Thinking like a kid.

I've been thinking recently about how being a kid was awesome. And how kids are way cooler than adults. A few reasons why...


Dandelions were beautiful to me when I was a little girl. I thought I had happened upon a rare gem of a flower when I got the privilege of seeing a bright yellow dandelion. I would pick them with great pleasure for my mom, a sister, or a friend. But then, I found out they are a weed, and that just changed everything. I came across one the other day coming out of work, and remembered the days when I would have stopped to pick it; instead of walking by, stepping on it, getting in my car, and rushing to the next thing. Bright yellow dandelions still are beautiful, even if they are weeds.  [Us humans are a little like that, huh? Maybe that's why God included the dandelion?]

Matt and I were at the beach today [it was gorgeous...SLO is just glorious on a day like today], and I stayed a bit after Matt to take some pictures, read, etc. I started watching this little boy and he was, to say the least, adorable. He said something to his dad, that started with..."Dad! Look at that...", and his dad didn't hear what he had said. His dad responded, "The waves?" The little boy, said, "No! Look at that...", to which the dad replied, "That boat?" Finally, the little boy, with sustained excitement, said, "Dad! Dad! No, look at the bird! Look at it!" You could tell he thought it was truly awesome. The dad gave a less than excited, "Oh, yeah. Look at the bird." What an adult response. That kid is on to something...birds ARE awesome! They do crazy things if you watch them [and we did today. Matt and I actually witnessed a full blown seagull gang war over a bag of stranded pretzels]. Birds fly super fast but can then land on the smallest surface on a dime. Birds are really awesome, and in the midst of the waves and boats and bigger and better things...thank GOD He made awesome creatures like birds. [Note: Matt and I just started reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan together and the first chapter is all about the awesomeness and creativity and greatness of our God. I would recommend it. It reminds you how amazing it is that God speaks galaxies into existence and sustains them, but also give caterpillars over 200 muscles in their head. Read it.]

And thennnn...I was sitting on the bleachers watching Matt's softball game this evening. Foul ball. Now as a little girl, I would have jumped up and ran for it as fast as I could so as to be THE ONE to reach the ball first and to get the honor of throwing it back to the umpire. This was definitely not my reality this evening, as I sat for about ten seconds, sincerely hoping that someone else was closer to the foul ball, and thus, the responsibility would fall to them. Thank God, as I was about to begrudgingly expend some energy and leave my warm blanket, a little boy swooped in and grabbed the ball, and with a big grin threw it back to the umpire. This was followed by the same run and grin back to his mom bragging about the fact that he had gotten to throw it back. Oh, the simple things. [Note: Matt played GREAT tonight. The guy has a cannon for an arm. I was a proud wife.]

At the Avila Valley Barn there is a small petting zoo...really not much, but there are some goats, lambs, a crazy looking pony, and an absolutely breath-taking peacock. We went this past weekend with Sunnie and Cory and enjoyed walking around, tasting samples, tempting ourselves to an icecream, and enjoying the sun. The petting zoo goes quickly though, not much to see, for us adults, anyway. But I was struck by one little one feeding some lettuce to a nasty old goat, with big and questionable bumps coming out his sides. He was SO enthralled, and kept looking back at his mom, as if to say, "Can you BELIEVE this?! I'm SO close to this goat!" We saw big, nasty, smelly, bumpy goat; he saw a dream come true. 

Christmas trees...[So, the next two aren't as recent, but I when it was Christmas and snowing on the east coast I thought about this.] Putting a Christmas tree up for a dad is a less than thrilling thought. Each year as a kid, in the process of putting up the old tree, we'd learn a few new words, if you know what I mean. This year, putting up our own tree for the first time, Matt and I realized..."this actually does kind of stink having to do all the work!" But as a child, it is magical. My sisters and I would be absolutely invested in decorating the tree for as long as it took. We would fight over who got to put the angel on top, and made an agreement to trade off each year. It was THAT big of a deal. As the years went on, our interest waned and we became less and less, "invested". The magic of the Christmas tree process wears off. There is still something about the Christmas tree that even adults continue to glory in, find absolutely necessary, and thus, ultimately worth the trouble. But somewhere along the way, adult eyes see the process as a chore, a necessary evil; and childish eyes are thankful they put then up anyhow.

