Graced with Grace

Short moments away I will no longer be single....     ...at last joining hands and becoming one with this man. On May 25, 2018 I married my best friend and only a week before that, I graduated from Bethlehem College and Seminary. A lot of people warn the bride and groom that their wedding day will be a fog, a whirlwind. But although the day was full, from getting ready in the morning, pictures, the ceremony itself, greeting all the guests, and at last leaving, yet my husband and I look back on that day with pure delight. Everything was beautiful and in my eyes it was perfect. I will love looking back for years to come on that beautiful hot yet happy spring day. I will want to tell my children all the little details of that wedding, from the sunflowers and daisies, to the food and the root beer floats, the family and friends that surrounded us. Now here I am a couple weeks later, sitting quietly in my first little apartment with my husband, satisfied tha...

What better day to write a love story than today. We met about three years ago. The exact details of our very first meeting I don't remember very well because it wasn't exactly love at first sight for either one of us. He was a young happy freshman while I was a sad despondent old junior. It wasn't too long before we became friends though. He started serving in the kitchen with me, and became a sweet fragrance of joy and youth in my weary sad drained life. It seems that the kitchen is a fitting place for two people to fall in love. I am sure he will never forget the many gifts of "love" I gave him as a dishwasher. Yes, I brought him so many dishes which I pointedly told him was "from the bottom of my heart...... where all the dirt lies." What could get more romantic than that? Right?!?!?! So we became friends. We played pranks. We did parties. We ate food. And we started sharing each others coffee drinks. (gross!) And I became madly in lo...

  Three years ago this journey began. Three years ago I didn’t know these people existed or would ever be a part of my life, but now these are some of my greatest friends. Don’t be afraid to start a new adventure, to begin a new chapter, to turn down a path not yet trodden because you never know the stories that could be told, the people you will meet, the memories that will be made if only you are willing to step out in faith. Don’t be afraid to love a stranger because that stranger could become your best friend. Be willing to go where God leads.   Walk by faith and not by sight.   Three years ago I was scared to death to go off to college in the far off land of Minnesota, but now I am ever so thankful that I did.   I still have a journey ahead, there are still friends to make, more people to meet and place to go, adventures to be had and stories to tell. Still more tears and still more laughter, but I am ever so thankful for the peopl...

Once upon a time in  a far away land, dreary and cold, there  lived a girl named Hannah. Now Hannah was not the average girl that one would meet on the street, but rather unique and a bit too odd, but then sometimes the oddest are the ones that the best of stories can be written of and so I shall tell of one of her many oddities. This oddity has to do with her passion for tea. When it comes to drinking tea, she is quite particular. Tea should, if possible, always be poured from a tea pot and into a darling little tea cup. Tea cups and tea pots, after all, were created for this purpose, so why not put it to good use. Not only this, but being the southern girl that she is, she must have sugar or honey to sweeten her tea. Nothing within her being can make her truly enjoy unsweetened tea, so sweet tea it must be or as I over heard a southerner once say if tea is unsweetened it is like drinking a cup of grass or dirt flavored hot water. But to go on with the o...

Working at a Lebanese owned market and deli has provided me with some interesting experiences, given me the chance to try some unique salads and foods, and made me laugh more than once or stand in complete confusion, as one of the stories I am about to narrate will reveal. But first unique foods... Stuffed Grape Leaves. How many of you know what that is? Ok, so maybe some of you actually know, but I personally had never heard or seen it until I began this job over the summer. And being the sort of girl who is timid in trying new things if it looks at all unusual, I hesitated to try this curious delicacy. Well, a co-worker convinced me to give it a try in my first month or so at the job, but I have refrained from tasting it since, not that it was completely awful, but you get what I mean. Well, today I have been won. The chef had just made a fresh batch yesterday and we pulled them out of the refrigerator today to set out, but she first had to try one because, of cour...

With sleek fingers, chilling October reached out in the still cold night – Night with its darkness over shadowing the busily bustling city – City full of flurry, busses and taxies driving, frantically grasping for time – Time not waiting for anyone or anything, always steadily moving on – Onward the seasons have marched, through spring and summer – Summer slams schedules straight into the season of fall –  Fall arriving stealthily in the cold blue night of a flustering October.     Fall reaches out and touches me – frail yet tenacious Meticulous and unique, always free, Merrily laughing or dancing in the breeze – Fall gently touches me with a feverish chill.     There I had been implanted amidst a family of many, Filling the largest of a steel oak family tree. There I had hidden all summer long, not a care of the bustling world. Yet I saw the hurry scurry, the timeless worry of too much to do. I heard screeching and sc...

