Dear Jonathan...

I am running behind (again), but here is my week-late post to celebrate Jonathan's graduation and the friendship we share.

Dear Jonathan...

YOU DID IT!!!! (Even though you wondered if the day would ever come.) I knew it would.
We've had a crazy ride of friendship. And even though it began before this day...it kind of began in earnest right around this time. You were there to celebrate my 10 years of work as a financial aid counselor. I like to think you showed up because I'm such a rockin' counselor. It was really because I offered you food. But let me live in my delusion.

You and I have had a LOT of fun...remember the night I helped you with your school project and we did a tour-de-Marion to take pictures of churches? You should be glad THIS is the picture I chose to post. Not the zoom-in of the sign. :)

Not gonna lie. Still a little jealous that you got to sing with David Phelps.

But you didn't get to sing Nessun Dorrrrrrrrma with him. Just sayin'.

Thank you for dragging me out of my house for McGee's launch last year. You have no idea how much I did NOT want to do anything but sit at home and cry that night. But God had a word for me on that lake. I'm glad you made me go hear it.

Yeah...just another day in the life of Jonathan...sittin' behind Bill and Gloria. Show off.

1. Thank you for being such a safe boat driver. 2. I remember this day. Your heart was breaking. I'm so proud of you for how you pushed through that time with a smile and faced what God asked of you. Seriously. Proud.

What was this? Your ninth lemon-shake up of the week? 1) How do you stay skinny? Those things are 50% sugar! 2.) How do you still have a stomach? Those things are 50% citric acid!

I remember this night too. I got sick from improper nutrition and overheating. (Imagine that...on both counts!) Thanks for being understanding. You're very good at that.

You have your very own Jesus stick. Welcome to the club. :)

I've never met anyone who loves the fair more than you do. Thanks for going with Rachel and me...another time you helped make a sad week better. You're pretty good at that, you know?

My first and only game of corn hole. Remember how we were halfway through the game before I knew I was on your team instead of Katy's? I'm sorry I made us lose.

You know, I'm not bitter or anything, but seriously? A gravel road? I know, I know. Your GPS got us there and that's all that matters. But seriously. GRAVEL??

From the day of shopping at the flea market. You know what I remember about this day? (And I won't ever forget it.) I remember walking to the car with you (before you got me not-quite-lost on that gravel road, not that I would bring that up again so soon) and telling you that I wasn't worth anything because Isaac left me. And if I'd been worth something, he would have stayed. And I remember you stopped me right there in the parking lot and very sternly told me that wasn't true...and that you knew I didn't believe it...couldn't believe it right then. But you were going to believe it for me until I could do so for myself. Thank you.

A true appreciator of dessert. :)

You were the first person to buy my book. I love that!

Another thing I'm not bitter about is this blessed jet ski you threw me off of, ruining my hair day and causing me to inhale things I don't even want to think about. And then you believed me when I said I was fine. I WAS NOT FINE!!!!!

In the desert, I never wanted to leave home. But you made me leave, and that was the best thing for me. Thanks for inviting me to the lake, understanding when I needed large quantities of journaling time, making coffee for me, and even coming to find me to make sure I was okay when I'd disappear to cry.

Don't ever take me through the tunnel of spiders again. Unless you're trying to kill me. And then this is a surefire method.

I'm sure you're still very proud of the day you coerced me out of the boat and into the lake. For the record, I do prefer this method to being thrown in off a jet ski.

Ahh memories....each of us exercising our gifts. You behind the boat...me behind the camera.

And of course, topping the list of many things you've taught me...the art of grilling. You're still way better, but I'm learning!

Jonathan, I never could have survived 2010 without you. Thank you for hurting with me (sometimes because you were just hurting for you and we could hurt simultaneously, but sometimes you hurt FOR me and I appreciated that too), for dragging me out of my house, for giving me occasions to put in a scrapbook when all I would have done was sit at home and cry, for encouraging me, for telling me I mattered, and for making me laugh. (Even when it was at my own expense.)

Don't forget what I told you that God revealed to me that day on the prayer path. He's raising you up for extraordinary things. You go out and be a mighty man for Him!! I'm so proud of you.

IWU Class of 2011

I don't typically get into graduation all that much, but this year, since both Rachel and Jonathan crossed the stage, I spent some time enjoying the festivities.

Last Friday night was the Baccalaureate service. I volunteered to be an usher so I could spend that extra time being part of their special night.

