Day #81- August 31,
2014
Spent the most delightful morning with one of my all time favorite people. We caught up on life while casually roaming through the Downtown SLC Farmers Market. I met this dynamo several years ago as a precocious third grade girl, bound to harness the world, registered for YouthCity. We got to hang out everyday after school for several years and now we share endless stories and memories. Back in the day, we made quilts, read books, learned how to cook and had lot and lots of engaging conversations. Today, that curious third grader, is both taller and much smarter than I am and attends a local high school. Within moments, it became clear that this once bookish girl has quickly bloomed into a stunning young woman who may actually harness the world one day. She is smart, and talented, and compassionate, and curious, and kind….and I’ve never been more confident in our future. Wowee! What a powerhouse! I’m so grateful our paths have crossed and I look forward to many more mint limeades and moody strolls. Being a teenage girl these days…and let’s face it really at any point in history…. and figuring out how to hold on to yourself during THE most treacherous phase of human development, takes serious guts. Would not return to the roller-coaster that is adolescence for ten million dollars and yet I stand in awe of so many teens who are trudging their way through the muck and yuck and yippee of high school with a refined sense of grace and resilience and humor and drive. I think it's actually called...grit...in this case...girlish grit...and it's a seriously powerful force in this world. SHE, this one who let me consume a few hours of her morning today....is just one of many with whom I draw inspiration and hope from. Feeling both lucky and grateful to have the chance to watch the magic of this gritty girl continue to bloom.
#100HappyDays
Spent the most delightful morning with one of my all time favorite people. We caught up on life while casually roaming through the Downtown SLC Farmers Market. I met this dynamo several years ago as a precocious third grade girl, bound to harness the world, registered for YouthCity. We got to hang out everyday after school for several years and now we share endless stories and memories. Back in the day, we made quilts, read books, learned how to cook and had lot and lots of engaging conversations. Today, that curious third grader, is both taller and much smarter than I am and attends a local high school. Within moments, it became clear that this once bookish girl has quickly bloomed into a stunning young woman who may actually harness the world one day. She is smart, and talented, and compassionate, and curious, and kind….and I’ve never been more confident in our future. Wowee! What a powerhouse! I’m so grateful our paths have crossed and I look forward to many more mint limeades and moody strolls. Being a teenage girl these days…and let’s face it really at any point in history…. and figuring out how to hold on to yourself during THE most treacherous phase of human development, takes serious guts. Would not return to the roller-coaster that is adolescence for ten million dollars and yet I stand in awe of so many teens who are trudging their way through the muck and yuck and yippee of high school with a refined sense of grace and resilience and humor and drive. I think it's actually called...grit...in this case...girlish grit...and it's a seriously powerful force in this world. SHE, this one who let me consume a few hours of her morning today....is just one of many with whom I draw inspiration and hope from. Feeling both lucky and grateful to have the chance to watch the magic of this gritty girl continue to bloom.
#100HappyDays
Day #83 – September 1,
2014
You know when a song or a catchy jingle gets stuck in your head and just keeps playing over and over and over. For the last several days, I have had the lyrics…a phrase really…on constant repeat and I just can’t shake this ear worm. Could be way worse, right? Perhaps it’s a sign…
You know when a song or a catchy jingle gets stuck in your head and just keeps playing over and over and over. For the last several days, I have had the lyrics…a phrase really…on constant repeat and I just can’t shake this ear worm. Could be way worse, right? Perhaps it’s a sign…
…Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790
#100Happydays
Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790
#100Happydays
Day#84 – September
2, 204
Twice today, once on my way into my office and just now as I'm heading to the parking garage, I am stuck by the same random act of natural splendor. Two brave little yellow flowers, boldly standing with confidence amid a collection of shrubs and bushes. Both blooms were kinda out of place and perhaps even awkwardly placed and yet exactly where they needed to be all along. There they were. Just doing what they do best. Blooming. Regardless the location. All alone and yet never lonely. Quietly communicating the inspiration to not just adapt....but thrive. These two pops of yellow goodness not only caught my eye today but they kind of spoke right to me...being a bit different...you know when you feel like a big dorky yellow flower trying to make it work in a world of thick green shrubs...all in all it ain't soo bad....it has its moments....take heart....we are in good company.
#100Happydays
Twice today, once on my way into my office and just now as I'm heading to the parking garage, I am stuck by the same random act of natural splendor. Two brave little yellow flowers, boldly standing with confidence amid a collection of shrubs and bushes. Both blooms were kinda out of place and perhaps even awkwardly placed and yet exactly where they needed to be all along. There they were. Just doing what they do best. Blooming. Regardless the location. All alone and yet never lonely. Quietly communicating the inspiration to not just adapt....but thrive. These two pops of yellow goodness not only caught my eye today but they kind of spoke right to me...being a bit different...you know when you feel like a big dorky yellow flower trying to make it work in a world of thick green shrubs...all in all it ain't soo bad....it has its moments....take heart....we are in good company.
#100Happydays
(ADOPTION VIDEO)
Day #87 – September
5, 2014
So so so very excited to be returning to YouthCity full time this October as the new Programs Manager at the Sorensen/Unity Center. Salt Lake City Corporation has successfully secured funding to open a fifth YouthCity after-school and summer program in a terrific pocket of my favorite city. I think the only thing that could pull me from Westminster College is the chance to create...to develop... and be a part of a new YouthCity program. This little youth program, now serving several hundred kiddos and families, is so easily my heart. And Westminster College is so easily my brain. I can't think of two better intuitions to work for and I will be forever grateful for their symbiotic connection and influence in my life. This summer confirmed in both my head and my heart that working directly with kiddos every day is actually what I do best. Feeling so grateful.....blessed actually....to have had the opportunity to extend my education at Westminster, dust off a little professional ambition in Dallas, experience higher education from the other side if the desk and now, five years later, get the chance to return to the program I helped build....a girl could not be more happy or excited. Feeling so grateful for the professional mish mash of the last several years and ready to put it all into practice with a whole new crop of kiddos. It’s not lost on me....getting to actually DO the thing you love, IN the city you love…WITH the people you respect the most...how did I get SO lucky?
#100HappyDays
So so so very excited to be returning to YouthCity full time this October as the new Programs Manager at the Sorensen/Unity Center. Salt Lake City Corporation has successfully secured funding to open a fifth YouthCity after-school and summer program in a terrific pocket of my favorite city. I think the only thing that could pull me from Westminster College is the chance to create...to develop... and be a part of a new YouthCity program. This little youth program, now serving several hundred kiddos and families, is so easily my heart. And Westminster College is so easily my brain. I can't think of two better intuitions to work for and I will be forever grateful for their symbiotic connection and influence in my life. This summer confirmed in both my head and my heart that working directly with kiddos every day is actually what I do best. Feeling so grateful.....blessed actually....to have had the opportunity to extend my education at Westminster, dust off a little professional ambition in Dallas, experience higher education from the other side if the desk and now, five years later, get the chance to return to the program I helped build....a girl could not be more happy or excited. Feeling so grateful for the professional mish mash of the last several years and ready to put it all into practice with a whole new crop of kiddos. It’s not lost on me....getting to actually DO the thing you love, IN the city you love…WITH the people you respect the most...how did I get SO lucky?
#100HappyDays
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