Guest Post: Sydney of The Tightrope

Dear lovely readers,

Today I'm having a guest post!  Get excited because it's by Sydney!  You, my friends, are going to fall in love with her.  I'm just warning you.

*     *     *

Hi all you lovely people!

I’m Sydney. I write on my blog The Tightrope. And I’m kind of funny (not to gloat or anything).

And I think Jesseca is pretty awesome and I am extremely happy to be able to be on her blog today! My fingers are getting excited just thinking about writing for her! 

Anyway.

To play off the title of said Jesseca’s blog, I thought I’d write about finding my wings.

Dig in.

When I was younger, I was quite cute. Observe:

I was also quite daring.

Once upon a time, my sister, brother, cousin and I decided to test out our parachuting skills. We figured that 

our G-ma’s shed would be the perfect place to experiment. We climbed up that tall shed, shook out our sheets and garbage bags, yelled GERANIMO! And…

Hit the ground.

I couldn’t breathe for the whole of five minutes (and we all wonder why I’m so scatter-brained… the huge lack of oxygen to my brain at age eight).

Point? I didn’t find my wings today, I found out what dirt tasted like.

I figure the same goes for God. Sometimes, we climb up onto sheds and places we shouldn’t be, use our home-made parachutes and jump off only to meet a whole lot of pain.

Instead, I say we just let him grow our wings for us. Let’s be ugly ducklings for a while so we can grow into swans with beautiful wings, able to soar.

Isaiah 40:31 says:

“Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. They shall soar high on the wings like eagles…”

It doesn’t say we’ll smooch the ground, it says we’ll soar IF we trust in the Lord.

So what do you say? Come fly with me? 

"How do you hide a park like this?"

Last night, Sydney and I had an adventure.  After a dinner of quizno's and ice cream, we stumbled upon this gorgeous little park nearby that is nestled deep within a neighborhood.  Seriously, I bet you thousands of people pass by there everyday and no one even knows it's there.

What matters is that we know now.

After some outfit pictures in the sun, we walked down the path, jumped over the stream, and sat on the riverbank for a long time, just talking.  I.  Love.  That.  Girl.  Oh, and isn't she just gorgeous?!

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm slightly obsessed with pictures that have the sun directly in them.  Oh well, maybe it's just a phase.

Everyone has something...

...to give.

Maybe it's the way your lyrics express the inexpressible.

The joy you find in decorating tables.

The way your heart breaks for the hurting.

The way you bring peace into a room.

The way complete strangers pour their heart into your hands because somehow, they know you'll care.

Your skill at planting breathtaking gardens.

The way you can take any problem and make it better.

The way you can see inside a child's heart and make them feel like the most important thing on planet earth.

It doesn't matter how small your gift is...it doesn't matter how big.  YOU have something the world is waiting to receive.  So what's stopping you?  Go out there and live your passions!  Nothing is as satisfying than seeing your gifts change a life.

Don't forget the towels.

Today, I went to the water park with one of my very favorite people in the world.

We remembered everything: our sack lunch, our water bottles, our coverups, and our sunscreen {it may or may not have been tanning oil for somebody's horribly white legs}.

We just forgot one thing: the towels.  Didn't even cross our minds.

Until, of course, we walked and realized that what gets wet must be dried, and towels typically speed that process.

Some really kind people ended up lending us a couple.

Seriously, though.  Who forgets their towels when they go to the pool?

I was going to post some pictures...

...but that didn't happen.

It still takes me over 10 minutes to get the pictures from my camera and published to the world.  Any tips?  Anybody?!

Regardless, today was a great day.  I have a wonderful father.  And brother and I had a wonderful day with him.

If you ever happen to stumble upon the tiny town of Idaho Springs, Colorado, you are henceforth required to go to Beau Jo's Pizza.  Okay?  Kay.

I will {hopefully} post some pics tomorrow.

But until then...so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night!

I officially conquered my to do list today.

To do list:

• Go to bank.
• Apply for passport.
• Pick out and order new glasses. (and end up paying only $8.08.  ohhh yeah.)
• Have a lovely outdoor lunch.
• Add "go golfing" to bucket list. (since I never add on to it on Wednesdays anymore...)
• Do all of the above with Mom.
• Take awkward outfit pictures of myself.

Check.  Times seven.

Tee: Urban Outfitters (last year).  Vest: thrifted and redesigned.  Shorts: handmade.  Earrings: Steinmart.  Sunglasses: Payless, $9.99.

Yay for summer!

Head's up!

Dear readers of my blog,

There's a guest post on its way.  Brought to you by a lovely individual I love very much.  So stay tuned!

Also, if YOU happen to be interested in guest posting, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.  This is gonna be fuuunnn...

Love,

Jesseca

A child in awe of You.

