Mother's Day

Mother's Day. Such a bittersweet holiday in my books. By no means was my childhood puppies and rainbows and saying my mom and I have a strained relationship is quite the understatement. But I've decided even though these things are true, she deserves to be celebrated. She deserves to be applauded for the things that she taught me growing up and for helping to mold and shape me into the person that I am today.

I've been asking Jesus all week to remind me of the really great things that I've learned from my mom over the years. When you only focus on and remember the bad stuff from growing up, it's really hard to remember the good stuff. But, Jesus is faithful and I think I've got some solid stuff.

1. There have been quite a few family friends that have recently told me how much I have grown up to look like my mom. I take that as a compliment because growing up I idolized her and wanted to be just like her. You can be the judge :)

2. She is a really passionate person. She did whatever was necessary to get where she wanted to be. When we lived in Colorado it was her dream to open up a shop since we lived in a touristy town and she did just that. It was hard, time consuming and costly but she loved it. It taught me not only to be passionate about the things that I loved but to do whatever it took to achieve those dreams.

3. I definitely get my feistiness from her and I'm by no means complaining about that ;)

4. She was the best cheerleader and always wanted us to do what we loved. After 8 years of gymnastics, I told her I wanted to quit so she let me and then when I told her I wanted to do it again, she encouraged me to get back into it. She took us to every sports event that we had and sat on the sidelines of teeball games, soccer matches, gymnastic meets, and basketball games. We weren't in sports because she was trying to vicariously live through us like some parents and their kids. We did sports because we loved them. I love this about my mom.

5. My mom taught us the importance of responsibility. Whatever lay ahead of us we were responsible for. No excuses.

6. Lastly, she taught us to fight. She taught us that the best things in life are worth fighting for. It sounds cliche but it is true. There are rarely things in life that are going to come easy, especially things that you really want. So, she taught us to roll up our sleeves, dig in and do whatever it takes to get to the end.

Despite all that we've been through, I really do love my mom. Today, I am choosing to believe that growing up she loved me the best way that she knew how and that is good enough for me.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Because He Asked Me To

It took me quite a while (2 months to be exact) to get all my thoughts on this subject together enough to even think about putting it on my blog but alas here I am finally blogging about it. It took me a really long time because I wasn't sure if it was ok that I felt the way I do and if it was ok, how in the world I navigate through it.

As most of you know, I've spent the last two summers ministering and loving on kids through camp. To date, it has by far been the two greatest summers of my life. God grew me, stretched me and taught me so much about myself, about the people that I was blessed to serve with and about who He is. These were summers that I would never change for the world. As I sit here watching over our end of the summer video from last summer I am reminded of these things.



I can't even describe my feelings other than I love camp! Love it in a way that I know a lot of people don't understand and that's ok. Since I love camp so much it was almost impossible for me to choose to do anything else for this summer coming up. I had a plan. That was until God spoke so clearly to me that camp was not his plan for me.

And oh boy, was I not happy! I had this aching in my heart, this deep longing to work camp but yet God had asked me to serve Him overseas in a country that I never thought in a million years I would go to. So, I wrestled for months over this. I couldn't understand why God would not allow me to do something that I was good at, that I loved so much, that He had allowed me to participate in for two summers and that clearly advanced His kingdom. Honestly, I don't think I'll know the answers to those questions until the summer is over and maybe not in my lifetime. But, I have to be ok with that.



Since then, I have done the best that I can to embrace what I feel like God is asking me to do. Some days are better than others. There are some days when the aching of my heart questions what in the world I am doing. But, it's in those moments that I have to remind myself that being obedient to Jesus is so much better than doing what I think is right. I am choosing to believe that it is ok that my heart aches because it only knows what it has experienced and for the last 11 summers in some capacity my heart has been filled because of camp.

But, please do not think that I am not excited for what is to come. I am a part of an amazing team that will spend 8 weeks overseas living and preaching the gospel to university students. I am looking forward to God renewing my passion for world missions and for whatever He sees fit to teach me as I rely on Him this summer.

