Dealing with Conflict

Since I last posted in November, I have been pretty busy with school, work, traveling to visit family for Christmas, and spending some time with Jessie during his break from school. :-) We celebrated 18 months together earlier in January. It's crazy how time passes by so quickly!

Lately I've been thinking about the subject of conflict in relationships. Any close relationship is bound to have conflict at some time or another. While Jessie and I get along very well the majority of the time, we still have times when we argue and get upset with each other. It's a dream of mine to write a book someday on the subject of healthy romantic relationships. I look around me and see so many couples who are hurting, broken, and confused about what a "real" relationship looks like. Jessie and I are learning so much, and we are so grateful for our parents and other mentors who share their wisdom with us, but more importantly, lead us by their examples.

There are a few things we've learned in the past few months about dealing with conflicts that can be applied to really any relationship (not just romantic ones.) I thought it'd be good for me to write those things out, and share them here as well. :-)

1.) Pray. This is hard to do in the heat of the moment. It can be easy to want to wallow in anger. Praying for God to soften your hearts as you deal with conflict is really important. It's even better if you can do this together. It's hard to remain angry at someone you pray for.

2.) Don't fight via social media. It is so easy to text your way into a heated argument. Tone can be misunderstood very easily. It is far better to talk face-to-face with someone you are in a conflict in. Seeing emotional responses does a lot towards softening hearts rather than when you are protected by the anonymity of a screen. Jessie and I have discovered that even a phone call is not the best option for us when we're dealing with a conflict long-distance. A video call is the closest thing we have to face-to-face discussion, and it's hard to stay angry for long when you see the hurt on someone else's face.

3.) Communicate clearly. One of the traps I fall into constantly is expecting that certain things should just be assumed or understood. While that is true in some cases, I have to remember that Jessie (or anyone else) is not a mind reader. If I don't clearly express my expectations or desires, it shouldn't surprise me if they're not met. 

4.) Remember that you're fighting for resolution, not to win an argument. This is a big one. The goal of conflict resolution should be to understand where the other person is coming from, understand the root cause, explain what hurt you and why, and then resolve the issue. If we are set on being right all the time, we will lose many valuable relationships.

5.) Be humble and quick to forgive. In most instances, blame for a conflict lies on both people. Learn to accept your share of the blame, apologize for hurting the other person, forgive them for their part, and then agree to move on and discuss it no longer. The simple mantra of "forgive and forget" is easy to say, but definitely takes effort to do.

So there you have it! These are some of the lessons I've been learning lately. :-) Hopefully I'll be back soon to post more about what's going on in my life lately!

Ecuador Mission Trip

Back in May, I joined the very first College Plus missions team on a trip to Ecuador! There were eighteen of us (3 leaders and the rest students.) Our trip was 10 days long, and our primary focus was children’s ministry. I had met a few of the team members at a College Plus gathering last September, but for the most part, we all got to know each other on the actual trip.

One girl flew with me from the very beginning of my trip. We started at the Tulsa airport, met a few students up in Chicago, met a few more in Miami, and finally joined the other half of the team in Quito!

We hit the ground running the next morning. We served at a mega-church in a more affluent area of Quito. Saturday morning we hosted a VBS for about 150 kids. We actually ran two sessions. The night before, we had broken up into 5 teams: two craft teams, two game teams (I was on one of these teams), and a lesson team. The first day went fairly smoothly, although we were all adjusting to being at ~9,000 feet up (plus learning our curriculum.)

Large group time.

The church had catered a lunch for us after we finished (one of the best meals I had in Ecuador!) We went back to the bed-and-breakfast-type place we were staying in and rested for a few hours. Then we returned to the church to help run children’s church (the church is large enough that they have Saturday night services.) That went really well! It was pretty similar to our VBS set up, only our groups were smaller. After that, we went out for dinner at a fairly typical Ecuadorian restaurant. That evening, one of the guys leading our team led us in team devotions. We looked at the life of Abraham and discussed trusting God when we don’t understand what He’s doing. Following that, we spent some time praying as a team and prepping for the next day of ministry. We averaged about 4 hours of sleep every night of the trip. :-P

On Sunday morning, we went back to the church and repeated what we did the night before, four times. Halfway through we ate a delicious snack of empanadas and quimbolitas! After church, they served us lunch there. It was yet another amazing meal!

Afterward, we quickly went back to the house to change and then left to do a little sight-seeing. We went to the downtown area and walked through their national cathedral. It was HUGE! We walked up at least 10 flights of stairs to get to the top, I’m pretty sure. We also had to climb some very frightening, comfort-zone-stretching, ladders/stairs on the side of a tower to get to the spot where I took this picture:

Quito.

