And the days keep moving...

Hello all!

Wow. It has been over a week. Here is the latest update starting with not this past Thursday but the Thursday before that.

Thursday: We hiked Twin Sisters (over 11,000 feet). I decided to be awesome and go off the beaten path...by myself because I wanted to boulder up to the next switchback and meet the people i was hiking with there. Well.... turns out there was no "other" switchback because the trail went around the back side of the mountain. So here I was bouldering and lost for an hour and a half screaming every so often so I could see if my friends were around. I made it to a false summit and I finally heard a faint yell. And then I found the trail because we kept screaming at one another. All in all it was a fun adventure, I got to boulder halfway up Twin Sisters and I made it to the real summit. Suhweet! All in all...a great hike. Then we got back to the Y and my family came at 4pm! Got to chill with them and then go to the LT service. Shhhuper great.

Friday: On this day, my family and I headed to Boulder to chill. It was pretty fun. We did some shopping and I got some new hiking boots sooo that's cool. I think that is really all I did that day.. yea that's it.

Saturday: This day. We decided to go on a hike. I wanted to do Twin Sisters but we didn't leave early enough and I had a meeting. So. We did Eagle Cliff instead. I was feeling pretty sick that day and so my mom and I just talked on the side of the mountain instead of hiking all the way up. It was a good talk and stuff soo yea.

Sunday: We left for my Uncle Bob's house in Paonia, Colorado. We took Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road and made many stops along the way to do some hiking in Chasm Falls and on a random mountain. It was really fun. The road is pretty intense. Here are some pictures of the two roads...

This is Trail Ridge Road

And this is Old Fall River Road.

Pretty intense.

Soooo yea. We got to Uncle Bob's house that night.

Monday: On this day, we went on a picnic in the woods. It was really fun cuz we grilled burgers and stuff on a portable grill. That's all I remember.

Tuesday: This day was AWESOME! I got to go white water rafting in the Colorado River. Our guide was crazy. I don't feel like writing a lot so just ask me about the crazy adventures our raft had if you get the chance.

Wednesday: Got back and went to work...the end

Thursday: Don't remember this day at all. But I do remember that after the LT service God just spoke to me and was like hey why don't you just spend time with me. I love spending time talking about God with other people I think it's soo cool and can be so good but recently I've been neglecting quality prayer time with God because I just have been spending that time with other people. But I had a really good prayer time with God and yea. I just need to do that more often for SURE!

Friday: had project day. We worked at this place called O.U.R. Center in Longmont, Colorado. We did volunteer work for them and stuff which was really cool. Pulling weeds all day! That's right, be jealous. They have a really cool organization there. Then we had ISU time and then I went to the dance lesson thing that Daniel and Brain had. I got to teach salsa with Daniel and dance a lot of Swing and Charleston with Brian. He was actually really good and I was impressed.

Then I got locked out of my room all night and had to sleep in the hallway until Katie got up...ask me about that too cuz I don't feel like writing.

Saturday: And now here I am after work still in my work clothes, talking to Max and finishing up this blog post. Epic Sweet. 

Thanks for all being wonderful people!

Love and the Cosmos

Went to the bonfire last night. It was pretty fun! Then we went on a late night walk to the Livery (where they keep the horses) close to the outdoor chapel. We wanted to walk past it but instead we just sat by this cross that is out there and we got to experience God first hand. We prayed together, out loud which was so cool. I just really felt God saying that we have His unlimited power behind everything we do, so nothing is impossible. NOTHING! Not even a road trip through South American next summer...cough *Mom and Dad* cough. Can't wait to for His plans for me. Anyway... As we were praying, we were all looking at the stars and right when we finished the stars multiplied to 20 times the amount that were in the sky while we were praying. It was SO cool and totally a God moment. It's amazing people can say that all of this came to be without intelligent design. Crazy.

I had a really great talk with my amazingly awesome co-worker Meredith about love today.

We basically have the same view on love which is pretty cool. We are both afraid of the "L-word". It's a pretty intense deal. Basically we talk about how love is a choice, day in and day out. In addition to that, I think that it is crazy when people can honestly say that they love someone when they haven't even been dating for at least a year. I kind of don't want to say I love someone until there is talk of a ring. Sounds insane but I guess I just want to know. Until you get married, I really think you don't know true love. I mean, I think you can experience a version of love. Enough love that you think, "This is as good as it gets". It gets better! I don't know if that made any sense. And where does the phrase "I love you" lead to? Shenanigans or marriage or false expectations. That's just how it is.

