A great honor to be the maid of honor

On May 12, my very good friends Jamie and Nathan got engaged! It was an awesome surprise and Nathan did a great job with the ring and engagement plan. I found out about it at approximately 11:00am that Saturday. I was at home reading when Jamie called to ask me if I would be willing to buy a bridesmaid dress to wear sometime next January! I totally freaked out I was so stoked.

It's been really cool living with Jamie over the past five years and seeing hers and Nathan's friendship develop into a relationship, then love, and now they are getting married! We've all been friends for several years, so I am super lucky to have gotten to know Nathan a bit better through this and now to have him for a friend-in-law. It's still a bit surreal to me, and I'm not the one getting married. And I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot about wedding planning now, which is a good thing because I definitely lack some serious knowledge in that area.

Today Jamie and I went shopping down at Atlantic Station and she treated me to a sweet Cinnamon Dolce frappachino on our way back to the car. As we were walking she asked me if I would be willing to be her maid of honor. I've never done that before and I wasn't totally sure if I would the one to do this or not, so of course I was so excited, surprised and said yes!! This is starting to sound like my own engagement story =). But it's truly such a big honor for me. I'm going to need a refresher on the maid of honor duties, but I'm ready for the task!!

How fun is it that God has given me such a precious gift of friendship with Jamie. And now that gift is growing from just Jamie to now Jamie and Nathan.

Hmmm...now I wonder who Jamie's friend-in-law will someday be?

New home remedy

Everything I learned about taking care of Sox I got from the internet.

I recently experienced the second slightly major issue with having Sox, my cat. She has been throwing up a lot. Not only does this stain my carpet and it's pretty new, but yeah I hate cleaning it up!!

Last night I googled "cat throwing up" and found some site that recommended putting some butter on her paws which she would then complusively lick until completely off. I think the butter greases down her digestive track to help get rid of hairballs, which I'm pretty sure is the problem. After confirming this idea with a couple other sites, I went downstairs to find the butter. Normally my little grey shadow follows me around but not this time so in my best I-want-Sox-to-come special tone of voice I called for her up the stairs and she came right to her potential doom. I quickly dabbed some butter on her front paws which she HATED. She ran away from me and sort of alternated between running in zig zags around the house and licking it off. She stayed away from me for like 20 minutes.

The site said to do it once a day for a week and then once a week after that. So I did it again this morning but holding her in my arms this time so I could aim better. She was pretty darn ticked off. But this evening she was sitting next to me on the couch so I think all is well.

I have really grown to love having her around. She is so much like Wida, the cat our family had for years growing up. Super friendly, personable, fairly obediant, comes when I call her, etc.

But the throw up has got to go!!!

One of my favorite places

Is my deck.

I have a really, really ridiculously large deck. For a townhouse, at least. It was definitely one of the selling points of my house. I also live by a "lake" that features the cutest little ducklings this time of year. I really like the ducklings because they just waddle their cute selves around and don't make much of a racket or a mess. They've been perching on my shore for the past week with their parents.

Before our community group's goodbye dinner to the Seaton's last night, I gave some bread to Angie and Audrey Seaton and they were out feeding the ducks who were quite happy to oblige and scarf down the whole-wheat amazingness. After which our group partook of our own spagetti amazingness.

We wished the Seaton's farewell with a Nathan A. Smith collage original, which they loved so much they cried. It was sweet. We all signed the back too. It was hilarious because they were thinking it was going to be a huge picture of ourselves, but we thought a picture of downtown Atlanta would be much more sightly.

We're really, really going to miss them.

Time with family

Over the past month I've been able to spend some great time with my ATL fam, and one member of my NE fam! My cousin Andy came to visit about a month ago for the baby dedication of our cousin's kids Julia, Harrison, and Aaron. Their parents are my BFF cousins that live here in Atlanta. They had a really powerful worship service and an awesome reception which celebrated my cousin's commitment to raise their children with Christ as the center and to entrust them to the Lord. I included a few pictures from the exciting event!!

I also got to celebrate Aaron's first birthday last weekend with Natalie and Jeremy's family, their whole church (it's pretty small), my aunt and uncle, Rochelle and Stephen's family and a few others. It was a lot of 1-3 year olds in a small space, but it was all in honor of Aaron so that's ok. It's funny how hilarious first birthdays are, especially for second and third kids. Basically, the birthday boy gets to enjoy a large amount of sugar for the first time and stay up until like 9pm, while their older siblings desperately want to open the presents.

Natalie had chosen some vintage Minnesotan fare for dinner, such as brats and snickers salad, which really made me feel like I was on a Waite Park back porch, swatting misquitos, anticipating croquet right after dinner.

Maybe she knows something I don't?

So for obvious reasons I don't really celebrate Mother's Day. Although this year I got to spend it with the McNay's enjoying the most amazing fish (tilapia and skate) ever. He-llo. That's awesome. Plus, they're awesome.

So on Monday I checked my work email, finally opening up this e-card I got from one of my recruits randomly last week. I was at home so I could hear the sound and everything because we don't have sound at our computers at work. I had only emailed with this recruit a couple of times and we haven't connected yet on the phone, so I was sort of wondering what she would say.

It was a Happy Mother's Day e-card....

God is never late but rarely early

My church had been without a senior pastor for one year and nine months.

Intown was the first church I officially joined on my own. After I graduated from Berry and moved to Atlanta, I visited churches, prayed, and sought guidance about where to plug in. That is where I hunkered down. It's been one of the biggest blessings of my life. I have made many life long friends there and time and time again I've been challenged by the sermons and the word given out at our sunday morning singles (ALF) fellowship.

But in a lot of ways this past 19 months without a pastor has been agonizing. I've been a member for six years, and this has definitely been an element that has tested my commitment vows.

