What's new?

Well a lot has happened in the past six months. Let us do a quick re cap please. For the sake of trying to process the craziness myself, here we go. 

Mason and I graduated from college. (WHATTT!!!)

Mason got a new job at a place called Bridge Ministers. I'm so proud!

We moved out of our little place. That was actually the saddest day because we loved the crap out of our first apartment. And we always will. (There might be a post coming devoted to that place, I don't know-- too much attachment?)

We moved into our family friends home down the street. They were kind enough to let us shack up with them for a few months while we looked for a place on Capitol Hill in Seattle. 

About two months ago we actually did find the cutest, little place on the Hill with the most character. We love it. It truly is home for us. There will be more to come on the place and the fun neighborhood we are living in.

So... Yeah! That's a lot of change and I am still trying to get used to it all. But a lot of good change. Here are a few photos from the past couple weeks.

    

life after college

For my entire life I have been so excited for what's next. For the last four years of my life I have anticipated what life after college would be like. Freedom from homework. Doing what I actually want to do with my life. Living the dream I have pursued my entire school life. A great job with financial security and maybe a dog. Waking up early every morning to work out and spend time with Jesus. Coming home after work to have a lovely evening with friends and/or the husband. 

But the reality is this: life after college feels less like freedom and more like 'what the hell am I doing?'  There are a lot of unknowns. And even if I did have a great job with financial security, the 'what's next' questions wouldn't stop. Life after college is messy. It feels out of my control. 

But, there's a but! Even in my insecurity, God says I am more important than the birds of the sky and fish of the sea and He takes care of them. So He will take care of me. (Matthew 6:26) 

Even in my pursuit for control over my life, In thinking I have a better plan every single time, God says that He is in control and this does bring freedom. (Psalm 23:1-3).

I have not arrived. I will always continue to be insecure about what the future holds and I will most likely try to control it but I will never cease to continue to let God speak truth over me. In my weakness His power is made perfect. I am in need of a great Savior every day. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Where does time go?

Since I have taken a hiatus from my blog for, well, an entire semester of school, I thought I would give y'all a brief summery of how fall semester at Northwest went for me. If you know me at all, you know that me and school don't go well together. It's not that I don't like school, or that I am not incredibly grateful to be in school, it's just that school is hard. It gives me anxiety. Basically, all the negatives of school outweigh the positives.

Going into this school year, way back in August, I said a prayer. A quick prayer that was more of a desperate plea to God because I thought that what I was praying was not going to actually happen. I prayed that the Lord would give me a new love for school and that I wouldn't take this year for granted. That I wouldn't miss this year because I was so overwhelmed with the hard parts of school. That I would love and embrace the hard moments as a chance to learn more. 

Guess what... about two weeks into school, I started to actually like school. What?!?! And then that like for school turned into a love for school. Did I just say that?-- Isn't it funny how God hears even the small prayers that have virtually no faith behind them. That seams to be a theme in my life. I think other people were praying for me as well because I was extremely stressed before I started my senior year. I am thankful for my friends, family and Church family who prayed over me in this season. And I am so thankful for a God who hears desperate prayers. 

So now here I am in my very last semester of my senior year and I don't want to stop learning. I am enthralled with the stuff I am learning about the Bible, about God's character and about how to live those truths out in this world. Who knows, maybe there will be graduate school in my future. We'll see! 

^^ My sister and I on New Years Day. I love this goofy photo of us! ^^

those floors though!

I like this photo a lot, besides the fact that my leg is sticking out kind of all funny looking. But we won't dwell on that. I like this photo because I tend to like taking photos from where I stand. Maybe it's a weird liking that I caught on to in high school that I cannot let go of. Do you remember those popular photos in high school that girls (and sometime guys) would take from above their head, looking down on their whole body? Sometimes there would be a little cleavage.. or a lot. (insert monkey covering eyes emoji here) 

Anyways, I like this chair and the floors and I can just picture our little farm house with rugged floors and cozy vintage looking pillows. 

We sipped with our pinkies high

 

I visited just the sweetest little tea house this weekend with my mom, sister and grandma. We pretended we were from England and sipped our tea with our pinkies high.

My grandma almost dropped her phone in her water while trying to take a photo. She caught it all while she dipped her elbow in her whip creamed dessert. So naturally naturally we all busted out laughing. 

I needed a great laugh and I have had quite a few this weekend. There's nothing quite like getting a bunch of girls together that have the same sense of humor. Bring on the tears that come from deep deep laughter. Thank you, Jesus. 

               

a very pretty leaf

I have been anticipating the season of fall for a few months now. Here in Seattle, summer started in May this year, which was amazing. By the time summer comes around here (which is usually mid-July) we are all long over due for some sunshine. So we were ready. But this meant that I was ready for fall at the beginning of August.

I have never been one to love the heat, and on top of that, I traveled to both Texas and Florida this summer. Which means I endured 90% humidity and 100* weather. Mid 80*s is as hot as I can handle unfortunately. ha! I guess it's a good thing that I live in Seattle. Bring on the big sweaters, hot cider and everything pumpkin! 

(Here's the wacky thing, come spring time, I will be begging for some sunshine... Whoops).

Anyways, here's a photo of a very pretty, very wet leaf to remember the first huge rain fall we had on Saturday. 

If your reading, I'd love to hear about your favorite season.

Instagram and me are on a break

I never thought I would say this but I am going to give up Instagram for a few months. There it is, I said it, I am committing. I think. 

I have nothing against Instagram. As a matter of fact, I love Instagram. But it has turned into something different for me than it used to be. It used to be a space for me to post artistic, funny, weird and quirky photos simply so that I could look back on them and reminisce on the memories. 

But here's my problem, I have a tendency to post photos that I think will please the people around me. I tend to get caught up in the trends which is normal but I am working on being fully me and embracing who God has made me to be. So while I give up Instagram for a few months, I will use this blog to document my thoughts, adventures, my daily coffee and what I eat for lunch. haha! 

So, this blog will be my space. I will post whatever I want, whenever I want, to simply document the Florence (& Harris) families life. That's it. So here I go. Yayy!