Snow and SSMT!

So, I was wrong. It snowed.

So pretty! Although, I wish it had held off a week until I had started student teaching so that we could have gotten a snow day out of it!

I also wanted to say that I'm really excited because I've decided to do Beth Moore's scripture memory team for 2011!! Basically, you memorize two verses a month for the whole year, and you comment on her blog as you do it. I've done some scripture memory before, but never anything extremely structured. I'm really excited to start this as I begin student teaching. I feel like this could potentially be a pretty stressful semester coming up for me, so I think that it will be beneficial for me to have a bunch of scriptures to recall and pray thorough throughout my days at school. I am excited about having 24 memorized by the end of next year!

I'm a huge Beth Moore fan, and I LOVE her books and her blog. I've read her blog for a few years now, but I've never participated in any of the stuff she does on there. Information can be found here if you are interested in doing this also. AND she will host an event in January of 2012 for those who complete the year! So, I would encourage you to do this with me, and we can go to the celebration together next year! :)

Merry Merry Christmas!!!!

Be near me Lord Jesus,

I ask thee to stay,

Close by me forever

And love me I pray,

Bless all the dear children

in thy tender care,

and fit us for heaven,

to live with thee there.

Merry Christmas from an almost- snowy South Carolina!!! (but more about that later!) Last night at church, we sang Away in a Manger like we do every Christmas eve, and one thing I noticed about the new Lutheran hymnal is that the last line of the song says "fit us for heaven" instead of "take us to heaven" like everyone usually sings it. (Does anyone else pay that close attention to away in a manger lyrics, or is that just me?) Anyway, this slight change in wording really made me think about what this song-- and Christmas-- really means. Fit us for heaven... this is my prayer for today and this entire year: that we can truly absorb the weight of the birth of our Savior whose purpose is to fit us for eternal life and we can respond to his spirit accordingly.

Now, some pictures from our Christmas festivities:

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning... Sarah rockin' the plaid!

Sometimes when I don't know what to give people, I get them something that I can enjoy with them... hence The Office DVD's for dad!

One of my fav gifts... Jack Rogers flats!!!

Grandparents were lucky enough to receive these for Christmas... my senior pictures! ha, NOT my idea... that was all Mandy.

**Please note my mom's "ADPi Mom" button that she got in her stocking. Perfect for football games... and Christmas lunch apparently.

Some things never change... such as the granddaughter's spots on the floor for Christmas presents!!

Other traditions not pictured include: Christmas breakfast with the entire fam, everyone enjoying being serenaded by mine and Beth Ann's melodious piano playing (I consider this a gift to our moms for all those lessons they paid for... Christmas is all about giving back, ha!), and matching pajamas. Also, here's a picture of my personal favorite gift that was given this Christmas:

Lila liked Beth Ann's Ugg boots so much that she asked for a pair for herself. Ha!

Our Christmas festivities were broken up by the threat of snow. Everyone felt the need to go fill up their cars with gas... since we all drive so much when it gets icy out? We'll see if we actually get a white (day after) Christmas. I have my doubts... but at least we've got a bunch of Office dvd's to watch if it actually happens! Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

Not much has been going on since I got home for break, hence the lack of posts. But today was pretty festive! First of all, Mom, Sarah, Beth Ann, Aunt Ann, Lila, and I all baked Christmas treats at Lila's house. We learned that 5 people is just too much for Lila's tiny kitchen. But here are some pictures:

Aunt Ann, Mom, and BA with the microfudge

Sarah made cracker candy

Beth Ann and Aunt Ann made haystacks (also, I just noticed... please check out Mandy's headshot on Lila's fridge!)

Aunt Ann made Sandies and I made candy cane cookies... unfortunately, most of them didn't exactly turn out like candy canes

... but this one did!

Then, the granddaughters tried to get one picture, but Sarah wouldn't cooperate (typical!)

Now here's a Christmas card picture!

Therefore, we have a bunch of pictures that look like this:

Finally we did get one with Lila and her granddaughters!

OH, and Mom made handbell shaped sugar cookies (typical) for the choir, but unfortunately, no pictures of those. Anyway, holiday baking was a success. Then, Sarah, Emily and I had some last minute holiday shopping to do. That was unfortunately not as successful. Never, ever again will I go Christmas shopping the day before Christmas Eve.

