Day 6

Topic: Your favorite childhood book.

This is another impossible question because I had so many! To name a few:

Day 5

5. Share: old photos of you/family.

Well, okay. If you insist. 

Daddy and Me :)

Dad and I again

Pooh sticks

No wonder people thought we were twins!

What a little ham!

Classic 90s child

Brother love

So freaking adorbs

Max and I :) always the best of buds. 

Highs/lows
High- there were so many highs today. To name a few:

• Sleepover with Kieffer- I LOVE that girl. so much.
• Playing games with Max and Kieffer- oh boy. The three of us were hilarious together. We played lots of rounds of "Qwirkle" which if you haven't played, you should. We played it past 11pm last night and then a couple more rounds this morning. SO. FUN.
• Em K came over for the afternoon...oh how I miss my best friend. Love her. Love her company. Love the two of us together. Love that she is completely a member of my family (Max and I made HER set up the wii game we were going to play). 
• Watching Breaking Dawn Part 2 with my mom (-unashamed smile-
• Good friday service at church
• A clean and pretty room

Low of the day-

Uhhhh....there wasn't really a low to this day. If I had to pick, it's that right now I'm really really sleepy! 

Day 4

Topic: 4. Your current 10 favorite songs .

Oh boy...In no particular order.

1) Worn- Tenth Avenue North.  

2) Let the waters rise - Mikeschair 

3) In Your Arms- Meredith Andrews 

4) Skyscraper- Demi Lovato 

5) What Makes You Beautiful - Boyce Avenue 

6) Gold- Britt Nicole

7) A Thousand Years- Christina Perri

8) Beautiful Things- Gungor 

9) Kings and Queens- Audio Adrenaline 

10) Forever Reign- Hillsong 

High of the Day- I had a great talk with Kara today.  I so enjoy her and the conversations we have. 

Low of the Day- I don't really think there was a low today! It was all around a great day ending with a sleepover with the amazing and beautiful Kieffer tonight. And I'm home. I'm a happy girl. 

Day 3

Topic: Best advice you have ever received 


Simple answer? Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. After that everything else always falls into place.


High of Wednesday- Babysitting Baby Chase. My heart is so full of love for this super precious baby boy and I am so blessed to be able to be one of his many "sisters" at Trinity. 

I am also super thankful for his sweet and wonderful mama who knows that babysitting Chase brings joy to my day and who has set such a wonderful example for me this year. 


High of the day #2- Movie night in Lette's room. I love those girls!

Low of the day: I really hate geography class. 

30 Day Challenge- Day 2!

Topic: 5 Favorite Blogs

Hmmmm.....I read so many blogs, narrowing down my favorites was not an easy task! So here are some of my favorite/most read blogs.

One blog I faithfully check every day is kept my one of my beautiful friends, Lori. Her blog is called Lori's Life and currently has an adorable little background that has hearts on the top. Lori and I became friends my freshman year at Trinity and she has been a wonderful and amazing friend. I so enjoy her, our coffee dates, our random fits of laughter, and sitting by her in one of our classes. I wish I could see more of her, but it does make the time we do get to spend together special.

The second blog I probably read the most is Enjoying the Small Things, which is kept by Kelle Hampton. This blog is probably one of the most beautiful and honest blogs I have ever read. Kelle has two daughter, Lainey and Nella, and one son who is only a few weeks old, Dash. I have never met this family, but discovered the blog after reading this wonderful book called Bloom.  You see, Nella has Down Syndrome, and Bloom is all about her birth and how having a child with Down Syndrome has affected and blessed their family. 

Since we are already talking about blogs that deal with children with disabilities, another blog I am an avid reader of is Life As We Know It. This blog is about little Kennedy, who is another little girl with Down Syndrome. She is two years old and perhaps the cutest thing I have ever seen. I love this blog and it has been so cool to follow along as Kennedy has grown up and learned so much!

And because I am a dork I follow one of my professors blogs, called Book Commericals. I love reading about the books he has been reading, mainly because I know if he says a book is good, it will be. So I have read probably 10 books all recommended by him in the past semester.