I will definitely update more often as these next few weeks progress. I will introduce you to our team, present specific prayer requests for us and share some of what we have been experiencing in order to fully prepare us for what God has for us. Can't believe I will officially be a summer missionary in 25 days! Here's to all the preparation that will happen in the days leading up to our trip!

T.R.U.S.T.

I will be the first to admit that I have trust issues. Serious trust issues. I don't trust well or often but that is changing! Spring Break was such a great time of relaxing and digging deep with Jesus. I was determined to get to the root of these trust issues and that I did. What an amazing journey!

I have been so encouraged that God continues to show me just how trustworthy he is. That he has everything covered. That he will protect me, provide for me and guide me along the way. How has he shown me these things recently? My upcoming trip to M3.

I was worried about my housing situation, my job, the money that I need to raise to get there, among many many other things. As I have laid these things at his throne he has simply asked me to trust him and I have been trying to do just that.

Housing situation: our landlord is letting us out of our lease 2 months early so I don't have to pay rent over the summer.

My job: my boss is letting me have my job back as if I never even left.

The money: well, that journey isn't complete but I wake up each day and tell Jesus that I trust him for the $4000.

All the other things: He is ever so patient with me as I pray through those fears and concerns.

Before this mini-revelation that I had over Spring Break, I would try to overly plan in order to compensate for my mistrust. It's really a horrible and vicious cycle. But, as I have begun really trusting Jesus with my past, present and future there is less of a need to plan. I can simply approach circumstances with complete confidence that Jesus will see me through to the other side of it. Talk about freedom!

"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." - Psalm 9:10

TT (Week 5)

I am really struggling to find something to write for tonight. It's not because I lack things that I am thankful for but because I cannot narrow it down to just one thing. Hmm.

Today more than ever, I am thankful that God is trustworthy.

I've learned SO much about this in these past couple of weeks which I am going to try to condense into a blog post for a later date. Allowing my heart to experience this has literally changed my life.

Getting Things Done

The journey of raising my support to go to M3 this summer has been stretching, tiring, and exciting all at the same time and it just started!!

Yesterday, I may or may not have moved my computer and printer to our living room to work on my support letters. The Wildcats were playing in their first game of the NCAA tournament which I clearly could not miss but I had to work on my letters so I combined the two which you can see above.

Nothing like spending your Friday addressing, stuffing, stamping and licking over 70 envelopes!

Current Brain Condition

Most of the time, the condition of my brain can be observed through the condition of my bedroom. My room is usually a mess because my brain is always going, rarely having time to slow down and rest. So, I guess you can infer the condition of my brain based on this picture I took today.

Just going in my room stresses me out. I have SO much on my mind these days. M3, Personal Refinement, Homework, Class, Grades, Work, Babysitting, Second Mile, Volunteering, Kids Ministry. Man oh man, it's going to be a long two months. But, I know I will make it. I'm just going to have to give up going to bed at 9 pm and waking up at 8 am. Oh, the life of a college student!

Community

A couple months ago, I was hanging out with some kids at a Valentine’s Day party. I got to talk with one of the girl’s moms for a while. She works at a church in town and was sharing some of her experience with me. We were talking about babysitting and hanging out with families and she said, “Second Mile is different because you guys are a community.” In the moment, I thought, “well yeah we are.” But when I thought about it later that comment really struck me. We are living in such a way that people recognize that we do life together.

I think that’s the way Jesus intended for us to live. That the body of Christ would be filled with people who not only celebrate the good things in life but are willing to walk in the trenches with other people when things get really tough. See, community life is not all puppies and rainbows; it’s definitely one of the hardest things in my life. I have my own junk and brokenness and so does every other person around me so it causes conflict and heartache. But, when you get through that stuff, the most beautiful things are on the other side like trust, vulnerability and deep unconditional love for one another. I’ve tasted those things in my three years at Second Mile and there is no way I’d give that up for the world.