We sat in this line to get out of the Best Buy/ Target parking lot for an hour. An entire HOUR to travel like 200 feet from our parking space to the exit! Never, ever, ever again!!!! I have a quality video taken during our time waiting that I cannot figure out how to upload from my phone to computer. But if I ever figure it out, y'all are in for a treat!!! Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!

Summer 2010

Anyone who regularly follows my blog probably thinks I'm crazy for posting my "Spring Break" post in December, which I'm now about to follow up with a post about my summer. Honestly, this is a post that I had every intention of writing back when I started this blog in August, but I just never got around to it. As I got back into the "PC Bubble," everything about my summer, which involved nothing PC-related, started to seem irrelevant, and I quickly put those memories on the back burner of my mind. Last night, however, I came across my "camp bag," which actually is a J. Crew shopping bag filled with all my camp stuff-- cards that people from home sent me, bug spray, towels, sweet notes from my campers, etc. and it made me miss it SO MUCH that I've decided to share it here on my blog! PS- sorry in advance for this being an incredibly long post!!

Ok, so I'm not even sure where to begin. Let me start by saying that I have never, ever been a "camp person." This is probably obvious, if you know me, but it's important information. I actually attended camp as a camper one summer of my entire childhood. I went to Lutheridge as a 7th grader for Campfirmation with my church, and I loved it! But I guess I didn't love it enough to go back, because I never did. (May I just pause and say that I'm counting my blessings that I didn't own a digital camera back then, and therefore have no pictures to document my 7th grade trip to camp!)

So, exactly a year ago, when I was home for Christmas break during my junior year, I started thinking about what to do for the summer. I prayed a lot about it, and I started looking at camps, mainly Lutheridge because that's the only camp I kind of knew. Well, Sarah decided that she wanted to apply there, and contrary to Mandy's belief, Sarah and I decided that it would be best for both of us if we worked at different places for the summer. So I started looking elsewhere. I went to the elca website, where they have a directory of camps that you can search by state. So I thought to myself, "Hmm... I don't want to go anywhere mountainous because I don't want to hike..." so naturally, I chose Florida. Why I chose FL? I have no idea. It was random. But I applied and got a job at Luther Springs, a camp that I'd never heard of and knew absolutely nothing about.

So May came around, and it was time to head south for the summer. I loaded up my car with everything I thought I'd need at camp

(including these sweet monogrammed Chacos) and headed to Florida. I will never forget my drive down there. It was the scariest, yet most independent thing I've ever done in my life. Even though I've been "on my own" at college for 3 years, I've always known someone; I've always been an hour away from home, and I'd never gone more than a month or so without seeing my parents. I'd never driven more than like 2 hours or so alone, and suddenly the reality of me being at least 7.5 hours away from almost everyone I know was pressing in on me. So I called Emily and freaked out a little bit, wondering what had possessed me to peace out to Florida for an ENTIRE summer. It poured rain for the majority of my drive down there, which was actually kind of dramatic. It made it like a movie. Except, the rain was so terrible that I couldn't see anything and I already had no clue where I was going. Tricky. When I finally made it down to camp, my first realization was that I wasn't at the beach. I know it sounds dumb, but when you think Florida, don't you think beach? I do, and I found myself right in the middle of the state, nowhere near the ocean. My second realization was that I was the only person who didn't know another person there. Sweet... I was the random girl. Which, I mean wasn't that big of a deal, but there were only like 14 staff total.

So I spent the next 2 weeks doing training. Building fires, large group games, team building exercises... basically everything I love and am awesome at! (NOT!) At this point, I was seriously questioning my abilities to suck it up and do this for an entire summer. But then camp started. LOMF (Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of Florida) does both residential camp (Luther Springs) and day camps across the state of Florida. I spent the majority of my summer onsite, doing "typical" camp stuff- arts and crafts, canoeing, "hiking" (it was Florida...), campfires, and worship. Over the summer, I found myself in many situations that I would typically avoid....

... such as this.

But then something crazy happened. I grew to love it. Quickly, over the 9 weeks of camp, I fell in love with this place

and these kids

and of course, the people I worked with. Whom I have now spent 45 minutes trying to find a picture of. Apparently, we all sucked at taking group pictures this summer.

