The Awe Factor.

        The past few weeks have been very great but busy once again. With lacrosse starting up, it's hard to juggle everything. Last night we had our first game of the season against Boone, who is known for being quite a remarkable team. We lost 15-14 in over time! It was such a great game! We were predicted by the newspaper to lose by 13 points and this morning our coach got six or seven phone calls asking if the score was really 15-14. My team did remarkable and I was so proud to play with them. I must admit, this morning I woke up so sore and almost unable to drag myself out of bed. Tomorrow is game day again against West Orange again and I am so excited! 

           A week or two ago Kaley, Molly, Mrs. Light, and I visited this small little coffee shop downtown called Credo's! It was so sweet and it had kind of a wooden, authentic theme going on. Most areas on the walls were covered with pictures, magazines, clocks, or something thrifty. It was a ministry-based business that took donations for payment instead of a set price for people to pay. They aimed at cleaning up the streets downtown and we were all so happy to help out. My favorite coffee shop is still Vespr's but Credo's was sweet for a change!

        This past Valentine's day, I got asked to be someone's girl and feeling incredibly blessed and happy I said yes. His name is Lucas and I have to admit, he is quite a remarkable gentleman. I'm one lucky girl. I get to go to his water polo tournaments on the weekends and he even scored me a goal last week! He's the bomb. We went on a walk the other evening and saw a beautiful sunset! God was showing off again. I took a photo and I will post it below but the picture won't do it justice. When we were walking, I snapped a photo of Lucas really fast and the sun in the background lit this cool red flower exposure across the picture! It was such a serendipitous moment! I was so proud of my photography skills even though I didn't even know what I was doing haha. 

        My father passed down an old green atlas and I have been having a ball with it! It's so fun to look at how Yugoslavia was before it split up, especially because I was born in Zagreb. I'm always amazed how big the world is. Part of it makes me upset that I won't ever be able to get to the opportunity to go to all the cool little alleys or shops or tree forts. But at the same, I think thats cool. Because there are definitely places that are special to me that I wouldn't want everyone to know about. So I am glad that other people have their special hidden places. Recently, I keep going back to the youtube video by Francis Chan about The Awe Factor Of God. If you haven't seen it, then you need to. Even if you don't believe in God, go watch it. All it does is show you how small we are and how ginormous the universe is. I mean, after watching that video, I don't know how anyone could believe there wasn't a God. Scientists talk about this Big Boom and how these atoms once clustered around and just became galaxies. But that goes against everything science states. I have always learned that energy isn't just born, but it is always transformed from light energy to mechanical energy to any sort of energy. So then how can scientists so easily say that these atoms just popped together and made the most amazing, perfect, intricate, and grand system? I mean ecosystems are based off this perfect pattern, and it's balanced. Did you know that the average caterpillar has 248 muscles in it's head? IN JUST IT'S HEAD. Just stop for a moment and praise God for that! Don't believe me? Google it, I dare you. How can you not believe in an all-powerful sovereign God after knowing that? You may ask, then how did God form if you claim that energy can't just form from scratch? Somehow, God had to start from something too? Wrong. God is alpha omega, beginning and end. He says, "I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come-the Almighty One." It's beyond our mental ability to understand, but that's why he is God. 

January 28, 2014.

        I have had a busy couple of weeks but it's been a good busy. I am in need of sailing but the sails on our sailboat won't be ready for a month or two. The weather outside has been such perfect weather for sailing and it has been pretty windy also. The water would be a tad cold at this time of year, but sitting out on the front with my feet in the water, reading a good book sounds delightful. The collection of ukelele songs I know is finally starting to grow. I now know all the chords and can improvise if I need to. I think it would be really fun to take my uke out on the sailboat. My favorite song to play is Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. It's so fun and clever.

        Today is day two of lacrosse try outs and it's exciting to finally be able to shoot on a goalie. It's been since last season that I have done that, besides a couple tournaments here and there. It's nice to be a team again.

        Kaley and I have a new favorite little latte place over in Waterford called Vespr. It's a sweet little coffee shop with pastries and cookies. I like getting the lavender rose (or something like that, I don't remember) and it comes with a flower latte-design. It's the perfect little white coffee cup, and has lavender sugar along the rim. I feel like a princess when I drink it. I strongly recommend you try it. The Maple latte is delicious also.