  Tis’ been a while since I have written, so I thought a bit of an update on life may be in order. I mentioned in my last post that I was going on a missions trip, helping with a basketball camp, so I thought I would share a few of my highlights with you in hopes that you may be encouraged. Day 1, we arrived safely in El Cajon, California, Saturday afternoon. We joined Kaleo church for their worship service that evening, which was the first of many refreshing experiences. The church was so kind, loving, and welcoming and made us feel immediately like we were a part of their family, which we truly were. There are many homeless people apart of this church because of where it is located and because the church has a particular passion and love for the homeless, so it was really neat to see how much these people joyfully lived for Christ. Even though they had nothing, they had everything. One of the highlights from my time serving at the basketball camp for the inner city ...

The four random facts post. Randomness #1: My sister just recently started her own blog. So if you enjoy poetry and excellent writing skills, I would recommend you hop on over and visit her blog here at Ruhamah and the Spikenard . ;) Randomness #2: Now this randomness will hopefully give you a little laugh. For a little background, I am a full-blooded North Carolina Southern girl living in Minnesota and do not remain silent about being from NC. So speaking to one of my coworkers, I randomly stated, "Its 1:11". My coworker, a bit confused (since I did say it literally out of nowhere), says, "What does that mean? Is that some kind of North Carolina slang or something?". Haha! No its simply the time. ;) Randomness #3: I love that God can use me in ministries that most people would consider ridiculous for me to even attempt. Several years ago I went on a medical missions trip to the Dominican Republic. Now for your information, I get nauseated really easily over...

Happy birthday to the most amazing Tara Kristen​ in the whole world! Tara, you are an amazing woman of God and I have been truly blessed to watch you grow in your love for him as you reach out and serve others. You also have an awesome sense of humor and are always making me laugh! You encourage me to conquer my fears and do scary things, such as, ride a dirt bike. ;) Or you introduce me to fantastic movies, such as, The Scarlet Pimpernel. I have been so blessed to have known you for the past 10+ years. You have been a wonderful friend. You are also a courageous and loyal friend to put up with me for so long and to endure all of my lame jokes. ;) Thanks for always laughing even when the jokes aren't really that funny. It is always nice to know that someone will laugh. ;) I love you, Tara, and am excited to see what God has in store for your life!  

I lived in Minnesota for a whole winter and didn't go ice skating once, even though it is the perfect place to go ice skating being the land of a thousand lakes. Then I come back to North Carolina and go ice skating in an ice house during the summer. That sounds kind of backwards doesn't? :) Now ice skating is one, among a million, skills that I do not have. I simply was not born with the gift of moving on ice. So as you can imagine I move at a very slow tedious pace and even then I fall quite often. That is when I discovered that I ought to be very thankful God made me short. He certainly had a reason for it. He knew that some day I would be on ice and that the shorter I am the safer it would be. Small children on ice can be absolutely adorable, if they know what their doing, but I must admit they freak me out at times. For, although some of them are very good at skating, they don't always look where they are going or else don't take into account that there will b...

I've always loved a good story. If someone has a good story to tell me then I 'm all ears. I love to find out a little about the back ground of someone; where they grew up, what kind of family they grew up in. knowing the kind of life someone lived, helps me to understand that person better. It helps me to understand why they might think or feel or talk or act a certain way. It gives me a new perspective of that person. Yet not only do I love to hear peoples stories, but for a long time now I have had a desire to write down peoples stories. There are so many people who may seem to have lived such an ordinary life, but if you sit and listen to their stories then you will find that their life isn't as ordinary as one may think. The truth is, I really can't say that anyone's life is completely ordinary, because God created every life and every life is a miracle and every life is unique with each person having their very own unique story to tell. So today I woul...

