The height of the socks is in direct proportion to the awesomeness of the lift.

So I feel very strongly and deep deep down in the depths of my heart that I will not be a TRUE Olympic Style Weightlifter until I have my very own pair of colorful knee-high socks.

eternally encouraged

I talked with my little brother the other day. He sounds so mature and grown up.
I was just thinking, I don't go one single day without thinking about Laurel, Chad, Acacia, Aimee, Stefan or Daniel. I hardly go an hour without wondering what's up in Annapolis.
I have this really strong feeling that part of my heart lives there.
In spite of this I've been able to reel in my whole heart so that I can enjoy life in it's fullness. Now is where I dwell.

Life is so good right now.

I am encouraged and refreshed by the long sunny days. The last couple days, I've woken up before 7 and taken a deep breath of the sunshine that was lighting my room up. Thank you God for long days.
Papa comes into my room and says "food." Awww he made breakfast.
Monday was especially good. He woke me up at 6:30 and we went grocery shopping and sat down for coffee across the street from the grocery. It was a glorious time. While we waited for the scones to come fresh out of the oven, he told me about his climbing trip to Squamish, Canada. We watched people with their dogs pass by. People watching with my daddio. Nothing better.
At home we made a big breakfast and chilled out a some more.

I am extremely encouraged by people. Just being around them. Seeing them laugh and enjoy themselves in the gym, seeing them interacting with each other. There is beauty in this.

People are taking on a whole new beauty to me these days. There is something special I like about every single one of my clients. As a coach, I get to learn things about people not many people my age get to experience. The richest part about coaching is the loving. I have a secret for you: coaching is a disguise. My job title isn't coach. Coach is the name of my costume. My job title is really servant, lover of people, washer of feet, giver of goodness, encourager.

I am encouraged by truth. I have a personal Counselor, a spirit of truth who has planted in me a desire to know. The Word speaks loudly, and it's as if the words are written on my heart as God's commands were written in the stone for Moses. They are there, constantly prevalent, burning, impending and gently guiding. I am filled and overflowing.

Mama Shawn, a very loving mother figure at my church was talking about me to another girl she had just introduced me to. She was saying how I'm a good girl and quiet and mature, etc. She turns to me and asks me "You are a good girl at home, right?" I nod and laugh.
Then she turns back to this girl, Alex, and says, "Yes she is a good girl, and every time she opens her mouth, there is truth on her lips!"

I am so encouraged by the amounts that I have sat in the Lord's presence and he's told me, "My child, I want to use you."

I am especially encouraged by 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
This love is Agape, Charity, the Love of God, unconditional, selfless, ever giving.
This is the love that Jesus was talking about when he said "love each other" in John 15:17
This is the verse that guides me. What would love do? I ask.

I am encouraged by this: MY UTMOST June 18
Because there are so many things that I hope for the future, but see how actually far off they are, and how much needs to be done etc. I'm aware that much could go wrong. I know that all noble things come with difficulty. I know there will be valleys in which the Lord will batter me into shape for a purpose that I am not fully aware of.
In all this, the wind and waves may be boisterous and high, but the face of Jesus is kind and beautiful. And he has no greater joy than to share the burdens and pain with me.
"My yolk is easy and my burden is light."

"May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." 2 Thess 2:16-17

heart's desire

All Ages Swing Every Saturday


I actually want to be social tonight!
Wish I had more friends who are less busy.
Dammit.

Love it

The first 20 seconds is the best.

kersplatt!

Rest in Peace dear ipod. We've had many good days, and you have served me well.






Now that I'm done with that, maybe I'll dissect it.

:)

the grass is green on both sides.

what else can we learn from grass?

"Observe, the peculiar characters of the grass, which adapt it especially for the service of man, are its apparent humility and cheerfulness. Its humility, in that it seems created only for lowest service,-- appointed to be trodden on, and fed upon. Its cheerfulness in that it seems to exult under all kinds of violence and suffering. You roll in it, and it is stronger the next day; you mow it, and it multiplies its shoots, as if it were grateful; you tread upon it, and it only sends up richer perfume."
-the true and the beautiful


these little shoots, these little blades
reaching reaching towards the sky
often neglected and un-thanked
for their service and their love
toward that which lies above.


