Good and bad

Hey so if you haven't heard, I got a job!! Whoop! Yeah! I'm gonna be working in the Lifeskills room at the highschool in College Station. Basically, I'll be an aide, but I'm okay with that. I am just happy to have a job and to have some income coming in soon. I don't know if I was totally up front and honest with myself, because it is less than what I could have, but because I didn't work hard enough early on in the game, I am here. And I'm not going to look at it as being stuck here, but more as an opportunity to grow and learn. I'm looking forward to being in this environment and to get into the groove of how districts and schools actually work. Student teaching doesn't really show you that part.

... ... ...

I just thought of something really really sad. Wow. Ginger is leaving tomorrow. Gosh, that does not make me happy. I absolutely hate saying goodbye. We had breakfast yesterday morning (on Monday) and I couldn't say bye. I just had to say see you later... I mean, how do you say goodbye to a best friend? I've never understood that. I didn't feel this way at highschool graduation... probably because I didn't have close friends like Ginger and Wendy and Kat. It's one of the worst feelings ever.. How stinky.

I am going to miss you, Ginger, SO MUCH!! You bring me smiles all the time and even though I roll my eyes when you crack corny jokes or bust out in song, I envy your joy. Thank you for being so good and nice to me. Thank you for being an older sister to me and for caring so much and wanting so much for me. You are a true friend and you have such a caring heart. I will miss you so so much and I will definitely miss your quirks and fun habits that made me roll my eyes on the outside, but made my heart smile all the time.

Things just keep getting better tonight .. off to bed.

Wow. So everyone's blog is really sad. . . Ginger's is inspiring though. I guess it is a time of saying goodbye... But as Ginger mentioned, it's a time to start new. It's like going to college again, but this time, you don't have to take tests :) whoop for that. I dunno. I don't have a lot of words right now but know that this is hard for me too. It just hasn't hit me yet I guess...

Wow. So I was really pissed yesterday when I wrote all that. Apparently. Wow. I apologize for that! I am probably that pissed, but uh .. who knows.

Today was good fun. I went to lunch with Kat and Sara then headed out to the Smith house to get PAID and then over to the church. We worked so hard this afternoon/evening!! It was great fun just getting to work with people. Hung out with Will for a little while after that, then came home. Hey yall please pray for my mom, she is so stressed out this week, and I don't know why because I haven't been home at all. But she's super stressed, so please pray for her.

I am going tomorrow to Kemah with the youth group and then also to Galveston this weekend for my last youth trip. It's bittersweet! But I'm looking forward to a great time and LOTS of sunscreen!!

Keep praying for my job hunt!!

ugh . Gag me with a bowling ball.. I hate life right now .. not really life, just my life. Have you ever had the feeling of .. not having a purpose? Like, right now, living in CS, I have no purpose. I don't have any reason for being here. Or so it seems... That's how it always is, until 2 years later when you look back and see that, "hey i was there because this" ..... Like I'm just not doing anything. I hate that feeling. School doesn't start for me soon cause I'm not in school. And cause I don't have a job. So I don't have a job, so I don't have work to go to. And I'm almost done being a youth counselor because my time has come to an end there. (I know it's stinky, but it had to happen, so it is. Lauren, if you really want to know, you know..)
I hate that my friends are moving away. Not all of them, but quite a few. All but two of my college friends have moved. I have a few friends here and family. That's it. That is all that is tying me to this place. I have no other reason to be here which makes me want to leave so much more. I'm sorry if this is hard for you to hear, but it's harder for me to say.
Life is rough. Get some good shocks.

It's a long one!!

Well, that was a fun trip! :) It was, that's not sarcasm...
Got back last night from Cali and went straight to the girls' night function for youth! Whew.. I was tired this mornin, but it was worth it.
Here's a quick run down of what Wendy and I did over the past few days...

Tuesday:
Got up at the butt crack of dawn.. actually it was more like the lower back of dawn because the sun wasn't even up when we left CS. So we left super early and got to the airport at a reasonably good time! We made it all the way to the airport in an hour and a half! Yeah, that's good time.
Anywho so we got all boarded and stuff then took off into the wild blue yonder. The in flight movie was Beautyshop with Queen Latifah.. I'm really glad they have headsets for that stuff because I really didn't want to have to watch that, much less, listen to it all the way to CA. It wasn't necessarily a long trip, but it seemed like it took forever I think because you can't really see where you are. You know when you're in a car, you can see what towns and states you are riding through. But on a plane, you can't see state lines and stuff.. all you see is dirt or mini mountains or squares of land. A nice flight nonetheless. We landed and Wendy saw Kat Osterman in the women's bathroom! I don't know what she looks like so I completely missed her.
We got our rent car and headed out onto the highways of California. We took an exit and were going to go look at the USC campus, but ended up driving downtown to the big buildings of LA and seeing tons of cool stuff. We drove all the way through downtown and eventually somehow decided to get onto Santa Monica Blvd and see what we could see. We didn't see much.. haha. No actually we saw some fun stuff! We drove through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and saw lots of nice cars. We didn't recognize any person of fame while driving, but it was fun all the same just to be driving!! At one point, we were driving down a different road and Wendy said something like, "No, I think that's back in Hollywood, we're in Beverly Hills." She then proceeded to say, "This is not real." Haha! Seriously though, who thought we'd be driving through Beverly Hills ???
So anywho, then we drove over to Pasadena, where Wendy's school is. As we drove in, we saw lots of just shops and stuff and just tried to figure out where the heck we were. We saw parts of the college and even drove past Wendy's new apartment! (more on that later) We checked into the hotel and then got ready for an "Evening Visit at Fuller." Basically it's a night thing to let people know what Fuller is like and if they want to come, it's informational and stuff. It was pretty cool actually. We sat at a table with other students who were interested in the school of psychology. They were pretty cool people. We had dinner which was salad and some breads. Welcome to California! Haha.. no, it was really good actually. After dinner, there were some formal stuff that we did, like hear a short speech from one of the deans of the school and watched a video of alumni testimonies. (I think that was my favorite) We went and listened to a mini-lecture from one of the professors of the psych school and had a little Q&A time there. The lecture was Wendy's favorite part, and it was a highlight for me simply because I could see the interest that she held for the subject and also because I understood what he was talking about!!
After the function, we went back to the hotel and went to bed cuz we was wiped out. :)

