Capricious Jess

Yes, it’s been a while since my last post…

{ August 25, 2008 @ 8:15 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Do you ever feel like there’s so much to say that you don’t know where to start….so you just don’t say anything at all? That’s me right now. I am in the middle of some amazing and monumental changes and events and it’s difficult to put most of it into words.

We had our first Wednesday night service last week, lead by the youth department….and it was…again, more than I can put into words. I am a youth leader and I am on both the youth and adult praise and worship teams at Destiny…..to look out into the congregation on Weds. and see all of the youth on fire, worshiping up front was incredible, but then to see all of our adults in total surrender with them was just phenomenal. I didn’t go to sleep until 1:00 that morning because I was so intoxicated by the presence of the Holy Spirit. One of our Youths wrote a great post….read it here http://jaymz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/god-says-thats.html

I am the assistant to three people at Destiny, and one of them, was just promoted ….CONGRATS PASTOR IMAN! See here: http://destinychurch.typepad.com/iman/2008/08/pastor-iman.html This is a new journey for him and his precious family…..and also for our department. For the second time in less than 6 months, our department is undergoing some serious restructuring, and it means I get to learn a lot more about the media side of things and work on my organizational skills.

Josh and I are in the middle of a 5/6 week small group for newlyweds. We meet on Mondays with 5 other couples. I have not been part of a small group in many years and it is great to meet with people you can totally relate to and share with. It has given Josh and me a lot to think about and we are learning about areas in our relationship where we can be developing…especially in our purpose as a couple.

So, that’s a brief update…..well, maybe not so brief, but like I said, there’s a lot going on!

WOW….a whole year in Oklahoma!

{ August 6, 2008 @ 12:37 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Let me start by saying, “I can’t belive it’s been a year already!” We arrived in Owasso last year on Saturday August 4th…..that very first Sunday we went to a church in Broken Arrow called “Destiny” I knew God was leading us on a journey, but I had no idea how much He would pack into our first year.

August 2007

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If you would have asked me a year and two months ago if I would ever live in Oklahoma, my answer would have been an emphatic, “NO”. I grew up in the North….which is a whole other post on its’ own…and lived in Madison, WI prior to moving here. The story of how Josh and I got to Oklahoma is not as long as you might think….we had both walked away from the Lord for several years, met each other in the process, and moved in together in the beginning of 2006. He was the most wonderful man I’d ever known. We had a great time together. We enjoyed the same….”activities” and liked the same music. Then one day in July 2007 I was home and had an overwhelming ‘feeling’ that I was in the wrong place. That’s it, that’s all I knew. This ‘feeling’ was so strong that I called my mom and was very upset and said, “I just feel it in my gut, I’m not where I need to be” …and I thought the only thing that it could possibly mean was that I was with the wrong guy. So, Josh came home from work that night and I told him we needed to talk…..and that we needed to break up. He was quite shocked and asked why…..I told him about my ‘feeling’……he basically said I was nuts, and that we weren’t breaking up, because we had a great relationship and that this ‘feeling’ must mean something else. The next day while he was at work, his dad called…at the time Josh and his dad only spoke every three months or so. He had called to ask if we would ever consider moving to Oklahoma…..he said God had really put it on his heart to ask us to come down. Josh came home that day and told me what his dad said….I thought about for a minute…and I knew immediately that the feeling I had the day before was quite literally that I should not be where I was…in Wisconsin…..we needed to move to Oklahoma. I gave notice at my job that following Monday, and we left town three weeks later.

Looking back, it is quite obvious to me that the ‘feeling’ I experienced was the Holy Spirit directing us back to where we were supposed to be. And throughout this year, I feel like God has pressed the ‘fast-forward’ button on our lives to get us caught up to where we should be……since we took some time off of His path. It’s been crazy, but here are a few of my favorite pics, taken since we’ve been here, to help illustrate what we’ve been up to…….

New Phone?

{ July 22, 2008 @ 9:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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So for about a year my husband has been trying to convince me to get a “cool phone”……the problem is I don’t want one!! He even bought me a PDA last Christmas….and I returned it. I don’t need to have Internet access at my fingertips 24/7……I think it might get to be a HUGE distraction from ‘real life’ for me. Plus, I don’t know if I have the patience to figure out all of the fancy things on a new phone. The phone I currently have (the very basic Nokia model that they give you free with a new plan) works great (except that the ring tone changes on it’s own every time I turn it off and then on again –and it shows that it’s on silent and still rings….)! I can talk and text….and I don’t feel too bad when I drop it at least once a day – it’s very durable! BUT….everything may have changed when I saw a commercial last night for the new Instinct from Sprint…..

For some reason, this phone really appeals to me….I love it! And I think it’s WAY cooler than the iPhone. I will admit, I have nothing to base my opinion on at all….I have no idea how they compare to each other, but I know that when I am ready to upgrade, this is the phone I want to have…..unless someone can make a good argument about why I shouldn’t. (And the argument won’t be too hard to win, mind you, because I don’t really know anything about phones…..) So, if you have input, I would love to hear it!!!

Camping

{ July 14, 2008 @ 3:12 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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So, Josh and Bacon went camping this weekend. Camping….sounds like fun…except my husband doesn’t go camping like ‘normal’ people. He packs his backpack with his tent, sleeping mat, food, water filter, and all the other ‘necessities’, hops in his truck and starts driving. He has a map and targets a general area, sets his handheld GPS and just drives into the woods until there is no signal on his cell phone and finds a place to set up. Bacon is our almost 7 month old puppy. This is his second camping trip…..but his first with his very own backpack….that’s right, Josh bought Bacon a backpack. Now Bacon can carry his own food, water, travel bowls, and pig ears. And he LOVED it! I’m pretty sure they would both be totally content moving out into the middle of nowhere and living off the land.

I have yet to tag along on one of these ‘extreme camping trips’. I have done a lot of camping, but always at a campground. I’m not totally opposed to the idea of going with Josh though, and I’m sure one of these days I will also have my own backpack full of gear. I’m not sure how I feel about eating beef jerky and dehydrated meals in a bag all weekend, but I’m sure there’s a solution for that.

Here are a few pictures from their excursion….