i love country musicccccc

happy birthday weekend Catherine!!





well this weekend was full of events. friday night my friend catherine had a birthday bonfire- so much fun. we went out to her parents' house- which is beautiful and has been refinished/done and was built in the 1940's?? and LOTS and lots of land. it is beautiful. saturday was SAND VBALL with some new people i had never played with before, which was also fun. then saturday night...the franklin rodeo. an event i have been looking forward to for a while. something i realized about myself that i always kindof knew, but found out again last night, was that i LOVE country music...i love the rodeo. i love the cowboys & the attire. i love the dirt & the animals & the events. everything was so great and i don't think i have been to a rodeo before, so this was an awesome first experience. my favorite was probably when they let the little kids onto the arena floor and had 3 or 4 calves with ribbons tied to their tails & the kids had to chase them down and pull the ribbons off! i mean a SWARM of little people chasing after the calves. pretty funny.
then today, i relaxed and cleaned up my apt, and some friends are coming to watch a movie tonight!
i have felt like i've been going and going. and friday i actually got to kindof relax...but i also got fried sunburned at the pool :(
this week looking forward to...work picking up and getting a little busier, bible study at NEWKS tomorrow night- which just opened in cool springs!, kairos on tuesday, and DOUBLE HEADER vball games thursday night...and memphis on friday for a long 4 day weekend. much needed.
happy 3rd week of MAY!

catching up

i feel like my nights are full of catching up...with reading, blogging, friendships, etc. the book i am going to re-read (starting tonight) is "future grace" by john piper. one of my good friends, a mom of a camper when i worked at k-co in 2008, gave it to me. she became one of my dear friends while working at this camp. she was the camp nurse one term, and i had her daughter in my cabin coincidentally!
all graduates must read this:
http://faithinmemphis.com/2011/05/17/an-open-letter-to-the-class-of-2011/

forever young...

well, it finally happened. michael graduated. 5 years later......and he has a bachelor of engineering degree.
can i say how proud i am of him?! so so proud.
i had such a blast going to all of his graduation things. i was his only "representing family/friend" at his first ceremony...so of course, i acted as a mom and took a bazillion pictures. which i pretty much did the whole day. i can't tell you how proud i was all day. i'm so proud of him for his hard work and endless hours of studying and working in EPS (the engineering building).
it's crazy to think that michael and i started dating my freshman year of college...and here we are.
after graduation, we headed to memphis and went to dinner and then hung with his family while they packed up and headed to gulf shores...without me!!! i'm so jealous.
michael sent me some pics of their trip so far. i miss him and miss the beach!!!!!!! i need a summer vaca!!
next week michael is planning on moving out of his apt completely (from martin) and moving back home to start a job in m-town.


i have the day off tomorrow! YAY!!!! :) much needed rest.
happy tuesday!

some random

you will never guess what i'm watching right now to go to sleep:
peter pan.

fairytalesfantasy.umwblogs.org
and last night i started reading in the book of Job. i've never really studied it or read it thoroughly...but there are so many things i have missed and picked up on last night. and so many things i don't even remember about this book. like how God told satan that Job should be the one he "tried" or "tested" because he was most upright and blameless. and how Job suffered so much in his "testing" but never sinned during all of it. that was what amazed me most. his faith was so rooted in God that nothing else mattered. His devotion to His Lord and King was all that He prioritized even though his friends and wife mocked him. and in the end, although he had so much taken away, the Lord blessed him because of his faithfulness.

well time to watch one of the best movies in disney history...
tomorrow is hump day!!!

another weekend at home

i think every other post i write, i write about my weekend at home. this weekend i went home for mother's day. friday night my fam & i grilled out and then i went w/ em to see stephen gordon play at a house show- SO good. everyone needs to buy his cd on itunes. if you want to visit his site you can go here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4185252822
saturday i ran some errands & michael and i went to eat at miss cordelia's in harbor town- mainly bc we wanted to see the damage from the flooding and how high the river is. it is ridiculous how different that whole area looks. we didn't take pictures!! then we (difficultly) met up with kt---my recent nursing school graduate sister.

