Updating in Progress

So one of the things that I have been doing with my time is crafting.  I love crafting and decorating.  I like little projects that can be completed in one sitting, because I don't like messes.  So, I'll show you the way that I have quickly and cheaply updated our little studio apartment by using only magazines, tape, scissors string and a little help from Goodwill!

The on-campus apartment that we just moved into was not only small but also very bland.

We took the studio and made it two rooms by moving the wardrobe to the middle.

Thus, creating a bedroom!  Voila!

So the first thing I made with the magazines is posters with word cut-outs.  I've also made word cut-outs that I have hung on string.  It's cute, but not as portable.  

When your limit is paper, the world really is your oyster.  I cut out words, shapes, animals, picture frames and even tried my hand at some 3D paper art!

These are paper roses.  Easy enough!  Cut a square into a spiral and then twist out & tape as necessary. I like them hanging on the wall.  

This paper picture frame I cut out much like a paper snowflake, but I made it a picture frame.

I may or may not have taken the liberty to sketch on the wall.  Don't worry I used pencil, so I'll erase it before I leave!

All of the other decorations were either gifts from our wedding registry or purchased at Goodwill.  I got the tablecloths, curtains and much more from goodwill.

How fun!

Please wait while downloading...

This title is inspired not only by the slow internet that we have here in the West Indies, but also the lessons that I have been learning.  The last week has been a time full of the joy and challenges of new places and people.  Making new friends is a joy, but also reminds you of your homesickness as you begin to miss your old friends.  Relationships also always come with the challenge of our selves being involved and seeing the same sins of selfishness, pride and anxiety creep up over and over.

I'm learning that I am someone who not only loves but also a little bit needs my time to reflect and journal in order to maintain my sanity.  I think deeply, sometimes too deeply, but if I go a day without reflecting and praying over those thoughts I can be overwhelmed.  I realize that this effects the people in my life and the way I treat them.  I don't like this about myself.  However, when I feel like God has purposefully surrounded me with people that are completely opposite of me, my challenge is not only to learn to change, but also to appreciate that God has made me me and not want to change just to be like everyone else.

God has given us strengths and weaknesses, and all of it can be used for His glory if we let Him.  I'm learning to wake up every morning and pray through it all, thanking God for everything and trying to remember that He will meet us where we are even while we are still "downloading".

The Potter's Clay

I've taken the last few days to settle in a bit more and adjust to this new life by spending time with new friends and making our tiny apartment feel a bit more like a home.  But alas, this has been to the detriment of my eager and worried blog followers, I do apologize.   


On Thursday I started feeling a little bit more settled as I was able to show the bits of the island that I know to my newest "Significant Other" (SO) friend, Emily, who flew in that day.  On Friday and Saturday Emily and I continued our traversing through the St. George's fish, spice and vegetable markets to stock up our kitchenettes for our frenzied med husbands, the Grande Anse beach, rain storms, and  the challenge of creating sour dough bread starters (which unfortunately did not go as planned!).  And on Saturday we took part in a day of fasting and praying with our "Christian Student Association" (CSA) Church.  Though there were other times during the weekend that were more fun, the time of fasting was more filling.  


Before Ryan and I moved from Connecticut, one of our greatest concerns and therefore most frequent prayer requests was for good fellowship and community in a new church home.  I rejoice in saying that God has been faithful to answer our prayers.  In one of the first days here we randomly happened upon two Christian couples, who we have become friends with and have been attending the CSA church with.  Ryan and I were not too sure what to expect from the on-campus student-led church that we had heard about, but needless to say we were more than impressed.  The church was full with more than 100 students, the service was organized, the worship was true, but more importantly the Lord was being sought out earnestly through fasting and prayer.  When they announced that this fasting and prayer was happening church-wide, we jumped on the band wagon. 


So on Saturday I cooked a nice curried okra before our fasting began, we prayed together and then began our day.  Four hours later I got a call from my husband, and during the phone call he non-chalantly said he was going to eat a banana, to which I replied, "why?!"..."Because I'm hungry"..."But you're fasting"..."O,yea".  But we did fast the entire way through, and attended the prayer service on Saturday night.  I like this school being so multi-racial.  Praying with people from different denominations is fun and renewing.  


During the prayer service one woman prayed a prayer for the healing of broken believers.  As her prayer went on I thought of the scripture I had read that day in Jeremiah 18.  I considered my feelings of restlessness in a new home and how I longed to have peace and vision during this time. The scripture in Jeremiah 18 is as follows:


¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
 ⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

Now, I am taking the scripture out of context slightly, as this scripture has everything to do with repentance and sin, and I am relating it more to times of transition.  Yet, the scripture spoke to me.  I thought of home and my family and my prayers and how they had everything to do with home and family and how I missed them.  Then I thought of how the Lord will be remolding my prayers, my purposes and my vision during this time.  This is a painful process, but I cannot complain.  I am the Lord's.  I need to allow the Holy Spirit to make me who and what He needs me to be in this time and place in my life.  


So, Sunday morning came and we broke our fast as a church with a wonderful beach barbecue. I have never ended a fast with a feast or with so many people!  It was very filling.  


And now it's Monday, and Emily and I will meet again.  Today, our quest for next semester's housing begins.  

