•for when you have no words and your mind is on replay•

Walks to Starbucks in your favorite jeans and happy shoes. 

Supper on the Suburban, right before a huge thunderstorm -- just because.  

Nephew and Uncle

Birthday cheesecake for Tear and Lucas 

The terrible rash I got after my first bell choir practice.. :( sad night all around, 

--everyone is beautiful, you just have to look-- 

___________________________________

I found some words in me. The past few weeks my life has been consumed with giving and giving and giving of myself until there is nothing left. And yet, there are always more people who need me. 

I'd started to get restless of this, of constantly running on empty. Until I realized one night as I was hearing testimonies of people who spent their summers giving. Of their time and resources. As I sat there, I came to the realization. These people, they weren't unhappy. They were filled with J.O.Y. They got restless sometimes, but they were happy to be empty, if that meant that someone else was full. 

My life isn't how I imagined it would be. I'm in a totally different place than I ever imagined being. But I've started to like it. Because if I'm empty, that means there's room for God. And if I'm empty, that means others are full. 

I think I like being empty too. 

Because in the end. 

I'm full too.

Full of Christ. 

-Jyc- 

___________________________________

In case you ever wonder about me...

I have been SO busy lately. Like rush-rush-rush busy. It's a fun busy though. :) 

Sunday. It poured all day. Again. I learned a ridiculous amount of great stuff that day. But that's a post for another day. 

I don't even know. :) late nights out on the trampoline. 

Strike a pose!

Forever friends. <3

Monday. My friend Heidi(and her three siblings) spent the night on Sunday night. In the afternoon, Janessa and I took our three younger siblings and Heidi and her three younger siblings to Rock River Rapids, the local water park. We spent a couple hours there running around, sliding down slides, chilling on the lazy river, deciding which life guards were best, getting sunburned. Ya know, a day in the life. Later, I hung out with Heidi at work. It was busy and tiring and fun. :) 

Heidi-Lou and I after work. :) 

Tuesday. Heidi spent the night again. And then we went out to lunch with the youth pastor's wife and their baby daughter. We went to Pizza John's, both the food and the fellowship was amazing. :) We went to my sister's apartment afterwards, hung out for awhile then headed home. By the time five o'clock rolled around it was time to head out for the Taylor Swift concert! It was incredible! I LOVE live music! Casey James was the first opening act, he is not only adorable but he has an amazing voice! Ed Sheeran came next, tears rolled down my face when he came out and said "'Ello, Wichita, it's nice to meet you." Why are British accents so stinkin' adorable?!?! He was so so amazing. Anyone who wasn't a fan of his before this concert, definitely was after! A friend that my sister and I went with had said before Ed came on, "I hate his music, he has no voice." Afterwards said, "whoa, I have a lot of respect for someone who can sing without a band and sound that great!" Ed did this amazing rap song, ahh, heart melted. Then it was Taylor's turn. I had always heard that she stinks at live singing, but she sounded incredible! I knew the words to most, okay, all of her songs, so I sang along. You could tell by the looks on her face that she loved performing. You could tell by the tears in her eyes that she meant what she was singing. During one of the songs, she could so emotional that she had to stop(it was All Too Well, the one that made me cry the first time I heard it, and I still get a little teary even now.) singing and playing the piano to compose herself. She is either a great actress or she really loved that guy. All in all, I enjoyed this concert immensely and wouldn't mind going again sometime. :) 

Janessa and I at Intrust Bank Arena!! Before the concert began. 

Ben, who is completely convinced that Taylor writes all her songs about him, they just didn't rhyme as well so she changed his name. ;) 

This was right before Taylor came on, we were SO pumped! 

Wednesday. I was up at seven and off to babysit. The two kids were adorable. We painted with water colors almost the entire time. It was just fun. :) I hadn't got very much sleep that night so I took a nap when I got home, then just kinda relaxed the rest of the day until prayer meeting. Then I watched kids in the nursery and went out with some friends afterwards. 

