"And It Warms Your Skin, and Your Soul Within..."

Today has been a yellow day.

I don't know if there is some connotation to a "yellow day," such as a "red-letter day," but I create my own definition here.

A yellow day is a happy day, a sunshine-y day, a day where you might find me wearing yellow. And, in fact, I am wearing a yellow shirt and yellow shoes. I thought the yellow hair bow would have been overkill. It is also Skirt Monday, thought that is not yellow.

I woke up early. (Read: 8 ish) I showered and such, then made coffee, and my friend Katherine came over. And we prayed together. :) I had my first class at 10:30 (History of Philosophy I: Ancient). At 11:30, I had my scholarship class on the 4 Roles of Leadership (Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People sort of stuff). The dean of student affairs teaches this class, and she's awesome. We got out early and I ran into my friend Liz, so we had lunch together. I ate rice and beans and spinach and carrots and hummus. And juice. :) I felt healthy (I say this as I eat Nutella and crackers now...). I headed back to my apartment and prepared more for Bible Study tonight. I left for my last class, Globalization, Social Justice, and Human Rights, which got out about 15 minutes early. I might drop this class and switch to another one. We'll see... :/

One of the songs of the day is "And the Birds Sing." (From which I gained my post title.) It makes me cheerful. Doo doo doo... :)

I just got back from dinner with my little and then my first Bible Study of the year. I'm co-leading a women's study with my friend Alex. I was bold and talked to someone I didn't know yet... Which I prayed for the strength to do this morning. :) I'm excited for how this study will go.

I'm back in my apartment and am fighting the urge to snack. I need to read Book 8 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. And maybe some Globalization stuff.

I just signed up for word of the day emails from dictionary.com. Today's word: flounce. "to go about with impatient, exaggerated movements."

Let us not flounce through our days, especially yellow days. Let us breathe them in and be thankful for them. Smile and enjoy the yellow days of life. :)

Last Week of Summer: Boring Post

I thought it would be funny to write a post while I was recovering from wisdom tooth surgery. Buuuttt... I don't think it's going to be as funny. I was a little fuzzy taking the nitrous oxide, but that wore off like right away. The nitrous freaked me out for a teeny bit, til I got suuuuper relaxed. It was like those times when you're soooo close to sleep, but not ACTUALLY asleep, but your body is crazy relaxed and everything is niiiice... It's quite a nice feeling.

I only got the left ones out, as one had to come out, and the other was ready, but the right ones aren't ready and probably won't be for a bit. Coolio. I'm on anti-inflammatory medicine, antibiotics, and the vicodin as needed.

^I wrote all this up top Monday after I got them pulled. It's Thursday evening and I haven't had any vicodin today and I'm not swelled up. Like, at all. I still can't eat too much real food yet, but I'm healing quite nicely.

I'm bored. I'm essentially all packed up, ready to go to Kirksville, and the fam is gone most of the time. But I need to go to church here on Sunday and do that with the fam and so I have two more days of... Pretty much nothing. But I think I'm going to buy shoes tomorrow. I need shoes to run in. If I can find some that fit/are comfortable.

I could do something productive such as get started on textbooks, or read other things... but it's the last few days of summer. I'm watching TV and facebooking. Also, I cleaned a bit.

So, that's my week. Impressive wisdom tooth surgery recovery, and packing, and some fam, and some boredom. Also a haircut! Weee-oohhh!

Stuffandthingz

The tabs I've had open for a few hours on my computs:

• Stuffchristianslike Serious Wednesday post. I need to read it more than the skimming I did.
• Myspace music (Disclaimer: music is the only thing I have ever used myspace for) Mumford and Sons
• Myspace music Tyrone Wells, a new listen starting today. 
• (The music player also has Phoenix on it... yeahhhh.)
• Calvary Theological Seminary: Expenses
• Trinity Theological Seminiary: Tuition and Finance
• Youtube: Boy Meets World (I'm currently at Season 4 episode 21. Oh, boy. They go by very quickly.)

Today's weather was great, also. Just wanted to note that. Hooorraaayyy. I sat outside and finished Through the Looking-Glass and started Peter Pan. While listening to Tyrone Wells. 

AND, as one can infer, I am planning on attending seminary after I graduate from Truman. Eeeeeeeeee. So I'm looking into programs and monies. My first look was, of course, Covenant in St. Louis. And, I looked into Wheaton. Oh, man, WHEATON. Ideally, as of right now, I'd be in the KC area though. I love it. Maybe because it's been a great summer. I have family here, I have a church here, I have friends and connections here, and I'm beginning to know the area. Thus, the leaning towards Calvary. So, that's some thoughts.

Oh, and seminary for what? My masters in counseling, or Biblical Counseling, or whatever the particular term per institution it is. HOW EXCITING. Seriously, though, it really is. :) Life plans, whoop whoop.

Also, you know what I love? Friends. And you know what is humbling? Just being there with people, listening to them, not talking about yourself, realizing people aren't always going to ask you all about your life. Pie.

I apologize for this conglomeratory post. I hope to write profound posts and they take much more time and refining to write, and it will be a while before they can be seen. So, here's some stuffandthingz.

