surprises.

Hello friends. Last time I posted, Brodi was just born! Brodi is now one month old! Crazy how time flies.

Along with Brodi making his appearance into this world, my life has changed yet again. God knows I love surprises because he is always surprising me. Constantly! One thing is for sure...my life is never boring. There is never a dull moment! Some of you may or may not know, I have moved back to Chanute. I know, I know...didn't see this one coming! But I am here now and I know that this is exactly where God wants me to be now.

So why Chanute? It's funny because I was that person who said I would never move back to Chanute, but here I am. I'm sure whenever I have said that in the past God has just been laughing, saying, "Yeah, that's what you think!". He has such a sense of humor! I told Him though, that I would never move back to Chanute unless a ministry opportunity came about. And it has. I can't say there is one specific thing, but rather just a lot of doors opening here.

Here is what I will be doing with my time here:

• I am helping out with a youth group which I will be speaking at a couple times a month, and just helping out however I can. I have started that already, it seems to be going well. It's good for me...it's way out of my comfort zone but I know through it God is going to grow and stretch me! I have spoken at my church here in Chanute several times, but there is a big difference in doing that verses speaking at youth group. I know just about every one at my church pretty well so I am comfortable there. At youth group, I am getting to know them now, but it's a little more uncomfortable for me. It's different speaking to a group of middle and high school-ers than a congregation of all ages. Definitely a time of growth! And I'm working on improving my speaking skills....I don't have any but for some reason God keeps giving me opportunities to speak. So... another area of growth! :)
• Watch Brodi full time! Yep, that's correct...I get to be Brodi's "nanny"! When Devin and Kelli asked me, I was thrilled! Best job ever. Beginning Monday, I will be watching him. I know Kelli isn't quite ready (and probably never would be completely ready to leaver her baby) to go back to work, and it makes me sad that she has to go back so soon, but I can't help but be a little excited at the same time! I know that's mean and so selfish of me though. Sorry Kel! It's the aunt coming out in me...:)
• The plan is to start taking online bible classes in January. I know in the past I said I was going to be starting in August, but I haven't completely figured out where I am going to be taking them and stuff. So I am taking this time to figure that out and save up some money. 
• Helping out at my church in whatever way I can (different church than the youth group I am helping out with). 
• Bible study. This summer I started up an online bible study. It's been pretty cool. We just finished up a book and will take a little break, but will be starting up another one in the near future. Not sure what book, or the date in which we will start, but I will keep you posted. If anyone is interested in that, let me know!
• Relationships and serving. God has put on my heart serving. Just being there for people. Helping out in whatever way I can. Meeting up with people. Talking with them about...whatever! Just building relationships. And serving. Loving people. Helping. Encouraging. I don't know exactly. I just feel as though God wants me to be "available" if that makes sense. By that I guess I mean he's calling me to serve...although I don't know exactly what that entails yet, I just want to be ready and willing for whatever He has planned.

I moved to Chanute not to watch my nephew. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am stoked about that. But that is just a really big bonus to moving here! A huge bonus! But just as God calls people to China, Africa, New York, Alaska, California...God has called me here to Chanute. I'm not even really sure what God has planned for me here yet, but I can't wait to see what He has in store. Already, the week that I have been here has been great. I have kept busy too! House/pet sitting, baby sitting, unpacking and organizing, youth group things, movie watching, family time... Not for a second have I stopped and said, "what the heck am I doing here? what was I thinking?" Sure I miss my Topeka family. I miss my house. My housemates. My room. Chi Alpha. Having options of places to eat out (although my bank account is pretty happy about that!). And the list goes on. But I can honestly say, I am happy to be here....more words I never thought would come out of my mouth!

How long will I be here? I don't know. One year, two years, five years. I have no idea. Time will tell I suppose.

Rewind a couple of weeks! Leading up to my fast approaching moving day, I spent lots of time with friends, I worked my last days at Billy Vanilly :(, finished up all of my "house mom duties", spent more time with friends, packed up my room, and I went to Colorado with a friend. She had some friends who got married and asked if I would want to ride along with her. So I did! It was a great trip!

Here are pictures from my last day at work!

There was a lot of cake eating on my last day! They asked us to try the cake (really, they did!) so I dug right in! haha Not really, but it made for a fun picture! We did try the cake, but we got forks...:)

My awesome boss, Allyson!

She thought it would be fun to shove a cupcake in my mouth!

She fit close to half the cupcake in my mouth....it was a mouthful!

My boss's daughter, sweet Chloe!

And her daughter Juliette! She asked me to get lower...so she could get the bunny ears in there! ;)

Karen!! She had a big stain on her shirt, so she was crossing her arms. I joined in , but she moved her arm as the picture was taken. Notice the big stain on her shirt that you can clearly see! ;)

haha! Now it's covered up!

My good friend Stefanie...because of her I got the job at Billy Vanilly! Who knew I would be there for 2 years!...not me!

Hanging out with friends:

Coffee date with Megh and Stefa at World Cup! We played Bananagrams! Such a fun game...one that I hope to own soon!

Tay Tay! Love this girl!

Jing! I lived with her for a short while! She is so sweet and kind! Love her! :)

Rach! :)

Some of my lovely house mates!

For my last day of Chi Alpha we all went out to eat after and they got me a cookie cake and a card that everyone had signed! It was so nice and made my day...or week!

Erin Grieve and I...and Skippy's hand!

The group! Kind of blurry, but you get the idea! We had so much fun! Lots of laughing which is the best!

Becca and I!

The cookie cake! It was so good!

And now some pics from the Colorado trip! :)

On the train getting ready to go to the top of Pikes Peak. If you've never been, you should go. 

Headin' on up.

Beautiful scenery!

Coming around the mountain... (you can see the train tracks!)

At the top!

Stefa and I!

:) I bought a blanket because I was FREEZING! I intended to bring a hoody, but left it in the room and realized I had forgotten it to late. We were staying with some people and the door was locked so we didn't have a way to get back in. 

She got so close to the edge...she was making me nervous. I felt like a mom for a minute. haha As she was going down, rocks were falling. But...it made for cool pictures! ;)

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Taking it all in. God blows my mind!

Beautiful Stefanie.

On our way back down to the bottom. I couldn't stop taking pictures!

Stefanie has done the Incline....twice. It's right by the train, so we walked over and went up a little ways so that I could say I have been on the Incline! ;)

A little ways up....I was tired! haha

This is the Incline. The bottom starts by the fence and goes up to the top of the mountain! Makes me tired just looking at it. :)

Garden of the Gods.

Mountains make my heart happy.

We saw this sign after we got off the train...it was 40 degrees at the top of Pikes Peak, but felt like 30. That's why I was so cold! haha

And to end the post, here are the most recent Brodi pictures I have. They were taken on my phone (my camera is currently not working) so they aren't of the best quality, but nonetheless, here they are!

I love it when he makes this face! :)

Cuddle time with Aunt Kaci while mom works on homework. This is his favorite position to sleep. He was out!

If you made it to the end of this post, thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read! :) Have a wonderful weekend! Now that I am pretty much settled in and getting into a routine, I will be posting more! Stay tuned!