Dear reader

Dear Reader,

If you received an email with the post, "love story" I want to apologize. I accidently pressed the "publish post" button without intention to. I wasn't really finished writing the post, and actually I'm a little embarrassed for writing as personally as I did. Nonetheless, I guess you got a quick unsensored look into the going ons of my brain. Again, I apologize and thanks for reading!

Virginia is for lovers.

This weekend I returned to my home away from home in Harrisonburg, VA (Go Dukes Football: 8-1). It was so so nice to visit with friends and catch up on each others' hectic lives. To see how Angie's kids have grown up so quickly. And I didn't think it could happen, but they're even cuter than I remember. It was so so nice to stroll through JMU's campus with Angie and just BEING with her and talking with her...face to face, heart to heart! I am so so thankful for Angie's friendship.

It was refreshing to sit with Kate on her awesome new screened-in-porch and to hear Charlie play his Marimba (that big wooden instrument thing!). I am so thankful for Kate's patience and willingness to listen with all her heart. I do miss her and the fun we used to have together!

And I am thankful for my church family in Harrisonburg. I am thankful for opportunities like these to worship and sing and exchange hugs with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am thankful that when I am with these brothes and sisters, I feel God's presence ever the more.

Yes, I am thankful for a sweet sweet weekend away. I wish could have stopped the clocks rather than turned them back. But I guess instead, I will look back into the past and remember the good times spent in Harrisonburg and as a student at JMU. Time must go on. I'm just thankful for these chances to revisit the past while living in the present.

11 More gifts, Only 978 left to go!

I have to admit...it's been a slow start toward the One Thousand Gifts goal I made. We'll keep truckin' though...

12. Moonlit walks after dinner. Listening to sounds of the crickets. Looking up to see the stars shining down on me.

13. Realizing that THIS moon is the same moon no matter where you are. Whether you're in New Jersey or California, Japan or Italy, South Africa or South America. All nights are brightened by the same moon.

14. Walking past the high school when "classes" are over for the day. Then, being surprised to see lights on in a few classrooms. Night Classes... I have the greatest respect for those people who work all day and then go to school at night. I don't know how they do it!

15. Dinner Date with a college friend. Cooking for two is so much better than cooking just for one.

16. Singing songs and making harmonies...sort of.

17. Co-workers. Truly working as a team to accomplish our goals.

18. A new ceiling in my apartment. I almost have my cute little kitchen back again.

19. Things I'm looking forward to (they keep me going on those longgg days) : Nicole's new apartment, seeing my parents this weekend (you know I had to say that mom and dad!), visiting college/church friends in VA, spending the summer in London (I know, I know, I'm not getting too far ahead of myself now)

20. Dinner Date #2. Making homemade pizza. Note to self: put pizza crust on pan before loading pizza up with toppings and sauce.

21. Making new friends at work. Talking as we work. Working as we talk.

22. Reality checks. Catching "dumpster divers" after hours at work. Realizing that dumpster diving is a way of life. Feeling extra grateful that I have what I have. Saddened that others resort to 'search and rescue' techniques, even if it means breaking the law.


22.

Dare You to Move...

A little over three years ago, one of roommate's father died in a terrible plane crash. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember being in my bedroom when my friend Kate knocked on the door. I thought she had just stopped by to say hello and such. But instead, she was there to break the news of our friend's father's death. I was completely and utterly shocked. How was that even possible?!? It can't be true. It just can't. I remember walking around the rest of day in a daze and stupor. Chemistry lab seemed so insignificant. Everything seemed duller and less important and less meaningful. I remember driving in my car and hearing the Switchfoot song, "Dare you to move." The song gave me some hope and drive. Yes, there would be a time of mourning and sadness. And this was necessary. But, the song then challenges you to "lift yourself up off the floor. Dare you to move, challenges the vocalist. Dare you to move like today never happened. I was not ready to move that day. Nor the next day. Nor the next week. But when the timing was right, I moved and I moved past the absolutely horrible situation. I moved on for my friend who COULDN'T move. Life changed forever for my friend. And it will always be changed and she will always miss her father. But, even she, even my friend dared to move. We have to move. Or we too, will pass away.

I am reflecting upon this subject because once again, I am speechless and I am in denial. A beloved professor who taught my classes last spring died last week from cancer. She was 38 years old, married, and with two young children. I keep thinking to myself, it cannot be true! It just can't. She had had so much energy and drive. She was a wealth of knowledge. She was so young. But, it is true. After a three month battle with cancer, she has passed. A mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a teacher, a physical therapist, and many other relationships she had formed. How can it be true? I think of her family and friends. Their new pain, a pain they never asked for. Will her children ever know what an amazing person their mom was? Their lives have changed forever. Willl they, one day, be able to move again? Will those who have experienced loss ever truly laugh again?

I don't know the answers to my questions. Thanks be to God, I have never lost a close family member or friend. All I know is that tonight I will say a special prayer for my professor and her family. And I will continue to say that prayer. This world is constantly changing. Time will not stop for us. The question is, how long can we stop, and reflect, and remain stagnant before the world become unrecognizable? Before our lives are no longer our own because we fail to move on and accept the change that is upon us.

Tonight, I dare you to move. I dare you lift yourself up off the floor and grab hold of your life. It may hurt. It may hurt a lot. But it might feel really good at the same time?. It's truly sad to say it, but the world will go on without you. Change is inevitable.