In my past posts, I’ve written how much love my community but words will never do it justice. I am blessed more than I even know. I am grateful for the people who came to this city to radically amplify the name of Jesus and for a friend who asked if I wanted to go to this church they heard about my second weekend living in Tucson. Without those two things, I’d have no idea what it means to live in community.

Thankful Tuesdays

I almost forgot about Thankful Tuesdays. Yikes! It's definitely not because I don't have an array of things to be thankful for but mostly because I'm ridiculously tired from the festivities of the day.

This Tuesday I am thankful for Jesus' relentless pursuit of me. In the past couple of days, God has reminded me that He chose me, He knows everything about me and that I am worth the pursuit.

What great truth to rest in!

40 Days of Water

A great friend of mine brought to my attention this event that Blood:Water Mission is doing over lent. It is called 40 Days of Water. You can read more about it here.

There are SO many great reasons to participate in this but really it comes down to one thing for me. People in this world are lacking basic resources that you and I often take for granted. I'm just not ok with that, so for now I am trying to help the situation how I can.

Even though I don't participate in traditional lent, I can give up my QT runs and iced vanilla lattes if it means kids can drink clean water. It will be hard, no doubt about it, but I think it will serve as a great reminder of the blessed life I live.

Here's to 40 Days of Water! I hope you'll join me on this adventure!!

Thankful Tuesdays

Tuesdays make me so happy. Mostly because throughout the day I reflect on the past week and am reminded of all of the "grateful moments" that I had. It's so hard to pick just one things that I am thankful for. But, here it is for this week...

I am so very very thankful for the ways that I have been shown recently that I am appreciated.

It's such a good feeling to know that people notice your hard work and that they are grateful for what you do.

On that note, I am trying to tell those people how much I appreciate the way they appreciate me. As much as I like to know that I'm doing a good job, I want to reinforce the great job that those people are doing in my own life to make me feel valued. :)

the busyness of life

It seems like the weeks are just flying by these days. I can't believe that this semester is almost half way over. Next week is Spring Break. Hallelujah!

Last weekend, I went home for my sister's wedding and to spend some time with the family. It was a good visit and I was very excited to hang out with my nieces. I just love those girls!

(This is Rayna. She was the "family photographer")

(This is Nova. I seriously am infatuated with this child! )

Since my life has been so CRAZY these days I haven't been able to blog about anything good, well except the Hillsong concert. But, many things are swirling around in my head and they will make it to this blog in the coming weeks. I'm pondering community life, kids ministry, being an example, refinement and many other things. Be looking out for many blog posts to come!

He Has Overcome!

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the Hillsong concert with a great group of friends. It was such an amazing experience to say the very least. Seeing thousands of people worshipping Jesus along side the Hillsong band was indescribable. Their new CD, Aftermath, is full of profound lyrics. It was a picture of what I think heaven will be like some day.

Here are some highlights from our trip:

- Long car rides with 4 other girls where no topic of conversation goes undiscussed.

- Great conversation about life.

- Greasy NYC pizza downtown.

- Singing our hearts out for 3 hours.

- Seeing people accept Jesus that night.

- Being reminded that no matter what church we go to, we are the Church.

- Waiting in line for 30 minutes in the In-n-out drive-thru so that I can get a milkshake.

- Checking my mail at 1 am when we got home. (that one's for you Jenn! I have an obsession with checking our mail)

I echo all of the great things that our group has said about the concert last night. My heart is really full. This adventure was so worth it!

Thankful Tuesdays

It's that time of the week again! :)

Today I am thankful for my community and how much they take care of me. I love you, Second Mile!

i love our little cherubs

Kids are the fastest way to my heart and the kids of Second Mile have surely captured my heart. I am blessed to even be a part of the community of Second Mile, let alone be able to teach the kids. Over the past two and a half years it has been my goal to develop relationships with all of them. Yes, I want to be the fun one but I also want to be someone they can talk to about anything going on in life. It's a hard balance, but I'm working on it.

