2013

I've said this many times before: this blog is just as much for myself, if not more so, than it is for you. I wanted to record 2013 and typing is faster & easier than writing :) I hope you're blessed & encouraged by God's work and blessings in my life this past year though, as well!

Well, 2013 was an interesting year to say the least. A million other words could go in that spot, but I'm sticking with that one for now. It must be somewhat interesting to you the fact that you're taking the time to read this, right? And really, I think anyone's life can be interesting even in the most mundane situations if they choose to let God run the show. He's a very interesting Person. :)

The end of of 2012 was spent at the OneThing conference in Kansas City. I still often think about the messages I heard there by some great speakers. I didn't go to it in KC this year, but I did get a chance to listen to a few of the messages at the HOME building here in Sioux Center. Not quite the same as being there, but still good. :)

New Years Eve 2012 was spent celebrating the marriage of my college friends Jake & Lydia Buss! A bunch of us friends got a hotel room that night and had a lot of fun. The following few days involved a lot of wedding planning in a short amount of time. A lot of people were surprised as how much I got accomplished in like 3 days. What can I say?? I'm a planner, organized, and probably had a secret board or two on Pinterest dedicated to this special event. I could look back on all that planning as worthless and saddening, but instead, I'm choosing to be thankful to see how not a big deal wedding planning has to be. I mean, sure, I could put hours and hours and hours into planning my wedding someday, but really, it's not that necessary. All the stuff I was seeing on Pinterest about the 18 month timelines was kind of freaking me out, but now I'm convinced that, if God is okay with it, my next engagement would only have to be about 3 months and I could comfortably plan my next wedding and it can be just as special as a wedding that took 2 years to plan.

**I'll take this opportunity to offer a word of encouragement to any of you soon to be engaged ladies out there that are wondering when your guy's gonna pop the question :: just relax. You will never, ever get this time in your life back again. Embrace it, don't hate it! (Well, unless you have my situation, but that's beside the point :]... )Anyway, this time of anticipation of when is he gonna ask and how is it gonna be done, can be super fun & exciting if you choose to see it that way. Or you can choose to listen to the Pinterest timelines and freak out about how you're never gonna get it all done in time. I hope you choose the former. Because where there's a will there is a way. Sure, you might not get to reserve the "perfect" photographer, reception hall, caterer, etc. But there are others out there. They might not be your idea of perfect, but they'll do just fine in helping you two celebrate your marriage. I promise. :) Plus, I can almost guarantee that your man will appreciate you getting off his back. If he wants to spend the rest of his life with you, he'll ask. Maybe not when you'd want, but he will.

After my few days of planning, I was off to Lynden, WA for my first session of student teaching. My mentor teacher, Sandy Van Zonneveld, was seriously awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher to learn from. I was seriously questioning if I even wanted to teach in a classroom and Mrs. Van showed me that legitimately teaching Christianly in the classroom is very possible. She had a ton of really neat ideas of how to get those 6th graders to start seriously thinking about their faith and what it means in their lives. I'm still not sure if I'll ever teach full-time in a classroom setting, but regardless, I am very thankful for Mrs. Van and her mentoring me during that time! :)

My second session of student teaching was at Sanborn Christian School. I got to live at home & commute the 10 minutes to school every day. Often days after school, I would get to stop by my grandparents home for some homemade goodies, tea, and to work on a puzzle. I will always treasure those times with them. My actual student teaching at SCS isn't quite as memorable and probably part of that was because of everything else that was going on at the time at home. I'm thankful for the gracious teachers I worked with there, as well. I also spent quite a few afternoons with my sister-in-law and nephews at their home. Becky was always willing to offer a listening ear to me and other times it was just nice to goof around with my nephews and forget about everything else for a while. I don't know what I would do without those kiddos. :)

