Week 22 & Moving Day

Finally after 22 weeks this past Friday I was able to move out of my dad and step mom's house. While there are defiantly going to be things I will miss about living at home like not having to go grocery shopping, not paying rent, have Maverick around all the time. I am so thankful to be gone and not have to go searching for my stuff, whether I will be locked out of the house, or what kind of mood the step mom is in. Needless to say the past 22 weeks have been filled with many highs and lows of all sorts. My move couldn't have come at a better time because I almost hit my complete breaking point with the step mom this week, but I am also extremely thankful for that because it just reaffirmed my decision to move out and move in with Erin. Not that I was ever really truly second guessing myself but I was just a little nervous since I don't know Erin that well.

Most of the week flew by in a blur because I had something basically every night of the week - restaurant week dinner with work girls at Jasper's, catch up dinner's with two good friends, to just packing up things in order to be able to move. Somehow Friday, which was moving day, was here before I knew it. Thankfully, the movers did a great job and I was all moved in by 5pm on Friday - now that doesn't mean that I am unpacked, organized or decorated yet but I am living there. Somehow thanks to my mom my room was some what presentable on Saturday night when Erin and I had a "few" people over to the house.

Needless to say I am excited to be living with Erin, now I am just ready to be unpacked, organized and decorated. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is okay that it isn't all done yet - hopefully it will come together this weekend when I am finally in town without any crazy plans.

Kind of sadly this is the last weekly update you will be getting since I no longer have living at the rents updates, but I am sure I kind find other things to write about. (I promise I will post pictures of the new place soon)

Psalms 103

So in my quest over the past 10 days or so to get consistently back into the word on a daily basis for more than just a breeze over the Journey and calling it a quiet time. I am not saying there is anything wrong with the Journey and I still read them and usually get a lot out of them every morning when I get to my desk at work as part of my daily emails – I just needed something more and more time in the word than I was getting. To no one’s fault but my own laziness and lack of discipline over the past two months I have just kind of settled for less than my best – I can give you a ton of good excuses and reasons and some are even very valid but they are still just excuses! So about 10 days ago God really started to convict me of how little quality time I had spent with him lately. So in an effort to change this I decided I was going to pick up my Believing God book by Beth Moore that I had actually purchased early last spring when my community group was trying to decide what Beth Moore study we wanted to do. All this to say I have spent the last few days diving into this study which I am loving by the way and learning lots about old things that I have always known.

Okay sorry I felt like there was a little background knowledge/where I am right now that was needed there before I get to the real point of this blog. So in my quiet time there was a lot of time spent in Psalms 103. This Psalm has a lot of really special meaning to me and has been a Psalm I have spent a ton of time camped out in ever since I was in high school and was told to memorize it – while sadly I have forgotten parts of it over the years so that my exact memory isn’t word perfect anymore – I still love it.

Each time I read it something else stands out to me and the part that stood out to me today the most was verses 1-5 and all the amazing things God does for us and just how much He truly loves us in spite of ourselves. To just be completely honest the part that really hit home with me is verse 4 “who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion” – I haven’t been in a pit lately but I have been in a hole/funk lately. A lot of factors have played into this from being in a boot for 3 months, job issues, to finding my identity in the world, and some tough stuff with my family. It was really good to be reminded this morning that once again God is in control and can pull me out of the hole when He chooses – it isn’t up to me to pull myself out of the hole but I do have to be someone who is willing to be pulled out. Thankfully God is changing/softening my heart lately not only to Himself but also just to where I am in life right now and I am exactly were I am suppose to be. That doesn’t mean I will be in this exact spot in 3 months even but for today I am where I am suppose to be.

While I could continue to go on about Psalms 103 and everything I have learned from just this one Psalm over the past several years – I will spare you the details. But I do want to encourage you to read it if you haven’t read it in a while or if you have never read it.

Psalms 103

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

Week 21 - Outside the Camp

My second to last week of living with the dad and Marsha was pretty uneventful considering they were out of town all week long - so I had the house to myself which was pretty quiet. All the exciting things of the week got their own post except for Outside the Camp. So this post will be devoted to Outside the Camp.