But we had fun today just goofing around and trying to set Lorraine up with the Espresso Machine repair man. HILARIOUS!

I am over halfway done in Colorado. I can't believe it. I feel like school is creeping up fast and I am excited to go back. I am not excited to not have amazing bouldering spots a 5 minute walk from my dorm. Sad day.

Good thing is, I think I am going to get FiveFingers if I can convince my parents it is a great investment and that they should get them for me for my birthday! WOOT! I love walking barefoot now.

And that's it. Done.

Yep. I totally got sick Saturday night and so I couldn't go to ISU time. I didn't go to work the next day but thankfully I felt fine by Sunday afternoon.

P.S.    HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

A little late... oh well

So Fourth of July was good. I finished reading this book called Jesus Without Religion which was really good. It just talks about Jesus and his life. Pretty cool. I got to meet with Mike Klunke too and we talked about how the New Testament came to be the 27 books that we have today. Pretty fascinating stuff.

Historical non-fiction is awesome. I just cannot get enough!

Must. Read. More.

Anyway. Highlight of my day was climbing Lumpy Ridge to see the fireworks! It was probably the most fun I have ever had seeing fireworks. Some of us are gonna climb Lumpy Ridge again and sleep up there since it's so beautiful. I have realized (since I have done it twice now) that hiking/climbing without shoes is the BEST THING EVER. I think I am going to start walking around barefoot much more often than not... I really need to get those FiveFingers things. Epic (look 'em up). While climbing up we had 2 people almost fall off a cliff we were climbing. Amanda had to scoot along an edge and then she grabbed my hand for support so if she had fallen I would have gone too. And then, we were spotting my friend Sam and she fell backwards. If Amber and I didn't catch her backpack, she would have fallen down a long way and probably wouldn't have made it. We almost got dragged down with her too. Hurray for cheating death! Love it. We had to climb down the mountain after fireworks in the dark which was really cool. Again... all barefoot, people!

My family is coming on Thursday! I get to see them after I get back from hiking Twin Sisters. I'm gonna be above tree line and one more step closer to LONG'S PEAK!!! So excited :)

Well that's all the update that I have for now. I'm off to read some more and work out. Then bonfire for Andrew's birthday!

Have a wonderful day :)

Who needs a title anyway?

Wow.... Gotta eat my words again... Didn't keep that vigor of blogging almost everyday. Why does this always happen to me?

Anyway. Let's see if I can recap the past week. Here I go!

Saturday: This day, I worked and then we had ISU time. We talked about how we aren't really growing as a group like we wanted to. It kinda sucks because that was one of our goals coming out here this summer.

Sunday: All I remember about this day was being really really tired during workshop. It was the last one in the series so I will have a new workshop for four weeks starting next Sunday. Pretty sweet!

Monday: I went to work and then after work I ran up Bible Pointe. That's right, I RAN! So I can say that I have run up a mountain now. I haven't had time to run up Bible Pointe again but it will happen soon for sure. I also got to see Kelsey Gorman on this day. We had an awesome talk pretty much about everything and about where we are both at, things we don't like about organized religion, stuff like that. It was awesome!

Tuesday: Work and then worship band practice on this day. We had a guest speaker named John Werst. He painted a clear picture of the Gospel to make sure that we all understood what that really is. It was cool but for me, unnecessary. I have been questioning the validity of the Bible and whether or not Jesus actually existed and other things recently. I just was questioning what was reality and what was not. Right before church, Daniel came up to me and asked "Hey! Wanna have a deep theological discussion tonight?" Of course I said yes and when I asked about what he said "Determining what we can know is real or Truth (yes, with a capitol 'T' ". I was so excited that all I could do was give him this big hug because I had been praying that God would reveal the Truth to me somehow and now I had a chance to sort things out in my head with Daniel. So we had a sweet talk that night and stayed up late...again. Going into the talk, I honestly thought I was gonna come out of the conversation with more questions and doubts but God totally revealed Himself (like He always does haha). It was really cool! Sam was there too and we got to talk with her about some really tough stuff. I am excited to see where God takes her.

Wednesday: This was my day off (instead of Thursday). ISU went to Winter Park as a group and it was actually kind of fun. They have this HUGE alpine slide there (the biggest in Colorado) and you just fly on this thing. Two people in our group fell off and got pretty bad road burn. Gross. But it was really cool to bond with everyone and have a fun day off. We went to this pizza place in Winter Park called Hernando's. They serve Colorado-style pizza (who knew there was such a thing). When we got there, there were dollar bills with writing on them covering the walls. We also noticed that there was Honey on every table. I asked Rob what was up with that cuz I thought it was strange and I found out that you use it to dip your crust. Amazing people! Amazing! So thumbs up to Colorado-style pizza.

