There's Always a Reason

 It's now March and February just seemed to blow by.  This past month I've been finding myself constantly waiting on things to happen and be done with so I can move onto something else.  That's why I haven't posted in over a month.  I keep telling myself, "Just wait till the house is clean, you've checked everything you possibly can on the internet and your brain is free to think and then you can type up something eye-opening and honest."  Well I can't keep waiting because none one of those things are going to happen at the same exact time, I just have to seize the 10 minutes I have to type and go.  So here I'm going, because all the things I'm waiting on, house projects, life projects, and job-changing projects are not in the current right now.  There's also trying to get some sort of sliver of motivation to work out in same way, shape or form.  You'd think that just because we bought ourselves a treadmill, weight bench set, workout games on the Xbox or Wii, a yoga ball, and have a good chunk of time in the afternoon before I pick up Billy from the bus station...well it's just not happening.  I've considered getting up possibly 45 minutes earlier in the mornings to get on the treadmill or put in a DVD to workout to, that would really be the best solution.  That way I could get my metabolism ramped up, be ready for my day and not have to worry and beat myself up later if I didn't work out.  It could just be DONE.  That would be so wonderful. 

There's always a reason why we have to wait on things, there's no instant gratification, you have to be patient, God is teaching you something that you can't see right now.  He's putting it together like a beautiful orchestration of moments and bits of information all for a reason.  Maybe just to teach you patience, because you need that.  Maybe He's working at chipping away all the rough edges of your life that you need to get rid of.  Don't be anxious, don't keep saying 'If only this/that/I could/they would/I wish/let me figure this out really quick..."  Just do what's in front of you and live and be in the moment.

House, future baby, job, health and God, each other.  In no particular order.  Now go and just be. 

One of the Most Amazing Things

Truly one of the most beautiful and amazing things that God created, Yosemite National Park, is seen here in this time-lapse photography video put together by several very talented people.  It starts slow at first, but at about 2mins30secs...wait for it...the music crescendos and you'll get goosebumps. I recommend you put this on full screen to watch it and not have anything going on in the background so it won't skip.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.


I have very sweet and happy memories of spending many summers here with my family while growing up in California...

My dad (yes, that's him, can't you tell?) was driving through Yosemite Valley before I was born circa 197?...

 These memories include: driving through the hollowed-out redwoods, riding our bikes and feeding the deer in Yosemite Valley, camping in tents or in the "housekeeping" cabins, swimming in the clear, cold water of the Merced River and basking on the granite rocks in the summer heat, fishing with family and friends for trout and bass...

 Yep, that's me holding a dead fish, I think age 9 (yes, I really was once THAT tan.)

...Attending a very fun and memorable family reunion for my mom's side of the family (eating bean dip and fritos while sitting on beach blanket after swimming with my cousins and brother), wondering through Curry Village and seeing where and how the Native Americans lived in replicas of traditional huts. Standing in awe at the bottom of a waterfall and seeing the power and force of it, feeling the stinging spray on my hands and face.  Dreaming of one day your family affording to stay just ONE night at the Awanhee Hotel and seeing what it was like.  In the winter, drudging up to the top of a hill, feet and legs pushing through waist-height snow only to finally race down the hill while sitting on a thin plastic disk while getting a major adrenaline rush...I could keep going.  There is truly nothing like being there.  I hope someday to return with my family and share some many more wonderful memories!   

Riding in the back of my uncle Alex and aunt Pam's VW Van with my cousins, brother and mom, traveling to/from Yosemite 1988.  Love our expressions, especially Aaron's :)

Oh yikes!

Frozen berries on our hawthorn tree and the neighbors garage last Thursday during the deep freeze in western WA.

