Beaches, Friends, Jesus... What is Better?

We had a fantastic time at the Beach! CLC packed up and we headed to Pacific City... Thank you David and Julie Parsons for inviting us all! We had a blast! Here are some pictures, they arent in order, in fact they are kinda going in backwards order, but whatever :)










Here's me being freezing!

Someone's shoes... Who's? I dont know. Did the person wearing them ruin them by getting them full of sand? Absolutely. Does she feel really bad? Yes. I'm sorry :(

Damons freakin cool pony...

Just some cool pictures of the beach...

Little Timmy :)

The guys

We went to this little cavern/cave thing and climbed down in there and it was really cool!

Dustin and Taryn way down there :)

Batman!

Andrea and I

Taryn and I

My freezing toes!

The crack... that's its official name.

Down in the cave place you saw earlier...

Me, Amanda, Andrea and Taryn at the top of the biggest sand dune ever!

The view from that sand dune... it was so pretty up there :)

This is the story of their lives.

Like a quarter of the way up the sand dune... Damon's really excited about life in this picture.

Damon blinding me, while I blinded him at the same time with my flash!

Aren't we an attractive bunch!

Thomas....

Dutsin...

Thomas and Dustin

And then there was Taryn...

Lunch stop in Salem... many creepy things going on in this picture :)

Good thing Dustin pays attention when he drives or else I would be scared ... :)

I want to go back so badly!

The other story of their lives :)






Here is a video... it's quite funny :)

Switching gears, here are some thoughts from the last couple of weeks... straight from journaling/devotions and the like:

Judges 6:34 "But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with Himself and took possession of him..."

• How far I am from this! I haven't let the Holy Spirit come and continually clothe me and retain possession of me...
• Holy Spirit, forgive me for keeping you ar an arms distance. I dont know how, on my own, I can let you in, so with your grace and gentleness would you teach me to let you in. Help me draw my arms bakc, unclench my fists and let you embrace me. Holy Spirit I want you to come. I love you and need you, more than ever.
• God uses anyone who is willing. Gideon had doubt and fear, but look what God did! The Lord himself appeared to Gideon, to commission him, and gave him confirmations and miracles, one after another, and Gideon was still afraid.
• John 20:29 - "Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, Thomas, do you now believe (trust and have faith)? Blessed and happy and to be envied are those who have never seen Me and yet have believed and adhered to and trusted and relied on Me."
• Jesus, help me with my unbelief. I want to be one who believes, adheres, trusts, and relies on You. God change my heart more, I'm not satisfied with the way I'm living. Jesus I need you so badly. Thank you for where I have come, thank you for the transformation that I have seen, but I dont want it to stop here. God this year is only the very foundation of a lifetime I have with you. Help me remember this. I'm not going to be perfect, let alone "fixed" by the time CLC is over. Help me be wise with my time.

Psalm 17:15 - "As for me, I will continue beholding Your face in righteousness (rightness, justice, and right standing with You); I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake to find myself beholding Your form and having sweet communion with You."

• This verse is so amazing to me! In this chapter, David is crying out to God. People are accusing him left and right. He was chosen and anointed by God, and still trouble follows him. He says that his vindication is from God alone. He places his trust in God and surrenders the situation and ends it all with this verse! He will do what he knows is right and he will be satisfied if he awakes only to Jesus and the sweetness of their relationship... David had it figured out!
• Jesus, I pray that this verse would overwhelm my every thought and action. I dont want to be controlled any longer by the accusations and opinions of others. God help me live this verse out. My concern is to please you alone. Help me live in Christ's righteousness. Satisfy me with your love Jesus. I want to have sweet communion with You.

Love! 1 Corinthians 13 - I compiled a list of what Love is and isnt and it woke me up to just how much I dont live out of Love sometimes...

• Love is: enduring, patient, kind, rejoices when the truth comes out, bears up under anything and everything, ever ready to believe the best of everyone, hopes fadelessly no matter what the circumstance is, never weakening, takes no account of the evil done to it and true affection of God and man.
• Love isn't: envious, jealous, boastful, vainglorious, concieted, arrogant, inflated with pride, rude, insisting in it's own rights or way, self seeking, touchy, fretful, or resentful.
• I know what I need to work on!

The woman He has called me to be: Proverbs 31, and 1 Peter 3

31:27- "She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idlness (gossip, discontent, and self pity) she will not eat."

