Jen Russum

Exploring Gilbert

Exploring Gilbert

I have always wanted to explore downtown Gilbert, which is a suburb in the east valley of Phoenix. I have seen some very picturesque images of it on Instagram, but I had never gone there. When I made dinner plans recently with a friend who lives in Gilbert, I suggested/demanded that I drive to her place for dinner. My secret selfish motive was to take pretty Instagrams... :)   Let met tell you why this was a fabulous night... 1) Clearly, mission accomplished on the whole Instagram thing... 2) The picture on the upper left is a big deal. I have a fear of water towers. This is not a joke. I hate anything tall and looming, but specifically water towers and old, creepy, massive churches. I don't like to look at them, much less go near them. Well, the Gilbert water tower just happened to be right next to where I parked in the cute little downtown area and I practically had to walk RIGHT UNDER IT. Eek. But I decided since it was all rustic looking I might as well photograph it to remember the night I overcame my fear... kind of. Although I do not plan to walk near any water towers again in the near future. 3) We ate at Postino and when you consume a bruschetta board and get free dessert for your birthday, it's pretty much the best night ever. I couldn't even eat breakfast the next morning because I was still so full! 4) I met up with my friend, Sarah, from school. Our date was a long time in the making. We entered the program the same year and we clicked instantly. Sarah is a great student and teacher and she's just down to earth. We just get each other. So for about a year now we've been saying we should hang out. But we are busy grad students and we live far apart and it just never happened until this night. I am so glad it did though! We clicked even more than I originally thought and we talked for FOUR hours over dinner. By the end of the evening I was getting a scratchy throat and had to take sips of water after every few sentences of our marathon gab fest. When I got in my car to go home, it was 10:00pm! We met for dinner at six o'clock. No wonder my voice was in a state of paralysis. So thankful for this girl though. Her story, her dedication, her faith. Our whole conversation was so inspiring and I'm so thankful for a kindred spirit in the craziness that is grad school!  This is how dark it was when I left the restaurant.  Also, Liberty Market is where Sarah and I will have our next date. It's a restaurant and coffee shop and we have plans to walk there from her condo on a fall day and spend a few hours studying and drinking coffee. Now we just have to wait for that fall day to arrive... Gilbert, I like you. And, Sarah, I really like you. ... Read more

Flowers Fade Friday: Good Works

Flowers Fade Friday: Good Works

I am a planner to the max. I love organizing, lists, and calendars. In fact, a hot topic in my mind right now is wondering which day planner I will get for 2013. Will I stick with Erin Condren, or switch to something different {such as this, this, or this?}. Seriously, your feedback on this decision is much appreciated. If you have a favorite planner, let me know! But that is not the point of this post... I have been reminded lately that all my plans are futile if they are not the Lord's plans. Proverbs 16:9 says: "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps...." But it's not only that God directs my steps in this life. That He is sovereign over all my plans. That's amazing in itself. But the more amazing thing to me is that God has given me a calling to make His name famous on this earth {something all Christians are called to do} and He has given me specific gifts and opportunities to carry out His calling {ones that are unique, crafted by God for me specifically}. And, get this, He planned out these gifts and opportunities and all the ways, big and small, that I would serve Him during my life... before I was even born. God doesn't need me. He is God and can run the whole universe without me. Yet, He loves me and He has called me and given me a purpose to love and help others while I am on this earth. What a privilege. What an honor. That God would be mindful of me... Because here's the thing. I write in my planner... little notes and to-do lists that fill my days. Make dinner, write a paper, grade a paper, coffee with a friend. And these plans aren't bad. In fact, a quiet and simple life is very pleasing to the Lord. But if my planner was all I had... if my plans were all I had... my life would be pretty useless. Everything would be about me, me,  me and would be hopelessly useless in the end. But what rocks me at the core is that God has big plans for me that are about His Kingdom and His glory. I am created in Jesus Christ for good works that God planned for me to do before I even existed {Ephesians 2:10}. I think of Solomon who built the temple, God's earthly dwelling place in Jerusalem. To orchestrate the building of the temple was a huge task. It took many years and many hours of man power to get it done. Solomon had to seek out resources and craftsmen from other regions in order to build a house that would be worthy of the Lord. But Solomon didn't just wake up one day and think "I should build a temple today." He also didn't get out his planner and jot "build a temple" on his to-do list as some far off goal that might be accomplished in the future. God planned that Solomon would build the temple before Solomon was even born. When Solomon's father, David, wanted to build a temple to the Lord, God stopped him and promised that His offspring would build it instead. Solomon wasn't around to write this in his planner; he hadn't even been conceived. But God's promises and His plans will always come to fruition. And the temple was indeed built by David's son. We are His craftsmanship and He has prepared, in advance, good works for us to do. What good works is He calling you to today? It might not be a whole temple, but perhaps He is calling you, through some small act of service, to lay a brick in the temple of Christ... the temple that is His body, the church, here on earth. |Linking up with Casey Leigh and She Reads Truth| ... Read more

Blog friends. For real.

