Weekend Report.

Two exciting things...

1. My third sister -- not blood related -- got married last night! She's been Brittany's best friend since middle school and has pretty much been an extended part of our family since then. It was the best wedding I've been to in a while. It was seriously perfect. An out door wedding, by the water, clear skies, sun setting, yummy food, lots of dancing, amazing family and friends...it was so great. I'm so happy for them! They are planning on moving to Australia in October which brings me to the next item..

2. I'm FINALLY filling out an application to YWAM! If I get accepted I'll be leaving in October for New Castle, Australia... for five months! It's crazy how God is moving and working! My mom pretty much said that she would be upset with me if I waste any more time contemplating whether I should apply or not! I wrote in my journal the other night (shocking...that rarely happens) that if I don't apply this week that I will regret it the rest of my life. I'm at the prime time of my life to do something like this...nothing is holding back. Can't wait to see what's next and where God is leading... ::s i g h:: I've also been reading he book of Ecclesiastes...oh man! So fitting for my life right now!

i s a i a h fourty

I was reminded of Isaiah 40 today.
good read : good reminder : good God, amen!

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

ah. d r e a m e r.

Lighthouse summer series started last week and it’s titled “DREAM”. It got me thinking about my dreams…therefore I shall type [some of] them out. Some are a little far fetch, but a dreams a dream!

[Really in no particular order…just as they come to me I guess]

Dream//Wish List:

1. Live in a trendy Ikea-ed out New York [or Chicago] loft on my own
2. Travel and experience the w o r l d with a camera in hand [Australia, India, Africa…starters]
3. Start a woman’s ministry that intertwines generations, mixing the young and the wise for a greater impact.
4. Study with YWAM..! [base TBD]
5. Write a book about the celebration & value of womanhood.
6. Get married when I'm still relatively young and raise a family.
7. Run a marathon in a reasonable time.
8. Have morning coffee with Oprah & afternoon tea with Beth Moore.
9. Climb a mountain.
10. Become a children's psychologist and/or counselor.
11. Go to Fashion Week [Paris, New York, or LA]
12. Drink coffee and read a book in a Paris a cafe.
13. Have one of my photographs on display in a museum.
14. Celebrate Christmas during the Summer.
15. Ride my bike to other side of the state.
16. Be more spontaneous.
17. Sleep on a beach.
18. Go to the Olympics [as a spectator of course...]
19. Have God and I time in the Holy Land.
20. Work at a bookstore just like, “The Shop Around the Corner” on You've Got Mail.
21. End sex trafficking, both nationally and internationally.
22. Vacation in Fiji.
23. Teach a Yoga class.
24. Adopt a baby.
25. Open a card & cupcake shoppe.
26. Wake up one day with 20/20 vision.
27. Live in a house with a wrap around porch.
28. Maintain a journal for an entire year. [...current journal started in 2006, sad I know]
29. Work for a major marketing company and know what it's like to be a power hungry career babe.
30. Get a tattoo and not regret it ten years later.

"When Jesus is at the core of our lives,

HE becomes the inspirer of our d r e a m s."

- Steven Khoshaba (via facebook status)

A Lifetime Movie

What if your life was a movie? You would have the lead role. What other co-stars would there be? How would the other characters act? What kind of ending would there be? What would the climax be? Would it be a comedy or a tragedy?

I was listening to Band of Horses latest album the other day, while sitting in Caribou working on potential photography business plans. I couldn’t help but keep the title track Infinite Arms on repeat. Every time it would loop, one line stood out:

“It's like living in a movie twisting the plot…”

God, the ultimate director; gives Steven Spielberg a run for his money. In fact He has directed the most movies ever…in all history. For every person in the world there is a grand cinema being lived out daily. Scene by scene, God wrote it and is now directing your very own movie. Cool to think about eh?

Unfortunately, a lot of times we live like the line in the song. Constantly trying to twist the plot of the life we’re living. If we would just stick to the movie plot that God intended, we could continue to draw close to Him and we would see his work be fulfilled through us. Yet, once we start twisting the scenes to fit our selfish desires, the plans God had for us begin to be fulfilled through someone else’s movie -- ultimately making us to miss out on God's blessing and favor on our life. We need to stop twisting the plot God has for us and start living out the amazing plot He already wrote for us, the one He wants to see acted out.

We're even lucky enough to have out takes at the end of our film, every time we mess up a line or don't act the right way, we're given another chance to re-shoot the scene! Take after take, God's mercies are spread all over our movie, because we might forget our lines and mess up a scene. God knows where, when, and how we will mess up in our movie -- yet STILL chooses to give us another take.