3:4- "But let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is not anxious or wrought up, but is very precious in the sight of God"

• I can't really write what I wrote in my journal here, that gets a little too personal for comfort, but I will say this... God has not called me to be harsh in action, word, or thought. He has called me to be loving and gentle. I want my life to be marked by these qualities.
• Jesus, teach me how to love like you did. Quiet my soul from all of the distractions of this life and help me choose that one good thing, sitting at your feet. Forgive me for ever partaking in gossip, discontentment and self pity. I want to live the full life you have for me. Jesus I need you. Holy Spirit come and change my heart.

Well, that's really all I can say for now... I'm still processing these last couple of weeks. Jesus is so stinkin good! There's really no way that I can think of ending this post gracefully, so I guess this is it...

In sweet communion,

Elyxis

Time... Please Stop, for just a second!

Wow! These last two weeks have been crazy, busy, but SO fun! It's hard for me to realize just how close this year is to being over... and it makes me sad and happy at the same time. Sad because we are all going to be going seperate ways. Sure some of us are staying for 2nd year, but God hasnt called all of us to that. People will be moving and going off to college and the real world... I will miss everyone so much! But happy because God has done so much! I can see change in every one of us, and I love seeing what God has done. I'm happy because there are 14 more equiped adults and wittnesses ready to go into the world and share the good news. I start getting a little teary-eyed every time I think of graduation night. Memories from this year overwhelm me with joy and laughter. Here are a few, many probably already blogged about, but humor me...

• The dance party we had a Brittany's house (video in previous blog from october, i think)
• Dinner at Lisa's house on Mondays, so fun!
• The moments after the girls disrupted the man class, and Seth came out without his shirt, wearing a fake beard, a sombrero, and a sash. :)
• Truth or Dare at Lisa's house "Arr Arr, I'm a seal!"
• Damons Pony Tail :)
• Me falling down, a lot!
• When Thomas shaved his beard really cool...
• The many, MANY movies watched at Seth, Brad, Brittany, Andrea, and Lisa's (even though we never really watched them because we would just goof off and stuff)...
• The time when we were at seths and Lisa and I spun around like 50 times and then tried to run at each other and hug, oh boy, that was fun :)
• I Heart Bend and Prineville :)
• The many amazing prayer and worship times we had
• The Jay Jokes!
• Learning how to love each other, even after we had seen the worst, and were completely annoyed with each other... yes.
• Hair dying parties
• Hair cutting parties
• The time Andrea made me look hard core :)
• When Brad, Andrea, Lisa and I went to Paulina Peak!
• Sucking on the helium tank in the maintanance room (know that I never did that, except once, ok...)
• Finding the many wierd objects, bugs, and other unidentifiable things during maintanance rotations.
• New Years Eve at Brad's House! So fun!
• Tim's dancing, singing, and other merriments :)
• Rocketships (need I say more)!
• When Andrea and I almost got eaten like 7 different times from Brad's next door neighbor's killer white creepy dog.
• Sitting through multiple movies while listening to Dustin say EVERY line before it came, AHHHH!!!
• The many trips to chevron, backporch, newport market, and strictly organic.
• Snow ball fights and cookie-ing in the church parking lot.
• Volley ball and basket ball matches during monday lunches
• About 245,000 other "you had to have been there" moments

So, obviously my list got kinda long, and believe me, I could have kept going... but i will save those stories for another time :)

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks!

My awesome cabin at winter camp! Well not all of them, but most of them :)

Ice Skating with Taryin, Thomas, and Dustin

...wow...
Thomas breakdancing on the ice...

The coolest ice skating train ever!

So these next pictures are of Thomas and Dustin trying to make their "sexy" faces... well that's what they said... I'm not quite sure if they accomplished their goal, but it was pretty hilarious!

All of us...

Taryn and I!

Taryn and Thomas

You cant see it in this picture, but Thomas had his leg out like a figure skater and Dustin was pulling him... it was funny.

Mykala!

Kaitlyn, Mykala, and Josh

Kaitlyn, she's so freakin cool :)

The two goof balls...

Me and Mykala

...Oooo La La...

Christina

Kayla

Josh

The whole gang... we had so much fun :)

So, all in all, the last two weeks have been really fun. I'm really excited for spring break and hopefully I will get some sweet pictures from that and post them for you all to see.

God has been doing so much in me, I wouldnt even be able to tell you the difference I have seen in my life the last couple of months. I love Jesus SO much!

Elyxis.