XA House's coffee...like music to my ears

This past thursday XA had a Coffeehouse. No, it's not a talent show. Coffeehouse is a night where students have an opportunity to share what the Lord has been speaking to them, has taught them, to simply praise Him for all he has done. In short, God has blessed us with many talents and gifts, and they are all for His glory!

Dane and I played a song, along with some of our closest friends. I wont tell you when we played, so you'll have to watch the whole video that was recorded and streamed live that night to find us. There were some AMAZING performances!

In other news...wedding planning is going great! Here's the checklist so far:

Dress

Bridesmaid dresses

Reception site

Ceremony site (pending)

Colors

Groomsman attire

Currently meeting with photographers

Still looking into florists and caterers

I'm Getting Married!

So Spring Break was eventful...I'm engaged! Some of my closest girl friends and I took a trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park for a long weekend. Monday morning, the day we were going to drive home, I awoke to someone playing Dane and my favorite song on the guitar. I crawled out of my tent, as the sun was coming up, and my friend Daniel was playing and singing, and Dane's roommate Sean, along with Kelli, Heather, and Kristen were all taking pictures. And there was Dane, standing a few feet away with a blanket to wrap around me since it was so cold. So, in the middle of the desert, just as the sun came up, he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. I love this man!

As far as planning goes, thanks to mom, we accomplished a lot of major steps toward the wedding within our first week of engagement. We set our date for January 8, 2011. From there, we booked a reception site, a ceremony site, bought my wedding dress, picked out the bridesmaid dress and groomsmen attire, and decided on my wedding colors. Now we can relax a little with the planning since we still have half a semester left of school. Whew!

it's been awhile...

So I admit I have not kept up with this site for quite some time, so apologies, but now having said that I'll just jump right in to what is currently going on instead of covering what has happened between my last post and now.

Spring semester is always the busiest, for whatever reason. It just consistently feels more overwhelming than the fall, but I find that the business of it keeps me motivated to get so much more done, and I tend to enjoy it more for that.

This has not been the best semester for finances in the least. I've cut out a few things due to the overwhelming costs, but praise be to God, I finally received my financial aid for this semester and felt an immediate relief of this financial burden I've had. God is good!

In other news, I've begun making designs for a friends band. I've been working a lot with watercolor and ink and am having an absolute blast creating different designs. They needed help coming up with the name, so I made samples with various titles I came up with. So here's what I've come up with so far...

I'll post more art as it comes. I have a few more designs already but need to scan and edit them still.

the end is really the beginning

Today is the last day of debrief, and I'm sitting alone in the room where we've met for 3 days readjusting to being back in the States. It's strange to think that up until 3 days ago I had been in Ireland for two months. It's as if I dreamed the whole experience; it ended just as quickly as it began. 

Over these past few days, I've heard so many stories of funny and awkward experiences from all over the world, stories of how God moved, people coming to Christ, or struggling with the reality of sin. How do you put into words the fullness of all God did this summer? That's been my greatest struggle. I have stories, I have significant examples of God moving. But I feel that much of the significance of his work was in the little things that typically go unnoticed. My attempts to put into words the experience as a whole always seem to fall short, and in a sense, undermine the magnificence of it all. Suffice it to say then, that God moved. Simple, but the best way I can express this summer. God moved, just as he always does. I have been stretched, challenged, I have experienced an overwhelming love for a people, for individuals, that my heart has felt as if it were breaking, I have desired to share the full burden for a person that they would be free from the weight for even a moment, and I have learned to lean into the pain so that God could show me more of my sin and the extent to which I need Him to save me.

As for where to go from here, I don't know the plans He has for me, but I know that my purpose is simply to walk with God, and to be so sensitive to the Spirit that I will go wherever He leads me. This is the end of a summer; the end of a stage in my life. This is also the beginning of a life well lived for the glory of the Lord.

still kickin

Just a brief update for everyone. I know it's been awhile since the last one. Things are going very well here. It seems as though we've moved on from our month of sunshine and now we're welcoming a month of rain. It's been cold and wet for the past two weeks and I'm positive that this will be a continued trend for the rest of our time here. I'm not complaining though. I'm going to enjoy the cold while I have it because home will be HOT. 

