This Year in Review...

Wow! This year has gone by really fast! So much has happened and it is amazing to look back and see where I thought I would be and where I actually am. This time last year, I was in high school, completely stressed out about trying to get all my graduation requirements in and totally unsatisfied with my life. A year ago, we moved into our house (the first house that I actually loved) and it felt like we were getting a fresh start. Let's see what has happened since the beginning of 2008:

• 2 moves for our family(3 for me)
• 2 cousins moved in, then moved out
• 2 online classes completed
• a total of 12 credits earned in one school year (normally you can only get 8)
• 1 trip to San Fransisco
• 33 friendships made and built with some amazing Life Skills students at Bend High
• First time being on the worship team
• 1 small group (Yeah Katie!)
• 3 roomates since last year (Michelle, Stacia, and currently my Mom...)
• Tons of relationships built
• A few lost...
• 1 Graduation from High School
• 1 car accident
• 1 hospital visit
• 1 trip to Nampa Idaho
• I learned to play the guitar
• 1 trip to Playa del Carmen
• 3 Billion Miracles
• 1 little bobble head turtle bought from Mexico
• 1st time in warm ocean water
• 1 job aquired
• 1 job lost
• 2 difficulty levels gained in Guitar Hero
• I started Cascade Life Commission
• I moved out on my own for the first time
• 1 Encounter with God that tore through my whole life
• About 5,498,076 more encounters with God since then, and still counting
• 1 God who has shown me His love and Mercy and is changing me
• 1 prayer life reignited
• 1 new hair color
• 12 different haircuts
• 1 time trying to be hardcore (it didnt work out that well!)
• 4 new friends discovered in CLC
• 9 old friends to grow with
• 1st time leading worship
• 1 old mindset exchanged for a new one
• 10ish classes in CLC so far
• 1 newish oldish mentor gained (Yeah Katie agian, and by old, I dont mean age!)
• 1 new found respect for the maintainance people at the church
• About 58 really embarrassing moments that mostly include me tripping
• 1 very bestest friend found (Andrea...)
• 1 I Heart Bend
• A couple of tough situations
• Way more good situations
• 1 life transformed by the unending love of Christ...

And the list goes on and on.... ! I am a completely different person right now then I was a year ago and I am thankful for that! I can only imagine where I will be next year. God is changing me so much and I dont want Him to stop... Man oh Man! I love you all and I hope this new year brings things into your lives that will help you grow and change, because I know that's what I am looking forward too!

Knock, Knock... Who's There?

"For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by the fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint you eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me." Revelation3:17-20

There He stands. Jesus invites me to come in to Him. So many times I have told God with my actions that I am fine without Him..."I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing..." I can make it on my own. All along God is desperately trying to show me that without Him I am wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Jesus shows me that if I will buy, at the cost of my whole life, His gold refined in the fire, His white garments, and His anointing salve, I will gain my life back, in Him. His pure Gold refined by the fire is character and wisdom. The White Garments are purity and righteousness (right standing with God). The Anointing Salve for me to see is to open the eyes of my understanding of God. If I would only open up to Him! A Life lived in Jesus is the only one I want to live. I know this can sound so cliche, because we hear it so often... "Give God your whole life, let Him have control, open the door to your heart!" I know I have heard it enough! But what if the hearing actually turned into doing?

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me."

'Tis the Season!

Due to the recent aquiring of a camera (YEAH!), I can now finally post some pictures! I hope you enjoy these...
These last couple of weeks have been really amazing! God has just shown Himself so faithful and I really love Him lots. I have moved back in with my mom and am waiting for a host home, which I KNOW God will provide at the right time. Life Commission has been going really good! God has been asking me a lot of tough questions... not tough for Him, but tough for me because He is refining me, which is not always fun, but it has definitely been really good. So, yeah... here are some pictures to let you know what I've been up to!

Drake Park!

Christmas Tree decorating '08

CLC Friends, Kids Christmas program, and Guitar Hero at Micah's...

Elliot CD Release Party

Red Robin

YEAH FOR PICTURES!!!! Have a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

Let's have some silly...

What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done?

I have about 300 million.

I am prone to make remarks that make no sense, ask questions that are retarded, laugh at the wrong time, fall down on flat surfaces, come into conversations at an awkward moment, make stupid jokes, have stupid comebacks, try to be sarcastic and fail, fall for everything (im very gullable), and seem unusually clueless about almost every situation I find myself in.

All my friends say, "AMEN!"

But, despite all these things, though they do bring embarrassment and a red face, they make my life fun :) They also bring joy to others, as have said my friends... SO, without further adue, here are my top 5 embarrassing moments in order of most embarrassing on down... I hope my little accidents bring laughter to your soul!

