Passion 2012

Well....I am back home in Topeka, KS. It is good to be back! I have been super busy since being back, but today has been a restful/productive day! I slept in until I woke up (9:30am) so I am feeling very well rested! My goal was to have my room cleaned and organized before classes start...and I will be gone tomorrow night after work-Sunday so today was my last chance. I am happy to report that my room is done and clean and well organized. We'll see how long it stays that way! :) So now that that is out of the way....I can finally blog!

Ohhh I have so much to tell all of you and pictures to show! :)

Passion was absolutely incredible. I feel so blessed to have been a part of it! I feel like no words I say will express my time there. But I will try. For those who don't know anything about Passion, it is an event where a bunch of people who love Jesus gather together and a bunch of awesome things happen! And when I say "a bunch" I mean 45,000 people. Passion keeps growing and growing and this year it was at the Georgia Dome. Here is a picture to give you an idea of what 45,000 people looks like! :) If you can imagine, it took so long to get everywhere! If anyone had a personal bubble before Passion, by the end of 4 days it was popped! And if you need to to learn patience...go to Passion! :)

We left Sunday night at 9:00pm (Jan 1st) about 4 hours after I got home from SALT! We arrived in Atlanta around 2:00pm....it was a very long ride but it was well worth it! :) We started each day at 9:00am with community groups. When we arrived at Passion we each got a packet and in that packet was a wristband. Whatever color your wristband was, determined which community group you would be in. I was glitter gold!! Within your community group (about 4 or 5 thousand in each), we broke down into family groups! They were the people you started and ended the day with. It is where we processed and talked about things that happened during the sessions, prayed together, and read the word together.  

My family group!

There were 3 main sessions each day....10:45am, 2:00pm, and 7:00pm. Tuesday and Wednesday they fed us all lunch! In between the last two sessions we had some free time to rest and take in everything that was happening. During sessions, there was praise and worship and then a speaker. And at the end of the night there was "late night options" at 11:30pm.

Some of the bands that were there: Chris Tomlin (he led most of the praise and worship), Kristian Stanfill, Lecrae, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, and David Crowder Band (it was their LAST concert ever so I was pretty excited I finally got to see them!) Speakers were: John Piper, Beth Moore, Louie Giglio, and Francis Chan. I enjoyed all the speakers but I love Francis Chan!!!! Last semester, some Chi Alpha girls and I read through the book Crazy Love together. I had read it once and loved reading it again. If you have never read that book.....read it!!!!

So what did I get from Passion??

Actually....I think I should rephrase that question. What did I get from OneThing, SALT and Passion?? Basically a new life! I was a Christian before, but I was dead. I needed to be brought back to life. I was having a hard time reading my Bible every day and when I did read it, I didn't get a whole lot from it. I wasn't spending enough time with God. I was praying as much as I needed to be. I was living my life for this world and just kind of going through the motions. I wasn't giving Jesus my all. My eyes were also opened to how selfish I am with my time and my things, but the thing that kept sticking out more at all the conferences was time. 

I want to give Jesus more of my time. I want to spend more time praying. I want to spend more time in the Word, not just reading it but really studying it, memorizing it, and living it. Francis Chan talked about taking the bible literally and doing what it says. Something I love about Francis Chan is how excited he gets when we talks about Jesus....it is very obvious he loves Jesus. He is obsessed with Jesus. That was the theme at OneThing....magnificent obsession. I want to be completely obsessed with Jesus. I want to fall more and more in love with Him every single day.

At OneThing a lady gave her testimony. Long story short....she was challenged to give Jesus 1/10 of her time for one week. She did the math and that is 2 hours and 24 minutes per day. It basically changed her life, and she wanted more and more. So...I felt that God gave me that same challenge. So...starting today, I am giving Jesus 1/10 of my time and I will go from there. It will be a time of no distractions. I will turn my phone off. My computer off. I will have nothing but my Bible, pen and paper. Pray for me! I am really excited to see what God is going to do. 

