Season.

The wind and the sun had an argument one day.

They wanted to know who was stronger, and couldn't come to an agreement.

A traveler came along, and the sun suggested a way to test.

"Whoever was able to cause the man to remove his coat- would be stronger."

The wind began to blow.

Yet the harder he blew, more the traveler clutched the coat about himself.

He sent rain and even hail.

And the traveler clung even more desperately to his coat.

Finally in despair, the wind gave up.

The Sun came out and began to shine in all it's glory upon the traveler.

And quite soon the man had removed his coat.

"How did you do that?"-asked the wind.

"It was easy"-said the sun, "I lit the day, and through gentleness I saw the outcome I wanted."

It's nearly the beginning of a new season!

-how exciting!

even though my skin colour will not be changing.

It will still be so nice to see the sun out.

Last week- contained one of the greatest nights of my life.

Who would have ever thought i would have shared seeing Relient K with some of my greatest friends?

What more could i ask for?

The next day, found once again, drink bottle had leaked through my bag and had infected my camera which is now in a critical condition.

When only soon after my mother yells out from downstairs,
"Emma, I want the camera back please."
-Now in a panicked frenzy, trying to think what you do when you've broken your family's camera.

prayed.

i kid you not.

turned it on- instead of black screen, it's now blurred and fuzzy.

kept praying!

turned back on the camera, and it is now perfect!

when you hand your broken problem over to the person who has the instruction manual, is a good idea.

Side note: School is coming to a close.

not really sure how i feel about that... (nervously laughs.)

but lets just wait and see!

Got my upper ear pierced today!

bought a little gold hoop to put in too.

and apparently you're meant to wait 6 weeks to change the ear ring.

but impatience once again took hold of me.

once i had taken the stud out, and attempted to force the little gold hoop into the small hole- i hopelessly failed.

sitting in the car of the woolworths car park trying to re-pierce my ear.

...that was a new experience!

hurry summer!

Small

today, was potentially the top 10 best days of my life.






you can so easily take for granted the accessibility we have to our Dad in heaven.
i always need to shake myself up to make me realise it again.
it seems so simple.
because it is.


your own personal phone line to God.
it's just, so- whats the word.. magnificent!- that He would come to meet us face to face whenever we would let Him. it just gets me so excited!
and one thing that has been buzzing around in my head like a bumble bee is knowing that we are highly favoured by Him.





let me share my day:
"it's the little things that can change a day."




Lets start at the sun sneaking through my blinds in the morning.
one of the most beautiful days of the year.
not a cloud i the sky

painted my finger nails- a different colour for each nail.

vacuumed..- which will always make my day.

a vanilla up&go+ my new cravings for golden kiwifruit and bananas accompanied me for lunch.


decided to go for a walk to my favourite place in Tawa- that over looks the whole of the area as well as Titahi Bay beach and sometimes the mountains.

walking there, i invited Israel and New Breed to join me.
- wanted to belt out the music, so i started singing. not to mention very loud and off key down the streets to my destination.


long grass covers the overlook which makes this trip all the worth while.

wedged in between to houses.
left: big brown house.
right: a house who holds an old Indian woman who sits and looks out the same window every time i visit.
i wonder what she thought of me today..
she probably thought i was mad.


lying on the ground singing with your hands lifted in the air, may not be the first impression most people would like to make on someone they have not met before.



after an hour later,

decided to take my shoes off, tie the laces together and swing them over my shoulder.
nothing feels better than walking through puddles of water left behind from people washing their cars.

stopped. sat. on a little grass patch after a couple of minutes walking- and made a daisy chain.

i am now walking, bare foot, sneakers over my shoulder, with a daisy chain round my neck, singing back through the streets to my house.
arrived home.



picked up Dan to drive up to the Kapiti Coast.
wouldn't rather be anywhere else.


back to back peak hour traffic.
-i kid you not. i was convinced it was.
but i saw this man, who looked exactly like my Dad, in a car that was driving next to us.


overwhelmed with joy, i honked and yelled out "Dad! Dad! it's me!"
only to realise from the confused look on his face that i had been horribly mistaken.
moments later i could feel my cheeks getting flushed with heat of embarrasment.







Today was good.
new revelation about being thankful for the
small things that make up your day.

