los trabajadores

Jesus - the Lord saves
Christ (Messiah) - the anointed One

my nephew just pulled the music string on his stuffed animal. melt my heart. nap-time.

we went strawberry picking. i took off my shirt & wrapped it around my head (and proceeded to speak in spanish). ashton & sadie mimicked. it was adorable.

He'll never leave you or forsake you. no te preocupas, amor. descanses.

*fotos viniendo*

crisp

waves were real big today.
ashton is the business.
sadie is fiesty.
God.
sigh. oh, God! how i love him!
Jesus & the wholeness He brings.
talk to Him.
it's just like that.
hah.
hahhahahahahahah liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife come to me now!
i just want to sit here & soak Him up.
peaches 'n cream.
i don't know why, just?

Jeepicle

When I tell people I'm considering getting rid of the Jeep,

and they say, "Yea, it's been a good fling. You've had your fun..."

I think, "No. No! This has not been a fling! What we had was real."

...............That's when I realize I'm in too deep. Overhead in scrap-metal.

sha la la la

Levi Levi Levi. With your skinnny jeans, neon shirt, & dark, emo hair. Hugging everyone at Wednesday night church service. Make me wish I was 17 again. Introduce yourself, then tell me 'this might sound weird, but I could call you tomorrow about my track meet.' Trenton Blaine. With your fish-tail surf board. Catching a wave in the light of the setting sun. Stop puttin Brandon down, you're the most beautiful face I've ever seen. And stop doing sit-ups when you're home alone...goooolly! Okay, everything's situated in that wetsuit. Just. Okay. Now. Phew. To which Brandon chimes, "Tool." So anyone else have a problem with being a cougar? Goooosh. They should have support groups for people like me. Girls who don't want to get married, & thus are attracted to boys who don't either. Boys. YEp, to be sweet 16 & not have to worry this cute guy might want to marry you. Those were the days. : ) I will not give the men a look. The one waving me up to play traffic games, the one asking me on nature walks ... "Do I know where..? *ah geez* Just keep taking a left & you'll come out the other side!" "YOu could show me, ya know..." "Uhhh, no I gotta go, thanks," the muscley one teasing me about looking lost, babe, dunno where you're gonna find to skate 'round here. (sitting on the sand on Brandon's longboard). They bore me with their consistency. You want to chase me, I get it. Haha, no sudden dashes or they'll be snapping at my heels. Slow & steady, gradual smile, laugh, now ease your way out, Stace. No games. Don't chase. Stay there. Go for one with a bikini on. Look they're in overpopulation out there! Getcha one, now son!

Here's a little something productive I've been working on ; )
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

He has miraculously bestowed to me all things in the realm of vitality & piety towards God by the means of the correct knowledge of Him who gave me a name by His own fullness and moral goodness. (personal interpretation from Greek)

He has given me everything I need for:
Vitality-
exuberant physical strength or mental vigor
capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence
power to live or grow
Physical or intellectual vigor; energy
The capacity to live, grow, or develop
capacity to live and develop
physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed
Power to survive

2nd half of verse declares, "It's dependent on Him!' By HIs own goodness, fullness, gloriousness, grace, power, & being.

I have been given everything I need for the continuation of a meaningful existence through the knowledge of this fact: He called me & my calling was not dependent on me (any fullness or moral goodness I possessed).

philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

2 corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole familya in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The Lord has been doing many more wonders than this. I suppose if all of them were to be written down, the whole word would not contain enough room for the books that would be written. HAllelujah praise to the King who calms me with his beauty.

Surfing at sunset is an experience. Out in the midst of the sea, a wave will rise above the 2-dimentional, orange, burning, far-off frenzy; casting shadows and making the light dance with the water. So you wonder time and again, whoa, did the sun just go down? Oh, nope. Wave. : ) Phew, good! A few more minutes. Brandon will utter some nonsense about it being time for sharks to come out as he paddles in. Trenton finds my eyes amidst the choppy waves & we exchange expressions that testify how badly we wish we didn't care, so that we could stay out there & wait paitiently for the wave that would be ours. Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow.

amusamart

Walmart check-out lanes were backed up to the clothes section. Once we'd finally made our way up to magazine ro, I spotted a slew of shiny silver flasks next to the check out counter. Once I'd confirmed that a good number of people in the amusement-park style line behind us were watching me, I held one up victoriously & loudly exclaimed to my mother, "I told you they'd have 'em!"

hahhahahahahahah oh. my. gosh. funniest moment of my life. Her priceless face & the soft, trailing question, "...flaaasks?"

thanks, mom, for being you. and putting up with me. and my kicks.