Restlessness

I love being outside.  I love exploring and running.  But I love my husband more, so when he is in studying, I want to be too.  But when he is in class, one would assume that I'm loving my new island paradise in Grenada, but I have found myself quite restless.  I'm learning I'm very choosy about my outdoorsy-ness. When I want to wander and think I have the ideal picturesque New England wood trails in my mind, and if I can't get that, then I feel trapped.  If you were to wander and talk to yourself and pray out loud on the beach, people would think you are crazy!  With that said, my new quaint apartment is giving me a little bit of cabin fever, and as I was telling my mother-in-law before, you can only sweep a 200 square foot apartment so many times!  


But I was praying yesterday, and I was frustrated at myself for feeling this way in such a wonderful situation.  I have an amazing husband who loves me, and I live in a beautiful place in the world.  Yet, my mind can get to dark lonely places. I remembered the verse from 2 Corinthians when Paul tells us to "take every thought captive".  So I prayed this verse over myself, and told God that I have time to offer him, and pretty much that's all I have, so my challenge to myself was to pray to God in everything.  It is hard to remember! I was laughing to myself today when I was walking into a DVD store praying, "God help me bless those inside and glorify you in this." 


I have been occupying much of my time making decorations for our new place.  I planned on this empty time, and so I brought a plethora of magazines to cut and collage.  While working today, I noticed a bird right outside my window.  The little Grenadian pigeon wasn't doing anything.  She (I would like it to be a she, because it makes this story better) was just sitting on a branch resting and sheltering herself from the heat.  After staring at her in awe for what felt like a long time, I felt God whisper to me, "Rest, Child, and rejoice!"  Immediately a flood of sermons and journal entries came to me:  


Matthew 6: 25-33


²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?
   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.




This verse has ministered to me a lot throughout my life.  I wouldn't think it would in a time when I didn't feel stressed, but I feel like now God wants to teach me to be content to rest. "Rest and rejoice." This little bird could have been soaring or searching for food, but she knew that a part of her living was just to rest.  Rest in the glory of the day.  That was a part of what she was meant to do.  Rest in her creator. 


So I will try to set my mind on Christ, and even with little to physically "do", I will rest my mind and soul in Christ knowing that a part of my being was made to glorify my Creator in resting.  

A Message from the Chancellor

So far being in Grenada has proven to have its perks and shortcomings.  It's hard to adjust our fast-paced American minds to take it easy on "Island Time".  But we have been in awe of the diversity at St. George's and have been getting eager to learn from the ramifications of such.  Last night there was a lot to process at the White Coat ceremony.  The overall theme of the night was "courage".  We learned a lot about St. George's University from the Chancellor and founder, Charles Modica.    He shared his story of courage to create the university when he was in his 30's.  He shared about the courage of the charter class to work hard and to stand by the school in its beginning stages, saying they didn't just need courage, but also a sense of humor.


The Keynote speaker, Dr. Iona Heath, spoke about courage and joy.  She challenged the students to have the courage to be an advocate for their patients, to grow close to them, to look beyond the idea of the "map" of the human to the person .  She also told them to have the courage to know that you are not always right, and to have the courage to doubt what they will learn at times.  Her words were powerful and spoken with the backing of aristotle, and Tolkien, to which I will not pretend to do any semblance of such.  But she closed telling the students to also find joy in their work and to, "have courage when (she) lacked it, and all the joy (she) had and more."  Those are words spoken from a writer!

All the while 570 students received their white coats, their name and birth place were said.  As this happened my mind formed a map of the world and highlighted all the countries that were said.  As the globe started becoming highlighted all the same color, so the room simultaneously from a room full of ethnicities and religions to a sea of white.  All the students were now robed with the same ambition.  As the Chancellor said, in a world full of hate and war, these students can band together to love and support one another as they seek to heal and create peace.

This really is my most accurate map coloring.  I created it!
http://www.29travels.com/travelmap/

New Beginnings

Today my husband of 3 months and 23 days begins medical school.  8 months ago I graduated my undergraduate university. 1 week and 1 day ago we moved to a foreign country, and so today it begins.  We have anticipated this journey for a long time, and yet know little of what to expect.  New beginnings come with hopeful naivety as we look onto a blank page of what now seems to be our life.  We are excited, we are homesick, we are young and we are confused.  


Writing a blog is something that goes against my nature.  I think it's strange.  But I wanted to start one to be able to process my own thoughts as well as encourage the other vagabonds like myself who are also young and searching for...we don't really know what.  I use the term "searching" carefully, as I believe that I have already found a purpose for my soul.  I wrote yesterday about how no matter what I feel and what my circumstance, my heart always knows that it's best hope is to turn to my father in heaven.  Yet, I believe that I am still becoming.  My "feeble hands and weak knees" are still looking for their job in this broken world.  I know that Jesus is at work in my heart, and each day I can grow closer to him if I so choose. 


The title of this blog goes along with a lifelong slogan that I have: everyday is a thread in the tapestry that is our life.  Today all that I may see is a thread of white in the field of 570 white coats before my eyes, but tomorrow I may only see a black.  I do not know why that color seems to last so long or why the threader threads the way he does.  But I know that I can look back and see different colors of days and see the picture beginning to form in the tapestry that has been my life, and it makes me so glad.
So today I see white.  Each day is a lesson.  I'll pray for insight and share more later. 


Definition of ikat: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ikat

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me,

I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily.

Of times he weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride

forget He sees the upper and I,

the under-side.

Not till the loom is silent

and the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas 

and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful 

in the weaver's skillful hand

as the threads of gold and silver

in the pattern He has planned.

- Unknown