learning to be a child

Sometimes I think we try to grow ourselves up way to fast. I was sitting in Starbucks the other morning enjoying Christmas music and some wonderful Christmas blend coffee. I place myself next to a window where I could see all the tourists with their Barcelona guide books and crazy confusing maps stretched out trying to decide where to go. As I'm gazing out the window, I see a little girl walking with her mom. next thing I see, is the little girl steps up on the edge of the window to walk a bit taller next to her mom. It seems that it was all done in silence, but I did I have a window between me and the possible words that could have flown. The little girls expression though, was like "there is a place where i can be taller when I walk, so why shouldn't I?..Duh!" For some reason this just warmed my heart and made me think about how fast I am trying to grow up. I'm such a planner. I get a month ahead of myself all the time and miss the gift of the moments I am so blessed to have. I want to be that little girl, and jump up on a ledge and walk just because its fun to be taller than you really are. Given, i'm not a fan of high heel shoes, but i do like rollercoasters and being at the top of a mountain. How often do we just do stuff because its fun? i don't do it as nearly as much as i feel compelled sometimes...but hopefully I am changing and will a bit more now.

More thoughts...
I'm living in such a crazy, beautiful, ecclectic, delightfully charming city. Yes, their are tons of toursits all of the time, but there are also beautiful Spainards and other nationalities that are trying to make life happen here. I'm falling in love with my life here. Its hard in some ways to not always be surrounded by other believers in Jesus Christ, but at the same time its blissfully wonderful. To no longer feel like you are competeting for Holiness against your friends and family you dearly love. I'm alone, I do have my friends from the states that have the same beliefs, but I don't see them everyday. I'm alone, I have no one to measure myself agaisnt, but Jesus Christ, and lets face it, I don't compare to the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace. I am being so humbled and so humilitated by my lack of understanding of what it means to be a child of God. I don't have it figured out. I'm messed up, like the rest of us. The moment I think I have it figured out, I fall on my face and I miss the point once again. thankfully, I'm loved as i am in this moment by my Creator. Jesus loves me when I pitch fit, when I'm unfaithful, when my selfishness rules over what He wants, he loves me as i am in that moment. The more I seek Him the more I am refined and made more like Him. It doesn't happen over night. It takes time. I'm learning to be patient with myself. God is so patient with me.

One of my favorite things I have done lately was Saturday my friend Rose and i went on a hunt to find an ice skating rink, well by the time we found it, it was closing. By that time we were pretty hungry. A popular food in the winter in Catalunya is sweet potatoes and chestnuts. So Rose and I had to Las Ramblas to a little vendor on the side and bought roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes (are you singing the Christmas song in your head...yes!). Then we headed to Plaza Catalunya to sit and enjoy our meal while watching the people. It was so much fun! Rose is a fellow gluten-intolerant friend and since McDonalds has gluten-free stuff, we decided to have a Mcflurry for dessert. It was a fantastic day! So here are some pics from that.

"chestnuts roasting on an open fire...Jack frot nipping at your nose..." oh I love Christmas!


Yummy!!!



Here are some girls from my resi. We had a birthday party for one of the girls, Adrianna, and also a going away party for my friend Gaby.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

These are a few of my favorite things...

To make the time here go by slower I have become increasingly more aware of the things in BCN that I simply just adore and the things that I don't think I will miss to much.

I love that each day I walk to class I see and hear someone playing an instrument or singing their heart out to make some money. I love that on a random day, like today, there is a movie being filmed...yeah its a Spanish movie so don't get to excited, but hey famous people here in Barcelona, pretty awesome. I love that you can buy chocolate pretty much anywhere. I love that there is always an ice cream shop in sight. I love that you can buy coffee anywhere...even in my school; it comes out of a machine, but its really good. I love it when I see people dancing to the beat of someones music. i love that people just stop where they are at and just start kissing...I don't know that this is necessarily a great thing, but I like seeing people live in the moment and being real. I love that I have to walk pretty much everywhere I go. I love buying my food in open market. I love that I can look out almost any window and see something extraordinarily beautiful. (I think i am contradicting my last post with the use of love...but I'm trying to emphasis how much I like it here). i love pomegranates (I'm eating one as I type this post). I love public transportation...I'm just not that great at driving. I love the people, the culture, my friends...so much more.

I'm not a big fan of poop on the side walk, tourist...hmm I think I qualify as one. The random whiffs of what smells like raw sewage is pretty awful. Cars and motos driving down this little streets. even though I say I don't like these things...I'm probably going to miss them.

Along with seeing the things that I see each day in Barcelona I have become more aware of the presence of God. I'm trying to look for him in all things that I see, because He is everywhere. One of the things I say to myself everyday when i am in the midst of fear or just being overwhelmed I whisper to myself "I have Jesus." I do. I have Jesus. he gives me life each day. He knows no fear. I am who I am because I have Jesus in my life. He is taking care of me. That's another thing i was thinking about the other day. God has never let me down. Never. I have never been disappointed at what He has done in my life. He is so faithful...not like people. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us. Let me say that again. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus, his only son, to die for us. You know why? Because he loves us and he wants us to spend all eternity with Him. But even beyond that. God does not want us to have "life" insurance by saying we believe in Him and believe that Jesus rose from the dead. He wants us to know Him now. He wants us to have satisfaction in Him. He wants us to enjoy His presence. He wants to hear our voice talking to Him when we are distressed or in fear. He doesn't want us to wait until we are standing before Him at the gates of Heaven to know Him more. We can know Him now.


Here are some pictures of some of my favorite things...yes I have watched a bit of The Sound of Music recently.



this is picture of an old palace at Montjuic. Now its an art museum. It is one of my favorite places I have visited so far.




this the view from the top of Montjuic...isn't it gorgeous!?!




These are some of our friends from school at our Halloween party.



this is at Montserrat. Its a good 2 hour train/bus/metro/walking from Barcelona.



That's right...its movie being filmed...so cool!




The best coffee shop in the world!



Lastly, people dancing the traditional Catalan dance, that i forgot the name of.



This is Haley, Tanner, Rose, Sonya and me at an awesome Irish bar. It reminds me of Harry Potter.



Karin, Me and Gaby. We all live together in my residencia.




This Sofie from Belgium. We also live together.





So here is tiny glimpse of my life here in Barcelona. Have a fantastic day!