With hope.

There's a beautiful, emotion-filled, poignant Steven Curtis Chapman song called "With Hope" that was written with the intention of comforting several families his local community who lost children all around the same time. This song is all that I can think of when thinking about the strong, courageous, raw faith of the Farley family who just lost sweet baby Copeland.

In their latest post, Boothe and Conor graciously shared not only the letter to Copeland that they read at her memorial, but also the video below that includes a song written by a family friend the same night that Copeland became whole in heaven. Watch it. It's beautiful.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy 26th birthday to T!

If only all days involved endings like this...

... but at least you get to start all of your days with this!

Hope your day is amazing.

Deep breath... and routine

Finally. I finally feel like I can sit back and breathe. I have been running non-stop for the last several months, and I finally had a spare moment this Saturday to sit back and do nothing. Other than a few brief errands (having to drive all the way to the bank during business hours to deposit a check since I don't have my check/ATM card yet for my new account, getting SBucks, and going on a quick trip to the market for real food for dinner), I basically spent the whole day at home, relaxing, watching TV and working on the 2nd half of T's b'day present. Spending the entire day at home with minimal need for my extroverted half to come out to play was AMAZING. This past week was filled with tons of welcome picnics and other things like that which completely wore out my extroverted half, and I really, really needed the down time to relax and reset. I feel refreshed and ready to start the week tomorrow.

My Sunday (after church and lunch with new friends) will be filled with all sorts of cleaning, organizing, Safeway-ing, emailing and just general preparation for the week, and I'm so excited about it! It will be the first Sunday since I've been here that I'll be preparing for a regular, normal work week; I can start getting into a routine! I know people get tired of routines, but they are familiar and stress-free to me. Being able to settle into a routine means that I really do live here; it also means that I want to make the most of adjusting to my life here. Hence I am very excited to spend my Sunday preparing for a routine week.

Bring on the routine. (But just not the rain... Jo Dee Messina, anyone?)

Prayers, please.

(I know I promised pictures. Those will come soon; this is more important.)

Please, if you get a chance today, pray for the Farley family. Boothe is a friend from high school, and they just lost their nine-day-old daughter to heaven today. While angels are rejoicing, and sweet Copeland is finally healed, I can't even begin to imagine the pain and sorrow that Boothe and Conor (& families) are experiencing right now. Please pray for their marriage to flourish, their faith to be strengthened through the doubt and sorrow and grief, their 3-year-old daughter Sellers to bring joy into their home, for the peace of God that is bigger and more immense than anyone can begin to imagine to surround them, and for the presence of God to be so mighty in their lives that they cannot question His provision.

Please, friends.... pray.

*If you have spare 'net surfing time, please read through their poignant, beautiful posts, especially those from the last week.

New, new, new.

In the last week or so, lots and lots of new things have happened here in California.

1. As per this post, my California driver's license came in the mail
   
2. I actually got the gas pump to work all on my own (see this if you're curious why this is exciting)
3. I explored outside of the Big School's campus/the surrounding grocery store/target/etc area (pictures coming soon) which included driving across the Big Bridge, seeing trees that were more than 1000 years old, and watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean
   
4. I got a new cell phone (and number.... leave a message if you want it and I haven't already emailed it to you) -- it's so tiny!!
5. I braved the DMV office, again, and came out victorious -- with license plates in hand!
6. I opened a new bank account. Since starting college in 2000, this is my 5th bank. That's absurd.
   

All in all, it's been an interesting last few weeks. Oh, AND -- I passed my qualifying exams!! So I am officially a Ph.D. Candidate.... again. If only the Big School gave out free business cards, too.... sad.

Stay tuned for some picture updates soon. I promise. For real this time.

I'm official!

My California driver's license came in the mail today!!



I guess that means I actually live here now...

Seriously?

Apparently gas pumps work slightly differently in California than in other states.

As in, I couldn't get it to work today and had to push the "help" button so the attendant could come fix it.

I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong when no gas would come out of the nozzle. I had swiped my credit card, hit the correct button for the cheapest-octane gas, taken the nozzle off its holder, and put the nozzle into my gas tank. And then nothing happened. The screen said "ready to begin fueling," but all there was in the nozzle was slack when I held it down to start fueling. I double checked everything, but still... slack. So, deciding that I'd rather feel like an idiot by asking for help than drive any longer with my "need gas" light illuminated, I pressed the "help" button. The attendant came out, pushed the nozzle further into my gas tank, and the fueling started. Apparently the crinkly thing on the nose of the nozzle actually vacuum seals to the outer rim of the opening and it won't dispense gas until sealed.

Lesson learned. And at least I still have Illinois plates on my car!

Gorgeous.

There have been several times this week that I've looked around and said "Oh my gosh, it's beautiful here. I can't believe I get to live here!" I feel really lucky and blessed to get to experience life here.

On another note, the qualifying exam preparations are coming along. I may be pretty MIA between now and the 24th, but then I'll be back.

Hooray!

My stuff finally, finally came today. I have a TON of stuff -- way more than I really need in an apartment this size. I've managed to find homes for all my extra pieces of furniture except for one table. Hopefully I can take care of that on Sunday. I did a huge portion of the unpacking today (many thanks to those who helped me!), and only have 1 more actual box left to unpack. At this point, I'm pretty much just trying to find homes for everything that are good enough for the next 2 weeks, until after quals and T's visit. I figure, by then both my roommate and I will have lived here for 2 weeks with all my stuff, and we'll know where we want things and what extra storage do-hickies and thing-ama-bobs we need. Hopefully she's amenable to the idea of giving me time to get through quals before figuring out all this.

Pictures to come soon.

Good to Me

Incredible lyrics... definitely what I needed to hear.

Good to Me

I cry out, for Your hand of mercy to heal me.
I am weak, I need Your love to free me.
O Lord, my Rock, my strength in weakness,
Come rescue me, O Lord (repeat)

You are my hope, Your promise never fails me,
And my desire is to follow You forever.
For You are good, for You are good, for You are good to me.
For You are good, for You are good, for You are good to me.