Purpose

So, I've been struggling with this word for a while now, in a lot of aspects of my life. In the AP Lit class that I took we went through this season of reading many pieces from many authors spanning many "eras" that looked at a person's purpose and what happens when that purpose is lost. This was a very depressing season, because the authors seemed to agree that once a person's purpose was lost or overlooked, the very point of that persons life was over, and often this led to the death of the character as well. For classes full of high school seniors who were at the time in their lives when they were trying to figure out their purpose it was almost more than we could handle. For me personally, I felt like I came to grips with the questions of my purpose, for my future anyway. But now, in this transitional period, I am struggling with exactly what my role is for the summer. I am no longer a high school student. I am not yet a college student. I am phasing out of youth group, but there is not a college group to phase into, nor would it be very worthwhile to seek one out 4 hours away from where I will be attending college. My parents are helping me to celebrate and prepare for my independence, but I still have family responsibilities and expectations to fulfill. Its weird. And I'm a little bit lost.

Part of me is so ready to venture into this big world. I'm excited to move away from home and have all of these new experiences and new friends and new responsibilities. I cannot wait to find a church near school, get involved with groups on campus and begin my classes. But another part of me cannot believe that my life at home is coming to an end, that my friends and I are all going our separate ways, and that I will never again walk the halls of my high school as a student. Everything is changing all at once, and I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm going to get a horrible roommate, that I'm not good enough to major in music, that I won't be able to make the kind of friends I crave. I'm scared of the faith crisis that "everyone has once the get to college." And to a certain extent, I'm scared of letting people know that I'm scared.

 But right now, one of my biggest fears (more than all of that other stuff), is that I'm wasting this summer. I know that this time is supposed to be a little awkward, but I also know that God can use this awkward time in my life to further His kingdom, and further prepare me for my future. But I still feel like I'm waiting for this summer to begin. When school ends every year, I always get these big ideas about what I'm going to accomplish this summer, and sometimes they happen and sometimes they don't, but there's always something that I'm doing. And while I have some ideas and goals for this summer, the desire and motivation to go out and work on them has yet to come. Which is weird. I think, that because I don't feel like this summer has a definite purpose, it can't have definite goals. And being the over-achiever, goal oriented person that I am, this doesn't sit well with me.


One thing that I know for sure, is that I was made on purpose for a purpose. At this point, I've just got a little bit of seeking to do in order to figure out what it is for right now.

In other news, my girl Halle left for her trip to Spain today! I am so excited for her, and the experiences she will have (is having) and will literally be GLUED to her blog, waiting to see what she gets herself into over there! Also, my youth group friends come home from their mission trip today! I know that they've had a really good trip and I can't wait to see what God has shared with them and what He will share through them! Speaking of which, I have to go pick up my brother about now. One last thing though- its also Father's Day. I would be terribly terrible remiss not to throw it out there that my dad is pretty awesome! No matter what happens, I know that I have his love and support and that he's always in my corner. I have been so blessed and I love him very much!

He's pretty great!

Blessings
Emily

Let the College Shopping Adventures Begin...

I must admit, I am getting really really excited for school this fall! Its gonna be SOO different walking into a school 10x the size that I'm used to, and not see my friends in the hallways and just the whole not knowing what to expect thing. BUT I can't wait to see what God has for me on this next step, and the more prepared I become, the more excited I'm getting. I cannot tell you how many lists I've been making and re-making and the budgeting that I've been doing and the drooling over pinterest boards and West Elm catalogs. And while I was immensely blessed by the wonderful people in my life at graduation, I think it would irresponsible to but a whole bunch of stuff for a temporary housing assignment. SO, I have set aside a certain amount of money and am committing to sticking under it, and last night I went on my first shopping experience (and it was with my mommy- definitely the best part!)

So, I have never been to Ikea before, the closest one is like 2 hours away, but all I hear is how wonderful it is and how I should go, and blah blah blah. But let me just say, it was WONDERFUL! It was huge and overwhelming and crazy, but I loved seeing all of the different stuff they have and all the different things they could do, and I walked away WAY under the budget that I had set, and that was BY FAR the best part! (and the fact that I remembered the colors and everything went together when I got back home- that was cool too!) The corner is growing, and my list is getting checked off!

The college corner is growing!! :)

 At Ikea I got this rocking orange rug for like $20, and the perfect sized trashcan and a multipurpose lamp! (Wow, I'm such a nerd for being this excited about it.) Then we went to Target and priced some things (spent a gift card or two) and I found this super nifty chair (!) and some other, more (boring) practical things.