We headed down to the square, and the bus picked us up and took us to a nice mall where we had a dinner of pizza and the Ecuadorian version of Starbucks. Our team devotions that night were focused on Jacob. We did some team training and then headed to bed.

On Monday, we left early in the morning for our first day of ministry at a private Christian international school. That was a pretty difficult day because our “translators” barely spoke any more English than the kids did. We had the same VBS activity rotations. Thankfully, teaching games isn’t difficult to do even with a language barrier. The staff at the school served us lunch, and then we hung out a bit while we waited for our bus driver to come and get us. When he arrived, he took us partway up a mountain. We were headed for the top!

We rode several tram cars up to the top. It took nearly 20 minutes for us to ascend up to 13,000+ ft altitude. I felt a little nervous in the car, but the views were absolutely stunning! Once we reached the top, we walked a trail up to one of the higher peaks. Despite how thin the air was, I didn’t find it super difficult to walk. Your chest just feels a little funny, like you’re breathing very shallow breaths.

It was very cold up there! The wind chill probably took it down to the upper 30’s.

Our team! I loved getting to know these people so much.

After our cold trip up the mountain, we bought hot chocolate before riding the tram down. It’s interesting the effect that a lack of oxygen plus sugar can do to a person. ;-P Interesting things were said up there!

That evening we went to a burger/bbq place for dinner. It was a fast-food type of place, but the food was surprisingly good! And the steaks were HUGE. :-| When we got back to Casa del Padre that night, we had a video call with several other College Plus students back in the states. Then we had our team devotions while we were all gathered.

Tuesday we worked with high schoolers at the same private school. It was an unexpected change in our plans; we had come primarily to work with elementary-aged kids. But everyone adjusted really well! The high schoolers knew a lot more English, so it was easier to communicate with them. I enjoyed getting to help lead some more challenging games with my partners that day!

They fed us a light lunch at the school, and then we headed to the market to do some souvenir shopping. We had less than an hour, but I was able to quickly run through and find something nice for everyone in my family! The most unique stall in the market was one selling marijuana, coca, and “cannabis” bags. :-| I promise nobody from our team shopped there! But our leaders just about died of shock when they saw that. :-P

We stopped at a grocery store on our way home so that we could buy snacks for our 5-hour-drive up into the mountains the next day. I was amazed that my friend and I were able to buy a bag of animal crackers, Oreos, and Cokes for less than $4 (we were planning to share.) :-O

For dinner, we went to a place called Crepes and Waffles. It is one of the best restaurants I have EVER eaten at! Apparently it started in Colombia. They only hire single moms, so that they can support their children. So it’s kind of a ministry. I had strawberry juice, and then split a Greek pita and a nutella/banana/strawberry crepe with our female team leader. It was all AMAZING!

That evening we did team devotions, but other than that we were pretty laid back. We had no team prep because the next day was just a travel day. Some of us went outside to take pictures of the city lights. Then we packed up our things in preparation for leaving in the morning.

On Wednesday morning, we dragged all our luggage outside early in the morning to meet the bus driver. But unfortunately, he had a flat tire and was 45 minutes late. :-( Nobody really minded too much. It gave us a chance to wake up more fully. ;-P

For the first full 2.5 hours of the bus ride, five of us had a really in-depth conversation about relationships. It was really encouraging and definitely made the drive go by much quicker!

After about 5 hours, we arrived in Cajabamba! We unpacked our things, and split up into hotel rooms. Then we walked over to a restaurant where we had a simple but good lunch of chicken, rice, and soup. After we finished eating, we drove about an hour further up the mountain to see the church where we would be doing VBS the next day. We hadn’t expected it to be so far away. Plus, we had to hike the last mile up the mountain because the road was too narrow and steep for the bus. The road was covered in black, volcanic dirt and several of us had worn open shoes. Needless to say, we got quite dirty!

Most of the village was away at a livestock auction, but a man was there to show us the church. The few people we did see were wearing the traditional clothing (felt hats, ponchos, wraparound skirts, long dress pants, shawls, etc.) It was tiring to hike all the way up to 11,000+ feet!

For dinner, we went back to the same restaurant as lunch, because it was one of two in the whole town (and both restaurants were owned by the same person and served the same things. :-P) We were served the exact same meal, but this time I was able to have beef instead of chicken.

