A few days ago I was feeling totally overwhelmed. There were/are so many loose ends that I was just waiting to get tied up. And while there are still some of those, there are nearly as many now. And it feels really good.
One of the things that was hanging over my head to take care of was my yard sale. About a month and a half ago I sent out an email to everyone at church asking for donations for this massive yard sale I wanted to have. As things started rolling in, it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to have only one. So I had my first one, and made $200. Then, as the summer went on, ore and more people started to bring me things. So I had this huge yard sale on Saturday. I had to work out locations, ads and tons of other stuff. I figured out that I was gonna have it in this building at Potter, and since Potter had a youth group volunteering there Friday, they lent me some volunteers and they helped me move somewhere around 40 boxes over to the building. Saturday was the relatively easy part...at least the morning. I made around $400, so that was really exciting. Saturday afternoon my awesome youth minister and friend Jordan helped me tear everything down and put Allen Phy back together. I'm so so so SO relieved to have that behind me now. That was definitely a huge item on my "to do list" that I got to check off! Whew!
Both my passport and luggage have come in the mail within the last couple days. It always really stresses me out to order things offline, because I'm always afraid that they won't get to me by the time I need them. But, now that I have my luggage I can pack. It's also a HUGE relief to have my passport all done and taken care of.
So, because those huge stresses are taken care of, I got to enjoy today. And I'm so, so glad that I did.
As far as days go, today was exceptionally good. I couldn't go to sleep until about 5:30 this morning, which kind of sucked. But, around 11 I woke up to the sound of my mom on the phone with her friend Tiffany telling her that she would get lunch and bring it up to her apartment so they could hang out. I woke up all the way and convinced my mom to take me with her. So my mom and I went and got Zaxby's and then went up and hung out with Tiffany.
Then, mom and I dropped my phone off at this place called Digital Doc. It's this place where they repair electronics. Both my phone screen and the back of it were shattered, and I'd been wanting to get it taken care of for a long time. So I was super pumped about finally getting it done.
I had some free time this afternoon, so I texted Kaitlin, who I hadn't seen all summer, and asked her if she'd like to go to band camp. She said yes, so we met at the school and went in to see everyone. We started in the auditorium, which was where the front ensemble was. Neither of us had seen Mitch since graduation, so we were both really excited about that. When I walked into the auditorium they were in the middle of playing part of their show. When they noticed us and finished playing, Zach, Mitch, and Dana all ran off the stage and hugged me. With a little convincing, I got a hug out of Josh as well...I missed my babies, haha. It was so nice to see them all...It was nice to see everyone that I'd missed, really. But the most exciting part was seeing Mitch and Kaitlin. A technology only relationship with them is not enough.
After band camping, my mom and I went to the mall for a bit, but we didn't get to do much shopping, because we had to be at Potter by 4:30 to go out to eat with the youth group that's currently volunteering there. It was really fun to go out to eat and sit and talk with people.
My friend Taylor picked me up from Cheddars, and we went to Toys R Us. We had planned to buy something for Elsie for her birthday, along with the other Taylor in youth group (yeah, a gift from The Taylors cause we're cute) but some money stuff happened, so it got prolonged. We finally had all the money, so Taylor Evans and I went to Toys R Us to get this tunnel thing for her that we'd all already agreed on. So after we got it, we went and wrapped it (in Dora paper) and then took it over to Ryan and Melinda. Elsie was asleep when we got there, but Melinda said she could get up and play for a little while. So she got up, and got really excited about the wrapping paper, and then Melinda opened it and set up the tunnel thing. It was so funny to watch Elsie get warmed up to it. At first she just sat on the edge of it and laughed at whoever was on the other end. Then she eventually would crawl through it if either Ryan or Melinda was about halfway in the tunnel holding out their arms to her. Then eventually she just started taking off crawling through it. I'm really glad that we got her something that she can enjoy. After that we just sat around with Ryan, Melinda, Jordan and Austin and watched Honey Boo Boo. I'd never seen it before, so that was interesting.
