don't forget to clean up the popo.

I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.
But I also believe that when the Holy Spirit leads you to give up coffee for an unspecified amount of time, it's ok to have a mini Reese's cup at your desk before 9am as a little pick-me-up.

Today, I woke up with 2 bug bites. One on each kneecap. How does this happen?

So much for a restful weekend. You know, getting over a cold, wanting to rest up some more just to be sure.
Fail.

Friday night, I went to Erica's Orphan for a Night event - it was beautiful. It was small and intimate, but still super powerful. Jim Trick is awesome. And I want to take voice lessons with his wife. (i just gotta find some time and money - i'll be checking the couch cushions tonight) And I love that the Holy Spirit shows up even when there's just a few of us. You don't need the multitudes for a power hour. We sat on cardboard boxes and were surrounded by candles. Humble, yet elegant.

Saturday, I slept in too late (because I had gone to be too late), but was pretty productive for the day. Got laundry done, took care of someone else's dogs (more specifically, 2 bulldogs who live in the same home but cannot be in the same room together - joy.), cleaned my room, and then messed it up again as I started but still have not completed the transition from summer to winter clothes. Then I babysat and afterwards caught the tail end of a clam bake with the Puz's. (shoutout to Nicole, who is undoubtedly reading this blog with bated breath - she lives for the updates on my life. but come on now, who doesn't?)

Sunday was our long-awaited apple picking day (pictures to come), which was lovely, but also turned into a rousing game of "How Many Loops Around the North Shore Can We Do?" Drove out in the morning to the farm in Ipswich - weather was great, apples were great, friends are great, taking photos is great. Cider donuts are fabulous. Then we drove way out to Guitar Center. Then we went to take care of the dogs - while my lovely friends waited in the car - and back out to Not Your Average Joe's for lunch.
I. Was. Pooped.
So Elisa and I passed out on the couch for a short while before rounding up the troops for church - where I wasn't leading for the 2nd weekend in a row because I had been sick.
But lookout, world. We are gonna melt some faces off next week. Get pumped.
Then some peeps came over after church to make apple sauce and crisp and do some "Navigate reading" - where I stayed up too late yet again. Now it's Monday morning and i'm dragginnnnnn...

Wait, what? How did that second piece of chocolate end up in my hands.....?

Davy Jones goes to seminary.

 

 

When a guy comes up to you on September 24th and starts a conversation with, "Valentine's Day is February 14th," how exactly do you respond to that?

Here is a list of possible responses that I have compiled, should this ever happen to you:

 

1) **blank stare**

2) Sure is....do you have any plans? **wink, wink**

3) So?

4) So THATS why I can't get a reservation anywhere.

5) Ugh, don't remind me.

6) Yes, but my love for you lasts all year long.

 

I went with a combination of 1) then 3) and then he proceded to tell me that I was wearing a red shirt.

Well, silly me. I should have known better than to wear a red shirt in September. I bet he gets real angry 'round Christmas time.

 

Tally of celebrity sitings at GCTS:

Mark Wahlberg works in the cafeteria.

Davy Jones (of the Monkees, not Pirates of the Caribbean) is a student.

 

mark wahlberg works in the cafeteria at the seminary

i'm sick.

i said to the doctor on Monday, "i think i'm getting sick"

and she said, "yep, you are. isn't much i can do about that"

so i've been pumping myself with water, zinc, vitamins, and lots of extra sleep.

 

In addition to the sickness, i'm still not drinking coffee. I've had several thoughts today about how my sinus headache would be slightly alleviated by some nice, dark caffeine. and i'm still not watching tv (ok ok, i snuck in a half a movie the other night when the sick started creeping in - but just half of one while i ate dinner then went to bed). And i'm still waking up at 6am every day. but this has been the week of 9:30 bedtime and i like that.

Boom Shock.

 

I'm strugglin to find interesting things to write about. Going apple picking this Sunday (if i'm not super sick) and can't wait to take pictures. I might be more excited about the photo-ops than the apple picking itself. Oh, and the hayride. And the cider. And the apple cider donuts. And making applesauce. Ok, i'm excited now.

 

Also, my brudder is turning 17 in November and has never been on an airplane. I think i'm gonna fly him up for the Needtobreathe concert and tour him around the city, then force him to play guitar at church on Sunday. Brilliant plan if I do say so myself. except for the fact that it means missing the weepies concert

 

i've got that ridiculously annoying itchy feeling in my nose. and the whole rest of my face.

 

we went on our navigate retreat this weekend, which was fabulous. who doesn't love being out in the woods all day with your best friends, throwing on a dress in 2 minutes, and being taken out to dinner at the yacht club? not this kid, that's for sure. it was lovely.

 

what is also lovely is the fall. i am in love with the in between seasons. I think its mostly the air. you can smell everything that nature is doing. and i don't like extremes, so its a nice blend of everything. so apple picking it is!

my bedroom is a vortex for smell. good and bad. when fletch is cooking in the kitchen and i can smell it stronger in my room than the kitchen, it's nice. but when neighbors are smoking various things on the porch, it's not so good.

 

mark wahlberg works in the cafeteria at gcts.

andrew ripp is the president of a new club i like to call,

"No Freakin' Way, Man. Ain't No Way We Lettin' the Devil Have All the Good Music"

 

This is a miracle.

