Living it Up

I know, I know... I'm a horrible person for not having posted this sooner, but finally I am posting pictures of our room at Baylor :) I haven't had a digital camera till now so give me a break! ;-) But now that I do have a camera I will try to post pictures more often... Alrighty, here is a peek into the the living space of Tamara and Mabel... we'll pretend it looks like this everyday, haha...

Isn't it beautiful?

More, more...

And yet more...

This is our comfy chair that I love to sit in and talk to people on the phone... Good times... Now, hold, your breath....

Mood lighting!!

Alright, now to see the lovely roomies... here's me and Mabel... trying to take pictures was interesting... I think we need sleep.... haha

So, this is the best picture we could get... isn't she gorgeous?

Believe it or not, we were containing ourselves in this picture...

Now, that.... that is just us cracking up... I'm telling you, this photo shoot was hilarious... had to be there to understand. Well, I hope you all enjoyed that.... for those of you at home, don't forget to come out to the party on Saturday night!! Check my previous post for more info... I love you guys!!!

You're Invited

This is for everybody in the Tallahassee area that knows and loves either Janelle or me or both and wants to celebrate our birthdays with us ;-) I get to come home next weekend (I can't tell you how excited I am), and so, we are having a party to celebrate that Janelle and I are 18 (well, Janelle will be 18 on that day and, for those of you who missed it, I turned 18 last Monday, September 12). So the party is Saturday October 1 at my house (yes, my house in Havana, FL... more like pseudo-Havana, hahaha) starting at about 6:30 pm... good stuff. If you need directions or anything feel free to email me at Telise87@cs.com or call my cell phone (sorry, not gonna post that). I miss you guys sooo much and would love for you to come if you can, you can come whenever works for you... though we will be eating dinner and if you want to guarantee you get food you might wanna come towards the beginning :) .I just wanted to let you all know about this now, hopefully before you have jam packed your weekend with other plans. It'd be good to know roughly how many people are coming, so if you know you are coming, leave me a comment, send me an email, call me or Janelle or my mom, whatever. But, don't use the excuse "I didn't RSVP" if you don't show up... that won't fly, all are always welcome ;-) .Thank you guys so much. I love you all and can't wait to see you!!!

Blessed

I am blessed. We live in a "get more" society. We have a mindset that we need to accumulate and accumulate in order to be happy. But you know what all that stuff becomes, and ultimately, what it is? Filth. Rubbish. Trash. It doesn't last. It doesn't satisfy. It doesn't fulfill. There is more to life than material things. This weekend I got to see people who had no "stuff" left to fill their lives. Some of them didn't have hope... but some of them did. There is nothing in this world that satisfies like Christ Jesus our Lord. He is greater than anything. Our group had a time of sharing what we were taking away from the weekend of serving Katrina victims in Slidell, Louisiana and one of the guys said that he was taking away an appreciation of what he had, and a realization that it really isn't worth that much. So many of us don't appreciate how materially blessed we truly are. But I would bet that more of us don't realize how worthless our "stuff" is. Stuff isn't worth holding onto. Don't let the world suck you in. Let Christ be your all. I had the privilege to work in the homes of people who lost nearly all their material possessions through the havoc of Katrina. These people were so encouraged by our being there, but they encouraged us so much. They offered us everything they had... and they had just had nearly everything taken away from them. I don't think I have the words to describe what I experienced this weekend. I can't tell you what it is like to have a joy that wells up inside of you even in the midst of heartache. My heart hurts for you, but I know that God's purpose is bigger than your pain. There has been so much pain that I have seen in the lives of friends, family, people of our nation, people of our world. I'm sure the majority of you have heard the song Held by Natalie Grant... it has become a great song during this time of tragedy. I never tire of hearing it... Maybe you will find some encouragement from the words...

Two months is too little,
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.

Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We're asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It's unfair.

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.

This hand is bitterness,
We want to taste it, let the hatred numb our sorrow
The wise hands open slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
when everything fell we'd be held

If hope is born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait for one hour
watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was when everything fell
We'd be held.

Katrina Trip

For those of you who didn't read my super long post from earlier this week... I am going with Campus Crusade to Slidell, Louisiana to help with hurricane relief work all weekend. Please keep us in your prayers and remember to pray for all the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this opportunity to serve these people, to go beyond prayer and financial support and get out there and help through my actions. I know God is going to do amazing things this weekend. We are meeting for departure at 5am today (Friday) and there is a group of 45 of us going (of whom I know one person!). Pray that God will use this trip to open our eyes to who He is and who He has called us to be. Pray that our lives will show that God's unfailing love exists beyond any circumstance. I love you all and wish that you could all share in this opportunity with me. You can though, through your prayers. Prayer is powerful... I think many of us have seen a glimpse of just how powerful it truly is... don't let that glimpse be enough... go for more. Thank you for your prayers.

Baylor Line Beauties

We are hot and you know it.... Tiffany, Patricia, Tamara, Diana, and Mabel being held cause she's a princess.... hahahahaha.... go Baylor Bears :)

So many things I could say... maybe I will say them

It's been a good week. I'm kinda reminded of how God's goodness prevails even through trials and tribulations when I can look back over a week where I have experienced emotions on such a wide range, with times of missing home deeply and being discouraged about finding my place, to times of laughter and strong encouragement that I have needed... and still, even in different emotions, having an everlasting joy that overrides the emotions, a deep-settled confidence that God is in control of the details... not just the big picture, but each tiny pixel that makes up the picture. Hmm... things I have missed a lot this week....

• Church-- I miss having a church that I can call my home church, somewhere that I have friends but beyond friends, family in Christ. I knew I would realize how important the body of Christ is in my life... I feel like I'm a toe without a body to connect to or something. It's been a month since I've been at my home church, and I miss it a lot. Even with all of its problems, there is still a support system there...
  
• Family-- I miss my family more every day. I knew I would. I love you guys so much. I miss having my mommy to hug me and my little brother to test my patience in the morning and my dad to share jokes. I miss watching CSI and talking about our days and hearing about everyone's stuff that is going on. I miss coming home and hearing Kevin playing his heart out on the drums or randomly singing Gospel songs in the shower. I miss handing the keys to Kenley and telling him to drive, even if it means we will take a few detours. I love you guys.
• Guy friends-- I miss hanging out with guys! Not because I'm boy-crazy... I think you all know me better than that, but because I have like... hmm, no guy friends here. I've grown up being around guys all the time! It's kind of unavoidable when you have four brothers... I miss not worrying about being perceived as thinking someone is "hot" just because you talk to them. I don't want to be perceived as "having an agenda" if you know what I mean....
  
• Girl friends-- I miss my girl friends who know me, accept me even when I'm crazy, love me, come to me for advice, laugh at me, give me hugs, share about struggles and achievements... I miss having friends with inside-jokes, so you randomly start laughing in a conversation because you both (or all) think of the same thing... Yah, I miss ya'll.
• Driving-- yah, this may sound dumb, but I miss driving. I don't miss driving for like 2 hours a day as I normally did when at home, but just having time in the car... to relax, to pray, to sing, to talk to people... down time, instead of hauling butt across campus to get to my next class, though I do enjoy walking when I can take my time...
• Cooking!-- I haven't cooked a meal in forever! That's not normal... I miss making meals and making things taste the way I want them to taste... but I'm gonna remedy this before too long and cook for my 3rd floor Memorial homies ;-)

Alright, enough of things I miss at home... no more crying for the rest of this post, only smiling and laughing allowed. Hahahaha.... I had some really great things that happened this week and there has been so much going on. Good stuff... plus, I have really cool plans for next weekend that I am super excited to see what God does with... so cool stuff from this week... I doubt I'll hit everything....

• Amanda-- I met this girl named Amanda in Chapel on Monday. She's so sweet and I was really encouraged just getting to worship with her and stuff. We exchanged numbers and I was really hoping to try and get to know her better.... well, turns out she's in Women's Choir with me! How cool is that? We had lunch on Thursday and just talked a lot about what God is doing in our lives and why we are at Baylor and where He is leading us, and how He is answering our prayers (one being for strong Christian friends, which we can be for each other, how cool is that?), and all kinds of good stuff. So yah, meeting Amanda and spending time with her was super encouraging this week.
• Wednesday Chapel-- the Skit Guys came... fun stuff. They were really good and it was cool to hear people talking about it all day. People who hate Chapel were talking about how good it was and stuff... and they delivered awesome messages about who we are in Christ and stuff through their dramas... good stuff.
• Campus Crusade-- I went to Cru and Bible Study this week and getting to know more stronger Christian girls on my floor and around Campus is awesome, plus getting to worship in a bigger group is cool.... Cru is cool... more on that in a minute.
• Friday-- Friday was great. We had our first Choir concert. Kris and Christina came and heard us and then took me out to dinner for my birthday :) Thanks guys. I love you people and I love that you are so close! Then we had free dessert by the Sciences Building cause it was Parent's Weekend so there was all kinds of cool stuff going on. Then, Mabel and I went to After Dark. It basically was like a campus showcase.... some seriously talented performers. That was fun...
  
• Saturday-- Patricia, this awesome chick on my floor, oh yes, now Memorial and Alexander representative, go Trish... got her mom to cook us amazing food (she helped) and we had a delicious meal... mmm (plus I got leftovers today... yes!). Then, a bunch of us went to the game, go Baylor Bears.... it was fun getting all decked out in our line jerseys and face tattoos and ribbons... and we WON!!! GO BEARS!!!! Very exciting... then we went to eat and then played cards and Speed Scrabble in the dorm drawing room... good times.
• Oh yes, Cru exciting story... next weekend Crusade was supposed to be having what is called the Freshman Overnight, which is basically a camping trip for all the freshman to get to know people and stuff. So, I was signed up to go... but then, we got an email that they were planning a trip to go to Louisiana and do Hurricane Relief work and so the Freshman Overnight was being replaced with this new trip.... I really wanted to go, but wasn't sure I should spend money, but I prayed about it, and now I'm signed up and am so excited to go.... please pray for us next weekend as we surrender to Christ and serve Katrina victims in LA :)

OK, if anyone actually read this whole post I will be very impressed.... It just goes to show that it is much more natural for me to write looong posts. I like to write, what can I say? I should get back to doing my homework though.... I love you guys :)

Short and Sweet for Jake the Cake

This is to prove to Jake that it is possible for me to write a short post, even if I haven't posted in nearly a week. My weekend was fun because Kenley, Diane, and Lerah came to visit me... it was really good to see them, because I'm starting to miss home a lot. Though seeing them did make me miss home even more I think... but it reminded me how blessed I am to have friends and family that love me so much. I love you guys! Yesterday I got to talk to my mommy, my daddy, Kenley and Kevin, Shannon, Paul, Daniel, and James on the phone... that's more people than I've talked to the whole time I've been here. It definitely made me happy. I miss you guys! Alright, enough... I'm praying constantly for all of you... and please remember the Katrina victims in your prayers... I can't imagine what they are going through.... was that short enough Jake? ;-)