1.)Falling in the Church parking lot-

So about a month or so ago, I was leaving the church after a wonderful monday day of good food and maintainance rotations. I was with like 5 other CLC students and we were walking out to our cars in front of the main office. I was laughing and having a good time, and obviously not paying attention... I stepped off the curb and before I knew what was going on, I was flying across the parking lot! Now mind you, I did not trip on anything or roll my ankle - I just fell down. So I am flying across the parking lot with my arms going in circles and my legs flailing, and somehow running at the same time(?). I tried for about 5 ginormous steps not to fall, but it still came. I practically did a "007" roll onto my shoulder, landed on my back, and to top it all off, my legs flew over my head and my rear was up in the air! Yep, it was glamourous :) Thomas and Tim, being quite the gentlemen they are, ran over to help me up. As I looked around at all my specktators, I started laughing uncontrolably. I am very sure I was only laughing so that I didnt cry. Oh, I wanted to die for sure! Thomas still describes that act of falling as "Defying the Laws of Physics" because I gained so much momentum in such a short amount of time, and I didnt even trip on anything! I only wish it was videotaped :)

Moral of the story: don't trip on air!

2.)Falling down the stairs in Big Church-

Most of my moments will have to do with falling down... So it was a year ago, during the Childrens Christmas Program dress rehersal. I was setting up the stage and moving props around, etc... then pastor Dave, who was back in the sound board asked me a question. I couldnt hear him because there was music playing, so I decided to run down the stairs so I could get closer to him so I could hear him. BIG MISTAKE!!! I didnt have any shoes on, only socks, so the second I hit the first stair, my feet slipped out from underneath me and I fell down the 4 or 5 steps and onto the ground. I layed there for a moment before I got up, knowing that the minute I popped my head up, I would see many people laughing :) So, I got up to see pastor Dave doubled over in laughter...

Moral of the story: never run on the stairs in the santuary in your socks!

3.)Having a panic attack in Mexico-

Last summer, I went on a missions trip to Mexico... it was really fun. One particular day, we were headed to Cozumel for an outreach. Now Cozumel is an island off of Playa, so we had to take a ferry over to it. I have been on boats and many ferries in my lifetime, but for some wierd reason, my body didnt like this one! It had already been a ruff day: we walked probably 2 miles in the heat in a fast paced walk, and I hadnt had any water to drink yet that day, and I had a monster bug bite on my ankle that made my ankle swell to double its size and it was super painful. So we finally got to the ferry and I sat down and closed my eyes from exhaustion. I held it together for most of the 2o mintue ride, but the last 5 minutes of it, my body threw a violent fit! My airway shrunk and I couldnt breath, I felt like I was going to throw up at any moment, and I was crying uncontrolably. Im not gonna lie, I was pretty loud and everyone on the ferry was staring at me... Not only did I feel like crap, but I was thorougly mortified :) I ran off the ferry and a nice man who was sitting near me gave me some of those sea sickness pills (whatever they are called?). It took me about 2 hours to stop shaking and to where my stomach didnt hurt. It was scary...

Moral of the story: drink some water if you are in Mexico and are going to sweat 3 gallons and walk 2 miles AND it's always good to take pills from absolute strangers!

4.)Guys dont need toilet paper if they are only going #1 -

About a year and a half ago, we moved into an appartment. There were some guys from church that helped us move, which was very nice of them. One guy in particular, who will remain nameless, had to go to the bathroom right when we got to the appartment. We hadnt even been inside yet, so putting two and two together the way I do, yelled up the stairwell, "There isnt any toilet paper though!" The guy stopped, laughed a little, and then kept going. I took me a second to realize that he didnt need toilet paper... and then I turned red and didnt make eye contact with him almost the whole rest of the time.

Moral of the story: think before you speak, it will get you far in life :)

5.)Andrea likes to embarrass me-

I love Andrea. It is true. She loves me. She also loves seeing me blush :) There is this on going thing between her and I. I can't fully explain it because I dont like to talk about it, but lets just say it has to do with what married people do when they "really really love each other"... yah. You know what I am talking about. So on our senior trip, Tori, Andrea and I went up to Detroit lake and stayed in this amazing lake house. We had tons of fun! The second day we were there we decided to watch a movie on the laptop. The cabin was 2 levels, the bottom was 2 bedrooms and a bathroom and the top was like a master bedroom except it was open and you could look down from it and see the living room and also look out onto the lake through the huge windows. So we decided to go up there to watch the movie because it had a big bed that we could all fit on. It was a super cute room and it could be really romantic... so Andrea, knowing that I am very modest and embarrass easily, starts making comments about things and long story short, it hasnt stopped since. Any opportunity that arises that she can make a joke of, she does and it makes me red every time :) I cant really tell you anything more than that... :)

Moral of the story: I will get married someday...

