Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Ho Ho Ho-loha

Since we are moving in (less than) two weeks (to an undetermined location - Mom's: Don't freak out!), and because we had very little room in the suitcases we brought over from the mainland for the year, the Christmas decor at the Kologe house is...

...in progress.

Meanwhile, enjoy a limerick on the Kologe Christmas Decor.

Dear friends, like Eunice chops off the top,
Like Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree she lopped it right off!
So we now we have a homemade wreath with real, green prawns!
From friends who can spare, we now have decor that won't make you yawn. (?)
It hangs from the door with such tender care,

Who knew a hanger and some string keeps it there!?



The tree inside needs some special attention,
And a very Charlie Brown Tree gets honorable mention.

Don't forget Santa (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)
He holds up our stockings without a grudge.

He won't be here long, in a blink he'll gone!
But for now, and before he takes flight,


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Friday, December 2, 2011

I haven't...

...given up on this blog entirely. I love it so.
But I think I will be updating OUR blog a bit more.

Check it here.

Monday, July 4, 2011

no words

So much has been happening this last six weeks (moving, packing, driving to STL, Wedding Week, getting married, honeymoonin', moving to Hawaii, starting work in Hawaii...) that I have severely neglected a few things, namely, thanks.

I wanted to take this blog post
to shout out my loving, humbled, gracious thanks to the dear, dear Hennighausens.

What would I have done? Seriously. WHAT would I have done without dear Fred and Mary (Frary, if you will) in my life this past year and a half? We kept saying as the days drew near for my departure that it felt like our time went by so quickly. I'm hoping that their expressions weren't just casual pleasantries, because I felt the SAME way.

It feels like yesterday when Mary was busy whipping me up some Jell-O on my second day there because of an impending - yet ultimately not occurring - root canal. And it feels like merely last week that they were schooling me in how to properly enter the Hennighausen home (no knocking allowed).

AH.

SIGH.

I am making myself sad with this thankful post.

Ok, onto lighter times. Some of my ABSOLUTE.HANDS.DOWN. favorite moments with these two include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Becoming Beli-bers (in 3D), with Fred and Mary (and her seated-dance moves).
2. Enjoying my VERY FIRST Christmas Eve breakfast and white elephant gift exchange. Thank you, Pea, for the more-than-life-sized picture of some a '78 Mavs player. Thank you, Hennighausens for letting me in on the tradition.
3. EATING Mary's delicious food/ cakes for birthdays, holidays....fridays, justbecausedays.
4. Fooling Fred and Mary when Anne came home a few days early from Track. Buahahah. The 1.2 seconds of confusion when she walked in the door was priceless. ("What!? Jennie! Did you know!? You KNEW! You're so bad!")
5. Enjoying (though not eating...) a chocolate covered Spam moose head (thank you, Kroger), because I won a bet with Fred.
6. Becoming privy to many secrets of 6918 which I will always hold close to my chest. *** Unless the public announcement of which is too hilarious to avoid***
7. "Hello there, girl!" A daily Fred greeting. And "Jennnnieeeeeee," (spoken like "Gilly") whenever I may have become mischievous with above aforementioned 6918 family secrets.
8. When Fred was silly enough to leave Mary and I during finals. There may have been an incident involving a more-than-the-usual apportioned lot of chocolate. Eek.
9. Finding Santa at my wedding. They said it might happen so I couldn't possibly hold it against them, now can I?
10. The many times Fred had to sit patiently with me and explain EVERY.TIME how to work a Fredsheet. (A monthly budget sheet made by FLH). Specifically though, the very first time. I arranged my budget sheet and had to sheepishly worked in a bit of savings into my monthly income to work with for the month's expenses. FLH merely laughed and said, "Jennieeeeee. That's not right." He was so kind never to sit me in the corner with a dunce cap, and was always able to gently explain the process of "not spending more than you make." I think it FINALLY took hold...nearly 9 months later when I began to tackle my SNOWBALL OF DEBT! WOOT!

I really have to recount the reasons/ways I am thankful and CHANGED because of their gentle kindnesses.

1. I believe they taught me about listening. (Yes, still a work in progress...)
But FRED is possibly THE best listener EVER. I'm serious. If you're having a bad day, and just need a good ear, he's there to ask about it. He's there to inquire about it. He is legitimately interested in the way you cook your coffee brownies and in how your family does birthdays and how you make your bed. He is genuinely, amazingly, humble in a way that you literally FEEL cared for by the way he listens. I strive to learn this trait. It seriously is something that I've taken note of and said to myself, "Now that is something that is of solid, goldy character. I must have it." The hard part is, as it were, to actually become a good listener. It is hard. It takes selflessnesss. It takes patience. It takes....listening. Lord, let me carry that with me.

2. They taught me about laughing.
I LOVED the way we laughed and related over many, many delicious dinners together. Whether we were laughing brainlessly over Kristin Wiig's latest skit on SNL, or at the latest blooper one of us experienced that day, we LAUGHED a lot. It seriously brought me so much joy, lifted so much of "life" off of me to come home to a wonderful home cooked meal and a lovely laugh that made my sides hurt. I think there's something amazingly special about laughing with people. It draws you together. It brings you in tighter. It muffles the noise of life outside. I think Jesus must have shared amazing laughs with his peeps - it feels that holy.

