i have long hair again, in case you didn't know.

blonde too.

i wonder

what makes me think that I will succeed at blogging this time around?

I consistently blog for awhile and then lose interest ... I'm guessing that that will happen all over again.

Today's thought: I love my co-workers. We laugh so much in my office! Today Brian, Jessica, and I pranked one of our student workers, who was answering the visit office phone. We almost made her cry, but even she thought it was funny once she knew it was us! (Sorry Brenda!)

Tomorrow ... who knows?

Love,
jackie lea

ash wednesday

I went to my first Ash Wednesday service tonight. We did the whole ashes-on-the-forehead-in-the-shape-of-the-cross thing, and I thought two things:

1) This is probably the most cult-like thing I've done in a long time.
2) I love these visual reminders in Christianity. From dust I have come and to dust I shall return.

Love,
jackie lea

i haven't blogged for about a year now ...

but what if I started again? Would anyone read it?

Life lately:

Writing like crazy! It's been nearly two years working on my novel, and it is coming along, although there is still a long ways to go!

Trinity City Church ... I am on the launch team of an Evangelical Free church plant in St. Paul.

North Haven Student Ministries ... I have a small (but growing!) group of girls whom I meet with on Thursday nights.

Northwestern ... still enjoying admissions. Love my co-workers and the high schoolers and the college students, all.

Jesus ... always amazing. Yesterday, I was singing "Jesus, Lover of my Soul" and thinking about how incredible it is that the Holy and Almighty God loves my soul ... wow.

What else, what else? After a blogging hiatus of a year, there is much to be said. But we'll leave it at that and see who still follows this blog.

Comment if you read this!
Love,
jackie lea

my book!

In case you didn't know, I've been writing a book since May, and it's really coming together. I just spent time organizing my book into chapters, and I'm very eager for the next stage of the process!

Pray for me!

um ...

the email dialogue spiralled into a hurtful argument. :-(

our friendship might be over.

got an email today

and it was good but hard. i cried. but i'm ok. really.

or at least i will be. :-)

i wrote an email today

in which i asked a friend if we were going to stay friends. i was pretty straightforward about things, and i may have ruined a friendship. however, it wasn't going very well, so something needed to be said.

... or am i just too demanding of my friends?

trying again

So I think that maybe I will start blogging again; I'm a little nervous that my blog will be boring, but I'll give it a go.

Right now, I am working on my book. I have a first draft and hope to have another one soon. I am still working with the big picture and not ready for line editing yet, but we'll see how things go! I'm so excited! I've been loving the process, and I hope that my book (about my life with OCD) will be interesting and even helpful to others.

Life has been good, pretty busy. New news: I am a teenybopper once again. This time around, I love the Jonas Brothers. :-)

book.

i wrote one. a first draft at least. and i'm proud of it, but tonight i wrote for about 2.5 hours and ended up with mostly crap.

it's friday night, just past 11, and i'm actually going to bed earlier than during the week when i have to work in the morning. i am SO tired.

headed home tomorrow, should be fun!

post a comment if you read this, so i know who's out there!

Campus Construction -- Summer 2008

to my sister

kristin,

it is hard to blog when it feels like no one reads it. i know that you are not no one, but yeah.

i yuv you.

the life i lead

things have been so crazy busy. too much so.

some fun stuff though! i went to the teen convention in rochester last weekend and saw camp peeps! FUN! then i worked quite a lot this past week and had a retreat with my NHC youth group this weekend.

and now i am sick.

goodie.

so i did pretty much NOTHING today. i feel like such a bum, but i want to get better.

i love Jesus and people. how are you, friends?

Jesus

He is so good. So amazing. So full of grace. I love Him.

oh this head

sometimes it is so out of control.

and seemingly connected to my stomach and sick feelings there.

blah.

