+come and make my heart Your home

Flea markets and laughs and understanding. Clocks that tell stories and friends to make memories.

+if you find yourself on my side of town, I'd pray that you'd come to my door

Coffee and conversation with friends. Realizing that deep bonds can be formed, even if you're only away for 18 months. Realizing the depth of love and connection that God gifts us with if we're open and willing.

+the sun a shout, the breeze a sigh

For as hard as it can be some weeks, my men's hall has made me more proud than I can imagine. If this is anything what raising children is like (highs and lows) then I am getting ready!

+i came here with a load, but it feels so much lighter, since I met you

A good night sleep with flowers sitting on the end table. Coming home. Breathing in and realizing it's all real.

+you, you've spoken truth over my life

 

Breakfast is the key to my heart. So add in a most wonderful lady friend and the most wonderful locale? You've got a morning made in HEAVEN. 

"Something brought you to my mind today
I thought about the funny ways you make me laugh
And yet I feel like it's okay to cry with you
Something about just being with you
When I leave I feel like I've been near God
And that's the way it ought to be.."

+and I have waited, teh anticiapton's got me glued

 

The places and faces that I know and love. Nostalgia and joy and unrivaled sense of home and security.

+why should the fire die?

What timing! I cannot make today about anything other than the life-changing moment that gave me the best crinkly eyed smile of all time. I am engaged to this fabulous man!

+so my soul is shared by two, the worst of me, the best of you

True friends and final four basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse at the University of Kansas. Me oh my!

+tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions, oh let's go back to the start

Aimee's coffeehouse in Lawrence, KS is where I go when I need to think and mull over a topic. If I have ever hit a writer's block on a paper or want to have an intimate conversation with a friend, this is the place that I go. This morning it was filled with families in town for the weekend's game. Steaming coffee, time to think.

+and the soles of your shoes are all worn down

A walk from class to the dining hall - quite the distance on our campus. Tonight I ate with 6 of the 1st years in our program. As the only 2nd year around the table it was a cool place to be -- to remember the trials and tribulations of finishing the second semester of graduate school and the fears that were looming over my head this time last year. It feels like a year has aged me so much emotionally, physically, mentally, socially, professionally, academically (so many -ally's!). Symbolic sunsets... seasons are a turnin'.

+later on sitting on the roof talking like the night could last all night

Dreaming of the weekend when I fly to Nashville to hug this man and not let go! He is too good to me and staring at just a month left of distance puts such a spring in my step. Distance is not for the faint of heart.

+bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds

Lacey shoes and fresh veggies. These are my crinkly-eyed smiles for the day!

+and this is all i've ever known, may his song live on forever

 

No matter how early or how many hours my job has me working, no matter what I am feeling inside or how complacent I am feeling on a given day, there is always the consistency of a sunrise and a sunset. There is always growth and life and creation, and that is enough to give me a smile.

+yeah it's all alright

Coming back from Spring Break and spending your Sunday afternoon at a local brewery, watching your college's team dance their way into the Final Four. I love Lawrence, Kansas.

+why am I the one always packing up my stuff

I never thought I'd see the day when I would get to cross over into South Dakota, but that day has arrived! What a beautiful landscape... I could drive for miles through open fields and big skies. What handiwork.

+for once, for once, i feel like i'm right where I belong

A pair of well-used running shoes in a kitchen that is in moving boxes. A chance to experience a big transition with a close friend - moving states and being in the middle of a tidal wave. Seeing old photos, old memories, laugh lines, community, and sharing in conversation and hospitality.

+so all of the thoughts I thought I might tell her turned into songs that until now she’s never heard of

This is my leg and my foot on the pavement in St. Paul, MN. I would love to say that I'm a confident woman who has outgrown the self-conscious days of being a teen and a 20-something, but alas I have not. I look at that knee and am disgusted. It looks dough-y and unathletic. I beat myself up so much about the way that my body has formed. Yet those shoes? Those shoes make me smile. This is the pair that won 3rd place in a local 5K last September. The same pair that carried me through 26.2 miles in November on that blustery morning, and the ones that still carry me on many a good run and look cute doing it. Despite where I am on my scale of body-image-confidence, these shoes will make me crack a smile daily.

+so you talk about a hand of glory

A mentor of mine once told me you can find out all you need to know about student culture on a campus from reading their student newspaper. Today I explored the University of Minnesota and their daily paper. A huge, sprawling campus, cute coffee shops, and more Minnesotan accents I have heard in all my life.

+there's beauty in the silver singing river

Can you spot all the perfect things about this picture? Well, yes, that IS a fictional book. Yes, that IS a steaming cup of dark coffee. And yes, that IS my dearest grad school friend reading some fiction of her own. About to head out for a 4 1/2 mile run and a day of meandering and cooking. This little scene is my slice of heaven on earth!

+if i have ever breathed in deeply

Unlike any other Spring Break out there, Greta and I have not spent a cent on eating out. We have cooked in with her fabulous family and our shopping ventures? The thrift store. Greta found a pair of $1.49 leather boots. I found a pair of (graduation?) red heels for $2.49. That left us with smiles the rest of the day!