PJ party and St. Jude Half Marathon

On Friday night, the EL girls had a Christmas party complete with pj's, cooking decorating, a bonfire, games, and the movie, Elf.  It was great just hang out and start the Christmas season off together.

Merry Christmas!!!

Karly and I had fun with this awesome stocking blanket!

Then, on Saturday, I went to the St. Jude Half Marathon.  This is the 2nd year in a row that I've been able to cheer on friends running in the race.  It was so fun!  And, the St. Jude races are so much more meaningful than most.  All proceeds go to raise money for children with cancer.  It's also really cool because the city of Memphis comes together in a beautiful way for a great cause.  Anyway, let me give you the rundown of my runners.  Brian and Emily ran the half for the first time!  And, Kyle ran the half for the second time!  Tracy and I had fun tracking their times and finding them along the race path.  It was such a fun day!  Great job guys!

The Rowell's

Silly Stewart's!

Go Brian!!!

Go Kyle!!!

Go Emily!!!

Family Thanksgiving

It was good!  We ate alot of food and laughed alot, too.  I finally got to eat my Memaw's carrot cake.  My mom made the cake, and I made the icing.  It was to die for!

The feast!  (I told her to do that. ;)



Me and my cousin, Olivia



The uncles and Dad... rough lookin' crew!

EL Thanksgiving!!!

Saturday night, we had our Emerging Leaders Thanksgiving dinner.  We had tons of delicious food and time to spend together.  Or, watch football.  (ahem. ahem.)  Nevertheless, it was great to be together.  :)

EL girls!



We were missing a few in the first one.
A few people's heads were cut off in this one!  Love it though!

Halloween 2012

Halloween was awesome this year.  Our house hosted a party for the EL program.  And, I have to say it was great!  Liz and Kelly did a fantastic job of decorating and planning the party.  We had a dance party, photo booth, and bonfire with s'mores!  We also had tons of food.  Everyone dressed up, and there are pics to prove it!  :)

Cute house

Very interesting bonfire...




Ballerina and Batman...



Madea came!

Yorkshire girls  :)

Me and Becca



Me, Rachel, and Jacob

A year ago today...

A year ago today I was flying from East Asia to Memphis.  I can't believe it's been a year.  That's just crazy!  My experience in and around East Asia was a vortex of weirdness up until a couple of months ago.  And, then with the Lord's help and the help of several godly women, I was really challenged to deal with things.  For the first time, I brought it all before the Lord in prayer.  And, everything began to change.  Finally, there are many things I see now that I didn't see before.  And, there are a few things I need to get off my chest.

While I was in East Asia and after I came home, I was not a pleasant person to be around.  I was jerk to my family and friends.  (There's another word I could use, but it's not blog appropriate or very ladylike.)  I was not myself.  I was rude and hurtful.  I did damage to probably every relationship in my life, including my relationship with the Lord.  I see that now.  I tried to do it all on my own.  I tried to deal with all the changes and challenges without any help from anyone.  I didn't want to tell people when I was struggling or what was difficult about the experience.  I thought I could handle everything.  Well, clearly, that didn't work out at all.  I see that now, too.  We were never meant to "do this life" alone, not here in the U.S. or wherever God may call us to go.  And, that has been one of the most painful lessons I've ever had to learn.

Also, I've learned that the enemy (that's what I call him) is very really.  He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.  And, for way too long, He did all of those things in my life.  He stole my joy.  He killed my enthusiasm for what the Lord has called me to.  He destroyed my thoughts and mindset.  I let the enemy have WAY TOO much say in my life.  All of this happened because my relationship with the Lord was not what it should have been.  And, the enemy loves to attack when we are trying to obey what God has called us to do.

In all of this, I have learned that I must take responsibility for things that went "wrong".  I have learned some things happened that were out of my control.  And, I have learned that sometimes the Lord allows us to experience seasons of suffering, and we may never know why.  It may just be the only way He could get the most glory.  Or, it may just be the only way He can teach us what we need to learn.  I can promise you this though.  I will never be the same because of what He has taught and is still teaching me.  You know people say that time heals all wounds.  I believe it's the Lord who heals all wounds.

East Asian cuteness!

Catching up...

I'm probably about 2 weeks behind on posting.  Oh well!  Ha!  It's been a good 2 weeks though.  As far as classes go, I've really enjoyed reading through and learning Exodus the week before last.  And, then last week, we studied Joshua.  The EL class on Thursday night was about Angelology and Demonology.  Very interesting to say the least!

