Sophomore Year Shenanigans

Phew, I am so exhausted. I am officially back in Lexington and I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Craziness. I am attempting to transition back into this new normal but it is proving to be easier said than done. Ha!

K-Week Madness…

You know it’s K-Week when…your feet are blistered and aching from walking all over campus, your hands permanently smell like latex and your fingers are pruny from filling hundreds of water balloons, your diet consists of pancakes and hamburgers, your closet is stocked with free t-shirts, you shake hands with people you know out of classical conditioning, you have random episodes of uncontrollable laughter with your housemates, and you have to schedule time to sleep. Yes, it’s that time of year again. How nice it’s been to be on the other side of K-Week, leading instead of participating!

From KCrew to CSF Leaders (CSF Luau Party)

As a K-Crew leader, I have had the honor and responsibility of leading twelve freshmen through their first few days of college. K-Week is designed to help freshmen get acclimated to campus and excited to be official Wildcats. It has been so fun to watch my “kids” experience their college firsts and watch them interact with each other and form friendships. I have been so blessed to have such an engaged and precious group of freshmen this year and it’s always a joy to hang out with them. It has been exhausting to lead my team through daily activities while juggling the responsibilities that come with being on CSF Leadership, but the Lord has continued to prove His faithfulness as He has blessed me with the energy I am lacking at just the right time and has allowed me to have a joyful attitude and speak truth into the freshmen He has entrusted me with. On top of getting to meet tons of new friends, it’s been awesome to be reunited with precious friends, and figure out life in a new house with my sweet homies. It has been SO nice to come home to my little Dollhouse and have a room to relax and rest in and sweet housemates to laugh and decompress with. I love my new house! As I sit writing this, I am listening to my sweet homies sing beautifully as Lydia plays the piano in the room next to me. Hence why I continue to sit in my room. Untalented, party of one. Ha! Goodness, I think angels are living with me the way they sing. I could listen to this all night long…

My Sweet K-Team

Scratch

Mr. and Mrs. President Capilouto 

Sophomore Year…

I am super excited about this year and am looking forward to seeing how the Lord uses and shapes me. This year I have been blessed to have the opportunity to lead freshmen through Crazy Love by Francis Chan with a friend named, Joseph Thacker, and just learn and do life with sweet new friends. I am super excited for this and am praying that the Lord would use me to speak truth and love into their lives and would shape and grow in me so that I can lead the freshmen in the best way possible. Tonight was our first Shift and it was SO awesome to see new freshmen choosing to own their faith and come out to CSF and learn and grow in community. SO. AWESOME. After Shift, we had Shift Group sign ups and 11 sweet freshmen chose Joseph and my group. We are super excited to see where the Lord leads our group and are really looking forward to meeting and learning with our new friends!

I know that the Lord has big things in store for me this year and I am excited to see how He stretches, uses, and blesses me as I continue to seek and glorify Him in all that I do. As I start this new school year, my goals are:

Live Boldly

Think Big Picture

Serve Humbly

Pray Earnestly

Reflect Often

Think Simply (don’t overcomplicated uncomplicated things)

Study Hard

Learn Willingly

Laugh Frequently

Sleep At Night (not during the day or wee hours of the morning)

Spend Intentional Time with Friends

Spend Time Wisely

Journal Daily

Worry Less

Be Silly

Practice the Fruits of the Spirit

Take Time to Listen and Give Thanks

Exercise More

Practical Goals:

Learn How to Cook

Lean How to French Braid

Learn How to Bake

Basically, learn how to be a better housewife. Ha!

Random Thoughts and Rants…

I have been so convicted lately thinking about life and the true purpose of living on this earth. FAR too often, I make this life about me. I believe that I am starring in the Emilee Show and base too many decisions on what I want. Wake up call…this life is NOT my own. I am here for one reason and one reason alone- to love, serve, and care for people and to tell and show them the love of the Lord. It is so easy to get into a natural rhythm of going through the motions and getting caught up on worldly things, rather than keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord and allowing Him to take control of every part of our lives. Gosh, life is not supposed to be so complicated. Love people. Love God. THAT’S IT! There are so many people that need to be loved on! Goodness, I wish we could just get outside of ourselves and learn to pay attention to the people right in front of us. I've heard the phrase many times, "it's not about your ability, it's about your availability." It's time to step up and say yes to the people and opportunities the Lord presents to us and choose to live a life of total dependence on Him and His leading. I want to live a life of passion and urgency, serving a God who can do big things through little me.