SNOW. Enough said. If you are a kid, SNOW is AWESOME and so EXCITING. Snow equals no school, hot chocolate, snowmen, and snowball fights.  If you are an adult, snow means shoveling, treacherous roads, dressing your kids up in all their layers, and missing work. Funny the difference in perspective.  

This list is limited to a few situations I have come across recently, and is far from comprehensive. Maybe all this is silly to even think about. But, overall, I am just appreciating taking a step back and seeing things through eyes that aren't so adult. 


Don't get me wrong- I realize that being that same adult has its perks and there are a plethora of things that we can appreciate, love, enjoy, and delight in as adults that children cannot and will not until their eyes and perspectives have changed and they become "like us". I'm thankful to be where I'm at. I like knowing what I know and having this perspective.  But, Jesus loved children, and said we had stuff to learn from them. So, I guess I'm just pausing to enjoy the simple, childish things more often, while also thanking God for where I'm at. 

Though we are Sojourning...San Francisco!

It is really difficult to maintain consistency in this fast-paced blogging world. I honestly don't know how people do it! Blogging anxiety has fully returned, as my "easter musings" seem to have taken place eons ago. A LOT has happened in between, and the blogger in me must figure out what to report. Over coffee (I wish!), my tendency might be to share every detail, but for all of our sakes, here, I'll be semi-selective in what to share. 

I have been meaning to start a little mini-series of posts called, "Though we are Sojourning". 

Here's why: the name of our blog started to bother me one day. Not in a way that would cause me to go through the energy of brainstorming a new name, but in a way that I felt like an explanation was needed. You see, Matt and I are very much sojourning- passing through, staying temporarily, a vapor, here one day gone the next, made for a Kingdom not fully come...you get the drift. However, this life is so full of meaning, purpose, and glory that I would hate to make it sound as though we are just waiting for something in the meantime. No, not at all are we just waiting! Quite the opposite. Instead, BECAUSE we are headed to our real home eventually, we are freed, and I do mean completely FREE, to live out the fullness of that purpose, meaning, and glory, with boldness, sacrifice, tenacity, risk,  joy, and zeal. 

Jesus did. Jesus was God and he knew that after his short jaunt on earth he would be headed home- back up to the right hand of the Father, to glory, and eternity, and angels rejoicing, and all the other clamor and exaltation of Heaven. He was on a short mission, temporarily staying and passing through; and yet he did so with boldness, sacrifice, tenacity, risk, joy, and zeal...AND he did it perfectly. He was missionally minded and here with a purpose every day he lived in the flesh, and his life was radical and active and passionate because of it. 

And I'm so glad he set this example for us and asks us to pick up our own crosses and follow him. Because it helps us to know that although all the glories of Heaven are coming and we were made for them, our jaunt here is not a waste. Matt and I are on mission together...freed to follow Christ in living missionally, purposefully, with boldness, sacrifice, tenacity, risk, joy, and zeal. And though we definitely don't do that perfectly, in fact I'd so we're disgustingly human in our pursuit most of the time, we can and do keep going by grace. 

All that to say, Matt and I have decided work with Campus Crusade for Christ in San Francisco next year. And, thanks be to God, it matters! And we're really excited about it! You might say we left our hearts there...

We have been in the process of traveling, praying, thinking, talking, reading, and researching since October; knowing that it is time to leave our beloved SLO, head to a big city, and serve in a new way. From the beginning, we really had an interest and desire to work with college students, and yet we also wanted to be obedient to living out God's call to the poor, widow, and orphan. We are thankful that God has given us an opportunity to serve and minister to both students and the poor, to see souls saved and hearts changed for Christ, and then to show those souls the implications for their lives and ours- to labor for the Kingdom of God in loving, serving, and living among the poor, widow, and orphan. We are learning that San Francisco is a very unique city and the people who call her home follow suit. We have been encouraged and confirmed along the way that this is a place we feel like God wants to use us for next year and however long after that he wants us to stay. We have great expectancy that God is preparing a mighty work in this city and we really can't wait to be a part of it!

