Taylor

So a lot of shitty (sorry Mom for cussing) things have been going on lately. Just feeling burdened by a lot of things going on in people's lives. Some of these people are very close to me, while others I don't know that well, but still God has laid them all on my heart.

I truly think we are called to share in each others burdens while lifting one another up in prayer. I hate that all these things are happening and all I know to do is pray and trust that God knows what the heck is going on. One person I've prayed for a lot the last few weeks is Taylor.

Taylor started volunteering with us at Harvest Hands (HH) in January and I've never had a volunteer so enthused to get started! Her first email to me was full of exclamation points (which I love!) and a desire to serve that I could sense even over an email. She came, jumped right in, and the kids loved her! And I was so excited to have a volunteer that was so passionate and ready to help!

About a week and a half ago she sent me an email letting me know she was in the hospital and thought she would make it to HH, but the doctors wouldn't let her leave yet so she would see us next week. Her friend came by later that day to check out HH and sent Brian an email after she left saying she wrote about us in her blog. Brian sent her blog on to me and it rocked my world.

Taylor is 22 years old, just graduated college, and has cancer. The reason she was in the hospital was because she had just had surgery where she was given a 15% chance to survive and she did. What?!? I had no idea. I don't know Taylor well, but I've been faithfully following her friend's blog and praying for her constantly. I feel like i know her better now and I know this cancer doesn't define her. She was choosing in between chemo treatments to come serve at Harvest Hands. That alone should tell you how great she is. Here's a link to the blog if you want to check it out:
http://team15percent.blogspot.com/

Taylor needs our prayers. Even if it's a short prayer after you read this or you remember her daily it would be great for a miracle to happen. I can tell God is working in and through her life and I think he's got more things for her to do here and we need her back to HH! :)

She apparently loves Garth Brooks and was able to meet him and Trisha Yearwood recently when he was in Nashville doing his concerts for flood relief:

Family

I've always loved my family. We've always been close and I really hate living so far away from all of them. I think people have different definitions of "being close with your family", but I would seriously consider my family my best friends. We keep in touch regularly and know what's going on in each others lives. My dream would be that we would all live in the same city some day, however, with our track record of places we live and lifestyles I'm thinking within a day's drive may be more realistic!

I just really can't express how much I love them and wish I could see them every day. I've been blessed with a new sister, who fits right in and who we loved even before we knew she would be an official part of the family!

We haven't been all together since May for my brother's wedding and I hate that. BUT...we're all going to Florida in April! How excited am I? Maybe too excited...I can't think about it for more than a couple seconds or I will totally forget about present time and just wish life away until April.

We'll go from being together during the wedding fun and craziness to laying in the sun and relaxing our time away! Like my dad would say (with a little tweaking from me), "The family that tans together stays together!"(His usually goes something like, "The family that does chores together, stays together")

ps. Jake just got into the Physical Therapy program at the University of Washington (like we doubted he would...he's so stinkin smart!) but so so proud of him!! Excited for this next step in his journey!

Dillon.

Dillon is one of the students in our After-school Program. He's five and so stinkin cute! Some things you learn about Dillon pretty quickly are that he can't sit still, he likes to sing, dance, and drum and he loves his baby sister. He is always moving. He broke his arm earlier this year, but that didn't stop him from playing or jumping off the stage regardless of the cast covering half his arm. I'm trying to intentionally find joy in each day and he brought me joy yesterday. Here is why (the end is the best):

If you can't understand him he's singing the song Boogie Fever from his favorite movie "Despicable Me". When you ask him what it's called he'll say, "The Cookie Robot Song"! Check out more pictures of him and all the other little blessings in my life at the Harvest Hands Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Harvest-Hands-Community-Development-Corp/156150057760320

Notes like this bring joy to my life too. They help me keep going when I don't always have the energy.

Fog.

So I just really wanted to write a blog, but when I sat down to type nothing would come out. Probably because my brain feels like this:

It's like there's a fog over me and my thoughts or any intelligent thoughts for that matter are struggling to break through. Probably because I'm sick and it feels like my head is going to explode, but also I've been feeling burdened by a lot lately. It seems like there's a lot going on around me in both people's lives who I know well and even those I don't know well.  So even though I have this haze over my brain, I think it's also a little nudge saying...why not stop writing about it and trying to think about it and analyze it (which I take way too much time doing) and take some time to lift these people who are going through so much up. So that's what I'll be doing...

But for a lighter note I'll leave you with this, that picture above is from my trip to Costa Rica this summer at the Volcano Poas and I also found this video. I didn't take it because I was too scared to let go of the rope to hold the camera but I did do down that exact zip line right before him...so scary yet so fun!

I guess this turned into writing a blog...

Doing nothing?

Tonight for the first time in awhile I just sat. I had the TV on and my computer out, but I wasn't quite paying attention. I actually did nothing and I felt bad about it. I kept having the urge to work or to call someone to go somewhere, but I didn't.  I talked on the phone with a few people which was great, but other than I can't say I did much.

When did I lose my ability to do nothing and enjoy it? I used to be able to just sit at home at night and watch tv and be completely content...maybe even borderline lazy by some standards...but now when I actually do that for the first time in weeks I feel bad about it and have to force myself to just sit. Where is the balance between being productive and being lazy? Why was it so hard for me to just make my mind, body, and soul stop?

I feel like the energizer bunny these days...I just keep going and going and going...

**on a completely random note, I'm seeing The Civil Wars in concert tomorrow...so excited! If you haven't heard them before (the 3 of you that read this) you should listen to them! They're pretty great**