That's Right, I stepped up! If I had to, I'd pee on anyone of you!

Greetings from Hilton Head! We are having a fabulous time here on vacation, however, if you couldn't tell from the title of this post, I got stung by a jellyfish in the ocean today. Which of course made me think of the Friends epsiode where Monica got stung by the jelly fish and Chandler peed on it. The sting definitely hurt, but luckily there is a shuttle that we were able to take the half mile back to the house so I didn't have to walk the whole way or get Derek to pee on it. We got some vinegar from the grocery store and that helped ease the stinging and now it pretty much feels back to normal, just a couple of red welts above my ankles where I got stung. I triedt to take a picture but you can't see it very well.

Aside from the jellyfish sting the trip is lovely. We are staying in a beautiful house and enoying the hot weather, the beach and the pool. We are here with Derek's parents, his oldest brother and his wife and our two nephews. It has been fun getting to spend time playing with them since we live an hour and a half away from them and don't get to see them all the time. Here's Oliver sleeping on the beach:

Isn't he precious! He has been such a good baby. So happy, and we have been having a blast with him and Henry and the rest of the family. Hope everyone has a great week - I know we definitely will!

Identity Crisis

Well, I began a post that I was hoping to post yesterday, but haven't been able to, because I'm having a bit of a blog identity crisis.  I originally started this blog for two purposes. One was to record what has been going on in life, and be able to share that with friends and family, especially those that I don't get to see on a regular basis, and the second was to share what God is teaching me and hopefully that would be encouraging to others.

Lately God has been teaching me lots, but life has also been crazy. I'm not complaining about this at all, because it has been full of good things, but it hasn't left much time for blogging. I love keeping up with everyone else's blogs, and I want to keep up with mine because I know how much I like knowing what's going on in everyone else's lives and since you are reading this, I assume you like knowing what is going on in my life. But recently I have just been posting just to post, so I don't have long lapses of nothing.

I would love to have several hours to write down everything that is really going on, what God is really teaching me and share, but the truth is, I just don't have that time right now. Work is crazy (the post I started was about what I have been up to at work since its been so crazy) and life outside of work is equally crazy. I would feel overwhelmed if it weren't for God's peace and knowing that I can only do what I can do and He will take care of the rest.

Anywho, I guess the point of all this is that I don't know what to post since I feel like the posts I do throw together, are just that, thrown together. I would like to post something of some substance but just lack the time to put into it. So that leaves me here with this post explaining my issues of not wanting to post stuff just to have stuff on the blog. The good news is I will be heading to the beach next week with my in-laws, and hopefully I can carve out some time to gather all my thoughts on life recently and put together some decent posts. Or if nothing else, at least have some pretty pictures to share.

I just wanted you to know that if my blogging is not at all regular, that is why, and that even though I may not be great at updating my blog, I still love keeping up with yours and hope you will continue to stop by here, even if it isn't regularly updated :)

P.S. Thanks to those of you who have given me award recently. I haven't forgot about them. I am totally planning on doing a post for those, and look forward to giving them away!

Miscellany Monday

My miscellaneous thoughts for today:

{1} I really like cookies. Like, a lot. Like, I ate way too many over the weekend.

{2} Tennis is one of my new favorite hobbies. When I was a freshman in college I played doubles all the time, and it was so fun. I don't know why I stopped but I'm glad I have started again.

{3} My 2 and a half year old nephew can correctly identify more players on the Cincinnati Reds than I can.

{4} My husband has a really great family. Not just parents and brothers, but aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins. They are all so sweet and I am so blessed to not only to be born into a wonderful family, but to have married into one as well. I wish I got to see all of them more often.

{5} Does anyone want to come weed my gardens for me? The weeds are taking over and I am afraid that I will not be able to get to them for at least another 2 weeks. Which is really not a good situation. If you're local and maybe have some students who need to fundraise for their camp trips still, pleaes let me know. I will pay you!

{6} Maybe if I start playing tennis regularly I won't feel bad about not running regularly anymore.

{7} I need to start taking more pictures to add something visually interesting to my blog. I tried to switch it up a little today by aligning it to the center and adding some bold. I really like it when people use different font sizes and colors and stuff, I just am not cool like that.

Another Sports Related Post

Last night, Derek and I were watching the ESPYs and we only caught about 20 or 30 minutes of it, but it was probably the best 20 or 30 minutes of the whole awards show if I had to guess. Every year they award the Arthur Ash award for courage. This year it went to the family of the high school football coach in Iowa who was murdered. You've probably heard the story, but in case you haven't, here it is in a nutshell: In a small town of about 2000 in Iowa, a former student and brother to a current player on the high school football team, had a mental illness and ended up shooting the football coach. The coach was a huge part of the community and was loved by everyone. He had great character and faith and his death was a huge loss to the community. It was tragic for all involved, especially the family of the shooter. Obviously the guilt and associated feelings that they must have felt were unimaginable.

