Bend

It's that time again: that crazy week when kids abound in energy to sing, dance, craft, play, listen, and learn about the love of Christ in a fun way. It's Vacation Bible School week. I attended VBS as an elementary schooler, and have been volunteering at it since I was old enough. This year, I'm leading 12 kindergartners through Big Apple Adventure, and only hoping to show them an ounce of God's love for them.

This morning as leaders met for prayer, one of the crew leaders lifted up a child in their group named Sofia. Apparently the little girl is staying with a Christian family in Charlotte for a couple weeks while her Atheist parents move from California to DC (after the move, little Sofia will continue living with her parents and whatnot). How amazing and perfect that she has this opportunity to learn about Christ and have His love poured out on her; for the first time, this child is hearing the name of Jesus! Sitting there, hearing the story about this child, I nearly began crying- I can so easily forget the real reason for VBS, and the real impact it has on these children. ...It's not just a fun way to say "I volunteered this summer" or score some babysitting jobs. It is an important, sometimes life changing time for children that I should feel blessed to be a part of.

This afternoon, still thinking about little Sofia and all the others like her, I stumbled across the wise words of Katie, a missionary in Uganda. Truly, I hope that this week I will continue to bend lower and lower still so that these children see nothing of me, but everything of Christ.

"We bend.

I bend to sweep crumbs and I bend to wipe vomit and I bend to pick up little ones and wipe away tears. I bend over a big pot of stew and I bend to fold endless laundry and I bend over math books and spelling sentences and history quiz corrections. And at the end of these days I bend next to the bed and I ask only that I could bend more, bend lower.

Because I serve a Savior who came to be a servant. He lived bent low. And bent down here is where I see His face.

He lived, only to die.

Could I?

Die to self and just break open for love.

This Savior, His one purpose to spend Himself on behalf of messy us. Will I spend myself on behalf of those in front of me?"

PBK.

It's true. This sweet summertime is getting the best of me, and my laziness is kickin' in high gear in all sorts of places; namely, this blog. 

On my mind today? My job. I love my job. I love my job. Working at Pottery Barn Kids has been a dream. The easy going atmosphere, Michael Bublé soundtrack, adorable product, and precious customers (babies, toddlers, pregnant moms, doting grandmothers) make my shifts seem less like "work" and more like a party. Not to mention the people I work with are so kind, fun, and patient as I continue to learn the ropes. 

The only down-side? Dress-code (no denim, closed-toe shoes only). ...and the growing want I have for a child. A bit out of order for the sequence of life events, but how can I not want my own kid after seeing the adorable ones that pop in our store full of personality, giggles, and life? Only adding fuel to the fire is the cutest bedding and furniture we sell. I want a million dollars to decorate a kid's room (actually several rooms- we all know how terrible I am at making decisions), and then an adorable baby to put in it. 

Oye. I perhaps might need a college degree and husband first.

 

Fearless

I've recently started reading Angela Thomas' Do You Know Who I Am? book about women, life, and God prescribed to me by my loving best friend (who, by the way, just got back from AFRICA... No big deal). I started it while I was in Scandinavia and had just begun entertaining thoughts of studying abroad, knowing that I probably wouldn't because the idea terrified me. Funny how timing of these things works out.

First chapter: Be fearless; dream big.
First thoughts: Easy peasy. I can dream big. In fact, I've been dreaming big for years. ...I've dreamt of going to college, and err, doing, umm, things.

Right. So dreaming big isn't really my forte, but who says it has to be? Well, it's not exactly a problem until you realize why you aren't dreaming: Fear. It took some introverted-poking and prodding for me to come to this conclusion, but it's true. I've got a big green monster on my back and I live under his nasty terror. I want to live fearlessly, but at the same time, it's so much easier to live in a safe zone, where possible failure is nearly non-existant. I'm starting to realize that it's time for things to change. Away with this fearful safety; I'm welcoming in some big dreams.

