rainbow reminders

saw these shining through the clouds on the way back to seattle from lyden this weekend...great reminder of Who promises us His faithfulness.

partial toenail

i now officially only have a partial toenail on my left big toe...found out today that i had an in-grown one-sick...about passed out at the thought of two numbing shots (i know, i'm such a woozy), survived and have a perscription for vicatin(sp?) if i need it-awesome. it actually feels much much better than before despite the fact that it looks like this right now:

wedding mania

this weekend was wedding mania...

saturday morning we had nicole's lingerie party at the house-an English Tea theme, complete with scones, quiche, and croquet (oh and both English breakfast tea and Earl Grey tea)...it was sooo fun and then came the road trip up north...

we spent all of sunday making and putting together invitations-lots of cutting, stamping, tieing ribbon, more stamping...

we got most of it done-yippee but it was intense. makes me want to elope....

My Favorite Day

it's the first day of summer (my favorite season) therefore it's my favorite day....well, besides my birthday, i guess...i hope you have sunshine, wherever you are!! we're celebrating seattle-style with clounds and light sprinkling showers-haha!

ooops i was just informed that today is the 22nd-well, that means that yesterday was in fact the first day of summer and in that case...it was sunny-lovely.

World Refugee Day 2007-June 20

Main Entry: ref·u·gee
Pronunciation: "re-fyu-'jE
Function: noun
: an individual seeking refuge or asylum; especially : an individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

today is one of awareness of those who don't live in their native land. it is important to be aware of the harsh conditions many refugees live in, and the challenges they are asked to face in completely rebuilding their lives from scratch; many of these families are now run by teenagers, as the parents have died in the process. here's a few photos of these people who are sometimes sad, but i believe still hope for better things.

"This picture makes me very happy. This is my family and our house. We are refugees but we are happy because we have a house, food, and our family is together" - Anor




In 2004 the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum declared a genocide emergency for Darfur, Sudan. To date about 2,500,000 civilians, targeted because of their ethnic or racial identity, have been driven from their homes, more than 300,000 people killed, and more than 1,600 villages destroyed by Sudanese government soldiers and government-backed militias, known as the "Janjaweed." MORE THAN 200,000 SUDANESE ARE REFUGEES IN NEIGHBORING CHAD. The crisis continues as thousands more die each month from the effects of inadequate food, water, health care, and shelter in a harsh desert environment. (www.ushmm.org)

remember how blessed you are...

the royal princes

tonight i watched Matt Lauer's interview of William and Harry. i know, i'm a sucker for pop culture but i was fascinated to see their mannerisms and personalities more candidly than the media portrays them...and i was totally impressed! they are so normal, and well spoken and nice (well, from what i could tell in an hour long interview-ha). so anyway, cheers to them both for turning out fairly decently despite the awful pressure and exposure they have experienced since their birth.
the most wonderful thing about the interview was hearing their thoughts on their mother-they spoke of her with such tender respect and love-heartbreaking when you remember what they experienced with her death. they are putting together a concert on July 1st that will commemorate her life-this is their attempt to focus on what they believed about their mother and her heart. and to display a continued legacy in her absence. it will be televised worldwide (on nbc in the u.s., i think).

also, my brother's blog has a feature that allows him to post what he's currently reading or listening to-mine doesn't. lame. so this is my attempt at posting it!
CURRENTLY READING: darfur diaries; stories of survival by jen marlowe with aisha bain and adam shapiro.

this is the adventurous, humorous and raw tale of 3 young, independent film makers who snuck into darfur with the intention of giving those precious people a voice.

life source

today's post is a little more serious...take it or leave it.

"The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Isaiah 54:10

As i read this, i felt such conflicting emotions. one one hand, i felt a punch in the gut because i do not live, sometimes, in a way that shows i trust this word from the Lord. He is promising in this verse to be kind to me, a person who makes bad decisions daily. what an unbelievable thing to try to live in a posture of receiving! and on the other hand, i felt a breath of fresh air as i realized what a disaster my life would be without the kindness and peace of God. these are life sources to me, and i would be totally lost without the grace of this awesome God i serve.
"create in me a clean heart, o God and renew steadfast spirit within me."

Africa

tonight, while doing some more research at B&N, i got lost in the conflict of Darfur-once again. i can't shake this heaviness, the more i learn about the suffering of those people.
my friends taylor and joanna have been visiting sarah for the past 2 1/2 weeks in sierra leone, and i wanted to share some pictures. every time i read their blogs i am so encouraged by God's work over there, yet the void in my heart, to actually go and serve myself, gets larger...


this baby was named after Sarah-what a legacy Christ is leaving through this beautiful woman i am priviledged to call my friend!

joanna and her family (3 siblings/parents) have each adopted a child in sierra leone to sponsor. she and taylor were able to round up all the kids and take them to the beach! looks like they had a great time :0)

bad day

today was a bad day at work...it consisted of crying in my back corner cubicle (thank goodness i'm secluded), in front of the design director and one of the most nice but frustrating sales-persons in our organization...
tomorrow can only look up :0)
p.s. i have to officially thank my beautiful mother for the crying genes...

