Take luck!! uh..Take it! Care for it...

I don't know if you've ever listened to Brian Regin but he's hilarious. We were listening to him in the car to church this morning. Hunter and Libby can quote the whole thing. My cheeks were sore from smiling so much. Sarah and I giggled the whole time. I used to have the CD  memorized too because the summer I was 17 at Cherokee Cove they played the CD all the time. Brain is just funny to me! I love his sense of humor. For instance this weekend a nice looking guy said to Sam and I, while we were doing the dishes "Thank you guys!" I looked at him and said "Thank you" and froze, and then went to go hide in the rinse water. haha I told Sam I wasn't really sure why I said thank you and then we referenced good ole' Brian. He makes light of the whole deal like this, where a    water for instance might serve your meal and says "Have a good meal" and you say "You too!...whenever you eat..whenever you break from working,  and if you might eat something..have a good one!" hahaha Then! He talks about saying Take Care and Good Luck... but you switch what you're saying halfway through "Take LUCK!" uuuh "Take luck...Take it! Care for it!" haha  Oh boy.

 It was a fun weekend though! Going back tomorrow with Jamie to fill in the kitchen since Stu's gone. There will be stories.

I did take my camera this time and snapped a few photos:

The ladies!

Chaco Time! Until it started snowing this morning.

Sam and Misti! and the delicious yeast rolls! 

 I may be laughing..but I took cooking those vegetables very seriously! :) I steamed, seasoned, and sauteed those babies and they were allll eatin. ha!

 Sam was the Queen of the kitchen :) Well, she is! She is the Queen. And she is eating her queenly mac&cheese.

All the volunteers! 

Yay sarah! I was trying NOT to look sleepy..then I realized its all in the eyes..no matter how big your smile is haha

 Trevor testing my hammock out. First hammock-ing of 2011! woot!

 And John,in his new hammock. Super fun.

 OH! How I love her!

She  is such a doll!!

In the terms of Glo-zelle "Peace and Blessings, Peace and Blessings" "Over and Out"

Deux pour mon peu d'amour!

The second post dedicated to my nephew!
Like my French title? woo! It means "two for my little love." Two posts that is (so far).
Ooo he's so cute I just can't stand it!

He's got the true Hodges style for sucking his thumb...his Hodges Aunts both enjoyed this pass time.

Silly Monkey Pillow Pet! 

The Lemon progression:

Checkin out the lemon.

Of course, now it's time to taste the Lemon.

His sour face. Hehe so cute- he wasn't  quite sure what that lemon was all about.

Slide fun!

Eating fun!

Auntie fun!

The Hodges Men. Handsome.

Bud Bud. Jud Jud... the Stud (stud)

This past weekend we took a trip to VA and had a wonderful visit with Tanner and Beth and Judson! 

So... this trip I really didn't get very many pictures of myself with my brother and sister.. I mainly photographed their son! hehe and he is SO cute!

 I have the most adorable collection of open-mouth pictures of Judson just staring at the camera. We're gonna start off with a post dedicated to this Judson "genre" haha. They're priceless.

Climbing the stairs!

Aunt Libby sent a cool new toy!

"What is that thing?"

"I just want a nap"

"Ahh! Another picture!"

"Huh. I'm chillin like a villain" 

Hey There!

And my favorite for this picture category!:) He's such a doll! (Can I have one?)

Jim and Elisabeth

I never realized it before now but, bubble baths put in me in such  a good mood! Love em'!