Blog friends. For real.

The past two months have been downright delightful... for many reasons... but for one in particular that I want to share with you today. The last two months have been amazing because I've gotten to meet and hang out with so many of my blog friends in person. Notice I didn't say "I got to see my blog friends in real life" because blogging IS real life people. It's not like when I blog I go through a wardrobe and write posts for my faun friends in Narnia. My blog friends are my real friends. It just so happens that most of them live far away from me and we communicate mostly through social media, text messages, and email. Oh wait, almost all my friends {blog or not} live far away from me and we communicate via social media, email, and text messages... that's the way real life works. So since August, I've gotten to meet one amazing blog friend after another and I'm just ecstatic about it. And don't go all 1990s on me and freak out saying "You met your 'internet friends' in person?! You stayed the night at a blog friend's house?!?" Yes, yes I did. And it was really fun. Welcome to 2012. Here was the spectacular line-up of blog friend goodness: My sister and I road-tripped from Washington to Arizona. You can read about it here. On our first night, we stayed with my darling friend Jenna. She lives in Utah; I live in Arizona. We have been dreaming of meeting up forever... The road trip gave me the perfect reason to hit up Jenna's hood. My sister and I stayed the night at her house, talked family, faith and trashy reality TV. I got to meet her husband and her adorable son, Davis. She introduced me to Kneaders and amazing $4 French toast, and she sent my sister and me on the road with some new arm candy from her shop Neon and Nude. It was so fun! The very next night of our road trip we stayed at our grandma's house in Vegas. Well, you know I couldn't spend a night in Nevada without seeing my friend, Jessi. She met my sister and me for dessert at BJ's Brewhouse, so please imagine us inhaling a pizookie while we talked about our faith, families, etc. etc. Love this woman and her heart and that precious baby inside her belly! A few weeks ago, I went to Texas. I knew my friend Caroline lived in Fort Worth, but I didn't really know if I would have time to meet up with her on such a short trip to my college town with so much already on my agenda for the weekend. Well, the Lord had other plans. My very first night there I went to a benefit concert at a local brewery. I'm standing there talking to my best friend when out of the corner of my eye I see a tall, beautiful brunette wearing a paper bag skirt. Is it Caroline? There is a man standing next to her that looks just like her husband according to my Instagram knowledge. "What do I do?" "Do I go and talk to her?" "Is it really her?"  The Aggie ring on her husband's hand confirms it to me and I go in the for the kill... meaning I go up to her and tap her on the shoulder. We freak out. We hug. We chat for the next 20-30 minutes. Thankfully, her husband is already friends with a bunch of my friends and she is now going to my old church. I foresee lots of other Fort Worth reunions with Caroline in the future! P.S. I also got to meet Chelsea on my trip to Texas. She is the epitome of sweet! But we forgot to take a picture. #blogfriendfail And, finally, a sweet reunion. If you guys haven't figured it out yet, Heather is my best blogging friend in the whole wide world. We may have met through blogging, but if we knew each other in a world without computers we would still be kindred spirits. Thankfully, we only live about two hours apart and can sneak in a visit to each other every few months or so. Our most recent visit two weeks ago was the BEST because I finally got to meet Heather's brand new baby girl, Eden Grace!!! I rushed to the gym on my way home from work so I could get a quick workout in before Heather, Josh and baby showed up at my house. Heather was surprised when she arrived to see me freshly showered with make-up on my face and a cute outfit on, rather than the gym clothes or PJs I typically wear past 5pm every single night of my life. I just looked at her and said "You know I had to primp for my photo shoot with Eden, right?" It's true. I blow dried my hair faster than I ever have in my life to capture some Instas with that sweet babe! I love Heather, love her hubs, love her daughter. I'm so blessed to have her in my life... In fact, this month marks our one year anniversary of meeting in person. Read about our first "internet date" here! So that's it. My blog friends. I love them. I wished they all lived right next door to me. No, really I do. I have met the most amazing women on the Internet and I am blessed to have them in my life. They just live tooooo far away. I can't wait for my next blog friend meeting. I love real life. ... Read more