A Musing From Compass

                  By the end of next week I will have been officially at Compass for 16 months. Considering how many years others have invested in the ministry that seems like a short time, but it is a long enough time for me to have been challenged and changed. Before I moved to Omaha to work at Compass I had never lived in a town. Much less a city. Much less North O. The first few months I caught myself driving until the city ends and on random country roads just so I could look for miles and not see buildings or hear cars and feel like I was home again. But I quickly grew to love things about my neighborhood and living in the city, such as being able to walk to the store and bike to work. As I learned more about city life and living/working in North Omaha I discovered many things that I loved. But I was also faced with many I did not. Before I moved to North Omaha I thought I knew about troubled kids and hard situations. I am from a broken family myself and was a freshly graduated Education major. I mean, they tell you what you are going to face, right? Before I came to Compass I had some knowledge about statistics, but when I started working here those statistics grew faces. For the first time I knew children who didn’t have enough to eat at home. Children whose parents left them home alone all night. Children afraid to walk home 2 blocks in the dark because of gang violence. And these were not just children on the news or in someone’s mission letter, these were MY kids. The ones I saw every week, who I prayed for, whose teachers I had conferences with, who I laughed with and cried over and who I loved. These were not just situations I heard about, these were MY kids. A few weeks ago I was at a  school, meeting with one of my 1^st graders in a class I help mentor. We have a few minutes to chat one-on-one with the kids and I was asking him about his school attendance. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I wasn’t here because my Daddy got shot. I was at his funeral.”

                Brandon Heath wrote a Christian song entitled YourLove which talks about how God’s love is all that matters. In one line he says, “Though my innocence was taken, not everything is lost.” Before I came to Compass I was innocent in a way. I had never personally known children whose parents were druggies. Or whose siblings or cousins or parents had been killed by an act of violence. I came from a sleepy little town where no one answered their front door with a gun strapped to their hip. Being at Compass changed all that. My innocence was taken. I saw with my own eyes homeless families, children being drug from one home to another because no one can pay the bills, drug abuse, 10 year olds raising their siblings. But not everything was lost. God gave me a verse this week that greatly encouraged me. 1 John 4:11-12 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, so we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” We love because He first loved us. We don’t conjure up love and fix the worlds’ problems, we simply allow ourselves to be vessels through which God gives His love to the world. Sometimes it feels like a losing battle. How can I make a difference? My love never can, but God’s love flowing through me is always enough.

                On Sunday afternoons we have Kid’s Church. For an hour or so the kids get to come and learn about Jesus and living for Him. This year we have a student who is a foster child. I don’t know her story, but she has mentioned living in more than one previous foster home. In recent months one of our volunteers decided to start coming every week instead of once a month. This little girl has latched on to the more frequent visits and attached herself to this volunteer like glue. Last Sunday as we were lining up to go home she said to me, “I really like Miss------. She is my favorite person. I love her. I really want her to be in my life.” With tears welling up in the back of my eyes I responded, “She is a part of your life Sweetie, because you can see her every Sunday at Kids Church.” “Oh… yeah!!” and with a smile she was gone.

                My innocence is lost, but not everything is. In fact, much is gained. In the last 16 months I have been given a rare chance to see how little my own efforts can accomplish, and how far God’s love can go when we allow Him to love through us. Even if it is just an hour on Sunday afternoons, when we focus on Him and let Him use us to love, it is always enough. 

Introducing....

Her name is Babe and I already love her. Mostly I love her because I love thinking about taking her to some sweet trails. 

I love thinking about that because it means three things. One, it will be warm outside. Two, I will be learning something new I have wanted to learn for a while. Three, by this summer when I am taking her out I will be mountain biking with my husband. Gosh, that was fun to say.... 

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time

There was this crazy girl. 

And she met a crazy guy. 

And he was crazy amazing. (Oh, and cute...)

And she was crazy about him. 

Quite crazy. 

And they did many crazy things together. 

 And it was crazy amazing. 

(Oh, and they were cute together too...) 

 Then, right after Valentine's Day, one year and 2 days after they started dating.... 

He convinced her to dress up in fancy clothes, and took her to a fancy dinner. Where they got to do something crazy, like eat snails... 

And then he took her to this special rooftop, where almost 2 years before she had first started to really fall for him. And when she was least expecting it, he asked her to marry him. She thought maybe she had for real gone crazy and had to ask if he was serious. Crazy thing? He was.... 

And now that crazy girl and that crazy boy are making some plans. And they are, how shall we say, crazy excited!! The beginning.... 

Babysitting The Nephie

This morning I had a double awesome morning. First, I got to babysit my adorable nephew. Second, because I was babysitting my adorable nephew, I took the morning off and got to sleep in and then loaf in my pajamas... 

I have shown this picture to several people today and they all said the same thing I did... "Awwwwww!" 

We are pals already. 

I love his bib! And his cuteness. And both his chins. And the way he stretches his arms over his head just like a big person when he wakes up. And his giggle he was in process of here. And yeah. I love him!! 

I finally tired him out with playing and he got to take a nap in Auntie Em's giant bed. Thanks for coming to see me! Bring your mamma and daddy and come back soon! 