Jesus

There is salvation in Your Name.

blessing

my co-workers are super fun, and i like them a lot.

we are currently at Le Bourget Aero Suites in Bloomington; we stayed here last night on our counselor retreat, and we had lots of fun yesterday. :-)

it's nice to like one's co-workers. thanks, Jesus. :-)

Remember, friends

That Jesus is not the means to an end ... knowing Him is not something to do "in the meantime" while waiting for a "greater" reward. HE IS THE GREAT REWARD. If you are saved, you have already received your life's greatest gift.

And there's still more to look forward to: knowing Him more, loving Him more intimately, and spending forever in His presence.

Amazing.

"Volunteering has been very good to us."

My roomie Desiree said this on Friday. :-)

We recently volunteered for the Newsboys concert at NWC ... and for helping, we got to attend the concert for free.

Oh, and um, MEET the Newsboys.

:-)

And we ushered for Acquire the Fire this weekend ... and on Friday, we got these awesome FLOOR seats (at one point Ron Luce was like RIGHT THERE in front of us!).

Hence, Desiree's comment.

Thank You, Jesus, for the great opportunities in our lives!

how is everyone?

update me on your lives!

i've been kinda crabby this week ... pray for me! I'M praying for me! haha! i don't want to be crabby!!!

Love,
jackie lea

YAY LIFE!

Thank You, Jesus, for my delightful family and friends, for the adventures You put in my life, for the opportunities, for the relationships, for the happy moments.

Thank You for JOY.

Thank You for the cross and for the resurrection, and thank You that we may know You.

so

i am writing poems.

who wants to see?

yg

yg
Originally uploaded by jarujav

my cute youth group!

life

oh life. it's so fun, isn't it? i feel almost giddily happy right now, with a tiny little titch of crabbiness. sounds contradictory, but i'm just telling you how things go. :-)

atlanta, for those of you who care, was great and difficult and hard ... my class is about "thinking theologically," and as we did our meta-thinking, i re-realized how much i love the Word of God. it got me thinking whether i should be in a theological studies program as opposed to the youth min leadership one i was in. being the lovely OCD-sufferer i am, i thought about it a LOT while in atlanta.

i've prayed about it and talked with people about it, and i've decided not to continue with the youth min leadership program. note: this does NOT mean that i don't want to do youth ministry! in fact, i imagine that i'll probably be "in" youth min til i grow senile. but i don't necessarily want to learn "tools" of the trade. i will likely never be a standard "youth pastor" at a church.

so, now what? i don't know. theological studies? they have it at NWC. writing? that's what i feel passionate about, but i don't know ...

part of me just wishes there were more TIME. i would love to have extra time to focus on God, Scripture, people, and learning. 24 hours, wow. please pray that GOD will show me what direction to go.

on a sidenote, i feel like i'm growing up. still crazy, just growing up.

oh, snow.

it's heeeeeere ...

i pretty much hate cold weather; i don't like bad roads and getting the bottom of my jeans wet. i don't like having to start my car 20 minutes before i leave somewhere.

so why was i feeling so happy tonight as i drove home sloooowly, pleased as punch to be a minnesotan?

:-)

blogging

why do i go through spurts where i never blog and times when i do everyday?

sweet minnesota

i'm home. i'm glad.

the past five days have been SO STRETCHING. i'll share more soon. in the meantime, you can pray for me. i'm not sure what i'm supposed to do with my life.

love,
jackie lea

my day

has been so long!!!

Got up at 6am; Linds took me to the airport. My flight was just fine, and the Atlanta airport was a piece of cake (so much for the warnings I'd heard!). My hotel is pretty great ... Southern hospitality, I tell ya! I picked up the phone and dialed the front desk, and they answered, "Miss Sommers, how can we help you?" Yikes! Haha!

I explored downtown a little this afternoon, nothing major. Tomorrow class starts! I hope I'm on top of things!!! Jesus, help!

How is everyone?
love,
jackie lea

tomorrie

atlanta.

pray!!!

love.

the update

LIFE! Augh! Crazy but I love it.

