Long Overdue Update

Wow! We have been very busy lately, which is kind of a change from my typical lifestyle in Oregon. (I haven't blogged in a while, so this one is pretty long to catch you up!)

CrossX was this past week, which was a mission trip for the Hillcrest Youth Group from Abilene, TX where our good friend Evan Simmons is the youth minister. Our two youth groups worked together on service projects all week and then we went to the coast for a weekend retreat together. The week was amazing!! Oh my goodness, I still smile when I look back on everything that happened that week. I feel a lot closer to many of our kids and feel like I really connected with several of our girls. I am going to try to do a girls sleep over this weekend, but I know my 10:30-11:00 bedtime won't work out so well with teenage girls!

I have this renewed energy and excitement about working with the youth group! God just really worked on mine and Kory's hearts this past week and we both feel like it coming right at the 1 year mark was no coincidence. Speaking of which, I can't believe we have lived here for over a year now!! Hopefully I can do an extensive one-year post soon.

Summer has finally really arrived in Oregon and I'm thrilled!! Granted, summer here means that we're in the high 70's and I don't think we have reached 80 yet...so it's perfect! It's warm and sunny in the days and then at night, it's still cool.

We are starting a new small group at church for young adults this week. Kory is leading the group and I'm hosting it at my apartment, so it will require quite a bit of work for me to clean and get things ready, but I can't wait! Hopefully people show up...even if it's only a couple people, I think we'll still be happy to have other church friends to hang out with. Young adults is a pretty loose term...if they don't have grandkids, we'll allow them to come! haha

In just a couple weeks, we're going white water rafting with a bunch of people from our church, so that is guaranteed to be a good time! The only thing I don't like is that the entire day is spent throwing people off their rafts, or squirting them with water guns and soaking them, and it's not quite hot enough for that! It's fun to get in and swim or to sit on the raft and be dry, but I remember freezing to death last year when they would get me wet and then I was sitting on the raft shivering. I would prefer an old person's trip where we don't tackle other people, and ram into their rafts, and surprise attack each other with super high powered water guns.

My laptop has died and been resurrected so many times now! Thank goodness it keeps coming back...it is really old, it's actually Kory's old laptop that is probably 5 or 6 years old, but I really don't want to buy a new one. Hopefully this one will keep hanging on for a while! I need to get my iPhone update so now that my laptop is working again I hope to get that done soon.

June Pictures

Here are some pictures from the past several weeks. I am too lazy to rearrange them so they are in random order.

Multnomah Falls just outside Portland

High School Graduations for Youth Group Members

Random Updates

A co-worker told me today that I am the most talented person he knew. I was really flattered until he told me that it was because I was walking down the stairs in high heels, taking a drink with one hand and texting with the other.

I have been running for two days in a row now, which is a big deal for me. If I run tonight and make it 3 days, we'll be approaching world record status in my book. I always get super motivated and run for a day or two and it quickly fades. I'm not trying to become a marathon runner by any means, but I would like to be in better shape (I feel like walking up my stairs shouldn't make me out of breath!) and be healthier. It's definitely not because I enjoy running. I really hate running actually...I'd much rather ride a bike, so I need to check into buying one of those. I have gone running at 9:00 p.m. both nights because it is still light outside and really cool! The weather has been really nice the past couple days so I'm hoping it's an indication that summer weather is on the way!

Today I decided to wear a pair of shoes I almost never wear to work because they really hurt my feet after wearing them all day. The heel is much higher than I typically wear, but I knew I got to be at my desk for at least 4 of the 8 hours today, so I thought I could make it just fine. Well, of course, that didn't happen...I should know better than to plan for that. One of my co-workers didn't come in today so I was covering for her and ended up on my feet for most of the day. Yikes--my feet and calves are burning!! Back to flats for me tomorrow...I'm just not a heels type of girl.

Evan and his youth group will arrive this Saturday and be here for a full week! I am SO excited to see them and get to spend the week with them. We'll be spending a couple days on the coast for a weekend retreat and the camp we're staying at looks awesome!

I have quite a few pictures I need to post of recent events (high school graduations, painting the youth room, ministry fair, etc.) but I always forget that when I'm at home and have my camera cord. Hopefully I can remember to upload those soon.