the engagement

I know it has been a while, but so much has happened since my last blog. On February 1st, I received a phone call from my good friend Kathryn with the rerquest to get together that night and have a cup of coffee while we discussed life's dilemmas. Well, after a long day of work, babysitting, and music practice, I drove to meet Kat at Crismon Cafe. The cafe was busy as usual at around 7:15, so we decided to walk down to the Bad Ass Coffee shop. On our journey, we ran into another good friend of mine, Delana Brown, who has a tendency to talk for a while, so we stood there for about 15 minutes before we continued on to the Bad Ass coffe shop. I was going to order my usual soy latte, but alas, they were out of soy milk. Normally, I would have proceeded to my #2 option, hot tea, but the kind staff there offered to walk across the street to Publix and get soy milk for me. I did not think we had any place to be so I offered to wait. Kathryn, on the other hand, was getting a little anxious, but I did not take notice. About 20 minutes later, I finally took my first sip of the soy latte. Kathryn suggested that we drive down to the river road park and walk and talk there seeing how it would be quieter than campus. I was a little apprehensive becaues it was late and we were two girls going to walk in a not so well lit area, but I conceded. We arrived there and I listened as Kathryn asked me my thoughts on deep spiritual matters. I tried to answer, but my vocabulary and life experience was not getting me very far. From afar, I saw what looked like a walkway that had been lit up for the purpose of being able to see at night. As we got closer and closer, I eventually realized that it was not just lights, but candles that were lining the pier. Kathryn said to me,"Lori, hand me your coffee, I'll see you later." She said this two more times before I realized that this whole escapade was planned by my Matthew. I laughed and smiled and handed her my coffee and began to walk down the pier. Between each candle were flowers. Tears began to flow as I reached the end of the pier and finally saw him. He saw me and wrapped me in his arms. As he got down on one knee, He sweetly asked me to be his wife. I said yes inbetween tears of course and he put a beautiful ring on my finger. We then proceeded to spread the news to our family and friends. The planning for this wedding has only increased since then and how anxious we both are to be husband and wife. I ask for your prayers and guidance and we both prepare for this new chapter in our lives. Thank everyone for their love and support thus far and for the ones who knew and kept everything a secret, I thank you. I love you all.

rumor untrue

There are email rumors going around that say the FCC is going to ban Christians from airing on the radio...please see this site before you begin your mass forwarding for petition signing
peace out

the jewelery store

today she walks with confidence
he opens the door for her
only to show the depth of his love
he needs not say a word
love can not hold any word
her face glistens like a young woman in her prime
she has the rest of her life to live
leaving the store she hops like a little girl
full of excitement
allowing one more wrinkle to disappear

jumbled thoughts

To begin with, may I please ask forgiveness for my jumbled thoughts, but I have not been able to write in quite a while. Many days have passed since my last entry. For the most part, I have spend this past month realizing that my physical well-being is not something to be ignored. During Thanksgiving, I fed it foods it did not like and decided that I would be sick for 2 weeks. I do hope to take more precaution in the following weeks as I attend Christmas parties and such.
This season of Advent excites me. It brings forth a hope in me that is seldom awakened. The hope that Christ is coming and the assurance that He is already here. It seems like a paradox, but I must believe this to be true. Everything that Christ has done for us is compelete but yet we are left to live this life...for what? Is it merely to breathe and eat and hide away in our own houses ignorant of the world around us? No, I say...it is time to live as a Christian. To love and to serve one another as Christ came into this world to love and serve us. I know this is a vague statement and could be heard in many pulpits every Sunday, but this is the time to look within at what Christ has placed in us. What is our purpose? This time of year is a time of rebirth. May Christ awaken in us the hope that was planted there long ago.

Nothing is more nourishing to doubt than hazy mists of vagueness, but clear thinking disperses mist and leaves a clear-cut choice to believe or to disbelieve.
-Os Guisness

Slobbering at Your table
I come to the sacrifice
Unknowing what I receive
Like a child, I beg for more

Increase Yourself in me
Satisfy my gnawing plea
My hunger forces me to shake
What am I longing for?

Still my heart and quiet my mind
That I might search and eventually find
The dark shadows of doubt creeping in
Distoring my thoughts producing sin

Now cleanse my being through and through
And restore everything completely true
For it is You I long for and nothing more
So here I stand to open the door

May it be the real I who speaks
May it be the real Thou that I speak to.
-C.S. Lewis

All Saints Eve

We praise you for your saints who have entered into joy; may we also come to share in your heavenly kingdom.
--Common Book of Prayer, 1979.

Happy All Saints Eve to everyone. May we all be thankful for those who have already passed through this life. Many blessings have I received from these: Luke, Treavor, Unlce Leroy, Grandaddy and Memaw, Pawpaw Junior, Granny, and my Pawpaw Barney who I never had the priviledge of meeting. I am truly blessed that I was connected to each of these people.

ugh

it creeps in from behind. sometimes i don't know it has come upon me until i am absorped by it. sadness, pathetic self-pity, oh..how i loathe it! but what is amazing is how various avenues such as music can either feed my sadness or drive me far away into a much more peaceful place. i long for this peace. i have known it before but the road there is never the same. it changes with circumstance and i come to realize that my joy, my peace, is not my own. it comes from a source that i can only dream about. a place once seen in a vision, written about by the saints. i must take their words as truth. my own feelings cannot be trusted, for they seem to be tossed every time the wind blows.