There is so much more to share, and we do hope we'll get the chance to over the next few months, but for now that is the latest big new for us!! A little over 2 months left here...and it's feeling like the beginning of the end for the SLO life.

Easter Musings...

I think Easter is the best holiday we, as in humans, have going these days...
I think mostly because I can't figure out a way that it's about me. It's not as tempting to cheapen Easter by making it about ME or US. And the only way that I could, is that I serve a personal God who lived FOR ME, died FOR me, and then resurrected FOR ME. Its refreshing that the only thing about me is that I find myself on Easter at the great mercy of the Resurrected King. 


If I may, I'd like to share a bit of what God has been blowing my mind with over this past Easter weekend:

"...God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-31

It makes no sense that God should enter the world as a baby, in a manger, with dirt and animals all around. It's shocking that when that same God-man grew up, he wandered for three years with no home, no where to lay his head, virtually a homeless man. It's confounding that God, in human form, should be despised, rejected, tortured, and betrayed by his own creation. It's wrong that God would hang on a tree, between two criminals to die a seemingly indiscriminate death between them. And, wow- God provided the Lamb, in the form of His Son, that would be slaughtered to cover the sins of his creation, as he first put into the plan way back at the first Passover...and a Lamb? An adorable baby, pure, cuddly cute lamb...to be slaughtered and to save people from the foe of death? And children...Jesus loves children and wants the children to come to him? And the poor, the widow, the orphan and fatherless, the voiceless and defenseless? Jesus, God on earth, identifies himself with these people- dines with, serves, and stops to notice these people. 

Everything about God and the way He does things confuses and offends our human pride that would so quickly like to rise up and be something special. We want to be first, when God says that the last will be first. We want to be the lion, and Jesus comes as the lamb. We want the big homes, nice cars, and bank accounts that help us rest at night, when God seems to be saying, "Don't you know that it will be harder for you to need me and know me if you put your heart and soul into those things?". Because God is, for such lack of a better word, so cool. He challenges everything about our human pride and consequence that would like to be better than God and not need God, and He does things differently, so that we can't boast before God. Lots of times, I would rather be able to boast because its just more natural to want to be the best. But when I allow God to truly change my heart and give me eyes to see him as He is, I am so thankful, grateful, humbled, overwhelmed, and overjoyed that this really is all about God, his kingdom, and the way he does things. And that he chose a girl like me and a boy like Matt, sinful and weak and offensive to God, and He, GOD, died FOR US, and then He invites us to be part of the way He does things. It's really all about Him. 

Thanks and Glory be to God!


So, of far less importance but still fun...
We had a really nice Easter. It started with the Good Friday service we attended at noon on Friday. On Saturday, Matt ran 18 miles...(what?!) to Avila Beach. Then I drove (shame, shame, shame) and met him there for breakfast. We did some exploring, picture taking, and beach laying, and then we stopped by the Avila Valley Barn for some ice cream on the way home. It was one of those days that makes you wonder if you really should ever leave San Luis Obispo. It's that beautiful and quaint and lovely. On Easter we were able to take a morning stroll and have a nice breakfast. We went to church and stayed for lunch provided afterwards. We love our church and are so thankful for how we have come to build ministry and relationships there. We respect our pastor a lot and appreciate that we hear the gospel every Sunday. It always seems hard to get out of there at the end of services- we both may have a bit of a long winded tendency :) Then we had our first annual St. Pierre Easter egg hunt. We each took a turn hiding eggs and then timing each other to find them. I won by 2 seconds...ok, shoot. I may have bragged and made it "about me" for just a second... :) We were invited over to the Pappas' house for Easter dinner and thoroughly enjoyed getting to visit with some friends we don't get to see often enough. We feel so blessed to know such stellar people, to be so well taken care of, and also to have each other. 


On tap for the upcoming weekend...San Francisco here we come! 


Enjoy some recent pictures...