Finally....I don't think I can pick just one more blog because I really don't know what it would be. I read a handful of blogs that are kept by people at school. I read a blog kept from a friend back home. I read a handful of blogs that are about children with disabilities and I also read a handful of blogs that are kept by special education teachers. While these are not read every day, I do like to keep up with them as much as possible. 

Highs and Lows of the day:

Well, I am writing this blog in the middle of the day, so I cannot say for absolute sure what the high and low of the day are, but I would say the low of the day was finding out, rather awkwardly,  from a friend that she is moving in with my current roommates next year. I was completely shocked and a little sad. I am happy for her- my roommates are fantastic. But I feel like I should have found out about that from my roommates, not her. 

High of my day- I don't think it has happened yet. In about an hour the kids from Roseland will be on campus, and I am nearly 100000% positive that that will be the high of my day. It's been quite a while since I've seen the kids since we had spring break, so I am super super pumped. Stay tuned for pictures :)

-Em

30 Day Blog Challenge....Here we go!

It's no secret I am horrible at blogging. So to get in some practice, I'm starting a 30 day blog challenge that I am challenging myself to keep up with! Along with that I will share the highs/lows of my day. Highs and lows is something we often do on my hall, and it has become one of my favorite things to ask someone about.

Here are the days:


1. Intro and recent photo
2. Favorite 5 blogs.
3. Best advice you ever received.
4. Your current 10 favorite songs .
5. Share: old photos of you/family.
6. Your favorite childhood book.
7. 3 things- 2 true, 1 false
8. Your middle name and how you feel about it.
9. Your favorite season and why.
10. 10 likes and dislikes.
11. 5 places you want to visit.
12. What is your favorite quote and why?
13. Discuss your current relationship status.
14. Where do you want to be ten years from now?
15. Who are your role models and why?
16. A picture that makes you smile and why.
17. Nicknames you have and why you have them.
18. Your top 3 baby girl names and your top 3 favorite baby boy names.
19. What is something that means a lot to you?
20. Do you have any birthmarks? Tattoos? Cool scars? Piercings? 
21. If you could spend 15 minutes with any celebrity who would it be and why?
22. Write about the best, worst, or most awkward date you have ever been on.
23. What are your three biggest pet peeves?
24. If you were famous for one thing what would it be?
25. A picture of someone you would do anything for.
26. Something you are proud of.
27. A photo from your birthday.
28. Your favorite Disney movie.
29. Your celebrity crush.
30. Best thing about your day.

And we are off with day one!

Intro- I feel like this almost is not needed because I just told you why I wanted to do this blog challenge. :) 

Recent picture....

One of my roommates, aka Katie Pollema, left the windows open when she left for spring break. It was literally an ice cube when we got back. Frozen water in the sink, toilet  tub....we all slept with 5+ blankets, hats, and gloves. The only good thing that came out of that was that we had great roommate bonding because we all stayed super close to each other to help keep warm. We also took a bunch of silly pictures.

Highs and lows of the day.

Low of the day- Last night was really tough for me because I realized more how much I am going to miss Laura, Becca, and Katie next year. These girls are my sisters, and being away from them is going to be way harder then I can imagine. I love our random picture taking events, or making fun of Katie, or hearing one of them sing at the top of her lungs in the shower. I love watching Once Upon a Time with them and laughing till we cry or scream at the tv. I love having amazing conversations about God with them and listening to worship music on Sunday mornings while we all get ready for church. My heart is hurting right now, and while I am doing better with this then I was last week, I don't really know if the hurting will ever completely go away...more it might just become more of a numbness. I think part of the reason I am so sad is because I don't really think they will try to keep up a relationship with me next year unless I really really push for it. I am just praying God has his will....but also praying that his will is for us to remain close.

High of the day- Do I have to name just one?

