In Your Presence God, I'm Completely Satisfied

Wedding Blog!

2010-07-19T08:56:00.001-07:00

Since I have been engaged I started a blog about the engaged life/wedding plans. Come check it out!

www.michaelheathers.blogspot.com

Love,

Heather

Miss Ayden and The Collard Festival!

2009-09-19T08:07:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I was able to go and support by fellow chargers at the miss ayden pagent and the collard festival parade! Ayden Grifton is the high school that I lead young life at and they have an annual collard festival and miss ayden pagent. One of my girls, Nikki was in the pagent and actually won! I was so proud of her!

All the girls at the pagent!

Nikki after she was crowned Miss Ayden! She looked so pretty :)

Two of my favorite girls!! Nikki and Lindsay

Miss Ayden and I!

Colleen the Collard Festival Mascot!

Joey and Molly holding the Ayden-Grifton FFA Sign

Go Chargers!!

Ayden Grifton Color Guard! They were so good :)

Ayden Grifton Cheerleaders!

Sassy

2009-07-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

I went on a limb the other day and decided to chop my hair off. There is a hair dresser here at Concord (I am visiting Michael for a couple of days) that I really like so I knew I wanted to go ahead and get it cut. I decided if I am paying for my hair I might as well get something extreme! After my hair dresser cut my hair she said I looked SASSY and that she gave me permission to have all the attitude I want..and believe me I have! :)

Family Reunion

2009-07-06T06:45:00.001-07:00

I had a great time at my family reunion this weekend in Ohio! I mostly hung out with my little girl cousins but I can't complain they are adorable :). Enjoy the pictures.

Raleigh, Wisdom Teeth, and July

2009-07-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Happy July everyone! I am sitting here on my couch with soar holes in my gums. I got out all four of my wisdom teeth yesterday morning and it really was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. As soon as they put the IV in my arm I was out and literally did not wake up until the very end..and man did i feel goofy for the rest of the day. The pain is really not that bad I take a painkiller every once in awhile. Only my bottom right "tooth" aka hole in my gum hurts.
Also I went to the doctor Monday morning about my swollen lymph nodes on the back of my neck. All of my blood tests came back negative yayy! Which means i don't have anemia, leukemia, and all my kidney and lungs are working great. She just told me I have a reactive lymph node and sometimes you can't really explain why they happen. But they are pretty much gone now I can hardly feel them on my neck anymore!!
I will be in Raleigh for a couple of weeks and then I go back to Greenville to work and such..:-\. I like it so much better here.
I hope everyone has a great fourth of July I will be up in Ohio for a family reunion :)

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!

2009-06-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if any of you heard but I had a knot on the back of my neck for about two months now. And it didn't really bother me until this past week. I was dizzy, getting headaches, nauseated when I ate food, really tired..so I decided to get it checked out! Well my doctor told me it was a swollen lymph node which could be a number of reasons..it could be just a bacterial infection or it could be a blood disease..meaning I don't have enough white blood cells. She told me that I have nothing to worry about and it is not as uncommon as I think it is. So I got blood work done..they tested me for like four different things..which i don't even what. If it is anything serious they will call me after they get results... if not i have a follow up doctors appointment on the 29th! But I don't feel well.. I can go along with the day but I don't have the energy that most people have. I slept A LOT yesterday..took nap for 2 hours and then went to bed 2 hours later and slept for 10 hours..and I am STILL tired. My head hurts, my body aches, I feel uncomfortable. I just feel like i am ALWAYS sick..and I am tired of it..literally.

Please pray that my blood work results will come in and it will be nothing serious..something that can be an easy fix.. because I am ready to feel 100% like myself again!

7 reasons to say "I do"

2009-06-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

I am still listening to the study of Ruth that my pastor has on podcast..it has only taken me since December haha! But today was talking about the qualities to have in a spouse.. but not only do I want these qualities in a spouse I want them for myself! so here we go 7 reasons to say I do:

1. Spirtuality- loving God and God always being on our lips!

2. Humility- Love and care for others. Putting others desires before ourselves

3. Priority- knowing what matters most. Having the priority of Godly living

4. Honesty- Telling people the truth even if it ruins what you want.

5. Accountability- Willing enough to put aside our emotions to do what is right. Following Gods plan over our own.

6. Purity- self explanatory

7. Generosity- giving to others even if it doesn't benefit ourselves

First of all we should pray for ourselves to have these qualities and THEN pray to find spouses with these qualities!

Pool with my favorite nephew!!

2009-06-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

more pics to comee!!

Summer school is coming to an end!

2009-06-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Praise Jesus!! One thing I hate more than school is school in the summer! It is almost done though I have a week and a half. I am home now in Raleigh visiting mom, dad, Jen, and Micah Bartley! It is so nice to be here. Living in Greenville this summer has made me appreciate home and my family so much! I hate admitting the fact that I am growing up and starting to live on my own! I am still going to be living in Greenville for the month of July working and such but hopefully since I wont be in school I will have more time to take trips home and have little vacations!

I will put up pictures on my next post of my time at home! Love you all :)

Theme Song for the Summer

2009-05-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

My mom bought the Carrie Underwood CD the other week and I got to put it on my computer! I love it and there is one song that just describes how I feel right now. It is called Get Out Of This Town:

Got it all figured out inside of my head
There's a bag packed up at the foot of my bed
You say the word, baby I'm all set
We'll cover our tracks, tell a couple white lies
Make sure we got a good alibi
And by the time they catch on, we'll be outta their sight
Long gone, baby

Let's get out of this town tonight
Nothing but dust in the shadows
Gone by morning light
Somewhere we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Baby, let's just get out of this town

Don't need directions, don't need a map
If we get lost I'll be good with that
Yeah we'll find a way to make the time pass
Window rolled down with the heat on high
Stars all aligned in a runaway sky
Holding my hand as the miles roll by
Long gone, baby

Let's get out of this town tonight
Nothing but dust in the shadows
Gone by morning light
Somewhere we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Baby, let's just get out of this town

If we leave tonight and drive fast enough
All of our troubles will be just like us
Long gone, baby

Let's get out of this town tonight
Nothing but dust in the shadows
Gone by morning light
Somewhere we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Yeah, let's just get out of this town
Let's get out of this town tonight
Yeah, we won't ever get caught, ever be found
Baby, let's just get out of this town

I love Greenville but its summer time and I want to be home or going somewhere. It's not fun at all being where no one else is going to summer school and working all the time. I want to do fun summer things like take spontaneous road trips or go to the beach, or simply go home to be with my family. I think God is teaching me a lot by being here. It is sometimes lonely and God calls me to Him every single day. He is showing me that I need to stop relying on other people to make me feel content. I need Him!!

New layout and post!

2009-05-25T20:39:00.001-07:00

Michael has inspired me to get back to blogging! So I updated my layout and now I am updating on my life! Summer school has begun and it is not too exciting. It hardly feels like its summer..except for the heat. I am currently working at the Beef Barn...which is a job so I am thankful to have it. That is all I am going to update for now. Nothing too exciting has happened I just wanted to let all of my readers know that I am alive!

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me."

John 10:27

Faithful

2009-04-08T08:24:00.001-07:00

This song was sung at Katy and Ryan's wedding and I thought it was beautiful and I wanted to share it with everyone!

I wanna sing you a love song.

You are the thief of my heart.

Rhythm and rhyme try to describe it.

No matter how hard I try I can't hide it.

Faithful. You are faithful.

I have found nothing but good in Your heart.

Loving. You are loving.

I am in love with the way that You are.

Thankful. I am thankful.

I have been running away on my own.

And then you found me.

Oh how You loved me

I know You'll never leave me alone.

I wanna sing you a long song.

You are the lover of my life

rythm and rhyme try to explain it

no matter how I try I can't contain it.

Faithful. You are faithful.

I have found nothing but good in Your heart.

Loving. You are loving.

I am in love with the way that You are.

Thankful. I am thankful.

I have been running away on my own.

And then You found me.

Oh how You loved me

I know You'll never leave me alone.

--Faithful.

Enter the Worship Circle

Kathryn and Ryan

2009-04-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I got the privledge of attending a beautiful wedding this weekend in Wilmington. The weather was gorgeous and of course Katy was beautiful! I had such a great time with my friends and seeing two people that I really look up to sharing their love with everyone!

Michael and I for the past couple of months have gone to dinner/lunch with Katy and Ryan asking advice for our relationship and they have been really great mentors to us. It is not always easy to be in a christian relationship and its great to have an older couple to answer our questions :). So thank you ryan and katy and congratulations on your amazing marriage! I know both you will glorify God with your marriage!

Pictures from the wedding:

4th Picture- Quinn tagged me

2009-02-15T18:04:00.001-08:00

Quinn tagged me in a blog game. You have to find the 4th picture in your 4th album and post it along with a short blurb about the picture. This is Cameron Huffman and Erica Papes two of my best friends from middle school/high school. It is sad to say that I do not keep up with them much anymore but they are some cool gals. We were in the car on our way to Olive Garden for a girls night out (and Hubert Erica's brother). That was almost 4 years ago.. crazy.
Okay well I'm going to tag two people to do this: Jennifer Cook and Michael Stemler...get on it!

