Always Wondering...

...Am I doing it right?  Interceding and lifting those up who are around me is a constant, but it is so easy to fall back and say, "This is such a difficult time for them, I'll just pray it away."  It is easy to forget the prunings, the firings, the testings of life are what God uses to mold us into who he'd have us be or to draw us unto himself.   This devo on May 3rd kind of drove that home for me and has been running through the back of my mind ever since.  Am I interceding because I truly want them have connection with God or is it because my sympathies and emotions are aroused and I want everything to smooth out and go easier for them?  These are tough questions for me.

Vital Intercession - Oswald Chambers 

“…praying always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”  Ephesians 6:18

As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought.  The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone.  We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way.  And this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God.  And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias.  Identification with God is the key to intercession and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with Goy, but sympathy will.  It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.”  And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.

Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking.  You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in others lives.  God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.  

Rammin' the Roads

A conversation with my little cousin, Noah, at the Fryeburg Fair at the beginning of the month went a little like this: "Elizabeth, how come...you never come visit me at MY house?  How come I always come visit you at YOUR house?"  Oops.  Truth from the mouth of a 4 year old....LOL  I knew I was long overdue for a visit down to my cousins and I had a weekend off coming up so I decided to combine a bunch of appointments and visits into one week-long road trip around Maine and Massachusetts. 

The 966 miles looked a little like this: :)

First off, the visit at the Civiello's was lovely :)  I had a great time with the Noah, James and little Ben (who really isn't so little for only being 2 months old!!) We got to play hide and seek, duck-duck-goose, dinosaurs, puzzles, and read lots of books......not to mention lots of piggy back rides!  Jen, you're amazing....I have no clue how you can do it....I know I definitely didn't have enough arms to take care of 3 little boys by myself!!  O, and it was nice to get to visit with Jen and Gabe, too ;)  And to find someone else to watch the Big Bang Theory with and laugh with :):)  BAZINGA!

Next stop was Boston for an appointment to figure out WHY I was feeling so yucky over the past few months.  Turns out I had a decent case of Mono sometime between last April and now.  My immune system is still recovering and I still have a lot of antibodies left in my system.  YAY for figuring out was wrong!  RIDICULOUS I had to go clear to Boston and have ~15 vials of blood drawn over the past few weeks just to figure it out.....sigh.  PATHETIC that I was so sick at whatever point and didn't even realize it because I'm so used to my body being "off".  O well!

On my way back home to my family I stopped in Skowhegan to visit my friend Matt at his business The Bankery.  GAH!  Pastries to die for!  While I would love to be able to see Matt and enjoy his stuff more often...I'm afraid I'd weigh 500 lbs!  I only ever hear fantastic things about his shop from my students who hail from the Skowhegan area and I will testify myself, if you are headed through there OR don't mind a minor detour on your way south down I-95.....STOP!!!   Your taste buds will love you :)

I got to catch up with so many more friends on this trip too....and got to play Heroscape with my brother a couple times :)  However, as much fun as it was, I was really excited to climb into my own bed on Tuesday night!

Columbus Day Weekend, the Last HURRAH!

Mmmmm I love long weekends, they leave time to recuperate from the day to day, enough minutes to be able to catch up with good friends and to enjoy time with family :)

Fryeburg Fair has always been on of my most favorite parts of Fall and I've been looking forward to going since fair time last year.  I almost skipped out on it this year from being so wiped out with the Katahdin trip (and the idea of two nights in a tent sleeping on the ground REALLY wasn't all that appealing), but at the last minute decided to go.  I mean, who could pass up a day at the fair with the Glidden family (extended version)? 

Saturday was SO hot and SO crowded at the fair....and trying to maneuver the crowds with 2 strollers (4 kiddos 4 and under), and 8 adults is a little tricky.  However!  We had lots of fun, ate lots of fair food and overall had a great time.  :)   My cousin Jen's husband Gabe convinced Jacob they could "team juggle" with the wreath wires Jacob had just purchased in the middle of this HUGE crowd of people everywhere.....well, Jacob miss threw and one of the wires ended up draped over Gabe's head and ear!   At least it wasn't someone else's head!