The week before last, I kinda snuck out of town and took a trip to Ohio to see dear friends.  Jennifer and I left earlier Thursday morning and came home last Monday.  It was such a sweet time of being with the Johnston's.  We just love and miss them a ton!  (I know we aren't the only ones!)  They really are more like family than friends.  On Friday, we went to a nearby train station and loaded up bikes to go riding.  We got on the train where we parked and took a short ride.  Then, we unloaded our bikes and rode one of the trails.  It was a beautiful day and all the leaves were changing.  We stopped somewhere along the way for a picnic.  Then, we rode the rest of the way back to where we started.  That night it rained, and we decided to get creative.  So, sometime in the night, we were ripping pallets apart in the garage.  :)

Me and Jennifer on the train

Me and Jenn bike riding

Ryan, Addi, and Debby

Thinking...contemplating...

Brute strength...

On Saturday, Jenn, Debby, and I went to get crafting supplies to make pallet signs.  We came back and set to work cutting, measuring, nailing, and painting.  It was really fun for a raining day!

The girls covering their ears because of the nail gun. :)

They were sooooo meticulous!

Our finished signs!  They turned out great!

On Sunday, we all got up and went to church.  We had lunch at Chipotle.  Later that afternoon, Jenn and I carved pumpkins with the girls (and half the neighborhood:).  Sunday night, Jenn and I talked Ryan and Debby into going out while we stayed home to "babysit" the girls.  We wouldn't have had it any other way!  It was such a great time to get away and spend time with loved ones.

Carving the pumpkin!

Making the face!

Love them!!!

Color Run fun!!!

So, today, I had alot of fun at the Color Run 5k.  Although we didn't even run, we had a great time being together and gettin' our "Color on"!  The run was set up so that we got covered in a different color at certain points along the path.  So, we had "color" thrown at us in this order: yellow, pink, orange, and blue.  Then, at the end, we had a color party.  Every person that registered for the race received a color packet.  We were supposed to keep the color packets with us until the end of the race.  Then, at the end, we all threw the color up and around.  It was awesome!  And, it was super fun!  I have tons of pics, but I'll just share the highlights.

Pre-race: Girls

Pre-race: Guys

COLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post-race: Guys

Post-race: Girls

(Orbitz gum commercial!)

Information overload... and a wedding :)

My first week of October was filled with awesomeness!  No kidding.  On Monday night (last week), we learned about the life of Joseph.  Yes, we're still in Genesis!  That was just the first hour.  The second hour was on the "How To's of Discipleship".  On Wednesday morning, we continued with "Myths of Discipleship" and more on the life of Joseph.  Luckily, we had praise and worship for our Thursday night class.  Then, on Friday night and Saturday morning, we had an optional church history retreat.  Talk about over my head!  We went through years 100-1500 in 6 hours.  I'm in information overload.  That's for sure!

Really big words...

Also, over the weekend, I had the privilege of seeing a sweet friend marry her best friend.  Despite the cold and rain, it was beautiful.  Their special day was a precious picture of the body of Christ.  And, I'm so happy for them!  Congratulations Catherine and Andy!

The Bride!

Finishing September!

So again, I'm a little late posting about my week (last week).  However, it was a good week.  On Monday night after class, one of the guys' houses in the program had people over for a bonfire and s'mores.  Nothing says fall like a bonfire!  It was a fun time to get together.  I would've taken pics, but I was too busy swinging on the guys' rope swing.  (I know I'm supposed to be an adult.  It was too fun though!)

Tim

The highlight of my week was Friday night.  A group of us from the EL program went to Range USA in Bartlett for their "date night" deal.  The deal included dinner, ammo, renting their guns and a shooting lane.  I have to admit that I was very nervous.  But, it ended up being very fun.  We all got to shoot with some type of revolver and some type of 9 millimeter pistol.  (I don't know info on the guns, if you can't tell.)  It was so fun, and dinner afterwards was pretty tasty, too.  I would totally go back again!

The roommie...Elizabeth

Me!

Becca

Spencer

Classes, dinner, and a movie...

This past week was packed with classes and awesome teachings.  Altogether, we had class 4 out of the 5 days.  On Monday night and Wednesday morning, we had about 3 hours worth of teaching from Genesis, most of which I need to study and re-study.  Then, on Thursday night, the EL's had 2 hours of teaching on Bibliology.  (Never heard of it?  Welcome to the club!  I'm the President.  Ha.)  And, on Friday morning, we had 2 hours of teaching on evangelism.  So, aside from swimming in all I was taught during the week, it was good.  :)

Then, I had a pretty good weekend, too.  I had dinner with the parentals on Friday night.  Saturday, I had lunch with friends, Allen and Brittany.  (I would've taken a pic, but there's nothing that great about Chic-fil-a.)  Sunday night, my housemates and I were treated to Lee's culinary creations.  He made chicken parmesan with pasta.  We also had broccoli and garlic bread.  For dessert, we had a homemade, chocolate swirl cheesecake that Jill made.  It was all delicious!

