Today

Noon- We get to walk by Wrigley Field on our way to church. Oh, the novelty of it all.

Saturday

10 pm- Missio Dei Halloween masquerade. So much to mention; Jake's sock puppet, our new friend Theo, how we got there before the party started and judged it too quickly but then we got the dancing started, some extremely funny friends, and mostly just how amazing it felt to truly, truly, truly dance with the man I love the most!

Friday

8 am- Look at all the leaves in my back alley! Me pregunto cuantas hojas hay para cada persona en Chicago?

On not dying


The leaves do not fall to their death

they are falling to start a new life.

Today

11 am- The colors on my street.

Yesterday

8 pm- I'd love to tell you this story.

I keep noticing the last things I do

as an unmarried woman ... my last

staff meeting, my last women's group,

my last copy editing class, my last

Wednesday where I work from home

while I catch up on laundry and baking.

But I'm not dying.

Far from it in fact.

Here's to new life!

And here's what I made today.

My own recipe "Pumpkin pumpkin cookies."

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup whole grain flour

1/2 cup Trader Joe's pumpkin pancake mix

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 heaping teaspoon of cinnamon

I avoid a mixer as often as possible, this recipe is easy to mix with a fork as long as you do the wet ingredients together first, then the spices, then the flours. Bake for 12 minutes at 350. Try not to eat all the batter.

Today

8:30 am- Downtown in the morning is oh so charming. I love seeing restaurants wake up with their jazz music that doesn't seem to quite fit but still floats out, and peaceful trucks unload their goods.

Sunday

10:30 am- Breakfast with a great couple. Church. Jake and I made music and rested, rested, rested. I love the Sabbath.

Tonight I realized that my life choices are daunting. To me.

I like a lot of ideas in theory but I'm so afraid to let them become my reality.

My cross is too big, I say, too heavy.

But a small cross is not sufficient for bridging the gap.

I've got to face these things head on, no more can I believe without acting.

Someone once said,

"I've been afraid all my life, but it never stopped me from doing anything."

"Action is character, if we never did anything, we wouldn't be anybody."

I think I agree.

Today

4 pm? This monster of a treat, an "investment" if you will, to eat progressively throughout the day, only cost me $1.60 .

Even better was the break from monotony (12 hour Fridays at work) with my friends Kevin and Andy.

I am confident that nobody knows me better than my Creator, and that he has whispered things about me to my love. Almost two years and I still feel like I'm getting to know him. I want to know everything.

Today

This is actually from Friday- cheers with peanut butter cookies on the train.

Saturday

8 pm- Zach and Elspeth came over for dinner, we had stir-fry and love pie. Then we went to Ipsento and had an awesome time. And even after, I stayed out later than normal to hang out with more friends at Matt's house.

Today we had another Sabbath. I'm loving this practice. My heart was celebrating in church, I made pumpkin soup, we ate lots of pie and we wrote our vows!

Then we faced our pride and vanity and prayed that God would fill our life with truly worthwhile things. I am so amazed at the plans God makes for us.

This is for you, Teddy and Dienesa:

"Then this city will bring me renown,

joy, praise, and honor before all nations

on earth that hear of all the good things I

do for it; and they will be in awe and will

tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace

I provide for it."

Jeremiah 33:8-9

Faith

Today

8:30 pm- My soul needed some candles.

Sometimes, at the end of the day,

I can't believe myself.

Thank God, really, thank God

for grace.

I'm working on an opinions piece

for the paper, it's about faith.

I wish I had more.

I wish my faith was more severe.

"Jesus replied, I tell you the truth,

if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,

you can say to this mountain, 'Move from

here to there,' and it will move."

Matthew 17:20

Today

Noon- Picked up the rings. I'm astonished.

Then Jesus said to them,

"The Sabbath was made for man

not man for the Sabbath."

Mark 2:27

Today

11 am, My landlord turned the heat on! I made made my dad's tea blend and for the first time I saw a man in the abandoned apartments across the courtyard.

Friday

9 am, It is my belief that all Chicagoans become bagladies and bagmen.

Thursday

8 am, A very rainy day from my homestop on the el.

Wednesday

7 am, Our first pumpkin lattes of the season. They're so sweet I normally only get one a year, I probably look forward to it more than Christmas morning.

One picture a day.

For one month.

Thanks to a coworker who once

told me to try real sushi,

I now feel challenged to try this.

I love documenting life. It's true. I hope to someday look back and remember little details of life that might otherwise go forgotten... to wherever forgotten things go. So, as Wednesday was exactly one month away from our wedding, I decided to start a project.