Josh & Meg.

My sweet friends the Cutherells came out to from Wheaton to the Northwest to hike for a week!

They came to Newberg on Wednesday and I brought them to my favorite restaurant...

I love these two. They are honest and straightforward, adventurous, and incredibly giving and encouraging.

And I love watching their love for each other;

they have one of the most most mutually-sacrificial and grateful marriages I've ever seen.

Josh flew home on Thursday and Meg stayed on to be with me for the weekend!

I love this girl so much and miss our post-college year of small group and runs.

We're just hanging out doing normal Newberg life,

like mornings reading and studying at a coffee shop...

and hanging out with llamas.

Y'know, what everyone does with friends who come to stay.

Also, today we went into the city and went to Powell's.

Meghan is one of the only people I know who loves books about as much as I do.

This is what happens when you let the two of us in that store, even on a budget...

A reflection on 2010-2011.

In two days I will have lived in Oregon for exactly one year.

I've been pondering how to explain what these last twelve months have been for me.

As I collect my thoughts and heart on the past year, it is good to reflect also where I was roughly this same time the last two years...

This was written in May 2011, as I finished my job as a caseworker/home visitor for immigrant families with 0-3 year olds, wrapped up my year of living with Ryan and Kendra a mile from my college campus, and said goodbye to my church, friends, and five years of history in Wheaton.

The tree outside my window at work has full, green leaves on it.
A few weeks ago, I saw it budding.
The last time it looked like that... I saw it, too. Looking out of the same window.

I have now spent twelve full months in one place. For the last... ok, not 365 days technically, but over 350, which I say counts- days, I have slept in the same bed. I get up every morning and drive to the same job. And there every day I blessedly, wonderfully, do... the same thing I have done for the last. twelve. months.

The trees were just budding when I started there. As they were wide and green all spring and summer long, I drove down Roosevelt into West Chicago and did my paperwork and got to know my families. Through the humid summer, I ran on this prairie path, got frappuccinos at this Starbucks, finger-painted with my kids outside on the grass. This whole fall, I was here, carving pumpkins (three times, in fact, because I didn't have a fall my HNGR year and I was absolutely maximizing this one!!), going apple picking (twice- see what I mean?), taking long walks alone among the leaves. They changed and fell and it snowed and I walked in that too, and then I got sick of walking in it and watched it from inside, and drank hot chocolate with my roommates and decorated our Christmas tree. It kept snowing. I held a Valentine's craft party and walked on a frozen lake with my small group, my kids made cotton ball snowmen and we sang about spring coming. I dared to slowwllyy shed first the down jacket, then the jacket, and now, finally, the sweaters. I am in short sleeves and flip flops and swingy skirts and I meet friends by the lake behind Rez multiple times a week to sprawl on the grass as we chat in the sunshine. This week my babies and moms and I took walks and pointed out the colors of the flowers.

I have had a year of serving Eucharist at church on Sunday mornings. I've had a year of doing life with my small group every Sunday night. I've had a year of journaling in the same coffee shops I journaled in in college. I've had 52 weeks of coffee heart-to-hearts with Tamara, of family dinners with Ryan and Kendra, of running with Meghan and pre-work breakfasts with Chet. 52 weeks of Christine and Steve and Elise, of Rez and Iglesia and my ten beautiful families.

Jana asked me on a Saga date mid-last semester, "What are your non-negotiables?". We were all weighing so many things as we tried to figure out where we'd be post-graduation- job opportunities, relationships, adventure, finances... What were going to be my deciding factors?

I needed to be in one place. I needed to have four full seasons in one place- in a familiar place. I didn't know why. I just knew I did.

Seeing that tree, I realized I saw it go through its entire life cycle this year. It grew its leaves and lost them and stood bare and grew them again and now here they are. Again. I saw all of it. I saw Wheaton, I saw my families, I saw the same friends, through twelve whole months. Through one entire rotation of the earth around the sun, I was here, doing a few tasks and loving the same people.

Written down this sounds really obvious and not that exciting. And I know that after college, this becomes the norm- most likely in the not-distant future, I'll spend two, five, ten or twenty!, full years in the same place with the same people.

But this first year of it since high school, and especially the year after HNGR and cancer, I'm so grateful. This world turned all by itself as I walked the same streets and loved the same people and focused on my simple work. The seasons changed as I healed and, somehow, that let me just be.

And I am so grateful for that.

"...Summer and winter and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love."

The tree outside my office, mid-October 2010.

.10,000 reasons for my heart to find.

Will I ever ever ever understand why I get these kinds of friends in my life??

Such a sweet week.

"...for all Your goodness i will keep on singing

10,000 reasons for my heart to find..."

That song's been on repeat for me this month. Looking at these faces I love so much, I gave up keeping count. 10,000 sounds about right.

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So happy.

Yeah they did!!!

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While in Wheaton I got this email from Marcile, one of my favorite people at my new church. (I just ran into her at Chapters and she told me about how happy she is that six of their grandchildren are going to make it home for Thanksgiving):

"Emily,

We missed you Tuesday night. You missed a great potato bar with all the trimmings! as well as great fellowship. Christine reported you were on your way to a wedding in Wheaton and we prayed for you that this will be a precious time of renewing friendships and confirming God's leadership to where you are now. We will touch base when you return.

