My First Wedding!

Hey girls! Check out the cupcakes I made for my first official wedding gig! I had some great helpers and everything turned out beautifully...and yummy if I do say so myself!

Bullet Points:

• Flo-thanks for the updates. I really enjoyed reading about Drew and how tender hearted and evident the Father's love for us is through your own child.
• The girl's weekend was great and I miss you all.
• I too have jumped on the blog wagon: hopefully I'll put some of my "in the works" posts up soon http://toholdingfast.blogspot.com

First, let me say how much I missed getting to see all of you gals on this past trip! The pictures were so fun to see (yay facebook!) and it looked like it was really a great time. Definitely what I missed the most (besides fabulous Nertz time, of course!) was hearing what is going on in everyone’s life and prayer requests. I’m assuming all that was shared but maybe we could keep it going on here?? :)

Just to get the ball rolling…
Drew. That about sums up my life in the past 8 months or so! Seriously, I fell in love with him right away and I love being his mom. I love it, but I am constantly reminded how most of the time, I have no idea what I am doing! It’s a good place to be in to be constantly relying on God’s wisdom!

One of the biggest things that struck me after having Drew was how much God wanted me as His child. When I look at my only son, I think, “Really God, You gave Your only Son for me? Really??” I can’t imagine that sacrifice. We’ve been going through Luke in my Bible Study this year and the timing has been so cool – just this week we are studying the Passion. I’ve been praying that God would show it to me in new ways and that it would be refreshed and new in my heart this Easter. I think He is – just thinking about that kind of love is pretty staggering.

Some things I’m praying for…
My investment in my community: One thing that stands out to me in studying Luke is how invested Jesus was in His community. My life and time look a lot different these days so I’m trying to figure out how to be intentional about giving of myself. (One awesome way God has answered that prayer is through Young Life! Last summer, Andrew and I joined the adult committee and have really fallen in love with all things YL. One highlight of our week is bringing dinner/snacks to our local team before their club meetings. It has been so fun to get to know those leaders and see their hearts for those kids. And I think about you YL girls so much and how much of a blessing you must have been in those high schoolers’ lives!)

Joyfully serving my husband: God has just revealed to me a lot of yuck-yuck in my heart about my attitude. I’m praying to be sensitive to my sin and really just enjoy the opportunities to show Andrew through actions how blessed I am by him.

A mentor: “I need someone older and wiser telling me what to do….” (Guess that movie song!) But seriously, having a woman in my life that has been there and can share that with me on a consistent basis would be awesome.

Okay…Your turn!

Love you all!

Oh and PS – I have a blog…I’m horrible at blogging, but its www.theeckstroms.blogspot.com.

Been around the world...

You know the P Diddy song, "been around the world and ay, ay, ay..." While I cannot cite it quite as my inspiration for my past week, it certainly could of been. After our wonderful girls weekend I had the opportunity to hit the skies for a little multi-city tour. First, I went to Denver, CO and stayed with two different folks. One was a cousin of sorts, and the other a girl who had just moved from Nashville to Boulder, CO. Mostly my intention was to ski, as it was my first time back to CO since I left my ranch in Spring of '05. It is so strange how parts of us lie dormant for periods of time, but they are still there waiting to be expressed...my dormant characteristic is desiring to be challenged physically and in risk-taking by my external environment. What a rush it was trying to tackle black moguls rather than just cruising down the blues comfortably...an older man even took me under his wing and was teaching me some techniques to the give and go of getting down the hill. What respect I have for older men who have mastered a craft and now the joy becomes helping others do the same...sometimes think I could marry a 50 y.o. man who has reached this point of humility in his life.

My next leg took me to Seattle, WA to visit with our recently engaged friend. I found myself waking up every day saying, "Lord, I love my life". I have been reading The Shack and it has really rocked my world and feeling that great sense of intimacy and greater understanding of the Lord's character has allowed me to feel so much more settled. I encourage every person I know to read it. Also, I was so blessed by the generosity of all my hostesses...giving so fully of themselves and finding joy in serving others. Yet, aware of how do you receive with gratitude, knowing their joy in serving and yet in such a way that those people do not feel taken advantage of...such a balance.

The last few days of my trip were spent at a Student Affairs conference in Seattle. Here I found myself completely rejecting the career mindedness of my surrounding environment. The social networking and agendas of all the various people was hard for me to engage with. My agenda right now is to live a balanced life full of relationships, challenges (emotionally, socially, physically, academic) with significant time to rest in the beautiful presence of the Lord.

All the while my soundtrack for the trip was a cd recently made for me by a dude in Nashville that has been on the radar. My recognition of my desire to love and serve a mate has been very real as I get to know said "dude". The excitement of doing thoughtful things and sharing ones life with sometimes overwhelms me as I know I need to cautiously proceed in the "getting to know" you phase of the process. As I live more and more into the person the Lord made me to be and the freedom associated with that, without extreme controls or constraints, I pray for the Lord's protection rather than the false security I have constructed for myself.

Oh where oh where has my little mind gone....

Sometimes I wish I could lose my mind. like..completely. then I'd have justification for all my negligence, lost thoughts, indecisiveness, etc.

My bed is made but my mind is cluttered. My closet is organized but my fridge is empty. My sociallizing is prolific but my "me" time is non-existant. Coffee is good...but it gives me jitters. Sleep is refreshing but I find it boring. I crave structure but don't you think it's stifling?

Well rounded, dyanic, multi-faceted, confusing, undecided, non-commital...oh which one is it?

Can I just run away for a little bit? Throw responsibilty and self-understanding to the wind.... return with no questions asked...

don't be confused by me, I'm already confused enough.

Nashvillefest!

T-53 days and counting!
Until the friends arrive, the laughter ensues, and we will all be together again! I'm quite excited that ya'll will be making the trip up to TN this year. Last year at this time I didn't have the same sentiments as I do towards Nashville now. That's understandable, it takes time to adjust to a place, make friends and mentally move on from the previous chapter in life. Looking forward to sharing this place with all of ya'll!!