In: Redding, CA. New life.

"Woah." That is what I have to say about my life lately; my heart lately. My crazy little life-giving organ has been SO FULL of SO MUCH. Sometimes I think I will explode; other times I have buried my head under my pillow, pretending to be submersed in some calm, warm body of water.

"Bwkljfduhssanfdjghuyfssf." That's another thing I say about it too.

"But if you find it and if you touch it, your world can change forever. If you touch its skin, you can feel your body changing- and your vision also!... And everything looks like a giant cupcake! And you keep laughing, and laughing, and laughing! Nothing is quite the same really. And after you finish laughing, its time to turn into a frog yourself... Do you wanna play with me?... We would be hundreds, thousands, millions. The biggest group of friends the world has ever seen. Jumping and laughing forever. It would be great, right?" 'Raconte-moi une Histoire' (m83)

(Listen to that whole song somewhere online while you read this post. Incredible.)

Words are cheap and empty without encounter. The bible isn't the truth without Jesus. That's how I know God values experiences, that's how I know he is always tangible. Thats how I know that arguments are futile and debates for the simple-minded. Without the presence of God, Heaven would just be another world. That is why I know that earth can be like Heaven now. Therefore, in light of all this, I want more. More of absolutely every encounter, experience, and supernatural thing that opens my heart to see, feel, and know God perfectly. I don't just want more, I guess; I want ALL. Why be in this crazy, eastern, mystical religion if you don't want that? I don't value blind following or choice-less devotion and neither does he.

When you stop culturing a religion, you can see it at its purest. Or, if you include every culture in a religion, you see it at its purest. But seeing a religion just through the lens of one culture will hold you back and keep you from ever having ALL of what you could have if you removed invisible boundaries. For instance, when you view Christianity as a Western, American religion, your experiences and encounters are filtered through that particular bend of thinking and experiential history. It may seem way out of the ordinary to you to meditate for hours and have wild visions of heavenly places, while someone in East Asia may find that very natural. In order to fully experience who God is, we have to remember that he is a melting pot of every culture- he has no boundaries. He is limitless. This doesn't work for every religion because christianity is the only religion with a limitless deity. All other religions have natural walls and boundaries, but we have none because God has none.

Since I have no boundaries and since there is no limit to how much I can have or how far I can go in God, my expectations have changed as well. I expect the mystical to be natural, meditation to be fruitful, the supernatural to be the new normal.

Exciting- getting to explore the depths of something infinitely good. I'm going to stop holding myself back now.

xo.
-L

IN: Redding, CA. All the very best of us.

(mood music for y'all.)

Dear ten readers, 
I suppose if I wrote on a regular basis I wouldn't sit staring at this screen wondering how to sum-up just the entirety of my heart & soul right now. Although, I'm fairly sure it was one of those specially designed hearts made for a constant overflow. Don't feel left out: all of them were made for that. 

Let's see. I don't have anything to tell you. My life is in a whirlwind of a new job, squatting in someone else's house for a week, taking a trip to Virginia- to sum that up would be pure magic.

I decided that I've been more-or-less discontent for the past 22 years -or from whatever age I realized that humans are allowed to complain instead of just being thankful for what they haven't had taken away yet. I'll just let you think about that.

Yes, being discontent was my own fault- or the fault of whoever forgot to teach me to just be grateful. Really, actually, it was my fault alone... But (sun rising, birds chirping!) I figured out how to be happy! I'm guessing you need me to tell you how, so I will. Just thank your Dad in the sky for every tiny ridiculous thing from the bottom of your heart- or just thank the air; cause if you don't believe in God, he'll still hear you. One of these days you will realize just how much you have (still have) and your heart will be full of all of it; at which point you will just be happy with what is still here. Imagine the joy when you are not only happy with what you have but also with the realization of what you are daily being given- the scandal! the audacity of such a person to give you so much!

Contentment isn't a choice; it's a state of mind, a state of being. That takes a load off, right there.

I'm learning this stuff. And I am patiently anticipating the day when I reach that state without sacrificing honesty or the true position of my heart. In the fullness of who I am, I will just BE happy. God; what a great thing.

Would I want to be surprised by God's gifts, but not by his goodness? Yes. Wouldn't you?