I only hit the snooze button once today. I climbed back into my bed for 5 more minutes, then when it when off again, I turned off the alarm and went to the shower at 6:05am.


This is a miracle.

Now, I did it groaning and grumbling the whole time. But God, I just love my bed so much. Can't I just go climb back into my bed for a few more minutes? It's just so cozy there...

But I had resolved to wake up when my alarm when off. I've resolved to do that practically every day since high school, but always seem to forget that when the alarm starts buzzing. But I did it today (almost) and actually got going without wasting another half hour in bed. And you know the reward? I realized that when i'm done showering, making breakfast, and go back to my room, I get to climb BACK into bed to read. That, my friends, was the quite the enlightening discovery. So I climbed back into bed to read for Navigate, read a few other passages I felt led to, and then gotdressed and got going with my day.

AND i'm doing this all without coffee. I've had a dull headache since Saturday, my first day without it, but i'm getting through. I'm praying that this isn't a forever decision, but coffee was just starting to consume my thoughts in a way that was not healthy. Where can I get it? When can I get it? Should I leave early so I can stop to get some? Do I have time before work to make it?

Not. Healthy.

So I bought some delicious decaf Apple Cinnamon tea so that i'd have something yummy and warm and fall-like to drink in the mornings. I keep it in my desk at the office, and now that everyone can smell it, they know it's here. Let's just say i'll be making some friends real soon. Between the tea and the lemon-raspberry cookies I brought in today, i'm practically famous.
In other news, we officially have tickets to see Needtobreathe in Boston in November. This is the 4th time i've attempted to go see them. This is the 2nd time i've actually had tickets. Let us hope and pray that it actually happens this time. The Jesus-shaped hole in my heart has been filled, but the Needtobreathe-live-in-concert hole has been screaming at me for a year now. The time has come, Bear Rhinehart.

Also, I officially exist at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary because my nameplate was finished and has been added to the sign on the door outside of my office. Lovely.
So many good scriptures i'm clinging to today. Don't worry, i'll share one:

The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor. The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly. Isaiah 60:19-22
 
 
in honor of the tickets....

i wear a demeanor made of bright pretty things.

It's great working in an office where people want to know what you did over the weekend, but not when you're someone who consistently blanks on that question.

"Good Morning, Jenna! How was your weekend?"

"It was great, thanks!"
"What did you end up doing?"
"..........Great question. I don't remember. Let me get back to you."

 

It WAS a good weekend, though. I've been a bit disconnected because the hard drive on my Macbook died and i've been either using my work computer or Elisa's computer for email and such, so not really keeping up with my normal blog-o-rama. But that has been fixed, and I shall now share, in great detail that no one will actually be interested in, what exactly it is that I did this weekend.

 

Friday night was taco and hang out night at Becky's new place with lots of new Gordon Conwell friends...it was awesome to have good food and get to know some new people. Activities involved eating, talking, and walking to the beach. A brilliant evening.

 

Saturday I got b*fast with Sara, she helped me go get my Macbook fixed (wonderfully simple and free because I have AppleCare, but also a little sad because it means I lost everything on my old computer), we wandered the mall briefly, said hello to Miya and family, scoped out an old building that is for sale (always on the church hunt), and went back to her place to steal Josh's guitar. Sara time is always good time in my book.

Then I planned some more for worship before finding the deal of the century. I've been wanting a chair for my room for the longest time, and this weekend I finally found the perfect one. Leave it to Savers to SAVE the day. (I crack myself up) It was $25 and it's green and brown and perfect for my room. Then I got a $25 full sized bookshelf, something every grownup needs, and threw a party. Actually, I joined some others for a party of playing trains. We're addicted to Ticket to Ride.

Sunday I woke up and built my bookshelf, rearranged my room, prepared for worship, and went to church. It was my first Sunday as the new co-worship leader. This is a transition that has been brewing for a little bit of time, but is actually something i'm now able to share about clearly.

 

After lots of prayer and decision, we're making a shift at the harbor to a transitional period of myself and josh booth co-leading the worship ministry. josh will be handling mostly the sound aspect of things, training other sound people, leading occaisionally, etc. I will be seen more on the musical end of things, planning and leading worship this week. It has definitely been an interesting few weeks of processing and praying about what this time could look like after coming out of a time of such exceptional worship pastoring from sturg, but i'm excited that things are finally somewhat "set" and we can sit back and dream and scheme for a while. now that things are pretty more in place, i'm feeling  the freedom to get excited and really vision-cast for this season.

 

So that was church Sunday - I introduced a new song and met a new baby, and then we hung out at my house afterwards with Chinese to bid Sheralynn goodbye. The crazy fool moved to california yesterday. so pumped for her adventures.

Yesterday, i slept in nice and late before Elisa and I drove to Maine. We went up to the LLBean in Freeport, wandered the outlets a little bit, took some silly photos, wandered down to Portland to do the same thing, then stopped at her parent's house for beach pizza on the way back home. It was a gorgeous day and i'm hoping I got some ok photos.

i like this one.

We didn't even go inside. After the LL Bean outlet, we just wern't all that impressed. But we DID need a picture with the boot. 

Portland, ME.

Portland and LLBean.

 

Now back to work. Back to the daily grind. lol - students are all coming back, orientation is this week, and i'm excited to keep meeting new people. Dash's wedding this weekend, and Navigate starts up on Wednesday.

 

i love life.