• Coffee with Aletta Jean. Lette and I got coffee at the BBC this afternoon and just kind of caught up on life. I heard lots about her spring break and told her about mine too. Lette is one of those people I just absolutely love spending quality time with. Her heart is so sweet and gentle and she genuinely cares for people without ever judging them. 
• Talking with Kara. I had the chance to spend about a half-hour with Kara this afternoon, just the two of us. No baby Chase to distract us this time. It was wonderful to be able to catch up with her and talk with her for a bit.
• Dinner with Kaity-  I feel like every time Kaity and I hang out we end up laughing so hard we cry at least once if not twice- tonight was no exception.
• Cancelled night class, need I say more?

Well, I think that is it for tonight. I hope you all had a lovely and blessed day.

-Em

Blessings

Okay, I know I promised this post yesterday, but I ended up not being home practically all day, so it's coming now.

In my last post I mentioned some things that I have been struggling with these past few weeks:

1) Lots of emotional stuff to work through
2) Housing issues
3) Finding a summer job (which may not have been mentioned, but I'm mentioning it now because it was on my mind a lot last week)
4) Unending amounts of homework to do

There was so much going on and my heart and soul did feel like they were being crushed. By the time I got home for spring break every part of me was worn out. 

I realized though that for the past few weeks I have been focusing a lot on myself and how much I have been going through and how much I was hurting and how betrayed I felt. (See the pattern of I?) I also realized I had spent a lot of time being frustrated with God for allowing everything that happened to happen in such a short period of time. 

I heard this song on the radio on my way home from school on Friday, and I happened to hear this part of the song:

I am Yours regardless of

the dark clouds that may loom above

because You are much greater than my pain.

You who made a way for me

by suffering Your destiny,

so tell me, what's a little rain?

So I pray:

Bring me joy, bring me peace

bring the chance to be free

bring me anything that brings You glory.

And I know there'll be days

when this life brings me pain,

but if that's what it takes to praise you,

Jesus bring the rain. 

And I realized just how much I had shut God out of everything that had been going on. And with tears streaming down my face I began to pray that God would soften my heart, draw me closer to him, and prayed that above all else His will would be done in my life in the upcoming months. I prayed later that He would give me the strength and courage to trust Him with my life because I have no control on what happens. I prayed He would help me be content with the unknown. And for the first time, I turned everything over to Him.

That was Friday.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were sweet days for God and I. It really amazes me sometimes how much our relationship with God is like all the other relationships in our lives- you have to pour into it in order for it to grow. And I'm not saying in three days everything was fixed by any means because it was/is far from that- but I am saying that in those three days I began to slowly feel God's peace in me- a peace I know can only come from Him. I continued to pray that he would work things out and show me what He wanted from me.

And by Monday, I started to see how much He was working, and how he had just been waiting on me to rely fully on Him and give everything over to him. 

Blessing/Answer to prayer #1- Monday afternoon I got a call from a lady named Tina who had heard about me from a friend who knows someone at Bethel church. (The back story to this is that my grandma had sent an email to the lady who runs the church email service asking her to put out an ad, along with the 60+ other adds, saying that I was looking for a summer job that involved working with children with disabilities. These emails get sent out to thousands of people in Indiana). The ad went out on Monday. Within three hours this lady called me, explaining that she was in need of a full time nanny for her daughter during the summer. Jenna has autism and is nonverbal. We set up an interview, which happened tonight. I got the job. I also got to meet the girl I will be working with. She is older- she is 16. Like I said a minute ago she is non-verbal; she can only speak about fifteen words. But she is fluent in sign language- something I did not know going in. The look on her mom (Tina's) face when I began signing back to Jenna was priceless and Jenna was excited as well. I am going to be working long days- from 6am-4pm, Monday- Friday. It will be tiring, but I am super excited to be able to have this opportunity. And God really opened all the right doors and showed me this is what he wants me to do:

That was just the beginning.

So I found a summer job. I would have been overjoyed with just that. 

Blessing/Answer to prayer #2- Then on Wednesday we found out that my grandpa's radiation treatments worked!! There is no new cancer in his body, his tumors are stable, and he does not have to go back to Northwestern for 6 months! Praise Jesus! In case you didn't know, grandpa has stage four lung cancer and the radiation treatments were not expected to work. There were many tears of joy and lots of celebrating that went on. He celebrated by buying himself a new tool chest complete with 20 something tool drawers.