Sadly there is a distinct lack of pictures of this weekend because I realized around Waterville that I had forgotten my camera and we were far too far from home to turn around to get it.  That means the only pic I had of the weekend is this one I took with my phone:

Tom's Donuts line.....roughly 100 people ahead of me and a ~20 minute wait. COMPLETELY worth it (especially considering I waited closer to 40 minutes last year!)

 

 

 YES, it was soooooooooooooooooo good :)  We had to buy 6 so we had enough for everyone, even little Trey (he's 1) had his first ever donut :)

Tenting wasn't too bad, but because of the insane crowds at the fair we opted to head north on Sunday...unfortunately I was with the two hard core shoppers in my family so it took us a LONG time to get home.  LOL

Monday I got to catch up with my summer bible study ladies!!!!!!  It was SOOOO awesome, I've missed them a LOT!   We started the book of Esther, pretty cool stuff about standing up for what you believe in, even when the world thinks you're crazy.  Like how Queen Vashti refused to be paraded in front of all her husbands drunk friends for them to admire her beauty......hmmm sounds pretty familiar to our society today!!??

Mom and I also picked her grapes on Monday, they tasted soooooo good!   She made jam, was going to try some juice, too.   Megi, Ina, Tayla, and Kassie helped mom, Jacob and I with the pinching of them to get them ready to cook! 

This is the whole crop

Don't these look awesome!?!

Tuesday I got to go spend a FABULOUS afternoon playing scrabble with my favorite Weatherbee family!!   Mary, MamaBea, and Little Gramma were GREAT company and we ate my FAVORITE food (popcorn), hot spiced cider and enjoyed some friendly competition.....MamaBea showed Mary and I up though and took the win!

On my way back up Noh'th Wednesday afternoon the weather was BEAUTIFUL but the trees were prettier.....I treated myself to a ride up the Rt. 11 Scenic Byway and stopped a couple times for some photos....one near a particularly smelly cow field....LOL  *Open door*HOLD BREATH*RuN*snap photos*GAsP*RUN*jumpbackincar!*  :)   God's creation just blows me away....plus I'm so blessed to live in such a GORGEOUS section of the world.

I still have lots of recovery to do....all these piles of stuff to take care of here in regards to my weekend gallivant, but it was worth it, every bit.

FABULOUS deals of the week!

It's Thursday once again and that means: YARD SALE DAY!  

This morning started a little shaky as mom's alarm didn't go off and as we were about 15 minutes late leaving.  Since this is homecoming week we expected GREAT deals and my aunt even drove down to go with us and our friend Annie.  We all piled into the Prius (best vehicle for all those starts and stops :)  ) and we were off!  The first couple yard sales only yielded a couple "finds" but the third one was a HIT!   Very cool stuff and very cheap prices......mom, Annie and I had the back of the Prius full and spent the next hour driving around with a kayak paddle in the back seat.   After a quick stop for some breakfast sandwiches from High St. Market we were quickly on our way to the next one; embarrassingly, I still had my mouth full and was chewing as we ran up the driveway to check for some more bargains. LOL

Overall it was a great day, but the heat and humidity definitely could both be better and I returned home exhausted and ready for a nap.

Today was one of those yardsale days I was glad I had grabbed a little extra money on my way running out the door.   My "Treasure" list this week consisted of:

• 3 Pictures (for the apartment)
• 1 Really cool tea canister
• 1 Set measuring cups
• 1 Like new tupperware container (in the shape I like)
• 1 Handmade napkin/muffin basket
• 18 Books
• 2 High quality pottery mugs
• 3 Joan Baez LPs
• 1 Grease Soundtrack LP
• 1 Mary Poppins Soundtrack LP
• 1 Bert and I LP
• 1 Yellow sundress
• 2 Vintage "Lady and the Tramp" figurines (wicked cool!)

All for a grand total of $30.......but spending 4 hours crammed in a car with 3 of my favorite ladies was priceless LOL

Story of My Life....No Seriously!

I never cease to be amazed at the ridiculous events that are so normal in my life!!!  It never fails that just when I think, “Oh, this week/day/situation couldn’t possibly get any worse” or “Surely nothing crazier than this can occur” I am repeatedly proven wrong.  God definitely has a sense of humor and understands me so perfectly to know that my independent self needs constant reminding how much I need to depend on him!

