a few new arika pictures :)

i don't know how these could possibly, upon seeing them, touch your heart in the same way they do mine but i absolutely adore this four (soon to be five!) year old girl and hope you at least semi-enjoy these postings, too!

a dork-tastic picture of me concentrating exceptionally hard on a preschool activity but a cutey of arika proudly celebrating a mini-accomplishment!

head, shoulders, knees and toes!!

learning about rhymes, thanks doc seuss.

gosh, she's got a tight grip on a chunk of my heart!

and... we're back!

happy monday!

on this glorious (well, kind of... thank you mg&e for the tranquil wake-up this morning to digging and dump trucks and drilling just inches outside of my bedroom window that literally shook me out of bed) monday morning i've decided i'm back to blogging :)

the last week and a half-ish i've unplugged a bit. i deactivated my facebook and truly may never go back. i also took a timeout from blogging but after actually quite a bit of thought and prayer about it, have decided: i'm back!

in a book i've been reading lately, john piper, the author, writes that

God created me- and you- to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion- namely a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all spheres of life.

the lord created me to worship and glorify him, but also to enjoy him- and these are entirely entwined.

so in un-blogging, my questions to myself and my maker were... "does this glorify you?" and "does this help me live the life you've blessed me with to the full?"
and a week and a half later, on both accounts, i think i've come to rest on the answer of: yes.

absolutely aside from how many people read my blog regularly or ever, if one person once feels inspired or challenged or just joyfully closer to the lord because of my unintelligible ramblings, praise god. in my life, in my blog, in the way i live and love, i simply ask that the lord be lifted high.

the second parter of my hesitancy to blog was a fear that the time spent here might be pulling me away from fully living and loving the life i've been blessed with. but, i'm so happy to report that while i doooo sometimes use this blog as an "oh shooot, i can't possibly start writing that paper yet, i haven't posted anything on my blog lately" excuse, it honestly has enhanced my life a bit. i love sharing what i've been up to with friends and family! on that note, stay tuned for a little baby life update to come :)

happy tomorrow-is-finally-march!

on pause.

blogging here is officially on pause. not forever, just for now.

i'm un-blogging, un-facebooking, un-plugging a bit.

live, love and learn!

until later,
nicole

tell me whatcha want, whatcha really really want...

I SO, so have a

longing to be a certain kind of person. A person who knows God. A person who is faithful against all odds and does not shrink back. A person through whom God can perform whatever deeds need to be done-mighty or otherwise- but also a person who can be just as content settling down beside a well or sitting on the side of a mountain in God's presence. Someone whose face shines because she has been talking to God. Someone whose every move is a result of an attempt to listen to God and then do what he says. Someone who, when God says, 'It's time to let go; it's time for you to come home,' easily lets go and rests in the arms of this One whom she has grown to love and trust with her very being.

Taken from "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership- Seeking God in The Crucible of Ministry"

best! day! ever!

ok, i think i've been fully converted. i was never one of those totally anti-valentine's day cynics but i guess i usually feel pretty indifferent about the holiday. this day is for the most part celebrated by lovey dovey lovers, and even though i couldn't fall further from being in that category right now, today has become the new BEST DAY EVER!

my day started at approximately 6:37 am when i received a simple yet heart-warming text from one of my high school young life girls who i absolutely could not adore more

i then got up, got ready, and drove to preschool (with the sunroof open! because it was 50 and sunny and come on... that's nearly tropical compared to what we've been dealing with lately!)

at preschool this morning i learned a new lesson: if you want to feel loved, spend valentine's day with 20 adorable 3 and 4 year olds. i left the school sticky from melted-candy-ish-handed hugs, probably a little bit of snot on my face from the million boogery kisses on the cheek i received, a few "i guess you could call that a heart"-shaped heart crafts, and a heart so, so full it felt it might burst!

back at the house for a bit before leaving for class i first found a few cutesy little valentines comfortably resting on my pillow, thanks to my adorable and amazing roommates. i then got to watch beautiful flowers be secretly delivered to a very gorgeous, very deserving and very adored roommate of mine :)

in class i got the WONDERFUL news that another roommate of mine, laura, got accepted to an amazing program for this summer called discipleship focus. she'll spend the summer working at an amusement park, living in community with other sweet diggity dog college students and learning more and more what it means to follow jesus. loooove it.

so, to celebrate, after class i picked up a few fancy dancy lattes for laura and i (coffee: maybe the one thing we DON'T really need more of in our house...), came home, and crafted the afternoon away!

and nowwww my day will close with a girly young life cookie baking extravaganza!

oh, also: anthropologie has recently created a bridal line and the website for it was finally opened today. i know. a time waster, totally overpriced stuff, but still... yum. it's pronounced "beholden".

i think today has really just blown me away not because it's a cheesy hallmark holiday but because it ended up being a powerful reminder of how many people i have in my life right now that i absolutely, whole-heartedly love... that the really great people in my life are also being loved well by others... and just that the lord loves us an unfathomable amount and so delights in blessing us.

good friends and truthiness

two of my favoritest friends have kind of challenged me (or maybe inspired me?) lately without even knowing it!

laura, after uncovering a new gold-mine-of-goodness blog, has fallen in love with some cheesy and some not so cheesy quotes. one saying she found and now has hanging in her room is...
"boats in a harbor are safe. but that is not what boats were built for."
mmm, don't you just love that?! let's set sail. (sorry, was that cheesy?)

another beautiful friend of mine, melissa, has semi-declared that she wants to live this year boldly. and while that's maybe a simple decision, watching her do that... watching her take chances and be brave and live out her faith every day... has been so, so cool already this year.

i love my friends and the truthiness they speak into my life without even trying. i'm blessed to be surrounded by a lot of absolutely incredible christian women who challenge and teach and grow me all the time :)