Turing 40: 40 fun facts about me (part 3)

21. Submitted by my aunt: "Have you ever daydreamed about moving to Kansas?"

Sorry, I can't say that I have. Okay, maybe when I was a kid, and my cousin and I would play dress up and act out stories together — maybe then. In high school, I dreamt of becoming a writer in New York City, but I fell in love with Boston instead. And for a while, I dreamt about working at the Library of Congress, because the main building is so beautiful. But dreams have shifted. I am now fulfilling my dream of being used in God's kingdom, working with immigrants and refugees, and fulfilling a heart's desire to love on kids so they know they are loved — not only by me, but by God.

22. Submitted by my cousin: "Did you know about PLI before you moved to Houston?" 

Simple answer: "No."

Long answer: I moved to Houston to be closer to my family. I loved Boston, but every time I visited my sister and her family, it was getting harder to get back on the plane and leave them (my niece and nephews have me wrapped around their little fingers — and they know it). Also, at the time, I had a roommate who was taking amazing trips by herself and with her best friend, and I was getting a little envious — okay, a lot envious — because she lived so close to family that she spent her vacation time and money traveling. And I would love to travel.* So I moved to Houston.

The kids and I, the fall after I moved here

In the winter/early spring of 2020 (before the world fell apart), I joined a Bible study focused on sharing your faith — something I really struggle with. I had done some campus ministry in college, but most of my grad school and adult years were spent with people simply knowing I was a Christian and hoping that if they had questions, they would ask. I especially struggle to share my faith with those closest to me without getting on a soapbox, so I felt convicted to join. Through that Bible study, I heard about the nations in Houston. Did you know Houston is one of the most diverse cities in America? "Houston is the 2nd most diverse major American city in 2025"

After the Bible study ended, one of the group's leaders and I went for a walk. She was trying to pull me into another Bible study, gearing people up for overseas missions. I couldn't imagine doing that. 1) In my head, I thought overseas missions were for the "Super Christians." 2) I didn't have a specific people group my heart yearned to reach — I had a heart for children and vulnerable populations, but I hadn't found a people group I wanted to invest in. 3) And probably most importantly at the time: I had just moved to Houston to be close to my family. I told her as much, so she pivoted and told me about PLI. After about the third mention, I had to stop her and ask what those letters stood for — Prestige Learning Institute.

It was COVID, and I wasn't quite ready to leave my house, but by January 2021, I was done with my life being just working from home, going for walks, and watching TV. I needed to do something. I looked up PLI again, applied to volunteer, and got completely sucked into the After-School Program 😃.

When the world opened up a little more, I started looking for full-time work — but I didn't want a full-time job that would take me away from the kids I had come to love. Around that time, one of the women I'd connected with noticed that PLI had an admin position open. I applied, and my now-friend in HR pointed me toward a communications position in development — but it required support raising. As an introvert who wrestles with insecurity, that gave me serious pause. I brought it up with my therapist, and she asked, "Would you do it if it wasn't for the support raising?" I said yes. And I think that was my answer. So I applied — and that's what brought me to PLI. I'm sure there are more details I'm leaving out.

*If I could do anything (other than what I'm doing right now), I would turn this blog into a travel/Bible study/lifestyle blog and somehow make enough money from it to live, save, and get by. Not that money is a driving factor — but enough is enough.

23.  If I had a superpower, it would be: teleporting or speaking any language. 

24. TV series I have watched all the way through more than once: Gilmore Girls, MASH, The West Wing, Ugly Betty, Downton Abbey, The Office, Parks & Rec, Crash Landing on You

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📖 Psalm 8: How Excellent Is Your Name

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Dear Lovely Readers,

I don't know how many times I have said it on here, but one of my dreams is to use this blog as a Bible study that maybe one day will become a book (dream upon dream) — but if I don't start somewhere, I will probably never start. So here I go.

