tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55324187869511880832024-02-20T12:02:19.912-06:00whim & gracegretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-67737199601146817542014-07-09T12:42:00.000-05:002014-07-09T14:22:51.286-05:00You know you're a graphic designer when...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Saw this today and thought it was far too true not to post. If you are a designer read, relate and enjoy. If you're not, but have spent any amount of time with me in which I was stressed about a project [that's always] then I think you will get a good laugh [at me] </span></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You’ve almost rear-ended the car in front of you because you were analyzing a font on a billboard. </span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You get pissed when a free Photoshop brush you download is less than 1000px in size.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’d rather study the paisley pattern on your boyfriend/girlfriend’s shirt than listen to what he/she has to say.</span><br />
<span style="border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You can use keyboard shortcuts at light speed, blindfolded</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">, but you can’t type a paragraph of text without staring at the keyboard.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve had “Software Nightmares,” when you’ve been working way too much. (this is so true)</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You know that rivers are more than just water.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: When you know the difference between fuchsia, magenta, and maroon.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Activating your entire font collection makes your computer crash</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You consider meals interruptions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve learned your lesson and stopped using the word “final” in any file name when saving.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You clean your keyboard more often than you wash your car.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve intentionally given up trying to explain your projects to non-designers.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You understand that you speak a different language than your non-designer friends. It's called Adobe and they will never understand. </span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’d rather organize your desktop than your sock drawer.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: When you heard that Adobe was acuiring Macromedia, you had a Design Orgasm.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: When you look at Album art all you see are grunge Photoshop Brushes. (Then you see the album art a couple minutes later)</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve Photoshopped out a watermark for a comp or mock-up.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve actually paid for a font.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve totally slaughtered a great design concept because the client thinks he/she knows best. (everyone thinks they are a designer)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: The amount of words you’ve written with a sharpie labeling burned discs total more than the amount of words you’ve read in novels.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve had to explain to a client that a layered file wasn’t part of the deal.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve kept a ragged concert ticket just so you could scan it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve nicknamed the OSX spinning wheel. (and not affectionately)</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You bookmark a resource more often than you have a fun night out on the town.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve intentionally overbid a project because you can sniff out a bad client from a mile away.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You can’t go to a restaurant without secretly critiquing the menu design.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You have an amazingly huge font collection, and an amazingly short temper.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: If you had a penny for every mouse click, you would have been a trillionaire 3 years ago.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You have bags under your eyes so big you’d have to check them in at Heathrow Airport</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You watch the superbowl just for the commercials</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You can spot bad typography from 100 yds away</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You are pro-facebook because 95% of the myspace accounts burn your retinas</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You can name more than 200 fonts in under five minutes</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You are completely immune to subliminal advertising</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You look upon a well-designed project with either: </span><span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">sympathy OR extreme jealousy</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: Your hand is permanently stuck in the shape of a mouse</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You tell stories of exacto-knife inflicted wounds with grizzled sort of pride</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You practically take caffeine intravenously</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You have an appreciation for everything unique</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve been spending three days non-stop on a project and it still looks like shit. You find yourself overcome by Deathlust.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You find your pulse increase at the sight of a lovely ligature, glasses steam up when an unusually elegant arm, leg, or tail comes in view, and a well-kerned paragraph is apt to make you break into a sweat with excitement.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You buy a CD or DVD for the artwork, even if you have no idea what the actual music or film is like”.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(even worse, you don’t actually watch or listen to it, just stare at it for hours and hug it in adoration)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You look at the clock and see it’s about midnight and think ‘I’ll go to bed now’… and you actually go to bed about 2-3am".</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You need someone else to point out that you’re sitting in a room in front of the computer with all the lights off, and haven’t noticed”</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: When you know what “kerning” is and you really, really like it.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: When you wear two [ke] [rn] pins on your bag, and only you know what the mean. To others its probably a band of sorts..</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Forget the boy-wonder and the man of steel; your heroes have names like ‘Tibor Kalman’, ‘Stefan Sagmeister’, ‘Paul Rand’, and ‘Paula Scher’.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You don’t wear black to look cool, you wear it to hide the gauche.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You have a thing for chairs. You don’t know why.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You giggle whenever you use the colors F0CCED, EFF0FF and 44DDDD</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You’re in the sun and you look around for a Drop Shadow to sit under.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You give your relatives a lecture about color spaces and profiles when you email them your vacation photos.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: Seeing someone use Lens Flare or Comic Sans adversely affects your blood-pressure</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You maintain a grid system for your refrigerator magnets.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You organize your CD collection according to the Pantone chart.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You sit at work for eight hours straight just looking at your monitor, waiting for a spark of inspiration that doesn’t come.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You’re up ‘til 5am because you came up with the best idea ever while brushing your teeth.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: The hottest dream you ever had was “Trace contour… Find Edges… Pinch… Extrude… Smudge Stick… Motion Blur…. Sprayed Strokes…”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You know Lorem Ipsum by heart.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Your kid knows Lorem Ipsum by heart.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: The preschool teacher complains your child won’t color inside or outside the lines – only indicate colors on a separate sheet.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You deliberately butcher your perfectly cross browser compatible site in IE by placing a “Too Cool for IE” banner on it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You prefer a Layer Style of 50% Opacity (or less) on your wife’s Satin.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You spend $200 on a font for your personal website because “it’s the only one where the lower-case g is just right…”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: Looking at a menu make you go “hmmm, ITC Baskerville italic” rather than “mmmm, lunch!”</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: And when you finally order, you go for Layer Based Slices with Grain Texture…</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You use words about fonts you dislike that other normal people reserve for fascist dictators and serial killers.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Apple+Z is the first thing that goes through your mind if you drop and break something.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You refer to colleagues as Strict, Transitional, Loose and the Future Unemployed.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You refer to your privates as “the Magic Wand”.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: Your best friends are all employees at the local print shop</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: The only people who seem to know what you do for a living are other Graphic Designers (ex: Graphic Design? What’s that? You’ll never be able to make a living being an artist!)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Kerning and leading on your shopping list actually matters to you, and you don’t see a problem with that.