a carolina weekend :)

this weekend was pretty glorious. i will do my best to recap, so you can feel like you were there too, sound good? good. 

well. we left on friday after the girls got off work. we drove eliza the escape, which means i had to drive, me being the only stick driver and all. this is usually fine. i love to drive. especially on winding roads in the south. BUT i had just worked 2 straight night shifts with only a 4 hour nap to keep me going. 

thanks to lots of prayer on the girls part, and a very fun winding road detour, and an interesting pizza hut experience, we made it to greenville in one piece. AND i didn't have to force holly to attempt to drive my car.

the girls stayed up with precious shan-shan once we got there, but i decided it would be a smart idea to finally get some sleep, so i did. (i was told i woke up at one point and said to Shannon something like "i love sleeping at night" and then fell back asleep...i cannot confirm this.)

we obviously ate some bojangles for breakfast in the morning. what would at SC trip be without it?

Rachel was sweet and looked up some activities for us to do while there, so after bojangles we went to a flea market. it was pretty sketch to say the least. we stayed for maybe 5 minutes. they were selling medicine. and probably other creepy things.

to redeem the flea market experience, we went to one of our favorite greenville stores: world market. have you all ever been? its great. i ended up getting some fabric to be crafty with and some wall hangers among other little trinkets.

be prepared for some up-coming crafty blogs inspired and made possible by our little visit to world market :)

after world market we decided to go get some starbucks and sit outside in the sun. it was a very pretty day. we also drove around greenville to look at some precious neighborhoods.

then came my favorite. there is a river with waterfalls in downtown greenville (is that right, shan?) its great. absolutely beautiful. so we took a whole lot of pictures.

the picture below is of all of us! i asked a lady to take it for us, and she thought i was asking her if i could take one of her. it was weird, but worked out well. its a framer for sure :)

we were old ladies for many reasons this weekend, some reasons which won't be mentioned. we did eat dinner at 5 and go home to watch the news. i'll give you that. greenville didn't know what was coming.

it's just a treat to be able to spend time with girls that are so encouraging and fun to be around. we really had a wonderful weekend. shannon, we miss you so much and wish we had you back, but the Lord is going to do some cool things in your life :) 

the drive home was interesting. we decided that in the past 19 hours, we hadn't eaten anything besides sugary donuts, so we consulted enrique the gps to see where a zaxby's was. we found one. it may or may not have been 15 miles out of the way. we went anyway. 

when we left zaxby's we were so anxious to get back on coarse that i was not really paying attention to the speed limit (i never really do), but this time, it didn't work out in my favor. i have never been pulled over before. i thought that surely that would work in my favor. no. 

the cop said he had good news and bad news. the good news ended up being that none of us had a warrant out for our arrest (which holly joyfully shouted at), but the bad news was that i got a ticket. my first one. sad day. it wasn't a whole lot of money though. all is well. just sad.

 

and now we're all home in the freezing cold. i'm okay with that though. it'll get warm soon enough. it should be noted that i took advantage of my non-spiritual spiritual gift and made a mix of songs for the car. it was 11.5 hours long and glorious. it just about lasted the whole trip.
 

while we were out, i decided to try the thing with my camera where you can take a picture of running water and it can either look really crisp or really blurry, so i tried both, and both were a success. it's nice to be able to take pictures outside. i can't wait until spring :)

that is all, friends.

i did come home for campaigners tonight and students actually came. we got to dig into scripture with them and discuss it. what could be greater?! love it. steve had them write names of their friends that they wanted to go to camp on a giant poster board. i was so encouraged at how much they got into it. the Lord is good. i am really excited to see what He's got up His sleeve at TC. :) 

things i love.

well friends. here we are again. i am trying to stay up late tonight so i can sleep all day tomorrow :)

a while ago i promised a post about the book i am reading. this is not it. but soon, maybe :) i have a hard time fitting lots of thoughts into one post without it sounding crazy and scattered. 

so, i thought i would make a little favorite things list. why? because i like a lot of things. my friends try to ban the word "favorite" from my vocabulary. but... you can't stop me. (these are absolutely not in order)

1. chipotle. my precious friend shannon blogged about her love for chipotle this past week, and i thought, "why have i not ever blogged about chipotle?". so, chipotle is a favorite. qdoba doesn't hold a candle to it. ask me about my first year of college sometime.

