My, my, time flies!

Wowie.  I've been naughty and haven't posted a life update in a while.  My sincerest apologies to all my family who was concerned that I might not still be alive.

Lots has happened recently.  As you know, I didn't have a job for a while there - 2 months to be more precise.  But, praise Jesus, I have found a "temporary" job at a local call center.  I say "temporary" in that I'm only going to be working there until I find something else.  Right now I'm in training from 5:15 am to 1:15 pm Monday through Friday - talk about being exhausted.  But I'm pushing through and actually kind of enjoying it so far.  I'm also currently being considered for a position that I'm really, really, REALLY hoping and praying that I get - basically my dream job.  I'm kind of in the last rounds of the process and should know more in the next few weeks!  As always, when I know, you'll know.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before that I had the privilege of attending youth camp this summer as a chaperone, which was fantastic.  Jesus really affirmed my call to ministry during that week.  So much so, in fact, that a part of me wonders if one of the reasons I had to leave my old job was just so I could be blessed at youth camp.  :)  Especially since one of the middle school girls that went with us had some "come to Jesus" stuff going on in her life that week.  One night she camp up to me during the altar call with a huge smile on her face and said, "So, I wanna be clean.  Like, I don't want to do bad stuff anymore."  It was such a sweet moment for me as a leader.  I fist bumped her and we prayed together.  WELL, tomorrow morning she is going to be baptized, and since our youth pastor is going to be away, she requested that I be there with her as she prepares for all of it!  What a blessing!!!  I can't wait!

In other news, I attended a Thirty-One party a couple of months ago.  This isn't huge news in and of itself, especially since most of my friends down in the South know exactly what I mean when I say Thirty-One.  But it's a new thing up here in the NW.  Like really new.  And at that party, I fell in love.  Seriously.  I'm pretty sure I almost peed my pants.  So I decided that I need to sell the products!  You heard me right - I'm now an independent consultant for Thirty-One Gifts!  And if you decide you need to buy anything, you can check out my personal shopping website at www.mythirtyone.com/kendallclary/.  Here's a picture of me the day I received my kit in the mail - can you tell how excited I was to break into it?!

Port Orchard (where I live) has free concerts on the water front all throughout the summer every year, and Chewie and I went to a couple of them: a bluegrass group and a Sinatra cover night.  The bluegrass was fun, but my favorite was the Sinatra covers.  The guy sang classic Sinatra songs, as well as some others from Frankie Vallie, Dean Martin, and Ray Charles (among others).  It was rather enjoyable.  Here's a pic of me and Chewie from the Sinatra night:

But I have to say the best part about the Sinatra night was seeing people there who actually attended Sinatra concerts and heard Dean Martin sing live back in the day.  Our favorite of all was this guy - he walked through the crowd dancing and singing to other people.  It was precious, especially when his wife joined him for a dance on the lawn. 

There isn't a whole lot of other stuff going on right now.  I'm just trying to get adjusted to the weird work hours and also trying to manage to get everything else in life done.  I'm not really used to working 40 hours a week, and I'm definitely not acclimated yet - but getting there!  Hope you are all doing well and beating the summer heat!

Long Update -- But Lots of Pictures!

So much has happened since I posted my last life-update on here.  Where to start???

Boring stuff first...

I still haven't found a job.  However, I have had several interviews in the last week, which has been such an answer to prayer.  One of them asked for a second interview, and the others went very well.  I'm praying the Lord opens up some doors so that I can start making some money.  I have decided that if I haven't found a job by the end of August, I will be moving back home to Texas.  I feel really at peace about it either way - staying here or moving home - because I know that God has a plan.  My parents, Chewie, and I all feel this is probably the best plan of action at this point.

Now for not-so-boring...

Chewie & I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on July 2nd.  He had been at kids' camp all week and got home that day, so I planned a quiet dinner for just the two of us.  And by "planned" I mean that I actually prepared a full meal for him as my anniversary gift, something I don't do...ever.  I made this Chicken Enchiladas recipe from I Heart Naptime.  Our side dish was a rich mexican corn recipe from allrecipes.com.  And our dessert was the ever-so-rich-but-delicious Homemade Snickers Bars from Mrs. Bettie Rocker.  I wish I had taken pics of our dinner, but we were too hungry to be patient.  Everything was delicious - thanks, ladies, for the amazing recipes.  After our dinner we decided to see a movie - it was stupid, unfortunately - and then take a walk along the Port Orchard waterfront.  It was perfect.  :)  (And, unfortunately, the only pic we took of us turned out grainy and awful - sorry.)

