It's All Because of Jesus...

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

I think I can identify with the psalmist here. God has been doing great things, and I am overwhelmed with joy!

Some of the great things He's been doing with my family...

I've had some SWEET times with my siblings lately... discipleship/learning moments, times of prayer, times of encouragement, and just plain fun. I'm so cherishing my time at home with them!

• Zac is camp counseling in California now and absolutely LOVING it! I'm excited about the opportunities he has there. It sounds like an incredible atmosphere that fits his talents so well (he's GREAT with kids).
  
• Josh continues to get sweeter and sweeter each day. He now has his driver's license and gets up early most mornings to take me to work (sometimes before 7 a.m.!). He is so thoughtful and has an incredible love for the Lord.
  
• Caleb and I have been enjoying Jr. High youth group together. God has blessed him with some sweet leadership qualities and opportunities on his baseball team.
• Emma is becoming such a beautiful young woman of the Lord. It is exciting to hear her talk about Jesus as her best friend... and to share that joy with the neighborhood girls.

This past week, we went running together, had a dessert night together, played hide & seek at the Mary Frank Elementary School playground, went on a kind-of-sort-of photo scavenger hunt, enjoyed Emma's first cake, found a bunch of my old books in the basement and had a book party, worked on budgets, made cupcakes, visited my mom at CFA, had a LOVELY breakfast with my grandparents, and had a little "encouragement fest."

It is SO sweet to see my siblings growing in their love for the Lord. All I can say is... my brothers are going to make excellent husbands someday... and Emma sure is turning into a lovely young lady.

Some of the great things He's been doing with my job [ministry location]...

I could probably dedicate an entire post to everything that has been going on at work. However, I will just say that God is SO at work!

A couple of my coworkers have agreed to go through the Experiencing God study with me, which is so exciting and encouraging! It's also amazing how God just guides our conversations at work. Although the location is not exactly what I had in mind for the summer, I am thankful that God has provided this job for me... and am overwhelmed with the opportunities to shine as a light.

There is also definite opposition from other sources, but that often seems to be the case when God is at work. I can totally see how my time in Va Beach last summer working at McDonald's was good prep. for this.

Some of the great things He's been doing... that are just random and sweet and encouraging to my heart...

• Learning to abide in Him... John 15... and Andrew Murray's book on prayer = intensely challenging and amazing!
• Finished reading Live Life on Purpose by Claude Hickman. If I could, I would have every Christian read this book! Perhaps a book review will be on it's way soon.
• My TESOL classes are going well. I'm approximately 35% finished with the course (Unit 7 of 20). I'd like to be further, but am working when I can.
  
• Provided insurance for me through Meijer beginning on July 1st - the same day my other insurance runs out! He is so faithful!
  
• Megs and I had a Taco Salad date Friday night and had a great time of fellowship and encouragement.
  
• This weekend, Jana Alexis came to visit me and we had a LOVELY time together. Strawberry chicken poppyseed salad (Panera wannabe), vegetable omelettes, late night brownies, good coffee at Bella Vita, lots of talking and laughing... it was wonderful. This afternoon, we met Megs & Nora for a "picnic" lunch and went to Barnes & Noble for coffee afterward (the weather wasn't all that cooperative).

Reunions. Wedding. Graduation. Funeral.

That pretty much sums up the past week.

Reunions
This week, I was beyond blessed with reminders of amazing friendships God has placed in my life.

Three of my four roommates from VA Beach (Summer 2007) came to visit me. I was so delighted to have them come and almost felt as if I was living a dream. Although that may sound somewhat melodramatic, it really was refreshing for my heart. We hadn't seen each other for six months... and had so very much to catch up on!!! We definitely had NO trouble finding conversation topics. It was exciting to share what God has done and is doing in our lives... and was also good to reflect on some of our best memories from our summer project with Campus Crusade. I am still in awe of the sovereignty of God... how He placed each one of us (though INCREDIBLY different) together last summer. Our reunion time consisted of pizza night at my house (compliments of my amazing mother), sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa's, a delightful brunch (compliments of my amazing Grandma), a 2 hr. visit to Bethel's Shiloh Prayer Chapel, and a lovely afternoon at the South Bend Chocolate Cafe. Rachael ended up staying an extra night because of the tornadoes in Ohio.

On Thursday evening, I had the privilege of finally catching up with my dear Jana Alexis. It was lovely and I am looking forward to seeing her hopefully in the near future.

