Emily's PBJ Shake
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon organic peanut butter
1 scoop of protein powder
1 Tablespoon ground flax
3/4 cup of almond milk
1 cup of berries
10 ice cubes
Blend until smooth
Enjoy :)
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Camo Cowboy Hat
Hi there.
It's the middle of the night, Starbucks has this nifty BOGO sale going on right now. And it turns out that when your husband is out of town you can just drink both cups of pumpkin spice latte. Which I did.
A little update on our life in Fort Wayne: I got job {hallelujah, praise the Lord}, we got a dog [super cute, eats everything], I started school (hate it.), and we are starting a diet called the Daniel Plan tomorrow morning <no dairy, sugar, gluten or any other fun yummy things>.
Also: we survived our very first Jr. High lock-in.
Lock-in: (noun) a.) An event where adults go against nature and attempt to stay up all night without getting sick or grumpy. b.) The only time Jr. Highers can pump themselves full of sugar and still have time to burn it off before their parents pick them up. c.) Think kamikaze mission. It's really close to that.
So that was an adventure. WOW. Lots of caffeine, some kid kicked my toe in soccer until it was purple and I definitely did NOT make it all night without being grumpy.
A few good things did come from this experience; we planned for 15 kids and 24 showed up-- that's a huge number of jr. highers for us. We had more volunteers than the bare minimum needed and most of them stayed up most of the night.
And I was reminded of a few important things regarding our ministry:
1.) I married the most patient human being that I have ever met.
2.) Effective youth ministry has more to do with love than lock-ins.
Around two years ago this guy from my Spanish class asked me to be a female chaperone for a jr. high weekend retreat. I said yes -- to this day I don't know why.
I go on this retreat with lots of jr. highers-- we stay the night in this hotel - -we got there late (I think we had trouble navigating).
By the time we've got all of these jr highers in this one room for devotions, my patience has cashed out.
It's late, I'm tired, jr highers are loud-- I'm done for the day.
These boys just kept at it though--obnoxious noises, lots of giggling and I just wanted them to shut up (Will Patton & Isaac Nicol). I remember looking at Garrett and expecting him to tell them just that.
But his patience kept going-- it stretched so much further than mine ever could.
That is the moment I fell in love with Garrett LeVault.
Someone who is that patient with jr high boys is someone worth getting to know.
So, naturally, I married him.
Fast forward a few years to this lock-in around 3 or 4 in the morning: It's late. I'm tired. Jr. Highers are loud. I'm done for the day.
I know at this point that my husband is tired, I know he's had a long day, I know that he is a little grumpy... and then this jr high boy decides to plop a camo cowboy hat on Garrett's head in the middle of a volleyball game.
Sidenote: jr high boys don't believe in showering therefore, everything they wear smells like jr high boy.
My initial reaction was one of impatience. Impatience for this kid. Impatience for his hat. Impatience with his unnatural energy at 3 in the morning.
But I watched Garrett LeVault smile real big and pull that camo cowboy hat more firmly down on his head like he really wanted nothing more than to wear it for the rest of the night.
In that moment I fell in love with my husband all over again and I realized that mere patience could not endure jr high boys and camo cowboy hats at 3 in the morning.
My husband is so full of love for these stinking, wide-awake beasts, that patience is his first response to them.
Even when it's late. Even when he's tired. Even if he wants to be done. His ability to be patient is born from a deep love.
When my Boss told me that he and his wife were having a second baby... I wasn't really sure I was going to love her. Ellis Throckmorton pretty much had my heart. I was so excited about him. I had watched him grow. I couldn't wait to hear what he sounded like when he started talking. Ellis was a pretty big deal and I was really sure that there was no way I was going to love Baby #2 as much as I loved Ellis. And then I met her. The first time I got to hold her my heart did this weird thing and Ellis and Olive both fit just fine. As much as I had been excited about Ellis-- I was excited about Olive now too.
And I thought that would happen again for me the moment I moved to Fort Wayne. But it's been a little bit harder than that.
See, I loved those stinking Edinburg kids. I wanted to watch them grow, I was so excited to see them fall in love with Jesus, I was so proud of them. They pretty much had my heart.
And then we moved here, and it felt like I had left a part of me in Edinburg. I struggled to quickly form relationships with kids I barely knew, and I started to worry that there wouldn't be enough room for them in my heart.
But my husband, and his patient love for a jr high boy he's only met a few times, reminded me why we do this.
When I started ministry at Edinburg there was only one girl in jr. high youth group-- and I volunteered because I wanted her to know she was loved. I had never heard of Edinburg, Illinois; I had no reason to care about the people there. But God softened my heart and he gave me compassion for those kids and it became easy to love them and eventually so very hard to leave them.
As we get our feet under us, as we spend more and more time with these kids, I'm starting to feel my heart grow to fit them too. I'm reminded of why I fell in love with this man I followed to Fort Wayne. And I am reminded that we do what we do so that these kids will know they are loved.
It's been 3 months and 4 days since we moved here.
Just before bed this evening Garrett confessed to once again using my toothbrush.
But things are finally settling. I'm again in a town I had never really heard of, full of people I had no reason to care for, with a man more full of patience than the day I fell in love with him.
