I guess I'm on the once a month post plan...maybe not even that. Happy THanksgiving everyone! It is 26 days until my marriage to the man of my dreams will take place. I'm truly thankful for the Lord's blessing in bringing just this man into my life. I can't wait to be his wife.
I am excited that I have learned to make TASTY Gluten free food for him as he is allergic to wheat. He likes to cook too, so we have fun cooking together. This week we are looking forward to spending 5 days at his parents house in his hometown...relaxing and enjoying family. Then...MOM comes next Wednesday! I can't wait for her to get here so I can share the rest of my preparation time with her. It is going to be a busy few weeks.
I smell the ocean air and see the palm trees waving in my future...not too distant future. :-)
Love you all....I'll post a link to my picts when I get them after the wedding.

Busy Fall....Work, Engagement/ wedding planning...and B- got baptised at our church this past August. He had been sprinkled, but hadn't had the opportunity to be baptised by choice. (1,000 people were baptised during that series at church over a two week period of time...praise God!)

And of course...V- came to visit awhile back. :-)

picky picky. ;-)

Wow, ok. It's September already! My dress just came in for the wedding :-) I'm getting stuff put together piece by piece. THe wedding is coming together and I'm excited about how it will turn out.

This school year has started off great. I have a good class and we have started right in to learning. THey are catching on to the expectations and rising to meet them. This weekend I will get to see my Brother and his family! I haven't seen them since July 21st and my nephew is growing up fast. I can't wait!

Bo will be driving to Asheville to meet me there and hang out with the family too. His football season is in full swing now, so time is very precious. Hurricane Hanna is supposed to hit with rain tomorrow...we'll see how much it affect us. SC high school football games have been rescheduled this week because of it.

That's my quick update.
Until next time...

Vacations are much Needed!

I have had a fabulous vacation so far. San Fransisco, Vancouver, Canada, and now...I'm currently enjoying the beautiful northwest. My parents have a deck that overlooks the sound. The weather is sunny, eagles land on trees nearby...and I'm with family. It is a much needed break before I hit the ground running in Charlotte again. Planning MY wedding :-), working part time, attending a conference, tutoring and finding the much needed time to spend with my fiance' before school and football starts this fall is exhausting to think about.

It is a good season of life though and I'm enjoying it. I have a wonderful man who treats me like a princess and is chivalrous, loves the Lord, and is in the same line of work I am. Bo teaches high school social studies and coaches football (running backs).

Again, Praise God for vacations and for His goodness.

My beau Bo, and my nephew. :D

Roses for my Mommy. I love you! Thanks for lifting my spirits today with a little cross-country pampering! :-X

New hair cut.

Dance baby dance!

Niki's hearth that we painted while I was in Atlanta. It was Georgia Clay red around the stones before and they sort of disappeared.





My house...my roses are starting to bloom!

I went to a Casting Crowns concert on Saturday. It was awesome. Here are a few pictures of a painting that a man did during two songs. He used his hands to paint it out of buckets of paint. So cool!!!!!!!!!!

Spring has sprung and it's beautiful! The trees are flowering and this morning it was misty and warmish. It smelled like fresh wet grass. It was great!

Here's a picture from Easter.

Spring Break is next week. Woohooo!

WOW! More later...

Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pONZns1Mq0

My pastor is the one with the shaved head and the Elevation shirt in this video...but now his haired is grown out a bit and bleached. :-)

www.stevenfurtick.com

I LOVE MY CHURCH and the Unleash conference I went to today was AWESOME!

Well, I've officially lost my readership due to my sporadic posts, so now I can write to myself.

Memories of a 15 yr. old.

Arriving at the airport wishing with all my heart that I didn't have to leave to go back to school. Every moment spent in Jeddah, a nostalgic memory. Standing just outside the security check point having to say good-bye again and wishing I didn't while my parents hug me good-bye and tell me to keep my chin up. I so wanted them to admit being as miserable as I was- the honesty desired by a 15 yr. old.

As I entered the ugly brown room reserved for women to be security scanned and smell the henna tatooed women, I raise my arms and turn around half heartedly, trying to hold my emotions in check.