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Several South American economies suffer noticeably any time you try to give up coffee, or even cut your consumption of it by half.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You know that “bleeding” doesn’t hurt.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: When your significant other/ friends have threatened to never speak to you again if you point out one more font to them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: If you could go back in time you wouldn’t go back to see the rise and fall of civilizations, you’d go back in time to destroy comic sans and papyrus.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: You Know You’re a Graphic Designer When deciding on the right crop doesn’t involve a choice between corn or wheat.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You’ve considered naming your children things like ‘Kern’, ‘Pica’, ‘Bézier’, and ‘Serif’.</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: When you think watching “Helvetica” is the best thing to hit DVD, and even worse, when you know that the name Helvetica was derived from the Latin word for Switzerland and that it was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk. </span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(Very very true!!!)</em></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: When you can’t remember the word “fog” and instead refer to it as the “Gaussian Blur.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: When you write essays, papers, and letters with InDesign.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">:: When the best use for papyrus you’ve seen was on toilet paper.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You look forward to seeing PMS</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Printing your wedding invitations cost more than the dress, engagement ring and honeymoon combined</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: Your favourite scene in American Psycho is where they discuss business cards</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">:: You test the stock and weight of EVERY piece of paper you come across</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You always travel with your X-Acto kit</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: Your idea of a hot night is joining the serifs of two Baskerville L’s</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: When your mousemat is also your placemat :)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You’ve named your fish Gill Sans</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You physically can’t get a Tattoo containing wording, for fear of the kerning being incorrect, or the characters being just that little bit different.</span><br />
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #595959; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">:: You can understand everything on this list.</span></div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-85888980505122467792014-07-08T14:53:00.002-05:002014-07-08T14:56:29.650-05:00you look fine <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9CLAFlvZNPk8s9XpQioIqAu66djFH9vx2A-WjkcBmAwyUPrWjR5ed5IqaPfYA3Hp4nESUx2k1vpDnwEFbaE6iSctbocx5pWWuW41OkKXJSa139CgAKGniUhsavNNlgZwsGl41mJtqHU/s1600/mirror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9CLAFlvZNPk8s9XpQioIqAu66djFH9vx2A-WjkcBmAwyUPrWjR5ed5IqaPfYA3Hp4nESUx2k1vpDnwEFbaE6iSctbocx5pWWuW41OkKXJSa139CgAKGniUhsavNNlgZwsGl41mJtqHU/s1600/mirror.jpg" height="320" width="258" /></a></div>
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:: As I was scrolling through pinterest, this image grabbed me. Not because it was a motivational quote about being beautiful the way you are or an image of a half-dressed girl posted as workout inspiration. It grabbed me because of it's simple yet compelling message. You look fine. Be who you are. Don't worry about what the mirror says because the reflection will always be changing. You are a process.<br />
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:: There will always be other things telling us who to be and what to look like but who cares? I'd rather live a life with messy hair and no makeup knowing that I'm living life authentically and learning as I go than being all done up and miserable because I'm trying to figure it all out by myself and not really letting anybody else in.<br />
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:: Let yourself go. Be confident in your imperfections. Because let's just take a minute and ask ourselves, who really enjoys being around "perfect" people anyway? </div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-26672660204410907092014-06-13T02:30:00.001-05:002014-06-13T02:30:19.638-05:00immerse. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Each year I ask God to give me a word that encompasses something He wants to teach me. This year that word is "immerse." Wherever I am and whatever I do, I want to be all there. Immerse myself in the places I go and the relationships around me. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For a strong feeler like me, that seems like a pretty easy concept but it has been more difficult than expected. I say that as if I'm surprised, but of course it is harder than I thought! God always has something new to show us even in the most simple concepts. Sometimes, it seems that as soon as we begin to understand something He goes and changes the rules of the game. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I'm moving back to America this fall. It's an adventure I'm ready for but there’s still a little apprehension that creeps up every now and again. I think part of that is God challenging me with my time left in Herrnhut…to not be mentally and emotionally absent because I won’t be here come September. But the question remains, how do I begin to separate myself from something while I am still fully immersed in it? </span></div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-15725719307599468822014-05-26T08:26:00.000-05:002014-05-30T08:30:13.233-05:00I will climb this mountain...with my hands wide open<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: Last week when I was in Greece I decided to hike a mountain...in keds (best bad decision of my life) Hiking a mountain is fun but it is no easy task. When we got to the “top” there were still maybe 500 meters to the highest peak. Naturally, a few of us decided to go up to watch the sunset. The way up was rough and it seemed that we were going away from the sunset and really not towards the direction we needed to go at all. Edmond, our Greek guide, ensured us that we just needed to trust him and follow. So we did. With a look of unbelief on my face, I took on the task, one boulder at a time, rocks poking my feet the whole way up from lack of proper shoes. When we finally reached the top, we couldn’t see a dang thing. It was cloudy and the mist made it impossible to see further than 20 meters into the distance.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">:: So there I was, I had just spent the better part of my day climbing to the highest point of this island to sit in a cloud. I laughed and thought about the irony of the moment. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This past year has felt like a continual uphill climb (good. but hard). The past months I have been on the plateau near the top and and recently, you could say I have “reached the top”…the decisions have been made and there’s nowhere else to go for now. But even at the top, the view can be misty. The uphill journey may be done (for now) but what remains is not always a beautiful </span>panorama<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. Sometimes, we have to wait for the clouds to clear and we have to wait for the night to become morning before we get to see the beauty of the sunrise and take in the breadth of the big </span>picture<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: Despite the lack of vision, one thing that can be enjoyed from the top is the accomplishment of the climb. While up on the top of Ypsario, I was able to sneak away with a handful of local olives and spend some sweet time talking to Jesus. His peace is overwhelming and in that moment I was reminded that He is good and his timing is effect and his faithfulness never fails us. </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: This song has been my anthem lately and having this revelation has made it come to life so much more. I love how God does that…gives us something that He makes sense out of later. </span></div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-4726939552230955692014-05-07T09:00:00.000-05:002014-05-28T09:07:59.599-05:00freedom, choice & sacrifice <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“It's not hard to decide what you want your life to be about. What's hard, is figuring out what you're willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: freedom. choice. sacrifice. I’ve been thinking a lot about these words lately. In a way they do not seem like words that go together. We are called to sacrifice yet, we are meant to live in freedom and we have freedom to choose what our lives look like. I love that God trusts us enough to give us freedom to choose and at the same time I am often overwhelmed with what that means. Apparently humans make about 612 decisions a day but lately, I feel like I'm hiding from making any...but I've reached a point where I can't really hide any longer. </span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: Lately, I've had to look at my life and make some game changing calls. I've said no to some big and small things and it’s been hard. I’ve lost sleep and cried buckets of tears and continually asked God about a million questions and begged for more clarity. Even still, I feel that I may be making the wrong decisions but I know God is faithful and His peace is a constant reminder that I am not alone for He will never leave us nor forsake us. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: So here I am, sitting myself down to look back over the last 2 years of life, learning and making sense of the moments along the way and allowing those lessons to be a part of the process. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: Life is crazy and if I’m being honest, I’d say that right now I just don’t feel the love and the passion the way I think you’re meant to. I am all too aware that life is always not about loving what you do and that no matter what, there is tremendous sacrifice. But that is the beauty of choice, as I weigh my options, I am wondering about the sacrifice and what it costs to follow God deeper...deeper into love and deeper into a life of missions. T</span>here are so many opportunities that lie ahead and<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> I feel that these words can easily be twisted into sounding selfish and narrow minded. I know that no matter how much we sacrifice, we will be met with blessing. I know the right answers but I also know how freeing it is to arrive at a place where you can be confident in what you love and what you don’t because when we keep doing something because we should love it, we set ourselves up for a lot of pain.