        I finally finished my pumpkin scarf last night! I have decided that it's the perfect scarf for Karlie because of her natural beauty so I am going to give this one to her instead of the purple/red scarf that I posted earlier. But the end of this scarf marks the beginning of the new pattern I want to learn for the next scarf! I'm going to alter between a knit and a pearl stitch, every other row. I also found this pin on Pinterest of how to knit with your fingers instead of with needles and I am definitely going to try that! I haven't decided which one I will start yet.

        The trees outside are the perfect color. They're bright orange and I even saw a bright yellow. I love this time of year and I wish it would stay for a little longer than it usually does. Today I am very thankful for the warmth of my covers. My bed is so comfy. I hope you like this scarf!

India Pt. 2

        Indians love to invite people into their homes. They are one of the most welcoming cultures and are quick to get up and offer tea and anything else they have to munch on. Our house helper Rena was such a sweetie. She would come over around 10:00 AM every morning and make us all tea and cook our meals for the day. She always greeted us with smiles and an attitude ready for hard work. In the first home we stayed at during my trip, Rena would walk a couple miles to get to. The journey was rough in the stifling heat but she never complained and I will always remember that. She was humble about all the things that were difficult in her life. And that's what made her so remarkable. All the floors in India are marble and with little Judah just learning to walk, we would lay out styrofoam tiles as a mat for his head in case he were to fall. The pieces fit together so simple and literally required no thought process. But when it came time for Rena to put the pieces back together after she finished sweeping, she just put them all in a pile. Indians are never taught problem solving in India. So they can't do any sorts of puzzles or mishaps. She couldn't and wouldn't put the mat together. Another example of this is when it came time to move furniture out of the storeroom into another home. We hired a couple Indians to help haul things and load onto the truck but they couldn't figure out how to get furniture out the door. Jake would be holding one side of the couch with an Indian on the other end, and Jake would say, "rotate it to the right so it can fit through the door" and the Indians wouldn't even try it! They couldn't comprehend or even believe that rotating the sofa would allow it to fit! It was just crazy that they refused to even try it because they had no belief that trying it would work.

       The kids from the slums melted my heart. They were so sweet. There was a lot of trauma going on with the older girls there though and that made working in the slums a little disheartening. Some of them were running away with taxi drivers and such and that was a downer for awhile and made everyone pretty emotional. There was this one girl in particular who had been under this missionary family's wing for quite awhile and was 17 when she ran away with a man. When she returned she had been beaten and raped. And I had spent some time with her so I was pretty upset with it all. One day, we painted all the children's faces with face paint and we all had such a blast. They were all trying to be creative as to which animal they wanted to be. It started getting hectic when the older boys got aggressive and couldn't wait their turn (Indians don't wait in lines). But this little boy Usher sat next to me, holding the paint, saying he would go last after everyone else. I was very attached to him. He was short and around the age of 5 and he was selfless. He always shared his crayons and let everyone go before him. And in a culture where people shove and cut lines, this was a golden attribute to have. 

        One gross factoid about Indians is that they grow their ear hair out because it is a sign of wisdom and authority. Oh man, is it nasty! Especially at the airports, you'll see older Indian man touching and fixing their ear hair so that it will stick out more prominently. I had to sleep without air conditioning when it was over 100 degrees for 6 weeks. Count your blessings, folks. Air conditioning is luxury. 

        I love the Indian culture. It's so different from Western culture and it's intriguing to learn everything that they are passionate about. They are a very welcoming and exciting culture. One day I'll go back.

India Pt. 1

        Today, my heart is very heavy for India. I miss it but I don't necessarily want to go back right this moment. I am reminded of all the pain that I saw people going through and all the filth that people constantly live in. Sometimes I just wake up and feel the need to pray for India right then and there, as if Chai Country is dependent on my one prayer. Although India is dependent on all out prayers, really.

