Summer Adventures in Spokane: ArtFest

ArtFest is in Browne’s Addition every year. I’ve been once before when my mom was in town and it was a lot of fun, so I forced Laura B. to come along with me this year. We didn’t last too long, but it was fun to people watch, be out in the sun for a while and see how creative people are. I love events like this because they bring out people in Spokane I had no idea existed here.

Next on the agenda: Laura A. and I are headed to the apparently world famous combine derby in Lind tomorrow. Who doesn’t want to see giant farm equipment being destroyed?

West Shore Promo

Here's the video for West Shore - what an amazing day!

Adage #6: Don't let your insecurity replace your identity.

Boys don’t understand girls. Girls don’t understand other girls. Girls don’t even understand themselves. “I don’t even know why I did that. I have no idea why I’m feeling this way.” Those are words I often hear myself and my friends say. It’s risky to put a bunch of girls in a room together for more than 5 minutes. That’s exactly what I did last week at West Shore - a one-day event for girls 11-24 (huge props to Emily Lewellyn’s willingness to follow God’s vision for this and all the females who put tons of work in!).

Here’s what I noticed: girls are insecure. This may not be a shock to you, especially if you spend any time at all with teenagers, but the way insecurities penetrate who we are should shock you. C.S. Lewis said that pride is the beginning of all sin. I think insecurity holds a close second. Insecurities fuel criticism of others, they led us to do things we regret later because we thought they would make us feel better, they plant seeds of self-doubt in our minds. As I talked with girls during West Shore, I began to pick up on this theme of insecurity. It came in many different forms: bragging, shyness, criticism, sarcastic remarks and a thousand other ways.

My good friend, Emmily Ocker, taught the session on identity. She told a story about an insecurity she had just recently encountered and I wrote down something she said, “My insecurity shows my lack of identity.” God has created you and when you become insecure in God’s creation (you), you miss out on your whole identity. That blows my mind. Identity is who we are, Emmily described it as, “the sense of who you are as a person.” God created you to be compassionate, but your insecurity leads you to tear others down. God created you to have a talent to share with others, but your insecurity leads you to hide it. God created you to make a difference, but your insecurity paralyzes you in fear. God created you with all the care and love in the world and your insecurity blinds you from that very care and love.

I’ve been quick to tell you that I saw insecurity in others, but I saw it in myself as well. During the beauty session with the senior high students, one of the ladies leading the group talked about how we need to learn to take compliments instead of feeling insecure about them (this is only one among many wise points they gave us). After maturing a little and praying a lot, I’ve become pretty secure in who God has created me to be. But Satan is sneaky and here’s what happened 10 minutes before the session leader said that particular thing: we were instructed to give a physical compliment to the person sitting to the right of us, that sounds great, right?

I was on the end and no one was on my left to give me a compliment (nope, we haven’t made it to the insecure part, yet). The student sitting on my right, whom I had never met before, asked if she could give me one since there was no one next to me. I was expecting something about my hair because that’s what people usually comment on, but what she said was: “I like your eyebrows” (bam - there it is!).

You’re going to need a little history for this: When I was in 7th grade, I pulled all my of eyelashes out. There were a lot of things going on in my life at that time and just how eating disorders are often about control, so was pulling out my eyelashes. I’ve shared that story with quite a few people, but what I haven’t told most is that I also pulled a lot of my eyebrows out in 7th grade. The eyelashes grew back and it’s not that big of a deal anymore. My eyebrows all grew back, too, but for some reason I am still incredibly insecure about them. I don’t even like when people say the word “eyebrow” in fear that someone will look at mine and find something horribly wrong with them.

I allowed that very genuine comment from the girl sitting next to me to create insecurity. I heard what the session leader was saying, but I let Satan yell over her, I was too occupied with my insecurity. Guess what one insecurity leads to? More insecurities. It doesn’t take much for an insecurity about a small thing to blow up into a giant insecurity about who you are, why you were created, what you were created for. The only way to overcome that insecurity is to surrender it to God, even if it might seem a little silly sometimes. I might have to wake up everyday and say, “God, you created me and that means you created my eyebrows, too, they are a part of Your plan.”

I want to leave you with the same question Emmily asked us in her session: What is holding you back from your identity in God? I want to add to that, what insecurities are holding you back from your identity?

Summer Adventures in Spokane: Bloomsday

Despite my threats to leave Spokane in the midst of winter, Spokane is a pretty cool place to be in the summer. I’m not even really sure whom these threats are directed to - the city of Spokane? my tiny car? my collection of winter coats? innocent bystanders? Since I have not made good on these threats any of the past 8 winters, I think it’s safe to say they are pretty empty promises. This is because when winter ends, summer is right around the corner and summer is so good, I forget about my threats of moving back to California where it is warm all the time.

Now that I have weekends off, I have decided it’s time to make the most of being in Spokane during the summer. I fully intend to try to make it to every event the area has to offer me. So if you know of any that I’m missing, let me know! Or better yet, invite me to come along with you!

Bloomsday is a big race held every year in Spokane - it’s kind of a big deal. Every year, I slightly entertain the idea of participating and then I forget about it until I’ve missed the deadline to enter. This year was no different. But Kevin ran it, so I went downtown with Serena and Lily to drop Kevin off and then hang out for a little while.