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: I like how Shauna Niequist puts it when speaking of a similar season, “I’ve struggled under work that wasn’t right for me but I kept going because it was the plan. Feel free to change the plan. I’ve stayed with things that I didn’t love because it seemed like I should have loved them. Pay attention to what you love, not to what you should love.”</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">:: There’ will always be pressure and opinion about what others think your life should look like. Many of them come from people whose words hold weight and whose opinions matter and it’s worth taking the time to listen to them. It’s worth taking time to listen to the lessons of your life and to listen to your calling. It’s worth taking time to listen to your family and community. But at the end of the day, you must make your own choice, unapologetically. I don’t want to shut the door on something good but I don’t want to ignore the other side of the equation either. I want to make choices that lead me deeper into the heart of my Savior, not choices that will take me further and further from the life I want to embrace.</span></div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-67745158910916586412014-04-22T07:56:00.000-05:002014-05-28T09:04:39.587-05:00“The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.” <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">“For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept that the love of Jesus Christ knows no shadow of alteration or change.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are broken people. Sometimes our failures feel small and unimportant, like a child with a scratch...when band-aid can magically heal a made-up flaw. But other times, the cut is much deeper and it seems that no amount of surgery could ever mend it. It feels as though our world is literally crashing down around us and sooner or later we are confronted with the painful truth of our inadequacy and insufficiency. But it’s in these moments that I am reminded of the grace that God shows to each of his children. Yes, we may miss the mark but these moments are the very parts of our story that make his love and his grace so great and so tangible that we can’t help but give every part of our being to Him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One of my favorite authors writes from a place deep experience of God’s grace. Brennan Manning was a recovering alcoholic but also a voice calling out in the wilderness, reminding us that we are great sinners but God is a greater Savior. Several years ago, I had the opportunity of sitting down for coffee and an interview with him. It was a moment I will never forget. His writings have literally brought the message of God's grace to life for me and getting to listen to him speak, as he sat across from me in patchwork pants was hands down, one of the highlights of my life. One </span>of his<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> many nuggets of truth is knowing that, “When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdaining God's gift of grace.” </span></span></div>
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So instead of disdaining it, let’s live in it…walk in it…swim in it…let’s experience true grace from our Father. Choose to live in freedom today, knowing that nothing [and I mean nothing] can separate you from the love of our Father. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“The church today accepts grace in theory but denies it in practice. We say we believe that the fundamental structure of reality is grace, not works–but our lives refute our faith. By and large, the gospel of grace is neither proclaimed, understood, nor lived. Too many Christians are living in a house of fear and not in the house of love.” </span></span></blockquote>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-38079084318646950682014-04-16T05:18:00.000-05:002014-05-28T09:04:49.269-05:00chase the lion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: quicksandbook; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Don’t let fear dictate your decisions. Take a flying leap of faith. Chase the lion!</span></div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-36306862990692944092014-04-08T03:17:00.003-05:002014-04-08T03:17:47.470-05:00a lesson.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-42731176710759333152014-02-23T08:53:00.004-06:002014-05-28T09:05:02.278-05:00and if not, God is still good.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: I haven't been blogging very regularly (or hardly at all) for the past few years but recently I've been getting lots of requests to revive my ramblings. So for those of you who actually read this thing, you can expect to see new posts at least twice a month for now on. It's not so much, but let's not bite off more than I can chew, ok? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: I tend not to journal when I feel like life in is transition and that lack of journaling tends to carry over to my lack of blogging. My life has been in constant transition since graduating university, but I'm beginning to feel more comfortable in the midst of all that transition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: So now that I'm back in the blogosphere, let's talk about faith. This week our staff team finished up a study through Hebrews. I haven't finished yet. Instead, I came into our discussion time train wrecked by Jesus. I didn't make it past chapter 11. You know, the chapter known as the "Hall of Faith" that you knew really read? Yeah, that one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: So much of my life requires a extreme amount of faith on a daily basis. Some days it feels that it would be easier to just throw in the towel, move back to America and get a "normal" job. Currently, there are many things that make staying in America the more sensible thing to but but I do not serve a God who makes sense. When Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac I'm sure he had quite a few fighting words for God. The very thing that God's promise to Abraham was supposed to be fulfilled through was being taken away from him. How was he to trust and believe that there was really a good outcome in that?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: There are many other examples in this chapter (I mean it....I had about 5 pages of notes and that's barely skimming the surface) but this one...this is the one that got me. Abraham was a man of incredible faith. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5532418786951188083" name="14" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> obeyed and went,</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5532418786951188083" name="15" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"> even though he did not know where he was going.</span>" </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">:: I don't know what God has in store for my future. If I did I probably wouldn't believe it and I would maybe stop getting out of bed in the morning but that's why God is God and I am not. All I am required to do is take one step at a time, in the direction I feel He is calling me and trust that He is good.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: I have to trust him with the thoughts that tell me otherwise knowing that there are 3 outcomes: God is good and He will protect and provide for me and for the people I love or 2: God will show me something new...a different and better way of fulfilling my dreams and His promises to me or 3: God is not who he says he is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: So, there's my little nugget of truth for the present moment. God is good, and if this life isn't what I expected it to be, God is still good. </span></div>
</div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-74104488846181072882013-07-05T05:56:00.002-05:002014-05-28T09:05:10.999-05:00Expat 4th of July. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRX2xFyEf-aeEQrATsQ4hgXU485YyI03eti7JM7K_LvdVVezxuosrJFQ2QWtlMLxiKIo2ONGCZLpDPPhPqSyCpBSwWoVrh1IS8gqNjjMzcKWkm-qpCEQWDvMmraQtQ12k8KwSAfekHXpY/s576/Screen+shot+2013-07-05+at+12.36.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRX2xFyEf-aeEQrATsQ4hgXU485YyI03eti7JM7K_LvdVVezxuosrJFQ2QWtlMLxiKIo2ONGCZLpDPPhPqSyCpBSwWoVrh1IS8gqNjjMzcKWkm-qpCEQWDvMmraQtQ12k8KwSAfekHXpY/s400/Screen+shot+2013-07-05+at+12.36.26+PM.png" height="393" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All American Girls. Boys who wish they were American.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Your American is Showing. A saying used to call our fellow Americans out on being loud and obnoxious...because let's be honest, that's what we're best known for around the world.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Usually, I consider this a bad thing but 4th of July is the best excuse to celebrate the otherwise not-so-wonderful characteristics of our nation. And what better way is there to celebrate the 4th than with a backyard BBQ?! It was wonderful, complete with cheerleaders, country music and a Miss America crowning. I love America, I love celebrating and I love this community. Put them all together and it's near perfection.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPZiIgcYf5pW-BS8gcia6gFVoAu-jIu20v1RHOcJuamGc0Fn0TNdAffeoet7CmBrUyScdlHYAvaK0HEXE3z8H-C-5uCvfIxDjWJY2Q7Co6cLzfSdDFxcK3hRae9WKSTeNslVsAHOK0f8/s612/Screen+shot+2013-07-05+at+12.13.58+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Km63W5xvbn9mO37gNaK6riqExFfbxSI-3s6JJnzY_uSNk-FIUiMqpEDPRUasPOcqW31JGHa4J6SI-67MCMBg-2kRzeHIdc8UCisFW8OQzZrJ2KftL6zSNWUVrLNUAa5gYkZKBhdic_I/s200/Screen+shot+2013-07-05+at+12.14.21+PM.png" height="197" width="200" /> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPZiIgcYf5pW-BS8gcia6gFVoAu-jIu20v1RHOcJuamGc0Fn0TNdAffeoet7CmBrUyScdlHYAvaK0HEXE3z8H-C-5uCvfIxDjWJY2Q7Co6cLzfSdDFxcK3hRae9WKSTeNslVsAHOK0f8/s200/Screen+shot+2013-07-05+at+12.13.58+PM.png" height="200" width="117" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjk8vfkfIzxHPUdpJ4U-C0qpJEbt32BxYH-_l_NRsYSGB6UScuRmJVGfRv69QlWNlP0JLNiY7yR9cP9UFcK6ZAXvFDyBGrmN94TRpcvT48DHG63Gh-58Sf3Iix95V0aU_0H_346eFAs4/s612/Martina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjk8vfkfIzxHPUdpJ4U-C0qpJEbt32BxYH-_l_NRsYSGB6UScuRmJVGfRv69QlWNlP0JLNiY7yR9cP9UFcK6ZAXvFDyBGrmN94TRpcvT48DHG63Gh-58Sf3Iix95V0aU_0H_346eFAs4/s400/Martina.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our amazing landlord, Martina and her daughter, Louise.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtdnlA1BXHM3IxeVxZsFFZ9sV_HsPtHj2kyDRAsafo4i775orrxVAHtQD2yFLD2rwf1gIR319w_0JwOp2j2wfK8npVnc6Dq8geLBRpUB43P_4JTzrWTWj2fa_bsixrqT46y6NuoJrmW8/s1600/1017677_602093973144294_2104965689_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtdnlA1BXHM3IxeVxZsFFZ9sV_HsPtHj2kyDRAsafo4i775orrxVAHtQD2yFLD2rwf1gIR319w_0JwOp2j2wfK8npVnc6Dq8geLBRpUB43P_4JTzrWTWj2fa_bsixrqT46y6NuoJrmW8/s400/1017677_602093973144294_2104965689_n.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">multi-culture is the best culture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-61593419636632908352013-06-26T07:12:00.000-05:002014-05-28T09:05:40.802-05:00and so it begins...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Here's most of the crazy bunch from my DTS who are now back on staff in Herrnhut.</div>