Young Life is BACK

2009-02-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

We started young life clubs back up last Monday. Ayden Grifton had a pretty good kick off with about thirty kids at Molly Eure's house for club. Everyone was really energetic and seemed to have a great time and focused clearly to what Katie Maloney had to share with them about Jesus Christ.

On Saturday night we had a huge bon fire at Dylan Groeger's house. About fifteen ag students came where we roasted marshmellows, told ghost stories, and just hung out and laughed.

I had the privledge to go out to lunch with miss callie brown today at Zaxby's. I met her at a baseball game last year, the first time any of us went out to the school. She has been an awesome friend to me ever since!

This week we have club again on Monday night so just be praying for the people who come that they will open their ears to what God wants to share with them! It is going to be a great semester. God is so good :)

New Addition to the Family :)

2009-01-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

So as most of you have known my nephew Micah Bartley Cook was born Friday, January 16 2009 at 12:56pm. He weighed 7.14 pounds. He is perfect and beautiful!! God, Jen, and Bart did an amazing job :). Here are some pictures.. Enjoy!

Can't Sleep

2009-01-12T21:06:00.001-08:00

It is 12:06 am right now and I have an 8 am class in the morning and I can not seem to fall asleep. I guess its because I haven't gone to bed before 2am in 2 weeks. blah.

The first couple of days back have been great. I love my friends and the awesome ministry of young life. Laura Urko and I are actually meeting some girls at bojangles tomorrow.. it will be the first time seeing them in about a month! I miss my girls :(. I have four classes tomorrow so it is going to be a CUHRAZY day.. but I am looking forward to and get back in the swing of things.

Alright well I'm going to try to rest my head on the pillow again.
Goodnight :)

A day spent with me :)

2009-01-06T10:30:00.001-08:00

So as you can see from the post below one of my new years resolutions was set aside time to be just with myself so I dedicated a whole day to that. My parents were working so I ended up sleeping in til 1pm haha! It felt so good though, that was the first time I slept in the whole break :). I listened to pastor davey's podcast again on the book of Ruth which was great. After that I journeled for about an hour. I decided to take a bubble bath which was awesome cause I haven't had one of those in forever..you cant really take a bath in the dorm rooms haha. To top off my day I wanted to get out of the house a little so I went out the the Christian book store bought my mom a book that she has been wanting. I got a gift certificate from my awesome sister and brother-in-law for Old Navy so I went over and got some cute clothes for the cruise. :)

So my day spent with me was fabulous and I'm glad I'm starting this new resolution!

Podcasts and Resolutions

2009-01-05T11:48:00.001-08:00

One think that I have started doing this break and have continued into the new year is listening to podcasts. Pastor Stephen Davey from Colonial Baptist Church (my church at home) is one of the best speakers I have heard, he speaks directly to me, grabs my attention, and always uses God's word. I have started to, when I spend my daily time with Jesus, listening to his podcasts.

He has been preaching on the book of Ruth which is fascination. It is all about a happily ever after story and I love that but it didn't start out that way. In the beginning of the book Naomi lost her husband and both of her sons which one of them was Ruth's husband. They had nothing, only the grace and glory of Jesus. The book talks about the struggles they went through but they had faith in Christ through it all.

It being a new year I decided to sit down and write down all the things that I want to work better at in this new year. I came up with twenty-three of them:

Set aside more time for Jesus

Make time to be by myself

Exercise more

Do everything out of love

Branch out more and make it an effort to include everyone

Replace frustration with patience

Own up to my sins

Give more of myself to the ministry of Young Life

Come to my Savior first with anger, saddness, frustration instead of of others

Keep in touch with my parents. Pray for them.

Pray for my friends daily

Love myself

Obtain a job or internship and give it to the Lord

Save money

Take every advantage of representing the gospel

Love my body by eating healthier

Work hard at school

Pray for my future with a career

Pray for my future with marriage..or without it

Constantly work on keeping Christ the center of my friendships

Constantly work on keeping Christ the center of my relationship with Michael

Keep in touch with my friends from home

Prepare myself everyday to spend eternity with my Savior in Heaven

Trip to Florida!

2008-12-25T18:23:00.000-08:00

Michael's family and I all headed down to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale Florida for 10 days! It was awesome! Michael's family works down at Disney World and Busch Gardens so we got to go to every park for free!!
On Sunday December 14th we went to Magic Kingdom
Michael and I at the park entrance!

Everyone about to ride Thunder Mountain!

I got to meet the disney princesses!

Michael's favorite, Belle

my favorite, princess ariel!!
Cinderella's Castle all lit up!

The next day Michael, me and his cousin Ashley went over to Sea World.

Michael loved the shamu looking beatle!

Ashley and I underneath the Sea World Christmas Tree!

touching the sting rays!

We love shamu!

After sea world we took a litte break and drove down to Fort Lauderdale to see Michael's Aunt and Uncle.

we got some purses from Barb's friend Lori who designs them :)

Michael and Ashley decorating cookies

beautiful Fort Lauderdale beach!

Michael on the beach!

Ashley and I at macaroni grille for dinner :)

On Thursday we drove back to Orlando and went to Hollywood Studios for the whole day!

sorcerer mickey hat!

I got to be in the High School Musical 3 production that we saw!

before we went and saw muppet 3d!

Power Rangers!!

We got to meet sorcerer mickey!

The next day we drove to Tampa and went to Busch Gardens!

feeding the birds!

on a ride!

we got to feed birds and they decided to climb all over us and on top of my head ha!

on Saturday the whole family got to together and we went to Animal Kingdom!

Tree of Life

Michael, his parents, and i

we all won fast passes meaning we didn't have to wait in line.

we won mouse ears also!

the whole group!

We took a day off and then on Monday we concluded our Disney World adventure with Epcot

we got to meet eeyore, tigger and pooh!

and beauty and the beast!!

our Florida trip was awesome. it was a great Christmas present!

Happy Hapy Birthday to ME!

2008-11-27T07:37:00.000-08:00

So these past couple of days I have been celebrating my 20th birthday with my friends, boyfriend and family. It has been awesome!!

It started Friday, November 21st. Mike had been planning to take me on a nice date. He picked me up at 5pm took me to his apartment where I opened presents from his parents and him. He got me a green mountain smith bag which I have wanted forever and his parents got me a green marmot rain jacket!
After present opening, Mike and I went downtown Greenville to a restaurant called L.A. Lounge. It was so nice and the food was delicious!

We proceeded to his car where he gave me his second gift. It was a scrapbook full of letters from all my closest friends! I sat there for 30 minutes reading and crying. Thanks to all my friends for those awesome letters.
After that I asked Mike if the night was over and he was like yes thats about it. Then we proceeded to his apartment and he said "actually the night is not over" and he opened his door and everyone popped out and said SURPRISE!! I was so shocked

My highschool friends came and surprised me also!!

On my actual birthday, yesterday the 26th. My mom sister and I went shopping. That evening we went to Cheesecake factory for dinner.

my birthday strawberry cheesecake!

Then it was present time!

I got a new camera!!

and some purple converses!!

Then my friends from high school all came over!!

My Birthday was awesome! Thanks to everyone for making it special. love you guys :)

Resting at His feet

2008-11-17T20:55:00.001-08:00

This has been a crazy couple of weeks with young life, school, friends, boyfriend, etc. It is very draining. One thing I have learned these past couple of weeks is that I can not do any of it if I am not resting at Jesus' feet daily. I have putting off spending time with Jesus for awhile now and I have just realized that if I am going to serve Him daily I will fail if I do not seek Him.

First semester is winding down, which is crazy to believe! It has gone by SO fast. This is our last week of full classes, THANK YOU JESUS! After this semester I will be officially done with Nursing classes YAY!

Young Life is great. We just had our third club tonight. We had about 50 kids again=). God is definitely all over that school and it is amazing to see. It is very hard sometimes to be constantly faithful but in the long wrong it is so worth it.

I am very excited to have a break in a week! Plus my birthday is coming up YAY. I'm excited to see my sister, little baby micah (in the belly), bartley, mom, and dad. Plus Michael is coming home with my for two days so it will be awesome! I miss home and my high school friends very much so I'm pretty pumped about going home!

Michael is great! We just celebrated our 4 month anniversary. Lame that we celebrate months but hey it is a big deal! Everyday I see our relationship grow towards Jesus and it is amazing!

I am constantly seeing myself challenged everyday by Jesus, whether it be with trusting, or resting at His feet. But in the long run my love and passion for Him increases everyday. He is very faithful to me and I have seen that very much lately.

Camp was amazing!

2008-10-27T12:44:00.001-07:00

So we are back from camp. It was a very long and exhausting weekend but it was AMAZING. The group of girls Ayden Grifton took was so great. To see how God worked in each and every one of their lives was so encouraging. It reminded me over and over again why I am doing Young Life. It made me realize why I went through the stuff I did in high school. It was great to see friendships form and get closer and walls/barriers breaking down. God is so good and He is working in Ayden Grifton and the hearts of these girls.

all of pitt county young life!!

