Giggling

Luke is up in Portland working most of this week. Last night I was bored and started looking on Pinterest to kill the time. I ending up spending almost 2 hours just dying laughing. I found the humor board and kept ghetto screenshoting the pictures and texting them to a few friends and got some of the most hilarious responses. So I will leave you with all the things that made me giggle so hard that I was crying...

Chicago: Background & Day 1 Travel

Here is a little background on why and how we were making our Chicago trip happen:

My brother, Ryan, moved to Chicago back in 2009 and has loved living in this city. I mean, it can't be hard to love a city when you live smack in the heart of it! (He is 2 blocks from Michigan Avenue and right across from the Trump International Tower). Once Luke and I got married in the summer of 2010 Ryan had been asking when we were going to come visit. We always wanted to visit but we didn't think it would take us years to make it here! 

Ryan's girlfriend, Michelle, moved out here in October of last year and we had been constantly talking about how Luke and I need to finally get out to Chicago. We needed to plan a trip and we thought "how fun would it be to just surprise Ryan?" Ryan had actually surprised Michelle with coordinating a few of her girlfriends to fly out to the Windy City for her birthday right after she moved. 

So, we planned a surprise trip to Chicago for May! It was perfect timing as our busy work season would be slowing down and Ryan's birthday is in May. We lucked out and got the cheapest flights out here that I had seen in a LONG time (I always kept my eye out for cheap airfare). We were busy planning how we would actually surprise him with showing up. Maybe meet him at a restaurant? Be hiding in his apartment when he got home from work? Pretend like we ran into him on the street? I was pretty excited to actually pull off this big of a surprise! 

Michelle, Luke and I kept it a secret for about 2 months and then....we had to spill the beans. Ryan got asked to go to a conference for work in NYC the same week we had planned to come! We knew we had to tell him so maybe he could coordinate that he would at least be back for the weekend we were in Chicago. All and all it worked out! His flight home from NYC got him into Chicago in time for dinner on Friday and then we had the whole weekend with him here.

Okay, so since the back story is now out of the way, let's get to the beginning of Day 1 of our trip.

Our flight was suppose to take off from SFO at 9:30am on Wednesday morning which meant we needed to leave Modesto between 5 and 5:30am. The drive should typically take around 1 hour and 45 minutes but you never know what traffic will be like in the bay area, especially during the morning commute. We had planned to park our car at an off site airport lot that is half the cost daily of the SFO long term parking. It was only 1.5 miles from SFO and they had a shuttle that came every 20 minutes. Now, it is very very typical for flights to be delayed arriving and departing from SFO due to all the bay area fog. Of course, our flight was perfectly on time which would have been great if we didn't hit some of the worst traffic on the San Mateo Bridge.

We had smooth sailing right up until the tolls at the bridge and then dead stopped. We knew something had to be wrong to stop all 3 lanes from moving at all. I think we sat on the bridge for over 30 or 40 minutes barely crawling at all. Well, there had been a pretty big accident in the right hand lane and by the time we got up to where it took place, they were still working on getting the injured into ambulances. I said a little prayer for all those involved and was like "COME ON WE NEED TO GET TO THE AIRPORT!!!!" 

We completely decided to forgo the cheaper parking lot and just park our car in the long term lot at SFO (faster and more consistent shuttles). Our flight was suppose to start boarding at 8:50am and at 8:25am we were just getting onto the parking lot shuttle to take us to the terminal. I was freaking out a little about missing our flight at this point. We had no idea how long checking my bag would take or how long security would be. I am usually the type to get to an airport at least an hour and a half early if not more. Thank goodness we were able to check our bag right away and I asked a lady at the beginning of the security checkpoint line if there was any way we could jump ahead of people since our flight was now boarding! She was nice and let us cut like half way through the line. By the time we got through the security (of course they had to search Luke's backpack) it was already 9:10. We FLEW through the terminal. Running so fast and I was getting sweaty. At one point a little boy saw us running and said to his dad "Where are they going?" and the dad looked at me with a smile and said "They are in a hurry!" haha I sort of laughed at that and just prayed that we would make it!

WE DID! We were like 3rd to last people on the flight. Apart from actually missing a flight and all the hassle that would create, I had called the airline during our shuttle ride to the terminal seeing about change fees for missing flights and I was informed that if we completely missed our flight and didn't opt to change flights before our original one took off, we would have to buy all new tickets. So we had three options: 1. pray we make out flight 2. decide we didn't want to risk it and pay the $150 change fee to get on a flight an hour later 3. risk it and pray we get on our flight, then miss it and pay $900 for new tickets. I was freaking out a little. Honestly, if we had missed our flights without already changing to a different flight, we would have just turned around and drove home.

