Here is a quick (okay, maybe not so quick) summary of these last few wonderful weeks...
Well, the time has come that my peers are starting to get married. In fact, so many friends of mine have gotten engaged I can hardly keep count. BUT, that is besides the point. Keith and Leah Slayden (so weird!) are the first of my peers to get married. It was pretty crazy to watch two of my friends get married and so special to watch them start the life together. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and so much fun! It was awesome to have so many CSF friends to dance and laugh with. Mrs. Leah Slayden looked absolutely stunning as did all of her bridesmaids and Keith and his groomsman looked quite handsome. It was such a God honoring and glorifying service and the start to a beautiful marriage! Congratulations Keith and Leah!
Another fun highlight was going to our Candlelight Christmas Service at church. I always look forward to going to Candlelight and seeing the church decorated beautifully, the people dressed up, and enjoying the amazing service! The songs and reading of Jesus' birth always put me in the Christmas spirit and super excited for all the festivities to come!
During the break, Rachel and Jeremy and Darin and I went on a double date to the Festival of Lights which was super fun! The lights were absolutely beautiful and it was so fun to walk through the zoo at night together and see some of the animals and the thousands upon thousands of lights. Despite the cold, we had an absolute blast and enjoyed warming up in the car afterwards. Ha!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were of course highlights as well. It's always SO wonderful to have the family all together celebrating and catching up. I always love getting to spend time with family, especially during Christmas time. I definitely missed Pappy this Christmas and my heart longed to squeeze that belly of his, but smiled knowing that he was throwing a birthday party for Jesus in Heaven. Lucky duck! I am so thankful and humbled to be apart of such a loving, God-honoring, and close-knit family. I wish I could see them more often but am always thankful for the time I do get to share with them and cherish each moment of it. I loved getting to spend time with both sides of the family and so enjoyed the great conversations, laughter, and of course delicious food we all got to share together! I love them the most. Fraid so dearies.
After celebrating Christmas with my family, I got to go to Wabash to celebrate with Darin's family. How fun! I had such a wonderful time visiting and celebrating with his family and meeting their sweet friends. Several times I found myself completely overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and humility that I have the opportunity to love this family. They are so amazing. We celebrated Christmas and New Years Eve on the same day and had ourselves so convinced that each were the actual days that I kept thinking of all the people I wanted to text and call and wish a Merry Christmas or Happy New Year. Ha! In between the two "holidays," we geared up and went sledding for a couple hours. It was super fun...I still have the bruises to prove it. Ha! I absolutely LOVED meeting the friends that I have heard about for so long and so enjoyed "bringing in the new year" talking and laughing all together. I also got to go to Darin's home church on Sunday morning, which was awesome! It was pretty funny how many people introduced themselves by saying, "Hi Emilee (before I said my name), I'm ____." Again, I was so humbled to hear how loved and respected Darin is and moved by how genuinely excited people were to meet "Darin's Emilee." I had such a wonderful time celebrating with the Mirante's and was quite sad to leave Wabash. Ha! Guess that just means we'll have to visit again soon!
This break was full of lazy and relaxing days...which was SO nice! I can't even tell you how many movies we watched over the break. It was kind of ridiculous actually. Ha! I absolutely LOVED having time to just relax with my precious family and so enjoyed reading, puzzling (I mainly watched my family puzzle...but put together a piece or two. Ha!), playing in the snow, watching movies, baking, and sleeping. Oh I am definitely going to miss those lazy days once school starts back up. I love my family and always love spending time together. Such sweet times!
Last but not least, I had the opportunity to go to Passion again this year. It was absolutely amazing to be surrounded by 60,000 students worshipping, praying, and learning together. It was so wonderful to start the new year by coming together and worshipping God with 60,000 of my closest friends. I often got distracted looking around the Georgia Dome and being absolutely amazed by how God was moving in the hearts of so many people while at the same time listening to our worship and our cries to Him. How amazing is that? One of my favorite sounds of all is when just the voices of 60,000 people are singing together to our God with no instruments or worship leaders. So powerful. The week reminded me of how many broken and lost people there are in this world and how desperately they need us to fight for them, whether it be actively or just in prayer. Prayer is so powerful, people! My heart often aches as I fall asleep at night thinking of all the children around the world hungry, hurting, orphaned, sick, lonely, scared, abused, neglected, abandoned...it's often too much for my heart to handle and I just have to pray that God would lead me into opportunities to love the broken and be apart of leading them to Jesus. Oh how I long to love those sweet kids, wherever they may be. The week was extremely humbling, moving, and amazing and one that I am still trying to recover from and process. Ha!
Well, that's my break in a nutshell. Definitely not all inclusive BUT if it were, I would bore anyone who ventures to read this blog to tears. Ha! I am absolutely overwhelmed by the beautifully blessings the Lord pours over me and am so underserving but so thankful. I had such a wonderful break full of really special moments, great conversations, and sweet memories. Oh man, I'm sad to see it come to an end.
Now it's time for school to start again...oy vey. After spending so much time with family and Darin, it is definitely tough to transition back into school mode. But, I am praying for continued peace and gratitude for the opportunity to be here. I am trusting that the Lord has me here for a reason and am excited to see where He leads me and who He leads me to. I am excited to see how He continues to refine, teach, and challenge me and how He will lead me closer to Him. I am definitely not looking forward to waking up early, studying late, and running around like a crazy person. But, I know that this is going to be a better semester than last. I am just sure of it. I am going to start the semester expecting it to be positive and exciting and will pray that my introverted self will learn to be a bit more extroverted and a bit more flexible. A bit more generous with my time and a little less reliant on my calendar. I am praying that the Lord reveals some awesome friendships this semester and that I am able to grow closer to Him as I seek to know Him more and please Him in all that I do. I am also hoping that with a little less of a demanding schedule, I will be able to enjoy some down time and start exercising and journaling more regularly. Phew, I have the pre-first day of school butterflies as I think of this upcoming semester but will be praying it away as I fall asleep tonight and will wake up tomorrow ready to start this new semester! Second semester, here I come...
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