Heading to Camp

2008-10-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

So this is the big weekend!! Pitt County Young Life is taking about 200 kids to fall camp at Rockbridge tomorrow!! Ayden Grifton gets the privilege of taking twenty-six! Laura, Katie, and I will share an awesome weekend with eleven amazing girls. I am so excited!
It is not to my surprise that this week has been CRAZY for me. The devil tried so hard for me to not rest at Jesus' feet but I fought my way through. I made sure to lay everything on Jesus and enable Him to give me His strength, and that is exactly what He did! I wouldn't have made it through this week without Him.
I am just praying for His strength this weekend. I know it is going to take a lot out of me physically, emotionally, and spiritually but I am so excited to hang out with this awesome girls and maybe see some of their lives transformed.

Has it really been a month already?

2008-09-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that I have been at school for a month already! I have been crazy busy with classes, Ayden-Grifton young life, football games, switching dorm rooms, learning to drive stick shift, library parties, F.R.I.E.N.D.S marathons, signs/fish bowel/murder in the dark, late night runs to Sonic/Sheetz, yl girls bible study, Volleyball games, College Life, and Collide.
This month has been a lot of fun, school is hard but I'm trying to enjoy my college years with my awesome friends!
Young life has been amazing. Me and my four other teammates: Laura, Nathan, and Katie have started up young life at this high school called Ayden-Grifton. It is already growing like wild fire! We have seventeen sign ups for camp this fall and we're still getting more! God is so good. He has been working in this school long before we have come! The kids are great and I have already gotten pretty close with some of the girls! I have so much fun going out to the school and building relationships with these high schoolers. I am so excited about bringing them to camp! Young Life camp my sophomore year in high school is where I really learned about Christ and what he did for me, hopefully that will be the same for some of these kids!
I debating still on whether or not I want to change my major. It is not that I don't think I can do it.. I just feel like God is calling me to something else. I don't have the passion I once had for Nursing. I am still debating what I would like to major in and I still have to do a lot of research. So just pray for me with that!
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to write in my blog but I actually had some free time today so I thought I would update everyone :).

Camping!

2008-08-09T13:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday me and my five other friends went to Falls Lake to camp out! I've never been camping before so it was really fun to experience it for the first time!
We got there around 2:30 set up our tents and stuff then headed down to the Lake. We saw a huge rock from across the lake so we all swam over there and jumped off!! So fun :) We chilled in the lake for a little bit and then we got really hungry so we went back and go the fire started and put the hot dogs on :). The hot dogs were delicious!
After hot dogs we found a hiking trail and hiked a little bit and then sat by the beautiful lake and chatted a bit. The lake was beautiful and it was nice to enjoy to sit and enjoy God's beautiful nature :).
We came back to the campsite made s'mores and played some fun question games then headed to bed, we were all very exhausted!
This morning we all woke up kind of early ate our cinnamon toast crunch, packed up, got in our cars and headed home.

the girls awesome tent!

our fire!

roasting the hot dogs!

Sisterhood

2008-08-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

So Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 comes out in theaters Wednesday and I am about to pee my pants.

Laney, Juliana, and I decided to get together and watch the first one.

After fighting over which ice cream place to go to we went to Coldstone, it was good but it wasn't no goodberries but thats okay. I enjoyed my chocolate cookie dough :). We stayed and chatted about marriage which has been the topic of all of our conversations lately haha.

After icecream we came back and watched the movie. I forgot how good that movie was and it just made me more excited about the second one! We are all going on Thursday night to see it YAYYY!

So I was watching Oprah the other day and the topic was "Sex in America" and she had this married couple on who have an open marriage, meaning they can have sex with other people outside their marriage. The wife has a boyfriend who is actually friends with the husband. It made me really disgusted watching this. People in the world have taken God's image of Marriage and completely twisted it up. Marriage is a very holy thing and it shouldn't just be a game. It made me mad so I wanted to share.

Carowinds and other Adventures!

2008-08-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

My blogging has not been up to par as it usually has. Sorry I have not written in a week.

Well last weekend was the best ever! Me, Laura, Quinn, and Sandy all drove down to Concord, NC to Mikes house and met Ythol, Yaron, and Andy there. We all had plans to go to Carowinds Theme Park the following day!!

Carowinds was awesome!

Mike and I waiting in for Rip Roarin Rapids

Laura and I

we love our chacos!

Quinn and I!

That night Baird and Aaron came by to visit which was terrific!

girls being crazy in the bff circle!

The next day we all got up and went to church at Hickory Grove then had a big photo shoot in Michael's front yard!

the whole group!

Instead of going back to Raleigh with the gang I stayed in Concord til Tuesday! We went to dinner with Mike's awesome family to this barbecue place and I think I laughed more than I have laughed in awhile!!

eating my wings!

mr. napkin head

miss napkin head

Me, Mike, Mi Ma, Carolena, and Brad :)

Carolena (mike's sister) and I

Mike had to drive me back to Raleigh on Tuesday cause I had to work that night but He got to stay two more days!!

This week/weekend has been great got to hang out with a lot of awesome people!

Forgiveness that we do not deserve.

2008-07-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

When I think about my life I think about the many chances that Jesus Christ has given me. I would always end up letting him down in some way but He never stopped loving me and forgiving me.

We have a savior who loves us regardless and forgives us on an instance. I am reminded of this everyday and I am eternally grateful for this gift I do not deserve. We are hell bound but Jesus allows us to come to heaven. This is an amazing thing!

Remember to thank Jesus your Lord and savior today for dying on the cross for us and for forgiving every one of our sins!

Weekend with the goober :)

2008-07-22T12:26:00.001-07:00

So Michael Stemler came to visit this weekend, which we really didn't plan but it happened and it was awesome :).
We did all sorts of fun things such as go to Crabtree mall, learn to drive stick shift (which he let me take it on Raleigh roads after learning for only 30 minutes :-\), get new nose rings, introduced him to my awesome high school friends, went to see the dark knight, took him to goodberry's for the first time, watched Beauty and the Beast (we decided to assume that we were Beauty and the Beast haha), had awesome Jesus time, went to the pool, watched 10 things I hate about you (and quoted every line), went to church with the parental units, went to Cracker Barrel and got meatloaf, went to visit Ashley, Whit, Bryan, and Kevin in Durham and took him to Brueggers Bagels for the first time.

It was an awesome weekend. I love spending time with my goober :) :)

"I Am"

2008-07-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

So I was on facebook looking at Quinn McGarvey's page and her status was "and I said 'heartache healer, secret-keeper, be my best-friend' and you said 'I am'". and I was like man that's an awesome quote so I searched it on google and saw it was a song! I downloaded on ruckus and cried while I listened to it so I wanted to share with everyone the lyrics!

Pencil marks on a wall
I wasn't always this tall,
You scattered some monsters from beneath my bed,
You watched my team win,
You watched my team lose,
You watched when my bicycle went down again,
And When I was weak unable to speak,
still I could call You by name,
and I said “Elbow healer, Superhero,
come if You can,” and You said “I am”

Only 16, life is so mean, what kind of curfew is at ten PM
You saw my mistakes, You watched my heart break
Heard when I swore I’d never love again
When I was weak, unable to speak,
still I could call You by name,
and I said “Heart-ache Healer, Secret-keeper,
be my Best Friend” and You said “I am”

You saw me wear white, by pale candlelight,
I said forever to what lies ahead
two kids and a dream, with kids that can scream
too much it might seem when it’s two AM
when I am weak, unable to speak,
still I will call You by name.
“Oh Shepherd, Savior, Pasture-maker,
hold on to my hand,” and You say “I am.”

The winds of change,
And circumstance blow in and all around
us so we find a foothold that’s familiar,
And bless the moments that we feel You nearer

Life had begun, I was woven and spun,
You let the angels dance around the throne, who can say when,
But they’ll dance again, when I am free and finally headed home
I will be weak, unable to speak,
still I will call You by name
“Creator, Maker, Life-sustainer,
Comforter, Healer, My Redeemer,
Lord and King, Beginning and
the End, I am, yes, I am.”

its by Nicole Nordeman! Download it :)

Bondservant of Jesus

2008-07-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night I did not have any plans so I thought to myself, what an awesome opportunity have some long one on one time with Jesus. I decided to go somewhere outside because I wanted a different scenery and I wanted a chance to really appreciate God's nature. I road my bike over to my pool and sat up on a grassy hill by some trees. It was a really beautiful evening outside.
My devotional was about my spiritual honor and duty to help lost souls. Being a Christian is all about being selfless and focusing on other people who need prayer and love. It talked about how so many times we pray just for ourselves when there is a world out there of people who need more prayer than we do. We are to be Bondservants of Jesus because he died for us so that we may come to know him but also to go out and preach the good news: "I am free only that I may be an absolute Bondservant of His"
I decided to take my prayer and focus it on everyone else but me! I prayed that God would let me know who in my life needs prayer. All of a sudden He just kept popping names in my head. I wrote them down in my journal and wrote down things that I could be praying for them. I laid in the grass and just prayed for everyone that I wrote down for about an hour. It was so awesome and I just felt great because I was doing what God called me to do! After prayer I put my ipod in and listened to hillsong and just sat there in God's beautiful nature and worshiped. I decided to get on my bike and go on a bike ride around the neighborhood.
I just took the time yesterday to really sit down with Jesus and listen to what HE wants me to do and He definitely blessed our time together!