After gathering my bags from the x-ray belt, I wander over to the gate area to await my hydrolic bus that will take me to the plane. It's 12a.m., only one hour til departure. A horrible hour, but the only hour that will get us to New York by 8 a.m. when the airport begins to come to life. The bus finally comes and we enter. I try to stand near the front to avoid the crush of people and body odor that fills the bus. The bus lowers and makes its way across the tarmac to our awaiting 747, raises back up into the air and deposits us in the doorway of our plane. The air is sticky and humid, but I'm still sad to leave.

As I enter the plane, the stench of cigarettes, Eu de Toilet, and tasteless string beans served in foil trays assaults my nostrils. I make my way to my seat, only to find myself placed between 2 very large Arab men who enjoy smoking the entire flight (13 hours). I curl up as best I can, place a wet hand towel over my nose, cover my head with a blanket, and cry myself to sleep.

I know that when I get to New York, I will have to get my baggage and wrestle it onto a bus to travel from JFK to Laguardia to then fly to Columbia, SC.

I'm on my way back to a boarding school I hate to be met by no-one, because the houseparents find it more convenient to arrive between student arrivals and I am the first to arrive. So I sit alone in the airport trying to look aloof and seem like I don't care, when in truth I am dying inside.

Eleven years later, my parents came to visit me overseas. Upon their departure, they were shedding the tears and admitted to tears on the way home from the airport in the car all those years ago. It's comforting to know that the feeling was mutual.

OK, I'll admit my last entry was half hearted at best. Then I decided to read some blogs and they inspired me to put more heart and mind into it.

This past week has been one of reflection, melancholy, frustration, and joy (laughing until I cry). A middle school student at my school's father died last Friday of a Brain Aneurysm. It was sudden and sad, but there is also joy and peace. Being a Sheriff, it was touching to see the multitude of police officers who attended the funeral on Tuesday. Surrounded by prayer and knowing that her dad is in Heaven gave Hailey hope and something to look forward to in getting past the shock and sadness. It isn't a band aid belief to give people something to hold on to. It is a reality.

Those that think they don't believe in anything or don't think it matters, are kidding themselves. I heard recently that there are over 1,000 different religions in the world. Spirituality is intrinsic to humankind. It's what makes us different than all other mammals. We were created in God's image, with a soul. There is only one, however, worthy of our praise. He is worthy because He paid the price for our sins and accepts us into His kingdom with no strings attached. We don't have hoops to jump through to obtain His grace. We just have to accept it. He's given us two commands: 1. Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind; and 2. love your neighbor as yourself. Even on our worst days, we still care more about ourselves than we say. Imagine if we were able to love others that much...with God's help we are able. It's not always easy, but is possible.

Funny Moment: Setting- playground main character- Sofia weather- frigid, windy, and cloudy
Event: Recess- Sofia pulled her white puffy jacket over her knees till she looked like she had no legs. put her head in her collar, and just sat there keeping warm. She occasionally would tip over and not be able to get up, which would result in friends rolling her out of the way. She looked like a marshmallow. I was laughing so hard I cried. Today she did the same thing, but tried to get across the playground to me by waddling. She's too cute. I'll try to take a picture.

Book recommendation: The Life You've Always Wanted by: John Ortberg
This is an excellent book on developing spiritual disciplines as an ordinary person in today's world.

Other than that...life is grand... my nephews birthday is this weekend (2 yrs.) and...it's missions week this week at school. Missions conferences always make me want to go back overseas. Hmmm....where is that mission minded male that would like to go with me??? :-)

First post of the New Year. I know, I know...I'm a slacker. However, I don't want to write about nothing. What am I going to write about today? What have I been learning?

Have you ever been telling someone something and you realize you are talking to yourself more than anyone? I have those moments a lot while teaching Bible to my 5th graders. God has lessons to teach me through what we're studying and it's fun to learn them together. Most recently, we were learning about the Israelites complaints in the desert and how despite God's amazing miracles, they still didn't get it. How many of us, if we really take a second to think about it, have amazing blessings in our lives? AND, how many of us still grumble and complain about things throughout each and every week? I know I do. We aren't so different from the Israelites.

When the big things we ask for in life don't seem to be coming to be...it's easy to think that God doesn't want to give you things that are good, or that you have to orchestrate it yourself. It takes a mind shift to realize and trust God to make it happen in His way. He can and He will, and He knows best....still hard sometimes to wrap my mind around in the midst of disappointments.

I am truly blessed and I am going to make an effort to remember it daily. A friend just sent me a great motto for 2008
"I'm too blessed to be stressed, and too anointed to be disappointed". AMEN!