These past 6 months have definitely been interesting and not at all what I would have thought my life would have looked like. Even through that, I have certainly been blessed in different ways and the Lord has shown His sovereignty when I of course stupidly thought my plan would be better. The other day He granted me a small reminder that I need to keep holding fast to HIS plan and trusting in Him by catching my attention to a book that I keep on my nightstand table. This is a book that my fantastic mom gave me a couple of years ago that is full of nuggets of Truth written by Charles Swindoll meant for a nightly-type thing. I don't use it daily anymore but decided to keep it by my bed to pick it up every now and again to read a quick little nugget... which is what I did the other day.
It led me to Proverbs 3:3. Now this is really cool to me because my life verse for the past couple of years has been Proverbs 3:5-6. I have really clung to those verses ever since I really decided to give my all to Christ again and hand my life over to Him after living selfishly through high school and the first 2 years of college. (Can I just say that has been 5 years ago... HOLLA!!!) Anyway... another one of my tangents... so of course I'm super familar with verses 5 & 6 but this led me to 3 & 4 which was SO good for me right now.
3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
I immediately went and looked up steadfast and forsake because I'm sorry, but those just aren't words I use everyday. The words that really jumped out at me for steadfast was UNWAVERING. The ones for forsake was ABANDON or LEAVE. Those words are so strong and bold. It is so important that it should be bound around our necks and written on our hearts.
I think so often in these past 6 months, you could definitely not describe my faithfulness as unwavering or steadfast. A better word would probably be wishy-washy or dinky. I so desire to have that steadfast and unwavering faithfulness and love that does not leave or abandon. I absolutely love the visuals that the Scripture then gives of binding it around your neck and writing it on the tablet of your heart. I don't know if it is because I have become a children's ministry person and that has CRAFT painted all over it with some glitter, but I seriously do love being able to visualize it in my mind so I am constantly reminded that the Lord is in complete control of my life and I need to have absolute faith in Him and in His will.
I still don't know where my life is going and what the Lord is doing, but I am holding strong to the fact that He has me right where He wants me.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
the big twenty-five...
So it has finally arrived. The birthdays of all birthdays. Okay, so it may seem like I am being a little dramatic but this is the very first birthday that I have had an issue with so in my mind that means I am getting a little older. I mean come on, we can be honest here, right? You aren't actually considered "old" until you start actually having a little bit of dread for your birthday. I mean REALLY... what is that even about. Alright, alright. Rant now over. Birthday celebration review begin!
The next morning, the South Carolina girls and I pack up all our stuff in little Solara and head southwest towards New Braunfels. We get a call from the Houston caravan of girls to let us know that there's been a little delay so they won't be arriving quite the same time as us. Since they are the ones that need to do the checking in, we decide to not fret and just take ourselves a detour instead to Austin to let Jill experience true Tex-Mex at Chuy's.
At the end of our yummy lunch, they call and inform us that they are at least still an hour and a half away. The great mathematicians we are, we realize that we are only an hour away so we've got 30 minutes to spare so we head on over to The Drag so I can show Katie and Jill all the fun shops Austin has to offer. And duh, they've got to see the State Capitol. "What's that, Jill? You see a shop you like? Sure we can stop!" And so we did right at the same time they text that they are stuck in really bad traffic... PERFECT! And shopped we did. Just for a little bit of course. Just as we're headed to our car, we get a phone call from the Houston girls that they are there. Hmm... how'd that happen? Ah well... we'll be there soon! When we finally pull up to the condo and walk up to the door, we see this...
Apparently the girls had been lying to us all along just so they could beat us by a little bit and the whole plan had backfired... so they definitely beat us. Whoops! We can't seem to figure out if they're really good liars or really bad liars? After all the confusion was figured out, we immediately put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool just to find the warmest pool in the world. It was seriously like being in a bathtub full of strangers. Were you just grossed out a little? Try being in the pool. We obviously didn't hang around long and decided to head back and start getting ready for dinner which occurred here...
Usually whenever I go out to eat places with people and have to give my name for a wait list, I choose to give the name of whoever I'm with. Reason being the person usually doesn't understand my name or get it wrong and just ends up being a disaster. My solution is just to avoid that altogether and give a different one. My friends think this is hilarious. Or ridiculous. They all have names people hear a lot so they don't understand the grief. Well when that hostess asked my name, I actually gave her my own. Blame it on becoming the old age of 25. Or the teasing comment of one of the friends that shall remain nameless here when I headed to the hostess station. But I of course had to get a picture of it to prove that it happened.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our wonderful Gristmill food even with our very flittered waiter that didn't know what to do with 8 girls apparently.
He did come through in the end though when he found out it was me and Katie's birthday and brought the both of us a Strawberry Shortcake which was of course just as amazing as their food.
After we got all finished up with dinner, we headed on over to the oldest country dance hall in Texas...
There was a band playing but obviously we had all girls so not much dancing was done. We headed on out to the picnic tables since the actual dance hall is not air-conditioned. Gotta love the authenticity of it all. We were then requested to join a bachelor party so that of course made it all the more interesting. It also probably had to be one of the lamest bachelor parties of all time. Poor guys. But we still had a good time and finished out our night and headed on home to our condo.
The next morning began our crazy river floating adventure. After sleeping in a little bit and lazying around the condo, we decide to call the tube place to figure out when we should go. We figure out the last shuttle leaves in TEN minutes. After tons of jokes all weekend long about how particular people that shall remain nameless here move slower than slow, we had to get our butts in gear and bust it to the bus. So proud to say that all 8 of us made it with our bathing suits on within ten minutes. Go us! We receive our tubes and start our float on down the Guadalupe river. Now here's the thing... both the Guadalupe and Comal rivers flooded a couple of weeks ago and have been closed down ever since. Like crazy flooded with the point of cars being up in trees flooded. And they just re-opened the rivers this weekend that we went. Thankfully they did so our river trip didn't get ruined but at the same time, that made the river crazy fast and a little scary when it came to the rapids. And sure enough when the first rapids came around, 4 of us fell out of our tubes and straight floated them down on our own... yours truly included. One of us had a huge busted knee and a couple of others had quite a few bruises and some were even traumatized by the first rapid. After a few switching around of tubes and a new strategy plan, we all made it down the rest of the time safe and sound and with as minimal battle wounds as we could. And of course we had tons of fun doing it. The float was a good five hours so we had plenty of good sun time and chatting time and just a good time in general. Needless to say though, by the time we got off that river, we were all beat. That night, we just ordered us in some pizza and were all in bed by eleven. With sunburns.
The next morning we all needed to get out pretty early for different reasons so we said our good-byes and love yous and headed our different directions. Katie and I dropped off Jill at the tiny Austin airport and laughed about her beating us to DFW since her layover was there on the way to SC. We headed on back with NO detour this time and laid on the couch for the rest of the day for much-needed recovery from the river... all with help from gool ol' Melrose Place.
INTERMISSION. Hey, it's just an option. Maybe get yourself a latte or candy bar because I'm just now moving on to the day of my birth. Here we go...
The next day was my ACTUAL 25th birthday which began when I got out of the shower, my fantastic roommate brought me a chicken biscuit with a lit candle in it and a sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A. This was all very sweet considering I was up at the crack of dawn to go to work and she didn't need to get up that early. I then went to work to find a sweet little gift from one of my kindergarteners where she created her own birthday card for me which she glued an actual picture of us on it (explaining that she used too much glue) and wrote happy birthday and she loved me. Very adorable. And also gave me a Bath & Body Works gift set. Gotta love that. Her mom also brought a cookie cake for me (and of course the whole class) to share. The six year olds then of course got way pumped about that. I then had them guess how old I turned that day. All the girls guessed that I was 21. Victory. Gosh, I love them.
That night a few friends and I went out to dinner in downtown Fort Worth at Mi Cocina. The original plan was to eat there outside on their patio and then go to Pete's Piano Bar. However, it rained so the patio was out and we apparently didn't do our research and ol' Pete shuts the place down on Mondays. So the group and I ate inside which was still really nice and had a fantastic time.
One of my all-time besties Curtis came and totally surprised me with pink roses which I just absolutely loved. If anyone knows me at all, they know I absolutely LOVE flowers. He is just so thoughtful and sweet... just don't know what I'd do without him!
