i'm honored.

I was asked to be the keynote speaker for a week of camp.

But that's a big deal ... and a TON of prep work ... five messages!

And I'm VERY busy working on a novel.

Thoughts, anyone?

oh my goodness, i'm in love.

this is emeline grace, the daughter of my college roommate tracy.

she's two and AMAZING.

don't you just love this picture?? me too.

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.