The service began with a very moving time of worship. They sang one of my favorite choruses: Blessed Be Your Name.
Chorale sang two songs...Jonathan's last weekend to be a member of Chorale! (That's him in the middle in the blue tie.)

Of course, A Mighty Fortress was one of the songs...and of course...I cried.

After it was over, I caught up with Miss Rachel. Isn't she beautiful?

And here is Mr. Jonathan. I haven't seen as much of him in recent weeks - which is why you haven't either. But I am so thankful for his friendship and for the incredible support he was to me in my desert last year. I never would have made it through that time without him! And I'm SO proud of him for graduating (with a red AND pink tassle! LOL!)

Saturday (which was the actual day of graduation) was open house day at the Smith household. Amazingly enough I was a horrible picture taker that day. Did I get pictures while people were still dressed up? No. Did I get the cakes? No. What did I do? I sprawled out on the living room floor with Katy (Austin's girlfriend) and spent my time giggling at her and chowing down. What a superb open house guest I make! So here are my sad photos from that day. Here's Jonathan:
And here's Austin with my buddy, Silas. He remembered me from vacation. Silas, not Austin. Please note that I am duly embarrassed over my paparazzi skills and will endeavor to do better in the future.

Sunday afternoon was Rachel's open house. I love this picture. Rachel's sister took it and I didn't even know it! I realize it looks like I'm squishing her and she's saying "PLEASE HELP ME!" but I assure you...this is not true. This is just the way we hug. She's the little sister I never had.
The official posed picture. I loved her open house. The food was amazing, she has the most beautiful dog that I made friends with, and it was fun to chat with her family, too!

My favorite part of the open house. When we walked up to the front door, this laptop was sitting there, and this gentleman said, "Hello! Welcome!" Because I'm a nerd who will talk to computers, I said, "Hi! Thanks!" then I thought - Wait. Why did I just talk to a computer? Am I being punk'd? Am I on candid camera? Turns out this is some friend of theirs who couldn't come to the open house, so he served as the Skype greeter. I actually apologized to him later for thinking he was a computer program.

So now that I'm full of cake and other fun food, I think I'm going to call it a year for open houses. Thanks, Rachel, and Jonathan, for letting me celebrate with you!

Braeya is FIVE!

Today is Miss Braeya Jo Jo's fifth birthday.

I got Braeya from my friend Kari, and she was my pick of the litter (literally) because of her gorgeous markings. When I took her to the vet, they asked where I got her, because she was so pretty. I told them she was just a mutt cat born in a garage (and boy does she ever act it, too!). When I told them she was the only kitten in the litter that wasn't black and white, they told me she had to have had a different father. So I came home and told Kari her cat was a tramp. (HA!)

Now that I've aired Braeya's dirty laundry (which is a fair trade for the way she plays in mine), I thought I'd show you life with the very busy five year old birthday girl.

This was taken on Kaegan's birthday. (Told you they were born in a garage...their idea of a fun birthday party is having it in the bathroom.) Anyway. See the red thing over the handle on the toilet? That's a Tupperware onion holder that hides the handle because otherwise Braeya will sit there for hours on end and flush the toilet.
Since this, after all, her home and not mine, she remains very disgusted when I dare to invite guests over. One of the rare exceptions: Miss Rachel Ashley.

Told you she plays in the laundry.

She becomes extremely annoyed if I don't turn on the fireplace for her. She'll sit in front of it, admiring herself in the glass, and cry and cry until I turn it on.

One of her odd quirks: she stands on fleece blankets, holds them in her mouth, and kneads them.

She also licks the snow shovel after I bring it in.

(It's this blessed cute face that keeps her from getting in serious trouble for some of her shenanigans. Those eyes are too beautiful!)

One of her perches. She likes to sit here while I work out and if I'm doing punches, she'll bat at my hands while I do them. I guess it's her version of a workout.

Braeya becomes the laptop. The computer has to move to another location.

When I write, she has to sit on the shelf by the books to watch me.

I have yet to teach her to bring me the coffee...

She not only plays with the toys, she gets them out of the toybox and carries them around the house in her mouth - like a dog.

A moment of innocence.

Always has to be in the photo shoot....

And really really doesn't like it when I leave.

She's been keeping me on my toes since the day she wobbled into the house at the age of six weeks. She's convinced her brother to tolerate her, broken a few Christmas ornaments, helped herself to far more food than I intended to share, and made me laugh so many times. She is the comedy routine in this establishment. Love this girl!!!