Jess and Jarryd came which is always super fun! Monday night is our usual fun night with them anyways and has been for the past 6 months... which usually includes whichever show has been the norm on that night (whether it's the Bachelor, DWTS, and now the Bachelorette). She gave me my gift unwillingly which was absolutely hilarious and did not want me to open it whatsoever... the entire time with coaxing from Jarryd. She just kept saying that she wished it was more and the entire time with me saying that I absolutely didn't care because she didn't have to get me anything at all. Finally before I could even get anything out of the bag, she just announces... "IT'S A HEADBAND!" We both absolutely die laughing and Jarryd thinks we're both ridiculous. I pull out the super adorable headband and hug her as we're still laughing about the entire thing. I'll forever love that gift-opening experience.
So after dinner, some of us part ways and Curtis, Katie, and I decide to go visit T.J. at his hotel since he couldn't make dinner which just ended up in many different ridiculous photos that I will just let speak for themselves (and because honestly, this post is getting super long).
And that's it people, I am officially 25 and this is officially the longest post to document that event ever. I guess it was only appropriate.
My roommate Katie's sister Jill flew in from South Carolina on Wednesday so they had already done some bipping around town to see some sights of Texas while I was at camp. When I got done on Thursday, I took a quick MUCH-NEEDED shower and then we headed to downtown Fort Worth for one of their "Movie Under the Stars" which would be showing "The Goonies" that night. There was a little hang-up when it proceeded to rain so we quickly ran to Uno's to eat some delish pizza before we watched the post-poned movie. There ensued the most awkward encounter of getting hit on by a waiter that was not even ours which pretty sure may have thought I just graduated from high school. Heck yes I'll take the compliment that close to my 25th birthday but at the same time... DISTURBING. (Obviously it was the week of being uncomfortably flirted with... see previous post.) We high-tail it out of there per my request and watch "The Goonies" under the stars on our blankets. Very fun. The rain gave us a few hiccups in the night with of course post-poning the time (insert awkward waiter here) and soaking our blanket but overall a good time was had by all.
The next morning, the South Carolina girls and I pack up all our stuff in little Solara and head southwest towards New Braunfels. We get a call from the Houston caravan of girls to let us know that there's been a little delay so they won't be arriving quite the same time as us. Since they are the ones that need to do the checking in, we decide to not fret and just take ourselves a detour instead to Austin to let Jill experience true Tex-Mex at Chuy's.
At the end of our yummy lunch, they call and inform us that they are at least still an hour and a half away. The great mathematicians we are, we realize that we are only an hour away so we've got 30 minutes to spare so we head on over to The Drag so I can show Katie and Jill all the fun shops Austin has to offer. And duh, they've got to see the State Capitol. "What's that, Jill? You see a shop you like? Sure we can stop!" And so we did right at the same time they text that they are stuck in really bad traffic... PERFECT! And shopped we did. Just for a little bit of course. Just as we're headed to our car, we get a phone call from the Houston girls that they are there. Hmm... how'd that happen? Ah well... we'll be there soon! When we finally pull up to the condo and walk up to the door, we see this...
Apparently the girls had been lying to us all along just so they could beat us by a little bit and the whole plan had backfired... so they definitely beat us. Whoops! We can't seem to figure out if they're really good liars or really bad liars? After all the confusion was figured out, we immediately put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool just to find the warmest pool in the world. It was seriously like being in a bathtub full of strangers. Were you just grossed out a little? Try being in the pool. We obviously didn't hang around long and decided to head back and start getting ready for dinner which occurred here...
Usually whenever I go out to eat places with people and have to give my name for a wait list, I choose to give the name of whoever I'm with. Reason being the person usually doesn't understand my name or get it wrong and just ends up being a disaster. My solution is just to avoid that altogether and give a different one. My friends think this is hilarious. Or ridiculous. They all have names people hear a lot so they don't understand the grief. Well when that hostess asked my name, I actually gave her my own. Blame it on becoming the old age of 25. Or the teasing comment of one of the friends that shall remain nameless here when I headed to the hostess station. But I of course had to get a picture of it to prove that it happened.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our wonderful Gristmill food even with our very flittered waiter that didn't know what to do with 8 girls apparently.
He did come through in the end though when he found out it was me and Katie's birthday and brought the both of us a Strawberry Shortcake which was of course just as amazing as their food.
After we got all finished up with dinner, we headed on over to the oldest country dance hall in Texas...
There was a band playing but obviously we had all girls so not much dancing was done. We headed on out to the picnic tables since the actual dance hall is not air-conditioned. Gotta love the authenticity of it all. We were then requested to join a bachelor party so that of course made it all the more interesting. It also probably had to be one of the lamest bachelor parties of all time. Poor guys. But we still had a good time and finished out our night and headed on home to our condo.