"I am obliged both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome." Romans 1:14

It has been awhile so this is going to be long :)

2008-07-13T20:38:00.001-07:00

For all of you who check my blog frequently know that I have not updated n a long time! My computer's hard drive crashed and I have been without a computer for the last week :(. I had to get a new hard drive so all my files were deleted I'm a little upset but its okay everything is fixed now :)

Well I have done a lot in a week I won't go into every detail of every day but it has been a pretty exciting week :).

Last weekend I went to my annual family reunion. It was really great to see everyone I haven't seen in a long time. It just reminded me how God has blessed me with an amazing family :)

grandchildren and grandpa :)

My sis and I in the backseat of our rental convertible

My cousin Brooke and I! She's adorable :)

the whole clan!

This past week I didn't do too much just worked and relaxed.

Now on to this weekend, which has been the thing I have looked forward to the most this past month!

I went down the Michael Stemlers house in Concord to visit him and meet his family :). It was probably the best weekend I have had all summer long!

I arrived at the Stemlers Thursday evening and met Barb and Wayne (his parents) they are SO great I had a lot of fun with them. I also met mima (Mike's grandma). I brought mima a chick-fil-a milkshake because they are her favorite and she just fell in love with me haha! We all ate dinner and then watched sound of music! We didn't even get to finish all of it cause it is like three hours and we were all getting tired. After the movie Carolena (Mike's sister) came home and me, barb, and carolena chatted about things :).

The next day was probably my favorite of the whole weekend. We woke up and mima treated us to breakfast at cracker barrel, delicious! After breakfast Mike, Carolena and I went over to Wayne's work (Hendricks Motor Sports) and got to take a tour around :)

Mike and I by Jimmie Johnson's car :)

We then proceeded to the house to get ready for the exciting event of the day, white water rafting!! We went over the White Water Center and walked around a bit and then went on our adventure in the raft. We had a really cool raft guy, his name was Craig and he was probably the biggest nerd that I have ever talked to. He was obsessed with star wars but he was hilarious. It was pretty much an awesome time!

its not us but i just wanted to take a picture of raft going :)

We then got ready for our evening event. To my surprise Mike took me to
Cheesecake factory because 1. I have never been and 2. cheesecake is my favorite desert! We even valet our car like high class people haha! After dinner we walked around the mall and looked at 2,000 prada purses it was good times.

I have never been downtown Charlotte before so we decided to go and walk around. We got some starbucks and just sat and chatted. Walking and Chatting..its what Mike and I do haha.

Here comes my favorite part..
We come home and decide to go on walk around the neighborhood. While we are walking Mike pulls me over by this pond (HA!) and reads me this letter he wrote. At the end he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said NO WAY..haha jk I said YES of course :). So we are officially official everyone!
We had a hard time going to sleep that night we were both really excited!

Saturday we woke up ate some delicious breakfast that Barb prepared and headed over to Holly 's! I got to meet all of Mike's really good friends..it was awesome they are great :) After hanging out on the lake we all went out to Chili's for dinner and our table was way cooler (sorry bryan!) We then went back to Holly's and played some brain buster games and chatted. Mike and I finally arrived home and decided to watch Hercules haha SUCH a good movie. After the movie we stayed up and talked until 4am ha!

Today we woke up went to Panera for lunch and then came back to do our devotional that Mike got us. It was really cool. These times are my favorite times I spend with him. We talked a long time about everything going on in our lives right now and prayed for each other :)

After Jesus time Mike and I went to Journey to the center of the earth with Barb and Wayne. The movie was alright, a little unrealistic, and cheesy but it was fun to hang out with them! After movie time we went over to dinner and Cinco De Mayos..delicious.

It was then time to get ready to leave which was probably the saddest thing ever! I headed out around 7pm and got home around 9. I got my computer all set up so now I have internet access again yay!

--this weekend has been so great and I only have God to thank. It is just crazy to look back at my life 6 months ago and how much my life has changed. I am so much more closer to Christ and I now have amazing friends and amazing boyfriend:). I am really excited to see what Jesus has in store for me for the future!

This goes out to the Urkos!

2008-07-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

I woke up today at 9:30am..probably the earliest I have been up in awhile. I am so proud of myself! I had work from 11 to 3. I really like working the early shifts cause I get out of there quicker and I have the rest of the day to do stuff!!
I came home ate some late lunch, read some of wild at heart, and just chilled.

The lovely Sandy Urko called me and asked if i would like to come over tonight and of course I accepted!! We had plans to cook dinner and then watch a movie..which we did neither haha!

Sandy, Laura and I went over to subway because we decided it was cheaper just to get food rather than go to the grocery store and cook! We sat at subway for over an hour and just chatted about life, Jesus, boys, next year, etc. We then decided to move our convo over to Starbucks (apparently those girls don't get enough of that place haha!) I got free coffee out of it so that was fabulous!! We stayed and chatted there for a while.

I love those girls so much I could sit and talk to them for hours about the most random stuff. We have a friendship rooted in Christ and it is great! I always know that both of them will be there for me!!

So this blog is dedicated to Sandy and Laura Urko thanks for good times, good chats, and good fun! I love ya'll :-D

CHACOS!!!

2008-07-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

I am just SUPER excited right now because my Chacos that I ordered finally came in the mail today!! I even took a picture for everyone!!

arn't they so cute!! yay i love them :)

Well I am just having a fabulous day! I woke up before 12pm (one of my goals) and I read some of wild at heart. I went on a run later on and beat my goal to run farther than a mile and a half..I think I ran like a mile and 3/4. I know some of you out there are like umm thats nothing..but its something to be SO BACK OFF! haha love ya :) I came back from jogging and my chacos were here yayyyy!! I got to talk to Mike for a little bit and his mom, Barb even got on the phone we chatted about Sound of Music and the plans for next weekend. SO EXCITED!

Well I have to work at 6 tonight til close blah!

TOOTLES!!

New Habits

2008-06-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days I have thought of some goals I need to set for myself. They are not only for the rest of the summer but the rest of my life!

Things I need to start making Habits:

exercise or do some sort of physical activity every day

drink two or more liters of water a day

start using mustard instead of mayonaise

floss once a day

stop eating after 8pm

start SAVING my money

spend time in the word everyday

pack my lunch/dinner for work

wake up before 12pm

clean/do chores daily

be more outdoorsy

You, O God are strong, and you O Lord are loving.

2008-06-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

If I told you what time I woke up today a lot of you would kill me..all you need to know is I did wake up...

I decided to start reading "Wild At Heart" (Mike just finished it so he gave me that book and I gave him "Captivating" to read). I read the first couple of chapters and it just talked about how men were made in God's image. God is adventurous and a risk taker and I think many of us forget that. It also went on to describe that women were also in God's image. God longs for adventure but he also longs to be loved..as women do.

"One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord are loving."
Pslams 62:11-12

The book talked about how God took a huge risk when He allowed us freedom of choice because we disobey and hurt Him over and over again. God also takes huge risks when He decides to love us over and over again.

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possible broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal."

C.S. Lewis

How true is that quote? Love is the ultimate risk and still God chooses to do and still we choose to do it.

Overall this book is great and I just wanted to share it with everyone!

Reunited

2008-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today has been a day of reuniting. I got to see a lot of great friends that I have not seen in awhile!

Mike and Bryan arrived in Raleigh at 11! We decided to head down to the pool [according to Baird that is all I do..haha!].
Daddy Bryan laid in the shade while us kids [Mike and I] frolicked in the water. It was stupendous!
After pool time we proceeded to my house to take showers/get ready for lunch with Quinny and Laura!! We arrived at the Crabtree food court around 1:30. It was so great to see both of them! It has been soo long.. which is silly because we live in the same city. All I know is we are not going another month without hanging out! Mike and I got moes and the rest of the gang got chick-fil-a. I haven't had Moes in like 20 years so it was delicious. We chatted about things going on in our lives =). After lunch we decided to shop/walk around. Sandy joined us later. We went to all kinds of fun stores like the Disney Store [my favorite place ever], sharper image...I got to go sit on those vibrating chairs that is always fun [I just lost].
After the mall I had to take the boys home cause they needed to leave for Statesville :(. They departed and it was a very sad time for me..boohoo.
Well I heard this cool girl named Baird Blackley was coming into Raleigh and she was making a stop at the Urkos so I just had to go over there and say hello! Sandy, Quinn, Lacey, Baird, and I all hung out and chatted for a little bit. Yaron and Laura joined us later. We even took a BFF circle picture.. I wish I had it to put on here but it is on Sandy's camera..
We then had to part ways with Bairdy boo which was sad times. The rest of us though grabbed some dinner at Carolina Ale House. That place is really cool because it has a bunch of sports team stuff hanging up. I walked in and to my amazement there was a little section with two ECU flags and peedee the pirate on the wall.. I was really excited GO PIRATES!! [You really never see ECU stuff hanging up at places like that which is a shame!]
After dinner we all decided to go see the opening night showing of WALL-E. So cute! Laura about peed in her pants cause she loved it so much haha!
I then arrived home a little bit ago and spent sometime with Jesus just thanking him for all the amazing people that He has brought into my life.
I have been really stressed out this week for various reasons: school, the rooming situation, and other things going on at home...My time with Jesus today was great though. It was all about not being afraid and coming to Jesus to let Him rescue you..I really needed to hear that!!