Wednesday!
We got up, had breakfast, got ready and headed out! Wendy wanted to drive around Pasadena a little bit and see what we could see. There are SO many shops!! I was in heaven.. all my favorite shops! But we stayed in the car and pressed on. We drove around Pasadena for probably an hour, just seeing what streets did and exploring.
Then we headed out onto the highways again. I wanted to put my toes in the ocean, just to say I had, so we headed for the coast. We were going to take a very direct way there, but instead hit Sunset Blvd because it goes all the way to the coast. So we drove down Sunset and saw a bunch of stuff. It's kind of like Santa Monica Blvd, but I think there's more. We drove through Beverly Hills again and saw the Beverly Hills Hotel :) And then we drove through Bel Air !! Whoo hoo! Fresh Prince! hehe.. Then we drove through Brentwood, which as Wendy informed me, is where OJ lived. tsk tsk.
We hit the Pacific Coast Highway and went South to Venice Beach. It was sooo cold !! The atmosphere, not the water! It must have been like 75 with no sun and a breeze. We had lunch at this little Mexican food restaurant, it was really yummy!! We walked to the beach and saw the muscle men, and I stuck my toes in the cold water for all of two seconds! It was just too cold ... We left Venice and went back to Pasadena .. I think. .. What did we do after that.. ? OH!
Yeah.. We headed back to Pasadena because that afternoon, we were going to see Wendy's apartment!! So we went and met Irwin, her floor director at the bookstore and walked to the community where she would be living. It's called Koinonia, which I absolutely love because I love the idea of Koinonia and everything it stands for. Yay! So we walked around the community and found out where the laundry facilities and everything is and then went upstairs to see her place! Wow.. can we say small? It's wow, small. But I think it's totally liveable for one person. Her bathroom is bigger than mine right now!! But like I said, it is totally do-able for two years.
After that, we went and got ready for Hollywood Blvd!! We were going to meet Lindsay and Aaron and his parents for dinner out in Hollywood. It was fun!! We drove down Hollywood Blvd for quite a while and saw Grauman's Chinese Theater and also the Kodak Theatre where they have done the Oscar's for at least two years now.. It was cool (and dorky) to think that we were walking on the same ground that celebrities have walked on before! We ate at Mel's Diner, a little place off the blvd that serves burgers and all sorts of stuff. I got a BLT with avocado.. so yummy! And it totally hit the spot .. We walked around for a while after dinner, up and down the blvd there are the stars in the sidewalks. You know when you hear about so and so getting their star on Hollywood Boulevard? Well, that's what we saw! There are so many of them!! It was hard to walk and also read the sidewalk at the same time. But fun all the same. And in front of Grauman's are all the concrete slabs with people's handprints and footprints! It was cool - Lindsay saw Shirley Temple's and I saw Tom Cruise's and even R2D2's ! haha.. It was cool.

Thursday:
Wow. Today we were so tired waking up!! But it was all good. We got ready for the day and then checked out of the hotel and got back on the highways! We drove to Burbank, which is not far from Pasadena. Wendy wanted to check it out. We drove down Burbank Blvd, but there was like, nothing there. Bummer! We headed to the airport to return our car and eat. We got the car returned and then ate our most expensive meal of the whole trip... a hot dog, fries and a drink for $9.50 !! Holy mackeral. That's what we get for eating in the airport I guess. We boarded our flight and made it back home!!
It was a great trip and I gotta say I'm so lucky for Wendy letting me go with her!

Be praying for the Cooper family as they follow God's voice to different points of the earth!!

Ugh. I'm so mad at me. It's like 12:30 on Monday night (Tuesday morning) and I'm still awake. It's just pissing me off cuz I got into bed at like 11 and even took some Tylenol to help me sleep a little. I'm leaving in the morning at 5:30 w/ Wendy so that means getting up around 4:45 to take a shower and get to the church. Argh it's just so frustrating because I want to sleep but I can't. My mind is just going like 80 miles a minute. No reason... I should have taken Advil .. it helps me sleep better.. I never take Tylenol.. and it hasn't been long enough to take Advil anyway ... frustration!! Well, if anyone reads this, please be praying for our trip. It's gonna be fun, but it's a new environment for both of us. I love you all!!

It's been a fun evening! Dancing at Maggie's, hangin w/ Andrew and Pest at Water-Burger with our Whata-Picante Sauce .. and an okay game of softball ... It's nights like these that I wish would never end ...

So rehab isn't working ...

I think I'm getting cured... I only had to watch my favorite part in My Big Fat Greek Wedding three times to be satisfied .... hehe.. there she goes again !!! BAH!!! HAHAHAH ... Okay ... four times. Why can't I stop laughing???! Oh.. there are the tears ... good times, Steph, good times. :)

And I'm back !

Okay so last night I had written all this stuff but I got tired, so I left it up so I could publish it this morning. I got up this morning and wrote like two more sentences and went to publish it. Well, it all got erased... so here's what I pretty much had...
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I'm back from UMArmy! This week was super fun and we all had a great time. I am too lazy/tired to write everything out, so if you really want to see what happened this last week, you're gonna have to read Lauren's blog and just ignore all the gooshy stuff that she had. ;) We were on the same work team, if that explains anything.

Our group was awesome - we didn't always get along, and I got fired at least twice during the week, only to get rehired at the end of the day. But I tell you what, we worked hard and we never gave up. We touched some lives and planted some seeds in Galveston. Let's see.. who was in the most awesome group of GREEN N ... Well there was Lauren, the most excellent encourager and my go-to girl when I needed to vent or basically who I could go to whenever cuz she's just that awesome. There was Steph, a young woman who is learning so much about herself and about building. She has a beautiful heart and I only wish I could have gotten to know her better. Andrew, who we could always count on for a laugh and who is an awesome servant of the Lord. John, who introduced us to new phrases and made me love him even more. And Hugh, who hated my music selection, but was always willing to help out in any way he could. And an adopted Gwen, our fearless color group leader who made sure we were doing okay and joined us for lunch everyday. OH! AND WILSON .. Our adopted crew member, whom without we could not have finished our project. He is a wonderful teacher and is so awesomely patient with the students, it's just amazing.

Our week was fun at the least!! We had some trying times, but who doesn't?? One of our projects, the door, was the most frustrating thing ever. (Can't you see the storm clouds??) But we learned tons of great lessons this week while on the worksite. Like: 1) You can still hammer pretty darn good while hanging upside-down. 2) Stay out of the bushes unless you want to get cut up. 3) Don't ever look through an old man's stuff... ever. 4) Always always always measure and re measure and re measure because you never know. 5) You should trim the door, not the door jamb.

I personally learned some good stuff this week as well. I guess I kind of re-learned it... * I can't worry, because worry is the opposite of faith. * It's not about me. * God's plan is perfect and is perfectly timed. My prayer this week was that God would put me where He wants me, when He wants me. I have to get onto His timeline, and jump off of mine because mine is super flawed.

I'm so grateful for all the encouragement I received this week and for all the support I received from friends, new and old. I am truly blessed.

That's it for now! More to come as I think about it.

Off to UMArmy! So I won't be here for a while .. not like I've been here much in the past few days anyway. Please be praying for me and my group! I don't know who they are yet, but you can be praying all the same.

And please be praying for me. I have not found a job yet, and I know that I have to be patient, but it's really trying my faith.

So yeah, yeah. Okay. Have a great week and I'll fill you in when I get back !

OH YEAH.. pray for next Saturday too.. Kelly & Charles are getting married !! :) Yay!

