Wednesday, September 24, 2008

holiness

"Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He IS that standard." ~A.W. Tozer

passport? check!

the man at the counter eyed me over his dark-rimmed spectacles as i leaned over his counter at the post office, alert and ready to shove my birth certificate and already completed passport paperwork at him. when requested, the papers flew to his hands as if they had a life of their own, and i was ready! ready to give him my hundred dollars and even let him keep my drivers license if he needed it. all to have my freedom... freedom in the form of that little booklet called a "UNITED STATES PASSPORT".

::queue the hallelujah chorus, please::

yep, he had all the paperwork, my money, and everything he needed. as he eyed me with an amused "i wonder where she's going" expression, he glanced from my face down to the paperwork with a little chuckle.

he didn't even need to ask. i volunteered the information in an excited rush of words. "africa. i'm going to africa. kitale, actually. my parents bought my ticket and now i'm going to see my friend daniel who started a nonprofit over there. i'm excited."

he looked at me like i was a nutcase. i didn't blame him. poor guy... he was the only person within earshot for me to talk to. oooh.. unless i took off around the corner and into the post office packing area to regale a helpless postworker grandmother with my excited squeals about how i would have the freedom to travel the world once i received that beautiful little book with blank and stampable pages for recording every place i will go...

sigh. no... i wasn't in the mood for a strip search and night in jail when they cuffed me for crossing the painted yellow line and jeopardizing the privacy of united states citizens and their private mail. Lord only knows what i would've seen. oh well. the poor passport guy would have to suffer through my exuberance all on his own. after the first squeal of joy when i signed the papers with him as my witness, the following four or five didnt really phase him.

as a matter of fact, i believe he was genuinely excited for me and my adventure, and shared that he has an aunt in kenya. ha! i invited him to come. heh heh.

when i walked outside i saw the world in a whole new light... it was mine. mine for the taking!! the world was my oyster! i squealed as the door shut behind me, and i could've sworn i heard the passport worker chuckle as i walked away.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

a successful project

ever since i've lived with my roommates, we've needed furniture. we're getting it from my roommate's parents when they get their storage truck over to our house, but there have been some time delays, so i've laughed alot at the state of our living room and dining room. i decided that i would purchase a dining room table because that was not on the list of things we'll possibly be receiving from the elusive storage truck.

after stalking craigslist for a month, i found a table i wanted. it was pub style, cheap, and God just gave me a peace about purchasing it. once i got it into the house and the roommate's boyfriend and i put it together (it was in pieces when i bought it), i realized the silver just didnt match anything else in the house. i just had to do something about that.

after debating for a couple days, i ran to walmart and bought some textured spray paint to see if i'd like the way it looked. i tested it on an extra piece of metal from one of the chairs, and loved it! it took me 3 hours to tape around the seat cushions with duck tape and plastic, protecting them from the 10 bottles of spray paint i would eventually end up using, and then another 3 hours of spraypainting and 2 more waiting for it to dry. i couldn't believe how fun it was, this little project of mine! i totally owned that table.

every time i walk in my house now and see it, i think of how proud my friend jenn would be of me. she's a crafty lil momma and has a new project every week it seems. i am so in love with my table now, and love that i can say i kinda created it. :)

before:


after:

happy family

autumn's birthday was yesterday. it was so special to get to spend the day with her.

faith hosted a little part of sorts at her house, and after some time hanging out eating and laughing we decided we needed to go do something together. it's cool hanging out, but sometimes you just gotta go on an adventure together.

our adventure took us to the wild island family adventure park's miniature golf course. i wouldn't be able to explain half of the craziness that happened that night, but suffice to say there was laughter... lots of doubled over, pain-in-your-side, i'm-laughing-so-hard-i-can't-breathe, kind of laughter.

miniature golf with the hepners? now that is a sight!

here are some pictures from our night: