unfetteredandfree

Picking up Blue Like Jazz again after seeing the trailer. It has been so long I don’t remember much about the book but I kind of love the opening sentence:

“I once listened to an Indian on television say that God was in the wind and the water, and wondered at how beautiful that was because it meant you could swim in Him or have Him brush your face in a breeze.”

This exists.

I dream every night, always have. My dreams are really detailed and in depth, sometimes intense and I wake up in the middle of the night trying to figure out if it is real. They are in full color, vivid, with people I know, and the next morning I can usually (in great detail) outline what has happened. I believe I subconsciously work out my feelings in dreams. I often wake up with new insight on something  that has been on my mind/heart. It is usually presented in an odd manner and somehow I still get something out of it. I wake up exhausted some mornings because my mind has been building crazy story lines, but for the most part I like it. 

I had a friend in high school who would pray that the Lord would speak to her in her dreams, that he would teach her even as she slept. I have definitely gone to sleep praying for this a time or two but with far less faith than my friend.

Last night changed that though. Last night I had the MOST VIVID and emotion filled dream I can remember. I now find myself longing for him to speak to me in my sleep. I am thankful for a little glimpse of eternity to remind me to stay focused here. I will (with more faith) continue to pray that I can see him even with my eyes closed!

I was in a place with a lot of familiar faces (I don’t really remember who) and we were all kind of standing in a line. Someone had mentioned it was about to be time for us all to go to heaven. I was talking with someone saying “If this is true I am so excited but if not then I don’t know if I can believe these people anymore”. Well, it was. We all started to go up (sounds cheesy, well aware, but it’s my dream). Once I realized it was all true, I just started praising God. I rattled off sentence after sentence of why I was thankful for him. I COULD NOT STOP. It was the most joyous feeling. I was light and free and praising God, no other thoughts on my mind, no other thing more important. And it felt so natural. I was floating in these clouds looking down at this beautiful new earth with trees and rivers and EVERYONE was praising God, so much joy. I found my mom and we praised together.

I sat in bed at 3:24 AM so happy and so thankful for my God. So thankful that there is a place like that and he is waiting for me to join him. I want to live a life in anticipation for this place. But I also want to have that constant praise for him NOW. I want to be ever praising him for what he has done in and through and for me.

I wonder if it will be like that. I wonder if when we begin to realize we are about to meet Jesus, we just won’t be able to contain ourselves. We will just praise him!

P.S. After this dream there was another one about a river, an awards show, I was sitting on a ledge with a bunch of people, then there was a bomb threat. I have no idea what these dreams mean.

Thankful for lunch with these three today. Who knew you could love a group of brothers so much!

And this little gem too!

My sweet Mimi passed away about a year ago and mom brought home some things of hers for me. This table was a antique green before and was beautiful but just didn’t work well with our colors. So, here was my first major paint project. I hit a few snags, like painting the sewing machine into the table (YES, there is a sewing machine under there!!) and I tried stripes but they were a little crooked, oops.

Before.

After. Kyle is going to help me put some cool knobs in the front too!

The BEAUTIFUL old school Singer sewing machine that tucks under the table. It is totally functional too!

These Days.

I don’t even know how to blog anymore. 

Clinical in Fayetteville has ended, forever! I now only spend one night a week in Fayetteville, versus 4, PTL. I have moved onto this very off phase of life where I have all this free time. Soooo I am not working and only have one day of school a week. What do I do with all this time? Among other things, CRAFT!

I am job searching too, I promise. I have applied for 8 (I think?)  positions at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (NICU, PICU, Hematology/Oncology, Infant/Toddler Unit, Adolescent Unit). I felt called to be a nurse when I worked with the kiddos at Children’s Hospital in Dallas. It has been rough the last two years to remind myself of my purpose in school because I have BARELY gotten to work with children. Although they do need love, I do not feel called to work with middle aged men. I am in a holding period as ACH chooses who to interview for the positions, very exciting!

So on to crafting. I bought two yards of burlap and have made about 16 ornaments, covered a lamp and a picture frame, and modified a Pinterest project I am working on!

I am going to do Dallas and Malvern in a frame just like this. Fayetteville will be shaped as a heart in a smaller frame. I need to figure how how to get some color. Cheesy, I am well aware, but I love it!
Some of the ornaments.  

Judge away, we at the Norris house are not ashamed of embracing Christmas early. It doesn’t mean we are any less thankful for this beautiful month of November! Plus we are still unpacking boxes, I didn’t want to organize Christmas things just to unpack them in a month. This tree is really fun because it has all the ornaments Kyle and I have collected on fun trips together. Our first one was Silver Dollar City almost two years ago and our newest is from New York City!

I have some burlap left and I am going to make one of these cute little banners!

Soon enough I will be working and things will get rushed and busy. So now, I am thankful for this time to be still and breath!