Monday, March 26, 2012

"Let's Do It. Let's Go To The Beach."

Spring Break 2012... Man oh man was it fun! I can't believe it's already happened and instead of waking up every morning and heading out to the beach, we are all waking up and going to class. Thank goodness it was at least warm when we rolled back into town. I don't think I could have coped with coming back to the cold again after being in 80 degree weather for a solid week. Good riddance to you wintertime (hopefully)!!!

There were so many great things about Spring Break. Obviously, besides the fact that I got to spend a week in the sun and finally not look like Casper anymore, I got to hang out with 12 of the coolest people I know.

We laughed. A LOT. We learned how to perfect skim boarding and corn hole. We danced (who knew Molly Young had such sick dance moves??). We ate. SO much. We learned that Local Blue Crab does not equate by any means to Alaskan Snow Crab (really I'm the one who learned this...the hard way). We saw Dane in his infamous American/Patriotic/Tiny/Not OKAY speedo run down the beach and scare the visitors and locals. We had the beach patrol stop to tell the boys to get out of the water (not once, but twice). We (all the girls) shared a big room with seven beds in it that I wish more than anything we could just transport to Knoxville so we could all be together like that again. We listened to a lot of country. And a lot of Pandora Destiny's Child Radio (Thanks for making the car ride SO enjoyable for all of us Lil Nikki with this revelation). And we had a good time just being with one another.

I relived the week again tonight by editing picture and making a photobook (thanks Shutterfly for having great specials this week- you rock!) And I hope we really can relive this spring break again. I know we won't always have a spring break, in fact, this is my last one ever, but I hope that there is some week every year that I can take off of work and just live life with friends. My prayer is that in 20, even 30 years from now, we will all still know each other, all still be going on "spring break" together, and all still having so much fun doing it.

So until next "spring break," I'll leave you with these gems:













Sunday, March 11, 2012

Sunshine Happiness

Days like today, when the sun is shining and the weather is warm and gorgeous, make me happy. And thankful

Thankful for Sundays spent at home with my family, eating meals together and being blessed with rich conversations.
Thankful for coming home to my other "home", Red Saile, and knowing that in the next couple hours, I'll get to spend time laughing, being silly, and talking about life with 4 of the best humans I know.
Thankful that this past weekend, two of my favorites surprised me by coming to Knoxville and taking time out of their busy schedules to hang out with me.
Thankful my Grandparents have set the best example for me of what it looks like to love one another as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it. When I'm around them, I see them die daily to themselves to serve the Lord and then serve one another, and it's beautiful. They are celebrating 65 years together this coming Sunday and I couldn't feel any happier about it.
Thankful that while school is stressful and hard right now, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I can feel that it's going to lead me to something exciting, new, and wonderful.
Thankful that Jesus is SO evident in my life right now. I feel Him fighting for me daily. I feel Him winning. I see Him all around me, doing big things, planting big dreams, changing lives, changing hearts.

I hope you can find a few things in your life today you're thankful for too.

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts were conscious of our treasures." -Thornton Wilder

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

KONY.

Watch this video. Now!!! I know it's 30 minutes, but promise you won't regret it if you do.

  

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Oh My Soul...Faint Not.

Wheww! It's been a while since I've blogged.... part of that is due to my crazy school schedule this semester (17 hours + 4 labs a week + 10 straight hours of classes on Thursdays = me being exhausted by Friday afternoon), and the other part is a combination of just everything else (family, friends, Young Life, figuring out what's after college, etc.). Lately I've been feeling there are never enough hours in my day. It seems like I wake up, run around like crazy for a few hours, and the next thing I know it's already time to go back to sleep again. And by the time the weekend rolls around, I'm left feeling so physically and emotionally drained. To the point where it's become not okay.

But that's the cool part about Jesus meeting us where we are. Right where we are. No matter what state we are in, or what our circumstances may be. I truly believe the only reason I make it through Thursdays sometimes is because Jesus lends me His strength for that day.

As I was getting ready for bed tonight, I started to think about Thursdays and how much I dread them. This idea of dreading something led my mind to wander to the future and about the idea of working. And this idea of working led me to think about doing work week three years ago (congrats if you're still with me through that thought process). It was the first time I had ever done Windy Gap work week, and honestly I almost didn't go because none of my friends could (that seems so silly to me now).

Thankfully Jesus had a better plan for me than I had for myself, and I went and ended up meeting some incredible people and forming new friendships, which now I am really thankful for. Two of the people I met while at work week are named Jenny and Tyler. They were the guest performers for us, and they are A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I mean, not only are they extremely talented musicians, but they are in love with the Lord, and in love with each other and completely adorable about it. What could be better???

....And I tell you all this because their song "Faint Not" is exactly where I am right now.


Earlier tonight I got the privilege of getting to watch the movie "Beware of Christians" with a few of my friends. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed me. I've never been more emotionally moved or challenged by a movie before. I'm telling y'all, if you haven't seen it, you need to. While poverty and how Christ asks us to respond to it was just one of the areas explored in the movie, the underlying theme of what it looks like to go out and love on people was the basis of what the four individuals in "Beware of Christians" tried to figure out how to do.

What's even better is that two of the guys who are in the movie are COMING to Knoxville NEXT week. That's right, a week from today (Wednesday, March 14 @ 8:00 on UT's Campus) they will be HERE and have a meet and greet after the showing of their movie.

I can't even begin to explain to you how great this movie is (again). Whether you believe in Jesus or not, it's a movie that is worth seeing. The trailer can probably do it more justice than I can by writing a synopsis, so here ya go:



I know where I'll be next Wednesday night. I hope you're there too :)