I was pretty tired that evening, and really enjoyed unwinding with our time in the Word as a team. I stayed up late talking with one of my best friends in her room. Mostly because she had peppermint oil and my stomach wasn’t feeling good. But also because I love talking with her. ;-)

Wednesday morning I woke up fairly early and did my devotions with some of the others. We ate our breakfast and then walked over to a lake. We thought the walk would only take 20 minutes. But at 10,000 feet up, it took us twice as long. :-P But the lake was really pretty and we had fun renting bikes to ride on the trails and playing on the very large playground.

Going back, some of us decided to run/jog (it was all downhill.) It actually felt pretty good . . . until the next morning! The lack of oxygen makes the muscles very sore later on. On our way back, we stopped to buy things to make lunch on the bus. Once everyone made it back to the hotel, we loaded up and headed up the mountain for our afternoon VBS program.

Lunch on the bus was quite the adventure. We hadn’t planned it out real well. One of the team leaders started splitting rolls with a knife while another leader used his knife to cut pieces of cheese off the block for sandwiches. I was assigned the cans of tuna. Luckily they had pull tab tops. But I had to stick my hand out the window to drain all the water out of the cans and then use my fingers to put it on the sandwiches. Needless to say, we made a huge mess! Thankfully we had lots of baby wipes on hand to clean up everything.

Up on the mountain with the entire team plus our translators and bus driver!

(Photo Credit: Rob Bennet)

We only had about 40 kids come, but it was nicer to get to work with smaller groups for a change. They are so excited to have us here! Some of them speak a tribal language, so that was interesting to listen to.

It started raining towards the end of our time up there that day, so we had a really fun, impromptu dance party. One person would lead and then “pass” it on to someone else. It was really fun! It made walking down the mountain in the rain not so bad. :-)

That evening we ate dinner at the hotel which was a nice break from the restaurant. We had team devotions and took turns doing the DISC personality assessment test. Then we split into our different groups (we only had D’s, I’s, and S’s there.) We answered certain questions as a group. It ended up being loud and a little bit stressful, but we all learned a lot about each other!

Thursday started out fairly normal. We left a little early to do some more shopping at a market in Riobamba. This time I bought a poncho and a beret. I was pretty happy with that! :-)

We walked over to a food market. Originally we were just going to get juice, but decided to get lunch there also. It was so delicious! We had a plate with lettuce, fried orange potatoes, an over-easy egg, and a slice of avocado on top. I had coconut juice with mine. Perfect lunch in my opinion!

I was pretty tired by the time we got up the mountain and felt like I needed a good cry. One of the leaders grabbed my arm and literally dragged me and another girl up the mountain because we were so exhausted. When we got to the top, I lost it. Several team members prayed over me and just sat with me, got me water, tissues, etc. I was so grateful for their support!

By the time I pulled it together, everyone had already gone to their stations. My two teammates took over the games and let me sit with some of the little kids and just observe.

It was very noisy during our last group session in the sanctuary. Lots of the parents had come and brought their younger children. When we had finished cleaning everything up, the pastor thanked us for everything we had done for the children and the church. As a thank you, they had prepared lunch for us as well as more of the amazing manzanilla tea! Some of the team went and played Ecuadorian volleyball before we headed back down the mountain.

At the hotel, we ate dinner and slowly congregated for our devotions. Afterwards, I evidently fell asleep on somebody’s bed while everyone was out playing cards in the lobby (we met for devotions every night in the guys large room.) The two team leaders woke me up because they all needed to go to bed. I said I was too tired to get up and they literally started to carry me upstairs before I stopped them. :-P Everyone else was downstairs learning how to salsa and bachata and I wanted to go down there since I was awake again. Apparently my dancing proved that there’s Hispanic blood in me. ;-)

On Friday morning, we had to pack up to leave. :-( Despite all the noise we made during our stay there, the staff was sad to see us go! I think we might have been the first Americans to stay there, and they thought that was really cool!

We had a bit of an accident with the bus at a gas station on the drive home. We accidentally scraped a panel on a concrete support and pulled it partially off. The guys were able to get it back on for the time being and continued driving.

About another hour later, we had to stop because one of the tires had gone flat. Our poor driver was having a rough day! But we enjoyed getting to stop and buy ice cream and also watch the Ecuadorian way of changing a tire.

When we finally made it back to Quito, we had to say goodbye to our translators. ;-( We were so sad! They had truly become a part of our team.

When we arrived at Mitad del Mundo (the monument that marks the equator) a rather rough security guard informed us that the president was coming to speak and no one was allowed inside the park. We were bummed since that was the only chance we had to see it. But then we decided to walk and find the real equator (the monument wasn’t actually built in the right spot. It’s a few degrees off.)

We found it! There was a little museum there and we took lots of pictures.

