I'll always love you

Well... I have one day left... one day... tonight was really emotional... I love you guys so much! Tonight was encouraging to me in so many ways, it's so hard to say goodbye... but it's not goodbye, just see you later, right? I'm still in shock that I'm leaving in less than 36 hours to go to Baylor University, so many hours away, without my family, without my friends... this is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But I must say, guys, that I am so excited. It's so difficult for me to leave home... but, I can't wait to find out what part of God's story I get to have at Baylor. Tonight after youth, all of us "graduates" (funny how now we're back to being freshman, eh?) had a time of prayer for one another (thank you for initiating it, Paul, you rock). The whole time we were praying I was thanking God that He blessed me with such wonderful people in my life. Thank you guys for supporting me and praying for me as I go on to something bigger than I ever could have imagined... I pray that you all will grow more and more in love with Christ every day... Please pray for me... I need all the prayer I can get. Let me know how I can pray for you, laugh with you, cry with you. I love you all so much... I'm not leaving you... I'm here for you if you need me. Mark Schultz's song Think of Me has kinda been my theme song this summer as I have been preparing to leave and go to school... it kinda shows where my heart is, though you have to hear it to get the full effect, the lyrics are all that I can provide at this point... I'll always love you... always.

Packing my bags this morning
was the hardest thing to do
But packing my bags was so easy
compared to standing outside your door right now
to say goodbye to you

Think of me
I know you've never seen me cry
Think of me
But it's so hard to say goodbye
Think of me
What can I say to show you
I'll never give up on you
I will be waiting for you

I will be there when you call
I will see you through it all
And even in your darkest hour
I pray that the Lord we've found
Will set you on solid ground

I know that it feels like leaving is a part of letting go
But I'm praying with hope and believing
That I'll see you once again down this road
I hope that it won't be long

Think of me
I know God brought you as a friend
Think of me
I know He'll bring you back again
Think of me
What can I say to show you
I'll never give up on you
I will be waiting for you

I will be there when you call
I will see you through it all
And even in your darkest hour
I pray that the Lord we've found
Will set you on solid ground

I will be there when you call
I will see you through it all
And even in your darkest hour
I pray that the Lord we've found
Will set you on solid ground

Life is Good....

