here comes the news...

Hello blog world... I promise I am STILL alive!  These past few weeks have been on the tad bit crazy side... hence the eerie silence here.  Quite a bit has happened in my life (which is the shocker of the nation) so I figured I am going to come at you in a news report style.  Well here's the thing... my roommate is obsessed with the news.  And when I say obsessed, I mean that is what seems to be playing non-stop ever since the fancy TV arrived in our lives.  Now I understand that we still have not succumbed to the temptation of cable, but we still have the option of popping a TV series DVD in and watching that.  There's no rule that we HAVE to watch what's on TV just because we have that option now.  But whatever.  Back to the news of my life... and let's hope it's not as depressing and a little bit more entertaining as what is being played in my living room 24/7...

• I have officially hung up my hat as a Kindergarten teacher since our school ended 2 weeks ago and I won't be returning in the Fall.  I had an absolute blast with those kiddos and feel so blessed to have been their teacher for that period of time.  I definitely learned so much being in the classroom atmosphere both from the amazing teachers I worked with and the great students that I got to spend my days with.  I am grateful to have that experience!
• I have accepted the Nursery Coordinator position at my church, McKinney Memorial Bible Church.  I have worked in the Children's Ministry in some type of capacity for the last 2 years which all just began as a summer intern position.  I guess I'm just the intern that never left and for some reason, they let me stay!  One of my very dear friends, Amanda has been the nursery coordinator for the past 5 years and has done an absolutely FANTASTIC job so it's going to be big shoes to fill.  Luckily she's not going far so I can still call her if I need to.  Right Amanda?!?!?!?!  Even though it's definitely a new challenge and something I may not have guessed that would have been on my path, I am super excited about the opportunity because I absolutely love McKinney and all of the families and children there!  I consider myself blessed to be able to minister to them in any way at all!

• Since I just laid down 2 big ones, I'll go with an obvious one.  I'll be staying in Fort Worth for a while longer!  Katie and I are re-signing our lease so the dynamic duo are sticking together for a good while longer.  I'm excited about this because I do absolutely love our grown-up apartment and this town so a big YAY to that!
• Katie and I actually just finished up our "stay-cation" at the Kashuba's while they were mission tripping it in Mexico this past week!  They asked if we would be willing to stay at their house all week and watch their house, dog, and POOL.  Um, DUH!  So we stayed at our resort away from home all week included with pool and pet and we were set to go.  I gotta say... house-sitting isn't a bad gig. 
• Our old dryer that we nearly got killed over buying from Craigslist BROKE.  Let's be honest, it was no surprise.  When random Craigslist dude pulled it out of his jam-packed rat-infested garage, it was OLD.  But we felt obligated so we did what any 2 pushover girls would do if they were put in that situation... we bought it, scrubbed it down and we loved it.  Until it broke.  But then the most AMAZING thing ever happened.  One of the all-time best families at my church that I just absolutely love offered me a free dryer that I could use until they need it again.  Thank you Jesus!  I mean seriously people, the laundry was getting ridiculously piled up.  And thank you amazing Ater family... I don't know what I would do without yall and everything you do for me!
• I'm not a bridesmaid in a single wedding this year.  Can we all just collectively say a loud AMEN right now!  Last year I was in about 124,000 (or at least it felt that way at the time) so it has been nice to have a year off.  Don't get me wrong... I absolutely loved each bride, shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner and wedding that I was apart of but it can wear a girl out.  Especially when more than half of them were not even in the same town as me.  I'll be in the house party in October in one of my good friend's weddings and I can honestly say I've never been more excited to just cut some cake.  But I do need some cake-cutting training first.... Anyone???