Pancakes with THE Princess: Royal Wedding Edition

If you're sick of royal wedding talk, there's a distinct possibility you won't like this post.

Per my highly scientific observations on Facebook, people either loved or hated the whole idea of the wedding and they either loved or hated Kate's dress.

And because it's my blog, I am going to give you my opinion on both.

1. Love or hate the wedding? I am not a royal family groupie or stalker or any other such thing. I don't buy the books and magazines or keep up on who is currently married or what any of them wear. But I love a wedding, so if they're going to show it on TV, I'm going to watch it. It's a little piece of history. A feel-good piece of history. And I'm happy to take a few minutes out of a crime-filled world to enjoy a wedding. So yes, I loved the wedding.

2. Love or hate the dress? My mother and I divided on this issue and when I said so on Facebook, I took some heat! I thought Kate's dress was lovely. But I hated it on her. From what I've seen of her (and again, not a royal stalker!) she's pretty trendy. Pretty modern. And that dress just didn't fit the style I've seen on her. I can think of a number of celebrities who can regularly be seen in styles of years gone by. Were any of them to show up in that dress, it would have made perfect sense. But I thought it was just not fitting with what I've seen of her. Dress number two, though, was GORGEOUS. Simple, classy, elegant, and HER.

Enough of that. Because I wanted to enjoy history in the making, I did get up early Friday morning (and by that, I mean I rolled over in bed and turned on the TV) to watch the wedding live. But Robyn, one of my work buddies, wanted to watch the wedding in its entirety and doesn't have TV...so...we scheduled a party!

It seemed only fitting to make it a princess party.
I already had Pancakes with the Princess this month - with Ronda. So I named this one Pancakes with THE Princess: Royal Wedding Edition. Robyn made orange smoothies. They tasted a lot like the orange julius I make, but they were healthy. She said they might make me feel like doing push ups. I'll let you guess how that turned out.

Robyn loves everything fru-fru. If it's pink and frilly and sparkly and poofy - she loves it. So I knew if I bought tiaras and scepters...it would take absolutely no convincing to get her to participate.

I think I should have removed the flower from my hair before adding a feathery tiara. But the people on TV had on way stranger hair gear.

After dinner (cinnamon swirl pancakes...smokie links...grapes and fruit dip...smoothies) we adjourned to the living room to settle in and watch the wedding.

This picture scares me. I feel like someone photoshopped my head onto a blanket.

I've decided that in my wedding, should I ever get married, I will ask the minister to use the word betwixt as often as he can.

And I'll not be wearing any lace. Not on my veil or dress or anywhere betwixt.

SSMT: Verse 9

Yesterday was weekly recap day, so I saved the new SSMT verse for today. But before I get to it, I wanted to add this little note. The week before last, I posted about going to see the Marion Easter Pageant. I know some of you used to go watch it every year, so I thought you might like to know that the IWU TV station did a whole feature on it for their Crossroads show. The podcast is up now, so if you go here and watch Episode 22, you can see what it looked like and hear one of the songs!

This round of an SSMT verse is one that I sort of...kind of...somewhat...knew in a roundabout sort of way. But this week when it popped into my head in its fragmented fashion, I knew it was the verse I needed to learn - word for word - next. I need it because it's my life right now. I called my friend Jamie tonight and she asked how my weekend had gone and I said, "Well, the same way as my week - just wildly unpredictable." And while wildly unpredictable is not as scary as it used to be, I have a healthy respect for it, and I want to spend these next few days focusing on the message of this verse:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left,

your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,

"This is the way; walk in it."

Isaiah 30:21

I'm an over-thinker. That shouldn't shock any of you. I like to be logical. I like to plan things out as far as I can see. I like order and predictability and security.

And right now, God seems to be shaking it up a bit. I won't lie: it's pretty exciting. When Jamie and I talked tonight about some of the specifics of my currently wildly unpredictable life, she asked how I was feeling about it all. My answer was this: I'm peacefully excited and curious.

That is a far cry from the Bekah of old, isn't it?

But despite my excitement...my curiosity...and even my peace, I really want to make sure that in any decision I make, I'm stepping only in His will. I'm desperately holding to this verse right now. I'm counting on the same Abba who carried me through my desert to speak boldly, and I'm counting on the same Bekah who learned to listen during the desert to shut up and hear.

