Small Town Randoms

Yesterday I posted about our awesome Easter weekend.  I forgot to mention a highlight on the drive out to the small town of Sequim. 

Small towns have the best random places to eat.  Case and point:  Fat Smitty's.

 When you walk in you are surrounded by real dollar bills taped to the walls and ceiling.  There had to be thousands of dollars hanging on those walls!

And then there was random M&M decor that lined the ceilings and windows.

 And apparently I'm eating a "world famous" Smitty burger.  I don't know about famous...but it was definitely massive. 

Finding random whole in the wall places like this is one of my favorite parts of traveling.  Does your town have any "World famous" random places like this?

Easter Awesomeness

Easter 2011 was pretty darn awesome.  There was a total of 8 of us from our home church that took a two hour trip to a tiny town called Sequim.  One of the girls who attends our group has a family home on the water that was generously offered for us to stay at.  We had an amazing time of fellowship, praise, worship, food and relaxation.

We were only away for 24 hours but it felt like a much  needed getaway. 

 Can you see the reflection of the water in the windows?  It was just beautiful!

 Libby and Dan...aren't they the cutest?

 Lindsy and Dan searching for geo ducks.  We dug and dug...no luck.

 Hello Hermit Crab!

Some of the boys sporting mustaches for the weekend.

 Almost every single person who attends our home group is a musician/artist.  It's awesome to hear them jam out. 

And here is a photo tribute to the amazing food we ate. 

Hope you all had an amazing Easter weekend!

Testimony: Part 3--Transformation

Read Testimony Part 1 & Part 2. 

I was 21 and selling books in a small town in Pennsylvania.  By this time I was leading the group of students I was working with and every Sunday we would meet up for training and then go do something fun in the city.  Most of the students I was working with were Christian and wanted to go to church after the meeting.  Because I was the leader I said, "No!"  The last thing I wanted to do on my day off was go and sit through a church service.  Plus, we were all in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops (don't you have to dress up to go to church?).  Unfortunately because I didn't drive that particular day, I didn't have the choice of going somewhere else while they all went to church...so I reluctantly went with them.  We pulled up to a tiny church in the middle of nowhere....when we walked in all I saw was a sea of white hair and I immediately walked to the very back pew.  The pastor wasn't upset at all that 20 young college kids just disrupted his service...in fact he appeared delighted that we had nearly doubled the size of his congregation!

I sat alone in the last pew doing paperwork....I wasn't paying much attention to the sermon, but I do remember the pastor started talking about his college days.

Ok...here is where the crazy starts.  At some point during the sermon the room turned white and there was no one but me and the pastor--and Jesus was speaking through the pastor to me.  It felt like I was in a dream...I have no idea how much time passed when I found myself down on my knees at the very front of the church bawling my eyes out and knowing for the first time who this Jesus was and the sacrifice he made for me. 20 college kids stood staring at me wondering what was going on.  (They didn't see the room go white...they just watched me walk up front and start crying and praying.)

There was a woman who grabbed my hand and took me to a room and prayed for me. I kid you not...when I walked out of that church it was like watching the Wizard of Oz when it goes from black and white to color.  Everything was more vibrant--it was like seeing real life in HD...or putting on glasses for the first time when you've lived with bad vision.  When the wind blew it felt like God whispering to me.  Suddenly I understood the term "born again."  My entire life was transformed in a moment and I had a joy pulsing through me that I've never experienced before.  I felt convictions I'd never had and I felt like I was walking through life with a new pair of eyes.  I KNOW this sounds absolutely insane--that I could understand who Jesus was and the sacrifice he made for me without ever studying it, learning about it, or discussing it.  His presence with me in that church for a mere moment somehow helped me understand. 

I truly mean it when I say my life was transformed that day.  I know most Christians don't have such dramatic testimonies....many grew up in the church and wrestled with the decision before they chose to follow Christ.  But for me it was this crazy story that I would never believe if someone told me.  Which is why I hesitate to tell you.  But I can't deny this life changing moment.  And for the record...I'm not religious.  I hate that word.  Religion to me means boundaries and rules; I live a life of faith which has given me freedom, peace, joy and contentment, more than I've never known. 

Amen.

Testimony: Part 2--Seeking

Read Part 1 of Testimony here.

Believe it or not, there were acutally people who did buy books from me...In fact after working my butt off for 11 weeks I made just over $10,000.  And I decided to do it again the following summer, and then the next, and then the next. My fourth summer I made just over $40,000 in 12 weeks.  It was through this summer job that I met college students from around the world...many were the nicest and most intriguing people I had ever met.  They were the type of people who I wanted to be like....the common thread between all of the people I looked up to was that they were all Christians.  It was really the first time in my life where I felt compelled to look into this faith called Christianity.  But I didn't know where to start.  I had tried to read the bible multiple times but could never get through Genesis.  (Little did I know that Genesis is a terrible place to start....I had no idea I should start in the middle of the bible with the book of Matthew in the New Testament). 

I just couldn't help but think that if I became a Christian that I would have a bunch of boundaries that would limit me from having fun in life.  I was young and didn't want a set of rules to follow.  I took a class on world religions and started learning about other faith practices.  The entire time I started looking into religion I had an unrest in my soul and kept praying, "God if you are real, prove yourself to me...give me some sort of sign." 

And here is where it get's crazy.  I am hesitant to even share this because it does sound crazy and unbelievable.  But this is the true story of how I came to know this man named Jesus and became a Christian.  Please know that I share this with a vulnerable heart, realizing that some of you may think I'm a lunatic.  Be that as it may, I want to share my testimony.

