This one's for Auntie

The baby seals swim up this little river to play in a waterfall to stay safe during the spring! This little buddy was totally showing off for us - i loved him. He was presh! And Aunt Libilibi, I thought of you the whole time:)

Number Two

This is the 2nd post I'm dedicating to funny times in my life with Jesus.

Picture this: Its a Friday afternoon, sunny, windy, and there are 49 students needing to be transported into Christchurch for our fun scavenger hunt activity. NBD right? Until the van I'm driving the next three months - Gandalf - wont turn on. I prayed over him, tried again, prayed, patted the dashboard, spoke words of life - nadda. Nothing happened. So three vans drove over to help me - and our jumper cables couldn't connect, they were really old so nothing happened even when the other van reved up their engine etc. After about 30 mins we finally had to just reaarange everyone to a couple cars instead of a van.

Whew. Only an hour behind schedule...and no maps. But we found the mall, we caught up with the rest of the group and everything was fine and dandy.

Until...Kevin from Switzerland asked me, three hours after we had arrived and had been exploring the town, he asked me for the van keys. Of course, I couldn't find them. I refused to panic...for a split second all the terrible consequences of loosing a set of van keys flashed before my mind. The maintenance man, Juddy, would eat me for breakfast was the main one concerning me...

But i brushed that aside and asked around the stores I had been in for a set of keys. No luck. 2nd step was to retrace the path I had walked around the area, but it was raining and I only tramped 5 mins down the street and gave up. Thankfully I had this nawing feeling to go check the van, and if the keys weren't around them somewhere I could then have legitimate reason to flip out and run away:)

I walked through the rain up to the vans and there they were! Chillin in the door, just haning wide out in the open for anyone to snatch and drive away! I just busted up laughing - and started breathing again. Oh my goodness I had about 5 major heart attacks that whole time and finally I was safe - so many things could've gone wrong. Thankfully! The Lord knows me well, He has lovely angels watching out for me and I'm pretty sure there was an invisibility forcefeild around my van protecting it from car theives. PTL!

I got back and the whole group just busted up laughing and Nicki gave me a giant hug and said "The Lord has so much grace and humor for you right now!" ahahaha. Then she and I went and got lollies(candy) and a coke. And then the coke I bought had my name on the tag so it was even better. It said "Share a Coke with Ruby" woohoo

HA God definietly laughs with me heaps. So thankful He's got my back!

Humor Me

Hey there.

So the past couple weeks I've been thinking a lot about God, and Humor, and how He created it. I decided that I should record humorous situations, or at least recall some from my past in light of how God might have seen the humor in what was happening. Not in a condescending evil laugh kind of way, but a chuckling along side of me, especially now that I dont take myself too seriously and I find past circumstances quite hilarious!(and I think He giggles with me)

One that came to mind immediately, for some reason, was the story of Glenn.
Maybe it was my 13 yr old naivety, absent mindedness, or overall constant inner nervousness/insecurity that was clouding my brain that Wednesday evening at the boat dock... regardless, I thought Glenn was a girl's name...
My mom brought Eliza and I to the boat dock for a free sail time one evening in Beaufort, NC. She had driven us down to this coastal town to participate in two weeks of sailing camp. Oh my, it was quite the two weeks. A lot of arguing and crying and being irritated happened because our Mom was stubborn, we did not want to be with a bunch of kids we didnt know, and we were emotional and awkward teenagers. So this particular night she was determined we were going to practice sailing whether we wanted to or not! haha
That brings me to where Glenn enters the picture.

Our instructor was at the dock that night and she asked me if I wanted to volunteer to go on a two person sailboat, even though I only knew how to navigate a one man boat. She said "Glenn" would be coming and needed a partner. And that's when I nodded "yea,sure" thinking "Glenn is such a cool girl's name, I've never heard that one before!"

Then, inside of me I died...and I'm pretty sure I turned bright red because there was Glenn, walking down the gang plank...tall, beautiful brown eyes, tousled sandy brown hair, a smile stuck in the side of his mouth. AH!!! no no no no no! She's a HE! crap. and then i shut down and couldn't speak full sentences or find a way to stop myself from blushing. Terrible, terrible feeling. And so I had to pop into his boat, hold his rope for the sail and did some steering. Didn't peep. Couldn't talk, really. HA. And then this other boat with some other cuties sailed up to us and threw sea weed on us! I was so grossed out, but! I was thrown a chunk of sea weed from Glenn and told to swing the boat around and chase the other boat a throw the sea weed on them. Which i failed, my aim was very very inhibited by my self consciousness.

I can only imagine God chuckling, and trying to tell me, hun, calm down, you're not gonna marry the kid or have to hug him, or anything crazy like that! Just talk and be chill. hahhaha

When I got in the car that night my sister and mom were rather relentless in there teasing me about sailing with him and how we were so cute together. haha i was SO mad at them and sooo embaressed!

