becoming family

The past week taught me a lot about becoming a family, and THIS is what a FIRST PLACE FAMILY looks like :)
The week was filled with trying to impress the steering committee and get money so we could claim the title, but it was SO MUCH MORE than that. We didn't care if we won. We knew we were a "first place family" all week. We ate together, went to the lake, worshipped together, prayed together, played together, and just hung out together. We bonded on so many different levels, and learned so much about each other. Each person in this group knows my testimony, knows where I've come from, and most importantly, knows who I am now.


I am so blessed to have gotten the opportunity to be invested in the lives of these freshmen!
We worked hard at our service project on Saturday and saw servants of God shining through all the freshly cleaned kennels and dishes at the animal shelter, and I know the people that we worked for did too. I cried through the dubbing video, knowing that my new family was officially becoming part of "our family" at UMHB! I am so proud of these young men and women and I am so blessed by each of them. We won every game at rec time, and won with class at that. I was proud of the way they handled adversity and had so much fun in the process.


Michael and Brittney, the AMAZING "parents" of this family. I couldn't have imagined a better team than the team the 3 of us made. How lucky am I to have gotten to share this week with my bestfriend? I feel like throughout this week, our friendship has just strengthened, and I love it. I am so glad I got to serve these freshmen with two people as incredible as Michael and Brittney are. I feel so blessed just being friends with them, let alone spending the entire week investing in the lives of freshmen with them? wow, I'm a lucky girl.

WW2010 was by far, one of the greatest weeks of my life. My eyes were opened to so many new things, and I am SO excited to see how God uses each and every one of these freshmen in the next 4 years! and I am so excited to see how close our family stays through Bible studies, dinners, and family reunions! I'm still so sad WW is over! it was such a blessing! :)

Becoming the Branch of the Vine.

"Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches, Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:1-5

This verse has been shown to me 3 different times this week. I truly feel God speaking it to me and I am so excited to work towards becoming it.

Tuesday night at worship for training, Miles read it out and talked about it in a way of leadership. He was referring to us welcome week staffers being leaders for the freshmen and becoming the branches of the vine to reach out and create more branches.
Then yesterday, I was reading my new book, "When God Writes your Love Story" (it's excellent!) and the verse was shown again. Revealing to me that unless I give that aspect of my life completely up to God, I cannot do anything with it. My plan will never work, only His will.
and finally, today, our speaker brought it up again. He talked about it in a way I had never heard before. He related it to being a Christian in college. He gave ways to do this and I was so encouraged. I am really understanding God lately, and I'm loving every minute of it! I am so ready to become the branch that bears so much fruit! :)

on another note.... WELCOME WEEK!!!!!! AH! i just can't get enough of it! :) I am having SOOOO much fun, it's crazy! I love our family! I love Michael and Brittney, and I love our freshies! :) We are such an awesome family! and I am loving being a guide for these freshmen as they join us at school! :) I just can't wait to see what God does with the rest of this week! :) It's been so incredible so far! :) I can't even describe it to you in words! :)

I just love life :)

BELTON!

Oh it is SOOOOOOO good to be back!!! :)

I moved in on Saturday, and my roomies moved in yesterday! :)

Last night, my bestfriend (Brittney) got locked out of her apartment at 2:30 AM and I had to go rescue her! funny thing is, rescuing her took 2 seconds because our apartments face eachother and are like 20 feet apart! :) LOVE IT! She slept on my couch last night. haha

Yesterday I went to church at Temple Bible Church, where I had the most AMAZING worship experience in a looong time. I've been missing that aspect of my walk with Christ. There's no feeling like it. It actually brought me to tears, crazy. I'm feeling like God has already opened my eyes to SO much being here. I've realized how many new friends I have to make and how many memories I'm going to make with them! It's really just a blessing, a wonderful blessing. I'm so overwhelmed by the ways God is opening my eyes and at how He loves me.

Today marks day 1 of training for Welcome Week and I'm already exhausted! Tomorrow is day 2, and Wednesday is the start of Welcome Week! SO exciting! Prayers will be appreciated, it's going to be a LONG week! (but super fun!) I loved getting to know so many people today and I can't wait to make more friends! :)

Another thing that has happened since i've been here is been exceedingly clumsy. loke more than normal, which is probably hard to believe. haha I already have bruises on my legs from running into my bed, and i popped a blood vessel in my wrist playing volleyball. sweet life :)

Tonight, I'm going to have bestie bonding time with Britt while we make our gifts for the freshies! :) i love her!

anyways, that's my update since I've been at school! :) I miss everyone at home!

looove.

Empty handed, but alive in Your hands

"and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all GRACE who has called you to an eternal life in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you" -1 Peter 5:10

So, today I want to thank God for His grace. I mean really, who else could take me from being as broken as I was at the beginning of the summer, to being as happy and optimistic and thankful as I am now? Noone. I have been renewed, I have been SO blessed, and I am just a happy girl! :) Life is SO good.

