Ask Me Why I Love My Church...

I recently bought a t shirt that says "Ask Me Why I Love My Church" on it, with the words Alvaton Church of Christ printed underneath it. I'm so excited to get this shirt in the mail and to wear it, and hopefully someone will ask me, so that I can tell them all about the church family God has blessed me with, and the reasons that I love them all so dearly. So, since I've been all about making lists and talking about things I love on my blog, I think I'd like to try and do it differently this time…but hey, it may still turn out the same…we'll see.

Let me start off by saying that I'm so proud to call myself a part of the Alvaton family. Especially being far away form them, and seeing what they do from the outside, and looking at other churches. I'm so proud of the way they're constantly reaching out to the Alvaton community. I'm proud of the way they accept visitors, and the way they just love people.

I haven't had a life that's been super easy for me. I don't want to give a whole sob story, but I do struggle with depression and other things, and also circumstantial things that have happened that have been really hard on me. And I've struggled with feeling like neither of my parents loved me or were really there for me…and it caused me to end up replacing that position in my life. (Now, my relationships with both of them are much better, and I don't feel that way anymore…I'm not trying to embarrass them by saying all that, just trying to be honest.) There are so many people at Alvaton who I feel like have had an equal part in raising me that my parents did, even though some of them didn't even come into my life until I was older.

When my life was in shambles, or I felt like the world was falling down around me, it was scary. Nothing felt consistent, it didn't feel like I could really count on anything…but I look back and realize how tightly I was clinging to my family at Alvaton. Even when it didn't seem like it, because I was always angry, or didn't really want to talk to people, I was holding on with all my might. Alvaton is the place, and the people, who have always been consistenly there for me.

I'm grateful to have been blessed with a youth group full of people who became my best friends, and ultimately, the only friends I knew I could count on all throughout high school. I was blessed to be part of a group that never shied away from topics that would generally make you a little (or a lot) uncomfortable. I'm someone who doesn't find much of anything an awkward topic. Things just don't make me feel weird, or uncomfortable. And I never felt like, when we were at youth group stuff, people judged me for that, as I feel they do now sometimes. I guess going through Dateable with your youth minister makes everything seem less awkward by comparison. I love it, though! (Funny story about Dateable-- it's a book about dating, and so of course it's going to cover sexual sin…so from the beginning Ryan warned us that we were going to have a "sex talk" at some point. So, I had some friends in marching band with me that I'd been trying to work on, and get to come to church with me. And then finally, one Thursday night, I convinced them to come to TNT with me. Well, we get there, and Ryan announces that it's the night we're going to have our talk. I was really afraid that they were gonna think it was super uncomfortable and never come back again. But they didn't. They ended up loving it, and coming back to TNT with me every Thursday night. My youth minister is cool enough to not make people feel awkward about sex…)

I'm so thankful for the supporters I have at Alvaton. When I started trying to raise support, I was shocked by how generous people were. It was like, anything someone could do, they wanted to do it. People gave me money, they gave me TONS of stuff to sell in a yard sale, I was surprised by how much people just gave to me. And even when people can't support me through money, they still gave whatever they could to me. I received so much love from people, and people were praying for me all the time, because they keep telling me that they are and giving me encouragement. I appreciated it so much, the things that they did for me. It's humbling. Because, as hard as I try, it's hard not for me to think of myself as a "missionary" with a little tinge of pride. But to have so many people supporting me, praying for me, loving me…it makes me feel so humble, and gives me even more of a drive to succeed.

Over all, I’m so proud to be a member of the body of God loving Christians at Alvaton, and I don't think I'll ever stop being proud of them, or claiming them as my own. No matte where else I go in life.

I think that's what I'm most grateful for…knowing that I'll always have a place to go back to where I'll be welcome, no matter how far away I move, or whatever I end up deciding to go with my life  after AIM…they'll always accept me and love me just as much as they do now, and I'll always feel the same about them.

If you're from Alvaton, and you're reading this…I love you!

The Paducah Trip and Other Exciting Adventures

Guys...the AIMers just got back from our trip to Paducah! It was a crazy, hectic, stressful, exhausting trip. I had a blast! So, this trip had several different parts, so I think the most fun way to do it would be to break it up by days...at least, the most fun way for me.

Sooo...

Day One (Thursday #1)

The first day of our trip was a really long day, driving wise. We left home at 4am, and drove for what seemed like forever. (The plus side of this day was that I hadn't slept much the night before so I basically slept straight through it.) For dinner that night (I know, crazy long jump...but like I said, I was asleep most of the time.) We went to a place called Lambert's. And it was freaking awesome. That's the only way I know how to describe it. They gave us sooooo much food. I got the catfish, and it was probably the best catfish I've ever eaten. For real. Lambert's is famous for the fact that they deliver your rolls to your table by throwing them to you. Basically what happens is that a guy walks out with a cart full of rolls, and you hold your hands up and he throws them to you. Since I don't eat bread, I didn't actually catch a roll, but it was a lot of fun to watch everyone else try and catch their rolls.

After dinner, we headed to this church, where we were going to spend the night. We get there, and we're all getting ready to take showers and such. There was only one shower for the girls and one shower for the boys. Which was cool, because we don't like to complain... ;) But anyway, I was one of the first few to call dibs on a shower, simply because I really wanted to wash the day of travel off of me. So, I go to get in the shower, I walk in the room where the shower is, turn the shower on, walk out to throw something away, and when I try to get back in, I discover that the door is locked. So I go and get one of the AIM assistants, and he literally tries to take the door off its hinges. But the door won't budge. So we end up having to call the guy who let us into the church originally to bring the key to the bathroom door. Needless to say, by the time he drove all the way back across town to bring us the key, my shower was freezing cold and so was everyone who went after me...oops.

