#WorldSeries

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a World Series game.  SAY WHAT?!  I'm tellin' ya, perks of living in a baseball-obsessed city.  Now, I am hardly a baseball fan, but this was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up!  So here are some pictures from the big night!! :)

The Cup (the BEST cupcake place in St. Louis) makes
Cardinals-themed cupcakes! Mmmm :)

CARDS WIN!!

sometimes it's really nice that I work in a library...

While I love my job, there are severe set-backs to working in a climate-controlled, basement room of the library...namely that it is freezing at all times.  I've layered coats, brought blankets, etc. and to no avail - I always walk out of this room hoping that outside it's much warmer (yes, that is a thought I have on a regular basis, even when it's January and blizzarding).  Today, though, I'm quite thankful that I work in a library, particularly a seminary library.  I've been reflecting a lot on Ephesians 5:22-33 recently, and our library does have a nice selection of commentaries to help me wrap my brain around it all (thank you, people smarter than me!!).  In case you're interested, the NIV Application Commentary and the Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament both have very helpful articles on this passage.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.  "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."  This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (ESV)

Trust Your Instincts

Frodo:  "Who then do I trust?"

Gandalf:  "You must trust yourself.  Trust your instincts."

Turns out that's not really what Gandalf says in the first Lord of the Rings movie, but that's what I've thought he's said for the past 10 years so I'm going to go with it.  Every week for Group Dynamics, we have to write a journal entry about some aspect of the class that week - it could be reading, class discussion, or something that happened in group.  This past week, I was co-facilitating my group, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts from this week.

At some point in our group discussion, I asked the group, "What if we trust the instincts we are all having?"  A number of people had voiced that their gut was telling them to delve into a comment that one of the group members made.  But they were all afraid that this was not the "right" thing to do.  Maybe it's just me, but I feel like a lot of the counseling process (group or otherwise) is about feeling it out and trusting your instincts.  I also believe that may of our instincts (though definitely not all!) are God-given, and can therefore be trusted.  I think if we had gotten out of our heads a little bit (which is so unlike me to suggest!  I'm such a rational person), and trusted our gut then we would have been less apprehensive to enter in to the hurt and mess that multiple group members were hinting at.  Our professor always talks about "taking the risk" in counseling, and I think that is what this is.  I am such a risk-averse person, and it is so hard from me to understand why my gut is telling me to take a risk.  While risks are definitely scary, I think they aren't something to be afraid of.

Anyways, it was so comforting me to end group feeling like I could trust my instincts as a counselor.  While I definitely have a lot to learn, it was nice to leave feeling like God has got my back in the counseling room.  As Dr. Zink (one of our professors) would say, "Trust God, and trust the process."  I think a big part of that is learning to trust yourself as a result of knowing that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). 

just something I've been meditating on...

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)

Back in the Swing of Things

It is so hard to believe that I've been back in St. Louis for over a month now.  In some ways, it feels like the past few weeks have FLOWN by.  But at the same time it kind of feels like I never left.  This semester, I am actually only a part-time student at Covenant, taking three classes:  1. Spirit, Church, & Last Things  2. Group Dynamics  3.  Educational & Psychological Measurements.  In addition to these courses, I'm starting to get a jump-start on the additional courses I'll need to be an LPC in Virginia, so I'm taking an online course through Regent University.  Needless to say, my school workload has been relatively light so far, which has made for a nice transition back to St. Louis.

This year, I am living in an on-campus house with an all-new set of roommates!  I honestly could not be more blessed with how my living situation this year has turned out.  My roommates are all very sweet, loving girls, and I already feel like we click well with one another.  We're starting to tackle decorating our house, so we had a mini-photoshoot done at the beginning of the semester:

From Left to Right:  Me, Bekah, Emily, Amy, Erin, & Britt

I am so excited to get to know these ladies better over the course of the next couple of years!

