The Power Of The Storm Breather

I wish all of you could be here right now to experience standing in the midst of this storm. I went out a little while ago to try to get some pictures and when I saw the waves, I had to get out of my car, hope I didn't ruin my camera, and try to get some awesome shots. I walked out on the rocks, and it was unbelievable. The wind blew so hard a couple of times, it literally pushed me forward. The waves are big, and it looked like walls of water coming at you - which I guess it was. :-) Because the wind was blowing so hard, as the waves would crest, the tops of the waves would blow into the wind, which gave the impression of a ghost moving across the water.

I was so excited to experience this in person, I came back to our apartment to get Michael so he could see what it was like. By the time we got back down to the rocks (walked this time!), the eye of the storm was over us. It was completely calm. The waves were still going strong, but the wind was still. When we looked up into the sky, we could see the clouds swirling around overhead, but there was no wind.

It was a very cool visual picture of how God truly is our calm in the midst of the storm. The circumstances may not change, but He will provide a place of rest for us, and He will carry us through.

We're back inside now, and the wind is howling outside again. It was awesome standing on the rocks today, in the midst of powerful wind and waves and knowing that the same power of God that was swirling around me offers me peace in the midst of life's greatest storms. Thanks, Jesus!

Nor'easter

Okay, not gonna lie - this is really cool!!! It's about 1pm, and I just got back from driving along the road that goes right by the water. I pulled over and took some pictures to try and capture the waves that we are getting right now from this storm. The weather is supposed to continue to get worse as the afternoon progresses, so I will probably try to go out in a few hours and take some more pictures, but I thought I'd share a few with you for now....

Friday musings

Hello friends. I come to you from the North Shore of our fabulous nation, sitting here on a Friday evening after a very long week, thankful that the weekend is here. We are also up here bracing for a massive storm to hit tomorrow, which I am quite excited about!! :-) The hurricane that has been moving up the east coast is supposed to hit this area tomorrow, with winds sustained at 40mph, with gusts up to 70mph. Some of you know that I've always wanted to be in the middle of a hurricane, tied to a rock like they show on the Weather Channel. :-) So I guess this might be the closest that I get to it. It's supposed to be pouring down rain, but at some point, I plan to bundle up, go outside, and stand in the wind. I'll let you know how it is....and perhaps try to take a few pictures.

For tonight, I give you a couple of pictures. The first one is of brother, who has just shaved his head. And then the cat, who is sleeping. Have a great weekend!

New England Fall

Today has been an absolutely beautiful fall day....sunny, blue skies, temperature of about 50....'tis fabulous! I wanted to post a picture of some of the fall colors that we are able to see everyday. After church this morning, I went to an area near our apartment to take a few pictures. I love the red leaves! Enjoy the colors of fall....and have a great week!!

Random Saturday

Hi everyone! Hope your weekend is going well. As I type this, I am watching the Red Sox and Rockies play in game 3 of the World Series. To illustrate how different fans are here in Boston, I was at the mall today and decided to get some ice cream. The place that I stopped had lots of different flavors, some with Red Sox names. I ordered one of the Red Sox ice creams - "Dice-cream" because it was what I wanted. When I went to pay, they told me it was free because today was a game day!

I was asked to make a couple of arrangements for our office at work - we are decorating, so I went to a store today that is like Michaels to get some flowers. Here are my attempts at 2 arrangements....



My cat has been full of personality today. Here she is eating the flower arrangement and then sleeping....



It rained all day today, but I hope to get some pictures taken tomorrow of the beautiful fall leaves. I will post those soon. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Weekend Wedding

Hi everyone! Well, Michael and I were at home this past weekend for a wedding. I flew home on Thursday because I had some responsibilities in the wedding, Michael flew home on Friday, and then we flew back to Boston today. I'm so tired!! :-) But it was an awesome weekend. Congrats to the bride and groom - here is a picture of the happy couple, and I apologize for the blurriness of it!


I helped coordinate the rehearsal and also did the bridal party flowers and the cake. Here is an up close picture of the bride's bouquet and a picture of the cake.



