Life right now.

Managing the cafe has been awesome. I really love it. I feel like so many of my skills & gifts are able to be utilized in this job. REALLY utilized--from waking to sleeping some days.

The cafe is such a ministry. I'm blown away on a consistent basis by the way God uses that place in the doing of his will and the coming of his kingdom.

We decided a few weeks ago that our summer hours would be 11a-11p, Monday through Friday. Having the weekends off has been wonderful. Today Keith and I actually took a Shabbat together. He packed up a Super Sandwich picnic for us and we took it over to Everly Park, which we now live across the street from. We had lunch and played a round of frisbee golf which I found to be, surprisingly, tons of fun. It was so refreshing being out among the trees & animals & birds, amazed at how creation tells stories of God. We just got to hang out with each other a lot today, and just be married. I'm so infatuated with Keith.

Keith and I are both obsessed with a song on the new mewithoutYou album called "The King Beetle On A Coconut Estate". Profound & seriously beautiful. If you haven't checked out that album yet, I highly recommend it.

Right now we're both sitting in our new apartment in quietness. Keith is working on his sermon for tomorrow. This is just so...nice.

So, to keep everyone in the loop, Keith is now the worship & youth leader at the Vineyard, and he's going to be preaching some Sundays. We live in the apartment building behind the church/cafe. It's going to be a year of diving into these areas of ministry we've always had a passion & a vision for: youth, music, teaching (Keith), and coffeehouse (Lindsay).

Our Five Year Bash has been moved to July 18th and it will be at my parents' in Bushnell. You're invited.

When I am.

Hold Me Near

Karla Adolphe

Verse:

Hold me near when I am restless

Hold me near when I am bitter

Hold me near when I'm rebellious

Hold me near until the end

Verse:

Hold me near when my heart is broken

Hold me near when I'm ignorant

Hold me near when I am jealous

Hold me near until the end

Ref:

But as for me my feet almost gave out I nearly sold my heart

It's good to be held by my Father it's good to be where you are

Tonight we hosted a show.

We hosted a really great acoustic show tonight at Aroma.  Andy Zipf, Damion Suomi, and Ben Harris.  Andy & Damion are on a national tour, and it was such a treat to have them make a stop here.  The place was packed, thanks in large part to Ben bringing a crowd with him.  Ben is our friend; a local worship leader.  He performed his own originals and a few covers.  Andy & Damion each had their own brand of really quality, passionate, indie folk.  Damion had a girl, Shivawn, playing fiddle with him: awesome.

I was nervous because it was my first time hosting musicians of that caliber who are on tour.  Everything went amazingly, though.  It was a beautiful night.  It was a beautiful conversation--the night at large was this beautiful conversation about love & God & the meaning of life.  You know what I mean? 

BFF Planning Committee.

We're having another BFF weekend, this one at Christin's in Peoria. We just had a big planning session for Keith's & my FIVE YEAR BASH this summer.
July 10th weekend.
Get ready.

Pathways to the Sabbath.

I'm sharing an excerpt from an email to Natalie. It's making reference to a wonderful sermon series from The Journey called Rhythms.

So today I had the special treat of Keith getting to join me for a sabbath, because the school has today off for Presidents Day, I think it is. So I had him listen to the first two of the series with me, so he could catch up. And I really appreciated hearing them again.

Right now, the pathways stuff is on my mind. What are your pathways? I was thinking about how the pathways fit into the sabbath; how the sabbath is a prime opportunity to pursue God via your pathway. My pathways I think are the contemplative, worship, and some naturalist.

But I definitely feel very alive and close to God while homemaking. Making a home. Creating a home. That's literally what is feels like to me--creative. Creating a sanctuary, bringing order, bringing beauty, bringing warmth & safety.

So back to how pathways fit into sabbath. Since I started getting really intentional about taking sabbaths it's been this journey of finding out what the sabbath means for me. If the sabbath was created for me, how can it best serve me? Anyway, I always felt like I should avoid housework on the sabbath, because it was work. And in all the sabbath stuff I've been studying, you hear about how women need a break from that stuff.

But for me in my life right now, I've been putting in tons of time at the cafe and totally neglecting our home. It's been a mess. And it bothers me because I want a home of peace & order. So, the one day that I'm home (sabbath) I feel like I should try to not do it, even if I really want to.

But I think I'm seeing that housework is a pathway for me. It brings me a lot of joy & satisfaction. Like I said, it's creative for me. And you know what? Just like Darrin was saying, that pathway leads into the others. Once my kitchen is clean I just want to sit at my beautiful clean table and read & write & look out the window! Once the floor is clear I want to put on worship music & dance around & sing or bow down on the floor. And I want to have people over to fellowship! Isn't that cool!?

So right now I think I'm deciding that housework is not off limits to me on my Mondays. Not that I should spend my whole day doing housework, but taking some time to clean things up will really edify me & my sabbath. It's totally a pathway to God. I'm really excited about this!

Oh my goodness, what beautiful music.

I just found my new favorite album:
Chair & Microphone, Vol. 3 by Enter the Worship Circle.

Oh.
My.
Goodness.
I am so moved.
This is profound worship. 

Who is Karla Adolphe?  I'm so thankful for her gift of these songs.

New blog recommendations.

Hey friends,

I wanted to recommend a couple of new blogs on the market:

• ruminations

• love letters

Instead of describing them here, I will let you go & see...

Enjoy!

Kansas City weekend.

Some of my BFFs and I had a wonderful weekend in Kansas City. We went out to visit Jensie, and to meet her new little baby Marlo. We also got the added bonus of meeting Natalie's boyfriend, Dave, and Meredith's friend Michelle. There were actually quite a few first time meetings throughout the weekend & I am praising God for all these connections among great people.

A good day in Chicago.

A good day in Chicago yesterday:

• Hung out with Lois; always edifying conversations.
• Met up with my big brother @ L'Appetito, just a few blocks east of the agency.  He was feeling a little sick, but it was great to see him.
  
• A casting for a German sportswear catalog.  I haven't been into Elite in a while, so it was really good to see some of the other models & agents.
• Lois & I went up to Wicker Park to see Stacy, the girl I worked with at the Bridal show.  We walked Stacy to work, then stopped by Cafe de Luca for soup & coffee.
  
• Fun time on Amtrak hanging out with the crew in the Cafe Car.
• A happy birthday phone talk with my big sister.

L.xo

Running Cafe Aroma.

Hey friends,

Cafe Aroma, where I'm working, is run by The Vineyard church, and the pastor right now is kind of the general manager. However, he has a lot going on, and he has started talking to me about taking on more of the manager role, so he wouldn't have to be concerned with the day-to-day business of it. I told him that I couldn't do it without Cathy, the amazing woman I work with (we complement each other well & make a great team), so plans are now brewing (pun intended) for Cathy & I to try our hand at running the cafe next semester.

L. xo

P.S. Brandon, thank you for your letter in the mail. I really liked it, and it helped me think through some of my blogging issues. I love old-fashioned mail.