ginger's day, september 2

lessons learned:

1) friends are amazing and absolutely essential to being houseless.

you know, that saying, "home is where the heart is," has become so much clearer to me. even though I don't have a place to call my own right now, when I'm with my friends I can feel at home because home is safe and welcome and refreshing.

Saturday I spent the whole day with some of my girlfriends, we went to a ballet class, the silly goose, baked cookies, made dinner, and sat around the dining room table talking about what had been most prominent in our thoughts lately and encouraging each other.

tonight some of my friends and I celebrated our friend chad, it wasn't his birthday or anything, we just wanted to honor him for being generally awesome & generous. it was so much fun. we played lots of apples to apples, gave gifts, and went around the table sharing what our favorite things were about each other and ourselves while eating breakfast for dinner.

2) "Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world... the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]." (1 John 2:15, 16 AMP)

today at church my pastor was talking about things the Lord wants to uproot in us and one of those things was, "the boastful pride of life." it's more simply defined as believing, "to get anything done, you're gonna have to do it yourself."

I realized that through this time of houselessness my default mindset has been that if I don't desperately search for a job or places to stay then I'm not going to be taken care of.

it's not that I don't believe God's helping me, it's just that I'm not fully trusting his character to provide the very best for me, which isn't cool, and then when he does I don't feel deserving of it because I didn't earn it.

it's acting like I'm an orphan really, instead of a daughter of the King of Kings.

I may have been provided a home to stay in for awhile through the simple kindness of friends & strangers, I haven't done anything to deserve it or to make it happen.

it's cool that being houseless is teaching me more about Father Gods heart.

3) having places outside of a home that are peaceful is really important when you're houseless, wether its a garden, a hiking trail, a cafe, or a parking lot.

maybe it's a number of different places depending on the mood you're in. for me, when I want to journal or read I like to go to a cafe called Fido. when I want to pray I go hiking or sit in my car with the windows down in one of my favorite parking lots.

it's really important to quiet yourself down because, "peace is the potting soil of revelation." i feel like when you're in a time of transition you need to consistently be reflecting and see what you're learning and how you're growing and notice if you're keeping your mind focused on life giving thoughts. depression and negativity are especially unhelpful when you already feel kind of unsettled.

~

anyways, those are my thoughts for the weekend. be back soon :)

Hey!


   So today is day 5 for me...it feels kinda odd...I mean I just feel like I am kinda floating around...but I am learning so much about how awesome people are. I love people and this is giving me one of the coolest opportunities to get to know and talk to so many people...so far I told to my dad about stability, Bryce and Trey about the gap between the church and the homosexual community, I talked about love, life, ministry in all things...I just love hearing people's hearts and being a part of their everyday...this is really tough cause I am really tired and there has been a lot going on in my life lately that makes me want to curl up and deal with my own life...but this is the coolest opportunity for me to learn to set myself aside and just hear and see other people...God knows what's up and He is doing this because He knows this is my hearts desire...I just haven't been able to figure out how to get here on my own...so bring it! Here is the most current video blog...hahaha I am feeling funny about them now...but I am also learning in this adventure and just in life in general...things are not that awkward if you don't let them be...so I am trying to not make things awkward. Anyway...I love being in Nashville and I love this adventure...so go find your own and go find out about people around you! Just live life with others...even if you aren't crashing their house!!! I guess tomorrow night I move onto another place...house sitting with a friend maybe? And then I may live with a few different families! My dreams are coming true!!!

-Memes

Day 5...Well, I have almost made it through the first house...I am tired but a lot of great conversations, serving, and trusting God has gone down...bring it on the rest of this time!...here is a video blog of late...a few days ago actually.

ginger's day 91

hello!

this is ginger, i'm currently sitting inside bongo java in east nashville enjoying the air conditioner & free wifi.  as i sat down to write my first entry on here it dawned on me that i have now been houseless for 91 days.....  O_O

the majority of my houselessness has been spent traveling and so i didn't even quite realize that i was houseless, but now that i'm back in nashville the stress of not having a home has definitely caught up with me.  as meme said earlier though, i don't want to wish this time away feeling upset or stressed, instead i want to think of it as an adventure and a chance to learn.

i actually spent the last week and a half staying with my lovely sister and her roommates, which has been such a blessing!  tonight i'm staying with a friend over here on the east side and my plan is to figure out where i'm staying tomorrow night tomorrow afternoon.  i guess its a good thing that i'm so easy going  :)


here are a few lessons i've learned in the last 91 days....

