Write. Doodle. Think.

I have adopted a new hobby.  Maybe I should say I have re-adopted a new hobby.  I bet you can't guess what it is by this post's title?

Yep, journaling.

I once journaled, but wasn't very good at it.  I just wasn't consistent. I've had friends who were star journalists.  These friends were consistent, faithful, daily journalers.  And I admired that.

So I wanted to give it a second go.  I wanted to integrate it into my time spent with the Lord.  Put down my thoughts.  Write.  Doodle.  Think.  Have a log of where I've been and how I've seen the Lord work.  Or how I've had to learn this lesson or that lesson, etc...

I started just three days ago.  So far it's going great.  I am a journaling queen.  It's helping me organize my thoughts and it's helping me be intentional.

I plan to keep it up.  We'll see how it goes...

And I must say, picking out a journal was quite fun.  There were rows and rows of cute journals (at Target, where else?).  I settled on some recycled ones in a pack of three.  Made from bananas and recycled bottles and stuff.  And adorned with a sweet lil bird.  More motivation to journal, right? ;)

Do I have any fellow journalers out there?  Come on now, don't be shy!

a PEARY good day

Yesterday Jas and I got to spend some time with our "grandpa" Elton.  We've blogged about him before, and we always have a good time with him. But yesterday, was just an all around peary good day.

We, of course, headed to Raleigh's Farmer's Market.  First, for breakfast. Second, for shopping, or "going down the line" as Elton calls it.

I took some pictures.  Are you surprised? ;)

Then we ran an errand for Elton.  After our pit stop, we hit up a pear tree (don't worry, it's legal!) across from the church.  We grabbed a few pears for Elton and headed home.

Now do you see why I said it was a "peary" good day?  Haha, aren't I peary punny!?  And with that, I'm finished. :)

IF you can dodge a wrench...

You can dodge a ball!

Don't ask me why but at Crossroads (Youth summer camp) this year, the ONLY pictures I got were of the girls dodgeball team.  Or should I say, the KILLER QUAD!  These four ladies attempted to take on some fairly monster-esque guys only to lose in an intense effort.

But that's ok...they make the pictures look good ;)

Not the best lighting ever, sigh, but I do like the tie-dye of their shirts on the similiarly textured wall.  Whatdya say?

Morgan and Kels look slightly intimidated...but Katy, nah, she's just laughing it off!

What better referees than these two :)

And just because it's funny, take a look:

Closed and Celebrated

Good news, friends!  This house is no longer ours!  But...if we're being honest, it's a little bittersweet.

It was our first house together (well, kinda, he had it first, if we're being technical).  It was full of sweat equity (aka, we spent lots of time fixing it up!).  It was equipped with an amazing backyard.  But most of all, it was our setting for the first year and a half of marital memories!  Lots of good times were had in that little house.

BUT, it is a rejoicing moment for us as well.  We are super thankful to have been able to sale it so quickly.  It's a step towards Slovakia for us and that's where we feel confident we're supposed to be.  So there you have it...the bitter and the sweet.

So in order to celebrate the relief of a step closer to being in Bratislava, we headed out to Mellow Mushroom for a delicious dinner.  The last time I had this to-die-for pizza was in Boone...over two years ago!

Let me introduce you to the Gourmet White Pie.  We're pretty much best friends ;)

Look at that deliciousness!

And what remains I left behind...

And yes, this picture kind of sums us up ;)

So with that, we have officially closed on the house and we've celebrated with a White Pie!  We have a good and sovereign God.

Because there were so many...

Ok, ok, I know I am a big picture taker.  Well, I hate to say that didn't change while we were in Slovakia and Austria.

That means...more pictures!  More from the past two weeks :)

WEEK TWO

Week one sped by fast...then came week two!  We did several different day trips/activities before we headed to Bratislava and Vienna.

First up:  Slovensky Raj!  We left part of our group on the beach soakin' up the sun and the rest of the group (including Jas and I) headed up the mountain on a hike.  We climbed ladders and hiked past waterfalls...it was a tough hike, but very pretty!  I really enjoyed it.

We also got to go tour/walk through a cave way up in the Low Tatras. It was coooold in the cave.  The view up there though, whoa, whoa, really, just whoa...

We traveled to Bratislava.  It's changed since the last time Jas and I were there.  We spent a couple of days just hanging out in the city.  Can't wait to move there!  There was also some awesome quality time spent with some Slovaks :)

Our last day before flying out was spent in Vienna, Austria.  I have to say, I'm a big fan of that city.  But it was PACKED with people!  We'll definitely go back.

All in all, it was a GREAT two weeks (oh, did I mention, however, that is was ALLERGY season in Slovakia/Austria...UGH! haha).  We learned a lot about ministry and love, but most importantly recognized just how BIG our God is.  And, oh, there's much for us to learn :)

Banska Bystrica English Camp

For the first week in Slovakia we had our team of (around) 13 split into two groups.  Sports camp and English camp.  Jason and I were part of the English camp group.  We overcame some group challenges and ended up having a great week.  It's tough sometimes having to work through the language barrier (ohhh, it's going to be difficult to learn the language!), but it's worth it to hang out and spend time with those sweet kids!

Every day ran about like this:
1)  Group devotional (both Slovaks and Americans)
2)  Kids arrive and hang out time with them
3)  First English Lesson
4)  Bible Lesson
5)  Second English Lesson
6)  Lunch
7)  Various afternoon activities (such as going to the park, scavenger hunt, making Armor of God, making s'mores, etc.)
8)  Kids left between 4 and 5 pm

This made for good, long, learning, rewarding days!

Here are some pictures from the week:

We are SO ready to go back!  More updates coming soon! :)

BACK (but still in full swing!)

WOW!!!  July has been one BUSY month.  But it's not over yet.  We've been pretty inconsistent and missing the last two weeks.  Why, you ask!? Well, we were able to spend the last two weeks in Slovakia and Austria.  We were doing English and sports camps there!

So we just got in a little bit ago and tomorrow is Sunday!  That means we'll head to church, and then MOVE a ton of things out of our house and to the in-laws (thanks!).  Then on Monday we will be heading to Crossroads (youth camp, just in case) for three days.  And by Friday of this upcoming week we'll be out of the house for GOOD!  Ah, crazy, I tell ya!  And by that time it will be practically August.  My, oh my.

I can't wait to post some pictures and share some stories from our time in Slovakia. (sidenote:  thanks for hanging in there with the many picture posts of late) It made us even more excited about moving there in about 7 months!

So all in all, we are thankful, blessed, hopeful, TIRED, excited, and ready to kind of "chill out" from the busy-ness of this hectic month.

Hope everyone has had a lovely July so far! :)

Getting tired of pictures yet?

Here are a few more pictures.  Full post on what we've been up to these last two weeks coming on SUNDAY (hopefully).