and one more...

Girls, already your posts are proving that this little endeavor is indeed going to be a blessing. I see in you so much of our Father, and the way He’s working in your stories is amazing evidence of His goodness.

I feel like my life is constantly at a crossroads, at that proverbial fork where I am supposed to choose: the road less-traveled or… The road too-traveled, I suppose.

In May, I’ll come to yet another bend. Jordan will graduate from law school, and I’ll make the transition from law student’s wife to lawyer’s wife. I don’t think words could adequately express how badly I want to postpone that switch. After all, we’re talking about a girl who still uses her old debit card just so she can sign her former last name on Lowe’s receipts. (Please don’t tell on me. It’s pathetic, I know.)

The point is, just when I find contentment in my place and purpose, God moves me. To a new town, a new job, a new life stage. I suppose it’s His way of telling me that true contentment only comes from Him.

So, I’m learning to just live. Because, as is evidenced by the previous chapters in my story, God always comes through. May will arrive, and change will arrive with it. Or it may not. It’s hard to say what scares me more: the thought of moving and starting over, or the thought of not.

But either way, my God will pull me through; He will transition me through the ups and downs. That's just who He is.

He has made me to be an adventure-seeker. Not the climb-rocks-and-jump-out-of-buildings kind of adventure. More like the what-can-I-do-to-make-this-day-awesome kind of adventure. I just celebrated my one year anniversary with my husband and my 10-year-anniversary with Jesus (the two best kinds of adventure). I am a lover of stories. Can’t get enough and will take them in any format, as evidenced by my Google Reader. (Though I should interrupt to say: nothing beats the feel of paper to skin.) I’m in the throes of graduate school applications in the hopes that my acceptance will assuage this steady “what’s next?” feeling I keep having. And my family is more important to me than I could ever write here.

My background is journalism, and my day job is a theme and variation thereof. After a not-so-great job, then turning down what I thought was my dream job, I feel pretty happy here in my little office, writing and editing law-related news stories. God knew how much I could handle, and after months of praying for a new gig, He gave me one, and I love it.

When I'm not editing a piece until my eyes bleed, I dabble in graphic design, interior décor, and the ever-elusive art of homemaking. I wish I could sing, play guitar, and drink hot chocolate while channelling Thoreau and writing the next great American novel in my house by a lake in Massachusetts. Until that happens, though, I’m content in Tallahassee, learning to be the best version of myself. Even though I don’t always know what that means.

chew* is my effort at maintaining Anne-and-Diana friendships while stretching my brain to accept new possibilities, spiritual and otherwise.

Hello there.

While I'm writing this I am sitting in my bed in a room that I will only be living in for a couple more weeks. Only 20-years-old, still in my undergraduate degree, but about to embark on a great adventure. Like all of you, I have been going through many changes, but the major ones are still ahead of me.

I am originally from Orlando, Florida, where my parents still live. I moved up to Tallahassee in 2007 to get my degree in Social Work, which I am finishing up this summer. I have spent much of my time in college attempting to find real community with genuine people, which I have found to be a difficult task. At the beginning of this past summer I found a group of friends that wanted the same thing, and by the end of the summer I was dating one of them. That happened to be Annie's brother, which is how Annie and I became friends.

The carefree summer ended, and with that ending came the beginning of a strenuous semester. The semester brought many new and difficult circumstances that began shaping me for where God is taking me now. I was attempting to do an internship, classes, work, and have my first real relationship. It proved to be a much harder semester than I anticipated.

My internship was working with victims of domestic violence, and ended up teaching me more than I ever learned in my classes. I had to learn how to take care of myself amidst taking care of others. I had to explore my own experiences of emotional and verbal abuse from my family. And most of all, I had to learn how to not hold onto the problems of the women I was helping, and truly believe that God is sovereign and in control. Beyond just my internship I was dealing with the ending of my relationship, the loss of friendships, and trying to understand what God was doing in everything.

Now I am in limbo. I am about to finish the semester, but I have an enormous transition ahead of me.

On January 6, my flight leaves for London. I'll be interning at another agency working with domestic violence victims, and will be living in a city for four months where I don't know a single soul. When I return, I'll be finishing classes over summer, graduating, and looking to move out of the state, where again I won't know anyone.

