Thursday & Photo Series

There is literally so much going on in my head, and heart, that I don't even know where to begin.  I also am sitting in the dark, in my bed, as my roommate and I were going to bed... and then remembered that I wanted to write a post tonight. And then asking if my typing would keep her up and realizing that she can sleep through anything, and then not feeling so bad for doing this so late at night :) but I digress.... Ya know when you're trying to fall asleep, and you have a million things on your mind and you just go through them in your head in repeating circles of thought? yeah, that was me last night. Those are sometimes the most frustrating nights to get through... it was rough. Anyway, it made for a very long Thursday.

I volunteer Thursday mornings at the VA hospital next to my school in the inpatient physical therapy department, and I usually have another volunteer with me... but not today. She was out of town, so that made for a very busy morning of me running around, doing exercises with patients to help the therapists out [who were also short-handed!], wiping stuff down, changing towels, making copies, you name it! It was a good morning though, I was really busy, but I was also able to learn a lot and connect a lot of concepts to things I have learned in class.

After volunteering, I met up with my friend Jen at an ADORABLE coffee shop closer to downtown Long Beach called Berlin. It is soooo cute! It's styled really well and is connected to both a book store and a record store! [are you kidding me!?] I didn't end up getting any photos this time around - Jen and I were too busy catching up to pause - but I will definitely go back and get some good photos soon! I also got to catch up with Mel later in the day, which was wonderful, as always! It's nice to talk to someone who is going through similar trials/tough decisions as you and you can encourage each other in them. Lovely.

Finally, tonight was a meeting for Women of the Word, which is a series that Navs is doing this month for the ladies. I honestly love this time. Its so great to have an open and honest space to learn, grow, and share as women in Christ. Tonight was about relating with others and sharing Christ's love with others and what that looks like. Using Romans 12 as a kind of template, we talked about genuine love being carried out in our thoughts, words, and actions. One of the girls brought up Psalm 15:1-2 which says, "O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart..." I was just so challenged by this in asking who will be in communion with the Lord? and who will be able to dwell with Him? Those who walk blamelessly - which has been a common theme for me these past few months (1 Peter 2:4-5, Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 19, Psalm 101:2-4, 2 Timothy 2:15). And just seeking out what that means and how I can practically live that out on a day to day basis, especially in how I relate to others and honoring God through that. SO GOOD.

Okay. Seriously, this is the last thing I'm talking about. I have been going through my photos from studying abroad, as I want to put together an album or 2. Anyways, I love some of the photos soooo much that I want to share them! But, I love a lot of them, so I thought that when I do share them, that I would share them in a series of about 5-6 photos from the same country or common theme :) Anyways, hopefully I'll have a series to share soon, but here are just a few that I'm loving right now: 

love, 

emily xx