"I want to take you to new places"

About a month ago I was on vacation in Florida. I was sitting on the beach reading and taking breaks to people-watch. I looked out in the water and saw a dad standing in the water with his young son. I immediately smiled because I love watching dads interact with their kiddos. Unfortunately it's kind of rare in our society but I wholeheartedly believe we were created to have intimate, deep relationships with our earthly fathers because we are created to have an intimate, deep relationship with our Heavenly Father. I think that's why I love seeing dad's with their kids. It brings such joy to my heart and I feel it's the Lord's reminder to me that He is my loving, playful, personal, trustworthy, faithful Daddy. I am his little girl.

A few seconds after I saw the dad and his son, I realized the dad wanted to take his son deeper in the water but the child refused. How symbolic. The little boy started crying and it was clear that he was so scared of the water and didn't want to go any further. The dad was so gentle, waiting patiently for the little boy to trust him. The dad reached out his hand for his son. I imagine he was telling him something along the lines of "it's ok, everything is fine. I'm right here with you. I want to show you new things, I want to take you to new places." Soon enough, the little boy grabbed both of his dad's hands and went deeper into the water with him.




This exact story happens all too often with me in my walk with the Lord. How often does He want to take me to a new place in my walk, or take me deeper into the water, yet I resist Him because I'm scared. It all comes down to trusting Him. And beyond that, it all comes down to knowing Him, knowing that He is for me and with me. That enables me to trust Him because I know He is good!

He is so gentle and so patient with me. I just have to trust Him. I don't have to be scared to go to a deeper level. His hand is right there, waiting for me to hold on to Him, to go with Him, to trust Him. He wants to take me to that new area, that deeper level of water in Him. I don't have to resist Him. I don't have to be scared.

"It's ok, everything is fine...I'm right here with you. I want to show you new things, I want to take you to new places."

florida: rest, relaxation, and reading

After my internship ended this summer, I flew to Destin to meet my family for a week of beach-ing. I'm not typically a beach person, considering I have the world's whitest and most sensitive skin (sand + salt water = itchy, itchy skin) but I decided to go ahead and take a week to sit on the beach for some R&R. Sure enough, my legs were fried after day one and my back was fried by day two (like so burnt that I had to wear a tank top the remaining four days) but I ended up having such an awesome week. I never find the time or have the patience to sit and read during everyday life but this week I actually read two and a half books! Which is most certainly the most amount of reading I've done...probably in my entire life.

I even woke up a couple times to see the sun rise...the water was so peaceful and perfect at 5:45am!

This is what my days looked like...a chair sunk into the sand with a book in my hand. I read Unplanned by Abby Johnson and The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun.


Unplanned - Abby Johnson:
This book was such a quick read. It's the story of a former Planned Parenthood clinic director (and former PP employee of the year) and her journey from working inside the clinic to standing across the fence and praying for life.

(warning...mini book review below)

The Heavenly Man - Brother Yun:
I could not stop reading this book. This book/biography is about Brother Yun and the house churches in China. I was amazed by this book and inspired in so many ways. For a little background info, Christians are extremely persecuted (to the point of imprisonment, torture, and death) in China if they don't join the country's official christian religious group. However, the house churches are on fire for Jesus with their prayer meetings accompanied by tons of miracles, signs, and wonders. Long story short, Yun spent many years in and out of prison and was tortured his entire life for proclaiming the name of Jesus. I was amazed to read how Yun remained joyful, faithful, and thankful to Jesus throughout his life despite his circumstances. I want faith like that...to love and serve Jesus wholeheartedly despite my life situation and emotions. I was also amazed by the Chinese house churches and the Chinese Christians. These people have absolutely nothing, no possessions and usually no money and little food, yet their spiritual lives are thriving. Unlike me and the church of the West, the Chinese Christians have no worldly possessions that take the place of Jesus in their hearts. Unlike me and the church of the West, they have to rely on Jesus for their survival. Their prayer meetings last hours because these people are so hungry for the Word of the Lord (most of them don't have Bibles). Their meetings and lives are characterized by the presence of the Lord, healing, and deliverance, and signs and wonders are normal occurrences. Amongst the Chinese Christians, there is no doubt that Jesus is alive and is God because their lives bear witness through supernatural encounters and signs and wonders.

