Summer Vacay!

Paris

Spain

Brussels

My friend April and I are going on a trip this summer to Europe! My lil bro will be in Barcelona for school, so we are going to do our own little jaunt before hooking up with my parents in Espana for a family trip. We are looking into Paris, Brussels, and Spain. :)

Needless to say, I am excited!

I can get lost in the daydreaming. Ok - back to work.

http://www.visitbelgium.com/index.html

http://www.bcn.es/english/ihome.htm

http://www.paris.org/

p.s. Keep on praying for April - for a benign tumor report - and shrinkage. Pray for miraculous healing.

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." ~Jane Austen

Tonight is a rare gem: sitting at home on my couch watching one of my favorite book-turned-movies: The Count of Monte Cristo. Sipping on white wine and eating pasta I actually cooked at home, and enjoying my little corner of this crazy city. I have two windows in the corner of my living room, and can see bits and pieces of downtown, and mostly headlights of cars zooming down 75. Places to go, people to see. I love my quiet little corner of the madness. It's this little bubble of joy and happiness - which I believe represents where the Lord has me right now. There are situations in my life right now where the Lord is quietly whispering to me, "Sit. Relax. Wait. Put your feet up and get comfy, you won't be here for long, but it'll be awhile. Trust me till then." I am not a patient person by nature, but thankfully (to my surprise!) the Lord is giving me joy in the waiting.

Last weekend I went on a photosafari in Deep Ellum with my friend Elise. We bought these cool fisheye cameras and experiemented. Here are a few favorites:

Wedding Bells!

Last night I went with April and Mary to a wedding ... well, actually dinner theater, but you are a guest at a crazy Italian wedding, complete with dancing, music and an Italian buffet. Mary's friend Toph hooked us up with free tickets ... and it was a blast!! The actors NEVER broke character, and it was the craziest wedding I've ever been to! It was like you're in the middle of this Italian mob/mafia wedding.


This is Toph who gave us the tickets:


Haha, gettin my groove on:


Me and Mary on the dance floor:


Me, the father of the groom (he must have left his stripper date somewhere else) and a girl I don't know:


Me and the brother of the groom:


The entire wedding party:


Tina walking down the aisle with her brother Joey:

Hi. My name is...

Stephanie.

I had a sweet time with the Lord Sunday night and woke up Monday feeling his peace flooding my life - I love it when scripture actually plays itself out in my life. I love how he says his mercies are new ever morning, and they really are!!! When Moses came off the mountain after encountering God, it says his face was radiant. People around him literally noticed the difference. In Psalms it says, "Those who look to Him are radiant..." That's how I feel - I experienced the Lord, and feel His radiance shining through me in my life, literally his joy is written all over my face. I pray that people around me can take part in this ceaseless joy.

Also, I want to give a shout out to my wonderful roommate Amy B. That girl just lights up my life and makes living in downtown a joy. She calms me down just by her laughter and her joyful spirit. And she makes a mean enchilada.
5 feet 1 inch of pure dynamite.

Here's us:

Love!

I am so overwhelmed today with thoughts on how much the Father loves me! He loves us unconditionally. I have nothing but joy and gratitude in my heart this morning.

Lamentations 3:21-24
There's one thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great is your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God. I say it over and over. He's all I got left.

"Peaceful" doesn't equal "Boring"

I have refrained from blogging for awhile simply because I didn't want to write just for the sake of writing - I want it to be worth your time to read!

A friend asked me the other day a simple question, "How are you?" I fumbled around for an answer and ended up responding life is "happy/busy/fast-paced/boring/slow" all at the same time. How in the HECK can that be?! Well ...

... the Lord is teaching me the true meaning of peace and patience. By (you guessed it!) allowing me time to struggle through experiencing times of patience. There are no shortcuts on this one! Yet He is washing me with peace like never before. The kind of peace that surpasses my understanding! The kind of peace in my soul and "be still-ness" that is almost eerie, and my mind is warring against it. I struggle with this calmness because sometimes I feel like where I'm at in life I shouldn't be feeling content, I should be striving and reaching and trying to figure out what the next stage of life holds. I have used to equate peaceful with boring, but that's so not true! The Lord is truly satisfying my soul these days.

True obedience leads to true freedom. This is a stark contrast to what our culture believes. But then again, Jesus was counter-cultural in his day. The Pharisees were looking for a warrior king to save them - the law-abiding religious sect who lived in captivity - who spent hours pouring over the Torah only to talk with the Lord and use these scriptures in attempt to trap Him. They didn't expect, nor did they appreciate, Jesus coming to save the demon-posessed man or the town prosty. ...now I'm rambling...

I honestly don't know what the theme of this time right now will be - except I am straining towards what lies ahead and throwing off all hindrances that have been holding me back. I think he's teaching me to trust him more, and letting me experience His peace and patience, a la Galatians 5.

Enough for now. More thoughts later.
I am craving peanut butter. And my leg is falling asleep.
Here's a few pics of last weekend!