Weekend Fun!

Hey all! Sorry it's been so long since I've last said anything, BUT that's because I've been out of town.
On Thursday afternoon I finally took my first road trip driving by myself!!! This is a landmark, I assure you, in my life. My parents have never let me drive past Nac., but, this has changed now. I got to drive to ETBU!!! Granted, the drive was only to Marshall, but it was great...it was...freedom. I got to Danielle's place (where I stayed for the weekend), met her roommates Jordan, Katie, and Michelle, and at about 6:30pm and then went to Brent's basketball practice with Jennifer Conn. That night Michelle made us a GREAT dinner and then me and Danielle went to the 9:00pm showing of Wallace and Gromit. When the movie was done, we went to the 'float barn' where various clubs and organizations were working on their floats for the Saturday morning homecoming parade. We, of course, did not do any actual work other than observe others hard at work, or not so hard at work.
Friday I went to 2 classes with Danielle (both of which were AWESOME!!! I'm SOOOO excited about transfering) and I also got to meet all of the psychology professors and then had lunch with my big bro. That afternoon, Danielle showed me around Marshall and we went to Walmart, a book store and two antique shops. That night, me and the girls (minus Katie) went to Longview to eat at this really great restaurant. We got back home and met up with Danielle's friend Lori. THEN we went to a bonfire which was basically a gathering for single Baptist college kids to take pictures and try to find their soul mate, I assume. Though, there was this one guy who played some rap music and had a rather large gathering at his vehicle...he was so proud. Saturday was the official homecoming day. There was a parade at 11:00am (very cool) and Jordan and Michelle were in it. They were SOOOOO cute! Then, I randomly re-met two brothers that I knew when I was little (one of them graduated from ETBU, and the other is currently attending). Oh, and finally the BIG GAME!!!!! I sat by Lacy Reed and Jennifer Conn for the first half, and then I left during the third quarter. The game was kind of exciting, but when I left they were winning, and some how by the end, they lost. Oh well, life goes on. I had to leave ETBU by 4:30pm because I had a mandatoroy concert at 7:30pm I had to go to for a class. The drive home was just as relaxing and beautiful as the drive up and I made it in 1:45hr (did I write that right?).
Well, that's about it....I had a GREAT weekend! It was fun, and makes me REALLY excited about transfering in the spring. The girls that I stayed with were SOOOO nice and they really made the weekend so enjoyable and I felt so at home with them. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me. God truly blessed me.

Off to a ......start....

Well, about a month ago, Natalie and I (or is it ' me and Natalie' ...I'm horrible at English stuff like this...) were asked to start a middle school girl's book study on Sunday afternoons. So, we both prayed about it and felt like good about doing this. SOOO, last week the youth girls had like a make-up / nail polish party and me and Nat were supposed to be there to kind of tell the girls about the new group, and telling them when we were meeting and stuff like that. WELL, today was supposed to be the first day of our group, and out of the 15 girls who signed up, only 2 of them showed up. This was only ONE of the many things that have gone wrong. Others are...Me and Nat didn't get our books until a few days ago, the 2 girls that showed up didn't get to get their books because they were moved somewhere else than where they were put Wednesday night, there was no announcement this morning to remind the girls about this afternoon (which is probably the reason that they forgot to come), and then the room that we were supposed to meet it was locked.....And the list goes on. BUT, ironically this gives me hope, BECAUSE if satan is trying THIS HARD to get us discouraged, then hopefully that means God wants something awesome for this study.
Anyways...I've had a lot of weird and funny things happen to me lately, and I hope that I get to write about them soon.

More about the adventures of what is called 'life'

I wish I were better with words, and better at expressing myself in writing...but, for now, you'll just have to suffer through my "you know what i mean" and "I hope this makes sense" statements.