Then Taylor and I went and got GADS in what we refer to as "Donuts After Dark" then danced and sang all the way home.
Basically today was one of the best days I've had in a long time. It made me feel like that song lyric from Singing In The Rain..."What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again..."
I think I might be the most blessed girl in the whole world.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
A Big Bowl of Spaghetti
"I've been experiencing logistics suffocation torture (LST) for a few weeks now. This is where you know that you are supposed to be making some plans and getting a bunch of crap figured out in the very near future so your brain is in a constant state of attempting to resolve every single geographical and scheduling conflicts that could ever exist." - It Just Gets Stranger
That is a direct quote from a blog post that I just read. And I don't think I've ever understood something so well. Because, Eli is getting ready to move to the United States after living in a tropical island country for a year now. He's going through all of this stress and he has a huge list of things that he needs to accomplish before he can actually move.
That's where I'm at, right now. I don't know if LST is a real thing or not, but I'm definitely experiencing something like it. I have so much stuff to do. It's completely overwhelming, and it kind of makes me not want to do any of it. Kind of like those memes that say "That moment when you have so much stuff to do that you just decided to take a nap". I want to take a nap...but I'm having trouble sleeping because I have so much to do. Life is a vicious cycle.
I've got so much hanging over my head right now. I have $450 more a month to come up with so that I'll be meeting the bare minimum of what I need to live. I've got to finish buying stuff for my apartment. I've got all these loose ends that are in the process of coming together, but just haven't quite made it yet. And it's killing me. Because a lot of them aren't in my hands anymore. For instance, I got my passport...ordered it or whatever, but I'm just waiting and hoping that it's gonna get here by the time I need to leave. I've got luggage coming that I ordered offline, and I can't pack until it gets here. Stuff like that.
I've got a follow up letter to write to people who have told me that they'll give me money every month, but I don't know how they're supposed to send it to me yet. All of these things are all tangled together. My life kind of feels like a big bowl of spaghetti right now that I'm trying to pull one noodle out at a time. If anyone has ever been successful with this, help a sister out, k?
I'm just ready to pull past all this stressfulness and really get to enjoy it. Because I'm 100% sure that, while this adventure will be rocky, and I may not always love every part of it, it's going to be something that I'm going to enjoy. Because God wants me to do this, and I know that God's plans for me are beyond my wildest dreams.
All in all, I'm stressed, but hopeful.
That is a direct quote from a blog post that I just read. And I don't think I've ever understood something so well. Because, Eli is getting ready to move to the United States after living in a tropical island country for a year now. He's going through all of this stress and he has a huge list of things that he needs to accomplish before he can actually move.
That's where I'm at, right now. I don't know if LST is a real thing or not, but I'm definitely experiencing something like it. I have so much stuff to do. It's completely overwhelming, and it kind of makes me not want to do any of it. Kind of like those memes that say "That moment when you have so much stuff to do that you just decided to take a nap". I want to take a nap...but I'm having trouble sleeping because I have so much to do. Life is a vicious cycle.
I've got so much hanging over my head right now. I have $450 more a month to come up with so that I'll be meeting the bare minimum of what I need to live. I've got to finish buying stuff for my apartment. I've got all these loose ends that are in the process of coming together, but just haven't quite made it yet. And it's killing me. Because a lot of them aren't in my hands anymore. For instance, I got my passport...ordered it or whatever, but I'm just waiting and hoping that it's gonna get here by the time I need to leave. I've got luggage coming that I ordered offline, and I can't pack until it gets here. Stuff like that.
I've got a follow up letter to write to people who have told me that they'll give me money every month, but I don't know how they're supposed to send it to me yet. All of these things are all tangled together. My life kind of feels like a big bowl of spaghetti right now that I'm trying to pull one noodle out at a time. If anyone has ever been successful with this, help a sister out, k?