Just some thoughts.
-L
  

IN: Redding, CA. Home again, home again.

And here we are again: Redding; I've never been so happy to be home. And by "home," I mean "California." For the month of June, Joel and I are living in a two-bedroom townhouse with three other girls. The air conditioner is stressed out so it decided to take the week to rest up (I think last night it read eighty-six degrees in our house). And so the hunt for a quaint and quirky three-bedroom house began early yesterday morning. One thing I have learned in house hunting is to never get attached until you have the key in hand- yesterday I fell in love with a lavender house, only to find out it was officially rented out the night before. But my love of purple houses has lead me again into the arms of a home with dark wood floors and purple cabinets. I'm crossing my fingers.

Nesting has been funny since we have been home. I have had a serious craving to do something creative with our living space, but it's so sweltering that I can't bring myself to stay home all day and do it. I can't even bring myself to light a candle for fear of sending the temperature up another degree. This is a no-nesting zone, humans! Don't you even think about turning on those christmas lights for ambiance! Yesterday I went to our storage unit and filled our van with goodies- and outside it sits, filled with goodies. I still have an enormous sense of accomplishment, even though I really didn't do anything. Joel doesn't have even a smidge of the nesting urge and so we still don't have our bed in our room. Night number three of sleeping on the floor- check!

So I guess what I mean to tell you is that I have failed the Nester inside of me. And he is mad. But Nester is just going to have to wait for the air conditioner.

-L

OUT: Virginia Beach, VA. So Much Thrift.

(First off, let me apologize to those I have convinced that I am a faithful blogger. As you may have noticed, I have great intentions and poor follow-thru. Ahem...)

Obviously, an update is in order as you have no clue where I have been in the past two months. It would have made a damn good set of blogs if I had consistently written as we traveled. Well, after a month of traveling to Honduras, Nicaragua, Southern California, and across the United States, we are in Virginia. And we plan to be here until the end of May when we will fly back to hometown California. Crazy things have happened in our travels, as is the custom; and it would take forever to tell you all of the stories. So, hate me, but I'm just going to start from where I am at right now. (Pause. Begin...)

Its snore-thirty in the morning and I am still awake; not just awake but actually functioning at this evil hour. I have been staying up later since we have been on the East Coast and it has nothing to do with the time difference from California. When we first arrived in Virginia, I had a subtle revelation that I need more encounters with Holy Spirit. I remember because I was in the shower when I told him nonchalantly that I would like to have more encounters. And its been real; he has been rad in giving me exactly what I asked for. Anyway, what does this have to do with the fact that I am still up right now while everyone else is sleeping? I guess I just feel that the two are connected somehow.

On another note, I realize that my blog is supposed to be about how awesome I am at nesting while traveling. This trip, however, has been the least nesting-friendly of any that I have taken this past year. It may be the speed at which we jump from place to place- or maybe it is just the realization that we have no house and no idea when we will live by ourselves again. As much as I love living in community (and the roommates I have had in the past), your things are never as sacred to them as they are to you. So I tend not to fully invest my heart into creating something that could be totally ruined. This is one lame fact about myself that I would like to see changed- but I'm not desperate. Anyway, bunny trail to the real intention of this paragraph: I nested this week! I nested in the form of being in charge of the decorations for my best friend's bridal shower and I am feeling awfully crafty now! In fact, Pinterest is open in another tab on my browser as I type this, in case I find the urge to quickly browse garden ideas for my non-existent yard. So, for the rest of this post, enjoy my creations. (I am not opposed to being pinned...)

