Yikes!
Haha… my last post was the beginning of JULY!?!
Updating one blog is time-consuming enough! Especially when you’re not fun and interesting… =P
Most updates on my life can be found on my work blog: http://emazingepicedventures.wordpress.com. 
So if you’re into the same ol’ craziness of this blog… you’ll see it at that update site as well… and possibly a few other links you might want to take a look at!
Hope you’re all well!
It’s already July?!
Happy Independence Day!
Almost a full week of July has come and passed by already… what have I been up to? Brief recap:
Top 5 things occupying my time:
1. Ministry Partner Development for Epic/Campus Crusade (ask me about it!! 
)
2. Working at the Lazy Dog Cafe as a hostess food-runner/expo! (I just got promoted a couple weeks ago! Yayy!)
3. Seeing movies, exploring, playing, getting fat donuts with Kev since we’re less than 10 miles away from each other now! :] Technically, I could run to his house… technically
4. Church stuff and people Fun
5. Pretending to clean my room… I’m really just strategically shifting the mess around the room.
runner ups: (6) Going to the gym! (7) Reading! Most recently, I’ve re-read Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice! I was feeling especially sappy.
Ah! The sun is out and it’s nice and toasty outside! I’ve been a Betsy Bummer recently, so with the coming of the sun and summer (finally!), I’m reminded of the necessity of positivity. Kev likes to point out that I’m always so concerned about “the destination” of things–the completion of a project, the finished product, the literal destination of a trip–but not as excited for “the journey” of things. He’s right! I (and those with a similar mindset) tend to produce good work/ a polished, finished product because we hope/think the higher the quality of “the destination” the greater our happiness. While this isn’t a bad thing, this type of thinking leads to discontentment in almost all situations other than an awesome “destination.”
In the midst of support raising and living at home, etc., etc., I get all worked up when I don’t see forward progress in meeting support goals nor in relationships, etc., etc. Yet, clinging to positivity means relishing every step, regardless its direction. Perhaps I’ll find another route to my “destination” while on my way… maybe reaching it will be THATMUCH more satisfying because of my journey… or maybe I’ll even find a different “destination” that’s better than anything I ever hoped or expected. :]
I’m going to take a nap now. Ah… positivity is so easy 
Making Fun…Isn’t So Fun After All
Making fun of someone is so easy… but to do it cleverly takes skill. Tonight when Keifer Sutherland, Triumph the Comic Insult Dog, and Zac Efron presented Ben Stiller with the MTV Generation Award… they honored him, yes, but with cheekiness and levity. Sure… it was funny, sort of, but at the same time I felt Stiller was hardly deserving of such ribbing. Perhaps with the recent rise of SNL and 30 Rock (still my favorite show ever… yes, I am a heathen), comedy becomes all about satire and back-handed compliments. SNL must weekly walk the fine line of “funny” vs. “yikes… that was a little too mean!” And I think I’ve lost myself to this. Oh, the Devil is a clever one indeed!!
I feel like how I did when I was a junior higher and someone told me that I was being too mean… and needed to apologize for what I said. I cried. Yes, like a baby. But not because I was genuinely sorry… but because I was embarrassed. And I feel that similar discomfort. I feel the exposure that sudden clarity brings and am embarrassed for being found the fool, the disgraced, the jerk that I really am. I’ve been unmasked only to find an immature 23-year-old who finds way too much pleasure in being accepted and liked by people.
Let me just say… I’m so glad I’m finding out about this now…
A New Love
As I started “revisiting” my unfortunately neglected iTunes collection, I noticed my recent preference of female artists. By “revisiting” I mean, of course, actually listening to the songs as opposed to using them as distraction from running, traffic, thoughts I’m afraid of. Listening to these ladies makes me feel: light-hearted, hopeful, proud of girliness, inspired, creative and just every nice feeling I can think of.
I love men who can croon a mean tune as well, but today I celebrate the x-chromosomal beings who have so much beautiful music to share.
Ok, enough gushing… here’s my most recent rotation: http://www.playlist.com/playlist/16413761035
Along with the free track from iTunes this week “Rise Up” by Diane Birch, and “Hit the Spot” by Leslie Mendelson
aahhhh…
Happy Birthday, Tina Fey, and Other Celebrations!
Today is Tina Fey’s Birthday! Ah! I love her. There… I said it… She’s amaaaaazing… and my unofficial hero. Some clips from the best show ever, 30 Rock: http://www.hulu.com/watch/5816/30-rock-cougars and http://www.hulu.com/watch/6268/30-rock-episode-210 .
