Quitting

The basketball team in the eighth grade... The only thing I can remember quiting in life... until now. I hated basketball! I did not excel at it. My coach was an ex-Green Bay Packers lineman (Just imagine how much bigger he looks to a middle schooler, he was a scary man) and I was glad to be done with it when I quit.

This the same feeling I have now. I just put in my two weeks at the Alumni Outreach Program. I have been with this program for over two years and I am finally leaving. Now there are many things that have gone into this...  but this most prevalent factor is... I am in my last semester of school which starts CAPSTONE... dun dun dun!!
Since our team dove into the first round of papers in our second day of class I have spent over 25 hours working on capstone already, which to me means it is not going to get any lighter. Hence no more job!

It is such a relief and I have a peace about it! I know this is what the Lord wants from me. I now have the freedom to go home on the weekends and hang out with friends in the evenings. I am blessed that this semester I do not have to work and I can just focus on school, family and friends!!

It is going to be fun and challenging to see how I use this new found time wisely and to honor the Lord. I just hope I can be productive with it and not waste the free time that I have now!! Pray for me in that, please! 

Recap

2012. What a year!!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

One of my life verses, continues to ring true with each stage of life I go through. This last month and a half have grown me more than most times in my life. I am not saying I handled everything right, what I am saying is that the Lord is doing a work in me.
I have learned (am still learning) about meekness, holding my tongue, making good decisions, how to love others, trusting the Lord, and just what it means to be Christ-like. Each adventure the Lord brought my way in 2012 taught me something about being more like Him and loving people! Not all of them were fun to go through but they were all worth it.

 

 

I spent the beginning of 2012 across the world in another country. Learning some amazing lesson of faith and love. I was reminded that God is the same here and there and that He is working, even without me, to save the souls of my friends. I am so grateful for this experience and absolutely love the people that I got to share it with!

 

After coming back from overseas I had to turn around and make a decision for my summer plans. Was I was going to go overseas again with the same organization or branch out on my own and try to go back to the same country. I really struggled in making the wisest decision. I was afraid that I was going to miss God's best for me. This started a month long endeavor of seeking council, praying and really just trusting that God was going to help me decide.

 

I was honored with being a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding as well as being apart of my roommate's wedding day!! I got to really see all that goes into planning and making one special day happen (I was clueless before Nikki and Alyssa got hitched). It was an honor to see God be glorified on each of their days and I am excited as they each get to celebrate their one year in 2013. I know from watching these ladies what I want my future marriage to entail!!

 

I also had the privilege of serving a dear friend, Mrs. Mace at her wedding in December. She has loved me and challenged me over the last three years in my relationships with others as well as my relationship with the Lord and I am so excited that the Lord has given her a man!!

All these ladies have been a great example to me in how to honor God and keep Christ the center of a relationship, in the good and even the hardships. I am so thankful that I can call these ladies my friends.

 

 

 

 

So I already talked about having to decide what my summer was going to look like and man I had no idea what the Lord really had planned for me. I ended up staying in Norman for the summer, training for a new supervisor position. THIS WAS NO WHERE CLOSE TO GOING OVERSEAS LIKE I HAD PLANNED. God used this summer to allow me to make new relationship with my co-workers and really just love them. I am so grateful and now that it is 2013 I am still seeing the benefits of staying in America!!

 

There were other benefits to staying in America over the summer. With my co-workers I got to run in a Color Me Rad 5K, which we did not actually run but had a blast walking, talking, and getting blasted with color. We went to get food afterwards at IHOP and it was a hoot seeing the look on people's faces when we walked in!

We were a mess and a half!! I most definitely want to do this race again at some point in my life!

 

One of the biggest adventures of the summer was getting to go to Budapest, Hungary with my Daddy. I wish I would have written an individual post about it back in July but I didn't so here is a little taste of what we got to do. First off, we walked everywhere which was great because we got to see all the sights as we went but also rough because we were not use to it haha. We actually met a couple from Fort Worth, TX while we were at lunch one day. It is so true when people say it's a small world.

We went to Parliament, the Chain Bridge and many other places that I am drawing a blank on the names!! It is such a blessing that my dad does what he does (working with Edward Jones) and that he has the opportunity to go overseas and take his daughter with him!! While I was there I fell in love with all the amazing doors and took way too many pictures!! It was an amazing experience. I am glad I got to go with my Daddy!

 

School started back in August for my last year of college and I got to be there for Caitlin's first day at OU which was so fun! She transferred up to OU from Fort Worth and we live together. It is so fun to get to do life with my Sissy. We are sisters which entails not always getting along but I love her none-the-less and I am so thankful that she is here with me. Watching her grow in her relationship with the Lord, making it her own, and help her through life when she asks (and sometime when she doesn't) has been a privilege up to this point! She is a lovely woman of God!

