The Laundromat.

It has been a long while since I've stepped foot inside a laundromat - I had to wonder if there was such a thing anymore... then I realized that time hadn't changed as much as life had changed - for me, that is.

I've had multiple comforters and a down bed in need of cleaning - and why it didn't occur to me earlier I have no idea, but a laundromat is the perfect place to find a 55-lb. mega loader (pardon my french) and a 75lb. dryer for just this purpose - at a fraction of the cost of dry cleaning. Although you may already know that there are places to have your stuff 'washed' as opposed to 'dry cleaned', I did not. And although I know now, I wouldn't pass up a great opportunity to spend 3 hours with my kiddos inside one of the best smelling places on the block - you understand me, right Jenny? Washers and dryers whirring around you and people doing everything from laughing with the owner about what Cindy's up to to watching the local news; there's a large black woman and her teenage daughter talking while the one loads the washer and the other keeps her hands in her pockets; there's the gentleman in his 50s standing over a folding table and smiling at his phone as he reads texts to himself; there's the young boy and his mother sharing our table and driving back and forth from home because they're washer just broke; there's the guy with the dreads a little high at the front waiting ever so... whatever for his clothes to be done; there's the woman who runs the show, walking this way and that, making all of it run like clock-work and keeping the machine oiled, if you will. She's prepared, she's responsive and she's ever so efficient - she knows her loads and she knows her times... she was my saving grace. From the moment I walked in the door, she had me pegged for a laundromat fledgling - and quite honestly, I'm saddened by that label after spending an evening with them.

These people are a community. They bear each others burdens and ask about the things of life that we seem to need a pen and paper for come the end of Small Group... they think about it during the week and because they are around each other day in and day out doing the daily grind, they are up to speed on one another's joys and one another's sorrows. They are what I imagine a community looking like... and when I can, I will have my children spend more time there.

Hey kids, THIS is what community looks like.

Thank you Bubbles Laundry - you are a home away from home.  We'll pee on more comforters if it means we get to see you.

jamison.

Tonight as I lathered Benjamin in lotion after a long bath, Kyle walked in the door at the time he said he would.  It was six o'clock on the nose and although Ben and I had had our share of the Taco Soup currently simmering on the stove, Kyle and the bigger kids had yet to eat.

He called to me as he walked in the door saying, 'Hi!  Do you have an extra bowl?!'  What an odd way of saying that he had invited someone to dinner, I thought.  And although it hadn't been a particularly long day for the kids and I, I was still persuaded by my introverted side to pretend like I hadn't heard the question.

I continued to calmly lather my son.

'Krista?'  He called as I heard him make his way into the great room downstairs.

'I'm up here in the kids' room!'

'Come here for a minute...'

'What?!'  I responded.  I was sitting on the floor, legs spread and a small child between them.  That small child, Ben, was naked and calm and... well, almost ready for bed.  I know my husband's tone and I knew there was a 'surprise' in the works.  But I really had no idea as I lifted myself off the ground... slowly.

And then a most familiar voice rang out, 'do you need a hand?!'  As she bounded up the stairs.

I rounded the corner of the kids' room and into the hallway where I caught a glimpse of a brunette with glasses on taking two steps at a time up the stairs toward me...

Immediately my voice caught in my throat and I felt my heart leap... there is no way.  THERE IS NO WAY.

Standing before me - mind you, for only a split second before I wrapped my arms around her and cried - was Jamie.  My best friend from London, England.  She embraced me and laughed - a little surprised at my emotional greeting... only hours later would we realize that God had taken us through the same refinement and was graciously bringing us together to affirm in each other that what God was up to was good and was for His glory.  It was another step in bringing us closer to dependency on Him - and we were getting to do it together!

The timing of her surprise arrival was divinely orchestrated.  Considering the recent month she and I had gone through separately, we both were quick to welcome a familiar face and an old heart to talk to and lose ourselves in - God was so good.  She and I ran to Central Market and laughed and talked until we were blue in the face.  We sipped wonderful red wines and shared our deepest secrets... we shook our heads in amazement and smiled at the fact that we were just now realizing what God had known all along.

This morning we woke with crazy hair and swollen eyes; lacking in sleep but enjoying the euphoria of being with a dear friend... we made a strong pot of coffee, walked around in our sweats and slowly got ready for our morning.  The kids got to school and William, Jamie and I came back here and prepared for the rest of the day.

She's here in the area for the week although not with me here at the moment... and I'm waiting in anticipation of our date at the end of the week - downtown Seattle with the kids before she hops a flight back to the UK. 

This memory is going down in history.  Thank you Jamison... I love you so much.

And remember, draw a line and move on. 

God bless you.

His glory.

As Kyle and I have traversed the recent months of our life together, we've been impacted by the urgency that keeps tugging at our hearts. We continue to sense that God is refining us for a time that is only to be explained in His perfect timing. From relationships to ideas, things have been destructed and rebuilt... the sanctification process is painful because the closer we draw to the cross, the more our sins are revealed and sit in stark contrast to His glory.

Lately, we've been reminded again and again that its easy to find nuggets of Christian wisdom in our society that only circumvent the deep need in each of us to truly seek Jesus. There's such pride and excitement about our ideas of success - which seem to lead to complacency, not urgency. What does it look like to see a body of believers get honest about their sin and begin walking with each other back to the foot of the cross - with nothing other than Jesus at the helm?

Its been a month of sifting through the Enemy's lies and finding Truth in what God is doing and who He has made me to be. In Ephesians 2:8-10 it says 'For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.'

I want to partner with Him in what He said He will do. So we watch and wait; we wait expectantly and in anticipation of when His glory is revealed.

Until then, we wait in joy as He sanctifies us and draws us closer to Himself...

Until then, we watch the skies for signs of His return...