random thoughts

random things:

We were on our way home and decided to stop and get in the field of wild flowers and take pictures.

My brother makes me laugh harder than anyone I know... well and shannon

I like not being in a hurry

walking every where is a lot better than driving every where

i miss laughing with my American friends

running for fun is a great way to start the day

i finished a beautiful piece of art work yesterday and was reminded what it feels like to accomplish something and be proud of my work.

What will it be like to come back to America?

Everyone likes the sound of their own name

My family is sooooo cool, I'm lucky

dancing releases stress

I've gone through (pretty much ruined) at least 15 pairs of shoes during this year and 4 months in Spain... from walking everywhere, it's still cheaper than a car.

"Praise is inner health made audible" C.S. lewis

I have no idea what I will do with the rest of my life after I get home from Spain.

"live care-free before God, he is most careful with you." ~ 1 peter 5 something in the message

symphony

(I didn't take these pictures but I got them in an email and thought they were worth sharing, well the last one was when I was at the beach here)

I have this theory, well it’s more like Isaiah’s and David’s theory… but stilll I think about it a lot. I think the universe is playing a great symphony of praise to God. I think all of creation is moving and dancing and singing about how wonderful and beautiful God is. I think the trees, the waves, the mountains, the clouds, the stars, the forest, the fields and the beaches are telling us about their Maker.

They have no words. But that is ok… being a communications major I can tell you that communication is 90% noverbal and only 10% verbal ☺. His creation doesn’t use confining words, it uses beats, rhythms, winds, rolling hills, shifting colors in the clouds during sunsets, crashing waves, snow capped mountains, thunder, waterfalls, and lightly falling snow to express the unfathomable: the King, the God of the universe.

Sometimes when I look at nature, I think how its’ very nature gives glory to God, it seems like it is praising God and reflecting God just by simply BEING… being what is was created to be. An olive tree, for example, doesn’t get jealous of the fig trees and try to grow figs (by the way I love olives and figs, but not together, and they are abundant here in spain). It just exsits, it grows olives and sits there all pretty and content with the other olive trees just producing olives (and olive oil of course) ☺. Just being. An ocean doesn’t try to be a waterfall, a red flower doesn’t try to be a yellow flower, it just depends on God to give it what it needs and grows. It in its being it speaks about God.

A while ago I was sitting on the beach infront of the Mediterranean Ocean. The waves looked like they were enjoying being waves. They looked like they were talking about how cool God is. I believed them. SO I started to do what they were doing… praising God, and believing that maybe I, just as I am, just being with out words or acts, enjoying being who I am, where I am could reflect God and give glory to Him, just like the nature does… as it plays its’ great symphony of praise.

“the heavens declare the glory of God,
the skies proclaim the work of his hands
day after day they pour forth speech…
their voice goes out into all the eath
their words to the ends of the world.” ~ psalm 19
“the mountains and hills will burst into song before you
and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.” ~ Isaiah 55

romeria de loja

And this would be another cultural experience I am adding to my collection :) My friend invited me to her hometown, Loja to go to the "romeria" I didn't really know what to expect, except to bring a white top, jeans, and tennis shoes. I was thinking, "what kind of event do Spaniards go to in tennis shoes?? haha" but she told we were going to go to the campo, like fields and we'd get dirty.

So I get there and we meet up with her friends (who've I've met a few times that I have been to Loja) and they are making a float. So we spent a few hours decorating it and preparing the food and drinks. The next morning everyone in the town who had made a float lined them up in a street and we followed each other out to the campos outside of town. There we all set up tables and chairs and umbrellas and basically hung out in the field with our cool floats all day. It's a cute tradition.

Well my friends found the news people and told them there was a girl from Memphis with them and they needed to come interview me. I tried to get out of it because talking in Spanish on TV seemed really intimidating, but i mean when people are chanting your name to do something, it's kind of hard to resist... So that would be my 4th time on the Spanish news in this past year and 2 months, except this time I was interviewed... They just asked me the basic questions: What would a girl from Memphis (pronounced memfees in the Spanish accent) be doing at the romeria in Loja, what I thought of it, if I'm having fun, what I am doing in Spain, if I liked Loja etc...

The only reason people here say I am from Memphis is because when they ask me where I am from I either say, "I don't know..." or "I am from many places." Then I list all the places I think I am from, Kansas, Charlotte, Boone, and Memphis. They usually only recognize Boone. haha no just kidding, they usually only recognize Memphis because of the Spanish basketball player guy, Pau Gasol, who used to play for the Memphis grizzlies. I didn't know who he was until I got here or even that Memphis had a basketball team named the grizzlies... haha i learned that here in Spain!