things that make my heart beat a little faster...

...the thought of moving to Hong Kong in September.

to be heard

Last night I went to an open mic night at Toomer's coffee. Toomer's is a fairly well known coffee shop, it happens to be my favorite. But one of the great things about it is that it is located off campus so it is not nearly as busy or loud as some of the other coffee shops around. Well last night was a completely different story. People filled the entire store. There was no distinction between the line to order coffee and line of people trying to navigate their way to their friends, who were inevitably in the farthest corner with no seats around them. There were so many different groups of people interacting and pulled together all because of an open mic. The music that was played varied from great cover songs, to not-so-great cover songs, to original songs, and to original made-up-on-the-spot songs: it was fantastic. As the night progressed, I detached myself from the music and the business of all that was going on and thought a lot about how we all have this desire to be heard. I think that our desire to be heard sits in a deeper more innate desire and that is the desire to be known. I know that I is a desire that I have. I want to be loved in light of my faults, cherished in light of my forgetful nature, comforted in light of my stubborn pride, and broken in light of my own futile plans. I think that desire expresses itself differently and uniquely for everyone, but the desire and efforts are always there. In this particular case, the desire to be heard was expressed in song. But I ask you, as I do myself, to consider what it is that your life is saying to the world, and by whom do you desire to be known?

a few of my favorite things

My little brother + surprise visit + Red Wings + Nashville = I am SO excited!

i miss tokyo

I sat down with my snack after class and turned on my TV to the Travel Channel. Only to find a show called "No Reservations" featuring the sights and sounds of Japan: more specifically Tokyo, more specifically than that: the area of Shibuya in Tokyo. That's where I stayed when I was there! It feels somewhat surreal to see so many familiar places on the other side of the world displayed on my little TV screen in Auburn, Alabama. I would really just love to jump through the TV screen at the moment. Commerical is over. Back to Shibuya for a while.

Balentines in M-town

This weekend I got to escape Auburn for a few days and go to Marietta with my dear friend Hannah. We had a great relaxing weekend full of lots of good food, laughter and memories. One of my favorite moments was Saturday when we went to spend some time reading at Barnes and Noble. We walked in, ordered our coffee [after much deliberation], got out our bibles, opened to a crisp new page in our journals, plugged in our earphones, and began to read. I was about to jot down a thought and then I realized I didn't have a writing utensil. So, as Hannah continues to read, I go on the search for something to write with. You would think in a bookstore this would be something fairly easy to locate especially since there is an entire wall of journals and stationary. But the only thing I could find were ballpoint pens they sold by the register for $14.99. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pen, but I just wanted to write a little in my journal and $14.99 was a little too pricey for me. On my search for a pen I did find something I've been meaning to purchase for a long time: a journal. Are you wondering why I bought another journal when I just mentioned that I already had a journal, and one with a crisp new page open to be exact? Well stay with me...this purchase will hopefully make sense in a minute.

I would really love to be a wife and mother one day. And as I think through the possiblity of that, the Lord has really summoned me to pray for my future family. So over the past few weeks I have started to pray specific things and scripture for my future husband. As I've gone through this process I have really wanted to write down prayers for him, in hopes that someday I'll be able to hand a journal to him which will remind him of God's infinite love for him.

So Mr. Whoever-you-may-be, if you ever happen to read this, I can't wait to share with you all that God has laid on my heart. And I have a really cool journal to give you too.

As I purchased my "Mr." journal, I told the cashier about my search for a pen and he kindly loaned me one from under the register. I returned to my little table and spent some much needed, un-timed, rich time with the Lord.

As to be expected, the rest of the day was full of great adventures around M-town with Hannah.

This video made us laugh a lot that day: Dave Barnes Balentine's Advice

Hope your Valentine's Day was lovely. No pun intended.

burnt cookies

As I was searching for something sweet for desert tonight I

remembered I had about half a roll of cookie dough left in my frig.

My oven tends to be very temperamental and somehow when it is merely

warming up it will set off my smoke detector. So, tonight I decided to outsmart

my smoke detector and remove the battery before baking cookies to avoid the piercing noise

of the alarm in the midst of my oven heating.