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:: 2 weeks down and it feels like I never left. The transition has
been so easy and I‘m incredibly thankful to be in a place I can call home. God has been
fulfilling a lot of dreams lately and speaking even more about His calling for
my life. It's an understatement to say I am excited about the things He has for the future.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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:: My days have been full of design and planning for upcoming
events/outreach with Hope Dies Last. As a team, we are working on getting
things ready for the OBJECT Conference we are hosting in November. The magazine team will also
be starting on the next magazine soon. It's been busy but I love getting to use design on a daily basis. I also
love getting to put it aside when outreach rolls around. Really, it’s the best of both
worlds.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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:: Thank you for all the sweet [and funny] messages through
this transition. Your encouragement means the world to me. It is such a
blessing to have people behind me as I walk into this new
life. <o:p></o:p></div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-45503284740036290132013-06-08T21:36:00.001-05:002013-06-08T21:37:31.622-05:00In the words of Bill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7H4q2CuhcC7YR2USA0DYbz7fbtD0fDmcxCsTJwX913H8VTZlu0930deqoU-EdmFtVxHwEiXleZqBYhB5wI4NNSSxhcBttyj-2rEG-ewolRw4Fo03gRy4XfqCHuQBmOoBXmwnpgNPlyC4/s1600/bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7H4q2CuhcC7YR2USA0DYbz7fbtD0fDmcxCsTJwX913H8VTZlu0930deqoU-EdmFtVxHwEiXleZqBYhB5wI4NNSSxhcBttyj-2rEG-ewolRw4Fo03gRy4XfqCHuQBmOoBXmwnpgNPlyC4/s320/bird.jpg" width="213" /> </a></div>
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“An area of life that does not have hope is under a lie.”</div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-4143761123287187182013-04-02T09:18:00.001-05:002013-04-03T17:10:09.407-05:00Bethy. Beff. Bet. Bestie. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0rnFAAJFLjtpxQXfNPai4Yhvi_Swsg74WGP_p7oVFI31FqBhnj-FRhc_PcCPg0tnVZ4i3F_q6Jixav9ZdgTQ4ch3w1qNGNQ9l7P19KgfYzygi87eeGs-Q8bRxmZA_cWTN3HKVDE2_Zg/s1600/life.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0rnFAAJFLjtpxQXfNPai4Yhvi_Swsg74WGP_p7oVFI31FqBhnj-FRhc_PcCPg0tnVZ4i3F_q6Jixav9ZdgTQ4ch3w1qNGNQ9l7P19KgfYzygi87eeGs-Q8bRxmZA_cWTN3HKVDE2_Zg/s320/life.png" width="320" /></a></div>
:: So there was these two teenage girls who always knew of each other but
they never met. Everyone said they would be instant best friends. The
truth is, when they finally did meet, four years later, they kinda hated
each other but they were forced to put up with each other because they
were both working at a summer camp and were attending the same small
college in the fall. Somehow, through the awkward beginnings of new life
in small town Arkansas, a Katy Perry song and one bad break up they
discovered a friendship that was more than unique. They became sister
friends. After all, they have the same shoe size which practically means
they're related, right?!<br />
:: But really, thinking back on our friendship [yes, the two girls were me and <a href="http://www.untilonlyloveremains.com/">Elizabeth Joy</a>] I realize how blessed I have been to have this girl beside me through so much of life.<br />
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We kinda like to play dress up any chance we get. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyLcf0S5JKDo3QUwSBN_afPOFisoGD9qnEYFa5G0SjUf7Z3BWj_t3Ri7m5iNpnr4tuXMOJQYzX9vw32rPGTwRues3ueMATux-AAweYxy8zH8cXA9EzYWW-s0EidlzWQjoSkKSLZD7nGQQ/s1600/laugh.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyLcf0S5JKDo3QUwSBN_afPOFisoGD9qnEYFa5G0SjUf7Z3BWj_t3Ri7m5iNpnr4tuXMOJQYzX9vw32rPGTwRues3ueMATux-AAweYxy8zH8cXA9EzYWW-s0EidlzWQjoSkKSLZD7nGQQ/s320/laugh.png" width="320" /> </a></div>
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We really like to laugh and be ridiculous no matter where we are. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0aSt2ceUCiUUu4sxR9LU4fTwRSaMkvgP8nkXv7LlCLj0msYKNjj2blJLuc3-xCL99UTK5lXkb2OGMBrWtGs_MqeC3QflYe5W6WtLuq9Oqvh364OnoACzcGhyWnCs0p3i7yw3XcDuo7Y/s1600/lovehate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0aSt2ceUCiUUu4sxR9LU4fTwRSaMkvgP8nkXv7LlCLj0msYKNjj2blJLuc3-xCL99UTK5lXkb2OGMBrWtGs_MqeC3QflYe5W6WtLuq9Oqvh364OnoACzcGhyWnCs0p3i7yw3XcDuo7Y/s320/lovehate.png" width="320" /> </a></div>
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We love opportunities to torture each other but deep down we love each other.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQn_qzWQUHilYbBICafhBisXLgjIjqbnhrLYJBsvH5GY88OQNVLoCpKcVpPI0c-isy9BZxClVwGcdEKD6UbvAuwJtsfDCe2tESAAwmy_UdrK3U0DlwAF0qkE4dBidg3aczo-N6-FYpZY/s1600/love.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQn_qzWQUHilYbBICafhBisXLgjIjqbnhrLYJBsvH5GY88OQNVLoCpKcVpPI0c-isy9BZxClVwGcdEKD6UbvAuwJtsfDCe2tESAAwmy_UdrK3U0DlwAF0qkE4dBidg3aczo-N6-FYpZY/s320/love.png" width="320" /> </a></div>
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What we love most is sharing sweet moments of love, tears and laughter in community. </div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I could write a sappy blog post but so these are my best memories of us. Sit back and enjoy memory lane.</blockquote>
</div>
:: Canoeing in Florida and getting attacked by oysters slash "sharks"...where there's dolphins there's no sharks, right?<br />
:: Showing up in Georgia with matching outfits. "No, we didn't plan to match, we're just best friends."<br />
:: Prophetically smashing clay pots against stone.<br />
::
Crying in your room about boy stuff when you grabbed my shoulder,
looked me in the eye and told me to go to counseling...then introducing
me to FHS and changing my career goals forever.<br />
:: Your never ending encouragement to keep going through all the Advocate misery.<br />
:: Getting punched in the face in Ireland...still baffled by this one.<br />
:: Hannah Montana Appreciation Day.<br />
:: Being quarantined on a mountain because of "swine flu"<br />
:: Freaking out because we didn't think we were legit enough to be crew counselors...now our campers are freaking in charge. what!?<br />
:: Hiding inside and making hot chocolate for the boys after the church van slid down the hill into that man's house.<br />
:: Leading a bible study with you, on a team I'm still not sure how we ended up on<br />
::
Texting me in the middle of the night because you liked this boy named
Bruce and you didn't know what to do about it...so glad the moose became
your husband.<br />
:: Falling in love with Glee and finding any excuse to rewatch it with anyone that would sit through it.<br />
:: Being my personal assistant during a wedding post-knee surgery.<br />
:: Being snowed in at the Daltons and watching cheesy reality shows...all day.<br />
:: Having "it's hard to be friends" heart to hearts over ice cream.<br />
:: Staying up all night to write our "Sex in the Bible" paper. <br />
:: Driving onto a median in Fayetteville during an ice storm because we couldn't see the road.<br />
:: Switching drivers twice in the middle of Atlanta traffic...we totes give women drivers a bad name.<br />
:: Friendship piercings and free slurpees.<br />
:: Dreaming about what our lives would look like after college...pretty sure this one has surprised us.</div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-53868453686578527152013-03-07T08:55:00.002-06:002013-03-07T08:55:52.941-06:00ATOM <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week, our school
graduated DTS. It is crazy that it’s over and I’m now in the states for a
little bit. I miss it already and cannot wait to go back. I’m not quite sure how to sum it up into a single post but thankfully,
I don’t have to. We produced a magazine to share our stories and our art from
this experience. Even an 80 page magazine doesn’t contain all the relationships
that were made and the ways we saw God move but it sure captures enough to give
you a glimpse into this journey.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #505050; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
The digital version is online, and can be downloaded to your computer, iPad, or
iPhone. Click <a href="http://issuu.com/ywamherrnhut/docs/atom4?fb_action_ids=342294322539096&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%22342294322539096%22%3A520007474718488%7D&action_type_map=%7B%22342294322539096%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D">HERE</a> to view it. </span></div>
</div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-81203748080824234812013-02-05T03:22:00.000-06:002013-02-06T17:54:13.622-06:00it's miserable and magical at the same time. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjk77K66pH_mUcDfgqM6KVaIXVqsZ5gcgloLtiDrWOrbFGbfsUhHqL4tVk6iDGvGyxu12rBZrAO1iKXCrqHz7c5U4X9WWFeNeM4L95HfKT_Zue3X7VtGeCA7hxtwi-FVJsRGxKv9e1QE/s1600/teamchina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjk77K66pH_mUcDfgqM6KVaIXVqsZ5gcgloLtiDrWOrbFGbfsUhHqL4tVk6iDGvGyxu12rBZrAO1iKXCrqHz7c5U4X9WWFeNeM4L95HfKT_Zue3X7VtGeCA7hxtwi-FVJsRGxKv9e1QE/s320/teamchina.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It’s hard to believe the end is here. The past 2 ½ months
have been an incredible journey and there’s no possible way to sum up
everything into a single blog post but here are some highlights from our
experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had some visa issues so instead of spending the whole 10
weeks in China we were there for 1 month and we spent the other 6 weeks in Hong
Kong and Berlin. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What made this so great?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Christmas caroling and team bonding in Germany <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Baking nearly 5,000 cookies for our art show and a