Last night, I finally got to hang out with my group of high school friends. We hadn't hung out all summer since everyone was doing their own thing. We had a blast catching up and sharing our summer adventures :) After everyone left, Natalie and I got to talk, really talk. We both went through sacrificing break ups earlier this year, both sacrificing the relationship for our walk with Christ. So, she is really easy to relate to. It was awesome :) I think we both needed someone to relate to. :)

Oh, PRAISE THE LORD, my big brother got his first "real world" job! He's working as a claims adjuster for Farm Bureau. He's getting all kinds of benefits and stuff. I am SO thankful that he could get that job as a fresh college grad because so many people with experience can't even get one. Such a blessing for our family! AND! bonuspoints! HE'S TRAINING IN WACO! so i get to hang out with him while I'm at school! yeah, I'm a little excited for him :)

and another plus to life.. the rangers beat the yankees last night.. great day to be a Ranger's fan!! :) I sure love my rangers!

Gosh, in three, THREE days, I will be in Belton! I am SO super excited and just dying to get there, but I have SO much to do before then!! I have to pack, take a final, and spend every moment I can with my friends and family before I leave.

God is SO good, and I am loving life, so much!

3days, love.

should've known how hard it'd be to leave this town

So... 8 DAYS TIL BELTON!! :D I'm so ready! I had frozen Yogurt with Ryan yesterday, and all we could talk about is how ready we are to go back! We are in a pretty similar place in life and we're both so ready to see what God has in store at UMHB this year! :) Another thing that is making me so excited to go back is two stepping! :) I spent the past two nights at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth with some of my best friends, dancing and jamming to country music.. I can't wait to go to Wild West with everyone this year!

**This part of the post is directed toward my best friends, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to :)

While it's super exciting to be going back, the reality of the people I'm leaving at home is setting in. Yesterday, I had to say my "see ya later" to my bestfriend/sister and her beautiful babies. Those of you that are really close to me know who Jennifer is. She is my parents' best friends' daughter! She knew me before I was born, and that's how I am with her girls. They left today for Florida and won't be back until after I'm in Belton. Jen and I have gotten SO close this summer and I wouldn't trade that for the world. She is really the only person I tell EVERYTHING to. I always wanted a big sister to relate to, and God blessed me and my family with hers. We go out and shop and have lunch, or just hang out with the girls at home and talk, but we are together at least a couple days a week, sometimes 4 or 5. I just love hearing about stories from when she was my age and all of her advice. I hope and pray that one day, Ill be there for her girls too. Her oldest, Ashlynn, is nine. She asked Christ into her life at VBS with me this summer and I can't wait to see how God is going to use her. I have such a special bond with her. Addyson is two and Alexis is 9 months. I'm not ready to leave them because they grow and change so much, everyday. I feel like I'm going to miss out on so many milestones. Jen and her girls give me four reasons to smile, everyday and I'm so thankful for how much time I had with them this summer.

My bestfriend Amanda already left for OU and I miss her like crazy. I didn't wanna say my "see ya later" to her either. We've been friends since we were 14 and I'm so glad! There have definitely been points where we went a while without talking, but something always pulls us back together! :) We hung out a lot this summer, more than last year and it was so nice to get to be best friends again, the way we were when we were at Pro Spirit. I just love her. :)

and Sarah, my bestfriend since age 5. My wittle baby Sarah is all grown up. Isn't she just SO beautiful? She graduated this year and is heading to Arkansas on the 18th. I'm going to hate being SO far from her and not having her around when I come home on weekends and stuff. Our frienship has grown so strong this summer and I love it. Our age difference kinda caused us to grow apart when I went to school and stuff, but now, we're as close as we were before. I've spent SO much time with her and her friends this summer, I love all of them. I'm going to miss Sarah so much when we're both gone for school, but I'm excited to come home for breaks and see her beautiful face and hear ALL about her freshman year as a Razorback! :)

Anyways, again.. I'm SO pumped to get back to school, only 8 more days!! :) I'm starting to pack RIGHT NOW! :) I'm just going to miss the girls I've spent my summer with, so much! but, I'm ready. I'm ready to see what God has planned for me this fall! I've never been so excited!! :)

houston (cont.) and lifee.

So the rest of my trip in Houston was great! We went to sprinkles cupcakes in downtown on Saturday, they were REALLY good :) and stopped at this AMAZING waterfall thing and took pictures, so beautiful! and then we went to the Houston Dynamo soccer game Saturday night. I don't know much about soccer, but the game was fun! and Sunday was just lunch at Texas Roadhouse, which was delicious, as always. I stopped in Conroe on the way home and saw my roomie Audrey! :) All this time with my UMHB friends just makes me so SO much more ready to be back in Belton! 12 days and counting, I can't wait!

last night, I met up with my bestfriend Taylor and we went to the park, played on the swings, and talked for a long time. I just love spending time with him :) I have the best bestfriends ever.

Today, I was having a conversation with a friend and he told me to always be myself, and to never let anyone tell me differently, something I've always struggled with. I've struggled with trying to change myself for guys, and for friendships, just so I could stay in those relationships. However, now that I really feel like I have truly found who I am and what I believe, I don't want anything to change. I love who I've become and I love the things I'm learning about myself every day. I came across this verse: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and has made the LORD his hope and confidence" -Jeremiah 17:7 and I really like it. My confidence in myself has sky-rocketed since I was completely broken, and my mentality on life has changed so much. I've really been working on giving every aspect of my life to God and fully trusting Him with it. I was so encouraged during that conversation today, and I am continually growing and learning every day.

love you :)

12 DAYS!