Tonight, I got to teach our 2nd-5th grade class about the Hebrew name of God, Jehovah-Or. That lesson is for a whole other blog post but I was reminded how great of an honor it is to teach our kids. I am blessed by them. I am challenged by them and their tough questions. I am pushed towards being a better follower of Jesus because of them.

I simply have no other words than "Wow! I am the luckiest girl alive!" My little 2M Cherubs, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your lives, I don't ever take that for granted. Thank you for being a constant reminder of how great it is to have child-like faith. Thank you for letting me vicariously live through you. Thank you for allowing God to use you to redeem so many parts of my life. I am a better person because of you.

When Two Thinkers Get Together

I spent the morning having coffee with a friend. We had good conversation and a few good laughs. As we caught up on the week's happenings, I realized how thankful I am for this lady. We get each other, we understand the crazy happenings of each other's brains. She understands how I process and I'm really grateful for that. Sometimes I feel a little crazy because of the way that I "feel" and think through things. To her it's not crazy, it's normal. This was a great way to start my day. Thanks for coffee, Andrea!

Even Teachers Learn From What They Teach

I often laugh at the timing of things in my life. A couple posts ago I shared what my second verse was for Moxie Memorizers. 1 Corinthians 2:1-4. I was reminded of this verse as I was preparing my lesson to teach on Sunday.

I was going through my lesson and reading through all the scriptures and trying to fully comprehend what I am teaching the kids. Kids ask really tough questions sometimes and I try to prepare myself.

Anyways, I'm teaching about the Hebrew name of God, Jehovah-Or, the Lord is Light. Let me tell you, this curriculum is pretty powerful stuff. The main points in this lesson are that God is light and there is no darkness in Him, He exposes sin in our lives to push us towards repentance and that He guides us and provides direction for us. Pretty awesome stuff! As I'm reading the story of David, which is the main story of this lesson, I am reminded of other scriptures that go perfect with these points.

I could tell the kids on Sunday that God's light overcomes the darkness around us but why would they listen to me and believe me? I mean probably because I'm trustworthy and I wouldn't tell them something that wasn't true on purpose but I want to allow God's word to speak for itself. So I'm using John 16:33. Love that verse! It's so encouraging to me that even though evil surrounds us, Jesus has already overcome this world. Wow!

This brought me back to 1 Corinthians 2:1-4. I don't want my message and my preaching to be with wise and persuasive words but I want it to be a demonstration of the Spirit's power. That way the kid's faith does not rest on the words that I use to teach them but instead on God's power.

Thank you for showing this to me today, Jesus.

A little arrogant?

According to Myers-Briggs I'm an ESTJ (you can look that up if you are curious what that means) but basically I thrive in the orderly rule following ways of life. I know my stuff and can argue for it. Couple that with having Input as one of my top strengths and it is a recipe for arrogance!

I love to collect information and constantly refer to my brain as a filing cabinet. So watch out because everything you say/do gets filed away :) Anywho, I am particularly enthralled with religion, politics, history, you know the least controversial things in life ;)

I've noticed lately and by lately I mean in the past 2 years how arrogant I am when it comes to religion. I've taken my fair share of religion courses at U of A and it seems like the more I take, the cockier I get. When it comes to religion, especially my own, it's almost as if I have a photographic memory. I can get through tests/quizzes/papers without ever studying or reading the book. I don't know why but that's just the way it is.

I am saying all of this to let you know that I am fully aware of this current situation. Arrogance is bad but arrogance in religion? Yikes! God definitely has something to say about that! He has been gently but firmly reminding my heart of my own sinful ways. How arrogance affects the Kingdom and how it affects the ways He will use me in the future. Refinement is so not fun but it is so so beneficial :)

Thankful Tuesdays

So many times I get caught up in my own frustration and fail to stop and remember all the really amazing things going on in my life. I'm going to take one day a week to highlight something that I am really thankful for. Hence "Thankful Tuesdays" :)

Today, I am thankful for horrible Algebra teachers because it provides ongoing opportunities for me to hang out with a really cool 8th grade girl that I know and by default I get to hang out with her family too. I sure am a lucky girl!

burned.