        Last summer I had the opportunity to move with an American family overseas, who wanted to do missions in India. The mom of the family had epilepsy and it was unsafe for her to be home alone with her kids every day in a foreign world while her husband was at work, if she were to have a seizure. So I became the nanny of little Eden(who was 22 months) and little Judah(10 months). Before leaving I had read books about all the things I should expect. I watched documentaries on India, and talked to lots of people who had been there just so that when I got there I wouldn't experience any shock. I was born overseas in Europe during the Bosnian War so I thought that the trip would be relatively easy for me. But being in a world so immensely populated was beyond my imagination. I remember taking a rickshaw to a shop, and seeing the hundreds and thousands of scootys and motorcycles parked on the streets. I mean that seems like a "duhh" moment but I mean it felt like a Harley Davidson shop everywhere you went. In case you didn't know, there aren't minivans in India, just motorcycles. These Indians will put a family of five (once I counted six people on one motorcycle!!!) on a motorcycle and go just about anywhere. That's the norm. I was in a town called Varanasi which is an older, very traditional town. It is right on the Ganga (the Ganges River) and we would see people offering sacrifices to the river often. If you have never seen pictures of the Ganga, then you need to google image it because the places it ran through in Varanasi were extremely dirty. I mean, dead animals and humans would be thrown into it all the time as well as heaps and heaps of garbage. Think of it this way, most Indians don't own a single garbage can anywhere in their home. Everyday we would drive past tons and tons (literally) of garbage everywhere. I mean it. Every single road had garbage all along the sides. Once, we were on a picnic right by the Ganga and I saw some men in a boat hauling buckets of the dirty water back to the shore. The Indian I was with said that they were gathering it for their homes to drink as holy water to purify their bodies. But what they don't know is that the water they are drinking is going to eventually kill them. The Ganga River translates to The Great River and it is the most sacred river of all in Hinduism. The place it flows through in Varanasi is the most sacred part, and many Hindus pilgrimage there.

        Going to India was one of the biggest blessings I have ever received and I couldn't think of a better family to with than with the family I went with. I have talked a lot about the physical conditions of India. I will share more about my time in India, focusing on the hearts of India tomorrow. I need to take a break for now. God bless. Here are a couple photos...

A very long weekend.

        My goal was to write a blog post every day but I am ashamed that I have only had this for a week or so and I have missed an entire weekend! In my defense, I had a lot going on.

        My best friend, Victoria goes to college at Columbia International University and so all time spent with her is precious. Molly, Tori, Honey, and I decided to take advantage of the blissful afternoon friday for a canoe excursion. We took two canoes and tried a couple times to latch them together and sail as one but this failed drastically as the boats obviously didn't want to move together. I love canoe rides with the wind and the sun and the bright blue sky above. Definitely one of my all-time favorites.

        Friday night was the Senior Night Soccer game for the boys and I went to the first half hour of that to support the team. They had a glorious victory winning 7-0 and that was exciting. I opted out early to go turtle fishing with an old friend Lucas and some other friends, Shawn and Drew. We were going to just do simple night fishing but it kinda turned into a canoe adventure as we all accidentally splashed each other with yucky lake water. But when we got of the canoes, we were just looking around in a canal when we spied a little turtle about the size of a golf ball. Lucas had told me earlier about how they enjoyed turtle fishing and it intrigued me as I had never even heard of such a random hobby. So we became determined to catch the little guy. Putting some raw chicken on a hook, we positioned the trap right above and he immediately took a bite and was hanging by the hook out of the water. I know, this sounds horrible the poor little! But he got away anyway, so he won that fight.

        The next day, Kaley and I visited our dear friend at Dr. Phillips Hospital. Two nights earlier, she had had a random seizure at a wrestling tournament and was taken to the hospital right away to make sure she was going to be okay and to run some tests. She's so strong, she could get through anything. When we visited her, she said, "it could've been worse" a couple times and despite the overwhelming incident was thankful and cheery. I love Ms. Sarah. She's just one of the most divine people you'll ever meet.

        After the hospital visit, I was still craving to catch a turtle. So we made it happen. The same group from Friday plus Kaley journeyed to the same little canal and caught him! We used a net instead of a hook. He was such a cutie and stretched out all his limbs when being held. I'll upload a photo of him. I'm now naming him Bo.

