Monday, March 18, 2013

quick update

hey y'all. it's been kinda crazy the past few weeks. last friday, march 8, my church had a "birthday party" for our 5 year anniversary. they asked me to help take pictures, which was a blast. we just celebrated what the past 5 years have been like, and talked about our plans for the next few years. next week we are launching our brookeside campus! it's so exciting and i can't wait to hear stories about it! i am hoping there are a few weeks i can go down there and help them out if they need it. here are a few pictures from the party.

erica, the kids city director for brookeside, and her sweet daugher


one of the most photogenic kids ever! i love his big brown eyes. he's gonna be a heart throb

lindsey, my kids city director, and her lovely daughter, who will be a big sister soon!


janet, the pastor's wife.

me and my friend kelli. she's been a great lady to get to know and has such a strong faith. i love getting to spend time with her. 


kelli's husband and son. he's one of my favorite kids. 

pastor troy

sweet kid, after crying that mom and dad left him. it was unexpected from the kids point of view. 

about the only two not crying. 

happy boy. (this picture was horribly dark when i took it, still not the best)

big kids got to watch a magician. i heard an adult wants him to come for his 29th birthday party. 




tommy, the former worship leader, who went back to chicago to start a church with his wife and their mentor. 

one of my favorite pictures of the night. i love how excited this kid is to get the hold the bird. 




i wish the one was clearer. it's lindsey's daughter and the bunny, but the poor bunny had tons of kids around. hence the blurry. 


praying for the brookeside team.











this sweet girl is the bass players daughter. she was up there dancing after the closing prayer. 

then the following sunday, march 10, we had five people get baptized. i love watching the baptisms, and these ones seemed extra special to me since everyone got baptized by family. they had me take pictures of them as well. i'm blessed to be able to get to do things like this for the church. i honestly never thought i would get these opportunities. 









tuesday i started a new class. it's not bad, except i have to drive in city traffic to get there. i firmly believe there is a reason i was raised in a small town rather than the city itself. independence has horrible traffic, and this is what i get to look forward to for the next 10 weeks. not too excited. but the class is good, and it's nice to be able to apply what i'm learning. i've really been enjoying the job. it's so different from the y, and a very welcome change. 

i've been trying to get back into working out. i don't work on thursdays until 4, so i like that i can go to the gym in the morning and do some cardio, and then i am planning to start doing personal training with my friend again. it will be great to get back into a routine, and great to see her again. i went to small group with my parents tonight, and a lady in the group told me the work has been paying off and she can see a difference. it was great to hear. then i was talking with my best friend and she said she noticed it also in a picture i put on instagram, and said i looked more confident too. it's so reassuring that other people are starting to notice, and it's not all a wasted effort. 

i am signing up for three 5ks again this year. one is a fun run, and i'm super excited for it. it's around arrowhead stadium, and at the end you get to run into the stadium and the finish line is the 50 yard line. my friend is doing it also, so i'm excited for that one in may. i'm also doing the dam to dam again with my aunt in june, and at the end of june i will be doing the glow run again with my friend that i ran it with last year. so i'm training for these, along with trying to lose weight for my bff's wedding june 8! (and by the way, this best friend just joined the blog world. you should totally go check out her blog!!) 

any fun things going on in y'all's lives?

Saturday, March 2, 2013

february...in pictures

so february was kind of a crazy month. i started my second job, and started transitioning out of the y. all of this along with classes, small group, church, and attempting to spend time with family. aside from small group, i don't get to see friend often which essentially translates into never seeing them. but i was able to do a photo-a-day challenge, which is an accomplishment in itself for me these days.




day 28: something i am looking forward to. 

in other news, today was the monthly leadership meeting for church. in three short weeks, we are launching a third campus in brookside. crazy that in the 5 years restore has been around, we are now at three campuses. (happy 5 year birthday to restore, it was march 2, 2008 that the church was launched in kansas city) 

also, i haven't straightened my hair in two weeks. HUGE accomplishment for me. it's hard learning to embrace the curls i have naturally, but i'm slowly figuring it out. there are days i still want to straighten it. but i know if i do it will lead to me straightening it every day again. so for now i'm trying my hardest to feel comfortable and confident in my curls. how are things going for you?