summermaid's Xanga

Dogsitting and God's care :)

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:21:10 GMT

So on Friday I started housesitting at a new place. I'm caring for a very old cat and two dogs. Today I took the dogs for a walk in the park, which is totally their favorite thing to do. They are so cute!!! When they figured out I was taking them to the park, the started jumping up and down and whimpering with excitement. While we were their, they just had such blast sniffing the ground, running with me, and lifting their noses to the wind. They were so well-behaved, like they had the whole routine down pat. And they are such happy creatures. Taking them on a walk made me happy :)
I know this sounds totally silly, but I feel like taking care of these cute dogs helps me realize a tiny bit how God feels about caring for us, his children. I hope it makes Him happy to see us happy, you know?

On another note, a teacher for Kamehameha School who goes to my church asked me today if I would come and talk to her middle-school class about my experiences in Nicaragua, or about whatever I want to share. (Kamehameha School is a private school whose students are Hawaiian). I feel honored that she asked me to come and talk to her kids, and nervous about sharing. It's definitely going to be a step out of my comfort zone. She said a lot of the students are totally self-centered and she wants to give them a broader perspective.

Currently reading...

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:50:41 GMT

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I really like it so far (I just started)...my favorite book in the ninth grade was The Catcher in the Rye. Blue Like Jazz reminds me a bit of The Catcher in the Rye, which I haven't read in years.

Last year's photo...

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 03:03:20 GMT

The Birthday Thing...

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:50:38 GMT

So I must confess I've been avoiding Xanga because I have yet to get it together and do a weblog entry about the amazing, incredible time I had in Nicaragua :) Meanwhile, my 25th birthday was last Tuesday on the 22nd of August. I can't believe I'm halfway through my twenties...craziness!!!! (quarter-life crisis...no, it's not that bad, but I find it somewhat daunting to consider myself a 25-year-old).

Last year for my birthday, I decided to throw myself a birthday potluck and I had the potluck at Tim's house. Tim is the administrator Waipuna Chapel and a great guy. This year, we decided to do the 2nd annual birthday potluck (this year we upgraded to a barbeque). It was so fun!!! My friend Nick made terriyaki chicken and Jess and Shaun bought me a cake to have along with my mom's growingly famous cherry chocolate cheesecake with marzipan.

Last year Tim and I were in a pic and so we decided to do the same pic this year. Here's the one from this year....last year's is to come!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 02:06:07 GMT

If you leave your name...

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a color that associates with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest/funniest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:49:25 GMT

Lately the ability to keep organized seems to have flown out the door.

I feel diorganized in my mind too...stressed and scattered. It is such an out of control feeling. I wish I were more together and better able to believe that God has the ability to direct me in perfect timing.

I need strength, focus, wisdom and trust for the next 10 days before I leave.

A Leak and the Grumpy Old Lady

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 03:47:05 GMT

Two noteworthy occurences happened today at Coldwater Creek:

1) Our airconditioner is leaking...the roof of our fitting rooms is bulging and all three of the trash cans are catching drips. My manager (jokingly) suggested handing out plastic ponchos and umbrellas to the customers when they enter the fitting rooms to try on clothes.

2) A co-worker of mine asked me to answer the phone and deal with an "irritable customer." He said since I'm a woman, I might be able to connect with her better. I picked up the phone to get an earful from an annoyed old lady looking for faux pearls. Unfortunately, I didn't know what faux meant (neither had my co-worker Mike). The lady proceeded to tell me that I should know what faux means, that she was sick of young people now-a- days not knowing what words mean, that the word faux has been around forever and I should know what it means, and that I deserved to be scolded because I should've known.

So, for all you lovely youngsters working in retail, faux means fake, and don't you ever forget it!

I spoke tonight with a student of the Fuller School of Psychology, which made me want more than ever to go back to school.

Tomorrow is Shawna's birthday party.

I miss hanging out with my little brother.

Thoughts on the Prophetic, or prophetic thoughts (take your pick)

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:16:31 GMT

How do I come to see and know the prophetic as a gift and not a means of limiting me and cutting me off from God's love and provision? When I imagine the prophetic aspect of God, the God of Isaiah who hates sin, I get images of starkness, self-denial, and religious self-righteousness. How do I separate these images from the true and godly prophetic, the prophetic that embodies a God yearning for goodness and justice?

I think my skewed ideas and images of the prophetic come from an insecurity within myself. When I first received words of prophesy and knowledge of God's hatred of sin, the grain of insecurity in me bent and tweaked my receiving of the prophetic and served not only as a means of getting me in touch with a holy God, but also as a propellant into certain forms of legalism.

I'd like to become a real, true lover of truth--truth combined with goodness and beauty, not devoid of abundance and provision but rather devoid of the need to possess, manipulate or hoard the abundance. I'd like to receive God's correction and warnings as well as his comfort words, to cling to every word that comes from him. I'd like to trust in the God who both hurts and heals, but who ultimately has me in his hands and wants only good for me. I'm still wrestling with how pain could be good and loving, and I still ask why questions. But there's a little more trust in me than before.

Excerpt from Ruthless Trust...

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 23:53:11 GMT

"We ourselves have known and put our trust in God's love toward ourselves" (1 John 4: 16). Craving clarity, we attempt to eliminate the risk of trusting God. Fear of the unknown path stretching ahead of us destroys childlike trust in the Father's active goodness and unrestricted love.

We often presume that trust will dispel the confusion, illuminate the darkness, vanquish the uncertainty, and redeem the times. But the crowd in Hebrews 11 testifies that this is not the case. Our trust does not bring final clarity on this earth. It does not still the chaos or dull the pain or provide a crutch. When all else is unclear, the heart of trust says, as Jesus did on the cross, "Into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23: 46)... pg. 6

Though we often disregard our need for an unfaltering trust in the love of God, that need is the most urgent we have. It is the remedy for much of our sickness, melancholy, and self-hatred. The heart converted from mistrust to trust in the irreversible forgiveness of Jesus Christ is redeemed from the corrosive power of fear. The existential dread that salvation is reserved solely for the proper and pious, the nameless fear that we are predestined to backslide, the brooding pessimism that the good news of God's love is simply wishful thinking--all these combine to weave a thin membrane of distrust that keeps us in a chronic state of anxiety. pg. 7

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 10:44:16 GMT

Currently reading.....