     

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

        I know it's not Christmas but I'm pretty sad that my favorite holiday season is over. I spent hours on Pinterest this year, looking for new christmas ideas and fun traditions. So this past Christmas, Kaley and I hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was such hit and we were proud hostesses. We set up a photo booth in a bay window with hanging lights in the back and over twenty props for people to pose with. The photos didn't turn out too well because the lights in the back made it hard to focus and slowed the shutter speed. But regardless, people had a blast and there were still some great photos! Our invitations were simple but we printed them out little and tied different ribbons around them, trying to use what resources we could find in my closet. We had a white elephant gift exchange and the variety made it all the more fun. Some people went home with onions or yams with faces drawn on them. Others went home with new headphones or a gold fish. (The gold fish was my doing, I have a slight obsession.)

        In the fall when I attend Florida State, I hope to continue my career in party planning because I just have so much fun doing it. I wish people threw more holiday themed parties! This year for Valentines Day, I think it would be cool if someone had a big double-dated Valentine dinner and the girls cooked together in the kitchen and everyone wore red. It's sounds kinda cheesey but I have heard of people pulling it off and it being a big hit. I just love themed parties and I wish they happened more often!

     

Kaley is a novice.

        So I have this cheesey idea of blogging "Work it Wednesdays" where I try to make something I have never done, work. Everyone should be able to step out of their comfort zone to try something new. I always get irritated by all the people who are such picky eaters because they won't even try a taste of something because it doesn't smell good or look good or something. I will never forget the time that this kid Cameron in my class refused to try puppy chow. He loved reeses and rice crispies and thats all there is to them when you add a little powdered sugar! For those of you who have had puppy chow, you know how amazing it is! I have never met anyone who didn't like it. I mean it's stinkin' delicious and now Cameron is seventeen years old and he is walking the world without puppy chow in his life. Now thats depressing. You never know until you try it! So my plan is to have something new to do or eat or make every Wednesday. I love trying new things, especially ethnic food. Countries are so cool in that their food is diverse from all the other places in the world. That is one of my favorite things about traveling to other countries. One of my favorite ethnic dishes is a soup called Pho from Vietnam. It's a beef stew and I love putting extra lemons, onions and sriracha sauce in it. If you have never had it then it's time for you to step out of your comfort zone! It's almost as life changing as puppy chow.

        So to start off Work It Wednesdays, I decided to teach Kaley how to knit. I know I am suppose to be the one who learns and blogs about it from the experience but teaching her how to knit was an opportunity! She used my size eight, metal knitting needles and casted on fifteen stitches. By a couple rows later, she had added sixteen more stitches to hit a total of thirty-eight. It was so funny. When I learned how to knit in October, I had done the same exact thing! I was making a washcloth for my mom as my first project and was dropping stitches every couple rows and it looked terrible. My work was all over the place and my washcloth looked more like a trapezoid than a square! It was quite embarrassing. But Kaley's work was neat and looked really great, despite the fact that she had added stitches. Learning how can be a little tricky but after your first project, it goes by really fast. I wish I had taken a photo to show you of Kaley's work but I missed out. Oops. But Kaley is a novice and I was so proud to be her instructor today. She did just swell.

Bonfire Scarf

        Finding a stick in the woods nearby, my friends and I decided to grill hot dogs over the campfire a couple nights ago. Using sticks isn't necessarily the most sanitary scheme but it's funny how much of a hard-core camper I felt like when my hot dogs were finally done cooking. One end would be burnt and crispy while the other end would still be raw. I was too scared to get close to the fire! At one point, I was so cold that it was time to stop being a wimp. So I put my feet on the rim on the bonfire pit to get a little closer, only to melt the ends of my new boots. That was just great haha. I really hope to plan a camping trip though, soon before the weather gets hot. I love eating chili during camping trips when it's cold out! And everyone has to get super close to the fire as to not burn their boots, but to stay alive! My dad talks about camping trips that him and his buddies would conquer in negative degree weather when they were in high school. I can't even imagine. It's not worth the pain for that!