The next morning began our crazy river floating adventure. After sleeping in a little bit and lazying around the condo, we decide to call the tube place to figure out when we should go. We figure out the last shuttle leaves in TEN minutes. After tons of jokes all weekend long about how particular people that shall remain nameless here move slower than slow, we had to get our butts in gear and bust it to the bus. So proud to say that all 8 of us made it with our bathing suits on within ten minutes. Go us! We receive our tubes and start our float on down the Guadalupe river. Now here's the thing... both the Guadalupe and Comal rivers flooded a couple of weeks ago and have been closed down ever since. Like crazy flooded with the point of cars being up in trees flooded. And they just re-opened the rivers this weekend that we went. Thankfully they did so our river trip didn't get ruined but at the same time, that made the river crazy fast and a little scary when it came to the rapids. And sure enough when the first rapids came around, 4 of us fell out of our tubes and straight floated them down on our own... yours truly included. One of us had a huge busted knee and a couple of others had quite a few bruises and some were even traumatized by the first rapid. After a few switching around of tubes and a new strategy plan, we all made it down the rest of the time safe and sound and with as minimal battle wounds as we could. And of course we had tons of fun doing it. The float was a good five hours so we had plenty of good sun time and chatting time and just a good time in general. Needless to say though, by the time we got off that river, we were all beat. That night, we just ordered us in some pizza and were all in bed by eleven. With sunburns.
The next morning we all needed to get out pretty early for different reasons so we said our good-byes and love yous and headed our different directions. Katie and I dropped off Jill at the tiny Austin airport and laughed about her beating us to DFW since her layover was there on the way to SC. We headed on back with NO detour this time and laid on the couch for the rest of the day for much-needed recovery from the river... all with help from gool ol' Melrose Place.
INTERMISSION. Hey, it's just an option. Maybe get yourself a latte or candy bar because I'm just now moving on to the day of my birth. Here we go...
The next day was my ACTUAL 25th birthday which began when I got out of the shower, my fantastic roommate brought me a chicken biscuit with a lit candle in it and a sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A. This was all very sweet considering I was up at the crack of dawn to go to work and she didn't need to get up that early. I then went to work to find a sweet little gift from one of my kindergarteners where she created her own birthday card for me which she glued an actual picture of us on it (explaining that she used too much glue) and wrote happy birthday and she loved me. Very adorable. And also gave me a Bath & Body Works gift set. Gotta love that. Her mom also brought a cookie cake for me (and of course the whole class) to share. The six year olds then of course got way pumped about that. I then had them guess how old I turned that day. All the girls guessed that I was 21. Victory. Gosh, I love them.
That night a few friends and I went out to dinner in downtown Fort Worth at Mi Cocina. The original plan was to eat there outside on their patio and then go to Pete's Piano Bar. However, it rained so the patio was out and we apparently didn't do our research and ol' Pete shuts the place down on Mondays. So the group and I ate inside which was still really nice and had a fantastic time.
One of my all-time besties Curtis came and totally surprised me with pink roses which I just absolutely loved. If anyone knows me at all, they know I absolutely LOVE flowers. He is just so thoughtful and sweet... just don't know what I'd do without him!
Jess and Jarryd came which is always super fun! Monday night is our usual fun night with them anyways and has been for the past 6 months... which usually includes whichever show has been the norm on that night (whether it's the Bachelor, DWTS, and now the Bachelorette). She gave me my gift unwillingly which was absolutely hilarious and did not want me to open it whatsoever... the entire time with coaxing from Jarryd. She just kept saying that she wished it was more and the entire time with me saying that I absolutely didn't care because she didn't have to get me anything at all. Finally before I could even get anything out of the bag, she just announces... "IT'S A HEADBAND!" We both absolutely die laughing and Jarryd thinks we're both ridiculous. I pull out the super adorable headband and hug her as we're still laughing about the entire thing. I'll forever love that gift-opening experience.
So after dinner, some of us part ways and Curtis, Katie, and I decide to go visit T.J. at his hotel since he couldn't make dinner which just ended up in many different ridiculous photos that I will just let speak for themselves (and because honestly, this post is getting super long).
And that's it people, I am officially 25 and this is officially the longest post to document that event ever. I guess it was only appropriate.
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