I'm just ready to pull past all this stressfulness and really get to enjoy it. Because I'm 100% sure that, while this adventure will be rocky, and I may not always love every part of it, it's going to be something that I'm going to enjoy. Because God wants me to do this, and I know that God's plans for me are beyond my wildest dreams.
All in all, I'm stressed, but hopeful.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
My Church Family is Awesome :)
At the end of each sermon/lesson at church, there's always an invitation given. Which basically means that whoever spoke encourages whomever to come forward if they need prayers, or want to be baptized.
On Wednesday nights at Alvaton, this man always speaks and gives the lesson. I love the way he gives lessons. He always takes a story from something he's seen/heard/saw/experienced. He always tells this story, and draws this spiritual connection, and they all really stick with me. Well, this last week, on Wednesday night, he told a story about when his daughter was little. He talked about how they bought a swingset with a slide to put in their yard.
The first time she went up to the ladder, she looked up, got really scared, and asked him to lift her up to the top. So he did, then he went around to the front of the slide, and then he held onto her as she slid down, because she was so scared. This went on, each time giving her more freedom, because she got less and less scared. Eventually, she told him to get out of the way, and she slid down by herself.
While I listened to this, I was thinking about how growing up, I've always felt scared to do things on my own. I always wanted to have a friend with me when I went places, and things like that. And I thought about how crazy it is that I'm going to AIM. I thought about how gaining courage has really been a bunch of baby steps for me. There have been times in my life when I've needed people to hold me, and times when I've needed people to hold my hands. But, doing this, going to AIM, is like letting go of all of the people who have done that for me.
Now, it's not like they're just going away for good, just that I'm leaving all of them behind. I'm not gonna have them there to hold my hand, or carry me. It's time for me to be a big girl (or "adult" as some people like to say) and do something on my own.
When the invitation was given, I decided that tonight was the right time for me to go forward and ask for prayers about AIM. I had decided a couple weeks ago that I was gonna, I just hadn't decided when yet. But the story really resonated with me, and it really hit me in a big way how soon it is that I'm leaving. I was sitting by Ryan and Melinda, so I had to get across them and go to the front.
Here's something that I really, really love about my youth group: when one of us goes forward, everyone goes with them. It's a really nice feeling, not being alone when you go forward. When you do, you feel really vulnerable, and having all of them with you makes you feel loved, and supported. Anyways. I went up and sat down and Ryan sat down beside me, and Taylor/Morgan sat down on the other side of me. Ryan asked what was going on and talked to me a little bit about AIM and all the things I was nervous about, etc. When Ryan got up to tell everyone what was going on, Justin sat down on the other side of me.
After Ryan got done telling people what I had come forward for, they all prayed for me, and then came and gave me hugs. It's so nice to feel so much love and support.
This one man, Darryl, said to me "I know you, and how you are. If you can't do this, then no one can." And that just meant so much to me, because I like to think of myself as a fighter, and it made me feel really good to have someone else say it, too.
I just really love the church family that God gave me to grow up with, and I'm never going to stop being grateful to them for being good Christian examples, for loving me, and for being the one and only constant that I had, at a lot of times. I each and every one of them very much, and leaving them is going to be the hardest of all. I'm so glad to know that they all support me, and have got my back.
God is good, and I'm so glad that He takes care of me. :) I'm just feeling really good.
(Oh, on a really happy note: A friend of mine got baptized tonight! Yay!)
On Wednesday nights at Alvaton, this man always speaks and gives the lesson. I love the way he gives lessons. He always takes a story from something he's seen/heard/saw/experienced. He always tells this story, and draws this spiritual connection, and they all really stick with me. Well, this last week, on Wednesday night, he told a story about when his daughter was little. He talked about how they bought a swingset with a slide to put in their yard.
