The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of busyness!

• Going to our friend Megan's lakehouse - we enjoyed a weekend of boating, hiking, jumping off cliffs (overcoming my fear of heights!), tubing, Fruit Ninja, cute Mastiff, good food, music by bonfire, etc. It was an extremely needed weekend away!  

• Interview for the position that opened up at my school - I am super excited for this next year at school. I will be moving down to the primary SCB class at my school (teaching K/1 students with disabilities) and we interviewed for the intermediate position (2/4 grades). I am super excited for the school year and am thinking it's going to be a great one!
• Birthday - I turned 25 this year! We went to Splash Down water park in Manassas, VA and enjoyed dinner out at Mongolian BBQ with friends. Rob spoiled me with gifts, including a "rememories jar" and a beautiful necklace! I am grateful for the people in my life that have shown me such love. :) 

Fun water slide!

• Dark Knight Rises - Despite the tragedy on opening night, Christopher Nolan completed the Batman series with a bang! It was a GREAT movie. The cast, themes running throughout the movie, acting... I am excited for it to come out on DVD so I can watch with subtitles and really pick out the details. 
• Hanging out by the Choptank River with church friends - LOTS of crabbing. Even though I don't eat crabs, there is something about being able to catch your own food. :) 
• Olympics! - Swimming, diving, gymnastics, beach volleyball are some of my favorite events to watch. What are yours? 

I am excited to be home, even though the past two weeks have been full of adventures!

My sin had left a crimson stain.

It has been a long week! Babysitting for a toddler and a baby is a tiring job!

This week: I managed to:

• Finish putting together pictures for our wedding scrapbook (now just have finish it by writing quotes, scriptures, etc)
• Gather materials for my next big craft project (will post when I am done!)
• Make a 3 layer vanilla cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting

YUM.

• Earn 50 cents off gas per gallon (!)
• Gather neat knobs from World Market to funky-fy our dresser :) 

I am going through the book of Mark with a friend; yesterday, we read through the story in Mark 1, where a leper goes to Jesus, saying, "If you are willing, make me clean." Jesus looks on him with compassion, says that He is willing and cleanses him. The man goes off, with what I interpret as uncontainable joy, and tells of his renewal, despite being told not to. I have read that story multiple times, but this time, it really struck a cord in my heart. Several things (I am in a bullet point mood):

• It made me think about the sheer fact that Jesus cares for and loves those who are outcasts from society - lepers were so revolting to people in that culture that no one would touch them because of the sores on their skin; they were literally "unclean" people. This makes my heart happy, thinking of many different populations in this world, including the homeless/hungry and people with disabilities - subgroups in our society that people oftentimes casts aside/neglect/make fun of ("hobo," "bum," "lazy," the r-word that I cannot even bear to type out - that's a whole other post). 
• I identify with this leper. Figuratively, I am filthy, stained by my sin and brokenness. I want to be made clean, to be made pure and holy, beautiful. I can see myself in this leper's shoes, coming to Jesus, asking him to make me clean, to turn my life around. Jesus looks past social/religious bounds, touches the man who probably hasn't been touched in years, and makes him clean. What?! Just like that?? Amazing... THEN: 

 This morning, during our church service, we sang, "Jesus Paid It All." Funny coincidence: 

Lord, now indeed I find, Thine power and Thine alone,can change the leper's spotsand melt the heart of stone.Jesus paid it all,all to Him I owe,My sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

It brought me to tears. I am so grateful for the sacrifice Jesus paid to make my unclean soul "white as snow," holy and pure. I am made new because of Him.

source  

Listening to: Summer Skin, Deathcab for Cutie

Big storms!

This week has flown by! It's been super busy, between babysitting, running errands, church events, small group, paperwork at school - I was excited for a relaxing weekend, but God had other plans. On Friday, while Rob and I were out with some friends watching Moonrise Kingdom, there was a BIG storm that hit - we didn't realize this, as we were in the theater until the lights and screen cut out! It was a little funny, because it was during a scene where there was a big storm. But anyway, it caused quite a bit of damage - a LOT of people lost their power and lots of trees and lines down.

Fallen tree - it was HUGE!

Luckily, we still had power (for a little bit - we ended up losing power too, but only for a little bit) so we housed Rob's grandma, mom and dad and our friends Corina and Jake for the day/part of the day. :) It's kind of fun not having our technologies whenever we want and just being able to interact and talk without the distractions.

Rob and I are reading through 1 John together; we did our second study today. It was pretty convicting - in chapter 2, it goes through the idea of being a liar if we do not do what God commands (v. 4). Which is pretty heavy - as I read through the study and discussed it with Rob, I thought about the ways that I am a "liar," in the ways that I ignore God's commands - gossiping, judging others, not loving my brothers/sisters. The ways that we live can be a testimony to the commitment to we have made to Jesus and to our relationship; in some ways, I think the world may look at me and think I am a "liar" because I so often fall short. Thankfully, when we do fall short (which is often), Jesus speaks on our behalf, in our defense (v. 2). There is an assurance there. Hopefully, the good Lord continues to do his work in me. :)