Christmas Break

I changed my blog to look all Christmasy and then only blogged once this month (until now)! Oops.

This break has consisted of A LOT of relaxing, which has been wonderful and much needed. I'm already kind of worried about the lack of sleep I'll get the next (and final) three semesters of school. So I might as well catch up while I still can, right?!

I ended this past semester with really good grades- I was hoping for a 4.0 for the semester, but I got a 94 in Info Sciences which was an A-. Silly. Oh well, still my highest GPA yet!

Since mostly I've just been watching movies with Dane, laying on the couch with Olivia, and having sleepovers with Jamie, and my family is really unphotogenic... I don't have any pictures to share!

Christmas was great though. I went to a candlelight service with Dane, Jamie, and Matt Sayers. I got a ton of "teacher" clothes from my mom- we went to the outlets one day, and I got money from various relatives to go towards a new computer. Now I am just on the look out for one! I think I might wait a little while, but I have the money all saved up!

I hope everyone's Christmas was as family filled and Jesus-filled as mine!

Maybe my New Year's resolution will be to be a better blogger... Better think of something quick!

Three blogs... WHAT?!

With all these blogs for class, this whole blogging thing is getting hard to manage! Don't worry though, I'm updating this one instead of the one that is actually due for a grade here soon. Or maybe it was already due... I've completely lost track of all my assignments.

I am so very blessed for so many reasons... and my prayer is that I will remember this always. Not just in the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas when blessings seem to be more... evident (for lack of a better word).

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

These are three verses I hear and think of often... and I pray that my life will look like this. Giving thanks even for the things that don't seem like blessings at the time. Seems like they always ended up blessing me somehow! I saw something the other day, and of course I can't remember the wording so I'm going to butcher it... but it was something along the lines of "If only we were as quick to pray as we are to text..." How true is that?! I am constantly in communication with someone via texts... And I want to be in constant communication with my Father like that, but on an even deeper, more intimate level.

I don't think any of what I'm saying is making sense right now. I can't seem to put my thoughts into words... and especially not eloquently! So sorry this probably isn't fun or even easy to read/understand.

Good gosh, I LOVE MY TEAM! Look how good looking they all are!

boredom at its finest [bear with me... I've been locked in the house for DAYS!]

I've pretty much been lying in the same position on [a] couch since I started feeling sick last Monday. I thought it was the flu so after leaving the library with aches and fevers a week and a half ago, I went home to attempt writing my paper (couldn't take the library anymore). Dane came over, carried me to the couch, hid my computer, and tucked me in so that I would rest. Thankful for that. Wednesday I left my night class early in tears because I felt so miserable. I called both of my parents and they insisted that I meet them at the emergency room because they could tell I felt horrible. Thankful for that. So I was diagnosed with mono in the ER and immediately started crying because I don't have time to be sick with all my projects and finals coming up. Mom picked me up from my house Thursday afternoon and brought me home to her couch where I have been ever since (besides a few trips to the doctor). Thankful for that. The doctor told me that there are three types of people that get mono- those that never know they have it, those that get a little bit sick for a little while, and those that get really really sick for a long time. She then proceeded to tell me that I was a case of the last type of person. Not so thankful for that, although I am thankful for lots of time to rest. I emailed all my teachers explaining the situation. I was really nervous that they wouldn't understand- mono is common... get over it. I never realized it could affect people so differently, and now I definitely feel so bad for Mel when she had it! It is no fun, but my teachers were all so understanding, and for that, I am so so thankful. I don't know what I would have done if they had not been.

I'm feeling much better. I can't even describe how terrible I felt at the end of last week, but now I'm mainly just really tired. It is amazing how much I can sleep! I've had some sweet visitors come and bring me treats- Gatorade, Reese's, Frostys, milkshakes, coloring books, Christmas in a Cup, soup, etc... And I am very, very thankful for those goodies! I've been on Pinterest non-stop... so sorry to those of you who have seen millions of things I have pinned. Unfortunately, I do not have the energy to make anything that I have pinned! One day...

I went to the doctor today, and she told me that I can go to Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow as long as I am feeling up for it and make sure no one drinks or eats after me. I am so thankful.  I really thought I was going to have to miss out on the quality time with family, and I was so sad. So here's to hoping I feel well enough tomorrow for a few hours out of the house!

I am extremely thankful for all my friends checking up on me and visiting me and encouraging me and just telling me they miss me. It means so much. It's been really hard being at home knowing my friends are at Young Life club or celebrating birthdays or at bonfires, so it's nice to just get a little "thinking of you" text.

I can't even express my gratitude to my parents for being so good at taking care of me. Who even knew that either of my parents could cook?! Kidding.

Above all, I am thankful for Jesus. I am thankful for all of the wonderful blessings in my life that I do not deserve. I am thankful for a God who loves me, and I am thankful that He is with me always.

I could go on and on about all that I am thankful for because God has blessed me tremendously... but this is already really long and we all know I like to have pictures in my posts!


A few pictures from Sharp Top:

Words cannot express how thankful I am for my best friend and getting to do life and ministry with her.

It's been a while... so a quick recap:

I went to the Needtobreathe concert that Ben Rector opened for, and oh.my.goodness. it was SO good!

