May 31st

It is my brother's birthday!! We have been through a lot and I am so thankful for him! joooossshhhhhhh, i wanted to wish you a very happy birthday! love your sister, emmy

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, we will never be able to repay all those brave men and women in service who sacrificed for us! Know how much we love and appreciate ya'll!!

check out this yahoo news story for some crazy insane waves...incredible! Now that's a good way to start off your summer!

I guess I'm on a roll with waking up with songs. I wonder if it means something, you know like you can usually figure out why you dreamed about the things you dreamed about. Anyway, today's was



And he has a USC sweatshirt on :), oh ya I forget Darius Rucker is from Charleston, SC.
See country music doesn't have to be so bad!

Wake up call!

Wake up song this morning...."Im giving my life to the only one who makes the moon reflect the sun....I'm giving my life to the only son who was and is and is yet to come."-Stary Night Chris August.

Braves won in the 12th inning!! Chipper pulled through and they took the win 7-6!

I woke up at 7:30 this morning and went back to bed. The next time I looked at the clock it was 9:30!!! I guess I was tired.

thankful for the healing hopeful band-aid a friend sent! Happy Sunday :)

Let's Take a Look

Well I did it. I read the first Harry Potter. It took me a little while because I wasn't very into it for some reason but I have to admit the end was good. I also appreciated the humor here and there as every good children's book should include. From Neville's missing toad to Ron's realism and Hagrid always saying too much, I can see why people enjoy reading about these characters. So here's my review....
I still think by nature, since you are dealing with witches and sorcery, kids need to be careful when reading and parents and kids should use discretion. Like anything anybody reads or watches, you should almost always look at it with care and a critiquing eye.
Now I have not ready any of the others and I do hear they get more dark as they progress and the characters get older, so if I do read the rest of them, I may have a different take on them.
For now, aside from some of the subject matter, I did not see a problem with this book. It was a lot like Halloween, and if kids are simply reading them for fun and nothing more, (much like dressing up and walking around for candy) it seems ok. I did even appreciate some of Rowling's writing and would like to include them here below.

"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all-the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

"It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors."

" 'There are all kinds of courage,' said Dumbledoore, smiling. 'It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.' "

-JK Rowling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I think my next book on the summer reading list is The Teacher's Funeral, A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck. This should be interesting.

Love it!

I think this is one of my favorite pics of our RA staff :)

Sidewalk chalk...

Can we all please try the glow-in-the dark sidewalk chalk, it would be lots of fun, I promise!!!

Some Loverly Things

My day
1. up at 6, hard to believe I know!
2. took Praxis 2 test....aaaannnddd I passed!! I should now be certified to teach. All I need now is a college degree, still workin' on that one but I'm almost done!
3. Shared a cinammon roll with my daddy... (fresh outa the oven) at IKEA.
4. Survived IKEA.
5. Looked at beautiful dahlia's and stopped to smell the gardenia. It was a little different from the one's we had but as 'loverly' as ever!


the pic is complements of free ipod backgrounds :)

Another fun weekend of weddings....wishing all the brides and grooms a very happy day
Jared and Maddie (roommate's brother!)
Hannah Thomas and Isaac Freel (hall mate)
Jeb and Tara (cousin)
Wish we could be there but look forward to seeing pics and celebrating from GA!!



complements of free ipod backgrounds :)

We've all been there.

I love my family. We are known to play Mario into the early morning hours of the day or the late hours of the night, however you want to swing it.

And yes, we do get rather into it. I mean sometimes its just plain frustrating when the little Bowser turtle guy throws his magic wand and you fall off the edge of the cliff!
Or you've got all three star coins and you just can't find the third, of course its hidden behind some wall or some secret world that you have to be little mario for, the penguin suit just won't work. And yes, we have scared the dog with our cries of anguish and defeat or squeals of victorious delight when, yes, at last we beat Bowser's castle and can finally save our progress! In honor of all the laughter and good times...please enjoy the following commercial



we've all been there, come on admit it....you've shared at least one of those four expressions!

