Check Canoeing Off

Zac and I woke up bright and early around 7:15 and got ready and headed to Jalapa a small town around Marion. We met our friends Eric and Brooke and dropped the truck off so we could ride with them to pick up the canoes.

We rented the canoes out at Riverbend and had them in the water by 8:30! Then we began our five mile journey down the river. It was such a great time I really enjoyed being outside. The scenery was beautiful the green trees against the relaxing ripple of the water made me want to start every day with canoeing. We laughed and ate candy and enjoyed the company of each other. Besides the BIG OLE rock that bumped Zac straight off his seat and right into the middle of the canoe the trip was as smooth as can be. Well we did have to walk once but that was only for a very short time like maybe two minutes. And thankfully the night before I had with the help of Zac sought out the appropriate river walking shoes. It only took four stores Dollar General, Walgreens, Marsh and then finally CVS came through. Best shoes ever so comfy. They aren't the cutest though but let me thoroughly recommend ( DOGGERS)!! I jokingly told Zac I might where them more often then I should he gave me a look and I smiled.

Zac said his day was made when we saw our first ever bald eagle!It sitting on a branch right in front of us. I had to admit that was pretty cool! Ironically Eric had just mentioned them only ten minutes earlier. For me the birds and the wildlife were only a small part of what made the day so great it was peacefulness I felt out there with no distractions just us and nature cooperating as we glided our sometimes awkward canoe away from the rocks. It was a good feeling to know that besides minor disgruntle we were a team

At one point we even stopped off at this little stream that broke away from the water. We took about ten minutes on foot to walk through part of it. It was really neat and I was thankful we got the opportunity to do that. It was mainly in the woods and although the water was much shallower it was also much colder. We saw little fish and overall it was just really pretty seeing how the rocks were perfectly shaped to let the water glide over them.

We got out of the river around 11:30 and the boys pulled our canoes up a really steep hill and then through a very crowded with weeds, brush, and trees trail. That was my least favorite part of the trip going through a wooded trail with only small footpath and lots of mosquitos didn't get me very excited especially when the boys couldn't tell us if it was the right trail or not. It was ! We made it out and I'm excited for our next canoe trip!!

Five Minute Friday : Broken

No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation.

Unscripted. Unedited. Real.

5 mins of writing on a set topic.

Then linking up at Lisa-Jo Baker's blog.

Prompt: Broken

START-

When we look at or see the word BROKEN a negative connotation immediately follows. What if though, we began to look at our broken moments differently. What if we realized their potential to encourage growth and saw how they could change us drastically into the people God desires us to be. Wouldn't our lives be sweeter and our hearts more accepting.

From the Message, Matthew 5:4 You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you, Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

A must read

While I'd like to say I've begun reading Bonhoeffer.....No that goal is still on list but I am finishing up another extraordinary book right now. (Peace Making Women). My eyes are wide open. I see. I recommend it if you desire to see too.

What do I see? I see the the lies I have believed about relationships and I am beginning to understand how those lies can be restored with, peace. I'm not finished with this book yet but, I know its an excellent read for anyone willing to receive biblical knowledge about solving real life problems with those people we have to talk to everyday, those people we need to talk to everyday. Humans and their relationships are ever changing but if we presume to keep our relationships peaceful, one thing must remain constant, LOVE.

God is Love having said that the foundation for all peace-filled relationships is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the great quotes I got from the book: On the last day. Jesus will not ask about our IQ, social status, health, or wealth. He will ask how our relationships were. And the chief characteristic of a good relationship is love. ~ Alfred Poirier

Plain and simple their are just a few insights I must share with you, they are life changing and totally useful for this generation. As they have helped me to preserve in my convictions and inspired dramatic change in me.

Loving a person despite how they treat you is a reflection of who you are and your heart not about who they are and whether or not they deserve your love.

Forgiveness too? Your probably thinking. and the answer.... OH YES. Yes yes yes.

But what about sacrifice? That can't be the case with it after all those pinterest sayings I've read about not making someone else your priority when they only make you an option. Well my friends according to the Bible we have been deceived. Sacrificing for others is more about us than it is about them. It a reflection of our ability to be selfless or lack thereof.

I'm so thankful for the insights of Tara Barthel and Judy Dabler wwho coauthored Peace Making Women and pray God uses this book to radically change my heart and mold be into a peace making woman.

something worth sharing

October 14, 2012

I was having an unusually bad night. I kept thinking to myself unhealthy thoughts and thoughts that would normally fuel a relapse in my eating disorder. I wanted so badly to feel confident in who I was and what God had so graciously blessed me with but... to be honest, I just didn't. I sent up a short prayer for some sort of help particularly mentioning and thinking about confidence.... and then in that moment I decided I wouldn't lay in my bed a second longer.

I got up and went to the next room over, where my bible and green journal lay. Two items I hadn't touched in about a week. Hoping to find some sort of solace in writing to God a heartfelt prayer, I opened my green Pslams journal to the next clean sheet and to my amazement there on the opposite side of the page lay a verse and a title. They read: My Heart Is Confident in You. and verses 57:1-3 and 57:7-11 followed. I remember even to this day almost a year later how warmed my heart was. Here I was thinking I was going to write down some desperate plea for help and my Savior was ready for it, for whatever need I might have. He had written me the most beautiful words I could imagine, life giving words.