Blessing #3- Also on Wednesday I got to spend the day hanging out with Jacob.

Jacob definitely knows me well. And he brings a joy to my heart that no one else can. I am so thankful for the three years I was able to work with him, and I am also soooo thankful that our relationship did not stop just because I went to college. Jacob still remembers all our little games, the things we do that are "our things" like racing to see who can get their seat belt on the quickest.  I love that whenever I come home for an extended period of time I am able to see him once or twice- and I love that I'll be getting to see more and more of him this summer. 

Blessing/Answer to prayer #4- I found roommates! Well, kind of. I had found a group of four girls to room with, and then at the last minute they picked a different girl. Turns out that the girl they picked  found other people to room with, meaning they still needed a fifth girl (----> me). I'm a little nervous about rooming with them next year because they did pick someone else first- I'm not who they would have chosen, but right now I am just thankful that I have people to room with that as far as I know are not druggies or serial killers. I'm trusting that this is what God wants right now, and so I'm okay with that.

Blessing/Answer to prayer #5- Very, very, very needed family time. I did not get to spend as much time with my family as I would have liked this break. I was gone almost every day during the day from the morning until the late afternoon, so really my family time happened Tuesday night, all day Thursday, and tonight. But the times I have been able to spend with my family have been super super sweet and fun.

We have played lots of Catan and Farkle...

Family game nights are perhaps one of my very favorite parts about being home. I love the laughter, fun, and just sweetness that comes out of the nights we hang out all of us together. 

I also got some much needed- Emily & Max bonding time this week. I've missed him a lot, and this week we have actually hung out a decent amount. We've played lots of mario cart, ran errands together, and yeah. I think Friday was the highlight though, because he was genuinely excited to have me home, which made my heart dance. Then on Wednesday night he and I spent the whole evening together. I picked him up from youth group, and then we came back to the house, did a power clean/dance party, and then watched the Incredibles together- no computers and no phones. It was wonderful. We basically relived our childhood when we used to pretend to be Violet and Dash. 

We also spent the day in Chicago on Thursday, which was a blast. I had more fun that day then I have had in a very very long time. I LOVE my family. So much. 

We're cool. 

I feel like there have been many other blessings this week, but I sadly have to go do homework. That's the major things that have happened in the past few days. It amazes me how blessed I am. 

Thank you to all you that have kept me in your prayers the past few weeks..I can't tell you how much it means to me. 

Stay tuned....

Okay you all-

Considering it is currently 12:33am and I have to be up at the crack of dawn, I cannot write a full post. However, I can tell you to stay tuned until tomorrow, because I am just about to burst with excitement because of all the crazy amazing things God has done in the past 48 hours.. I wish I could tell you all everything tonight, but since I can't I simply had to at least say this: God is SO good. 

So tomorrow, I will tell you why. But for now, spend a minute rejoicing and praising God for something- big or small. 

Pretty pink ponies and fluffy hippo clouds (meaning I have no idea what to title this post)

I'm a bad, bad blogger.

I know, it's been a long time and some of you have been bugging me for updates for a while. So  I think right now I'm going to update you all on just some of the more important things going on.

Aiding Placement:
This semester I am placed in a 7th grade science classroom. My teacher is fabulous and classy and the kids are great- but I am just not called to be a middle school teacher. Honestly, I do not want to much to do with teaching them- I've found during this placement that I very much prefer to spend one-on-one time with the students getting to know them. Yes, we do their homework and I teach them what they need to know, or help them understand what they are not quite getting, but I find that I'm much more drawn to their emotional needs than their academic needs. I find I gravitate towards the girl that comes in with bruises on her arm, or the boy that does nothing but sit in the corner and stare at his shoes. I find myself wanting to talk with the girl that is about 10x thinner then the others who looks like she has not slept in a few weeks. And I have had some great conversations with some of these kids- which may or may not be allowed, I don't really know. I do know I've set my mind to prove to them that they can trust me, and it has paid off in three or four great conversations during free time. And while I may not be able to tell them I am praying for them, I certainly can do it without making it known to them. It is certainly different than my placement last semester. Last semester I was with my 29 precious little first graders who I dearly loved and loved to teach. I left that placement floating on a cloud every day, even on those days that were hard and challenging. I couldn't wait to be a teacher. In this placement I find that I still leave feeling satisfied  but not in the "I can't wait to be a teacher!" way...It's different, I don't really know how to explain it.  