Beautiful words

"She is out there. My Cinderella. She is real. She exists. I pray for her constantly. May God satisfy the desires of her heart, draw her close, consume her. May He claim her passions, her identity, her refuge, her hopes, her strengths and weaknesses, every fiber of her being. May she treasure and cherish her Savior more than anything of this world and cling to His will with every ounce of her stamina. By all that she is, does, and strives to be, may He draw near to her and she to Him."
-Owl City Blog

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
Psalm 73: 23-28

Oh mosquitoes...

I have come to the conclusion that GA mosquitoes are unlike any other mosquitoes. These bad boys are in a whole other league that MS and SC mosquitoes don't even compare. SC mosquitoes like to bite a lot, you can have a competition to see who has the most bites. MS mosquitoes are just annoying. And GA mosquitoes apparently form lovely little welts. I was banished from the outside unless I wore sweat pants.

Band-aids and Shelving Units, oh and did someone say summer??

It has got to be summer because it is awfully hot outside today!! It will be our first GA summer and I'm quite positive that it is going to be a steamy one (temperature wise!). I sat outside last night and enjoyed watching the Lightening Bugs but I also sacrificed because I came back in quite itchy and made some mosquitoes very full...that's a gross thought.

On my drive home today I saw two things that made me extremely happy...
1. a sign for a jolly rancher slushy! (I have never heard of such a thing but it looked delightful!)
2. a Carolina trailer (we kind of live in the country and there is this trailer in the middle of some land that has 'Carolina' painted on it. It's my little piece of home. I hope to take a pic of it someday!)

Well I haven't started my craft projects yet but I did put together a shelving unit! After I got a screwdriver, instead of using my hands, the screws and washers went together so much quicker! It's amazing what a screw driver can do! I think my parents gave me the biggest unit. I only had to change two shelves because I put them on upside down...

PS I got to talk to two very good friends last night! God is so good and knows just what his kiddos need!

Walked/Ran today after taking a break because I wasn't motivated and because I got some really nasty blisters from new shoes. I still have the blisters but I put lots of band-aids on in hopes that they don't re-open. Annie, I need your supply but I made do with the typical beige band-aids...maybe if i had a Madagascar Penguin band aid I would have been more motivated to run!

"Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow"-Chris Tomlin, "I Will Follow"

Classics!

Last night during American Idol, one of the contestants sang Kenny Rogers' "She Believes in Me". The lyrics are just so sweet! He also sang "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not," which I was super excited about! Anyway, I had never heard the song by Kenny but it was great! He has written some beautiful love songs (I know I'm such a lil girl who dreams of romance and happy ever afters!) So my parents took a little walk down memory lane and we all looked up famous love songs and romantic movies. We weren't too successful in the movie department though we did find two movies to add to our Netflix-"Up Close and Personal" and "The Body Guard". Our favorites in the music category that we listened to were:

I Will Always Love You-Whitney Houston
Because You Loved Me-Celion Dion
You're Still the One-Shania Twain

Classics!

"I was blessed because I was loved by you..."-Celion Dion

"'They said, "I bet they'll never make it'
But just look at us holding on...."-Shania Twain

"I hope life treats you kind
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of.
And I wish to you, joy and happiness.
But above all this, I wish you love."-Whitney Houston

Plans and Weariness

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, " and will bring you back to the place form which I carried you into exile."-Jeremiah 29:11-14

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers."-Galatians 5:9-10

Woke up this morning with a verse in my head. I always love when the Lord wakes me up with a verse or a song. I actually woke up early thinking of Jeremiah 29:11 and then went back to sleep. After reading Galatians I was thinking how the two, relatively well-known, verses seem to work together (29:11 and 5:9). God tells us He has a plan for our lives and much later encourages us to be faithful and keep doing good like He has called. If we do so, we will reap the harvest and I do believe that harvest is often proof of God's good plan coming to fruition! Oh how we must be patient and avoid the weariness that tends to strike.

Craft!

With all this fashion business on Martha Stuart today, it gets me in a crafty mood and I don't mean sneaky I mean it in the fullest sense of 'get those creative juices flowing!' I have a dress I need to finish making and those flowers that guy made on Martha Stuart seemed doable. I thought they would be cute on some headbands. I ought to make a purse, seeing as how mine has seen better days. Well summer has just begun, we shall have to wait and see how many projects I get done! If I successfully finish any good ones, I'll try to post pics.
PS Annie, I don't know what happened to posting in three's I guess I got a little excited today :) and went a bit overboard.