This week has been a prime example of such.  I had 2 exams and a large assignment due this week.  I was on duty on Fri/Sat/Sun and again on Wed/Thurs.   I had to work in the Academic Success Center on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well.  Thursday night was also the movie night Res Life does and I’m in charge of.  Add into this recipe trying to tie together loose ends for the Res Life sponsored Mt. Katahdin trip, a flying trip to Bangor on Wednesday morning (Yes, 3 hours each way), and some fantastic headaches and a migraine from a medication I’m on and you have a pretty good picture of my week.  Oh, and my mom called on Thursday morning to say she had been the middle car in a 3 car accident and my car was totaled.  She was fine, thankfully!!!!!

I have been very much looking forward to the Katahdin Trip but there have been hurdles along every part of the planning.  I had one lovely lady threaten to sue me last week over a VERY minor miscommunication.  We were unable to reserve a parking spot in Baxter because the van info didn’t get through in time so that was just an extra something to think about. Yesterday morning the cafeteria informed me that our food would be ready to pick up at 3pm but they wouldn’t have a cooler because of another commitment this weekend.  No big deal, I’ll just borrow somebody else’s.  Well, the one trip into town to get 2 items ended up taking THREE trips when all was said and done and I was running drastically behind.  I packed literally in 10 minutes and ran over to the cafeteria to pick up the groceries/food.  Oh, sorry, nobody really knows what is going on and they didn’t have enough food ready….o brother.  THEN we finally get loaded and in the van and between Presque Isle and Houlton the van is running absolutely dreadful.  I could barely feel my arms it was vibrating so hard.  In between Bridgewater and Mapleton it started pulling hard to the right whenever the brake was used and when I let off the brake it pulled sharply to the left.  Fantastic.  Not to mention it was not shifting right……  We stopped at the Big Stop and the moment I got out I could smell the brakes.  Lovely.  Thankfully our housing director hadn’t made it out of Presque Isle on his way to Wilton yet and he was able to turn around, go back to school, find a driver and bring us another van.  Those of us stuck in Houlton hung out at Tim Horton’s for 2 hours.  LOL!  Honestly, it could have been so awful, but everyone was just laughing about the ridiculousness of the situation….I mean what are the chances that THAT MANY THINGS go wrong all at once?  There was really nothing to do but eat a donut, sandwich and drink coffee….lol  Finally our van arrived and we were on our way in the torrential downpour headed to Millinocket.  What a night.  It gets better.  Haha!  We get there, settle in, I lose the van key and we need it for the morning.  It took an hour to find it…….it somehow ended up under the toaster?   I woke everyone up at 4 this morning and shortly after they left for the Mountain I went back to sleep…..only to awaken in a dead sweat from a nightmare—that they had gotten to the mountain but there were no parking spots left and they had to come back.  O MY WORD!!!!!

Despite the rocky week preceding today, I am loving the time to myself on this beautiful pond. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t stressed this week.  I was wicked stressed out, but hey, it all falls together eventually!  God doesn’t operate on our time or necessarily with our sense of humor…..but He’s always working in the background, bringing everything together.

Frosty Grass and Crunchy Leaves

BRRRRRR! It's getting COLD up here :) heehee. 23 outside this morning at 8...it dipped down to 19 last night :) Snow predicted for Wednesday! Ahhh, I love it! :)



I made it through my rough two weeks alive, and only slightly worse for wear. This week I have wicked exciting things to look forward to! Grover friends coming to my beloved Maine! :):):) I can hardly wait! I've been shaking with anticipation and marking off calendar days for a month! lol :):)

Classes are going well for the most part. I had a hard time prepping for my last exam and I have a hard time understanding my clinical instructor...or rather getting the information I need from her. But after a long talk with my advisor and the head of the nursing department I have a plan. :)