• Can we just touch on The Bachelorette real quick, fast, and in a hurry?  Actually, you know what?  Forget Ali, Roberto, and Frank.  I'm not going to talk about them because Ali is annoying and Frank is lame and aggravating.  And Roberto is just Roberto... Ali talks about him enough.  Let's talk about Chris L.  I would marry him TOMORROW if he asked me and figure out a way to forget all about the fact that he accepted the fantasy suite from Ali.  Get him reformed real fast is what one of my friends suggested.  I'm thinking Ali is an idiot and won't choose him and they might make him the next Bachelor.  That seriously might be reason enough to apply.... I said MIGHT.  Granted there is no way I would drink like a fish the way they do and they would be real upset with my response to the fantasy suite... but hey, maybe Chris L. could still love me.

• This would be the inspirational part of the news where it's not really current events but it's just a special story.  I have the all-time best mom in the world.  I'm not just saying that because she's my mom, but she is honestly pretty flippin' fantastic.  She doesn't know this, but I actually started to write a post about her months ago and wasn't able to go through with it because I realized there was no way I could do her justice.  That definitely may sound like a cop-out, but it really is the honest truth.  She is the one person in my life that I have always looked up to, that has had amazing strength in every situation, and loves her family and friends like no other.  She deserves way more than she usually gets, but that is where her fantastic perseverance and resilence comes from.  She's taught me more about the love of Christ through her actions than she probably ever could through her words.  For that Mom, I thank you SO much.  You absolutely rock.

Well with that, my friends, this news report is done.  I hope you feel up to speed with my life and I promise that I will not disappear off the face of the earth again anytime soon.  Here's to August... a jam-packed over-heated month!  It's gonna be awesome!

small reminders of Truth...

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. 

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!

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. 

ridiculous random ramblings...

I have not posted in a while so I have decided to come at you in another one of my random lists full of things that I feel the need to share at the moment... whether or not they may have anything to do with anything (hence the name random).  So here we go.

• In less than a week, I turn 25.  That's a quarter of a century old, people.  In the words of one of my kindergarteners, "WHOAAAA!"  Not cool.  Go ahead and guess about how I'm dealing with this issue.
• My roommate and I are both hitting this milestone together so we are grabbing some girls and heading to the river this weekend to celebrate.  I can not tell you how flippen excited I am about this.  I absolutely LOVE girls weekends... especially with some of my best friends and especially out of town.  Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!
• This week is SUMMER BLAST! camp for my church which is the kids' camp for all of the elementary aged kids.  Here's a quick synopsis of camp: OUTSIDE. Music. Games. Bible Story. HEAT. Lunch. Crafts. Swimming. Free Time. SUN. Popsicles. And then their parents pick them up... you guessed it... outside.  Absolutely love it and can not believe that this is my third year to do it.  For the past 2 years I have had boys and this year I have 1st grade girls.  It's their first year at camp and they're girls.  Talk about a major change of what I'm used to and talk about a breeze.  It's amazing.  Instead of tracking down kids half the time, these girls never leave our sight.  Plus half of these girls have been in my kindergarten class.  They're kind of like my crew.  I figure they're either going to absolutely love me or be sick of me by the end of this summer!
• TV, TV, TV.  Oh how things have changed, dear friends.  First we got a digital converter but then our world got super fancy when my roommate got a new flat screen tv for her birthday.  Just kind of have to disregard the fact that we're still keepin it real with the bunny ears coming out the back of the fancy tv.  Hey we still don't deserve cable and that's that.  No fancy flat screen can come in and confuse us... even though it almost did.  It seems to think it deserves cable and DVR and movie channels and all of these other fancy things.... but of course that's just the fancy TV talking.
• So on this new hot commodity of ours, we've been watching the first season of Melrose Place.  Oh yeah, that's right.  I'm talking the OLD SCHOOL Melrose Place.  Not all of this new stuff with Ashlee Simpson and blah, blah, blah.  I'm talking throwback 90's with the hair and the outfits and how it was considered super risque but yet the character that is homosexual is only actually alluded to that for like the first 10 episodes.  But then again, we have to remember that is pretty risque for that time.
• I have absolutely no idea what is going on in the World Cup, what it is, how long it lasts, and what it is all about.  All I know about it is when people randomly write things about it on their status updates for facebook.  And honestly, I couldn't care less.  I kind of wish it would end so people would quit talking about it.  Is that rude?
• I LOVE pedicures.  They are one of my biggest guilty pleasures.  Honestly I don't even know if I would call them a guilty pleasure because I don't feel super guilty getting one because I love them so much.  It's to the extent of once they start, it makes me a little sad because I know that I need to wait an appropriate amount of time before I am able to come back and get another one.  Maybe obsessed is a better word than love.
• So I'm pretty sure a high school counselor may or may not have 'flirted' with me this week.  I'm going to use that term loosely because I don't want to assume anything of course but it definitely threw me back to those awkward days of flirting where the boy is completely stupid (not that they ever get a whole lot brighter).  I'm talking like rubbing his gross sweat on me, asking me to put a ponytail in his hair, dunking me in the pool repeatedly, etc. which is just super uncomfortable considering.  I mean come on Mr... do you not realize how old I am!  Definitely weirded me out a bit and I think my campers as well (which was shown by them swimming away as he dunked me).  The most hilarious part about it all is that as he attempts to dunk me AGAIN today in the pool, I had to adamantly tell him no since I am trying to play with my girls.  So as he is trying to get his flirt on, I had to discipline him.  If that doesn't remind him I'm an adult, I don't know what does.
• I just learned how to appropriately model a bikini on America's Top Model.  Interesting.  It's all about pushing out the chest area, rear area, and something about 'barbie toes.'  Who would have ever guessed such a profound revelation.  Now I know what to do when someone pulls out a camera the next time I am lounging in my bikini.  (Insert laughter here... like I would seriously ever let that happen.)  And now I also remember why I don't watch this show frequently.

