no time to recover just GO

Posted by Teen Bean

so wow it was great having two weeks off of work and then with getting engaged over that time... i almost forgot what i was doing with life...


but thanx to a heavy dose of reality this monday has reminded me the incredible journey i get to go on...

with my first school assignment requiring me to read 200++ places and write a case study on children in poverty, starting back to working full time, cringing at the fact that i still have 4 library books i want to read through, and preparing to play host again when my cuzzy come for a sweet visit...

there is no time to ease back into anything but just a quick moment to punch the Go button and be shot out like a torpedo into this fall...

major tasks at hand

#1 Don't drowned in homework
#2 Plan a wedding
#3 Write a thesis (i think this should be number two.. but you know... the wedding will always be my guilty pleasure!)
#4 Invest in the community house we call "Love Sack"
#5 Convince my boss to give me holiday over Christmas

so you know... nothing to big or anything...

Dear Baby Jesus

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xx
Beanie Burnie

community house

Posted by Teen Bean

so its a done deal. we have signed a lease and i am all moved into the new community house. I kinda forgot how exciting it is to move in with people... especially people that you like. The buzz in the house already has lots of energy.


people are in and out all this week. but we really are enjoying getting settled. we spent the first part of our evening last night just handing the house over to God and asking him to involve our little community the best way he could...

we really have no idea what our community will look like or how it will express itself, but last night there was definitely a solid foundation laid for my roomies and I to start exploring the best way to love God, to love each other, and to love the world.

on a slightly sadder note. Steve's six weeks in america is up today. I had to go to the airport with him this morning and brutally say good bye to him. By far this was the hardest. My heart very much felt like it was being torn in two.

I cried a lot, but more then ever i am convinced that what steve and I are about to be involved in this year is for the best... not only for us as individuals, but for us as a couple as well. It will be hard, because as of now we probably wont be able to see each other until April. :(

but I am convinced that God has got us and where we are meant to be is me in seattle and steve in England... regardless the good bye was tearful and gut twisting.

more pictures of the community house soon... i promise!

bells are ringing!

Posted by Teen Bean

so basically i just am one of the happiest girls ever!


on Friday August 13th 2010 Stephen James Lawton asked me to be is wiffy!
amide much tears and hugging and laughing i managed to say yes and let him slip a sparkly pink ring on my finger...

in the weeks that have followed i have overloaded steve with questions, comments, concerns, and ideas for how we can manage to have a wedding celebration...

to say the least its no surprise he is a bit tired...

but lucky for us... i NEVER GET TIRED!

let the wedding plans commence!

vacations

Posted by Teen Bean

vacations are well good. steve and i decided that a bit of his last few weeks here we would spend vaca-ing it up. we decided camping was our way forwards sense ...


a) we are broke

and

b) steve meet a man we call friendly Jeff that would loan us all our camping gear

double score!!

we left on tuesday. drove up to Anacortes, Wa and caught the ferry there to the San Juan Islands... talk about gorgeous. we stayed at one of the most friendly little camping resorts. we put up a tent, we made dinner, we swam in a lake, we even went for a canoe adventure.

we explored the island, watched for whales, got coffee, and made fire... we were regular wilderness explorers by the time we left.

then we hit up HWY 20 and wound our way through the cascade mountains.

TALK ABOUT B-E-A-UTIFUL!

we would be talking randomly and then both go "woahhhhhhhhh!" the blue sky, the tumbling water, the painfully scary walking bridge... it was well worth it.

we pulled up yesterday at our second camping adventure. in a town called Winthrop. Its a town all made up to look like olden day western towns. ahhhh we have had so much fun, yet again making fire, cooking food, putting up tents (haha minus us loosing a tent for a few moments when we failed to stake it down and the wind took her for a little walk... ahhh but we gott'er back... no worries!)

its nice to just have a little change in routine. a little break from the normal. just soaking in some sun and my super steve... before fall chases them away...

beanie bernie

hospitable justice

Posted by Teen Bean

so in an effort to explain community i am wanting to stand from the merged vantage point of hospitality and justice.


my question?

Can defining hospitable justice encourage more praying communities?

I've been reading books about St. Benedict as well as just tackling more books on justice. Today i am trying to barrel through a book on worship. hmmm this study for a thesis thing is like well serious!

Books

Posted by Teen Bean

so august definitely started the seriousness of me needing to read for my thesis. i haven't really put in proper time to reading and now i must that i must that i must...


as i begin my reading adventure, i have fallen more and more and more in love with the word HOSPITALITY.

there is such power to this word and such extreme distortion as well. I am trying to discover a true definition of hospitality. one that is sustainable, but honors truth. Can i find a way of describing hospitality as a form of justice?

I want to encourage people to engage in hospitality in the same way that St. Benedict went about hospitality, but i want to use word to describe it in a way that is really relevant to this generation. i want it to move peoples souls enough to make them want to engage in an intentional spiritual journey that can further transform their life.

i'm reading a book by Father Daniel Homan and Lonnie Collins Pratt called Radical Hospitality... that quotes,

"When we speak of the depth of hospitality, we are proposing something scary and radical. But it's worth the risk"

this type of statement just stirs me... the danger excites me and the worth entices me... this i want to be about.