I hand-made basically everything for the decorations as my goal was to use things that Lydia could re-use for her wedding and for her new apartment. So obviously I was fairly detailed in my preparation. I am also pinching pennies and was in the white-knuckle/arthritis stage of pinching when I had to make the stuff for the party- so I did all of this unbelievably cheap! Thriftiness is sometimes a gift. We gave her herbs to start her own indoor/porch herb garden: I bought the little pots from thrift stores and Michael's for $0.45-0.99 per pot and spray painted them black($7); the herbs and soil were free donations. The sign was made out of cardboard and I spray-painted that black ($7) with semi-gloss paint and pasted some old buttons I found in my parents house to each letter; hung with twine that I already owned. The pictures were instagram photos printed for $4 at Walgreens and I sawed grooves in the top of logs (free from a friend's wedding last week) to hold pictures; others I fastened to the logs with twine (my own- so, free). Anyway, all this to say, it's easy to nest on a traveler's budget and have everything look wonderful- it just takes being intentional; which, in my opinion, is the only way to decorate as an expression of who you are (my favorite). Well, enjoy!

food table- flower pots w/ spoon label, logs with pictures & quotes,
buttons from my house, paper flower bouquet from my wedding shower
 almost 2 years ago, & lots of lace!

details, details, details. Three favorite things in this picture:
lone strawberry, spoon label my Honey drew, & picture
fastened with twine around a baby log.

the beloved sign reads: "lydia & tim sitting in a tree,
K I S S I N G." Words inspired by my housemate, Kate,
but designed by yours truly. (cute little button letters!)

hodge podge table: I'm still fully in love with the spoon
 labels for the herbs. "Come live in my heart and pay no rent."

I love your way.
-L

IN: Redding, CA. My hodge-podge.

I have a lot of thoughts right now. These past two weeks have been such a sweet journey into myself and into God. And I've learned that there isn't a way to separate the two- a journey into one brings you into the other. Well, anyway, this post has basically turned into a hodge-podge of my heart with no limitations.

(I strongly suggest watching- or rather, listening- to this video nonstop while you read the rest)

There came a point in my life when I realized just how much my parents had done for me, given up for me; and I remember having no actual great way to thank them, being totally at a loss for words. So, I just said,"thank you," the next time I spoke with them. But I can't recall feeling the same in my heart after that day. So this week I had the same day with God. And all I could say was, "thanks."But wouldn't you know, that was enough. And I still blush when I think about all he did; does.

"You said I am young, but I am yours, I am free but I am flawed. I am here in your heart. I was here from the start. Then, when the rain came and settled on your skin more like before, and you let it all in to your heart; its the only part, from the start, you'd set apart." (Benjamin Francis Leftwich, "Box of Stones")

Its been a few months now that I have craved to be open and honest about me, and everything pertaining to myself. I have such a personal need to creatively express everything inside of me; even if it is simply overflowing only in my personal areas (my bedroom, my blog, my clothes, etc). One of my recent expressive vibes has been to have photos taken of my husband-love and me. But not just the classic, cliche couple photos; I want just me and Joel. Just us being us; along the same lines as the photo above. I am also pretty sure that I will continue to feel this way about photography for the rest of my life. I want my life and the people who are important to me fully captured in their particular way so I can have a memento of our actual natures always with me. I want people to come into my house and feel like they know me because of how I express myself all over the place.

My favorite parts of my day are always laying in bed at night and in the morning with my man because you can never get those moments back throughout the day. It's the ease of not having to do anything and being tired enough to follow through with doing absolutely nothing but smiling, laughing, whispering, cuddling, and staring. 

So, these are the little bits inside of my heart. Love your way. 

-L

IN: Redding, CA. Baby Lovin'.

It is no secret to anyone that I have baby fever. I have had this fever for as long as I can remember; and then beyond that. I have video footage proving that I had the disease when I was in diapers, dragging my naked baby doll around the house by her leg and forcing a fake bottle into her mouth (whether she was hungry or not. "You're on my schedule now, fake baby!"). At any rate, it should come as no surprise to any of you that I have "The Plague" and to answer your insipid question: no, I am not pregnant, nor do I plan on getting in that kerfuffle anytime soon. Moving on now...

my fever in action with a real baby (my sister)

Apparently some doctor somewhere said you are supposed to "starve a fever," but he clearly hadn't taken into account my case. I prefer to excessively feed my fever until I get a "cold" from overexposure. I'm talking baby clothes coming out of my ears and offering to change diapers for free. Just call me Dr. Laci because my method works like a charm. There was a time when I offered to watch a baby for free- I met them in a grocery store. I wonder why no one took me up on it? Well, those days have passed and I am getting paid to soak up some lovin' from a 8-week-old little lady.

