twenty-something

Beauty.

Creativity takes Courage

Helmut Newton

I like large parties

And I like large parties.

They're so intimate.

At small parties

there's no privacy.

F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby 

Saying complicated things.

"Style is a 

simple way

of saying 

complicated things"

Jean Cocteau 

Cast your eyes

"What we 

see 

depends mainly on 

what we 

look for"

Susie Q

The secret 

of being boring

is to say 

everything.

-Voltaire 

Elegance breeds elegance

"Elegance is the only beauty that never fades" ~ Audrey Hepburn

My grandmother was elegant.

She loved her glass of scotch in the evenings,

she poked elbows with the tip of her fork when they were on the table,

and I never saw her dressed down, even when she was dying.

But that's not how I knew that my grandmother was an elegant woman.

I knew she was elegant

because every time I went to grandma's, 

I wanted to be elegant. 

She chose love.

Amaa

How can someone ever trust 

in the existence of an unconditional divine love 

when most, if not all, of what he or she has experienced 

is the opposite of love - fear, hatred, violence, and abuse? 

 They are not condemned to be victims! 

 There remains within them, hidden as it may seem, 

the possibility to choose love. 

 Many people who have suffered the most horrendous rejections

and been subject to the most cruel torture

 are able to choose love. 

By choosing love they become witnesses 

not only to enormous human resiliency

 but also to the divine love that transcends all human loves. 

 Those who choose, even on a small scale, 

to love in the midst of hatred and fear 

are the people who offer true hope to our world.

Henri Nouwen 

I am blessed.

Have you ever met a person that you could only imagine the kind of crown of glory 

and beauty they were to receive in His eternal kingdom?

My time in Pokhara, especially with the Thapa family 

has left my heart full and my mind reeling. 

There were the moments when Amaa and I sat on stools outside the kitchen, 

staring at each other, barred by our different languages,

but both being desperate to communicate, "you are loved".

Those were the moments that
I experienced true love and peace, 

without any words exchanged. 

And yet, every night tears filled my eyes

 as I battled homesickness, 

all the while wrestling with the truth 

of the blessing and privilege right before me.

I came face-to-face with Christ's true servants and 

I'm anticipating nothing but glory and gifts in heaven

 for their labor of love on this earth.

Jesus must have wanted to show me more of himself and more of his love

...and I am incredibly humbled.