We caused a minor traffic accident on our way out. :-S It wasn’t exactly our fault . . . but let’s just say that we have never loaded a bus and gotten out of a place so fast! We went back to Crepes and Waffles for dinner because we loved that place so much! We were originally going to go downtown and look around, but our driver needed to rest before getting up early to take us to the airport. So we just went back to Casa del Padre to hang out and debrief. We talked a lot about how much we had grown to love each of our team mates. Yes, it was kind of sappy. ;-P

After that, some team members decided to try and sleep for a few hours, but the majority of us tried to stay up all night. We watched some Disney movies . . . and then some of us (myself included) succumbed to sleep for an hour or less. At 2 a.m., it was time to get up and load the bus. We were all pretty groggy!

Getting out of Quito proved to be fairly easy, and our flight was good. The Miami airport was a nightmare though. I have never had such a terrible experience going through customs! All the officers were very rude that day for some reason. I’ve flown before and know that it’s not always like that, but I felt bad for the team members who were going through customs for the first time!

It was hard to say goodbye to so many team members at that point. ;-( It was like saying goodbye to family! Some of us were flying on to Chicago together, so it was nice not to part ways with everyone all at once. Those of us that flew to Chicago had dinner together at UNO’s pizza. Then it was time to say goodbye yet again. :-( One of the girls and I flew back to Tulsa together and were finally reunited with our families. We were so exhausted after staying up for so long!

I was really challenged physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually on this trip. My sense of adventure increased for sure! The Lord really took me to the end of myself and taught me to rely on Him. Plus, I have a ton of new best friends that I love dearly!

Pinterest Projects

I never considered myself to be a particularly artistic person. Yes, I enjoyed photography and music which are forms of art. But I was never good at doing handcrafts, and didn’t particularly enjoy them.

But for some reason, beginning a relationship opened up that lost side of me. ;-) Because Jessie left for college a month after we began our deeper friendship a year ago, I was limited in what I could do for him. So I tried to be creative in coming up with ways to make his first year away at college better. J Looking back, I did something fun/creative for him almost every month while he was away. So here’s a walkthrough of the projects!

In September, I started a weekly tradition of writing him a pen-and-paper letter on Sunday afternoons. I thought he might have fun getting something in the mail every week. J He even wrote back a few times despite his busy schedule. ;-)

In October, Jessie’s family invited me along to go visit him at school for the weekend. I eagerly accepted! It was so fun to see his dorm and the college campus, enjoy some good food, watch some football, and relax with him and his family.

In November, I put together his first care package! I packed some mint gum, Twix bars, and English Breakfast tea since those are some of his favorite things. I handmade some decorative cards with Bible verses on them, thinking he could use them as bookmarks or hang them up somewhere. I also sent him some homemade mocha drink mix, and some packets to make 5 Minute Hot Fudge Cake. I found some thumbs up sticky notes at Walmart, which I thought he would love! At Hobby Lobby, I picked up pens, envelopes, stickers, and blank cards. Then I made him his own personalized cards. J I also included a small photo album with one picture in it. Then every week when I wrote him, I included a new picture of us for him to put in it! J

For Christmas, I made him a Movie Night basket! :-) Mom found the actual basket at Walmart, I believe. I put in a couple bags of popcorn (he doesn’t eat it often), a box of Cheese crackers, some mini Twix bars, and a few glass bottles of Coca Cola. I put “High School Musical” in the basket as a joke (he hates that movie :P) and in his card, I put a certificate saying I would buy him a movie of his choice. A few months later, I got him the first Hobbit movie. His gift to me was much smaller but so special to me. He bought me an Infinity ring from James Avery! :-D

In January, Jessie was home for the first part of the month. We spent a lot of time together and had some fun outings. I was so sad when his month-long break was over! :-(

But he came home for Valentine’s Day! I gave him three gifts. In the box was a mini pie from a pie company in town that we visited together during his break in January. In the square package was a wooden postcard/plaque with a cute quote on it. I tried to be creative in my wrapping and by making tags (each of the tags had a question/clue he was supposed to answer before opening the gift.)

In the third package was his Happy Jar! :-) I had gotten a Pinterest account specifically to find something creative to give him for Valentine’s Day, and that’s where I found this idea. The decorated jar was filled with slips of paper. On them I had written quotes, Bible verses, and things about Jessie that I appreciate. He really liked it! He gave me the exact same thing actually. :-O We were amazed that we both had the same thought! He also gave me a bouquet of roses and a mug, on which he drew the state of Texas, with a heart where he lives (he has a matching mug of Oklahoma.)

