not all who wander are lost

I have the passports with the lovely zambia visas stamped inside of them.
I have the plane tickets.
I have the duffel bag ready to be filled.
I have the clothes set aside waiting to be packed.
I have an ipod ready to be topped off with a few more artists.
I have a hostel booked in London across the street from Hyde Park.
I have planned to do little else than wander through out the streets there.
I have 2 1/2 months to soak in Africa and enjoy the Tompkins family.


My doubts, fears, and hesitations have been washed away and replaced with sheer excitement for the upcoming months.

I stumbled upon a path in the underbrush and I'm taking it :)

September 9th - December 4th Jamie Cramer will be quite out of reach

inspiration

Maurice Baquet [actor and cellist]
photo by Robert Doisneau

Magnifique.


I'm going to miss my music when I go...

Heaven and earth

God's definition of love....
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.
1 John 3:16

The worlds definition of love...

1. to hold dear ; to cherish
2. to feel affection or experience desire
[Meriam-Webster dictionary]

How can you even begin to compare the two?

The worlds idea of love is selfish, depending entirely on your own emotions.
When we stop feeling that blend of lust and emotion we simply say we fell out of love, and head off in search of another target for our self gratifying "love".
There is no depth, no need for a true commitment.
Love is fleeting and transitory.

Gods love is pure and selfless.
Gods love extends to the unlovable.
His love is permanent, there is nothing we can do or say to remove it.
Gods love is not often returned.
Gods love means sacrifice.
To love as He does means to feel the rejection He has felt.
To love as He does means to experience the complete joy that comes from abiding in Him.


I choose REAL love.





But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him.
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

1 John 2:5-6

soon

51 days til departure.

The last thing we have to worry about is our complicated passport visa situation.
Please keep us in your prayers.
Once we have that taken care of it's smooth sailing.

51 one days.
Oh my gosh.

Are we ready?

blue skies

cool breeze.
warm sand.
cold water.

As I sat on the beach the other day-
hands in the sand,
waves rushing past me,
watching the castle flow back into the sea-
I felt, for a split second, a complete sense of peace wash over me.

At that exact moment, I realized that summer is here :)





Not too long after that realization,
Lisa and I officially declared it summer with a night of wandering in Cape May.

The result was a care free night,
complete with great conversation and some awesome photographs....




Nothing, nothing, nothing is better than a NJ summer.

a new normal...

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-R. Frost


You can't be certain of anything in life.
What is here today could be gone tomorrow.
Nothing is guaranteed.
I am slowly learning that nothing should be take for granted,
that everything should be held loosely,
that you need to appreciate what things are now.
If you're waiting to see what it will be tomorrow,
you're missing the point completely.

...You do not know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
(James 4)

What I knew yesterday is a stranger to me today.
Nothing gold can stay.

Greenacres Manor

Nikon D200: $2000
iPOD: $250
Photos from Rob: Priceless

.....................

Rob and I returned to our old building the other day to re-shoot my senior photos.
Along with some pink chairs we got off the side of the road.
Yes, we're very resourceful :)

The pictures came out incredibly well.
I can't wait to put them out at the graduation party...





Thank you for beautiful, sunshiny days, good music, cameras, and best friends.