The night before last I was prompted by Betty to take a soak in the tub and it was just as therapeutic as ever! I put Sara Groves on the ipod singing "It's gonna be all right" and got Shadow of the Almighty and slid right down beneath a blanket of warm, glittering bubbles. Jim and Elisabeth really helped put me in a good mood. This is what I ended up underlining from Jim's letters today:

" 'And the  work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.' 'In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.' I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds. If he can keep us hearing radios, gossip, conversation, or even sermons, he is happy. But he will no allow quietness. For he believes Isaiah where we do not. Satan is quite aware of the power of silence. The voice of God, though persistent, is soft..." (pg 85, Elliot)

"And yet, with the covers tight around my neck last night in the dark, I felt as close to the Savior as I have ever been, holding quiet communion. I think these are signs of the birth of that second faith- expressed by Spurgeon in the now familiar phrase, 'Little faith will bring the soul to heaven, but much faith will bring heaven to the soul.'" (pg 83, Elliot)

God spoke gently to my heart through these words. I can tell you of two instances so far this year where God has spoken softly to my heart and I have heard His soft, persistent voice. It has truly given me confidence in my decision making. I do feel strengthened, and reassured. It's actually sinking in what "Wait for the Lord" means. There is a whole lot I don't understand or haven't fully grasped in the action of waiting for the Lord... but I have been shown that it takes more than just a day of waiting.(duh! i know, i'm a little thick headed) However, waiting is a hard thing, so even though  I may not be super busy, the business of waiting on the Lord is challenging.. and, I'm discovering, very fulfilling.


Another good remedy for a long day is Norah Jones + Dove Dark Chocolate + Bubbles =  Happy Camper.

Valentine's Day

So I have to say that Valentine's Day 2011 wasn't so hott after all...

Twiny Twin Twin

Well, I was able to see my twiny twin twin, and spend the morning with her and Betty, and then Jamie and I went to Earth fare for snacks and Block Buster for a movie. All of that was great! Except a I woke up with a fever Monday morning...low grade so I was going to muscle through it...but I didn't, and by 8pm Monday night it was a full fledged shivering, aching, sinus head ache, fever. Whoop dee do. I spent all day yesterday in bed. Thank you Jesus for antibiotics because I am now feeling SO much better. But still...that did put a damper on things.

Betty took us out to Breakfast!

Don't you Like my heart pin?:)

Valentine's Day Eve though was super fun!:) Jamie experienced Boone Michaels for the first time!!  So we stocked up on glitter! Then we found "The Holiday" on TV which was just the perfect mood-movie haha. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is such a cute movie! Not to mention Jude Law... whew! And he's a family man in this movie so he seems that much more attainable! haha But personally I like Jack Black the most because he's hilarious! Every time I watch "The Holiday" I always crush on Jack for the duration of the film. He's just so like-able. But we created a whole spread of homemade valentines day cards! They're cute, and Jamie is so much more creative then she gives herself credit for! Most of her cards were classy... most because well... there's always a dud(or two) in card making. haha And I definitely had my own duds.

The Duds. J-left, K-right.

Jamie's Beautiful creations!

Then! What's Valentine's day without a oversized heart pillow!? Betty gave that to me last year and I Love it! Many people have hugged that pillow and shared lots of heart issues with me and Eliza. It's very therapeutic!:)

Has any one literally gone swak! when they've kissed someone? Well we saw a lot of stickers that said "Swak" with lips and stuff... I personally have heard of MUAH! yea that's normal...but swak... 

Muah!

Eliza sent me a big package with lots of Goodies! Some of which were heart shaped curly straws! ahh! love! They're so fun!

Chillin Man

I also took care of Libby Lou's Cute little Charlie Saturday night. We're buds. He watched SALT with me and comforted me when the gross, awful spiders popped onto the screen. Those things were terrible...I have had way too many night mares about spiders to even tolerate a 30sec frame on one little spider. AH!
I did put a bow on him.

He looks like he's about to hurt me badly for doing that to him.haha

Well, Valentine's day is over...it's always so anti-climactic. In  elementary school is was so much more fun buying 50 valentine's cards from walmart and hand selecting which ones went to your best friends, the kids you never talked to...and the boy you thought was super cute! I think I gave him two Hershey kisses instead of one. The "secret admirer" cards were so thrilling! Coveted, almost. Any girl who got one was soooo lucky. It was a big deal to me,even though I was 9. Now a days I am conscious of a greater love. God's love is a big deal! His extravagant, merciful, life giving love. Now that is something truly thrilling.
Yesterday I read in Psalm 33:
²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD; 
   he is our help and our shield. 
²¹ In him our hearts rejoice, 
   for we trust in his holy name. 
²² May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, 
   even as we put our hope in you.