In some moments, I think I know where He's about to take me, but if there's one thing I did learn during the desert (other than it really is possible to survive on a freakishly small amount of food), it's that right when you think you know you're headed right - you're probably going to turn left.

But right or left...I don't really care. Just as long as I can hear His voice behind me saying This is the way; walk in it.

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Easter Sunday was a lovely, relaxing day. After church and lunch with my parents (which you already read about), I came home and took a long-desired nap. When I woke up, this was my view:

Apparently Easter is exhausting for Kaegan and Braeya, too!

* Monday evening, I added my brand new purchase to the kitchen! I ordered these labels from The Vinyl Wall on Etsy and they arrived over the weekend. The labels can be written on with chalk, which I loved, since I had to rewrite each one at least three times before I liked it. I appreciated that they arrived less than a week after I ordered them, the seller wrote me a personal note, and she sent me two free labels beyond what I ordered!
* Tuesday was the rough day at work....and we already covered that, so no need to rehash it here. But I so appreciated that in the middle of storm central (which best describes our week!) - we had a couple of decent hours and I was able to get an invigorating run in - outside!! That helped me work out some of the frustration.

* You've heard of the old hymn There Shall Be Showers of Blessing? That was my Wednesday. God orchestrated the most beautiful celebration of encouragement for me that started the minute I got to work and continued throughout the entire day. I could cry just thinking about what He lined up - so completely unexpectedly. But I won't cry, because that's what I did all day Tuesday!

* Thursday I discovered my Easter dress from two years ago really really doesn't fit anymore. I wore it to work, but I had to borrow a shrug from last year's dress to hide the fact that it's about three sizes too big. But doggone it I paid full price for that dress and I'm wearing it whether or not it fits! Pathetic, no?

*Friday morning I set the alarm for 4 am so I could "watch" the wedding live. I already had plans to really watch it later, but I wanted to say I'd gotten up for it, so I did. Unfortunately it was nearly 6:30 before I stayed awake for more than 2 minutes at a time. Probably because I got this:
Friday evening was the IWU Baccalaureate service. Since both Rachel and Jonathan graduated this year, I wanted to go so I'd be able to see them in their caps and gowns. (Graduation is a ticket-required event, so I couldn't go.) I actually worked as an usher for Baccalaureate. Loved the service!

And Friday (full of highlights, isn't it?) was also the day my latest Picaboo album arrived! I did a scrapbook all about the journey of my book...from writing it...to the publishing process...to book signings and feedback. I accidentally ordered this one hardcover, but I really love the way it looks!
* Saturday afternoon I went to the open house for Jonathan and his brother, Austin, who also graduated this year. Austin's girlfriend is...well, she's hilarious. I love her. And she was in rare form that day. I told her I was going to take a picture of us (we both had headaches and were sprawled out on the floor trying to get them to go away) and she snuggled right up - and made me take and retake the picture until she declared her neck did not look like a giraffe. To be honest, I'm not sure this was an approved non-giraffe-neck photo, but I like it, so I'm using it.
When I got home from the open house, Robyn (from my office) came over for Pancakes with THE Princess: Royal Wedding Edition. We watched TLC's encore of the wedding, wore tiaras, and ate pancakes.



Books I am Reading: Still plugging away at Sparkling Gems from the Greek. Did a little more reading (late into the night one night) on The Preacher's Bride. And I re-read one more chapter in In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day - which continues, even the second time around, to get me right in the gut. Hoping for more time to read this next week!

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: I think I would have to say it was the day that God overwhelmed me with blessings to follow the day my student had overwhelmed me with hurtful words. That was just such an affirmation of how He cares and loves. But when I couple that with other ways He's speaking tenderly to me right now...wow.


Update on Last Week's Goals: The house is now Easter-free (unless I find the one elusive decoration I always manage to miss each holiday during the un-decorate fest). The dining room has been de-cobwebbed, and the buffet has been treated with orange-oil, the living room is reassembled, and sadly the ten minutes of nice weather we had came smack in the middle of Baccalaureate, so the yard did not get the touch-up I wanted to give it. It did get a semi-decent mowing on Saturday, which saves me from buying a goat.

Goals for the Coming Week: This week I'm turning my attention away from chores. I really want to finish reading Jody's book and get back to The Hole in Our Gospel, because I think I need to be wrapped up in its message right now. I also have two writing deadlines fast-approaching and I want to get those things knocked out. I think slowing down is in order, so this is my week to slow.