Will you dare to move?

One Thousand Gifts

In High School or maybe it was college, I can't remember, I started keeping my "best thing of the day" journal. And ever since, I have kept the journal on and off. Some months, I will be really good and excited to write in it. Other months, I lose interest altogether. It'd be interesting to look back and see if I can find out why I did or did not write it in during different periods of my life. Whatever the case is, I'd like to start sharing the good gifts in my life with you. Not just the big and obvious gifts, but also the everyday gifts of living, breathing, learning and growing. I know that it will be a lesson in gratitude. In living in the moment. A lesson in seeing the real and present person of God and His presense in every aspect of every day.

A "One Thousand Gift" Challenge was initiated in 2006. A fellow blogger and foremost friend, accepted the challenge in April of this year. And I too, now accept the challenge. A challenge of gratitude. Everyday, I am blessed with ATLEAST 1,000 gifts from God. Unfortunately, I admit that my eyes are closed to most of gifts. It is so easy for me to get wrapped up in my "situation" and dwell on my "problems." So, I accept the challenge. The challenge of counting of my blessings. Literally. One thousand, this year, is my goal. I hope that through this challenge my eyes will increasingly be opened to the every day, every moment gifts from my God.

Shall we begin then? Won't you consider accepting the One Thousand Gift challenge too?

1. I am thankful for Sunday mornings. Gathering with my sisters and brothers to worship together. Catching up with friends and asking about each others weeks.

2. For the man washing his little red Corvette on a beautiful autumn afternoon. Watching him take such care not to miss a spot. Thinking of my dad and how he loves making his Corvette shine!

3. The guy mowing his lawn. And mowing the side-walk at the same time. For the smell of freshly cut green grass.

4. Two younger girls chatting by the bus-stop. Their giggles bring a smile to my face.

5. For friends. For long overdue phone calls.

6. Walks into town. Stopping by the produce store with only seven singles in my wallet. I'll take one aspargus, a brocolli, and crunchy red grapes. Total = $6.50.

7. Thankful for my first pay-check from my new job. I'll deposit that tomorrow.

8. 4:00-5:00p.m. is favorite hour of the day. The sun shining straight into my apartment windows. Most of the day's work is just about done. Getting ready to prepare dinner. Maybe I'll try a new recipe.

9. For change. The leaves haven't started to change yet. But I know that it will happen any day now. And I'll wonder, when did the leaves start changing? They were green last time I looked!

10. For delicious fruit smoothies. Peaches. Pineapples. Strawberries. Yogurt and OJ. Blending them all together to create a refreshing treat.

11. Listening to Pandora radio and realizing that "it is well with my soul." For I am blessed with more than one thousands gifts. every day. every moment.

The story of the kitchenette...

Once upon a time, there was a Kitchenette that lived in a new apartment. The Kitchenette was very cute with a yellow tablecloth and matching kitchen curtains...

Then one day, the Kitchenette sprang a leak through a small hole in the ceiling.

By Monday, the small hole was tired of being so small. "I've been a small hole for too long," it told the ceiling. And so while Natalie was working, the hole grew and grew... it grew until the ceiling could no longer support itself.


When the Kitchenette (and Natalie) realized what had happened, it became very puzzled. "What do I do now?" the Kitchenette asked itself.

The Kitchenette was very sad. "Not too long ago, I was a cute, little Kitchenette! NOW look at me! I'm bare, dirty, stinky and there's a draft. What am I going to do?"

I don't know.


.....to be continued.

Blueberries.

If you would have asked me 3 months ago, "do you like blueberries?" I would have said, "NO, I don't like the taste of blueberries. Actually, they don't really taste like much of anything. No, blueberries are not for me." Well friends, things have changed. Over the summer, I had a change of heart (or change of taste-buds maybe). So, ask me again. "Natalie, what do you think of blueberries?"

I love blueberries!! I can't get enough of them!

How can this be, you might ask? How can you really not like a food one month, and then the next month, love it? Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know...but it can happen. Say for instance, you don't like fish. Or maybe black beans. But you wished you liked them both b/c they are both SO good for you. Have heart. It is very possible that you will have a change of taste-buds :)

Anyways, back to Blueberries. Mmm mmm, I'm eating them as I type.

To the right is a very small wild blueberry "plant" that I found this summer. Look close. Those little black dots are actually blueberries. One day, dad and I went on a search for wild blueberries and that is when I took this picture. We found many small plants like these, and while I picked the blueberries, Dad wasn't content with just the blueberries themselves. He "picked the whole plant," uprooting it, and later replanting it in our front yard (outside of our beach house)! As you probably guessed, the plant died soon after.

That was the fruit of our first Wild Blueberry Picking adventure in August. It was kind of a disappointing trip actually.

A few weeks later though, a friend and I went back to try our luck again. And this time we hit the jackpot! I was in my glory. I even remembering telling my friend, "I am so happy right now." It's all about the little things in life, right? Instead of just finding a few small blueberry plants, this time we found a whole BLUEBERRY BUSHEL!! We both picked and ate our fill. And thus began my affinity for blueberries.Moral of the story. Change. (Sounds like a presidential slogan?!?) You can change! I can change. Things in life will change. Grab hold of it all. Try new things. Give old things a second try. Give people a second chance. And last but not least...don't give up. Love what you do. Do what you love.