A little less melancholy

I admit that my last post was very introspective and melancholy. Thank God that is not my standard operating system! While I think it is good to reflect, I think it's even better to move forward and use the revelations that come with a good dose of introspection. Since it is late on a Friday night, I am having trouble stringing my thoughts together in a way that is enjoyable to read. Instead, you are getting my "25 Random Things About Me" 1. I'm 1/2 Native American...my Dad is the Native 2. My mom, brother and I were all born on the 13th day of different months 3. I LOVE, seriously LOVE, fantasy/sci-fi fiction novels. Twilight saga, Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, etc. If you know me, it is kinda anti-type for me ha! 4. I'm a closet computer geek. 5. In the future, I want a job that surrounds me with really good books. 6. I lived in Los Angeles for 6 crazy months. 7. I was on a competition Dance team for 8 years. Tap was my specialty. 8. I'm addicted to endorphins....seriously yall. 9. I have a hard time turning down anything sweet....makes me exercise my self-control muscle. 10. I'm a vegetarian of the lacto-ovo-pesca sort. google it. 11. I'm still friends with girls I met in pre-school. 12. I'm a fan of the show Paranormal State. It's different than those ghost hunter shows. They help people get rid of whatever spirit/demon is in their home. Pretty cool stuff. 13. The supernatural/paranormal fascinates me 14. I'm a Google Reader addict. 15. I love Vera Bradley bags! Not all patterns, but I have my favorites. It's definitely a southern thang. 16. I made a lot of the jewelry you see me wear 17. I have stacks of books around my room....i need wall to wall shelves. 18. I only make my bed when company is coming over. 19. My morning routine hardly ever changes. If I do things out of order I almost always forget to put on deodorant. I forget nothing but that! ha! 20. I really enjoy watching people open gifts I get them! 21. I would rather wear a dress instead of pants to work, but you'll always find me in jeans on the weekends. 22. Diet Dr. Pepper is my favorite soda...and I prefer fountain soda to canned or bottled. 23. I buy my bread at the local farmer's market on Saturdays 24. Twitter...everyone needs a twitter! twitter.com/AlisonLHunt 25. My favorite movie is I Am Sam

Grief

Sorrow is better than laughter, 

for sadness has a refining influence on us.

Ecclesiastes 7:3

I've been thinking a lot today.  Thinking about what it is I want out of this life I've been given and chastising myself for just floating through the days as if I have time to spare.  My days {our days} are numbered.  There is no room for waste.  No room to be someone I am not and do not want to be.  

I have to admit {and am ashamed to say} that I have done many things based on the convictions of others.   Not bad things, but not good things either...hurtful things, beautiful things, irrevocable things BUT things not of my own conviction.  Now I am left wondering what I have missed while looking through the lens of another person.  Only seeing what I've bee told to see.

Reclaiming my vision has given me new colors to marvel, new emotions to process, excitement {once mistaken as anxiety}, the ability to really see {for the first time} really see people and more questions than I ever knew fill my mind.  It has also left me more than a little sad for what I let go in the quest to be someone I am not.  

Knowing that some things cannot be salvaged, how does a woman move past what could have {should have} been to what IS?  I think I'll begin by grieving the loss of something truly beautiful, something I would do almost anything to reclaim if I could, and ask God to hold me tight while we work it through.  Hopefully, learning along the way how to trust God with the ashes of my grief and replace it with something much more beautiful than I know to desire.   

Even though I grieve, I know God is still who He says He is.  He never changes; He cannot be persuaded; He is never derailed.  His purposes always prevail, and I'm counting on that to be true.  

God's constancy is my peace tonight.

Hope

Tonight I said to God, "Please dont let me be disappointed again!" (with a heavy emphasis on whining and begging), and do you know what His response was?  

"In Me you will never be disappointed".  

Translation: 

"God, I don't think I can handle disappointment again...it will crush me." 

"Alison, put your hope in Me alone.  Everything else fades away except for Me"

"Oh"

Cut to the core by a few words.  

What/who are you putting your hope in today?

tattoos, dreams and unknown bloggers

I'm in a very 'listy' mood this week. Yes, I just made up another word. -I met a girl while I was waiting in line for coffee that had a Latin word tattooed rather largely on the inside of her right forearm. I asked her what the word means and she crossed her arms and said very bitterly, "it means 'I've made mistakes'", and then looked off in the opposite direction. Hindsight is 20/20 because I wish I would have then said "There's forgiveness, you know". I didnt. Opportunity lost. Pray for her. -I had a dream on Monday night set in the 19th century that included proposals, fainting, tears, and lots of dramatics. I love how God entertains me in my sleep! -On that note, my dreaming dry spell is over! Now if only I could get my interpretation chops back in line, I'd be set. -Today I am contemplating for what I am thankful. I want to be prepared for the inevitable Thanksgiving tradition of sharing my Thanksgiving list with the fam. -Dave Barnes is my music of choice for this holiday weekend. I want to book him for a special event that I hope takes place sometime in my life. I wonder how much are his booking fees... -My current list of favorite 'not personally known to me' bloggers is as follows: Maundering Pondering All These Things Flowerdust.net Lynse Leanne Matt, Liz and Madeline Pinkhairedgirl.net Ragamuffin Soul Whitaker Woman OK, enough listiness for today.