"'Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 39:18

Jesus just reminded me to be completely devoted to Him and everything will work out according to His purpose..

Fun Day With Friends :)

2008-06-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

I got to hang out with my good friends in the last couple of days.

This morning little miss laney bolick called me at 11am telling me that she is coming to my pool at 12 ha. Her and her friend Ali arrived and we headed down to the pool. Juliana came a little later. We just chatted and laughed at stupid things haha!.

After the pool I came back to the house, showered, and spent some time with Jesus.
I got to talk to Lauren Sherrill on the phone today about maybe living with her next year! I really hope it does because she would be a great roommate :)

My mom decided to make oatmeal for dinner..interesting but good haha. It has been a kind of stressful day with my parents. A lot of talk about money and such..it is pretty much the only thing my parents talk about..sad but true...

After dinner I got ready and headed over to Laney's house.
We chatted for a bit then decided to head to Goodberrys. I got a chocolate peanut butter fudge concrete..DELICIOUS :)
We came back and watched Madagascar and chatted to scotty on the internet ha.

Now I'm sitting and eating a banana :)

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" Luke 5:31

2008-06-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

So I slept in today and did not go to church :(
no one woke me up but my mom says she did...who knows?!

I ended up waking up at 12:15pm haha. I ate some breakfast and watched some tv with my mom. We had plans to go see Get Smart today in the theaters but the car would not start so we changed our plans.

I was looking through movies to watch and i came across "The Lion King" gah I could not pass that up. We watched it..so good! It still makes me cry when the dad dies.. I don't think I've ever not cried at that part. Overall it made me really happy because it brought back the days when I was young!
After the movie I got ready and went to a work party/meeting. They fed us dinner and then we talked about improvements we need to make as DSW employes..blah blah blah haha!

I got to talk to my future roomie today on facebook! I actually know her through some people I knew back in high school.. crazyy!

I then got a call from Jen (my sister). It was good talking to her I miss her a lot :(. She told me how Bartley (my bro-in-law) preached 3 services today!! She told me that his sermon was on itunes so I decided to listen to it..
SO GOOD..it was all about relational evangelism which is basically the whole idea of Young Life. He was saying that many of us only talk to people who know Jesus because we are scared of becoming friends with people who don't..but those are the people Jesus calls us to love
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" Luke 5:31-32. Throughout the sermon I kept thinking about how I always want to be "comfortable" and God does not call us to that. We should be seeking people who don't know Jesus, forming relationships with them and loving them! It got me really excited for Young Life also..God is going to do amazing things through my team at AGHS and I can not wait for it to happen!

Fun, Laughter, and The Morning Of

2008-06-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was quite a splendid day.
I woke up around 11am cleaned some of the house, ran some errands, and got ready for Mike and Bryan to arrive.
They came to my house around 5pm. We just hung out and chatted and then Aaron Brooks came over!
We all ate dinner. My dad grilled out and then made delicious strawberry shortcake!! YUM. We just chatted and laughed it was fun!
After dinner we went to the brewery to see this awesome band the morning of..little did we know that they were the last band to play so we had to sit through some sucky bands..but we passed the time by dancing around acting like goons!!
The Morning Of finally came on.. and they were SO good. Seeing them live just made me like them 10x more! The girl singer can SING!!
After the concert we all hit up cookout..of course we're with Mike haha
We then all came back to my house and Mike and I decided to go on a walk..which was great :).
Then it was sleepy time.

We woke up this morning around 11:30 went down and had some breakfast. Then the boys packed up and headed out to greenville.
I decided to go to the pool after they left. I only stayed for an hour because there was a little kids birthday party going on and there like 30 kids.. CRAZY.
After the pool I just laid around and acted lazy.
I got ready then headed to work at 6pm. Work wasn't too bad tonight it was a lot better than the other day I worked. My coworkers were fun tonight and I heard some entertaining stories hahaha!

Now I'm jammin' out to the morning of cd I purchased on itunes..so good. love them.

Icecream made with splenda is just not icecream

2008-06-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

So as I am sitting here writing my blog for the day I am "trying" to enjoy my bowel full of chocolate icecream made from splenda. When I saw the carton in the freezer I was like mmmm mom and dad bought some icecream. As I was dishing out some I noticed that it was made from splenda and had low fat.. so I was like well hmm well thats good for me and it cant be too bad...OH BUT IT IS! My philosophy is this..if your going to buy icecream or other "junk food" let it be JUNK food.

Anywhoo.. enough about awful icecream. My day has been pretty good. Woke up at my regular time of 12pm haha. Tessa called me around 12:30 and told me to meet her at the mall.

It was great to see her..I can't believe we went this long without hanging out :(. We went to forever 21 and spent FOREVER in there (hehe get it). I didn't end up getting anything cause I'm trying to watch my money...yeah lame i know.
After forever 21 we went and got some lunch at chick-fil-a and chatted about life and other fun things.
We then proceeded to the mac store where this CREEPER of a dude helped us. Tessa went in there to buy a case for her laptop and this dude was flirting WAY too much with us...of course Tessa gave him a piece of her mine..common now its Tessa the DRAGON hahah (girl you know i love you).
After that fun little incident we parted ways :(.
I came home chilled and then got ready for work.
I worked from 6 to close and I think it was the most BORING shift I've ever worked. BLAH

well the high light of my day was definitely seeing my good friend Tessa! love that girl.

tootles for now

A lot of time to myself.

2008-06-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I woke up around noon and looked outside and to my wonderful surprise it was bright and sunny..a perfect forecast for the pool! I got my swimsuit on, my sunscreen, my book, my raft, and my towel and headed down. I was by myself the whole time I was down there which was really nice. I laid on my raft and read my new awesome book "Captivating". The chapter I read was all about letting God romance me and being able to notice his "love messages" by the beautiful nature He gives us. I really took this time to rest and pray to God thanking Him for the beauty that He gives us..sometimes it goes unnoticed but it is really all around.
After the pool I got ready and headed over to work. I was supposed to work from 4-8 but they decided to extend my hours and make me work til close. I need the money so I didn't complain. I worked a good seven hours and my feet were killing me but I got some cute new tommy hilfiger flip flops so I was happy about that :).
I came home talked to Mike on the phone for a bit then went to sleepy with Patches!

I woke up today at 9am to call from Mary (my manager at DSW) asking me if I wanted to work 12-5pm today..of course I accepted the offer. I went back to sleep for another hour then woke up and got ready for work.
Work was REALLY fun today for some unknown reason. Everyone was in a really good mood and we just kept laughing about the stupidest things. Mary was really nice to me today for a change.
After work I headed over to target cause I needed to purchase some things. I got a new bathing suit so I was pretty excited about that.
I came home ate some dinner and then went for a run.
I then spent some time with Jesus which always puts me in a great mood.
After Jesus time I decided to take a bubble bath and read some more of my book. :)

Overall I have had a lot of time to myself these past couple of days. It is really nice but at times it gets lonely.. Most of my friends are away :(. But I've gotten to relax and spend some great time with Jesus.

"The King is enthralled by your beauty" -Pslam 45:11

2008-06-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

oh monday's.

Today has been such a great day. First of all it was beautiful outside..a little hot but still beautiful.

I woke up around 11:30 when the telephone rang. My mom was at work and it was dad's day off. We decided to go have some late breakfast at Bob Evans (reading my blog you will notice that my family goes out to eat a lot haha!) I decided to stay healthy and get the "Fit for the Farm" combo which was eggbeaters scrambled, turkey links, and a banana-strawberry parfait..even though it was a light meal it was DELICIOUS!

After "breakfast" we went over to the DS dubs and bought some running shoes for both of us. I'm not going to lie mine are phat- all black with pink trim!

I really wanted to go the Christian bookstore cause I needed a new journal. I got my journal and I also bought the book captivating! I'm already on the fifth chapter and I started today.

One of the chapters was all about beauty (hence the title of my blog) and how women are beautiful because God created us. It talks about all other kinds of beauty that He creates, such as nature, and music. As women we are "captivating" just like a beautiful scene or a beautiful song. It was really great to be reminded that "the King is enthralled by my beauty"!

After the Christian book store my dad and I headed over to Best Buy because he is looking for a new computer. We didn't get anything just look around for a bit :).
We then came home changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool.
It was a really great father-daughter day. I don't have many chances where I JUST hang out with my dad. We have grown so much in our relationship and I only have God to thank for that.

My mom then got home from work and she decided to join us at the pool. That was fun. We talked about captivating for a little bit so I think shes going to read it after I'm done :)

While we were at the pool Jen, my sister, called and told us her doctor appointment went great (for everyone who doesn't know my sister is about 8/9 weeks pregnant!!). She got an ultrasound of the baby and the doctor said that the heartbeat was really strong. Here is my niece/nephew (not sure of the gender yet):

After the pool we all came back and I spent sometime with Jesus. I think about my life a couple of months ago and how I would go weeks or even months without opening up my devotional/my bible and how unhappy I was because of it. I now can't go a day without it and that is also because of the Lord..He has definitely made my faith stronger!

