Two Seasons of Tahoe

Every summer my family, the Elliott's, and the Smelley's go to Lake Tahoe for a week. We spend as many  hours as possible in the freezing (literally) water, climbing on the surrounding rocks, chilling under the tents, and watching beyond beautiful sunsets. The end of each trip is spent in prayer, thanking God for another amazing week and wonderful summer. This, like always, is the saddest part of the trip because we know that we will not be back to the beautiful lake til next summer. Fortunately, the Ranck, Smelley, and Elliott kids were all blessed with loving, passionate parents who collectively decided we would be spending another season in 2010 in Lake Tahoe. Although we will not be spending countless hours in the water (let's hope not this time of year), we are all so excited to be together in our other hometown. :)

 photos courtesy of Hannah Elliott

Bored in Bio

So the other day I was sitting in bio class, probably really bored, and I randomly thought of a bible verse that I didn't know by heart--it just popped into my head. Unfortunately, I didn't have my bible with me so I looked it up later and here's what it says. 
Matthew 24:27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Crazy

Relient K Christmasness :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsPFNY4Z5t0

I love this song! ...but tell me what you think :)

I'd leave it all behind to reach for more

As some of you know I dropped soccer a couple of months ago for various reasons not related to the sport (make sense?). I tried as hard as I could to stay on the team, but I knew in my heart that it was time to move on. It was a tough decision; I wanted to play my favorite sport but not in the high school environment. I had been praying about my decision every night hoping my heart would be changed come practice the next day, but that was not what God had intended for me. The turning point came one night when I was praying. It had been a rough day at school and soccer wasn't any better. I don't remember the exact words of my prayer, but somewhere in the midst of my tears and stress God came and told me to move on from soccer. Such simple words, yet they hit me so hard. I went to sleep that night in almost total peace knowing that I had made the right decision. The weeks following my decision were a sweet release from the unnecessary soccer stress I had been facing. Thankfully I was able to join the end of the cross country season (just so everyone's clear: my intention was not to join cross country right when it ended!) and be on a unified team that I had lacked while playing soccer. Although I physically left my available soccer opportunity, I constantly long to fill the soccer gaps in my heart. 

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I don't really know what to write for my first blog...
So here are some pictures of the gorgeous sunsets we've been blessed with lately!