It's so hard to believe that I only have 4 full days left before I leave for Baylor... whoa... sometimes I wish time would slow down. I've had an amazing week just spending time with people that I love so much. I'm gonna miss you guys! Let's see... Sunday, what a great day. After church, Shannon went to lunch with me and my family and then she and I went to the new Target (great place) and shopped for fun stuff and then went to my house and watched Raise your Voice... a very good movie. I rented and watched it by myself and really liked it and have spread the love to a few people... ;-) Then youth was awesome at Crenshaw... I love bowling, though I'm not good at it, and pool... wow, really not good at that... but it was tons of fun just hanging out with everybody. Then Diane and Lerah and Kenley came to my house and we watched Aladdin. I love that movie, and I love those people. Monday, went to lunch with Lauren, I love you chika! It's so cool to me how we can just pick up where we left off in our friendship... no matter how many weeks it's been since we've talked... though it's never too long, a lot can happen in a few weeks, and with us living in completely different places... things change. But yah, that was fun... then Monday night my family began practicing for our big hit for Sunday (we're gonna try and be black, people... hehe)... so we practiced for awhile and then Kenley had to go do some stuff for Real Estate life so I went with him... well that turned into an adventure... these people live out in the middle of nowhere let me tell you... it was really sketchy... but then we went to see Matt and Lindsay Morrow's house in Quincy (the neighbors probly thought we were robbing the house cause it was like 10:30 and we were going through their house with flashlights) and went back and forth from Quincy to my house multiple times picking up and returning Sale signs from houses... Needless to say, Kyle was watching Raise Your Voice when we dropped my mom back at the house before returning to Quincy again and Kenley decided he wanted to watch it when we got back... so I watched the movie again with him... at like 12am... that was fun. Tuesday... breakfast with Mom, she's the best ever... dentist appointment (they were not very nice to my mouth)... work... lunch with Kenley... work... shopping with Mom... and home... Wednesday, babysitting, lunch with Ted from school... that was cool, cause I haven't seen anyone from school since graduation except Nicole and Ted rocks... and he bought me lunch... awesome. Then I went to work and afterwards I went and picked up Erica F. ( I LOVE YOU!!) and we went and got ice cream and talked and went to Wal-Mart and bought cool stuff for my dorm room (which is gonna be stinkin' awesome by the way). Then we went to church and orchestra... Can you tell my life has been busy this week?? Well, finally, today (well, Thursday)... I got to sleep in, no work, hallelujah... and then I went to lunch and went shopping with James (you rock, kid) which also meant more free food for me (thank you :) )... I bought a phone for my room and he got a new cell phone... we talked a lot and just had a good time... thanks, James. Then, he went to work, I went to Target to shop for a baby gift... but they didn't have what I was looking for so sad day, I walked through the rain for nothing... oh well. I came home and worked on packing some more and then we had dinner and practiced more for our song Sunday... Kenley and I had fun dancing to it... Hehehehe... Then, family game of Scattergories, funny stuff... my dad tried to get away with "Giant Lizards" as an excuse for being late and "Gravity" as a thing you find in a park... he was tired... laughing so hard he was crying... pretty dang funny... though Kyle's "gift" of pretty pink polka dot panties was pretty funny too... I love my family, can you tell? So... those are my last 5 days, the condensed version... Now it's actually Friday, time for me to start thinking about sleeping so I can get up later today... I'm telling you, time flies... I just want you all to know that I love you very much and value the friendships I have with each of you. This summer has been such an amazing blessing to me in the area of friendship... You all rock! It is so exciting to watch as God uses you in ways that I couldn't even imagine if I tried... Thank you for bringing such joy and depth to my life... I don't know where I'd be without you!

Leap Frog, Caesar Salad, & a Pink Inner Tube

Jesus is so amazing. I just can't get over it (which, I'm pretty sure, is the idea). Today a bunch of us (David K, Kenley, Kyle, Erin G, Diane, Lerah, Anna W, Hannah, Jed, Nicole, Jenna, Brandon, Linda, Jessica K, Katie G, Kimberly G, Leah, Lyndsey W, Shannon, & Me) went to Ichetucknee Springs and went tubing down the river... great fun, if you've never been, you're definitely missing out. The ride there was lots of fun-- Jenna, Nicole, Kyle, and Lyndsey were in the car with me and we played leap frog with Diane's car and pretty much every time we passed each other we would break out a different dance move... lots of laughs. I'm telling you, I love to dance. We got into the park, which they now charge you $5 per person to get in!! WHAT?!? It used to be like that much per car... talk about inflation, no wonder they could afford those new tram things, right guys? But anyway, we had lunch and the caesar salad that Jenns brought was really yummy (good idea). We then headed for the river and I gladly jumped aboard my beautiful pink tube (I'm lovin' it). It was great fun... Shannon and I swam away from David pretty much the whole time and actually managed to not get flipped (we rock, babe, and we love you Dave :) hehe). We sang songs and Leah and I managed to disentangle Anna from the grips of the tree fingers a few times.... fun stuff. We were floatin' along and I was talking to Leah about how I thought it was cool that God gave us so many fun things in creation to enjoy... like a river to float down. Pretty awesome, eh? So yah... good times. The ride home was fun once more, Diane and Erin swapped out with Jenna and Nicole and we busted out the Disney CD and sang our hearts out and listened to some good country music from Lyndsey's iPod and other good stuff. Then most of the gang went to Shannon's house to swim and eat pizza and stuff... we also watched Happy Gilmore on TV and then the Parent Trap (the newer one). Busy day... on the way back to the church to take Erin, Jenna, and Brandon back we listened to some of my new Passion CD... I love the song Indescribable....