Day Two (Friday #1)

The second day of the trip was a lot of fun. We traveled in the morning, until about lunch. Around lunch time, we got to St Louis. We pulled up and they let us out at the arch, and told us what time to be back. A group of us decided that we didn't want fast food, so we went on an adventure to find the spaghetti factory! It was so fun to eat there, I hadn't been in a long time, and it's definitely one of my favorite restaurants. A little bit of a splurge, but it was so so worth it. When we got to the restaurant and sat down, we noticed that Kris, Pat, and the other assistants who were on the trip were at a table across the restaurant. Lacy and I immediately texted Kris and Pat and said "We see you!" to which Pat replied "We couldn't escape!!!" haha. We thought about several different things we could do that would be silly, but we ended up deciding to have one piece of mud pie with two forks delivered to Kris and Pat, from their secret admirers. Obviously they knew it was us, but it was still fun to do something like that.

After lunch we got back on the bus and finished the trip to Paducah. When we got to the Lone Oak Church of Christ, we ate dinner with them, and then found out who our host families were. Ashlie and I stayed with the nicest lady. Her name was Ruby, and she's a real sweetheart. I really enjoyed talking and laughing with her every night.

Day Three (Saturday)

So, day three...Saturday. Saturday morning, we got to the church, and Kris announced that we'd be spending the morning sightseeing in Paducah, and then also going to Metropolis, IL to look around there (hello, Superman...). We went down to the waterfront, and looked at all the murals that they have painted on their floodwalls. It was so neat to see the way that people have taken pieces of their town history and documented it in such a cool way. I really enjoyed that. Then, we went to Metropolis, which was really cool. There's this big statue of Superman, and all this other cool Superman stuff, and then a store with basically anything superhero you could imagine. Luckily, I left my wallet on the bus, so I couldn't really buy anything.

When we got back to the church from Metropolis, it was time to start setting up for the community fish fry that the church would be having that night. It was fun to do service work, and serve others. That's probably my favorite thing to do. When it came time for the fish fry to start, we just started serving people food. There were soooo many people, and so much fish. I don't think I've ever seen so much fish in my life, for real. It was fun to serve others, but it was soooo nice to sit down and eat as well. :)

Day Four (Sunday)

Sunday was a really fun day...we went to church in the morning, of course. We went to the high school class, which Pat taught. I really enjoyed his class, and talking about defining ourselves by the fact that we're children of God, and not letting our worldly views define us. In the actual church part of it, we went in and sat down. I sat with three of the friendliest ladies I've ever met. (Ok, I've gotta go off on a little bit of a tangent for a second. When I came to AIM and went to Denver City for the first time, it was super hard for me to find people to sit with, and it was difficult for me to feel comfortable. But I didn't feel that way at all when I sat down with these ladies...proof that I'm growing? I'd like to think so!) Kris was the one who gave the sermon this morning. He talked about AIM and missions in general. Then he called all of us to come up on stage, had us answer some questions, and then we sang Do Not Fear. People in the audience started crying, and Megan, a girl in our class who's from Lone Oak started crying, and it really reminded me of my last Sunday at Alvaton, when they called me up front and prayed for me and all this other stuff. So then I started crying, which made me feel silly, so I tried to hide it...yeah.

Lunch was a potluck...since I came to AIM potlucks are my best friends. For real, that's the only way I ever eat anything that's good for me...so lunch was obviously good.

Sunday afternoon we all broke off into groups and spent time with our host families. It was fun to just hang out with Ruby and Ashlie. We went and walked around downtown, and then went to Coldstone and got ice cream. Yum!

Sunday evening we went and worshipped in Murray, Kentucky at the Glendale Rd Church of Christ. It was their singing night, and the song leader is a man who used to lead singing at Lone Oak. He just recently found out that he has a very aggressive form of ALS, and he's not really expected to live much longer. So, for a lot of people, this was their last time to really worship with him (until Heaven!) so it was kind of emotional for them. I know I'm getting off topic, but if you could keep him in your prayers (I feel bad, I totally forgot his name!) that would be great! For dinner we had Culvers. It was the first time I had Culvers in over two months, so I was pretty happy! :)

Day Five (Monday)

Monday wasn't a good day for me. Being in Kentucky was making me really homesick, and I was missing my mom, and it was leading me to be in a really bad mood, and be really sensitive. I basically just tried (unsuccessfully) not to cry all day. I guess I was feeling isolated, and it wasn't anyone's fault, I was just sensitive and things were hurting my feelings and stuff like that...nbd.

But anyway, Monday morning we had class. We had two different classes. One was taught by a man named Richard, and he talked to us about life, and his experiences, some that were pretty heartbreaking, and he also told us about making brooms. It was cool to hear his story, because he told us about his daughter, and how she told him she was gonna do this "mission thing" in Lubbock, TX, but that she never told him what it was called or anything like that. Well, then his daughter was killed (I think in a car crash?) and he never thought of that conversation again until he heard we were coming. The AIM world is a small place...

Then, we heard a lesson from a man named Mike who's basically a genius (if you've heard him speak before, you know what I'm talking about). He talked to us about this Bible study method that we can use with people when we study with them on the field. I think that it's gonna be really helpful information to have.

In the afternoon on Monday we all split into different groups and did different service projects. Because I have a hurt foot and really am not supposed to move around a whole lot, I did some data entries for the church. I made a database of all the people who had come to the fish fry and filled out one of the cards they gave out. It was cool to see all the little town names around the Paducah area. Word really spread.

Monday night we worked with the church's benevolence program. They prepared a dinner, and we were split into groups and assigned different jobs. Some people got to serve dinner, some got to take prayer requests and pray with people, and some of us were told to basically just hang out in the Lobby of the church and talk to people. I'm gonna go off on a bit of a tangent here (surprise, right?) and talk about this congregation and how impressed I was by them. I don't think I've ever been to a church that was more dedicated to helping people, or helping each other. This church is really a body full of servants. It was so impressive to see how they just want to serve others, and glorify God with everything they have. The AIMers went to serve, and we did serve, but I felt as if I was being served by the people there more than I was serving them, even. They're all so open and friendly, and unified. It was really just way cool.

Day Six (Tuesday)

Tuesday morning we had class with Mike again. Yay! Then, after lunch (which was BBQ nachos, by the way) everyone got ready to travel to Western Kentucky Bible Camp, but I didn't go with them, because my mommy came and got me and took me home with her! It was so nice to spend 2.5 hours with my mom just doing nothing but talking and catching up. I really had missed her.