Move.

God is moving, and it's more than good!

Emma, get ready to get packed up, and go where God is taking you next.
(not literally)

But i will follow God to wherever He wants me.

okay,

the end of the year is coming to a close.

no more school.

13 years of routine, and structure of 5 days a week seing the same people.

looking back realising how much has changed makes me all the more thankful where God has pulled me out from. it's very exciting!

NCEA Level 1, 2, 3 will be all completed this year for me, which is so relieving!

praying, and pulling ideas from heaven to collaborate an end of year art piece.

jesus help!

it's funny, i just read Sam Forty's blog on how he feels when he bikes.

and i realised, i feel the exact same way when i'm painting.

holy cow.

i had been pushing it away from myself over the last year, saying to myself-"no i'm just giving it to God."

it made me completely detach myself from what i love doing. rather than what is meant to worship and honor Him with.

okay, side note:
Tawa College high school blitz...

it was crazy amazing!

who knew that bread and sauce would be appealing to so many people?
From the beautiful connections with people, to Elijah Smith's eyes going blood shot from eating too fast...classic.

Today was a seed into extremely fertile ground.

went home:
just finished "watching 500 Days of Summer."

such a good movie.

ended differently to what i expected.

that's what i loved about it!

top 10 favourite movies.

...potentially top 5.

do you know what else is a good movie?... Spirited Away.

Japanese cartoon about a girl who's parents turn into pigs.

it's good, trust me.

the music in it is probably favourite part though.

a couple of nights ago, i You Tubed it and started watching it in segments.

got a new lamp in my room.

still loving oranges.

saw a huge dead spider in front of our doorstep after the storm.

spring cleaned my wardrobe

- trade me has not yet become a friend of mine. maybe acquaintances.

made apple crumble.

vanilla up and go is good.

reading a new book, A Lineage of Grace.

- reading about Tamar, Judah's son Er's wife.

she is very patient and humble. God has definatly taught me a lot through her over the last couple of days.

looking forward to the new season ahead, and what God has prepared!

being ready for an adventure!

Clean.

Conference.

Words cannnot compare to what God has done this weekend!

lives changed.
boom.

new:
dreams

vision
excitement
joy

honestly..
what just happened!
I feel clean.
I feel refreshed.
I feel transformed.

I have been made brand spanking new!

This week has been in general wonderful!

-Monday Leaders Meeting:

DROVE home..

thats right.

I have my licence back.

and it's feeling so good!

and i will never speed again.

I don't know what happens when i'm behind the wheel of a car sometimes.

but i have found an alternative.

...planting your foot on the exellerator as hard as you can, makes it feel like your going faster.

so i guess it's a win win situation!

genius.

i just really enjoy driving!

but whist on the way driving home that calm raining Monday night with:

Keith Tuckey

Dan Green

Dan Drower

They had discovered left over stale bread rolls- free from Pak'n'Save during a 3 free period day to go down to Aotea Lagoon to feed the white geese.

The first thing i heard when we got in the car?

"lets throw them at people!"

-Bet them $1.90 (which was the only existant money leftover in my wallet) that if someone held the wheel, i could hit someone in the face...and if i did, they would pay my $2.98 overdraft on my efpos card.

biggest fail of my life.

excited for dinner.

Chicken drumsticks, potato, beans you are great!

God is simply so good!time for rest now.

New.

Friday..
first night in a different country in a long time.
Australia.

3:00am start to the day.

and literally just finished packing.
i really need to pre-organise.

oooh.
that gripping feeling in your stomach knowing your about to embark into a new adventure.
and especially before the sun comes up, makes this even more exciting.
looking forward to going to Hillsong Church Brisbane!

but honestly can't believe i'm missing Elevate and Sunday Church though.
makes me sad thinking about it.

speaking about Elevate.
hutt was unbelievable!
so so so good.
and it was also good to once again kick Sarah Smiths butt in Jenga.
as much as she thinks she won each time.

i believe i did.
i'm not in denial..

Afterwards, it was straight to Nadia's to have desert and watch some living channel.
a can of v later.
Becky Gibson is giggling like nothing else all the way to the movie thertre to watch..
Eclispe.
thankyou midnight premire!

definatlly BETTER than all of the others combined.
and suprisingly quite funny.
really enjoyed it!

