Yellow Watches and Missions

This week is the 83rd Missions Conference at Biola. 

As lovely as it is to be without classes for the next three days, 

I feel even more blessed that I am in a place that 

seeks to focus our attention 

where God is focused.

The band United Pursuit is leading worship. 

This is my favorite song by them:

They played it this afternoon. 

So good. 

I love the image of climbing a mountain with hands wide open. 

I'm trying to learn what it means to open my hands more.

They pack a lot into this conference so I am trying to be intentional 

about making space to process what I am learning. 

When I am immersed in deepening my love and understanding of God, 

sometimes I forget that I am human,

that I have to stop

every now and then

to process. 

I love that God designed me to need space to 

process. 

The words intentional and process are two of my favorite words.

They're right up there with encouragement and joy.

I LOVE words. 

I love words that really really matter and make a difference. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night as I was falling asleep, I had a hankering for a creative idea. 

{Pre-sleep time is usually my most brilliant}

[Backstory] 

So I worked up at Hume Lake Christian Camps this summer. 

Besides being an incredible experience for my heart and soul and mind, 

I developed the habit of wearing a watch. 

There is no cell phone service up there and so 

watching it up

was the only way to get anywhere on time. 

After the summer ended, I kept the habit alive. 

I bought the CUTEST watch from Target. 

But then the band started to fall apart as I wore it ever so faithfully. 

[Flash-forward. ]

Last night, I decided to bring it back to life. 

I cut the watch head part 

{ummm anyone know the anatomy of watches?}

and then took a piece of yellow stringyish from

my favorite belt. 

And this is what happened

I'm pretty excited about it, 

as can be seen by my very expressive hand. 

I love yellow things. 

I love watches. 

I love Missions Conferences. 

I love Jesus. 

Because he first loved me. 

P.s. Do yourself a BIG favor and watch this,

she is one of my favorite people ever. 

I can't wait to hang out with her in heaven. 

{happy ears lead to a happy hearted Maddy}

Friendventures

What a week of friendventures!

On Wednesday I was blessed to spend the evening with my

dear friend Cari. 

We worked together up at Hume over the summer.

I started calling her "Cari-Lari"...

but now I mostly just call her Lari. 

{Isn't she lovely?}

She has such a sweet and beautiful and ever so spunky heart. 

She is such a ginormous blessing to me as she sits and listens and asks questions

 as I warble on about my life. 

We wandered to Starbucks and across my campus, exchanging words.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing all about the big transitions in her life. 

She is definitely an example of strength and consistency in 

the face of change,

revealing such a heart of obedience to the Lord's direction for her life. 

She also hand-made this for me:

and I am thoroughly obsessed with it. 

It is a case for my laptop, hand sewn.

It's thick and cuddly and protective and I very nearly slept with it the first night. 

I am so thankful that my computer is going to be cozy and safe

for his daily nap times.

Oh Lari, what a lovely lady!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday was a day for another friendventure! 

The day started and ended with my sweet friend/coworker, Rebecca.

We had been planning a day for thrifting for weeks and this was the day. 

We only hit up two stores, but our time was well spent and produced good results. 

I picked up some epic items that I am stoked to wear.

{I love clothes that require a process to obtain!}

Then, we ventured to Carl's Jr for lunch. 

Rebecca had never.been.to.one.

In my family, this is a very big deal.

I told the cashier that it was her first time and the sweet lady

FLIPPED out.

She was really excited for Rebecca.

I had a good chuckle over that.

Rebecca was clearly WAY stoked too. 

{She was quite delighted by her lunch, lemmetellya.}

We polished off our lunch with the new yummy dessert at Carls.

It's the oreo cookie ice cream sandwich!

{I have consumed a copious amount of these sweet treats in the last week, it's bad.}

What a phenomenal sweet invention.

Just like friendship is a phenomenal sweet invention.

{Good one, God}

Created/Creative/Creator

Whilst vacationing with my wonderful family 

in Arizona last week,

I spent some time with my ever so artistic Aunt Linda. 

She makes the most beautiful quilts. 

It was so pleasant to sit with her and listen 

as she shared about quilting and crafting and creating. 

Each of these processes requires so much

love

and a deep appreciation for

beauty. 

When I came back home, 

I decided to buy some yarn and crochet some hats.

Then I started making headbands...

I love the yarn that I bought

{even though it's almost camouflage-y}

I feel a snatch like a hippy 

but

curly hair seems to be all about being loose and fancy free

and sometimes it needs to be tamed by a headband. 

It is just ever so fun to use

the mind and hands and glimmer of creativity

that God has blessed me with

to actually create something. 

I love finishing a project like this and then 

pausing

to look at it, really study it.

This may sound ever so silly...

but these moments of 

pure delight

that I feel when I make something

cause me to look at the world differently.

God must have been so stinkin' stoked

as he created the earth. 

His delight in his creation of everything,

especially his people,

must be so incredibly vast. 

It makes it a little easier to understand

how He delights in me. 

I am his created one.

"When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?"

Psalm 8:3-4

{thoroughly delighted is this Maddy-heart}

Accountabilidice

This upcoming school year I get the joyful privilege of rooming with an amazing young woman.

Her name is Erin Whitlow. 

 I call her Rinny.

She is in my Torrey group at Biola and became one of my first (and dearest) friends this last year. 

I am SO EXCITED to live with her.

I get really slap happy giddy dancey joyful every time I think about it!

I'm stoked to get to know her heart better and learn how to encourage

her and love others better because of our friendship.

A few months ago I was trying to figure out ways for the two of us to stay connected

 in the midst of the craziness of our semesters. 

I was falling asleep one night ((this is the time that I become brilliant))

and I came up with the idea of the accountabilidice. 

Dice are hard to paint!!!!

Basically, you roll the di and the number corresponds to an accountability question.

These questions ask things like, "How did you love someone well today?" or

 "What fruit of the spirit 'themed' your day?" 

There are some lighter questions as well, like "What was the theme song of your day?"

We'll switch out questions when we feel like it to keep it fresh and interesting.

These little dice will sit in a jar/bowl on our coffee table (my trunk) in our room.

They will remind the two of us to challenge and encourage each other daily.

They will cause us to intentionally sit together and examine our hearts, minds, and souls. 

On days when we won't have time to sit and do this, the dice will be

 reminders to us to examine our hearts on our own. 

I'm so thankful that God has placed a friend in my life whom I can be held accountable to...

even with a silly thing like painted blocks. 

((so stoked to grow is this Maddy))