sunny downtown delight

last night, the weatherman said it would be pouring rain today. this morning i woke up to sun streaming in the house and blue skies-what a surprise! so after church, i went downtown to the Olympic Sculpture Park (the new park in downtown seattle) and the extensive waterfront trail. I had never walked on the trail part, so adventure awaited and i set off at a fast clip. i stopped at one point to take some pictures and a man walked up to me, introduced himself and said, "i want to thank you for setting such a hellacious pace. ever since i entered the park, i've been trying to keep up with you and until you stopped i couldn't catch you. this is such a delight." a little odd at first, but he continued to talk about how two years ago he suffered from two major heartattacks and now walks everywhere he goes. (he isn't medically released to drive) this park is a frequent loop for him but today my fast paced walking (which is normal, much to the chagrin of my friends) inspired him to continued youth and vitality. we continued walking and talking, and politics came up in our conversation, of course. turns out that robert has a plan to impeach president bush that he thinks will be successful; and it's all supposed to happen in 6 weeks. hmmm...interesting conversation and needless to say, he was an engaging and charming walking partner. best of luck to you, robert, in Impeaching President Bush.
Another suprise during the trip is that halfway through the 7.5 miles round trip trail, there is a rose garden. the gorgeous colors contrasted brilliantly against the sparkling water and green grass. Here's a few pictures from this new discovery in the city i love so much!





oh, and here's a few of a beautiful sunset we had recently.

8pm or 8am?

Today I had one of the most slow-paced, relaxing days I can remember recently. I slept in, did lazy house stuff with laura for a while, went shopping, came back and made dinner, showered-and then I was ready to go...yep, that's right at 8pm, I finally felt ready to attack the day and be productive. apparently, the rest of the world started their day 12 hours earlier...guess i missed the memo...tomorrow holds promise of being more 'normal' i suppose-ha!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

yesterday, june 7, was my parents 27th anniversary! such a long time!!

stolen quote

i took this straight off someone else's blog. but it is such a great reminder.
We must move from asking God to take care of the things that are breaking our hearts, to praying about the things that are breaking His heart.
(Margaret Gibb)

White Stork

Tonight i retreated to one of my most frequented hang-outs...Barnes & Noble. (i know...i'm a bookworm) I went with the intention of reading about Darfur, so i headed straight to the travel guide section knowing that i could find some hard and fast facts about Sudan (the country in Africa that the Darfur region is in). i quickly grabbed that book but my eye was caught by the Latvia travel guide, so that came along too. i decided to look through the Latvian guide first because i figured it would be a quick scan and refresher about my homeland...try and hour and a half later--i had been so engrossed by the history section that 70 pages had passed by!
i grew up knowing the general facts of the county's history but had lost touch with much of that and certainly didn't know, chronologically, what had occurred throughout the time period of the two world wars. after absorbing the heartwrenching rises and falls of my ancestors who struggled so valliantly to claim their own land back so many times, i stumbled onto a very random and fascinating fact. information like what i'm about to share with you are the NUGGETS OF GOLD you look for in any book you read.
apparently, latvia is one of the most densely populated white stork migratory locations. "The number of White Stork is also imposing - imagine 10,500 pairs for a territory of only 65,000 sq/km." the people welcome them but i cannot for-the-life-of-me imagine that many big white birds being in one place!! AND if you believe that storks bring babies-then that's a LOT of babies!! haha-just for laughs-nobody really believes that, right?...

Avocado Accolades

Today, i want to dedicate my post to the avocado. This wonderful fruit is one of my favorites, and my roommates can attest to how many of these i eat a week (it's a lot!). Nutritionally, it's super good for you AND it's just such a darn good-lookin' fruit! The soft yellow of the center is like summer twilight, and it slowly progresses to a refreshingly zesty shade of green before the tough skin 'holds down the fort' in army green.
Not very often do you find an avocado that looks perfect on the inside because people have the tendency of squeezing the poor things to death in desperate search of the one that has ripened to their liking.
Well, today i found one of those 'perfect' avocados-thus i was inspired to post a picture of not only the fruit itself but of my overjoyed face at this discovery. this may seem a little ridiculous and over-the-top BUT i am being a health advocate by making you all read this-ha! AND life is about the simple pleasures and if this makes my day, then by all means, i'm gonna celebrate!!

crazy awesome weekend

this weekend was amazing! friday afternoon, laura and i drove up to lynden to attend trisha and jay's wedding. after sitting in 2 hours of unexpected traffic, we made it to the church in time for a fast 8 minute makeover in the bathroom (i think we turned out lookin' alright). the wedding was absolutely gorgeous and the reception was a par-tay....we danced until we could dance no more and had a great time with all the friends up there that we rarely see. [my car made it up there and back without overheating!!! that was monumental considering all the problems i've had with it recently.]
then saturday we drove back to seattle, just in time to prepare for a HUGE barbeque at Golden Gardens. Our post-college/early career group at church hosted the event, tiki torches and all. we had around 70 people come which was great but only 25 had RSVP'ed to the evite...so there was a last minute run to the store for more burgers. everyone went home happily fed, socially overloaded and frisbee'd out. the day was perfect, the sunset was gorgeous and the fellowship was fabulous!
and today, after church, it was back to the beach with nicole and james, for some afternoon reading. not much of that happpened because it was so hot but we got a lot of people-watching done, including our neighbors who were experts at hula hooping-ah, i never tire of the things i see at the beach. my brother called from oklahoma and i got to chat with all my family...they were all in norman, OK because my cousin got married today! it was nice to talk to them but i was sad to not be there. they promised to take a lot of pictures!! (CONGRATS imants and becca)
i couldn't have planned a better 3 days!