I could write five pages about this book, but instead I'll stop here and just encourage you to read this!

life in the big D

Since I've been living in Dallas for three months now (holy cow!), I thought I'd give a little post about my experiences so far. I love it! Sure, there's lots of people and things I miss from Central Illinois and I don't always love the 105+ degree temperature but think that's to be expected after living in the same place for four years. And I'm learning to embrace all the changes. I've always known I've wanted to live in a city and Dallas is giving me a good taste of life in a city. It's the 9th largest city in the US and somehow it still seems relatively small to me. I think that's a good thing :)

What I love about Dallas...

Everything I could ever want or need is within 5 or 10 miles from my apartment.

I love driving on freeways and interstates all the time. I usually never have to drive less than 60mph and I never get stuck behind tractors anymore! And I love the traffic as long as I'm driving against the flow of rush hour traffic.


I love driving by downtown and seeing the skyline every single day. I literally live like one mile from downtown!

Tex-Mex:
Taco Cabana. Chuy's. Gloria's. Uncle Julio's. Enough said.

New Terminology: y'all
Before moving here, I would cringe when someone would say y'all (THAT IS NOT A WORD!). However within two weeks of living here, I found that this term was slipping out of my mouth quite naturally. Must be something in the water.

White Rock Lake:
I've only ran at the lake once this summer but I'm hoping to get there a bit more once it's not 145+ degrees outside. White Rock Lake is a huge lake in Dallas where people go to run, walk, bike, picnic, etc. It's something like 10 or 13 miles around the lake. Legit.

The Pearl Cup:
I found a new home...The Pearl Cup! Voted the best coffee shop and the best latte in Dallas! Impressive. The Pearl Cup quickly helped to fill the void the Coffee Hound left in my heart. The Pearl latte is out of this world and this little shop is the perfect atmosphere to get work done, read, or just to sit and chat.


Chick-fil-A:
ohhh...those waffle fries.

Tea:
I've become a tea drinking machine since I've lived down here. Unsweet only though...Texas sweet tea is enough to send someone into a three month sugar coma.

Jesus:
No, Jesus does not only reside in or favor the Bible Belt, but He is here with me. It seems obvious but He is in Illinois, Italy, Texas, and everywhere. Although I attend a new church and am involved in new ministries, the Lord remains the same and will never change. He is my Dad, my best Friend, and my Comforter, and will always be with me!

My Sister:
This is the first time in eight years we've lived in the same place!

My Nephew:
Just look at that sweet face.

meet the boy!

Here he is! My precious nephew, Julian! Just take a look at these pictures and fall in love. These are some of the pictures we were able to get while he was still a fresh, little guy...less than 24 hours old!

God designed this whole birth and parenting thing so perfectly. He really, really did. I cannot begin to accurately describe the miracle that I was able to witness by seeing my sister labor for hours with her husband at her side and then give birth to this little, living creation.

It was so amazing to see my sister and brother-in-law with their son for the first time. Although they only knew a little bit about Julian before he was born, it seemed that he already knew everything about them the second he came into the world. He knew his daddy's voice. When Ross spoke to him, Julian would make eye contact with his daddy and immediately calm down. This was so unbelievable to see. When he heard his mommy crying, he started crying. When Julian heard his mommy's cell phone ring in the corner of the room, he immediately turned his head toward the noise and became alert. Think about it...he had been hearing that same ring tone for nine whole months! I was blown away by how in sync this baby was with his parents right at birth.









It has been so fun to see my sister become a mom. I have known her for 22 years of my life but the second she laid eyes on her baby, she was like an entirely new person. For real. I saw qualities in her that I had never seen before. It was natural and it was instantaneous...the way she looked at him, the way she held him, and the way she talked to him. She has always had nurturing qualities in her, but this was like a whole new level.



Ross has been a natural with his little boy since day one; it was like the Lord immediately equipped him to be a father. The way he looks at Julian and the way he calls him 'son.' Well, I die every time.