After my devotional I got to talk to Mike a little bit online while he was waiting for his plane! That was fun..it always is :)

I decided to take a jog. I ran/walked for a good 3 miles.. I don't know if I ever could run straight 3 miles?..maybe i will get there one day ??

Overall today has been a great day! :)

The little things in life are what make me the happiest

2008-06-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today has been a really great day.
As everyone knows today is Father's Day! I had a really great time just spending time with my parents today.

Church this morning was great as always. Afterwards we went to Outback steakhouse for father's day lunch. I love that place it is so good! While we were waiting to be seated one of my favorite cartoon movies was on "The Fox and the Hound" so that made me really happy :).

I got a steak, some mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables! YUM YUM. While we were eating my mom was cracking me up. We were reading the desert menus and one of the deserts was called "Chocolate thunder from down under" and my mom says "I bet you that desert will give you some thunder from down under" (like passing some major gas) hahahahaha. oh my gosh I could not stop laughing. so funny. I love just laughing and hanging out with my parents it is always entertaining :).

Also there is this men's retreat through my church and I really wanted my dad to sign up for it because I think it would be so good for him to meet other godly men. I have been praying about it and he signed up for it today!! yay. God is so good. I just look back on all the things my family has been through and how he has lifted us all up from that. My family is such an example of God's unfailing grace!
After lunch we all came back home to open cards/gifts for father's day.

I had to go into work today from 4-8:30. It wasn't too bad but it wasn't great..I mean it is work. haha.

I came home from work and watched the Tony Awards with my mom. I LOVE the tony's because they show you little bits and pieces of broadway shows..and if you know me you know I'm obsessed with musicals and such! I want to go and see a Broadway show SO bad one day.. I promised my mom that when I'm rich (HA!) me, her, and my sister are all going to go!

After my parents went to be I spent some time with Jesus. The devotional was all about not waiting around for one of Jesus thrilling moments but learning to live in common times of life. Nothing extremely "thrilling" is going on in my life right now but I should be praising and worshiping Christ everyday!

Pool, Kickboxing, and other fun activies

2008-06-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

oh today has been just another summer day in the life of Heather Carnahan.

I woke up at noon and decided to go to the pool for a bit.
I laid out and read some of "The Wedding" by Nicholas Sparks..such a good book I'm only on the fourth chapter though. My phone then started ringing and it was such a pleasant surprise because it was good ole Michael Stemler calling me from Alaska! We only talked for a short while that time cause he had to go off and do cruise things..like kniting hahaha.

After the pool I decided to do a workout on Fit TV. They had on a kick boxing cardio workout. It was awesome!! I always like trying new workouts.

It was then time for dinner and my mom actually decided to cook tonight haha! We had taco salads yum yum!

After dinner Mike called again because it was pretty much the only time we could talk because of his cell reception. We talked a lot longer this time just catching up on life and goofing off of course! It was really great to talk to him :).

I then went up to my friend Cameron Huffman's house because she has had these two dresses for awhile that I needed for this weekend. I haven't seen her in such a long time so it was good to see her. Since I was right by Laney's house I decided to stop by and say goodbye to her before she left form Young Life Camp yay!!

Now I'm at home chillin. Probably will go to bed early tonight since I have to work in the AM.

<3

relaxing and fun day :)

2008-06-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

I actually did not do a whole lot today but it still was a great day.
I woke up in an INCREDIBLY good mood and I put some Jesus jams on and worshiped for awhile. One of the songs called "Everlasting God" had a kid saying a verse at the end from Isaiah 40:28-31: "The Lord is the everlasting God. The Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary, no one can measure the debths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired and young men will fall in exhaustion; but those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." I just had to share this cause I thought it was so great and SO true. God gives me strength to face everyday as long as I put complete trust in him.

After worshiping I spent some time with Jesus. It was all about letting Him take over EVERY aspect of our lives. It is so easy to let God control some things in our lives but for other things we think we can handle it.. I know I am guilty of this. I've definitely learned in the past couple of months to let God control all of it because He will bless us greatly!

I wrote some letters to a couple of people who are away at camps and such, that was fun :)

Then I literally sat on the internet/watched tv until around 5pm. haha

My mom did not make dinner tonight.. it was fend for yourself night so I made cereal.

Around 7:30 I went to good ole Scott Reintgen's house with Laney, Juliana, Andrew, Kate, and Scott's friend wes. It was a lot of fun. We just hung out and chatted, watched Serendipity for a little while, ate icecream, and played catchphrase. We had a little photo shoot too :)

My Beautiful friend Kate Odgers and I :)

Laney Bolick and I

Juliana Coughlin and I

The Girls :)

I finally have internet!!

2008-06-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

YAY. I finally can use my computer inside my house and I don't have to go outside on my driveway to steal other peoples internet anymore haha!

Today has been an alright day. I woke up around 11am to a call from miss laney bolick.
Laney and I went over to Juliana's pool today around 12:30. It was fun to hang out with them. but there were like 243983498320 million kids in the pool today which gave me a little bit of a headache haha.

After the pool I came home. I found out that I am not accepted into Jarvis Leadership Hall next year. So I can't live with Tessa. Which means I will be living with someone completely random in a dorm that is completely random. At first I was really frustrated and upset but I am trying to think positive about it. Maybe God is opening up a new door for me? Maybe God wants me to become friends with my new roommate? I don't really know. After I found out this news I went and spent some time with Jesus. The verse that was in my devotional for today was "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28. It was so good to read this verse because I am stressing out about this rooming situation and I just need to come to Christ and He will give me rest..and that is EXACTLY what He did. I feel more at peace about it and I just need to trust that He has everything under control..because He does.

I then ate dinner with the rents and then dad and i hooked up our new internet yay!

I went on a jog/walk. It was starting to get dark outside so it was kind of a mistake that I went at this time haha. I ran for a long time but then I got sick to my stomach and I had to sit down..in the middle of nowhere :-\. I was trying to walk back home by going through these back roads and I just ended up getting myself lost.
I finally got home like 2 hrs later haha! Overall it was a nice and adventurous jog! ha.

now im jammin out to some "Give us Clean Hands"..so good :)
tootles for now :)

Work, Work, and more Work

2008-06-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that I have not written in such a long time. This is actually the first week where my work has scheduled me a lot of days!!

The past couple of days have consisted of going to church, eating at cracker barrel, working, chillin, going to the pool with laney, caroline, and juliana, working, going to the pool with the pops, eating at ruby tuesday's, and working. haha

and can I just mention my new obsession with ruby tuesday's. their turkey burgers are DELICIOUS! ive never gone there until this year and now I go all the time haha. Cracker Barrel is bangin' too but I've known that for awhile. When I went I got the Uncle Herchels Favorite...hashbown casserole, scrambled eggs, bisquit, and ham..YUM YUM.

as you can see I have nothing better to talk about then restaurants haha.

hopefully my post will be better tomorrow!!
ta-ta for now :)

this is going to be a really weak blog.

2008-06-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up around 12 chilled then got ready for work at 2
Work was cool I guess. I learned how to put out new shoes on the floor and how to report damaged shoes...I feel like I learn something new every time I work. I looked at the schedule and whaddaya know they only scheduled me for two days this week so I talked to my manager and she gave me some more shifts..yahoo.
I get in these weird moods sometimes where I want to go shopping by myself so that is exactly what I did after work. I went to target tried on some bathing suits but none of them looked good. Then I went into the stationary section and got some new stationary cause I need to write a couple of people.
After target I was starving and I was craving a chicken sandwich and waffle fries so I drove on over the chick-fil-a drive through. Yummy :)
I came home and watched 27 dresses with my mom. So fun it made me excited for a wedding that I will hopefully have one day :). My mom cried of course but thats Connie for ya haha!
I have been in a weird mood all day. I don't really know what is going on but I decided to take a bubble bath cause I needed to relax. It was actually really nice. After the bubble bath I spent some time with Jesus and the devotional was on centering Christ in every aspect of your life. I really feel like this is the first time in my life that I have actually done that and I just thanked God for helping me to grow so much in the past couple of months!
I talked to my good friend Tessa on the phone tonight. I really miss her but i get to go see her on Tuesday yay!! It has been too long!

thats all folks :)