2. reading. i know, general.. but i love getting lost in books. especially francine rivers as far as fiction goes. i don't read fiction really, outside of her and pride and prejudice. if you haven't read something of hers, you should. start with redeeming love. it is amazing. its a perfect picture of how God loves us when we don't deserve it one bit.

3. community. i am SO blessed to be a part of the community i am in. lexington YL is a huge blessing. you don't realize this until you see what community in other places looks like. (sorry jen, i had to. it's random enough for this post)

4. crafts. this probably didn't need to even be said. i love crafts. there is just something about creating. it doesn't surprise me when we have such a ridiculously creative father. 

5. spirit-filled meaningful conversation. i love when conversation passes the surface level and you feel like you really connect with people in a way it matters. doesn't happen enough.

6. manual transmissions. enough said.

7. going to church by myself. i know, this one is weird. its pretty contradicting too...but do you all know what i mean? when you can't find someone to go with? i did this sunday and i felt like it was just me and God. i was teary eyed the entire service. 


8. waking up in the morning and not having to go anywhere. i love getting to lay in bed without feeling rushed. 


9. seeing people happy. could be on tv, could be in real life. doesn't matter. i love it when someone in genuinely happy and overflowing. especially if it is someone who is not used to it. when people pass milestones or win things on tv and cry, i cry. 


10. vulnerability. i feel like i could work on this one. its so refreshing, but it can be scary. there is no room for growth without it. 


11. camp/summer staff. there is something about YL camp that is perfect. i think it probably has to do with the absence of distractions and the ability to single-mindedly focus on the Lord for a whole week or month.

12. 90's music.


13. spring. everything about it.


14. that swing ride at carnivals where you go around in a circle a ton of times. 


15. pirates. and pirate ships. 

16. laughing (silently) until i can't breathe. 


17. listening to meatloaf, 'i'd do anything for love' with jen jen really loud in the car. also listening to river of dreams with my friends as we're driving late at night and way too tired and lost. 

18. this guy. paul and steph's baby eli. i met him for the first time today. precious.

19. My family. They are pretty great. :)

20. Darby's blog. You just have to go there yourself. Trust me.

thanks for putting up with my random thoughts... i like all of you, too. you all can be #21.

still soft voice

I read this in my "blue book" today. (If you haven't heard of it, it's a devotional that Jim Branch from Knoxville YL put together that is pretty great). I wanted one for years, and one day sweet Katie Lindeman sent me one in the mail! Love her. 

"I am not sure exactly what all I think we mean when we say that we are made in the image of God. But part of it, I believe, is that the calling  voice of God is sounding out in the caves and caverns deep beneath the soil of our souls. And it is by obeying this call we learn who we truly are and what we can become. 

So if I do not seem to hear him speak from outside, and if there does not seem to be any message from the sky, then I must listen to the voice that is within me. For that voice, too, is the purposeful, calling voice of God to us. 

Not many of us have enough confidence in ourselves to listen to that whispering voice that comes from within. Most of the time, we do not even hear it. But it doesn't matter because we wouldn't trust it. We cannot believe that this inner voice is capable of leading us due north. 

We seek advice from friends and professionals, disc jockeys and Dear Abbys. We put out a fleece. We flip coins. We take aptitude tests. We do everything but believe that we could possibly have the answers deep within. 

The message of Paul in this place is that the calling indeed comes in the lives of the unlikely and the "foolish". You think you are unlikely, well you're not. You have difficulty believing God could do great things in you; well, he wouldn't. 

Now if God can take a tiny seed and, in the process of giving it his life, endow it with knowledge of what it is supposed to be; if he can give it the purpose and strength and fruitfulness to not only accomplish it all, but to perpetuate itself as well; and if he can give it an inner calendar to tell it when all of this is supposed to be done, why is it so hard to believe he has done the same for our hearts?

Since he has done this for tomatoes and thistles and beans and dandelions, it shouldn't stretch our credibility so much to believe that his image in us, the image inherent in the life he gives to each of us, is calling us to be. 

The trick is to hear the voice, to believe it, and to trust it." (See You at the House by Bob Benson)

Sorry that is kind of long, but I really loved it. It just got me thinking. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have heard that voice before. I hear it when I take the time to sit and be still. I can also hear it slipping away when I am running 150 mph getting things done. Kind of like its right there waiting if I would just slow down. 