For more links on G8 stuff, see the G8 links on the sidebar over there ------>

Oh and here's some of my friend, Danny's, photography. This is one of my favorites. If you want to see more of his photography, go to this website.

I named this photo, "Peek-A-Boo." I don't know what Danny named it. :)




(Photo by Danny Boyle)

As I was watching The Sandlot tonight, I saw my favorite part where they play ball under the night sky, lit by fireworks. To go along with yesterday's post, here's a quote from that scene.

"There was only one night game a year. On the fourth of July the whole sky would brighten up with fireworks, giving us just enough light for a game. We played our best that night, because I guess we all felt like the "big leaguers" under the lights of some great stadium. Benny felt like that all the time. We all knew he was gonna go on to bigger and better games, because every time we stopped to watch the sky on those nights, like regular kids, he was there to call us back. Ya see, for us, baseball was a game. But for Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, baseball was life."

You know, there's just something about standing in an open field with thousands of people around you, and staring into the sky in awe of the fire balls that are exploding, creating a beautiful array of color and sound.

Standing in the middle of Zilker Park in Austin last night, I felt like I should be standing in the middle of the Sandlot. I honestly felt like a 12 year old again. It was so cool. My eyes were just glued to the sky.

It was awesome to think about how the Chinese invented fireworks so long ago and today we're using them to celebrate our freedom. I love fireworks. There's just something about lighting a little string and watching the light travel into a tube that holds this ball of gunpowder and other chemical powders, then watching it explode in the sky. What is it?! I don't know but it's fun.

Last night was truly fun. We spent the afternoon at the park, just chillin, eating, playing catch and enjoying the outdoors. It was hot, I won't lie, but I think it was all worth the sweat and the dirt and the tiny little ants.

Yesterday felt like a true 4th of July. Playing outside in the hot sun with best friends, eating watermelon and sandwiches and drinking ice tea and lemonade, listening to patriotic music as the sun set, and finally watching fireworks light up the sky. It was great. :o)

Happy Independence Day, America. You're one lucky son-of-a-gun.

Reach One More . . .

My thoughts:
Now, I didn't know a lot about this whole G8 thing until extremely recently. I'm talkin' last Thursday here. And from what I've learned, seen on TV, heard, etc, this is a huge deal. I mean, I've always known that that there has been poverty in Africa and that AIDS is a big deal over there that is very much out of hand. But I've never had the desire or concern about it until now. Maybe it's because Ginger is going over there, she's taking a present action. But knowing that there has been stuff our nation has been able to do for so long, but we haven't is really frustrating. I mean, if we gave only 1% of our government budget to Africa to help with poverty and AIDS, that's a really large amount of money!! My question is why have we waited? What's the deal? I mean, yeah, it was important to free the Iraqians from tyranny and to help with the tsunami and we wanted revenge on Bin Laden, so that's why we chased him... but Africa has been in poverty for hundreds of years!!!!! Ugh.. Let's just keep praying that our President and the rest of the leaders involved in the G8 make some good decisions that will help the entire continent of Africa and the millions (or billions?) of people who live there.

Some facts: (these just kill me)
- Around the world, 104 million children do not go to school because of poverty.
- Each day more than 8,000 people die of AIDS.
- 15 million children have already lost one or both parents to AIDS. Unless more is done, there will be 25 million of these children around the world by 2010.
- ONE person in seven goes to bed hungry each night.
- ONE person in seven lacks access to clean water for drinking, cooking or washing.
- ONE in five people has to survive on less than $1 a day

If we gave an additional ONE percent of our national budget to fight world poverty and AIDS, we can help: (**This is what we want Pres Bush to pull for!**)
Prevent 10 million children from becoming AIDS orphans
Send 104 million children to grade school
Provide clean water to almost 900 million people around the globe
Save almost 6.5 million children under 5 from dying of diseases that could be prevented with low-cost measures like vaccinations or a well for clean water

(All facts from www.worldvision.org)

This is what else the ONE Campaign (www.one.org) is calling for:
*Trade Justice: Reform trade rules so poor countries can earn sustainable incomes.
*Drop the Debt: Cancel 100 percent of the debts owed by the poorest countries.
*More and Better Aid: Help the poorest people of the world fight poverty, AIDS and hunger at a cost equal to just ONE percent more of the U.S. budget, on a clear timetable.

And here are a few things of what GOD says about what we should be doing...

Proverbs 31:8 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

Luke 3:11 "John answered, 'the man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.'"

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

If you want to know what you can pray for specifically, click on the following link (PDF)
http://worldvision.sitestream.com/ONE/prayerpoints.pdf

Today has been .. kind of normal, if you really want a word to describe it. I dunno, I went to church this morning, and honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the sermon. I don't know.. worship was odd too.. It was probably just me though. Lunch was kinda fun! We went to the Deluxe Diner with a gi-normous group. I don't even remember everyone who was there. But it was cool - we hung out for way too long. I went and took care of my dog and then went to youth. I can't really comment on youth too much because .. youth read this :-p But I must say, I really enjoyed our prayer time at the end of the evening. It was pretty impromptu and we just kinda jumped into it, but our group was good. We didn't do it like the other groups, but the way we did our prayer fit our group better than the other way would have. And I said it in our circle, but I'll say it over and over again... I am blessed by each of those girls. Each one of them has brought something new into my life. Life would be very different without each of them.
Whew! Okay, so when I got home, I had to water the lawn ... yeah.. it took me like 3 hours. It was ridiculous. I don't think it's supposed to take that long!! I'll just hope that I didn't completely flood it. haha..
So, only 7 days til UMArmy !! AACK! I have a lot left to do before I go!! I have to get farther on the job hunt and I have to pack!! It's nuts -- Here's what the run-down looks like...
Monday: July 4th plans
Tuesday: make phone calls like crazy following up on stuff; eat dinner with the counselors; work?
Wednesday: work? youth stuff, eat dinner with mom?
Thursday: eat dinner with mom? work? ... who knows....
Friday: w/ mom pretty much all day (i can't reveal why, just trust me on this)
Saturday: take my luggage up to the church in the afternoon

So somewhere in all of that, I have to pack.. I'm sure it will happen :)

Haha.. I'm sorry, did I say "get stuff done" earlier today?? Cuz I'm laughin out loud now!! I didn't get much done today. Surprise, surprise!!!

Instead of "getting stuff done," I went outside and laid out for an hour. However, I did finish my thank you notes for graduation today!! WHOOP! ... Now I just have three for birthday ... Hey, at least I finished them.

The rest of the afternoon... was spent waiting on my dad. Yeah it was weird. He called me around 4 and said he was going to be at the house soon to drop off this key, but then he didn't show til like 5:30 almost! I was kind of perturbed because I had needed to go run a quick errand, and ended up not being able to get that done because I was waiting on him. But it's all good...