Happy Holidays and other randomness

-Have you ever had dreams that are so vivid you wake up and still feel a physical touch or emotion? Try having 3 of those dreams in the last week...intense!  

-The holiday season should prove to be interesting this year...especially since they are not traditionally very vegetarian friendly.  I guess I'll be enjoying the sides...I have always liked the sides better than the Turkey anyway.

-I'm in a wedding on Valentines Day.  Not the best of days for a single person to be in a wedding, but at least my friend is ordering a vegetarian meal for me!  Considerate friend FTW!

-Jess, my uber talented cousin, has a shop on ETSY.com.  Check it out here ---> JCF Designs

-I've finally mastered turning in my library books on time! This is a huge improvement from a few years ago.  I was on a self-imposed ban from renting DVD's or checking out books. Lets just say that I spent way more than the items were worth in late fees a few times too many.

-I hate when someone tramples on my friend's feelings...not cool. 

-Spiedy got married?!  I have no words.

-The Biggest Loser always makes me cry.  I love seeing people achieve something perceived to be impossible.  It inspires me to keep doing what I'm doing even though the results can be slow in coming.

-Last but not least...photoshop gone terribly wrong.

I've gone veggie!

Yes, the rumors and twitters are true. I, Alison Hunt, have become a vegetarian.

You may be asking why on God's green earth would I give up yummy steaks, awesome cheeseburgers, and fabulous chicken. The answer is simple:

I cannot in good conscience eat meat from abused animals.

You may or may not know that most of the animals that are slaughtered for food are raised on factory farms. Factory farms are places that breed animals for food. They keep animals in cages slightly bigger than their bodies, medical needs go untreated, they are injected with growth hormones...do you want me to keep going? I could, you know.

I do understand that not EVERY farm treats their animals, but how can I guarantee that the meat I buy at Publix is not from one of these farms? I cant. Not even organic meat is guaranteed to be "factory farm free". [side note: my friend Angela grew up on a farm that had their own cattle slaughtered for food for the whole family. I would DEFINITELY eat meat from her farm! Their animals are treated as God intended them to be treated and they aren't injected with all sorts of unknown chemicals.]

I've known for a long time how animals are treated on these farms, and happily kept eating meat on a regular basis. A few weeks ago that all changed though. Out of nowhere (well, from God) I started feeling conviction about eating meat! This was more of a shock to me than how the animals are treated.

I started praying and asking God to show me why I should be convicted about eating meat because at this point I had not connected it to the factory farms. I also began researching vegetarian diet needs, and saw some pictures of factory farm animals. Then God hit me like a ton of bricks and basically told me "I never intended for the animals to be treated that way. Not even food animals."

To be honest, I didn't stop eating meat right away. I had to sit on that word for a time, I read Genesis, thought about how shepherds took care of their flocks throughout the Bible, and prayed some more. As the days wore on, I began feeling nauseous just looking at meat, both cooked and uncooked. I knew I had to make a decision and be obedient to what God was asking of me. So, I gave up meat as a faith based decision. I didn't go veggie because it fashionable, or because I value animals higher than humans, or just to lose weight. I went veggie because eating meat crosses my conscience, and I'm responsible before God for the decisions I make. One thing I am committed to is to not go on a "Veggie Crusade" to convert all my friends. However, I will freely talk about all of the reasons I based this decision on, and what people do with that information is up to them. I am very fortunate to have several vegetarians in my life. They are helping me, along with my own research, to know what to eat to get all of the nutrients I need, and how to safely transition. Don't worry, I'm not going vegan.....that's too extreme. If you want to know anymore about my decision to go veggie, please feel free to contact me! -A

Happenings

So, a lot has been happening since the Yoga post.  

For starters I was incredibly sick last week.  Was out of work for 2.5 days sick.  Lost 6 pounds sick. Didn't get out of bed for 36 hours sick.  It was bad.  My anthem for those days was the song Healer.  I don't care what people say about the controversy surrounding that song. Every time I sang it, I had hope God would ultimately heal me, and He did!  It is times like that, that I am incredibly thankful to be living with my mom!  She took great care of me.  Thanks, Mom!