God is the director of all directors and it hurts Him to see his actors try and twist their plots. It won't be easy to get all of our lines and acting right. In fact, it will take a lot of hard work and extra effort, but we can rest assured that our ending will be eternal.

The Awakening of Wedded Bliss

Danielle is getting hitched!! The first of our group of girl friends to get engaged..oh man! I seriously couldn't be more excited for her and her groom-to-be...they are a great couple and I'm excited for what God has in store for them. I feel like, pretty much from here on out engagements and weddings will start to become the "norm" amongst my group of girl friends.. most, if not all have boyfriends and talk about getting engaged soon. It's weird, I always think of engaged couples to be so much older than me, I guess times are changing?! Not only that, my mom is constantly hounding my sister and I about guys...umm... just because she was married and had kids by the time she was 22 doesn't mean it will be the same for her daughters...it's almost has bad as my grandma who every time she sees her three grand daughters, she asks when are we getting engaged...then we have to explain, "well grandma, seeing that none of the Fillmore girls (B & L) have ever dated... that might be a little hard" ::sigh:: Guess my mom and grandma will just have to keep waiting...my time will come...hopefully

p a t i e n c e i s a v i r t u e.

Go Forth

My cool twin Lindsay showed me this video.
It's a collection of stories.
I like the importance of sharing life stories.
I don't know if it's nosy or not,
but I LOVE knowing other people's life stories...
who they are, what they like, why they do what they do.

WARNING: Work Complaint

My first "real job" was working in a Bakery at a Whole Foods-esque grocery store in a wealthy suburb. Therefore, I became familiar with dealing with snotty plastic women who need their gluten free bread sliced a certain way, no matter how many loafs it takes. While learning to ignore arrogant slimy men, who try to make conversation more than what kind of coffee they'd like. Here I thought those were the only kind of annoying people....

Now after almost two years of working at the local Library, I've grown to long for the days when I was scolded for a stale cupcake or having to explain ten times that we were out of multi-grain for the day. The customers at the bakery seem like saints compared to the patrons [the Library likes to give customers a fancy name] that come into the Library on a day-to-day basis!

Maybe it's because the Library is a free service, right off a busy intersection and that's why we get so many crazy people all at once? Maybe it's because I am just not equipped to work with the general public? Maybe it's just me and this is how ALL people act?! Whatever the reason...I miss the nights I would come home from work and the only story I could tell was that a customer caught me bagging their bread with one glove on.

There really is NO one - way to describe the assortment of people that come into this library. They are simply a bunch of CHARACTERS! Coming in all shapes, sizes, races, and age. It drives me crazy sometimes how they treat me, other co-workers or other patrons.

I deal with... People who become regulars and it's weird if I'm at work and they are not. Bratty school kids that come in to "study" and tend to act up instead...making me second guess ever wanting to raise kids! Computer illiterate people who honestly have never touched a mouse in their life. Straight up bizarre people who ride around my department in a scooter, yet I see them walking perfectly normal through the parking lot or around the library. Foreign people who can't speak English and get upset at me for not understanding my directions. Creepy men who make inappropriate remarks to younger girl patrons. People who argue me. People who thank me. People who I know from high school. People that ask me what their email password is...how would I know their password!? People that online gamble for eight hours straight. People who are looking for jobs. People who can't control their own children. People who don't save in time and lose a whole days worth of work, because our computers shut down automatically. People who call me raciest for removing their belongings out of a 30-minute plus vacant study room. People who tell me what to do...yet I'm the one getting paid? People who tell me that I am a mean person, then ask for my name to make a complaint...just because I didn't know how to answer their question. People who are grateful for my help. People who know my name. People who I see when I'm out with my friends. People who need computer help. :: s i g h ::

ALL that to say... it's such human-nature tendency to not love the unlovable. In this case, the unlovable being the annoying people that come into a Library on a daily basis. We tend to not like the people that don't like us. No matter how nasty the attitude is of someone I'm working with is, I still have to love them. No matter how I'm being treated, I still have to show love to the person whose mistreating me. Of course, this is applicable in ALL areas of life... family, friends, coworkers, professors, and strangers.

These people that come into my story every day at work are just characters that the Author of my life added to make life less boring I guess....now I just have to choose daily to love them whether they annoy me or not.

Sunday School Throwback.

Tonight, I was reminded of Steve Green's sing-a-long Overcome Evil With Good. Evil comes and it seriously destroys through words, actions, thoughts, motives. I can't let it overcome me.
Romans 12 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible, with that said - tonight I'm meditating on this.

⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

¹³Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord.

²⁰On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.