Up and Away...Almost

“We are here on this earth to know God intimately, fully, correctly, and contagiously; to house His holy person in our very bodies, allowing Him to showcase to the world around us His loving nature, His attitude, His thoughts, His emotions, and His actions through the way we live every moment of our lives.” 

~Eric Ludy

Two days, my friends...two days 'til I head off for Colorado!!!

Oh, there are so many emotions whirling around in me right now. In the months since I've known I was going to Ellerslie, I haven't been nervous at all until the past couple days. How do you pack for nine weeks away from home?! Well, I've been tackling this over the past week and finished today. It feels so good to be done. And yet, I feel like I'm forgetting something! Ah! I guess I'll figure it out when I get there. :) 

Because I've never been gone from home for so long, a part of me feels like I'm going away forever. During the past month or so, I've been trying to make special memories with each member of my family. It's been so good and my family and friends have blessed me in so many ways! It's going to (and has already been) SO hard to say goodbye to each of my precious friends and family members! 

Here are some pictures...

Dear, dear friends...no, honorary sisters! I'm going to miss them more than I can say!

Last weekend, Ari and I took my mom for a girls' night out. We went antique shopping and then watched a theater production in Sumner. So much fun! ♥

Love these kiddos! 

  

Ari and I always loved ice-skating, growing up. We hadn't been in years though, so it was so much fun to experience that again! Wonderful sister date!

Me and my little man! ♥

Another theater production (this time it was The Music Man) that I took Ari to. The actors and actresses were wonderful!

Yes, this was while I was packing. I think he wants to go too... ;-)


Well, my friends, I don't know when I'll be able to post again. In light of this, I want to leave you all with a song that's been an incredible blessing in my life recently. You know when you find a song that just seems to capture everything you want to say, but don't know how to say it? Maybe that description didn't make sense, but this song is my heart's cry bottled up into 5 1/2 minutes. It's so beautiful!

Praying that the Lord would do this work in my heart while at Ellerslie and continue it when I come home...



Only You, only You
All I need, let nothing stand
In between, make me Yours
Consuming fire

Only You, only You
All I need, let nothing stand
In between, make me Yours
Consuming fire

Burn away
Everything that breaks Your heart
Everything that is not love
Purify my every thought
Take away
Everything that comes between us
Everything that is untrue
Jesus make me more like You
Burn away

You are love, You are love
Blazing light, holy flame
Fierce and wild, have Your way
Consuming fire

Yes You are love, You are love
Blazing light, holy flame
Fierce and wild, have Your way
Consuming fire

Burn away
Everything that breaks Your heart
Everything that is not love
Purify my every thought
Take away
Everything that comes between us
Everything that is untrue
Jesus make me more like You

Make me holy, as You are holy
Refine me in your fire, oh God
Make me holy, as You are holy
In my life be glorified

Goodbye, dear friends! May the Lord be with you!

Announcement: Upcoming Adventure

I'm sorry to those of you who have already heard all of this from me. I know many of you already know, but I wanted to post an official "blog" announcement for those who haven't heard.

In February, I'll be attending Ellerslie's Basic Leadership Training.

What is Ellerslie?

Hmm...that's a difficult question to answer. It's unlike anything I've found elsewhere, so it's hard to relate it to something. Ellerslie is a set-apart place (school) to go and seek the Lord, dive into His Word, and be challenged to live a life of abandonment and surrender to Jesus Christ.

Below is a video from Ellerslie describing what they do and who they are, if you want to know more about it. It will make much more sense to hear it from them. :)

Ellerslie has been a dream of mine for the past several years. I've longed to go and prayed that the Lord would show me if that was His will. The Lord is so gracious and opened up the door for me to attend Ellerslie's Winter/Spring Semester this February. He has made my dream a reality; I can't believe that after all this waiting, wondering, and praying I'll be leaving in a month. How great is His love!