Delicious!

Thank you, Lee!

Jill and her awesome cheesecake!

After dinner, I went to see the movie, Unconditional, with friends.  Oddly enough, I found out my 7th grade science teacher and her husband produced it.  Small world, huh?  It was a great story with several unexpected twists.  But, the overall theme was God's unconditional love for us.  Hopefully, it did well in theaters over the weekend!

"Nothing you ever give to Jesus is wasted."

This past week was a good one.  Nothing too exciting or noteworthy went on.  I had a pretty low-key weekend.  On Friday night, Jill (one of my housemates) and I made a trip to Jerry's Snowcones for dinner.  I had never eaten "real" food there before.  I had a corn dog and cheese fries.  I wouldn't order either one of those again.  I get the impression other things on the menu are much better.  Then, on Sunday after church, I went to lunch with friends.  I spent the rest of the day with the one and only, Sarah Eichner.  I really enjoyed finally getting to see her new house and hearing about her upcoming wedding plans.  Congrats to her and Caleb (the fiance)!  

But, that's not all.  In the sermon yesterday, my pastor said something that really stuck out to me.  He says alot of things that really stick out to me.  But, for some reason, he said one sentence that I'm still thinking about today.  "Nothing you ever give to Jesus is wasted."  It's not earth shatttering.  I realize that.  But, it hit me right where I'm at right now in my walk with the Lord.  My pastor was actually referencing the story of the woman, who anointed Jesus with a very expensive jar of perfume not long before his crucifixion.

The story is told by two different accounts, once in Matthew 26 and once in Mark 14.  So, I was reading over both accounts today.  And, I learned a few things.  First of all, I didn't realize this story appeared in the Bible twice.  Second, I'm not sure I've ever really read it for myself to see what Jesus actually says about the woman.  When the disciples freaked about what she did, Jesus replied very calmly.  "Why are you bothering this woman?  She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.  When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.  I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."  Matthew 26:10-13  Did you see that?  Did you hear what He said about her?  I don't think I ever noticed that before now.

So, you combine what my pastor said and the words of Jesus, and it speaks straight to my heart.  My problem is that I look at my life as the woman through the eyes of the disciples.  I never think that what I am doing for the Lord is good enough or done well enough.  I live in a constant fear of disobeying Him.  And, I think I make it all too difficult.  I look at life from a completely skewed view.  And, I know it in my head, but it hasn't quite sunk into my heart.  I want my life to look like the woman's perfume.  I want my life to be a sweet fragrance poured out for my Savior.  And, what He said of the woman, I want Him to say of me.  I'm so glad the Lord is perfect in all things.  I'm so glad He's perfectly patient because this girl is a tough one to get through to.  :)

Last Week...Late

So, I realize we're already halfway through a new week, and I'm posting about last week.  Oh well, it's ok!  Last week was a great week.  In my classes, I have been learning so much.  It is all truly life transforming information.  And, it very much feels like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.  No joke.  It's alot of information!  The beautiful thing is it's not just information.  The things I am learning are invaluable tools I can use to further my own understanding of God's Word and be able to re-teach it to others.  Monday, we didn't have class due to the Labor Day holiday.  Wednesday morning, we learned about Genesis 1-2 and Thessalonian Legacy (may have to share more on that later).  Last, we had a Friday morning class on Proverbs.

The weekend was fun also.  On Friday night, a bunch of the EL's went to Las Delicias for dinner to celebrate Emily's birthday.  (We should've made her wear the sombrero...)  Afterwards, we played games at one of the girls' houses.

Most awkward pic ever...that's what I get for making memories!

Then, on Saturday, we got together at Shelby Farms for fajitas and "capture the flag".  (I know.  Kinda reminds you of middle school, huh?)  There was a twist to our game though. . . water balloons!  Water balloons, I have decided, make everything better.  It was a blast! 

Water balloons!

Yummy fajitas!

Post-game smack talk...

After leaving Shelby Farms, I went to have dinner with some more friends.  (I sound like a real social butterfly!  Yeah right!)  It was fun, too!  (No pics though, because I would have been the only taking pictures of us just doing normal stuff.  Ha!)  We played several games, ate too much, and laughed alot.  I'm so thankful for the sweet friends God has blessed me with!  :)