kicked in the butt by Jesus

well, i have been kicked in the butt once again by the Lord...it never fails for me in my humanity to stop trusting the one who provides for me.
i've been having trust issues about going to czech this summer...is this really what i should be doing? how will i raise the money? i haven't been trusting in the provision of Christ in any way. i haven't been trusting that he would raise support for this summer, and after this summer financially. it's something i'd been thinking about because i was get discouraged with having the same amount of support and no one sending any in. when i checked the other day, i had received $500 more than the previous day, and this weekend i found out that my sister and church are giving me a big chunk. i started crying. thank you Lord, for reminding me that you're in control.
oh, and another thing, my team is going to Pardubice...the church i've worked with for the last coupe years!

Moonflowers and Band of Horses

Right now I am in this strange mellow mood which won't last all weekend, I'm sure of it. but i'll try to enjoy it while i can.
there's some new things in my life.
first, check out the Band of Horses myspace. listen to their song No One's Gonna Love You. it sounds like an awful, sad song, right? but it's beautiful. i have listened to it over and over, and each time i am serenaded even more. it gets stuck in my head and i love it. the way that the song is sung is so different, and it is all just so pleasing. the best part about the song is that it's "no one's gonna love you more than i do," so much more beautiful than no one's gonna love you...and i love that the title challenges the beauty of the song.
secondly, i've been gardening. nothing new, but i remembered why i love it so much, and i will sorely miss it this summer. i love watching the seeds sprout and grow, and knowing that i am responsible (partly) for whether they continue to grow or whether they die. it may sound old-ladyish of me to say this, but it is so exciting to watch them get big and grow into something beautiful. but as my good friend jaci reminded me, it's not me - it's God.
jaci planted sunflowers and some other kind. i planted moonflowers and seashell flowers. we've been keeping them in a "greenhouse" and already we have to pot some of them because they're getting too tall. here are pictures of them from yesterday. today they've gotten taller and some more have sprouted. we only planted them 6 days ago, and look at them now!
the top one is tuesday, the bottom is wednesday. and today we've taken the top off so they don't hit it!
i love it.

Czech out Grace

yes, yes, yes - I do have homework. but sometimes, homework has to come second. like right now.
there's lots that i want to talk about.
i'm gonna start by putting the cutest video of Grace on here. she's started this new thing where she scrunches up her whole face - kinda creepy, but since she's only 7 months old it's actually cute.


well i sure hope that worked! here's another one of me feeding her about a month ago when she started eating "big girl food" [coming soon! i can't find it on my computer!]

of course this is a big Grace post because i just came from being with her. it's always hard to leave her! today was a gorgeous day, so julia and i went for a walk to cvs with Grace. she's definitely a head turner, and she's already got the fellas opening doors for her ;-)

but moving on - i wanted to talk a little bit about czech since that's mostly why i created this blog. here's some facts about the country:
-it's surrounded by Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Poland (one time when I was there, we hiked into Poland!)
-it used to be joined with Slovakia - hence why some people still refer to the country as "Czechoslovakia." they hate being called this because they are a republic now. this is because...
-Czechoslovakia had once been taken over by Soviet rule, and for decades they were under communist rule. i have friends (in their mid-20s) who still remember these communist camps that they had to go to, and they had to pledge to the communist party. but in 1989, the Velvet Revolution began, and by 1993 Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics. They are very much two different countries.
-Czech Republic is about the size of South Carolina, and it is split into western Bohemia and eastern Moravia (many gypsies still reside in Czech, if Bohemia gave any indication of that). Apparently, there is a certain dialect of the Czech language within these two sections.
-politically, Czech Republic is a very neutral country. they don't want to take any sides. recently, the US wanted to place a military base in CZ, and many of the locals were unwilling because they didn't want to seem to take sides.

there's not much more to say right now, but there's so much about the culture to appreciate. i hope that my journey will help you to understand and know more about Eastern European culture!

thoughts.

blurry picture and a hand in the way but i love it anyway.

lots of things have been happening lately. and i've been very emotional on top of it.
grandma died a little over a week ago and i've been thinking about her a lot.
she was the mother of 6, grandmother of 22, and great-grandma of 2. and i think it's because of her faith that her whole family are Christians. what a wonderful woman who honestly loved Christ. i hope that one day i can resemble her. and i hope that when it's my time to have children i can raise them as well as she did. i will miss my prayer warrior.

so much to say and no time to say it

but i wanted to say this while it's on my mind: i'm scared about interning!

picture time!

last night i got in a big picture-y mood, and so started posting. however, halfway through the post, my roommates and i started playing apples to apples, and so i didn't feel like finishing it. so before jaci and i begin watching a movie, i'll put some pictures on here.
i'm not sure what the order of these pictures is gonna be, so here goes. the first one is the older melone cousins with nanny and pop-pop. i haven't been to san diego since nanny died, so this spring break should be interesting. i love that picture though - larissa and michelle are clueless, i'm screaming bloody murder, and billy and krista are so cute. it's so strange that now billy has a baby and krista's expecting one - those days on nanny and pop-pop's laps seem not so long ago.
the next two - me as a baby and grace. see any resemblance? i love my dad and i love that baby. my dad is the love of my life.
the next is my roommates. most of these girls i hadn't known until this year, and it's a shame. we're generally similar in some ways, and the ways that we're not aren't an issue. however, ariel's getting married this summer, and jaci won't be returning next year. it's hard to put time into relationships knowing that i won't be seeing them so much.
and the last is a picture of my nuns. the girls who mean so much to me. there's nothing like having friends who have seen you grow up and mature. my memories with them are so numerous, but we all love to sit around and reminisce.
hmm.

sans sarif

i learned today from julia what sans sarif means. graphic design 101. this font is sans sarif. so is the font on my shirt. pretty cool. now i think i'm all smart.
in the world of Grace, she is now sitting up by herself and saying mom-mom-mom. what a cutie. i know that she's being raised with two wonderful parents and in such a good home that kids don't generally get to enjoy anymore. and grandparents and aunts that love her. and the extended family. of course. what a cutie.
my friend ryan emailed me today and told me that it sounded like i'm transitioning into adult life. i got really freaked out, much more than i should have been. i don't know what it is, but that email kinda made me realize i need to start maturing. in 2 years i'll be teaching and i still look like i'm 15. and i still act like i'm in middle school sometimes.
well, life shall go on, and maturing will happen as it always does.