The first time she went up to the ladder, she looked up, got really scared, and asked him to lift her up to the top. So he did, then he went around to the front of the slide, and then he held onto her as she slid down, because she was so scared. This went on, each time giving her more freedom, because she got less and less scared. Eventually, she told him to get out of the way, and she slid down by herself.
While I listened to this, I was thinking about how growing up, I've always felt scared to do things on my own. I always wanted to have a friend with me when I went places, and things like that. And I thought about how crazy it is that I'm going to AIM. I thought about how gaining courage has really been a bunch of baby steps for me. There have been times in my life when I've needed people to hold me, and times when I've needed people to hold my hands. But, doing this, going to AIM, is like letting go of all of the people who have done that for me.
Now, it's not like they're just going away for good, just that I'm leaving all of them behind. I'm not gonna have them there to hold my hand, or carry me. It's time for me to be a big girl (or "adult" as some people like to say) and do something on my own.
When the invitation was given, I decided that tonight was the right time for me to go forward and ask for prayers about AIM. I had decided a couple weeks ago that I was gonna, I just hadn't decided when yet. But the story really resonated with me, and it really hit me in a big way how soon it is that I'm leaving. I was sitting by Ryan and Melinda, so I had to get across them and go to the front.
Here's something that I really, really love about my youth group: when one of us goes forward, everyone goes with them. It's a really nice feeling, not being alone when you go forward. When you do, you feel really vulnerable, and having all of them with you makes you feel loved, and supported. Anyways. I went up and sat down and Ryan sat down beside me, and Taylor/Morgan sat down on the other side of me. Ryan asked what was going on and talked to me a little bit about AIM and all the things I was nervous about, etc. When Ryan got up to tell everyone what was going on, Justin sat down on the other side of me.
After Ryan got done telling people what I had come forward for, they all prayed for me, and then came and gave me hugs. It's so nice to feel so much love and support.
This one man, Darryl, said to me "I know you, and how you are. If you can't do this, then no one can." And that just meant so much to me, because I like to think of myself as a fighter, and it made me feel really good to have someone else say it, too.
I just really love the church family that God gave me to grow up with, and I'm never going to stop being grateful to them for being good Christian examples, for loving me, and for being the one and only constant that I had, at a lot of times. I each and every one of them very much, and leaving them is going to be the hardest of all. I'm so glad to know that they all support me, and have got my back.
God is good, and I'm so glad that He takes care of me. :) I'm just feeling really good.
(Oh, on a really happy note: A friend of mine got baptized tonight! Yay!)
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
AHHHH!
I'm really, really excited for the rest of this summer. I've got a lot of fun things going on, but also some really stressful things that I have to take care of. But, I'm trying to focus more on the exciting, and break the stressful stuff down into small tasks, one at a time, rather than looking at one long list and feeling hopeless. It's working a little bit better this way.
So, the exciting things that I've got going on are, well, exciting. This weekend, my mom has to go to a workshop in order to renew her therapy license or something like that. It's in Lexington, and I think I'm gonna go with her. She'll be in her conference from 9-12 on Saturday morning, and I guess while she's in that I'll shop or something. But it'll be nice to get out of Bowling Green with just my mom, even for just a little while.
Next Monday the youth group is going to Holiday World, which is always exciting and fun. I loooove Holiday World for lots of different reasons. For one, it's holiday themed. I love that each of the different parts of the park at themed after different holidays, and all the rides in that part go along with that theme (example: the tilt-a-whirl is in the Thanksgiving part, and the little carts are turkeys). It's funny, because my mom just found out today when we were talking about the trip that Holiday World is holiday themed. I guess she just never really thought about it, and put it all together. It made me laugh really hard when she told me that. But anyway, I'm really pumped to go with the youth group...this is actually my last youth group trip ever so that's gonna be sad. I've known it was coming all along, I suppose.