I went to dinner w/ Wendy and Ginger at Casa Ole and that was fun :o) Always fun times w/ Wen & Gin. I am really gonna miss those girls when they move off. Let's avoid such depressing thoughts at this time of night... So after that, Wen and I went to Target for like, at least an hour .. It's just such a great store! ! We headed back to the church and worked on altar stuff and watched "My Best Friend's Wedding." Yeah, I really do like that movie :) It's just good stuff and it brings back great memories!! And also helps me think about the future. As a wise woman once told Wendy, "Yeah, you're a Jules now, but someday you'll be someone's Kimmy." Ah.. such wisdom.. and it's a nice thought too :0)

"Someday ... when I'm awfully low ... when the world is cold ... I will feel a glow ... just thinking of you ... and the way you look tonight ..."

We finished painting and we set up the altar and I must say, it looks darn good. If you put Wendy's and my brains together, you've got some super creative juices flowin!! I love to put those creative juices to work !!

You rock, Wendy!! :o) (This is a shout-out to see if you ever read this... hahaha)

See? Simple fun and time spent with friends is like, the main reason I didn't go to Midland...

Happy Birthday Mom!!
And Happy Birthday PJ!! (You're only 2, but I wanna shout it out anyway.. )

Well Sunday night's post was a little depressing, no? Golly, let's see if we can get this thing back on track ...

This week has been pretty boring, if I do say so myself. Monday, I had a softball game and then I ate dinner with Ginger. Which was fun :o) The softball game was not fun .. one of my worst games so far this season (that was the 4th game). You know, when you strike out at your first up to bat, it's not really a good sign ...

Tuesday ... I don't remember what I did Tuesday ... Oh yeah! I went to work for a few hours and then I rented a movie and took it up to the church. Miss Congeniality 2 is kinda cute! I mean, of course, once you get into the movie, you know how the plot goes, but it was still fun :o)

Wednesday was ... um .. good! Haha.. I gotta start posting more often or write down what I do everyday .. I went out to the church early in the day and returned a key, then I went and saw Miss Lauren at VBS! So fun... I washed my car on Wednesday and got totally burnt on my back, but my car is clean and I had something to do :o) Then I laid out in the backyard for a little while and then headed out to the church for youth stuff. When I got there, the kids and some of the counselors were playing "The Game." It's this game the counselors made up this year that we play in the gym. It's so fun, and it's a great workout too!! So I joined them and played for a long time til it was time for the Jr Hi kids to go home. We played V-ball with the Sr Hi kids and also a little wall-ball for the renegades. After the counselor meeting, the counselors got goofy and tried to play some pranks on the JUMMP kids that were staying there. I don't know how well they worked, but it was fun all the same.

Thursday was boring as crap. I didn't do anything productive all day!! I never turned on my car on Thursday.. that's how much I didn't do.

Friday I went with Ginger to Galveston to check out some sites for UMArmy. It was fun! We got to see a lot of houses and meet some people, so that was good. It was good just to go to Galveston. At one point, we were sitting in Ben & Jerry's just watching the waves crash on the beach.. It was relaxing. :o) Then we sat in traffic on the way home. I felt bad because I fell asleep early on in the trip, but only for like 15 minutes.. Still.. it's not polite, and I stayed awake the rest of the day home. Whew! Last night, (Friday) I went back out to the church and we played some junk poker. I did pretty well in the first game. I was the 3rd person out, but the second game I was the 1st person out. Haha. So I was bored for a while until Wendy got herself out so we could play battle. Good times were had...

Well, it's Saturday today and I got up late. ... again ... My family is in Midland this weekend, I chose not to go, simply because I didn't want to. :) I made a good decision in my opinion. I know I'm missed out there, but I honestly don't think I'm missing anything other than time with the relatives. So today I am going to get stuff done. I don't know what "stuff" is, but it will get done. hahah.. whew!

Peace out peoples!

and now for something completely out of the ordinary...

Just beware of what you're about to read..

11:50 pm, Sunday
Today has been ... a ... good? day ?

I don't know. It started out good I think.. I went to church.. I don't think that can necessarily be a bad thing. This woman spoke today about being "improbable" ... I'm not sure I like the way I took it. I know what she was trying to say, but I took it as like, my dreams, my goals right now are improbable. Like they probably won't happen. And I hope it's not like that.. but that is what it feels like right now..

I have this really good friend named Kellie. And she told me that she regards me as a mentor. But tonight we have switched roles.

(2 hours later...)
1:30am, Monday
Have you ever thought about life? And never had the words to describe it? That is how I felt earlier.. but somehow, Kellie helped me to find the words. She listened. And I listened to what my heart was telling me and I put them into words.

They say good friends are hard to find, but I know exactly where to find them because I already have them. I have been so blessed to have friends to believe in me and love me and love God and trust in Him. It seems like I never had that growing up - I mean, yeah, highschool is extremely fake simply because everyone is immature, but I mean, only 5 years later we can be so much more mature and able to think and verbalize and just be better people. It's nuts. But it's awesome.

Kellie says that good talks are priceless. I say that good friends are priceless... and that I am SO rich.

That's a Manu, celebrating the big win. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Yeah, it is funny how I talk about them like I know them, or how I post pictures like I took them ...

GO SPURS GO!!!!
Gosh I wish I could make that SO much bigger...

Way to go Spurs .. I am SO proud to be one of your fans

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haha.. I am watching the end of the game, some highlights and stuff ... I just saw Manu's face of pure glee and joy when the game ended. He had this smile on his face that was just like a little kid who scored a goal in his first game with his dad watching. I don't mean to make him look like a young boy, but it was just sweet.

I can't wait for next season ...

Okay.. so here's the script from the last few minutes of the Spurs game tonight .. it's pretty funny... I spazzed...