        But during our bonfire excursion, I got a good start on this new scarf that I completed only two nights ago. It smells a bit like smoke from the fire, which is pretty gross, but it only adds to the outside adventure. This project is made for my dear sister in law, Karlie! I am working on an infinity scarf that is like a burnt pumpkin in color, and if that turns out I may give her that one. I haven't decided which one I think she will like most. Her and my brother, Caleb are moving to Minneapolis this month to seek out a job opportunity for Caleb that seems like an amazing opportunity. It's bittersweet. I know that it is such a great answer to prayer for my brother to find a job but I can't help but be a little selfish to want them here! Caleb is just about one of the greatest guys anyone can meet because of his true and humble personality that brings out the best in anyone. And Karlie is also just as divine. In Minnesota, it's negative twelve degrees right now and I know she's going to be cold because I mean, who wouldn't be?! So I definitely need to give her a scarf for the cold weather.

        It is thirty-nine degrees outside today in O-town and even though I am completely bundled up with scarves, boots, sweaters, corduroys, socks, and a coat, I am still freezing. I really want to knit leg warmers. Maybe that is a project I will do with a pattern. I love how stylish everyone becomes in Florida once it becomes boot weather. It's like one day, everyone is wearing shorts, flip flops, and a t-shirt but then the first cold front comes in and there's a bunch of hipsters at Lake Nona! Northerners would laugh. 

        I hope God blesses your day as he is blessing mine. I started reading a book about anti-gravity and it's impossible to put down!

I hope you like this scarf. 

:)

 

Knits for Kaley

        My very first hand knit scarf is posted below! It took me about nine or ten hours. It's an infinity scarf with a basic knit-stitch all around and then just a sew job connecting the two ends. It's so simple but I am so happy with how it turned out! I gave it to my dear neighbor, Kaley Noel (who is modeling for me in the photos).

        I attended a conference in Kentucky this past Christmas break and it was amazing. I heard my favorite speaker, David Platt and also Michael O, who talked about giving a damn. The amount of suffering missionaries face is underrated but it is all worth it. For a missionary to go into a foreign world of suffering seems minuscule compared to the eternal suffering nonbelievers will face if they never experience a relationship with God. It is so obvious that God is calling me to be a missionary among an unreached people group. But I am not sure where yet, only excited! We had to drive the 13 hours to get to Louisville and that was the best part. With knitting needles in hand, a warm cozy blanket, and my pal Molly, my family and I embarked on the adventure. I had time to knit the warm brown head band posted below for Kaley as well! It served dually as an I-appreciate-you and a happy-belated-birthday-gift-part-two. I had enough time this Christmas break to knit one for my sisters Sarah and Karlie as well. My patterns are very simple but I have only been knitting for three months or so and I want to master the basic stitch before moving on. Today I started a burnt orange scarf, and soon after I finish that task, I will tackle a harder project. I truly do love the times I get to sit down and relax and knit. I feel like my life is always moving at such a fast speed that I can hardly run fast enough to keep up with it. I'm constantly making lists of the things I need to do that when I get to really sit down and knit, I feel very at home. I hope you enjoy these simple knits as much as I do!

Grandad's white lamp.

        My white lamp has red, green, blue, yellow, and orange roses on it and is great at illuminating the room, setting an ambiance that cheers up even the rainiest of days. It was made by my grandfather who stained glass and made lamps for all the ladies in the family this past Christmas. It moved us to see all the handiwork, time, energy, and care of all the details of such a task. The thoughtfulness and care that had been placed into the project showed us how much appreciation he had for us all. I have my lamp on my art table and I turn it on every time I do what I love because it lets me see what I am doing with my hands and gives me perspective on what I am making for other people, because of his generosity.

I have many hobbies, when it comes to working at my art table. Some friends have spoken that it's a "drawback" because it doesn't allow me to specialize or put my attention on one major task. But I strongly beg to differ, because my goal in all my handiwork is to show people how thankful I am for them. And I am able to do just that through many different creative ways. Like my grandfather, I have many hobbies and I delight and learn from each and every one of them. I love and am thankful because Christ first loved me. Jesus was a carpenter and loved making things with his hands and so do I.