[insert your life here]

So I am presently copying a rad CD to my hard drive (using Windows Media Player for a change. I finally discovered the annoyances of realone.) Gatsby's American Dream! Their new disc is awesome. Ryan and I went to their CD release show at Easy Street downtown on Tuesday. The lead singer looked so happy to be on stage... a bit too happy for the typical emoesque band but I enjoy things atypical. His goofy-excited-dog-like demeanor was great! And the music was enjoyable, to say the least.

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Carly and I had art class today and our usual goodbye salutations run as follows:

Carly: Having completed the task of strapping her bike to the bike rack on the duck, Carly reaches into her backpack for her keys. Turning to Leah she says:: Well, that was fun!

Leah: Having just completed lifting her bike into the truck and securing the locks on the canopy turns to Carly and replies:: As always.

Carly: Embraces Leah.

Leah: Embraces Carly.

Carly: Tomorrow.

Leah: Same time; same place.

Carly: Alright, Love.

Leah: Love!

***

she's real cool.

***

The awesomest Josh I know was in town today! yay for Josh Newton!

Josh, Ryan, and I got to sit down and have the bestest form of conversation: talking about Jesus! Feeding each other spiritually, just as Christ intended we the church to do. I love being witness to God's plan in action. It makes me kind of giddy

Josh has been reading this awesome book called The Purpose Driven Life. Here are some quotes from it:

"The point of life is learning to love--God and people."

"The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now."

***

Josh also asked the question: What are the first five words that come to your mind when you think of God?

mine: love, grace, second chance, hideaway, comfort

Now it's your turn....

(why do I all the sudden feel like a PBS show gone wrong?)

but seriously! Try it, comment (reply) it, if you'd like.

***

Saw Finding Nemo again tonight...

"RIGHTEOUS!! RIGHTEOUS!!!"

...sigh, Sea Turtles... Eustace.

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There was this crazy, random, spontaneous combustion of grass particles today by Thrasher's Corner. (I do believe fireworks were mildly (largely) involved.) Anyway, there were some ten+ fire trucks down the street from Ryan's so Josh, Ryan and I did a mini adventure and I got to take pictures of the fire trucks and water and fire men and hoses. This one lady firefighter saw us walking by and just looked over and smiled. If the rest of today had sucked, she would've made it better for me. The simple act of smiling is a beautiful thing.

***

I woke up at 500 am today.... so I am 3.5 hours short of having been awake for the past 24 hours. Kind of fun... kind of mind numbing... kind of wishing this cd would hurry up and finish burning... kind of thinking it would be great if I could spell at 130 in the morning...

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oooh! last track...

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So, can I just say: God is incredible! How he configured this whole mess of a world to be... even in the mess there is abundant joy and peace to be found... and happiness. What an awesome idea that could only come from the most Sovereign of all. And the whole fact that he encourages us each step along the way through prayer, devotions, relationships, the natural beauty around us (sunrises and sunsets, both of which I had the pleasure of appreciating today... awesome!). I am esp. tonight thankful for the encouragement through relationships (and sunsets). Kyle talked about prayer on Tuesday night and it really smacked me upside the head that there are people out there praying for me... more than I could even know... and You: you may not even realize how many people out there lifted you up to Jesus tonight. God didn't put us on this earth to perform radial symmetry and gravitate towards our centers... he put us here to Love Him and Love Others... otherwise we will implode from the pressure of the overflowing love God pours into us... we need serve it to others... empty our cups so God can fill them up again.

***

Just this second I got super excited for Creation and the traditional battle cry:

I LOVE JESUS/YES I DO/I LOVE JESUS/HOW ABOUT YOU?

***

Ok, the CD is done burning and I am going to bed. Tomorrow I start working on booking my flights to Lithuania!

goodnight.

PS: Travis, thanks for opening all four doors on your car tonight just for Alexis, Sarah, and I. You're awesome! It's so special to have such gentlemanly guy friends.