AggiOhFour: hey if i don't answer, it's cuz i'm watching the last four minutes of the basketball game.. :-)
AggiOhFour: just fyi
flutepkpenguin6: okie dokie
AggiOhFour: :-D
AggiOhFour: YES
AggiOhFour: nice shot.
AggiOhFour: k .. i'm gonna disappear for .. 3 minutes.. games' almost over.
flutepkpenguin6: okie dokie
AggiOhFour: arggh... 59.3 seconds left in the game..
AggiOhFour: comercial
flutepkpenguin6: of course
AggiOhFour: garrr
AggiOhFour: okay i'm gone again ...
AggiOhFour: 40 sec
flutepkpenguin6: k
AggiOhFour: killing me .. :'(
AggiOhFour: 33 seconds....
AggiOhFour:
flutepkpenguin6: and another commercial?!
AggiOhFour: no.. time out
flutepkpenguin6: oh
flutepkpenguin6: but still >:o
AggiOhFour: uh huh.
AggiOhFour: man i don't want to stay up for overtime..
AggiOhFour: i hope it doesn't come to that..
flutepkpenguin6: who is winning?
AggiOhFour: TIED....
flutepkpenguin6: (duh lauren....if it would have to go into overtime, that would generally mean that they are tied...)
flutepkpenguin6: sorry..
flutepkpenguin6: i dont have much of a brain left after camp
AggiOhFour: oh.. i didn't mean that in a rude way..
flutepkpenguin6: no, i didnt take it that way
AggiOhFour: i was just emphasizing that
flutepkpenguin6: right
AggiOhFour: ok
AggiOhFour: 16 sec
AggiOhFour: brbr
flutepkpenguin6: :-)
AggiOhFour: noooooo
AggiOhFour: overtime...
AggiOhFour: dang it.
AggiOhFour: so close
flutepkpenguin6: bummer
AggiOhFour: dang so OT has started...
AggiOhFour: :-(
flutepkpenguin6: yuck
AggiOhFour: oh well
AggiOhFour: so....
AggiOhFour: holy cow.. even if you don't like basketball, you need to watch this game.
flutepkpenguin6: oh really now? that good?
AggiOhFour: oh my gosh.. this is amazing.. this guy just slam dunked ALL over a detroit guy
AggiOhFour: it was awesome
flutepkpenguin6: WOW
AggiOhFour: A!
AggiOhFour: there's 50 sec left
AggiOhFour: NO!
flutepkpenguin6: :-)
AggiOhFour: dang it
AggiOhFour: !
AggiOhFour: !!!!!!!!!!!!!
AggiOhFour: i'm spazzing
flutepkpenguin6: i see that
AggiOhFour: thank you jesus
AggiOhFour: oh MY GOSH
AggiOhFour: !
AggiOhFour: whew!
AggiOhFour: they took a time out
AggiOhFour: there are NINE seconds left.
AggiOhFour: and SA is down by 2
flutepkpenguin6: uh oh
AggiOhFour: holy balls.. this is intense.
flutepkpenguin6: HEH
flutepkpenguin6: i see that
AggiOhFour: yes, i said holy ball.s
flutepkpenguin6: yah....
AggiOhFour: k i shall return..
AggiOhFour: !!!! Horry on the 3 pointer!!! WHOOOOOO!!! 96-95 ... FIVE SECONDS LEFT .. SA is up :-)
flutepkpenguin6: commercial
AggiOhFour: well, there was a time out... again..
AggiOhFour: this is like the 3rd in a row.
flutepkpenguin6: yup
flutepkpenguin6: yup
flutepkpenguin6: very good game
AggiOhFour: cha.. yeah.
flutepkpenguin6: watching the last 6 seconds ;-)
AggiOhFour: whoop for that.. it's the most exciting part of the whole game in my opinion
AggiOhFour: k back on
AggiOhFour: !!! YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
AggiOhFour: WE WON WE WON WE WON!!!
flutepkpenguin6: WE WON!!
AggiOhFour: YEAH WE DID
flutepkpenguin6: wow....
AggiOhFour: WHAT THEN.
AggiOhFour: WHAT.
AggiOhFour: YES.
flutepkpenguin6: yay
AggiOhFour: whew..
AggiOhFour: wow.. that was great.
flutepkpenguin6: heck yes it was
AggiOhFour: :-D
flutepkpenguin6: i love the spurs!!
flutepkpenguin6: yaaayy

Okay! So, YES, the Spurs won!! So we're 3-2 now in the finals with a game at HOME on Tuesday!! Big Shot Rob saved the game for us in OT with some awesome shots and the boys are just pullin it back together! YEAH-YUH!!! I'm outta here.. it's past my bedtime..

Wow! Today has been SO great. As I was driving away from the church tonight, I just had to thank Jesus for a great day. It really has! I mean, it's not like I have done anything super awesome...

I went to lunch with Julie at McAllister's. So fun and soo yummy!

Went to Best Buy & got Dad's Dad Day present and also used some Christmas/birthday money to get me a little somethin'.

Went home and fiddled with the new little somethin'.

Called Lauren to see how the week had gone and she was doing well. (My bud's back in town!)

Searched for my cd's but could not find them anywhere at my house... Then called Ginger to see if she knew where they were... yeah, she knew exactly where they were.

Mom came home and tried to fish my splinter out of my finger, but we couldn't even find the little bugga'. Then we talked a little about the computer I would be ordering soon.. whoop!

Went out to eat with Kathrin & David at C&J's BBQ. We laughed so hard cuz Kathrin wouldn't stop snorting!! :)

Went to Blockbuster w/ Julie, The Don and B-Rad to rent a movie because I didn't want to stay up too late to go to the movies.. (funny how we'd be sitting there right now.. and I'm still up... hmmm)

Went out to the church, popped in "Ocean's 12" (which is so good) and tried to get comfy on that stupid love seat that Wendy always sits on. I just don't get it.
Had some more good laughs out there, grabbed my cds, and then came home.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, it's been a good day & Jesus gave me all the joy!! Yay-yuh!!

Okay so I just have to throw this in for the day .....

boozkoolikeafoo: alright well i'm gonna shower (i know it's surprising, and it's not even saturday!) and hit the hay. and by hit they hay, i mean literally hit the hay, we have some outside
boozkoolikeafoo: haha whew. ok bye
AggiOhFour: hah bye julie you spaz
boozkoolikeafoo: me a spaz?
boozkoolikeafoo: what
boozkoolikeafoo: ?
boozkoolikeafoo: crazy? i was crazy once
AggiOhFour: good night!
boozkoolikeafoo: they locked me in a padded cell
boozkoolikeafoo: and a plant grew up and tickled me on the nose
boozkoolikeafoo: and it drove me crazy
boozkoolikeafoo: crazy? i was crazy once
boozkoolikeafoo: they locked me in a padded cell
boozkoolikeafoo: and a plant grew up and tickled my nose
boozkoolikeafoo: and it drove me crazy
boozkoolikeafoo: crazy?
AggiOhFour: ENOUGH
boozkoolikeafoo: hahaha good times.

whew!! wow.. just ... wow...

UGH... today has been the most boring day of my summer so far!!! I HATE BORING DAYS!!!!!

I didn't know if I was going to work today because Traci never called me so I pretty much slept in til 11. I hate this! I want something to do! I NEED something to do EVERYDAY... Like, even if it's going out at noon for whatever random thing, I'LL DO IT!!

The only thing I really did today was get my hair cut. It's shorter - that's about as descript as it gets. The Randi cut at a shorter length :o)

I made a "Movie & CD" list of the ones I want to look for at Half Priced Books either this weekend or next week sometime. It's getting long!! I think I'm going to use some birthday money to either buy a VHS or add it to the computer/digital camera fund. Who knows.. not me :oP

That's all I've got for today.. Like I said, boring day ... Tonight's agenda holds eating dinner w/ mom then heading over to the church to watch the Spurs game. I'm going to take my new pillow with me and pray that it's a good luck charm. ;o)

Love to you all!!

Another birthday come and gone...

I had a great weekend and lots of fun with the friends. Not so much fun with Mike, but that's okay, if you know me, you know what happened.

I was blessed by many cards and phone calls and am so thankful for each one of you!!

