joy costs pain

I should be studying for a midterm I have tomorrow, but I couldn't pass up sharing this with you...
If you have time... please read this whole post here, or start following this blog (link "the Journey" at the right of this page.) it will change you... I promise.

I NEED this perspective in my life, this constant reminder of things happening in the nations, around the globe, down the street... outside of my own little world.

from Katie:
        "I would like to tell you that as I become more and more surrounded with sorrow and squalor, it gets easier or less painful. But it doesn’t. The brokenness of this world does not become any less sad. Each and every time, it is overwhelmingly devastating that people have to live, and die, like this. While it does not get easier, I have found that I am able to face each one with a little more hope. I always hope that my friends will live here on earth with me, but I tell them all with a new sense of urgency about Jesus because mostly, I want them to live with HIM, whether here or in heaven. I see the sadness, but I also see the redemption.
         If we are really following Jesus, we will go to the hard places. Being a Christ follower means being acquainted with sorrow. Because we must know sorrow to be able to fully appreciate Joy. Joy costs pain, but the pain is worth it.
        So we go. This is where our family is today and where I hope to stay – loving, because He first loved us. Going into the pit, entering into the sorrow because He entered for us first and because by His grace, redemption is on the other side - again, and again, and again."

ketchup

no this is not a post about condiments.

this was my attempt to play off the fact that I haven't posted in a while. So heres some quick ketchup for you.

Will's brother, Ben and his wife, Jordan came into town 2 weekends ago to hang out with the family. It was a really great time to spend with them before Ben deployed for Iraq and Jordan headed back to New York.

It was also Will's dad's birthday. So of course, we had to celebrate with a family golf outing!

happy birthday!

the cute couple

my golf-pro husband (he really is getting good!)

I was probably teasing Ben

isn't he cute?

speaking of birthdays...

I feel as thought I need to do another huge b-day shout out!! (told you this was catch up!)

Noelle!!

such an old picture! back in the day!
The Peters & Agnors at Christmas

Ashley!!

sweet friend!!

beautiful bridesmaids: jenn, ash, april, megan, michelle

Jada!

at Jada's 1st dance recital in May

jada the butterfly- at her 4th birthday party

Chester!

Chester & his hot wife at the wedding... sweet dance moves!

Happy Belated Birthday friends!

Biggest loser started on Tuesday.

so great. so excited. tuesday nights. watch it.

onto other news....

I went garage sale shopping with my wonderful Grandma Smith. she is garage sale queen. I have so much to learn from her. She walked away from the morning with a stash of wonderful treasures. The first sale of the morning, I picked out 2 good books I found and walked to the check out to pay for them. The sweet lady told me they were free because they were "jesus books." saweet.

Later, I found this classic:

do you remember reading this? anyone? I picked it up and laughed out loud. How could I forget about "Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo"??? When my teacher read this to us, I would say the name aloud as fast as I could with her. So I bought it, (actually dad gave me the quarter) and proceeded to take it home to read to Will.

We laughed at how racist this book is. really. it's a folklore tale about why the Chinese name their kids with short names. how did I miss that as a kid?

and it's got some weird stuff in it that I'm not sure I will ever want me kids to read... like the idea that the mom values the firstborn way more than the second child, and references to evil spirits bewitching tongues and an old man "finding his youth again" in a dream. weird.

anyways, it was worth a good laugh and a glance down memory lane.

at the last stop I found this:

yummy! I've been debating on getting a tea maker or not. you can make tea without one... but its easy with this contraption. its about $20 at target and I bought it for $5, brand new, in the box, complete with card from the wedding! can't beat that!

ok, I've officially made the most random blog post...

tonight: date night with my wonderful husband. we are going to a dinner that my sweet friend, April, is hosting to raise money for her journey on the world race. The food is going to be AWESOME and the fellowship: even better. To find out more about her story and how to support her, here. and for your viewing pleasure:

Pictures from tonight to come...

hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Unearthed

"Be ready. The time's coming"—God's Decree—"when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed. And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting."

Jeremiah 31:27-28 (The Message)

This is what the Lord is doing all around me. He's ripping up deep deep roots that don't belong. Roots that grew too quickly, in the wrong place, or even roots that have gone bad and decayed. He's taking apart lives, demolishing plans and preconceived ideas. He's tearing down walls, ripping open hearts, exposing the broken places.