I had planned to go home, and then go to Stakz with the Heltons. I hadn't told anyone but my mom, dad, and them that I was coming into town a day before I had originally planned, because I figured it would be nice to just spend time with them, or surprise people if I got the chance. Well, I ended up getting into town early enough to get my mom to drop me by marching band. It was so much fun to surprise Mitch. He look so excited, and it made me happy.

Then, I got to Stakz about 20 minutes early, which was cool. I was planning on just sitting and waiting...you know, spending some alone time. But, as I'm walking in, I looked up and saw Bailey standing at the counter. She turned around and saw me and screamed soooo loud, then ran across the room and gave me a hug. It cracked me up how quiet everyone got. Then, I had fro yo with Ryan and Melinda, we just caught up and stuff. :)

So I had some free time and decided that it would be fun to go surprise Abby. (In case no one could tell I really love surprising people...) And it was. She was in the middle of writing a college essay, but she took some time out of it to talk to me. It was well timed, because it gave me a chance to tell her that she should consider AIM rather than college... ;)

Day Seven (Wednesday)

Wednesday morning my mom and I got up and went shopping. We bought some clothes and shoes for me for the winter. Then we went out for Chinese food, which was awesome. So so good. I'd missed it!

Wednesday night was so much fun, because it was when all the AIMers came to Alvaton. I got to church early, and hung out with Melinda and Elsie, and all the youth group kids as they got there. So that was nice. Then, when all the AIMers got there, it was fun to watch them start building relationships with church members. I looooooved getting to see all my friends and family. It really gave me a reminder of who I am, and where I've come from... (I'm gonna write a post all about Alvaton and how much the people there mean to me really soon!)

After church the three girls who stayed with me and I went to GADS and hung out with my dad for awhile, and that was fun. Then we went back to my mom's house and played a board game, which was also fun! I'd really missed playing games with my mom, since that was always kind of one of our things. Game nights are seriously deals at the Hockman household, y'all.

Day Eight (Thursday #2)

Thursday was just another long travel day. We traveled all the way from Bowling Green to East Texas. We stayed in a barn on this familie's farm. Some of the girls slept in an RV while the rest of us slept in their attic. It was fun to sleep there and get to know that family.

Day Nine (Friday #2)

Friday wasn't really that eventful at all. We got up in the morning, got on the bus and drove all the way home. Then, we were back and I was way more happy than I would have expected to be. I think I'm starting to love Lubbock...uh oh.

Other adventures...

We started new classes, and I think I'm gonna really like this term. Also, we've been having more field presentations lately, and I think it's really awesome and I'm enjoying it. So far, my favorite has been the presentation for Sucre, Bolivia...but I'm still not sure yet. It doesn't matter, though! God is gonna send me where He wants.

Also....I LED MY VERY FIRST SMALL GROUP LAST NIGHT. It was totally nerve wracking, and I thought I was gonna die for sure. But I didn't, so that's exciting. I think it'll be much easier next time. :)

Now, I have a trip to pack for, because tomorrow we leave for OCU, we're going to the World Mission Workshop. I'm pretty excited, but I'm also sort of dreading it, since I'm so exhausted.

Alright, I gotta jet. So much to do!

Kentucky

So, I’ve been going through some really tough stuff the last few days. And it's causing me to really miss home, and miss my friends and family there. I miss things that I never thought I would miss. Or, wouldn’t have expected to miss this much.

I miss marching band. I knew I would miss marching band, I did. But every Saturday when I see people post about their competition and how good they did or didn’t do, I find myself really missing it. I really miss the performance aspect of it. There’s something about getting in front of a crowd and playing something that you’ve worked really hard on, and getting to hear them cheer for you. It’s an adrenaline rush, for sure. I miss the way I felt whenever the crowd cheered when we did something cool. I miss the marimba that I played, and I don’t even care if that sounds weird. I miss the bus rides, when we would all hang out and just spend time together talking, laughing, and being silly. I miss the prayer that Mr. Morrison would say before we went out and performed. Most of all, though, I miss playing music on such a regular basis. I miss the learning process, and how you’re never good enough to just stop working on a particular part of the music. I even miss the frustrations that came with learning music, because the reward when I finally figured out a part was so great. I miss my marching band family a lot.

I miss Mitch and Kaitlin…I miss all of our silly times. I miss doing stupid things, and them laughing at me for it. I knew they were never really laughing at me out of meanness, but because they thought I was being funny. I miss Mitch’s peeled banana colored hair, and how soft it is. I miss hugging Kaitlin, because she couldn’t stand it. I miss having Mrs. Laughter and Mr. Moore with Kaitlin. I miss lunch time and how much we all laughed. I miss whenever Kaitlin would make me laugh so hard that my legs would give out, because she’s just that funny. I miss free days in band, just sitting with the two of them and being silly. I miss them so much it makes me wanna cry sometimes. It’s those times that I’m grateful for our group messages, and being able to talk to both of them at the same time.

I miss GADS. The donuts in Lubbock aren’t even close to matching up, even though there’s a Krispy Kreme here. GADS > all other donuts in the world. I really miss “Donuts after Dark” with Taylor…and everyone else. GADS is definitely the best in the middle of the night.

I miss trees. Especially right now, when the leaves are starting to change. I miss being able to look at all of them as they changed and marveling at God’s complexity. I miss green in general. Lubbock doesn’t have very much of that. And, yes, there is a certain beauty of it all, because there is so much sky, and the vastness is incredible. But, I miss my KY and how green everything is.

Ok, confession time…I sometimes miss how humid Kentucky can be. Texas is so dry, which isn’t always a bad thing, but I’m seriously thirsty all the time. Also, I’m quickly developing a chap stick addiction like nobody’s business. My lips, skin, mouth, scalp, hands and feet are all so so so dry right now. I constantly feel like I need lotion. Ok, that’s all I have to say about missing humidity.

