sickness and a restless mind.

for the past few days i've been sick. lovely, right? and, honestly, i don't really feel like blogging right now or doing much of anything, but my mind is kind of restless and running all over the place, so here i am - i apologize in advance if i say some pretty random stuff... it may or may not be the nyquil talking. i haven't even updated my photo-of-the-day blog in almost 2 weeks. yikes. maybe i'll get there tomorrow...

anyhow, in the past month or so life has been pretty all over the place, but in a good way - mostly. i signed up to run a full marathon. what the heck was i thinking. i know. and now i'm sick, which just does great things for my training schedule... but i am really excited about it. and scared. but mostly excited. i got to be the maid of honor in one of my best friend's wedding - which was just such a beautiful day all together. i loved being there, watching them make a covenant before the Lord. it's rained, and i just love the rain. there's also been odd summery days here and there which are nice too. there's been plenty of coffee and catch-ups with some lovely people. its been busy. its been good.

here are just a few of my favorite pics from valentine's day :)

did i mention i have the best roommates a girl could ask for? cuz i do.
welp, that's all for now. hopefully i will post again in less than a month...

love,
emily xx

Spirit

this week has been a little bit intense. i've gotten 2 migraines in less than a week's time which is really weird - that hasn't happened in a really long time. even more than 2 so close together, one lasted more than a day. awesome. the good thing is, since i've grown up having them i can be somewhat functional sometimes, which is good because i had to work those 2 days in a row with a lasting nauseating constant pain encompassing my head. sounds like fun, huh? anyways, enough about that, i'm just so thankful i don't have it anymore!

carlye and i went to berlin today for coffee and some quiet time, which was nice because i haven't seen her in like 3 days since she works nights now. so when i leave in the morning for work, she's just getting off and then when i get off work, she's already going to work! anyways, its just a mess, so i was excited to hang out :)

i've really been enjoying going through the minor prophets. i'm reading Joel right now (which is kind of weird sounding to me since that's also my dad's name) and i am really enjoying it. i read chapter 2 today and there are a lot of points in there that made me stop and think. the main thing that really had me thinking were verses 18-32. the Lord takes pity on His people when they turn to Him despite all that they have done to sin against Him. it says in verse 18 that "Then the Lord became jealous for His land and had pity on his people." the verses that follow tell of the blessings that the Lord will carry out for them. and then, starting at verse 28, he talks of the Holy Spirit. it says, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit." (28-29) - hearing this must have been SO mind blowing to them! in their day, having the Holy Spirit within each of them was a foreign concept. to me it seems so normal to have the Holy Spirit. i've been so blessed to grow up knowing that the Lord is God of the universe and that if i believe in Him and He has saved me, that His Holy Spirit is with me always, guiding and helping me every step of the way, and through Him i have access to the Father. but this idea must have been something that sounded so wonderful but one that you couldn't fully wrap your head around. i wonder if they thought that having the Holy Spirit might change your appearance or if they had any crazy ideas about how the Spirit would come upon them. and then the servants were mentioned - would it be weird to think that the Spirit would even be upon them? were there some social laws or conventions that would be disrupted by that statement? crazy. i really like when this kind of thing happens because it makes me think of the Israelites as real people with real feelings and thoughts. i think sometimes its hard to think of it that way, even though i know and believe that everything in the Bible is historical and did happen, it just seems so far away sometimes. so these were some fun thoughts :) and here are some fun photos!:

  

hope you all have a happy friday!

love,
emily xx

twothousandthirteen: contentment

happy new year everyone!!

how did 2012 go by so quickly?!
there are so many things to be grateful for that have happened this past year. seriously. and it would be a reallllly long post if i talked about all of them... but i will say that i am so thankful for the blessings, the trials, the growth, the accomplishments, and the relationships of this past year! it has all been extremely rewarding and i've seen so much evidence of God working in my life this past year! what a blessing!!!
i know the coming year will hold many new things, many hard things, and much more growth, and as i look forward to this year, its exciting to know that i don't know where i'm going to be this time next year, or what will have happened by then. i may or may not be living in the same city, i may or may not be in grad school, i may or may not be working in the same place, but i do know that the Lord will be leading me to where i should go, and that's all that matters. regardless of what happens this year, i think that i am in the process of learning to be content in all things, which involves a lot of other things like gratitude/thankfulness/service/appreciation/trust/understanding and most of all not comparing my life/situations/circumstances to anyone else. my life is just where it needs to be, just where the Lord has me, and i need to ENJOY it, be joyful in exactly where i am because its for a reason - to grow, to learn, to live, to be joyful, and most of all to trust Him, He knows what He's doing. i'm learning, and its not going to be easy, but it will be worth it, of that i am sure.