Ok well on that note, I think I will end this post before it gets even more ridiculous.  I think I should apologize for the ridiculousness that you just had to endure and thank you if you did actually endure it.  That is all I will torture you with for now. 

bragging on the BRO-in-law...

So my fantastic brother-in-law could not be more talented when it comes to graphic design and photography... which he just happens to have degrees in both by the way.  He focused mainly on graphic design when he first graduated from college but as of lately, he has finally decided to let the world see his amazingness in photography as well.  He's even getting his own side business started and has been able to do quite a few photo shoots of engagements, families, and kids.  He's also interested in weddings too so that's his next big thing!  Everyone's kind of had their turn lately and on Memorial Weekend, the mom requested that it be ours (and by ours I mean her, my sister, and myself).  We of course put on our white attire because for some reason that's our thing and headed to the nearest park and let Chris do his thang.  I thought I'd share one of the pics here and also share his website so you could see all of his fun stuff... enjoy!

He also did my 'Come Grab A Latte' design on the top of my blog.  He really is just the best!  Well on that note... I'm going to go ahead and stop right there because if he knew I was doing this, he would probably kill me.  (But his blog is on my roll call if you wanna check it out.)  Ok I'm really stopping now.  I need him not to hate me.  He's the only brother I've got.  And my only chance at getting free wedding pictures one day in the long distant future.

oh by the way....

So I've totally been a little preoccupied for a reason... and that lil ol' reason is called my counseling state licensing exam that I took yesterday.  And no I did not announce it to everyone and their mom that this was occurring because that piece was HARD... and I will admit that I was a little (and when I say a little.. I mean a LOT) concerned that there was a chance that I may not pass.  So basically what happened was the people that I did tell, I asked them to pray fervently for me and if they did not receive good news from me then that meant to NOT ASK.  And by God's grace and for my sanity and everyone's around me... I PASSED.

So the roommate and I decided to take the test together.  We went through our grad school program together.. studied for pretty much every test together and sat next to one another while we wrote pretty much every paper together.. and graduated together.  All of this does very well for me considering I don't like to do things alone.  (Either that or it feeds into my codependency issues but we won't focus on that here.)  We signed up for our test which would be occurring at H&R Block (RANDOM...) and of course prepared for the exam.... you guessed it... together. 

