4 Things.

1) We got an English White Cream Golden Retriever puppy!
Her name is Maya.  She will be 8 weeks old on Thursday.  She really is the cutest thing you have ever seen.  Ever.

2) I am starting my first official job tomorrow.  I am going to be a receptionist with City Bank Mortgage.  I am excited to have something to do that will be a new experience and be earning me some money.  Shall I say it?  Independence, whether I'm ready or not, here I slowly come.

3) Tomorrow is also September 1st.  The first day of the month that I am supposed to hear whether or not I get an interview for the Journeyman Program, a two-year mission program with International Mission Board.  Exciting...

4) I recently babysat three adorable and fun kids!  Here is a picture of the fruits of our labor, a Tower of DVDs:

Cool, huh?  :) 

Please notice the "Air Buddies" movies at the very top; 

those were the favorites, 

the ones deserving of a place of honor.

The whole thing was all their idea. 

That's the best part about it.

children's literature.

My favorite class that I took in college was, without a doubt, Classics of Children's Literature.

As Baylor classes start today, I am sad not to be present.  It is really weird when I consider the fact that Baylor goes on without me.  The beautiful campus became my home for the past four years, and it is strange not to be there and be in class.

Because I am not in class, I have to find other ways of learning and challenging myself.  One of those ways is through books.  If you know me, you know that I LOVE to read.  LOVE to read.  The busyness of this summer did not allow for zooming through 30 or so books (as I have done in past summers), so the reading has been slow.

But, I just finished my third book of this summer, C.S. Lewis' Letters to Children.  It is a collection of letters that Lewis wrote to children who wrote to him with questions, ideas, pictures, and random thoughts.  Over and over the book reminded me of things we learned in my favorite class.  Here are some quotes that made me smile (and next to which, of course, I pencilled in a smiley face):

"A good toenail is not an unsuccessful attempt at a hair; and if it were conscious it w[oul]d. delight in being simply a good toenail."

"If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so. I'm thankful that you realized [the] 'hidden story' in the Narnian books.  It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever."

Lewis replies to a child's picture of Narnian characters:  "But what I like best of all is the 'spirit of a tree'.  It is so beautifully wavy and graceful and is moving so.  Bravo!"

"You see, I don't think age matters so much as people think.  Parts of me are still 12 and I think other parts were already 50 when I was 12: so I don't feel it v.[ery] odd that they grow up in Narnia while they are children in England."

"The first beginning of the winter always excites me; it makes me want adventures.

"If you become a writer you'll be trying to describe the thing all your life: and lucky if, out of dozens of books, one or two sentences, just for a moment, come near to getting it across." 

 "I enjoyed that imaginary world so much myself that I'm glad to find anyone who has been there and liked it as much as I did--just like meeting someone who has been to a place one knows and likes in the real world." 

Reading is delightful.  Dive into children's literature sometime, and rediscover the treasure trove there.

waiting. is. wonderful.

Never thought those words would come out of anyone's mouth.  Much less out of mine.

But as I stare at the fog, the vast unknown, that is currently my future, I can stand here today and say with confidence, "Waiting is wonderful."

Waiting is HARD.  It is hard not having a plan.  It is hard when you wait not even knowing what you wait for.  Or what you want to wait for.  It is hard when you talk to others at the same point in life as you who have a set plan, something seen and tactile.  It is hard, even after years of waiting, when the idea of waiting more seems to hit you and leads you still to tears.
But, Waiting gets EASIER. 

Waiting can be LONELY.  It is lonely when you wait by yourself.  When you rejoice in others who move forward, while you sit or stand or lie down and wait because of the absence of a light at the end of your tunnel.  It is lonely when all you can see is the small light just above the next step you are about to take.  Or the light that is above your head, meaning that each step you do take is blind or should not yet be taken.
But, Waiting can be ACCOMPANIED.


From my waiting experience, I now know that waiting is part of the plan.  I never planned on titling several chapters of my life book "Waiting," but waiting continues to be an interesting and fulfilling and wonderful experience.

Waiting is hard, but God makes it easier.  

"...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  

Psalm 139:16

My future is not unknown to Him; it is just unnamed to me.

Waiting is lonely sometimes, but God accompanies me as I wait.

"Be still, and know that I am God..."

Psalm 46:10

He is God, and He is here.

And I can say without a doubt that waiting. 

is. 

wonderful.

And that whenever I do find out 

whatever I am waiting for, 

I know that whatever it is 

will be well worth 

the wait.

no longer a chestnut bur.

Last night I finished Part II of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.  I had never read it before taking my Children's Literature course in my final semester.  It is so witty and beautiful and heartwarming and charming and clever and well-written and altogether delightful.  I know now why it remains a classic of children's literature.

One quote that caught my attention while reading last night was the following made by Meg to Jo:

You are like a chestnut bur, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it.  Love will make you show your heart some day, and then the rough bur will fall off. (397) 

 This short truth about love reminded me of what God says in Ezekiel 11: 19-20.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.  Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.  They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Real love takes something worthless and gives it worth.  Real love finds the lost.  Real love rescues those who are without hope of being saved.  Love sees what no one else sees and dares to care when no one else can.

God is real love.  How often I forget that it was God who saw me as I was.  He reached out and removed the rough bur from my exterior; He cut out my heart of stone.  He saw me as me, who I am deep inside, when know one else did.  He found me where I was.  He rescued me from disobedience and darkness and emptiness and my selfish self.

He dared to love me.  He even went so far as to die in my place.  Why?  Because He loves me and desires for me to be with Him.

He saw me as a chestnut bur, and He loved me as a chestnut bur.  Even though my heart was of stone, His love was able to penetrate the walls that I put up around me.

Because of His love, His real and unfailing and unconditional love, I am no longer a chestnut bur.  I am a soft, sweet kernel with a heart of flesh.  Because of His love, my desire is for Him.  I am His.  And REAL LOVE is my God.