I was feeling extra adventurous tonight and thought I would try to make the cookies a little thicker than usual.

I love cookies that are crisp on the edges and soft in the middle. Yum.

I digress...So I placed the dough on the pan and called my mom to catch up a little bit.

For some reason the simple 'hello' on the other end of the phone sent me into tears.

I really miss my family today.

So in the middle of trying to explain to my mom that I was just homesick and not seriously injured or something I smell smoke.

The cookies had been in the oven for about 5 minutes and they were well, crisp.

My oven may be a bit temperamental and unreliable really, but tonight the fault was all mine.

Mom jokes about how she rarely cooks, but of all the things she does make, her break-and-bake cookies are always good.

Perhaps I'll make a normal batch of cookies in my oven before I graduate.

quiet trade

A couple nights ago I went with some friends to see the movie 'Taken'. My advice: If you want to walk out of a movie theater unchanged at the end of the movie: don't see this movie. If you want to sit on your couch and separate yourself from the injustice of the world at the end of the 6 o'clock news: don't watch this movie. It's a story of a father who desperately searches for his teenage daughter who has been kidnapped and sold into sex trafficking. For obvious reasons, this movie was incredibly hard to watch. But beyond those reasons my heart broke because this was not just a movie, it was a small story that unveiled a disturbing reality that happens every single day around the world. As the credits began to roll at the end of the film I fought with a lot of different emotions. The first wave were just how selfish I am so much of the time. The things that I worry about are just ridiculous sometimes. The next wave of feelings were urgent anger at what was happening. There are girls who don't have anyone looking for them. They don't get to go home at the end of the credits, this is reality for them. Unthinkable things are happening to girls of all ages in this sickening quiet trade. I pray that our generation will cease to pretend like people don't have clean water to drink, people are still sold into slavery and women and children are being sold into sex trafficking. This movie struck chords deep in me that will not allow me to stay quiet at the face of injustice. The good news in the midst of all my thoughts is that my God is a God of justice. My God redeems the broken and heals them. I still don't know what my role in fighting injustice looks like but I do know I can not pretend as though it doesn't exist.

lists

i like making lists, they help me feel organized.

thanks to my lovely iPhone, i can make lists any time.

my favorite new list to think about:

"phone a friend"

I really enjoy my Human Development and Family Studies classes. Really, I do. I know that there are people who think my major is a joke and they are entitled to their opinion. I have a heart to work with people and I feel like my major has adequately prepared me to do that in a lot of ways. I have studied long hours and contrary to popular belief I haven't skipped my way through semesters on my way to graduation. Stepping off my soapbox... Most of the people in the College of Human Sciences are girls. And sometimes we have courses that promote discussion. This term 'discussion' bothers me when it is abused. I love to hear people's stories and different opinions, but some HDFS classrooms turn into a time when people share personal details that somehow become a catalyst for the rest of the class to tell when their "Aunt's cat's daughter's uncle's mom's grandmother's dad's goldfish experienced the same thing." This thought started today by an answer given to this question posed by my instructor:

"How do you think text messaging or internet communication has changed the way we communicate with one another today?"

[answer] "Well in the past I have learned that text messaging helps boys to lie about where they are and who they are with. It's just better to call so you can hear the background."

It is in moments like these when I wish that our teacher could give them the "phone a friend" option. There is a lot of bitterness built up in that answer. I am sad that the word text message is directly correlated with lies in her mind. Hopefully someone has sent her a friendly text since then. In this particular class today, the teacher allowed story time to continue from 12:00 till 12:50. We didn't go over any of the notes he passed out. None. All that to say, I wish that teachers had the "phone a friend" option to give to students who divulge too much information in class.

stirring

stirring of new beginnings and things yet to come.

stirring of big dreams and bold vision.

stirring of hearts.

stirring of the Almighty changes the hearts of man.

stirring makes sense of chaos.

stirring changes me.

stirring causes me to step out into something much greater than myself.

His stirring in my depths compels me.

what compels you?