A Lovely Night

Being away from home is made so much easier when you have wonderful friends who live only an hour away from college that you can visit!

Right after I started college in August my friends from Georgia moved to Arkansas (much closer to me than any of my other family or friends). Because of my busy schedule and them trying to get settled last night was my first time to visit them but being in a home, around familiar faces, with home cooking made for a refreshing night.

I arrived in the afternoon and had time to talk with Morgan for a while plus hold sweet 7 month old Scarlett and play with 2 year old Silas before David got home for dinner. Being around little ones was so wonderful... something I miss terribly while being at school! 

Morgan made homemade soup and cornbread which was perfectly delicious. Because she knows how much I love to bake she let me make muffins. It was a little experiment since we didn't have any bananas or "normal additions" to add to the ingredients but Morgan had some canned apple butter so we decided to try that. It was definitely a success! 

After muffin making and dinner I stayed for a bit and just spent time with them. Morgan sent me home with leftover homemade soup and a bag full of the muffins we made. I know what I will be eating for some meals in the next week :)

Thank you Verdery's for a wonderful time and for the goodies!

Undeserved Blessings

After the first few days of being at school I met a couple of lovely ladies. I immediately loved them and wanted to know them better. The beginning of school I met so many people and I never knew who I would actually become close friends with or who I would actually talk to again. But when I met these girls I knew I couldn't let them go.

It was God who brought us together. So many times I have just sat here and been overwhelmed by His goodness for bringing them into my life. He knew before I came here that He was going to give them to me as friends. He knew we would connect and so quickly break past the surface level friendship to something real and deep.

I needed that. And God knew that even before I did.

I met Layne and Anjelica in Dr. Jack's Coffeehouse sitting in a little round booth. My plan was to study for a bit in the quiet and cozy atmosphere of a coffee shop. God had a different plan. He wanted to connect me with people who could easily become life long friends. After that I started spending more time with them along with Emily (who I met last October when I visited OBU for GROW). The first night of Refuge we all went together. Afterwards we talked about needing the encouragement and support of friends to continuously seek the Lord and spend time with Him. We mentioned starting a Bible study but didn't talk about details. As school progressed we all got busy and kind of had our own schedules. I am not in any classes with Layne or Anjelica and only one with Emily. How funny is that! That didn't keep us from eating lunch together, being together while avoiding homework :), or having our late night Jesus talks.

Two weeks later, after the next Refuge, us four talked until way too late. We shared with each other what God was doing in us and encouraged each other where encouragement was needed. Together we have become intentional about what we talk about and what we spend our time doing. Continuing our friendship in that way could go without saying but we wanted to be purposeful about meeting regularly to share what God is showing us or where we could be encouraged so we agreed to meet weekly. We are also studying the Bible together - starting with Galatians.

I study books of the Bible at a time on my own but it is exciting to read a chapter and see the different perspectives a group of four can have! Only God could have connected us and I am thankful and so blessed by the friends I have in them.

Spring Break: Days Three and Four

The last couple of days Ash, Ethan and I spent at the Tates. Now that they are in public school and we all have extremely busy lives we do not get to hang out as often. This week we took advantage of the break from school and spent a couple of days out there. One of our other friends, John, is here for a couple weeks staying with them so we were all able to spend some time together. It had been too long!

We always have something to do there wether it be jumping on the trampoline, playing games, dew pong, or practicing dancing (for prom). It's always nice to stay with the Tates for a couple of days...they're my family that I do not see often enough.

We stayed up until 5 am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning just talking. We were dissecting different parts of the Bible and sharing what we got out of it. There was a long discussion about the end times...which always proves to be a thought provoking topic. I am so blessed to have friends that have a spiritual depth that challenges me. I am always up for a good conversation about God.

That is pretty much what has filled the past couple of days...I took a few pictures while we were there but I left my camera. :( Any pictures from this week will probably be up on Facebook eventually!

I hope you're having a splendid week!

Spring Break: Day Two

The day started out with some time with God, then a nice cinnamon toast breakfast.

After a couple of relaxing hours, we met a bunch of friends at the movies and saw Tangled (I think it is a very cute movie). Then we all went to the park to play Nuke 'em (A twisted game of volleyball). It was a ton of fun and a nice start to a wonderful week.

Last night we had a yummy dinner, I cleaned while listening to a great playlist, then played another game of Monopoly Deal with the siblings. The day ended with a good conversation with a friend, reading John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life", and quiet time with God.