Second, I saw the movie "The Secret Life of Bees".  It was amazing!  Finally a movie has followed the book's story line.   Of course some things were left out, but still amazing.  If you haven't read the book "The Secret Life of Bees" it is on my Top 5 Books of All Time List.  I'm an avid reader, so it has to be good to make that list! 

The bigger thing going on is that I will be going on a missions trip to the Amazon River basin in Brazil in June 2009!

Let me back up a bit.  I normally have an aversion to anything that resembles 'roughing it', but whenever someone brings up the annual mission trip to the Amazon I get this aching in my chest.  A good ache of longing to be with the people of that area.  

Well, last weekend was missions weekend at my church, and the Amazon trip was brought up again.  This time though it was time to sign up, and I did.  I could no longer avoid the fact that God has been preparing my heart for the call to go on this mission.  I did it in faith because this is way outside of my comfort zone and because it is an expensive trip.  

I've also recently made a conscious decision to do things that scare me because a life lived in fear probably means I'm not trusting God enough to actually LIVE.  I don't know about you, but I want to LIVE!

If you would like to be a prayer partner with me as I prepare for this trip OR you would like to sew financially into this mission I would love to hear from you!  Just shoot me an email at alisonlhunt [at] gmail [dot] com, and I'll answer any questions you may have. :-)

-A

Yoga Lessons & Revelations

I've recently been going to ashtanga yoga classes 3 times a week.  Before I get angry "Yoga is the devil" comments, let me tell you how God has been speaking to me through it. Everything we do in life requires prayer and faith.  God can redeem anything. I know that yoga is rooted in hinduism, but I am fortunate to have an instructor that does not focus on spiritual aspect of yoga. My prayers in yoga class started out as prayers of spiritual covering, but I've found my prayers morphing into great conversations with God!

Lesson #1: Ashtanga yoga requires focus on the connection between breath and movement.  For example, on the inhale you do one move and on the exhale you do the next move.  

Revelation #1: Through that focus, I've been able to lay down worries of the day, focus my mind on God and have set myself up to hear from God without distraction.  

Lesson #2: Yoga is also about being in the moment. 

Revelation #2: I've begun to realize that I should not 'live for the weekend', but for each moment that God gives me.  I often say, "I'm glad I had a busy day because it makes the day go by so fast!"  It is causing me to ask God more, "how do you want to use me in this moment, this hour, and this day?"

Lesson #3: Yoga requires listening to your instructor for maximum results and minimum injury.

Revelation #3:  Hello!  Read your Bible! What better way is there to listen to my Instructor, but through reading His words?

Lesson #4: Improvement happens through consistent practice and discipline.

Revelation #4:  Change doesn't always happen over night and it's easy to become impatient and give up.  Don't give up.  Instead press into my relationship with God and surrender to His will. The change will follow.  How can I not change in the presence of God?

I'm sure many more revelations will come!  If you decide to start going to yoga classes, it is important to know that it's foundations are rooted in an eastern religion.  Find a class you feel comfortable in.  There are also a lot of Christian yoga DVDs for sale online too!

Christmas in October

Being the planner that I am, tonight I started writing down what I want to get my family for Christmas.  In this day and time, it pays (rather saves) to start Christmas shopping now, rather than later.  It's the only way to Christmas shop on a budget.  This way I can pick up things as I find them.  

I am not sharing my gift ideas this year because some family may read this blog!  I've also made a decision to not exchange gifts with friends this year.  I want to dedicate my resources to my every growing family.   Not only is my last sibling engaged, but my brother and his wife are expecting another baby!  I get to be an aunt again!  

OK, enough Christmas in October...

-A

PS.  I LOVE my nephew!

Mini NYC Wrap-up

I've been home from NYC for 3 days and all I want to do is go back!  

The trip started off a little rough though.  My flight was cancelled because Delta could not locate an FAA approved fire extinguisher to put on the plane!  They gave me a meal voucher and booked me for a later flight.  That would have been fine, except my second flight was delayed 3 hours because NYC was experiencing a nor'easter!  I finally got to NYC 8 hours later than expected, but was so happy to finally get there!  

The rest of the weekend consisted of some serious bonding with 2 of my best friends, and going to the Pure Life conference.  My heart and soul were completely rocked by God.  I wish I could tell you everything, but some things are too precious to put out there for the world wide web to read.  I will tell you that spending time with Shelby and Tanner really really blessed me, and reconnecting with Amy and Shelby was the best gift of the whole weekend.  

I wish everyone could have friends as good as mine!

Here's a link to my NYC pics.

-A