It's late...

I've decided I need to blog more. I've decided I have something to say. Not one thing, necessarily, but MANY things. Maybe my thoughts aren't as articulated as some, but I've got something to say!

It's late, and I can't share much tonight, however, here are some of the current things on my mind
- The alarm clock will be going off at 5:00 am tomorrow. Why am I still awake??
- My life group is incredible. Seriously.
- I am blessed beyond measure.
- I bought a new day planner today. It was on sale. I've been eyeing it for over a month now. I'm glad I was patient.
- God's been teaching me a TON about patience lately. It's frustrating and hard to deal with at times, but through my commute (yes Dan, you were right on the money) I've been FORCED to learn patience. Through my job, I've also been forced to learn patience. I'm impatience so much, and get so discouraged because of this.
- It's been well over a year since my back surgery. It feels like a life time ago, but at the same time it almost feels like yesterday I was holed up on my couch, flat on my back because of the crazy amount of pain I was in. It was a rough time in my life, but I'm blessed (see bullet number 3) beyond measure.

I'm now off to bed. I'll leave you faithful blog readers with a picture of me on Halloween. The Minnie Mouse costume made an appearance for the second time. It's a classic :)

Some things change, some things stay the same

My life seems to be a whirlwind of chaos right now, but somehow I've started to realize that some things change, and some things stay the same.
Things that are changing:
-I've moved into a new house. I seem to do this at LEAST once a year. I guess I like to move (NOT EVEN TRUE!). My new roommate is incredible. Chelsea is possibly one of the most laid back people I've ever met!
-Change is definitely in the air at the Stirring. A new gathering? A new building? Who knows what the future holds, all I know is that things are changing, and I'm loving it.
-Summer is over :( But Fall is right around the corner! I'm ready to break out my scarves and jackets, and store away my shorts and tank tops for the winter!
-Simpson students are back, which means lots of familiar faces are returning to work with the kids again! I love this time of the year when the students come back and are SO refreshed and ready to hang with the kids. It gets me so excited... so so excited!
-I gave up Diet Pepsi. This is a pretty big deal. Months ago, I swore that Diet Pepsi would be the one thing in my life that remained the same... forever! But, as it turns out, Diet soda isn't all that great for you... who knew?! I've officially kicked the bad habit. I'm on to drinking GIANT bottles of water, and the occasional rootbeer.

Things that are staying the same:
-School. 16 units. Yup, my last year at Chico is this year. I'll be graduating in the Spring with my BA... can't wait can't wait! I'm pretty darn ready to be DONE with school. The only thing that's different about this semester is that I'm commuting to Chico two times a week. Good thing I've got some awesome pod casts!
-I'm still working toward that half marathon. I've regressed a bit... only running 2-3 miles per run max. But hey, I guess you've got to start somewhere, right? 2 miles turns into 12 in no time... ha!
-LIFE GROUPS ARE BACK! I'm leading on this Fall, and I'm pretty darn stoked about it. It's a women's group on Wednesday nights... I'm excited to see who the Lord brings to this group. Something powerful and amazing happens when groups of women get together... Wednesday nights are going to be epic!
-The Stirring will be starting another Under the Chuppah series in a few weeks. Imagine that, the Stirring talking about sex... ha! That's definitely something that will always stay the same :)
-God has been continuing to give me crazy dreams and visions for the children in our community. My heart burns for children. I take it with me everywhere I go. Every child I meet, every conversation I have, I feel like God's heart for His children is at the forefront of my brain.

There's a sneak peek at what's been going on in the world of Emily. There's so much more, but if I ever want to blog again, I'd better save some of it, huh? Here are a few pictures from the INCREDIBLE staff retreat we went on in August. We had a blast out on a houseboat... dreaming and laughing together. I'd say it was up there on my "highlights of summer" list.

ohmyhair!

There's just something about getting a haircut... it makes all of your troubles disappear. I went to visit my lovely Amy today, and left with a fresh, new, AMAZING haircut. She sure works some magic on my crazy hair. After it grows for about 3 weeks, my hair takes on a mind of it's own. This is EXTREMELY frustrating when it comes to trying to style my untamed tresses. If you've seen me in the last 3 days, you'll have noticed I've been wearing a hat... it's the only thing that can hide the wildness! So, the highlight of the day today: my fantastic haircut.