*Happy Sigh*

I am SO excited for my two months at Ellerslie. Two months to devote specifically to my Beloved. Two months to seek His face, draw closer to His heart, and fall more in love with Him and His Word!

Oh friends, I still see so much selfishness, pride, and inconsistency in my heart. There are so many things that distract me from my Lord! I am praying that my time at Ellerslie will be a season of great breaking and that it won't just be a season, but the beginning of a deeper surrender and more intimate relationship with my King! May He increase, as I decrease!


"How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! …YOU drove them from me, YOU Who are the True, the Sovereign Joy drove them from me and took their place! …O Lord, my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation!"
–St. Augustine

Oh, that He would strip away all those "fruitless joys" from my life; that I would always see my Beloved as the Pearl of Great Price and Treasure of my heart. Praise Him that I can be assured He will finish what He has started in me! His grace is sufficient!

I hope and pray that these next several months will be a time of great growth, surrender, and joy in Christ for all of us! May we seek Him with everything that we are, whether at home or away, cleaning the house or reading the Word! He is worthy of everything we are and do!

Praise His matchless name!

February Trips~

February was a very busy month! During the first week, my family and I were in Florida, enjoying a family reunion at Disney World. Two weeks later, my dad and I were in Texas, attending a business meeting and touring the Lone Star State. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

By the way, the trips are displayed in the opposite order. I downloaded the Disney trip pictures first, not even thinking about what order they should be in. It's a rather long process to drag pictures on Blogger, so I'm just going to post them as they are. :)

Texas Trip:
A couple months ago, I started working for my dad as his secretary, taking over some of his basic jobs and helping to keep him organized. It has been a wonderful learning process and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Back at the beginning of the year, my dad found out that there was going to be a sales meeting in February, so he decided to take me along for training. The meetings went well, but my favorite part about the trip was being able to spend some one-on-one time with my dad. He is such a blessing to me!

One of the tourist stops we made was to Zilker Botanical Gardens. We didn't have much time to see them, so we rushed through and enjoyed what we did get to see.

My dad, falling into a well ;)


This was a real window from a mansion, which had been destroyed. They saved the window and gave it to the park.


Bamboo Forest


This was at the top of Mount Bonnell. It's actually not a mountain. You just have to climb some stairs to reach the top. The view was gorgeous!

The view from our hotel balcony! It was stunning!

The view from the balcony at night. Such a gorgeous sunset!

My favorite tourist spot that we visited was The Alamo. I love history, so it was such a blessing to be able to go somewhere I had previously learned about. By the way, this picture is just of the gift store...in case anyone was wondering. :)

Me standing at the back entrance to the Alamo.

Yes, there it is. Isn't it beautiful?

It was a very warm day in San Antonio, and my dad graciously treated me to some ice cream. Mmm...it hit the spot!

And of course, we had to stop at the local Goodwill to see what they had. :)

Disney World
For their 40th wedding anniversary, my grandparents graciously decided to take the whole family on a trip to Disney World. We had a wonderful time, catching up with the family, as well as enjoying the Disney experience.

There's the whole crew...with Donald Duck. :)

This baby elephant was so cute!

Ariana and I in front of the Epcot ball (I forgot the ball's name).

Princess Charity

Such a good daddy...

Ariana loves anything Chinese, so she was ecstatic when we went to "China" in Epcot.

Okay, I know this picture is kind of weird, but I was trying to quickly take a picture before the ride ended, when suddenly the little ride turned a corner. Hence, the strained expressions. :)

Cousins! They were so cute together!

This was made out of Legos!

Enjoying some cuddle time with grandpa

I thought this display was really fun!

Hanging out...

Both of these trips were great fun, but more importantly, they were incredible times of learning. The Lord used the busyness of it all to point me to my need for Him. It is one thing to learn to abide in Him at home, but quite another in the chaos and busyness of the world. It is something I still need to learn! At the time, it was a painful learning experience, but looking back, it is so sweet that the Lord used my weaknesses and shortcomings to draw me closer to Himself!