In March, Jessie went to Austria for spring break with one of his classes. They were able to see some really cool historical sites and architecture! I have a collection of postcards I’ve collected from all over the world. So I picked one for each day of his trip, wrote notes on each of them, and sent that packet with him. J Despite the time difference, he was able to keep in touch with me every day, which I really appreciated!

In April, Mom and I visited him for a weekend at his college. It was *such* a fun trip! I took him another care package. It had some Easter candy, a bag of dried pineapple, a refill for his “happy jar”, some Guatemalan cookies that we both love, more personalized cards, his weekly card and picture, some Starbucks coffee and a gift card, the movie “Interstellar”, a jar of chocolate kisses to count down the days until he came home for the summer, and another photo album. This one was for pictures of Harry the Hippo. I had bought a little stone hippo at the Tulsa zoo and gave it to Jessie, thinking he could take it on his trips and take pictures of him. That way I could kind of go on the trips vicariously. ;-)

In May, he came home from school!! :-D I worked on a few projects in anticipation of the day he would ask to court me . . .

I hand-lettered this and gave it to him the day he asked to court me (also the day he told me he loved me for the first time.) I also played and sang a song on the piano for him. :-) He had brought me a beautiful bouquet of Snapdragons from his house that day!

Towards the end of June, his family left on a 2-week backpacking trip with a local Boy Scout troop. I had spent some time working on my hand-lettering skills prior to the trip. I came up with 14 different greetings or nicknames and found 14 different fonts on Pinterest. Then I made my own stationary and wrote him a note for every day of the trip! :-) He had been so sweet and sent me a long letter via email every day of our Guatemala trip the week before. It made my night to read those!

Then in July, we had a gourmet picnic that is basically the epitomy of Pinterest. ;-) We dined on a handmade quilt with cloth napkins and enjoyed curried chicken salad in pitas, caprese salad, strawberry (non-alcoholic) sangria, and dark chocolate coconut pudding. Our chaperones sat in a different part of the park eating their sandwiches. ;-P Don’t worry; we took them to the pool afterwards as a reward.

This past week, Jessie and I celebrated one year together. I did a little digging around on Pinterest and came up with this “Number 1” picture collage with hand-lettered decoration on the mat.

I found a similarly designed card on Pinterest and hand lettered my own take on it.

His gift to me on our anniversary was a dozen long-stemmed red roses, and dinner out at the nicest restaurant in town, followed a relaxing evening at a local park, dancing and watching the sunset. He also gave me two special letters with a prayer and a journal entry he wrote this same day one year ago. It was so very precious and thoughtful of him!

So needless to say, I am definitely being inspired by Pinterest and am building a small arsenal of arts and crafts supplies. ;-) I love Pinterest because it allows me to see the finished product and then gives me direction on how to duplicate it. Perhaps I will post about more fun projects in the future!

Missions Road Trip

Evening devotions and worship time.

During Spring Break in March, I went as a leader on our student ministry’s first annual missions road trip. I worked as an assistant/intern to our new student pastor from November until May, and part of my job description was going on trips like this (and helping with the planning!)

We had 36 people go on the trip (six of those were leaders.) The group was mixed ages, from 6^th-12^th grade. We all met at the church on a Sunday afternoon. We had a little orientation meeting, went over the basic rules, and our pastor gave a little talk/reminder on why we were going on the trip. Then we all piled into the bus to head out!

Each day, we tried to plan something fun for the kids in addition to whatever ministry we were doing. Sunday night, we were supposed to go to Winter Jam in Fort Worth. But sadly after standing in line for about 30 minutes, we found out that the concert had filled up. Instead, we went to UNO’s and had a big pizza feast for dinner and just had fun talking and laughing.

Then we drove over to the church where we would be spending the night. We had a girls’ wing of the church and guys’ wing. We all set up our sleeping bags, and then gathered in our meeting room for devotions and worship. There were no showers at the church, so everyone got ready for bed quickly and after quite a bit of talking, went to sleep. ;-)

The next morning, we pulled out breakfast food (pop tarts, fruit, breakfast biscuits, granola bars, etc.) and lunch things for the kids to pack for later (sandwich items, more fruit, chips, etc.) We had the same set up for the entire trip. Once everyone had gathered, we did morning devotions and talked about what we’d be doing ministry-wise that day.

We piled into the bus and drove to Mission Arlington! This organization offers several different social services to the community. When we arrived, we talked with the founder (a sweet elderly lady) and she told us we would be passing out flyers at apartment complexes to promote their “Rainbow Express” event happening every day later in the week. The “Rainbow Express” is a mobile VBS they do for children that live in these lower-income apartment complexes.