Bjorklunds, O'Malleys, Flanigans

In the meantime...I've started my summer reading list. I finished Drenched in Light by Lisa Wingate. I actually started it in January because I was itching to read a good book! I hadn't read for fun in a while, since I'm a college student, and once school started again it just sat on my shelf. But I finished it and it had a great ending! Good book for Education Majors, love success stories where its more about the kids and students than the job!

Now I'm reading A Heart for Home by Lauraine Snelling. She writes Historical Fiction. I have been reading her since middle school I think. This is the one series that I have read all the way through. I've been following the Bjorklund Family for about 25 years (historical fiction time, not real time). I haven't finished the book yet but Im afraid the first homesteader-Ingeborg-may be headed home by the end of the book if you know what I mean. The series covers about 3 generations (4 if you include her parents). Yes, there's a Bjorklund Family Tree at the beginning of each book now. The story follows Norwegian immigrants who homestead in North Dakota. Im not sure if this one is as good as the first, but I can't stop reading...I've been reading them for so long, how could I not finish the series! We used to own all of them but I think with moving, many of them have been donated to school and church libraries (hopefully others are enjoying them now!)

Red River of the North
An Untamed Land
A Land to Call Home
Tender Mercies
A New Day Rising
The Reaper's Song
Blessing in Disguise

Return to Red River
A Dream to Follow
Believing the Dream
More than a Dream

Dakotah Treasures
Ruby
Opal
Pearl
Amethyst
(These were an aside but they were good too)

Secret Refuge
Daughter of Twin Oaks (I'm pretty sure this was set in the Civil War if I remember correctly...not part of the Dakotah series)

Home to Blessing
A Measure of Mercy
No Distance Too Far
A Heart for Home

Daughters of Blessing
A Promise for Ellie
Sophie's Dilemma
A Touch of Grace
Rebecca's Reward
A Heart for Home

I guess I have read two other series, pretty much all the way through. In one, I followed the O'Malley family. These were some of my favorites!! One summer I got a thick book of the last three books in one. I'm pretty sure I read the last 3 in a day or two!

The Negotiator
The Guardian
The Truth Seeker
The Protector
The Healer
The Rescuer

The other series is by the famous Karen Kingsbury. Now I started late in this one so I haven't read all of them but since I started I haven't been able to stop. It's a little bit frustrating because now that I've caught up, I have to wait for her to write new ones! It's like watching Lost or something...I now know why people like to wait until the series is finished and watch them straight through on dvd! I kept thinking she would finish the story of Bailey only to realize she now has her own series! Kingsbury keeps leaving me hanging! Sounds like a good writer to me! This one follows the Baxter Family...

Sunrise
Summer
Someday
Sunset

Take One
Take Two
Take Three
Take Four

Leaving (on the list to read!)
Learning-not yet released
Longing-not yet released

What are some of your favorite series or books? Got any good ideas for summer reading?

A lil bit o fashion

Today I watched Martha Stuart and it was all about fashion....supposedly inexpensive bargain consignment shops. I think we do pretty well here in the South with places like Ross and The Orange Peel! Anyway, she had a guest on named Iris Apfel. I've never seen or heard of her but now I know all about her and she's got quite an eye for fashion, though perhaps a bit and some fun words of fashion wisdom...check out the article! Here are some of my favorite quotes and sections from the piece...

“If they don’t fit, ill turn them into pillows.”

“If you hear anyone say I'm dead, tell them: 'No, she's very much alive and just walking around to save funeral expenses.'"

"There's a sad lack of glamour in the world today," Apfel mourns. "And there's absolutely no fantasy."

“She once wanted to show Apfel some of her collection, and when she took out "this divine Geoffrey Beene dress", Apfel said: "Oh my God, you must have had so much fun wearing it!" The woman was horrified. She said: "Wear it!? This is part of my collection. You don't wear your collection!" Apfel said: "In that case I don't have a collection.”

“And wealth is in many ways a state of mind. Apfel asserts that she would never spend $700 on a handbag – not because she doesn't have $700 to spend, but because she doesn't think handbags should cost that much. Incidentally, she votes Republican. She is socially liberal, she explains, but fiscally conservative.”

