A Few More Things.

1. My hair is oh-so-cute (can I say that?!) and SHORT! Thanks Beverly. A little plug: My friend Bev works at Dimensions studio in Vincennes. Go see her sometime. She cut it at church last night because I didn't have time to go in and see her...Then she made me go see Seth before I saw it myself. He started saying, "I like it!" before I had really even walked into the room. I love that man. He knows that you don't mess around with compliments when your lady gets a new haircut. Or haircute. baha. Go tell him to blog, dang it!! Blog outrage.

2. I did not look around to see who was watching, but I can almost guarantee the CFO or the VP of the University was walking by at that precise moment that the gushing geyser got me in the face. Why do I instinctively know this? Because I'm "That Girl..." and I can't have a dumb moment without the world watching. And I'm my own worst enemy because even if they miss it, I still tell YOU, Good Blog Reader.

3. Many thanks to Mandy Ash who sent me a way cute e-card for Pastor Appreciation Month. Who totally thoughtful and much appreciated!!

4. My Uppercase Living SOIREE is tonight. I like using soiree because it's so much more fancy, don't you think? Anyway, it will be held at Seth's sweet pad, aka the Church Parsonage.

5. For the party, I used my quality Kitchenaid artisan stand mixer to prepare the food, which includes cheesecake and a pumpkin dip that changes lives. By the way, some people might think it's extravagant that Seth bought me that blessed mixer. I DON'T!!!!!! I love that thing. So much that, in fact, it rode in the front seat next to me on the way from Oakland City to Bicknell.

And I put the safety belt on her just for good measure.

Seriously.

Ask my roommate. She raised her eyebrows a bit, but betwixt the two of us, we are used to antics that the world simply does not understand. Like seatbelting our food mixers.

6. I have trouble taking medication. I don't remember it. Plus, we slitting my time between the Thompson's and my apartment, I don't have the same routine every day. Plus, I take Synthroid, which is one of those you have to take one hour before or two hours after you eat. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have tried everything, and the men in my life are like, "TAKE YOUR MEDS!!" This creates a problem as I eat ALL THE TIME, which leads to...

7. I am doing a program for the Staff at school called "The Biggest Loser." It involves weekly weigh-ins, and I have to pay if I gain or stay the same, but I don't if I lose. It lasts eight weeks and at the end, the person with the msot percetage of weight loss gets to keep the dough!
Not cookie dough...
mmm, that sounds good...WHOA.
Chugga, chugga, get back on track, Laur. This is gonna be harder than I thought. So girs, smack my hand away from that pumpkin dip tonight.


8. I miss my girls. Someone came in the office yesterday and said Kristin looked just like me. It made me tear up a bit, as I just long to see them. NEXT MONTH!

Enjoying Where You Are at (on the Way to Where You are Going)

This is a collaborative post. Cue that song from the Wonder Years ("I get by with a little help from my friends... whoa oh oh oh"). Actually just one friend.

Turns out I get by with a lot of help from her. She gave me the title.

Which brings me to tonight's topic.

I live in the home of Randy and Terri, beloved friends who are now family to me and who see me as part of their family as well. I sleep on the most beautiful red couch I have ever seen. By a fireplace (which in truth doesn't do me much good during these summer months--most of you know that I find myself sweating in the most Arctic of conditions) that is most legit. In a house filled with warmth and love and laughter and joy and beauty and a Wii.

I have become a gypsy. A vagabond.

It's so weird. I never once thought that after college I would be gypsying my way through the summer before I became a full-time grad student. But here I am, at the Thompson family home, living in a town I said I would never live in (love makes you do some crazy things--and I'm talking about the love for God and His people--the benefits of living in the town extend much further than being close to Seth (definite bonus, though!). I am close to the people I fellowship with, which is why I love being here.)

So why am I paranoid about where I am headed?

in life.
in ministry.
in relationships.

The wise sage Dr. Seuss knew a few things about this place...

"You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads
at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting." excerpt from Oh! The Places You'll Go

My mom once told me as we chatted through the night that she felt she wished portions of her life away, waiting on the next thing to come along. For example, when she graduated high school, she couldn't wait to get married so life could "really" start, she said. Then when she was married, she looked forward to having kids so that she could have the American Dream--the picket fence family. Then when my brother was little and later when I was little, she couldn't wait for us to quit running around amok and get potty trained already. The list goes on and on. That is, until she built a viable relationship with Jesus and quit wishing her life away. So her advice to me as cancer ravaged her body and at times her mind, was to avoid wishing this precious gift, this life, this breath, away. We cried and prayed and found ourselves wishing for all the things she had wished away so we could keep enjoying each other's company.

Slowly, I am learning that difficult lesson. God has put me in a place in my life where going forward in some ways is what I would have considered failure to be before. Like not having my own place, for example.
But is it really failing...