My little sister, Lydia, had a splinter in her toe this evening, so several of us all gathered around her ready to pull it out. My dad of course got out his knife, thinking that was clearly the best option. But I'll have you know, that she nor any of her sisters thought that was a good option. Known of us like the idea of having a knife digging into our foot, splinter or no splinter, thus, we all plead on her behalf. I stepped in and said I could pull it out with my fingers. So while I pull and push at it with my fingers, some are trying to comfort the poor girl and my dad is standing there insisting that he use his knife. In the meantime, Lydia, is making all kinds of funny noises and comments, because no matter how much pain she is in she always seems to say something funny and make us ( or at least me) laugh, even though we are trying to be all serious and be her doctor. Dad finally wins and gets to use his knife for a short time, but after a little bit of picking at it, I had ...

You know your little sister is up to mischief if she offers to give you a kiss. All I had to do was look into her sweet (not so innocent) face and see her lips covered in chocolate and I knew then and there that I did not want a kiss from her at that moment. It is not often that she offers to give me a kiss. :)  You know your little sister is up to mischief when she sits next to you and looks up at you with the sweetest smile on her face (or is that a smile of mischief that I detect). It wasn't long before I realized she had taken something of mine and was hiding it from me. Thus, began an intense game of chasing my sister around the house and playing scavenger hunt with much laughter throughout. I eventually took her watch to get her back, but in the end we gave back each others possessions. She loves to cause much mischief, but I am afraid she has a sister who has the same passion at times.;)

Every day brings reminders of how much I must depend on Christ for everything and look to him for grace. But some days have particularly strong reminders of my need for Christ and the realization that I am nothing apart from him. Tonight was one of those days. I attend a rather large church that is very theologically and Biblically sound, nevertheless, today was a fresh reminder that not everyone who goes to this church has theologically sound doctrine, such as the lady that I spoke to before the service. She said that true joy comes from being kind and not being mean. She told me that she didn’t need Jesus to make her good or to be kind, but that she is kind on her own free will. The more she talked the more heart broken I was for this woman. It would be easy in that situation to just agree with everything she said just to avoid controversy, yet I knew consciously that I could not be silent. I had to speak, yet how could I? How was I to explain to her the gospel of ...

I have always liked flowers and I always will, but I don't think I have appreciated them so much as I do now. This fresh enjoyment all comes from simply living in Minnesota during winter. Minnesota winters basically consist of snow from November to May. This being my first winter here, I am not sure of all the facts about a MN winter, but I can tell you that not only must we enjoy looking at snow for about six months, but some days are just excruciatingly cold, as in negative 20 or 30 or 50 or whatever. You get the point though. Its cold! And then when the warm days do come (positive 10° is considered warm around here) we get super excited. But it gets better! When the weather gets above freezing, like in the past few days, it gets even more wonderful. I have had the pleasure and honor of stepping in just a few "puddles" of water that ended up being like 7 or so inches deep. That makes for some rather cold wet feet. ;) So all in all, winter is wonder and snow is won...

So think about me is that I have a very vivid imagination and if I am left to myself than that already very vivid imagination becomes even more vivid in an attempt to entertain myself. I'll give you a few examples for your enjoyment. When I was a little girl I had a great dislike for baby dolls. One of the reasons for this dislike was that baby dolls are soooooooooo cold. In fact, I sometimes tried to put my doll up to the fire place in the winter in hopes that it would warm up and be cozy. But, no, it still remained as cold as death. Therefore, I have thought of a solution. One should make a business of selling dolls that have rice, corn kernels, or cherry pits in them, so it can be heated up in the microwave and then become nice and cozy warm. And while I am on the topic of warmth. I thought of a great idea for a warm and very cozy blanket for all my friends of Minnesota. A blanket could made full of, once again, our beloved cherry pits, corn kernels, or rice and then just h...

What could be wrong with this new white handled knife, she thought to herself, as she gingerly took and held it in her hands. I only plan to cut lemons with it and it should cut very smoothly. In fact I am quite certain it will make life much easier. If only she had seen the evil grin on the face of that “innocent” white handle of the new knife. She calmly walked up to the cutting board, so sure of herself and the beautiful new knife. She was quite certain that today was going to be quite a lovely day. All seemed well, until the knife slipped on the lemon and sliced her finger. Ouch! The blood that is supposed to stay underneath your epidermis was already oozing out. No, she thought to herself, this was not supposed to happen. She quietly walks to the back and reveals to her friend the wound on her hand. What would she have done without this kind friend who so calmly bandaged her finger? But by this point the blood had gotten to her vivid imagination and her stomach was doing gymnast...