Christmas Vacation

Just a little recap from vacation...The night we got there included trying to push the car up the driveway to no avail, resolving in ordered pizza for dinner, and stuffing us 4 kids on one couch under piles of blankets to watch a movie because the heater was not working. A cold yet exciting night. The next few days was a mix between sledding, building a snowman (notice the singular-I was the only one who built one), playing games and reading. On Wednesday was our first day of skiing! It was cold, snowy, and fun. Taking lessons was very helpful and the next two days we were going down all the greens and blues! I think we caught on pretty quickly and all of us can't wait to go again =)

The third day of skiing, also our last, Ash and I wrote this hilarious note and hid it up on top of one of the lifts. We tied it to a branch and covered it with snow. 2 weeks later our friends, Blake and Brandon, went up to ski at Wolf Creek too. We showed them on a map and even talked to them on the phone while they were up on the mountain to guide them to it, but they didn't ever find it. It was a sad treasure hunt!

Here is a compilation of pictures and videos from out trip =)

We definitely had an amazing vacation and made lots of memories. Thanks dad for taking us :)

Different doesn't always mean bad =)

This was a very different Christmas. A good different, but still a little challenging. I have never been away from home on Christmas. I have never been without my big sis on Christmas. I have never went to bed without the excitement of waking up to gifts underneath the tree and knowing the day will be full of festivities.

I experienced all of that not happening this year.

And it was probably the best thing for me. As I laid in bed on Christmas Eve I thought about how much we change and our lives change. I realized that sometimes were going to be away for the holidays (Who knows where each of us will be just 5 years from now-Rachel is already a few states away), sometimes the people we most love are not going to be with us on every special occasion or holiday (especially as we get older), and sometimes a present does not come in the form of a perfectly wrapped gold box with a big red bow. Although I "went without" those things, I still had a lot of my family and made memories for a lifetime up in the mountains of Colorado. God really spoke to my heart that night. My family has always set the focus of Christmas to Jesus. We wouldn't have it if He did not come into this world. So what is the point of celebrating if we don't truly remember why it is such an important date? There isn't one. We still do gifts and in the recent years that has been a little different. Last year I explained what we get and why. It is still gifts we like but they have meaning in one way or another. =)

So even though we had a different Christmas the meaning stays the same and after a little struggling I was able to embrace that.

Another Blessing

I barely missed a post for Friday. It is 1:30 a.m. on Saturday and I am finally sitting down to write about a blessing today.

As a teenager I have been learning and growing a lot. Recently there has been a situation I am working through and God has been right there to encourage me. He has been able to use my family (especially my mom) and everything is working out just fine. It has really helped me grow closer to friends, to family, and to God. I love experiences in life like that. Sometimes it can seem like the enemy uses those situations to make things worse, but this has been a good time of growing.

I find myself more amazed every day because of what God has blessed me with. He knows exactly what I need and when I need it. God never gives me more than I can handle and when I feel like I can't do deal with anything else God gives me strength to endure. God is good all the time. =)

There is a song from Wicked that I have not been able to get out of mind. It is called "For Good" and a lot of the lyrics I can so relate to.

"I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow..

..I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you"

I can definitely say this about some of my friends especially lately. God has brought them into my life for a reason. We have learned from each other. I am who I am today because I know them.

"You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend"

I can't imagine life without my friends. They have really changed my life. No matter what the future holds I am forever grateful for their friendships.

Put On A Happy Heart

I love my friends. They are so encouraging and I enjoy being with each one of them. Every day I thank God for blessing me with the incredible people in my life. Well here is a situation that proves this to be true...

The other day I was talking to my best friend, Portia. We were talking about not seeing each other for two weeks, which is a big deal for us, and some other things that made us sad. All of a sudden we both started singing "Put On A Happy Face." This is a song my friend, Bradley, is singing in Triple Threat. Portia and I went on to discuss why we should be happy anyway and just smiled because of a simple song our friend sang that encouraged us.

Later I was telling Bradley how that encouraged us, and he said "Even better...put on a happy heart!" Think about that. Not just be able to smile and have a happy face, but make a choice to be happy in stinky situations and it be a whole heart change. It's amazing the simple things in life God uses and what better people to use than your best friends? I. am. so. blessed.

I am going to try to post everyday up until our vacation. It might be something little but it's gonna be something. =) When I leave I can't post at all, but I am sure there will be an awesome vacation post when I get back!