Roseland Christian Ministries:
Since I am aiding with the older kids this semester, I have needed to find a way to be around children since I do not babysit as much this semester as I did last. Don't get me wrong, baby Chase is FANTASTIC.

I mean really, who could resist that face?

Every time I get to babysit him or hold him it makes my day brighter and makes my heart sing. But it's not the same as talking with children and playing with them. I was really wanting to find a way to serve God and children at once last semester and I think my aiding placement did that. But since I am with the 7th graders (who I still love dearly) I have still felt like I am being called to serve children somewhere else.

During interim I started feeling this incredible push by God to get involved in this after school program called Roseland Christian Ministries. There is a group of about 3 or 4 Trinity students that goes consistently on Monday nights and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday afternoons. I have started going on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and oh my hippo, I cannot explain the impact these kids have had on me. It is a pretty decent sized time commitment, it's about 6 and a half hours a week- which is about the same amount of hours as I spend in my aiding classroom per week, but it is so worth it. These kids are incredible. They are all African-American and there is about 25-30 kids in the program. I work with the younger group- so first grade through sixth grade. The oldest student in the program though is 16 and in high school.  At first the kids were hesitant, they did not want to much to do with me because I was new. It took some effort and serious time, but the kids now love me. I am attacked with hugs when I walk in and more then half of them now call me by name. Developing relationships with them has been such a cool experience and it has been so neat to watch how they have grown to accept me and treat me as one of them. I love them and I am so glad that I have found a place where I can serve God and children all at once. 

Other news:

Last week was easily one of the hardest weeks I have had at Trinity in the year and a half I have been coming to this school. It started out with something that happened on a Thursday evening (which if you want to know about feel free to ask me in person) that left me feeling terrified and alone. I really don't think I would have made it through those next two days without some of the amazing people I had rally around me to support me. Lette was incredible through it all. She caught me sobbing in our floor prayer lounge Friday night at like 3am and stayed with me for an hour, even though I wouldn't tell her at that point what was going on. It took me till Monday night to be able to tell her what had happened. My parents were also amazing through it- they really supported me as much as they could from home and I am so thankful for it. Woody was also fantastic- he knows what to say and how to make me feel better that's for sure. Kaity and Alyssa also both were great friends to me as I worked through all that had to be done and I am so thankful for them. But by Wednesday I was already plain worn out from the emotional few days it had been and I had a huge test that evening and was already discouraged and down. Then on Wednesday afternoon perhaps the saddest, most heartbreaking part of being at Trinity yet came down on top of all that I had already been dealing with- my roommates told me that  they did not want to room with me next year. As soon as they said it I was a sobbing mess. They couldn't have picked a worse day to tell me, and I was completely totally shocked. I had NO idea it was coming. I should have seen it, but I didn't. My heart literally felt as if it had been broke into a thousand tiny pieces and my soul just felt crushed. I still don't understand why, but what I do understand is that next semester I don't have roommates. I have no where to go, and the people I have asked to room with have all said they can't take me because they already have housing plans. I am absolutely terrified for next year and I am still hurting and recovering. It's taken me a week to be able to be around my roommates without just bursting into tears. I really don't know what the next year holds for me, but it hurts to not be wanted. But I think God has already been using this in my life, so for now I guess I just have to trust in him and in his plan for me, even if it's really really hard.

The exciting news of my life is that spring break is in 3 days and I'll have ten days at home to relax and be refreshed before tackling the rest of this semester.

Well, that's it for now. Love to all. 

Life in Pictures