Idk if that's even really funny, but to me it is humorous because of course i would think a dudes name is a girly name and then get awkward to the max when it turned out to be a very cute 15 year old! Ah! haha
Anyway, I think I'm going to make it a theme, a humorous theme for my blog for a while. I feel like telling y'all all the funny things I get me and God into. :)

7 days

I arrived 7 days ago. So far i'm full of thoughts. That sounds fairly normal right? Yea, but these are deep God thoughts, and to be quite honest, doubts are laced in there too. IDK. These are some of the highlights for me this week:

We can only give away what we ourselves have.
i seriously need to learn to receive from the Lord again.
Vulnerability is key.
And vulnerability is sucky.
Also, community is what my heart aches for... Consistency.
It is not about ability, but about character.
I like to bake as a way to de-stress, and give to others.
Serving people is in my nature. Ex. fixing food and cleaning dishes.
I'm reeling at the moment from the magnitude of the impending commitment.
I do not want to date unless it's for keeps.
I want to be read aloud to.
I need non sexual physical touch daily.
Exercise is one way to maintain emotional stability for me.
I like standing on couches, and then ninja jumping off of them.
I can eat a lot of dark chocolate.
I fall asleep every time I watch "Inception"... which can be a little trippy.
Driving on the left side of the road is freaky.
New Zealand beach water is frigid, yet invigorating.
Its time to just soak in Poppa's presence.
I need more. MORE GOD.
I'm resigned.
I miss the smell of my pillow and the company of my twin.
I want to kiss my nephews faces.
I'd like to star gaze.
I am surrounded by beautiful people.
I don't even know what's going on, but God is intricate, tender and in a good mood.
Europeans like the name Ruby.
Testimonies are raw, and mine is complicated to say the least.
Black coffee is a lovely thing.
Like I said, I need more, MORE GOD.

Thumbs up

This morning I slipped down further under the covers, cuddled into my pillows and said to myself: "If I go back to sleep time will stand still and I will be fine. The world will be well and I can spend undetermined amounts of time with everyone I love. Mmkay good. Zzzzzz"

When I woke from my dozing I noticed it was still brighter outside and the coffee brewing aroma was wafting in the window. "Oh my," I thought " real life time, real time... and this cozy room of mine will be vacant in three days. Yes, and this is what I planned."

Frequently over the past few days I've had moments of gut twisting panic. Not really a terrorized panic, but a "Holy, I'm going to be in New Zealand for a long time. A long time. I am going to be entering into a whole nother world. I am going to be a responsible adult. I am going to be someone some other ones look up to. Oh my."

And Jesus says: "Yep. It's going to be grand. YEA! Here, take my hand mydear, lean on my shoulder and just smile."

He says: "I like your style. The way you have chosen to trust me and live in the present. You are doing a lovely job of loving on the family and friends that are important to your heart. I like how you're letting the next season ahead of you not daunt you and compromise your peaceful heart."

(It wasn't always that way, this summer He and I had to have conversations about not freaking out, so that peaceful heart statement has been a long time comin'.)

Also He told me: "You are going to experience me in a deep way. Just remain surrendered and dont let your mind, your logic interfere. I wanna show you an amazingly lovely, deep part of me. I told you that you are like a dazzling jewel, catching glimmers of light and glittering to the world because of you are meant to be multi-dimensional. But you only become that way because I am that way first. Come, take my hand and let me show you the secret chambers in my heart."

Doesn't that sound like the most tender, romantic invitation EVER?! I think so. I'm inclined to accept. So! Here we go! Me and Jesus, hand and hand, together.

And God is saying - you go little lady, go and experience Me and My Son. You got my thumbs up!:)

This would be me, at 11.

Thanks Pops!

Presh

Eliza and I love watching the children run around everywhere. From their cute little chubby legs poking out of a onesie, to pushing a little mini grocery cart around EarthFare, to walking around with legit pirate make up on with her flowery poof dress. LOVE IT. No wonder Jesus called the little children to HIm, they are irresistable and captivating. They are cute and cuddly, and hysterical! Their adult mannerisms are the BEST and when they look like little men or little ladies it's PRESH.

some photos of my favorite children from around the world:)

I got to dance and sing and twirl around
with these beautiful girls 

We loved on abandoned Morrocan
babies, they'll melt your heart!

Little Punk. haha He did not want to be on that ride 

That kid just ate prolly a dozen of those purple figs. His
Mom kept shovling them in! SO funny

This is little buddy. All he would do was scream,
or sleep. Yay naps!

Joseph! Most easy going kiddo ever.

Beautiful innocent Joy

OH, their eyes. so captivating!

Missionary kids are so friendly. We had good times
together in the desert.

J-Man liked playing with my hoodie:) Hoodie dance!

Super man soccer ball break dancing skillz

Ninja, 4 wk old Julia. and Jman chillin in her crib

Alone time is Lovely time

Cleaning. Catching up on listening to some good jams. Sleeping. Watching Olympians. Writing. Reading. Locking the keys in the car. Oops. Loving sunflowers. Home made granola. Jogging. Dancin. 29 days til take off.