I could go on and on about stuff....but to sum it up, I want more time with Jesus. And when that happens, everything else will fall into place! The past couple of weeks have been eye opening, and a time of renewing. I feel refreshed and like a brand new person! :)

I will be making another blog post very soon. It took place at Passion but it is kind of a big deal and worthy of it's own blog post! ;)

Also....I am giving up Facebook!!! This relates back to the "time" thing I was talking about earlier. God wants me to get rid of it. I was hesitant at first, but I NEED to do it. I've needed to for a while I just haven't. I had all these excuses as to why I needed to keep my facebook, but another thing that God has been showing me is how good of an excuse maker I am. Sooo I am stopping with the excuses and just getting rid of it! :) 

I will however keep blogging and posting pictures sooo if you want to follow my blog you should "follow" it, bookmark it, or I think I have a link thing on the side that will allow you to get emails whenever I make a new post. And....since I am getting rid of Facebook I will have more time to blog so I will do a better job of posting regularly! 

:) Stay tuned for the other post about something really awesome that happened at Passion!

Here are some pics from the trip.

The sunset behind the dome. Beautiful. 

View of Atlanta from our room.

I got to spend 4 days with these wonderful ladies. Mira and Ariona.

The lights were awesome!

I love this picture! :)

The three of us waiting for the session to start!

Yes, we got matching shirts. We are that awesome....and we
both love tie-dye!! :)

Our last day there. It was a beautiful day! We got to enjoy it before
getting on the bus for the long ride home.

My seat buddy for the ride home! :)

on the go.

I have been busy, busy, busy....and I am loving it! :) 

Tuesday: drove back to Topeka, walked around campus and prayed for WU with Stefa, had a movie day with her, and packed for my upcoming trips.

Wednesday: I went with a few girls to Kansas City for the day to attend OneThing Conference which was really good....and free! I will post more about it at a later date! God gave me a challenge while I was there so I will fill you in on that! :) It was a super late night and a really early morning...

Thursday: Left for Dallas, Texas for SALT 2011 with some of the Chi Alpha group!!!! We left at 7:15am after getting two hours of sleep and was on the road! Fast forward to Sunday....we got back a few hours ago. I did a load of laundry, unpacked and packed again, showered, ate dinner, and am now getting ready to leave for Atlanta, Georgia for Passion 2012!!! It will be a long ride, but so worth it. 

Of course when I get back into town I will fill you in on what has been going on and things God is showing me, but I don't have a lot of time. I have SO much that I want to share with you all! So until then....here are a few pictures from SALT in Dallas, Texas!

Pure happiness! :)

Walking around downtown Dallas, Texas! :)

Beautiful!! I loved it there. And I love big, tall buildings! :)

Tay and I!

Tay and I went walking around downtown in search for a Starbucks!
We found a Starbucks, but we also found a really beautiful park!

The park was in the middle of the city, surrounded by tall pretty buildings!
It had waterfalls and bible verses...perfect!

Mirah, me, Porscha, and Taylor getting ready for the last service at SALT!

I got to spend my New Year's Eve with these lovely ladies and a whole
lot of Jesus freaks! ;) Best way to bring in the New Year ever!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

At the dance party!

I kind of miss this already! I could have gotten used to waking
up to this every day for sure!!

It is so hard to choose which pictures to post....these are just a few! :) SALT was incredible....I had such a wonderful time. And I have a feeling Passion will be just as amazing, if not more so!

christmas day.

What are your Christmas traditions? What do you do every year no matter how old you get? What does your Christmas day look like? What are the things that make Christmas so special for you?

Growing up, my brothers and I would get up super early (5:00am or a little earlier kind of early), and would meet up in my room. The rule was we couldn't go out in the living room, dining room or kitchen. We had to stay in one of our rooms until mom and dad were awake. We have a hallway between our rooms, so whoever was the first to wake up, would walk through the hallway to wake the others up.

As a little kid the anticipation of finding out what Santa brought and finding out what is in those boxes that you have had to stare at for days and weeks is huge! Funny thing is....I don't think that has changed much between now and then! ;) Anyway, once Devin, Dustin and I were up, the next task was to wake up the parents. How did we do this? Well....I have a piano in my room. We would play the piano real loud (and it wasn't a song that was played, it was just playing random keys real loud), we would sing at the top of our lungs, yell and scream, clap, knock on the walls, dance around...basically we did anything and everything that was really loud!!