The author above is right, it is hard to trust it. It think its so easy to say "I just thought that...that wasn't the spirit". But we know. When its the spirit, we know. Awhile ago I was having trouble discerning and trusting, and I feel like the Lord showed me I could trust him by showing up when He said he would. Its crazy I ever doubt, but its an easy cop out to think it was just something we randomly thought. 

I love the part about the seeds. I've never thought of it like that. I definitely want to be a better listener for his voice. I want to slow down and take the time to hear, because what in the world could be more important? 

Another other cool thing is that even when we aren't sure, we have His word. He calls us to go out and love and teach and make disciples. If what we are hearing from him falls within the truth of his word, we have our answer. Isn't it great that He didn't leave us here hanging? I hate that I live like that is the case. Just like Marshall talked about at leadership, we love to tinker. But that is a subject for another day :) 

watch out, world (of crafts)!

Today is a big day for my crafty potential. Today a sewing machine was purchased. Here she is:

It's pretty exciting. Even more exciting is that she was on sale. Treat. So, now I have an endless world of possibilities. Curtains? Sure! Dresses? Why not! I just have to learn now.

I stole Jen's idea to hold my thread and buttons and such... (above) I have to say its a pretty great use for a mason jar. 

What is worrisome about posts like this, is that a new sewing machine sparked the need to take numerous pictures and post about it. If I have children one day, they are going to HATE me.

After playing around with my new contraption, I headed to Jen & Ben's to watch the UK game. Look at them. Decked out in their UK snuggies. I love it. After discussing how to go about preparing for my first night shift tomorrow night, Jen and I decided I should come home and make her a rice bag and blog. (check).
 

Ok, so the rice bag took about 15 minutes to make. No joke. If only I had bought more rice I could have made them for all my friends! I put some rice and emptied out tea bags into each pouch...

I learned that when making these, a big table (or the floor) is a good idea to support the sections full of rice while sewing.

Here you go, Jen! You'll get this one day :)

So now it is 11:48pm and I have to at least stay up until 1. The plan is to go to bed late tonight and wake up early for 8:30 church in the morning. I will then come home and sleep (hopefully) as close to 4pm as I can. These are all just ideas right now. Who knows what will actually happen? I wanted to fall asleep while grocery shopping at 9 tonight, so 1 is pushing it, but I'll do my best :) 

On another note, I haven't been able to stop listening to Over the Rhine. I have had their Ohio CD since high school and haven't listened to it since. Its great. Love them. 

I learned tonight that you can make posts and save them to post later, so I might make another tonight about some encouraging stuff I've read recently. That should keep me up a little longer. 

If any of you all have worked nights and have tips, let me know! The last time I stayed up all night was Jaki Kelly's birthday party in the 4th grade and I got SUPER sick the next day... bad.

bear with me..it's late :)

I feel really encouraged. I think that is all. I know there is so much more here to expand on. Maybe I'll do that sometime this weekend :) 
For now, this song kind of sums up how I am feeling. 

I have stolen, Lord, let me give
I have left Your house a fugitive
I have wandered in my own way
Squandered everything You gave
But my dying heart You saved and let me live

I have cursed the air and clenched my fists
I have hungered for Your righteousness
I have tried to walk the line
I drew between Your heart and mine
But You forgive me every time the mark is missed

So take my broken offering and make it whole
And set my feet upon the road that leads me home
Let me walk as one fixed upon the goal
Even though I've got a thousand miles to go

I have sought Your grace in my defense
I have plundered Your magnificence
Until my journey is complete
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
That I might sow what I have reaped
From Your great love

As I struggle for Your hand
You use me in ways I can't understand
You take this sinful man and renew me
Working through me 

-Caedmon's Call, A Thousand Miles

Sorry to leave it so short. I just was really encouraged after our bible study's convo tonight and am too tired after working 2 12's in a row to expand. If time permits this weekend, I promise to give it a shot :) 

Leadership tomorrow and a day off :) 2 things I feel excited about. 

Random prayer request: I can't get off work for the week we are taking students to YL camp this summer. I believe we serve a big God though, and He'll work something out, so all you pray-ers out there, pray!  

AND (sorry) if anyone loves Jennifer Knapp and Derek Webb as much as I do, and wants to travel to Knoxville to see them, let me know :) 

olympic crafts, working, & some encouragement

So, I have not had many blog ideas lately, and when I craft, I figure I should blog about it, even if it is a craft for our weekly YL club... 