After round 2 of student teaching came graduation. I remember it being a lot harder that I thought it would be. I hated having everyone ask me what I was going to do now and me having to try to explain in minimal details something about how I thought my life was planned out to move to WA and hopefully find a teaching or youth ministry job there, but now I have absolutely no plans. I have absolutely no idea what God is going to do with me, and I'm just trying to cling to Him and wait. It was difficult, but it also helped me move past clinging to any hope that this relationship still might work out and move on to the next stage of grief--anger & resentment. Again, in it's own way, this was a gift, as well. Because, yeah, I really did need to move on. :)

The month of May was kind of a blur. I got a job at a greenhouse and worked there a bunch. It was nice to get out of the house and was a bit of a distraction too. I did still have plenty of time to think though, which was good for me to process more of my feelings of resentment and move on towards acceptance. Isn't it cool how even a mundane job at a greenhouse can be a gift from God and exactly what He knew you needed? :)

Then in June, sista Christa came home! Again, what a gift from God. She came home a month earlier than usual and was so helpful in talking through things with me. I know I had others around to talk to me, but I think Christa just understood so much more of the situation and of myself. She helped a bunch :) Plus we had a lot of fun together and with Becky & the nephews. I really didn't feel guilty one bit about now having a job. :)

Near the end of June, I accepted an assistant coach position at Dordt. I remember being shocked that my coach was calling me asking if I would be willing to come back to Dordt's program as a coach. I started in early August and it lasted all the way until early December. Dordt did really well & finished 11th in the nation! It was definitely different being a coach rather than a teammate to the girls, but overall, I enjoyed it! I wouldn't say coaching is necessarily my passion, but I loved being able to serve my coach and the girls and doing what I could to clear up any communication issues that I might have recognized from years before. :)

Because I knew I would be quite busy with volleyball, I decided that it wouldn't be wise to take on a full-time teaching position. Instead, I applied as a substitute at a few of the local schools. I've subbed for 2nd graders all the way up to seniors in high school. It's all been enjoyable and a good learning experience. It also helped verify for me that I really love & connect well with middle schoolers. I've also really enjoyed the variety & flexibility that comes with this job. Variety really is the spice of life! :)

I've also been blessed to be part of the middle school youth group at 1st Ref. again this year. Because I sub at SC Middle School quite a bit, I get to eat lunch with a lot of the girls that I know from youth group & connect with them even more. This month I will also be coaching their AAU volleyball team. :)

I think my favorite thing about 2013 is the relationships part. Even though one really big relationship in my life got broken apart, I've had many, many other special relationships spring up! I already mentioned my time spent with my grandparents in Sanborn. I've also grown closer to my other grandma. I treasure her emails of encouragement to me.
I also grew closer to my parents and am learning to not wait until they ask me about my life, but to just tell them--because they care a lot about me and want to know. :)

Most surprisingly & unexpected to me is all the friendships that I've made with people from Dordt this year! A lot of the people that I'm friends with now I knew as acquaintances all throughout college but never really got to know. Now I do and it's just super great! :) In a lot of ways I feel like I'm a senior again for all the good reasons and none of the not so good. I'm just so blessed to be able to live on Dordt's campus. It makes it so convenient for me to stop by a friend's apartment, for my brother and cousins to stop by, and for me to run over to the Rec Center for practice or to workout. Plus, I love living by myself right now, being able to decorate the entire place, and have IHOP livestream playing all the time without worrying about annoying any roommate. :) :) Not to mention the rent is a very nice price!

What else to say? God is good. All the time. I love His work in my life. He's taught me how to rest, to wait on Him, and to stop trying to plan the future. Today in Jesus Calling it said "One of the main ways I assert My sovereignty is in the timing of events." God gave me understanding of this fact big time this year. Sometimes I just amaze myself in how at rest I am now. Sure, there are still days when I am weak and start to let worry creep in. But overall I am just very much at peace that God has everything under control and no matter how much I think about it, it's not going to change anything. God's proven to me big time that His ways are so much better than mine. I really don't want control over my life anyway--God does such a better job of running the show.

Here's to seeing what He does in 2014! :)