I miss Alvaton. I miss listening to Richard Perry speak on Wednesdays. I miss his lessons, and how he always tells a story and then connects it to something spiritual. He’s so relatable. I miss Randy Well’s preaching and how I always learn so much when I listen to him. I miss Ryan and Melinda. SOOO much. I always knew they were two of the biggest influences and supporters in my life, but now more than ever I realize how much they’ve meant to me over the last four years. I miss Elsie. If I talk more about that I’ll cry or something. But I do miss that girl. So much. I miss Abby, and our Team Cray good times, our Kroger runs and drunk guys giving us advice on which socks to buy. All I have to say is: Talaypot FOREVER. I miss Angel Ann, and how she was such a good listener, and how talking things out with her could always make me feel better. I miss Sydney, and I miss sitting by her every Wednesday night. Her smile always brightens my day. I miss Justin, Arkadiy, Ruslan, Andrew and Ethan and the languages and different words they all made up. I miss Taylor and Taylor (or Morgan) and how we never knew who was getting talked to. I miss so much about church, and youth group, and everything else, that I could do a whole blog post on that by itself. (Hey, I just wanna throw in here that if you read this, and you wanna pray for my youth group and all the people in it that would be awesome and really helpful!)

I miss my dad. The distance between Texas and Kentucky has made us closer, so I’m anxious to see him in person and hang out.

I miss my little brother. I  miss how much I would get on his nerves by trying to talk to him when he was playing video games, but then as soon as I started watching something on Netflix or doing something else, he wanted to talk. That kid is crazy. I miss being silly with him, and hanging out. Going to Wal Mart, or just going for a drive. I just miss my little brother, and it’s weird that he’s not so little anymore.

I miss my momma. A lot. Notice how that’s bold, underlined, and italicized? That’s because my momma is one of my best friends in the whole world, and I miss being around her all the time. I miss running errands with her. That was always our time together, since Gabe never wanted to go. It wasn’t like we ever did anything special during those times, but there was just something really enjoyable about going out and about with my momma, getting to just talk and relax. I’ve especially missed her since all of the fall tv shows have come out. I miss spending weeknights watching Dancing With The Stars, and The X Factor with her. I miss talking about who we liked and didn’t like, criticizing and complementing how each performance was. I mostly just miss talking to her. Sitting down and having a conversation with her about what was going on in life, my past, her past, the future. Everything.

I guess homesickness is setting in, and it’s been hard for me to deal with. I’m just glad that we’ll be in Kentucky in a couple weeks, and I’ll get to see my mom! Yay! I love Kentucky, and it’s my home. The place of my childhood, and, for now, the place that holds my heart. I love it, I love its people. I’m gonna cry if I write more. But I just wanted to share some of my homesickness, and talk about how much I miss everything.

WHOA

So, I haven't blogged in forever...well, it really hasn't been forever, but SO SO SO much has happened since then that it feels like it's been forever. So here's an update, or something like that...

So, I left Bowling Green. Which was really hard for me. Like, really hard. My mom and the lovely Abby Potter (otherwise known as A-Pot) threw me a going away party. Basically, we had cake and drinks after church. Then the adults left, and then youth group people (and Ryan, of course) stayed and played Wink and Do You Love Your Neighbor, which we hadn't played in a really long time. It was a really awesome way to officially end my time with the Alvaton Youth Group. So here are some photographic gems from that party...

The lovely A-Pot. I really miss this girl. Too much.

The Taylors. Both Taylor C. and I graduated this year, so we're leaving Taylor E. all to herself in the youth group. I'm sure it will be weird for her to know people are talking to her when they say Taylor. No more confusion yay, haha.

My favorite "Future AIMer"

I miss her way more than I can explain.

This wasn't part of my going away party, because it was taken the next day when I went out to lunch with Ryan and Melinda. But, it was part of my goodbyes so there's that. Also, I think this picture is very precious, matching sunglasses and all.

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My mom and I left Tuesday morning to make the 17 hour drive from Bowling Green to Lubbock. It was tons of fun to take that trip with her, and I love that we got to chance to spend time together like that. I only have one picture from that trip, oddly. It's from the last day of driving.

We were driving through Texas, and there were all these windmills. I'd seen windmills before, but they were the kind that they have in Holland or something, so they're all colorful and they almost look fake. But I'd never seen this many in one place. For miles and miles and miles this was all there was. I don't know, I thought it was neat.

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So, then I moved into my apartment, met my roomates and stuff like that. I'm sharing an apartment with three other girls. Savannah, Amanda, and Tanya. I'm sharing a room with Tanya. So far, I really love them. They make me laugh and we've had a really good time together.

Apartment 10C whatwhat.

Tanya is loads of fun.

I still have pictures left to add to my bulletin board, but other than that, this is my room area thing.

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Ok, now that we're up to date, I just wanna write about my feelings or something like that. This morning at church, someone asked me how it felt to be an AIMer...it took me a minute to process...I'm an AIMer. It feels so surreal. Like, I can't believe that this time has come, and I also can't believe that I feel this many different things about it all.

 

Kris asked us to sum up in one word how we feel about all of this...I don't think that I could even really sum it up in a sentence. I didn't know I was capable of feeling this many things all at once. I feel anxious, and nervous, of course. But also, I feel so incredibly blessed. I can't believe I get to be a part of something so out of this world awesome. I feel so happy. Freaked. Pumped. Ready. Excited. Insane. Overwhelmed. In complete disbelief.

Soooo, I guess my word would have been anxiousnervousblessedhappyfreakedpumpedreadyexcitedinsaneoverwhelmeddisbelief.

So basically I'm just soooo out of this world excited. I've closed the chapter of my life that was Bowling Green...it will always hold a special place in my heart, and there are people there who will definitely always be a part of my life. But it's time for me to move on.

It's time for me to get on with writing the rest of my story...well, let God write the rest of my story.

Basically I'm just waiting for all of this to feel real. Someone pinch me. Ok, don't really.

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!)

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.