The part of the story that is amazing, however, is the reaction of the victims family. While they were in the midst of grieving for their dad/husband, they reached out to the family of the shooter and offered unconditional love and forgiveness. I really can't do the story justice, but they reacted in the most Christ-like manner possible. They harbored no anger or bitterness toward that family, but rather encouraged everyone who offered them support, to pray for and support the family of the shooter. I was crying just watching it.

So when the time came for them to recieve the award, their name was called and they got up and hugged those around them. The people sitting directly behind them were the shooter's family. Through the whole ordeal, the two families became close friends. It was such an illustration of the way that Christ would have us be in relationship with others. Truly forgiving, and loving and not just saying it, but really doing it. I have never seen a more powerful display of the love and grace that Christ offers to us and calls us too.

But it keeps getting better. The wife and two sons go up to accept the award, and one of the sons gives the acceptance speech. And he just brings it. He basically preaches to the crowd of athletes and celebrities. He says that all they did was what their dad taught them to do, and that is to do the right thing. He said how his dad's faith was the most important thing to him, his priorities were faith, then family, then football. He said how remarkable it was that they come from a small town of 2,000 people, and the influence that they have been able to have, just because they did the right thing. And then, he goes on to challenge all of the athletes and celebrities in attendance, that they need to focus on their character and doing what is right, because they have so much influence on young people.

It was awesome. We all hear the stories every day about athletes and celebrities getting arrested and doing stupid things. And this man from small town Iowa shows up to the ESPYs and basically tells them, look, we're from a town of 2,000 and see the way that us doing what is right has had such an influence on our country that we are receiving this award from Brett Favre, an award that has previously gone to people like Nelson Mandela. You all are already famous, imagine what you could do if you got your act together and just acted with some integrity.

After his speech the camera panned around to the facees of various people in attendance and you could tell that what he had said struck a chord. And he delived it so eloquently and with love. It was convicting because it was true, but nothing about it was judgemental or like he was pointing any fingers. It was so cool.

Miscellany Monday

Due to travels, holidays, etc. it has been a while since I have joined in with Carissa at lowercase letters for Miscellany Monday, but today seems like a great day to share the miscellany of my life, so I'm linking up! Here is the randomness of my life:

1. My gardens need to be weeded, bad. I got to the vegetable garden this weekend, but I stlil have 2 that need a lot of attention.

2. My zuccini plant is dying :( I'm not really sure what happened to it, but I don't think it is going to make it. I only planted one because I know that 1 plant (if it lives) will provide you with more than enough zuccini. But now I have zero.

3. While I was weeding my vegetable garden this weekend, I pulled up one of my blueberry plants thinking it was a weed and threw it away. Only after I was finished and had the blueberry plant was buried under a ton of other weeds did I realize my error :(

4. Besides my gardening woes, I had a lovely weekend. The weather was beautiful and I got to be outside and in the water for most of the weekend. My idea of a perfect summer day is being in sunny warm weather, while I am somewhere where there is water so I can cool off.

5. (Kind of goes along with #4) I took some LCA friends canoeing yesterday. It was the perfect day for it and such fun. We paddled, floated, stopped to swim, skipped rocks, and didn't even tip once. On all of my previous canoeing adventures I have been in the front of the canoe, but this time I was in the back so I had to learn to steer. It was a little rough at first, and I was defnitely nervous as we were floating backwards down the river, but I did figure it out and the rest of the trip was great.

6. I have begun studying for my principles of engineering exam that I will take in October, that I will hopefully pass and that will make me a licensed professional engineer. There is so much that I need to relearn between now and then that I feel like I need to spend every bit of free time I have studying.

7. I really love the people that I lead young life with. There are 5 of us, and everyone has been scattered all summer. Saturday night we got together for dinner and to hang out and it was wonderful. It makes me excited for August when everyone is back for good and we start seeing each other on the regular.

8. I also really love the LCA students that we hang out with. They too have been scattered all summer. I look forward to school starting for them so I get to see them on the regular as well.

Well, I think I'm running out of steam, so 8 seems like a good place to quit. Happy Monday everyone!

My Thoughts on LeBron James

Just a warning, this post has to do with exactly what you would think, LeBron James and NBA basketball. I know, it's probably going to be a hot topic on blogs everywhere today. Not. Anywho, not sure how many of you out there follow NBA basketball, I sure didn't until I started dating Derek. Derek is a LeBron James fan. Which means that he used to be a Cavs fan, but now he is a Heat fan. We've been to several Cavs games together and we both have a LeBron Cavs jersey.

This year, LeBron became a free agent and over the past few weeks, everyone in the NBA world has been wondering whether he would stay in his hometown of Cleveland or pack up and play for another team. Last night, he made the announcement that he would leave Cleveland and head to Miami to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Shortly after the announcement, ESPN was showing video footage of fans in Cleveland burning LeBron's jersey.