Yikes — I need to pull myself together! It really is a fantastic show though…
Graduations are HERE! Went to Em’s graduation ceremony on Sunday… where I tanned despite sitting beneath trees and umbrellas on the beautiful Pomona College campus! (Awesome!) Thus begins commencement season… =) Next up are Val and Allie for college graduations!! Aahh!! Kari said it best in the car ride home, “Man, we sure grew up fast…”
Congrats to all you grads!!!!
it has been so nice outside :)
spending time outside today was so nice. thank You for the outdoors!
Young Adult-iness
Am I roaring in my twenties?
Proof that I’m young:
1. I blog (semi-regularly)
2. I participate in Facebook
3. On some days I eat tacos for lunch, burritos for dinner, and then go bowling afterward…
4. My face
5. I have said “Duh” at least twice in the past two days
6. I still get excited about Halloween because I like to wear costumes–not the trashy, “mature” kind–dinosaurs, burritos, and jedi… yeah, don’t mess
7. Poop jokes make me laugh… hard.
8. Sometimes I stay up past 1 AM… like tonight! Wooo! Look at me and my bad self!
9. See above.
10. I still have thoughts like, “When I grow up, I want to go into space… or Europe…”
11. My daily uniform generally consists of Vans, jeans, and a sweatshirt… it’s like i’m a 13-year-old skater boy
12. I have an iPod… and I listen to somewhat contemporary music.
13. I’m moving back home for the summer.
Proof that I’m an adult:
1. I get tired after 10 PM.
2. My driver’s license
3. Thoughts of home-ownership and financial investments/stewardship keep me awake at night.
4. I’m learning to communicate, healthily, how I feel about certain things.
5. Sometimes, when I speak, I sound like my parents.
6. I read the newspaper and not just the front page and sports… but the BUSINESS and HOME sections!?!?!
7. I get bugged by really loud noises…
8. Driving isn’t as fun anymore.
9. I floss regularly and eat vitamins…
10. The thought of marriage doesn’t completely freak me out.
11. Balancing my checkbook and budgeting take up a day per month of my time.
12. I’m not supposed to cry and throw fits and pout anymore.
13. Sermons and talk radio in the car—’nuff said.
14. Random things like old papers and notes and cards are suddenly so much more significant.
15. Adults my parents age started telling me to call them by their first names.
Placement =)
I’ll be on the Orange County/Long Beach Epic team starting this August! SO excited!
And God in His perfect (and often hilarious/crazy) timing provided these words from (again) Elisabeth Elliot’s book Secure in the Everlasting Arms (seriously… this book has so much insight! if you wanna borrow, just ask!):
The Gift of Place
It is always possible to do the will of God. In every place and time it is within our power to acquiesce in the will of God. Jesus comforted His disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2). Who is finally responsible for our circumstances? Psalm 16:5 tells us: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
We have the assurance–a calming and quieting one–that God in His infinite wisdom has placed us where we are. There are perhaps some factors which we would not happily have chosen.
When Alexander Solzhenitsyn was in prison he wrote, “How simple for me to live with You, O Lord! How easy to believe in You! When in confusion my soul bares itself or bends, when the most wise can see no further than this night and do not know what tomorrow brings, You fill me with the clear certainty that You exist, and that You watch to see that all the paths of righteousness be not closed. From the heights of worldly glory I am astonished by the path through despair you have provided me, this path from which I have been worthy enough to reflect Your radiance to men. All that I will yet reflect You will grant me. And for that which I will not succeed in reflecting, You have appointed others.”
Let us never suppose that obedience is impossible or that holiness is meant only for a select few. Our Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness–not for our name’s sake but for His. He saw to it that in the midst of excruciating suffering those paths were not closed to Solzhenitsyn. They are not closed to us.
All of us, I suppose, have at times felt strangely displaced, wondering how on earth we landed in a situation so far removed from that of our choosing. In 1958, I was living with Auca Indians in the Ecuadorian jungle. They had provided Valerie and me with a house–”a gift of place,” bless their dear hearts! It was identical to their own houses–without walls, floor or furniture. My hammock was swung, as theirs were, between two of the six poles that held up the roof. Valerie, who was three, slept happily in a blanket on split bamboo. Often in the intervals between sleeping and fanning the fire I found myself musing in the wee hours: What am I doing here? How am I to glorify the Lord in such a place? I remembered Psalm 16:5, “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.” I realized that He was preparing me for what He was preparing for me. “I go to prepare a place for you,” He told His disciples.
Our heavenly Father knows to place us where we may learn lessons impossible anywhere else. He has neither misplaced nor displaced us. He assigns and designs according to His inscrutable wisdom–always for our blessing and conformity to the image of Christ.
The apostle Paul learned “to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13).
I believe that in every time and place it is within our power to acquiesce in the will of God–and what peace it brings to do so!
It’s Official…
I’ll be interning with Epic/Campus Crusade this upcoming school year!!!! :) Yayyy!! Praise the Lord!