First, let me explain that I go through something like a Discovery Bible Study (DBS) (to learn more, click here). In this, I go through questions:

1. What does it say? Or what happened? Who, when, where?
2. What does it say about God? His character or His promises?
3. What stood out or made me question something?
4. What does it say about people/me?

I write out the verse, and if it's cross-referenced, I look it up. So it can take me days to go through a section, or weeks to go through a chapter… but I don't mind. I had a friend tell me once that it took her 10 years to do an inductive study of the whole Bible. And I figure the time is going to pass anyway, so I might as well use it to get deeper into the Word.

This post is dedicated to my boyfriend. A few days ago, I was really struggling, and I couldn't stop crying, so I called him and asked him to read a Psalm to me. He pulled out his favorite — Psalm 8 — and read it over me.

📖 The Passage: Psalm 8

v.1 — "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who has set Your glory above the heavens."

v.2 — "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger."

v.3 — "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained..."

v.4–5 — "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor."

v.6 — "You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet."

v.9 — "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!"

What Does It Say? (Observation)

Psalm 8 is a song of praise — a bookend psalm, opening and closing with the same declaration: "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth." It begins and ends in worship, and everything in between is wonder. 

A quick note on the very first verse that stood out in my study: the first word is the divine name Yahweh. The second Hebrew word, translated "our Lord," carries the meaning of "Our Sovereign." So right from the start, David is not just praising a faraway deity — he is crying out to the God who is both transcendent (above all the heavens) and intimately personal (our Lord, our Sovereign).

Does it stop you, too — that He is both the God of the universe and somehow, personally, yours?

💖 What Does It Say About God?

God's glory surpasses the heavens (v.1). Cross-referencing with Psalm 148:13: "Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above all the earth and heavens." And Psalm 113:4: "The LORD is high above all nations, His glory is above the heavens." His name and His glory are inseparable — and both are incomprehensibly vast. 

God uses the weak to silence the proud (v.2). The cross-references here are fascinating. In Matthew 21:16, Jesus quotes this very verse when the children are crying out "Hosanna" in the temple courts and the religious leaders are indignant. Jesus essentially says: Yes. This is exactly what this psalm is about. And 1 Corinthians 1:27 echoes it: "But God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty." God doesn't need the powerful or the polished. He ordains praise from the mouths of babies. That's the kind of God He is.

And honestly, doesn't that just take the pressure off?

God is intimately attentive to human beings (v.4–5). This is perhaps the most stunning part of the psalm. David looks up at the stars — at the immeasurable expanse of creation — and asks: What is man, that You are mindful of him? The rhetorical question is meant to stun us. And it should. God created all of this, and yet He is mindful of us. He visits us. The Hebrew text of verse 5 reads: "You have made him to lack little of God" — human beings are made in His image, just a little less than the angels, and crowned with glory and honor. When is the last time you actually let yourself believe that about yourself?

What Stood Out or Made Me Question Something?

The note I wrote in my journal says it best: "The response to this rhetorical question creates stunned awe."

Man — made of the earth — starts out at the summit of God's creation. That's not arrogance; that's the biblical vision of human dignity. We were made for something. We were made like Someone.

And then there's verse 6, which pulled me into a cross-reference rabbit hole (the best kind): "You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet." (See also: Genesis 1:26, 28; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:8.)

This is where Psalm 8 connects directly to something much bigger — to the story of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:27, Paul quotes this psalm and applies it to Jesus. Hebrews 2 does the same. The dominion given to humanity in Genesis, echoed in Psalm 8, finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Son of Man. Jesus is the one in whom all things are truly put under His feet. 

That thread — from Genesis to the Psalms to Paul — makes me sit on my bed with a cup of tea and just... wonder.

What Does It Say About Me?

I am seen. I am visited. I am crowned.

Not because I earned it. Not because I am impressive. But because He is, and He chose to make me in His image, to give me dignity, to set His attention on me.