My pastor told me once that if I wanted to be able to distinguish truth from non truth then I should saturate myself in what I know is truth instead of learning about everything that is not true. He definitely knew a thing or two!

I was reminded about this lesson yesterday morning as I was participating in a religious service of a religion different than my own for a group project in my religion class.

If you are not rooted and have a foundation in the truth and you choose to play with fire, like I did yesterday, you will get burned. Bottom line.

I will not be doing that anymore!

The Life of a Soccer Mom

As some of you know, yesterday I got the privilege of hanging out with 4 pretty awesome kids while their parents were out of town. I joked that I was living the life of a "soccer mom." Boy was I right!

I started off my adventures with Starbucks and headed to pick one of the kids up from school. Then it was homework time, picking up 2 of the kids from basketball practice, dropping one off, making a store run for smoothie mixings, getting home, some of the kids eating dinner, piling all the kids in the car, picking up the last kid from practice, going to the Redbox and picking out a movie and not having everyone be happy with the movie choice (democracy rules always and it was a 3-1 vote). We finally get home, the other kids eat dinner and finish homework. 3 of the 4 kids need showers. The movie finally goes in. Pheeww! Then we try to make smoothies without a blender. That was interesting. We had to settle with the food processor. It was comical for sure!

The kids make their lunches and get ready for bed, we pray, they go to bed and then tell me they need shirts for school tomorrow so I'm off to do laundry. Finally by 9:20, laundry is being done, all the kids are in bed and I'm off to clean and do the dishes. By 10 I am EXHAUSTED!

All this to say, this little experience confirmed that I want kids but definitely not right now! I have so much more respect for the moms I know. It's such a tiring but rewarding role that they play. I am very grateful that I get to see them "in action" and continually learn what it means to be a good mom.

2nd Verse for February

I finally got Philippians 2:1-11 down. Pheww!

Now onto my second verse for the month.

"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demostration of the Spirit's power." - 1 Corinthians 2:1-4

I have been reading through the book of 1 Corinthians lately but have been stuck on this section of chapter 2 for some time now. I want to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified but how do I live that out in my every day life? So many times, I try to use fancy words in order to explain the gospel or just don't speak out at all. My message will only be effective when I rely on the Spirit's power. People will not ever choose to live for Jesus because of what I tell them. They will follow Jesus because of the Holy Spirit working within them. Pretty good news in my book!

Oldies :)

As I was writing my previous post about my dad and powerlifting I came across a lot of really old pictures. So I figure why not share them with the world. Brace yourselves, it's about to get a little crazy!

The younger brother and I

Church intern, Bob, who stayed at our house

Grand Canyon (our shirts said on the front "Itty Bitty Fish" and on the back "GREAT BIG GOD")

My dad taught us how to jump off our roof into the pool. So scary!

We are just slightly partial to the University of Tennessee

Those penguin pajamas were my favorite!

Dinner at The Sugar Shack. Best food in Scottsdale!

8th grade promotion dance. I was really skinny and really white!

Hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane. I sure did!

Husband, Father, Powerlifter, Hall of Famer

Many of you have seen as a result of Facebook that my dad is a powerlifter. For those of you that didn't know that, you know now :)

He has been doing it for the past 35 years which means that I basically grew up on the stuff. Weightlifting meets throughout the year, Saturdays spent at the gym, dumbbells and squat bars and trophies. Powerlifting is in our DNA.

I have spent countless hours in high school gymnasiums watching my dad lift, pull and push hundreds of pounds of weight. It amazes me every time. As I watch him, I am reminded time and time again of the things that he has taught me.

Dedication: There is NO way that you can show up to a meet and bench press 500 lbs. It took my dad 20 years to do that. 20 years! That's basically my entire lifetime. He is so devoted to lifting. He has gone to the gym 3x a week since before I was born. He endures pain and injury (yes, he did rip off his bicep muscle) and with little complaint. I want to be dedicated to something that much one day.

