LOVE IT!

this is my favorite time of the year. halloween starts all the festivities that i absolutely flippin love! So in honor of that sarah, cj, our new good friend jess, and i will be baking halloween cookies and cupcakes. to top it off, we will be decorating them too! Sheesh, i'm jumping up and down with excitement! :)

then thanksgiving comes and we'll have to get festive for that too. and since i can't go back to indy (lame airline tickets, sheesh) i will be celebrating it with my new family here. i'm sooooo stoked for that for many reasons. 1. i love these people here 2. they can flippin cook amazingly, seriously 3. macy's parade (though i wonder if that will be on super EARLY in the morning here)

then after that come Advent, woot woot. which somehow, someway i am going to do something special for that this year.

then of course, we have Christmas! YIPEE!!!! and then i get to go visit my mom and indy for awhile. I'd love to see while i am in indy from Dec. 26ish-30!

and if my excitement isn't enough i will add some final thoughts. CJ bought christmas lights at target the other night and we are going to put them up in our apartment sometime soon! YAY! and we are going to be getting a REAL christmas tree and decorate it with popcorn strings and oragomi ornaments! Shoot, i'm excited! Then some friends of mine in the choir i am in are going to go caroling around town...shut it, now i'm just overloaded with JOY!!!!! :)

friday night madness

it's midnight in a college town, and people are screaming outside all around me. you would actually think it's early in the evening. i'm still up and my roommates are sleep...go figure. so instead of trying to sleep i will write.

i've always had a heart for people. i love to hear peoples stories, where they have been, where they are going. i absolutely love it. and i love just listening.

being here in eugene is good for my heart. i have learned a lot about what it means to live out the church during the past 2 months i've beene here. i didn't really think about this until now, but i think i really need this church. it's something unlike anything that i am used to, in the term of church, but it feels more natural and life giving. i love being in a place where God stretches me.

i've been here 2 months and already get to bake cookies and cupcakes tomorrow with a good friend. and in one of my choirs a group of us are going to be getting together before rehearsals to have dinner together. i love it because i love getting together with people. that's who i am.

my hearts prayer is that you continue living out church where ever you go. listen to people and love them. at times i complicate things way too much. i need to go back to the basics.

i'm grateful my eyes are being opened to experiencing life each day. :)

just another day

i'm looking forward to tonight. all of us on the team out here are just having a praise and worship night. i know my heart needs that. i feel tense today. not sure why or what from...just tense. so i did a little yoga and that seemed to help. but i know only God can release the tenseness that my heart and body feels. i'm sure you know what i mean. so tonight will be good. :)

i daily want to be transformed by Jesus and i don't always know what that looks like. today there was tension. tomorrow may be something else. if there is something i am learning about it's emotions. i'm glad we have them. i'm always glad that people can handle us in the midst of our emotions.

one thing on my heart is this. i don't want to live a day expecting something. i want to experience the day i'm living without thinking of the next day. too many times i think ahead, and dream about what may happen or could happen. i'm in this current place for a reason and because of that i will live in that moment. one thing i'm thankful i learned from larry mitchell the past year was to "just be" present where you are, where ever that may be. i happen to find little bits of the kingdom better that way.

struggle of "religion"

i had a moment today of realizing God is redeeming this world we live in. that it doesn't matter where i am, or what i am doing, or how i do it, but that God has invited me to join Him in that plan. all i need to do is love Him and love others. so that seems so simple, so easy. yet, why has "religion" blown up into something that I do not think Jesus EVER intended it to be. why have so many people been hurt by "religion"?

i was eating with some college friends except this one conversation has stuck with me. My good friend, who is gay which really shouldn't matter to really know but may be imperative to this short tale, and i had a great conversation. it somehow got to a point where he looked at me and said how can you love me when you are a christian? and i remember that being one of those moments when i knew what i believed in was something completely different then what i have always known. so i sat there at dinner and said to my friend that i love you, no matter what. I didn't know at the time that that statement was not towards me at all, but to religion in general.

so i sit here in eugene going through beautiful things that stem all the way from that conversation. i never told my friend how much that question challenged me and how it made me grow and to be truthful, i probably never will. but i will never forget him for he is one of the reasons why i love Jesus. regardless of who you are, i believe Jesus does love everyone and anyone who calls to Him.

basically, i struggle with what "religion" has become. i just want to love people, love jesus, live simply, all the while realizing that the more i know the more i know i don't know.

pray

friends, i really want you to join all of us here in eugene to pray. pray for jobs for both derek and drew. pray that we continue to grow together in community. pray that we learn more how to love each other and love our city. pray for rachel and clints house to be SOLD so that they may come out here in eugene. i miss them. pray for all of our hearts. please pray that i am drawing nearer to Jesus everyday. pray for the health of them team. some of us have posion ivy from a recent camping trip and just for plain not been feeling that great. sarah and i haven't been feeling well...i would love for the icky stomach feeling to just go away.

praises: my new friends here. i really, really enjoy them. being able to run into people downtown while riding my bikes...haha i ran into drew, cameron, staci and derek all at one point today. that makes me feel like this is home.

until next time friends...much love!
:)

apple picking

Those ladies are beautiful and i heart them very much. the four of us all on the left hand side are the ladies here in the church plant. and our new friend is on the right end side of the picture. i love this picture. we had so much fun apple picking and enjoying the day together. all us girls did that while the guys watched football...priorities ya know? :) i really, really enjoying being able to share life with these wonderful people.

today was a great day. we did apple picking, hanging out playing mariokart, cooking food, eating together, and just being lazy together. i'm learning a lot about community...

ah, i still miss being in indy. my heart is becoming more and more a part of this city, but geez indiana is really far away. it's good to have days like today to lift me up. i felt a lot of joy today. :)

one reason why i teach

i had a fifth grade student who was not really quite with it on wednesday. i had to take him away from his drum because he was not making good choices at all. i'm thankful for discernment when i teach because at that moment i asked him what is going on. his reply, i just really haven't been sleeping. i told him i understood, and that he can take a little break. well, then friday came. he did absolutely awesome! i ended up giving him a way to go ticket, which the kids think are the best thing ever. and he ended up being the last one to leave after their class was over. i told him how proud i was of him and that he was paying attention and doing exactly what was asked of him. he said thank you and with tears in his eyes he said i am doing this for my step-dad. i told him well your step-dad would be very proud of you...you should tell him about it. he said something else and then said still with tears in his eyes, that his step-dad went to jail last night. and that's why i teach. those moments my students open up their lives to me makes me love what i do. and those moments are what i hang on to when i have a bad day at school. i feel extremely blessed to be a teacher.