And last of all, I became an Auntie to this precious boy! I really am falling more in love with this boy every single day. It's impossible not to.



The Lord designed this all so perfectly. What I've learned through this whole experience is that God is so perfect and so creative. He is the ultimate, perfect Designer.

Lord, thank You for the sweet, miracle of life. Bless this little boy and his life to the max!

the waiting game...

My last post said that my sister was in labor and that I was getting ready to head to the hospital to wait for Baby Barry. I'm pretty sure I said "although it could be another two, six, or ten hours before he finally comes..." As I look back on this, I laugh. Yes...it was another two hours from the time that blog was posted...times six. YES. Ross and Em got to the hospital at 4pm on Sunday afternoon(6/5) and Baby Boy finally made his debut shortly after 8pm on Monday night (6/6). That's over 24 hours in labor, y'all! To top it off....FOUR hours of pushing. The birth of my precious nephew was far from smooth sailing...however, he's HERE! And ten minutes after he was born, Emily said she wouldn't hesitate to do it again! What a warrior!

Here is Ross and Em when I finally got to the hospital at 11pm. She had already been laboring for for over 4 hours and had another contraction about five seconds after I snapped this shot. The beauty of having a natural birth?? You're not confined to the bed for all those hours! Em was able to walk around freely all night until her contractions became unbearable.



I waited at the hospital all night with Ross' parents. Unfortunately I didn't bring a pillow or blanket but still managed to get a couple hours of sleep. Around 2am I was able to go back into the L&D room and visit Emily. At this point she was still walking the halls while laboring with contractions about 3 minutes apart. I'm almost certain this was the point I decided I was never having children of my own. hahaha....it just looked painful.

Meanwhile, my parents and I, as well as Ross' parents, sister and niece all hung out in the waiting room. We literally sat there and talked the entire time...only getting baby updates every 2-3 hours. The waiting game continued...



Birth story summed up: Although planning to go all-natural, her body was not progressing on it's own. But since her water had already broke, she was on a time limit. After about 14 hours of very slow progression, the intervention-happy doctors and nurses talked Emily into taking pitocin to help her progress faster. Pitocin led to an epidural which still led to no baby...


We passed the time by braiding hair...



And around 8:30pm, in the middle of the braiding session pictured above, I opened up a text message update from Jenny, my sister's friend/doula,(assuming it would say "still pushing...") that read "He's here! He's so cute! Thank you Jesus!"

Then Ross came out to share the news!! One of the first updates: "He's blonde!" (I was betting on a dark, hairy baby)



After 25 hours of labor...Here's our BOY! 7lbs, 10oz, and 21.5 inches long. A little thumbsucker with blonde hair all over! Perfect!



Welcome to the world, Julian Ross Barry! (and yes, that's how he sucks his thumb!)



Congrats Ross and Em! You're both amazing!

waiting on baby barry!

I'm getting ready to go to the hospital to wait for Baby Barry! How exciting! Today is Emily's due date and today is the day she went into labor! Pretty perfect baby already, huh?? It probably helped that she walked around all day at the Dallas Zoo a couple days ago to try to induce labor (picture below -- Em at 40 weeks and Stacy at 33 weeks).

Although it could be another two, six, or ten hours before he finally comes and I have to be at work at 10am tomorrow morning, there's no way I'm missing out on all of this! So here we go....hopefully baby boy decides to greet us soon!

officially a college graduate!

I'm officially a college graduate! I'm not exactly sure how four years can possibly go by so fast, but somehow, my four years of undergrad are finished. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling. Mostly bitter. A little sweet. I feel accomplished, relieved, and excited about the next step in life but at the same time I'm leaving everything and everyone I've known for the past four years. If you know anything about me it's that I don't like change, so this transition is going to be especially difficult for me. Blah, blah, blah...everyone already knows this stuff but graduation really is sad!!

Overall, I think leaving the familiarity of campus and town is what's awful...graduation is exciting. What an accomplishment, eh? I'm done with papers, projects, homework, and exams! And all of my studying and hard work paid off...I graduated magna cum laude! I think I made my mother's year when she found out I graduated with honors. I must say I was pretty proud of myself too :)