Up next...Day 1 in Chicago :)

Bread of Life

I am sitting out on the deck of Luke's grandparents ranch this morning in awe of the beauty that is before me. 

In times of rest and relaxation, it is easy to be grateful and humbled by the grace in my life. I wish I could say the same for when times are hard and struggle is the only friend I have but I can't. I desire to be consistent in my thankfulness and in my awareness of the goodness of God. I want my intentions and my actions to reflect the constant knowledge that I have been given life. A life that should need nothing and want nothing because of the promise given to me. 

This morning I read a great entry in a devotional book that I want to share. It speaks directly to how I have been feeling lately and reminds me of where and from whom all good things flow.

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

IN WORD: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," Jesus had said (Matthew 5:6). Now He tells us how. We will be filled with Him. He is the righteousness. He is the object of everything for which we truly hunger and thirst. He is the Manna the Father sent, the Bread that satisfies our souls.

Yet even today many believers seem hungry and thirsty. Jesus often seems absent from their lives.

Perhaps we hunger for the wrong kind of bread. Jesus says, "He who comes to me will never go hungry." Many of us appeal to Jesus for the goods of this world, the fulfillment of our own agendas, or the circumstances we would like to have. To us, Jesus is a means to another end - our goals. If this is our story, Jesus is never satisfying.

Perhaps we hunger for the right kind of bread but don't meet Jesus' conditions for receiving it. Jesus says, "He who comes, ...he who believes." Both of these conditions imply that we meet Him on His terms, not ours. We try to come with part of ourselves, but not all. We believe in some of His teaching, but not all. We want the benefits of the Son of God without abandoning ourselves to Him. If this is our story, Jesus is never satisfying to us, either.

IN DEED: But to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and who come to Him without reservation, thirsting in Him as the source of all righteousness and strength, He satisfies. Those whose whole life is reoriented around Him and who desire nothing else will never want for anything. He is not our means to get bread; He is the bread.

When we follow Him by faith with nothing else to rely on, He provides. And we are filled.

"The heart of a man is restless until it finds its rest in Thee." - St. Augustine

Credited: At His Feet, April 2nd Devotional

Moment of Clarity

Clarity always appears when I least expect it. It appears in the most of mundane moments. Even though I know this, I still don't expect it to come when it does. But clarity came to me today. It came to me in the most simple of moments. Outside, with the evening breeze rolling in, throwing the ball around with Sammie. Mind you, I was in shorts since it was warmer out today, pink flurry house slippers, an Oregon State T-shirt and one of Luke's hoodies. Just showered, my hair not brushed, no make up on my face, only the smell of white tea and ginger lotion. Simply being. In the comfort of my own skin. Like I said, the most simple and mundane of moments.

Being outside, I just looked around myself and thought "man who would have thought I would be right where I am?" I never expected to be living in California, on lots of land. No matter what struggles I face day in and day out if its relationships, work, faith, money or life in general, God is there. And today, when the breeze hit my face and I witnessed my dog running around joyfully and freely in the orchards, God was so present. I won't lie, these last few months have been really hard. Moving away from everything and everyone we know. Starting a job that we were/are still so clueless about and blindly jumping into a life we never have led before. But in the moment of clarity I was reminded of this verse:

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14

No matter what hardships I face or how alone I can feel at times or so misunderstood, I am reminded that if I am just still in the world, the Lord will fight for me. Not only will He fight for me in hard and complicated times but always. It is only when I am still can I feel and bear witness to His goodness. And today, I felt Him. I felt His faithfulness and love all around me while being outside. In every gust of wind and touch of the breeze, I knew He was there. He had heard me. He had felt my heart. He knew what I needed. And my gosh, it feels so amazing. It is reviving. It is healing.

And now, I am sitting inside the house we live in and watching the sunset and feeling so incredibly blessed. So grateful that the Lord gave me this day. He gave me this moment. And I will not take this for granted.

Lyrics I'm lovin'

Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name
All condemned; feel no shame, at the sound of your great name
Every fear; has no place; at the sound of your great name
The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

All the weak; find their strength; at the sound of your great name
Hungry souls; receive grace; at the sound of your great name
The fatherless; they find their rest; at the sound of your great name
Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of your great name

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

Redeemer, My Healer, Almighty
My savior, Defender, You are My King

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

Your Great Name - Natalie Grant