AND I am 110% sure no high schoolers read this, so I feel ok about revealing the game "prizes" :) 

Today I made Olympic medals! Just some ribbon and paper...no big deal. But when there is a craft, there is picture taking, and a blog post. Michael's didn't have red, white, and blue striped ribbon, so I settled for red. Here are my crafts:

What is Olympic club without a shirt?

While I was crafting, I realized my snack was red, white, and blue! So I figured I'd take some pictures of that.

Now, Fayette County has been out of school basically forever, and from what I hear, will be out tomorrow, so Olympic club might not happen this week. Megan might never work again. The students will be in school until July. No good.


On a different note, work has been good. I feel like every patient I have had so far has had a really sad story. That is hard. It's hard to see people hurting. I do love to be there for them, though. I am generally a slow person to feel comfortable in different situations, so even though I don't feel like I adequately express myself, I do trust that I will be doing this for a long time, and the Lord will show me how to be/mold me into someone who is a picture of Christ to hurting people. 


I hope you all have a great rest of the week! If you want to read a little something that'll make you smile, read this. It's from Ashley Ann's blog. This post was just really awesome. I love the idea of raising kids to have a heart like our Lord, and I love what giving your life away does to you. 




...I have thoughts on the book I am reading... that will come a little later :)

happy love day!

Happy early heart day! I'm following in Holly's footsteps with the early Valentines day post, but I am working tomorrow and Sunday, so there won't be any time to do this after tonight :) Don't judge me but I might just be wearing pink scrubs and a heart printed bow in my hair for the kiddos on Sunday...

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and gets to wear all the pink they want :)

*saw Valentine's Day with the girls today... don't go into it comparing it with Love Actually :)

beth moore

I think this picture gives a good representation of how crazy Beth is while watching her video sessions that go along with our bible study. 

I feel the need to share.

Despite the craziness (or maybe even because of it?) I love listening to her speak. The Lord really says what He wants, which means she does a good job of listening and moving out of the way. 

I don't have specifics tonight, but I just wanted to say that I feel encouraged by the truths we've been learning and I am really thankful that she is listening to the Lord and doing what she's doing with her life. 

I only pray that I don't let these truths slip into the "knowledge" folder in my head and get stuck there. I want to live them out. (This always seems to be what I am working through...living things out) I guess that's walking with Christ though :) 

Tonight was more of an appeal to my desire to live a more faithful life. Isn't it funny how much we realize this at certain times when this is something that should be realized at every moment. I hate that. But, as I've said, that's nothing new from me. I can only hope to be making some progress while I work through all these things. 

Thank you, Beth, for your crazy hair stories and yelling and truth-speaking :) Please give all of us free tickets to Rupp Arena in August. Thanks.

sore fingers

Today I did not have to work, so what did I do? Broke out my guitar :)

I have had this guitar for 7 years and have not even come close to being anywhere near good at playing. 

Breaking out the guitar really consists of tuning and picking out a couple favorite songs that have easy chords to try to pick up by listening to the song and strumming along with it...which doesn't always go great. 

Today I learned 2 songs! The first was Needtobreathe's Washed by the Water and the second was Jimmy Needham's Hurricane. I don't by any means have these memorized, but it's really exciting to feel like what you are doing sounds like a song. 

One of my resolutions should have been to spend more time playing, but knowing my past 7 year history, I knew that wouldn't happen, so I'll settle for a day here and there where I get excited about learning new things :) 

Do any of you all play guitar? If so, do you have any good song suggestions that stick with D, G, C, Em, and A? I'd appreciate the ideas! 

YEARS

I have been waiting (maybe not so patiently) for one of my favorite songs ever to be recorded in a not church-choiry way for years. I mean that. Years. 

It's "O Love that will not let me go" if you were wondering. I blogged about it sometime last year here.

We sing it at leadership for YL sometimes and at regional gatherings (usually at rockbridge leader weekend).


So, I was browsing through some Derek Webb on itunes and saw a link to the song and thought "oh, they're just putting it there because they know I search for it all the time"... but I decided to check it out... and....

Its the exact way we sing it at leadership!!! It's Sandra McCracken by the way, who is married to Derek Webb. I have listened to it twice now and only found it a few minutes ago :) 

There may be another post today...this one was unplanned :) 

we're turning into old ladies

Tonight was a night of crafts. 