I’ve never even been down there during the event, so it was really fun to be around the atmosphere. Serena, Lily and I went to the finish line to watch the elite runners finish. It was surprising how little people were watching with us, but it was amazing to see some of the world’s best runners in person.

Then we went down to Riverfront Park to walk around all the vendors and such. We found a mini-donut stand and what better way to celebrate other people being physically active then eating unhealthy snacks! While standing in line, I ran into one of my friends’ parents from the west side (the Beauchamps) and got a chance to catch up with them.

Overall, it was great to at least get to see what happens during Bloomsday. Next year the goal is to actually participate (preferably in some sort of ridiculous costume) and throw a sweatshirt on to a tree.

Some upcoming events I plan on participating in:

1. ArtFest is next weekend in Browne’s Addition, anyone want to go?

2. There is a Combine Derby in Lind on June 11th. My former roommate, Laura, invited me. I believe her exact words were something like: “I was trying to think of someone who would do random crap with me. Like who would drive two hours to see a combine derby with me? Alissa!” I almost cut her off because I was already enthusiastically raising my hand (even though it was a phone conversation) and saying, “I’m in, I’m in!” I’m so predictable.

Adage #5: Democracy wins...sometimes.

When I was 10, I made the decision that our family needed to vote for a president. I'm guessing this idea came from a combination of learning about the government at school along with being the first born (which gives me a natural desire to control others and be bossy, of course).

Someone needed to run family meetings and I was perfect for the job; although, the Adams family president would really just be a pawn of the monarchy (mom and dad). In my 10-year-old power-hunger mind, this is how I would really get to control my younger sister and make her do everything I wanted her to do. Being the "family president" would be the unbeatable trump card and she would be forced to give in.

They were excellent parents, so they sniffed out my ulterior motives for this vote. My dad felt bad for my sister (who wouldn't?, I was a dictator) and voted for her, hoping my mom had voted for me, resulting in a tie and everyone could just walk away, no feelings hurt.

Not the way it worked out. My sister won because my mom had thought the very same thing. In defeat, I saw all my power melting away. Now I would have to be the one to give in to my younger sibling's every whim. So I stormed off and never spoke of a family vote again.

Moral of the story: If any of your children ever suggest voting for a family president, suggest everyone go for ice cream instead.

Adage #4: You can catch more bees with honey, but you need newspaper to get a wasp.

I am terrified of bees. I have never been stung by one and I will avoid this event from occurring in my life at all costs. I am that crazy person who flails all over the place while trying to get away from this winged creature with a stinger (which is a privilege I don’t think they should have). I flinch at any buzzing sound that could possibly be a bee, I get up from any table I’m sitting at outside and run inside, I squeal and sometimes I duck my head and just hope it will go away.

The other morning I woke up and was going through my usual morning routine. As I was walking into my bathroom, I noticed a shadow on my shower curtain. It slowly dawned on me that this was a wasp. This was a big problem, how was I going to shower before work? I thought maybe I could grab my shampoo and body wash and take my shower in the downstairs bathroom. But then I would still have to move the shower curtain to obtain these items and surely the wasp would not like to be disturbed and he would come after me. I thought maybe I could try and get rid of him, but I would probably miss and then he would get mad at me and sting me in the eyeball multiple times, blinding me forever.

In every scenario I could come up with, I ended up getting stung. I thought that would be a terrible way to start the day, so I just didn’t shower.

I came home later on in hopes that the insect had found his way out. Nope, he sure hadn’t. “This is it,” I thought, “I’m never going to be able to shower again.” After a few minutes of deliberation, I knew I had to get rid of him because it wouldn’t take long for people to notice a smell when I walked past them. So I got someone else to get rid of the wasp for me (thanks Serena).

I’ve never been much of a risk taker. It’s okay to be cautious, it’s kept me alive so far, so that’s a positive. But what am I limiting myself from doing by being so afraid to take a risk? I was prepared to let that wasp take over my bathroom and start a colony if he wanted to because I was too afraid of him. What else in my life have I given up on because it seemed impossible to accomplish?

Philippians 4:13 “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Adage #3: Take an art class.

When I was home at Christmas, my family played a game that was kind of a cross of Pictionary and Apples-to-Apples. You pick a card and everyone draws what the card says like "vacation" or "rabbit". After everyone has drawn their picture you pick another card that says something like "prettiest" or "most likely to be mistaken for real art" and everyone votes on who's drawing best fits that phrase (without knowing which drawing belongs to who). Here are some of the highlights, let me warn you, we're not a super artistic family.

Breakfast in bed.

This is the scariest looking baby I have ever seen.

We were supposed to draw "school". I'm not sure how well you can see this, but 3 of these look pretty normally, but take a closer look at the 3rd picture - my sister drew this (the only one in school right now).

"Chickens crossing the road":
1. The picture on top is mine, the one on the bottom is my mom's, can you guess who I learned to draw from?
2. Somehow I also learned from my mom that when drawing chickens, they have 4 legs instead of 2.

Which do you think it is?

The Adams family interprets "horse".

I am offended.

If this won for Art Teacher's Pet, you can only imagine how beautiful the rest of our drawings were.