Once they were awake we would all go to the boys' room (there door leads right out to the living room) and open the door and Santa's gifts and stockings were sitting in front of our presents. We would each spot out our gifts and run and get really excited at whatever was laying there from Santa. Then we would open presents from mom and dad. After presents, mom would have breakfast (mom makes a breakfast casserole each year...it's yummy!) ready! Then, almost every year everybody would go back to sleep, but me. I was always to excited to even think about going back to sleep! :)  Most years, we would eventually head to grandma moore's for the day once everyone was up and ready.

Now we are all in college and Dust is the only one left at home. Our Christmas day doesn't look quite the same, but it is still pretty close! :) This year Dust and I woke up at 6:30am....so did my parents! Dev and Kel came over at 7:00am. We opened our gifts. Mom made the breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and some fruit. We ate "played" with our gifts for a little bit then got ready for church. My grandma and grandpa came down for lunch....my mom went all out! We had ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, broccoli and rice casserole, and rolls. Thanks mom!! :) We spent the afternoon and evening playing games and lounging around.

Santa was very good to me this year. ;) I got a new camera, a new pair of TOMS, some really comfy and soft pajama pants...AND they have polka dots on them which makes them even better! :) I got other stuff too, but I won't list everything out. I know you probably really don't care. haha All of this to say, even though we are older, we still enjoy those Christmas traditions that make Christmas so special to me and my family.

I am blessed to be able to celebrate Jesus' birth with my awesome family! Happy birthday Jesus!!

________________________________

Here are some pictures from the day:

Jordan! :)

Dustin and Devin.

She was pretty excited about her new shoes! :)

Dad and Jordan sharing a moment! haha.

I love our Christmas tree!

We got to dog-sit for the afternoon/evening! :)

One of my favorite pics from the day! ;) We kind of did
the same thing. That was not planned!

Dad didn't want his picture taken....haha.

Me and my mom! :)

She decided she wanted to take a "silly picture".  She kept
asking, "What do I do??" haha

:)

Devin and Kelli. They are my favorite!

Sisters! :)

Chrissy and Jordan are buddies!

Dustin and Chrissy! :)

Mom took this pic. I tried cropping myself out but part of my sleeve
is still in the pic. I wanted a pic of the tree at night though! It's pretty!

Jordy and I. Of course she was sitting perfectly still until mom took
the picture. I think she was on the verge of licking my face! That or she really
didn't want her picture taken! haha.

I love my new camera!!!!

AND.....I found out one of my good friends who has been in Uganda since July, is engaged! Her boyfriend was able to go spend her last month of being in Africa with her. And he proposed!! Congrats Meghann and Clark!! So happy for you guys! :)

Merry Christmas!

Well....I have been really slacking on my blogging. My apologies. I would like to promise that it will get better, but the next couple of weeks will be super busy for me, as I will be in Texas and then Georgia. But...I will do my best to get some posts in there somewhere. And when I get back in Topeka things will slow down a bit and I can take more time and get caught up on all the things I want to share with you.


Until then, I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Last night we had Christmas at my grandma and grandpa's (my mom's side) which was a lot of fun! And there was SO much food!!! I feel like that is all I have been doing....eating. And it hasn't been healthy food either. Lots of finger food, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, peanut clusters, puppy chow, and the list goes on. My mom has been VERY busy in the kitchen!!! Thanks mom! :)


Tonight Dev and Kel came over and we ate before going to Christmas Eve service. After the church we played Scattergories at Dev and Kel's. It was pretty entertaining! :) Even though it is Christmas Eve, I am still having a hard time grasping that Christmas is tomorrow! Looking forward to opening presents with the family, eating more food, playing games, relaxing, and celebrating Jesus' birth.

"Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them...'Don't be afraid!' he said. 'I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!'"

~ Matthew 2:10-11

And....here is a little video to end with! Merry Christmas from the girls at Chi Alpha, minus Mirah and Kelsey. :(  Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday!! :)

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/DknpGhaIQvMhKucH?cmpid=jj_fb_friend_holidays

and so break begins...:)

First of all: Christmas is officially one week from today!! This is blowing my mind....I don't believe it. I can remember when I was a little kid and December seemed to be the longest month....it took forever for the 25th to finally come around. Now it sneaks up on me and is here before I know it! I might also help if it was snowing outside or something....60 degree weather in the middle of December doesn't feel much like Christmas to me!

Second of all: I am done for the semester!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

I have had a great start to the break! I took my last final Thursday and to celebrate being finished, a couple of housemates and I had a coloring party while we watched Christmas movies and drank hot chocolate! :) And yes...I am 22 and I love to color still! It was one of the highlights of my week actually! Something that made that day even better though....my dear friend Stefanie who is currently living in Colorado showed up! She wasn't supposed to be home until Friday, but she surprised us all and came a day early!! What a great surprise!

Today was an awesome day and much needed!! It started out with breakfast at Hanover's with some of the Chi Alpha girls...and baby Benjamin! :) Their biscuits and gravy=delicious! Which reminds me, I have leftovers for breakfast! :) That was followed by the best coffee date ever with some of my favorite people....Tay, Ari, Stef and Kelsey! :) We may have sat at Starbucks talking for about 3 1/2 hours! It was a great time. We all live in the same hall here at the Chi Alpha House....correction, we LIVED in the same hall...Stef now lives in Colorado. It was a nice hall reunion and the first time ALL of us had hung out together in a while! There was lots of laughing (as always) and good conversation!

Tonight....we went and looked at Christmas lights!!! Topeka Bible Church has a really awesome Christmas light show and if you live in Topeka but have never been, you need to go!! If you don't live in Topeka, I hope someday you are able to experience it. But here is a link to give you an idea of what it is all about! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIOM6FO4Gvc  It's so awesome!! We followed this up with looking at the Christmas lights in the Potwin neighborhood. There are a lot of beautiful houses decorated with lots of beautiful Christmas lights....what more do you need?! ;)

That's all for now though.

Be on the look out for more posts! I am now on break so I will have more time to write...and I have several things I want to write about so be prepared! :)

things that make me happy...

Christmas lights! 

:)

People in my church back home put together "final packages" for the college students to help get through the joy of finals week! :) I may gain 10 pounds by the time
next week is over!

Also....I have a camera to use temporarily until Christmas! :) Oh happy day!! Thanks, Mary! :)

finals.

Well...I have been slacking on my blog posts. I apologize about that! I have been so busy with school and work and spending time with friends. I am officially done with classes and all I have left to get through is finals week! I have 4 tests, a project, and a few random assignments left. It will be a busy week for sure, but I sure am excited to be done! I am really looking forward to Christmas Break!!!!! Lots of friend time, book reading, spending time with family, movie time and some more friend time!! :)

Last night I celebrated my first "Christmas" of the season! We had our Chi Alpha Christmas party! We all met up at El Mezcal, which is a mexican restaurant. It is very similar to El Pueblito back home (the best Mexican restaurant in my opinion!) so it made me think of home a lot. But it was pretty good....still not quite the same as El Pueblito though! :) After eating, Ariona and I made a quick detour to Classic Bean which is a coffee shop for a yummy chai latte! Then back to the House we went. We did Secret Santa.... last week whoever wanted to participate wrote on a card with their name. 3 things they wanted for $10, and then we drew names. I ended up with a Starbucks gift card!! Heck yes! Just in time for finals week! Thanks Michael!


Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Christmas with the Eccles side of the family! I am looking forward to it! Excited to see everyone again! This year will be a little bit different though...we lost two special people last year. In fact, the Christmas get together last year was the last time a lot of us were able to see Uncle Alan and TJ before the car accident. I know that we will all enjoy each other and it will be a wonderful time, but I know that we will all be missing them. Nonetheless, our time together will be full of laughter and fun! :) Anndddd I get to see my parentals, my goofy brothers, and Kelli!! :) It shall be a great day!


After finals week is over I will get back into the swing of things in the world of blogging. I really do enjoy it, and I have so much I want to write, but my stack of homework is calling my name.