Watermelons, Harry Potter and the interim.

Summer is fun for me for about 5 reasons: Number one is watermelon. Simply said, it never tastes as good as it does when your outside baking in the heat and the juice is running all over your face. Yes, that's my favorite. Number 2, I love summer foods. Bright vegetables, salsa, guacamole, grilled chicken and burgers...and most of all lots of cookouts and parties to attend with all of the above included. :) Number 3, I like to swim...(about 5 times out of the year, then I'm over it). Number 4, I like not having school. Number 5, It now contains my anniversary. :) (I had to).

[Come on August 12th!]

Other than that, summer and I are not that great of friends. Which just so happens to put me in the mood for hot tea, falling leaves and the ability to be outside without june bugs colliding into your head and feeling like you have to shower for the third time that day after walking to the mailbox.

But, just about the most important thing this summer will contain besides The Big Day will be this Friday. And if you have even an ounce of cool in you, you'll know why. The very last Harry Potter movie comes out this Friday. It's easily one of the days I have been looking forward to all year! Since I was about 11, these movies coming out each summer or November have been months of ecstatic proportions for me. And now, sadly, it is coming to an end this Friday. But Mr. Potter, no doubt, will go out with a bang. Or a blast of a wand. Whatever you prefer. :)

In another Muggle news, I have finally finished Cold Tangerines. It was one of those slow chews for me. One that took a lot of rereading and a lot of laughing. There's something about finishing a really great book. Kind of like finishing that last piece of cheesecake, or getting that kiss goodnight. Something about it just leaves you smiling, a little more elated and a whole lot happier. That's what I found out in this book. And to end this absurdly random piece of writing tonight, I'll leave you with my absolute favorite section of this book.

Everything is interim. Everything is a path or a preparation for the next thing, and we never know what the next thing is. Life is like that, of course, twisty and surprising. But life with God is like that exponentially. We can dig in, make plans, write in stone, pretend we're not listening, but the voice of God has a way of being heard. It seeps in like smoke or vapor even when we've barred the door against any last minute changes, and it moves us to different ways of living. It keeps us moving and dancing and watching, and never lets us drop down into a life set on cruise control. Life with God is a daring dream, full of flashes and last minute exits and generally all things
we never said we'd do. And with the surprises comes great hope.

A.MAZ.ING.

Let's all be inspired today.

Pure Bliss

Today I am taking a minute to pray for and praise some beautiful, amazing women that are taking steps of faith and rocking this world. There's a time in life where God just makes you uncomfortable. He makes you look at the details of your life, forcing you to see the cracked and dry parts, the parts that are thirsty for Him. He makes you look at your surroundings, your habits of complacency, and your tendencies to shrink back into yourself and believe that all is okay in the world.

Our world is full and teeming with the tough stuff and pretty stuff. Generally speaking, we're okay with the tough stuff as long as we don't get too messed up, too involved. Not these two girls! My friends, Tara Clapper and Rebecca Brown are ladies that realized that the cracked, dry parts of life come to life when you DO something. This past winter, we all went to Africa together, saw the tough stuff, held the orphans' hands and kissed their faces, we prayed for the street kids and bought them lunch...and then we went home. Tara fell in love with Rwanda. The beautiful country with its organic nature and rolling hills. A special orphanage caught her heart (and ours) and she knew she had to be back. She understood that a move of God required her to go even when it hurt, even when it was certain how it would happen. My prayer for Tara is that the children on the Noel Orphanage, and heck, the whole daggum country, will be changed because of a simple "yes." That she will grow to God even closer than she has been, and that she will find the true joy so many of us are striving to get in this lifetime. The joy of being a servant for God.

My other sweet friend, Rebecca left for Ethiopia in May. Becky and I shared a room in the Rwanda portion of our Africa trip and there was a moment I knew God would keep her there. We sat on the beds getting ready, and she played Christy Nockel's "They Will Know Us By Our Love." She belted it out as I sat in amazement at her talent, but more importantly, how strongly she felt the words of the song. She knew why we were in Africa. And in that moment, I realized God had so much more in store for her than she knew. We went to Ethiopia and in an instant, she was changed. She became a mom, a friend and a sweet supporter to a group of street kids in Ethiopia. She was crying tears of happiness and tears of a broken heart as we were in Addis Ababa. She loved each kid so fiercely, I really don't think any of our love from the team even made a dent in it. :) Becky knows the reality of living with pain, fear and loss. She knows what it takes to be strong, what it takes to be fully dependent on God. I fully believe she is the mother those boys have needed for awhile. Someone to nurture them with strength and a firm, unconditional love. My prayer is that Becky will have the strength, everyday, to simply love them because she can. To be their light to Christ and to raise them up to be men of God.

