New Chapter in TOMS :)

My first pair of TOMS are retiring after 3 years of faithful fashion and popular social activism duties.

These shoes have been worn a lot in the past 1,095 days.

They no longer have soles in them.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"

-Mahatma Gandhi

The thing that made me finally surrender my first pair of TOMS

was seeing my toes coming out of them.

Thats just not a good thing.

But alas, NEW TOMS!...

The problem is that they don't fit.

That's what you get for online shopping.

These ones are all awesome and new and not

as flimsy as the last pair.

They are the "Earthwise" TOMS that aided in building a well

in a village. They have maps of Africa on them.

One for One.

Here's the deal: I am reluctant and sad about returning these particular shoes because the maps that are on them are so relevant and full of so many memories. Sounds weird. Let me explain. On the top of the shoe is UGANDA, specifically Kampala and Lake Victoria. This is about an hour away from where I was this summer.

They also have Nairobi, Kenya on them

(not such a pleasant memory waiting in the airport for 24 hours, but still a memory).

The next TOMS will have new maps with new places on the top.

Sad.

But truly life goes on.

Grace

Oct 12-15 was "Seek Week" at CBU...

A time of intentionality in seeking after the Lord together.

Our theme this year was GRACE and we learned about it from Man's perspective, God's perspective, and how we illustrate grace in our lives through testimonies.

The prayer chapel was redesigned to be a guided prayer experience.

"A Walk Through Grace"

Grace for Salvation

Romans 11:6

"Now if by grace,then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace"

Grace for the Moment

Hebrews 4:16

"Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need"

Grace for Another

Romans 16:20

"The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you"

Grace Everlasting

2 Corinthians 9:8

"And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work."

Grace for the Kingdom

Romans 3:22

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Grace: Defined

"We've domesticated grace. We've made it prim and proper

when it is messy and unfair."

Who Says You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks? :)

When I get excited I tend to point my toes.

The origin of this quirk can be traced back to a childhood full of gymnastics. I was on a pretty intense competitive gymnastics team for quite a few years and our training was sometimes too intense for 10 year olds looking back on it. They would put mats on our feet and then sit on them for a while to make us point our toes better. When Garret heard about this, he exclaimed, "Where did you do gymnastics? Korea!?" Haha. It didn't seem odd at the time, but now it seems like a little much. It seems that each day I lose some of the skills I once had and it is not often at all that I get to learn a new trick :)

Last night while celebrating the lovely Jessica Collin's 22 birthday, she decided to place her wine glass on my pointed toes, and alas, it stayed.

So here is my new trick I guess... balancing wine glasses on my toes? Haha.

Who say's you can't teach an old dog a new trick?

The Philatelist

While some people cringe at the thought of being put "in a box" and classified as a certain type of person, I find it exciting. I tend to fit into those little boxes quite nicely (although there are times when they can't seem to find a word to explain some of the quirky things I do). I just can't seem to get enough of those Personality tests and quizzes that give you four letter combinations (ISTJ...in case you were wondering) or colors, or animals! How exciting to learn more about who you are and to find that you are not entirely and completely offbeat in your seemingly abnormal tendencies.

Well today I have found a new word. Not a test or a quiz. But a wonderful wonderful word that describes a fairly recent hobby.

philately |fəˈlatl-ē|noun- the collection and study of postage stamps.

DERIVATIVES philatelist- noun: one who collects stamps

Soo.... In case you were wondering (with my stamp collection reaching the daunting number of 400)...

I am now a philatelist. And I like the sound of that.

Three Weeks

Elias- "The Lord is my God"

Today we were blessed with our third week with Elias David Leland. His little personality is starting to come out and we are excited to get to know him as he grow up. My prayer is, as his name means, that he would grow up and the Lord would be his God and Elias would make God's Name known in all the world.

I am so in love with this boy.

I am so blessed to have his momma in my life. Love her :)

Yawning? Screaming? Either way it's adorable :)

This is just amazing. God has already blessed us in SO many ways through this little man. His smiles bring us joy and remind us that God is so good.

Three Weeks old and he is already bringin on the Blue Steel

Farmer John in his giant overalls :)

With Uncle Lui

This woman is beautiful inside and out. Elias is a lucky man.