3. They taught me about selflessness.
Mary and Fred were parents to the nth degree. They were people who did life in a way that allowed their children to flourish and succeed and fail and triumph with grace and gentleness. Once, Fred told Jordan that their best advice for parenting was that if what it took to raise a child was the size of a table, and the parents' part was the size of a thumbprint on that table, that they did their very best to "take that thumbprint very seriously."
And it shows. It shows in the way they've lived selflessly. Mary reads to her aging Dad. Fred is always on call for his girls. Mary returns your laundry to you with all the holes patched up and the clothes ironed and folded. How on earth do I gain this kind of attitude?
Not quite sure, but I'm aware the learning curve for sure.

4. They taught me about generosity.
Seriously. So, so very generous. In a place of great need, they literally opened their home to me. I KNOW that this is not easy. I KNOW that it can come as an inconvenience to welcome in someone to your home and say, "What is ours is yours." But they did. And I never once felt not a part of the family. Including the time when Fred and I had to only mildly-successfully hold a garage sale. My shift was the first. Never once did they ask for anything in return for their generous gift of a spacious place for me to hang my hat, and always was there a little prizey for me during Easter, Christmas, birthdays...
Eek. I'm tearing up.... onto the next....

5. They taught me about.... what to call it? I'm not sure there's really words for it. I mean, so great is what they gave me. They held me in, held me close. They gave me laughter - or well, we SHARED laughter. We shared meals. We shared set backs. We shared an ongoing joke about a transient Christmas decoration. And I guess, if I could put words to it, it seems they taught me about godly LOVE.

Yes, that's it.

I am so grateful for where I came from, and how I came a Christian home. But, still growing up, I find there are SO many people that continue to pour into your life even after the "growing up years." And I am thankful for the life that Fred and Mary poured into me. I am thankful how they called out godly integrity in Jordan and I as we dated and were engaged in my time at 6918 ("No being home alone with boys of a boyfriend persuasion.")

I think that they are missionaries in their own right. They have served faithfully at their home church; they've invested deeply into the lives of their children; they've given unselfishly and ceaselessly to those who needed it.
They have LIVED out the Gospel by being HIS hands and feet.
(And I don't even feel dorky using that reference because of how true it is!)

May it be multiplied back to them in life, love, and laughter.

Monday, May 2, 2011

for my dear aeh


I love birthday posts. They give me the extraordinary opportunity to GUSH unabashedly about friends and family who give my life so much meaning. And this one is for Annie.

Oh, Anne.

I know for certain our friendship was 'ordained' or something, since the first thoughts I had about you were for sure divinely appointed.

flashback: She and I were in the same sorority, but she had studied abroad the first semester and so we didn't really know each other that well. She was back in the States, and back at school, and I introduced myself to her and tried to be nice (Some times, sorority life tried me so. It was certainly an effort to be outgoing sometimes...sorry President Frita). ANYWAYS, I smiled at her and the thought ran across my mind:
You should be kind to her. Strange, I know, especially because I'm always nice. (Jk) But I do remember thinking she had a friendly smile. Little did I know she was one of the KINDEST, most gracious, generous, HILARIOUS and wonderful people in the universe, and I would be lucky enough to call her best Friend in the near future. And so we began a journey into a friendship that is certainly God ordained. Why do I say "God ordained" like we ended up sharing kidneys or something? Well, only because I feel like God has used her in my life to
challenge,
strengthen,
encourage,
sharpen,
refine,
teach,

and of course,
make me laugh until my sides bust.


From living hilarious, awkward and Arrow-worthy adventures of college, to exploring post-college life through YWAM, to parting ways as "adult life" took us different directions, to me refusing to part ways and moving into her parent's back house,


I can only say that I am so grateful to be a part of her life.

And so, to celebrate, I've put together a brief list of the things I've learned because of AEH:

1. How to not say the first thing that comes to my mind (Priceless)
2. How to say the things that come to my mind in a more loving way (Priceless)
3. How important it is to check on baked goods 60 seconds after they are placed in the oven (No charge?)
4. How to create lovely things out of scraps of paper from Michael's (Approx. $5.99)
5. How to make someone feel so LOVED and CELEBRATED during Birthday Week (One Million Dollars)
6. How to peruse the world wide web and find things like wedding contest entries and great wedding hair (Priceless)
7. How to lay down your life for a friend and for the least of these (Eternal pricelessness)
8. How to confront lovingly (Owie. No charge)
9. How to pack all sorts of important and necessary things into a bag over and over again (No monetary value)
10. How to manage to listen to things going on in another's life when your life is equally as nuts (seriously priceless)

It does seem as if I could never repay her (or God) for her in my life. What to do, what to do... I guess that means I just enjoy it? Just enjoy the crazy joy to know someone who you can be SO FULLY yourself. I can be totally terrible, selfish, uncouth and sarcastic and she will only laugh at me like that's not REALLY who I am. I can be totally unselfish, giving, kind, considerate, gracious, and holy, and she will be there to encourage the crud out of those behaviors. She's like the best behavioral therapist and friend all rolled into one!