So Sentimental, Not Sentimental, No

Last week I...

• said goodbye to some dear friends from Woodland Ridge church and closed out VBS there.
• hung out with my awesome Truman family (though sans the Erins).
• saw the new Winnie the Pooh movie.
• continued bonding and relationship building with my cousins.
• crafted and wrote some letters.
• saw my little sister in her first play. Also saw that she was nearly my size... Though her arms might be bigger. I have little arms. 
• went back to New Haven for the first time in nearly 10 weeks.
• tried more tea.
• met with my friend Jordan for the last time before she moves to IL for her job.
• went to Staples, got what I needed on sale and mildly geeked out over school supplies.
• cried.
• laughed.
• hugged.
• prayed.
• procrastinated.
• watched Boy Meets World.

I don't have some sort of moral or profound thought or life-revelation for this post. Just this, this glimpse of a week of my life. And this is life. Maybe that is profound. Maybe it was my lazy way of writing a post because I wanted to write something and couldn't make something else work and this did work and just came about. 

So here's some things that happened in one week of my life.

So We May Tell

11."You have turned for me 
my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12. that my glory may sing your praise
and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks 
to you forever!"
~Psalm 30:11-12

11. This is what God does.
12. This is what our response should be.

God has turned and is continually turning my mourning into dancing. He clothes me in gladness, bidding away my sadness. For why? that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. I want to--and ought to-- tell people all that he has done for me.

My hopes were crushed, my plans set to ruin, my heart hurt. And yet I dance. He drew me to himself and showed me his grace daily. He wrapped his arms around me and assured me of his love for me, his daughter.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

I am Accepting Limits

Last week was busy. Maybe not the busiest compared to some, but for who I am and for what my summer typically looks like, it was pretty busy. And it's been ridiculously hot and humid and the AC in my car doesn't really work. So I've just been wiped.

So on Thursday night I just hit that feeling, that "I'm gonna cry, I need space, I need sleep..." kinda moment. Something along those lines needed to happen. When I'm tired, I get slightly more irrational... (oops) Your physical, emotional, spiritual, and social lives/health are very connected and are affected by each other. And being too tired led me to be more emotional, which led me to feel more exhausted.

Feeling like I was doing so much stuff and that my health might have slightly suffered made me think about how you have to know your limits. You need to know how much your body and spirit and mind can handle. Sometimes setting limits makes you feel like you're not fun, or not working hard enough, or like you're letting people down, because you say no to things. But you can't do EVERYTHING. And you need rest.

Sometimes I overdo it. So then I have to take some time off. Knowing my limits and listening to them is actually something I think I do fairly well. Which is good in dealing with my asthma, and perhaps one of the reasons my asthma isn't very bad. I listen to my body and know what I can and can't do. (Though sometimes I do push it, because I want to be stronger...)

Setting emotional and social limits is also healthy. We can get too involved somewhere, or not involved in the right way. We can over think things or let ourselves get wrapped up in heart drama when it's not necessary. Sometimes we know what's not good for us... And do it anyway.

If your car is working properly, the gas light will go off when you need to fill up soon. You have some time, but you're reaching the limit. So know how much farther your tank can go and fill up when you need to, friend. :)

God-Sightings

So my friend and roommate, Julie, and I went to the mall. When we were there, we went for frozen yogurt at Cherry on Top. It's one of those self-serve places-- "Endless Possibilities." LOVE it. Anyway, on the right sleeve of their workers' shirts it says "Eph 1:11." Julie asked a worker if their shirts said Ephesians 1:11. YES, she said! She didn't say it that enthusiastically, but we were pretty excited. AND, it's a verse about God's plans.

Julie said, "You and I would end up at a ice cream place with a verse about God's plans." Julie's favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11, and I'm also encouraged by knowing God has plans for us. I've been learning a lot about God's plans this summer. Not what they are, mind you. Ha, no. But I'm learning that they are better than our plans. And not always the same as our plans. I'm learning they'll work out in his time. Anyway, that's another topic for another day... The point here is that it was a reinforcement. And besides that... Seeing God in a frozen yogurt shoppe... It was a God-sighting. Not physically. I didn't have some sort of movie-Morgan Freeman experience.

Rather, God-sightings are when you see him manifested in his creation, when you see him at work. We've been talking about them at VBS this summer. Here are two examples given by our lovely leader: 1. Metamorphosis.  Caterpillars start out one way and through a thorough process are transformed into beautiful butterflies. 2. Sharing. She told a story of a girl who left her bikes out during the day so that kids who didn't have bikes could ride them.

Often when something is said about seeing God in his creation, what is meant is nature. Remember--God created US. And that's a different kind of beauty, seeing God in his creatures who have souls (or are souls). In his creatures with souls, and words, and relationships. It does my heart and my walk good to see him in words and relationships. It warms me and encourages me.

I have a tendency (as I'm sure most people do) to feel a kinship with others with whom I share something in common. As C. S. Lewis said, "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." I felt a kinship with the owners of Cherry on Top, though I had never met them. And knowing that others are starting businesses and through them witnessing, just warms my heart and encourages my soul and walk. It's a God-sighting.

As we say to the kids at VBS... Watch for God. :)