Summer in a nutshell…

I cannot believe it's been since the end of March that we have blogged. There is no way we will be able to capture all that we have done or experienced since our last post. It has been such a busy yet fun season. We have done our share of traveling these past few months. It's been amazing! Oh and we got a new little addition to the fam- "Zee" our little sweet doggy. She was given to us by our neighbor. I'll also share some pictures of our latest adventures!

 Zee loves to go hiking with us! This was on the Fiery Gizzard Trail. Rated one of the USA's top 25 trails. It was beautiful!

  

Gray built this box to tote Zee around and for me to put groceries in! Love it! 

She's like a little kangaroo! So sweet. 

We went to the beach with the Pumpelly's and Brannon's in June. It was such a great time! 

Mrs. Julie and Mr. Hunter came to the Noog to visit! We took them hiking all around and I'm pretty sure we wore them out pretty good ;) oops. 

Gray and Dustin built their first table! It was made with no nails or screws, out of heart pine, poplar, and walnut! It is truly a piece of art! 

I got to go to Denver to visit Age and momma Rob! We went to Winter Park and had fun watching these nuts! 

Gray and I got the chance to hike up Mount LeConte with a group of friends and spend the night at the LeConte Lodge! What a cool experience! You hike in, (llamas pack in bedding and food for you) They feed you dinner and breakfast, and you hike out. So fun.

We went to Asheville and saw Trampled By Turtles play! It was a great weekend of hiking, music, and exploring! 

And then we 'trampled' up to Half Dome in Yosemite National Park!! What a wonder-full place to stand in awe. It was 3.5 hours to the top and 3.5 down. We scavenged some passes from fellow Georgians on the way up and got access to the cables to make it to the top! Super-Blessing!!

Then we hopped over to Sequoia National Park and turned ourselves into ants! at least we felt like ants. The trees were ginormous. We were dwarfed. The Sierra Nevadas are beautiful and we camped out next to a rock that night. We definitely got our outdoor fix!

And then we crossed the valley full of vineyards and orchards to arrive at the beach to meet our friends Dustin and Rachel. We camped amidst 5 campers and 5 tents in a lot. It was a great time of bonfire and community food! (they even had a tandem bike and paddle boards we got to ride!) 

Next stop, and last stop, was in L.A. Gray showed me where he worked for 3 years and we biked up and down the beach, thrift-shopped, climbed hills, met up with old friends and Surfed! It really is a great and beautiful place. We made it to the top of Griffith Observatory our last evening. (downtown L.A. in background and the Hollywood sign is in site) 

Well, like they say - a picture is worth a thousand words…so consider this a picture blog, if you will, because there were no words to express the majority of it!

To say the least, we had a blast. And we're taking the advice of our elders to 'Travel while your young! Travel before you have kids!' - Although, we will find our way to travel and adventure even when we do have youngin's! 

Thanks for stopping' in and reading our blog. Stay Alive!! Love, Sub and Gris!

Slight Delay

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A slight delay.... 2 years of no blog, comes a blog. Rebirthed is the ink and the words flow.  It's been 2 years since my last blog. It would take me one hundred posts to write down all that has happened in my life, all that God has done in my life, where He has taken me, taught me, stretched me, molded me, and now he has brought me back to my roots. From the winter wonderland of Jackson Hole to the swamps of Louisiana. I am back home. I have experienced a lot. I have met a lot of wonderful people along the journey and the most wonderful of all of them is now my best friend, my man, my dream guy- Gray. I am thankful for all that has happened along the way in both of our lives that now join us in life together, back in Lake Chuck. God you are creative, you caught us off guard on this one.
     
I imagine stories about my experiences these past two years will naturally be apart of my story as I write about this new season in life. So I will let it happen naturally and start fresh. Not boring you with the details of the past, but with the excitement of the present and how the past, present, and future have shaped me into who I am and how they play apart in our daily life experiences. Most of all, I focus on Christ. What He is doing presently in my life, in our lives, in the hearts of those that love Him.


Destiny.
 We have a destiny to live out. God has great things for our lives. He designs a plan for our lives, and gives us confidence to trust Him and to let His plan unfold. I have learned this- that God takes care of us. He does! He brought me back home from Jackson Hole, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. But I was obedient in hearing Him and knew what He had for me was better then where I was. That is where Gray comes in the picture. I heard he was back in Lake Charles after being with Friendships (a christian humanitarian organization) for 3 years. I always admired who Gray was, his heart, his passion for the outdoors, his strange ways, his love for bikes and people and Jesus. I thought to myself, if I could hang out with anyone when I get back to Lake Charles I want it to be Gray Pumpelly. I took a risk, I sent him a text on my drive home from Jackson and asked him if he would like to meet up when I got in town. Keep in mind I hadn't talked to Gray in years, I didn't think it was that random to text him... but he sure did. Oops. Ha. Well, to make a long story short that was September and I don't think we've gone longer than 3 days without being together. He is my best friend. He is my blessing. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for how you work. You love your children. So now here we are, adventurous hearts united, seeking God with our lives, desperate to do His will, to live alive together, with Christ as the center. God has great things in store. I am excited about the destiny he has written for us. I walk in faith, knowing you are taking care of us and we long to follow your path. Abba you are good and your love abounds.