"From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another." John 1:16

2008-06-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

These past two days have been so great!
As everyone probably knows Mike came to visit which was AWESOME!!
I woke up on Thursday morning at like 8:30 because I was so excited/nervous that I couldn't sleep haha! I cleaned the rest of house and spent some time with Jesus just praying for my time with Mike :)
He called me at about 10:30 saying that he left Statesville yay!!
He arrived at my house about 12:45. It was so great to finally see him :) He came in and met my mom and gave her two boxes of Russel Stovers chocolate.. she about peed in her pants she was so excited haha she gave him a big hug..it was great! I think gave him a tour of my house.. tours are always fun! He wanted to see some baby pics of me so I got out my good ole scrapbook..that was fun times!
We then decided to go to Pullen Park. We swung on the swings for a little bit and then realized how extremely hot it was so we went to Crabtree. He of course had to go to Best Buy first so we chilled in there for awhile and he purchased the Across the Universe Soundtrack (so good) we jammed out! At the mall we just walked around a bit and ate some lunch at Chick-fil-a.
We then passed by a Build-a-Bear store and Mike was like "oh Build-a-bear that place is so fun" and I was like "oh haha I've actually never built a bear before" and Mike about freaked out so he was determined to get me a build-a-bear! This was actually one of the highlights of the trip. They treated me like I was 5 years old. It was awesome. The guy made me take the heart that you put into the build-a-bear and do a bunch of corny things like rub it between my hands so the heart isn't cold, rub it on my nose so the bear doesn't smell bad, rub it on forehead so the bear is smart, rub it on my kness so the bear will always "NEED" me.. the guy thought this one was hilarious. Then he told me to raise my hands while holding the heart and shouting "WOO HOO" Mike thought this was the funniest thing ever. The bear that I picked was a light tan color with 4 patches on its body and I picked it because the money you spend on the bear some of it goes to children who have health issues and I just thought that was awesome. I ended up naming it Patches! That build-a-bear experience was just terrific..made me smile!! Patches is an awesome bear btw we like to hold hands and frolic through the meadow!
After build-a-bear we headed home and chatted with my mom a bit. We then decided that it would be a great time to do the devotional that Mike made for us! It was so awesome! It was all about communication which is really important in a relationship. It was really great to pray and read the bible together because God being in the center of our relationship is the one thing that Mike and I want the most! It just made me thank God so much for mike :)
We waited for dad to get home from work which by the way Mike was ridiculously nervous about meeting him. My mom was trying to lighten the mood so she decided to tell stories about my dad farting..it was a good time haha!
My dad came home and met Mike and Mike gave him the nascar stuff that his dad got from work! My dad was really excited about it so that chatted about nascar for a little bit. We then got ready for dinner both of us looking very fresh haha.

oh look at us!
We realized that it was our "first date ever" which is always exciting! Olive Garden was delicious of course. We came back chilled for a little bit ate some cheesecake and hung outside around the bonfire with the rents. We then went on a walk around the neighborhood to burn off that cheesecake and that is exactly what we did! We decided to dance around like goons in the middle of the street pretending we were in a musical... those are the awesome things that Mike and I do when we are together haha!
We came back to the house and decided to watch "Billy Madison" cause I found it on this VHS tape that my mom taped off the tv. We were only through the credits and found out that my mom taped over the movie!!! Mike flipped out it was probably the funniest thing ever! I was like "you know what lets just go to Blockbuster and rent it!" So we did that came back and watched it. best movie ever!
We then decided to chill on the driveway and chat. We ended up talking to 2:30 in the morning. It was really great though I could talk to him for hours and hours!
That was the end of fabulous day number 1!!
I woke up today at 9am to go and make some pancakes! I got mike up at 9:30 and he was not too pleased haha!! We chilled around the house for a couple of hours played with Patches for a little bit...thats always fun.
We went to the pool around 12 which was kind of a bad mistake cause it was like 101 degrees outside!! But we just stayed in the pool the whole time. We got hungry so we went to Cook Out..of course! SO good I haven't had that place in awhile. We chilled there for a little while and chatted it up. We went back to the pool after cookout but only stayed for a little bit cause Mike had to leave :(.
Him leaving was a little sad but we such a great two days that I was in such a good mood! He is great and I just thank God for this awesome blessing in my life hence the title of this blog!
After he left I was exhausted so I decided to take a nap with Patches my new best friend! I got up spent some time with Jesus. The devotional was about fulfilling God's will in you and pushing your selfishnesses aside. It got me really excited for Ayden Grifton Young Life next year! The more I think about it the more I thank God for such an amazing opportunity to chang Ayden Grifton High School!! I am so excited for what next year brings for the AG team!

God is so great and it is just crazy to think about my life 6 months ago and how much He has changed it! Only God could do a transformation like that!

I love being spontaneous!

2008-06-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

So Ashley and I decided monday night at midnight that we were going to drive down to wilmington to visit ali yesterday!!

I woke up at 9:30 to Ashley's call saying "GET UP WE'RE GOING TO WILMINGTON!" I realized that I didn't even ask my parents so I went downstairs and was like "Hey so I'm going to Wilmington today I hope that is okay!" haha and I left!

The trip was really quick! Ashley and chatted and caught up on life :) We stopped on the way at this gas station with a subway in it and ashley said "Hey it's just like the Pirate Market!" kinda made me miss school :(

We got to Wilmington and drove around for a good half hour waiting for the berry picker to get off of work! She then gave us directions to her house which by the way is the cuttest little house.. so shabby sheik!

We then drove over to the beach and laid out for a little bit! I love the ocean but after awhile I get bored and sandy haha!

me ali and ashley

we're silly :)

ashley and i laying out

ali and I on the beach :)

After the beach we all came back to ali's and showered to get ready for din din!
We went over to PT's grill! Delicious..best burgers ever!
We then went to Overflow.. a college based Christian organization from Port City church. It had great worship and then a speaker! He spoke on keeping our words truthful because our reputation is God's reputation and when we're false it makes God seem false. It was really great to hear that because there are so many times when I'm like "Yeah I'll call you" and I never call or "Yeah lets get dinner" and I don't really mean it! It helped me remember to always let me "Yes be Yes and my No be No"!
After overflow we came back to ali's and kara's and dyed my hair dark again!! yay!! :)

Ashley and Kara headed to bed and Ali and I decided to have a photo shoot hahaha!

we're silly :)

We finally went to bed haha. I woke up to Kara, Ali, and Ashley saying "TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY" i was like huh? They're all morning people except for me...haha
Ashley and I drove back and I passed out haha i was so tired.
I just cleaned and stuff today probably will do more cleaning tonight yay

TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!! so excited :)

I am made for such a greater world than this one

2008-06-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

So I didn't update yesterday which means that this blog will be extra long yay!!

Yesterday I got up and went to church. It was such a great service. We sang one of my favorite worship songs "How Great Is Our God". I love that song because it is so true.. God is so great and not one of us deserves it! Our main Pastor spoke and he has been doing Revelation since January. Revelation is such a difficult and sometimes scary book but it holds so many promises for us as believers! As he was talking about a chapter in Revelation I kept thinking about all the times that I worry about the littlest stuff. The things that I think matter in this world don't because as a believe I do not belong to this world! It was so great to be reminded of these promises.
After church moms, pops, and I went over to Brueggers Bagels for lunch which was yummy. We sat and talked about the sermon.. I love talking about God to my parents just because we don't do it enough.
It was a really hot day so I headed down to the pool and speant sometime with Jesus. I also read old entries in my journal. It was amazing to see how God answers prayers!
Later that evening I went to the $1.50 movies with Ythaul, Laura, Lacey, Stephen and Yaron. We saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" which could have been a lot better if it wasn't so vulgar! I had to cover my eyes several times in that movie!
We all were hungry after the movie so we took a trip over to Wendy's which was delicious!
Talked to Mike on the phone for a little bit then headed to bed!

Today I woke up at 12:00 (im such a bum). Talked to my good ole friend Ashley Hitchcock which was great! I miss that girl!
I then headed into work until 6.
Came home and decided to go on a cleaning spree since I am having a very special guest over in three days!
I organized/rearranged my room, cleaned the guest room, and vaccummed! I get in these weird moods where I just want to clean..and tonight was an example of that!

Well I'm going to hang out with the rents now!

I'm not fired from DS dubs!

2008-05-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today has been an excellent day!
I woke up around noon ate my "breakfast" and then headed over to DSW to chat with my manager.
She told me I was not fired and that she will schedule me in for this week. She also asked if I could work tonight and of course I accepted..I need the money!
After that I rested a little bit. Spent some awesome time with Jesus..thanking Him so much for providing for me because I was so scared that I was going to go jobless this summer!
I then took a jog around Johnson Lake again..thought I was going to pass out.. it was like 90+ degress outside!!
I showered then went to work yahoo!!
Work was fun. Got to be on the register the whole night which makes it go so much faster :)
Now I'm sitting waiting for a phone call :)

Time with Jesus makes all frustrations better

2008-05-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today I actually got to sleep in until about 12:30 which was nice :)
I then went over to DSW because I wanted to see what I was working next week. I went to look at the schedule and my name was removed from it. I talked to Adam (one of the managers) and asked him if he knew what was going on. He said I definitely was not fired and I should come in tomorrow to ask Mary (the head manager) what is going on...So basically I was a little stressed out about this situation. My dad thinks I should start applying to other places. I am just going to wait and see what Mary tells me tomorrow..
After all that I really needed to spend sometime with Jesus because He makes all things better! My devotional was all about trusting God enough to completely follow him. I really needed to trust God with this job situation and to know that He will provide for me.
I decided to take a jog around Johnson Lake. It was actually really relaxing and it allowed me sometime to get these job frustrations off of my mind.
My dad grilled some chicken and I made salad for dinner. We ate out on the Patio again which is always fun!
After dinner I met Laney, Juliana, Scott, Sarah, and Andrew at the $1.50 movie theater to watch 21. It was a really good movie. Laney, Juliana, and I graded it an A- haha. Andrew and Sarah graded it a B haha..
We all decided that Goodberry's sounded really good after the movie. I got a chocolate peanut butter concrete...soo good. Chocolate and peanut butter.. my two favorite things.
We then all went over to Juliana's and hung out for awhile.
On my way back home Mike called and I got to talk to Carleigh cause her and Matt are staying over at Mikes for the night cause they are driving down to sharptop for summer staff.
Now I'm sitting outside cause it feels good..
an earth worm just crawled by me..it said hello. :)

:-D

2008-05-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

So I'm in a really good mood right now one because I just got off the phone with Mike and that is always great and two I'm eating some cantaloupe and cantaloupe is delish!

