A few more pics...

Coffee and cupcake before 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' show. Mmm!  

Troy with Conan!

 

Us & P!NK just after the show. The performance was great! 

Today's Pics

We saw Blue Man Group the other night. It was amazing! They had us put paper around our heads- part way through the show everything went to black light and all of our heads lit up. This was probably one of the most creative interactive art shows we have ever seen. 

We are staying just down the street from MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art). They have Vincent van Gogh's painting 'Starry Night' and hopefully we will get to see it tomorrow.  For now, here's the pic just outside. I liked it :) 

St. Patrick's Cathedral

I think this is one of my favorite places in New York. The cathedral is huge, has the most intricate design and stained glass and smells like a a log stove and a touch of incense. There are candles everywhere which make it warm and cozy.  I have gone twice in the last 3 days. Yesterday, I went to pray and read a bit. It was awesome to worship God in such a beautiful place.

Troy playing at the show last night. They had a lot of fun... so did I.

Isn't this picture cool? :) It looks better when it's not downgraded. They were rockin! 

Fun in New York!

After our weekend together in LA, Troy and I traveled to New York yesterday.  He is still touring and they play a bunch of shows here and then head to London (while I go back home, booo). If you want to see Troy play, catch him on The View tomorrow morning or Conan O'Brien on Thursday.  We are having so much fun in New York- exploring and eating A LOT! The food is great here!  Tonight we saw Blue Man Group. It was amazing! The art, musicianship, creativity, and comedy in that show is some of the best we have ever seen. 

Troy's new guitar for tour. 

Our hotel room- so fancy. I love this bed! 

Us at Time Square. We are totally tourists! 

¡Muy Contento!

Troy comes home this Friday! I am so happy! I think that the first thing he will do when he gets here is give me a kiss, and the second will be to de-decorate the organ. Yes, I totally decorated his organ for fall. It is so nice with a green runner, some autumn leaves, indian corn in full color, and a nice scented candle. I showed him the other day over a video chat and he wanted me to immediately clean off the 'sacred space'. The organ is the perfect height and color for fall decorum! Being a bit defiant but mostly having fun with him, I told Troy that he would have to come home and take them off himself. Well, this week he's home and I prefer my husband to any decoration so I will just have to take a picture to remember my seasonal organ bliss! :) 

The organ is so happy here! This could cause serious strife in our marriage by posting this picture. 

I also took the liberty of decorating the book case full of CD's in the living room. It is a bit much, I agree. :) 

To give an update on my neighbors, we held a neighborhood BBQ last Saturday in our backyard. I am loving getting to know the families on my street and just beyond.  We talked and ate burgers and enchiladas while the kids decorated pumpkins and cupcakes. Then all of the adults joined in on the cupcake decorating.  We had a great time and I can see that my neighbors want to be a part of a greater community.

I am realizing that becoming a community takes a lot of effort and that it cannot all come from me.  As much as I enjoy hanging with people and sharing in their lives while trying to live out Jesus' love, I am praying for others who want to do the same to join me.  I believe my neighbors are looking for hope and a sense of belonging. They are seeking out God in some way.  I ache for them to find Him.  As our relationships grow, I need wisdom and courage to be bold in speaking the God's truth to them. I am excited for whatever is next- God is doing an amazing work in my neighborhood! 

Pics from Our Year

Pumpkin Patch

My friend Sam-Ana and her kids took me to the Pumpkin Patch with them on Saturday.  It was beautiful to be in nature and to feel like it was fall. 

The Sunflower Forest!

 

Old men singing 'Go back to your wife and family.' They were great! 

Sam-Ana and Zion on the hayride. There was a lot of dust.

 

Eden and Zion on top of the haystack being goofy. 

Learning about my Neighbors

I said in my first post that I have really been wanting to love my neighbors- to know them and hang out with them and share in the beauty of God with them.  I am so excited, it's happening! Honestly, I am amazed at how God is totally bringing people into my life.  

On Wednesday I had dinner with one of my neighbors who walks her dogs by my house often.  We originally struck up a conversation because I thought her dog's name was Banana, which it was not.  We started talking about random stuff like the dogs, her job, and the church and I ended up walking with her most of the way to her house.  The awesome thing about it was that she had said she felt like she really needed to read the Bible or go to church and now here I was, a pastor. 

I thought that a BBQ might be a good way for our neighbors to get to know one another so on Friday I walked to our neighbors homes passed out flyers for it. As I met people, I realized we have a lot of young families in our neighborhood and a good amount of diversity. I have never done a 'gather the neighbors event' so I really don't know what the turn out will be like. This week is going to include some serious prep work- the BBQ is on Saturday. 

My final neighbor story of this post: I woke up EARLY on Saturday morning (I think it was 7am). As I laid in my bed wondering why I was awake Starbucks popped into my head. My old co-worker and friend Shannon still works there and God keeps bringing her to mind.  So, I walked to Starbucks to see if she was there.  She was not there. I was bummed. I didn't even really want coffee. As I stared at the pastry case thinking that sugar might make up for the walk Shannon came around the corner. The first things out of her mouth were, "Trisha! How are you? It's so weird that you are here because I have been having all of these 'God moments' lately and I have been thinking that maybe I need to go to church." That was rad to hear. I let her know that I had only come to see her and that God has been putting her on my heart and that I am praying for her. I think I am going to go to class with her at USC sometime soon. I am so glad I got out of bed. 

By the way, I preached yesterday at church on Philippians 4:4-9. I am thankful for God to speak through me even though I always have a mini internal freak out right before. 

Happy Little Madison

Troy said we should add new pictures each time we post.  Here's my newest favorite- our niece Maddie! 

In Need of Rest

I think one of the most important things that I am learning is to both live and minister out of a quiet place. I am really good at being busy- too good. And what I end up doing is not valuing my personal time- the time that I spend taking care of my soul.  Since Troy has been gone (a little over 2 weeks) I have managed to fill most hours with activity. Each day full of something wonderful like a good conversation with a friend or something hard like grieving the loss of another friend and helping others through.  

I am being forced into slowing down. This morning my body told me that I have had enough- I had a migraine and then threw-up (sorry, I know it's sick). I didn't realize how exhausted my body has been. I didn't want to rest. I was trying to read about the Sabbath! Trying to learn what it means to take a day off for real.  I did not expect a day of rest to come in this form.  

More than anything, it's difficult to trust God to take care of everything in His time. This may seem like a big leap, but I have been working really hard to minister to every person and take care of all the needs I see around me.  

slow down...  

God is so good to give us rest and to call it holy.  I was told recently that it's more important to run at a pace that I can keep up for the next 30-40 years of ministry rather than the next 3-4 weeks. This means a lot more rest and a lot less pewk.  Nobody wants that. :)