April Showers Bring May Flowers

Jesus continues to remind me of his faithfulness. 

• Seeing Melissa be pregnant (with TWINS) and now waiting with my brother for the two adopted kiddos after years of waiting and praying. Crying out to God to answer -- he was answering. in HIS time. 
• In my moments or days of doubting if I can handle a long distance relationship -- He reminds me that no, I can't - but HE can. A long distance relationship will continue to stir fear, insecurity, and loneliness every moment I focus on ME. When my eyes are on Christ as my fullness, Christ as my future, Christ as my timeline, Christ as my identity, Christ as my goal -- then my fears or aches to know what's coming fade. I know that my future is to pursue Christ. That is more than enough. It's a lesson in learning to loose my grip on knowing all and leading my future and letting Joel lead us. It's laying down my pride and my fear of what is to come, and trusting Joel to lead me through it as we pursue Christ together. 
• Spring is finally here. Well - kind of. Spring sort of got left by the wayside with the MAY snow storm and quick ushering in a week later of 90 degree temperatures. Even if it's delayed, even if it's not by my timeline, even if it makes me laugh--- the season do change. They come when the time is right for the creator of the universe. He is faithful. 

The last month in pictures: 

Site visit to Cancun

So beautiful!! 

I could get used to this...

Work fun

Wine and Canvas- fun, moderately stressful for  'type A' folks (read: all of my coworkers and me)

Helped throw a bridal shower for a co-worker -- hosted at my apartment. 

Sangria station!!

The lovely bride is on the right - Jess! 

Epic baking fail...but I got a new oven out of it!! It pays to take lots of pictures -- my cupcake failure picture helped convince my property management company that my oven really was broken. 

Wedding weekend for aformentioned co-worker

BIKING SEASON IS FINALLY HERE

Baby shower for my sister in law and a weekend of family fun. 

59 days of waiting to see Joel...my countdown is now at 3 more days. I'm VERY ready to actually get to see him in person and hug him. I'm so thankful for technology that has allowed us to keep talking /seeing eachother / texting / video messaging etc throughout this season apart. It has caused a few semi-awkward moments (what? Me? no I'm not taking awkward selfies repeatedly -- I'm actually sending a video message to my boyfriend. I didn't see you on the sidewalk. I usually check for other people so I don't have an audience.). 

There are only 3 RINGS left on my "days til I see him" paper chain countdown :) 

Flowers from him. They came the day of the snowstorm (see next picture)

Spring Review

Since we last spoke:

I moved into a duplex with a friend. Living alone for a season was fantastic -- but Sara and I are a great match. Having a person to do life with and come home to has been great. 

I went to the Cayman Islands for work.

I said yes to "officially" dating a wonderful guy I have been talking to and spending time with. His name is Joel.

He moved to Minnesota.
He has driven down to see me and me up to see him a few times. It's hard - but we're figuring it out. One Skype call and care package at a time.
During one of my visits to see Joel, I got to spend some time with my bestie. 

Had a visit from my sister and niece.

I went to Hungary for work.

I took an extra week off after the work portion and went to Austria then back to Hungary.
I saw my sweet friend Jen for the first time in a few years (in Austria...then we traveled together to Hungary. WHAT?! Who arranges a rendezvous in Eastern Europe? We do, folks. We do.

I had a Birthday. 27 to be exact. Celebrated once in Budapest with my co-worker, then again in Vienna with Jen. 

For the record: the top item from my someday list? CONQUERED! Highlight of my trip was seeing an orchestra perform in Vienna on my birthday courtesy of Jen.

My life is delightfully full. My cup runneth over. 

Just Another Thursday

Super busy at work.
Super busy with friends.
Super busy being happy.
Tonight was my night to de-stress and just be.

I found this glorious recipe last week during my blog trolling:
http://joythebaker.com/2011/03/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread/

I saw her pictures and I just KNEW that I had to try it...SOON.
I started making the bread last night --but only had time to make the dough and let it rise the first time. I refrigerated it overnight and finished it today after work.

As I was (impatiently) waiting for the cinnamon pull apart bread to finish baking,  whipped up a lemon cream cheese glaze. I mean...cinnamon rolls are magical with it, so I figured cinnamon bread might feel naked without. A little Cream cheese, margarine, lemon extract, vanilla extract and powdered sugar later -- I was in business. Ooey gooey melted and glorious. My partner in crime and I polished off about a third of the loaf before starting to feel a little sick. SO GOOD.

I also realized I was kind of hungry while said bread was baking. I decided that trying to make quiche for the first time was a great idea. I had a pie shell already made from one of the times I made bulk pie crust. I mean - who doesn't decide to make a GIANT quiche at 7PM on a random Thursday night? The quiche ALSO turned out well. Next time, I'll take the time to tent the crust so it doesn't get quite as brown. The quiche had sausage, potato, mozzarella cheese, spinach, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, eggs, garlic, skim milk, and Salt/pepper. I'm a fan.

Prayers and Les Mis

A while ago I started a list of things I wanted to write about on the blog. It looked like this:

1. Redemption
2. Les Mis
3. Christmas Encouragement
4. Dolce & Gabbana
5. Perspective

Then I waited and waited and work got busy... And forgot to write. And everyone else under the sun already wrote about redemption and Les Mis symbolism. I don't care. I'm still going to write :) Consider this the first in my list series. 

On Les Mis: 

My take on it? I was overwhelmed by Les Mis. By the sheer beauty of the entire film. The ability of film to take something I already loved (the music and storyline of Les Mis) to another depth. The stunning detail of vocal inflection and subtle facial expressions. The beauty of being able to mic people on film so you can hear every word, every lyric, every caught breath. Were there weak characters in the film? Yes. Did it really upset me? No. The film as a whole was such a piece of art that I didn't want to leave the theater. I didn't want the moment to end. The final choruses of "Do You Hear the People Sing" and "TOMORROW COMES" had my pulse racing. 

Favorite two scenes: 

Fantine's I Dreamed a Dream. This was the song that took my breath away more than anything else. Anne Hathaway brilliantly portrayed the pain and depth in those lyrics that I had never heard before. I've always loved stage productions -- but something I didn't realize that I missed in them was the power of each word in the lyrics. I've never been great at memorizing lyrics, so seeing the show is when I hear the whole story. If I miss words because of staging or getting distracted by the instrumentation, I miss so much. The film medium allowed me to hear the lyrics much more clearly because I could see the mouths singing too (I can read lips). 

Valjean's Bring Him Home. The vice grip I had on my sister's hand lasted the entire song. I just felt the need to TOUCH someone while that scene unfolded. Tears ran down my cheeks. 

"God on high, hear my prayer, in my need, you have always been there"

Isn't that our prayer? For relatives, for us? To have God bring us home? To beg God for peace? To recognize God's power, but also seek out his ear for needs. To honor His holiness, but beg for his mercy?  Do I pray like that? Is that the deepest cry of my heart? KNOWING that God can give and take away, but still letting him know the desires inside? I was convicted by that. 

Did you see Les Mis? Did it impact you?