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!

Where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going

I love days like today!
Great day at work
AMAZING weather
Perfect run
Good laughs
Tasty dinner
and (the best thing of all) Cadbury Mini Eggs... life is good!

Strength Finder disappointment

Every heard of Strength Finder? It's this cleaver little test that you take and according to the way you answer the questions, it determines your top 5 strengths. Very nifty little thing. I took it about 2 years ago, and was very pleased with my top strengths. I felt they represented me well: Empathy, Includer, Woo, Positivity, Developer. All of these things stand true to who I am... knowing these strengths helped me to understand so much about myself, and the way I work with others. So here I am, two years later, taking the a variation of this same quiz, and come to find out my strengths have changed. Now, I don't know if it's normal or not, but I'm kind of disappointed with my new strengths. Honestly, I don't feel like they make any sense! I don't even really know what to make of them... and why did my other strengths, my strengths that made SENSE, change? Tomorrow, at Life Group we're supposed to discuss our strengths... I think I might lie, and just tell them my old ones :) Is that so wrong?? My new ones are boring and kind of lame in comparison... Maybe I'll just retake the test and cheat...