From the heighest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming...

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
All powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
All powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God
Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing, God
You are amazing, God

Alright... so I told my car buddies that every time I sing that song now and I sing the line about every creature unique in the song that it sings I think about the stars making music and how God created each of us to sing His praise, and each of us has a unique song.... God, truly, is amazing.

My Life Be Like... Oooo Ahhhh

So it's official, I have the coolest friends in the entire world. Hehehe... I just got home from Kenley's house where the party was hoppin'. I'm gonna miss you people so much when I leave in... ahh! 10 days! No way... Today was a great day. I went to work this morning and didn't get all that much done cause the phone started ringing alot and some people came in to the showroom to check out the windows... hmm.... should we get white or pay the extra for beige? I don't think I'll need the Low E option because my house is in the shade... you can have some interesting conversations with people looking at windows. Diane called me and we confirmed that having a party at Kenley's house was a good idea and that we should go to Ichetucknee tomorrow and go tubing... so I started calling the world to invite them to all the fun stuff. I called Jenna and told her she should get dressed and I would come get her and we'd go to lunch. We went to Los Compadres (yummy!) and it was awesome to just talk about our friendships and how they've changed and grown and everything that happened at Student Life... I love you, Jenna! You are the best. God has really solidified my relationships with people here this summer and because of that I'm encouraged that my friendships will brave the distance when I go away to school... God is way bigger than 1300 miles, eh? It's a good thing... cause I don't know what I'd do without you guys. Tonight at Kenley's house was great fun... watching Jenna act out crossing the finish line, dancing (why have we not done this more often??), eating some for real good snacks, being amazed by Brandon's knack for completely random trivia, laughing and singing songs from nearly every genre... what a fun, eclectic night. And tomorrow... freezing cold water, rubber tubes, sea weed (should it be called river weed if you're not in the sea?), and undoubtedly lots of funny stories. I can't wait! Well, yes, the bathroom is finally free so I can stop rambling now... I love you all!!

God is Hugeous

Hello Everybody. Yes, I suppose it is high time for me to join the blog world officially. Don't get too excited though, cause I make no promises to post every day or provide hilarious jokes or anything... I do hope to use this blog to sorta keep in touch with people as I go off to college (Go Baylor Bears!). Where do I begin? This summer has been one of the most incredible summers of my life... and no, I do not say that lightly. Everyone that went to Student Life Camp at Covenant College this past week can agree with me that it was an awesome experience. Most everybody else in blogworld has already raved about it. God is hugeous, guys. Don't you love that word? We (Kenley, Nicole, James, and I) discovered it when we were looking on dictionary.com for the word hubious... which, James, is not a word, I'm nearly wholly convinced (it wasn't on dictionary.com!). Hugeous just means huge... but it's so much cooler of a word. Anyway, back to God. It has never ceased to amaze me that God is so big, and yet so personal, that He can work in every single individual's heart at the exact same time and be teaching them so many different things. None of us are in the exact same place in our relationship with God, guys, how could we be? But isn't it amazing that we are all invited to be a part of God's story? The God of the cosmos created you, loves you, and wants for you to be a part of His story. Now, as everyone who knows me knows.... I love to pray. I have grown more and more in love with God through watching Him work through prayer this summer. Friends that I have prayed for for it seems like forever... God has grabbed hold of their hearts in mighty ways... struggles in our youth group that I haven't known how to handle... God's taken care of it. God has shown me in very real ways that He hears my prayers and is faithful to His promises. Not only in big things, but in little things. You know what I thought was awesome... Anna Kuder (I love you!) was in my room at camp and we prayed that her family would get a new dog soon and we came back and Melissa and Mrs. Gail had bought a puppy that day! God answers prayers, and none are insignificant to Him. Now, if you check out Calyn's blog you can see some of the amazing things that God breathed in existence that are trillions upon trillions of miles away from us... God is hugeous, and He cares about me? Whoa. I'll leave you with that thought....