Beauty #8, #9, #10

First of all, sorry for the three-ish day delay on my Beauty Project. Let's back up a few days.

Friday. #8

Laura (roomie), Rae (co-ra), and I took a day trip into Chicago. Okay, more like after all our classes. We left around 4pm. Anywho, after bundling up with lots of under-armor and leggings, we set out into the city. Cities, road trips/ being in the car, listening to great music, enjoying the company of great friends... these are some of my favorite things, so this trip was such a neat treat. Before we left the downtown area to be with some of Laura's family for the night, we met up with one of my high school friends who goes to Moody Bible Institute. At first he tried meeting up with us at Macy's, only to find out it was the wrong Macy's... oh gosh, but then we ended up just driving over to his campus. We didn't even get a parking pass, as we were only planning to just drop in for a few minutes... haha. Yeah, those of you who know me, it comes as no surprise that it ended up being more like an hour. What a beautiful blessing though. On another note, one of the reasons that "cities" fascinate me so much, is the people inside of them. In such a fast-paced and almost desensitized environment, I just love to sit back and look at all the faces. They each tell a story. A detailed one at that. Wow. Sometimes I just look, seeing much hurry, stress, loneliness, strain, security, years of life just bundled up into deep wrinkles, and think, "What a wonderful Maker. God, you make beautiful creations." My heart aches for those so far from His heart; scarred from disillusionment and broken truth.

Saturday. #9

After returning from a refreshing and adventure-filled excursion in Chicago, we headed straight to Nate's, Laura's boyfriend and my great friend, house for a surprise birthday party. Later into the evening with our guitars and djembes out during some worship time I checked into Facebook to check up on some messages. While on I found out that a good friends family was in a terrible accident and her mom didn't make it (now I know that one of her younger sisters didn't either). Instantly, tears just started streaming down my face. I got on my knees and wept. After a couple of songs I mentioned it to everyone, and it was so beautiful to see people that don't even know her or her family at all, just start praying. It is one of those times that is extremely sad and confusing, yet God is still God. We put our trust and praise in Him when it hurts as much as when it doesn't.

Sunday. #10

Every Sunday on our way to church, well usually, my friend and I exercise a tradition started about a year ago of grabbing some of best donuts around -- Stone's. There, is a lady named Felicia. Super awesome and outgoing (not to mention highly opinionated!) as she is, I've been recently encouraged hearing some more personal things shared with us throughout the weeks. This past Sunday as she was sharing, we told her that we'd be praying for her and the situation, which was responded with a very enthusiastic, "Thank you, please do!" To me, this was huge. And beautiful. Throughout some of the most ordinary and routine encounters, regular or not, it is easy to just be very consumeristic with our interactions and communications. I've just been thinking a lot about that, and Felicia had been on my heart over the past couple of weeks in thoughts and prayers, so after seeing her and talking together for a bit on Sunday morning, I was super excited, and looking forward to seeing what the days ahead bring.