scattered thoughts

I realize I have so much to blog about, but can't quite figure out how to mold all of it together. There's lots going on right now... we dropped off backpacks to Cypress Elementary School today. I was just overwhelmed by all of the smiles. The teachers were blown away by our generosity. God is so good. I can't wait to see where God takes our relationship with this school. Some of the kids there literally have nothing... I think this is so exciting for me because this is truly my passion in life. I adore children, and I love building relationships with them. Their minds are so simple and pure... I think this day makes my top ten best ever.... just seeing all of those smiles... it was great!

Another thing that is on my "blogging to-do" list is my big move... I'm moving from my one bedroom shoe-box-of-an-apartment to Emily and Brett Faulknor's lovely and amazing house. Two other girls and I will be renting the Faulknor's house while they are living in San Diego. God totally hooked us up with this house. It's perfect, and it totally just fell in my lap. THANK YOU FAULKNOR'S!!! So, obviously I'm stoked to move, but it's just super hard for me to get anything done because I'm only allowed to lift/carry 5 pounds due to my back surgery two weeks ago. I know I have people ready, willing and able to help me move, I'm still struggling with the whole asking for help bit. I want the help, and need the help, but I just don't want to be an inconvenience to anybody. So, at this point, about half of my house is packed up (thank you Danielle and Sarah!) but it's totally stressing me out because my house is in a complete state of disarray.

On a lighter note, I have to give a huge shout out to Cassie Cable. She's amazing. Seriously. Last night, she sat at a table covered in glitter, glue sticks, construction paper, stickers, foam letters, fancy shape puncher things, markers, colored pencils, and craft supplies galore and helped the Stirring Kids and the J.R. High team decorate 250 beautiful cards to put in each backpack for Cypress Elementary School. Cassie came up with this idea, and she totally made it happen. We were able to deliver a bundle of amazing cards to each teacher to give to each student. This was such a creative way for the kids at the Stirring to show Gods love to these other children. We were all wishing somebody had brought a camera to capture this crazy event. Also, a huge thanks to the Stirring Kids team who cleaned up all of the aftermath of this creative disaster. I think more glitter ended up on the floor than on the actual cards... go figure!

One last thing... I realize this blog is quickly becoming too long... sorry. Today I've decided to take a much needed break from television and music... after hearing Sean Gafner speak last night about really getting face to face with God, and getting in the silence to hear His voice, I realized I am constantly surrounded by noise. Whether it's from the television, my iPod, the radio, my friend, my phone... it's all around me all of the time. I need some silence to hear His voice.... and to really get close to Him. Sometimes silence is difficult because you aren't sure what God will reveal to you in those quiet moments, but taking the time and listening to his voice is something I know I really need to do.

Ok, that's all for now. I'll leave you with a picture of my disaster of an apartment... ugg, maybe I'll just walk around with my eyes closed for the next two weeks... could get dangerous!