"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant..."
Philippians 2:5-7

He delights

...But let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:24

Natalya

i really really really want to go dancing.

i spent this last weekend with my friend natalya, such a beautiful young lady.

it was a wonderful day and a half.

we talked a lot.

i haven't had that good of fellowship with anyone my age before.

she is lovely and we have so much in common.

i've never known anyone that has wanted to know me as i much as i've wanted to know them.

we identify so deeply in heart and spirit.

could this be true friendship?

~

this weekend i learned:

1.) that i am BLESSED.

with love. and an ability to make myself vulnerable.

and in this discovered the complete meaning of romans 5:5

"the love of God has been spread abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit."

2.) love is spontaneous.

and it has sprung up in amazing ways in the last 7 months.

in fellowship.

at work.

in my home.

even to people across the country.

3.) about myself, i like to think big abstract thoughts.

and that's ok.

i've found a balance of concrete and abstract.

i've become more sure that God has a purpose for that.

4.) i am not to judge.

it is the Lord's to judge.

there is no condemnation in love.

5.) i am not in control.

i can say words. i can give hugs. i can serve.

but no matter what i say or do, only God can prepare the soils of peoples' hearts.

how frustrating this is when you want someone to be free.

but they are not ready to let go.

how frustrating when no matter how much truth you speak

they will not see until their eyes are opened.

and i cannot open eyes alone.

what else can i do but depend.

"all to Jesus, i surrender."

~

yes, Natalya, the sweet sweet soul.

the seeds of new discoveries were planted in her presence.

and that would not have been possible without her smile.

or her gracious ear.

we will go dancing soon.



"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these" John 14:12

Reaching

In writing, I want so much to reach beneath the words. I want to dig and reach beneath the ideas to their foundations and search and acknowledge the One who breathed life into them. Often it's just way too hard for me to write about an idea because i just want to keep on reaching. When I think I've got my thesis figured out, there comes into my head a whole new aspect that i want to -- i NEED to-- explore. It makes it nearly impossible to finish an essay. i enjoy writing. i enjoy exploring. But the ocean of ideas that I need to explore is so incredible vast, i find myself getting lost in its storms and wasted in its waves.

Oh how I wish to be stimulated! I must explore! In being, I must grow.
Exploration and growth are so essentially necessary to my being, but I am often overwhelmed with the depths of life. Everything is connected, every idea is intertwined, creating a network or labyrinth through which I must find my way if I wish to make "an attempt" at an idea. How complex and abstract my mind seems. I will figure it out soon, I think.

Goodness

Truth

Beauty

Love

These things I reach for. Mostly because God is good and His words are true and His laws are beautiful and He loves us more than we can fathom.

I'm glad I'm going to school this fall. I don't think I could go much longer without.

The 2010 CrossFit Games

What an ultra-elite, awe-inspiring, freaking bad ass group of people.

Just ordinary people doing extraordinary things:





Kudos to Chris Spealler and Kristen Clever. You guys are my heros.
I don't know who this Graham Holmberg dude is. But hell! You're my hero too!

beautiful one, I love.

There is no concrete definition of beauty, but one that I like and have heard most often is "that which pleases in contemplation."

The golden rectangle is proven to be more aesthetically pleasing than any other rectangle, and has been used in architecture and other art for just this reason.

Also Phi is the ONLY number (1.6180...) that when diminished by one is its own reciprocal. Or in math language:

φ-1=1/φ

Yes, the only number.
This divine proportion is approximately equal to the ratio 8:5 which is the ratio of the frequencies of the major sixth. This musical interval is said to be more aesthetically appealing than any other musical interval.

Hmmm, well you decide for yourself.


our purity of taste is best tested by its universality. if we can only admire this thing or that, we may be sure that our cause for liking is of a finite and false nature. but if we can perceive beauty in everything of God's doing, we may argue that we have reached the true perception of its universal laws. hence, false taste may be know by its fastidiousness, by its demands of pomp, splendor, and unusual combination; by its enjoyment only of particular styles and modes of things, and by its pride also, for it is for ever meddling, mending, accumulating, and self-exulting, its eye is always upon itself, and it tests all things around it by the way they fit it. But true taste is for ever growing, learning, reading, worshipping, laying its hand upon its mouth because it is astonished, casting its shoes from off its feet because it finds all ground holy, lamenting over itself, and testing itself by the way that it fits things.