homeless ministry<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Getting to create at MADE Creative Space in
Berlin…incredible. This deserves it’s own blog post<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Swing Dancing with my friends and watching them use their
gifts to make connections. Charlene got to Blues dance and Patrick got to play
with the band. Holla!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Volunteering at an amazing NGO in Hong Kong that serves as
a hub for receiving/sending out donations to other organizations<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Interactive Playground art with kids<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Live art and music at TST, one of Hong Kong’s more
popular spots for both locals and visitors<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Meeting Sherry and Coco, two amazing Chinese women who
let Kenzie and Kaitlyn use them in a photoshoot<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Celebrating Christmas with a multi-cultural lunch turned
drum circle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Four Gallery Shows at a gallery in China. Each one was
special and led to incredible discussions about identity, freedom and why we do
what we do<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Speaking in Chinese university classes about life in
America and forming a special friendship with their sweet professor, Mrs. Li,
who gave us Chinese names. Mine means little cat…go figure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Painting and dancing and falling in love with the noodle
shop family who faithfully made us food every day<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Celebrating New Years with dragons and Chinese lanterns<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Spending time at an orphanage with the most precious disabled
kids I‘ve ever met<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Swing Dancing in Hong Kong<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Prayer walking through the Red Light District<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Seeing hundreds of people healed at a Kingdom Culture conference
led by Bill Johnson<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Being invited to speak about creative worship at the Hong
Kong YWAM base<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Prophetic art collaboration we will leave around the city<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
:: Eating traditional food in an alley and laughing at anything and everything possible<br />
<br />
:: Debriefing and Dance Partying on the pier </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: but most of all...getting to baptize three of the most amazing women who
have been beside me during this journey<br />
<br />
Germany, we're coming home. </div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-32379714547166185672012-11-30T12:18:00.002-06:002012-12-05T07:56:44.615-06:00outreach is here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RgeTJfj2URgV8hbjHLGJfuJKYK3Z4oVTYLrF5zFr_C1CZo40Ud8RsTb5tQ-sh-VfrlGphWFNOzJMeghrpse7AzS4u-u6hT76Ixd0KOye6OVAGK5LE26WESBItVLDbqp7nNy0c71E5MM/s1600/GunterG_AsiaOutreach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RgeTJfj2URgV8hbjHLGJfuJKYK3Z4oVTYLrF5zFr_C1CZo40Ud8RsTb5tQ-sh-VfrlGphWFNOzJMeghrpse7AzS4u-u6hT76Ixd0KOye6OVAGK5LE26WESBItVLDbqp7nNy0c71E5MM/s320/GunterG_AsiaOutreach.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-71419897103092254912012-11-30T11:26:00.003-06:002012-11-30T11:36:54.681-06:00grace. my favorite word.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRBqCg6k2jH1Fwk8alEGQ_Vffc2Z-UCFoBXmVMMVKow4xwa766h9y4lrjHKQKORjx1TRPq2WrPMds6uG-JI7RZ6iAHUgVE6RqJHsnPUmBcAhIVgK0wssRdhhVi7-iEX1ashbOsETVBiw/s1600/dancers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRBqCg6k2jH1Fwk8alEGQ_Vffc2Z-UCFoBXmVMMVKow4xwa766h9y4lrjHKQKORjx1TRPq2WrPMds6uG-JI7RZ6iAHUgVE6RqJHsnPUmBcAhIVgK0wssRdhhVi7-iEX1ashbOsETVBiw/s320/dancers.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
:: Grace is a gift. Grace empowers us. Grace makes us alive. Grace saves us. Grace is freedom.<br />
<br />
:: The Christian life is not about being free from sin. It's about life. Grace is life. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness will be given to you. Live in freedom.<br />
<br />
:: Christians aren't about laws. Laws box us in and give sin power. GRACE is what "we" are about...at least that's the way God intended it to be. I say "we" because I do not like the term Christian...I'd rather be known as a follower of Jesus. The word Christian has such a bad connotation attached to it these days. They are known as judgmental, self-righteous, hypocrites. I'd rather be known as someone who loves and accepts others no matter what they have done or what they believe. I want to be known as a person of grace.<br />
<br />
:: The law stirs up condemnation. Grace stirs up love. When we don't live by grace we become self-righteous or depressed. Live in grace. Live in love. <br />
<br />
:: My life is no better than the next. Our lives are meaningless until we realize and accept the grace offered to us. <b>Live in grace. </b>gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-58660222221948753662012-11-18T16:44:00.001-06:002012-11-19T12:11:21.191-06:00Learning to Swim<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i>:: So, I’ve been in Germany for about 3 months. Between
balancing train schedules and studio time with emails and skype dates, life is
falling into a sense of normalcy only to be changed again when we leave for Outreach.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: It is strange to settle into this life knowing that
transition is the only constant in my future. Yes, this means what you think it
means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am being called into full-time
“missions.” What does that mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
no idea but I know that it will continue to look differently from everything I
imagined yet at the same time line up with everything I've ever wanted. God is
kinda crazy like that. He takes you places you never knew you wanted but first
you have to let go of what you think you know and want. Sounds pretty simple
but it becomes a bit more complicated when that somewhere could literally mean
the opposite side of the world with virtually no money to your name. But if He
can control the ocean tide and the seasons I’m pretty sure He can handle a
little thing I call my life. As crazy as I may sound, it has been an incredible journey.<br />
<br />
:: Deeper. That’s the word that sums it all up. It’s more than just growth.
I have a strong foundation but what does it mean to really go deeper…to let
myself get swept up by the ocean waves instead of trying to fight them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shauna Niequist describes this season of life
perfectly [I changed a few details to match my own life].</div>
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<br />
<div class="body">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: I learned about waves when I was
little, swimming at the Inl</span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">et in </span><i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">New Smyrna Beach, in gray blue water under a clear sky, and
the most important thing I learned was this: if you try to stand and face
the wave, it will smash you to bits, but if you trust the water, and let it
carry you, there’s nothing sweeter. And a couple decades later, that’s
what I’m learning to be true about life, too. If you dig in and fight the
change you’re facing, it will indeed smash you to bits. It will hold you under,
drag you across the rough sand, scare and confuse you. </span></i></div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: This last season
in my life has been characterized, more than anything else, by change. Hard,
swirling, one-after-another changes, so many that I can’t quite regain my
footing before the next one comes, very much like being tumbled by waves. </span></i></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<br /></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: During that
season, there were moments when I lost touch with the heart of God’s story, the
part where life always comes from death. I love the life part, and I
always try to skip over that pesky death part. You can’t do that, as much
as I’ve tried.</span></i></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<br /></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: I believe that God
is making all things new. I believe that Christ overcame death and that
that pattern is apparent all through life and history: life from death, water
from a stone, redemption from failure, connection from alienation. I
believe that suffering is a part of the narrative, and that nothing really good
gets built when everything’s easy. I believe that loss and emptiness and
confusion often give way to new fullness and wisdom. But in that
difficult season, I failed to believe in the big, beautiful story of who God is
and what He is doing in this world. </span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<br /></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: If I’m honest, I
prayed [and still catch myself sometimes] the way you order breakfast from a
short order cook: this is what I want. Period. This is what I
want. Aren’t you getting this? I didn’t pray for God’s will to be
done in my life, or, at any rate, I didn’t mean it. I prayed to be
rescued, not redeemed. I prayed for it to get easier, not that I would be
shaped in significant ways. I prayed for the waiting to be over, instead
of trying to learn something about patience or anything else for that
matter. </span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<br /></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: What I know now,
though, is that change is one of God’s greatest gifts, and most useful
tools. I’ve learned that change can push us, pull us, rebuke and remake
us. It can show us who we’ve become, in the worst ways, and also in the
best ways. I’ve learned that in many cases, change is not a function not
life’s cruelty but instead a function of God’s graciousness. </span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<br /></div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
<i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:: If you dig in and
fight the changes, they will smash you to bits. They’ll hold you under,
drag you across the rough sand, scare and confuse you. But if you can
find it within yourself, in the wildest of seasons, just for a moment, to trust
in the goodness of God, who made it all and holds it all together, you’ll find
yourself drawn along to a whole new place, and there’s truly nothing sweeter.