The week has turned out to be restful; I did, however, start back to work for Traci on Tuesday. It's been the same old routine; seems like nothing has changed or like I ever left. I've been doing more work getting a job lined up for the fall and I have my eyes out there, like hawks.. well maybe more like pigeons, but they always know where the food is, so it's a good analogy. ;)

I've had a really great day today!! I got an email today that told me I would be receiving my teaching certificate in the mail soon so that was REALLY exciting. And then my dad got me a late birthday present!!! He gave me A SPURS PILLOW !!!! AHHH!!! I have just been loving on that thing all night long.. I LOVE IT. GO SPURS GO.

I'm trying to be more encouraging and accepting of others so please help me with that.

And, I want to get back into the routine of working out/running. I realized early this week that I am always in a better mood when I get moving and sweat. However, I am yet to begin this routine because I plan it for when I wake up in the morning.... Well, I really have nothing to get up for, so I sleep as long as I want and I usually talk myself out of it because it's hot by 9am... Soo.. I've gotta figure out a way to get myself out and runnin' .. any suggestions? I've got plenty of ideas, it's just putting one into practice and keeping up the routine.

Anywho - I had a really good talk with some of my friends earlier this week and hopefully our discussion will make all of our lives easier and make the lives of those around us more pleasant. :o)

Kat - If you're reading this, I made Ginger and Wendy aware of the past operation "Capioera" and they are full in knowledge, actually wanting to be more informed, so expect an email from them soon... hehe.. Love you girl and miss you SO much.

As for the rest of you crazy nuts out there - please call me or email me or somethin - I miss everyone and love you all to bits!!

Yes, the countdown has begun.....

Wow! So today was not so bad at all!! It was a relatively easy day, and I think this is because I didn't have a few of my groups today due to schedule changes and such. Tomorrow should go well also because of more schedule changes AND the fact that the kids are not going swimming tomorrow should make a huge difference. The swimming part of the day is cool for the kids simply because they get some swim lessons and "unstructured" play time, but it's a pain for all the counselors because of the traveling and everything. So tomorrow should go well. At the end of the day, I get to take one of the boy groups over to the Corps Center instead of do arts and crafts :) Yay! They don't like a&c so much anyways, so I'd figure, "let's take em to see a bunch of guns" hahah... We'll see how it goes.

I am not as tired today as I have been, which is a great feeling. My birthday is in 3 days :)

That's all I've got for now. Not a lot of news on the homefront... Which could be good or bad! But we'll say it's good today.

Have a wonderful evening!!

SOOOO glad it's almost Wednesday! There are only 3 more days of camp left and I'm pumped to have it be OVER. It's been fun and all, but if I never have to paper mache again, I think I'll be okay with that. Most of the kids are cool, but uh... the rest are little punks who don't know how to be respectful to adults or even to kids their own age. Kids these days.... gosh, never thought I'd be saying that...

So I got a summer job. I call it a part part time job because it's 1-2 days a week. I'm going to be working for Traci again in her office. I'll actually probably be able to get a lot done because I won't have to watch the boys since Kristin is their sitter this summer. But it will be fun simply because I like that family a lot.

I am still job hunting for next school year. I put an application in the mail tonight for Navasota. I think I really want that job if I can get it. I think I would like it. It's a PE teaching and soccer coach. So we'll see :o)

There's a lot of stuff goin on right now in my head and in my heart, so keep me in your prayers!!

Oh yeah!! Almost forgot! :) My B-day is on Saturday! I'll be 20-older... aka 23 years old. I am ready for me to be 20-older though. Every year I get older, I feel more like an adult, even though I don't act like it some... most of the time.

Have a great Wednesday!!

Wow, this week has been insane... -ly awesome. I started out the week with Camp Adventure during the day and immediately after, soccer camp! Yeah, I've been pooped all week but it's been worth it. Wow.. that's pretty much all I've done :o) I have been getting a lot of heckling from certain people (not just mom) to get on the ball and get more job stuff done. And trust me, I've got the message. It's getting to the point to where if I don't find a job soon, I might not have one. So this afternoon will be dedicated to doing just that; filling out applications online and offline, fine-tuning the resume, and getting stuff done. I can't afford to jack around any more with this. As much I want to just relax, this has got to become priority #1 for my weekend. No, week. No, life.
I'm goin to lunch with Wendy, so I need to get ready for the day and then head out. Hopefully I'll get a chance later to write a little bit more. Please be praying for me in my job search!! Oh! And say a prayer for Kat Stock too - she's safely in Brazil :o)

So I got back from UMArmy today. What a week! It was a good time and I met some new people and got to hang out with old friends. There's not a lot that I can write... I dunno.. there aren't a lot of words to share with you about this week. UMArmy is always something you have to experience yourself.
Like I said, I did get to hang with some old friends. I got to see and talk a lot with my friend Kat Farr from last year. We get along really well.. it's kinda crazy/awesome. We talked a whole lot... it was really cool... I also got to hang out with my friend Matthew. I haven't ever been super good friends iwth him before, but I finally got to hang out with him a lot and talk with him too. This year was different simply because our church group was so small and everyone pretty much had their own friends, new or old. So I hung back some and talked with old friends, did what I needed to get done. It was different for sure.
My small group was cool. We got a ton of work done - a group of very hard workers, just not very good friends. We got along okay, but, I keep comparing to last year's small group. It was just so great last year. But like I said, we got a whole lot done which was awesome. God taught me a lot this year. We were assigned to scrape and paint this house. If you know me, you know I'd rather build something so I can hammer and cut and stuff. Not was the case... So the first day instead of scraping like the rest of the group, I grabbed a toilet brush and some clorox and this sprayer thing and got to scrubbin the mold and mildew off the side of the house. It wasn't a very glamorous job but I didn't have to scrape. And God really taught me to be more humble this week. He got me down on the ground and had me scrubbing a house with a toilet brush...
He showed me that I wasn't on that trip for myself. I wasn't there to do things for myself; I wasn't there to get my mind off of things; I wasn't there to hammer or build. He sent me there to serve others and to serve well. He sent me there to help an old woman have a better looking house. He sent me there to make an impact on someone else. I won't know if I accomplished the last, but I hope something happened in that department.
He was faithful to me this week and He showed me to serve Him and to completely surrender myself to Him. Without complete surrender, you can't truly live. So maybe now I can truly live.
A woman told someone this week that she thought I was happier than last year, and that I had more joy. Then this morning, as she blessed my communion bread, she told me I had a renewed joy and a renewed life. I truly believe that. I am so much happier. I don't know how, I don't know why. So much has happened in the past year that there's not just one thing I can point my finger at for an explanation. I just know that today I have more joy than I did on Sunday or even on Monday. God gave me a new heart this week, He washed me clean. Hallelujah and Amen.

Well today I leave for my last College UM ARMY. It's bittersweet I guess. Wendy's not going so that stinks, but Ginger is so that helps a lot. But it's all good - I am ready to serve!!! Bring it on Houston....
I'll be gone for a whole week so don't expect any updates or for me to be on AIM..
Love to you all !!