                                                                                                        

Stop. Look. Life is all around.

How fast time goes by. It's almost frightening how quickly January has passed. So much has happened in these past few weeks, it will be good to take a few moments to reflect. I encourage you to do the same. Pause, take a look back at what has unfolded this new year, and assess what it means for you now and how it will affect the rest of your year- or life.

I got a permanent job, which has been a tremendous blessing. It feels so great to have a stable job, to have one office I can invest in. I guess I didn't realize how temping at various offices was really wearing on me. I have recently made some new friends. They are all amazing people, I am beyond grateful for each new friend. One thing I seek in life is to surround myself with people that challenge me. I have some amazing people in my life, who all challenge me in various ways- intellectually, spiritually, and physically.

February will be a busy yet exciting month. I will turn 26 on the 6th. I will run my third half marathon. My sister and mother will both have birthdays. I will most likely celebrate Valentine's day by doing something quite unconventional and not so romantic. And last but certainly not least I head to Peru on the 27th. i will be hiking the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu. This is something I have been wanting to do for a while, so I am going. Why not? I hope to pick up some Spanish before I depart, thanks to my new friend from Columbia who is studying at Tulane this semester.

My life is never dull, I won't let it become dull. I seek adventure. I seek out people that will make it more interesting. This adventure called life will never be dull or meaningless for me. Sometimes I crack up laughing that I'm in New Orleans. I have no clue what I'm doing here. But, I am here and my life is pretty interesting. I am here and I know God is using me some how. I am here and I desire for God to use me. I have no clue what to do or how He wants to use me.

So, what do I do? I just LIVE.

I live with my eyes on things that last. Things that are not passing away, but on things eternal. I live humbly, hoping to shed light on the darkness. To bring a glimpse of hope to the broken. I desire to live life to the fullest, seizing each day. Taking time to look at my surroundings, at the people all around me, to stop and breathe in the air around me (forgetting about the pollution my nostrils are soaking in...ughh) To remember that people are worth getting to know. To continue to think outside the box of normal. To see past color, status, looks, religion, humor, intellect. To realize at the end of the day, we are all just people. People trying to figure out this thing called LIFE. I believe we were all created with a desire to know God. It's a common denominator in all human beings, a sense of a higher being must exist. I believe God pursues us, and He allows us to make a choice- to accept His pursuit of us or walk away. I hope to be a living testimony of one who, by God's grace, accepted His pursuit of me and has been changed from the inside out.

God is love.

Making much of... who?

Making much of God in my everyday life wherever I am. That is what God has shown me lately, and it has been so freeing. I feel as if He has lifted a weight off my shoulders. I'm reminded of a verse in Matthew, chapter 11:28-30

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

As a follower of Christ, sometimes I measure my closeness to God with my works. As if I can earn God's love by my actions. This is not what He intends. He loves me so much that I am compelled to love others. Period. I think I like to visibly see things happen, I like to get the credit and the glory for the things that I do. When I don't physically see things happen, I feel like I'm failing in God's eyes. This type of thinking glorifies self, and not God. It's not about me. It's about Him. This reminder has freed me from trying to please God and to just walk humbly in His love. As a result, my life will be fruitful and productive, impacting others around me. How fast I lose focus on my daily life, here in New Orleans. Practically, how can one live for Christ daily? Well, it's simple really: Accept God's Love that he freely offers to us, and in return I Love God, only because he first loved me. And if I truly love God and know that He loves me unconditionally, his love will flow out of me onto people I see each day and he will be made much of. Sure, it can be a struggle at times. I feel like I wanna do more, but I have learned something about myself. I selfishly want to see things being done so that I may feel better about my self. Wow. I realized how selfish I am. I am humbled. I never want to make much of God for myself. No, I make much of God for God to get glory- not self!

Thank you for your grace God, thank you that you love me enough to teach me things. Thank you for freeing me from the weight of trying to please self. Thank you for giving me rest. Thank you that your burden is light.

Making Much of God

The New Year is always a time of reflection for me. This year has started out this way and has brought to my attention some very hard questions, some challenging thoughts and a burning desire for change.