We hadn’t come prepared to walk in the rain, but considered it a good introduction to missions work for the students. ;-) We split into teams of 3-4 people and went through two different apartment complexes. It took us a couple of hours to do it. Our clothes were soaked through by the time we finished (and the temperature was only in the 50’s.) We were eager to get back on the bus, dry out, eat our sack lunches, and get our next assignment from Mission Arlington.

Apparently, another group withdrew their offer to help Mission Arlington due to the rain. So guess which group got to hit 2 more apartment complexes? Yep, we did! I was so impressed at the students and their positive attitudes. It definitely caused me to keep my mouth shut from doing any complaining (wet clothes is one of the things I hate most in life.)

When we finished, we started our drive towards Austin. Due to the rain, we had to change our evening plans (which originally involved eating at a food truck and watching the bats swarm at Congress Bridge.) As we tried to brainstorm what else we could easily do with 36 people at the last minute, we stopped at a Wal-Mart so students could have the option to buy dry socks and cheap shoes.

When we arrived in Austin, we went straight to Mel’s. They had a restaurant there, a bowling alley, and an arcade. We figured the kids could eat and then bowl. But instead, we had one waitress for our entire group and they didn’t bring out the last meal until 30 minutes after their closing time at 11 p.m. When we realized it was going to be a long time before the food arrived, we bought the kids cards to use in the arcade since they couldn’t bowl. Again, I was so impressed by their patience. The rest of us adults were just in disbelief that it took so long to prepare relatively simple meals.

After we were all back on the bus, we headed to the church where we’d be spending the night. We had team devotions and worship time before everyone dispersed to go to bed. This church had showers, and everyone wanted to take one before we left the next morning. About half the group showered that evening (it took awhile to rotate through because there were only 4 shower stalls.)

I was up bright and early Tuesday morning to make use of the shower, hopefully before the hot water ran out. I got about halfway through before it turned cold. :-P All of the guys showered after the girls finished and we packed lunches. Then we went to a local McDonald’s for breakfast. Our pastor had a connection with the owner, and she had donated free breakfasts for us! It was nice to have something hot. :-) After that we loaded up the bus again and left!

Our first stop was at Mobile Loaves and Fishes Farm. This was where two of us leaders stayed with almost all of the high schoolers. ML&F is a sustainable agriculture farm that benefits homeless people. The products that come from the farm go to help several other inner-city homeless organizations, and in the future, homeless people will have the opportunity to work on the farm and learn vocational skills.

The farm is still being built up, so we were there to help! It was buried in about 4 inches of mud due to the rain from the day before. We definitely weren’t prepared for that, so we had to embrace the dirtiness! (Even knowing we wouldn’t have another shower until we got home. :-P) A few of the guys helped dig holes to build a gazebo. Some of the others worked to scrape the bark off the trees that were being used for posts. The rest of us cleaned up brush from a ditch and built a decorative/functional wall from it.

The rest of our group was at Street Youth Ministry in Austin. They spent time playing music, teaching, and doing arts and crafts with young homeless people at the center. Their ministry was more relational, while ours was definitely hands on!

When the bus came back to pick us up at the farm, we had to dig through the suitcases to find clean socks and shoes to put on. Then we rejoined the rest of the group. We drove down to San Antonio after that. We went straight to . . . a trampoline park! It was very fun, except for a few minor injuries. I was thinking about how gross we were going to be after all of that sweating and no showers. :-P

From there, we drove over to the Riverwalk part of town for dinner! We split up into groups and then spread out. My group ate at a Mexican restaurant. By the time we finished, it was time to meet up with others where we had been dropped off.

The church we stayed at that night was HUGE. We stayed on the level that was for 5^th and 6^th graders. We had a longer team debrief and devotions time before heading to bed. As a leader, I got very little sleep on the trip!

The next morning, we had our breakfast and packed up our things. Then we went over to Children’s Hunger Fund. We heard a little presentation on what CHF does and what we’d be doing to serve that day. We had three different groups. One group packaged up bulk dry noodles, another group had an assembly line packing boxes, and another group sorted donations from Samaritans Purse to put in gift boxes (soaps, lotions, hand sanitizers, other miscellaneous hygiene items, and toys that were removed from Christmas shoe boxes.) It was so much fun to volunteer there! We were able to get quite a lot done quickly because of how organized they were about everything.

After that, we turned the bus north and headed home. We made a quick use-the-restroom-and-buy-snacks stop at Buccees. We also stopped at Common Grounds coffee shop in Waco, Texas. That may very well be my favorite coffee shop in the whole world. It is SO GOOD and if you’re ever in Waco, you must stop there! It’s right off the Baylor University campus. :-)

We made it home in the early evening. It was a fast-paced, exhausting trip, but it was so much fun. It was my first domestic missions trip experience, and also my first time going as a leader. I was definitely stretched, and learned a lot about doing ministry in the United States!

