "write a blog entry about making lists".)

Number 3 is now crossed off. And I'm already feeling more accomplished.

my list of travel destinations is growing dangerously long.

I recently added the "Places to See" application for my igoogle homepage.  Every time I refresh the page it shows a new picture of some amazing place that I can only dream of seeing in real life.  I thought it would be a good break from the monotony of text that dominates that page.  Instead it has become a constant reminder of where I'm not.  And yet, I can't bring myself to remove it.  I sit at my desk and refresh time and time and time again so that I can see another picture and add another place to my list of places to see (latest addition: Machu Picchu, Peru, just in case you were wondering.)

The list is growing.

Is it time to adventure on?  I'd like to think so...

Or, at least, I'd like to hope so.

reflections on one month.

One month.

It's amazing to me that so often in my life one month has felt like the smallest amount of time. A month can fly by in a heartbeat. This, however, has not been one of those months. This month, in fact, has lasted for nearly a lifetime.

This has been a month of many tears, many lonely evenings alone, many doubts, and many sorrows. However, this has also been a month of growth, change, reality, and a whole lot of God. This is a month that I will look back on as one of the most difficult of my life. But I will also look back on it as one in which I grew the most.

I don't always believe that brokenness leads to growth. I often find it to be an idea carelessly thrown about within the Christian culture by those who have been taught that the only way to get attention is to appear "broken."  I think there is a lot to be said for being whole and confident in the Lord.  I do know, though, that the Lord uses more ways and means than I could ever understand and, in some cases, brokenness is a means to growth.  And this has been the case for me this past month.  With so many of the things I relied on in my life taken away - friends and a vibrant social life, my own living space, a job I enjoyed, and confidence in my own future (to name just a few) - I have (finally) given up the charade of self-sufficiency and crawled back to the feet of Jesus.

(I don't deserve his mercy, but I abundantly receive it all the same.)

This has been a month that, quite frankly, I would care to never repeat.  But I also know that I am a better person (currently less bright and shiny than usual, but better nonetheless) for having survived it.

And now the only place to go is further on and further in, moving towards the "rest of my life" full of hope and fear and joy and sorrow, but always full of the ever-present Love of God.

sorry, but i don't actually like pumpkin spice lattes.

It is indisputably autumn here in Colorful Colorado. If the vibrant red and gold leaves and crisp, chilly temperatures weren't evidence enough, the Halloween decorations that have appeared over the weekend can certainly provide the proof. There are currently pumpkin lights hanging above the garage and a scarecrow sitting on the porch swing and a graveyard appearing in the yard next door.

Did you know that if you type in http://www.foofle.com/, you will still end up at http://www.google.com/? I'd like to thank the genius computer programmer who anticipated that typo.

I always like to play the one-year-ago-today-I-was.... game. I enjoy thinking back on my life and seeing the ways that I have changed and grown. So....one year ago today, I think I was on the first year retreat with Westmont College, hanging out with two of my favorite men:

Not much has changed since then, honestly...(but everything has changed...) I'm in a new state, a new home, a new job, and a new stage of life. But my heart is in a similar state of tenderness tempered with desperate dependence on God.

Two years ago today, I was in Krakow, Poland. I'm not sure of the exact day, but I was either at Auschwitz Concentration Camp experiencing one of the most surreal and difficult days of my life:

Or I was on The Crazy Communist Tour expreriencing one of the most surreal and entertaining days of my life:

Three years ago today I was, I'm sure, enjoying the confidence and contentment of being a sophomore in college.

The days pass slowly, but the time has gone by so quickly...

And right here, right now, in this year - I'm surviving. There won't be any pretty pictures or exciting memories for me to look back on that will mark this day. Frankly, this day is just another in a long chain of days that find me searching for contentment amidst the mix of courage and fear. But I hope that, one long (but really quite short) year from now, I will be able to look back on this day as a day that I lived fully.

That would be enough for me.



Thank you, Lord, for this gift of life.

emergency rooms and animal crackers.

So, for the past year and a half, I've been doing this one-word-for-the-post-title thing. And, while it has worked well for me, I think that this post (the first post of October) will mark a new period. One in which I do whatever I want for the blog title.

ANYWAY....

The leaves are changing and the autumn weather has blown in during the night. I walked outside this morning to be greeted by temperatures that leave your cheeks rosy and your fingers tingling long after you've retreated to the warmth of the indoors. I actually love this weather - I just need to get used to it again. My blood has been thinned by my years of living in Santa Barbara, where 50 degrees is considered "freezing." From where I sit in my office, I can just catch glimpses of the blue sky peeking out from behind the leaves caught somewhere between green and gold. My dad and I are going to go hike up in the mountains this weekend - I'll be sure to post pictures next week so that all of you who live in a place devoid of seasons can be jealous of the beautiful place I live in now.

Things are pretty lowkey in my life right now. It's funny when I talk to friends in Santa Barbara because it seems like SO much happens in their lives every day. I suppose that's to be expected with school and jobs and a lot of people around things just happen much more quickly. For me, however, life consists of work and church and not much else - it just moves a bit slower.

Tuesday, however, was a crazy day. Let's just say that I spent the majority of it with a ten year old in the emergency room.

No, actually, let's say more: I was walking through the parking lot on Tuesday morning when I saw a counselor running towards me. She informed me that one of our girls had hit her head on the playground and was "bleeding everywhere." I, of course, snapped into Supermom mode and ran over to the little girl, and they were right. She was bleeding EVERYWHERE. It was, frankly, quite disgusting. After a few minutes of evaluation and a phone call with her dad, I decided to take her to the ER so they could look at it and see if she needed stitches. Well, multiple hours, lots of blood, and a fight between me and the lady who wouldn't check us in because I "wasn't the parent" (I won, by the way. Don't mess with me when I'm wearing the daycare polo and have a bleeding child with me.) we learned that she would, in fact, need something to help heal her head, and staples were the method of choice. Luckily, Dad walked in right before they were about to put seven staples into this poor child's head, so he got to be the one to deal with the paperwork while I comforted (and nursed my fingers that she may have fractured she was squeezing them so hard). Needless to say, it was quite the adventure. Also, she showed up this morning and was super excited to show off her staples, so I'm pretty sure she's doing okay.

Alright, my government mandated 15-minute break is now over, so I'm off to do such exciting things as ordering mass amounts of animal crackers from Sam's Club and filling out a CCAP attendance report.

Hope you're all having a wonderful, adventurous day.