I feel like this is such a perfect picture of the way we as a society have become. Before LeBron James played for the Cavs, they were the worst team in the NBA. He gave them 7 years of his life, and turned the franchise around from the being the worst, to one of the best. If it weren't for LeBron, half of the people who call themselves Cavs fans wouldn't even be fans, and the other half would still have a horrible team. LeBron James playing for the Cavs was a gift. They should appreciate all he has done for the team. Instead, now they all act like he owes something to them, and how dare he leave.These are the same fans who turned on him and got angry at him when they didn't make it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year.

The sense of entitlement that people have and the attitude that people think they are owed something makes me kind of mad. Especially when LeBron has already given them so much. Honestly, if you are an NBA player, who would pass up the opportunity to be on a team that would be made up of three players from the Dream Team? No one is going to pass that up. LeBron doesn't owe Cleveland anything - if anything, Cleveland owes LeBron because he totally turned their team around and gave them a decent sports team for 7 years.

Now, lest you think this post is just my rambling frustrations, I do have a point here. I think we all do the exact same thing to God everyday. I cannot judge the fans of Cleveland, because I am no better. How much has God already given me? He sacrificed His Son for me, has blessed me beyond measure. Yet, when things don't turn out how I want, I complain to Him. Like He owes me something. I have the same entitled attitude of being ungrateful for the ridiculous blessings I have already received and expecting even more and feeling as though it is owed to me. The way I felt towards Cleveland fans when I saw them burning jerseys is the way I should feel about myself as well, because in the end I have done the same thing.

A Little R&R

With all of the craziness of last week, returning from camp and trying to get back into the swing of things, this past weekend was just what I needed. Derek and I headed up to Columbus to visit my parents and my sister for the weekend. We were hoping to get to visit with her boyfriend Jeff too, but while they were in Columbus, their saint bernard puppy, Petunia, got hit by a car, so Jeff had to go back to Colorado to take care fo the pup. Luckily Petunia is doing better and better each day.

Anywho, I took the day off Friday, so we headed up early Friday morning so we could spend maximum time with my sis, before she had to head back to Colorado on Saturday. We honestly didn't do a whole heck of a lot besides just hang out and visit, and while I normally love trying to pack all of my favorite Columbus activities into every trip up there, it was really nice to not do a whole lot. We took Moose to Antrim lake to let him swim, had an 80th birthday party for my grandma, went to a Columbus Crew game and watched fireworks afterwards, saw Toy Story 3, played some frisbee golf and spent the rest of the time eating, sleeping, talking, and laying in the hammock and just being.

There is something about going home to my parents house that is just so relaxing. Maybe it is not having to worry about cooking or cleaning or any of the other responsibilities I have at home and just being able to relax for the weekend, but it was absolutely glorious. My cold is for the most part, gone, which is also great.

Of course, now that I am back in Lexington I feel like I have way too much to do, and so little time, as this coming weekend is my last free weekend in town between now and the middle of the August. Can you all believe how quickly this summer is flying by? I will try to be back soon with an interesting post - just not sure about what. Hope everyone had a fabulous fourth of July, whether it was relaxing or crazy and event-filled.  I am loving reading about how everyone celebrates the 4th.

Castaway

As I've mentioned several times before, young life camp is one of the most wonderful and difficult weeks of my life every year. Wonderful because you are in a beautiful place doing tons of crazy/fun things and getting to share life and Jesus with high school friends and difficult because you are exhausted, high schoolers come with their fair share of drama and you want nothing more than for them to just love Jesus with their whole hearts and stop living for the things of this world, but that is up the to the Holy Spirit and not you.

So, I took an 18 hour bus ride to Minnesota with a group of students from LCA and experienced just that. This was my first trip to Castaway Club and it may be my new favorite young life camp. It's situated on a gorgeous lake, and the weather was perfect. So much cooler than it has been here, but still warm enough to enjoy being in the water. We tubed, banana-boated, wake-boarded/water skied, went para-sailing, rock-wall climbing, played wiffle ball, made bracelets, laid in hammocks on the beach, sat in chairs on the beach, played all sorts of ridiculous games and had an absolute blast.

The camp speaker was one of the best I have ever heard. He explained sin in a way that really resonated with all of us - especially kids who have grown up in a Christian school whose lives aren't full of blatant sin, but who are slaves to it and to putting their hope in things other than Christ. He did an amazing job of explaining what it means to really follow after Christ, and not just have a luke-warm, safe faith that we give lip-service to because it makes us feel good, but as soon as it gets hard or we have to choose between me and God, we choose me. We had some great discussions in our cabin about all of this, and I think that some of the girls really want to try and go after God. The hard part is being back at home with all of the distractions of the world and the million things they have going on and living out what they said they wanted to do at camp.

There is lots more I could share but I think I will cut it off here for now. Below is a video slideshow from our trip. Enjoy!