Love, Marcile."

 Yes, it was.

.grateful.

Christine is getting married in five days.

 

meg, me, and the bride, small group retreat, july 2011.

beautiful friend, this girl.

.off to bolivia.

oh. my. goodness.

Small group brought Panera bagels over for breakfast, prayer, and love before I leave :-). I love my girls! (And Josh, Luke, and Daws)

Leaving for the airport right now!!!!!

this blog series briefly interrupted...

...because I am having a Staycation with my small group for the next three days. AKA a retreat but at one of our houses... but we treat it as if we're away: all about Jesus and each other, and I'm unpluggin'. (And I didn't get my act together to pre-write the entries).

I'm sure everyone is concerned enough with my blog that this explanation was sooo necessary.

In other news:

-I leave for Bolivia ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!! This. Is. Insane. I am so excited. SO excited.

Sweet Lindsay went to a travel agent in town and bought my domestic flight (I fly into an international airport in La Paz, which is about 12 hours by bus from Coch), so now theoretically I'm all set. I say theoretically because, "it is Bolivia", which means travel plans are not travel plans until you are on the plane. Oh how I do not exaggerate (right, Lauren?!). But I will get there. Even if I have to hitchhike. (Parentals: Don't worry, I'm totes joking!!) (Everyone else: Haha, yeah, well actually...).

And I got the one shot I still needed yesterday. Ouch.

And I know where my passpot is!! That's right. Be impressed. Functional adult: me (I definitely didn't lock myself barefoot out of my office on Wednesday and have to call our landlord to let me in or anything. No way, that'd have been so embarrassing.)

And I'm so excited and can't believe I'm actually going to be there so soon.

-WE WERE ACCEPTED FOR A TOWNHOUSE IN OREGON!! A mile from GFU's campus, it's a TOWNHOUSE which is way bigger than what we thought we we'd be able to find, the pics look cute, and it's in a residential neighborhod with lots of families (<3) which sounds way more fun to me than a commuter apartment complex.

I am significantly relieved to know I will not be studying for my graduate classes on the street somewhere, which at the rate our applications were going, was starting to somewhat be a concern.

And "we" is me and my cool new roommate Bethany, who is entering the same program with me. She's my age and went to Taylor and we haven't met yet, but we're now on phone-basis of "Hey it's me again" since we've been calling each other so often about the apartment search. She seems super sweet and I am excited to live with her.

-I love my mother so much. I am trying really hard to be a functional adult... really... but she is being super helpful and lovely with all the details. No idea what I would do without her.

-Whenever I get nervous about moving to Oregon, I google "coffee shops in Newberg, OR" and feel better just looking over the long list that immediately pops up...

Umm, I mean, I pray?? (I do! I swear.)

-My psycho best friend is flying to meet me in Colorado and then driving the three more days to Oregon with me. Because she is ridiculous. You should all be so jealous. I'm totally serious. Best. Road. Trip. Ever. Best best friend ever. Why is my life so insanely charmed?!!

-I Am Leaving Wheaton In One Week. After my two weeks in Bolivia I will be back here for three days to pack and then I drive to Denver for Tam's wedding. And then I am gone. This is weird. And I feel really excited and good about everything... but also, really sad. In a healthy way. I'm having like, "last hang outs" with people. It's bizarre and hasn't sunk in yet and is... sad.

-I added a freakin' awesome playlist to the bottom of my blog, so you should all click over and listen.

Love love.

A gift in this year: Meghan.

Oh, I love this girl. And have learned so much from her,

and been so blessed by her friendship in my life.

So grateful for her incredible hospitality. I have literally never met anyone with as generously giving a spirit as Meghan. She structures her life around being able to care for others- through meals (and OH what meals!!), a space to sleep (thanks!!), parties ("I can't wait for Luke to propose to Christine... so I can throw them an ENGAGEMENT PARTY!"), or a listening ear... and does it with the most genuine and cheerful heart I have ever seen. Knowing her has literally convicted my heart and changed the way I try to prioritize serving others.

So grateful for her thoughtfulness. Meghan's words of encouragement are often some of the most comforting ones to my own heart and I'm sure others', because they are given with much prayer and thought. She can speak God's love to my insecurities or sadness, and call out areas of strength. So grateful for how much she prioritizes thinking of others' feelings- in group situations she is always aware of how others may be feeling and how she can make them comfortable and cared for.

Story: At her WEDDING, she brought out a birthday cake for one of her bridesmaids and had the whole group sing happy birthday; she also READ a poem (which she had written herself that week) to her parents to celebrate their upcoming anniversary.  At. Her. Own. WEDDING.

So grateful for her gifts. I love her intelligence, her love for her husband, her flexibility, her heart to pray through what God has for her and Josh this year, her willingness to stretch herself, her love for Rez, her patience with others, her deep thoughts and insights, her goofy sense of humor.

And her incredible ability to cook and bake OMG. As in, make-your-own-ice-cream-sandwiches-and-cheesecake bake.

So grateful for her friendship. Their apartment was one of my favorite and safest places to be over the past year. And our frequent runs, conversations, dinners, girls' nights, texting, and getting to know her heart and share mine were SUCH sources of joy.

Thanking God for giving me Meg this year.

.22.