posers

With me and Joel getting ready to travel again for a couple months and still more epic trips on the horizon, we aren't in a place where we feel its smart to have our own little loves. So, I give my stored up affections to someone else's kid. And one day (whether sooner or later) we will have our own "mini me's" and I will unravel and be crazy about them. And as fond as I am of scheduling, I will try not to jam a bottle (or boob) in their faces.

sleeping beauty

I nurture by nature because God is a mother. One of the hebrew names of God is "El Shaddai." Shaddai is derived from another word that actually means "breast." I have heard it translated, "the many-breasted One." Rad thought: a lot of nursing mothers actually lactate when they hear a baby cry, even if it is not their own child. It is built into us to nurture because it is built into God to nurture. His natural response to our need is to leak provision (including our need for growth and development). Well, this concludes your boob talk for the day, everyone.

my little bear

Anyway, in this current (short) season in Redding, I allow myself to indulge in baby time. It is so necessary for me to nest wherever I am in the world and this is one of those investments to keep my heart open and full. Doing this job was never really about the money for me- it was always about being here, now. When you travel like I do, it is important to pursue things that keep you in the present at all times; no matter where you are- its called "putting down roots." I am not afraid to invest myself fully at all times- and so I live a full life. This is one of my very best secrets- shh!

-L

IN: Redding, CA. Home is wherever I go.

Attention! The Hills have been sited in Northern California.

It's true. We are back and trying desperately to settle down. The beginning sign of Laci nesting: an impressive area rug made of dirty clothes. It's funny how laundry can take over your life in a just a few days- before you know it, she's up before you in the morning and planning your entire afternoon. Well, I showed her. I swiftly moved on from laundry into brewing a new batch of kombucha- and if you have ever brewed before, you know what I mean when I say that this proves my rumored settling. Thankfully, scobys aren't coming out of my ears just yet. 

Joel and I have restored most of the good parts of our life that we had before we left on our epic seven-month trip around the world (and by most, I mean that we plan to defrost our gym membership tomorrow): we are eating healthy-ish (Five Guys just opened in town a couple weeks ago and I also have an unashamed passion for chips and salsa at midnight; unashamed), we have introduced organic and local everything to our house (even toilet paper; thanks to "Food, Inc.", I feel I have to "vote" for organic and green in every category by making intentional purchases like this), we are reconnecting with old friends (and living in community with them- Joel is gracefully sharing a house with five girls), and I successfully found a temporary job as a nanny for a two-month-old that satisfies the baby fever inside of me (that often makes it's escape into words late at night when I am in bed with Joel). Life is smoothly slowing down.

the dreamhouse- our home-sweet-home

I can creep on my neighbors from this chair

Think again. Life doesn't slow down for us. It just gets more exciting as we get older (and as we get crazier). I can usually blame the nomadic part of our life on Joel since he could travel everyday of his life and not think twice about it; but I have found myself to be just as uncontrollable. If you could see my iCal right now, you would faint at all the colorful events that have eaten the months of March-June. Surfing in Orange County, visiting the garbage dumps in Honduras and Nicaragua, more surfing in Orange County, India for a week, cross-country road-trip with one of our housemates, wedding in Virginia, and more surfing in Orange County. All of this basically ambushed us as we were "settling in." And by jove, God has every financial detail fully kink-proof (as in, he took care of it; as is his way).

So, how do I balance the tension of wanting and craving nesting with my addiction to traveling in revival all over the earth? I suck the life out of every moment, invest myself fully in every connection, and dream constantly. Home is wherever I go because home is inside of me. 

I mean, sure, the practical side of settling down is a huge dream of mine: painting my walls, having a garden, making room for a baby in this wildness. But having "roots" doesn't mean "being in one place without moving"- we are all learning to be rooted in something that moves and winds and rushes, because we are all learning to be a tree rooted in the River. And no one has quite pegged what kind of river He is yet. 

And so, without further ado, welcome to my blog. I'll either be "IN" town or "OUT" of town- don't worry, you are in the loop officially. I have only one ground-rule for this blog: let this page be a place in your life where you can learn to be totally unafraid. Because sometimes God just scares the-- well, I'm just fully invested in whatever He has for me. And its here for you too.

-L