Upon reading Pslam 57:1-3 Be good to me, God and now! I've run to You for dear life. I'm hiding out under your wings until the hurricane blows over. I call out to High God, the God who holds me together. He sends orders from heaven and saves me..... God delivers generous love, He makes good on his word. AND Pslam 57: 7-11 My heart is confident in You, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing Your Praises!... I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank You, Lord, among all the people. I will sing Your praises among the nations. For Your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May Your glory shine over all the earth. Instantly my heart brimmed with joy and the tears were gone.

Seeing God is such a vivid way forever changed my life. He is always with us and caring for us but we must seek him if we are to find him.

Five Minute Friday: Present

On Bloglovin, I noticed my friend Eva over at Snappeturtle was doing this Five Minute Friday Prompt. Basically you write for five minutes on the Friday prompt and don't worry about grammar or perfection and then link up over at Lisa-Jo Baker's blog were everyone shares what they wrote . It sounded like a pretty neat idea so I thought I'd give it a try this week's prompt: Present.

Present being in the moment and aware of your surroundings. Is it just me or has technology made this a pretty hard thing to do in this day in age?

Sometimes it can be really frustrating when you want to talk to someone and they are just completely glued to their phone and not even acknowledging you. Especially when its your friends and I know I am equally guilty of this but, I am definitely gonna take extra effort to be aware and not do that when I'm with other people no one likes to be thought less important than a phone and I certainly don't want anyone else to think that I value my phone time more than my time with them.

hitting and putting

This Sunday after church I got a little closer to accomplishing my goal of being able to hit and putt properly. I really love that I have made this list of things I want to accomplish because it is really motivating me to accomplish them. I have officially checked off one of my other goals as well but I'll talk about that in a later post. For now, I'll just elaborate on my golf outing......

When we arrived at the golf course I was super excited to get started but, didn't exactly know what to expect. I had only been to the golf course one other time and that day Zac and I had just putted for a short time. Today though, Zac, my very experienced golfer boyfriend was going to show me how to hit the ball like in the air and make it go a long distance.

I thought, "Yeah, I will probably do terrible a couple times but as I kept hitting I'd get better and be decent at least." HA hahahahha. Yes, in this one outing I expected to get down the basic hitting technique. Reality: Zac brought me a little basket of about 25 golf balls to his big basket of about 40. At first I was like why do you get more. By the end though I understood and was thanking him for getting me a smaller basket. I'd say of the 25 balls I hit about three were decent ones. They ended up pretty close to the first flag in front of me and that was definitely an accomplishment for me. But as to why I was appreciative for the smaller basket was because my hands and wrists were quickly becoming sore. Something I would never have mentioned to him. Especially after I had begged and begged for him to take me golfing and we were finally at the course.

Their were also quite a few un-glamorous and even painful times when I attempted to hit the ball with all my force and slammed the club into the ground just before the ball. OUCH!! Don't do that it hurts really bad. Like a ringing in your wrist kind of bad.

Overall I had a great time. Learning something new is always challenging at first but once you get it down it can be tons of fun. Zac was patient in teaching me and helped when I needed him to which I very much appreciated. He also let me learn things for myself too. I am such a visual learning seeing someone do something and then repeating what they do is how I learn best. I am excited to get back out there and keep at it.

And can I just say to all you golfers out there I admire your dedication to get out in the heat and drag your bag around for like four hours straight and still play amazingly I know that ain't no easy task.

half way to 2014

Realizing this year is going by so quickly and that my summer is almost over I began to brainstorm making a list of some things I want to do before 2014. I so believe in the importance of goals and that without them our ability to achieve and try new things is hindered. It is never my intention to think that just because I am a college student with limited funds their isn't plenty of things out there for me try and succeed at or possibly fail, its all about the experience for me!

I want to take advantage of and truly be thankful for my health, youth, and time while I have the opportunity. When you take the time to truly think of all the wonderful things this world has to offer ( after exaggerated efforts to get the negative offers out of your head)its amazing. God's desire for us as Christians is that we lead a joy filled lives and I can't imagine my life being to joyful if I remain in the same place day after day and never try anything new. Unless of course that was His will for me but in everything I have read, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Its not that I think my life will be more joyful if I add this list of goals rather it is I believe that if through faith I rely on God to help me complete my goals I will become more joyful in his lovingkindness, goodness and faithfulness. I believe it is by trusting in him we grow. If in every new thing I try and goal I complete or attempt to complete I trust in him I can't go wrong. Nothing can happen but my heart be filled to the brim with love.

I may not be able to check everything off the list but it is better to set too many goals than not enough. I once heard, "if your dreams don't scare you they aren't big enough" and I have to say I agree. Some of my dreams for 2014 are silly and some are very serious but I think I can gain something good from all of them.

Having said that, by 2014 I plan to...............

*Get all A's and B's in my classes.
*Volunteer in my church's Sunday School and help out with the elementary!
*Learn how to play golf or at least hit the ball properly.
*Go hiking and canoeing at least once.
*With the help of Zac try all 65 of the Sno Castle flavors.(So far its 8 down with 57 to go)
*Make beautiful cupcakes for the October wedding of my dad and his fiance,Kristi.
*Book a ticket to California and go see my cousin, Samantha.
*Make homemade marshmellows!
*Become comfortable driving on highways and interstates.
*And Last but not least read Bonhoeffer.
On top of being a part-time nanny and a full time student being in August I think this is quite the challenge but, I am definitely up for it. I can't wait for the adventure. I plan to update regularly on my progress and celebrate accomplishments on my blog. I will also tweet about my goals under the hash tag (#slmuntil2014).