So What Happened This Past Semester?

This past semester was definitely interesting for my family and me! At any moment, we could have sold our house and needed to move within a month. So we honestly lived on a week-to-week—and sometimes day-to-day—basis.

In January, Jessie was home from school for several weeks. I didn’t get a whole lot of school work done during that time. :-P Instead, we spent a lot of time together. We went on a fun photo shoot with a couple of our siblings, had a special lunch at a local café to celebrate 6 months together, visited a new pie company in town, and spent lots of time at each other’s houses with each other’s families.

In February, I sat down and had a talk with Mom about finding motivation for school. I had failed a Natural Sciences test in the fall, and then spent two months studying for a Substance Abuse exam that I discovered was just too hard for me to pass. Mom and I came up with a reward: when I passed 3 more exams (and earned 9 more credits) she would go with me for a weekend to visit Jessie at college! So I plowed ahead with my work. ;-) I passed Fundamentals of Counseling in February, and then Environment & Humanity and Technical Writing in March. Thus I earned my trip! :-D

Hanging out at the lake!

It was a very fun weekend! Mom and I drove down on a Friday morning and arrived in the late afternoon. We went out to Torchy’s for dinner with Jessie and a group of his friends (they are all going to be counselors at the school’s Christian orientation camp later this summer.) After dinner we all went out to the lake for some Frisbee, a campfire, and worship time together.

On Saturday, we went out for coffee and then explored a new park and tested out Jessie’s ENO hammock. At lunchtime, we went to Fazoli’s and then went back to the dorms. Mom stayed there and worked on a few projects while Jessie and I went out and bought a DVD player. After discovering we had no HDMI cable, we all went to Barnes and Noble for awhile. :-P Afterwards, we picked up dinner at Panera, borrowed an HDMI cable, and watched “Interstellar” in one of the lounges.

On Sunday morning, we went to Jessie’s church :-) (which happens to be a lot like the one we attended together back home!) Mom then took us out for a nicer lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate 9 months of being together (yes, we celebrate a lot. ;-P) Then it was time to head home!

The rest of the semester wound down fairly quickly. I took a Nutrition course in April, and then a Criminal Justice exam at the beginning of June. So at the moment, my total number of credits earned sits at 57! I almost caught up to where I had hoped to be by this point. My goal over the summer is to knock out Spanish and College Math and earn 12 more credits before getting back into my full school load in the fall.

And then there’s Tex . . . he’s proved to be a big handful over the past 6 months. :-P He has gotten himself skunked on an average of once a month. I did 6 weeks of training classes with him and he knows how to sit really well. We’re still working on the other commands. :-P He loves to roll in smelly things, stay out later than his “curfew,” kill and eat turtles, and chase cars and trucks.

I’ve been busy here and there working on some Pinterest projects since I got an account in February. I never considered myself to be much of a crafts person, but I’ve really enjoyed expanding my horizons. I will probably do a future post on some of the little projects I’ve done this past year!

One of my first Pinterest projects. :-)

I have also been on three mission trips in 2015! :-O In March, I went as a leader on a mission trip with our student ministry at church. That trip was local to three major cities in Texas. Then in May, I joined the first College Plus mission trip! We spent 10 days in Ecuador. And recently, my family and I returned from a mission trip to Guatemala. I will definitely try to blog about those trips in a future post as well!

There’s a four-letter word to describe the weather in Texas for the past several months: rain. If you’ve watched the news lately, you already know that there has been significant amount of rainfall and some severe flash flooding all over Texas (and other parts of the south.) Thankfully, we haven’t had any damage to our home. But our pond has flooded the yard several times and washed away a big portion of the driveway. All of our plans hinge on the weather which is very strange to Texans. :-P

So there’s a fairly brief overview of what my semester looked like! Tune in next week for a new post!

Announcing . . . a Courtship!

So I’ve sat on a secret for about a year now. ;) Prayers about a courtship have been going up since last July. I should probably start the story at the beginning though.

In December 2012, my family moved to Texas. For six months, I knew there was a guy in our youth group named Jessie, but that’s all I knew about him.

