Intimacy in tile

My mom mailed this to me a few months ago.  

I got chills when I saw it, because it so vividly captures so many things I long for and enjoy - living simply, passion, the messiness of life reflected in the watercolors, loving the desert, longing for someone to live life with, living in a Mexican neighborhood, romance...ahhhhhh :)  

This has been my summer with Jesus - intimate, simple, messy, passionate - and I long to offer out of that during school.  Day 1 is tomorrow...we'll see how this goes!!!

i heart mis vecinos

I'm gearing up for a camping trip with my students (YES, you can pray for me).  And while this morning was the peak of my stress, I feel like this evening has been the opposite. 

I went to the campsite straight after school to check things out - it was GORGEOUS!  I love everything about going out there - the drive, listening to music FULL BLAST (check out our awesome new music!), the outline of the mountains against the sky, and the mountains roaring up as you approach the canyon.  Today, I didn't stay long but there were beautiful purple thistles blooming.  Thistles are actually one of my favorite "flowers" (I'll snag a pic this weekend), so I felt like it was a little offering from Jesus saying, "See!  You love it out here!  This trip is going to be great - don't worry.  You've planned, and I will take care of the rest".  

It helped me realize I'm scared of disappointing my students.  I am such a chill, relaxed person - more likely to enjoy walking around and sitting outside more than attempting to summit a mountain or constantly need to be doing something- Hence God's intended assurance that he will take care of the trip.  

THANKS.

Then the best part of the evening is as I was consolidating camping gear in the garage with the door open, 4 of the neighborhood kids decided they should play in my driveway.  :D!  I've talked to them a few times, but because I'm the resident not-great-Spanish-speaking white chick, I'm somewhat of an enigma I think, and a little intimidating. So they started coming around on the scooter, then the football got a little closer, then talking, then "Can we have some water?", and "Can we see your house?", and stories of how they lost balls to Darcy in the backyard.  I felt so bad!  And she was NOT calm when they came in the backyard...humph - dang dog...

But it was such a little gift from Jesus as I was feeling ever-so-lonely today and wanting people just living life around my house so it didn't feel so empty and lifeless.  

Gotta love the creative way he answers our longings...

cactus of redemption

When I went hiking on Sunday, I kept seeing cacti that were all gnarled and rotted, and the thought "that's what we would be like without Jesus" kept running through my brain. Jesus takes us, wrecked and mangled by sin, and makes into something new and beautiful. It'd be like if the cactus went from the one in this picture to a lovely, perfect one. Unfortunately that doesn't happen for the cactus, but it does with us! 

As I get older, I feel like God lets me experience the depth of my sin and ugliness to know how much it cost him to save me. Seeing this cactus on Sunday made me so grateful for the power of Christ and how much he loves me...so I had to take a picture to emphasize the death of the ravaged cactus...