Thursday. Up at six to go babysit. I was exhausted! So the kids and I just watched a movie and then read books and played a game. When I got home, I read some more, cleaned and helped my mom with school stuff. We all went to girls night at my sisters apartment around seven. We just watched TV, ate food, and took a walk. Just enjoyed each others company. :) after that we went shopping at Walmart. We have lots of fun in Walmart. We got there a little after ten and didn't leave until around 1am. Yeah, crazy redneck people we are. I just like shopping when there is no one around. 

Mirror selfie. I'm so cruel. :P 

Jonalee and I at girls night! 

The girls at Walmart. :) 

So. Much. Bored. 

Friday. I spent the morning making brownies for a wedding I wasn't even going to. It was fun though. We spent the afternoon getting decorations ready for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary dinner. We headed to Spears(where we were holding the party) around dinner time(duh.) once we got there we rushed getting everything ready. My uncles, aunts, siblings, and cousins all arrived, and then grandma and grandpa! Whoo! Sixty years people!

The big 6-0!!! 

It was a ton of fun! I don't get to see my cousins that often so I was really happy to spend time with them! The food was amazing. :) when all us Rue's get together we can get pretty crazy. It wasn't long before my cousin George(okay, so here's the story. His real name is Talbot, like Tail-butt. Yeah we don't know what his parents were thinking either! But he always gets incredibly embarrassed around us, so a couple visits ago we just decided to call him George. It stuck.) had called all of the girl cousins fat(what even?!?!) and Janessa anorexic. When we called him out on it, he replied that my other cousin told Janessa that she was never getting married. Yeah, I don't really get it either. They also think I'm getting married tonight, secretly. It's not happening guys.  After dinner we took family pictures. 

My closest in age cousin Rebecca! Love her tons. :) 

Then my whole family went to go see the Keeper of the plains! The river is flooded and it looks amazing! I love it. :) I walked a little bit on the flooded sidewalk(I know what you're thinking oh you rebel, you :)) 

The Keeper. :) 

"I don't know why you won't take me downtown, like we have anywhere better to be" :) 

Saturday. Babysat six boys and two of my siblings. Eight hours. Fun times. :D 

From where I sit. Friends conversing. :) 

Now enjoy some random pictures from this summer!! 

These guys. Like what even? They steal my sister's iPod and take pictures of themselves. This was at Sonic a couple Wednesdays ago... From left to right. Nathan, Matthew, and Matt. :) 

Em!! One of the best friends I've ever had! This was taken at my birthday party a couple of weeks ago. :) 

Us girls love our blankets!! 

Lil sis and I off to our cousins baby shower a few months back... 

Oh, Blaze-y. Don't you break my heart slow... 

My good friend Ryan is moving next week! I'll miss him so much! Hopefully he can visit next summer. :) 

Hey kitties. 

In Jenn and Ben's new car, wishing I could take it for a spin! 

Makes me laugh. Every. Single. Time. 

Well, that's about it. :) I hope you liked this post. An entire week in the making. :D  

-Jyc- 

Things you should know about me:

I am a lover of books. I could read ALL day long and not get bored. 

I like fast things. Like roller-coasters and water slides. They terrify me, yet I love them so much. 

I could eat Popsicles for every meal and be totally okay with it. 

I like to talk, OK, I love to talk. I talk a lot. 

I love the ocean. Even though I've never seen it before. I imagine it's kind of like the night sky, endless and sparkly... and yes, I know that there is an end to the ocean. But you can't see it so it doesn't really count. ;) 

Those are some things you should know. I'd like to get to know you more too, comment, maybe? Love you-- your J-girl :) 

Yah, mon. I've always been this wild and crazy, even at two years old. 

 

Me lately.

The essentials to being an Insomniac.  Good books and tasty snacks. 

