great book recommendation

it has been a while since i blogged last. hopefully the next few weeks will be more exciting in my life. i have been swamped with school stuff- reading and writing. these next few weekends will be fun and jam-packed!
a book i have started reading is comforts from the cross by elyse fitzpatrick. i am almost halfway through. it is sortof a devotion book, and it is just what the title says- comforts from the cross. it focuses a lot on the Gospel and how it applies in your daily life in the pursuit of godliness. everyone needs to get this!
the next few weekends will be filled with wedding shower extravaganzas for mans,



a trip to auburn w/kates,




and mans and brad's wedding!



october is also birthday month for dad, michael my bro, and michael my b.f. october is a crazy month! not to mention work + school.
happy tuesday, and i can't wait for friday to get here- what a long week!

hard things in life

so this past weekend, i had to experience some of the hardest things i probably have ever had to experience in my 24 years. let me preface the weekend by telling you news i heard last sunday night and how i've been dealing with it since then. my mom called me last sunday to tell me some news i thought i would never hear about a close relative or friend when she called to tell me my cousin had been killed in a car accident from falling asleep at the wheel. i felt in shock and just restless after she told me. all i could think to myself was "why?" and "really, this is real?" now, to preface the atmosphere and everything that happened this weekend, my family was always pretty close with my mom's side of the extended family. we always seemed to visit them every year at least see them in the summers and on holidays. so to me, those cousins and that extended family was one i knew more growing up. i have such great memories of going to that small town in alabama and going to my grandmother's house and literally having NOTHING to do there but play in the dirt and run around the graveyard across the street from her house. she had a shed in the back yard, and she would put piles of tupperware bowls, baking supplies, and utensils and tell us to go to this dirt patch under a tree and play and "bake" and make things out of the dirt. ha, talk about an experience growing up. we would roll for HOURS down a hill laying down on our sides until we were dizzy and made ourselves sick. we would play in ant farms and run around carefree in her zero lot line yard. thankfully, my cousins and aunt and uncle lived down the road and we could go over there OFTEN and jump on their trampoline, ride bikes, rollerblade, play with more dirt, play with their dog, play in their pool, play the old school nintendo. i miss that childhood i knew :( i miss the simplicity of life and what life brought with family during those times. it seems like every year past your childhood, everything changes, especially dynamics with family. as we grew up, it seemed like we grew apart. we still had family ties and love for one another, but it seemed different every time we would visit or they would visit us. like everyone knew we were all growing up and things were going to be different. this past weekend was the visitation and funeral for my cousin. my mom dad brother and i all met in small town alabama friday to visit with extended family and enter into the process of grieving---grieving that i have never experienced before and was not expecting. i think the fact that i was not expecting it and that it totally took me off guard made the weekend even more emotional. saturday was the visitation and private time for the family. it amazed me that even under the awful circumstances that we were all having the privilege of seeing each other, i was so thankful to be there. i was thankful for every single person there. there was so much love the entire weekend. i think everyone was realizing during all of the time we had together saturday to not take anyone for granted...any friendship, relationship, family member, etc. i found myself saying i love you to so many people. grief is a hard concept for me to grasp. i am not an emotional person at all. i tend to keep it all in and then if something triggers those emotions i've been holding in, it's like the flood waters come rushing in. but this past weekend i felt something deeper than sadness. i felt that deep gut pain and grief, something i hope i never have to experience again. i can still hear the cries of my aunt and uncle and my cousin's 2 siblings who are grown and have kids. i can hear them crying out in so much pain and hurt. sunday was the day of the funeral. my cousin's older sibling played his guitar- "when i get where i'm going" and the pastor and wife sang. i think at that point everyone in that church was sobbing. grief is a hard concept because as much pain as it causes, there is also hope as a believer. there is hope of eternal life and hopefully eternal life with Jesus. i think this weekend was also a learning experience for me and a huge transition into adulthood for me that came in the form of grieving and mourning for a loved one. 1) it taught me not to take any day or any one for granted in my life 2) it taught me to not complain or at least hold the complaints in 3) it taught me to rethink my priorities in life...what/who am i living for? 4) to live each day as if it is my last. all of these are yes, definitely cliches. they were always hard for me to swallow before this past weekend because i would think "ok i've heard these a million times, blah blah" but really, think of their importance and how fleeting our lives are.
who & what are you living for? what are your priorities? tell the ones you care about and who are important in your life that you love them and you are thankful for them daily.

great song and video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUf4FEiimwg&feature=player_embedded