Some more highlights of the past few weeks:  Labor Day weekend I went out to Table Rock Lake (unfortunately, I don't have any pictures) with some of Eric's friends.  By far one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in a long time!  It was so nice to get to know these new friends, and also to enjoy the water and lots of REALLY good ice cream (Blue Bell - I'd never had it before!).  The next weekend, I went to visit Jessica in Lexington (I was quite the traveler those weeks!), and as always it was so nice and grounding to talk and hang out with her.  Since I've gotten back from traveling, I've started work, gone to a Cardinals game, visited a Missouri winery with Eric's cousins, and gone to the annual St. Louis Balloon Glow in Forest Park!  Who knew that I would be such a (social!) busy bee in my first month back?!  I must say it makes SUCH a difference having roommates that I connect with so well.  For the first time in a lonnggg time, I want to be upstairs (my room is in the basement) as much as possible just to hang out with them, and my default answer for social events is not "no," like it was for the majority of last year.  It is so s w e e t to feel so comfortable here.

Lauren, Melissa & I at Noboleis Winery

STL Balloon Glow in Forest Park!  Such a beautiful night!

xoxo

So I had this realization this morning - 10 years ago today, I was sitting in my 8th grade English class, interviewing this girl named Tasha Abi-Najm.  And now, 10 years later, I am still blessed to call her one of my very best friends! :)  We've gone through so much together: fun times and sorrowful times, celebrations and times of mourning.  So here's to you, Tash - may our next 10 years of friendship be as memorable as the last! :)

xoxo, S

Homes

Timeless.

One of the highlights of my weekend was getting to spend a day down in my second home, Williamsburg.  Even after a year of living somewhere else, this place still has a special draw for me.  Some things have changed (like the amazing new frat houses that they've built!), some things are only slightly different, and some things are timeless.  What I love about being an alumna of the College of William & Mary is that my experience is not unique.  The majority of the the College's alumni, I would argue, have the same deep-seated connection to this place.  When I was an undergraduate, in many ways I felt like the campus and the Williamsburg community were the perfect home for me.  I felt like the place was meant for me.  Going back as an alumna is different - I no longer feel like I belong in the same way.  I'm not a

student anymore, and I don't feel like I could ever be a student there again - it would feel weird.  But as I walk the campus, I get the sense that in some ways I will always belong at William & Mary.  Those four years were a defining aspect of my life, and in personality & mind, I will always be a William & Mary student.  Walking along the Sunken Gardens feels different than it did before (though I can still very distinctly feel what it felt like), but it is still such a peaceful feeling for me.  I walk the campus differently than I did a couple of years ago, but it will never lose it's magic for me.

So all of this has gotten me thinking about the concept of home.  As a child, "home" is where you and your family live.  To the government, you are considered "homeless" if you do not have your own permanent residence (i.e., if you are crashing in a friend's apartment for a month, but they could technically kick you out at any time, you are considered "homeless").  For me, I think I have many homes.  Some are based on the place itself, and some are based on the people there, but all of them have a sense of belonging.  Of course, I have a home in Ashburn where my family lives.  Not only is this concept of home tied to the people that I love that live there, but also to the house that I grew up in.  But Williamsburg also feels like home to me.  I feel like I belong there in a different way than I belong at home in Ashburn.  St. Louis is also beginning to feel like a home.  This one is not tied to the place at all - the city itself has no draw to me.  But it's the people (I have one particularly in mind) that I feel connected to.  Granted, because I've only lived there for a year, my relationships are not as strong as they are with friends from Ashburn or Williamsburg, but over the next 2 years, I can see them becoming so.

It's kind of a weird feeling to have 3 homes.  I mean, I would rather have 3 than have none at all, but it does kind of make one feel pulled in a few different directions.  It also makes it so that I adjust super quickly to being in each place.  Within a day or two, I am back into my mode of operation for that specific environment.  One thing I would like to learn is to meld these M.O.s into one.  Of course I will always react uniquely to each environment, but I would like to see as much overlap of self in each one as possible.

Just some of my thoughts today. :)