Outside the Camp is probably one of my favorite Watermark Student Ministry events because it is a time to reconnect with other leaders, relax hang out, get in the word, and just get out of Dallas before the craziness of another semester begins. This year we headed out to lake Bob Sandlin, which is outside of Pittsburg, Texas. It is really nice lake and the weather was amazing - thankfully. I loved being able to hang out with other leaders who I hadn't seen in some time, the amazing down time that we were able to spend just diving into the Word, the time on the lake and of course all the crazy games.

Me, Sarah J., Jen, and Sarah F.

All the leaders at OTC

After 3 months...

3 months ago today I fell and broke my right foot and partially tore a ligament while in Brazil, and today for the first time in 3 months I finally can put a shoe on my right foot. I spent the last 2 and half months in a walking big black boot - not so much fun, but I survived. Today was the moment of truth at my doctors appointment because I was either getting to come out of the boot or I was getting a pink hard cast. Thankfully, I am able to come out of the boot. It feels really weird to wear a shoe again and to walk around without my boot but it also feels amazing! While I am still not released to run yet - one thing at a time and being able to wear two shoes again is a huge step in the right direction. Yay for two shoes!

Confession

So I have a slight confession to make – I have finally caved/given in to the Twilight craziness. I honestly was not planning on reading it at all because it just did not seem to catch my attention. However, last week my boss brought in her copies of all the books and gave them to one of my co-workers with the instructions that as she finished them she was to give them to me to read. My boss then looked at me and told me that I had to at least read the first book before I could honestly form an opinion one way of the other, so I have accepted her challenge and started reading the first book over the weekend. I have to admit it is not that bad but I am definitely not sucked in like some people I know. Stay tuned and I will let you know once I finish the first book if I will embark on the Twilight journey or not.

On a side note it is kind of cool because I do understand where they are talking about in some of the book thanks to mine and Brooke’s little Seattle/Canada adventure earlier this summer.

Riding Shotgun

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

This is a verse I have had to repeat to myself over and over again in life and I find myself having to repeat it again right now. Over the past couple of days I have realized that I have become extremely anxious about some upcoming events/situations in life. While thankfully I have a peace and know that God has a plan for each of the events/situations when I look at them on an individual level but when I look at them as the bigger picture apart of my life I am extremely anxious. I think this has a lot to do with several of these events/situations are out of my control – meaning there is nothing I can do to affect the outcome, whatever is suppose to happen is going to happen. Which if you know me at all you know I am a person who likes to be in control.

Once I realized this I had to laugh at myself but then I was also frustrated with myself. I laughed at myself b/c how can I have a peace and know that God has a plan for these events/situations on an individual level as to how they will affect my life but not on the bigger level – that makes no sense whatsoever. I am frustrated because while I am trusting God on the individual level, I am most definitely not trusting Him and that he has a plan for how all of this is going to play out. I know He has a plan, and I have learned that His plan is so much better than my plan ever will be, but just because I can’t see His plan I am having a hard time believing that right now.

So right now I am just going to try enjoy riding in the passenger seat of the car, while God drives since I know this is the best option, even though I am struggling to keep my hands in my lap and off the steering wheel.

Week 20

So this is my 3rd to last week living with the parents since the official moving date has been set and in reality for two of the last three weeks I am not even really living with them as much as I am living at their house since they are out of town for two weeks. Kind of sad that I am not getting to hang out with Maverick and Dad the last three weeks but not so sad that I want to stay.

Since they were out of town my life at home was pretty uneventful thankfully when it comes to drama – I really enjoyed being able to cook and just have some down time. The week started off celebrating two good friends engagement – congrats Kaity and Brandon! I can’t think of a better way to start off a week then being able to celebrate with two amazing people. The rest of the week was pretty normal – thankfully Lesa was out of the office until Thursday, so we all were able to just get caught up at work and just have a normal week – a rare thing I know. Thursday night I had the chance to cook dinner for Anne and just hang out and catch up with her – such a sweet time of catching up and great conversation. It was definitely needed by both of us.

I will say the weekend was probably the highlight of my week because several of the girls from my Brazil team and I headed out to my families lake house for part of the weekend. Even though this week wasn’t crazy for me the past several weeks had been crazy, so I was in need of some good get away relax chill time and having some amazing girls along with me was a huge plus. I love these girls and I love being able to hang out with them and all the amazing fun conversations we have when we are together. Thanks for such a sweet time of hanging out girls.