TRUST

so right now i'm at panera, drinking coffee and attempting to read for school. which has kindof been successful but frustrating all in the same. my epidemiology class is getting frustrating already with math problems- ah!
i have been thinking a lot lately about life, health, and how much i take for granted and about my salvation. and let me preface my deepness with what has happened the past few days. well september 11 obviously was sunday and remembering the victims and their families was very sad and put life in perspective as tragedies like that do. and i also got a phone call i would never have expected from my mom that day. i had just finished playing volleyball and my home number had called several times. usually that is when my mom is trying to figure out something on the computer or she has a pressing question about my cell phone bill or something...well i called her back after playing and was on the way to a friend's apt to eat dinner. she told me i might need to pull over so she could tell me something. i knew the solemnness in her voice and it just made me really nervous. i pulled over in a parking lot and she told me that my youngest cousin had died that morning in a car accident. my heart sank and i just felt a sadness i haven't felt in a long time come over me...and sadness for my aunt and uncle and my mom's whole side of the family. growing up, my brother and i were always closest to that side of the family. i feel like we were able to see them a lot and my cousin (blaine) and i were close in age. when my mom told me that news, i didn't know how to respond. blaine was in california at the time, he had been living there for a while. all i could think about was his age and that it couldn't even be real. deaths like that i can't even fathom because of his age. i just think about how short his life was, but how our lives on this earth are like a speck.
i think of and am reminded of God's goodness. He is GOOD and loving. even through this time of hurt and pain. the kind of pain my aunt and uncle are going through is the most intense pain i think a parent can ever feel. the kind that is an intense deep hurt where you have to do everything in your power to keep yourself together.
as ive been reading and studying, i've been listening to jj heller. i love this song by her:
I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
Yea, one day You will set all things right

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

remembering 9/11

i can't believe the attacks on the world trade center & pentagon happened 10 years ago today. as many of you do, i remember the exact place i was and what i was doing and my reaction to what happened. i was in PE and we were getting ready to leave, when the announcement came over the intercome. i think my first reaction was some shock and then concern because that day my dad was on a trip flying and i remember feeling so scared.
this morning, i'm watching tv- as america remembers 9/11. it is a solemn remembrance, but also a joyful remembrance in that everyone who has been interviewed says over and over again that NY is stronger, this country is stronger because of 9/11. it reminds me in a way of the desperation and sadness we find ourselves in in our human condition and sin, yet God restores our souls and rescues us and gives us hope. This article gives insight from 9/11 and how it affected our nation and the church. i enjoy reading my pastor back home's blog. colehuffman.blogspot.com. read over this article! and then visit his blog.
http://faithinmemphis.com/2011/09/10/911-dyed-the-fabric-of-our-lives-in-significant-ways/
if anything, remembering 9/11 gives perspective to anyone's life. what we prioritize, what we take for granted, why we are living, whom we are living for, etc. take time today to prioritize and be grateful. on a side note, a verse to share today: romans 8:6 for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

some e elliott wisdom

"in fact, i do believe these great things we say and sing together, then these little things (and what is not little by comparison?) will be taken care of....wherever you are, be all there. live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God. it is within the sphere of the circumstances He chooses for us- single, married, widowed-that we receive Him. it is there and nowhere else that He makes Himself known to us. it is there we are allowed to serve Him. single life may be only a stage of a life's journey, but even a stage is a gift. God may replace it with another gift, but the receiver accepts His gifts with thanksgiving. This gift for this day. the life of faith is lived one day at a time, and it has to be lived- not always looked forward to as though the "real" living were around the next corner. it is today for which we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow"

the US open!

(topnews.in)
1st off, this has become my new fav site:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/
i am beginning a new obsession...and thanks to my co-worker who watches it in her "quiet room" dental hygiene room in between patients. this week, she has had the US open on tv every second she gets a chance. i will roll my chair in there (while she has a patient) and i'll prop my feet on the extra chair in her room and watch the tv that is hung from the ceiling. since i am just now starting to follow, i'm having my co-worker tell me sortof who to follow. she has told me to really get into it, i need to pick 1 player to "follow" and then i start to learn about the players and more about that player i want to follow. so i chose djokovic...and rafa nadal. novak djokovic--picture above--- is from serbia...i think nadal is spain. i absolutely love the game of tennis. i have loved it since i played in high school. the thing that amazes me about watching it on tv is watching the power in their strokes and serves. i also love that it is such a mental game and major physical game. i mean andy roddick serving a tennis ball @ 135 mph? what?!
i also love roger federer. can you believe how young some of these men and women are who play? the girl who is the number 1 seed right now in women's singles is 21. wow. djokovic is my age! rafael nadal is 1 year older than me. here's his pic:
(wikipedia)
i also decided to follow as many tennis players as i knew their names on twitter. the twitter world still amazes me.
i am so excited about fall, the rest of the US open, auburn football starting this saturday, labor day weekend, & hopefully cooler weather! if you haven't gotten into the tennis matches, you should give it a chance. just fine 1 or 2 people you want to follow and go for it. there is much to learn about the tennis world and the different players- it is overwhelming!!!!