it's summer again...

apparently blogging is a summer activity for me :)

im in richmond for the next 4 weeks (ive already been here for 2). im working for erica's mom and living with erica- both of which im loving. i do THE most random stuff for mrs. bonnie- from researching how best to sell a fridge online to editing letters to fed-ex'ing shoes she left at the nail salon. living with erica is always an adventure :) we have a lot of similar interests... well. we both like junk antique and thrift stores. and the Lord. she's an artist, which fits the mold of my favorite roommates, and im currently watching her paint a piece inspired by the woman with the issue of blood (which, we just learned is in every Gospel BUT John. which is the one she was supposed to be painting from for her church. oops.). we're listening to coldplay (her choice) which makes me think of last summer and a concert with sara noojin...

i miss my bama people. kind of a lot.

my best friend is engaged!! and found a dress yesterday. and i get to go to the fitting in a couple months!!!

i love my life. have i said that recently? because i do.

because my last post was on adoption... i recently dubbed (in my head) my savings accout my "adoption savings account." im 1/25 of the way there. so maybe in like 15 years i can actually have a kid. hah.

"satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love, that i may rejoice and be glad all my days..."

I never write any more. I thought about excuses, but decided a post is better.

I've been thinking about adoption a lot lately... as in, more than usual. For several reasons, I think.

I'm scared of growing older and not doing the things I always said I'd do because life happened.

I just read Noel Piper's adoption story, and pretty much wept the whole time. She and John adopted a little African American girl (Talitha Ruth) when her youngest son was 13 (they have four sons) and she and john were in their 50s. (By the way, Talitha is what Jesus called the little girl he raised from the dead- it means "little she-lamb." That's about the cutest thing I've ever heard.)

Went to BrookHills yesterday, where my heart was first stirred toward adoption. Several months after that first happened, I found myself in that same sanctuary beside a couple in their 50s, white, with a little black girl, about 7. Watching that family, the little girl climbing into her daddy's lap made me teary. Because that's her daddy, and the colors of their skin have no consequence in her eyes. I wanted to thank them, to tell them how much I loved and respected what they were doing, and how much I want to do that one day, but was afraid I'd burst into tears if I tried to talk to them.

I'm only 21, unmarried (and staying that way for awhile), still in school (and staying THAT way for awhile), and currently broke. I have don't have the resources, family position, or financial position to adopt or provide for an adopted child. But my heart cries for it daily.

I don't understand why the Lord puts things in my heart way before they can bear fruit, but I trust Him. And I know that this is from Him. So in 15 years, when you see my little multi-racial family, don't be shocked. Because I've known since I was 20 that my kids wouldn't all look like me :)

Jason Kovacs over at the Abba Fund blog wrote an amazingly simple mathematical equation over at the blog last week. Basically he took the number of orphans in the world, the number of professing Christians and figured out how many of those Christians would need to adopt to give every orphaned child a family.

How many do you think? 80%, 50%, 30% nope, how about 6%?! The argument here isn't that only Christians should adopt, but that it really is a number within reach. Add in all of the potential adoptive parents in the world and it looks even easier. I don't think that there is any need for children to grow up without families. No reason at all.

quoted from a blog that noel piper tweeted about. go adopt a kid. (if youre married. and can financially support it.) if youre a believer you've been trans-racially adopted. repeat the process. need more convincing? http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/free-at-last-the-grace-of-christ-in-galatians/

listen to free as sons.

Luke 18.25
by Karsten Piper

He spread his blanket on the sand,
kneeled and arranged his bowls and tools:
hook, mallet, clamp, chisel, rasp, razor.

His smile glinted in the rongeur’s claws,
and upside down in the curette’s spoon.
Light shone out of the needle’s eye.

“Hoosh,” he said and began plucking hairs,
paring calluses, shearing wool, shaving
to the follicles, cutting to the quick.

He sorted these, trimming skin with skin,
hair with hair, into rows of clay bowls,
and set a large basin to catch each sour drip

as he sliced the hide and used both fists
to yank back the whole stubbled, gray pelt,
as wet and red on its underside as afterbirth.

He piled this heavily away, draping it
in clean linen, and turned to the meat and bone
heaving under sheer, tight membrane.

Sawteeth chewed into femur, rib and shoulder.
Pliers twisted and wrenched away tendons
until everything softened, canted, and collapsed—

yet not one sliver dies. Each ribbon and shard
bawls for the horror and hurt of their missing,
wishing for the old braying wholeness.

Pain bloodies evening and morning,
stabbing day after day from even the first cuts,
like the slow light of far stars.

Eyeballs and heart float alone in the last bowl,
dark and defenseless, quavering when he leans down
and they recognize in his eyes how little is left.

“Easy now, Camel,” he says and lifts me
in his fingertips, one quivering strand at a time,
through the eye of the needle.

my obsession with the Pipers apparently extends beyond john.

blah blah blah

since school started back, no one's really blogging. it makes me sad.

however... i actually see some of you now. so thats good. and my sister got a blog. thats good. you should follow her. shes got funny stories from the 83 inner-city 8th grade boys to whom she teaches science.

i have no idea what im doing in 9 months. my parents asked me THE question today. what the hecks is i sposed to say to that? (answer: what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhinoceros?)

im taking theology 101 from dr. bart box at the disciple-making institute at brookhills. yippee!

sara and i want to go to europe this summer. wanna come?

3 things:

1. labor day

2. molly chambers. meeting her for coffee in the morning :)

3. this verse: "return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." i like to think about what it means that the Lord has dealt bountifully with my soul. any ideas?

the more encouraging ones...

"O Lord, grant that I am more amazed that I am forgiven for my wrongs than that I have been wronged."
(john piper. i follow him on twitter :) dont make fun.)

"but he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? what he desires, that he does. for he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind."
(job 23:13)

in the midst of rush. 2 goals:
1. stay emotionally detached
2. stay OUT of the drama. i wont even let people tell me what's going on

i love my upstairs team. theyre a lot of fun... and its already day 4! so only 2 more days :) and then bid day!!

the gospel and alpah chi

"never be content with your current grasp of the Gospel. the Gospel is life-permeating, world-altering, universe-changing truth. it has more facets than any diamond. we will never exhaust its depths."

(c.j. mahaney)

back in tuscaloosa... rush workshop started today... back in my house with sara(h).

i really want to portray the Gospel during workshop and rush- talk about a challenge. you can pray for me if you want :)

"love is patient."