And that's why I feel like our relationship is God-ordained. It's with her like it is with Jordan, so freeing and yet still so binding to our Jesus' side.

One day, Annie, I aspire to be just like you. I can't wait to see where your adventures bring you next. And I can't wait for you to move into the Duplex and for the next part of our adventure together to begin.

LIKE TEN T-REXES, FRIEND!

love,

me



Friday, April 15, 2011

jmk


happy birthday, love.
this is your birthday post.
these are the reasons (among MILLIONS)
that I am so glad to be marrying you.

YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE
hello.
we met in hawaii.
where you had become the staff leader for
youth with a mission
after traveling and serving with them
in Perth and India
as a result of
your traveling with IV to
Thailand.
hello.
let's go.

YOUR SENSE OF PURPOSE
yes.
you were perfectly comfortable selling
practically your life's worth of possessions
to move toward simplicity
and
you've served with IV
and invested in so many
college students' lives
that i know
your mansion in heaven
will be filled
with beautiful markers
of the souls
you encouraged to find their way there

YOUR COMMITMENT TO HILARITY
it is. unmatched.
you make me laugh
you laugh at me
you laugh by yourself
you laugh when you're not supposed to
(that's my favorite)
your humor
is
my
favorite

YOUR UNWAVERING KINDNESS
is why
we
are
still
together
i still have never met
someone as kind as you

YOUR INTEGRITY
what great
strength
it
takes
to submit oneself
in humility
toward
a best * crew
of men
striving for
righteousness
together.
i
respect
you
(chicken head)
and
can't wait
to
walk
with
you


YOUR AFFECTION

This present glory, love, once-given grace,
The sum of blessing in a sure embrace,
Must not in creeping separateness decline
But be the centre of our whole design.

We know it’s love that keeps a love secure,
And only by love of love can love endure,
For self’s a killer, reckless of the cost,
And loves of lilactime unloved are lost.

We build our altar, then, to love and keep
The holy flame alight and never sleep:
This darling love shall deepen year by year,
And dearer shall we grow who are so dear.

The magic word is sharing: every stream
Of beauty, every faith and grief and dream;
Go hand in hand in gay companionship -
In sober death no sundering of the grip.

And into love all other loveliness
That we can tease from time we shall impress
Slows dawns and lilacs, traceries of the tress,
The spring and poems, stars and ancient seas.

This splendour is upon us, high and pure
As heaven: and we swear it shall endure:
Swear fortitude for pain and faith for tears
To hold our shining barrier down the years.

***
Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
Proverbs 16:32

***

He has shown you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

***

all my love,

jcb(k)

Friday, March 25, 2011

My Desk Lately


Something has happened.
Either I am:
(a) the beneficiary of an amazing burst of friendship-love from two dear friends across the sea as a result of a strange twist of luck from the universe and/or lottery
(b) I am finally being rewarded for being mildly to mostly average
(c) need endless amounts of encouragement as I am virtually a vat of need (this answer is right no matter what)
or
(d) God laid it on the hearts of these two ladies to speak truth, love, loveliness, and wonderful selflessness to me.

I chose all the above.

Thank you God for friends.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

For Mo & Clay

Sweet Jesus,
I want to lift up to you the Wooten family.
I cannot.imagine.how scary things must be for them.
But, I do know that Monique and Clay both have unwaveringly,
unfaltering, pursued you and your purposes for their lives.
Father, their lives have encouraged my walk with You.
And I know even now in the midst of incredible doubt and fear,
that their prayer is still for you to be glorified.
So, I am asking that You would be glorified in their lives in this season.
Father, bring healing to Clay.
Bring restoration.
Bring joy and hope when it's just scary.
Lord, let Hazel be a symbol of promise of LIFE in their world.
I know that you hold all things together, that by you all things have their substance.
I know that you hold them and sustain us.

So let this prayer be like incense before you, and may it rise to bring glory to YOUR name,
And healing for Clay.
Amen.


May my prayer like incense rise before You
The lifting of my hands as sacrifice
Oh Lord Jesus turn Your eyes upon me
For I know there is mercy in Your sight

Your statutes are my heritage forever
My heart is set on keeping Your decrees
Please still my anxious urge toward rebellion
Let Love keep my will upon its knees

[Chorus]
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You

[Verse 2]
To all creation I can see a limit
But Your commands are boundless and have none
So Your Word is my joy and meditation
From the rising to the setting of the sun

All Your ways are loving and are faithful
The road is narrow but Your burden light
Because You gladly lean to lead the humble
I shall gladly kneel to leave my pride

[Chorus]

[Selah]
To all creation I can see a limit
But Your commands are boundless and have none
So Your Word is my joy and meditation
From the rising to the setting of the sun

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I will seek You in the morning
I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days