rachel and i spent a good part of our day in venice beach! we walked around, enjoyed the shops, and took some photos :) it was a lovely day! 

i've decided to take at least one photo each day this year! which is going to be super fun! I'm posting them on another page that you can get to by clicking the new tab ^^^ up there! (2013: 365)

happy new year :) i hope you all have a beautifully blessed 2013!

love,
emily xx

Psalm 33

Doors

--// so. i have a really big decision to make in like the next 24 hours or so. and, trust me, it's not an easy one. whether to open a new door and close another, or not go through the new one and be content with the door i've got. thankfully i have some really wise people surrounding me that can give me the pro's and con's of both options, which, actually, only made things more confusing and unclear than before... just praying that the Lord would make it clear what i should do and to give me the faith and courage to follow through in whatever He leads me to.

--// today i got to hang out with my lovely, and newly engaged!, friend debbie! :) we got to catch up and talk, be productive, and take a few photos. so here we sit in starbucks, wedding planning, photo editing, blogging, having a grand ol' time. she's pretty awesome, just saying. such a sweet encouragement and blessing!

--// can you believe tomorrow is friday already? craziness. hope you all have a lovely friday and a lovely weekend!!

love,
emily xx

Kijk 13

--// happy Sunday :) today's sermon was a really good reminder of my need for Christ. it sounds cheesy, but everything at one point in time (pre-sin/in the Garden of Eden) lived and worked together in perfect harmony. all of the animals dwelled together, the plants grew and bore fruit, man walked with God, and so much more. then man disobeyed God, and sin entered the picture. everything became difficult, broken, destroyed. as a result, we have broken relationships that require constant repair, we struggle with sin, we die, there is pain in birth and pain in death, there is violence and destruction, there is utter brokenness. we need the the greatest gift in history to take the place of the greatest tragedy of all time. we need Christ.

--// so, i'm about to be really honest, here goes: i've been in a funk the past couple of days - and by funk (for those of you who are confused) i mean that i feel sad/angry/upset/frustrated/confused/annoyed/foggy/all around blech all at the same time, super fun right? - which usually means that the Lord's teaching me something that i don't want to hear/accept/embrace because i'm stubborn and sinful and ignorant. thankfully i was a little more open to figuring out what was going on that i could calm down and listen a little sooner this time. i won't go into too much detail, so here's the short list of what i'm learning: contentment in various areas/situations, grace, trust, faithfulness, identity, and humility. there's probably more... but that's all i got so far... *takes a deep breath*

--// last week was crazy busy, both at work and outside of work. i'm hoping that this week is a little better, buuuut i'm not so sure it will be any less busy... we'll see.

--// we took roomie pictures last week! they were so fun! these girls are HUGE blessings to me in so many ways, i cannot even tell you. they're always ready to force me to talk to them when they can tell something's up, they have nice shoulders to cry on, and they are all unique women of God and beautiful inside and out! basically, they're all kinds of awesome and i absolutely love living with them :) here are some of the fun pics Meagan took for us:

 i have no idea what was happening when this pic was taken, but i think all of our expressions are just so random and hilarious! haha

love these girls.
it's a new week, and the Lord has some great plans ahead! :)
hope you all have an awesomely blessed week!

love,
emily xx

thanks

so, it might be a little cliche to write a thankfulness post around thanksgiving, but..... i'm gonna write one anyway. :)

spending time at home the past few days has been lovely. got to spend time with family and friends, chop my hair off, walk on the beach, and bake deliciousness. i don't think it could get much better than that. now, it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine, but the large majority of it was great. i'm thankful.

until about the day before thanksgiving, i didn't really think about the fact that this was the first holiday since my Oma passed. which led me to think about how my Opa would be that day. which made me a bit anxious. i've never, and i mean never, seen my Opa get emotional at any point ever in my whole life until that day. i was sitting next to him - which made things worse because i almost lost it, but i held it together - and we went around and said what we were thankful for, and he was last, and quickly passed things over to my dad to pray over the meal. and i held his hand while we prayed. and we went on and had thanksgiving, like normal.

the day after i got to spend with three of my girlfriends from high school, which was awesome! especially since Kati lives in Texas now and we don't get to see her often. anyway, kati, kat, rachel, and i went out to Julian for the afternoon, bought pie, ate food, and took pictures! we literally caught the light at the perfect moment! here are the very first few i got my hands on:

so thankful for this time! back to work tomorrow :)
hope you all have a happy week!!

love,
emily xx