Alright, you made me do it.  I HAVE to blog NOW.  I just discovered this by making a comment on my mother's newly put-together blog that MY blog is in dire need of an update :)  Well here it is.  It's 2012, January 23rd.  We're still living in the same amazing, wonderful house in Tacoma, still working at the same jobs (Harbor Lights for me and Girvin for William).  Been attending a wonderfully new and exciting church called Destiny City Church here in Tacoma and loving it.  God has been very good to us, throughout all the craziness and busy-ness of life, through our jobs, home-making, relationally, financially, most recently birthdays, holidays, 4 Christmases, travel, SNOW and ICE and WIND...and...and...

For the new year I can finally say that we are finally trying officially to start a family.  Being married for five years and counting, I thought we would've had 2 kids by now (I thought that when we got married).  Right :)  Well I can also finally say I'm SO happy that hasn't happened yet.  Just looking back and taking stock in all the things we have accomplished as listed above, as well including road trips/travel, endless home projects,  five years only feels literally like a breath.  Five years feels like we've barely scratched the surface of really knowing what it's like to be married and live life as a married person.  I just feel like I've been together with my best friend who loves me very much and I get to do fun things with :)  Make a home, be in love, make a family, share things, make decisions, create things, understand yourself in ways that you would've never known unless you were married.  As well we also get to learn many lessons along the way of how God is never-ending in his forgiveness, grace, provision, faithfulness, truth and creativity...and...and...

As always we are always striving for more.  Our quest to find the almost-perfect church has been completed, only took us about five years and what felt like 7 churches.  Like I said earlier, it is very wonderful.  We went for the first time last Easter and it was almost a no-brainer on whether or not it was a good fit.  Non-denominational? Check. Fairly close to our house? Check.  Encouraging and energetic worship and preaching? Check.  Seriously friendly pastor and people? Check. Good amount of ministry opps? Check.  God has had his hand on this all the way, and the most amazing part of it was that my husband was the one to say something about checking it out.  Until then I had been the one always to instigate the idea of checking out this new church I heard about, read about, checked out the sermon online, etc.  But I really needed to let my husband lead and be the one to be interested first and take the initiative to go there or else it I KNOW it wouldn't have been important to him.  So for now, we just make it a goal to get to service FIRST, that's the biggest challenge.  Then, there will be greater chances of us naturally getting to know more people by doing more 'during the week things' like bible studies and retreats, etc.  I'm excited for what God will do.

Look at that, I actually typed 4 paragraphs.  Maybe it was reading my mom's blog that got a little jolt in me to type again or the fact I actually have been reading a lot more.  Actually I have about 4 books right now that I have been randomly been reading.  I believe you read more and you'll be more inclined to write more, its like this reciprocating energy.  Ya know? Makes sense to me. I have ALWAYS been irking myself to get a blog going on a consistent basis, it is the 'thing' to do it seems, for the past, well now, 10-ish something years that I started journaling everything.  So now, who knows.  Maybe I'll come back to this in another 3 years or 3 days, gotta keep my brain and my hand moving or the need to express myself somehow will fester.  I have a lot more in my brain to share about upcoming ideas, dreams, thoughts, struggles, happiness's, projects, travels, memories, verses, maybe even some pictures in between. For now here is a wonderful 'quote' that I copied from another Leah that I vicariously know through my mother.  Enjoy and Amen.

 

"Others may do a greater work,

But you have your part to do;

And no one in all God’s family

Can do it as well as you."

P.S. I've updated my blogs I follow list and possibly other things. Look around.

Breaking news!

After renting for the last 10 years (single and being married) my husband and I having finally bought a house. It's a 3 bed/1.75 bath, 1,920 sq. ft, 2 story, built in 1951, new windows, paint, countertops, cabinets, fixtures, everything really...3 FIREPLACES! Fenced backyard with FULL SUN (gardening here I come!), comes with ALL appliances (no more hand-washing dishes or picking for quarters to do the laundry, also with a GAS stove). It's one block off of 6th Ave in North Tacoma, very convenient to everything. The seller is a little old widowed lady that's been there for 30 years and is now moving out to be with her family. We made an offer for 5k less, with an amazing interest rate...the owner had another offer from someone in cash, for less, but she still PICKED US! Thank you Jesus!