Glitter, Glitter-glue, Glitter stickers..

 It's almost valentine's day!! The bless-ed little holiday landing in the middle of the New Year and Easter. Sandwiched between those obscure Martin Luther King Jr. day and President's Day "holidays." Jamie and I will be making a trip to Michaels VERY soon. I am planning on stocking up on glitter and glitter-glue and glitter-stickers...and well glitter!! I'm excited. So is Jamie. This is a good photo to capture how i'm feeling inside about this crafty crafty holiday...even though it looks a little like she stubbed her toe. Everyone...expect obnoxious, cliche, gushy, mussy cards. And glitter.

 The Joys of this heart warming day. Cupcakes, and dove dark chocolate. Even if I don't have a valentine, and I have to buy these things for myself... I'm a girl and still completely love the day Feb. 14.  One day I'll have a hot date.

I went to Bald Guy Brew this morning. Go there when  you have a chance. It's got a different feel from other sedated coffee shops. I love it, especially because I love Rachel. And Rachel works there full time now..so go, she her and drink the coffee she made from the beans she grounded from the green coffee beans she roasted herself! 

I got a lesson in roasting today. The San Franciscan machine works real hard, he definitely earns his keep. I really don't know why I'm referring to the machine as a friend...I didn't even "meet" him.. but I admire his work anyway....OKAY 

Well! Here she is, and San Franciscan, hard at work.

Cooling the beans

Adding more beans for Roasting

Such a pretty little coffee shop keeper.

Woo! In action!

 BTW: Dad has a new job... He works at Blue Ridge Mountain Rentals. I helped him today. We worked at getting the hang of their email system, and how to write them, and send them. The space bar wasn't spacing very well. He's so adorable though! He didn't very much like me saying that. :) He felt as slow as a snail...but his fingers are big and strong from hard work outside...they just have some adjusting to do. Momma would be proud. She wrote thousands of emails. She would think he was adorable too, I know it. Wish she were here.

1:59 PM

Oh my ordinary life…

This is a phrase I just blurted a few days ago. Off-handedly, talking to Jamie, I continued to ramble about activities for the next evening, or something, but “ordinary” stuck in my brain.

I didn’t like it. I don’t like it! It’s not a repulsion to the routines of my life, just to the word: ordinary. I am totally un-interested in being ordinary. I’m not, I know that for sure. But even though I am living a simple existence right now doesn’t warrant it ordinary.
Well, I feel better! haha I think I needed to write this out for clarity,you know, for myself. I don’t have gatherings and dinner parties and roommates and homework or major weekend plans through the middle of July. Nope, I am enjoying my peaceful mornings, my coffee shop afternoons doing a bit of work for Sam, and my simplistic dinners along with an occasional movies to wrap it all up. Good thing Jamie lives 1.25 minutes away! That is fun, esp since she’s on a cooking kick because it gives me a reason to spend the evening talking, and eating pie!(see A-OK, Brazilian or American?)

I am surprisingly content. To God be the glory! I have ceased fretting and stressing over preparing for the future. God, I have finally been able to trust you and leave Monsieur Worry in the dust! There is something about leaving my mind completely open, my week completely open, my month, and my year free from my over analytical, for-the-sake-of-feeling-secure plans. I know that glorify my savoir at this point in my walk with Him is to: enable Him to move drastically, at the last minute, and place me somewhere, anywhere! with perfect timing. It is so liberating! I am supremely content to leave it to Jesus. It took a LONG time for me to get here though. Whew lordy, I held on with all my might and worked so hard to provide myself, and inquisitive others, a plan for where I’m heading. But, my spiritual upper arms got weak and couldn’t support my weight. Once God finally pried my fingers, one by one, from the ledge and I fell… the landing was soft. Surprisingly that free fall provides more security than muscling through everything on my own. You know why? It’s because I fall into the arms of Jesus.

Amen.. and Amen!

 Some shots from a past few simplistic (not ordinary) days :)