It seems autumn steals many, many hearts come every August. I'm a willing victim, ooing and ahhing over seasonal flavors and adding a thick sweater to fend against the crisp air that invades our apartment through door crevices and earth-shifts that create cracks in between our windows.

More than anything, this season has me feeling inspired. With senses of nostalgia, changing patterns, shifting traditions, welcoming holidays, novel experiences, and the feeling that it will all be over too quickly, I encourage you to take time to  P   R   O   C   E   S   S  the moments, events, conversations left to be had in 2013. These catalogues, mental snapshots, lingering impressions, that's what will remain long after this glorious season ends.

October was a blur for both Jon and I. He burned the midnight candle in the office and I, with cherished friends. After weeks of looking out our front windows with a hopeful eye on our front trees, they finally transformed this last week, floating off their limbs and crunching under the weight of passerbyers. It is a glorious sound. And a giant mess. Happy crunching!

Summer solstice, time of year when days are longer than night. I don't know about you, but I feel alive in the glow of summer, there's a warm haze in the evening time that makes you feel lazy and invigorated in the same breath. We made the most of the light by traveling, sometimes for work, but for leisure as much as we could. Part of what made this summer so dear to my heart is that almost all of the places I visited, I had never experienced before.

Seattle

One of the two heartlands of the Northwest, Seattle is a city where I felt at home almost immediately. We stayed downtown near the Space Needle, and as I walked the city blocks I was continually surprised at how calm and at home I felt. Even the skyscrapers felt less ominous, less towering, and more earthy. Oh, and did I mention the coffee was to-die-for?

New Mexico 

Staying in the miniature fishing cabin that filled many of my husband's childhood memories was a dream. During the day, we would choose a mountain peak and then conquer it, blazing trails through untouched terrain. We cooked dinner for our party of seven in the smallest kitchen, dragged our table outside so we could all fit, and then shared turns cleaning dishes. It was a new sensation having our kitchen, bedroom, and dining room all in the same 20x20 room, and I loved every second. My cell phone lit up only on top of the highest peaks, and there was time to dilly-dally in hammocks. I can't wait for a return trip.

Phoenix

Our stay at the Phoenician in Phoenix may have been for work, but it sure felt like luxury. We shared moonlit patio discussions with new acquaintances in the hundred-degree arid desert, and then woke early for breakfast on the lawn and days filled with briefings. Jon and I were attending a conference called The Gathering with my boss and his wife, and we were so privileged to spend the weekend with some amazing people. You can check out their website to read more and to listen to some of the podcasts from the weekend, I learned so much about what missions work is taking place throughout the world and here in our country!

Anniversary Expedition | New Mexico | 2013

It's been a beautiful whirlwind of two years with you, my love, and I can hardly believe that we've been married for this long even as I'm typing out these words. But trust me, I don't mind an occasion to celebrate our marriage, to eat incredible food and toast to many more years, to celebrate in our victories over our hardships and differences, to thank God for His kindness in giving us one another. I could go on and on, but as it often goes with gratitude, my heart is speechless.

So in light of this lifelong celebration of our love, I made you a little playlist honey! I know you can determine whether or not you love a song by the first 15 seconds, so I hand-picked songs that I think will meet your standards and I hope they warm your heart. I love you so.

Thanks for this quick shot, Miss Emma (click picture to visit her site).

It's been a brilliant summer. Once I got over the initial disappointment of losing my summer after college, I rediscovered the playful nature of what it means to be outside, soaking up rays with sunnies and carefree friends. There's far more of summer than what is experienced on the weekend. For us, sunset bike rides to Le Pain for lattes or a nearby park, waking up before dawn and running down deserted sidewalks, vacationing in the desert and seeing how long you can withstand the blazing sun while poolside >> these are the bold flavors of summer. We celebrated often these past couple of months, here are some of my favorite memories encapsulated.

I've always felt the intoxicating nature of speed deep in my bones, a pining to fly down a mountain, down a road, around a track. Simultaneously though, I have felt the reigns of logic, a sensible fear that I suppose I inherited from my mother. Last weekend, I stood near a car that shot off the start line and in less than six seconds, had reached the finish line a quarter of a mile away. The ground rumbled and shook me to the bones, the engine snarled with a fury that pierced through my earplugs, and I sensed that my need for speed had met its match.

