Wine-ing Down

The tortured law students are offered a short spring break. The bf and I took off to join my Dad and all our closest family friends in Oregon, then we drove onto Seattle, Washington. It was a really spectacular and relaxing break. Enjoy!

Courtside seats thanks to Jaimee

Wine tasting at the Wine, Pear and Cheese Festival

Brothers.

Willamette Valley Vineyards

The Sunset that night

Microbrewery tour in Portland, OR

We found the beach! Washington, Olympic National Park

Rainforest, Olympic National Park

Pike Place Market, Seattle WA

Pike Place Market, Seattle WA

The FIRST Starbucks, Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA

View from the Space Needle, Seattle WA

On the Ferris Wheel at the Seattle Harbor

View from the Ferris Wheel at sunset, Seattle, WA

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

OMNIPOTENT

At 6:30 am, I woke up to all my windows sounding like they were being bashed in. I thought I was being robbed. I grabbed Grey, my phone, and buried myself under the covers. It was around this time I realized that everything was shaking, not just the windows. That was when it dawned on me it was an earthquake. Grey was shaking pretty intensely. For a few minutes the shaking continued. Just like something out of a movie. I was scared and frightened. And then it was over. Minus a proliferation of Earthquake-themed Facebook statuses, life went on just like it hadn't happened. Certainly the 4.4 Earthquake was trending on social media and it was the top story on the news reels. But there was no difference in the morning traffic, no new color of the sky, no noticeable difference to anyone's behavior that last night they had experienced a very real, frightening display of the natural earth's scariest power.

It got me thinking about God. Sometimes when I am looking for direction, or when I am waiting on an answer to prayer, I think it would be pretty cool if instead of letting me wait patiently, he'd just speak to me in a burning bush (or burning palm tree). He could choose to lead me with a cloud of fire I begin walking the wrong direction, or to heal a sick friend before my eyes. He could make the wool outside my door step dry, but dew on everything surrounding it, when I am doubting Him. He could ensure that a rock and slingshot is enough to kill a giant opposing me, instead of letting me fight the battle on my own. After all, these are all things He has done before! Sometimes its easy to look at these great biblical stories and think, why doesn't He speak to us like THAT?

And then, you experience an earthquake and you think, oh, He most certainly could. Perhaps I should instead be thankful that he doesn't. He moves and shakes us in a different way.
Instead of it being Earth-shattering enough to grab my attention in my cloudiness, it is gentle. It is a whisper. Its on me, to clear the cloudiness, to be alert. It is my responsibility to change my heart so that it's beating only for Him.
When the waves hit my feet on the beach, I think about the ocean and its vastness as a symbol of His love, His omnipresence and His omniscience. Now, I'll think of the tornado, of the earthquake as symbols of His incredible power that out of his love, He moves us and shakes us gently.

Leap and the net will appear

“How can you sleep at a time like this? Unless the dreamer is the real you.

Listen to your voice, the one that tells you to taste past the tip of your tongue.

Leap and the net will appear

I don’t wanna wake before the dream is over

I’m gonna make it mine

Yes, I wanna own it.

I’m gonna make it mine.

I keep my life on a heavy rotation, requesting that its lifting you up, up, up and away and over to a table at the gratitude café.”

-Jason Mraz, Make it Mine

Driving on my gorgeous commute down PCH with the Pacific ocean in my left lane this morning, I had a realization. When people ask me what law school taught me, what I really learned, of course I can answer with torts or civil procedure or how to brief a case. But what it’s really taught me is how to get past something so huge that you never thought you could accomplish. There have been so many moments in the last year and a half where I’ve been nearly completely crippled by the recurring thought, “I cannot do this.” When not only could I do it, but I did.

This isn’t a post about all the spectacular things that I’ve managed to accomplish, but instead about what YOU can accomplish. For those moments when you think there is no clarity for the future, when you think that there’s no way something is going to work out, that you are completely incapable of doing what you’ve been asked to do, you are wrong.

As a few of you know, last semester left me feeling deflated, worked to death and quite unhappy despite an abnormal showering of blessings and joy. So, I decided to do something to fix it. I was annoyed at how things were going to work out, and with a lot of support from great people, good ole fashioned prayer, and a miracle of communication, the new plan is 1000 times better than the old plan. As a dear friend of mine reminded me a few days ago, it’s never a good idea to fall in love with your plan. Keeping that in mind, let me tell you, I am really in love with this plan.

I’ve accepted a job for June in Los Angeles working in legal aid, which is an area of the law I’m very passionate about. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Los Angeles who need simple, quick advice from an attorney and who cannot afford it. I’ll be helping ensure they have the opportunity to speak to an attorney for free, while also learning a little bit about practically every area of the law. I’m thrilled. It’s through an organization I’ve been volunteering with for about a year, and I know I have a lot to learn from those who have dedicated their careers to those in great need. As you may remember, I had planned on working for the Los Angeles District Attorney, and I am still doing that, but now in the fall.

What about July, you ask? Ah, now, here’s the big news. I’ve been accepted to a program in Madrid. Yep, the same Madrid that I’m madly in love with. Spain. A third (or sixth?) home. I’ll be taking classes for credit on European Union human rights and international law. I’ll get enough credits to hopefully be part time my last semester of school, which will give me even more time to job hunt.

I am sitting proudly at the gratitude café, and can’t wait for all the exciting things that lie ahead for the summer!

Leap and the net will appear.