We have gotten guest speakers, enjoyed a good interim pastor, and our other three pastors have certainly done great picking up the slack. But it's hard not to have the leadership and consistency that a senior pastor offers. We've also seen folks decide to leave in the process, which is stressful and draining too.

Last Sunday, the congregation voted to install Rev. John Tinnin to our senior pastor role. As I sat in our congregational meeting with the ballot in hand, thinking over the past nineteen months, it seemed almost surreal that this was finally happening. I know my friend Courtney who was on the pastor search committee at times had her doubts. Many were crying tears of joy. We got to hear Rev. Tinnin give a sermon and attend a separate question and answer time. I have no doubt that this is the man the Lord brought to us to lead our church.

I am relieved. I am ectastic. I am joyful.

Although it seemed like God was late in this process a few times, I know that He had to work out things just perfectly to allow this man to come to us.

For that, I am also grateful.

10K of doom

So as most of you know I've been running as a way to get some exercise. I'm definitely not hard core and still struggle often with pushing myself once I get into my mind I'm going to explode. But somehow I got convinced into doing the 10K race (6.1 miles) instead of the 5K (3.2 miles) at our annual Best Dam Run in Georgia trip up to Lake Hartwell, GA. It's a beautiful race that goes over the Hartwell Dam and it's really flat, which rules. Up until Saturday, May 5 I had never really ran farther then a 10K. Of course it would have made sense to train for this over the past few weeks. But despite Jamie's, Christina's, Amy Mo's...oh and Laura's best efforts, I could always find an excuse to slow down, take it easy, breathe, etc.

Well, this year there was about 12 of us that left at 6:15am to drive up to Hartwell which is on the GA/SC border. When we were about halfway there it started raining. Jamie and I took this as a sigh that we should do the 5k instead. Nathan and MK were not convinced. I'm not sure why. Running for an hour in the best weather already seemed like a pretty bad idea to me.

The rain never let up, and neither did Nathan's spirits. It took a lot of pushing and manipulating but somehow I found myself at the starting line next to Christina and the words "10K runners line up here). Hmmmm...the rain was already dripping off my shirt by the time they said "go!".

The race was pretty miserable. However, I was able to achieve two of my goals: not being last and running farther then I've ever gone. There were five people who finished behind me, and I ran the whole thing except for like 1/4 of a mile. I also met a new friend named Quincy. I heard him coming up behind me when I had been walking for a bit. When he got close he said "you've still got some left in ya". We ended up running the rest of the race together, because lo and behold, we had the same lofty goals. Quincy knows me as "Jessie" because apparently I was too tired to tell him my whole name when he asked. But, this launched an interesting conversation on the way home about who calls me Jessie. Basically, it's limited to Quincy and some of my relatives.

Props to Nathan who convinced us to do the 10K, and to all my friends who ran it!!! We're just really cool.

Don't do drugs...or drink too much..to say the least

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week I've been out at my internship site, MARR (Metro Atlanta Residence and Recovery) as a participant in their family program. My supervisor told me about this a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could attend for most of it if my schedule allowed. I technically don't start until the 14th, but when I saw the schedule I was totally there. I have a lot to learn about addictions and treatment in a very short time!

Basically, what I've been doing is going through a training seminar with families and close friends who have a loved one going through rehab at MARR. The person in treatment is there for 90 days and goes through several stages which teaches them how to build good relationships with others, why addiction is a disease, what to expect when they get out, etc. They also have to get jobs in the community, etc. The family comes and attends the seminar after their loved one has been there at least a month. They attend the seminars without them though, generally.

For the most part, the people knew that I was there to learn too but that my experience was different because I didn't have anyone in rehab and eventually I was going to help counsel loved ones like theirs. It was really neat though to get to be with them like a participant. We talked about how the 12 steps work, how addictions affect the brain, why relapse is so common and how to try to prevent it, how they have enabled their loved ones, and we heard a few really, really, moving testimonies from people who have been through MARR's programs. Some more then once. I also learned that really, I could have so easily been an addict, you know? It doesn't take much. And that the Christian life is basically a 12-step program. That's a revelation!

Overall, I am really excited that I ended up at MARR for my outplacement. I met all the staff and everyone was so welcoming too. It's going to be a huge learning experience and I can tell already some fears I have about being there. But overall, this little intro this week has helped me to get pumped to use my degree to promote healing and wholeness for the patients and the families.

One of the quotes I really liked from a testimony I heard was: "Worry is the delusion that you are in control."

Time for massive amounts of TV watching

That's always the first thing I want to do when the semester is over. Watch TV. It's like the anti-study.

My spring semester is officially over. I haven't felt this free in 4 months. It's amazing.

I have a break now from class until May 29. I have to start my internship at MARR on May 14 so I'm not completely free of duties. And I still have to work. BUT I don't have to study jack squat.

Here's the things I have on tap to do over my 28 days of class freedom:
-get my bridesmaids dress cleaned so I don't go to Gina's wedding looking like a hobo
-put up the curtains that Shannon made me for Christmas
-install the fan in Jamie's room which is about a year overdue
-order pictures from my time in Kenya, put them in frames and hang them (yes, I've been home for 10 months)
-clean my car, which is currently the most disgusting thing on the planet (it's picked up, but really dirty)
-sleep in at least one day
-exercise more
-find a vent cover that fits the open vent downstairs and put that up
-maybe finish putting all the outlet covers on in the house
-read "Addictions in Grace" by Gerald May so I at least know something about additions before May 14
-go with Ami to Surrin
-hang out with my cousins and aunt and uncle who live here but I see just barely more often then my family in Minn sometimes!!

It's going to be glorious, people. Glorious!!