1. receive
it doesn't matter how many people there are around you that want to help you out if you don't want to receive their help.  i think this is probably going to be the biggest lesson that i learn and it applies to everything.

2. be generous.
you reap what you sow.  want to know what my favorite thing to do was last year?  buy people ice cream.  want to know what i've been given a lot of lately?  yep, you guessed right.

3. be creative.
with food!  my church has a food pantry and i was able to get lentils from there and i decided to sprout them because i can now eat them without having to cook them!  earlier this week i went out and spent the morning picking tomatoes on a farm and in return they gave me a whole bunch of fresh produce!  yay for free food.

4. be thankful.
sometimes its easier to focus on the not so great parts of not having a home.  when i find myself doing that (which happens more often than i care to admit) i sit down and i make a list of all the things i'm thankful for and it helps A LOT.


anyways, i'll be posting more often from now on and i'll try to share more specific stories.
in the meantime, i would encourage all of you to make lists of your favorite things about where you live!  it'll help you appreciate some of the things that are easily taken for granted!
love, ging

Video5

Hahaha this is my favourite

Video4

Video3

Day 1&2

Day 2 Meme

Too tired to write...so enjoy these video blogs...hahaha...

Meme's Day 1

Yo!

   So this morning I moved all my stuff out of Mason, Rachel, and Daniel's this morning at 8:00 before Mason's arrival! It took about ten minutes to load my car which makes me happy...it was really sad since this was the first home I have had since moving to Nashville. It felt like home so much the last few weeks. I loved living with Rachel and Daniel! They are awesome people and made my transition to Nashville so wonderful! I will miss them and our random adventures...good thing I still live around and will see them! Anyways...I want to document this time in my life...it's not big nor dramatic but it is a big adventure to live in the unknown for a month or so...I want to learn and be changed as a person in everything that happens in my life...and never would I imagine being 25 and living in such instability. I planned to be married with kids...not crashing at two guys apartment (but don't get me wrong I am extremely grateful for them and for the adventure of this week)...haha but life is not always what I have planned it to be...and what I am learning in this adventure is something some people never get to experience. It somehow is the most wonderful thing. A blessing that God is giving me that I have dreamed about...living in the unknown...it has been my life long dream...but now that it is happening I am realizing how hard it is...I am tired. I am emotionally and physically drained. I have been to Hell and back in the last few years of my life...and quiet frankly the last few months...but forgive me cause this is not my personal blog...so if you want to read more you should...but there...not here...anyway...yeah so day 1 has been so hard but good. What have I learned you ask???

1) It sucks to not be able to sleep when you are tired cause you don't have the ability to just go home and crash when you want to. And it's embarrassing to sleep in your car/or outside in public.
-What I want to take away from this is extreme hospitality and compassion and understanding. Respecting those who through embarrassment probably feel less then worthy of respect or feel less of a human.

2) You will do so much more good things than if you had a place to go crash and waste away your day. Like sitting and talking to a friend (Ginger Waugh) for 5 hours...or going to house church...or meeting new people...ect.
-I want to take away from this just the mindset of not being wasteful and selfish with my time since it is such a short and precious thing.

3) You find yourself doing the most random things like going to a fashion styling party at Anthro...although I admit that I did not stay for that afterall...but still...
-I do not know what to take away from this...hahah

Anyway I am soo tired and now I find myself in my own room with a comfy bed...what a blessing. Till tomorrow! Goodnight!!!!

-Meme

Day 1/Many Days

Hello!

   Welcome to Ginger and Meme's houseless adventures blog. Ginger and I are living in a community house that starts in October...until then we are both without homes...so this is our journey in hospitality, humility, and learning! We both are trying to find ways to be positive and teachable through this time...so we are going to blog about our adventures! Stay tuned for lessons learned and video updates! Thank you for everyone who is opening your home and helping us find homes! What a blessing...but please pray for us as it is a big harder then imagined!

-Meme