snow strom rediculousness

We are fully aware that driving when the state tells you the roads are too dangerous is a bad idea.

Fully aware. We just feel like it's a waste of awesomeness.

{note that we do both have 4 wheel drive so we are not out there like complete idiots, only partial}

Today's adventure was traveling all over central Virginia to look at houses we may or may not be interested in buying because we may or may not be adult enough to buy a house and may or may not be willing to commit to anything that big.

Since it is two days before payday we had to pay for our fuel with quarters.

{which Jay made me do alone in the gas station because he thinks paying for things with quarters is embarassing, I think it's just helpful to stores by giving them lots of useful change}

{our idea of fuel}

We then looked at a foreclosed house that we had trouble getting to because county workers had blocked the road to apparently have a snowfight... I am happy they love their jobs. Jay may not be.

{not so excited Jay}

But thankfully our round-about trip let us see some of God's awesomeness... trees in C'ville are nothing like trees in the Pacific Northwest... they are NOT used to this snow so they are really struggling.

{Beautifully struggling tree}

Once we finally arrived at the perfect foreclosed house we realized it was directly under 64 (the interstate) and across from a chemical waste facility. We decided kids have enough stacked against them these days and we wouldn't do that to our future children, so we turned around only to get stuck behind 3 cars/farm trucks/idiots {unlike us} who were driving in the snow. It seemed like a disaster until our savior came...

{beautiful John Deer man}

So after more hours than I would like to admit we found some beautiful houses but more than that we found some beautiful Virginia.

{a good day.}

Surprise.

The past couple of months have been full of surprises, many of them centered around snow, many of them involving cancelling events that I was so excited to share with my youth: Christmas caroling, tubing, breakfasts, Crave, and even events we'd planned for Sunday mornings. As I sat down in my office yesterday, frustrated, disheartened, and just plain fed up with the amount of to-dos and cancellations. Then I got an email from a parent. God has a way of letting you think you are going somewhere to do good and it is those you are 'serving' that replenish you.

It was some meditations she had had on the snow, on how Christ had given us this bounty of precipitation to replenish our land and give us TIME. Time to be with God, time to be with the people God has given us to share our lives with. It was my ah-ha moment. Jay reminds me often of my need for constant 'stimulation' as he calls it. I am either going, getting ready to go, or gone. I am at the gym, at church, with the kids, walking the dogs, on the computer, or on the phone. I've even found myself being one of 'those people' checking my email at stop lights.

How does that bring glory to God?

My need to be connected often leaves me disconnected from the one thing that is important. Maybe it really was me that brought the snow, it was God telling me: EMILY... SLOW DOWN ALREADY! The gym is closed, your car is stuck, your electricity is off. The material is not an option right now, but you do have your husband, your dogs, and lots and lots of snow to walk through. That is exactly what we did.

I am still figuring out this 'being a youth minister' thing. I am still figuring out a lot of things in my life. My mom has always told me that your 20's are about adventures and discovering. This week I have discovered that I need to spend more time stopping and less time going. I need to listen to that still small voice and to do that, I need to turn a lot of other things off for a while.

I moved across the country to be here, in this place, right now, because I know that this is where Christ wants me. I am here to let my lifesong sing to Christ and show my youth how to do the same. I think that may mean not checking my email at stoplights. It may mean slowing down and listening to what else God has in store for me.