My family and I have been friends with the bride's family for many years - her older brother and I have known each other since elementary school. So this wedding was like a high school reunion for me. It was awesome to catch up with everyone. Below are some pictures of old friends - the best kind! These are for you, Erin! :-)





A few final pics of some of my closest friends from high school that I still stay in touch with. Last picture is of me and my "sister" - it was awesome seeing you again! Everyone have a great week!

Passion Comes To Boston

Hello friends! I am sitting in my apartment on this Sunday evening completely exhausted but in the most fabulous way. :-) Passion had a conference this weekend in Boston that Michael and I attended. It was awesome....so much truth about who God is and who we are because of that crammed into 4 sessions in 24 hours....fantastic music, great teaching....to be honest, I'm still kind of on overload! Passion is doing a series of regional events before they kick off a world tour next May. They are coming to Atlanta in April, and I would strongly encourage as many of you to attend as possible. I know it's primarly for college students, but go and volunteer or go as a leader or go with a college student because regardless of age, the reminders that are shared are so important.

Hopefully as I continue to process through everything, there will be more for me to share with you. For now, I thought I'd leave you with what hit me the most due to the journey I have walked through this last year. Louie was speaking at one of the sessions, and he was talking about suffering and tragedy and our response in the midst of pain, and he said something to the effect of "God allows freedom, but within that freedom, He maintains control."

Over these last months, God has shown me again in so many different ways how He feels about me and who I am because of who He is and what He has done. Jesus loves me. A simple phrase and yet so profound. The fact that the God of the universe loves us changes everything. There is nothing more important in this world than Christ. And when we live our lives with that at the center, we can follow God with confidence wherever He leads - through suffering, through joy.....through times of understanding and times of doubt....knowing that nothing can separate us from God, and He will always be enough.

I thank God that He is in control and that life is not dependant on me and what I do or don't do. I thank God that within the freedom He allows, He still maintains control and is painting a story that is grander than anything we can see or begin to imagine. I'm grateful and humbled that He has given me a small part in His story.

May we all live each moment for His glory and His renown.

Fenway Park

My mom's birthday is coming up soon, and so we surprised her while she was here with an early birthday present. We took her on a tour of Fenway Park. It was awesome! If anyone is a baseball fan and is ever up here, a Fenway Tour is a must. It's not very expensive, and it was really cool. My favorite part of the tour was going in the pressbox. It was amazing to sit there and see the perspective of the field and imagine all of the writers sitting in there during important games and historical baseball moments. Here are a few pictures from the pressbox. Just FYI, at each seat, they have a nametag with the name of the paper who gets that seat.





We got to go up on the green monster. This is a view from the top of the green monster....


The oldest park in the country has the oldest original seats.....


It was a great day! And we've had a fantastic time with the Mum..... I have to tell her bye when I leave to go to work in the morning, but I'll be heading home to GA pretty soon.... Hope you all have a great week!

A Day At The Beach

Good Saturday to all! Today was an absolutely gorgeous fall day, and we spent most of it outside. We decided to take the Mum to Crane's Beach, which is a beautiful beach about 25 minutes from our house. Most of the North Shore beaches are very rocky and don't have a ton of sand like what we're used to in Florida. Crane's Beach is unique because it is made up of tons of sand dunes. It is a protected property, so you can't mess the dunes up. We walked for a long time and enjoyed the day. Here are some pictures from our day....

All of these first pictures are from where we walked out on a HUGE sandbar. It was really cool. And yes, the water is freezing - it made your feet numb!




A few pictures of sand dunes...




Here are some of my favorite "artistic" shots...






Some pictures of us....

Mommy's Here!

Michael and I are very excited to have our mom here with us this weekend! She arrived safely on Thursday evening, and we are looking forward to spending the weekend with her. She flies home on Tuesday.... Interestingly enough, here in the north where history seems to mean a lot, everyone is off on Columbus Day, including me. So we'll have lots of time to hang out. I'll definitely keep you posted with pictures and stories of our time together. For now, here are a few funny shots. She brought me my Tigger costume so I can wear it on Halloween. Here are pictures of my brother goofing off with the Tigger costume. Have a great weekend!