The 3 family rules: In our family, we live by three fairly simple rules. In whatever we do we must 1. try our best, 2. work hard and 3. have fun. Anytime I would be upset after a bad grade or a lost basketball game my dad always brought me back to those three rules. "Did you work hard? Did you try your best? Did you have fun?" Most of the time I could answer yes to those three questions and he was happy with that.

Last month, my dad was inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame. Such a great honor that he worked 35 long years for. I am so proud of him, his dedication to the sport and all of the hard work that he has put into it. He deserves this honor more than anyone else I know.

Congratulations Dad! You never cease to amaze me!!

Perfect Match

When I was at work today I was thinking about how much I have grown to love Pump It Up over the past 4 months. In the beginning it was hard. There were many days that I didn't want to go to work because I felt like my job was useless. I mean I stand around for hours on end. Pretty boring.

Then something in my mind and heart shifted. I started really interacting with the kids and their parents. I found joy in watching kids and parents interact in a healthy way. It was refreshing and something I hadn't seen a lot of. With that mindset I actually desire to go to work throughout the week.

Right after I began thinking about all of this I got to witness a little girl throw up all over our floor, I got to clean it all up (my first time ever) and make sure she was ok. Yes, even after throw up I still love this job.

I am thankful to be at a job that I love. I know working at Pump It Up won't last forever but I am glad that I get to be there in this moment in my life.

love and surrender

Yesterday at the gathering we sang a song that I've always loved. But it wasn't until last night that I really understood the magnitude of the words that I was singing...

"I surrender everything, every part of me"

"Your love makes it worth it all"

That isn't easy stuff. I don't know about you but I have such a hard time surrendering. It is going to have to become a daily discipline in my life I think. Let's get real probably an hourly thing knowing my track record. But it's something that I desire in my life even if it means I'm spending more time surrendering than anything else.

The last part of the song is what got me the most. I want nothing more than to be able to say that His love made and continues to make it worth it all. The surrender, the refinement, the struggles and hardships, the victories and defeats, the joy and sadness. Jesus loves makes it worth it ALL! I don't know if my heart right now can say that but Jesus continues to be faithful to me in the journey and I am closer than ever to that point.

some things just have to be forced

I am a performer and a perfectionist at heart.

I don't do things unless I am absolutely sure that I will be good at them.

How's that for prideful?

Failure makes me feel useless, insecure, incompetent and weak and to be honest who really likes to feel that way?!

BUT, I know that being a performer and a perfectionist hinders me in so many ways. So I'm stepping outside of my box a little bit.

I've decided today to take up photography. Nothing too fancy, nothing professional but in my free time (yeah right!) I want to learn the ins and outs of it. In the beginning it will probably be ugly and I'll probably be mad that I can't get it right and I might even cry a little bit but I'm ready to throw off all the things that hinder me.

I am not saying this necessarily for accountability, although that would be nice, but for me to mark this journey of refinement in this area of my life. Refinement is hard but I figure I might as well learn how to do something new because of it.

Craftiness + Last Names = Productive Day!

A few months ago some family friends got married. In their new house is a frame full of pictures that spell out their last name. When my step-mom saw it she wanted one for herself. Since I'm the one with the fancy shmancy camera now, it became my task.

I didn't know how it was going to end up because to be honest I'm really not all that crafty. But after about 60+ photos I finally got every letter of our 8 letter last name. Here is the finished product.

Now, I need to work on getting this baby framed!! My good friend, Meredith, suggested doing this as gifts for people in the future. So watch out friends, you might be getting your name spelled in pictures!

I suffer from Globophobia

As I am typing this I am thinking about just how much I HATE balloons. Everything about them I don't like. You blow them up and they threaten to pop right in your face, you carry them around and they threaten to pop in mid air. I mean what is there to like about them? I don't know but I am determined to no longer be a globophobe.