I have also been convicted about the way I worship. I LOVE worshiping through music. When I listen to music, nine times out of ten, I am listening to a Christian artist. And I think that’s the problem. Rather than worshiping to the God who deserves all of my praise, I get into a habit of simply singing words to a catchy song.  Now, that’s not to say that listening to Warm 98 in the car or Hillsong as I do homework is bad, BUT it is to say that I need to truly pay attention to what I am singing and what promises I am making to the Lord. A song by Jimmy Needham speaks truth to this fact saying that “worship is more than a song.” Worship is so much more than just singing a song; it is making a declaration and promise to the Lord. I want to sing loudly and proudly and passionately to a God who hears my words and knows my heart and I want to sing with my arms stretched high, hoping to just get a few inches closer to my Father whose arms are reaching back down towards me.

This is What I Want to Look Like When I Worship...

Another way I love to worship is through prayer. How amazing is it that we have the opportunity to speak directly to the Lord of Lords? Me, Emilee Hancock from nowhere Kentucky has a direct line to the creator of Heaven and Earth. When we pray, our words do not bounce off the ceiling and do not fall on deaf ears. We serve an incredible God. Far too often, I take my prayer time for granted. I feel like many times, I am talking to the "Santa Clause" God telling Him all that I want, rather than thanking Him for the incredibly abundant blessings He pours over my life, or saying, let YOUR will be done. It's so easy to convince myself that I know best...and then I quickly realize how wrong I am. Rather than praying in a way that makes it all about me, I want to pray and make it all about the One I am praying to. I want to thank Him, praise Him, and humbly ask that His will be done in my life. All of that is easier said than done, but I know that as I seek to better love and serve the Lord, He will show me how.

Clear the Stage- Jimmy Needham

Update: Well, I have officially finished my first day of Sophomore Year! I only had three classes today, so that was super nice to be able to come back early and be in for the night. It is quite difficult to transition back into school mode rather than continue to live in my lovely state of summer bliss. I am quite overwhelmed at this point, but that seems to be the story of the first day of anything. Tomorrow will be my second first day, so once I get that out of the way, all should be well. 

Annual First Day Picture

End of The Summer Blues

How is it possible that my beloved summer is already over? Goodness gracious. It’s ridiculous how sad I get when summer comes to an end…I suppose that is just a testament to how amazing my family and friends are. I blame them for making it so difficult to go back to the “real world.” Ha!

Home Sweet Home…

I am officially moved in to my new (to me) 103-year-old house. How exciting! The move in day was quite stressful as we had to fit a whole lot of big things into a little house but everything worked out in the end and our “Dollhouse” is quite precious and is now open for visitors! I am so excited to see how this house will be used as a resource to love and serve others. I am so thankful that I am able to live in an adorable little house (with my own room!) with two precious friends, but am even more thankful that we have the opportunity to open our home up to friends and allow it to be used as a place of fellowship, prayer, grace, love, and laughter. I pray that as Lydia, Katelynn, and I live together, we would be able to practice the Fruits of the Spirit and shower one another with encouragement, challenge one another, show each other grace, and fill our home with lots of laughter, singing, and dancing. Yay! This is going to be such a fun adventure and learning experience!

Happy As A Pig In Mud…

This past weekend, a group of us participated in a local “Mudathon” which consisted of a 5K race with 40 obstacles along the way…in mud. Oh my goodness, we were so filthy. In the course of the race, we crawled through, slid down, jumped over, ran through, sat in, rolled in, and swam in mud. Sounds appetizing, right? We were covered from head to toe in mud…and every crevice in between. I’ll spare you the details. While we were completely disgusting and were happy to take nice warm showers afterward, we so enjoyed the physical challenge of the race, as well as the fellowship and laughter we shared during the race. Goodness, yet another YOLO-esque fun adventure and awesome memory to add to the list.

