Heading Back East

So my dad flew out to Cali…and we had the opportunity to do the father-daughter cross country road trip. After showing him a bit of the Bay, we visited Yosemite National Park.  We then got to visit all three parks in the Grand Stair-case: Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon.  Driving through Monument Valley, we continued on to our last National Park, Arches.  We got to visit with Rachel Collier and her boys in Ft Collins, CO before driving across a very flat Kansas, staying with Donna Noonan, and getting to see FCA’s national office.  Finally, we made it to Tennessee.  Here’s a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Dad in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

He got to see some BIG trees…which one is REALLY the “Father of the Forest”?

waterfalls in yosemite during the sprig melt are amazing

my favorite picture in yosemite this trip

kinda a BIG tree

The obligatory Nevada sign

Utah…seriously SUCH and beautiful state…I wanna go back

Zion NP- “The Great White Throne” and “The Organ”

More Zion NP

Bryce Canyon

Arizona

The walk to the Grand Canyon was a little windy to say the least

Grand Canyon- North Rim

View from the Lodge

Erin’s Duck enjoying the view

Monument Valley

Balancing Rock in Arches NP- reminded me that kids are literal…DON’T tell a 2 year old that that’s gonna fall off!

Delicate Arch

yet another Arch

Colorado

still snow on the mtns in Colorado…BEAUTIFUL, but I don’t know if I could handle that

The most exciting thing to photograph in Kansas

Though Dad was excited by the huge windmills

FCA national office…woop woop!

quick drive through St Louis- yet another arch

can you tell we didn’t wanna pull over anymore?

yes, the final state…because my camera died.

The Good Shepherd

How do you make a decision?  Put your yes on the table, ask the Good Shepherd to guide you, and check Scripture to see what it says.

Yeah, but it doesn’t say “Heads Carolina, Tails California” (shout out to all you country fans out there that actually got that).

So what do you do now?  Gather the facts (because if you actually did, you could probably make a wise decision anyways), seek Godly counsel, and look back to see how He’s led you so far.

So when I did that, my heart and emotions were torn, but all three seemed to be pointing towards moving to California.  What’s a girl to do?  Well, in my case, it has looked like selling or giving away everything, packing what I needed in my car, and relocating to the Bay Area, California.  (This tells you a little bit about the job).

I waited a week between accepting the job and announcing it because in my little human mind I figured that allowed God time to redirect me as even Paul had to be redirected at times.  That never came.  But D-day did…the day I had to start letting people at Clemson know.  I woke up, had to start a new journal because my last one had been filled the previous weekend, and opened to page 1.  It’s a great journal…it’s green…which makes it amazing by default.  But it also is the kind with pre-printed Bible verses at the bottom.  Yeah, God has a funny sense of humor…this time, His humor comforted me and left me in awe.  Hear the purposefulness of a personal God (and He feels the same way about you too!)…the verse was Psalm 23:1- “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”

Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places

That’s the tag line on the SC license plates. I love it!

So it’s been a great month here in Clemson. Things are slowly picking up. We’re working on developping a Female Athlete Huddle within the FCA Chaplain’s Ministry here. But we’re also working with the Student Body FCA to adopt and support our coaches and athletes here. Our Female Athlete Huddle paired up with the small groups from the Student Body FCA to host a tailgate for our Women’s Basketball Orange/White Scrimmage.

Spencer and Rochelle grilling it up!!

Several of our athletes at the Bball game

I got to take a couple of our Women’s Basketball Players to a local FCA HighSchool huddle to share their testimonies! How awesome it was to watch these young women stand up in front of 50 or so high school and middle school students to share what God has done in their lives…and watch Him weave together their stories along with the main speaker’s story to pound home the same point in 3 different ways!

Chelsey speaking

Lindsey speaking

My Parents also came to visit me in Clemson. The only non-music major in the family…I think they occasionally have no idea what to do with me. It was awesome to get to show them around and have them join me for a couple days.

Dad and me at the Swim Meet

Mom and me in front of the football stadium

I’ve also spent quite a bit of time out of town this month too (so happy to be landed for a while!). All new FCA staff has to go to New Staff Training Camp. So off to Kansas City, Mo we flew to spend a week at the FCA Home Office. It was amazing! There were 44 new staff from all over the country there that week. We spent 5 days learning more of the “X’s and O’s” of FCA and getting a glimpse of the big picture of FCA across this country and internationally! They were not only sure to equip us for the ministry, but also pour into us through sessions on Spiritual, relational, physical, and financial health. But like any camp, some of the best time was the “in between” time where there were conversations that encouraged, challenged, and set new vision in all our hearts and minds.

I got to meet Jill Ewert in person…she’s the editor for FCA’s Sharing the Victory Magazine

I also got to be a part of the first ever Female FCA Staffperson Retreat. The Georgia/South Carolina Region has the largest number of female staff in the entire country. We have about 20% of the nation’s female staff here! So we got together to discuss how we can tackle some of the topics specific to female athletes and coaches, share ideas of things we had done in our own areas, and just hang out too! I was asked to lead worship for the retreat too…

The younger female staff at the retreat. I am always real intentional about hanging with the staff older than me as I enjoy them and can learn a TON from them. I also really have been blessed with some solid encouraging friendships out of this group!!!

I hit the road once more this month to go attend some athletic events. Particularly due to the drought around here, going to Chattanooga for the “Head of the Hooch” regatta could possibly be the only time I would get to see our rowing team compete. It was incredible to watch these girls compete in one of the largest races in the southeast. I got to encourage many of our rowers who are involved in FCA, and also meet other members of the team for the first time.

One of our boats before they compete

Chatting with one of our coaches and novice rowers

Lastly, I got to go back to Auburn as a part of the trip to Chattanooga for the Women’s Soccer Senior Night. It was so encouraging to see the FCA staff there that had been formative in my time with the chaplain training program. I also got to see some of the athletes I served in my time there.

Allison Whitworth and me after her Senior Night shut-out!