Well, That Was Easy

Today was the day: moving day. We moved all of our storage stuff yesterday, which took forever. I was definitely expecting today to be even more stressful. This morning I woke up around 6:30. I took a shower, and you know, did general “get ready” type things, which is all fine and dandy. Then at 7:30 I left my house to pick up my friend Arkadiy, who lives waaay out. When I finally got to his house around 8:15, my mom called and told me that everyone had come to the house by 8 to help out, and that they were “flying” through everything, and to hurry up and get there. By the time I got to my house, everything was almost done. All of our furniture and basically all of our boxes were loaded. In fact, I don’t think I personally loaded anything…oops. The people we had helping us worked so hard, that we had our entire house, furniture and all in a matter of 45 minutes! That’s insane, seeing as it took us five hours just to do our garage yesterday.

Towards the beginning of this week, when we were just finding out that we were going to be moving this weekend, we figured out that we were gonna need to ask some people to help us out. We have really heavy furniture, and mom, Gabe, and I weren’t gonna be able to lift it all by ourselves. So I asked around, and mom asked around, and we found some people to help us out. Actually, we found a lot of people to help us out. That’s why it went so quickly. Also, even more people met us at Potter to help out than had been at our house. So we were totally set, and it took us a total of two hours, including travel time, to get everything loaded up. It’s craziness. That’s the easiest move we’ve ever had, for sure. So, not only did we finish everything in two hours, we’ve also got half of the house unpacked now. Everything is running so smoothly that I feel like there must be a catch…

That’s not the most exciting thing that has happened recently, though. Yesterday, when I checked the mail, I got my acceptance letter to AIM. I cannot explain how happy that made me. I mean, it’s been my plan to go all along, but now it’s official. I was actually emailing the AIM secretary earlier on this week about something, and she told me that she’d gotten all my stuff in finally about a week before that, and that my acceptance letter was in the mail. I was sooo pumped when I got that email. I took a screenshot, of course. And called my mom, but she was busy, so I texted Ryan. I was just so happy that I had to tell someone. Now I just have to go at raising support with a vengeance. If anyone out there in the blogosphere wants to hook me up with some money I’d be eternally grateful to you. ;)

I’m exhausted from moving this morning, and I really wish I could take a nap…but I have to be at the church to work on some VBS stuff, because that starts tomorrow. YAY! VBS at Alvaton is one of my favorite things…we always have a few nights of VBS which is lots of fun, singing and learning and all that, but then on July 4^th we have our annual fireworks show, and it’s pretty much the best in Bowling Green. Last year we were even on the news. Ha. I really love my church and there is nothing I love more than spending time with my family there. I’m gonna miss them more than anything in the whole world. It seriously kills me that I have to leave them.

That’s all I have time to write for now, so I guess that’s that. <3

living in fast forward.

Oh man. The last couple weeks have been so busy and I know the next couple aren't gonna be any different. That's okay, though. I like it better this way. Several interesting and exciting things have happened.

I went to church camp! I've been going to church camp since I was in the fourth grade, which is the youngest you can start at our church. I've never missed a year and it's always been one of my favorite parts about summer. This was my last year as a camper, and I probably won't get the chance to be a counselor for awhile, so it was bittersweet. But, overall, it was a fun week and I got tons closer to people that I was just kind of friends with before. One of the saddest parts about church camp was the last day, when I had to say bye to A-Pot for a whole five weeks! It's gonna kill me to have the sole other member of team cra missing for that long. ;)

When I got home from church camp, my mom was waiting with a huge bomb...we're moving. She had kind of hinted at that for awhile, but I really didn't want it to be true. You see, this is the last house that's going to be my house with my mom. And it's been a really good house. I've loved living here a lot, and I know she and Gabe have as well. So, anyway, it's all happened so fast. We're moving in a week. A week. It feels weird to know that when I pack up all the stuff in my room it's not gonna have another home until August. Maybe not even then, I'm sure there's some stuff that I won't be taking that will just be sitting in storage. It's gonna be an emotional experience for sure.

So, we've been working on packing, but also I've had 2 yard sales so far. I was initially planning on only having one big one, but as more and more people brought me stuff I knew there was no way that I was gonna be able to store it all...I guess it's my fault for having generous friends. ;) I've made quite a bit of money that way so far, but I still definitely have more to sell. I'll have maybe one more sale this summer, and then leave the rest of the stuff for my mom to have another sell with more of her stuff later on in the fall or something. There's so much that I'm sure there'll be some left over. I'm just excited for the look on the people who help us move face's when we open up our garage to load up. That'll be funny.

In the midst of all this packing and organizing, I got asked to baby sit every day this week. 9am-2pm. It's a good thing, I know. I'll be making money which will be nice but it just adds to me level of stress knowing that I'm gonna baby sit all day, which wears me out, and then come home and have huge tasks to do because our house has to go from completely unpacked and home like to a bunch of boxes in a matter of a week. It's frustrating, since I don't want to move to begin with, and now I have to stress about it. I know, it's a bad attitude, and I'm trying to make it better, I'm just bummed.

Everything will be alright, though. God has us in his hands and everything works out when we're using His timing. And I know both my mom and I have been praying for God to take care of this, so I know He is.

Finally, I'm still just waiting to hear back about my AIM application...I hate waiting and they notoriously take forever. I suppose I'll just have to wait on God's timing for this as well. So there's that.

It's 1:43 am so I'd probably better get to bed since I have to chase after two crazy kids tomorrow.

Raising Support Has Kicked My Butt.

Oh my y'all. I've spent the last four days completely and totally focused on my support letters. Even though I haven't technically been accepted to AIM yet, I am fairly certain that I will be, so I'm just gonna go ahead and raise support. I've decided to do several different things to work toward this goal.

For one, I decided that I'm gonna have a yard sale. I sent an email out to people that go to my church asking for donations, and my garage is already full! It really makes me so happy. I know that more people are planning to donate some stuff, too. God is bringing things together so well. I just am loving this whole experience right now.

Then, I decided that I'm gonna have a car wash, and ask the youth group to help me. The band has done this for a lot of years, and we always make quite a bit of money, so I'm hoping it will work out well. You know, a "free" yard sales where you ask for donations. I think it'd be really awesome to do that, and so I'm gonna try and see if I can raise some money that way.