63 Years of Love…

Following the Mudathon, we quickly showered and headed to Louisville to celebrate my Nanny and Pappy’s 63^rd Anniversary. Oh my goodness, I just love my family! It is such a blessing to have my Nanny and Pappy as examples to our family of what Godly, beautiful, sacrificial, and unconditional love looks like. Nanny and Pappy have taught and lead our family to be men and women of God, to love and serve sacrificially, to laugh often, and to show grace always. It was amazing to sit holding Pappy’s hand laughing as he recounted stories from his childhood and be smushed on the couch with my sweet cousins laughing and talking. Such sweet times. In the midst of a lot of change in our family, it was such a blessing to be together celebrating love, life, and family.  

Goodbye Summer…

As I reflect on the past several months, I am absolutely humbled by how packed it was with priceless memories, awesome adventures, tons of time with family and friends, and so many reminders of how faithful and amazing the God we serve is. Due to the fact that my summer time is quickly dwindling, I have come up with a short(ish) list of lessons I have learned or have been reminded of this summer...

• Change is tough.
• God answers prayers in bold ways.
• Life goes on.
• Crying is okay.
• God allows us to endure tough times in order to show His faithfulness and to refine and shape us into who He has created us to be.
• Family is a priceless gift.
• God is faithful.
• Nature is beautiful.
• God is so creative.
• Laughing is the best.
• Serving others allows us to humble ourselves and love in a tangible way and glorify God through loving His children.
• Friends are amazing.
• We need to rid ourselves of “us” and fill ourselves with “Him.”
• People are silly.
• Lazy pool days are lovely.
• Reading is super fun…getting paid to read is even better.
• Sleep is overrated…at night. Sleeping-in is amazing.
• Having older and wiser women in my life is such a blessing.
• The South is the best.
• Having a sister that is engaged is weird.
• Awkward is awesome.
• My family gets me to do the craziest things…and I’m so glad.
• Softball is fun. Being on the “most fun and least talented team” is hilarious.
• God is good. All the time.
• I am beautifully and undeservedly blessed.

Onto the next adventure...ready, set, go crazy.

Summer Lovin'

Goodness gracious, I wish there were a pause button I could press to slow this summer down. I feel like I blinked and my summer is already nearly over…guess time really does fly when you’re having fun. Ha! At the beginning of the summer I was super excited thinking my summer was going to be super relaxing and not busy. Ha! What a joke that was.

What I’ve Been Up To…

This summer has been jammed packed with amazing people and fun adventures. I often get overwhelmed thinking about how beautifully blessed I am…as corny as that may sound. It really is so humbling to have so many incredible people in my life, who generously pour into me and allow me to laugh, cry, and learn alongside of them. When you mix awesome people doing awesome things you are guaranteed to have an awesome time. Great logic, right? Ha! I have had so many fun YOLO-esque adventures this summer that have totally been made by the people I’ve experienced them with.

Cedar Point

Each summer a group from our college-aged ministry takes a two-day trip to Cedar Point in which we travel and hang out one day and play at the park from opening to closing the second day. I look forward to this trip every year, especially this year seeing as it was my “prize” after finishing my week at camp. Although I was ridiculously exhausted, (since I left the day after I got home from camp) it was SO nice to laugh and hang out with precious friends while riding crazy awesome roller coasters. On Sunday (day 1), we lucked out with the weather and were able to go to a local park and play some beach volleyball and ultimate frisbee. Oh my goodness gracious, I was laughing so hard it hurt. It’s quite impressive how incredibly bad we all were at volleyball and how hilarious of sounds we made as we lurched for the ball…and inevitably missed it. We are currently waiting for the USA Volleyball Coach to give us a call. It’s been a few weeks and we haven’t heard anything…they must just be intimidated by our mad skills. After playing at the park, we got some icecream, did a devotional, and went back to our rooms. Unfortunately, due to my extreme exhaustion, I was hit with some intense second, third, and fourth winds. By the time we got back to our room, I was bouncing off the walls and enjoyed having a dance party with my roomies. After dancing, laughing, and talking for a while, we went to bed and enjoyed a very short night of sleep. The next morning we woke up super early, I got my McDonald’s sweet tea (of course) and we drove for about an hour to the park. We could not have been more blessed by the weather we had. It was crazy hot, but super sunny and beautiful blue skies, which was awesome! There is just something to be said about being strapped in and being jerked around hills, turns, flips, and corkscrews while laughing and screaming your head off. There is also something wonderful about spending hours of time waiting in line with awesome people. As fun as the roller coasters are, I LOVED just spending time with the people I love the most laughing and talking…and sweating. Ha! We were able to ride all of the roller coasters we wanted to ride…including two water rides towards the end of the night. I was one of the few suckers who opted to ride the water rides and came out drenched from head to toe. Touché water rides, touché. I laughed so much, was able to process camp (sorry for everyone who heard repeated stories), and  loved spending time with crazy awesome people. Cedar Point was awesome and was the perfect ending to a pretty tough week!