My boss took me to the drag races, his favorite hobby (if you can really call it that), to introduce me to the racing world and to help out. I had no idea what that meant at the time, I only knew that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. His team, Archangel Racing, is named after Michael, the chief archangel in the Bible who battles the wicked. Almost every other team on the track sports names like "Pure Evil" and "Hell on Wheels", but we were there to prove that the righteous can prevail. I was grill-master and queen of errands, but mostly I was free to roam. I learned quite a lot about the drag racing world and surprisingly even more about myself.

The winning power of perseverance.

Each of the Pro-Mod cars that raced last weekend in Sonoma were the prized trophies of hours, days, months, and for some, years of work. The assembling, cleaning, tuning, repairing and strategizing of each part that is necessary to shave off hundredths of seconds, means nothing if you are unable to execute perfectly on the day of the race when the light hits green. 

Details matter.

Perfection is in the diligence of the details. Few people know the extreme amount of work that goes into each car and every race, and few care if you are unable to win. I see many parallels between drag racing and business, both are worlds in which details don't only matter once, they matter each and every time.

Being a racer for God is tbe ultimate. 

My relationship with God is the one that takes the most work, work that no one sees and no one applauds. I find myself working for weeks and months on certain areas of my life and heart, sometimes with no external signs of improvement. Then comes race day, a trial that puts all of my prayer and soul-searching to the test. No excuses can be given about my performance, I've had all the tools I needed and I've known this day would come. Except unlike drag racing, though, I can't blame the engine if I lose because I have been given all the power I need and I have been promised it will not fail. Jesus has given me all I need, the freedom to fly is finally mine. We may not know what race we are preparing for, but we can take heart knowing that whatever it may be, we are on the winning side.

There are certain corners of the world we would never think to visit, except when we are drawn by those we love. When we arrive, we find an elusive beauty that stuns our senses and leaves us with a greater appreciation of that which we usually overlook. I found my undiscovered corner last weekend. Cotter, AR -- shrouded in rolling sheets of greenery and wrapped around by the White River -- home to some of my favorite people.

One of my favorite authors challenged me when he said, "One of the greatest tragedies that we find, even in this most enlightened of all ages, is the utter failure of millions of men and women to discover why they were born." So I started thinking about our generation of millennials and the age-old question of identity.

IDENTITY.

We all have it, and yet we lose it in frivolous things more often than we'd like to admit.

Some people find identity and the comfort of belonging from their current occupation, in a faded and dusty dream, or by choosing to ignore the discomfort of not really knowing altogether. An article I recently read pointed out the major identity crisis in our generation, some of my favorite points are summarized in these next sentences. >>> We were all told that we're special, but if everyone is special, then nobody is. We have been told to keep our heads down and pay our dues, and that we would then be successful. We were never told when childhood ended and being a grownup begins, we were taught to assess problems so that other people can fix them, and we were trained in how to spend other people's money. Essentially, we've become very good at a lifestyle, but we're no good at life.

Coming to grips with this reality can produce feelings of anger and despair, but not if you have a solid foundation for your life. As a woman who believes in God with every fiber of my being, I find comfort in knowing the purpose for which I was born: to glorify God here on earth with my heart & actions, and to enjoy Him in all of His beauty & holiness. Even as I type these sentences, I admit that this simple truth can be swallowed up in seemingly glamorous distractions, and I need reminders more often than I would like to admit.

Why? 

Because it's easier to find identity in immediate circumstances, or in external, tangible things that we can parade around. I think that many times, we are trying to disguise a darker inner reality or the uneasy sense that we are missing the picture altogether. Being content and at peace with your true identity is harder today than ever before, and social media isn't making it any easier.

So my encouragement today is to be known,
to put yourself out on a limb with no hope of turning back from a potentially uncomfortable and disastrous situation, one in which your weaknesses and vulnerabilities are known by another. We are exquisite, creative, and uniquely equipped, our race has an innate desire to be known by others. 

For me, this step of faith was taking a new job that I knew would push & grow me in ways that would cause discomfort and even disappointment in myself. In the past three weeks, however, the few sacrifices I have made to embark on this new direction in my life have already faded into the past, and I feel more at home with my job and closely aligned with my passions than ever before. More on that next time...