Living the Questions

yes, yes He is. strong enough to carry me through anything. to handle anything and everything. which is something i constantly have to remind myself of. and, as i was taught today at the j, He's even strong enough to carry library books. me: m, why don't you help me carry some of these books back to the library? m: ok. there are a lot of them. (picking up books) i'll have to carry two loads because they're so heavy. me: that's alright. you're doing a great job. we'll take these and get the rest tomorrow. m: i have to take two loads because they are so heavy, but God could carry all of them. He's strong. really strong. He's even stronger than wyatt. me: yep. God is strong, isn't He? but seriously. my God is strong. and He's carried me through everything . i've faced things i never really thought i'd face this year, but God's been there. strong, willing, and waiting. and He gives me strength. a favorite verse: be strong and courage...

so, most of you know that i work with preschoolers. i'm not really sure i ever thought i'd work with kids that young, but i do and i love it. absolutely love them. they are amazing. and a huge part of my heart belongs to them. and, since they are only 4, sometimes we have interesting conversations and situations, and i thought i would share one that happened recently, as well as some favorite parts of my days at the jcc. after the kiddos finish with snack, they play with the puzzles or read books until everyone is finished and we're ready for circle time. i was standing on the edge of the carpet, watching them play, near two of the little boys. they look up at me and boy #1 says, "miss brooke, you're pretty." boy #2 chimes in with, "yeah, really pretty." i said thank you and sat down with them to see what they were doing with the puzzle. We had a chat about the numbers and while we were talking about the numbers, the boys were continuing with the ...

...to say from these last couple of weeks... and i don't even know where to begin. but my mind isn't working well right now because it's a little late for me. so the majority of this post will have to wait. however, i will say this: we saw where the wild things are....completely loved it :) i baked bread today....and it's good! it's cold outside... i have amazing friends!

ok, so i really wanted to title this post "trust", but the first two for the day were "f" titles, and i like a theme, so i went with faith, even if it isn't exactly the same thing. i'm in this bible study and we're talking about trust this week. as the lesson says, "a lot boils down to trust." it asks if we trust God and what do we trust Him for? what hinders/ helps our trust? trust is, for some reason, not always easy for me. i don't think i have past experiences that give me a negative view of people and situations to keep me from trusting people. and i'm a little weird in the ways i trust people. i'll trust just about any stranger i pass to be a good person. i trust that somewhere in them they aren't going to hurt anyone. i trust them for that. for the people i know, i trust them with just about everything. to be there. to be my friend. in some cases, i'd trust them with my life. for example, in college, we drove a lot to...

in case i don't say it enough, i really and truly love my friends and family. they mean the world to me, and i'd do anything for them. because a lot of us are all spread across the country, we aren't always able to spend as much time together as we'd like, but that doesn't change the fact that these people are held very, very close to my heart. i feel that lately i've had the chance to reconnect with friends i haven't been able to talk to lately. it's been nice. you know that they're there and that they're your friends and it may be one of those situations where not a whole lot will change that, even if you don't get to talk a lot or spend a lot of time together. but there's something missing. because your friends are part of you (at least, mine are) and when the connection isn't able to be consistent (or even frequent), you feel it. somewhere inside, you know everything isn't totally right. but when the chance arises to reconnec...

**before i begin, let me thank lauren, who graciously let me use her computer for a bit today. and also, this is the first of 3 posts. none of the topics went well together, so you get 3 in 1 day! it's october. wow. i can't believe it's fall already. time flies. since i last wrote a couple of weeks ago, the weather has gotten cooler, the leaves have started to change color, and fall food has returned. the book festival was....amazing. i loved it. probably could have spent the whole weekend there and been ok with it. we walked around for a bit, looking at all the booths and such, and then headed to the literary tour of mount vernon. while we were waiting for the tour to begin, we walked into the peabody library. and saw the most beautiful room in baltimore (which is what the tour guide called it, and i must say, it was beautiful). on the tour, we were able to see where several authors (and one musician) lived and worked while they were in the city. f. scott fitzgerald, henr...