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?!

today I blog

For the first time in months, I woke up today with no allergies. Amazing! I've never felt better! No itchy eyes. No itchy throat. No congestion. No cough. I felt like a new woman! I've never really had horrible allergies, but for whatever reason, this year has been agony for me.
Due to the fact that I was feeling like a million bucks, work went quickly, and fairly smoothly as well (I only got sucker-punched once by a second grader!)
After work I raced to Target to grab a few things I've needed since March... I tend to avoid that place or else I'll spend a fortune! I didn't even look at the clothes OR the shoes... I know, it's a miracle.
I think zoomed over to Becky Moseley's to drop off a gift... ended up leaving it on her doorstep, and found out later in the day that I had left it on the WRONG DOOR STEP. Good one Emily!
Met with Meg, Hannah and Jenna for our weekly Wednesday coffee day.... have we decided on a name for it yet???
Then came home and did a bit of homework.... while deciding to play hookie from school. (I know, shame shame).
Made Breakfast for Dinner... my fav
Went on a lovely run with Danielle
Saw an unreal sunset
And here is sit, with some Chamomile Mango tea, and a huge pile of homework to get done before the weekend hits. There's my day at-a-glance... did I mention that I almost fell down about 25 times on my run? I don't know what it is with me these days...

Victory

Words can't explain how bless I am. God has given me an undying passion for children, and I get to live out that passion in the most creative and exciting way. I get to oversee about 100 kids and 30 leaders in 10 classrooms at 2 gatherings on 2 campuses. I love what I do. Sure, at times it's a bit stressful, but God is ever-so faithful to me, providing me with EXACTLY what I need at the EXACT time I need it. I am on staff with 9 amazing people who I get to laugh with, cry with and drink coffee with every week. I've been given the opportunity to live out this crazy passion that I have with these incredible and talented people. I can't explain to you how lucky I am, how good God has been to me. He brought me out of the darkest time of my life, and surrounded me with these people who bring light into my life on a daily basis. I have learned so much from each of them, and they each hold a special place in my heart. Not only to I get to live this passion out with these 9 people, but with their families too, who have quickly become MY family as well. Easter is a time to remember the happiest and most victorious day of the year- Jesus is alive. He's alive in me, and today is a day to remember the victory He's had in my life and the people he's brought into my life who have helped speak words of life back into me, and encourage me, and call out the leader they see in me. I owe so much more to these people than a silly blog... but since I can't rent the Goodyear Blimp to publicly and properly thank them, this blog will have to do... for now :)
On a different note, here are some GREAT pictures of the amazing kids and leaders I get to hang with on a given Sunday. I hope ya'll had a fantastic Easter. Jesus is so alive... we Baptized 4o-something people on Sunday... Jesus is SO SO alive!

Resolutions and such

So one of my New Years Resolutions was to run a half marathon this year. There were a few factors that aided this resolution... one being that my surgeon told me I'd NEVER run again. Yeah, he told me to get a new hobby because I'd never ever ever EVER run again. Yeah, pretty much don't tell me I can't do something because that will ultimately motivate me beyond measure. Another factor was that I needed a goal to work toward. I figured a full marathon was a bit much to reach for less than a year after major back surgery, but a half marathon would be a GREAT goal to work toward. Today I went on an AMAZING 6 mile run with Sarah. My favorite part of my run is when I get past that 5 mile wall. Once I pass that wall, I feel like I can run forever. For a while, I was stuck at 5 miles... I couldn't break the 5 mile marker to save my life! But thanks to my faithful running buddy Sarah, and the amazingly beautiful river trail, I've been able to successfully break that marker a few times now. The way I look at it, I'm half way to my half marathon... So basically, I just ran a quarter marathon! Yess! Okay, maybe not quite, but like I said, I need a goal! Next goal: 7 miles... any takers? I'm off to soak my feet and hydrate my body... you sweat a LOT running 6 miles!