Playing Hookie

So I have a slight confession to make yesterday was one of those days where I woke up feeling crummy and really probably should have put on my big girl pants and gone to work but I just couldn't seem to put on my big girl pants and do it. So I didn't! So I only sort of played hookie. But I have to admit that it was one of the better decisions I have made in a long time. I ended up sleeping until around 9:30am - which in and of itself proves I didn't feel well because I am not someone to sleep past 9am ever. After I slept in I ended up waking up feeling almost like normal. I spent most of the morning being lazy, reading, journaling and just enjoying my quiet time. Around noon I ventured out to meet a friend for lunch (which was actually already scheduled) who I hadn't seen in quite some time, so it was really nice to be able to have catch up time and not to have to constantly being looking at my watch to rush back to the office. After a nice catch up time with my friend - I ended up heading back to the house to do laundry and even take a nap - something I rarely allow myself to do. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, uploading some pictures, returning some emails, and just enjoying not having to be anywhere or do anything. While I know I can't play hookie nearly as often as I would like to do - just to have a break from the real world or at least the real world of my job. I must say that it really allowed me some much needed down time to just process life over the past few weeks. I also must add that I actually did do some work yesterday from home since I had my laptop, so I guess I didn't completely play hookie altogether. While I can't encourage you to play hookie from work - I will encourage you to just take an unplanned day of just downtime, you might just be surprised how good it will be for you.

World School

So I am sure some of you are wondering what the heck by the title. Well one of my 8th graders, Becca, and her brother and sisters have set out on a journey around the world in a years time. If you read the Dallas Morning News you probably saw the story on the front page yesterday (Sunday 8/2). It is kind of crazy but a really cool idea - they are going to learn a lot and see some amazing things in the next year, and I know that none of them will come home the same kids that they left as. They are going to visit 6 of the 7 continents and a total of about 35 countries (if I can count correctly). Please be praying for Becca, her siblings, and her mom as they just started their journey a few days ago.



If you want to follow their journey or just read more about it - their website is...

http://www.ourworldschool.com/

Week 19

This week was completely crazy but not all bad craziness. Work was just really busy with Stephanie (allocator) and Keisha (planner) both moving off the team this week and Mark (new planner) and Kathryn (new allocator) moving on to the team. I am sad to see both of them gone but excited for them as they move on to the next step in their careers - both good moves for them and they will do great. On top of that we had Line Review for Holiday and surprisingly for the 1st time in 6 Line Reviews on this team someone actually thought about looking at all the paperwork that I did for the meeting - it made me so very happy. Friday was our Season Kickoff Meeting for Summer/Transition 2010 - yes I am aware that we are just finishing up Summer 2009 but that is how far out I have to work - so if you wonder why I get confused on the dates sometimes that is why. As if I didn't have enough to do at work these days, I am co-captain for my entity for the United Way Campaign at work. JCPenney is one of the biggest supporters of the United Way in the DFW area so it is a huge job and a lot of added work - I don't mind doing it. In fact I actually enjoy the change of pace from my normal everyday job and it means I get to interact with people more not inside my company but outside as well. If you know of any good places that I should hit up to donate gift cards or prizes to the cause let me know.

Besides work this week the most exciting news I have already written about which is that I am moving out of the parents house on Aug 22nd. While I have a few mixed emotions about moving out - I am really very excited about the whole thing. I am sad to be leaving my dad b/c he spoils me rotten and treats me like a Princess - there is just something about coming home to a meal that you didn't pay for or cook and then Saturday morning waking up to breakfast. He does tons of other things for me along the way that I will miss but that will be a blog in and of itself before the move. I will of course probably miss Maverick the most - I have enjoyed having my dog again - I don't think dad is going to let Maverick make the move but oh well. I will still have to stop by and see him on a weekly basis and have dad bring him to see me like we use to. Oh the one super low point of the week was that I had to be an adult and spend a ton of money on my cars "Goldie's" breaks. Granted this was the first real expense she has caused me in the four years I have had her so I am thankful to her for that, but it really stinks to be an adult and have to spend money on my car.

The week came to an end with a house warming celebration for Jessi, Abby & Ginger - their house is so cute and it was fun to hang out with everyone. Saturday night was a birthday celebration for Brooke - Happy Birthday Brooke! That is pretty much the past week in a nut shell - nothing to earth shattering, thankfully I am glad my life seems to look like it might be getting back to normal soon. Although I am not sure it was really normal to begin with so may-be normal for me.