Omelets VS Yogurt

I will never forget when my parents gave me "My First Cookbook"... yep, there were even little cartoon chefs holding kitchen utensils surrounding the title of the book. My feelings fell nothing short of ecstatic. Each page pleasing to a my eyes with pictures and simple directions; I felt independent, capable, and eager to improve my cooking skills.

Of all the delightful options to partake in making, omelets held the gold medal in my world. There were even a few occasions where I made my entire family omelets for dinner- allowing each member a specialized order. Whipping around the eggs in a bowl and hearing the sizzle as each drop hits the skillet... sprinkling toppings at just the right time... delicately folding the fluff without breaking the masterpiece... I seriously felt more powerful every time I slid the finished product onto a plate to serve. Despite any messes I made, I never doubted my skill in the kitchen and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Let's fast forward about 12 years. Omelet?? Cooking?? Turning on the stove?? No time for such a thing. Yogurt- that's where it's at. Quick. Healthy. Portable. The only thing to clean afterwards is a spoon... stick it in the dishwasher and vwa la! Done! I can confidently say that I ate yogurt an average of at least every other day this past semester.

Recipies stare me down now screaming of time consumption and a messy kitchen. 45 minutes of preparation for 10 minutes to actually eat it. And my lack of practice has legitimately affected my ability to accomplish anything worthy in the food preparation department. One of my roommates always finds it amusing when I attempt to bake or make anything... "It's always so funny when you cook"... "I never know what to expect when you make something"... "uh, oh becca's in the kitchen"... it's an expectation that when I prepare real food something is bound to go wrong.

The time between my first cookbook and present-day I have slowly convinced myself that I just don't cook. And since I don't cook and am not home to do so that I am void of the hospitality gift. It's self-fulfilling prophecy really.

Over dinner this break my parents and I were joking about my dad making the dressing and me boiling eggs and how both tasks have an unpredictable outcome with us in charge. This soon evolved into my dad and I in charge of all the side dishes for Christmas dinner. And it was a success. I enjoyed being in the kitchen, nothing went wrong, and I thoroughly enjoyed being a hostess. It's a pleasure to serve people in my home.

So I realized that I had talked myself into an extreme way of life- not a surprise. Because my main gifts don't directly point to hospitality or domestic skills I had strayed completely clear of those things wanting to venture outside of the home. But I can cook. I can host. I can be domestic. Am I going to cook consistently now? Or stay home a ton? Not likely. I still live a crazy, fun, and fast college life consisting of yogurt on the go and grabbing a tortilla out the door. But will I be more confident in surviving a more domestic lifestyle post-college? Will I seek a more well-rounded life? Definitely.
I might even whip up an omelet in the meantime.

Restless? Not so much...

As I've allowed the past four months to slide by blog-less, my life lessons have continually evolved to contradict my blog title. I have been learning to rest. To slow down. To take a break. To STAY in one place with a joyful heart. Interesting how life comes full circle, each experience carving more intricate detail in our individual sculptures. Just as the Lord finished a glaze glistening over the part of my heart emphasizing my desire for change, he began chiseling on the opposite side of my heart.
Often I cop-out of a challenge to slow down my life pace, simply brushing it off with the excuse: that's just how I function. Yes, it's my natural tendency to fill up every minute with purpose. Meetings, coffee dates, phone calls, emails... If I have a spare hour it means I am forgetting someone I need to talk to or something that needs to be done. Although I thrive in a go-go-go world, neglecting to rest has been a pride issue; pride always comes before the fall. And I fell. Even in my attempt to embrace a more restful lifestyle I fell. I wanted to be intentional with it, scheduling in "relax" time throughout my planner determined to excel in the obstacle placed in front of me. But that's just not how it's done.
I am slowly learning to be ok with saying no to time fillers, extra half hours here and there to just relax, leaving my phone at home...
In the grand scheme of life I have made minimal progress. But I have to be ok with taking one step at a time instead of sprinting to the finish line to check off the lesson on my to-do list.
I am so thankful for people in my life who are waaaay more gifted in this area and have been extremely patient with me. Next semester will hopefully be more of a balanced lifestyle as the Lord continues to chip away, making more of a masterpiece than I could ever imagine.

it's been sooo long

so here's the deal- i am the worst blogger EVER and have not kept up with this at all!
I don't even know if i want to attempt to capture life since the last entry...
day camp with 5th grade girls- crazy, challenging
residential camp with 9th grade girls- absolutely amazing and had the opportunity to pour a ton of life experience into them, they are incredible girls!!!
adventure camp with 10th graders (& JIF)!!!- more challenging than the last one, but great bonding with Julia, and the YD staff
day camp with 1st grade girls- so fun, all they wanted to do was hold my hand and tell me whatever they were thinking
office aid- sooo much fun! amazing conversations/ learned so much about the Lord/ bonding with new people... more on that week later
adventure camp again- beautiful, peaceful, so much fun