sunday we ate a mother's day lunch at FIREBIRDS and i left for nashville.
this week:
-looking forward to michael GRADUATING from martin saturday!
-watching the grizzlies!
-red rockets' 2nd vball game

happy MONDAY!
ps- where can i get spring clothes? SUGGESTIONS!

worship

worship

what does this word mean to you? to me, it means praise, song, a life, sacrifice, offering, lifting up the Lord’s name…bringing HIM glory, taking the focus off of yourself.

this week, I’ve had a refreshed view of worship & what it means. it is not only the amazing praise band at kairos, the 1,000 something young people lifting up their voice in song, the jr and sr high at brentwood baptist singing along with their amazing praise band tonight…it is a lifestyle reflective of a response to the love of a faithful Father. it is a daily offering & constant turning our gaze to HIM to give HIM glory and make HIS name known---whether that is at our job, school, friendships, relationships, etc. it encompasses our life.

this week at kairos was the worship night and we also started a series called “plan B” which was awesome and so applicable in this stage of life…how the Lord can use those “plan B’s” as ways to turn our trust to Him…and it is how we respond to those “plan B’s” that our faith is tested. and by “plan B’s” I mean how we have this vision of expectations of how we want our lives to go, but we are diverted to plan B’s- things we didn’t really want. how do we respond to that? how should we respond to that as Christians? by faith.

tonight was sort of eye opening too in a humorous way. my friend rachel and I are interested in leading a small group at our church. we went tonight to just observe and see how wednesday nights work. we got there & felt sort of out of place, but also grateful to not be in that stage of life anymore….but also thankful that the Lord used so many experiences in those days of high school and junior high to shape us into the women we are now. it was funny to sit in on a small group and feel and remember that age and what I was so focused on then and what my prayer requests were then and how the Lord has truly worked in my life since those days. I am thankful for a faithful God who is pursuant of me even in my faults & rebellion.

please google or look up the book “plan B” by pete wilson. he is the guy that spoke at kairos tuesday night…amazing speaker with so many words of wisdom and insights from our Heavenly Father.

happy thursday! Looking forward to:

Bump, set, spiking it- 1st vball game of the new season!

Cinco de Mayo celebration!

and friday…. MEMPHIS here I come! & happy mother’s day to a very special mom.

ethnic food adventures & a run

Last thursday, my friends and I went to a korean food restaurant here in cool springs. each week we are trying to try a different ethnic food. our first week, we tried thai food, which was interesting. this korean restaurant is a very small, quaint place & is pretty new. it was SO good. I think all of my friends who had not tried korean food really enjoyed it. and what can I say, I am partial to korean food. I love it.

catherine excited about her food!

I think that was stephanie trying kimchee or fish cakes.

Then friday, my parents came in town for the Country Music Marathon. friday night we went to eat & carb-load. we watched the grizzly bears play & then headed to sleep so dad and I could get up early to run!! we woke up at 5 ish, ate a solid breakfast, and walked to centennial park from our hotel….and then the clock hit 7 a.m. and we were off!! dad ran 13.1, we started out running together & my bladder couldn’t stand running another mile without stopping and using the porter potty. so I stopped to use the bathroom and he continued!! after that bathroom trip, I felt a lot better & thankfully made 26.2 miles.

I struggled some at the end. it was BEAUTIFUL weather. I am so thankful for my parents being there to support me, and my friends Catherine & Rachel came to cheer me on! I won’t be doing another full marathon for a little while!! SOOO much wear on my body. & glad today is a day of rest!!! looking forward to:

- new vball season this week!

- brentwood baptist youth group wednesday!

- Bible study tomorrow!

- home this weekend (hopefully!) for mother’s day. and really excited about my mom’s gift, thanks Milo!

 

happy sunday!!!