lately...

so i thought that i would give you a little view of whats been going on lately. to start off with my brothers hair is getting ridiculously long! so being of good sister i went and straightened it and then styled it. how do you like it??

I think its looks off the chain. once he gets his hair cut shorter he will not be walking out into public without his hair like this!! ha ha!! i really liked it though and it wasn't that hard to do.

but anyways this is my last week of freedom before school starts back and guess what I'm doing...working! yeah but its not that bad because i get to babysit this little boy who is ADORABLE!! look at how cut he is...

its been really funny though because my dog, Skip, isn't used to having little kids running around the house and i can tell that he's getting jealous. i would be playing with JD and Skip would come and jump right in front of me and start licking my face!! i feel bad for him though so whenever JD's napping I'm trying to play with Skip and make him feel loved. (poor thang!)

also...yesterday i went to six flags with my friend. i had fun but it kinda wasn't worth it. for starters we left the house at 10:00 we didn't even get into the park until 12:30. there was a ginormous line at the gate to get tickets. but when we got we rode Superman and Goliath (a.k.a. the best roller coaster in the world!!) a few times along with a few others and then by that time we were drained and ready to go home. so we got back on the road and guess what was waiting for us...TRAFFIC!!! ahh!! it was like crawling all the way from S. Cobb Drive on 285 to the Hwy. 92 exit on 575. we didn't think we were going to make it home!! haha!! oh and then i can't forget the excruciating pain that i felt this morning when i woke up. if you know me then you know that i have the back of a 60 year old. well when i woke up this morning it hurt so bad. like just any sort of movement would hurt. so i started freaking out because i knew the JD was coming over in a little bit and there was no way i was in shape to watch a 2 year old. so i took it easy and after some Aleve it was better. so needless to say i probably wont be taking another trip to Six Flags anytime soon. but i must admit that it was fun getting away from work this week and getting out of the house a little before school starts back.

Fairy Tale Jewels

so I saw this on Heidi's blog and fell in love! it's this jewlery company called Fairy Tale Jewels and all of their jewlery is awesome!! they are having a $100 giveaway! so if you're interested click here and enter yourself in the contest! after you enter yourself go and check out their jewlery by clicking here.

Dave and Busters and stuff

so last night we headed on up to Dave and Busters to meet the rest of the small group for a little outing. we had a blast!! i had a lot of fun playing the coin game with the Deese's and seeing Erin win the jackpot 4 times was definitely something else! the thing that i love about Dave and Busters is that the arcade is fun the food is really good too!! its the perfect combination!! lol but yeah me and Katie shared this chicken marinara thing which was really good and then me and Erin split the Frosty Mug. (did i mention that their plates are huge!) but the boys ordered at plate of cheese sticks before the food came out and i thought i was going to have to do the Heimlich on Alex. i guess he swallowed to much at one time but he started choking and couldn't breathe but luckily it all came out......in my mom's hands. what a great mother!! no but he's ok and after and intense sanitizing session in the bathroom my mom is all good too! haha!! but yeah after we ate we went to the arcade for the rest of the night and played a bunch of games. it was really altogether a great time!
i know that ya'll are going to think that i'm crazy but i'm really ready for school to start. i've been told that i'm one of those people that looks ahead a lot, and i guess i do, but i look at it this way i only have four years left until i'm off to college and if i hurry up and get my freshman year over with i'll only have 3. i know i probably should just chill and really experience my only freshman year but i'm really looking forward to what God has in plan for the future. i've been praying and praying and praying some more and i feel like God has revealed to me where He wants me to be but for now its just a lot of planning......and boy do i mean A LOT. but i am really looking forward to seeing all of my peeps from school and most of all making new ones. i set it in my head this summer that i was going to try and reach out more this year and really try to break up this whole clique junk. so if you would please pray for courage for me to befriend everyone at school and to step out of my box and also for patience and wisdom as these steps of planning keep piling up. i love you all and i hope everyone is doing great!!

Generation Change

Ya'll are going to be so proud of me! I just finished a book in 2 days!! I REPEAT 2 DAYS!!! I must say that this has to be my favorite book right now. It's called Generation Change and it's by Zach Hunter. (look him up! really amazing guy! http://www.lc2lc.org/) It was all about how you can help the world around you and instead of just wanting to change the world it shows you how to BE THE CHANGE!! It was really something else! You need to pick up this book! It has soooooo many resources and sooooo many great truths to help you Be The Change that God has planned for you to be. I am about to start reading Unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. I'll let you know how it is when I finish it. =)

for such a time as this...

Ok so you are totally not going to believe me but I just finished reading a book!! Yay me!! Haha! It's called For Such A Time As This and it's written by Lisa Ryan. It was a great book about being a modern day Esther and was all about girl power. It explored the story of Esther and showed how we can use the kind of courage, inner beauty, favor, purity, obedience, authenticity, position, prayer, and hospitality that Esther used to achieve greatness not for ourselves but for our creator, Jesus Christ. I don't know what came over me but I really enjoyed reading this book. (in case you haven't been able to tell, I don't like to read) It's really funny though because Katie gave me this book at the beginning of last week to read while we were at the beach and I was thinking ok is she crazy?? She obviously doesn't know that I really don't like to read! Haha. But once I got into the book I couldn't stop. It really sparked another flame in my heart for God. So thanks sooooo much Katie!!!

Frosted Flakes in a coffee cup!!

