Lofbomm.com

You get this weird feeling when you watch a movie like Star Wars III and then walk out into this perfect night where the air is room temperature and you hear an invisible bird singing through a magaphone. This eerie feeling hit me last night after the chaos and war and a not-so-surprising fall to the dark side. I felt like the cute little lights in the trees all around the mall were lying to me. The bird was singing about this gorgeous May night, but they couldn’t fool me. I had witnessed deception, greed and death. It wasn’t right.

This world is weird. It’s sad and ecstatic and peaceful and jealous. People are all so complicated. I’ve been listening to a lecture series on CD by a man named Al Andrews who is a counselor in Nashville. He talks about the “windows to the soul”, those unexpected moments or stories that really hit you and resound with you. It is those things that we should pay attention to because they are an insight to where our heart is and what’s going on in it.

Just some disjointed thoughts after a long weekend.

Also, my mom and dad came to help us do some projects around the house. We had a great time with them, and mom and dad L. came by too. It was a really nice weekend. Family is great. I recommend it.

It’s time to leave work now, so I’m going. Have a good night.

-Jessica

Life has been fun, albeit sleepless at Hotel Lofbomm. We had a great time with our first guests at our new house, Cliff and Donnie, brothers from California who are on our Russia team this August. We had a great time with them. Training for the Russia trip was different than we expected. It was emotionally draining but worthwhile. The best part of it was getting to know Cliff and Donnie, and Lori who lives nearby and is also on our team. We’ve had fun showing the guys around town, hanging out at the house and listening to music.

As if that wasn’t enough, Dave from Ireland came in on Sunday evening, and he has been staying with us as well. We have all been having a good time together. I love having space to host people properly. It feels like our own little hostel. What a great way to travel without going away. We’ve been staying up late though, so I’m tired. Last night, Adam and Dave talked until 3:something, but I went to sleep. Then we got up at 5:30 to see Donnie and Cliff off. They flew out this morning. We have Dave until tomorrow.

I’m going into the studio tonight to cut some vocals. I’m glad to get back in there. Really glad. I’ve been getting frustrated at how rarely they have time for my project. I know that it’s low budget, but we started back in November. It has been six months, and we’re only about half way done, if that. It’s going really well, just painfully slowly. I can’t wait for you all to hear it. Maybe it will be done for Christmas.

Maybe.

That’s all. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods, wherever your neck of the woods may be. Please feel free to visit us at Hotel Lofbomm anytime you may come through Nashville. We love guests.

Ciao.

-Jessica

I’ve written before about how much I like the job I have right now at EMI. Well, I am now feeling that edgy, irritable, self-pitying feeling of powerlessness. I expressed to my boss and the HR head a couple of weeks ago how much I enjoy my position and how I would like to be considered for the full time position and leave temp status. They were both so happy to hear it and said as much. Holly, my boss told me that I’ve been doing a great job and have brought things to the position that no one has before. They were totally glad.

Then they were like, “By the way, aren’t you going to Russia this summer?”

“Yes, I am. Can’t wait!”

“Hmm, well we’re not sure we’re comfortable hiring someone who is immediately going to be gone for two weeks (it’s not like I’ve already been working in this position for two months and in the company since November or anything… and mid-August isn’t immediately). What is your flexibility with this trip?”

“Well, none. This is something that Adam and I are sure we should be a part of. It’s an organization that we can possibly serve with long-term in the future. They’re doing something we believe in. But, we wouldn’t be going long-term for a couple of years because Adam is committed to his youth ministry position at the church, so I would be a good Corporate Communications Administrator for you for a nice while.”

“Hmm, right. That’s the catch-22. That’s what makes you special, but we can’t just let you go away right away. I think we’re going to have to interview some other people.”

“Can I just stay as a ‘temp’ but work full-time until I return and then become official?”

“Hmm, why don’t you work full-time hours right now? We’ll interview several candidates and if we still haven’t found anyone by the time you return from your trip, we can consider you.”

“Okay, sure. Thanks.”

! So, as of this afternoon, Holly has had two good interviews with qualified, recommended candidates. If I weren’t going to Russia, I would have this job in the bag. They told me almost as much. But I want to go to Russia. That’s more important than even the Christian music biz to me.

So, I will continue to schedule interviews for her and watch her close her door as she discusses her good interview with Theresa from our department.

I’m powerless.

I’m glad that God is in control. I’d snap otherwise.

This weekend we will have training for our Russia trip. Two of the team members (brothers from California) are staying with us. I think that God is going to remind me through this training that Russia, for this time specifically, and missions service in general, are my calling. That is good. I can trust EMI stress to Him.

-Jessica

One of my favorite movie scenes ever is in “Amelie”. She has just done her first good deed for a stranger, and she is filled with love for life. She is on the street and sees a blind, old man standing on the curb across the street. Suddenly the music gets intense, she quickens her pace directly toward him, and she takes his arm. She leads him on this whirlwind tour down the street, calling out all of the little details she can about the store windows, the smiling baby watching a dog, the old woman wearing her late-husband’s army jacket, the price of ham, as they fly down the crowded sidewalk. She then leaves him as quickly as she had grabbed him. He stands there, lifting his face to the sky, beaming, and his face literally glowing, golden flames in his eyes. It is as if he could see.

Adam and I both cried at this tiny little scene near the begining of the movie. It was so poignant. We talked last night about how we are like the blind, old man, and God is whisking us down the street, explaining things to us as we go. We can’t possibly take it all in, but the images He gives still fill us.

-Jessica

FYI. We put up a bunch of new pictures on the Images page.

Good night. :).

-Jessica

This week has been pretty packed, so we haven’t done nearly as much un-packing as we would have liked, though we are making progress. We still have quite a few boxes to get to, but at least they are almost all in the rooms where they belong. That is quite an improvement over this time just seven days ago when Jess and I were totally exhausted and literally wading through boxes to move from one end of the house to the other. All week I keep having this feeling that we are living in a gigantic version of one of those puzzles where you shift a bunch of numbered blocks around a grid to put them in sequence and only one space is available at any time. It’s been a pretty fun game, except when I find myself shifting the blocks back and forth at 7 AM looking for pants or the checkbook.

The second biggest news of the past seven days is our new friend, Genesis Jennifer One Benjamina Lofbomm, aka, the dog that is curled up, napping at my feet as I write this. She is a wonderful creature. Genesis is a beautiful, 13-month old, German Shepherd and Lab mix. She is incredibly quiet and affectionate- really the best mannered dog I have ever seen. (As a matter of fact, Jessica is hammering nails for hanging pictures right next to her and Gen just naps away.) We are so glad that she has come into our life and our new home. I have always thought of myself as a ‘cat person,’ so I never thought I would say this, but, our house feels so much more like a proper home having her here.

—A.