Backyard Mission {Trip}

I have started a new blog to share about a new season of my life! Check out backyardmissiontrip.blogspot.com :)

Here are some details about an upcoming fundraiser for the mission trip described on the blog!

Come join us for a time of ornament making!! These ornaments could be given as gifts or used to add to your own holiday collection!! Please invite friends! :)

Details:

Date: December 7, 2013

Time: 2-5pm

Location: Contact me if you are interested, and I will send you the location! (nshute1308@gmail.com)

Cost: $6 donation/ornament

All money donated will be going towards Backyard Mission {Trip} which is a year-long mission trip my friend and I will be taking in 2015. 

CHOC WALK!!!!!

This past Sunday was the much anticipated CHOC walk! :) Can I just say it COMPLETELY fueled my passion for serving different organizations in this way--and providing me what a way to get exercise too!


It started with an early morning. My dad picked up my friend and I at 6am! None of us were too sure if it was worth it at that point. Having on the CHOC walk shirts and wristbands made it feel real though.

We drove to Disneyland and waited in the long line to get into the Mickey and Friends parking structure. At this point, we began to realize how big this walk really was. With a crowd of people we made our way down the escalators and onto the road the tram normally runs. We walked...and walked...until we reached the gate of Disneyland entrance.




Here the understanding of the immensity of the walk increased. A huge amount of people were being funneled through a tiny gate. So we waited.

Finally we made it to Main Street! Now we could begin walking, right??? Lol. Not really. We waited in another crowd.
However, as we waited on Main Street, there was a person (high up in Disney...can't remember who) announcing each of the groups as they walked by. Some groups were nurses from the hospital. (Like the SUTUREHEROES! Had the cutest spin off of Superman with stitches in the "S." They were from the surgical unit of the hospital.)
Others were victory stories of children who had survived because of CHOC's care. It was fun to see people who were presumably the "CHOC babies."
However, the groups that stood out to me the most--and at one point brought tears to my eyes--was those walking in memory of a child who has lost his or her medical battle. It amazed and humbled me to see just how many people would turn out for those groups. I bet some groups were 30 or more people! Seeing the photos on their signs of those little ones who are no longer here both touched and broke my heart.
A fourth group wasn't represented at the walk, but crossed my mind too: Those who were at CHOC and couldn't make it to the walk. Some may have even planned on it, but then their child took a turn for the worse or had scheduled chemo or some other complication came up.
This is why I walked. These children matter.

Back to the experience itself. After we passed the announcer, we were able to walk a little more freely...and had gotten used to the crowd. ;) We walked through most of the sections of the park. Just before exiting Disneyland, we had the chance to walk behind scenes. We were cheered on by groups of cheerleaders and received free waters from Aquafina.

Then we moved on to California Adventure. This didn't feel as crowded because of the wider walkways. We even got to walk past one of the Cars Land rides that is normally closed.

This whole walk felt like such a celebration! Everyone was here for one purpose. And we all knew it.

The final section of the walk was through Downtown Disney. We had reached the finish line!!

I felt invigorated for the rest of the day. :) In a small way, I had made a difference. And with the 60,000 of us who came, we made a big difference. *sigh of satisfaction*

Thank you to those who donated to CHOC!!!


(Bonus: Dad bought my friend and I discounted tickets to Disneyland for another day! ;) )

Five Minute Friday: True

I could take the word "True" in so many different directions: what it means for means to speak truth, what being true is, etc.

Instead I think I will spend the next 5 minutes telling you some random "true" facts about me. :)

1. I have been "missing in action" for the past week because I just started a new job as a speech therapy assistant at a clinic! It has been an overwhelming yet amazing week. God is filling me with a love and patience for each of the clients. And I am starting to bond with my co-workers. It is a new step in my journey...and while I'm tired, I am also at peace and full of excitement.

2. Recently I have been greatly excited by aquariums and fish! It is a new found passion I suppose. When I saw that two of my co-workers had betta fish in their rooms, I was almost giddy with excitement. I'd love to have a couple bigger aquariums in my apartment, but for now I am loving my 5-gallon aquarium with some neon tetras. P.S. This picture is from my first attempt at an aquarium that didn't go so well...and lasted only a month... Poor fishies.

3. I have the hardest time keeping my apartment clean! There are no children in this apartment. Only 4 single adult women. So WHY is it still SO messy?! My goal is to get on top of it soon...before I start any other projects...but unfortunately that is stopping progress in every area... Hmmm. Ideas???

This week's Five-Minute Friday!! Last week my blog post just didn't happen...lol. So here's this week's! Brought to you by: http://lisajobaker.com/

Thank You

Jesus,

Thank You for taking the penalty for my sin. I do not thank You enough for the sacrifice that my salvation took. You gave up your life, so that I could live. All too often I forget the cost. And all too often I say thank you with my lips, but my heart does not understand the gravity of the words. So humbly I come, with tears in my eyes, and say "thank you" for coming to my rescue. Thank You for giving me the gift of continual access to You and Your Father through prayer. Thank You for paying with Your blood for my "ticket to Heaven" which gives me hope and security in a world full of pain. Thank You for dying, even though you knew I would continue to mess up and have times of stubbornness and rebellion. I take the time to write my family and friends thank you notes, yet I have never written You one. Forgive me.

Thank You for never giving up on me. Thank You for loving me where I am, yet always calling me to becoming closer to You. Thank You for who I am through You.

Most of all, thank You for giving me what I could not give myself: salvation, freedom, redemption.

Thank You for the life I have because of Your sacrifice.

I could go on for a long time...thanking You for all that You have done in my life...

I offer instead my life. And these simple words: Thank You.

Your adopted and forgiven daughter,
Nicole

Five Minute Friday: Mercy

Mercy.

It's a code name I gave someone during one of the darkest times of my life.

Yet it is also the word that resonates with the rescue from that same time. I had come from a place where I walked with God, yet I viewed Him as a God who I could control. A God smaller than the Great I AM. A vending machine God.

Even now typing those words is difficult. To admit how far away from truth I had slipped because of the influence of "friends."

Yet God, in His abundant mercy, disciplined me. He showed me HIS great power in ways that I could not deny. He brought conviction and heart ache. The people I had called friends were taken away.

So how is this mercy? It is mercy because God showed me who He was...and through doing so who I am. He created something beautiful from the mess that I had made. He showed me mercy. God gave me Himself, a gift I do not deserve. By revealing Himself to me, God also gave me a new chance at life. An abundant life.

That is mercy.

I am embarking on a new adventure on this blog with something called "Five Minute Fridays" which you can learn more about here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/  Feel free to join me!! :)

Vienne

Ever have those stories that you hear and hit you to the core? You can't just sit by and let it pass you by?  One of those stories came my way today. <3

I was laying in bed stressing out about my job search. I won't go into details on that one as there are so many unknowns right now. I'll wait until I know more... Anyway, I was looking at my Facebook, thinking how I should really do something else. Then I noticed a common story popping up in various places on my newsfeed.

Today is the one year anniversary of little Vienne going to Heaven. <3 She died suddenly with essentially no warning. Tears filled my eyes. Suddenly, my situation went to the back burner. As you know from previous posts, I often follow blogs of cancer kids, so death of children is sadly not something all that unusual on my newsfeed (as I follow a cancer awareness/encouragement foundation). Something about this story hit me in a way I don't even understand. As I write this tears fall down my cheeks. My only explanation is that God has stirred my heart because this family needs me to weep with them and to show them that they are not alone. <3 <3 <3

LORD, encourage this family in their darkness. Bring to them rays of hope during this seemingly hopeless time. Use my broken heart for you glory. Amen.

I hope my older brother who was brought to Heaven before birth is with Vienne today...and perhaps welcomed her there... To both of you, I cannot wait to meet you in Heaven. Vienne, you are greatly missed by many. You made more of a difference in this world than you could ever know.

The Bible tells us to weep with those who weep.

So, yes, today I weep for a girl I never knew. I wear blue and/or green in her memory.

Why did I choose CHOC?

I shared some of why I wanted to do a 5K for CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County) in my last post, but it occurred to me that my choice may seem strange to some people. I don't have my own children. I didn't grow up needing care in a hospital. So why a children's hospital?

Over the past few years I have found my heart drawn to children who have cancer. I have followed multiple cancer kids' blogs. Unfortunately, two of them have since passed away after bravely fighting. However, it then hit home when a woman I worked with on a fundraiser for Heifer International found out that her niece had leukemia. :( Thankfully, Tillie is now finished with treatment--and we all hope has beat cancer for good!! This was followed by my cousin's niece being diagnosed also with leukemia. She is still in treatment, but has hit many mile markers. Go Josie! :) Their journeys have been filled with many ups and downs. Their parents have grieved and rejoiced. The families need support. Their stays in the hospital have often been long. I want to walk with Nina, Daisy, Tillie, Josie, and all of the other kids whose stories have touched my life. Their stories are in my heart as I begin this journey <3 I pray for their families often.

In addition to these kids who have changed my perspective on life while rocking my world and touching my heart many times, I have faced many health problems over the course of my life. Granted, most of them have not landed me in the hospital. All the same, I know what it is like to have to go through life not feeling well. Migraines, tendonitis, appendicitis, bronchitis, and other challenges have taught me many things. In a small way, I resonate with these children. No, I have never faced cancer or long stays in the hospital, but I hear their stories as one who knows what it means to not feel well.

My recent stay in the hospital only confirmed all of this. I've read about the long waits in a hospital room...and then I experienced it. I heard about the delaying of surgery...and then I knew it first hand. People had mentioned the restless nights in a hospital...and then I knew the truth, you cannot get a good night's sleep in a hospital! These are some brave kids with families I greatly respect.

In honor of these kids--and the kids like them--I want to raise money for a hospital that provides life-saving care! I want them to have the money to continue saving lives in an environment that tries to make the best of a very difficult situation.

Thank you for reading. <3

Donate link: http://choc.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General?px=1054199&pg=personal&fr_id=1040

CHOC Walk

A new part of my journey has begun... I knew that graduating college would obviously be ending a phase and beginning a new one, but God has brought me on so many journeys this summer that I did not expect. I completed an internship for my speech therapy assistant (SLPA) certification. All of the paperwork is being processed by the state now. That was something beyond my wildest dreams! For the first time, I joined a Bible study through church. I traveled to Arizona for the first time in my life. Then I stayed in the hospital and experienced surgery for the first time. All of these firsts that I didn't expect. Through this summer I've also begun to develop and deepen friendships that I didn't expect. At times it has been hard, but I would not trade this summer for anything.

God, yet again, caught me by surprise a couple days ago by laying on my heart to begin something I didn't expect to happen NOW. I will share more about the entirety of where He is leading me in the future, as more pieces come together. However, I do want to share the first part of what He laid on my heart!

In October, I will be doing CHOC Walk in the Park which is a fundraising 5K for the local children's hospital!

I am SO EXCITED!!! My dream is to one day be able to run a 5K. That has been stopped due to health limitations--but now I know that doesn't mean I can't WALK a 5K. :) I stumbled across the flier while getting a late night dinner at Chick-fil-a. I thought what I usually think, "That would be cool to do some year...maybe next year..." But I couldn't get it off my mind. The thought "Why not this year?" kept haunting me. So, as soon as I got home, I signed up! ;) (And then dragged my roommate and dad into the deal...!) This lines up with the heart God has given me for children with cancer and children with disabilities.

There's a part to this that involves YOU! The minimum donation to walk is $50 which I plan to personally donate. However, I would love to give more. SO if you would like to help me out, you can :)

My personal fundraising page is:

http://choc.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General?px=1054199&pg=personal&fr_id=1040

Currently the goal is set at $200, but that is by no means the highest it can go. I am leaving the amount that comes in up to God. :)

Thank you for sharing in this step of my obedience--and the beginning of a new journey!

The Reason

Why am I beginning this blog? Because I want a place to share God's work in a more public area. For the past few years I have had a blog that I kept mostly private. It was a place for me to process and write. I needed a place to write for the sake of writing without thinking about other people reading it. After sharing about the blessings that came from my appendectomy, I realized that my writing could be used to encourage people on a larger scale--and a way to share what God was doing. So...I started this blog! Plus I have been so encouraged and challenged by following other people's blogs, so I want to give back. My other blog will remain as a private blog, but I hope to be updating both blogs from now on. :) I will update as God leads...which will likely come in clumps with times of silence...

Why did I call it "Graciously Waiting"?? Recently I have come to realize that life is a lot about waiting. There are the day-to-day times of waiting. Waiting to register my car. Waiting in the ER. Waiting for surgery. Waiting in line. Waiting in traffic. Waiting for food to cook. Waiting to hear back from an interview. Etc. Then there are the larger scale "Waitings" (yes, I just created a word!): Waiting to be fully recovered. Waiting to date. Waiting to be married. Waiting to be a mom. Waiting to start grad school. Waiting for a job. Etc. These are examples of things I am waiting for in my life, but I am sure each of you, no matter what stage you are in, can substitute your own list!
Life continues as we wait. Time doesn't stop. And in the area of the "Waitings," God continues to have things for us to do, no matter where we are! (Maybe it is "waiting for the kids to grow up" or "waiting for the kids to visit"). Let's be honest: waiting is not fun. It tends to drive us crazy. We begin to think "If only this phase of waiting would end, then..." God has been convicting me of this thought process continually. These "Waitings" cannot define our lives. While I am single, I can choose to enjoy this phase--and embrace what God brings for me to do! While I wait for a job, I can still fill my days with things that are fulfilling. While I wait to begin my career, God has things for me to keep me busy in the meantime. To sum it up, these times of waiting are not wasted time, but rather a time God can use. Intellectually I have known this for the big things. During my time in the hospital a couple weeks ago, God brought clarity to a challenge He had been hinting at for years: Will I be a "Demanding Waiter" or  a "Gracious Waiter." I've seen clear examples of both. As a Christian, which displays better displays Christ in my daily life: demanding I be the next patient seen since I had waited hours or showing grace to the nurses? Getting angry at the cashier because I had to wait or smiling and interacting with the cashier? These are just a few examples that I have come across. I've seen examples of both. Do you see a key word in the first examples?? "I"! When did life become a long string of entitlements to me?!?! Each person we interact with is a chance to show God's grace to, even if we have to wait longer than we would like. Through this season of waiting in my life, God has laid out a clear challenge to me: to live my life Graciously Waiting.
Again, these examples are strongly tied to my stage of life as these are what I am acquainted with, but I pray that the lessons can extend into your stage of life...and challenge you to change your view of waiting!
And so, my title "Graciously Waiting" is the current stage of life I find myself in!

Stay tuned for updates on things God is doing in my life!