I have been on a search for community, and instead found God, coaxing me to let go of my need for people, and simply go on an adventure with him. I laugh as I write this because he knows me so well. He knows that I am terrified of being alone, and of stepping into the unknown. And yet he has given me a desire to know him more than ever, and to say, "Here I am, send me." And so I look to the near future with excitement and anticipation for what he has in store.

I am delighted that we have the opportunity to do this, and I have already loved to hear your stories. I look forward to having meaningful conversation and getting to know you all even more.

a little about me.

It is pouring outside, and I am loving the light show that is featured with this storm! The weather has been pretty crazy up here in Huntsville. Snow. Sunshine. Rain. It can't seem to make up its mind! It all seems a little chaotic at times, but especially on a night like this, with the lightning etching its images in the sky, I am reminded of our very powerful God who holds it all in His hands.

I've been reminded of this a lot lately. When I look back over the last few years, I see a lot of what looks like chaos. A lot of transition. Many unanswered questions. Lots of changes. {Cory, after reading your post, I am even more convinced that we are all going to easily relate to one another. Very much looking forward to some discussion time with you girls!}

Anyways, here's a little background information on me:

I grew up in Cleveland, Tennessee. Oldest of three girls. Middle of many cousins. The first to really venture away.

After graduating high school, I packed up my bags and moved to Montgomery to attend Faulkner University {hence my connection to Annie}. I hardly know how to summarize those 4 years... So much happened. SO much. Most of which have nothing to do with my actual education. I am pretty sure that college is when I actually met God. Sure, I'd been learning about Him my entire life. Sure, I'd made the decision to commit my life to him when I was baptized in the 5th grade. I knew a lot about Him, and thought I knew all the answers, but I came face to face with Him in college. And I've never been the same. {I would love to expound upon this, but I won't try to tackle my whole life in one blog post.}

I graduated in May of 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a second major in Vocational Christian Ministry. I had no idea what was coming next. Wednesday, May 9th, was my last night with the Landmark Campus Ministry. We were discussing Psalm 46. "Be still and know that I am God." That night, I heard God telling me to be still. Cease my strivings. Know that He is God. This was going to be my year of transition. Wait on Him. The next day I had an extensive job search planned out. I decided not to even leave my apartment. I took God up on His offer. I ceased my strivings and decided to wait on Him.

It was the right choice.

My year of transition sure looked like a lot of chaos. I was a temp receptionist for 3 days, an assistant home inspector for 7 months, an adjunct professor at Faulkner 2 nights a week for a semester, an administrative assistant/estimator for a subcontractor for 4 months, and I spent 2 weeks in China with some of my best friends that were serving as missionaries there. I did nothing to make any of this happen. Except apply at the temp agency and buy a plane ticket {which God actually did most of that too}. Long story short, in a dream, He told me it was time to move. It was no longer time to be still. Next thing I knew, I was moving to Huntsville to work with the Mayfair Youth Ministry. A dream job. Oh, and did I mention that I moved to Huntsville on May 9, 2008. Exactly one year from God's message to me. How's that for timing?!

Now I am a few months away from my 2 year mark in youth ministry, and this {somewhat} clearly defined role in my life has not really lessened the chaos. Our ministry is in transition, my life has many unanswered questions {you know, the basic questions a single, twenty-something is asking}, and life is busy. But especially on a night like this, with memories flooding my mind, I see the evidence that reminds me that our very powerful God holds it all in His hands.

And that is just a little bit about me.

Well, hey.

Good evening, ladies. I write to you this fine and chilly night from the soft cushions of my new couch in my new home in Birmingham, Alabama. The furniture and the address are not the only new things in my life right now. In fact, if I were to ask my year-ago self to observe my current existence, my life would be nearly unrecognizable.

You see, I've been on a whirlwind of life changes in the last six months. But, let me go a bit further back...

I'm from Alpharetta, Georgia and attended the grand ole University of Georgia for my undergraduate education in Magazine Journalism. I was a Young Life leader all through out college (and until very recently actually): an involvement that had a profound effect on my social, spiritual and ministerial development. It showed me an extremely Biblical model of relational evangelism. Sharing Jesus with people first means knowing them, having them know you, earning the right to be heard.

After graduating in 2007, I moved to Birmingham for an internship at Southern Progress Corporation, where I met the lovely (former) Miss Butterworth. We were insta-friends. I found her faith and wisdom to be such a steady switch from the treacherous waters of an internship in a new town. The adjustment from college was tough, but her friendship was a real blessing to me.