Here's what's up with me ...

Fall travel
Done! I've been on the road for most of the last month and a half, but I'm home again!

Grad school
Just one class: Thinking Theologically in Youth Ministry. It's going well so far, but I mourn a bit my evenings, which no longer belong to me. I finished my textbook last night (well, actually, I woke up [I'm sick] around 3am and read for about an hour, finishing it off), so that's good. Still, I have another assignment due this week, and then ...

Atlanta
I travel to Atlanta next Wednesday through Sunday for my on-site class. I've never flown alone before, and I'm scared. :-S

Youth group
Fabulous. Love those kiddos.

Church
Fabulous. Love North Haven. I've been there nearly a year now.

Jesus
More than fabulous. I adore Him.

hello?

anyone still read this? besides seestor? :-)

monday

i start grad school! pray!!!! :-)

grad school

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

i just booked my flight to atlanta in november for my first in-person, on-site class!

I'M SO NERVOUS ... AND EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

sigh

finished my harry potter book last night. and cried.

missed the characters today. cried again.

obsessed with literature? who, me?

thought you'd be glad to know ...

that i feel like i am RADIATING happiness right now. :-)

it's 12:43am, and i'm reading book 7, and i love my life, and i LOVE my LIFE.

thank You, beautiful Savior, for ... everything. Your loveliness astounds me.

my life as of late

if i had to sum up my recent life-activities in 3 words ...

work
Harry
Potter

money

ack.

life

absolutely crazy. but still wonderful. but still crazy.

soon i'll be traveling for work and life will (in some ways) settle down for me, so i'll be a more routine updater.

how's life for YOU? post a comment; i'd love to hear from you!

thanks for asking, luke ...

i did get my blood test results back, and they seemed normal to the doctor. since things are NOT normal, i have to go back. :-(

great day!

Hooray, today was lovely!

Details:
church at wonderful North Haven (i'm really thinking about becoming a member) and seeing the youth group girlies

lunch

work shopping

made banana cream pudding

washed the dishes

wrote my next draft of my story for writing group

read HP5 for a bit

went to Vespers

now i'm home, and i'm happy! :-)

writing all that down, i realize that that might not look like the greatest day to most people, but i feel SO productive! and, as i said, happy! :-)

if i could talk to eir, that'd complete my night!!

lifelight 2007!

hooray! i'm back in sioux falls for the lifelight music festival, fourth year running (for me)!

a bit of history: it was at lifelight last year that i began to be a consistent blogger. :-)

i'm excited to meet lots of great new sodak peeps! pray for me, des, rachel, and sarah, that we connect with lots of kids and have a blast! :-)

bed time

but i'm up posting on my blog.

i love my life. i DO wish i could sleep for about 4 days straight though.

love.

happymeal

doesn't a happymeal just seem like something a person deserves after having their blood drawn?

i didn't get one for myself, but something about it seems quite right.

i survived today, OF COURSE.

results should be back in a week or less. pray for me!! love love!

doctor tomorrow

and i am scared to have my blood drawn. hopefully they will discover what's wrong with me though! pray!

love love,
jackie lea

long time, no blog.

i'm sick. pray for me! i go to the doctor on tuesday.

lots has happened!

camp was fanTASTic! but of course!

i spoke for des' youth group in the mankato area.

whit had a High School Musical 2 party at her place last night.

i love my life.

35W Mississippi River Bridge

Today it collapsed.

This is the road I take to go to eir's house.

It is a bizarre thing to watch news coverage of devastation that has occurred in my own backyard.

My stomach feels sick, and when it begins to settle, I look at the TV screen and there it is again. This is about 7-8 miles from where I'm typing right now. My roommate was ON this bridge 2 hours before it collapsed.