Like seriously, how cool is this? And it folds up into almost nothing!

 And finally we went to Garden Ridge (not gonna lie, it was pretty sketchy) and I got some super cheap dishes! I can't wait till everything comes together!

So, to recap, as of right now, I have acquired:

Quilt

Pillows

Mattress Protector-thingy

Rug

Pillows

Chair

Curtain (an idea for my closet door)

Coffee Maker

Coffee

Lamp/ Light Bulbs

Bedside Table

Towels

Laundry Basket

Starter Detergent and Stain Remover

Laundry Hamper

Picture Frames

Dishes (including plates, bowls, and cups)

Picture Frame

I really need to get some totes so that I can store and transport everything, so that is definitely the next thing on the list. But I just can't wait for everything to come together and to get on campus in the fall and start this next chapter of my life!

Chocoholic Confession...

So I must admit...I am a really really big fan of chocolate! :) So being a fan of chocolate, I tend to incorporate it into stuff that I make a lot, so that I may eat it. Tonight, I made my ALL TIME favorite snack....*drum roll* chocolate covered bananas and pretzels (yes because only one would not be sufficient. Not to mention a waste of perfectly good chocolate). It was so super simple. All you have to do is melt the chocolate and dip you goodie of choice into it.

Ignore the BBQ chips ;)

For those who wish for a step-by-step:

1- Melt 1/8 c. of chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish with almost 2 tbs. of butter. I use the melt/ chocolate/ 4-6 oz setting on my microwave. Its probably something along the lines of 2 minutes on 50ish% power.

2- Dip the pieces of whatever into the chocolate using a fork to help turn the piece in the chocolate (be careful, the chocolate is hot and definitely will burn your fingers...personal experience).

3- Lift the pieces out of the chocolate using the fork, tapping the fork against the side of the dish to shake off excess chocolate (more chocolate, more goodies!)

4- Put the yumminess on a wax paper lined baking sheet or plate and put them in the fridge till they're cool/ the chocolate has hardened.

And that's it! Super easy and super yummy! And actually, mine should be done with the cooling process. I leave you to partake in the results of my (not so hard) work. So yummy!

Starting off the Summer Right!

Hello there! :)

So last night my grandparents flew back home, marking the official end of my family graduation celebration. I was terribly sad to see them go (yes, I cried) but part of me is glad that summer can actually begin. I know it sounds terrible, but for me, guests are just hard work, especially if they are your beloved grandparents! I wanted so badly to spend time with them as much as I could, but I also had to make appearances and others' grad parties, and I was picking up babysitting jobs and trying to help mom keep the house clean and food cooked, and it was just a lot (yeah mostly my fault, but I've never been good at seeing where the "too much line" is, much less actually steering clear of it...). So in that regard, I'm glad its over. And now, summer (the relaxing, getting stuff done part) can truly begin! Yay!

To kick off the summer, my beautiful, crazy, passionate, (most importantly) Jesus-loving, friends; Halle (who can be found blogging here) and Leslie had put together an awareness rally, event thing about modern-day slavery and the End It Movement. Since we got back from Passion 2013 these two have been the ones who have really run with the question of "How can I take what I've learned back home with me," and I for one couldn't be prouder of them! They called people all over our little county and found a parking lot we could use and set up tents and made info boards and invited speakers and advertised and it went over really really well. (Like I said, I'm proud!) But the night before, Les called me and asked if I would be willing to do some "event photography." Of course I agreed, and I was truly excited to help in whatever way that I could, and I love taking pictures! But of course, I wasn't actually sure what she wanted, and what I was hoping to do exactly. All that to say, for my first time at doing any kind of event photography, and it being a last minute deal, I'm pretty happy with it. Wanna see some?

Letting people know where it was!

 

Caption this...?

They estimated that about 80 people stopped by. That's crazy!

The presentation/ speaker portion.

Some people looking at an info table.

Capturing this moment of the actual "shining a light" was so hard!

I think its safe to say they were excited with how it turned out!



I'm still so shocked at the numbers and statistics of modern-day slaver, and how prevalent an industry human trafficking is today. I'm so glad however, that there are people who are working tirelessly to bring awareness, and justice for the victims. I wrote about this as one of my first posts, and that has SO many good links if you're looking for more information! It's right here. Please learn more and don't be afraid to see what you can do to help bring justice to such a HUGE number of people.