• to live in community with people you love because the realization that the blood of Jesus has the capacity to make you one That is more powerful than DNA and public opinion. Don't believe me? Check this out.
• to stay up late with your BFFs and sleep in really late the next morning because you know this is the only time in your life you may have the opportunity without little fingers pulling your eyelids open*
• to be able to serve others and surprise someone with finished dishes or folded laundry because you had no other pressing commitments
• to read every book on your to-read list and never once feel guilty about it
• to swing all afternoon if you darned-well please?
• to sit at Starbucks all afternoon and spend time with the One who knows you best while listening to the same Coldplay song a million times
• to be able to work three walks in one spring because nothing and no one can hold you back?
• to take a trip that's a little unplanned and unstructured and totally irresponsible because there are things to do at home (but you know it will make you a better, happier person full of life and the joy of Christ)
• to have time to cry and pray and seek the Lord with a brother or sister just because you can take time to really get it

If this is failure, I want an F on every report card life ever writes me.

I want to enjoy where I am at on the way to wherever the heck I am going.







*this has happened to me. Hannah was the culprit on that one. I know you are surprised...

Lyrics With Lauren: Talk About It.

A couple of housekeeping things: (sounds cool in my head...)

shout out to Sandy C., who I understand occasionally stops by here.

Please pray for Andrew and Isaac today.

Christy F.--Guess who my "new friend" is for #36? Haha. God is sooo good!





onward, blog junkies...

I am convinced that communication is a necessity for true community. I have shared this in other blogs. As I shared a message God has for a retreat I am involved in later on this month, I am convinced that the pain we have walked through is so that God may be glorified and people might catch a glimpse of him and be changed forever. This is our opportunity to proclaim who he is and that he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, no matter what dark trials we walk through.



I am grateful for the people in my life. And you, dear Good Blog Reader(s) are no exception. So this song is for you and me today to remind us that we should never hold back. Terri and I had a conversation about this recently. We rarely hold back when the Divine (and it is Divine) opportunity comes to share our hearts with those who love and minister to us.

I have mentioned this on the blog a couple of times but I've been singin' it all day. Here it is...

Say (What You Need to Say)
by John Mayer.

Take all of your wasted honor
Every little past frustration
Take all of your so-called problems,
Better put 'em in quotations
Say what you need to say

Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you'd be better off instead,
If you could only, you could only

Say what you need to say

Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You'd better know that in the end
Its better to say too much
Then to never say what you need to say

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open
Say what you need to say

Yay. and Mind Dump.

Yay for Thursday nights!

• I made a pie. It didn't turn out that well. But everyone liked it (or so they said!)
• DAVID ARCHULETA! BROOKE WHITE! need I say more?
• I left groceries at the grocery. Hate it when I do that! Then the walk of shame..."so I left some groceries here, and uh...."
• Seth arranged for me to go to a very special leadership conference in September and I was so moved and grateful that he got special permission for me to attend. He loves me a lot and I'm thankful for him.
• Terri's daughter (and my new friend!!) Sarah is having a sleepover tomorrow night with some of my other new friends. And I'm going to crash it after I spend some time with Seth's sweet parents!!! Hope they don't mind when I show up with my pj's for a good time (and maybe some chocolate??)...
• Maybe I might be doing Ash's wedding invitation addressing sometime this weekend. I hope to see both Ash and Heather in the process! I LOVE GIRL TIME (can you tell?)
• I am getting baptized by immersion on Sunday. (More on that this weekend: hopefully with pictures...B--can you help a sister out??!)
• I need a new cell phone.
• My life is good.
• I want to learn to play the guitar like Sandra McCracken.
• God has been giving me understanding of Psalm 86:11. You should read it. It's challenging.
• Please pray for Andrew--not feeling well this week--doc appointment this weekend. I love this little boy and am praying for a complete and total healing!
• While I'm on subject, please also remember my friends Brandon and Jeannette. They are fellow religious studies students and husband and wife. Currently Brandon is in Kuwait serving our country, and I saw Jeannette today--it broke my heart to see how much she was missing Brandon and worrying about him. Please pray for them both as it takes its toll. Praise God for brave folks like Brandon who give up so much that we can be free!
• Does anyone know of a way to get Angie the dog to STOP licking me? I know I'm sweet, but c'mon! ha.
• I was reminded tonight that a seminary degree is beneficial for lifelong ministry involvement-even if that ministry is chasing three-year-olds, giving bottles, and rocking babies to sleep. But I am still praying that someday God will make a way for me to have a vibrant women's ministry. Who knows, maybe both at once...I am nothing if not ambitious!
• Confession: I watch the heathen show "Lipstick Jungle" and then have text discussions with my awesome sister-in-law, Shannon. Yes, it's rotten and I shouldn't, but I do.
• It's Grey's Anatomy's fault. I haven't had a new episode in so long I needed some drama (not like I have enough living with 70+girls!).
• I love Amos Lee's music. His voice is like buttah and you should listen to it!
• I think that Emmanuel Lewis and Gary Coleman should do a show together on cable. Rachel and I would be their biggest fans!
• Easter is coming up soon. I love Easter and celebrating the Resurrection--proving Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people ALIVE.

That's it. I think. I love you guys.