After working at SPC for about 9 months, I moved on to take a position as the editor of skirt! magazine. I had been an avid skirt! follower for years, and absolutely felt like I was fooling everyone into thinking I was qualified for the position that I assumed. I definitely "faked it" until I "made it." Gosh, what a learning experience.

For about a year and a half, I was the single editorial staff person for the Birmingham edition of the magazine. I was in charge of all local content, as well as marketing, promoting and social media stuff. It was a crash course in all things media. It was joyous, challenging, heart-wrenching, life-changing. Through the course of my time there, I interviewed hundreds of incredible people, and I truly think of them as some of my greatest teachers. I mean, really... what a dream to be able to have quality conversations with people for a living. I felt like I was truly just "introducing people to their neighbors," and it that part of the job was so life-giving. There were other parts of the job that were not so life-giving. It was real tough for me to feel chained to the desk, confined to the office hours and misunderstood by many of my managers. As much as I loved the job, there was a part of me that was relieved when it all came to a close.

All that said, the magazine folded this summer, leaving me a bit shell-shocked. For six years of my life, I had been working toward and in a certain career field. When it ended, my gut reaction was just to GET OUT of an industry that is changing dramatically. So, I began working at a coffee shop (my favorite one here), and delved into my other interest: letterpress printing.

With very little experience under my belt, I applied for and got a work-study position for the 8-week concentration at the Penland School of Crafts in Asheville, NC to take a course in letterpress under the instruction of a renowned artist/printer. It was a scary leap to make, as it required me to virtually drain my savings account, leave my source of income and take a step in a completely different direction.

But, I did it.

God taught me INVALUABLE lessons in the process...ones that I'm sure will leak out all over our discussions. I want to go into more detail about my two months there, but I think I've babbled on long enough. I've been back in Birmingham for about three weeks now, and I'm so thrilled to see His hands all over what has been happening.

I'm back at the coffee shop now, freelance writing and working part-time in a couple of print shops. My eventual hope is to have my own printing press and business. I'm learning peace and patience, however. I'm really in no rush. It is my true hope that I will be like the Proverbs 31 woman: able to laugh at the days to come.

In conclusion, I'm really excited to e-get to know you each, and to engage in what I anticipate being some really meaningful discussion. I have no doubt that this will be the beginning of something quite wonderful.

an introduction.

After I graduated from Faulkner, I felt a little empty inside. Life was going great, I had a job, Jordan and I were engaged, but... there was a hole.

After months of searching, I finally discovered what was missing from my life: discourse.

Discussion.

The free and open exchange of ideas.

I started a blog. I began emailing friends from college and from my internship who I shared common ideas with. Those emails and blog comments were helpful, but they've diminished over the past several months. Life gets busy, and sadly, I don't always have time to sit and write lengthy emails to faraway friends-- even if they are kindred spirits. It's hard to strike that balance between retaining old friends and making new ones. Slowly, I began to find peace and purpose in where I was. I made new friends, formed new bonds.

For once, I feel comfortable and content where I am (mostly).

But I still miss open discussion about spirituality, creativity.

Then this week, I logged onto Spring. It's a new project I found out about via a blog I read, and I think the concept is brilliant. Four ladies from four different cities and four different walks of life connected online, and now they're producing monthly videos about topics close to their heart and publishing them online. I watched, and I thought:

Why can't I do that?

Why can't, once a month, I sit down and video chat with my kindred spirits? In 2009, distance should be moot. We have telephones, Internet... I remember making three way calls when I was in 7th grade! What's stopping me now?

I'll admit, I've tried other things to keep in touch, to keep discourse alive. I've started a book club, created a joint blog... Some of these efforts fail, some succeed.

That's when this solution began to take fruition. This solution. An idea I'm calling chew*.

A place where kindred spirits can discuss topics like the Sabbath, church tradition, contentment, creativity, and passion.

These girls graciously agreed to join me.

In January, we'll start posting our thoughts via video. (If I can find a techie out there who can show me how.) Until then, let's get to know each other.

This week, if you can, post a bio of yourself. I know all of you, but you don't know each other. Explain who you are, what you're doing, what you're reaching for, and who you hope to become. Maybe let us all know what you'd like to come of these sessions.

I'm so excited about this endeavor. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I think this could be the start of something wonderful.