So, these past few days, I really have been feeling like God has been speaking to me in the little things in life...those moments that seem pointless at the time, but when you look back on them, they seem to just scream at you 'PAY ATTENTION.'
1. I went to Applebee's with some casual friends late at night (when the bar is full, and the restaraunt is not), and I totally felt like I was all alone.
2. I was walking around Angelina College feeling like I have no real 'friends' that I can actually find, so I went to my mom's office just to hang with her during my break so I wouldn't be alone.
3. I went to Brookshire Bro.s down the street today...the whole time I was there, I kept running into people I knew that go to Hudson and all I could think was "I don't wanna be here."
4. I don't like going to Livewell during the day because a lot of people are there, and so to NOT be rude, you have to make meaningless smalltalk, so I just go late at night when the club is almost empty.
But, the ironic thing is that I've actually enjoyed not being around people so much lately. I am totally finding myself in these types of situations quite often, when I just really want to be alone, or with my mom. For me, this is a TOTALLY 180 (degree) turn around from my normal outgoing self.
So, these "pay attention" signs......I feel like what God is trying to show me is a few things.
1. I don't have to have people in my life to make me happy....I can totally just be alone, and I'm ok with myself. I don't find my identity in other people.
2. We weren't meant for this earth......we were created for another home, another country I believe that's the way that C.S. Lewis describes it.
So, of course I feel 'alone' and out of place here on earth because we were created for another place. But, this feeling surfaces especially at places where I feel like I am being spiritually oppressed, and definantly where there are spiritual battles occuring that God is letting me feel their presence. I know that I am not alone, because the Holy Spirit and Christ are within us, but alone in the sense of not having another Christian friend to be there for us to lean on each other.

I'm not sure why I'm experiencing this kind of desire to be anit-social, but it doesn't matter...I just wanted to write out my feelings and to let you all know if I seem kind of stand-off-ish, it's nothing personal, it's just what I'm going through right now. I just really have no desire to make small talk, but usually when I get into good conversations, they end up to be spiritual and very deep.

PS -
OK, just as I was reading over this, I realized how ridiculous this sounds, I mean, all of these were opportunities I could have taken to share the love of Christ......so why didn't I?

good movies

Hey, I just saw two really good movies this week.

One) - The Interpreter.......it's filled with LOTS of action, and the story line is very intriguing and I really haven't seen another movie like it. There is like one part that they could have left out (like most movies) but it's a great movie that is, for the most part, fast-paced and very entertaining. It's totally my kind of movie. (It's out on video and DVD.)

Two) - Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit........Wallace and Gromit actually have a few shorter films out already. They are completely clay-mation which makes for an interesting film watching experience. I believe that these are the same people that made "Chicken Run" which came out after the original Wallace and Gromit videos. The movie was a cute adventure story of a quirky scientist (Wallace) and his faithful dog Gromit( who can drive, make pancakes, and understands English fluently....) and how Wallace gets himself into some sort of predicament (as usual) and Gromit to saves the day. There were a few obvious insinuations, but otherwise a great movie. (The short clip before the movie was with the penguins from Madagascar. ) (Just came to theaters today!!!!!)

Enjoy!

Tonight, I finally saw that babysitting is a ministry.

I am a part time nanny. I pick up two kids, Steven (11) and Seth (5), about 3 times a week from school and I take them to their house and stay with them until one of their parents gets home from work. I also keep them every other weekend and every now and then on a Sunday night. I love my job. But I've always just seen it as a job, and I love the kids and their family, but I've never before seen it as a ministry. Tonight, I had the opportunity to babysit for a two little boys that I had never met before. Long story short, they are from New Orleans and are living here with their mother at her cousins' house in The Settlement. She needed a babysitter so that she could go to a Beth Moore simulcast at our church. I planned on keeping these kids free of charge and paying for whatever we were gonna go and do (God's been teaching me how blessed I am and that He has given me money so that I can bless others, and not be selfish with HIS money). When we were loading up my car with the kids, she was trying to hand me some money and I said "don't worry about it...this is my ministy"... It was one of those moments that God was meaning those words more for me to hear than for this lady to hear. It totally suprised me that I said that, and after I said it, God just really revealed to me that keeping kids is more than just a way to earn money, it's actually a way for me to minister to families. I mean, for hours at a time, people actually trust me to keep their kids alive, feed and safe, and they even trust me with their houses and possesions. I have sole responsiblity over these kids for a part of their day, and for a person who doesn't even know me to feel at ease with ME keeping their kids really made ME feel blessed! Because, I know that it's nothing I have done, but rather what God is doing through me. So, tonight I finally started to understand another aspect of that verse about 'whatever you do....do it for the Lord'. Because I am not just keeping these kids because the 'suchandsuch' family asked me to, but because for whatever reason, God CHOSE me too.