This past week we had our Holiday Bible Club (vbs as we know it). It was so much fun. We had a different pace for that week then we normally do so the slow down was nice. Heather and I led worship. There is really something beautiful about the way children worship. They don't care who's watching, or how good the music is, or what they look like singing. They just enjoy themselves and belt out the words and jump and dance. It's really very humbling to think about how paranoid we are in worship as adults, so concentrated on ourselves that we can't focus on God. Children have no inhibitions. The children seemed to really enjoy it, and I did as well. It's refreshing to be able to just preach the gospel, to teach Jesus simply and straightforward.

This week it's back to the old schedule, and then next week we have soccer camp. Only 2 weeks until I'm home. It's pretty unreal, and I'm very excited to see my family and friends again. At the same time it's hard to think that my time here is almost over. My biggest fear is to focus my eyes on home too soon. I'm still here, and God's still working. He is always working. Please be praying for me to focus on the work that God has for me here, and for me to fix my eyes upon Jesus. If nothing else, just fix my eyes on him and the rest will follow. 

Tramore and Duncannon

These are some pictures from Tramore and Duncannon where we had the youth retreat and our team holiday. Enjoy!

 

Happy Sunday!

Good Morning! It's beautiful today...well actually it's cloudy but any day it doesn't rain is a beautiful one here in Ireland. I'm enjoying one of my favorites parts of this culture, tea! I don't think I've ever drank so much tea in my life but they've got something right with this tea culture so I'm thinking I'll carry it on back in the states, although I have no idea where I'm going to get biscuits for it (cookies, particular called Digestives although the name doesn't do them justice). 

Anyway, we got back from Duncannon yesterday. Last weekend we were in Tramore for a couple days of camping with the students. It was such a fun trip! I wish I would have gotten pictures from during the day, but we were in the water so I couldn't bring my camera. We signed up with this outdoor adventure place, and they took us coast steering...I think that's what he called it. We got suited up in wetsuits and pfd's and helmets, and then we went through a series of cliff jumps along the rocky coast. It was the most amazing water. Aside from the biting cold (we could see our breath as soon as we got into the water) it was quite beautiful. The water is crystal clear, and the guide was so surprised how smooth the water was that day. He told us we were so lucky because the water never looked that good. Our highest jump was a 25 ft cliff. Most of the students had never done anything like that before...the screams were priceless. Everyone had so much fun and it was a great way to get to talk and hang out with the students. We also repelled off Duncannon Fort in the afternoon. Also fun (I got to be the example and go first) but the best part was the cliff jumping for sure. 

Some of us led devotionals in the morning and evening, and we had some great worship time and late into the night some great conversations with some of the students. I realized just how perfectly designed by God this trip was. The group dynamic couldn't have been better. No one had their best friend there to cling to, and they were freed up to focus on God and just maybe...cling to Him. 

The students drove back to Kilkenny on Tuesday, but we drove out to Duncannon for the remainder of the week. Ande took us out to some sweet spots over looking the beach and did some prayer exercises with us, and we got some time to get alone with God and really seek him. I needed that more than anything. My favorite part was being able to enjoy the work of God's hands. I can't imagine a more beautiful picture than some of the places we've seen here. I felt inadequate in my ability to fully appreciate creation. It was as if my eyes couldn't take in enough, and my senses strained as they were, couldn't fully absorb all that surrounded me. It made me sad to know that I'm not just limited in strength, faith, mind, and any number of other things, but even in my ability to simply enjoy. What's even crazier is that this is what fallen creation looks like. I can't imagine how beautiful it will be when it is restored. 

Anyway, it was a great week, but I'm glad to be back and to get started on more work. I will post some pictures from the trip later.

God Bless!