Resolved:

1. To send a much-overdue package to D.C.

2. To learn how to make a knock-out coconut cream pie
(just to prove to my dad that I am not a complete domestic failure)

3. To make a habit out of calling my spunky grandma, who is hands-down one of my favorite people.
(don't get her started about how much she loves this place)

4. To head south. Soon.

5. To remind myself every day of how much I have to be thankful for. (...and to quit ending sentences with prepositions. Ick.)

Note: For those more ambitious than me, check this out.

Got my lunch packed up and my boots tied tight...

Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still.

-C.S. Lewis

*****

I have always found this time of year to be full of possibilities, particularly when armed with a bookbag full of fresh school supplies. Something about cracking open that new notebook, sharpening that new set of pencils and breaking the seal on that (outrageously overpriced) textbook that excites me. A new year. A fresh start. A clean slate. (which I realize makes me A Total Dork.)

So in the spirit of August, and as a nod to those who--in one way or another--find themselves back in the classroom, here's a list of my back-to-school favorites: (feel free to add your own)

• Favorite school supply*
  

• Favorite lunch box discovery
  
  
• Favorite educational entertainment
  
  
• Favorite recreational activity
  (especially of the frozen variety)
  

• Favorite school song

*note: these were actually BANNED at my school. Ridiculous...

A time to mourn and a time to dance

“For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not fail.
Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant. "
Job 14:7-9

In the spirit of Friday, I fully intended on writing something lighthearted. Something funny. Something easy to read.

But then I read Dani's story.*

It is one full of pain, heartache and unimaginable sorrow. One that embodies the darkest side of human life and threatens to destroy the fragile fibers of hope. One that makes you immediately forget your own daily trials and recognize instead how infinitely blessed you are, and as a result, how much you have to give.

I will probably never meet Dani. In fact, I can offer her very little.
But I can share her story.

And pray for the day when Light will overcome the darkness.


*courtesy of dooce.com