It's hard. It's messy. It's uncomfortable and even hurts. The soil is all over the place. At times the garden appears to be in chaos.

but He's at work. active. moving.

tilling. breaking down. preparing a plot for fresh vision, new life, faith sprouting up, room for growth.

Only after this happens, is He able to "start over, build and plant."

Only after He exposes the broken, can he heal.

Only after shaking things up, can he truly establish his unshakable foundation.

Redemption is near. I can feel it in the shaking soil.

Let the harvest begin.

Music for the Soul

how about some music for the soul on this loverly saturday? here are some songs that I'm loving these days.

the first two are by this guy: will matthews. he leads at bethel and is currently recording his album. CAN'T. WAIT. you tube videos with bad quality with have to do for now. (and sometimes I make Will lead "Hope's Anthem" just so I can hear it.)

and a fun one:

and if you need one more. check out this budding gem, jada. she's pretty sweet.

What music have you been listening to? Comment with your favorite music! I love new stuff!

and so it begins!

school that is. today was my first day back in class... even though its only been a few weeks since I stepped off campus for summer school. This day marks the LAST first day of school. ever. It's totally a weird feeling. I still don't know what to make of it.

Will started school last Wednesday and textbooks are officially in season... so this new season of life begins!

There are few things that I'm intentionally doing starting today. I want to document them to see how long they last. My hope is that this day marks a change in lifestyle vs. a fleeting new school year resolution. I'm super hopeful about how this affects my life, in several ways. And I plan to document them here, ideally. : )

Things that I'm starting today:

1. I'm becoming super disciplined about time in scripture and with the Lord. Quiet time, if you will. Lately, the Lord has given me a great hunger for his Word and I discovered I'm starving! Literally my soul is malnourished- no exaggeration. I find such life and satisfaction in scripture, why don't I spend more time there! I'm super grateful that the Lord has revealed this to me and given me a desire to spend time with him. This is probably one of the things I'm most excited about. I'm waking up way earlier than I would have ever imagined to guarantee time with Him. I found some really fun devotionals at Half Price Books recently and I'm planning as using those as supplements to digging into scripture. I'm currently doing a weekly study on "Living in Jesus" and a daily study on "Spiritual Gifts." Such good stuff.

2. I'm taking my waking temperature and recording it. If you don't know what that means or what its for: here.

3. I'm exercising every morning with the loverly Megan (see picture below) at the Rec! We are doing the 7:30 class Monday-Thursday and then Cycle & Body Blaster on Fridays in the afternoons. This is going to be a great way to kick start my mornings and be motivated for the rest of the day. Also, if I don't do this in the morning, it gets really difficult to fit it later into the rest of the day. This morning was a kick in the pants. You can ask Megan, I was probably the worst one in the class. This will change soon!

4. I'm taking my vitamins! Yes! Can you believe it!? My mom would be so proud. If you have to know, I'm taking Prenatal vitamins (no, we are not preggers) and a separate iron supplement.

The list may seem small and meager, but its a big deal for this one here. Obviously the regular school stuff starts today too. *Insert forced smile*

Just a quick update on all that you missed/I didn't blog about:

• my birthday was SO fun. we went to Austin for a night. Did the typical: Alamo Drafthouse, Sixth Street, live Jazz music, Chuy's with the beautiful Aunt Tammy, Botanical Gardens, and playing around in the park, with the camera.

• Will MADE me an awesome present. He is so cool. He got the idea and plans from this blog. Here is a picture of what it will look like:

It's called at puzzle bookcase because the middle pieces aren't connected. It makes it a very versatile piece. It can go flat against a wall, in a corner, or be pushed completely together if there isn't a lot a space. I will post pics when we get it painted and set up. Thanks husband!