Roomie Love

Riding Buddies on Top Thrill 3 Years In A Row

Tradition Picture

It’s a Boy

Despite what conclusion you may have drawn from this title, I am excited to say that I have gained a brother-in-law! My sweet sister, Rachel is engaged. After years of talking and praying about the man God had in store for her, Jeremy Eaton walked into her life and has decided to stay for a lifetime. For nearly 21 years, Rachel has patiently waited to date, trusting that when the time was right, the Lord would put someone in her life that would be able to lead and love her the way God intended. After exactly a year of being friends, Jeremy and Rachel’s hearts were aligned and both felt that they were being led to date with the intention of marrying each other. Their story is truly a testament to how much God loves writing love stories. They have decided to get married on May 18, 2013 and serve and love people and ultimately glorify God together. The wedding planning has already begun (which is still super surreal to me) and it is so exciting to watch Rachel’s dreams become a reality. I couldn’t be happier for them and am so excited to see how the Lord uses and blesses them in the future!

Canoe Day

Like Cedar Point, Canoe Day is another “1829” event that I look forward to each summer. This is always a super chill and awesome day where we do more floating than canoeing. Ha! We totally lucked out on glorious weather (super hot but sunny) and even had more water in the river than we had expected. My precious friend, Hannah was my canoe partner and we had such fun “party barging” (clinging to another canoe and letting them do the work, Ha!) and laughing and talking as we floated down the river. About half way through our adventure, Hannah and I got in a bit of an accident in which we flipped over, somehow were pushed into a tree, and were tangled between several other canoes. I’m not exactly sure what happened but Hannah and I were both quite shaken up and had a (not so) refreshing drink of (not so) delicious river water. Blah. After our little incident, we were happy to walk alongside our canoe for about half a mile before we worked up the courage to get back in and try again. Ha! All this many sound overly dramatic, and it totally was, but in the moment it was awfully scary. Apart from our “Titanic-esque” episode, the day was tons of fun with a whole lot of laughter, talking, eating (loads of delicious junk food,) floating, swimming, and rope swinging. Good times, good times.

Hey Batter, Batter

Seeing as I have been up for pretty much any adventure this summer, Dad and I signed up for our church’s softball league. If you know either of us, you know that this is hilarious. Haha. While I have been doing sports for most of my life, let’s be honest, flipping and hitting a softball are two very different things. What’s awesome about the league is that all of the teams we play are also from church, so more times than not, you are playing against your friends…which makes embarrassing yourself a whole lot more enjoyable. Ha! Luckily our team is very chill and average so Dad and I don’t stick out like two sore thumbs. We have had such fun playing each Sunday evening and are proud to say that we have a 0-4 losing record those far. Ha! Thankfully my competitiveness has not taken the joy out of the game and I have just been able to giggle and run as fast as my short legs can carry me when I actually hit the ball. To those of you who may be wondering…I was warned strictly (by my mom) not to pick flowers while playing outfield, so I have refrained. It’s awesome to experience this with Dad and have something to look forward to each Sunday. I seriously laugh more at these games than I focus. The lack of skill is fantastic and everyone’s total laid-back attitude totally makes the experience. Ha! Hopefully by the next time I post, I can report a win. Don’t hold your breath…

Color Me Rad

Add awesome people, 3 miles of walking/running, and dyed corn starch and you have a Color Me Rad race. After hearing about the race and seeing hilariously awesome pictures, a group of us decided to participate in our local Color Me Rad race several weekends ago. We mostly walked and sometimes ran the course and were pelted with dye about every ½ mile. By the time we were finished with the race, we all looked like we were walking Gobstoppers. No joke. We were all sufficiently colored from head to toe and enjoyed the fellowship and laughter we shared. More memories to add to the Summer 2012 book.