Well, my good friend beat me home today. James went to see Jesus, met Him face to face. I am sad to lose him but really, and I have to keep telling myself this, he's so much happier now where he is. And on the way home tonight, I couldn't help but think about the scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
This verse totally made me smile. All I could think was that James now sees face to face. And now James fully knows. How awesome and amazing.
And what an amazing man James was. His faith over the years that I have known him has just been a huge testimony and a great example to follow. He has been someone that I look up to and someone that I could count on for anything. He became a wonderful listener and I could only hope to be that great of a friend to someone else.
Ya know, I have known the Barretts closely for probably 6-7 years, and they have been nothing but supportive of me in my college career and in life in general. James and Carol really got me through my freshman year at A&M ... and James got to see me all the way through school. I know I'm selfish, but it's true. They prayed a lot for me and they prayed me through it. I owe that family so much.
Sometimes life just sucks, and yeah, earlier this evening life was sucking. But eventually, the joy came with the morning. (Psalm 30:5) Jesus is celebrating with James, and I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather James be....

Psalm 30:5
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Haha.. I'm coming to get you Steph.. I will beat you down with my memory stick, partnered with my brute force, raw power and strong thighs!!!!

haha...

This weekend basically rocked. It was just amazing. There's nothing like graduating from college and having the freedom to just ... well the same whatever I've been doing for five years, but now I'm a college grad. I have a degree, not a major. whoop.

I wrote on Saturday and it was cool or whatever, but as I looked back on it, it seems kind of sad and depressing. So here's a better one :)

Okay so church was cool on Sunday. How often does that happen? Ha. I went to the 9:30 service and I don't remember a whole lot but Jerry's sermon was not too bad. Then I went over to the Journey. Wendy did a great job on the altar. She made it appear like there were flames on there.. so cool.. She has a flare (no pun intended i swear) for altar stuff and she's good at it. The perfectionist in her makes her art awesome and worshipful (if that's a word). Then Michael's sermon was very cool. I always like the spins he takes on an every year occasion. This week was Pentecost and he focused on Matthias. But my favorite part of his sermon was when he was talking about the power God gave the apostles. He said something to the effect of: God didn't give them superhuman powers, He gave them the power to communicate.

I'm reading this book to help prepare for this summer's junior high bible studies about superheros and the connection between their personalities and lives with scripture and christian living. So when Michael mentioned the power that God gave the apostles that day, I thought of the superhuman powers given to those heros. And I thought God could have given them the power to fly or the power to shower down his wrath on those who persecute or even the power to perform miracles of the old testament, but He gave them the power to share His word. Whoa. Yeah.. take that in for a second... I'll give you a few...






God is so loving, so compassionate, so awesome that he gave all of us the power of words. He gave us the words and the passion to share his love with others. We don't even have to know that we're speaking a different language as long as we know we're speaking God's love.

When we were in Mexico, and I said this in an earlier post, we went to this church service the last night we were in Reynosa. It was at the church we had been 'stationed' at and where we did a lot of our work. At the end of the service, the pastor asked the family we built for to stand and pray for us. They hadn't said much all week either because they were uncertain of the language barrier or whatever, but that night was amazing. I felt God in that small church. I felt his awesome burning presence in that room. When that family opened their mouths and raised their hands towards us and just started praying for us, it was amazing. Most of us didn't know what they were saying, but we knew they were blessing us, we knew, through God's awesome power, exactly what they meant. I felt his love coming from them and just permeating that room into our hearts.

Yeah. God's love is awesome. That's all I have to say about that.

K.. so i saw that friend today. He came to my house this afternoon for the grad party my mom threw. It was really good seeing him. I miss his friendship. After 5 years of little communication it's a good refresher to see my friend. I gotta say, I still am worried about him. I dunno.. he's going to be here this summer which makes me happy. :) That means I'll have Danny AND him!! But I won't have Mike.... it's okay because God is good!

Today I walked across the stage. I graduated from college today. I got my diploma today. I officially received my degree today. Today I was rewarded with a piece of paper that has some fancy-schmancy words on it to acknowledge 5 years of hard work (well not that hard) and dedication to my university and to my schooling. As of today, I never have to attend college class again.

Ooh.. I like the last one the best :) WHOOP.

I gotta say, this morning I was nervous. When we got onto the floor I was anxious. Halfway through the ceremony I was bored. When we stood to get in the line I was nervous. As I reached the top of the stairs I was ready. When I walked across the stage, all I could think was, smile and don't trip. Then I got to the end and I gave my prof a big hug which is especially funny because he's not really my favorite prof... now that I think about it, I think I was so out of it that I wasn't thinking when I walked up to him. Hahaha... wow...

Today has been a flurry of emotions, as you can tell. It's amazing how much people care for you and how they congratulate you when stuff goes good. And it's even better when they're there for you when stuff goes bad. Today was great. I have to admit, today was great. Yeah... yeah.

I was surfin around on the net and came across this song by Garth Brooks that I just love. The lyrics are amazing and they encourage me to never give up, never quit because everything around me tells me I'm different. It encourages me to follow my heart, follow my gut. Check these out....

"The Change"
One hand
Reaches out
And pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
They say what good have you done
By saving just this one
It's like whispering a prayer
In the fury of a storm

And I hear them saying you'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing
I do this so this world will know
That it will not change me

This heart
Still believes
The love and mercy still exist
While all the hatred rage and so many say
That love is all but pointless in madness such as this
It's like trying to stop a fire
With the moisture from a kiss

And I hear them saying you'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing
I do this so this world will know
That it will not change me

As long as one heart still holds on
Then hope is never really gone
I hear them saying you'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing
I do this so this world we know
Never changes me

What I do is so
This world will know
That it will not change me

They're just great. I love that song. So great.... Here's a parting scripture for you from my friend Katie. She showed me this today and I just like it :)

2 Timothy 4:5-8
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

ARGH! Why does it take being mean to get a phone call???

I have this friend whom I love very much and he means a lot to me... and we've known each other for a very long time now. I call him, I text him.. but he does not return my calls. It bugs me and worries me to no end! And I'm sure I could just say he has a communication problem, but that simply scratches the surface.

So I called him tonight because I haven't talked to him since like, January, and I wanted to see how his semester was going/ending up. Last I heard, he was graduating this semester and I wanted to extend my good wishes for him. Well, he didn't answer. So I tried to leave a message, but it was screwed up so I text messaged him.

Basically, I said: Hey. I want to talk to you. You need to call me. I call and you don't call back. I'm worried about you and you're not being a good friend. Call.

Yeah, pretty much that's what it said. So I go to brush my teeth and get ready for bed, then sit down at the computer and my phone starts ringing. Well I think it's Mike, simply because I have not talked to him all day, but it's my friend. I honestly was not expecting a phone call from him at all. But he did.

We talked for only a few minutes because he was out and I was getting ready for bed and neither of us really could talk about what really needed to be said. So I invited him to my graduation party this weekend and told him to call me tomorrow so we could talk a little and so he could get directions to the party. I really hope he calls me tomorrow.... there's really nothing like losing a best friend to lack of communication....