The day of the exam comes upon us.  We are beyond nervous.  We get up that morning and treat ourselves to Cracker Barrel to kind of keep the nerves at bay and wake ourselves up.  We both have some down-home cooking of biscuits and gravy and feel as ready for this exam as we'll probably ever be.  We show up at our super random testing site about 25 minutes early which just goes to show that we're nervous... because we're never early anywhere.  We go to open the door and... LOCKED.  Cool.  That doesn't mess with your nerves or anything.  Another lady shows up that is going to be taking some other random test and begins to chat NON-STOP for the next ten minutes.  Of course it's not annoying at all since we're obviously not in any type of tense, nervous state and she insists on talking about how she kept getting 91% on her mock exams so she is not nervous at all.  She was an absolute joy to get to know in those last few minutes before the biggest exam of my life.  H&R Block ladies finally decide to waltz their way back from lunch, unlock the door, and scurry us back into the testing room.  (I think the only person scurrying was non-stop talking lady.  Maybe she was on something.)

That is when the instructions began.  For this next part to make sense, you have to understand that us three testers were obviously sitting in cubicle type seats with walls between us.  Non-stop talking high lady immediately took the left spot because that was the most comfortable chair which made Katie immediately go to the right because I'm pretty sure she was about 2.5 seconds from slapping the lady... which left me the middle.  H&R lady begins her spiel about all of the instructions as fast as she can on how to take the test.  Now here is something that I have recently found out about myself.  I tend to zone out.  Or not listen.  Or not really pay attention.  Or not completely comprehend things the first go around.  It just really depends on the situation and how I'm feeling... but a few friends and I have discovered this about myself.  So you can probably guess what happened here.  Yup.  Don't exactly know why but only caught about half of what the lady said so didn't really completely understand how to take the test but heard her say something about the big A, B, C, D letters and the ENTER key.  So my guess was to use those and we couldn't use the mouse.  Bingo... that was what I was going to do.  Practice test began and we were to all do it at the same time.  I used my method of clicking the right answer with my left hand and clicking ENTER with my right hand.  No big deal.  Right?  Apparently not.

H&R lady: Raven, are you left-handed?
Me: (laughing a little, super confused and convinced it was b/c I used my left hand) No.....
H&R: Because we can move that mouse over to the left side for you.
Me: Oh I'm good, thank you.

The thoughts running through my brain is what is the point in moving the mouse over to the left if we aren't even allowed to use it!  And also I bet Katie is wondering what in the absolute world I am doing over here on this side of the wall.  Apparently the REAL deal was, you actually could use your mouse and that is how everyone else actually took their test.  When Katie and I discussed it, we figured out that when H&R lady saw me pecking away at the keys she probably assumed that I had to have been left handed since I preferred that method and offered to help me out.  Nope sorry lady... just a moron.  And when I asked Katie about the whole scenario, she said that as soon as the lady started talking and it confused her a little she automatically thought to herself that she knew I had to have been completely lost.  Ahh... the sweet faith my roommate has in me.  Can't get upset because the girl's right on target.  Especially when the lady asked me that question, Katie said it took all of her not to bust out laughing because she so wanted to know what the heck I was doing over on the other side of that wall. 

Even with my dysfunctional way of taking the exam, I somehow found a way to finish the horrid thing and PASS it so it is done and out of my life.  When I came out of the room, the lady brought me my paper and said "Well Ms. Raven, you have a reason to celebrate."  All I could say was, "Seriously?"  She asked, "Was it hard?" and I answered, "Well it sure wasn't easy."  The other random lady told me "Congratulations" as I just mumbled "I just can't believe it..." all the way to the door.

I'm sure they thought I was the brightest thing that ever walked through those doors of H&R Block. 

a not so quick game of catch-up...