WOW! This post got kinda long, sorry... but in light of me telling you my most embarrassing moments, I feel it is your duty to tell me yours :) So do it!

From glory to glory...

Has it really only been a little over two monthes since CLC has started? God has transformed me so much, and He is still refining me... I love it! Before I get all deep on you, here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of weeks. Yah for fun times!



Andrea, Brad, Lisa, and I went up to Paulina Peak and had a blast! We hiked around to this ridge (which you can kinda see behind Andrea in the picture below) and we went to the edge and threw rocks over and made avalanches! It was fun :)


This is what happens when boys think they are funny... My car got suran-wrapped all around, hot-dogged, and crisco-ed. YAH! Revenge was sweet though :)

Then, last Thursday, we had a hair cutting party! Tim and Thomas got mohawks, Taryn got layers (and we helped her discover what her hair looks like curly cuz we shoved her in the sink), Seth and Brittany got trims, I got some layers :) it was fun...
Transitioning now, I just want to share with you (I'm not sure who "you" are, but whoever reads this thing, it's to you...) what God has been speaking to me:

1. MARK 2:21

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment: or else the new peice pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse."

• I cannot patch what God is doing in my life onto my old life. Period... there are no if's, and's or but's. He has not called me to be a patch work quilt. I have to throw away my old life, completely. Letting Him rebuild me is key. He wants me to be like a tapestry in that I don't patch Him onto certain areas of my life, but I let Him weave me into His plan and we become one.
• He has really been showing me that it's not about fixing my life, but it's about giving my life to Him and laying it down at the foot of the cross. I can't pretend that I have it all together, because frankly, I don't. From my point of view, things look a little messy... it's like when you look at the back side of a tapestry, you only see strings hanging down and the picture is not visible. But from the other side of it, it is a beautiful image. Jay used this example in a message once, and it has really stuck with me.
• God has asked me this one question: "Have you really layed your life down?" Have I really let Him tear me down in order so He can build me back up the right way?

2. GALATIONS 2:20-21

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

• All I have to say about this one, because I think the scripture is pretty explanitory, is that I will never set aside the grace of the Almighty God because I am not good enough to be called His child... Thankfully though, God's grace is sufficient to cover a multitude of sins. I love His Grace!

3. 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24, 26, 27

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one recieves the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

• God has challenged me to run in such a way. I have been running after God for some time now, and I have found it really easy to slip into a running coma (if there is such a thing?). It is SO easy to get into the routine of the christian walk. Wake up, read my bible, go to class, go to rotations, go to church, go to sleep, then do it all over again. Coming into CLC, I thought it would be really easy to grow closer to God, which on some levels is true, but in a way it has become more of a challenge. So many things fight for my time!
• We just finished our first quarter, and I realized that this thing is gonna go by fast! If I don't take advantage of EVERY chance I get, I will leave CLC the same person I was at the beginning. It's been hard, and I am for sure still struggling, but I have to discipline myself to be subject to the Holy Spirit and listen when He tells me no. I can't always be everywhere all the time... I knew this in my brain, but God has really revealed it to my heart in the last couple of weeks.
• Going back more to the scripture, God has called me to a purposeful run, one with certainty in who Christ is and in who I am, and one where I actually move forward. I refuse to deny Christ's rights into my heart becuase I know that if I do, I will be ineffective.

That's only three things out of pages and pages of things God has spoken to me about. I wish I could express just exactly how He has encountered my life and just turned me around face to face with His grace. I love it so much! It's hard, I will admit, to let God refine me, BUT I know it is so so so good and that it is what He wants.

I hope some of this spoke to you, and I love you all :)

Simply,

Elyxis

What happens when you are in CLC?

Beware of the coolness that is about to take place! (sorry for the poor quality, I took these videos on my phone) ENJOY!!!!!!

For those of you who didnt know, my birthday was this last friday, so we had a partay at Seths house, which was awesome! So here's what happened: Thomas and Damon got me and Taryn (it was her birthday the next day) a little box filled with dirt, flowers, grass, and other gardenish stuff and at the bottom was man deoderant, a spider man ice pack, sardines and anchovie paste... and a variety pack of semi boneless pickled pigs feet. YUM! :) Long story short, Seth ate it...

Now you know what goes on when we get together :)

More videos to come soon!

Still gagging - Elyxis.

What happened to me?!?!?!?!?!!!!!????!!