So this week I have been in Destin Florida with Fan the Flame!! I have had sooo much fun with the Deese's! We are down here for a camp for a church that is from Paulding  Their story is really similar to my church's story so its been real neat.  We've haven't gone to the beach that much this week but we've been hanging out at the pool a lot and if you know me then you know that I get sun poisoning REALLY easy.  I was actually surprised that I didn't get it until today but yes I did get sun poisoning but thankfully its not that bad so I can deal.  but you may be wondering why I have a picture of a box of Frosted Flakes.  Well this week we have had some troubles with the cleaning ladies cleaning our room so we were running low on bowls so I decided to eat my Frosted Flakes out of the coffee cup.  When Katie saw it she thought it was a smart idea and so we've gone through a whole box of Frosted Flakes by eating it out of a coffee cup. haha. yeah we know we're dorks. :) but yeah i've had sooooooooo much fun this week! I'm excited about seeing my family from Alabama when I get home and my BFF Morgan oh and yes of course my mommy! (yes I have missed her terribly!!) I hope everyone is doing great!

Lady In The Water

so i know that i said that i was going to be putting up an article about being real when you worship but something else just really spoke to me. i just got finished watching the movie Lady In The Water by M. Night Shamalon. I'm not going to sit here and ruin the movie for you (although i do encourage that you watch it) but it was basically about this guy who does maintenance at an apartment complex. he was out by the pool one night and found a girl in the pool. after telling her to get out he went to jump in after thinking that she needed help. in the process he slipped and fell on his back and then fell into the pool. he then goes unconscious and when he wakes up, hes back in his room with the girl by his side. he asks her her name and over the course of the next few days finds out that she is from another universe (corny i know but it gets better) and that she only has a few more nights to return. with the help of one of the residents he finds out that he alone cannot return her but that he must have help from many of the other people living in the apartment complex. I'm going to end it there because i am really bad at ruining movie for people but your probably thinking what can i get from this cheesy movie? surprisingly i got a lot from it. ok to start off with this woman was from ANOTHER UNIVERSE!!! hello if it were me and i found someone that was from another universe I'd be like seeeeeyaaaa! u know what i mean, I'd be like alright you have fun with that and I'll just stay over here, 10 ft away. but what amazed me was that not only did the guy who found her befriend her but everyone else that learned about her was doing anything and everything to help and get her back home. i think we can all take a look at this and learn from it. we often look at people and tend to push them away because they may be different from us. one of my great friends Cody Deese, talked about this once when he spoke. we as Christians put ourselves in this little bubble and block off the world. we don't realize that God didn't come to save those of us who already know who He is. he came to save the lost. when we push people away because they are different from us we could be hindering what God is trying to do in their life through us. who cares if they dress differently, who cares if they have as much money as you do, who cares if they choose to act differently than you do. God still loves them and so should you!

Recently i went to North Carolina with Katie and Cody Deese of Fan the Flame Ministries. Cody gave a message on exactly what i am talking about now and it really hit home to me. I really thought it was great and powerful but it wasn't until the ride home that I got to test the message out in real life. we stopped to get some dinner on the way home (cuz we ABSOLUTELY CANNOT miss a meal with fan the flame) and it was already dark outside. we pulled off the exit and came to the stop light at the top of the hill. as we pulled up we saw a man standing on the side of the road with a sign and i don't even remember what the sign said but i remember the look of the man. he was obviously homeless, his clothes were torn, his bike was bent up, and he was filthy from head to toe. i remember thinking, "oh my gosh, lock the doors and keep driving." I was terrified of him. then the words that came out of Katie's mouth threw me way of course, she said, "Cody, give him a dollar." she reached into her wallet, took out a dollar and Cody handed it to the man. we drove off and went to dinner but the whole time i was thinking. what just happened? and then it hit me. just like Cody had said earlier that day in his message, we get scared of people that aren't like us and then we put ourselves in this little Christian bubble and want nothing to do with them. without realizing it this was exactly what i did to this man. i got scared because he wasn't like me. and that moment that i thought "lock the doors and keep driving" could have been the moment that God was trying to do something in this mans life and I missed it because I was scared. i thought about the man all through dinner and you wont believe what happened on the way back to the interstate. we had to stop and get gas before we headed home so were pulling into the gas station and guess who we see. it was the same man we saw earlier at the red light. Cody pulled up next to him and said hey. they made small talk and then Cody asked him if he knew Jesus. the man answered yes and Cody replied good. we went and got our gas and then headed home but still to this day i cannot get that man out of my head. I went with Katie and Cody that weekend to learn about the ministry but God was really working in my life and He not only showed me the ministry but he showed me how to BE the ministry.
so that was just something that was speaking to my heart after watching the movie. but i had a great 4th of July. the matiaks came over and we made hotdogs and hamburgers and then did fireworks in the backyard. church today was great we wrapped up the series Vital Signs and i had a blast in Kidmo as usual. Say a prayer for Katie, Cody and I as we are traveling to Destin this week for a summer camp. I am thrilled to be getting to spend more time with Katie and Cody and getting to see what Fan the Flame is all about. I also have family coming into town this week so pray for traveling safety for them. I'm about to go but i have to mention that this Friday there is an Ocean Is Theory concert at The Warehouse at FBCW. You REALLY need to come! this is one of the best bands in the world!!! haha! they are really awesome guys and their music is rockin so come check them out if ya can! i hope that everyone is doing great and living for God!