If you would like to give to either one of these precious ladies, shoot me an email (tiffaniemarie@cox.net) or comment here and I will get the info to you. Remember this as we pray for our friends" We have received freely so that we could give freely. There's more to this life than what we are living.

Inspired,

Tiffanie.

Living by this...

"Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with the people you love, and with other people that believe God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don't spend time with people who you make you feel like less than you are. Don't get stuck in the past and don't try to fast forward yourself into another future you haven't yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can and keep traveling honestly along life's path."



Giving today my all!

It's the simple things.

I got a message from a girl named Jennilee that lives in Colorado on Facebook today about my blog and it inspired me to write something since I haven't been. You must be thinking I have all this time now that summer has been out and blogging would be an easy thing to squeeze into my day...and you're right. However, my life has recently consisted of the following which has occupied my attention:

and of course with dozens of bridal magazines, phone calls and putting invitations together. Buuut, mostly the first three. :)

I love this easygoing time of summer. It still hasn't hit me that in two months life will look so completely different. I'm in the odd "in-between" point and it's just plain weird. But good. I am enjoying the slow pace of getting things together. It's kind of how I adapt to that every so present word, "change." I am working on resisting the urge to shudder when I hear that word.

I put in my two weeks at a job I have had for three years. It was bittersweet. Probably the first step towards the many changes I have facing me and it was the kind of feeling you get when you're at the top of a roller coaster waiting for it to fall. Anticipation. I have been blessed by God (which btw, has been a constant prayer for Austin and I as we prepare for married life), with a new job that I was offered today that will be close to where we are moving to and paying well enough to help a young married couple that's still in college stand on their feet.;)

I'm thankful for: Lemonade and ice cream sandwiches, time with family and time to watch endless hours of tv, and prayer. Oh and plane tickets...feel free to send one my way.

Yes, He is good.

Final Frenzy

Since I am still a college student my current timeline of life is based on semesters. Did you ever start off a semester with a whole list of things you really wanted to accomplish? Thpse teensy expectations that feel sooo important at the start of a new year that just have to happen? Work out regularly, don't let your homework pile up too high, eat right, sit up straight, take a shower everyday (ok, the last one I do accomplish), have your whole wedding planned in 2 months and make 200 bibs for an orphanage in Africa while you're at it. Ever look back at the beginning and laugh at yourself for thinking you had total control of it? Yeah, me neither.


As Friday nears closer and closer, I find myself in a bittersweet place. I am overjoyed beyond belief that this ridiculous semester is over. Yes, ridiculous. I have never felt so exhausted and so relieved to leave the premises of an educational institution for a few months. For four months, I desperately asked God several times, "Just what are You doing God?" Many times in frustration, I'd just throw up my hands and say, "I give! I don't know what You want and I sure as heck don't know what to do about this mess." Needless to say, I put my foot in mouth several times, I failed, I pushed and tugged, I was stubborn, shut out and frustrated. I would get forward with 5 steps and fall ten steps back. Yes, in the least amount of words, Spring 2011 college semester pretty much won the battle. However, April closed with a huge lesson on grace. May has come with an even better lesson on faith.

God knows what He is doing. To think that I can manage anything on my own without His help is laughable to me now. I don't reccommend starting off a year with a "list." Because those expectations will fall short of what God has envisioned for you for that time. I never imagined the past four months to go the way they did, and while I'm thankful they are behind me, I'm also thankful that they happened. He knows what He is doing, even when I don't.

I've learned that even the tiniest bit of control I try to have in my life leads to destruction. Opening my hands and letting it go...

Run the Race

"We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet, we will run this race for the least of these."

My heart wants to jump out of my chest when I think of just how BIG our God proves Himself to be. And it pounds frntically when I'm called over and over again, to trust Him with every piece of my life. Each fragment, down to the very source. I just sit here tonight thinking..."Why?!" Why can't it be easier than this? Why can't it just make sense sometimes? I fight with tears as I surrender to His greatness. I can;t hold tightly to anything. I can't do anything on my own. Yet, I try so often because it's easier to fail than to trust. I doubt and take apprehensive glances at what lies ahead. But I hear everytime that HE IS FAITHFUL. What shall I fear?

I am in the middle of a journey filled with His constant provision and the courage to trust in that. A little face in the picture above reminds me that your dreams and desires some true if you mold them to His. And I will push on with my tears and apprehensive glances. I know HE IS FAITHFUL.