Library days. :) yes, I will be done with these by next week, yes, all of them. #dontjudge :) 

How my days have been spent this week: drinking lots of caffeine and suffering through Algebra. 

Getting totally stoked for the Taylor Swift concert this Tuesday!! =D

••••••

Blaze feeding Pipper watermelon. So so cute. :) love him muchly. 

***that is pretty much my life. Library books and algebra. Hanging out with my family and friends. Tonight after prayer meeting, I went to Sonic with a group of my friends. We had loads of fun just catching up with each other. :) I'm gonna miss these summer nights, this is one of the last of the year, since school and AWANA will be starting up soon. I'm grateful for the time I have with them.

Tomorrow I get to babysit my favorite little boys. :) all precious five of them! I am excited, for I have missed them! Be sure to look for a post Friday of all the cute and ornery things they are sure to do!*** 

-Jyc- 

When your heart is half healed.

"God wants to be strong for you. He wants to show you His power. He wants to use your life to show others His power!" -- Lee Peterson, September 2012, 1 Chronicles 16:9, 2 Chronicles 16:11

When half of your heart is broken and half of it is healed. And you wonder if you will ever be whole again. The answer is, yeah you will be, and you know that because half of your heart is already healed and the rest is in progress. 

When you realize: that unless you let Christ be strong for you, healing won't come. It took me a year to realize that. A whole year of being broken and of being sad. To realize, the most simple thing, the one with you doing nothing but trusting, is what I needed. 

I'm not all healed. Half of me is still very sad. Half of me still looks back. Half of me still doesn't wanna believe. But the other half is trusting Christ and His strength. And I'm choosing to let my half-healed heart win. 

"You might be going through something hard. But here is the good news, Christ is in YOUR life!" -- Sam Slobodian, September 2012

|day 3|

Today was AH-mazing-ly hilarious! 

First I watched Smallville. :) then my best friend came over to spend the night! Whoo! 

Levi and I had a painting date. :) 

Hard at work! 

 

His finished project.. Go KU!!! 

My work in progress... Tryin to be all artsy. 

Finished! :) that's my name, folks. My name. :P

I made this earlier... I am totally running out of ideas. 

Then Heidi and I decided to paint! I love this one! :) you make me SO happy! 

Next, Heidi gave me a beautiful purple blanket to match her pink one! 

Our lovely blankets :) thx H! 

Then we painted our legs.. Don't even ask. :P 

Yellow, Janessa. Blue, Heidi. Black, Jaycie. :) 

After that Jonalee made us work and plan things. We resisted. And took pictures instead. :) 

She is just so gorg. It's killing me! Love ya Heidi Lou! 

Pipper resisted too. 

 "Party planning is hard..." 

Janessa chopped four inches off my hair last night.. #whateven? 

Why so short?!?!? "Cuz he loved the long do. Had to switch my attitude up." #theresasongforthat 

I had a pet toad. His name was Freddy. I loved him. But I didn't like to feel his skin, so I held him with a leaf. Levi murdered him. :( 

Cute stuff. 

How I feel when David acknowledges that I exist: 

This is also how I am going to feel in T-minus 16 hours when I'm happy again. 😍😍😍😍😍

Janessa was jealous because Heidi and I had matching blankets and she didn't. So we searched our room for change... And found 28 dollars worth! We proceeded to, fill a piggy bank with aforementioned change, go to Target and buy her a blue fuzzy blanket just like ours. :) #happydaysarehereagain 

So that was my very happy day... Which went down a little bit when my parents changed their mind about something I was excited about but was boosted back up with Asa's delish Japanese food(you're awesome dude!) :D good day, good day. Surprisingly this week has past by very pleasantly(aside from the first two days when I was sick) and with very little ice cream. :) I am very satisfied. 

 -Jyc-

This is the end of my days of ramblings for now... But I loved them so much that they will be sure to show in the future. Love you all. :) --Your J girl. 😊