I'll start by saying that since we had a weekend trip for YL planned this weekend that got canceled, we were freed up to do things we wouldn't normally have in a schedule. Although, a weekly craft night would be beyond wonderful. When did these things start to be fun? Probably around the time when Seventeen stopped being the best magazine and was replaced by things like Real Simple and Domino :)

Rachel, Megan, and I  went to Jen & Ben's with sewing machines and supplies in tow. Jen made a pillow case for one of her throw pillows and both her and Rachel made some precious crafty things that I can't quite mention yet. 

Megan and I decided to try one of Darby's tutorials. You know how we love Darby. So we made her heating pad/rice bags. 

They were super easy and cheap. Megan and I went to WalMart as a last resort because Hancock's was closed and they had slim pickings... Because of that we got fabric for .25! The whole craft only cost that plus the bags of rice and the tea bags we broke open to pour in with the rice. 

These things are great. You put them in the microwave for 3 minutes and they are glorious. I will do that tonight and put it by my feet in bed. They smell really good too because of the tea :) 

Here are some pictures. If only I had my camera tonight... Ben and Eric walked in from playing basketball and we were all sitting at the dining room table surrounding our sewing machines on a Saturday night :) I love those girls. I'm telling you... we could do this for a living if we had a little store that sold our crafts with some coffee and tea.

I will gladly make one of these for anyone that wants one! They are super easy. (you'll have to wait for me to have time and a sewing machine though) :)

:)

real quick before i fall asleep for the night...

i really love jennifer knapp's music. it's just really encouraging. these lyrics have been sticking with me all week(the ones in italic and bold). i would love to discuss, but am really tired, so i hope you enjoy :)

There's a place in the darkness that I used to cling to
That presses harsh hope against time.
In the absence of martyrs there's a presence of thieves
Who only want to rob you blind.
They steal away any sense of peace.
Tho' I'm a king I'm a king on my knees.
And I know they are wrong when they say I am strong
As the darkness covers me.

So turn on the light and reveal all the glory.
I am not afraid.
To bear all my weakness, knowing in meekness,
I have a kingdom to gain.
Where there is peace and love in the light
In the light , I am not afraid
To let your light shine bright in my life, in my life

There are ghosts from my past who've owned more of my soul
Than I thought I had given away.
They linger in closets and under my bed
And in pictures less proudly displayed.
A great fool in my life I have been
Have squandered 'til pallid and thin.
Hung my head in shame and refused to take blame
For the darkness I know I've let win.

So turn on the light and reveal all the glory.
I am not afraid
To bear all my weakness, knowing in meekness,
I have a kingdom to gain.
Where there is peace and love in the light
In the light , I am not afraid
To let your light shine bright in my life, in my life

I've never been much for the bearing of soul
In the presence of any man.
I'd rather keep to myself all safe and secure
In the arms of a sinner I am.
Could it be that my worth should depend
By the crimson stained grace on a hand?
And like a lamp on a hill Lord I pray in your will
To reveal all of you that I can.

So turn on the light and reveal all the glory.
I am not afraid.
To bear all my weakness, knowing in meekness,
I have a kingdom to gain.
Where there is peace and love in the light
In the light , I am not afraid
To let your light shine bright in my life, in my life

There's a place in the darkness that I used to cling to
That presses harsh hope against time. 

I hope you've all had a good week! If you are a J.Knapp fan, she is going to tour with probably my #1 most favorite artist ever, Derek Webb. Treat. :)

Goodnight friends :) 

heaven

Last night when I was working on my Beth Moore workbook, I read Hebrews 11 (this week is about faithfulness). A couple verses that catch my eye every time caught my eye again. I really love them. Here they are:

"For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect  and builder is God" -Hebrews 11:10

"And they admitted that they are aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own...Instead, they were longing for a better country- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" -Hebrews 11:13-16

I love these verses for probably pretty obvious reasons. I love the idea of being called apart from the world. A while ago I was reading Jim Elliot's journals, and the theme of being set apart was like a thread tying his story together. 

It's convicting to think about the things that tie us to the world. The things that would hurt a little if they were taken away. There is a lesson Rick Sherr gave at Northern Kentucky's YL leadership about heaven and it is SO convicting and awesome. It really gets you thinking where you stand as far as where you heart is set. 

Here is the link. I promise it's worth the time. Forgive the fact that it is a casual teaching in a group setting, so there are some interruptions here and there :) 

Also forgive the multiple uses of this picture. I just love it. Its from my first YL camp, Saranac :)