Unclench your fists, unlock your knees and also the door to your heart, take a
deep breath, and let God do his work in you.</span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Adobe Hebrew";">:: This is
what is happening and it couldn’t be better. Frustrating at times but so rewarding.
Change is good. Embrace is good. I’m learning to trust the water and let it
sweep me away to the depths I‘ve never experienced. </span></div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-3059574372231812732012-11-12T11:48:00.001-06:002012-11-12T11:48:30.886-06:00Mini Outreach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/p1jukXply7I?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
So I know this is coming a little late but check out the latest podcast the video track made about our mini-outreach in Nuremburg. The music was done by one very precious Spaniard named Keila. She's one of the best musician I've ever met...enjoy the lalasgretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-6870098488853653742012-10-27T01:17:00.001-05:002012-10-27T06:20:23.430-05:00beautiful things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/B-PRIlFyZH4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
It's not your typical flash mob [more of a glory bomb] but it was awesome. My shoe was falling off and I was embarrassingly off...<b>the entire time! </b>but it was so much fun. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. enjoy!<br />
<br />
oh hey look! there's another one. we did it twice since it was such a big hit and someone from the crowd posted it. better dancing in this one :) HA!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/_OBRLG2lRKI/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_OBRLG2lRKI&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_OBRLG2lRKI&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br /></div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-88443252721579326192012-10-19T02:56:00.003-05:002012-10-19T02:56:41.853-05:00Red Light District
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQIlZLIQ0gxndKSSClxDo8w3VQK_rcNE4-3Oyq25j0UkPC6ezvvKVotmx_Y1j0bbSdHfq1znKyCeMFVXUZUS7mfR7jXh7RI1Be9U3JIz5AM0A17rpq8Airn2hCC_SH5TJs8kROy_xi1Y/s1600/red-light-district.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQIlZLIQ0gxndKSSClxDo8w3VQK_rcNE4-3Oyq25j0UkPC6ezvvKVotmx_Y1j0bbSdHfq1znKyCeMFVXUZUS7mfR7jXh7RI1Be9U3JIz5AM0A17rpq8Airn2hCC_SH5TJs8kROy_xi1Y/s320/red-light-district.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">:: A few nights ago</span> we went into the Red Light. It was my fist time
seeing a red light district in person. As we stood in a circle and prayed I watched middle
aged men walk in alone. I watched teenage boys walk out laughing as if they had
just accomplished something for the first time. We stood near a cheap food
stand, rats were crawling around. and as someone spoke all I could hear was the
scream of desperation. Where was he hope? These women stood in windows like
mannequins in a store front, selling themselves to every potential customer who
walked by. This strip was in the middle of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could it be that just two streets over normal life was
going on. Normal life that many of these girls took part in on a daily basis before
night falls and they crawl into their prison cells.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Hotels aimed at businessmen stood tall. Hotels that were
conveniently place closer to the Red Light District than the actual places they
would be going for business. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: There are 400,000 prostitutes in Germany. 75% of those are
foreigners. They say it’s legal…that it’s a choice. But friends, tell me one
person who wakes up in the morning and just decides that today is the day to
become a prostitute. This is not the dream of any child who is asked what they
want to be when they grow up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Many of them will say they “chose” this life but this is
just not the whole story. 94% of these women were sexually abused before coming
to the Red Light. Those experiences were not a choice but they became reality.
A reality of entrapment. For us it seems easy to walk two streets over and
forget about what we just experienced. And it is easier when you see cardboard
cutouts of grandparents advertisings bookstores and whatnot but passing a
storefront full of mannequins will likely not be viewed the same ever. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: There are so many thoughts floating around in my head and so many emotions stirred within me but this is the best I can do for now. </div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-59919320265350339082012-10-19T02:53:00.001-05:002012-10-19T02:53:38.365-05:00Fascination and Terror.
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
so i forgot a card reader. more pictures to come! </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyYOVWGC3Uv72GttBTgey8WMBlrRvirnlfX98rxO1VyEB3UGTCHjuguqn74-cnjvbHaRNZYPtRzVK5Cw28PYlqTfyq9W2sxndbiPJptbbecIzBxa-tPLdw4eruJ4qDZayrtMAfDQ3-wA/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-10-19+at+2.48.06+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyYOVWGC3Uv72GttBTgey8WMBlrRvirnlfX98rxO1VyEB3UGTCHjuguqn74-cnjvbHaRNZYPtRzVK5Cw28PYlqTfyq9W2sxndbiPJptbbecIzBxa-tPLdw4eruJ4qDZayrtMAfDQ3-wA/s320/Screen+shot+2012-10-19+at+2.48.06+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmzwhYVkKuu8TOhKUL4YJ1VXEN2L6-CRsBsJlGaDyOJoulYgWQrQ2z0rifN3vSYQVa_X6xrK8o41FYLvoj59LeRxM8Njo8JzoeBYqg6_N8pfW7yOBXMhRwwM2t7lE6u5o0yaQfBZziRg/s1600/Nurnbergcastle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmzwhYVkKuu8TOhKUL4YJ1VXEN2L6-CRsBsJlGaDyOJoulYgWQrQ2z0rifN3vSYQVa_X6xrK8o41FYLvoj59LeRxM8Njo8JzoeBYqg6_N8pfW7yOBXMhRwwM2t7lE6u5o0yaQfBZziRg/s320/Nurnbergcastle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Nurnberg has been great so far. Our speaker last week was
Sam Hoffman, a German YWAMer. He is the most intense person I have ever
met…well, kinda. He pushed us a lot and I know we are still processing and
learning from what he brought to us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: The church some of us are straying at stands directly across
from former Nazi Rally Grounds. The other day a few of us went to explore and
learn a few things from the museum that it now operates as. The emotions I felt
as we walked through those places were unbelievable. To stand in the same place
that Hitler stood and spoke is a heavy experience. None of us spoke as we
toured the buildings and listened to clips from the Nurnberg Trials. That
experience will definitely be remembered as the most impactful hands-on history
lesson of my life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: We spend time in worship every night in the town square,
another important historical place. Each morning we stop at Starbucks for a
half-price warm drink and free wi-fi but as I was looking at one of the photos
at the museum I realized that I was looking at Nazi soldiers standing exactly
where the Starbucks stands today. And not only there but throughout the whole
square. It’s unbelievable how much can change in just two generations. It’s
amazing how much stays the same. Germany is not always the most open or
trusting community but when you think back to what has been done in this nation
it’s truly amazing that there has been as much reconciliation as there has
been. Reunification day was a few weeks ago it never occurred to me that it is
not normal for a country to go through what they’ve been through and be able to
operate is such a “normal” manner. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: Street art has been so much fun. Since we all came together
for mini-outreach there is a good chance that you’ll run into someone doing
something creative in any given street in Nurnberg. There’s an art school
nearby so that’s connected us to many of them. The other day a few of us girls
decided to live paint and we met so many people in just an hour. Jam sessions
on street corners is the norm and collaboration with other street performers
has opened a lot of doors. My friend Allie met a musician named Julienne, and
he has come to hang out /perform with some of our musicians everyday since.
Pretty sure that the Lord is going to do something big in his life soon.