Please keep praying for us. Please pray for our relationships with the kids here.
Please pray for my patience.
Garrett already has plenty.
With Love,
Emily LeVault
It's the middle of the night, Starbucks has this nifty BOGO sale going on right now. And it turns out that when your husband is out of town you can just drink both cups of pumpkin spice latte. Which I did.
A little update on our life in Fort Wayne: I got job {hallelujah, praise the Lord}, we got a dog [super cute, eats everything], I started school (hate it.), and we are starting a diet called the Daniel Plan tomorrow morning <no dairy, sugar, gluten or any other fun yummy things>.
Lock-in: (noun) a.) An event where adults go against nature and attempt to stay up all night without getting sick or grumpy. b.) The only time Jr. Highers can pump themselves full of sugar and still have time to burn it off before their parents pick them up. c.) Think kamikaze mission. It's really close to that.
So that was an adventure. WOW. Lots of caffeine, some kid kicked my toe in soccer until it was purple and I definitely did NOT make it all night without being grumpy.
A few good things did come from this experience; we planned for 15 kids and 24 showed up-- that's a huge number of jr. highers for us. We had more volunteers than the bare minimum needed and most of them stayed up most of the night.
And I was reminded of a few important things regarding our ministry:
1.) I married the most patient human being that I have ever met.
2.) Effective youth ministry has more to do with love than lock-ins.
Around two years ago this guy from my Spanish class asked me to be a female chaperone for a jr. high weekend retreat. I said yes -- to this day I don't know why.
I go on this retreat with lots of jr. highers-- we stay the night in this hotel - -we got there late (I think we had trouble navigating).
By the time we've got all of these jr highers in this one room for devotions, my patience has cashed out.
It's late, I'm tired, jr highers are loud-- I'm done for the day.
These boys just kept at it though--obnoxious noises, lots of giggling and I just wanted them to shut up (Will Patton & Isaac Nicol). I remember looking at Garrett and expecting him to tell them just that.
But his patience kept going-- it stretched so much further than mine ever could.
That is the moment I fell in love with Garrett LeVault.
Someone who is that patient with jr high boys is someone worth getting to know.
So, naturally, I married him.
Fast forward a few years to this lock-in around 3 or 4 in the morning: It's late. I'm tired. Jr. Highers are loud. I'm done for the day.
I know at this point that my husband is tired, I know he's had a long day, I know that he is a little grumpy... and then this jr high boy decides to plop a camo cowboy hat on Garrett's head in the middle of a volleyball game.
Sidenote: jr high boys don't believe in showering therefore, everything they wear smells like jr high boy.
My initial reaction was one of impatience. Impatience for this kid. Impatience for his hat. Impatience with his unnatural energy at 3 in the morning.
But I watched Garrett LeVault smile real big and pull that camo cowboy hat more firmly down on his head like he really wanted nothing more than to wear it for the rest of the night.
In that moment I fell in love with my husband all over again and I realized that mere patience could not endure jr high boys and camo cowboy hats at 3 in the morning.
My husband is so full of love for these stinking, wide-awake beasts, that patience is his first response to them.
Even when it's late. Even when he's tired. Even if he wants to be done. His ability to be patient is born from a deep love.
When my Boss told me that he and his wife were having a second baby... I wasn't really sure I was going to love her. Ellis Throckmorton pretty much had my heart. I was so excited about him. I had watched him grow. I couldn't wait to hear what he sounded like when he started talking. Ellis was a pretty big deal and I was really sure that there was no way I was going to love Baby #2 as much as I loved Ellis. And then I met her. The first time I got to hold her my heart did this weird thing and Ellis and Olive both fit just fine. As much as I had been excited about Ellis-- I was excited about Olive now too.
And I thought that would happen again for me the moment I moved to Fort Wayne. But it's been a little bit harder than that.
See, I loved those stinking Edinburg kids. I wanted to watch them grow, I was so excited to see them fall in love with Jesus, I was so proud of them. They pretty much had my heart.
And then we moved here, and it felt like I had left a part of me in Edinburg. I struggled to quickly form relationships with kids I barely knew, and I started to worry that there wouldn't be enough room for them in my heart.
But my husband, and his patient love for a jr high boy he's only met a few times, reminded me why we do this.
When I started ministry at Edinburg there was only one girl in jr. high youth group-- and I volunteered because I wanted her to know she was loved. I had never heard of Edinburg, Illinois; I had no reason to care about the people there. But God softened my heart and he gave me compassion for those kids and it became easy to love them and eventually so very hard to leave them.
As we get our feet under us, as we spend more and more time with these kids, I'm starting to feel my heart grow to fit them too. I'm reminded of why I fell in love with this man I followed to Fort Wayne. And I am reminded that we do what we do so that these kids will know they are loved.
It's been 3 months and 4 days since we moved here.
Just before bed this evening Garrett confessed to once again using my toothbrush.
But things are finally settling. I'm again in a town I had never really heard of, full of people I had no reason to care for, with a man more full of patience than the day I fell in love with him.
Please keep praying for us. Please pray for our relationships with the kids here.
Please pray for my patience.
Garrett already has plenty.
With Love,
Emily LeVault
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