I looked in the window to see you clearer but my breath fogged up the glass so I drew a new face and I laughed....

OK, so I haven't blogged in a while....If I didn't know any better, I would think myself lazy! See, it's like this, I've been busy...doing things...stuff....OK, OK, I have no excuse! I guess sometimes, one goes thru phases in their life; Some days you are overwhelmed with words and there isn't enough time in one day to write it all down, and yet other days there seems to be no words sufficient enough to express the jumbled mess of thoughts you keep up in your head, and all you can really do when that happens is sit there with a blank look on your face...OK, so this week-ish, I've felt like I've had a blank look on my face. My mom says that men are waffles and women are spaghetti. Men think in compartments, one compartment at a time and women thinks about many things all at once....I think my bowl of spaghetti is empty :-( blah, blah, blah...All that to say, "I was listening to this song by Todd Agnew the other day." This was cool because I felt like as I was listening, Mr. Agnew was putting some spaghetti back in my bowl. As I was listening to the words, I felt like God was whispering in my ear (my good ear of course). It makes me smile to think of my beautiful saviour singing to me. This song is entitled "a martyr's song" but it wasnt just written to those who were put to death because of their faith. "martyr" means "witness". Anyone who knows Christ personally and intimately is a witness. And what's really cool is that Jesus is longing to sing these words to you...to me...

I've been waiting to dance with you
In fields full of colors you've never seen
I've been waiting to show you beauty
You never dreamed that's always been in you
I've been waiting to see you tremble as you're embraced
By a world saturated with my love
I've been waiting for the day when at last I get to say
My child you are finally home

I've been waiting to watch you realize
What all your longing was for
I've been waiting to show you the thread of grace
That ran through all your pain
I've been waiting to let you drink the water of which
Your greatest joy on earth was just a taste
I've been waiting for the day when at last I get to say
My child you are finally home

Every tear you cried dried in the palm of my hand
Every lonely hour was by my side
every loved one lost, every river crossed
Every moment, every hour was pointing to this day
I've been longing for this day
My child, you are finally home

I would if I had a cookie.....

So, this weekend I went with my family on a road trip up to the Cincinnati area...I didn't realize that we hadn't gone on a family trip in almost 7 years (we had some catching up to do) 

We went to the "Creation Museum." 

We actually got to walk with the animals in the "garden of eden"...

Ride the dinosaurs.....

Take a stroll thru outer space...

We even went dinosaur spotting!

I got to spend time with my sisters...

My sisters got to spend time with a camel....

And my brother did tricks with a t-rex...

It was super fun...

It was nice to take a break from the chaos of the normal day and just kinda play for a while...

I learned so many things whilst away on this trip...I learned that camel's lips do not feel like horse's lips. I learned that the bottom of doors CAN slice your foot open. I learned that pluto and one of its moons orbit each other. AND I learned that the people in Kentucky are quite fascinating and very much informative, they have signs for everything....We went by a tattoo place that advertised "tattoos while you wait" (how convenient), and in one field we drove by, there was a sign that read "USED COWS FOR SALE"....(that sign had me super tickled!)

All that to say, "I had a great weekend"...I very much enjoyed my road trip!

The Stars are made of lemon juice....

Have you ever heard a song and ever thought, "how do they know?" 

Each *verse is* describing you perfectly, each line reeks of you, when people hear it they automatically 

think of you. 

Well my friends, I have found just such a song! 

I heard this song a few years ago and really liked it. As I was listening to it today, I got really tickled...they should have titled this song "Ruthe"

....I'm just sayin'....

Imperfection

My hair's a wreck

Mascara runs
My feet get dirty
And my skin burns in the sun.
My lips they bleed
But I still sing my songs.
Takes me a minute
To admit it when I'm wrong.

Pretty is as pretty does,
But pretty's not my thing.

This is what you get.
This is who I am.
Take me now or leave me
Any way you can.
Sometimes I trip and fall
But I know where I stand.
And if you're thinking about changing my direction,
Don't mess with imperfection.

My back is weak,
But my will is true.
Got good intentions
But I never follow through.
I say too much,
And don't know when to leave.
In case you're looking,
That's my heart there on my sleeve.

Ego trips and stupid slip ups,
I'm a mess but

This is what you get.
This is who I am.
Take me now or leave me
Any way you can.
Sometimes I trip and fall
But I know where I stand.
And if you're thinking about changing my direction,
Don't mess with imperfection.

Scratched and bruised,
A little used,
But baby I work fine.
You might call me
Damaged goods,
But I'm one of a kind.

At the beach, yo!

Ok, so hurricanes, blah, blah, red flags, blah, blah...

we decide to go to the beach anyway...

It's not like those flags really mean anything, right?

So we're driving down the coast line and I'm not gunna lie, I was pretty excited! There were only like 6 cars in the parking lot! We basically have the beach to ourselves! (God must really like us, right?) 

My heart was incredibly happy!

Almost immediately, I went from elated to devastated...The waves were way too high to really do anything in the water. Everytime we stood in it, we got knocked off our feet. Sad....I felt like we had just wasted a whole day!

But James (who "tries" to make the most of any situation) decides that the weather may not be the best for swimming BUT it just might be perfect for skim boarding!

 I don't remember ever laughing so hard! It was one of the funniest thing I've ever seen! 