On the day I called my boyfriend crying, I didn't feel crowned. I felt like the dust I'm made of. And he read me this psalm. And somewhere in "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name" — I remembered that the God whose glory is above the heavens also bends down to be our Lord. My Lord.

That's the whole psalm in a breath: He is infinitely great, and He is intimately ours.

🙏 A Prayer to Close

Thank You, Lord, for Your authority, and for the authority You have given me. Lord, I am sorry if I have ever abused or misused it. You are holy, righteous, and good. You love wholeheartedly. You are my God, and I don't want dominion if You are not leading.

Amen.

🔎 Cross-references used in this study: Psalm 148:13; Psalm 113:4; Psalm 111:2; Psalm 44:16; Genesis 1:26, 28; Matthew 21:16; 1 Corinthians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:6–8; Job 7:17–18; Job 10:12

Can you sit with that for a second — that the God who made the stars is mindful of you, specifically?

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Turning 40: 40 fun facts about me (part 2)

10. My favorite color: Tiffany box blue, seafoam, or teal. But I also like some pinks, blues, greens, purples, and grey. 

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11. My pet peeves are: smacking, sniffling, and shuffling of feet. 

12. The celebrity I would like to meet: Alive- Catherine, Princess of Wales. Dead- Jane Austen, Queen Elizabeth II, Esther, Ruth, and Audrey Hepburn. 

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13. My dream job: Novelist, travel blogger, or to own a bookstore and coffee shop. 

14. I like to start my day off with: tea, prayer, and Bible time. It sets the tone for everything else — and honestly, I'm a much better human being when I don't skip it.

15. I would like to learn how to: Bake fancy desserts, crochet, needlepoint funny sayings on pillows, speak another language (right now on Duolingo, I am learning Arabic), and have some kind of impressive dancing skills. 

16. Places I would love to visit: Scotland, Israel, Turkey... see other places of interest on my Pinterest Board.  On my bucket list is to go to Sandringham, UK, for Christmas and see the Royal Family. 

I actually have been to Istanbul and Turky but it has been twenty years

17. My favorite type of movies: Rare romantic comedies (the classic kind — not the modern ones drowning in unnecessary content), historical dramas, and musicals. The only action movies that have my heart are Marvel — specifically Captain America, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man.

{Emma (1995)}

{Bill Pulman in While You Were Sleeping, one of my favorite Christmas movies}

{Captain America}

18. My favorite flavor of ice cream is Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food.

19 (more specific follow-up to fact 15). — we're talking éclairs, macarons, cannoli, and all those intimidating-but-gorgeous things that look like they belong in a Parisian patisserie window.

20. Favorite flowers: daisy, daffodils (because they were the first flowers to bloom after a long winter), peace roses, pink lilies, and honeysuckles. 

{Peace Rose}

Tune for Thursday: From Going Through the Motions to Going Deeper

 Dear Lovely Reader,

I don’t know about you, but I have been very blessed over my years of my Christian walk to have consistent quiet times. If I could have my way, I would probably spend an hour and a half to two hours in prayer and Bible time… but life happens, so this amount of time is usually reserved for Saturdays. However, lately I have felt my prayer life has been a bit surface-level, which has made me wonder why.

A couple of weeks ago, my church did a sermon on “The One Thing that is Necessary” using the story of Mary and Martha. {Link to Sermon on Youtube skip to 34:55}

But at the end of the sermon, Brad, one of our pastors, gave some practical tips:

1. Daily read, fix a time and place.
2. Pursue accountability
3. Confess: how many times do you talk to Him per day?
4. Attempt to share something that you read in your quiet time.
5. Memorize Scripture
6. Post Scripture where you can see it.
7. If it feels too intellectual, try including worship songs.
8. If your mind wanders, write out your prayer/meditation.

I wrote them down, but in my arrogance, I thought, “Just do it anyway.” There have been seasons in my life when my quiet time has just been a checklist duty, but in that, I know God blesses my obedience and that it will be fruitful.