OH! Happy news! I have honestly been praying for some Christian fellowship outside of church service. I was getting discouraged. Then--WOOHOO! :) Soooo, Saturday afternoon I was standing on my head in the trunk of my car to change my brake light (my trunk is really deep so I have to bend over and all you can see is my legs and butt...lol) when my RD walked up beside me and said he'd seen me at the Wesleyan church.....and I was dumbfounded. lol! Anyways! We talked for a long time and he's a strong Christian! He invited me to go out with them after the service that night (The Wesleyan church has a Saturday night service....that is the one I like best and usually go to) I was SOOOOOOOO excited! So I went! And I met so many awesome people.....we stayed at church from 6-8....visiting and fellowshipping and it was GREAT! After that we went to the Governor's and just had a blast getting talk some more. So cool. AND then, at 10pm...lol we went to Tim Horton's and talked some more! Adam (my RD) said in the 6 or 7 years since he's been an RD here there has been only ONE other Christian each year....and he was excited because he is pretty sure there are 4 or 5 of us this year! :):):) We talked and decided to try and start a bible study one night a week for an hour and a half each time! I'm wicked excited!!!!!! SO COOL! So....by the time that I got back to my dorm room from all of this it was midnight....lol

I got to go to an art show opening last night with Uncle Jme.....wicked cool! I love going to those kind of things....just a whole different atmosphere! I love taking in other people's feelings and interpretations of life around them. Just really nice to be around art heads for a bit :) that is one thing that i miss being here at NM, there isn't an art studio or anything like that here on campus...at least at GCC I could go poke my head in the art studio and refresh myself by looking at other people's stuff. :)

Well, time to get back to my studies! hugs, e.

Wowwee Zowwee!

I cannot believe how quickly time has passed! I've been quite awful at keeping this updated, I'm sorry!

Well, since my last post my Papa has passed away. It is very sad not having him here and Thanksgiving and Christmas were very weird without him. Not to mention all the times I have when something cool happens or reminds me of him and I want to call him and hear his voice, but then I remember he isn't here.

School last semester was hard because I missed quite a few days of studying and classes to visit with my Papa before he passed away and then for the funeral. This semester is going well so far, I like all of my classes and one of my professors who is retireing this spring reminds me of Papa... kinda weird.

It is miserably cold and blustery today and we couldn't even see the cars going by on the road from inside the front door of church today because of the white out (the church is only about 25-30ftMAX off the road!) There was a praise/worship service last night that Mt. Olive participated in, it was with a whole bunch of different denominations and we met at the Tower Church (Presbyterian). The church was ENORMOUS!!! I have never in my life been in a church that big. It was like sitting in a cavern. The coolest part though was being with all the people of different denominations just worshipping, so cool. Like Pastor Armstead said, "What if they don't play your song in heaven? Would you still want to go?" I think that really drives home that it isn't necessarily how we worship but that we worship the same God.

Friday night was the Extravaganza, the funnest dance of the year! :):):) A whole bunch of us went it is literally half of the student body smushed into one of the rec rooms with lots of music and lights and it is just a hoot with lots of free food....the whole thing is free! :)

Indoor Intermural soccer starts this week....we are doing a team and it should be a blast...we aren't very good but it is still wicked fun! :) O! O! O! I've been practicing shooting basketball left handed and it is getting really good! :) I can't wait for IM basketball!

On a closing note, I dyed part of my hair last week...a really fun purplish pink color. it is on the underside so you can't see it unless I have my hair up. (so it can still be normal if I need it to be! :))

Have a great week! E.

Home again, home again!

Well, I survived my finals and flew home on Monday night. Unfortunately, I got hung up at JFK for 4+ hours instead of my scheduled 1.5.......apparently we were waiting for our pilot, but once she arrived they found mechanical problems...yay. Robyn went with my mom to pick me up in Portland....wicked fun to be able to catch up with her while mom slept :). Anyways, I finally got home at 4am....so nice to sleep in my own bed!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had my interview at Lincoln Pulp and Tissue; I applied through their student hire program. There were 6 other students, including 2 people I knew. I was the first one called in for my interview....AHHH!! lol I thought it went pretty well and a couple hours later they called and offered me the job! :) YAY! Wicked exciting! It doesn't start until June 12 though so I am currently looking for another job until then. Maybe subbing at the elementary school? I don't know.

I'm trying to get unpacked but it is hard because my room is kind of full and I ran out of hangers....haha oh well, I'll make it to walmart soon!

I went to Jacob's baseball game this afternoon....kinda chilly out. They lost. shoot. Hills had her softball game tonight as well but it was far away so mom and I didn't go. She hit 2 home runs and a triple. One home run was over the fence, the other on errors.