What is at the core of my life. Am I the foundation of my life? No, at least I don't want to be the center, the core of who I am. Christ is my core, my foundation, my center. I desire this, I seek this out, may He be what my life is built on and for. He is All to me. This life exists so that we might make much of Christ. We make much of Him when we realize the grace offered to us through salvation. When we truly understand this, our lives give God glory and not self. Why would we want to live a life for ourselves? This is so empty.

I listened to Francis Chan speak the other night via the live feed from the Passion Conference. He brought up a point that has really challenged me and stirred me on the inside. His question was: Does your life make sense in light of the gospel. Does your life line up with the words of Christ in the gospel? Maybe you need to read the gospel to find out. That's what I am doing. I've read the gospel many times before, and I am pretty sure my life doesn't make sense in light of it. I want to learn more about the life Christ lived and the life of the first Christians. This is my burning desire- to live in light of the gospel. That my life would make sense- according to the word of God. And with that should come some things, like we see in the Bible what happened to believers- they were persecuted, they were not accepted by the "world". I must lose my life so that I may find it in Him, I must die to self and live for Him. I'm hoping to experience some of these things for the sake of the gospel. I want to suffer for him, I want to be persecuted for Him- only so that He may receive glory.

Francis Chan told a story about his recent visit to China. He visited some underground churches there. They have to meet underground because it is illegal to worship God together. They don't have churches on every street corner like we do. Francis asked them to tell stories of some ways they had been persecuted for being Christians in China. When he asked them this they were so confused. They said "Why do you want to hear these stories, aren't they normal? Doesn't this happen to every Christian?"

When people become Christians over there they risk it all. No one becomes a Christian and floats along in life sometimes attending a church but not really living for Christ. No, it doesn't happen. They have been transformed. They live each day for Him, and it's risky. But He's worth it to them. They would have it no other way- they have been saved from sin and death. They are truly alive and God is being made much of by the Christians in China!

Beneath the Surface

Because the world is in an abnormal, fallen condition, people tend to think that chance governs the universe. Events seem to occur randomly, with little or no meaning. People who view the world this way have overlooked one basic fact: the limitations of human understanding. What we know of the world we inhabit is only the tip of the iceberg. Submerged beneath the surface of the visible world are mysteries too vast for us to comprehend. If we could only see how close God is to us and how constantly He works on our behalf, we would never again doubt that He is wonderfully caring for us. This is why I must walk by faith and not by sight, trusting in His mysterious, majestic Presence.

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- while morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? " Job 38:4-7

God created all things, therefore he is in all things. Our world is much more spiritual than we even realize. Everything is spiritual, because God is at the root of all things created. If I could only see how close God is to me and how he is constantly working all around me I would never doubt again. I have Peace in my current state as a human being who loves God, who is not too sure of what my life should look like or where it is leading me because I believe he cares for me and is very much involved in my life. So I walk by faith and not by sight.

My life has looked pretty "random" but now I see a very thought out, beautiful and personal story my life is telling. It's not by chance that things have happened they way they have. It's all part of a bigger story being told.

The City I live in.

Today was one of those "walk around the French Quarter and soak everything in" kind of days. I love to do this once in a while, just because I can and because I love living somewhere that is walkable, entertaining, and pleasing to the senses. I have a ritual when I go. I go alone. I always go to the CC's on Royal St- my barista by the name of Smokey overly likes his job and will convince anyone that coffee is the absolute best thing in the universe. I get my hot tea and sip it while strolling through the crowded streets. I love hearing the different sounds all around me, the smells of the spices filling the air, and the characters all around me. My favorite- the silver spray painted statues. New Orleans is a special place. It is a place full of life. As I was walking along the river I noticed a young man laying on some steps that lead to the Mississippi river. He was surrounded by a group of rescue workers. Apparently this guy had had some type of medical emergency. He was young, probably around my age, and his dog was his only companion. I stood and watched as the young man convulsed up and down on the steps. I am not sure what happened but it didn't look good. They loaded him up on a stretcher and began to wheel him off to an ambulance. The police were gathering information on a note pad, asking a homeless guy who was witnessing this sight if he knew him and who was going to take care of this guys dog? After watching this unfold before my eyes I was deeply moved, awakened, and realized something. I live in a city. Cities have life. Cities have jobs. Cities have poverty. Cities have crime. Cities have people who are happy. Cities have people who are hurting. I live in a city and I want to be here for the city- as well as live in it. I am discovering how this can practically work in my daily life. I must not surround myself with people that fit in my genre. I must not isolate myself from relationships that need to be built. I see a brighter picture being painted here, one where the poor and the business men alike are hanging out. New Orleans. This is the city I live in.