Wanted to inform my xanga world of a small change in my life.
A blog change.
I haven't liked the changes xanga has made the past few months in layout and extra junk.
So I am simplifying.
You can find my new blog at linzcap.wordpress.com
I don't know if I'll do any better at blogging there, but I'm gonna give it a go.
I'm going to try to write more, and to keep posting pictures (...as I [hopefully] improve my skills in that area...:)
Check it out and leave me some love :)
And now, I would also like to put in a plug for GOOGLE READER.
Having a lot of friends in a lot of different blog forums (xanga, blogger, wordpress...), google reader lets you check them all in ONE PLACE. It's FABULOUS. It takes a little time to put in all the blog addresses, but once they are in, you get to see all new posts all in one place, without having to visit all the different sites (but it gives you direct links to the sites in case you do want to visit them.)

So with that, I'm signing off for now. I will still be reading your blogs, and I'll keep this account so I can comment on them. But all new posts from me will be on the new blog.

hope you have an amazing friday. 
keep trusting Jesus.

linz

A few days ago I spent some quality time with my hymnal (by which I mean the hymnal I permanently borrowed from the church since no one else wanted the spiral bound pianist version :)
It had been too long since I had flipped through its pages letting my eyes drink in the words of the old and the new, letting my mind ponder the lives behind those words, stuck as they are in their musical prisons that far too often scare people away.
After some random page flippage, I decided to visit a few good old friends (by which I mean hymns) that I had been reminded of during some impromptu jam sessions recently with a few good new-ish friends (by which I mean people).
I read through the words to "It is well with my soul". I let my mind play through the harmony on the chorus a few times, since I totally butchered it at my last attempt to sing it .
I turned the page back, and found myself in the presence of a friend (the hymn kind) who had walked me through some hard days of change and fears and learning to trust God in my high school years.
And I realized that I needed to start walking with this friend again.

If you've never read a hymnbook, I challenge you to do so. Pick one up, flip through it, read hymns you've sung all your life, read hymns you've never even heard of before...read just a few lines, or all the verses...I don't care how you read it...just try it. They are crazy books. They are full of the beauty of so many people's lives and experiences and struggles and joys and trials and study...and the praises of the God who loves and has mercy, who breaks our idols and heals our hearts.

It suddenly occurred to me that I am guilty of saying "I hate hymns", and wanted to provide some clarification lest there was doubt from context as to what exactly those words mean coming out of my mouth :) I am a rather unaccomplished pianist, and hymns are the hardest variety of music that I have ever attempted to play. I strongly dislike having to play them, unless they have chords (...so that I don't actually have to read the bass clef...:) 

I gave blogger a fair chance. For 8 days I used it every night. But...xanga wins :) I'm not saying I'm a fan of all these changes they have made, but it's just...still better.  So maybe now I'll remember to write things here sometimes...

To catch up on the last 8 days of my life, feel free to check out the blog my siblings and I kept up during our trip to Louisiana and back: http://linesontheroad.blogspot.com

I have this little line dancing through my mind. It's been dancing in there for 2 days now. I can't recreate the tune in writing, but here are the words:
 
"My heart, it cries to You"

Yes, folks, thats all...(for you joe vs. the volcano fans out there - this is an "anjelica moment" -- would you like to hear one of my poems? would you like to hear it again? :) The funny thing is that this little line seems to make the last 8 days make sense. My heart is crying, and I don't know why. But it's crying to God. And when I hear this line come dancing through, my heart feels the peace of God that says "It is all for your good. I don't waste pain."

It was an amazing trip with my family. We had a blast together, and didn't even try to kill each other during the 40 hours in the car. I count making it home alive one of my greatest accomplishments on this trip - first, because the new sandals I got right before the trip were determined to send me sprawling down every set of stairs I came within a foot of...and second, because there were days that, if I had been my family, I would probably have tried to kill me :) I'm learning, and God is changing me, but I make a lot of mistakes in this process. And my family was very merciful and mostly patient, and helped me realize when I was being irritable and unreasonable. I love my family. I do not deserve them.

It makes all the difference in getting to know a city when there are people to get to know too.
It was especially fun in New Orleans, hanging out with Jenn's friend Adam (who she met at her TESOL course 2 years ago and happened to live in New Orleans...) and his sister Kate, and their family...and another friend of theirs, Erin (who Jenn met via xanga...being the stalker that she is...:)
...there were lots of good moments...many laughable memories ("WHY WOULD YOU WALK HERE?!?!" - a New Orleans cop to me, Jenn, Aaron and Adam...I don't know what she wanted us to do on a sidewalk, but I've been told you shouldn't mess with NO cops, so we just crossed to the other side :)...many new and exciting things to see and eat and do...sometimes I felt lost, and sometimes I felt very close to home there...

So now that I'm sitting on my own bed, surrounded by my pillows, blankets, and dirty clothes - I think about where my home really is. It has very little to do with this house. Nothing, really. Sure the house evokes "home feelings"...but home has a lot more to do with people, not buildings. A lot more to do with God and trust and hope in the eternal life that Jesus secured for us in His death and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit's living presence in our very beings - and the much larger family that I am now a part of because of all that. I hope that I am learning to be at home wherever God has me...be that King George county, or somewhere on the other side of the world :)
"So keep 'em comin', these lines on the road. And keep me responsible, be it a light or a heavy load. And keep me guessin', with these blessings in disguise. I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes" - Derek Webb