The closing date is January 8, 2009 so that gives us just enough time to get through the holidays, give our landlord 20 days notice, pack, move and get settled. The new place is less than 3 miles away, so the move will be very minimal, and the great thing is we probably only have enough furniture to fill 2 rooms plus the family room :) We had/have been praying for the right thing to happen (whatever God decides we'll be okay with) and thankfully God had that house picked out especially for us :) At least I'd like to think so, and the whole process has been so easy, we have a great realtor and mortgage advisor working with us.

Go to the link for more info and pics :)

William and Leah's new house

Favorite Kitchens

This is a picture of half of the kitchen that I used to cook and eat in, at my old studio apartment in Renton during my pre-marriage days :) The landlord had installed the black and white tiled floor which I loved because as you can see a lot of my decor matched perfectly to it.


This is my current kitchen in our apartment in Tacoma. It is pretty small, really only one person (that's me) can cook in here at a time. I love the gas stove, but not the fact that there's not hood or vent! I usually have to put a window fan up on the windowsill to blow all the fumes out of the kitchen. I do like cooking in here, but I do look forward to having a much bigger kitchen in a real house in the near future.

Verse of the moment

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Don't push me cuz I'm close to the edge...

William says I need to find something to be more productive while sitting in coffee shops with him and he's drawing. There's been this constant force I feel that I'm fighting while sitting here passing time, not being productive, and I really, really want to break through that. You'd think that after a week of 40 hours standing on my feet in a kitchen, that I wouldn't mind sitting and being still. But in that fact, being in constant motion, production and action, my body simply won't let me be still.

The effects of snow

I sit here, on my Friday off from work, dabbling away in things not too important. Laundry, coloring differing shades of sunset colors on white paper, staring outside on our backyard view of the snow, a bright, clear blue sky overhead. I wait endlessly impatient, anxious for 'the' phone call that will get me excited again. I wait for a new job, possibly in the kitchen, working back in my roots, the things I have great passion and interest in. I miss it terribly, it's hard not feeling like you're doing anything majorly productive. You help in your home, you help your husband get out of bed, complaining of his stiff neck and tiredness. You're not use to all this 'non-work' work. But it's okay, this is what God is calling you to be and become. A housewife possibly, but not your average. With no children in tow, you keep yourself as busy as you can be.

There is a black cat named Trouble sitting on the window pane, observing the wildlife outside, flitting a bit about in the snow. He's your only company right now, he's good to talk to and a smart cat. He's incredibly affectionate but very fiesty too. He will jump and claw at your legs as you walk past him. As well, sit on your chest while you lay in bed, staring lovingly into your eyes.

Earlier, my husband trekked out onto the icy and snowy ground, careful not to slip like he did last night, giving him a small case of whiplash. Yelling another "I love you!" I stood in the doorway, watching him, going farther away into the unbearable cold. Destination: bus stop, then to work, to make us a living, treading away at endless design and graphic logos.

William does things that I would never be able to attempt. He's a thinker and a dreamer, he can see beyond many possibilities. He pushes you to love on others and strives for furthering the kingdom of God. He shares compliments of praise and adoration towards me at the time I need to hear it the most. He needs encouragement and support while he's making positive life changes. I too am trying hard to make a change in my lifestyle and health. We look forward to the summer, possible vacations together, basking in the sun, away from the snow, away from the cold.

On Food:

Making a 'healthy' version of quiche later, with egg beaters, spinach, onions, frozen peppers, turkey bacon, a little milk, seasonings and a very very small dash of parmesan cheese in the green can :) Later...grilled salmon on the 'doesn't get enough credit for the awesome things it can do' George Foreman grill and possibly some brown rice cooked in chix stock. Nummers!