I'm not going to act like I turned out to be an awesome counselor or anything, but I truly did LOVE my job and LOVE my summer. I made about a billion melty bead crafts. I canoed many miles through alligator-infested waters (it wasn't as intense as I like to make it sound). I got to visit 3 Floridian towns on day camps. I spent my 21st birthday with ten 8- 10 year olds. And it was fun. I saw through little things how God used experiences I'd already had to prepare me for things that came up over the summer.

Before I went to Florida, I chose this as my theme for the summer:

"Trust in the LORD and do good,

so you will live in the land and enjoy security.

Take delight in the LORD,

and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37: 3-4

I saw the benefits and experienced the contentment and joy that resulted from trusting in God and following where he led me. Because of the wonderful people I met, experiences I had, and places I saw, the theme of my summer evolved into:

"The Lord fills my life with good things" Psalm 103:5

Christmas Card Drama

So every year, the Christmas card is a huge source of controversy in this house. Mainly because Sarah and I can never agree on a picture that we consider to be good of both of us. Well, this year was no exception. We took a bunch of pictures in front of the tree, and then my mom gave me her camera to go online and make a card. Well, I sat down in the living room, and said, "Sarah, come over here and help me with this." She didn't. So I ordered the cards. AFTER I had placed the order and went to give my mom her credit card back (keep in mind, Sarah was sitting in the room the whole time I was doing this, showing it to my mom, getting the credit card, etc.), Sarah freaked out and wanted to see the card that she "didn't know" I had made. She is not happy with my decision. That's actually an understatement... she's stomping around our house demanding to know if we can cancel the order. Dramatic. I would post the picture for you here, but since it has become so controversial I will not. Sarah has threatened to get me back with the Christmas letter. So, don't believe any lies that you may read about me in there. Just a heads up.

Amazima

So usually the things that I post on my blog are more "scrapbook-y" type things or stories that I think others may find funny or just random things I like. I read other people's blogs that are usually more substantial or have legit messages to them, and I read one the other day that I have literally NOT stopped thinking about since I read it.

It is a blog of a girl named Katie who lives in Uganda (as in, permanently.) She left America- her family, her friends, a boyfriend, college- EVERYTHING to follow God's calling to adopt 14 children from Uganda. She is 22. That's right... at 22, she singlehandedly mothers 14 children. She started Amazima ministries, which provides education, food, clothing, medical expenses, etc. for hundreds of children. Nothing I have to say is as important, meaningful, or compelling as her message.

Please, please, please check out this girl's blog, specifically this post. I pray that it moves you as much as it has moved me.

Prayers for Patterson

Today I'm asking that anyone who reads my blog will take a minute to read the story of my good friend Katie and her son, Patterson.

When my family moved to SC like 11 years ago, one of the first families that we met were the Shumperts. Katie and Anna quickly became 2 of mine and Sarah's Zion favs. They used to babysit us, and eventually, we ended up asking my mom if they could "watch" us looooong after we really needed a sitter. We just wanted to hang out with them all the time! So then, once we were like middle school-age, Katie went off to college, and bless her heart, she would let Sarah and I come and stay with her at school every once and awhile. We thought this was seriously the COOLEST thing ever!! I'm sure the last thing she really wanted was for these 2 middle school girls to be all up in her dorm room on the weekends, but she would let us stay there and take us shopping and stuff. It was so much fun! I'm forever indebted to her for putting up with us when we were that age and wanted to hang out with her always!

A couple years ago, Sarah and I were in her wedding, and this past April, she had a son, Patterson. Patterson has a genetic heart condition (which, honestly, I don't fully understand and would probably butcher with my explanation.) The bottom line is that he had to have surgery a few weeks ago, and they have been in the hospital ever since. This was supposed to be a relatively "easy" surgery from my understanding (I guess as "easy" as baby heart surgeries can be), but a lot of complications have arisen from the situation. They have been in the hospital since before Thanksgiving. This would be a hard situation to go through anyways, but I think that going through it during the holidays makes it even harder.

So, please please pray for Katie, her husband Dave, and most of all, for Patterson's healing. You can check out their caring bridge site to read their story.

Have a wonderful weekend!