Please pray! The death toll is up to 6 so far. I feel so sick when I think that I might know someone involved. I am watching Facebook status updates to see that my friends are ok.

circular?

i have been a consistent blogger for nearly one year now ... labor day weekend will mark the anniversary.

congratulations to me.

megs!

she's back in MN for three weeks for a med school rotation at the U!

huzzah!

we had dinner tonight with amanda; then they came over to my house and we looked at megs' africa pics and watched her camp videos.

WELCOME HOME, MEGS!!!!

emmaline!

i went to tracy's baby shower today, and it was lovely seeing her! i saw her for about an hour last october, and not since then, so it was nice to not only go to her shower but to spend a few afternoon hours with her at her parents' house too.

yay for old friends!

yay for baby emmaline joining us soon!

it's so waaaaaaaaaaaarm ...

blah blah blah.

write to me, people.

love,
jls

stunning

that's what jada was in her wedding yesterday.

sigh

i'm lonely for some of my friends right now.

twins, kiddos, and lana

My office went to a Twins game! This is me and Rhonda, one of our lovely student workers. Her eyes are not always like that.

Twins lost. :-(


My cousin Jim has four kids: Abby, Matt, Kate, and Tommy. Jim's sister Cathy has one: Liam. Liam and Tommy both turned one. We had a party. This is Matt.


My dad ("Uncle Tom" -- actually Tommy is named after him!) bribed the kids to hug him for $5. NO problem for Abby; she loves dad! Matt too. Kate ... hates everyone. All she had to do was shake his hand to get the money, and it nearly killed her. Notice how uncomfortable she is!!


Lana and I went to lunch!! We ate breakfasty foods at the Edina Grill and chatted, and it was LOVELY. Oh I love her so much! Afterward, we went to a couple stores, including Anthropologie, where we found this book.


Here I am, posing with "my" book.


Me and Lanners!!! She's soooooooooooooooo great!!!

i miss

eir.
camp.
whit.
dro.
kevy.
megs.
camp.
b'dewayne mcgirr experiment.
my mom.
eir.
camp friends.
rochester friends.
college friends.
tracy.
camp.
NWC peeps.
camp.
eir.

a 2nd go

today i sat by my friend anna (who just started working at NWC) during our weekly all-campus "Office Bites" get-together, and i had so much fun throwing out funny comments back and forth with her.

if you knew my story with anna, this would seem more special to you.

anna was probably my best friend my senior year of college, but we had a major falling out. we weren't holding grudges against one another, but we basically couldn't be around each other without fighting. i didn't go to her wedding.

just recently we started a writing group together, and it has been great having her in my life again. we had a great talk a few weeks ago where i got to apologize for being such a jerk. she said i didn't need to apologize again, but i wanted to, and she forgave me. it was actually pretty cool.

and so today, sitting beside her out on the nazareth veranda, quietly firing out these witty one-liners during a presentation, i thought about how FUN she is and i realize how BLESSED i am to get a second shot at this friendship.

pretty cool, eh?

blah, etc. (cont'd)

at least now i've gone jogging.

i feel bored.

i mean, i have more than enough to do, but i miss people. my life is more fun when i have opportunities to see my peeps.

b'dewayne. i have 7 meetings/intervies/appointments/etc. at work tomorrow. sigh.

blah blah blah blah blah

i miss peeps; there's not enough time in one day; i'm really tired; i need to go jogging; i want to write beautiful things.

and funny things.

backio.

today, back to the shanty.

tomorrow, back to work.

next month, back to CAMP!!!

right now ...
i miss eir!

i have quite a lot to do this week, and i feel a little stressed. i'll survive.

love love.

Sonshine!

Sonshine was a buh-LAST! :-)

i loved having so many of my worlds collide in one location!

sonshine

i'm there!

it's so fun!!!!!!

pray for us!

love,
jackie lea

update for chas

first of all ...



I GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL WITH THIS GUY! He's on Big Brother this season. And yes, Chas, I've been watching. It's so weird!

secondly ...

kevy is fighting forest fires in wyoming this summer after a year at Itasca Community College. found out today that it's not what he wants to do for LIFE, but he's enjoying his summer. GREAT KID. loves Jesus.

kristin is working in st. clizzy for Preferred Credit. i just hung out with her last weekend when we found Kev's stuffed squirrel "Slappy" -- we were sad that he left her for the summer, but mom told us later that it was INTENTIONAL so Slappy wouldn't get hurt or lost or something. HILARIOUS! tough firefighter, pshaw! ;-) Kristin's great. loves Jesus.

mom is great. loves Jesus.
dad is great. loves Jesus.

in general, i love my family and they love Jesus. and i love Him too.

life right now

yeah, i haven't been a very faithful poster lately, have i? sorry to my fans. hahaha.

things have been great. i went home for the weekend and hung out with my delightful family (sans kevy, who is valiantly fighting flames in western wyoming). i wish he coulda been there. we had fun swimming and chillaxing, and we took dad out for his bday/father's day (both late) on sunday. he wanted to go somewhere really nice, really fancy ... culver's. hahaha!

i got to visit with lana on the phone the other night, and that was lovely too (as is she). AND i talked to TRACY yesterday, who is mighty preggers with the lovely little emmaline. (btw, to update you on my other impregnated comrades: alison finally popped out shawn michael, stubborn little bugger, and bizzers' cutieface miriam is still chilling and maybe doing gymnastics in her comfy womb.)

more than you wanted to know, probably. as michael scott would say, "TMI ... too much information. i used to say, 'don't go there,' but that's -- pff! -- lame."

COMING UP ...

writing group tomorrow night, and PACKING for ...

SONSHINE thursday-sunday. i am kinda exhausted thinking about days of recruiting in the heat, BUT i'm really excited to see so many people i LOVE LOVE LOVE. IF YOU'RE THERE, STOP BY THE NWC TENT AND SAY HELLO!!!!

life seems so busy sometimes, like right now. i'm trying to cut back, actually, partly in preparation for grad school this fall. I'M REALLY EXCITED!!!

for those of you who are prayer warriors, please pray ...
for me and my Sonshine crew
for megan, one of my incoming students, whose mom was diagnosed with bone cancer in her jaw. there are a lot of kids in the family, and megan's mom is in texas for surgery right now
for hot springs, south dakota, and the fire there and for the other wildfires
AND
for the brave folks FIGHTING the fires, like my baby brother kevin whom i am SO PROUD OF.

love love,
jackie lea

4th of July

i had a WONDERFUL time in rochester for the 4th. whit's family took me out for lunch, and then later, the hemmers and dora and katie came over, and that was great! we watched the camp video (hooray!) and ate some good food.

then WES came over! YAY!

whit, dro, jill, kellie, and i went to the fireworks, and IT WAS SO FUN! dora, whit, and i made silly like comments and comparisons for every firework. :-) hahahahaha!

then we went back to whit's house, and WES came over again and played Apples to Apples with us girls for awhile! :-)

whit and i got brunch with wes the next morning too.

I LOVE ROCHESTER. I LOVE WHIT. I LOVE BEING AT HER HOUSE. I LOVE ROCHESTER FRIENDS. I LOVE THE 4TH OF JULY.

another good day!

work went very well, had lunch with my office at chilis (awesome blossom, extra awesome, hahaha), came home, read, went shopping for jada's shower, jogged, wrote a bit.

i'm going to go sit down at my desk and write s'more. fun stuff!

I'M SOOOOOOOO GLAD TO BE WRITING AGAIN!

sweet productivity!

I prayed that today would be productive, and THANK YOU, JESUS, it was!

I got a ton done at work, had lunch outside with my friend Anna, and went jogging tonight. I read some of my new book tonight, watered the lawn/played with the dog, and now am sitting down to write.