I got to spend some time with Meredith and see the birthday girl, Rachel!

We had Halloween YoungLife club:

 

We celebrated Dane's birthday (I know I already talked about his birthday, but here are some pictures from the actual night!):

The only picture we actually got together. Thanks Jessie!

[Side note: I didn't actually take any of these pictures myself... pretty typical of my blog's pictures actually. Thanks to BT, Diana, Jessie, and Lindsey's cameras for these!]

Sunday night we had a "bring-your-significant-other small group bonfire" at Paulette's:

but of course we only wanted the girls in the picture!

ilovebirthdays

Shout out to the birthday boy (a day late):

Thanks to Dane (and my other wonderful friends) for walking Race for the Cure with Mom and me! And just for being all around great! Hope your birthday was special and you felt real loved!

Done.

Well, it's over... the week from H-E-double hockey sticks is done. I survived. Barely. Just wanted to say that I made it... now I get to start preparing to tell high school kids about Jesus on Monday night. So thankful for a few days to rest this weekend. I'm sleepy. And that's an understatement (to use a word that was on my midterm tonight).

Recently my Saturdays have been consumed by this:

Note the Moe's cup- my life has also been consumed by that place.

Note the change in weather from the previous week by what we're wearing.
Crazy Knoxville weather.

I learned that Logan, Megan, and I are great cooks... even if we struggle getting it all together, it tastes great! We cooked for some of the guys.

We had camo YoungLife club on Monday:

 

This girl ROCKED her talk.
It was so great, and I am so freaking thankful I get to do ministry along side her.

This girl is spending the night tonight, and I am so stinking excited!

5 things.

The other day Nicole asked me to list 5 good things happening in my life right now. Then today I saw one of those "repost this as your status... list 5 things you're thankful for" things... I'm not much on facebook statuses/stati (?), but I'll list 5 things here. Not that it should be limited to 5, but for sake of time... (I'm about to go interview a kindergarten teacher... seems like I should be the one getting interviewed?)

Anyway, here are 5 things that I am so blessed by:
(I'm going to use the numbering tool just for you Chelcie)

1. Jesus- My relationship with Him. what He offers me, how He loves me perfectly, how in Him I have hope and joy, how "He holds my world in His hands" so I don't have to live a life of worry but instead I can (try my best to) live a life of faith and trust.
2. I'm going to steal from Morgan a little bit here. Community. My family, my friends, my small group, my roommates, my young life team, my church, my friends at CAK, all the other leaders in Knoxville.
3. Even though I complain about school a lot (working on that) because I really don't enjoy it, I am thankful for the ability to be in school, thankful for the preparation God is using it for in me, thankful for my grandparents paying for college so I don't have to worry about that aspect of it.
4. Health. My mom's in particular right now, but really I'm just thankful for the health of all my family and friends.
   
5. I'm going to be less deep with the last one- this beautiful East Tennessee fall weather.
   

This fall break has consisted of...
-lunch at CAK
-shopping with my mom and Olivia
-hanging out with Jamie and Nicole
-spending time with Dane
-lunch at A.L. Lotts
-being the "mystery reader" in Olivia's classroom
-finally having some quality time with Nicole
-helping Rebekah do her hair
-dinner with BT and Jamie
-CAK homecoming
-sleepover with Logan and Megan
-UT game
-cooking dinner for the guys
-bonfire
-walking with mom, Jamie, & some family in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk

Now I'm just sitting here waiting on my dad to bring me my phone before I go to the library. I handed it to him at the walk and then he left for the lake with it still in his pocket! And I'm telling myself I can't go to the library til I have it (because he's bringing it to my house and I have no way to get in touch with him) so therefore I can't do homework yet... Even though I really should get started!

Anyway, here are some pictures from CAK Homecoming! These girls look like supermodels. They are beautiful.

I had a paper due yesterday in my night class, so I told everyone I came in contact with that I was going to go home after class and go to bed at 7:45. I was joking at the time. Then once I did get home, I decided to take a nap until Laura got home... so I got in bed at 7:40 pm on a Thursday night. I was woken up by a phone call at about 9:30 and got up to sit with Laura, but after about 5 minutes I was ready to get back in bed. I woke up once at 3:45 and then slept straight through til 8 this morning. I've been lacking on sleep a lot lately and kept saying that I could probably sleep for days, and truth is, I could still be sleeping! But I'm up packing and get ready for this weekend that I'm so excited about! Logan and Megan are letting me join them for Oktoberfest in Georgia!

(These pictures were taken at our 1st club of the year. It was AWESOME. Love these girls.)

Who am I?

(The title of this post serves two purposes- I was actually asking that because I'm blogging for the second time today and it's been a LONG time since I've blogged twice in a week... much less twice in a day! But also I just found this:

that I made freshman year... and so this tells you who I am... and who you are too.)

Also, I just watched this video:

and want to be in Africa loving on kids.

STC

One of my favorite places (Sharp Top Cove- the weather was perfect) with my favorite people (my team and my best friends) doing the thing I love most (worshiping the Lord and being reminded of how much He loves me and why I do what I d0):