Gosh this sucks. I mean, I'm feeling kind of sad right now - not crying sad, but disappointed sad, frustrated sad. I'm disappointed in me for not being more persistant, and in him for being horrible at returning calls.

This has been my prayer today, and now it applies even more... These are excerpts from MercyMe's song 'Homesick' They don't apply the way you think they might, but they've been inspiration and constant comfort since 2 this afternoon. God gives me the words in my heart at just the right time.

And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I'm still here so far away from home

Ha... oh yeah, Mike and I graduate this weekend. I guess that is something good to share.

Please keep me in your prayers and please keep my friend in your prayers... he ... sigh... He needs to get back to his roots and he needs to remember how it feels to be complete in Christ and to really have full satisfaction solely in that relationship.

It's a great day to be alive!
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes.
There's some hard times in the neighborhood,
But why can't every day be just this good?
-Travis Tritt

Ya'll I heard this song today, and honestly thought,
1) how long has it been since I've heard this song? and
2) how long has it been since I listened to the lyrics of this song?

I was driving down Hwy 21 on my way home from Caldwell, and this song popped up on the radio (because I'm radio ADD) and it made me smile. Because today truly has been a great day! I woke up this morning and was a little tired and a little late getting to school, but no one really noticed! I walked into the office and the ladies were so sweet to me (they usually are, but today was extra nice). The kids were pretty stinkin' good today (for the most part) and I dunno.. it was a good day at school overall. So on my way back to B/CS, I heard that song on the radio and it just made me happy! :)
So here's the rest of my evening...
I ran home for all of 4 minutes and headed out to the church to pick up an application for a summer job. Then I headed over to the Pryor's because I love them so much. I got to play with Paige for a little bit (she is getting so big!) and talk with Mandy and Stoney. They are a great family and I am so blessed to know them and have their support, love and prayers!!
After that short visit, I went BACK to the church to change clothes and see the counselors before they had their meeting. So I left there and went to my softball game. And dude... the 6:15 game was incredible! My first up-to-bat was awesome!! I hit a triple!! And then later on in the game, I caught this awesome ball out in left field! I was running up to it, cuz it was about to hit the ground, and I just ran up, lowered my glove, almost to the ground and CAUGHT IT !!! Yeah... it was just awesome.
So after the game, I went to dinner with my small group to J.Cody's BBQ for our last meeting together. It was so great, especially since it is Lauren's bday today... (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!)
Well, that pretty much covers it for today... seems like a pretty long day huh? Well, it was, but like I said.. It has been a great day :)

"This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24

Much love!

So much better! :)

Please do not go away until I come back
and bring my offering and set it before you."
And the LORD said,
"I will wait until you return."
Judges 6:18

The story of Gideon here talks about how God chose Gideon, the least of his family, to save the Israelites from Midian. Midian was oppressive and powerful and the Israelites were afraid of him. They plead to God for help and God chose Gideon. Gideon tests God's power and will two times before he takes off to save the Israelites. Of course, God proves His will each time so Gideon takes off.
When I saw this verse, I just remembered how God is always waiting for me to come back to him with my offering, my sacrifice. And yet, we are waiting on Him too. We wait for His truth, His passion, His will... and He waits for our offering, our acknowledgement, our plea for help, our love. His love is more than we can fathom, which in of itself is hard to understand. But He waits. For some, He waits their whole life for just a glimpse, for others, He waits through some double-triple-octuple takes, and for more, He waits for an eye-contact, grasping stare. I want to give Him my stare.
He deserves my stare, my locked-on undivided attention.

What have I done to deserve your son sent to die for me
What can I give I want to live give me eyes to see
In a world that keeps changin’ there’s one thing that I know is true
Your love is stayin’ there’s nothing else I’ll hold onto

You say I belong to you apart from the things I do
You say I belong to you I’m in awe of why you do
Why you do

-Jadon Lavik

uh huh..

I'm called to a life of silent striving,
because the world's imperfect and so am I.
As long as I have breath,
something will be incomplete.
- Stephen Simpson


since my last post, i've finished student teaching, gone to a career fair and turned in a ginormus notebook project. and that's about it. lately i've found myself to be semi-living in this void i call my life. nothing seems real right now. i'm in a funk and i guess it was just due.
lately i've read of living in the valley of the shadow of death and have realized that i'm scared of a shadow. a shadow that can't hurt me ... just intimidate me. and i'm definitely intimidated. jesus is up there, all shiny and bright, and the one thing casting the shadow is the future. you know when you're looking at someone and the sun is right behind them, so you can't see their face, but you can see that they're there? yeah, okay.. that's how i'm feeling right now. i can see that my future is there in front of me but i can't see the details of it's face or even what color t-shirt it's wearing.
But I guess that's okay... cuz ultimately, what i can see is shining right behind it. i know that god is making me step out and just trust that my future is not going to harm me and is not going to bring me down. i have to trust and know that god's got everything for me already. he knows what color t-shirt my future is wearing, and actually even knows the thread count of it's socks. which is pretty stinkin cool.

post mexico

Well life has happened between Feb 27 and today, Mar 17. I kind of figured out that I don't really like to write on here, but I like to get my thoughts down on 'paper'.
The junior high has been great. I think I really like 4-6th graders. They are a lot of fun and are still somewhat obedient. haha... I've been teaching basketball... yes, me... basketball. I like it a lot though. It is very similar to soccer and so I can make sense in my own head and then try to explain it to the girls. I definitely still love those little ones though! I only have 8 more days of student teaching once I get back to school on Monday. How stinking awesome/scary is that!! I have a large project due on April 15th but I don't have a lot to do -- it's just tedious.

We took our 2nd trip to Reynosa Mexico the past 5 days. It was great. We were in a different colonia and it seemed to be a colonia that is a lot more populated or just more central to the church. I dunno. There were tons of kids around and that was good for our kids. That quickly became the most important part of our trip. There were always kids playing somewhere. And I was super excited to see everyone trying to play soccer :) Of course :) We worked so hard; there was tons of hard labor. We dug trenches and mixed concrete for almost two full days. We built a house out of brick for a family and put on a tin roof for the pastor's home. Mexico is full of loving people. Nearly every person we came in contact with was accepting and grateful. The families there don't have a lot of material possessions, but they sure as heck have more than us Americans. They have community and they have an extreme passion for God. Last night, the family we built the house for stood up and prayed for us at the church service. It was AWESOME. They were praying, of course, in Spanish, but even our kids who don't speak or understand much Spanish KNEW what they were saying. It was AMAZING. I had never experienced prayer like that before but I sure loved it. I knew that the family was absolutely sincere about everything they prayed for. I truly have no words for that experience other than to say that God was definitely in that place. He rushed through there like a mighty wind and we felt His presence.

Anywho - it's my bed time. I am super tired and the Coopers and I are heading to San Antonio tomorrow for a Spurs game :-D WHOOP!!! I am pumped and a half :) I gotta print off the tickets tonight so PEACE out!!