A house with no doors

Sovereign one,

I have a dream of a house with no doors, where people can come and find a loving community.

I want my home to be open to the hurting and broken, to the homeless and the unwed mothers, to the lost and the searching, to the hitch hikers and couch surfers. I want them to find a place in my home among a community of believers. I don't want just my family to live there; I want Your family to live there.

I always want to have an open place at the dinner table, and a extra bed or couch or place on the floor for someone to sleep. I want my eyes to be open to the people who need these things, and to be able to offer it to them,

I want everyone who lives there to work together to keep house, only paying rent as they can afford, everyone pitching in to cook and clean and repair. Everyone using their unique gifts and skills to make it work.

I want my children to be raised in an environment where people are not looked down in for being different. I want my children to have a place where they can invite their hurting friends to come with no worries of persecution or cold shoulders.

I want You to be the foundation of this home. I want You to be the center of what happens there. I want it to glorify You and further Your Kingdom. I want it to depend on You and be fulfilled through You. I want a home that has no doors - only the warm embrace of Your Love.

Into Your hands I commit this dream.

In your Name and according to your will I pray. Amen.

Home Again

For the first time since moving to Nashville in August, I am back home. It's a bit strange, really. It has been great to see my family and my friends from here, but I miss my new friends and Nashville's 75 degree weather. A lot of my friends at Belmont call school "home" now... I'm not quite to that point yet. I think I need a rug before I can really call my dorm room "home." But then again, Indiana isn't quite home anymore either. I think I'm stuck in the middle somewhere - in a mental transition from one home to another, and I can't quite decide which one is which.

The problem with "home is where the heart is" is that my heart is all over the place. Parts of it aren't even in the country.

Home is where my Jesus is. Jehovah-shammah.

I've started a new art project/commission (as if I didn't have enough to do already). I'm working on 12 paintings for a hotel in Pigeon Forge, TN. The series will be called "The Orchestra," which pretty much explains what the paintings will be of. Right now there is a larger-than-life half-colored trumpet player in my living room. Back in my dorm there is a partly-finished conductor who looks an awful lot like my favorite professor, Dr. Enstminger. I need to spend more time working on these if I'm going to finish them in time.

Besides that, finals are coming up in about a week. I have A LOT that needs finished before then.

Should you be in the mood to pray for me, please pray for time/stress management. I definitely need it.

Meanwhile, it is the end Thanksgiving break. Yes, I am very thankful. No, I am not going to list for you everything that I am thankful for. Suffice it to say that I have been very blessed, and that I take too many things for granted far too often.

Thank you, Lord, for you provide. Jehovah-jireh.

And now, what I know you have been anxiously awaiting... Pictures!

We went to The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge, TN. A store completely dedicated to Christimas things all year round

We decorated this snazzy tree at my friend Nick's house

Your room is not safe when you are away. We will get in and decorate it in a very obnoxious fashion.

I traveled to Virginia for fall break to visit some friends there. I love mountains :)

Friends! Yay!

I figure it is about time for me to update this a bit. A lot has happened since my last post, and besides that Lauryn Hewett told me I need to. And since I spend a lot ofmy evenings sitting on the floor of her dorm room, I think should listen to her or she might kick me out and I would have to start pretending to do my homework in my own room instead. :)

I went home (and by home I mean that I went to Camp Shipshewana) for Labor Day weekend and Family Camp. All the family (plus Carlo, who isn't officially part of the family...yet) came - an exciting event, as usual. Plus, Family Camp means that you get to see old friends. This year there were a lot of people there that I hadn't seen in years. It was really exciting and really fun. So here are some pictures from that.

Lydia, Jackie, and me watching a volleyball game

William, Katie, and me

The whole family!

Sisters

Taking advantage of all-you-can-eat ice cream all weekend. :)

In other news, I've moved to Nashville and am in my third week of classes at Belmont. So far so good I think... I haven't had any urges to change my major or anything of that sort. I've started going to Reformed University Fellowship things (I'm not really reformed, but it is a great community of believers). And I've found some down-to-earth, beautiful, God-loving ladies that I now call my friends.