A great day...

Hey all!
Today was a great day. My classes went really well (though I almost fell asleep in American lit watching a documentary about Edgar Allen Poe) and also, I started taking piano again this semester after taking a 2 year break in high school, and so far I'm picking everything back up pretty quickly! It's really encouraging to see your hard work pay off. Then, when I got back home from my REALLY long day at school, I got to take a NAP!!! (I feel like I'm in kindergarten or something, because like I'm always wanting to take a nap.) When I woke up, I did some homework and watched Gilmore girls with my mom (tonight's episode was kind of slow) and then went to Livewell and ran on the tredmill. For those of you who don't know me very well, let me tell you a secret...I do NOT like to run at all. I don't mind if I'm running for a sport like basketball, but to just go and 'run' is SOOO not fun for me. But, tonight, I totally had a GREAT time! It was really weird. It was like I was able to run off all of my stress from the past few days, and just kind of clear my mind (well, while listening to a sermon on my mp3 player). It was really weird that I actually enjoyed the 2omin run, so maybe I'll give it another try sometime soon. And, just now, I really some really cool blogs and some really kind comments that y'all wrote me, and that totally made me feel great. I am so thankful that God blessed me with such awesome friends that encourage one another and pray for each other and that truly LOVE God, and seek after HIM and don't just settle for trying to have a 'covenient Christianity'

(PS- this is a shout out to Jenn Conn for being such a sweet person and calling me today, and also to Danielle for opeining up her dormroom to let me to come and hang with her at ETBU in a few weekends..I'm SOOO excited chica!!!! I love you both!!!)

A response to "More! Give me more!" by Susie (www.alifenotwasted.blogspot.com)

I just read a blog entry that Susie wrote on faith. This is a subject that God has REALLY been teaching me for the past year now. It's like everything that is going on in my life and every lesson that I am learning is about faith, and what it is.
Last year, at a church camp (that Neil McClendon and Billy and Cindy Foote were leading) God began to reveal to me that I didn't really know what having faith in Him was. One night at camp, God moved me to go and talk to Neil and tell him what was going on in my life. Neil suggested that I do something "radical," it was to not read my Bible for a month and actually LIVE OUT what the Bible teaches, and not just 'sit and soak'. When he said that I was like "that's craz.......huh....that's so weird that you say that because I'll be in Brazil on a mission trip 2 weeks from now, so I wouldn't be able to read my Bible the whole time I'm there." So, I prayed about it, and that night, I stopped reading the Bible for a month. It was the greatest learning experience I think that I've ever had. During that time, I learned to rely on God, and not on my intelligence, I also learned that I do not have a relationship with the Bible, but with it's author. While I was in Brazil on the mission trip (we worked through local churches and interpreters going on home visits everyday to explain who Christ is and the plan of salvation, or to explain some things they may not understand about the Bible, and other things of this nature) I remember a specific house visit where I was like quoting scriture to her that I didn't even know I knew!!!! I truly believe it was God talking through me and showing me that I have the WORD inside of me! (John 1) Because Christ is the WORD, and the Bible is just the written account of the WORD. God was also showing me that I have faith in Him, and not in my ablilty to find a scripture at the drop of a hat...He is powerful enough to speak through us for HIS own glory.
So, since that time, it has been a little over a year and God is still putting a desire in me to understand more about faith, and exercise that faith so that it may grow. For sure, that scripture is true (james 1:2-4) because it is through trials that we gain endurance for the harder times to come.
So, Susie, thanks for the words of encouragement and wisdom. We all should continue to seek after Christ for our source of life. I love ya!!!!