Summer Bummer

I went to Marketfest tonight for the first time this year. Such a hugely horrible idea. First of all, I grew up in Arcata. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the weather in Arcata, but I'll let you in on a little secret; the all time high over there is in the 70's. It's never hot there. There is fog. All the time. Thick fog in the morning which burns off into thinner fog in the afternoon. Until the evening fog rolls back in. Fog usually keeps the temperature right around 60 degrees. This is the weather I grew up in for 18 years of my life. 60 degrees all year round. Lots of rain, even more fog, and the occasional burst of sunlight for a total of 20 minutes a week. Now, compare this weather to the ghastly weather here in Redding. It was pretty darn close to 100 degrees today. I've lived in Redding for 6 summers now, and I promise you, I'll never get used to this heat. You know what I'm talking about... the kind of heat that makes you think your skin is literally melting off of your body... the kind of heat that makes your brain physically shut down... I become the most unpleasant person known to man kind when I get hot. I'm not even kidding. I turn into a disgruntled, grouchy, whiny, short-tempered, sweaty, sassy person when I'm hot. What's worse is mixing the heat with large groups of people. That just makes me anxious and unpleasant... not a good combo. For those of you who have ventured out to experience Marketfest, you know that there are always a million people milling around Library Park, trying to find the spot where the giant misters hit you just right. So huge group of crazy people paired with unbearable heat equals a pretty unhappy and grouchy Emily... Next time I'm thinking about going to Marketfest, will somebody PLEASE talk me out of it??

Use my story, Lord!

On Sunday, Dan spoke on how we are each a chosen instrument for specific things in life. How we each have a unique and compelling story that MAKES us that chosen instrument. Dan spoke about how God uses our stories to reach others who are in those same places... those dark, lonely, scary, painful places. So often we ask God "WHY??? WHY ME GOD? Why this pain? Why this addiction? Why this heartbreak? Why? Why? Why?" Instead, we should be asking God "When?" When do you want to use my story God? When can I help somebody else who's in the same place I've been? When can my story bring freedom to somebody else? For years I lived in the land of "Why?". 7 years to be exact. Why this struggle God? Why this addiction God? Why can't you free me from it? Why seven years of pain and loneliness and shame? For the longest time, I lived in that world... but in one instant, God brought redemption to those 7 years. In one word, God gave me FREEDOM from a 7 year battle. In that moment, I began living in the land of "When". For over a year now, I've been wondering when my story will be used to bring healing to others. In the past, God's spoken very clearly to me about waiting to share my story. There have been times I wanted so badly to share, but God's words "Not yet" reminded me to be patient. The cool thing about God is that He doesn't make you wait forever :) On Sunday I'll be sharing my testimony with the 7:00 gathering at the Stirring. My prayer is that there will be people there on Sunday night who will connect with my story... who I can encourage and remind of God's amazing timing and love for us. Use my story, Lord. Use all of my story.

A fond childhood memory...

When I was about 10 years old, my family, along with about 5 other families that I had grown up with decided to go on a whitewater rafting excursion. (Bad idea #1) The other families packed up their rafts, PFDs, and lunches and headed to the river. My family didn't own a raft that would work for the river, so my parents decided that a canoe would be the second best idea for the rafting trip. (Bad idea #2). The canoe we had was old, and didn't have any kind of seats in it, nor did it have any kind of even bottom for us to sit on. So my parents, being the innovative individuals that they are, decided to use lawn chairs in the canoe for the 4 of us to sit in. (Bad idea #3). We hit the river early in the morning, all pumped for the adventure ahead of us. Now, I'm not sure if many of you are familiar with the Trinity River, but the section that we were rafting was about a class 3 run which is meant for skilled professionals. My mom's a school teacher and my dad's a Brew Master. I guess to them, that translated into "skilled rafting professional." For the first few miles we're doing great. We hit a few rapids which my parents paddled us through with no problem. About 20 minutes into the trip, we see the first real whitewater rapid ahead. At this point I'm having a blast sitting in my lawn chair in the canoe, not a care in the world! We come up to this rapid, and my parents freak. We're turning sideways, and headed straight for the rocky mountain side, when my mom gets this genius idea for all of us to lean into the current. (Bad idea #4) Now, keep in mind that our center of gravity is already higher than the canoe because we're sitting in lawn chairs. What happened next I'll never forget. We all lean into the current, and as we do that the entire canoe flips over. We lost everything, and I do mean everything. Our ice chest sank to the bottom of that river, along with the 4 lawn chairs, and my mom's car keys. We were left with a wet canoe, our trusty ores and one very shaken 10 year-old.

To this day, I will NOT set foot in a canoe. I suppose the moral of the story is 1. don't take on a class 3 whitewater run unless you are REALLY a trained professional, and 2. don't use lawn chairs in a canoe. I mean, seriously? What were my parents thinking?!

Who knew?

After a few trips to farmer's market, I've discovered something new and surprising about myself... I love gardening (this coming from the girl who's killed EVERY house plant given to her... even the "fool-proof" ones). I'm not necessarily GOOD at it, I'm not sure if I'll even be able to keep any of my new plants alive, but I've realized that I love to garden! I love watering my little mini-garden early in the morning. I love squishing the snails that crawl up into the planting box and threaten the lives of my soon-to-be tomatoes. I love trimming the overgrowth from my neighbors darn rose bush that steals the sun from my newborn cucumber plant. There's something so nurturing and therapeutic about watching a plant grow and produce life (well, veggies at least!) that gets me excited! I have a big enough yard, maybe (depending on how many of my plants survive the next few weeks) I'll plant a REAL garden one day!

So now I ask, any tips for a beginning gardener on how to keep my lovely plants alive?!