My Summer

I said in my last post that I would talk about my summer. Lets just say it has been a crazy one! In June, the middle school ministry at my church took 160 or so middle schoolers to Island Lake for five amazing days. We did archery (my first time ever), high ropes course, motocross, worship, devotionals, and messages from a great speaker. I truly enjoyed spending time with God and with the middle schoolers and leaders. It was also very bittersweet because it was the last time to really hang out with my small group girls who would be moving onto high school. I got to meet my new group of sixth-graders, and they are AMAZING! They are excited to be entering middle school, and I am excited to walk alongside them.

We also went on our annual leadership retreat, where we did some training on how better to interact with the parents of our middle schoolers. I am excited to walk alongside them as they guide their daughter to grow and mature in Christ.

With my internship program, At Home At School, we held our summer program at Silver Star and then MLK Elementary. We had different classes for them to attend, and provided breakfast and lunch for them as well. I was able to help in a variety of classes and it was great to interact with the teachers and students!

The family that I nanny for welcomed a new addition to the family, Bradey. He is such a sweet little boy, and Evie loves being a big sister. I love working there and they are a great family!

I had the chance to go up to Seattle to see my Grandparents who were visiting from Canada, and I also got to see the people I worked with at PCBS and it was so fun! We had a fun-filled weekend to say the least!

So it has been a crazy summer, but an enjoyable one! I am looking forward to what God has in store for me next.

Until next time,

Morgan

New Semester-End of a Chapter

Hey guys! I started my final semester as an Undergraduate at Washington State University, and it has felt really weird to say I will be graduating in December! It seems like yesterday when I first started at WSU. The campus has changed (new buildings being built and additions on some others) and the classes I have taken have been amazing! I feel like I have grown a lot in the last five years.

To say that college gives you a different perspective is very true. I have taken psychology, anthropology, history, and other classes that are outside my comfort zone, but they have given me a different perspective on the world that I can take with me out into the workplace. There are so many different cultures and people with different life experiences, and I feel like when I get out into the workplace, I will have a better understanding of how I can relate with them on a more personal level.

Now that I am almost done, I have to ask the question "what is next?" Well, only God truly knows what is next, but so far it seems likely that I will be applying for the Masters in Teaching program in October, and will find out in April if I have been accepted or not. Since I am graduating in December, and the program does not start until Mid-May, I will be applying for a full-time job at a hospital in the area as a patient advocate. I have always felt that I want to work with children in some way, and if I don't get accepted into the masters program, I will pray about this job as a permanent one. As I have heard before "another door closes, God will open another one" and I believe this is true!

I hope everyone has been having a safe and happy Summer! I will be writing a blog to tell all about mine in the near future! :)

Morgan

Tea Cup

It has been so long since I have posted a blog on here! These past few months have been crazy! I am almost finished with school (16 more weeks!) Until I graduate! I have truly been blessed to be able to attend college and I am looking forward to what God wants me to do next! I am going to be applying for the Masters in Elementary Education program starting in October, and I would ask for your prayers on this! :) I have also been blessed to lead a wonderful group of now high school freshmen girls this past year. We have just under two weeks until GRIT, our summer camp, and then they will join the high school ministry. It has truly been one of the greatest gifts I have had in my life to mentor these beautiful ladies! :) I am looking forward to attending my cousin's wedding in October, and spending time with them and my wonderful family! I adore Ashley and am blessed to officially welcome her into our family even though she has been for over two years. The years have flown by, and in just over four months, I will be 24! hard to imagine! I also recently visited my grandparents in Vancouver Island, and had a fantastic time! I will post pictures soon.

My grandma sent me this email this morning, and I would like to leave it as my final thought:

I love this story - you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this.


There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an
exceptional cup, they asked, "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded
and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that. "I don't like it! Leave me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet!"

"Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!," I screamed. But the master only nodded and said
quietly. 'Not yet.'

He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!"
I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, 'Not yet'.

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But after I
cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Oh, please, stop it, stop," I cried. He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.

Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would
never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next?"
An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!!!"

Quietly he spoke: 'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the
wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed
and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for
long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'

The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill. His good, pleasing and perfect will.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this: Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, then sit down and think on this story, and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

Well, that is all for now! More posts coming soon!