There’s also Ariel, who lives under the bridge. My Spanish roommate Keila has
really connected with him. Those are just a few of many people we’ve met this
past week. Pray that big things happen this next week as we continue to pursue
relationships with them. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
:: A few things on the books for this next week include a flash
mob in the town square, more street art, worship in the streets, prayer walks through the red light district and art exhibit
nights.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-64024350801743911962012-09-27T04:12:00.000-05:002012-10-27T04:19:46.101-05:00Critique night chaos<div style="text-align: center;">
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</style><span style="color: #990000; font-size: small;">"We must accept that this creative pulse within us is God's creative pulse itself." -Joseph Chilton Pearce</span></div>
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<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuAnCeoPgX3z4_kfBo1utwwtXI8B1EJZnf-SLCUrmdDfbYAr0nKqlt4uWr2OQUpl6Qr6Dlr8QfEoiDKlcq9u0dWe50ww4f0t0hJyoVWFuZzAjgxIqiV395EFkvFqgRY4_z4-sjL3Qt7Fk/s1600/fine+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuAnCeoPgX3z4_kfBo1utwwtXI8B1EJZnf-SLCUrmdDfbYAr0nKqlt4uWr2OQUpl6Qr6Dlr8QfEoiDKlcq9u0dWe50ww4f0t0hJyoVWFuZzAjgxIqiV395EFkvFqgRY4_z4-sjL3Qt7Fk/s320/fine+art.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
A little fine art and dance...yes, those eyes are done with pencil<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">:: Tonight is critique night and as I sit in the café
writing this [amazingly, I am done early] people are running around putting
finishing touches on installations, reprinting photos, not eating chocolate to
protect their voices and practicing recently changed choreography. It’s chaos
in its finest form and I love it! It’s only been a few months since I’ve been
out of the JBU art world but I feel at home again, surrounded by artists…doing
what makes us feel alive. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;">:: To us, being an artist is more than self-expression. It’s
about kingdom expression. Our call is to reveal the Father’ heart through our
creativity. So why wouldn’t we not only strive to be the best artists we can be
but the best artists this world has ever seen? The ultimate Creator himself has
given us our gifts of creativity.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> We not
only have artistic talent but also the beauty of the kingdom. Those are the
things that can change the world. We have true power as artists. It is both a privilege
and a responsibility. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">:: This first critique/exhibition night kind of snuck up on
all of us but we pulled it off and it can only get better from here but for
now, enjoy the beauty we have created thus far. This is MOTA.</span><br />
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzpA-z_jbsTHeCum24EW5FPDsbZVkLO9KZDaVxZ3llq-PdbYVi6K0CoPA2hjoPEBN0-sBroFaV4JoLfjlqB9QzSH9Qd1N-_LaveMwnvtpb-awYXmg43VXZEJUHiQfshlFBvRkqltYh9s/s1600/wendy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzpA-z_jbsTHeCum24EW5FPDsbZVkLO9KZDaVxZ3llq-PdbYVi6K0CoPA2hjoPEBN0-sBroFaV4JoLfjlqB9QzSH9Qd1N-_LaveMwnvtpb-awYXmg43VXZEJUHiQfshlFBvRkqltYh9s/s320/wendy.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My roommate, Wendy, did this awesome installation. She lost a lot of sleep this week.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivENiyU_jrUQzZPXp6DbOH49z42vu0nXFsB2B55plBAs7vsu6_dKNbpZoyK8zk1NtZPhaYTPQML8F1nwJNzA1yZ31FEIcstmuHGOkwDSMvx3tApUD1BpGi3Ah-K2MC4DhRNnR-FT_GdpY/s1600/writers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivENiyU_jrUQzZPXp6DbOH49z42vu0nXFsB2B55plBAs7vsu6_dKNbpZoyK8zk1NtZPhaYTPQML8F1nwJNzA1yZ31FEIcstmuHGOkwDSMvx3tApUD1BpGi3Ah-K2MC4DhRNnR-FT_GdpY/s320/writers.jpg" width="163" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Writers...enough said. and photographers in front of the "Inside Out Project" Eventually the entire building will be covered with portraits of people we meet.</span></div>
</div>
gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-37647890673146751472012-09-26T08:24:00.005-05:002012-09-26T08:24:58.672-05:00sorry for the novel
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-dJWqW5bYj1wPl7VTxiK1pOEggDY4XTXgjO-9rFf5-a4XcxtmSYFI5kBdane8BuSi1zcybZhxSS15zX1THQcLAG1ZC4hxOM5omWlXnN_ZU1M-feAZ0FdCApuCQKOiKtXR-0vckIbxmGM/s1600/IMG_1153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="34" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-dJWqW5bYj1wPl7VTxiK1pOEggDY4XTXgjO-9rFf5-a4XcxtmSYFI5kBdane8BuSi1zcybZhxSS15zX1THQcLAG1ZC4hxOM5omWlXnN_ZU1M-feAZ0FdCApuCQKOiKtXR-0vckIbxmGM/s320/IMG_1153.JPG" width="320" /> </a></div>
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my almost perfect panorama from Poland. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-LzjXbgHjnkoNrWjdyi5HEtCZVQy0_5Bg7SPkbmAWfQGupm2QWGEZ7_43EUyKLBfGLbbZ-I2C9akFuASf3dZaNyeQG6bPnF5Xa-tpzgdQwzhBJ9JsRw4Tkt_hATuCsfsL5n2VGbpyCs/s1600/_DSC0628+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-LzjXbgHjnkoNrWjdyi5HEtCZVQy0_5Bg7SPkbmAWfQGupm2QWGEZ7_43EUyKLBfGLbbZ-I2C9akFuASf3dZaNyeQG6bPnF5Xa-tpzgdQwzhBJ9JsRw4Tkt_hATuCsfsL5n2VGbpyCs/s320/_DSC0628+copy.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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graphic designers waiting for the train.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: Seriously, time is flying by like crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been in Germany for a month. It still seems
surreal that I am here at all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: The past two weeks have been full of excitement. Last week
our speakers were from Bangladesh and this week we have Lucy who lives in Germany
but grew up in Brazil and is gearing up to move to Bulgaria. They have all been awesome and have had so many
different things to teach us. I feel like God has given me a new promise and
has opened my eyes to see even more of who he really is! </span></div>
<br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: It was also outreach weekend for the writers and graphic designers…a
few musicians tagged along as well. We had no idea what we would do since
neither of our skill sets are things we can easily take to the streets but we
went with open minds, ready for adventure. I ended up with 3 other designers, which
ended up being good team bonding time. We had a few ideas of people we wanted
to talk with but really we just started walking and starting conversations with
complete strangers at crosswalks. Then it started raining so we ran into the
first door we found. It was a dress shop and instead of getting an expected
look of annoyance we were welcomed in with smiles and broken English. We talked
a little about why we were there and found out that the owner of the shop was
also a graphic designer. She gave us names of a few places to check out and
told us about her daughter. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: A few minutes later we ran into the musicians who had come with and
stopped to make conversation with some of their onlookers. As one guy rolled a
joint Kayla took the opportunity to start conversation with him. It ended up
being really awesome and while he was clear that he did not believe in any sort
of higher power he was really open to hear what we believe. He also invited our
musicians back to use the recording studio he owns and provide any equipment
they needed. It was awesome. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">It was very tiring, challenging and frustrating.
But nonetheless I enjoyed it!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: So in DTS we have local outreach, which is what we
do on the weekends. Go on the streets around the area talking to people. Then
there is mini-outreach, which is a two week outreach where we go to a nearby
surrounding area and serve. This prepares us for our big outreach, which is a
three month period where we go to other countries and serve. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: Friday, it was announced that our Mini outreach
will be in Nuremburg Germany from October 6<sup>th</sup>-20<sup>th</sup>. We
will be on the streets during the day and holding services at a church that
will be hosting us. In most mini outreaches we split into smaller groups and go
our separate ways for the two weeks, but we are all going as one group to
Nuremburg. I am very excited to see what God has for us!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: We were presented four different options for big
outreach as well! They gave us some info on them and then we had 10 or so
minutes to pray about it and ask God what he thought and then decide on our top
three choices. I felt a strong peace about it and really am excited about where
I’ll be going. I know God will use me wherever I am and will take care of me
wherever I am. Details and even locations are sill subject to change, but it
will be great! I can share more with you in email form if you would like more
information. We will be leaving the first week of December and will be gone for
10 weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: There are
so many exciting things happening right now. I am beyond blessed to be a part
of this experience. Please pray for us as we leave for our outreaches. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">For clearer direction, for God to provide and
protection. For the hearts of those we will encounter and for our hearts. DTS
is flying by and outreach is getting so near! </span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: I love Germany but I also miss America and you guys. Fall is my
favorite time of year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love football
and apple cider and baking yummy things with pumpkin…mmm…if anyone feels the
urge to send me a great care package or even a simple letter with a beautiful
leaf inside I wouldn’t hate it </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">:: Also, I officially paid all of my lecture phase!