Other occurrences...
*there are like 10 people left... everyone went home and that has been incredibly difficult
*Julia and I raced to see who could eat peanut butter the fastest out of Rusty's armpits
*sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 with the girls
*hiking at Mt. Si- sooo beautiful
*every night is a sleepover
*God has been answering prayer like there is no tomorrow!
*God spoke to Al and I through a 12 year old... i will eventually write an entire blog about it
*i officially have a chaco tan- ugh

So I don't know how I feel about returning home. Part of me is SO excited to see everyone and catch up on the real world and what's been going on. However, the other part of me feels sick whenever I think about leaving. This summer has been beautiful and amazing! God has shown up over and over and over again and I hate the thought of being separated from the other people who experienced that with me. It's been such an incredible community of believers who are willing to grow and be molded by the Lord! well that's all I feel like typing about right now...

Can it get any better?

So this past week was absolutely incredible!! I really haven't done yet what I've been hired to do, but it's been awesome!!
Two other SAMBICA staff members and myself went with 10 high school sophomores to the mountains of Washington for Adventure Camp.
Rock Climbing... for two days.
White Water Rafting.
Inflatable kayaking down a river.
Backpacking hike beginning at 11pm, gave the campers a compass and a map and arrived at a "camp site" at 2am.
Challenge Courses.
And beautiful beautiful time with Jesus!!!!
Seriously one of the best weeks of my entire life- and that is saying a lot.

Campfires, Sunsets, and Jesus

So the view right now is... immaculate!! I can't even begin to describe the blend of colors, reflection on the water, horses grazing in the field, mountains in the distance, the sun gently gliding down behind them... AHH IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!
God has been so so so faithful this past week =). Ya know when he reminded me that he will provide me with what I need and when I needed it? Warm Beach Camp. For this week, I am at Warm Beach Camp a little ways away from SAMBICA with 14 other people from camp working with campers with special needs.
I needed rest... we had saturday, sunday, monday, and all nights off.
I needed girls that I could connect with... 13 girls from SAMBICA came and we have had a beautiful chance to get to know each other, have heart to heart talks, be crazy and real with each other, and establish incredible friendships.
I needed to take time to appreciate more of God's beauty... every sunset is absolutely breathtaking and draws me closer to him.
I needed to live out more of my passions and be reminded of the way God has wired me... I get to hang out with a guy with autism all week and remember that God has put a soft spot in m heart for his children with special needs. I never want to neglect that passion.
Seriously, he has just given me so many opportunities to rest in him!
We've also just had and uber amount of fun singing ridiculous camp songs (such as one about a hot dog man in front of a bunch of people that we didn't know at a family camp- the most ridiculous song EVER) and learning about each others' quirks. Smore's are always a camp plus along with getting really dirty all the time and smelling like campfire. whoop.
I am super excited to get back to SAMBICA to see the rest of staff again and to pour into the kids from that area!! It's like my home in Washington and I'm ready to return =).

mmm hmmm

"I will give you what you need, when you need it"
These are the words the Lord continually spoke over me tonight.
It was a beautiful time with Him! The leadership set up stations for us to go through and get our hearts focused on God for journey ahead of us. As we began, FREEDOM kept coming to my mind. The rest of the time freedom rang so true through the stations- watching the crucifiction on the passion of the christ, surrendering our burdens, and being served by leadership.
It was so beautiful having the opportunity to write our burdens on a rock and throwing it in the lake- freedom. I realized that "insecurity" summed up my burdens I have been carrying and defines the sin I have always struggled with. The moment I let the rock hit the water a huge peace came over me knowing that I don't have to worry about those things anymore and the Lord has taken those- forever- like i can't get them back. Then the leadership washed our feet which is seriously like one of the most powerful thing that exhibits the lords love for us!!! absolutely amazing. It was such a beautiful time of surrender and trust!!!!!
He is going to provide what I need and when I need it. And that my friends, is beautiful.

SAMBICA- whoop!

Sooo I have safely arrived at the beautiful camp of SAMBICA and made it through 4 days =)

First impressions- beautiful, simple, small... and a lot of people i didn't know. They stuck us in a fairly tiny room right after arriving and gave us all sombreros to wear and said "go meet people". overwhelming. I don't know who I met or where they came from or if i even wanted to stay- ahhh. And there are people from absolutely everywhere- which is beautiful b/c they were all called here specifically for different reasons =).
I've been able to run every morning with a group of girls- I am officially sore. These girls are stinkin fast and are sooo dedicated that i look like the laziest person in the entire world.
The majority of this week has been training- boring. But we have had some adventures such as taking our swim test in the coldest water i have ever been in- ever. AAaaand tubing was also a blast =).
Everyone is super nice and surprisingly there's a good handful that have really really thick southern accents which i am picking up so fast that i don't want to talk. So don't be surprised if i come back with a huge southern drawl from ... seattle. weird.