I miss people a lot. I miss my camp friends, and I miss the NWC peeps. I miss my roomie Des, and I miss my darling eir.

And my arm hurts.

BUT what a great day! :-)



P.S. Ten points to anyone who can tell me what tree it is that smells SOOOO GOOD outside!

faith restored

thank you, lovely posters.



i went back to work today after being gone more than there for the last two weeks. i feel behind. i'm still leading my team, but the distance between me and number two is down to just ONE STUDENT. insane, no? i'm going to lose.

(fyi, we don't actually FOR REAL compete against one another; we're a team. but we do have friendly competition. hee hee.)

tonight: finish cleaning my room (it looks great), maybe go to borders, jog?, write for a while. sounds good to me.

my sleep system is all out of whack after sleeping so much while sick and going to sleep late/sleeping in, so i'm forcing myself back into the swing of things.



i just ate ice cream for supper. i am so irresponsible.

i need affirmation

post if you read my blog.

sometimes i feel like i'm mostly just keeping a diary.

one more day

home from work, still trying to "rest off" that camp bug.

i sure do miss eir. and a lot of the old gang. i hope whit is having fun at camp right now.

i am re-reading the narnia books. they're so great.

i'm overwhelmed.

i wish

i could write poems as lovely as shells that glow.

i miss camp.

this past week, going outside in the evening has given me strange reminders of pine haven. sure do miss being there, my fellow counselors, and the kiddos. and being away from the "real world." i'll be back in august.

eir asked for camp stories. here's an excerpt of my email to her ...

I LOVED MY FAMILY. it was probably one of my top three families ever, we had so much fun. laughed a lot. I laughed so hard that my stomach and back hurt on the volleyball court one day. I haven’t laughed like that in YEARS. it was so good. our family’s name was “the b’dewayne mcgrrrrrr experiement: awkward flowers of Kuwait” -- please enjoy. there was a boy in our family named matt mcgirr who’d never been there before, pretty quiet boy, and he was one of our family mascots. it was soooo great.



erick klein and I talked on the dock til like 2am one morning. that was great.


whit and I prayed on the dock in morningside one day. nice.



my family’s lip sync was so funny (at least to me); it was like an aerobics video. I was on the low-intensity side and eventually fell out of my chair and “couldn’t get back up” but tried to keep up with the leader nevertheless. tay thought I was funny!!!! yay!



on thursday night, they had 90 minutes of a “response time” where they could visit different stations like “I serve” or ‘I forgive” – and I was one of like 8-10 faculty who sat in the commons area, waiting to talk to students. we stayed pretty busy. I got to have three good conversations that day. sigh. I love camp. and kids. but mostly Jesus.



I taught a class. it went fine.



gavy was there. he shaved one day and I kept saying, “There’s that baby face I love!” HAHAHA.



Andrew prayed in his family like this: “dearbabyJesus …”



andy Siemens looks grown up!!!! crazy how they change!



London impressed me with his maturity and leadership even though Kevin and jay weren’t there.



paige allen is gorgeous. so is Tanya hahn.



buncha kids talked to me about nwc.



I LOVE EMILY STRALEY. LOVE HER.



lesseeee …. oh I don’t know, lots of things. DORA was in my family! I love her. we went canoeing one day.



megs’ and my activity night went GREAT!

camp and cindy

these are two tiny samplings from camp and from cindy's wedding reception.

see more pics on my facebook account!

love,
jackie lea

hotel

and exhausted.

i drove 6 hours out to two rivers, wisconsin, today to see my darling friend cindy, and it was SO WORTH IT. it was so much fun. 6 hours with her, her GREAT husband ben, and her fun friends. very fun.

we ate, took some pictures, and we DANCED FOR HOURS!!! it was great.

again, pictures to come.

but for now -- sleep -- then tomorrow: back to the shanty to resume "normal" life. :-)

THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR YOUR MANY BLESSINGS.

and for Your mercy.

back

and exhausted.

it was great.