Before...

...and After

Joining the Circus

Well, you all are being warned- if teaching doesn’t work out for me, I will be joining the circus as a trapeze artist. After talking and laughing about doing it for months, my cousin Kellie and I drove up to Cincinnati and took trapeze lessons. Yeah, that was hilarious. We had a two-hour lesson, which consisted of basic safety instructions (yawn), swinging straight, swinging with our knees-up, and doing a backflip off of the trapeze bar. Kellie and I had a blast conquering our fear and swinging like the best of them. Ha! It was awesome to learn something completely new and get to share it with my cousin. Trapezing was also an awesome illustration for life. Warning- I’m about to over-spiritualize taking trapeze lessons but bear with me, okay. As I was hanging off the ledge of the platform getting ready to jump with my life fully dependent on the few cables that strapped me in and the net that seemed miles away, I got cold chills thinking about life and God. While we feel like we are barely hanging on, God reminds us that He has us firmly placed in His righteous and fully capable hands. And sometimes when we feel like our “safety line” has been cut and we are spiraling out of control, He catches us and cradles us in His loving embrace. Now, I know that is a lot to think about while dangling from a platform, but due to the fact that I was literally placing my life in the hands of some cables, I took a minute to think about Whose hands I place my life in and was comforted in knowing that I am loved and cared for by a great Big God. SO, not only did I get to get a taste of circus life, God used that time as a learning (and reminding) opportunity. Goodness, He is good.

South Pointe

I have been SO blessed to be apart of a new ministry First Church started this summer that resembles Woodhill (the ministry I love in Lexington). Each week, several of us have gone to play with and love on some incredible kids in a government funded neighborhood. Goodness, these kids are unbelievable and have the sweetest smiles and hearts. Because this is such a new ministry, this summer we have focused primarily on building relationships with the kids through allowing them to just be kids and play, talk, laugh, and be loved on. I have built some sweet friendships with several of the kids and have been so blessed by their constant hugs and smiles. It is so humbling (and extremely sad) to see the kids so hungry for love and attention. Good thing we have plenty of that to go around. I am sad to head back to school and miss out on this blessing each week, but know that the Lord will continue to do great things in those precious kiddos and through this ministry. 

Relay Race Day...with (New) Panties

Sweet Southern Charm

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to travel down to Mississippi to visit with some precious friends of ours while hanging out on Lake Pickwick. Oh my goodness, we had the best time swimming, pontoon-ing, water skiing, laughing, talking, sweet tea drinking, and Olympics watching. It was so wonderful to be reunited with friends who are family and fall back into our Southern roots. How I love the south…sweet tea, hospitality, accents, fried food, and white picket fences. Love it.

The Gang

 Sweet Soph and I Jet Skiing

All I Do Is Read Read Read No Matter What…

Due to the fact that I am spoiled to have a job where I get paid to sit, talk to people, and read, I have been a reading machine this summer. I have currently read over 3,000 pages and am on my 11^th book…clearly I’m working really hard. Ha! It has been SO nice to have time to read for enjoyment instead of drudging through a textbook or a lame book I have to write a paper on. I have thoroughly enjoyed the books I have read and have starred the books I highly recommend (although all of them have been great reads!)

Hunger Games Trilogy Suzanne Collins

At First Sight Nicholas Sparks

*Not A Fan Kyle Idleman

*Love Does Bob Goff

The Unforgiving Minute Craig M. Mullaney

*Kisses From Katie Katie Davis

*Redeeming Love Francine Rivers

Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller

Not A Fan, Love Does, and Kisses From Katie are absolutely worthwhile reads! Each convicted me and taught me more about myself and ultimately more about what it looks like to love people and serve God in a more intentional way. If you read (or have read) any of these books, let me know what you think!

Miscellaneous Summer Memories...

4th of July

Lazy Pool Days with My Sweet Sister

Ayda Girl and Aunty Em

Lauren's Going Away Party

Rachel's 22nd Birthday

A New Adventure…

Tomorrow I move into my new HOUSE. I definitely have mixed feelings about moving down to Lexington, as it’s beginning to sink in that summer is actually over. At this point, however I am blissfully living in denial and will begin processing my new adventure at a later date. Ha!