Fall decor

Autumn is my favorite season when it comes to decorating. I love the rich, warm tones and satisfying color combinations. Geneve and I have been having too much fun decorating together.






Are not the bookends cute?!



This would be on top of the refrigerator in our bedroom. It's called making the best of what you have. :)

Sigh...I just love fall!

...and the blogger emerges.

New York, it's been close to a month.

And I think I am ready to write about it.

New York is growing on me. I think I want to belong here. I kinda like the quiet neighborhood where I live, but in a way I wish it was more of a front porch culture. The other side of our street is lined with apartment buildings. Mostly when you see people is when you or they are walking down the street.

This walking thing, I don't know. If I'm not going to talk to or make eye contact with anyone else as we rush about our respective business, I'd rather drive. That way it doesn't seem so queer that all of us are wrappped up in our own little worlds as we go about this thing called life. I keep wondering how Jesus would live in this neighborhood.

What I personally do with most of my time is...hang out with two year olds (and a few sweet babies). Seriously. I am hopelessly in love with this bunch of adorable, messy, rumbunctious kiddos. They try my patience, stretch me to the limit, and capture my heart.

I think this city is already stealing my heart. But I miss home, a lot lot.

God is so good to me (and you should have heard a cute little boy singing that song under his blanket today when he was supposed to be sleeping. He's going back to Argentina the end of this month. We'll miss him!)

God Will.

God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way.


By a roadway in the wilderness, He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today.


By the way, I recently downloaded this song off of this album on Amazon. What a song. It gives me shivers.

Leaving.

My apologies for the lack of posts.

My life has been a little crazy.

And now, I have only one day left at home instead of three, like I thought. I'm spending the next week with my grandparents, and without internet.

So the next time I post I'll probably be in New York.

I would love your prayers.


My favorite verses right now:

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness."
(Lamentations 3:23)

Somehow, that gives me perspective. And I am amazed.

Why don't we care?

It’s the question that keeps coming back to me. That persistent voice telling me that something is wrong. Sometimes I try to silence the nagging. But it doesn’t help for long; in fact, it makes things worse. Maybe some of my perceptions are wrong, but I have to ask honest questions.

I read about human beings dying for lack of food and water while we consume more than we need, and I wonder.

I read about human trafficking. Humans dying of AIDS. Innocent victims caught in crossfire.

I see pictures of orphans, starving for nourishment and even more for love, and I wonder.

I drive or walk through my own town, and the question resurfaces. So many faces without joy. So many lives without hope. So many people bound by Satan. So many innocent children, suffering. Right here. Where I live.

I wonder.

Why don’t we give more out of our abundance?

Why don’t we wrestle in prayer against the strongholds of darkness?

Why do we feel justified in our hoarding of physical and spiritual blessings?

How can we consider our pleasure more important than people who are dying and going to hell?

Are we too comfortable to be disturbed?

Do we know what it means to be Christ’s hands and feet?

And the question I have been avoiding for too long. Why am I so selfish??

Of heartstrings.

This city has become home to me. I don’t live here, and other towns are closer, but I call Meadville my hometown. I love these streets. The old cobbled bricks, the falling apart mansions, the shops. True, there’s a fair share of shambles and trash, but to me, the beauty far outweighs the trash. (I know…it might not if I lived here.)

But really what I love about this city is the people I know who live here. People who need Jesus…but they teach me so much about Jesus because they are real. They don’t pretend, like I do, that they have it altogether. It’s only when I allow myself to broken, too, that I can bring Jesus to them.

There’s this one housing complex that I especially love. I asked my friend Becca why God is calling me to leave when I love this place so much. She told me, “Rosanne, God gave you that love for a reason, and He can use it even when you aren’t there in person.” Thanks, Becca. I pray that He does, and that others of His people will love this place, too.

And then, there is this charming house where my amazing friend lives. A place where the light of Jesus shines bright. A little family making the presence of Jesus real on these streets. I will miss you, Carla!

I wonder if, and how soon, God will bring me back here. Until then, I hold this city—these people—in my heart.

Blog Makeover

Well, the truth is, I got tired of my blog. Tired of the theme, the pictures, the same-ness. It was getting musty. So I did a blog makeover. On this “new” blog, during a new phase of my life, I hope to share some of my God-moments with you through poetry, prose, and pictures. And I hope (ahem) to post more often than in the previous months.

For those of you who have me on your blogroll: It would be great if you could take a moment to reenter my URL so that my new blog name is displayed on your list. The post titles will still feed into your blog, but unless you reenter the exact same URL in your blogroll, it will be under the old title. Make sense?

What do you say? Do you like the new look?