Here I was getting all down about the environment, feeling as tho I had wasted my time and my day. My friend takes the frown I had on my face and made me laugh so hard my gut hurt! 

As we were driving back later that night, I realized that we did waste time...we totally wasted a whole day! James spent most of the day falling in the water, dodging jellyfish. I got to sit in the sand and read, he got to sleep, we got sunburned...That wasn't a very productive day...

BUT I am so thankful that I have friends who enjoy wasting time with me :-)

God has totally blessed me with such an awesome batch...herd...whatever...of friends!

I would much rather waste my time watching the birds on the beach with my friend than be productive by myself...

Even Jesus recognized how great friends were, He had a posse of 12 guys follow Him around.

As I sit here typing, I remember Phil.1:3...And I do thank my God upon EVERY remembrance of my "most excellent " friends :-)

No! I've never seen a purple cow!

Ok, so this whole time I had a plan! I knew what I was doing...I thought I knew...

Sunday night I was supposed to talk about "Friends"..easy topic, right? I had an idea, I knew what direction I wanted to go in, I was actually prepared (i know that doesnt happen often) All the past week, I felt like God was trying to point me in a different direction. Me, being the (as some would say) stubborn person I am, didnt want to change...I was actually prepared in advance! So I stick my finger in my one working ear...

Saturday night I was praying and trying to get myself focused for the next day, when along comes a little tapping on my heart..."Ruthe, I still want you to go in a different direction..."

I try arguing with God. It doesnt work!

My brother gets frustrated with me when I have car problems. He'll ask me "how long has it been making that noise?" and of course my response is "what noise?"

Evidently when I hear something I dont want to deal with, I turn the music up until it drowns out the noise.

So I try this tactic with God.

Again, it does not work!

Ever notice that when God wants you to do something, no matter how far you run, He always gets His way? (i.e. Jonah and the big fish, or Ruthe and her sunday night talk)

How silly I am to think I could drown out the voice of God! 

The God who speaks things into existence! 

The God who breathed the very life into man!

How amazing is my God! A-MA-ZING!!!

I'm so thankful that nothing I can do can throw God off or mess up His plans! 

What a relief to know that there is nothing I can do screw up so much that He cant fix it with just the sound of His voice!

What a powerful God we serve!

Excuse me sir, I think you dropped your pocket...

Ok, so yesterday I was at home going thru my books, trying to figure out which ones I needed or should bring to my office....because everyone knows the more books one has on display, the more intelligent one looks. 

My goal in this endeavor is to appear intelligent. 

My dilemma....my choice in books.

I had everything from Religions of the World to How not to be an old lady to Rain Makes Applesauce to Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. Then to top it all off, I had a small collection of random poetry books....What does one do with poetry books?!

So much for appearing intelligent!

So there I sat, on my floor, slightly discouraged...Trying to rethink. 

What's a girl to do in a situation like this?! 

The obvious solution hits me, maybe I should just bring the books I'm gunna use....ahhh...

I begin to go thru my books, separating them into "important" categories: youth ministry, spiritual growth, intimacy with God, Character studies, bibles, dictionaries, concordances, blah blah blah...I come to the end of my pile and I have 4 little books that have no home...Bad Girls of the Bible, Really Bad Girls of the Bible, Desperate Women of the Bible, and Criminals of the Bible. I couldn't help but giggle at myself. We do all these studies on all the great men and women of the Bible...David, Abraham, Esther, Ruth, Peter, Stephen, James, Mary, Paul, John....But you never hear of a study done on Jezebel, Cain, Delilah, Sapphira, Athaliah, Aquila....right? I get tickled, because we skim over these people. We think, "they were misbehaving, we don't have to talk about them." 

Au contraire 

2 Timothy 3 says that ALL scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that every man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

Haha! So because Timothy says "all" that means that studying these biblical screw-ups is advantageous to us. The Bible villains are just as important as the Bible heroes!

Who would have thought that those stories were in the Bible for a reason :-)

And then it happened...

Alright guys, here we go....

Blog #1

I have always found it a difficult task to explain what was in my head. 

A chaotic pile of ideas, pictures, and emotions all thrown together in a jumbled mess I call my mind....Sometimes I think it's just easier to express myself through an interpretive dance than it is finding a sufficient word. Words are such a hindrance. Images give us so much more. Last night, for some reason, I was going through my first semester notes from college. I got tickled at myself as I was flipping through the tattered pages. Most of my notes were taken in pictures. Little pencil sketches instead of words filled page after page. Looking over these pictures, I could easily remember what each of the lectures were about. What was funny, though, was going through other notes from the other semesters. Gradually, as the semesters went by, the sketches became few and far between as more and more words filled my pages until my final semester...there were no sketches at all! sad :(

I was almost disappointed in myself...I had conformed. 

If a picture is worth a thousand words, why do we place a higher importance on words?

It seems silly...

I think life would be simpler if it were the other way, if we focused more on images...It would definitely be less work...1 picture is way less than 1000 words!

Ha! I use all these words to say..."I miss drawing"...

Last night I realized I had not sat down and sketched in a long time...I missed it.

It was so much easier to journal in "picture form"

So, I have decided to make a New Years Resolution...early...ish. I want to draw more. Drawing seems to calm me down, help me focus, and even clear my mind.

So now I declare, "I will draw!"