In June of 2013, Ben and I went to help our youth pastor set up a slip-and-slide for our gathering the next night. Jessie and his brother were also there. After our work to set up the slide, Pastor D took us all out to Chick-fil-A. Jessie introduced me to Chick-fil-A sauce, and that’s about all we said to each other. :-P Then another night, our family went over to his family’s house for a dinner they hosted for the worship team members at church. We still didn’t talk then which felt a little awkward. :-P

Then in July, his family went on the missions trip to Guatemala that Ben and I also went on. That was when my friendship with their family started. Miss D (Jessie’s Mom) was kind of my “adopted mom” on the trip. I already knew Mr. J (Jessie’s Dad) because we were on worship team together.

On that trip, I got to know Jessie and his brother, along with the other teens on the team. After that trip, a bunch of us started hanging out together and doing movie nights periodically. Jessie and his brother *always* came to those!

We continued to be friends and hang out fairly often. In April 2014, we both decided to intern in Guatemala that summer. I felt a little weird at first going with a young guy, but as I got to know him better while we prepared for the trip, my parents and I both felt much more comfortable with him going versus me going alone.

About that time, I went as a leader with the high school students from church on a weekend youth retreat (I am 13 months older than Jessie.) I think it was then that I realized that I had developed feelings for him. Our friendship had been so encouraging, edifying, and never awkward. I knew he was going away to college in the fall, and figured that’d be the end of our friendship. So I tried to proceed as normal.

Then in July, we left for our internship. A couple of days into the trip, people started teasing us about liking each other. I felt bad and slightly embarrassed because I didn’t believe he had feelings for me, and figured that the teasing was awkward for him. But one night in the middle of our trip, Pastor D asked us “do you like each other?” And he wouldn’t let us off the hook without answering.

Honestly, those few seconds were some of the scariest and most awkward of my life! I waited to see what Jessie would say before I answered. He said he did like me, and I said I liked him as well. It was such a relief to know the feelings were actually reciprocated! We proceeded to talk for two hours that evening of the “what now?” questions. We both valued a serious, courtship-type relationship. I was concerned about him leaving for college, knowing how much people change during that stage of life.

So we agreed to pray about our relationship through his first year of school and to continue to build a friendship. I was honestly a bit skeptical about whether or not our relationship would last. Jessie was confident that his feelings would not change in a year.

He was right! He has communicated with me every single day since he left for school in August. He initiated a once-a-week Skype call tradition. Those calls stretched to 2.5 hours some weeks! :-O We saw each other in person every 4-5 weeks when he would come home for the weekend. I went with his family to visit him at school once and then I went with my Mom during the second semester.

In June, he talked to my Daddy and then asked permission to court me. :-) He came over to my house bearing a bouquet of Snapdragons he had picked from home. Then we went down to the pecan grove for one of our favorite past times: hammocking. And that’s when he asked! It was a very sweet moment, because he said “I love you” for the first time (we had agreed not to say it for the year we waited and prayed.) He had planned out the evening with some of our other favorite activities including an evening walk, ice cream and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”, and star gazing.

Now that we’re in a courtship, we have begun to talk about issues more specific to a future marriage between us. We know that we are the *type* of people we would like to marry; now we’re trying to figure out if we’re *specifically* meant to marry each other.

The more I get to know him, the more amazed I am at God’s goodness. In many ways, Jessie is more than I dreamed of in a young man. I am so excited to see where the Lord takes our relationship!

The Ongoing Adventure

I feel like whenever I post something about my plans, something major happens and changes it all. :-P My life seems to be a constant adventure these days, with something unexpected happening nearly every day.

Our house has been on the market for about 1.5 months now and despite the holidays, we’ve had a few people look at it! Dad continues to work his new job in Oklahoma and house hunt up there.

After a 6-week-long illness, I finally took my last dose of antibiotic on Christmas Eve and we had a quiet celebration at home as a family. I’ve fallen a bit behind on school work due to all the crazy events that have worked their way into my daily life. But I hope to get back on track this semester, knock out my sophomore year, and break into my junior year!

Adding into all this mix is a new endeavor/adventure: I became a dog owner a couple of weeks before Christmas! Long story short, I ended up taking our neighbor’s Blue Mountain Cur that they were looking for a home for (he was originally purchased to be a hunting dog, but the owner had no time to work with him.) Sweet Tex had a run-in with a barbed wire fence, and by the time I purchased all his other accoutrements and had him neutered, I had spent a few hundred dollars on him. :-P But he seems to be a fast learner and has a personality that desires to please. I’ve already fallen in love with him and look forward to training him as soon as his neck heals up and I can get a collar on him.

Trying to get Tex to sit still for a picture is rather difficult. :-P

So that’s a brief update in a nutshell! Hopefully I’ll be able to post here a bit more often in the New Year. But maybe I shouldn’t say that . . . ;-P