In my suite we have an interesting group of people. We are all very different, but somehow we all get along just fine. Of course there are annoying things, like how no matter how much we sweep there is always hair on the bathroom

floor, we go through an absurd amount of toilet paper, and sometimes I forget to take my dishes out of the sink (which drives Anna W. and probably Meahgan crazy...sorry about that haha...). But I think we

really do all like each other :)

But anyway, pictures.

The Belmont Mansion

A jam session in the lobby - pretty typical at this school

One of the best sunsets I have ever seen

Hillsboro Village is a cute little area within walking distance from the school. A few of us went to Fido for lunch one day.

First Photo Shoot

I got the chance to do my first engagement photo shoot yesterday for my friends Kelci and Seth. I was super excited and a little nervous, but I think they turned out really well. It was a lot of fun too. So here is a sample of my first semi-professional photography type thing :)

A Word...

An excerpt from my devotions tonight that I felt compelled to share:

"'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.' then why ask? The idea or prayer is not in order to get answers from God; prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God. If we pray because we want answers, we will get huffed with God. The answers come every time, but not always in the way we expect, and our spiritual huff shows a refusal to identify ourselves with our Lord in prayer; we are here to be living monuments of God's grace."

-Oswald Chambers in "My Utmost for His Highest"

What an incredible time it is when we are in such intimate communion with God that we no longer feel the need to pray for answers, but instead we pray just so we can spend time with God.

Summer went something like this:

I graduated. Yay. Then a few days later I left for camp.

This year at camp was different from every other year. It wasn't all happy-go-lucky-do-crazy-stuff-have-fun-and-play-with-some-kids. It was really challenging, but it was the good kind of challenging that God brings into your life to make you grow. Some pretty intense things happened this year, like insanely homesick campers and tornadoes and nasty-gross bloody injuries. Sometimes I was sure I was about to lose my mind (I think I did a few times), but God (and God alone) pushed us through it all (pushed, not carried).

This year, for the first time, I didn't come away with a spiritual high that will leave in a few weeks when I go to college. I left feeling grounded and solid in my faith and my friendships. I have no illusions about where I am in my walk with Christ; I know where I need to work harder. I'm not content with where I am because I'm ready to grow some more, but I do have peace about where I am. <---not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me, but whatevs.

Okay so now back to normal Anna-blogging a.k.a. posting a bunch of pictures from the summer. Enjoy!

Everything is about to change.

I don't usually just write on my blog. Kinda crazy, since that is what a blog is for :) I like sharing my life through the things I see, but I like words too. So for this blog I am just going to write.

Everything is about to change. A for real change. A forever change. In a few weeks (six to be exact) I am graduating. Then I'll spend my summer working at camp (because there really isn't anywhere else I'd rather spend this summer). Not long after that, I'm off to Nashville for college and the "real world," whatever that means (my life already feels real).

It's a little overwhelming. A little crazy too. Sometimes I get a little stressed just thinking about the responsibilities I'm going to have. But you know what? I'm not scared. I'm really really not. I have this incredible peace about the changes that are about to happen. I know I've made the right choices about the future thus far (even though I have faced ridiculous criticism for it). I know I'm headed down the right path. I know that this is what God has laid out for me to do. And I'm so excited! I can't wait to see what He is going to bring. I feel so blessed! My life isn't perfect, but right now I don't care. It feels right. It feels good.

Sometime in the next few years I'll probably come back and reread this and think to myself, "You were crazy. This is terrible. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to do this. It was the worst decision ever."

Well, future me, when you reread this try to recall the peace you felt back when you wrote this. You ARE where you're supposed to be. You'll be alright. You're going to make it through. You know the One who holds your heart, and He put you here. He loves you and He wouldn't leave you somewhere if it wasn't for the best. That's all that matters.

Okay, enough of me pep-talking myself. I think that's all I really have to say right now. Goodness, I really need to start journaling again.

Well, my loves, have yourselves some fabulous evenings! God bless you!