oh boy

Well I'm back in Minnesota,

Should I tell you how beautiful it is? Cause I think the lakes speak for themselves

yet it seems we spend all our time riding the pavement and looking at new paint on the walls....and that's all we remember about Minnesota

I don't want to forget the beauty of this place

God's melody is on the wind, but I can't figure out what key he's singing in...


I just keep listening to the words of Romantica...an amazing minneapolis band that no one knows about because they don't fit into a scene...cept my danielle....but she's just something


I'm sick of the traffic war
give me a quiet river

and I'm sick of trying to "out cute"
my love is worth more than cheap fashion and make-up

God won't you show us something better?
Something we can remember and say
"That was you and that was your melody on the wind"

Give me something simple, something that will stand when the city lights burn out

take these cheap nights of gossip and pride

why can't we just see you plain and clear
as clear as the low self-esteem of the thousands running around this place

they are screaming for your life

answer us.


won't you just meet us here?

i don't want to be the girl I have been lead to be
the one that compares and measures
the one with so much fear

Lord you didn't create us to live in fear

but in power and love and a sound mind


Have mercy on our broken intentions.
we want you.

I thought I'd write down a few things that I have learned as a barista at the Grind...
it can be surprising the things you learn without even recognizing it

It's the little things that count...like whipped cream, and a small "hows your day today"

Today i learned how big God's heart is... sometimes i just, I am amazed at the simplicity of the life that a regular customer lives... many would call him homeless and say that he is wasting his life and should make something of himself. Judge him, and grunt because he is not clean and needs to find a better place to be. While he is happy sitting in the red chair by the table...looking out the window. And his smile is one of the brightest. He has integrity...an honest honest man...returning what is not his and always asking so politely. I hate that he does not have a family to go home to...and a warm bed to sleep in at night. My heart breaks for him. He doesn't even seem to be fazed... He has some sort of mental illness that keeps that from him. Lord watch over him. May he teach us that our stereotypes are very very wrong.

People have all sorts of interesting things to teach you and to say to you...as long as you are willing to ask, and listen.

God will send you an angel when you ask for one... mine came today talking about AA and his Lord from the bible...we talked about love...agape love versus the ideas people mistake for love..
when people are more in love with the idea of marriage than the person they are marrying...when they enter a relationship self-seeking...and God has no part
and we talked about his chances to share his relationship with his savior with the members of AA and how it isn't always warmly welcomed...but he won't stop sharing HIS good news...
He left me with a bracelet that reads "pray without ceasing" I'm going to wear it as much as possible because it is such a reminder to me...of what a follower of Christ looks like. It looks like love.
"love is written all thoughout the bible" tony (my customer)

love.

that's what i learned while working at a coffee shop.

going

The sounds of my feet on the rocks...
the pages turn
and fresh paint is applied to the canvas


this time I'm painting impasto,
thick, confident strokes

this is something new
nothing done before,
and not like the work of any other

this is but mine alone

I will learn to paint in my own style and my own way
with my own grace, not anothers

the novel begins as I learn that the other paintings do not create the light in my own
I take the light given to me and it is my job to fashion it

I'm learning to see again
I'm falling back
yet leaping forward

confidence is mine
progress, mine
love, mine
faith, mine
beauty mine
and chances, mine

I will not let them steal my joy

joy is not like the facade of happiness that can be snatched
it is solid and faithful
unlike the fleeting moments of happiness

I'm giving up
yet gaining hope

letting go
and staying still


I'm going to seek

walk the paths laced with roses
and hike to the tops of the trees

Im going.

I won't be frozen here any longer
in this powerless abyss where the world has it's hands on my heart
I'm tearing them off...they are welcome no longer

Lord
I'm so serious

so serious


too serious.



open the gates and flood this place
let it be engulfed by you
contagious and rediculous

but most of all, let it be real and honest


and shake me into a heart that is fully yours

Can I tell you...

about my day :)

I want to brag...
it started at 5:10 where I woke up and washed my hair

pulled myself together, drove the sunrise east
---work
and nothing to do there so ----home

laid and fell asleep to kalai....sun in the window
thought and cleaned a tad

tanned on the trampoline....perfect.
not too hot, not to cold

followed by
----beautiful lake calhoun
where...
the water reflects the city
the people come in all ethnicities and flavors
dads hold their little girls
people bike, run, rollerblade, power walk,
couples fall in love all over again

me and katie sat in a huge patch of dandilions that were ready for wishes.
we wished and wished and made bouquets and took pictures and laughed...and were stared at .
looking like little girls playing in the front lawn

and we played on the play ground that we were "too big for"
spunn till we were dizzy

and took off our shoes and waded in to watch the windsurfers and the sailboats.... 7 sailboats...all white

****we watched. the most beautiful couple....hold eachother so close...her white skirt tailing in the wind and they kissed like they were getting married.... and he pushed her on the swing until she decided to jump off...where HE CAUGHT HER IN HIS ARMS ! aaaaand they laughed so hard they fell over and kissed and laughed some more

I almost died



and a little girl with bright eyes flirted with me
and we sat on the dock and talked.... and watched the many many people walk by

we looked at art work done by kids, and said hello to strangers...we chased a mallard just to get his picture.



----Dunn brothers, lakestreet. iced crema with whipped cream.

pictures of segovia, rome, venice, florence, switzerland....chapels, monuments, fountains, canals, Utah, boys, love, the disheveled barista....laughter
hours spent talking and laughing to a point that I do believe we made our presence known in that coffee shop :)

---maple grove potbelly
best sandwhiches and the friendliest sandwhich man
and more chatting...till we got kicked out...more laughter, and the funniest of funny stories, with serious undertones here and there

---redbox. "p.s.I love you"
yes I watched it again, and yes I cried again
and loved it...again :)

and a hug from one of the most amazing girls I know
BOYS you'd be lucky to find a girl like this.




golden, I tell ya.





TIME is not what matters
some of the best friendships are spent far apart
they are the ones that don't need work to go on
they are confident and trusting
and they will be there when you fall into the same state again
they love quietly, not with loud actions and words

Today really was....cinematic? perfect? blessed? exciting?

too many words
If I am NOT one thing
that one thing is concise