yuck, yuck, and more yuck

i am quite possibly the world's cleanest person. i clean like it's going out of style and i know that sometimes it drives poor jason nuts when i'm busy cleaning and he just wants to watch a movie. however, a tragedy has come over my clean little apartment.

cockroaches.

yep, there is a hole in the roof of my bathroom and they crawl in the fan and wah-lah! i have a new roommate. it is repulsive, disgusting, absolutely freaky. and, did you know they have wings? oh, you bet they do... and i don't think they use the wings to keep themselves cool during hot weather.

poor jason has been playing exterminator and killing the few that i have seen. but i don't know how much longer it'll be before i find one on my own time... and the screech that will follow as soon as i find my first one will be the screech heard around the world. (i'm getting the creepy crawlies just writing about it right now)

and i guess killing them with bug spray isn't really an option because they're crazy little buggers... no wonder people say that cockroaches could survive a nuclear bomb. yuck. i guess they can't survive being stepped on by a boot... however, i hope to never know that for sure.

please pray for my safety... and sanity... because i'm thinking i could be abducted by a bunch of critters and be never seen again.

song of the day:
don't panic
by: coldplay

as much as this song is soothing and wonderful... i can just hear little bug legs creepy-crawling in the background.

i have a green thumb... FINALLY!

over the weekend i decided i wanted to plant a little herb garden in a flower pot to sit on the kitchen counter in my studio apartment. well, to home depot jason and i ventured and i settled on basil. (as much as i wanted mint they were out... but for the second half of the pot you betcha!)

so we planted the little seeds and i set it so the sun could touch the soil and watered (but not too much). and nothing happened. i was so concerned because i'm not good at keeping things alive (hopefully i figure this out before i have kids!) and nothing was happening when the package of seeds said it should.

then, this morning i woke up to find this:

houston we have a basil plant!

needless to say, i'm a very proud gardener/mommy and can't wait to be a proud chef although it will be hard to chop up my poor plants because they are so preciously growing.

song of the day:
my own 2 hands
by: jack johnson

it's from the curious george movie soundtrack. jack was the right man to have compose it. i love george and jack.

home sweet home

a three day weekend does amazing things for the mind and soul. but, a three day weekend with a surprise trip home (just a meager 54 miles from my place) to visit the ones i love most with the love of my life on a day to commemorate love does amazing things for everything!

somehow my mom makes home... a four bedroom house with LOTS of space so much more homey than my little studio apartment that i try so hard to fill with the love and warmth that i feel in the house from my childhood. i have finally come to the conclusion that its not just the love that fills the house (because that is soooo filling and heart warming) but it is the memories that i associate with the blessings that i get to call my family. that house, despite all its beauty, is just a building. it is the people of the house that make it so special to me.

watching my little brother roll himself down the stairs like a professional stunt man, listening to my father sing up and down the hallway between my parents' room and mine, knowing i can run my mom and i's favorite route with my eyes closed, laying in my bed late at night with my mom giggling about everything, falling asleep on the couch watching tv with my brother late at night... gosh, home holds so many special moments for me... moments that would not be the same without these people.

much like that, i realize there is a house that we as christians inhabit. a house that we can continue to return home to when we seem to have lost our way... or as my mom and i so eloquently put it, when our love tanks are empty. and this home is a place that we dwell forever, as He has promised.

"Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." -Psalms 23:6

sometimes, much like the prodigal son, we forget where it is that we are privileged to stay and the memories we share with our company. how many cool things do we all get to read about in the bible? and why is it that we don't spend time sharing in those cool things with other christians? every time i return home i feel more encouraged. in the same way, when we are in the presence of our christian family, we must work to fill each others' cups!

but, it is greater than the "house" that we find within our christian family here on earth. but as Jesus prepared himself to pay penance for our sins upon the cross, he encouraged the disciples by talking of the house that God has for us to look forward to and inhabit once we are with Him in heaven.

"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am." -John 14:2-3

there is already a shabby chic room with angel wings painted on the walls and a HUGEEEE walk in closet for me? gosh, jesus sure does know my heart's deepest desires! ok, so that's probably not what is in store for me, but i definitely know that my closest family members and friends are waiting to share their moments in heaven with me, and preparing to create some of our own together. plus, the King of Kings is there to be a friend of mine and make memories of our own for me to enjoy and be encouraged by.

Song of the Day: Oh Glorious - Paul Baloche

ooooh ooooh glorious. it's just one of those old favorites that is so easy to sing along to. who doesn't love something familiar and easy to relate to?