Thank God for his provision and for everyone who contributed to that! Because
of extra costs here and there for living expenses, etc I may come up short for
the outreach costs, but I am not sure how much outreach is because I don’t know
exactly where I will be going for outreach. So prayers that God continues to
provide would be much appreciated!</span></div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5532418786951188083.post-96283296816029912012-09-13T01:16:00.001-05:002012-11-19T12:03:31.577-06:00fly like an eagle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-34HSS2DwS7RxA7-w9nZUy78pjCMRCzmy0YtVRTBvroMt5VFsTanEulOwGGprHwa6s_0gUStfSE9RbJJriZHQ9IXJ9cJEXWFzrwYNUBkmi5ErRIn8LnJDA3RRMLfKHYzo4sKXO_KzSg/s1600/391623_10151208690935731_343797077_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-34HSS2DwS7RxA7-w9nZUy78pjCMRCzmy0YtVRTBvroMt5VFsTanEulOwGGprHwa6s_0gUStfSE9RbJJriZHQ9IXJ9cJEXWFzrwYNUBkmi5ErRIn8LnJDA3RRMLfKHYzo4sKXO_KzSg/s320/391623_10151208690935731_343797077_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The most anointed artists I know. So much freedom. So much power.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qza_ioFOM3Vn63lhL9Ra50VqPsJGRwhzOA7_0SHpB6LwwjnKmj6PIYcXm-S0etO9x5KeG8OLauRzmtTynrnF9c7OPz8fGN6tz05Gdu5pHaCI1Lo-ar2_bse0P3GYCU-ZzyofHNBxruc/s1600/538672_463624766993529_580672445_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qza_ioFOM3Vn63lhL9Ra50VqPsJGRwhzOA7_0SHpB6LwwjnKmj6PIYcXm-S0etO9x5KeG8OLauRzmtTynrnF9c7OPz8fGN6tz05Gdu5pHaCI1Lo-ar2_bse0P3GYCU-ZzyofHNBxruc/s320/538672_463624766993529_580672445_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<style><!-- /* Font Definitions */@font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;}@font-face {font-family:"MS 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face {font-family:"MS 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:JA;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:JA;}.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt;}@page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.1in 1.0in 1.1in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}</style>This is Kenzie, one of my roommates. My favorite surprise so far. She is a brand new believer and has the most amazing story and God is rocking her world. Yesterday she stepped into an even deeper freedom. I can't wait to see where He leads her. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhguzgfWHSz-t252KfAjGyFhXLn1m08dsGg0Q3ypPuOKIbVOpdjcVFZuqJsnG0BIyEGQn8j3Q4hNSBYNixdCSeUqzeHLmnl4eaWw4OtQnAIB1lcbEP_H5By3X-iVaB6u1pn2sAtjLYLjp0/s1600/IMG_1105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhguzgfWHSz-t252KfAjGyFhXLn1m08dsGg0Q3ypPuOKIbVOpdjcVFZuqJsnG0BIyEGQn8j3Q4hNSBYNixdCSeUqzeHLmnl4eaWw4OtQnAIB1lcbEP_H5By3X-iVaB6u1pn2sAtjLYLjp0/s320/IMG_1105.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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:: I don’t even know how to begin to describe the past 36 hours other than crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>incredibly crazy. From the moment we woke up to the moment we all climbed into bed our minds were blown. Many of us left for Nations prayer this morning in bad moods[for various reasons] but it was beautiful. After we all prayed over the country we felt led to we danced across the nations declaring God’s lordshipover His people. It was different than any “prayer for the nations” I’ve evertaken part in and it was awesome. By lunchtime we were crying and at dinner we were bursting at the seams with joy and laughter.</div>
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:: This past week we have had the honor of hearing from Donna Jordan who was in close community with the Cunninghams through thebeginnings of YWAM. She is anointed and has spoken truth over our lives. Our focus has been hearing the voice of God. Over the past two days we have all been asking the Lord what hinders us from hearing from The Spirit more clearly. Today we let those things go. We burned them…literally. Many left prejudices, broken relationships and unforgiveness. Others left physical items like clothes, blankets, an iphone and even a head full of dreadlocks.</div>
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:: After that we all walked into a new identity…we crossed the river to a new land. A new understanding of who the Lord is and who we areas His children. Earlier in the day Hannah, a Finnish girl in my apartment, had a vision of a group of eagles flying over a beautiful landscape but therewas one eagle who was sitting on a cliff watching the other eagles fly but being too scared to fly itself. Donna laughed and said “Oh, just you wait. You will be flying before we are done.” This is when crowd surfing comes in. After lunch she called us back into the tent where there was a cabinet and a ladder. There were a few speculations as to what we would be doing with these items but they were all wrong. Donna [who is 73 years old] climbed up the ladder, onto the cabinet and fell back into us. It was awesome. We passed her over our heads representing the Jordan and into a new land and a new life. What followed was amazing. Each person in that tent climbed up and fell back proclaiming freedom. The evening ended in a dance party with us singing “fly like an eagle” at the top of our lungs.It may sound cheesy and slightly like the scene from "Mean Girls" but it was incredible. <br />
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:: And as I that weren’t enough we have art assignments due tomorrow and had a movie night about the government in East Germany during the time the Berlin Wall was up. It was a heavy day to say the least.</div>
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:: We have a mini outreach this weekend in two nearby towns.The musicians will be performing street music while the fine artists and dancers team up to perform beside them and the photographers will be taking portraits on the street for a project we are working on. It is a really sweet project…more on that later <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:) </span></span>Pray that there is a good response from those we come in contact with.</div>
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:: I am still loving it here and have no doubt that this iswhere I am supposed to be. The Lord is teaching me so much everyday and we still have tons of time ahead of us. That being said I am still in need offinancial support. If you feel lead to give financially it would be a blessing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzDOkIaDWzHLFbRbEPU6SLWvXnWBvvartnmdJPSGz4oYoWHgunQpuCwV7xJZ4eLIQvJmso_C62E_aYgHZOZ4kzOWGRbRUsPKjXzza_1S6L63wcCJd5iWiunFEQPkcIT3-MJWJnsdSxY4/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-13+at+1.17.42+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzDOkIaDWzHLFbRbEPU6SLWvXnWBvvartnmdJPSGz4oYoWHgunQpuCwV7xJZ4eLIQvJmso_C62E_aYgHZOZ4kzOWGRbRUsPKjXzza_1S6L63wcCJd5iWiunFEQPkcIT3-MJWJnsdSxY4/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-13+at+1.17.42+PM.png" /></a></div>
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oh you know just another worship set in the tent</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQJ_JuIjBT_msJBSg63mt9me5PJvxrwJ_Ql-FNCSRCvpIdKk_Dcnpi3Ouv0UuNLMZoRyxRk3VhN4opjyL-pATTyNsFbrwhRoDffVRj_athGiFQWSMnYHfrv4Jj39SPJLpqy8D-z8wb9A/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-13+at+1.18.01+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQJ_JuIjBT_msJBSg63mt9me5PJvxrwJ_Ql-FNCSRCvpIdKk_Dcnpi3Ouv0UuNLMZoRyxRk3VhN4opjyL-pATTyNsFbrwhRoDffVRj_athGiFQWSMnYHfrv4Jj39SPJLpqy8D-z8wb9A/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-13+at+1.18.01+PM.png" /></a></div>
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Morning prayer. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYe9RwV0-R5qrjcO0C4caG5ypZgcHJ_nmZLq1AwnIzy5MClF2l3CfuyRO7kaXSn0ccAJjZKpozbenMBKWY4yhb-nZgrQMhJ32fm8_mZefS37GLfSXv2xhuzyeDsSowm9wudNZT_9W0Qw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-13+at+1.18.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYe9RwV0-R5qrjcO0C4caG5ypZgcHJ_nmZLq1AwnIzy5MClF2l3CfuyRO7kaXSn0ccAJjZKpozbenMBKWY4yhb-nZgrQMhJ32fm8_mZefS37GLfSXv2xhuzyeDsSowm9wudNZT_9W0Qw/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-13+at+1.18.08+PM.png" /></a></div>
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community worship in the tent.</div>
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gretchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447680421382254518noreply@blogger.com1