Last week, Chewie & I and 2 of our friends, Megan and Robbie, camped out all day (we were the first two cars in line) to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter 7 Part 2 at the local drive-in.  The drive-in always has a double feature, and that night only they showed Part 1 before Part 2 so that we could see the movies in sequence.  It was such a fun experience.  We froze our butts off, but it was worth it...  Oh!  And what do you do while you wait all day for a movie that doesn't start until 9:35 pm?  Why, worship practice for Sunday morning, of course.  Yep, Chewie, Robbie, and I pulled out our music and a guitar and practiced for Sunday's worship service since we had nothing better to do.  Good times.  Here are some pics from that day:

Snacks for the movie

Waiting in line

Me & Megan

Chewie & Me

Robbie & Chewie - such weirdos :)

Robbie showing off his snuggie

My holy popcorn

My cell phone had literally 1% service by the end of the night

The whole night was absolutely fantastic, even if we didn't get home until 3:00 am.  And, because Chewie & I are obviously gluttons for punishment, we had previously made plans for a day trip just hours after the movie. So at 9 am, Chewie and I packed up the car for a trip to Rimrock, WA, on the the south-eastern side of Mt. Rainier - an approximate 3.5 hour drive from Port Orchard (one way).  We ended up off-course a couple of times - blame it on the sleep deprivation - and even had to pull out a legit map to figure out where we were.  But we had so much fun and ended up at our destination on time.  The drive was absolutely beautiful, and it was an overcast day - I can't imagine what a clear day would have been like!  Pics from our excursion:

Chewie & I at a roadside look-out

A cool graffiti-ed wall along the drive

An epic dam

Pulling out the actual map because we were off-course

All-in-all things around here have been pretty exciting.  And next on the agenda?  Youth camp - departing this Saturday.  Lord, give me strength!

♫ "Summer's Here" ♫

I thought I'd give an update about the goings-on in my life...

I woke up this morning with James Taylor's "Summer's Here" stuck in my head - go ahead, give it a listen (you know you want to...).  Sing along with me:

♫ "Summer's here, I'm for that, 

Got my rubber sandals got my straw hat...

It's my favorite time of the year, and I'm glad that it's here" ♫

You did pretty well!  Haha.  Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), it was a good morning.  :)

It's a long story, but I'm looking for a job.  So far so good.  I have a few interviews in the next week, and I just got back from a temp agency in hopes of finding something to hold me over for a while.  I'm feeling good about it though.  The Lord has me in high spirits.

I've been recently going through a book called "Lies Women Believe" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and I've really been confronted by some things in my life because of it.  God has taught me so much about what I believe and what the evidence of my beliefs is.  And I've also learned a ton about what it means to be a woman of God and a wife and mom, even though I'm neither of the latter two yet.  There are so many things that I've thought and believed about my own life as a woman that so do not line up with what God's Word says.  I have to say that I haven't agreed with some of the things she said, particularly the chapter about children, but overall it's been a nice journey.  I've been using it as part of my morning devo, and I feel like my whole spirit is refreshed.  It's nice replacing the lies with the Truth and no longer living in bondage because I am free in Christ!

Okay.  I just had to get that out of my system!  I've decided from now on, in this blog, to call my boyfriend "Chewie."  It's not his real name, in case you were wondering.  Just a nickname.  But in reading other blogs I've found that, for legal disclosure policy-ish reasons, it's better not to use his real name but a nickname instead.  So, yeah.

Anyway, Chewie has a big-time interview next week, and we are praying that Jesus gives him that job!  The pay is decent, and he'll have pretty decent benefits, as well.  Plus, don't you think a guy this cheesy deserves a great job???  :D

My small group, that we fondly call "Quarterlifers," is going so so so well.  I love this group.  They have become my best friends, my accountability, somewhere I go for wisdom and encouragement, and so much more.  I am so thankful that Jesus put this group of people in my life.  And I'm so excited about how the Holy Spirit is moving amongst us.  One of the things we are praying for right now is revival in the hearts of those in our group and in our church.  Our church has been through some t.o.u.g.h. stuff in the past 6 months, and I believe we're ready for some major Jesus-movement.

Also, the Quarterlifers have been challenged by the youth group to weekly Sunday morning events, like relay races and basketball games.  If we win, they have to wash our cars.  Holler!  And if they win - Jesus, help us - we have to host a lock-in for them.  Now, I'm not sure if you're familiar with youth lock-ins (and, believe me, you should be grateful for that), but I definitely am familiar with them.  Therefore, I am praying - hard - that we will beat their tushies (sp???)!  All-in-all, though, it should be really fun, and I am really excited.

There are so many good things stirring right now that I can't help but to be dizzy with excitement.  I feel a new adventure coming on with my career, as well as Chewie's, and God is definitely working in and around my life right now.  He is so good.  I just can't say it enough.