Thursday: Another uneventful day. Went to work and then I went to church. During the service, the only thing I got out of it was a conviction to right the wrongs I had done to people. So, if I have ever hurt you in anyway, please tell me so I can apologize. I am truly sorry and chances are I didn't even know I hurt you. I tend to joke around a lot and sometimes it hurts people. But like I said. If you have ever felt wronged by me, PLEASE tell me. After church, I got to have a really great talk with Max. What an awesome guy. It's really cool to hear about how he is growing and yea. I don't even really know what to say about our conversation without just telling you. Then I stayed up with Daniel and Sammy till 2 haha

Friday: So yesterday was project day. We got to hear testimonies in the morning and then we talked about this book called TrueFaced. It's really good. Then, after lunch we headed to Boulder, Colorado. Some people did evangelizing and some people just hung out. Kelsey came with us which was really cool and Rachel, Kelsey and I just walked around Colorado University. It's a beautiful campus. Sort of makes me want to transfer.... But anyway. So we got back to where we were supposed to meet everyone and people were talking about evangelizing and how that went. Karissa, Brian and Bethany came back and were telling everyone about these people they met who were painting in the quad. They said they talked to the "painters" about God and the Bible. The painting people said they would love to read the Bible since they had never done so but Karissa, Brain and Bethany didn't have Bibles with them to give. So as they are telling this story I go "You can take my Bible". So they took my Bible and Nicole's Bible and ran back to give it to them. So I am currently Bible-less but for a really cool reason! Everyone wanted to go to Panda Express afterward. I had never eaten at Panda Express, so it was an experience. While eating there, we saw a double rainbow. Another cool part about the weather was that it was raining while it was sunny out and it was raining on one side of the street we were on but not the other. Crazy! Twas very epic. Then I drove home and went to Kind Coffee to try it out. I was pretty disappointed in their espresso but Chels says they have good brewed coffee. Internet was completely down because of a storm on this day which is why I couldn't post until today. 

Today: Well last night/early in the morning today, I could not sleep at all because my stomach felt so uncomfortable. You know those times where you just want to throw up because you know it will make you feel better but you can't? Yea, that is what happened to me last night. So awful. So I went into work late this morning because i was still feeling awful at 5:45. I went to work and felt alright and then right after lunch, I got the same discomfort in my stomach so I left early. I just couldn't handle it. So no I am sitting in my bed and I am about to get a lot of letters written and stuff online accomplished. Including this blog post. I think this may be the longest post yet beside the "Ec-pic Story". But that's not about my life so I suppose that doesn't count. 

Well I hope you all have a wonderful day. I will try and feel better and I will post more often if I can. 

Praise God Always!

Living It Up in Colorado

Hello everyone!

I am so excited I have the motivation to blog nearly everyday right now! So awesome!

Yesterday we went to Walmart for the first time since getting here. The car ride there was awesome! I was talking to this person who is on staff at Ohio State University named Dan and he was telling me that even while he was frustrated with the church at OSU he still knew that he was being called on staff. All of a sudden I felt this the only way I can describe it is a huge hug from God. I just heard this thought in my head that said "Hey, Kristin. I have big plans for your life and you don't have to worry about what is going to happen in your future. Get excited because it's going to be awesome!". I could feel God's love pouring out on me and it was an incredible moment that we had. So good! God has given me so much peace about my worries. I feel like I talk about that every time I blog.

On our way back we stopped at this store along the dam on the way to Loveland because Peggy wanted Pheasant Jerky. Daniel and I bought some Huckleberry Scones and we made them for project group today. So delicious. But going back to Thursday night. John's talk was really good. It was about Philippians 4 so check that out and really read and study it if you want some awesome direction for leaders.

After church, Daniel, Amy, Sammy and I went to dance more. SO much fun. Amy went to bed but the coolest thing that happened that night was the epic talk that Daniel, Sammy and I had. We literally talked till 5:30am. We didn't even notice how long it had been till we saw the sun rising.

Crazy.

But it was so good. I feel like we talked about everything. I am so glad that I know them and once again God is showing me that He put everyone here at LT for a reason. Not only that but He is revealing to me the people He specifically chose for me to build into and the people who He specifically put in my life to build into me. It's quite amazing.

Today was project group. It was pretty hard waking up even though we didn't have to be anywhere till 10am. We had solitude time at Lumpy's Ridge. I talked to God for a while and then I found a great big rock and took a nap on it. I felt like one of the lions from The Lion King. It was pretty awesome. I woke up completely refreshed and ready for the rest of my day.

We had life groups as well today. It was really good to hear that everyone in my life group is doing much better than last week and to see praises to God as well instead of just things that people are upset about or struggling with.

Well. We are having a bonfire tonight which should be fun. S'mores, hotdogs, the whole nine yards. I have work at 6am so I don't know how late I'll be out because of my late night last night.

More later!

Well! So many fun things happening here in the big CO.

I got to see Brooke and Rudy because they are here for a while. That was really fun. Cornerstone staff is all here which has been fun. It's like being back at ISU. Sort of... haha

Last night's service was awesome. My voice was going out so I just really had to rely on God to get my through worship. We sang some awesome songs and you could just feel God's presence in the room. It was amazing when we started singing a cappella and we all dropped our microphones and you could hear the whole room praising God. It was so beautiful. 

John Drage talked about having passion and focus for Christ. The thing that hit me the hardest was that we should live our lives everyday remembering what God did for us.

Makes me think of Ephesians 2

 ¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 ¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

 ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

That is SO exciting and awesome and amazing and WOOT! God is so good. I can't say it enough.

But that was awesome and then after the LT service Daniel, Sam, Amy and I stayed up till 3:30 am and Daniel taught us some Latin dancing. There are a few pictures on facebook sooo check those out! Latin dancing is super hot. And soooo much fun. Daniel is in actual competitions and stuff so here he was, surrounded by 3 girls all fighting to dance with him because he actually knew how and he was the only guy around. So guys, if you want to get the ladies...learn how to dance. Seriously. It's a super attractive quality about a guy. 

Well I'm off to work so I will write more later! Have a wonderful day!

Everything's Fine Everything's Groovy...

...It's a great day!

Haha anyway.

Thursday was my day off. I didn't do that much during the morning but I did get to SLEEP IN! It was glorious. During the day though, I got to go to Emerald Mountain with Charis and boulder a little bit. Then we came back and I got to have dinner with my friend Rachel! She is awesome and from Texas which is pretty cool. We got to talk about life and stufffff.

Thursday night was the LT service and the speaker, the GCM pastor from Ball State, spoke about having faith through your fears. It was a really good conclusion to Tuesday night's talk about fears. We talked about how God is all powerful and that when we accept Christ, we have an unlimited amount of power behind everything thing we do which is incredible. We can do the impossible with God on our side! SUPER SICK! (in a good way).

Speaking of Tuesday night. It was pretty rough. I've never just been flat out angry with God and told Him about it. There were a lot of things that happened that night that didn't happen like they should have and I was really upset how a few conversations had played out. I just sat in my bed and said, "God, I'm really angry at you right now because I have been praying about these conversations that I just had and this was not how they were supposed to go down. I hurt some people and I'm really upset that you allowed it to happen like this." I have never done that before but it was so good that God met me where I was at and gave me peace about all of the situations I was in within the next few days. Crazy awesome.

Anyway, after church on Thursday night, my project group went to see TOY STORY 3!!!!!!

You. Must. See. This. Movie.

I was prepared to be disappointed but I laughed more than I have laughed in any movie in a long time. It was so well done.

Then we had project day and heard a few testimonies. I love hearing people's christian journeys from the very beginning till now. It's really cool. Then we went fishing and I walked across Glacier Creek. It was pretty cold and I fell because Glacier Creek basically has rapids in certain places so I got pushed over. I have a sweet bruise on my knee haha. Then Karissa, Daniel and I decided to scramble some rocks but we ended up free climbing/bouldering halfway up Eagle Cliff in no time at all. It was crazy because climbing is so much less tiring than hiking up Eagle. Karissa and I went barefoot which was really good for climbing but really bad for walking down the mountain. P.S. As we were walking down I was in back and I put my hand on a rock for stability down a steep portion and the rock went tumbling down towards Karissa and Daniel. Daniel jumped out of the way and everything. It was probably a 50 lb rock sooo pretty intense.

Now I am at work, on my lunch break blogging for you beautiful people! Soooo maybe I should go back and actually work before I get fired... That would suck.

I love you guys a ton :)