God is so lovely.

i adore teens.

pictures and stories to come.




but first -- sleep. then tomorrow -- cindy!!!! this will be the first time we've seen each other in 3 years!! I'M EXCITED!

(but exhausted.)

goodnight!

CAMP

oh my goodness! camp is TOMORROW.

I'm so overwhelmed!!!

I'm so excited to SEE PEOPLE and to hang out and to worship with Dro and Whit and Megs and Jon and Erick and Heather and Dani!!!!

I LOVE CAMP PEOPLE.

Wow, I had a great day today.
Tricia made french toast for me and Linds.
Went to 9th/10th camp meeting; was great, saw camp peeps!
Bec and Matt and Mir came over.
Went to London's grad party, fun!
Jeff and Alyssa came over.
Megs is BACK IN MINNESOTA, and STAYING IN DES' ROOM RIGHT NOW, and GOING TO CAMP WITH ME TOMORROOOOOOOOOOW!
great day, eh? tiring too!

Plus, somewhere in there i packed and bought a swimsuit and did loads of laundry and wrote a note for london.

I'm really overwhelmed but just gonna deal with stuff in the morning. There's still work to be done before headed to Long Lake.

Oh Long Lake! Long LAKE!!! I'M COMING!

camp.

so very, very soon.

i love Jesus.

goodnight.

sequels

aren't they so sad sometimes? especially when you just LOVE the original.

i'm still processing. The Last Unicorn is one of my top 10 books, and I just read the short sequel to it.

It's SO strange ... I felt happy to be with those characters again. I could hear their voices, and when they said or did things, I thought, "Oh yes, that's just like her," etc.

And now it's over, and as I said, I'm processing. I guess it was a good, fitting ending.

I wish there was more to read. I should pull out the original and be with them again.

i have good friends

i really do.

got it.

exhausting. hahaha!

unfortunately ...

now my profile is missing.

can anyone say, "jackie is not an html whiz"?

figured it out

and now my entries are left-aligned again.

and i can bear to look at them.

i hate that my entries are centered

but i haven't had a chance to figure out how i screwed up the template yet.

how are you all?

love,
jackie lea

camp is so soon!

megs and i have to finish prepping for our "Monday Night Madness" event --

and I have to prepare my class I'm teaching.

I worked on it tonight.

I'm so tired.

I am indebted to Christ.

full up?

you know i adore people.

but right now linds has a group of friends upstairs and i don't even want to introduce myself. doesn't that seem weird?

it's like ... i can only be close to so many people.


i am not putting this into words very well.



in the past, when i've met someone i truly liked, i've prayed that God would expand my heart to create room for that person.

do you think that's valid?

almost the (long) weekend

but not quite.




i love my youth group kiddos. love.

i love my roomies.

i love my fam.

i love my God.

i love my eir, my whit, my ash, my cindy, my megs, my trace, my biz.

i love my babies (cough, tracy's and becky's babies, TECHNICALLY).

i love my job.

i love my life.

i love my bed. goodnight.

selfish

i hate how un-Christlike i can be at the drop of a hat.

what a story

toilet plugged up ... bad.

4 roommates embarrassed to call their landlord.

experiments with an ace hardware "snake."

lots of clean up required.

right now

i feel like i am such an awful writer.

i tried to work on my poems this weekend, and i think i got some things accomplished, but sometimes i feel like i'm just working on the basic, elementary principles of writing.

i don't want to write like a college freshman; i want to write like a woman who has a bachelor's degree in writing.

sigh.

it's frustrating. maybe it's hard for you to enter into my frustration. some fields just have answers. English has DRAFTS. you keep working something til you think it's as right as it can be. very different than solving a math problem, eh?

anyway. nevermind. i'm just ranting.

love you!

productive day!

got up, went jogging (my deal with myself is that if i can jog 4x per week for 4 weeks in a row, i can buy an iPod) ...

ran errands

read outside for a long while, and talked to megs on the phone, planning activities for camp next month

tricia made french toast for dinner

watched a movie

now i'm going to work on my poems for awhile

LOVE!

question

can anyone see the pictures i've put above?

if not, maybe i did it wrong and i should just take 'em down.



my life is great. des moves in TOMORROW (basically).

i am only working a half-day tomorrow then going to stillwater with eir, whit, and whomps. then i'm gonna help des move her stuff in.

hooray!