And to start, I have to remember that God has blessed me with gifts, different from anyone else. These gifts, specific to me, shouldn't be compared to others' because they are different. It's like trying to compare a doctor's office to a restaurant. Sure, they both look similar from the outside, and they have the similar objective to serve people, but they are completely different! How, or why, you would even try to compare the two is beyond me. ...So why do we always end up doing this to ourselves? We may look similar and have the same goals, but we are completely different. There is no comparison--it only leads to disappointment, because as we all know, "Comparison is the thief of joy."


In her book, Angela encourages readers to not buy into the lies of comparison because "they win, and we head to the backyard to dig a hole big enough to hide what God has given to us." Rather, we should remember how worthy God is for all the glory, which we can offer by fearlessly using the talents and gifts we've been given. So dream big, my friends, without the fear of failure, but with the confidence that God is worthy. He's given us the ability to think of them, and by His grace, we can make these ideas reality to bring Him the glory.

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

Revelation 4:11

Oh Scandinavia

I'm back home in the land of fitted sheets, normal daylight hours, free water, and boring architecture: America! I can't even begin to describe how amazing exploring Scandinavia was! We started out in Vetlanda, Sweden at Emily and Hayley's school. I saw both of them graduate and bid their goodbyes to their new, sweet friends, and we were off to Copenhagen!

Danish country was beautiful. We did all the "touristy" things like canal tours, shopping, Royal Palace visits, the mermaid statue, and even a steeple climb! I won't bore you with all the silly details, but I will say that the first night we were there, we were ready for some pizza and a movie night after an exhausting day of traveling. The only problem was the entire web is in Danish, and so the google translating began to figure out what things like "ost" and "kylling" meant, which only lasted about 2 hours before we finally got our food. A few other laughable misfortunes in Copenhagen? One REALLY large, unintentional detour in the rain (our trip to the Royal Palace took about 3 extra hours) and one trip to an "artsy district", which turned out to be a drug ward area. ...Oops! But Copenhagen was truly breathtaking; I could've sat on the main canal all day long.

After our 3 days were complete, Emily boarded the plane to head home, and Hayley and I went on to Norway (and I say "Emily boarded the plane"...more like "planeS"- my poor friend had some serious flight trouble that landed her in different airports for about two days). And off to Bergen we flew! Day one was absolutely beautiful- it was unseasonably sunny and the air was warmer than usual, but the next two days didn't disguise the typical wet, cold weather of Bergen. We mozied around the harbor, went on a fjord tour, saw the town from above, and ate in the fish market on the water! And no worries, we had quite a few laughable misfortunes of our own in Bergen also. Caught in the pouring rain on some random streets, and then there was the case of our silly hostel room skylight. Because it's so far north,  there's only about 4 hours of total darkness up in Scandinavia. So, when we got to our little room with the skylight that had no shade, we had quite a predicament. Luckily, I had brought my eye-mask to sleep in, and we were able to build a tent sort of thing from the stolen airplane blankets to keep some of the sunlight out for Hayley.

Third stop in our Scandinavian tour? Stockholm. We were in Stockholm for less than 24 hours, but it couldn't have been a better end to our trip. The weather was warm and sunny (shorts and a t-shirt weather, which was QUITE a change after my two-pairs-of-socks-and-three-jackets bundle in chilly Bergen), and the Gamla Stan "old town" was beautiful. Our 18 hour stay was the perfect amount of time: we hit the biggest tourist stop, sat on the edge of the bay for a couple hours in the sunshine, and mozied through the main shopping street back to our cave room (which was such a change from our skylight room in Bergen to our window-less black-out room in Stockholm). Laughable misfortune of Stockholm? Peanut butter sandwich overload. We didn't spend a dime on food (on almost the entire trip), and had peanut butter sandwiches for nearly every meal. ...I've had my fill to last me a lifetime, to say the least.
And the next day we were off. Flying 9 hours to Chicago for a 6 hour layover and then another 2 hour flight home!

I still can't believe that the adventure has come and gone, but it is so nice to be back home. It's so good to have Emily and Hayley here again, and I'm excited to catch up with friends, start my summer job, and just relax. I'm also so grateful for the familiarity of life here and the ease that comes when everyone speaks English!

...And of course after all this traveling, I'm positive I won't be missing out on the opportunity to study abroad next year, if I can only figure out where to go...