Another thing I'm going is trying to find odd jobs to do. Someone asked me the other day if I was working this summer. I told them no, because I don't have an actual "job." But I did tell them that I plan on doing any kind of work that anyone will let me do. Yard work, cleaning out their attic, babysitting. Whatever it is, I'm willing to do it. I need money, and if someone is kind enough to offer me an opportunity to make some money, then I'm totally gonna take it.

Anyway, the support letter process has been tedious. It was a long process with several steps. First I had to write the actual letter. Then, I had to gather up all the addresses that I wanted to use (this was fairly easy because our church has a directory, and I also just sent out graduation invitations, so I had all my familie's addresses in one place). Then I addressed all the envelopes, all 150 of them. It bout killed my wrist. Then, I made tons and tons of copies. Potter was nice enough to let me use their copy machine and paper, which saved me tons of money. Then, I signed all the letters and put them all into their envelopes. This morning I went to the post office and dropped $115 on stamps. Who knew stamps were so stinking expensve?! I sure didn't. But, at least my mom was willing to pay for them and I didn't have to.  Now they're all finished and I couldn't be more relieved,

It's not like the work is over, though. In fact, the work is still beginning. I'm gonna have to make calls, and then organize the yard sale, and the car wash. I'm really grateful for a couple things, though. I'm grateful to my mother for putting off everything that she had on her to-do list to help me do all of this. She's the most wonderful, supporting mother. God really knew what he was doing when He made her my mother, and that's something that I'll thank Him for every day for as long as I live.

I'm also really grateful for the wonderful, supporting church family that is really backing me up on all of this. I didn't really know what a lot of them would think about all of this, but it's something that has been a pleasant surprise. I know for sure that I don't deserve them, and all the love they've given me. But I'll always love Alvaton and hold them dearly in my heart.

Anyway, I have to finish packing for church camp, which I know is going to be an experience. Last year it wasn't so awesome, but I'm trying to keep an open mind with this, so we'll all just wait and pray that it goes well. Goodnight and good luck. ;)

GO! Is Good :)

This week, I attended a camp called GO! Camp. I had to leave two days early, which was a bummer, but the two days I was there were really incredible. I just feel like so many things happened that it's gonna be really hard to fit it all into one blog post. Or one set of words. I don't even know because this week, God did some really mind blowing things for me.

First of all:  I met Kevin K.O. Olusola. I can not explain how awesome that was. If anyone doesn't know who he is, he's the beat boxer for a band called Pentatonix. I happen to be a huge fan of theirs, and it was kind of surreal to see him beat box and play cello at the same time, since that's what he's really well known for. He's a great Christian guy, and he's genuinely nice. While he was there, he talked to all of us about being innovative and creating things because God created us to be creative beings. He told us that we're all singers, we just have different voices. Which can be taken literally or figuratively. Figuratively, this means that we all have ways to praise God, we just have different ways to do it, based on the gifts God has blessed us with. This made me feel really good, because I feel like I'm always comparing myself to other people. I try not to let myself, because I've known all along that I had a different set of gifts than other people, and that I'm good at something that other people aren't. But I'm human and sometimes I can't help but wonder why I can't be good at some things other people are good at that I'm not. For example: some people are really great with kids. I'm not. I always felt kind of weird about that, because it seems like, as a woman, it should just be wired into my DNA to be good with children. But, I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that it's just not my thing. I'm sure someday I'll be a mother, and I'll try my best to be a good one, and I'm gonna be crazy in love with my kids, but I'm just not there yet. I have a different "medium" in which I serve God. That's all. I'm really grateful for Kevin coming and talking about that. It was awesome.

Also, I happened to see K.O. and kid president beat box together. That's unforgettable. ;)

Second: I'M GOING TO BE IN A KID PRESIDENT VIDEO. You see, Kid President's brother in law in the creator/director of GO! camp. But, being in a Kid President video isn't really the coolest part (though it IS cool...). A project that Brad (director of GO!) is doing this summer with Robbie (otherwise known as Kid President) is giving ordinary people celebrity treatment. For instance, giving someone a random standing ovation for doing something completely ordinary. Or, throwing someone an awards ceremony and just giving them a bunch of awards. But, what we did was even cooler, in my opinion. We threw a lady a parade. Just this normal woman who works at the post office in Henderson, TN. Some people dressed in marching band uniforms, some wore marching bands hats. They made make shirt drums out of buckets, and somehow some people even found some horns to play. We all made posters. The police in Henderson even barricaded the streets for us, just like in a real parade. So we all marched to the post office (which is really right across the street, because Henderson is small) and then Brad went in and brought her outside. They gave her a tiara and a sash and we all screamed and cheered for her. She cried, and it was the sweetest thing. You know that's something she's never going to forget, and it's so awesome to be a part of making someone feel good like that. It was a very moving experience, and I'd love to do that for more people.

Third: We did this activity called The Need. The Need is really cool. Because we had so many people there, we got into circles of about 10 and we all got a card. We each wrote down a need and then turned it back in. They all got redistributed, and people looked through the different stacks, and took a need that they thought they could meet. I wrote down that I was trying to raise support and also that I needed to get a car. Someone initially texted me and told me that they could give me a ride to Texas in August, and I politely told them that it wasn't really what I needed, but that I appreciated their willingness. We talked for a few more minutes about what it really was that I needed. It was a good conversation, and they offered to help me find a car. Of course, I agreed, because any help is helpful.

But during this whole process, I got very discouraged, because I just realized how much I don't have ready for the fall. I still need to raise monthly support and all this other stuff, plus I had the fact that I need a car hanging over my head. I'll be honest, I've never let my emotions get this out of control. And that's really saying something. Anyone who saw me Monday night probably thinks that I'm the biggest baby. I was just sobbing and feeling really lousy. I was questioning myself, I was questioning God, I was questioning all of my decisions about what I want to do with my life. And then something really cool happened...

