"Life is not about toning down and repressing your God-given life force. it's about channeling it and focusing it and turning it loose on something beautiful, something pure and true and good, something that connects you with God, with others, with the world." (Rob Bell, Sex God, pg 83) thought that was inspiring : )

So since the last i've written here, so much has changed. i guess the theme of it all is this : god can make anything out of nothing! as i grow in life and faith i realize his timing is perfect. he always has our best. i think we often walk around trying to figure out how life will turn out. we plan. we puruse.... and in the end, life is full of surprises. and when we're walking around with our eyes open to the lord, and listening for his voice - it is far more than we could plan or hope for ourselves : ) i'm learning how to live freely, making nothing my master but christ alone. i will walk through life and pursue the things he puts in my heart and in my path, and hold them loosely in the process.

so the craziest thing happened end of august. i'm sitting on the bus, minding my own business [which is rare cause i usually find someone to talk with] and studying for my NCLEX review course. i hear someone ask me a question and i look up and it's this good looking guy. we ended up chatting the whole way to school. it was one of the most natural conversations i've ever had with a complete stranger. found out his name is nelson and he's a physical therapist who works at a hospital not far from my house. he did his undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis [near rachel's family!] and his doctorate at Northwestern in chicago! talked about the city and random bits of life.... we were nearing the stop where i knew i'd be getting off and i figured it'd be that usual awkward, "well... nice chatting....gotta run!" but before my stop he said something along the lines of that it was really nice talking and would it be ok if he took my number to continue the conversation at another time... i said sure. texted him my number and told him that it was really nice starting my day chatting with him. not much later that day he texted me and asked if he could call me saturday. not only did he initiate a conversation with me, and ask for my number, but also asked if he could call me. saturday rolls around and we decided to meet up at the lake to go for a walk. what a perfect way to get to know someone! spending time outside at one of my favorite places : ) ended up spending six hours together that night. seriously shocked that i met this kid on the bus... and just spent an entire evening with him. it was a lot of fun.

that next week we got together a few times.... pretty soon we were at the space needle for sunset, laying at gasworks park looking at the stars and finding beautiful places to look at the seattle skyline. hiked rattlesnake for sunrise one morning and started going for walks in our neighborhood. what started as the most random interaction has turned into someone i cherish and is a part of my everyday life. and i'm falling head over heels for him : ) he continually amazes me. one thing he said early on was how much he values the community around him and how important it is that our relationship isn't isolated. gosh did that speak to my heart! proverbs 18 says "the one who isolates himself pursues selfish desires and rebels against all sound judgment." i've seen this ruin relationships so it meant the world to me that authentic community is really important to him. it's been so much fun having him get to know the loved ones in my life... and it's been so wonderful getting to know his. i feel like we're both learning so much from each other and enjoying every minute of it. i feel surprised and blessed. i'm thankful for him and am in awe of the lord's timing!

i promise to update before another three months pass : )

i have a place to live!!!!! it's beautiful and i'm very excited!! i'll give you more details soon : )

my first day at clinicals this quarter was thursday. i will be working on the neuro/urology unit at virginia mason medical center downtown seattle. i'll be working one on one with a preceptor named deb. couldn't be a better name : ) i'll be spending between 24-32 hours/week with deb and caring for her patients. should be a good learning/growing in confidence quarter! i'm excited.... anyway s- that's not the point of this post... wanna tell you about my bus ride to the hospital on day one.

i left my house about 3 minutes late so i was going to need to book it the 8 blocks to the bus stop.... i was speed walking at 6:30am let me tell you! when i got two blocks away from the stop i saw the bus coming. this is the point where i burst into a sprint in order to catch it! mind you - i have on cute flat shoes [not running shoes], a gigantic back-pack and a bowl full of oatmeal in my hand. i made the bus but was pretty warm.... so i take off my layers so that i'm just in a tank-top and open the window to get some air. i'm curled up in the back corner of the bus and within 30 seconds this black man, with a big gray hoodie pulled up, turns around and looks straight at me. mind you - he's like 7 rows in front of me and there are people between us.... he says "you hot?" and i'm like... "yes, i am. i walked pretty fast and ran the last part to catch this bus." he says, "well done. you in the army? runnin with a back pack and all..." i politely said no and pulled out my phone in attempts to connect with friends or family on my commute. he has other plans. intent on continuing our conversation, the man walks to the back of the bus and sits next to me. he asks me my name and i tell him.

at this point he looks at me with the shock on his face.... he says "but you're white!"
i said "yes, i am white." i know ... it's quite surprising. he went on to tell me i have a black soul and that i'm not like the other white people. not quite sure what he was talking about, i was about to start chuckling but restrained myself when i saw the seriousness and intent on his face. he was pretty happy that i was like a black person even though i was white!

not really sure what he meant by all of it... but it made for an interesting 15 minutes together. you can count on seattle for that. he seemed like a nice enough guy so i was happy to start my day being present with that man and give him my attention even if the interaction was strange by my definition....

on a completely different note: tomorrow is hiking with k shay, lindsey bailey and lisa wilson! very excited : ) and tomorrow night cathleen, eric and sarah get into town.... and that starts the week of house sitting at kara and jons. a nice little retreat coming up : )