Visiting Katie

This blog post is extremely overdue and under illustrated. I have lots of excuses for the neglect of my blog, but most of them all boil down to the same thing, I have been sick almost non-stop since the middle of November with one cold/flu after the other. This has left me wanting to do nothing but sleep in my spare time. Well, sleep and visit my beloved Katie that is. With her hubby gone for 7 weeks, I figured she could use a little cheering up from Nebraska and I could sure use a little nursing back to health in the mountains. 

It was the first time in a while I have been away from my guy, and Katie and I both felt a little something was missing. But if one must be away from her man (or her man away from her) then there is no better way to spend the time than with her sister. We made good use of the time talking, shopping, talking, eating, and did I mention talking? 

I am so blessed to have my best friend not only be related to me, but also someone that it doesn't matter if I go to see her while I am sick as a dog and lay around feverish on her couch, it is still a wonderful time just because we are in the same place. Love you lots, Katie, and looking forward to the next visit. My house this time! 

Sometimes

I believe that sometimes 

God makes beautiful things like this,

Just so we will grin at them like this. 

Arizona Road Trip

The day after Christmas we went on a road trip to Arizona. 

There is nothing quite like an open road rolling out before you and 6 days on the road coming up. My camera was both forgotten and dumped in water during the trip, so here are pictures that we did get . 

After settling in at my Uncle's we set off on a day's adventure. First stop, the historic Tombstone, most famous town in the west. 

We toured an old silver mine. Our guide told us Tombstone got its start as a mining town, all the drama came later on. 

It was my first time in a mine/cave of any kind. I foresee spelunking in my future... 

Next we headed up Mt. Lemmon Highway to what turned into the real adventure, rappelling down the Seven Cataracts of Willow Canyon. For those of you who were wanting to hear how I and my cell phone took a dip in a waterfall, stay tuned... 

Mt. Lemmon Highway is right next to Saguaro National Forest. For someone rather infatuated with the oversized cacti, it was a spectacular sight driving through a literal forest of the endangered fellas. 

Willow Canyon turned out to be beautiful. We parked on the road and hiked down into the canyon. The plan was to hike down the canyon, including rappelling down the Seven Cataracts, whereupon it would deposit us back on the road and we would hike back to the car. The canyon had way more water than the guide description had us anticipating, which made everything take much longer than we had planned. After two successful rappels we came to one that went down a waterfall. To make a long story short, Josh got caught in the water for 15 minutes with rope problems and when I came down I slipped on the rope and took a lovely feet first dive into the pool at the bottom of the falls. Now it was dark, we were both soaked, Josh was freezing to death, and we were pretty much unable to contact anyone thanks to my phone getting a bath. 

We found ourselves a little corner in the rocks, brought out the ever handy package of toilet paper and started trying to light a fire. And the matches wouldn't strike. There was a good deal of praying quite loudly as I worked my way through the matches, and suddenly there was a spark. Once we got our fire going, it was just a matter of time to dry off, collect and repack our gear, and head for the road in the dark. What we didn't know was there were two canyons, not just one between us and the road. After several hours of crashing through the brush up and down incredibly steep canyon walls we made it to the road, 4 miles from the car. I was never so happy to plant my feet on the road in my life and the 4 mile hike to the car felt like a breeze after what we had just pushed through. What was supposed to take all of 3 hours took us 9 hours, but we arrived back safe and sound, albeit still a little cold, with an awesome story of adventure and God's provision. 

This would be the rice, in which my phone and camera were revived. I love rice.... This would also be where my camera was the second day when we climbed Mt. Glenn with my cousins.

 This photo is thanks to my cousin's iPhone.  Highlights of that climb: stretching out all my sore muscles from the day before, one cousin making it to the top in Chucks, lovely views, another summit (4 in 2012 for me), and one of my cousins sitting on a prickly pear in an accidental slip. Hehe, can't even let down your guard to sit down in Arizona, everything bites... 

My dive into the waterfall earned me double bruises on my elbows, but the really exciting stuff was what the hike through the canyons to the road did to my shins. This picture does not do it justice. Try to imagine basically my entire shin as a bruise. 

After a final day in Tucson visiting my Aunt and more cousins (sadly, the camera missed this part) we headed for home, the long way. We drove past many fantastical rock formations in Northern Arizona and Utah. Including Mexican Hat Rock that has a town named after it. 

We took it upon ourselves to name this rock. We dubbed it "The Simba Rock". 

The beautiful LaSals. They just rise out of the desert, flaunting their beauty over the barren landscape. 

We made a pit stop in Arches National Park, one that has been on my list for a while. 

Where I saw many strange rocks, and decided to return for further adventures. 

We took a quick hike up to catch the sunset over the Delicate Arch. Pretty much best New Years Eve celebration I have ever had. 

Voted best picture of the trip. 

Josh hiked up to a little arch on the way back. And stood at the top attempting to convince me to join him. I was feeling somewhat unsure on the snow and took a rather large amount of convincing. This would be him at the top, "Emily, come on. It is just like stairs... the view is great up here! You can do it." 

This would be me at the bottom, "I don't really think I can. I will just wait here... are you going to make me? Okay, fine, here I come."

He was right about the view. And about how easy it was to climb up there. And that I could do it just fine... 

It was a long trip home and while I was happy to see the sun rise on Nebraska soil, I am already itching to hit the road again. Anyone interested in a trip up a 14er on spring break?