You see, if I could pick out a car that I really wanted, it would be a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Tuesday morning, I woke up with a really bad headache from crying so much, and just kind of still feeling lousy. Well, the person who had texted me the night before texted me and told me that she thought she had a car for me. Ok, I was hesitant, I wanted to ask a lot of questions before I agreed to anything. So, obviously my first question was...what kind of car. She told me that it was a Jeep Cherokee. Which got me excited, because it's obviously really really close to what I wanted. She said that it has 180,000 miles on it, and that her dad was selling it. He wanted $700 up front (which is really good, because the only reason I don't have a car is because my mom doesn't have a huge sum of money right up front, and $700 isn't that bad. Then he wants $200 a month after that, until we've paid it off. He wants $1,500 total for it. Which means that I can pay my car off before November. Which is, like, the most exciting thing to me. Then, she sent me a picture of the car. It's a Grand Cherokee...with a purple tint. If I had picked a car for myself, it would have been that!!! It was one of those "stand in awe of God" moments. Because, while He doesn't always rush in and save me in huge, obvious ways when I'm feeling doubtful, He did this time. It just made me feel so much better. Because, not only is one of the biggest items on my "To Get" list now taken care of, it's also the car that I want. Which there was NO guarantee of whenever I was waiting for my mom to take me car shopping. I just feel that much firmer in my conviction that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. The biggest lesson I learned from this is that God really will take care of me, it's just not ususally in the package that I'm expecting it to come in.

Fourth: We packaged food for this organization called Feed My Starving Children. We made these things called Manna Packs (how cool is that name?) because they’re all the nutrients someone needs in one day. They all dried out, but you take them and boil them for about 20 minutes, and then you have a rice dinner. Doing that was so awesome, and really humbling. Because I have 3 full meals offered to me every day. These kids get a rice pack. And they’re really, really grateful for it. Which is awesome. I just wish I had that attitude, too. So I’m gonna work on making that my attitude. I’m gonna work at being grateful for things even if they’re not something that makes me comfortable, or that’s out of what I’m spoiled with. Anyway, making these Manna Packs was really awesome. Our team made 23 boxes full (at 36 bags a piece…that makes 828 packs…which means that will feed 828 children all the nutrients they need for a day.) By the way, there were at least 20 stations working all at once, and there were 3 times that everyone went in and packed food. So we packed a lot of meals. It feels so good to do something useful with your hands, and to know that ultimately you could be helping save somenes life. Talk about a great feeling.

I was really sad that I had to leave two days early. I definitely did not want to. But, we have church camp next week, and I have a long list of things that I have to accomplish before then. So this really was the best decision for me. I just know there was more to learn and to be a part of before I left. But I’m really grateful for GO! and I would really reccmmend it to anyone who is interested in serving…or even if you’re not interesting in serving. Because it can probably make you interested. Any way, it was really awesome. I’d love to go back as staff sometime in the future. Ok, I’m gonna get going on my 17 foot long list now. That’s all.

09-13 :)

Lately, I suppose because so many things are changing, I've been feeling nostalgic. So I thought I'd go through old Facebook pictures. I decided that it might be fun to put them all together in one place and kind of reflect on the last 4 years. This will definitely be long, but I'm so beyond caring. I'm enjoying it.

FRESHMAN: '09-'10

Ok, there aren't a ton of pictures from Freshman year, because I was really awkward and didn't like to be in pictures so much. But here are the few that I do have.

Freshman year, I was introduced to marching band...and I kind of fell in love. It was just like this whole new world opened up and I really just loved it. This is my friend Erin and I, I guess at band camp (because the school is cold, so we wore sweats in the afternoon, I guess.) Also, take note of my douchebag sweatshirt. I made interesting fashion choices when I was a young'un.

Leadership retreat 2010 happened to be our first ever youth trip with Ryan, which was pretty awesome. Jumping pictures were pretty popular during this time, and continued to be a hot trend through the rest of high school...let's just say, I have a lot of jumping pictures from high school. I don't know why we thought they were so cool...

INDOOR. Ok, if marching band was like falling in love, indoor was 1000x more intense than that. I love love love indoor drumline. Like, the music aspect is there, which is awesome. But with indoor comes a whole new level of performance, which is lots of fun. (BTW, our show freshman year was called "Pop" and it was basically everything from pop music to pepsi...)

I WENT TO DISNEY WORLD. IT WAS AWESOME. THAT IS ALL.

SUMMER '10

Summer 2010 was, as I like to say, the best, most life changing summer of my life. I found God, and happiness. I remembered what love was, and all kinds of other wonderful things. I could go on and on.

Uplift at Harding is the best. And our youth group shirts are pretty cool, too. (I'm actually wearing mine as I type this...weird.)

 I got baptized. Best day of my life. Never looking back, either.

SOPHOMORE: '10-'11

Marching band 2010. Carnival of the Animals. The music was awesome. The concept was awesome. We kicked butt.

Read Dateable with the youth group, and learned the importance of holding on to your candy bar. (Babe Ruth...one heck of a candy bar...)

New Year's lock-ins are always fun. This was my team, we called ourselves the Little Monsters because Lady Gaga is a cool chick, and also our youth minister does not like her, which made it all the more fun.

Leadership Retreat '11. Tons 'O Fun

 

I got my permit, and quickly learned what a terrible teacher my mother is...(love you, mom.)

Indoor 2011 was truly a life changing experience. It's not something that I told a whole lot of people about, but when we did Nevermore, and I learned how to play marimba, it really awakened my determinated spirit, and it gave me all kinds of self confidence that I didn't have before.

SRT 2011... We did service work, and then went to the World of Coke, and did touristy stuff in Chicago...

I rode a train for the first time. :)

SUMMER '11

Me and my "man"...this became a joke throughout the whole summer. Eventually, all the other girls got "men" too and we went on dates...this was especially fun at church camp...

Church camp 2011...all I can say is awesome! The senior girls cabin (which I got to stay in, even though I was only a sophomore...) had a window that was right next to the boy's bathroom. So, at night, when the guys were going to shower and stuff, we would just open our window and talk to them as they were going in and coming out. And, because at this point we all had our "men" it was even more interesting. I've seriously never laughed so hard in my whole entire life. I have so many stories I could tell from that week alone that it's not even funny.