The reunion spirit continued throughout the weekend as I spent the night last night with Miss Kate Criswell. After KatieO's "girls party," we grabbed some dinner at Steak 'N Shake before heading back to Kate's for some much-needed sleep. We definitely had lovely times at Steak 'N Shake... confusing our waitress, switching our booths a few times (the air was cold and we were trying to avoid it!), reminiscing about previous memories at S 'N S. It was definitely a time to cherish.

It was also neat to see KatieO (now Wright) and her family... which brings me to my next subtitle...

Wedding
Today I attended the wedding of David & Katie Wright. It was a nice ceremony and I enjoyed seeing Katie's family again. I am truly happy for both Katie and David. It's hard to believe how quickly the years fly by. I remember dreaming with Katie when we were in high school about weddings, marriage, and our future spouses. It is exciting to see her dream come true. It is also exciting to be perfectly content with this lovely season of life that I am enjoying completely unattached.

Graduation
Upon returning from the wedding, I went directly to my cousin Nathan's graduation party. He just graduated from Penn High School. It was a nice party and it was SOOO good to see my extended family members. These family times are truly times to cherish, particularly since they will be very few and far between over the next year(s).

Funeral
Unfortunately, my sister informed me of some very sad news (with tears in her eyes) when I got back into town. Her dear friend and companion, Chester the Hamster is now in Hamster Heaven (no, I do not have any particular theology on animals and heaven... just like the alliteration). It's been a hard day for her, which is understandable. She loved Chester dearly. We've had lots of tears today, particularly when she was cleaning out his cage for the last time. We sat down for some "sister time" over hot chocolate and reflected upon Emma's pleasant memories of Mr. Chester. She seems to be doing fairly well, but it's definitely been a hard day for her. I believe our family will be making funeral arrangements tomorrow at some point [This will be our first family funeral for a pet... I'm not exactly sure what to expect].

Misc.
I hate to end on such a sad note... so perhaps some of my readers will be delighted to hear that I will soon be "going Verizon." I think my plan will change in about 30 days and I will have unlimited texting. I am welcoming the change, after several complications and frustrations with Centennial.

It was nice to have Megs over for a visit this evening. She went to Caleb's baseball game, which turned out to be rather exciting at the end.

EXHAUSTED

I know it's been a long time since I've updated... it's been crazy. Work is going better. This week has been a hard week. I'm really tired. Every day after work this week (Tuesday - Saturday), I've had something going on that has caused me to rush home, change, and jump back in the car:

Memorial Day weekend - surprisingly quiet actually... and a little lonely until Monday. Family spent most of the time at baseball (nothing out of the ordinary). Cleaned around the house quite a bit. Made a fruit salad and brownies for visits at my grandparents houses.

Tuesday - Sweet time with Sara in the morning (running, whole wheat pancakes, encouraging prayer time). Work 11-5. Caleb had baseball practice and I had the honor of dropping him off, picking him up, and going to an impromptu baseball pizza party/trophy presentation. In between practice, I had a wonderful visit with Miss Emily Vegh.

Wednesday - Much-needed journaling time. Work 11-5. Junior high youth group - good times.

Thursday - Work 9:30 - 5. Emma's play, Geppeto & Son (a.k.a. Pinocchio). It was Emma's debut on the stage and she did an excellent job. I was so proud (yeah, I actually almost cried because I was so proud. I wonder what it will be like when I'm a Mom... thankfully, I won't have to find out for hopefully a LONG time!). After Emma's play, I worked on my TESOL Unit 1 lesson, had a surprise and MUCH-NEEDED phone date/prayer time with the lovely Kate Criswell, then finished my TESOL, going to bed a little after midnight

Friday - Breakfast at CFA with Desiree... then a visit with my Mom. Work 11-5. Youth event - the "Cereal Life." It was what I would assume to be a typical youth event with craziness, fun, and a few splotches of drama.

Saturday - that's today. Thankfully, I don't have a whole lot planned now. There are many things I need to catch up... rest, thank you notes, TESOL units, South Korea documents, finishing my room in the basement, updating my budget, phone dates, etc.

It's been a busy week. It's been a hard week... emotionally and physically exhausting. In the midst of the chaos, I have had some delightful visitors at Meijer Starbucks, which I have appreciated. Perhaps the highlight was having my Grandpa visit (I think that was yesterday... but the days are kind of fuzzy in my head). Since we weren't busy (as usual), I got to sit down and visit with him for awhile. I'm thankful for him...


Oh... I am planning to do a post about the earthquake stuff in Chengdu... and what I've been learning about abiding in Christ. I'll have to save that for later, though.