I just finished my third week of CLC... all I can say is wow. I am very positively sure that God has spoken to me more clearly than ever before, in the last few weeks. He has gently, in his Holy Spitit kind of way, shoved me out of my comfort zone and into a whole new realm of relationship with Himself. He is faithful every morning to meet with me, He is faithful every moment to remind me that He is there and loves me, and He is faithful to remind me that I am indeed a sinner! He has spoken alot to me just about the authentic-ness of our relationship and lovingly reminded me that it takes real sacrifice to grow in Him. The other morning, while reading my bible, He spoke to me out of Zechariah 7:5, which says, "...When you fasted in the fifth and seventh monthes during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me - for Me?" Now not that I literally fasted for seventy years, but I am in a lot of ways fasting for these nine monthes of my life. God just spoke to me and asked if I was really doing it ALL for Him or if I was doing it for myself, even in the slightest way... and I was forced to answer the honest truth, which was "no". Of course I went into CLC with the intentions of getting to know God and myself better, but I was forced to look into myself and check my motives. The bible talks about how God looks over all the earth searching for the one who loves Him with their whole heart, I want to be that person, so badly. I have found myself desperate to get into the presence of Jesus every spare moment that I have because I am tired of it being about me. I want GOD to use me, not the other way around. I will be the first to admit that I haved used God before as an excuse and even to get my own way... BUT GOD IS SO SOVEREIGN!!! I cannot escape Him. He has grabed a hold of me and shaken me, and still is shaking me... it's hard, I'm not gonna lie, but it is sssooooooo good. "The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy." ps.147:11 I do hope in His mercy, His grace, and His salvation... I dont know how I would be living without Him right know, to be honest. Everything around me is shaking. Everything. All I can do now is trust and know that He is more in control of everything around me, more than I can ever imagine. I love Him a lot!

Still running,
Elyxis.

encountering Jesus is something I hope to never recover from...

This past week has been an incredibaly rediculous week. I started Cascade Life Commission! It felt nothing like I thought it would. I have been waiting for it for a little more than three years, and now it is finally here. It's exciting, fun, new, scary a little, and God has already changed my life so much because of it. Every single person who is doing the program this year is so incredable: Taryn, Andrea, Sabrina, Brittany, Candice, Lisa, Amber, Stacia, Brad, Tim, Damon, Thomas, Dustin, Seth, and me. We have had such a great time getting to know each other and have already formed a strong bond. On Tuesday we headed of to good 'ol Wild Horse Canyon, one of my favorite places in the world, for Encounter. GOD DID SO MUCH AMAZING STUFF IN MY LIFE! I have been running after Jesus for about three years now and I can most honestly tell you that He has never been so real to me before. That is a big deal to me. There are so many different aspects of God and I had felt like I had tapped them all dry. Can I say that I was awefully wrong! His mercy and grace and love overwhelmed me in such a powerfull way that I am truly ruined for good. He spoke more clearly than ever, ripped out tons of strongholds from my life, and set me FREE! It's really hard for me to put my experience in words because there are no human words that can really do it for me, they can't explain it good enough, or right enough, or to depth I want them to.

So with that... I am now going to run off into whatever God has for me at full speed and I am not going to look back!

rain.

I love the rain. There is just something about it that makes me joyous. I love the smell of rain, you know, that fresh, wet, cool smell. I love the feeling of rain, how it seems to wash my cares away. I really love the sound of rain, because it always cools my jets. It does not make me depressed, as it does some. Others might say that the clouds and thunder make them feel sad, but not me... I feel exhilarated. I love how rain looks as it hits water. The rain falls into the water and it sends back up another little droplet. I just love it!
The best part of rain, for me at least, is that it reminds me of the timely presence of God. He is fresh, and he refreshes me. He makes me forget about circumstances, even when they seem impossible. He always cools my jets... because yes, I do get frustrated with life. He exhilarates me. When His presence falls into me, another little droplet of me is forced out. Rain usually doesn't come without a strom though...
I don't know about you, but I find that it is when times are the hardest that I feel God the nearest. God is always with me, I know that, but there is something about storms that make me long for rain, and more of it. I want the rain. Rainy seasons are the ones I long for, the ones I wait for.
Rain doesnt only effect the place it lands. Whether it's in soil, where seed is watered, or whether it's in water, where ripples go out and stir the water, rain brings change... I love the rain.

Praise the Lord!

I finally got a job! This summer has really been a test of my faith that God is in control. Time and time again this summer God has proved Himself faithful to me, which has been awesome. It's like with everything that I have done or have tried to do, it gets down to crunch time and then God is like "BAM!, here ya go." Hopefuly now we (and by we, I mean God and I) can get my car fixed too :)
yep.
In the mean time, here are some pictures! Sorry, our camera sucks, so most of the pictures are blurry or bad quality...
WARNING:THESE IMAGES ARE RANDOM AND MAY RESULT IN CONFUSION AND LAUGHTER. STEP 1: TAKE A DEEP BREATH, STEP 2: LOOK AT PICTURES, STEP 3: PHONE A FRIEND FOR MORAL SUPPORT!

















i told you they were random :)