ONE of the things i can't get off my mind, is knowing that only as soon as i some back, we're going down to Christchurch for..
Get Smart Conference 2010!

ahhhh!

4th year of goodness.
and i am very excited!

amazed that already half a year has flown by.
but that only means Arise Church Confrence is so close!
honestly it's going to be something un-missable.
life change is around the corner!

...also something that has happened suddenly like a bucket of cold water in the face..
i have resigned from my long time job of 3 and a half years of clothing store Supre Wellington.
WOW.
I can't believe it's happened.
but comforted knowing that God has plans to prosper you and not to harm you!
can i get an amen?

this is the begining of a new season!

Water.

Baptisms...

WOW.

Every baptism, i assure myself i won't cry..
but by the end of the night, it looks like i've been baptised myself.

What God does, making people's hearts NEW.
powerful!

Morning Church is the place to be as well!
Up at the Kapiti service, Pastor Ben Carol preached one of my favourite messages that he spoke in the city a couple of weeks ago, "The Heart".
and something else that's was at the service which is very close to my heart..soup.

honestly, everywhere i look is soup.
-there was pumpkin, curry pumpkin, and vegetable soup.

not the mention the scones.

hallelujah!

Angela Burke with her caring spirit, has also detected i'm getting a cold.
-so thanks to Sarah Smith, lemon honey lozengers will be with us soon.
"what would i do without you Sarah?"

"you wouldn't know the difference between a metaphor or simile."

on the way home tonight,
the back seat bandits were brought together once again, and had a well deserved laughing session with Bek Burke about stockings.

once i got through the door, the spirit of spontaneity came upon me.
and made homemade pear crumble for her family at 10:00pm.

hopefully they enjoyed it!

and now time for rest.

Altar.

The weekend that has just passed,
has been life changing..

I can't even begin to explain how i and every other teenager at youth camp was altered.
God is seriously so good!
and i've seriously never been so tired.

New

freedom

healing

forgiveness

dreams

was discovered in just one weekend!

and met so many new friends..

i now believe:

breakfast, best meal of the day.

a new found love has been brought upon me by oranges.

and i was very surprised and thankful i wasn't pranked.
after having wonderful rainy weather at camp..
i'm thinking of investing in a pair of gumboots now too.

End of the night, i was welcomed home with pumpkin soup, watching CSI with my dad, and a homemade blanket on my bed made by my Mom.

best weekend.

Tent.

Camp is this weekend!
what seemed like 3 weeks away, is in 2 days!
holy moly!


still procrastinating to pack early, and kept convicing myself it's too soon.
this is true, but will proberly be started friday afternoon.
so i want to just get it out of the way.
i'm bound to forget something!

oh momma, Camp is seriously going to be unbelievable!
...the incounters, the pranks, the hot milo, and seing what God is going to do in the lives of the Kapiti girls.

raising my expection for this weekend and taking my faith to the next level!

it's going to be life changing...
wow!

go yellow team!

we are going to kick butt!

...still trying to discover a yellow t-shirt, warehouse maybe?

mom is still working on the blankets...

go pip!

work that sewing machine!

God is good!

Afternoon.

This afternoon was the coldest i have ever been..


After spending it in the the lounge of Sarah Smith drinking tea, and searching YouTube videos on old television programmes we used to watch when we were younger.

The memories are flooding back..

Do you remember Old Bear Stories?

according to her, apparently the wind was -1 degrees.
and i was utterly shocked when i found that fact out.
but soon after i got to the warmth of home, my toes were numb.

now listening to my Mom cook dinner,
soup.
which has been the staple meal for the past 3 weeks.

..and i am not complaining!
tonight is french onion, which was in a french vanilla ice cream container in the fridge.
ironic

she was also decided to start making home made blankets for everyone we know.
you see the excitement on her face every time she swipes her card at the counter of spotlight knowing she is storing up points on her VIP card.

currently figuring out how to use our neighbours 30 year old machine.
shes thinking of partnering up with her friend to sell them at the market!

Beginning.

In the beginning there was God.

and at the end of tonight, sitting on the couch with 3 of the loveliest friends, is the beginning of a beautiful friendship with you knowing a snippet of my life..

Welcome.