JUNIOR YEAR: '11-'12

The pictures from this year are kind of all over the place, which is weird. But there are really random spans of time between them. I'm not sorry. ;)

Marching band 2011, "What's Out There". This was a really interesting show concept, but it was unfortunate because the judges didn't really like it. It kinda sucked, because it was like no matter how well we did they weren't pleased. But it was a fun show to do, and I think that's all that matters in the end.

Fall retreat 2011 was kind of boring. It was something new that we tried, with all kinds of people that we didn't know and stuff like that. It was kind of a let down. However, I did bring a pair of pants that was somehow big enough for four of us. They almost ripped, which would have been really unfortunate. But we ended up figuring out a way to walk in them without them ripping, so all was good there. I laughed so hard during this, and it made for a couple really funny pictures.

Our first youth group thanksgiving at Ryan and Melinda's house. Basically, we just went over there and they made thanksgiving dinner for us. The first thanksgiving they'd ever cooked. It was really awesome to sit around with my best friends, and talk about things that we were grateful for and stuff. And, you know, good food is good food.  

CYC was really fun. We went to Gatlinburg, stayed in a cabin, and had lots of other fun. I love Gatlinburg, and I loved all the other fun things that go along with a fun trip like that. Our cabin even had a swimming pool built in on the bottom floor.

Indoor '12. "The Race"...the show concept was literally all about this guy who was running a race. We played tons of popular songs, such as Flight of the Bumblebee, Black & Yellow, and We Are The Champions...it was fun to perform, but I tend to like darker shows rather than the ones where you have to be all happy and bouncy. Intense is fun.

SRT 2012 was fun. This picture makes me smile, because the only reason Brennen is hugging me is because he lost a bet. It makes me laugh a lot, because under normal circumstances, he doesn't hug me. It's so rare, but it's caught on camera.



OH MY GOODNESS YOU GUYS. This is where Remember The Titans was filmed. Seriously, it's so beautiful on this college campus. I'd totally go to school there, if it wasn't for the fact that it costs a lot of money. More than your average college education. Which, as we all know, ain't so cheap itself.

SUMMER '12

Oddly enough, this is probably the section where I have the most pictures. But, as my phone got reset, I don't have them anymore. They're all on hard copy, and stuff. So they can't go here. It's unfortunate.

Summer camp 2012. This year was a bit different because we didn't go to the place we'd been going to forever. We decided this year that we would go to Taylor Christian Camp with some other churches. None of us were very happy with this, and it wasn't something that was kind of a sore subject. The week had a lot of bad qualities, but it had good ones at the same time. Good thing: several people got baptized. Bad thing: there were a lot of harsh rules and rigidity.

SENIOR (!!!!) '12-'13

AHHHHH! Finally. Unfortunately, I don't have, like, any pictures from the first semester of Senior year. So these are basically all pictures from the spring semester of senior year.

We started having a girl's night in youth group. It's fun to go and hang out, just the girls. Also, isn't Elsie the most presh?

CYC and staying in Gatlinburg...beautiful and fun as always. :) I especially enjoy sitting in the hot tub and looking out at the mountains, having girl talk. Something really special happened on this trip. One night, the girls were upstairs before lights out, and we all decided to have prayer time. I really like to pray, and it was awesome that they asked me to pray for all of us. They all gave me prayer requests, and I prayed and it was incredible. I could really feel that all of us just opened our hearts in that moment, and we were all connected and we truly felt for each other. I just felt so surrounded by love. It was the best. I loved it a lot more than I can explain.

Y'all...I flew to Texas. All by myself. It was so scary, and incredible, and so many other things. I enjoyed my time there so much, and it was a week that I'll for sure never forget. I can't wait to go back to Texas in the fall...this time to live. You all have no idea how awesome that sounds to me. I can't even explain. :)

NEW YORK CITY. I already talked about that, but it was important, so I obviously included it. (P.S. TEAM NONIE!)

My last ever Lads To Leaders...you all can't even understand how bittersweet that is. But, anyway, Angel Ann, Sydney, and I did a then and now picture from when we were younger to then. It was lots of fun and I really love this picture. However, this is the trip where I got the Norovirus. Basically, the Norovirus is death. At least, it made me want to die. I was just so sick, it was terrible. And it's DISGUSTING. Anyway, I love Lads To Leaders, and it makes me want to cry, thinking about how last time was my last time ever. So sad.

Ok, this wasn't really an important event, but this IS an important girl. I love Elsie so much, you guys, and I'm SO glad that she's part of my life. Her Elsie smile just brightens my day whenever I'm around her.

I've already talked about senior banquet, but I love this guy, and this picture. This, my friends, is Taylor Morgan Clary. <3

Had anti-prom with Kaitlin and Courtney. It was lots of fun, and I'll never forget going out to dinner then then taking pictures on the square with them. I laughed so hard, especially when this guy scared Kaitlin. But that's another story for a different day...

Prom. You know how it is.

I LOVE MITCHELL CORDER AND I'M GONNA MISS HIM SO MUCH. This was "field day" though...my last one ever, hallelujah.

Band banquet. The last one I'll ever be a part of. As a senior, we got to give speeches and stuff like that. it was really cool. This is a really excellent picture. I have so much respect for this man, and he just means so much to me. He came into my life at a very crucial time. I didn't really have a father figure, and he was a huge aide in reminding me that not all men completely suck. I love Mr. Morrison so much.

This picture kind of stinks, but whatever. I had my last ever band concert. It's so unreal to me that I'll never play with the Greenwood band again. It's bittersweet. However, at the concert, we played movie night pieces, and basically, I ruined a song. We were playing music from The Hobbit, and I had a part that required sever different instruments. I somehow managed to knock EVERYTHING over in the middle of a sad, serious part. It was loud, and obnoxious, and everyone knew it was me. Embarrassing. Oh well, I'll own it. I will for sure miss band, though. It's probably the only thing I'm going to miss from high school.

Graduation practice was an interesting experience. It was really boring and it felt totally pointless. This guy sat behind me, and he would just say all these completely random things that were obviously lies. They were funny, though. So oh well.

I graduated. And that's the end.

 Needless to say, while high school hasn't been the best, I have had some really, really, fun times. :)

I can't wait to see what the rest of my life holds...