I once heard that if you surround yourself with whatever you are afraid of it helps you get over it. So, maybe I need to sit in a room with a thousand blown up balloons or join a support group. Yes, there is such thing. Ridiculous, I know!

I am starting to coordinate parties at Pump It Up and part of the job is blowing up balloons if your party wants them. So, either I get over this fear or all of my party will have miniature blown up balloons. I don't think that would go over too well!

I am not sure this really was worth blogging about but hey, everyone has some weird type of phobia. Mine just happens to be balloons.

There is a reason we are the WORST

I just need to vent for like 5 seconds.

The Arizona public school system makes me sick!!

Somehow it has become acceptable to not teach nor be present in the classroom.

I know a girl that works her butt off and she gets C's and D's on tests because her teacher doesn't teach. THEN, her teacher refuses to go over anything that the kids don't get. What kind of teaching is that?!

Now, I do know A LOT of really great teachers, so I'm not saying this is a problem everything. But, I think that we should all re-evaluate what we consider "up to standard" in the classroom.

This problem makes me want to switch my major for the 5th time to education so that I can try to help this epidemic that is affecting Arizona. As much as I want to, that won't happen. I need to stick to what God has for me. For now, I will help the kids I know and maybe start writing some letters to teachers and principals.

Thanks for listening to me complain. I feel better now ;)

Parenting and Life Lessons

I work at this place called Pump It Up. We are Tucson's inflatable party zone!! Sounds exciting, I know! Working there has been quite an adventure over the past few months. We see and do some pretty ridiculous things.

With that being said, I have learned more about parenting at Pump It Up than probably anywhere else in my life. I mean my job is to watch kids and their parents and how they interact. And let me tell you, sometimes it's ugly! I have contemplated writing a book on parenting as a 21 year old employee of Pump It Up. Maybe one of these days I'll share some of my insight. Or maybe not. Whatever :)

One little girl stealing the hearts of thousands

God has given me a heart for kids and I'm not sure many people would argue with that. I seem to love all kids; even the ones I don't really know all that well. But there is a little girl in particular that has stolen my heart.

Meet Kate McRae...

She is a, now 7 year old, girl that is fighting for her life against brain cancer. Tonight her family received devastating news of a new spot on her recent MRI scan. When I first read this I just began crying. All I could pray was "God, I don't get it and I don't have much to say to you right now but please be true to who you are. You know my heart and what I am feeling." I cannot begin to understand God's plan or timing but I do know a few things.

- God hears our prayers.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" - 1 John 5:14-15

- We can approach Him with confidence and ask for unimaginable things.

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." - Hebrews 4:16

- God has the power alone to heal.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion." - Psalm 103:2-4

- He is in control

" And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

I am resting in these four truths as I pray without ceasing for precious Kate McRae. Last week, during our annual week of prayer and fasting I was reminded just how powerful prayer can be so I am simply asking you to join me in praying for Kate. Our God is bigger and stronger than cancer, of this I am sure!

2 down, 22 to go!

I am a part of a really great group of women called Moxie at a really great church called Second Mile. At the beginning of this year we started Moxie Memorizers! Each month we commit to memorizing 2 verses. In January I memorized Philippians 4:8 and Psalm 18:2.

For the month of February this is what I am going for...

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:5-11

Over the summer the beloved CK2 started memorizing Philippians 2:1-11 as a team. In short, I failed at memorizing it all so I am giving myself a second chance. I haven't decided on my second verse yet but when I do you will know about it!

I'm back....

One of my strengths according to StrengthsFinder is Input. This is how it is defined - "You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information -- words, facts, books, and quotations -- or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity."

When I read this I thought "umm yes this is definitely me!" My collection of choice is information. I have described my brain as a filing cabinet many times before. I file random facts, conversations and details about my surroundings among many, many other things. Saying all of this, I have come back to the blogging world. This strength of mine pushes me to learn new things all the time. Things I want to share. So here we are. Buckle up. My life is usually a crazy ride but hopefully you will learn something along the way! :)