Well, today I took some time to ask “God, why am I just feeling surface level?” Yes, I am busy, and there are a lot of moving parts, but I am walking through a season of basking in God’s love, feeling redeemed, restored, hopeful, and content. So why do my prayers seem so surface?

Was I just focusing on myself? When I do this, I turn to this prayer:  

From my prayer wall

"Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of life and the beauty of this world. I pray that you would fill our hearts with new hope and joy, especially for those who are struggling. May you bring healing and strength to those who are sick, comfort to those who are hurting, and peace to those who are weary. Bless all those around us, that we may know the power of your love and the strength of your grace.

May we be a source of light and hope to others, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen."

And I try to break it down line by line and list out people who need prayers for in each part.

But still, while there are always a lot of people to pray for, my prayers seemed surface-level, so I asked, “Is there something —a thought, and influence, a power that is not of YOU?” I couldn’t think of anything… but I went to Brad’s #7 tip “If feels too intellectual; try including worship songs.” And I searched for “Repentance songs” and found this playlist: Link. On it, it had one of the songs I have on repeat a lot, so here I am sharing it with you:

"Underdressed" by Gable Price and Friends

So I'll leave you with this — like Martha, are you so busy doing good things — even good spiritual things — that you haven't stopped long enough to ask, 'God, why does something feel off between us?' When was the last time you set down your checklist, sat at His feet, and simply listened?

Thanks for reading, and if you have any songs you like to listen to, to draw you closer to God, please share them with me. 

Turning 40: 40 Fun and Personal Facts About Me (part 1)

Dear Lovely Reader, 

It is now May... which is my birthday month. And as I am turning 40, I thought I would share 40 random facts/stories about me!

1. Born in Oklahoma City

One of my favorites from childhood 

2. Favorite drinks: tea, vanilla latte, Dr. Pepper

3. Favorite foods: Chinese, Italian, Pizza (though my doctor told me with some liver issues I have to go Gluten light -- not sure exactly what that means). 

4. Least favorite foods: eggs, seafood, cilantro (yes, I am one of those people that it tastes like soap) 

5. I have lived in 3 out of the 4 continental U.S. time zones, and have yet to live in the Mountain Time Zone. At one point, I thought about retiring to New Mexico (and while that still might happen... God can do mysterious things), but I think right now I want to retire in one of the Carolinas. Also, I have thoughts about getting a property (currently have no idea how to buy one), building a tiny home, another tiny home for a library and writing work area, and a third or fourth for ministry workers to come and rest. 

I don't know if this truly counts as a tiny home, but it is cute
Though not sure about the salmon color
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I currently reside in Houston. But I was born in Oklahoma City, then when I was 10 going on 11, my mom and I moved to the west coast, first living outside of Seattle for 2 years, then we (with my stepdad) moved to outside San Francisco, and for college I moved to Boston. I attended Suffolk University for undergrad and Simmons College (now Simmons University) for grad school. 

From my prom... I still love that dress

6. First concert saw (without parents): *NSYNC. Can't remember the first concert I saw. My mom worked at a college when I was growing up, and we frequently went to jazz performances, but when we lived in Seattle, we saw Bette Midler and Billy Joel, just not sure which one was first.  

7. First CD owned: Spice World, my Grandma PJ accidentally bought me the Spice Girls' second album. 

8. First Broadway Musical (On Broadway): Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. I grew up watching musicals from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Gigi, White Christmas, and others. But seeing a musical on stage was very cool, but I remember thinking how small the theaters were in New York compared to those I had been to on the West Coast. First live musical (Off-Broadway) — my mom might have to correct me, but I believe it was The King and I. But I do remember once in one of the college plays we saw Our Town. 

9. Favorite childhood memory: playing dress up with a friend or cousins and sister

See, this is the level of dress-up I am talking about.
Yep, this is my grandparents' (probably) 1960's kitchen

More to come...