It is weird being home and not around all my friends from school but I will be back there soon enough and I need to remember to enjoy my family while I am here.

I may be headed out to camp for a bit while I'm waiting for my job to start....that will be nice! For now I'm just praying the sun comes back out and it warms up!

Hugs to you all! e.

Only 3.5 more weeks!

I'm back at school!

I had a wonderful visit back at home and got to catch up with a lot of my family and friends :)....it was nice, though I definitely missed my friends here at school...

I got back to school very late on Monday the 10th....6 of us split the cost of a shuttle to take us back to school...it was nice to get to chat with the other people and it was funny to see so many GCC people in the Pittsburgh airport...lol

Thankfully the week that I got back was relatively light as far as classes go, especially since the two weeks leading into break were horrendous! I have a chem exam this Friday, hopefully it goes well, I've been studying for it and it I have seemed to understand this section of chem better than the ones in the past.

Our IM basketball game is still undefeated and we have the championship game sometime in the next week. FUN!!!

On Friday night I am doing Relay for Life with the Chemistry Club....even though I don't really like chem! haha My goal was to raise $100, but so far I have surpassed that! :) And I still have one more day to collect donations! People are sooooo generous, it amazes me. I am walking in memory of my friend Olivia and my Grandmother, both of whom passed away this year. On a happier note, I celebrated my "7th Birthday" yesterday!!! My 7th anniversary of being cancer free! :)

Have a wonderful night and please continue to remember the people of VA Tech in your prayers, Els

HOME!

Home Sweet Home! :) I arrived home late on Friday night after a very interesting day of travel...I ran into lots of extremely interesting people in the airports, a couple from Switzerland who were going to Boston, an elderly woman who was just getting back from the Keys with a very heavy suitcase, another elderly woman who was coming from Naples and was wicked tanned...and her hair was bleach blonde, and a frail old woman who had a very funky leopard print fleece hat who was from MA and has a camp here in Maine on Shin Pond. I flew into Boston and took the bus up to Bangor, quite an adventure...lol :)

I've been from one end of the state to the other... :) I went south with my Papa to buy him a new car...a Toyota Prius, pretty sweet car, very funny! He almost ran over the car salesman because he didn't know the car was on! Yesterday I went to Caribou (north) for a "Resident of the Month" party for my Great Great Uncle Keith...who I had never met before in my life... :) He's 82 and lives in the Veterans Home up there, he's a pretty funny guy, they had cake and ice cream for him. I also met my Great Great Aunt Louise, Great Aunt Bertie, and my Cousin (3rd-4th) Linda (who is older than my mom)...fun.

No skiing, their wasn't enough snow....though it snowed very hard yesterday and last night. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pretty!

I got to hang out with Robyn and Tyler on Sunday night, wicked fun!!! I missed them so much! Our waiter had the "dropsies" and dropped everything...the menus (twice), receipts, the big display with the list of the desserts of the day....I thought I was going to die laughing . :) Ugh, wish I could just take them with me to school.....

Well I'm off to visit my Gram, have a lovely day! :)

Hello!

Hello Everyone!

Last weekend my mom, sister, and brother came out to PA, we had an awesome visit, I had a blast with them! Hills got my bed and I slept on the floor....not so comfy! :) Sisterly love! haha It was pretty fun and it was really nice to see them...I can't wait until Easter break!!!!

This week has been rather crazy....no major exams but lots of little things that kind of piled up and made life quite hectic...

Our Intramural soccer team finished up...we didn't make it into the finals but we had a blast playing! I am now doing IM Bowling (we have an 8 lane alley here on campus) with 4 of my friends and so far we have won both of our matches! :) I'm also subbing for the hall IM basketball team when they don't have enough girls...we won our first game of the season and the second game the team forfeited so we got that as a win as well!! :) I'm trying to see about doing a hall IM softball (slow pitch!) team....but so far there are not enough girls interested....the good thing about IM sports here is that they are not too intense...mostly like pick up games at home....just fun! and good study breaks!

I had "Pelkey Church" today, was nice, listened to music from the Lincoln Christian Fellowship site (Part of HOME!!!!) and did my own bible study, it was nice....really miss my church family!

Well, I have a lot to do for classes tomorrow! Hugs to you all!!! E.