Early next Tuesday morning I'll be leaving to go to my Mimi and Papaw's house. They live in Indiana, and I haven't gone and seen them in a really long time. It's kind of scary, because I'm driving all the way up there all by myself, and it's the first time I've ever taken a car trip that long ever. I'm really scared, but I'll deal with it I suppose. But, I'm basically going to say goodbye to all of my family that lives up there, since I'm moving in August and all...it's gonna be sad to say bye for now, but I'm really glad that I'll get to see them all before I go!
My mom, Gabe, and I are also gonna go visit her brother and his family the third weekend in July. We'll leave on Thursday night and come home around lunch time. I'm pumped for this, because I'm gonna see if I can get my aunt to take us shopping at all of the home stores that they have there (because there aren't many here, but there are quite a few where they live). I want to get some stuff for my apartment that I know I'm gonna need, and I know I can find really good deals there. So I'm hoping to get a chance to do some shopping. But I'm also really exciting to swim in their pool and just really spend some time with them, too. Because I know I'm going to miss them tons. I'm probably gonna cry a lot when that visit is over. I hate saying goodbye. Nevertheless, hanging out with them is fun.
Anyway, I'm really excited for all of those things coming up, and I'm trying to keep them in mind when I think about all the big, stressful tasks that I have up ahead of me...
I just looked down at the time (it's 6a.m.) and I was so shocked! It definitely feels like it's hours earlier than what it is...it felt more like midnight to me. I should obviously get some sleep. Here goes nothing.
So, the exciting things that I've got going on are, well, exciting. This weekend, my mom has to go to a workshop in order to renew her therapy license or something like that. It's in Lexington, and I think I'm gonna go with her. She'll be in her conference from 9-12 on Saturday morning, and I guess while she's in that I'll shop or something. But it'll be nice to get out of Bowling Green with just my mom, even for just a little while.
Next Monday the youth group is going to Holiday World, which is always exciting and fun. I loooove Holiday World for lots of different reasons. For one, it's holiday themed. I love that each of the different parts of the park at themed after different holidays, and all the rides in that part go along with that theme (example: the tilt-a-whirl is in the Thanksgiving part, and the little carts are turkeys). It's funny, because my mom just found out today when we were talking about the trip that Holiday World is holiday themed. I guess she just never really thought about it, and put it all together. It made me laugh really hard when she told me that. But anyway, I'm really pumped to go with the youth group...this is actually my last youth group trip ever so that's gonna be sad. I've known it was coming all along, I suppose.
Early next Tuesday morning I'll be leaving to go to my Mimi and Papaw's house. They live in Indiana, and I haven't gone and seen them in a really long time. It's kind of scary, because I'm driving all the way up there all by myself, and it's the first time I've ever taken a car trip that long ever. I'm really scared, but I'll deal with it I suppose. But, I'm basically going to say goodbye to all of my family that lives up there, since I'm moving in August and all...it's gonna be sad to say bye for now, but I'm really glad that I'll get to see them all before I go!
My mom, Gabe, and I are also gonna go visit her brother and his family the third weekend in July. We'll leave on Thursday night and come home around lunch time. I'm pumped for this, because I'm gonna see if I can get my aunt to take us shopping at all of the home stores that they have there (because there aren't many here, but there are quite a few where they live). I want to get some stuff for my apartment that I know I'm gonna need, and I know I can find really good deals there. So I'm hoping to get a chance to do some shopping. But I'm also really exciting to swim in their pool and just really spend some time with them, too. Because I know I'm going to miss them tons. I'm probably gonna cry a lot when that visit is over. I hate saying goodbye. Nevertheless, hanging out with them is fun.
Anyway, I'm really excited for all of those things coming up, and I'm trying to keep them in mind when I think about all the big, stressful tasks that I have up ahead of me...
I just looked down at the time (it's 6a.m.) and I was so shocked! It definitely feels like it's hours earlier than what it is...it felt more like midnight to me. I should obviously get some sleep. Here goes nothing.
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