Today

Kristin and I drive by a Caribou Coffee after church.

Kristin: Why does Caribou have a deer as its symbol?
Jackie: Uh ... it's a caribou ...
Kristin: That's a real animal?!




Today was great. Kristin and I went to Kimball and we tricked her into thinking Kevy couldn't come home for Mother's Day. We actually went out to dinner and were seated and stuff and there for awhile before Kev came strolling in. It was great.

I love my fam.

Love,
jackie lea

sista sista

kristin's staying at my house tonight. :-)

so many things

i love my youth group peeps.

i love my church.

i love my friends and my family.

i love my house.

i love my GOD.

i love my bed.

i love my roommates.

i love my life.

i love my mom.

i love my room.

i love my compassion peeps.

i love my camp.

i love my campers.

i love my job.

i love my opportunities.

i love you.

if you read this blog ...

i dare you to post a comment.

learning ...

i am learning to trust in my Father instead of worrying. i'll share with you a part of my conversation with Him last night ...

"help me to TRUST! help me to recall all the ways You've been with Your people, the ways You've rescued them and me, the miracles You set in motion and completed, the faithfulness -- EXTREME faithfulness -- You've always shown me. i am 25 years old, and You have SAVED me. i am Your daughter. You LOVE me. You have given me a loving relationship with You -- THANK YOU FOREVER. for Who You Are, I owe You praise! for Your salvation, i bow in humble gratitude, for Your rich blessings, i am speechless with thanks."

...

"all of this should combine into one huge pocket of trust in You. and i DO trust You, i DO. sometimes i think maybe my immediate desires get in the way of my trust ... "

...

"if [it cannot happen], let me trust You have other ideas, other times, other things in mind, and let my praise NOT SKIP A BEAT.

"for You are GOOD, and Your love for me is GREAT; Your power is mighty, and Your plan is perfect.

"so i want to praise, regardless of circumstances."


friends, if i am in your prayers, this is what i ask you to pray for: that I would TRUST my Savior.

love,
jackie lea

good, full weekend

but boy am i whomped now!

mmmm ... bedtime!

thank You, Jesus, for this sweet life You've granted me, the saving relationship You initiated with me, and the family and friends You've graced my path with.

my weekend alone

... has not actually been alone. :-)

tricia is in chicago, and lindsey is at the international house of prayer, and des has not moved in yet, so this weekend i was supposed to be alone.

which is very weird after living in a house with 7 other ladies.

let's see ...

last night, i went home, made myself dinner, organized my room, and read my book. then i got sick of being alone, so i asked whitney to come over. she did. then we went to meet tim and ash at perkins, but they got lost and we never saw them.

then today, i made lunch, and it was all gloomy and rainy, so i read my book out in the livingroom with a blanket, and then i got bored. i went shopping and bought my dress for cindy's reception, and now i am over at whitney's, blogging and watching High School Musical.

again.

hahahahaha.

tomorrow, church, then lunch with brookie, then heebers' bridal shower.

so i guess i wasn't alone as much as i had guessed. :-)

i love my life.

thank You, Jesus, for Your outstanding blessings, Your rich, rich gifts.

The Shanty ... remember, we're still moving in!

i'm still alive!

... just still busy unpacking!

LOVE the new place!

des is moving in THIS month now! hooray!!!!

i'll post pics of the house soon (once it's a little cleaner and more organized!)

how are YOU, blog world?
love,
jackie lea