The Cross has made You Flawless

I feel like our present society is so conflicted on body issues right now. There's one camp that says, you are what you are and no one has a right to say anything about you, and then there's the people that insist you must have perfect eyebrows and wear false eyelashes everyday. The Beyonce movement has made phrases like "I woke up like this" and "Flawless" an unattainable statue to live up to. Don't get me wrong, I totally have a sequined sweater that says "I woke up like this" and I'm all about glam and getting made up. I'm pretty sure Beyonce started the movement with the mindset that we should embrace our natural self--and yet even she has been accused of photoshopping her Instagram pictures. 

Lately I have been struggling with image issues. I've had a parade of zits on my chin since mid summer that seem to last forever, my skin is always shiny and has uneven color, my eyebrows are not up to today's beauty standards, I am growing out short hair and I haven't had it colored in months, I do not have beautiful long eyelashes, and I have put on 20 pounds since I got married.

I took this picture shortly after I woke up this morning (not even my worst, I still have remnants of yesterday's makeup because I was too tired to wash it off last night). 

I bringing this up today because I feel God has been speaking to me to say something.

There is a song "The Cross has made You Flawless". It stood out to me for the first time about a month ago--the word Flawless. I soon forgot about though, until, this week, when I was struggling with insecurities a ton, and then I heard the song 3 times on different radio stations in the matter of an hour. 

NO ONE IS FLAWLESS ON THERE OWN.

Jesus came, he died on the cross because he loves us.

He washes our hearts clean.

The cross is the ultimate Instagram filter.

The cross is the ultimate foundation/primer/cover up all in one.

My outside body may not be flawless, but I know that I am forgiven and that Jesus loves me.

I will stumble and make mistakes, but because of the cross, I can seek forgiveness and Jesus sees me as flawless, even though I am an incredibly flawed human being. 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, believes in him, should not parish, but have everlasting life.

1 John 1:19

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

I will fall again, I will get caught up in self depreciation and comparison, but I know that I have God's unfailing love, and though I may go through seasons of doubt, he never fails.

Look at your heart though God's eyes. Do you have Jesus in your heart? Because that is what is beautiful to him. He doesn't care if you have messed up, and he knows you will mess up again.

He doesn't care if you have zits on your chin or lacking perfect eyebrows.

If you haven't yet, seek Jesus and let the cross make you flawless today.

Happy Saturday :)

First Day of School

We made it through our first week of school and now we are about to start our first FULL week of school!
We did a little back to school shopping, and we were conservative since we are at the end of our summer money. I got a water proof jacket and a fanny pack. I already used the fanny pack on the day I had to be outside and I love it! I put band aids, and pencils and reward tickets, and my phone it it. I had 2 students need band aids and I was prepared! The batter on my watch is dead so I was able to check my the time on my phone, in my fanny pack, and not have to worry about dropping it or leaving it out. I have had a request for a fanny picture, so there will be one shortly :)

I truly love that my husband and I get to share careers. It's so nice being married to a fellow teacher and coach. He keeps me sane, and I fill the silence ;) At least I didn't overwhelm him talking about my first day as much as I did last year (I have a tendency to carry on when I'm excited.)
I am loving being full time. There are a lot of changes at my school this year, some a little stressful, but ultimately I'm feeling more a part of my school and ready to take it on!

Dance team is also taking off, I have a really great group of girls out--6 freshmen and 1 junior! 

We are having a second tryout this week so hopefully we can add more.

I promise that just because I am posting about school that I haven't forgotten about the summer posts I have yet to share. This week was soo hot, it was feeling like summer!

Let the good times roll--
Update: I meant to post this this morning, but I forgot---I my word, first day of all day Kindergarten today...I only had 2 classes for 30 minutes each and it wiped me out! Total circus! I definitely need to keep working on management skills and strategies...PRAY FOR ME!!

Happy new school year!

Wallowa Lake 2015: Part II

School starts back up with students this week and I am oddly calm...I'm probably forgetting about everything I need to do, haha. Sorry for the long pause between Part I of Wallowa Lake and Part II, but here it is!

.........

There are deer everywhere around the lake. These deer were around our cabins. 

We saw them on walks, and the big deer on the right was just lounging around in the front yard of my brother-in-law & sister-in-law's cabin!

One morning, all 18 of us went on a hike! We started at the trail head for Hurricane Creek, and hiked up to Slick Rock and back. We thought it was only a 5 mile hike, but I think it was actually an 8 mile hike.

It was also a little bit rainy.

We ended up breaking apart into 3 separate groups, but eventually everyone made it to the water fall.

Our niece, Ella, kept up at the front of the pack the whole time! I enjoyed talking with her during our hike.

We bonded over Lord of the Rings and our favorite school subjects :)

Here is part of our group!

When we got done with the hike we were pretty tired. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, since the weather was still too gloomy to go to the lake.

We went to Terminal Gravity for dinner. It was a little different than usual.

We sat inside because it was a tad bit chilly outside, and sadly, they weren't serving our favorite beer, the Tap Out. It was, however, still a wonderful evening of visiting and eating yummy food.

Our nephews kept me quite entertained during dinner.

I believe they were watching "Power Rangers".

I tried to get our whole group in a picture, but were trying to get settled in and some of us were up and about still. Joel and Jared grabbed the nice recliner chairs at the end of the table right away :)

Finally, the next day we made it to the lake! It was beautiful!

I very much enjoyed our walks to the lake from the cabin. 

It took us a little over an hour to walk, and it was a great way to get our 10,000 steps in for the day!

I didn't really take an pictures! It was a day full of boat rides, jet skis, reading, and relaxing.

I'm not really an adventurous person, so I mostly read, but Joel got a lot of excitement in!

After a long day at the lake, we rushed back to the cabin to quickly try to make ourselves presentable, and then head back out for special dinner reservations.

We stopped to marvel at Hell's Canyon along the way.

Our dinner reservations were at Rim Rock. It was special because this is where Joel's brother proposed to his wife Klyn 18 years ago. Klyn's family goes here for dinner every year. This is the first time Joel and I have been able to go, and we were very pleased to be apart of their beautiful family tradition.

Ella looked too cute in this chair.

We ate out on the deck, and enjoyed a delicious dinner of Wagu Beef Meatloaf, roasted potatoes and veggies and wine. It was very delicious and relaxing. The anniversary of the proposal sparked conversation of how everyone got engaged. It was fun to hear about everyone's engagement stories.

This was the beautiful view we had from our dinner seats.

I'm thinking I probably need to try to paint this.

We were also entertained by the hummingbirds at dinner. There were so many of them!

I'm so glad this guy proposed to me almost 5 years ago!

Eastern Oregon is so beautiful. I am very blessed that Joel and I get to go on this special trip with such a sweet family. I always goes by way to fast and I can't wait until next summer!

Until next time Wallowa Lake!