komorebi.

25.2.15










is it just me or is february the month for writers block?  countless times i've sat down with the words settled on the tips of my fingers, + then they get stuck.  i think it's chemistry, it clogs your brainwaves with formulas + test tubes.

i had made a plan to blog more + fill your feeds with countless photos + scribbled words, but i have failed miserably.  here we are fifty-six day into twenty-fifteen, one-sixth of the way through the year and i've let the pictures that were meant to fill this spot gather dust in a folder.  

but, that shall soon change.  because i can feel the inspiration bubbling inside of me and i'm about ready to let it out.  which means an unhealthy amount of pictures, inner thoughts and quotes from yours truly. so look out march, here i come.  

and these snaps are from a lovely little place that has a pool + sunshine + that amazing little glass lantern (which i talked myself out of snatching) + pretty trees, and some that girl came to visit for the weekend and we stayed up too late and decided that we're just gonna not be adults.  because being ten was just so much easier (plus, there was no chem).

and if any of you who are drowning in that lovely white stuff that makes glass fog and feet slip, want to send some my way,it   i will be eternally grateful.  

#profoundlyloved, a blog party.

18.2.15



two things: first a word from yours truly and secondly, a blog party + tag!  + i wrote this on valentines and then four days slipped by but here it is anyway.

so valentines was here, which means unhealthy amounts of chocolate and sitting at home watching chickflicks with your cat + a box of tissues bemoaning your singleness… right?  

well, i am here to offer an alternative.  what would happen, if instead of living day to day waiting for the time when we can change our relationship status on facebook, we live everyday to the utmost, looking for what the Lord has for us?

because i look at it this way: the Lord's timing is perfect, which means that when it's the right time, he will bring the right person into your life.  well, that's fine, you may say.  but what do i do in the meantime, crochet hot pads?

here are my two cents, why not live wildly for Christ?  think about it, these days that are often thought of as wasted, because you were single, are the perfect time to serve.  you have absolutely no excuses,  you + the Lord are side by side and ready to face anything.

and let me tell ya, if you say yes to letting him be your valentine until he gives you someone, and completely rest in him, you are gonna be so stinkin' blessed.  because what better way to spend a day that celebrated love than with the One who love you so much that he died for you and sees you as his beloved?

so.  you can thank the  " we have the perfect valentines playlist for you, no matter your relationship status" iheart radio notification i got yesterday for this (hopefully) encouraging rant.  and keep your chin up and your eyes on him, because he has big, amazingly awesome things in store for you!

and now to the tag!  so kate from the goodness revolt, ( go check out her blog) is doing an awesome tag called "hey you, you are beautiful and awesome and loved like crazy! "  here's how this party works:

first, 7 questions, then 10 tags. And...yep, actually that's it.

1. tell me about someone you love, and why.
man, i'm gonna totally break the rules and choose four people: my family.  we've always been a really close family, but these last five years or so the Lord has really pulled us together, both figuratively + physically :)  so yeah, they're awesome and make me laugh and they put up with me.

2. what is one thing you do that makes you feel all like "man, I could do this forever" when you do it?
so i have two totally opposite answers for this.  the first is traveling everywhere, camera in hand, tasting new foods + seeing new places.  all the while mentally writing out my blog posts and journal entires about the day.  and the other is burying myself in layers while i drown myself in coffee + empty pages waiting to be filled, and then simply dump my guts out.  

3. what do you love about yourself?
i really love that the Lord has given me a gift of leadership (something that i'm still working on) + strong convictions for what i believe in.  

4. what advice would you give to someone who doesn't believe she/he is beautiful?
you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  and Christ loves you so much that he died for you, so that he can be with you forever!  in his eyes, you will always be beautiful! 

5. what is the best piece of advice you've ever gotten about confidence?
i seriously don't know if i've ever received any advice on being confident…  it's not something that i've ever really struggled with… 

6. If you were your own daughter, what advice would you give yourself? 
i would say that Lord made you exactly the way that you are.  in his eyes you are absolutely perfect through Christ, and no matter what the world says you are beautiful to him, and that is all that matters. 

7. a verse, poem, sonnet, ancient-old proverb that inspires you to love yourself and others?

"He died not for men, but for each man.  If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less."
C.S. Lewis

okay, now i tag:
eve
chloe
sarah
kalin
kendra
london
mariah
and anyone else who wants to!


Africa

nazinga.

3.2.15

















so i got charged by an elephant.  twice.  and it was one of the most exhilarating, terrifyingly awesome things i've ever experienced.  and when they screamed at us, we screamed at mom to drive on and get us away from the amazing, sixteen ton animal that was chasing us away from her baby.  and we held onto the top of the car and my shutter finger was going a million clicks a second and yet it seemed that i was still unable to capture the sheer ginormousness of this beautiful creature.  and i marveled a lot, because suddenly, here before you are these animals.  giant and bizarre and grey in all of their baggy skin and flailing trunks.   with the tiny elephants grabbing their mother's tails and following them through the tall grass like i only thought they did in jungle book.  

and we drove kilometer after kilometer on dusty, dry roads in the middle of nowhere.  straining our eyes for what little natural wildlife is left here.  and we got to see it raw and natural, ever though mom would have been a little more comfortable if there was some sort of a barrier between where we were sleeping and the lake full of crocs.  

there were birds the color of neon sharpies and others of dirt.  so we dodged tree limbs from our perch atop the car and bruised our legs from scraping branches, and it was wonderful. 

then there was a rosy sunrise that filtered through the dust blanket that had settled over the earth.   we climbed a mountain, that looked more like an ant hill, and watched the sun wake and spread its light over the dark earth.  as far as the eye could see was brush and grass and trees, so different than those normal to me, and yet in their own rugged, tired, brown way: they were beautiful. 

isn't it amazing the diversity that He has created?  each so individual and unique, and yet still completely perfect by design.  His glorious creation was all around us, rugged and natural.   He creates mountains and plains, deserts and rain forests, fish and elephants.  and he says that they are all good. 

yeah, it was hot and filled with sunscreen, ugly sunhats and mass quantities of nasty flies.  but those were nothing because we had twenty hours free and alone in His creation, and fellowship with dear, dear friends who had traveled half-way around the world to see us.  and i got a sunset that felt like it was painted just for me…