It is super obvious that I have not posted in a while and this is because I have actually been out doing things with my life which has not been something that I have been doing as of late, so I will tell you about those fun things now in a fun post of CATCH-UP!

But first things first, today is one of my greatest friend's birthdays... my sweet Linds!  When I tell you that this girl was an absolute Godsend in my life, it is NO lie.  I met her the beginning of my junior year of college (which is slowly getting further and further away... weird) and it was right about the time that I was trying to get my life right with the Lord.  I had just joined Sigma Phi Lambda and this girl was right there ready to greet me and love on me... and thank goodness she was because pretty sure I probably looked like a deer stuck in headlights!  After many sorority meetings, retreats, prayer partner meet-ups, sleepovers, hang-outs, story time, capri suns in the face, and endless chats... this girl truly turned into a soul sister that I knew would be in my life forever.  Even after we both went our seperate ways after college and miles continue to keep us distant, it is so crazy how similar our lives continue to stay and we are always able to pick right up where we left off.  I have absolutely loved knowing you these past 5 years of my life and can't wait to see where our crazy lives are going next!  Here's to turning 25 in the fantastic month of June!!  I love you honey!

It's absolutely official.  As much as I have tried the whole denial thing and I won't get into a huge thing here because I'm pretty sure I probably will do that more later, the Jaspers are about to pack up and move south.  They had a 'farewell' dinner at one of their Fort Worth restaurant faves to commemorate the big event and we even celebrated with a cookie cake.  Katie and I took this opportunity to express how we felt about this whole ordeal and had the cookie cake lady write our catch phrase from one of our favorite shows One Tree Hill.  "PEOPLE ALWAYS LEAVE."  I don't think we could have expressed it better than that little green sign did for us.  I hate to see them go and I wish they didn't have to but I'll choose to act grown-up right now and not throw a fit on the blog.  Only in the privacy of my own home where I don't have the audience of the internet.

So kindergarten has wrapped up and they have graduated... tear.  We had a sweet little ceremony for them and they all stood up and said what they wanted to be when they grow up and also their favorite thing about this year.  Of course it's always super precious when they say their teachers or spending time with us.  I have absolutely loved being able to get to know each and every one of them and they have all blessed my heart in their own special way.  I definitely teared up on the last day and I am so super proud of them all moving up to first grade but will of course miss all of them.  I am excited about getting to still see some of them that will be doing the summer program though.  Thank goodness... I've never been good at good-byes!

(There are not pictures to post of the kindergarteners here... just imagine 11 adorable little people here!)

It just so happened that on the last night that Jen, Katie, and I were all in Fort Worth, we just so happened to have gotten Jen tickets for her birthday to the musical Wicked!  It was the absolute best girls' night out ever to end on.  We immediately all got adorable, headed over to Dallas, ate some delicious sushi at Kona Grill, and then headed to see the show!  It was all our first time to see the musical and it was absolutely A-MAZ-ING.  When I say it was the absolute best thing we could have done on Jen's last night in town, believe me.  Because I'm telling you the truth.  Loved it.  And who knew the girl had never been to a Broadway musical.  The night was PERFECTION.

Memorial Weekend 2010 occurred for me in Houston, TX at the McCrary's house which is my sister and brother-in-law's.  This is going to happen fast people so listen up (or else it would be it's whole other post).  This included watching Sex & The City 2 with the sissy... waking up at 5:45 am for a 5k walk for Astros Race for the Pennant... visiting family members... the bro-in-law taking photos of the mom, sissy, and I... discovering and falling in love with the show Modern Family... catching up on all of the Grey's Anatomy and watching the most intense finale of all time that I have avoided all convo of for forever... and absolutely living in the pool for an entire day and grilling out with their entire neighborhood.  I was exhausted after vaca at the McCrary's but I absolutely loved it.  They rock.

If you are even still reading this, go ahead and pat yourself on the back.  You deserve it.  And go ahead and leave a comment because let's be honest... I probably have no idea that you even read this.  And I would love to know that any single soul does!