“I had some doctors' wives, and one day one of them was wearing some beautiful alligator pumps. One of the ladies said: 'Oh my goodness, those are great-looking.' She said: 'Oh yes, two heart attacks.'" A couple of people had had to die, or almost die, in her husband's arms for those shoes. "So I took to wearing a black tunic with black stockings, high black boots, a hood. It was like a revolt."

"Doing your own thing is very good," Apfel concludes, "if you have a thing to do."

Fashion is like a big box of Lego to her."-Olowu

*Article written by Gaby Wood, The Observer, January 2010

Don't you think everyone can dance?

Love this! A friend posted it on facebook and I thought Id pass it on! I usually hold out that just about everyone can dance.....this looks so fun and is bound to bring a smile!

Midnight Conclusions

1. oreos and milk are delicious!

2. it is just about impossible to do dishes quietly....not matter how hard you try.

3. beach=summer. I hear it calling my name....is it calling yours? If it is, you should answer the call. All you have to do is show up. Come on, you know you want too!!

Beyond Hiccups

My hair is not quite as long as Rapunzel's much to the little four year old's disappointment, but she did claim that it was close and wondered why it wasn't the same length.

She did however, make sure that my nose was just the right size for me! We 'tried' on a few different ones and then she made me a special one!

We also attempted to get rid of the hiccups with the ET trick but for some reason it didn't work this time. Do you have any tricks to get rid of those little guys?

I also think babysitters should write a book entitled: Confessions of a Babysitter and record all their fun stories! Don't you think it would be a best seller?

Weddings

The nails are French tipped, the invitations have been sent, the gifts have been bought, the flowers are beautiful, the dresses are buttoned and zipped, the tuxes too are crisp and sharp. The party is near, the pictures are snapped, the food is warm and we've had a snack. There's just one thing left to do....of course they must say I do!

Here in Jackson getting ready for a friend's wedding!

Weddings can be stressful, it is a lot of people and a lot of organization. Sleep is often lost and by the time the big day arrives, the couple is so happy to just be married. It's neat when amidst all that stress and chaos, it only takes a little smile, hug, kiss, or even look from that special one and everything else seems to fade away.

Praise the Lord for marriage that is a reflection of how Christ loves the church. If only we would see Christ as the one who can make all the stress and chaos go away with a simple reminder of his vast love for us!

It was one of those days...

It was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong....
Recently, I've had some curves thrown in best laid plans if you will and that's ok. I think sometimes God says, ok I know you think you have it all figured out but it's really ok if that changes.

I so often get caught up in what I want and what I think is best when really, I have no clue. Sadly, it is easy for me to get caught in the should-have-beens. Thankfully, it doesn't take much to snap out of it! I start to fall into woe-is-me's but oh how quickly that can change with a matter of perspective.

God brings one friend into my life to share an hour, hour and a half conversation and catch up! Suddenly, life isn't all about me and I realize that is the best place to be! Oh how I love to sit and listen to people share their lives, their struggles, their hopes, their dreams, their successes, their failures and ultimately I see God's hand at work!

Suddenly my problems aren't that big anymore. And if they are big, I am reminded that God has the whole world in his hands, as cliche as that may sound.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?....But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. EAch day has enough trouble of its own."-Matthew 6: 7, 33-34

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."-Romans 8:38-39

"Mim smiled tenderly. 'What a fine thing to be the answer to someone's prayers.' "
"Caught in the beauty and mystery of the moment, we were swept from horrible fear to awe-inspiring joy."
-Lisa Wingate Drenched in Light

Happy Mother's Day!

You are one amazing woman! I am so blessed to call you mom!

Oh my

Check out the Senior High Retreat!

Thursday

Summer has begun and for whatever reason whenever I come home I tend to sleep a lot. It's like I'm in college or something :)
Well I made it back to our new home in Loganville, GA.
Mom and dad have beautiful square foot gardens and though we had a small cold snap last night, this afternoon is just lovely!
There's just one problem: we have a bird, another bird, and a nest in our dryer ducts. Im afraid to run the dryer, because that just doesn't sound like it will end well. You can hear them scratching and building their nest! Today I even watched one climb through the chicken wire-now that's some dedication! I just don't know what we are going to do....

Thanks Gena!

Here they are! Im sorry they are so small but thanks to Gena for taking them....




slip n slide 2011