I just realize more and more everyday how God works out everything according to His purpose, and it always turns out great. God knows what He is doing!

Today was just dandy. Woke up a little earlier than I wanted to but thats all good. I went to lunch with Caroline at Moes today and that was great to chat with her. I saw ALOT of people I knew there so that was fun got to catch up with some high school friends yay :)

After Lunch my rents and I went to the Smithfield Outlets cause my mom wanted to go to this store that they only had there. I helped my mom pick out some outfits which was fun! Then I got to get some clothes. Driving home we went to McDonalds because my dad really wanted a Parfait so we all got one but I think it made me sick to my stomach cause I did not feel well the rest of the day :( stupid mickey d's! (they did have a sanitation score of 92.3 :-\)

Anywhoo I came home and relaxed for awhile. My mom and I Jammed out to Culture Club hahaha (no one probably knows who that is but whatever). My dad grilled some hamburgers outside and we ate dinner out on the Patio it was fun!

Later that evening I went over to Sarah's with Laney, Kate, Scott, Juliana, Andrew, Trent, and John. We all went over to this place called Pelicans and got these snow cone things SO GOOD!! Then we came back and watched National Treasure 2.
Then I cam home and chatted on the phone for awhile!!

Today was an okay day and realize why it was not the best. I did not spend time with Jesus like I normally do. It is so crazy how you're whole day will be different because of it! I just realize how important it is to set aside time for Him daily and that is one thing that I need to focus on!

Oh Rainy Days

2008-05-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

First of all its rainy and cold outside and that stinks
Second of all DSW is wack.

I came into work today thinking that I was supposed to work from 1-7 because that is what the schedule said on Saturday night (the last time I worked). Well I looked at the schedule because I wanted to see what I was working next week and the new schedule was not posted. The schedule this week had me working on Sunday and Monday..which I didn't come in for. I talked to my boss and found out they revised my schedule and now I am going to be written up for not coming into work those two days and they took me off the schedule the rest of the week. yay! Well like my father would say "learn from it and move on" so that is what I'm going to do..brush my shoulders off.

On a lighter note. I woke up and spent some time with Jesus which was amazing..as always. My devotional today focused on completely surrender our lives to Jesus and trusting Him enough to not worry about what He is going to do. I definitely needed to focus on that. We as humans think that we should have complete control over our lives and that we have it all figured out...but we don't, I know I sure don't! We have a set plan for ourselves which may be completely different from what God has planned for us! My prayer is that I will continue to surrender everything to my Savior because He deserves it all.

Yesterday was a great day! I got to catch up with some pals that I haven't talked to in awhile. I called Alex in the morning and we updated each other on our lives, I love that girl and miss her so much! I also got to talk to Tessa, it was way to long since we last talked :(. Ashley Hovis, my young life leader from high school also called me, she does international Young Life in Portugal now and I won't see her for awhile and it makes me sad!
I went to the pool with Juliana and Laney which is always fun!
Then that night Laney and Rachel threw a going away party for Richa because she is leaving for India the rest of the summer. I got to see a lot of my old high school friends which was great!
So yesterday was a big catching up day for me. :)

Right now I am in Bruggers Bagels enjoying a delicious onion bagel with vegetable cream cheese yum yum! I don't really know what I am doing today probably just relaxing with the rents!

"My soul finds rest from God alone; my salvation comes from Him."
Psalm 62:1

I Love Days Off!

2008-05-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

Today was yet another day that DSW did not schedule me to work. Which turned out to be a great thing cause it was a really fun day!
I went down to the pool with my dad and mom which was a lot of fun! I love my parents so much! Everyday I appreciate and respect more and more each day. They are great!
After the pool I went over to Kaplan St. and played frisbee golf with Yaron, Ythol, Laura, Lacey, Stephen, and Anna! By the way..I SUCK at frisbee golf ended up with a score of 32...HA! I did get a little better towards the end cause Ythol and Yaron showed me some techniques! Everyone was hungry after the game so we went over to Cookout/Bojangles I ended up just getting a peanut butter fudge shake.. yum yum! We stayed and chatted awhile and we came to the conclusion that we all need to go camping, hiking, and mountain biking!! so we are going to camp out soon and im soo excited cause I've never been camping before. CRAZY!
After talking for tons of hours we decided to go to the $1.50 movie theater which was down the road. We saw Vantage Point..such a phat movie! I didn't know anything about it but everyone wanted to see it so I was like thats cool I guess but it was soo good!
After the movie we all parted our separate ways and I came home and ate some watermelon with my dad in the backyard. Then my dad made a fire and my mom, dad, and I sat and chatted, so good!

Today was just another example of how good God is to me. He has given me an amazing family and friends and I just thank Him so much! I look back on my life at the beginning of this semester and I am just amazed at how much a different person I am and it is all because of Christ! :)

This is for Jen:
So my mom is trying to go on a diet this summer so im her "personal trainer" haha. But my dad was running to the grocery store and my mom tells him to get her some chocolate ice cream and I was upstairs and heard it all and yelled down "NO DAD DONT GET HER CHOCOLATE!" and my dad was like what did she say and my mom was like oh she said "Don't forget the chocolate!" I thought it was pretty funny and my sis did too so she wanted me to put it in my blog! yay!

Prince Caspian is Hot

2008-05-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today has been a really good day! I actually did not just sit around. Yay me!

Went to church today and it was amazing! They honored all of the the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marinees, etc. for memorial day, it was great. We had a guest speaker from Scotland, he was really good and he had a cool accent ha!

After church I ate lunch with the fam and then headed over to Kate's pool with Caroline, and Laney. That was fun to see all of them!

We stayed for about three hours and then I went home because I wanted to go for a jog. I jogged/walked around Johnson Lake (a good three miles). It was such a beautiful day outside.. I'm glad it is finally getting warm!

Sandy, Laura, Ythol, Yaron, Stephen and I all decided to go see Prince Caspian! SO GOOD! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Plus Prince Caspian is hot (hence the title) hahaha.

There were a couple of lines that Aslan said that were great. One is where Lucy tells Aslan that he has grown and he says "As you grow so will I"..so good (Quinn i stole your quote haha). But overall it was a great movie plus I love hanging out with those folks!

<3

So a hot air balloon did not land in my backyard...

2008-05-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Oh Saturday's.

This day has been a pretty boring day so I will try and spice it up a bit to entertain you!

At about 9:34 this morning I woke up to a sweet smell of blueberry muffins that my father was preparing. I went down to the kitchen to enjoy these oh so delicious muffins.

After breakfast I said my farewells to my dear Aunt Cindy who was traveling back to Florida.

The rest of the day consisted of resting my head, consuming a bologna sandwich, cottage cheese, and other delightful things, and watching a few good flicks with my mother.

Six o'clock approached and I had to be off to DSW so I may sell lovely shoes.

Work was just splendid. I walked around helping delightful people find the shoe just for them! I even got to partake in a plunging adventure! The ladies restroom had a little problem with the toliet, so of course the hero I am got my handy plunger and saved the day!

Now I'm laying quite comfortable in my bed about to rest my head on my pillow.
goodnight you all!

YAY TO BLOGS!

2008-05-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

So I decided to create a blog for all you people who love to hear about my life! YAY Summer has been great.The first couple of weeks have been hectic. I came home from school and worked everyday over the weekend.

I went to Baird's lake house with other ECU Young Life Leaders on Monday. Here are a couple of pics

We stayed til Wednesday and then we headed to Weaverville, NC for workweek at Windy Gap. So amazing!! I really needed that week! The speaker and worship was amazing and even though we worked hard I enjoyed every minute of it! I was reminded how great God is!

While I was there I found out my Grandma passed away on Thursday at about 1am. She had been struggling with pnemonia and she had trouble breathing. After workweek we drove back on Monday morning and my sister met us in Statesville so I could go up to Ohio for the funeral. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was really good to see all of my family even though it was a sad occasion. Miss and love you Grandma!

heres a picture of my grandpa (who died in 1995) and my grandmas gravestone. He had a flag beside it cause he was a world war 2 veteran! Those are my grandma's flowers she loved purple :)
Now I'm back in good ole Raleigh. Working at DSW the shoe store..which is fun :). Today was kind of boring though but I got trained on the register which is cool better than walking around the store trying to help customers ha.

Well i will write later on when my life gets a little more interesting haha :)