Here comes the sun

Cabin time on Memorial weekend with Alex, Pictures of Alissa's pups, Chloe's adorable baby cousin and Laura and I celebrating Memorial Day at Brit's Pup in Minneapolis :) I hope this weekend foreshadows what the summer is going to bring :)

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I'm a big kid now...it's time to move mountains.

After 5 years and too many memories to count, I'm finally graduated. It's weird to be done, but exciting none the less-even more exciting to think about where I'll hopefully be in a year from now! 

Here are a few graduation weekend pictures :) 

I spent the first night with Jen and her little man Brody, whose my favorite 3 year old ever. 

 Graduation morning with Chloe! 

MN State Teachers College!

Marnie, Jen and Brody came to see me walk :) Start and finish with these ladies. 

The PFYers!

Happy Family :) Just wishing Tim could have been there too. 

Love them more than they know. Definitely owe a lot to these two- I'm pretty dang blessed to have such amazing parents. 

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Why so many choices!?

Before today, there was zero food in my house. So my roommate Beverly, (AKA..my mother) bribed me into going grocery shopping for the family. I just don't understand why there has to be so many varieties of microwaved popcorn, yogurt, coffee creamer or bread! I think the bread was probably the worst, and of course I had to search for a very specific, "Light-Oatmeal Bread..." 

I looked up and down the isles for coconut shreds, couldn't find them. My other roommate I'm sure will be upset (AKA, my sister) but I don't care, because I just couldn't handle it anymore! Before Africa, I used to love grocery shopping..and maybe when I'm shopping for items just for me again it will be fine. But today, it was overwhelming!  It makes me miss the simplicity of Africa. 

SO....after over an hour of putting items in the cart, walking up and down isles...and 150$ later, I'm done. Luckily I bought a Naked juice and made a salad from their salad bar as a congratulatory lunch after such an exhausting trip.

Woof...time for a nap. 

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Running, it's contagious.

2 Timothy 4:7   I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

So proud of all the marathoners out in Fargo today. Makes me wish I could be up there, running again this year. Definitely motivation to start training again, maybe the Twin Cities half marathon in the fall?

The energy during the race is what gets me...the inspiration all around you, the dedication and hard work of the people standing next to you. Running 13 miles, or 26 miles is no easy, feat. It takes time, training, sweat, pain and dedication. For me, I had to change my lifestyle and even plan around my "long run" days which meant lots of early Friday nights! Here's a picture of me after the race last year!

 It's more mental than anything else, and completing 3 half marathons myself are probably my proudest moments. The self-satisfaction and sense of achievement is nothing like I've ever experienced before. Seeing all the people out there running, the energy is just contagious. Thinking about my experiences, and all the people I know running it today makes me just so proud of them all and so excited for their experience today. 

So runners, congratulations!! :)  

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." 

-John Bingham, running speaker and writer

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Grounded like the Baobab

I graduate from college in 1 week. I am shutting a chapter on the last 5 years of my life, and the sad but apparent truth has hit me that many of the people that have been a part of my life the past years, I may never see again after next weekend. Given, I know the particular people who will most definitely transfer over into the next chapter, yet still a scary thought. Especially since I have no idea the makings of that next stage I'm about to embark on. I guess it's just what happens...but I really stink at change. 


I've been in this place lately of trying to stop thinking about the past, because it's gone and over. I'm excited for what's next, but I need to try to stop worrying about the future because it's uncontrollable and unknown. I'm trying to just live in this moment, here and now.  I get like this sometimes... contemplative..quiet (yeah, me), where I just think about what's happening around me. I refer to them as my "life moods." :)


I was realizing as I thought today, that what I need cannot be found in earthly things. The comfort I'm looking for, the hole I need filled cannot be done so by friends, things, deep conversations or men. I need God, and His word. At times, and in the past especially, I look to people to ground me. The reality is that other  people are the last place I should be looking toward. Comfort and grounding need to reside from the Lord and from within. I just need to TRUST that it's going to be ok and things will work out as they should. Saying I need to trust, and actually doing it are two different things, and today I just needed a reminder of where my trust needs to be. 


 After a rough day, and after reading the quote and  verses below, I feel officially re- grounded. I pray to be grounded like the Baobab tree, with roots that run deep and branches that continue to grow. 

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson



Job 17:9
“The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.” (NLT)


Proverbs 16:3
“Commit your works to the LORD
And your plans will be established.


Romans 12:2
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (NLT)


Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)


Hope that if your in need of any grounding today, these verses helped you like they helped me.
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