overflow

It's amusing to me to watch how in the course of only a few days my life can switch from wondering how I can occupy my time to feeling like I'll never be caught up. At any given moment this week I have had 50 things going on. In fact, in between the last two sentences I stopped to download some forms I had forgotten about... My life this week has felt like a big game of omc.
(Which looks a little something like this...)

 Crazy, huh? I think there's something about Senior year that causes everyone to go a little bit crazy. So I'm dedicating this post today to the things that have kept me sane and brought me a smile this week.

To say the least, I've been stressed the past 72 hours. Probably unnecessarily so. I'm trying to make some decisions about what exactly I'm going to be doing with my life next semester on top of balancing a crazy week at school. Stressed? Yes. Overreacting? Definitely. But I've been realizing a lot lately about the things and people I'm so grateful for in my life... The people who keep me grounded and have invested in who I am. The ones that continue to be patient with me. The ones who are always there with prayers, encouragement, and fresh perspectives. The ones who put aside their agendas just to listen and help process. People like...

Karen. Monday afternoon I got to have lunch with Karen and we both agreed that all felt right in the world when we were sitting telling stories and eating pizza together again. I am so grateful for her in my life and Monday couldn't have come at a more perfect moment. Glory to God for the time in our journeys that we walked together. Glory to God that it isn't quite over yet.

Parents. Yesterday a friend asked me over yogurt (side note: I'll call her a new friend and a new blessing that I am excited to see what God does with in the months to come!) what my parents thought about all the decisions I'm having to make this semester about my life. I realized as I answered her question that it's the absolute biggest blessing in my life that I've never had to question whether or not my parents were going to support my decisions. They always have. They always will. My dad told me not long ago that I'm the absolute last person in the world that he has to worry about... that he worries about me every single day but never has to worry whether or not I'm going to make the right choices in my life. They trust me, they love me, they support me no matter what and in turn I strive to live a life that makes them proud. And it does regardless. They mean the world to me. I've swallowed my pride a lot this week in finding the balance between wanting to continue to grow up and still letting them help me when I know I need them. They're great. What a gift.

Roommates. I'm grateful for Season putting aside her lack of wanting to discuss me ever moving out to just listen and process with me in the moments when I just needed her ear and her biblical insight. I'm grateful for Julie constantly asking me for updates. Grateful for roommates who love me... I have eight sisters and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I'm grateful for roller skating in the living room, fake fights over unrealistic scenarios, dinner every night, roommate of the day trophies, and lines like "I'm an adult. I can resist buying nail polish. Oooh, candy!" Love it.

Friends. There are a couple ck3 staffers I've been missing hardcore this week. I'm grateful for silly HeyTell conversations with Doak, for prayers from Marco, and for Kat's weekly Encouragement Wednesday messages. I'm also grateful for a sweet friend who's been important in my life for a long time and for the blessing of us quoting scripture over one another this week. He always makes me laugh and loves those around him with such patience and sincerity that mirrors that of the Lord's. I know that God is going to continue to bless him and his sweet wife in crazy ways this year. I'm also grateful for unexpected times sitting at Willy's with Will and Eric discussing what God's doing, what the future looks like, what's scary and what's just reality. I'm thankful for such great friends. I was grateful last night to sit among a roomful of friends crying their hearts out in worship to the Lord.

Driving. (yep, I realize that's not a person... but its been a huge blessing in my week.) Yesterday the Lord provided me with an extra 20 minutes to drive the backroads of Athens until I got lost. Nothing could've been a better break in my day. 

Cool weather. This week has felt almost like fall. I'm ready for that. 

And the important thing to realize is that each of these blessings is a direct overflow of the blessing that Christ himself is in our lives. James 1:17-- Every good and perfect gift is from above. Joshua 1:9-- Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. My time this week with the Lord has been even sweeter than normal. Starting with Spencer's sermon on Sunday and carried through my own studies of John and of Hosea, the Lord is definitely revealing a certain theme to my heart. You can probably best boil it down to how He loves us and how that love manifests daily into who we are. I realized as I was driving the other day that this isn't a lesson that I'm going to learn over the next few days or even weeks. It's one that He will continue to reveal to my heart day by day for the rest of my life. God's love is so unfathomable, so out of our grasp that we will never fully take hold of it. But as He continues to show me what His love is and how much our lives are just shadows of that image, I continue to grow more and more in awe of it and grateful for it. We did an activity in class where we wrote down the things, the goals, the people etc. who were most important in our lives and then were forced to cross through the majority of them as if they never existed. The first goal written on my paper was simply to glorify the Lord. If that's all that gets to stay, that'll be enough. Praise God that His love is always. May I learn to love like that. Proverbs 31:18-- ...her lamp does not go out at night. I want to live that life of constant prayer.

I get to spend a day with this kid and his family this weekend. Blessings again.

There's something about writing that just makes me happy. Unfortunately now I have to go write a paper... womp.

peaches

I love the freedom that not having classes on Friday gives me but the downside is that when Saturday morning rolls around, I'm about to bust to do something exciting. It's a beautiful day and I'm dreaming of going on an adventure and having a picnic at the botanical gardens. Or play a big game of hide and seek. Or explore a new city. Or go to the beach. If only... But for now, I'm going to keep watching home renovation shows with the roommates while I share some random thoughts for a Saturday morning.

You might've noticed I redesigned my blog. Thoughts? I was just ready for a change.

Our sweet friend Patty brought us some peaches yesterday. Makes me wish it were still summer time.

This sweet post by Wes touched my heart so much this morning. Stories like this one are the reason that I miss camp so much in the off season. There is nothing on earth more precious than the opportunity to love on kids and share Christ with them. I hope I never have to stop working camp...

This verse is really speaking to my heart this week:
"Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." -Hosea 6:3
Acknowledge Him. He is there. He will surely come like the spring rains... the ones that refresh and replenish the earth and will surely refresh and replenish you. All we have to do is ask. The Lord is reminding me of that day by day.

I spent some time last night and this morning reading through my old journal entries. I love doing this from time to time and seeing what the Lord has taught me and how He has grown me. I got fully captivated by watching my love story unfold... watching the times that He's called me to Him and the times He has slowly revealed things to my heart. I also love to see the things that I wrote and prayed and see how wrong I was, how He has answered those, or how they have developed. Some of them made me laugh a whole lot but more than anything I loved smiling at the things I was afraid of, the things I believed, and the requests I boldly presented to the Lord. I have a life rule that I never start a new journal until the current one is finished and it's incredible to see how that always falls at some new chapter of my life. Can't wait to see what my life looks like by the time this one is finished...

I think I found a new babysitting job... two month old baby? So. Excited.

We tried to go to the Farmer's Market this morning. In case you were wondering, it closes at noon. Maybe next week?

That's enough of my pointless blog post for today. I have some very important... nothing to get back to. 

fausto and rachel

As I mentioned, this past weekend I got the incredible opportunity to be a small part of a special day for two of my sweet friends, Fausto and Rachel. We all met two summers ago working for CentriKid and these types of friendships are ones that are sure to last a long time. I love these two together and the sense of joy and excitement that they bring to everyone around them. I'm so blessed to have friends like these.

Blessing number two of the day was getting to tag team these pictures with my sweet boyfriend. I can't tell you who took which ones anymore and while neither of us claim to be professionals, we both had a great time being behind the camera. That being said, here are a few of our pictures from the day.

Okay, you didn't really think I could post a few, did you?