• I got a job! Yup. While I was sitting around the apartment during my break, I got a little stir crazy. I'm now working as a personal assistant for a beautiful woman, Traci Smith. It was truly the Lord that made this happen. I'm really excited to be working with her and helping her reach her goals this year. Also, it's a great job that's super flexible while I'm in school.
• We went to camp. church camp that is. Remove all the images and ideas you have stored up in your brain about what church camp is. Get rid of kumbaya around the camp fire, a bunch of kiddos hyped up on sugar, crazy counselors & lots of drama. Say hello to awesome community, uninterrupted relational time, lots of porch swings, fun activities, worship, prayer, healing, remembering, dreaming, and more.

I have lots of thoughts and things I want to blog about. Hopefully this week I can catch this up with all the things I have going on in my head. I'm exploding with ideas, things I've read, stories I've been challenged by... life. I truly want this to be a place of growth, of development. (mostly for me, but for anybody else who decides to join me along for the ride) Soon I'll be sharing a few stories, thoughts on money and finances and some things the Lord has been stirring in me.

This blog is already waaaaay too long for me to get into all that.

But for the time being, check out the side bar to the right for some really neat stuff under Kingdom things.

florida is hot.

like- way hot. hotter than Texas. who could have thunk!?

My trip to Orlando was short, jam-packed, fun, and exhausting. I think I got about 10 hours of sleep between the three nights that I was there... not so great for the immune system.

Here are some fun pics from our time at Magic Kingdom (we lasted until about 2 AM at the park):

I'm glad to be back home. Tuesday I finished up summer school with 2 finals and a 20 page paper. joy.

and now I'm done!... until August 30th. : )

Shout out to some of my beautiful friends celebrating birthdays recently:

Michelle

Megan

Blair

Happy Happy Birthday sweet friends!!

So what's on the agenda for the Agnors for the next week?

Lots of relaxing, catching up on long to-do lists, cooking yummy meals, hanging with friends (do I hear a game night coming up? I think I do.), a garage sale at the Lees, maybe even some Wii?

Monday is my birthday and Will has (surprisingly) kept our plans a secret. So I have NO idea what is in store for us this weekend. I'm excited to spend some fun time with him and (maybe) get out of College Station for a few days.

Above all, I'm really looking forward to slowing down a bit. I feel like I haven't had much time to process... through anything. So I want to spend time just being. being present. being grateful for all that has happened in the past few months/lifetime. being hopeful for the coming fall season. I just want to soak it all in...

hmmm... I might go crawl up in a hammock with a good book.

until next time bloggy world,

aubrey

update

Whelp. These past few weeks have been flying by and its about to get crazier.

This past weekend, Will's brother, Ben and his wife, Jordan came into town to visit family.

The weekend was filled with Ninfa's, pictures, multiple games of Settlers of course, good wine, breakfast at Cracker Barrel,

a photo shoot, and spending hours looking at funny Youtube videos. Ben's new favorite is double rainbow. If you like that, you have to hear the song! (even funnier!) I don't know how many times Ben and Will watched that! So sorry Jordan that you have to hear that over and over now!

This week I took some pictures for our friend, Jeff. He is graduating in about a week and needed some senior pictures. So we headed around campus and about melted in the 150 degree heat. It was really fun for me because when Jeff asked me, I was extremely nervous. like- way nervous! It has been a long time since I have played around with my camera and I was seriously doubting myself. During our time, I found myself really enjoying taking pictures and Jeff even made a comment like, "Why don't you do this more often?" I'm not sure. I gave a few bad excuses, and some legit ones... but that's not the point. I think what's been holding me back is the fact that I know soooooo many really great photogs and I just can't justify putting my pics up against them. But I think this has stifled the fun and pleasure I get from taking pictures. So, I decided that I want to be free to enjoy playing with my camera, even if I'm not really good at it. : ) Thanks Jeff for snapping me out of that mindset!

here are a few of my favorites so far:

Tomorrow I leave for Orlando, Florida to this place for the next 4 days for Ernst & Young's International Intern Conference.

Pretty much, its going to be a leadership retreat with some free time at Disney. And the best thing about it... I get paid to go! Sawweeet! I will surely miss my husband though!

Next week, I have two finals and then I will be D.O.N.E. with summer school! I'm so thankful for a break and ready to be able to tackle a list of things that I haven't been able to do since being in school. Will's work is steadily getting busier, so we are trying to use our time well before the "back to school" rush starts up. Until next time!

aubrey