From "The True and Beautiful in Nature, Art, Morals, and Religion" by Ruskin


More than ever these days I have been contemplating the ultimate and divine beauty of the Risen Lord. I have no face to look at, but my inner eye is inclined to his character, his Love and Humility, and his creation... and his apparent aptitude for mathematics. We can learn much from it.

i think of now. life. new flames. new desires. being transformed and ignited by the love of God. i've never been more in love.

i think of the human will. how strong it is. i think of philippians 2:13: "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." but first you must make habits. make it a habit to obey his commands, in this way you profess your love for him. make it a habit to abide in him. "come unto Me" he says. Come in the drudgery. Come in the extraordinary times. make it a habit. and he will make his will your will. this I have recently learned.

priska is gone. what an adventure it was!!! our personalities never meshed as i hoped, but i trust that her purpose in being here was fulfilled. i did my best to love, and not judge. breath in the difficult times, delight in the adventures, and give myself, not just my services. in retrospect, it was hard to love her. i feel invincible. i made it through that, i can make it through anything, i thought. but it's really God's invincibility, his faithfulness that has brought me through.

i learned something about myself, namely the way i process things and hold them in my memory. i have a hard time remembering events, i don't hold scenes in my mind, or recall the order of events. but i feel. i always remember the feeling. i can remember what it felt like to dance at st. johns. i remember how i felt sitting on the rock in the cascades. how it felt to hear the birds singing at the beginning of spring. if i can recall the feeling, the scene is more vivid. priska asked me on what day we did what climb in california and i couldn't recall.

i feel free. not the least bit lonely. in fact i enjoy this solitude and quiet. even with her gone, i think i'll still go on adventures. i'm learning to love seattle, and my eyes have been opened to the possiblities. maybe i'll ride the bus to the library, or go to the art museum by myself. or call natalya up. that would be wonderful.

the summer switch was finally turned on july 5th. the fourth was overcast and dumping, the 5th was 75 degrees. now it is ninety. yesterday, priska's last day we went to the lake beach. it was hot. i went swimming, sat in the sun for barely five minutes till my vampire eyes could stand it no more, and went and found grass and a tree. the tree i found had drooping branches (my favorite kind). how glorious it was to sit in solitude. to say little and think much. i sat with my book of william wordsworth poems (thank you dear acacia). i lay there and the cool breeze lifted me. i read and re-read this little poem that matched the song of my soul.

i wandered lonely as a cloud
that floats on high o'er vales and hills
when all at once i saw a crowd,
a host, of golden daffodils;
beside the lake, beneath the trees,
fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the milky way,
they stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of the bay;
ten thousand saw i at a glance
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

the waves beside them danced; but they
out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
a poet could not but be gay,
in such jocund company;
i gazed- and gazed- but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought.

for oft, when on my couch i lie
in vacant or in pensive mood,
they flash upon that inward eye
which is the bliss of solitude;
and then my heart with pleasure fills,
and dances with the daffodils.

Recent happenings in beautiful JET CITY

Candide!!

BFs :)

A-makin' ravioli:

ZZZZIRKUS exhibition at SANCA (The School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts) in Georgetown.


I stole some random person's baby and took him home with me. His name is Gus.


Priska and the German Wheel aka Rhonrad:






BOOOTS!




A celebratory bonfire for at Justins. He's moving to Italy and finally sold his truck!



View from the Space Needle:



Cupcake Date with Natalya!

Pike's place Flowers.



On the lawn outside the Science Fiction Museum


:)

Scientifiction and Skychurch.




Priska's has one week left. This weekend we're heading to Oregon to visit Papa's old Friend Mike Barrett and swim in the waves. I hope the weather treats us well. Next week I'll take Priska on some last minute shopping and if the weather's nice we'll go to the lake. I'm so grateful for her presence. It has given me the opportunity to explore my city with a purpose. I feel like I'm beginning to get to know Seattle's spirit, its aura, its essence-- if that makes any sense-- and I'm beginning to appreciate it.

Georgetown Artopia

After two Saturday CrossFit Classes, a workout of my own and a lifting class, Papa Priska and I went into Downtown Georgetown to see some power tool races, punk art and acrobatic demonstrations.

Priska's first CrossFit workout:

Power tool that shoots stuffed monkeys:

These two sculptures greatly intrigued me. I thought, "-the frames, limbs, organs, of men and women, and all that concerns them, All these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles."