Day 13

Day #13: A photograph of the town you live in 

Tonight is such a perfect night for the post topic today. The town I currently live in, Kirkwood, has a free concert in the plaza in front of my apartment building every Thursday night in the summertime. Everyone [or at least it seems like everyone] comes out to enjoy food, drinks, and community. Kids run around and teenagers hang out with their friends. Lots of people bring their dogs too!

Kevin & Jordan came out and we grabbed custard from our favorite place near the train station right here in downtown and then sat outside catching up. So tonight, after a rough day + post yesterday, it was a blessing to just enjoy community, the awesome summertime weather didn't hurt either :)

Also, just because I am counting - today marks 50 days left until the wedding!!!! Just had to share :)

Day 11

Day #11: Bullet your whole day

Well. Should have looked at this at the beginning of the day tonight, instead of when I got home from work tonight. Overall, not a wonderful day or a horrible day one way or the other. Just kind of a blah day. [Disclaimer: Thankful for any day, even the blah ones.] I will do my best to remember my whole day...here we go.

• Woke up. [I am in the process of starting to pack up my apartment and last night packed away the curtains in my bedroom. This morning I remember why I had them in the first place - my blinds do NOT block out sun in any way in the morning.]
• Brushed my teeth.
• Took my vitamins.
• Cleaned up my apartment since I was too tired to take care of the wedding explosion [Also, since thanks to the sunshine I was up a little early this morning]
• Breakfast [my favorite meal of any day]
• Showered
• Got dressed [Read: Tried to pick an outfit for a while - eventually found something acceptable, closet looks like a tornado went through it]
• Sent some emails + Facetimed Adam
• Went into work
• Work. [Sat outside for most of my workday - it was way too nice to be inside + my office as no windows]
• Made wedding dress fitting appointment [YAY!]
• Came home for dinner.
• Back to work to teach a Confirmation class. [Got to talk to Mom for a few minutes on the drive in]
• Confirmation class [cue headache occurring, not because of my class - but this is when that occurred.]
• Horrible headache. Not cool.
• Wrote thank-you notes [Yes, still from my shower at the end of April, ugh.]
• Watched video from brother #3's first harp recital tonight [Hate missing things like that in real life!]
• Caught up with Jamie [bridesmaid, bestie, overdue conversation]
• Finally talked to my brother #1 [It's his birthday today!!!]
• Attempted to FaceTime Adam again. Internet was not cooperating. [Read: Pixelly & limited sound, lame.]
• More thank-you notes.
• Went through the schedule of what I have tomorrow/need to get done [ahhh.]
• Writing this blog post.

Day 10

Day #10: Issue a public apology

Wow. What a day this has been. 9+ hours of solid work accomplished for the wedding [53 days away] +  6 hours of work at my actual non-bride job [intern]. I say this to give brief introduction and context to the following public apology...

I would like to first publicly apologize to my body. Today was not a stellar day for how I treated you. Cinnamon Hazelnut brew to start the day, a breakfast sandwich, grapes galore, a hazelnut frappuccino, and chips with salsa does not equal a balanced nutritious food/drink combination for the day. Tomorrow, we shall do better.

Second, I apologize for the way that bride brain works to my very patient friend [and bridesmaid] Jordan. Today was fantastic and scatterbrained and organized all at once. You did not complain once as we hunted diligently for wedding accessories or counted tables for 4 vs. tables for 8. We persevered on grapes and our frappuccinos as if we were on some crazy wedding planning survival show.

Side bar apology to my also patient friend [and best man] Kevin for the large amount of glitter you were exposed to this evening. Hopefully it has not put your health at too high a risk.

Third, I would like to publicly apology to my formally clean apartment. The amount of wedding related items that have been pulled out of all manner of storage locations today is quite out of control. I promise to return things to order in the [hopefully] near future. Glitter clean-up included, I know, it's everywhere.

Fourth, I would like to continue this public apology by apologizing to my very patient [see a theme?] husband-to-be Adam. I apologize for being more excited than the internet connection between Missouri and Wisconsin could truly handle. Also, for the large amount of details I attempted to download to you this evening beyond what any one man should ever need to absorb before he goes to sleep at night. Tomorrow - more pictures of what I meant, less endless explaining :)

Finally, for anyone or thing or space left that should received an apology this evening...well - sorry! And I mean that in the most sincere way - not like the way that you say "sorry" as a kid sometimes where afterwards your parents make you re-do the sorry once you actually mean it - but instead the genuine way. Or at least in as serious a way as a public apology via a blog post will ever be. ..

This public apology is being officially issued on Monday June 10th 2013 - at 11:17pm - CST.

Day 9

Day #9: A moment in your day

This summer, the church that I work for will be joining thousands of other youth & their churches from across the nation at an event called the National Youth Gathering. You should read more about what that is...here.

We are taking a group of high school students down to San Antonio, TX in a couple of weeks to participate in this event. Our group has been preparing for this event all year with fundraising and meetings all together. The entire large group is split into smaller groups called "Family groups" as a way to better get to know and connect with a specific adult leader going on the trip and a small subset of youth going as well! 

So a moment in my day today involved getting to have dinner and hang out with my family of youth. They even surprised me with a birthday present :) I lost horribly at 2 solid games of Apples-to-Apples, but...there is always next time I suppose. Couldn't ask for a better night, getting to just hangout together was refreshing.

Day 8

Day #8: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

5 minutes away from midnight. 8 days into my challenge and this is the first time I am cutting it this close on accomplishing a post - I'll take it!

Short, sweet, and to the point, my advice is this: do your best, no matter what to always take opportunities. It has been almost a year since I first moved to St. Louis and the  biggest thing I look back on now are all of the opportunities that I embraced to try new things, meet new friends, and really honestly seek to make the most out of my days here.

Cliche sounding? Maybe. But honestly, if you seek to every day embrace as many opportunities as come your way, I think you will be able to agree that it was worth it. Scary or exciting - out of your comfort zone or not - taking even the small opportunity to listen to how someone's day went over a warm cup of coffee...will always be worth it.

Goodnight all.

Day 7

Day #7: The thing(s) you are most afraid of

First of all, in the spirit of full disclosure - I am afraid of failing this blog challenge. I mean seriously, these days, between work/getting ready to move/wedding planning  - my brain is going in a million directions at any given moment so I have a fairly significant fear in general of forgetting SOMETHING. My hope is that I will not forget anything truly serious or life-changing, but the possibility is definitely there.

Beside just the fear of failing this challenge or straight up forgetting something - I don't have a lot of fears I suppose. I have been thinking about this question all day, I mean bugs and creatures freaked me out until I worked as a summer camp counselor in college and had to get over that fear really quickly for the sake of my campers....I have the somewhat irrational fear of not being completely under my blanket at night. Lord knows that if I had a toe or part of my leg sticking out that I am just asking for someone to attack me in the in the middle of the night. [If you are reading this and don't know what I'm talking about...you're lying to yourself, we have all done this]

The first serious fear I have reflected on having today, is the fear of having a lack of passion. I struggle with doing things well that I am not 'passionate' about. Honestly, what it means to be really and truly passionate about something is probably a post all to itself. So for today, and more realistically, tonight I will simply say that the word 'passion' is kind of a personal buzz word to me. I find so much energy comes from being passionate and I soak up the energy of others who are passionate about their own things....to me passion and life go together. So lack of passion in anything is something that makes me lose sleep at night.

The second and most serious fear I have come up with today is the fear of what life would look like/be like if I did not trust God whole-heartedly.  I mean, honestly, I know that His plans for my life are far greater than any of my own. I know that any pain I experience, He is powerful and gracious enough to be able to turn into joy. So, as I prepare to move, start my marriage, and seek a new job - I fear not being able to trust the plans that God has for me, even though I know they will be better than anything I can imagine or pray for on my own.

Day 6

Day #6: If you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question 'what you do'?

Hello my dear readers. I have to admit that this week is taking a toll on my energy levels! Tired would definitely describe me at this moment - I took a two hour nap already since getting home from work and will be headed to bed shortly after I finish this post. All of this tiredness is the result of jam packed work days this week thanks to a combination of Vacation Bible School in the morning and events with my middle schoolers all afternoon. So I suppose today's question becomes that much more interesting of a topic to me since my job this week is about all I have energy to do.

I honestly encounter this dilemma of answering the question 'what do you do' often. Technically, I am a Director of Christian Education (DCE) Intern. However, usually people who are asking what I do have no idea what I do if I just tell them my job in the most technical sense. 

If I actually answer with my job title - people usually ask me if that means I am a teacher or a principle/school administrator of some kind. Which since the term "director" and "education" are in my title - I can see where the questions stem from - no worries! However, since I am supposed to be writing about what I say about my job if I can't answer with my job - you should read more about DCEs here and here - and here is our professional organization too: NADCE :) 

So what do I do? The most basic way I answer this question is that I try my best, everyday, to serve God through loving the people He has trusted me with! I work with Middle School students, High school students, and Young Adults (post high school and up). This age span can be generally summed up as working in youth ministry. Day to day that practically means that I prepare/plan/write things like Bible studies, events, retreats - all with the focus of providing opportunities for youth and young adults alike to be still before God, to be together as a communities of Christians, and to be faithful to what God has planned for their lives. 

One of my favorite parts about life are all the different people that there are to meet & the stories that each person has. With my job, I get the unique and blessed opportunity to become a part of the faith story of different people's lives. Most of the time, I just try to listen and be there to experience life with my youth & young adults. [Yup "my" - I like these people :) ]

My job is kinda messy sometimes - crazy hours, broken people, always something going on to take care of - but I really wouldn't have it any other way - since that's how life is at the end of each day - at little messy and in my case, totally blessed by a God who's love is unfailing through it all. My job is getting to see God working in new and different ways, through different people and circumstances all the time. Pretty amazing and humbling all at once.

6th Grade Retreat

Current state of my office - post birthday, decorated by some of my youth :)

More post-birthday office.

High School & Young Adult Ski Trip

High school fun.

More high school fun.

High School Freshman Retreat

These girls are great!

Cleaning up an event from Easter time.

High School Event weekend + DCE students from my college visiting to lead & learn!

Collages from a high school girls small group Bible study

Day 5

Day #5: The story of your life in 250 words or less

Nothing like 250 words to share 23 years of life. I am struck by how impossible it is to really capture the perfect and not so perfect little moments in my lifetime that have formed me and brought me to today. The good moments and the not-so-great moments that rock you to your core. I am thankful that I have the most grace-filled parents God could have given me and a family that embraces the messiness of life because really when you live with 8+ people and personalities there just isn't another option. I love the close friends that have become family that I have made over the years - and especially that my story + Adam's are soon going to get to start in a new way together. 

Each day I wake up adds to my story. Each person I meet adds to my story. Each time God shows me a new way that He loves me adds to my story. Each time that I am reminded that my story is not really mine, it's God's - I am humbled and thankful for the blessing to live His story out each day.

The obvious place to start I suppose would be birthday - June 3 - My parents were in the middle of a dinner party with some of their close friends when I decided I was ready to come into the world! Here is my Godmother, myself, and my Mom at a bridal shower recently - Ms. Lynn was right there with my Mom as she was realizing that she was in labor. :) I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for all the prayers My parents & godparents pray on my behalf. Seriously. 

Best parents in the world [I'm only partially biased]

The story of my life from that day [my birthday], grew to include the addition of 5 younger brothers - Isaac, Luke, Peter, Tommy, and Jacob. There is no casual way to mention to people who have just met me that I have all brothers [and 5 of them at that] - but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love all my brothers so much and being the only girl is not all bad, more perks than anything else! At one point I did have sign on my bedroom door advertising that I had brothers to sell, but have since out grown that phase :)

The early years - clearly I had awesome taste in pajamas!

Life growing up included lots of adventures with these boys - Mom was never a big fan of the words "I'm bored" being spoken so I usually took it upon myself to come up with something for Isaac, Luke & I to do...we had an awesome backyard that in mind my was huge [no idea if it really was or not, but from a kid-sized perspective our backyard was endless]. Thankfully, I could also usually persuade the boys to join in whatever adventure I had come up with for the day. 

Yup - love these man-boys :)

As the oldest kid in my family I got to really blaze a trail for how parenting would shift with the addition of a teenager to the family. One way or the other my parents, brothers, and I all survived teenage Kyla and I headed off to college.

[So at this point, I'm over 250 words - wahhhh. Read on at your own risk haha]

College brought a whole set of new adventures, both during the school year and in the summers when I  had the opportunity to work for a Summer Camp one summer and a Mission-trip organization during the rest of my summers in college. Add in some world travels [Argentina & Japan], getting engaged to Adam, and starting an internship and you will have covered some of the bigger life-changing headlines from the last 5 years of life...Now I am graduated from college and 58 days away from marrying my best friend in the world. 

Love.

What this breeze through of my life doesn't include are the countless stories, adventures, and life lessons that have happened up to this point - what I do hope that has come through is that God has continued to work through others to love to me and through me to love others - as best as anyone can this side of heaven. My prayer is that I never lose the wonder of what it is to be blessed to wake-up every day and do life.

Day 4

Day #4: Your favorite photograph with a friend & why

Ahhhh. 1.5 hours left of today, and I literally almost forgot about this challenge. That kind of thing is basically a huge part of why I am doing this challenge in the first place, to regain a little bit of the beauty that is self-reflection - even on the craziest of days. Like I said a few posts ago, Vacation Bible School at work started on Monday of this week so this week is a little manic to say the least.

Ok - enough excuses, the point really is that I am here and have a topic to tackle :)

Similar to sharing a quote yesterday, sharing a favorite photograph with a friend also meant a fair amount of decision making for which photograph to share. In the end I actually realized that it is not ONE photograph that to share, but a special series of photographs that are favorite with friends & special to me.

Once upon a time, there were 3 college freshman who [through a series of events & living in the same dorm building] became best of friends. Hint: Adam, Kevin, & I.

Adam and Kevin lived on the same floor, and I lived upstairs in the same building. By the time freshman year was coming to a close we were all nearly inseparable. The last day of that college year came to an end and we all helped each other move out of our respective dorms. For whatever reason we ended up taking a group picture all together before we went our separate ways for the summer.

True life: I literally started crying somewhat hysterically the second my Mom & I pulled out of my dorm parking lot that day, knowing that it would be a whole summer ahead of me, minus two of my new greatest friends. I know, what a girl. Judge away, but I'm just telling it like it was!

From that move-out day on, I have always requested that we take an end-of-the-year picture of the 3 of us. Adam & Kevin have always [mostly happily] cooperated - and the result is a series of pictures that literally mean the world to me. It's so fun to see how little & young we were our freshman year & how far we have come! Each picture reminds me of the many ups & downs our lives faced for that given year - and how most importantly - we still came out together at the end.

To some this whole thing may be sappy, but to me, these are favorite pictures, with friends, one who is soon to be my husband [59 days!!!!] - why? Because these pictures represent a whole series of priceless memories. The following is the progression of pictures - there are 2 from the end of this "school" year - one with Adam & I in our cap and gowns - for the very last picture we went back to the front our our freshman year dorm building to re-create the picture from that year :) 

End of Freshman Year

End of Sophomore Year

End of Junior Year

End of Senior Year

End of Internship Year

Full Circle: Re-creation of our Freshman year photo :)

Day 2

Day #2: A photo of something you ate today...

Maybe not the most thought provoking or even interesting thing I could share - unsure as to how many of you are seriously interested in what I do or don't eat on a given day - BUT - for it only being the second post of this continuous blogging adventure, I'll take simple + easy!

I saw this morning that today's topic would be to share a photo of something I ate today and even thought I might share something from each meal/snack..etc. That is until the following events took place >>> Breakfast = me exploding coffee all over my microwave in an effort to heat it up. [Not cool] Don't over-think the fact that I am apparently incapable of operating a microwave appropriately. :)

Lunch = Went out to eat with 2 youth from church after worship today, decided to splurge and order a Belgian waffle [I LOVE belgian waffles]. Our order came out and they had gotten a little mixed up in the kitchen and made me an order of kid waffles instead. So my options were (1) send back the kid waffles and wait for a new singular Belgian waffle OR (2) enjoy the mini version. I was all about the mini version. Too cute to pass up tiny person sized waffles. [Plus I was hungry, don't judge!]

Breakfast being a literal mess + lunch involving super adorable tiny waffles = whatever I do for dinner just won't beat tiny waffles. Seriously people, tiny waffles - so great!

Download day.

Happy friday world. Today as I woke up and began to start my day, I was hit with the reality that my apartment could go no longer without a bit of cleaning. Personally, keeping up with cleaning is something I have to work at, particularly if I have recently had to pack or unpack for a trip. AKA laundry, dishes, general cleaning of all kinds were all on the list for today. Now, other wiser and more experienced ladies & bloggers seem to have on some level mastered the whole "not letting everything pile up until the last minute before it gets hazardous" type of cleaning routines better that I have. So after doing some rigorous catch-up this morning, my life feels like it's back in order, and I as I wait for laundry to dry (yes, so I can fold it/put away...the whole nine yards) I set out to find some cleaning ideas! 

{Mom & Dad, if you are reading this, yes I voluntarily am cleaning and blogging about it! You're welcome that I have saved this life skill to practice after moving out} 

Two things I found while looking for cleaning lists/ideas I liked. First, it was through living with other people in dorm spaces in college that I learned how much cleaning/not cleaning your area can affect other people. However, while there are lots of cute little printables {see way below} for people who have moved onto apartment/condo/house living - dorm dwellers really get left behind. So after finding this little article: Dorm Cleaning Philosophy...my dear college ladies, I made you all your own cute college dorm/apartment approved cleaning list to download :) Dorm cleaning download - Have funnnn.

For the rest of us, who sometimes may wish for a moment that we only had one half of a room to be responsible for cleaning, here are my favorite home cleaning checklist finds to download and enjoy. Hope this is helpful! If nothing else, it's encouraging to my own cleaning efforts to at least have a cute little list to check off - ha!

 >> Kyla

Download 1 // Download 2 // Download 3 // Download 4