...To be continued

Testimony: Part 1--Unbelief

Back in October I blogged about being a Christian and I loved the response and the discussion it evoked.  As Easter approaches I think many of us start thinking about our faiths/religion/beliefs and start asking more questions.

As someone who did not grow up in the church and was raised with no spiritual convictions, Easter to me was about baskets of candy and pink and purple hard boiled eggs.

As a child I had one friend who went to church.  She was Catholic and invited me to Christmas mass once.  I was probably 15 or so and all I remember was there was a lot of kneeling and reciting and making imaginary crosses in front of chests and I felt weird and uncomfortable.  As a teenager I didn't know much about religion, nor did I care.  I had very few interactions with people of any faith and it wasn't something I felt I needed in my life.  I was a "normal" kid...I did some "bad stuff" as a kid but I didn't have a rebellious nature; for the most part I was obedient, responsible and wanted to please others.

My general feelings and questions about religion started to form in college.  I actually decided to go to a Christian University not because I wanted anything to do with Christianity, but because this particular university had a great program for my major and I received a grant.  For the first time in my life I was surrounded by so called "Christians" and I quickly  formed an opinion of these folks.  For the most part I didn't like them.  I was driving their drunk butts home from parties; I was watching them pay other people to write their term papers for them; I was hearing about their sexual escapades; I was hearing them gossip.  I thought they were a bunch of hypocrites--and honestly, I felt like I was a better and more moral person than most of them. 

I still knew nothing about Christianity, but my assumption was that if you were a Christian you were required to be good (ie, no sex, drinking or drugs), you thought all homosexuals were going to hell, you picketed outside abortion clinics and you judged people left and right.

My first couple of years in college I grew more and more independent; I labeled myself a feminist, and I had extremely liberal views.  I wasn't having sex because my personal conviction was that I wanted to be in love...and I simply wasn't in love with anyone yet.  I wasn't really a drinker and wasn't interested in drugs.  I felt like I was a good person; I still had no views on religion, but this was the first time in my life that I felt like I was searching for something...was it peace? Was it comfort?  I'm not sure what it was but I began to very slowly start seeking answers to a question I couldn't quite define.

At the end of my freshman year I heard about this summer job selling books door to door where you could make a ton of money.  Because I was paying my way through school I decided to go for it.  At 18, I packed up my stuff, went to Nashville, Tenessee for a week of training and then found myself in a suburb of New Jersey knocking on doors 80 hours a week and hoping people would  buy from me.  It was the hardest, most humbling thing I had ever done.  People swore at me, yelled at me, looked at me like I was the scum of the earth, called the cops and set their dogs on me.  It was a job that drove me to prayer.  I didn't know who I was praying to, but I started praying. 

....to be continued. 

Loathing The Scale

Well it's about that time ladies.  The truth about post-wedding weight gain is here.  I SO want to be content with where I'm at, but 15 pounds later...I just can't.

I have to say that I totally lucked out before my wedding.  I had a health issue that caused me to lose weight.  I didn't try, I didn't exercise much, I ate whatever I wanted, and I lost weight.  It was awesome.

Not the case any longer...as my clothes got tighter I got more and more uncomfortable so I started hitting the gym 5 times a week, I've been watching my diet; I've been at it for just under a month...but the dang scale wont budge. 

I Googled how common it is for newlyweds to gain weight their first year of marriage...apparently it's pretty common...but it still sucks.  You can read an article here.  But there are tons of other articles if you Google it too. 

Did you gain weight the first year of marriage?  Are any of you losing weight?  Share your tips please!

Bad Timing

Andy and I were beyond excited that we finally got approved for a home loan.  We've had our eye on three properties that have all been on the market for awhile.  We organized our schedules to go view these homes tomorrow--except last night we saw that ALL THREE properties were now pending.  Hmph!

I know that means they weren't meant to be...but there just aren't a lot of choices of triplexes and 4 plexes in the area.  Hopefully something good will come on the market soon.  Because getting out of this apartment means I get a puppy!

I'll keep ya'll posted!

In Limbo

When Andy and I were traveling it was very difficult to plan or even talk about our future because it was so up in the air.  We didn't have an end date to our travels, we didn't know where we were going to move, we didn't own anything and we were in a constant state of curiosity of how it was all going to turn out.

Currently we feel like we're in a similar position.  We have been waiting and waiting to hear back about a college ministry position that Andy applied for and we won't know who they've selected until sometime in June.  Last week we were denied a home loan...however this week we found out we got approved (yay!)...so we've been house hunting again and we most likely will put an offer on a home by the end of the week.  That will be another thing we wait for (most places we are looking at are short sales.)  We feel the next couple of months are a gray area and once again we are in a state of hopefulness and curiosity of how it will all pan out. 

I have to admit I feel like God is telling me something through all this waiting.  I'm the sort of person who is always focused on the future...planning, preparing, worrying....I know I hear God's voice telling me to relax and be present...to be where I'm at today and to be in this moment. 

Old School

There is an old school, vintage arcade game place in Tacoma called Dorky's.  Andy and I met up with a bunch of friends the other night with a roll of quarters and had a great time being kids again. 

I haven't played Mrs. Packman and Donkey Kong since I was in elementary school!  

You Can Probably Guess...

It's probably pretty clear what our weekend looked like.

Fortunately I've been lucky and whatever Andy has--I don't....yet.