     He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing.  At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor. 

     "Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said.

     I stood up and tugged at it.  It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.

     "It's too heavy," I said.

     "Yes," he said.  "And it would be a very poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load.  It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge.  Some knowledge is too heavy for children.  When you are older and stronger you can bear it.  For now you must trust me to carry it for you."

     And I was satisfied.  More than satisfied   wonderfully at peace.  There were answers to this and all my hard questions   for now I was content to leave them in my father's keeping.

Quote from The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.  Read it.  It'll change your life.

________________________________________________________

We like to have all the answers.  We want to have a solid 10-year plan for our lives with every little detail planned out.  We want to know why this happened and when that is going to work out.

Why am I here?

What's my purpose?

Where do I go?

What do I do with my life?

Can't you talk to me, God?

The questions go on and on.  But when will we trust Him enough to be content with Him, even without the answers?

The God of the universe who continues to give us breath every morning has all of the answers.  There isn't a single answer He doesn't have, no matter what it is.  Yet He knows just when we can handle knowing the answers.

If He never gives you an answer again and you live the rest of your life only blindly clinging to His hand, will you still love Him?  Will you continue to be in awe of Him as a child is in awe of his father?  Will you continue to give Him your life when nothing makes sense at all?

He is more than enough.  Just to be with Him is all we could ever want.

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Matthew 6:33

Let's party!

What is the pretense of this celebration?

Well.

A:  It's utterly, undeniably, unofficially {it's not June 21 yet},  summer.

B:  My ring is done!  It's GORGEOUS!!!  I am so happy I could just dance!

and C:  I finally have a picture for my blog background that I actually took.  Therefore, my blog is no longer {quite as} generic.

So.  I think we should party.

P.S.  Want to hear the story behind the band?  When I was eight or so, I bought this ring at a bookstore and wore it all the time for awhile.  Then just recently, I started wearing it again for no particular reason.  Well, when I went to the jeweler's to see how they could reset my diamond, the guy was like, "We could put it in that band you're wearing!"  So that's what they did.  And I am so utterly happy about it.

We have this fish...

I'm telling you, people.  We have a fish that's older than Methuselah.

Once upon a sunny summer day a long time ago, Mom, Brother and I had gone to Wal-Mart to buy some fishies.  On this particular occasion, I had worn a lavender polo dress because it was one of my favorites.  I had a pink one too.  Ahem.

We went in, picked out 4 or 5 fish, then held our bags of fish whilst watching some festivities going on outside the store.  I remember a sumo wrestling match...?  The kind where you put on that awkward costume thingy and wrestle another person in a matching suit.

{I'm not certain why I remember all those details... Weird?  Maybe.}

After that fascinating event, we came home and put our brand new pets in a matching-ly new tank, happy to have something exciting to occupy our imaginations.

That, my friends, was around 8 years ago.

Many a fish have come and gone {rest their little souls} but Mohican has stood the test.  He still swims around his little house day in and day out, never skipping a beat or a meal.

Oh, and he's about this long __________. {actual size}  That's right, our 8-year-old fish is no more than an inch long.

It seems like these warm summery days have brought me dozens of childhood memories.  Perhaps it's the sunshine, or maybe it's just the fact that my life is in a major transition.  No longer am I a student of scholastics, but rather a full-time student of life.  It's exciting, invigorating, and fascinating, and of course hard at the same time.  But the things you have to work the hardest for are often the things you end up treasuring the most.

I had a little too much fun with the next one.  If there really was a movie coming out on June 21 starring me, I think you would've already heard about it.

Sit.

Sometimes He just wants you to sit.

Don't say anything.

Don't move.

Don't try to figure Him out.

Don't try to figure yourself out, or your situation, or your fears, or your feelings.

Just sit.

__________

"Be still, and know that I am God...." (NKJV)

"Step out of the traffic!  Take a long,

loving look at me, your High God,

above politics, above everything." (MSG)

"Let be and be still, and know

(recognize and understand) that I am God." (AMP)

I wish summer days were still spent like this.

Don't you?

This week I:

• Enjoyed ice cream three times.  On different days, of course.  It's summer, baby!
• Officially got two jobs.
• Shopped more times than I care to remember.
• Sent my diamond in to get reset!  It'll be a solitaire set in a simple band I already had.  I can't wait for it to be done!
• Saw Morgan every day except Thursday {and had lunch with her twice}.
• Went to a hoppin' estate sale down the street.  It was weird poking around in somebody else's house...with everything for sale...it was old and smelled of cigarette smoke...I *ahem* didn't buy anything...
• Started an email address for my future husband, so I can send him videos and music and whatever.  I already have a journal for him, but this is stepping it up a notch!  I was inspired by this commercial for Google Chrome:

I hope you've had a great week {so far} too!