At the end of fall semester I got to see one of my best friends graduate from the College of Education, while another was making plans to go live overseas for two years. I am thankful to call these girls my heart-friends and I am so excited to see what the Lord does in and through both of these girls as they move on to two very different stages of life. They are a great example of what it means to trust the Lord and I am constantly looking to them as Godly examples!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I am so grateful for all the new friends I have also made this year. I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to grow those friendships in 2013. I know some of these friendship are going to bloom while others will fade but I know that each person was brought into my life for a reason and they are all going to teach me something whether I know it or not. In 2013 I need to remember to thank my Lord for each of these people. They are blessing to me whether I see it now or not.

My Fun Fact for 2012: CATAN is SO fun!! Became just a little... ok A LOT obsessed with this game. My sissy and I were even able to get our family to buy it as a Christmas present so that all six of us could play it together!! We came home one day BEFORE Christmas to find that Dad had already set it up for Caitlin and I to help them learn how to play! It was SO fun!

These are just a few of the things that God brought into my life in 2012. Now that 2013 is underway, what things are going to come my way!!?? Lets go Lord!



Psalm 139

I have a condition...

It drives me crazy. Makes me uneasy. Gets me in trouble. Makes me do things that I should not do.

But ultimately it makes me who I am.

 

This "condition" is being an ESTJ.
Ultimately it is the extrovert part of that.

A little over a week ago I went through my Myers-Briggs personality profile and really just learned more about me as an ESTJ, it is scary how right on it is (in most areas).

 

I am sitting here in my living room, all alone in my house, didn't get invited to lunch by my sister, blaring my music, thinking about who God has made me to be, and molded me into over my 23 years of existence.

Spend five minutes with me and you will see. I am loud, crazy, rambunctious, obnoxious (to some and I know that), straight-forward. I can't even study by myself without needing someones presence around to make the time go by, we don't necessarily have to talk (but that is always a nice study break). I am getting better at being OK with silence (I started learning that through my last relationship). The Lord has really been doing a work in me since I got to college to love who He has made me to be and learn that I can always be growing. 

 

I titled this post Psalm 139 because when I went through a study on my Identity in Christ a few years ago this is the passage that I clung to during that time.

 

O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in—behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths,you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake,

I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!

Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

They speak of you with evil intent;

your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,

and abhor those who rise up against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;

I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

Twenty-four verses, Fifty-five lines, all about God's knowledge of who I am inside and out and that I am known by the one who created me. How stinking cool is that to dwell on!
The same God that in Genesis 1 created night and day, the sky we see everyday, the animals that we see in our own homes as well as the local zoo... He created me to be just the person I am now, He knew every aspect of my being and you too before we were even born. Doesn't that make you feel special???

Not only did he create us but when He sent his son to die on the cross for my sin and your sin too, He was thinking about us and how much he loved us each as our own individual selves. Now that is amazing!
 



2013 Goals

I am not one to make New Years resolutions because most of the time I am setting myself up to fail. This year I want to succeed. I am graduating from college and starting into the "real world" so why not start off in a way that I can work with. I am setting 10 goals for 2013 that I am going to have done in the within the next 365 days. Happy 2013!!

 

1. Read 24 new books. I had to start it off with books. I want to read about 2 books each month that I have never read before. I am one to re-read my favorite books over and over again but this year I am working to expand my library.

 

2. Call my friends more, text them less. I am worst at keeping up with people but this year I resolve to do better and talk to those that I love on the phone more often!

 

3. Memory Jar. I have a hard time remembering things throughout the day let alone the year so I want this to help, especially since so much is going to be changing for me this year.

 

4. Own a car. I have successfully made it (five years) to my last semester of college without my own car, but I think it is time that I change this.

 

5. Learn more Christian theology. I know why I follow Christ and my faith is legitimate but due to some conversations that I have had or sat in on I want to know more of the why I believe.

Like it says in 1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"

 

6. Listen to 12 Sermons. Take time once a month to listen to sermons on different topics from different pastors/speakers.

 

7. Send hand-written letters in the mail. Who doesn't like getting mail and what a great way to surprise them with a smile in between all the bills.

 

8. Start saving doll-hairs for my Libraries Tour (click for explanation). I am going to do this at some point in my life I might as well start working on it now that way it truly can be a reality some day.

 

9. Mail birthday cards. Most of my friends are not in the same city as me to be able to celebrate their birthdays and I have never done this in the past. This is a great time to start.

10. Go to a concert/"splurge" on tickets. I have not been to too many concerts in my life so why not have a little fun in 2013!!

 

I am sure I could come up with some more goals for the year and I might do that even after I post this. To me goals are easier than resolutions.

Do you have any goals for the year? Just share one!!



Sissy

I am so glad I have siblings. I would absolutely hate it if I was an only child. I am the oldest of four with two sisters and a brother. I don't know where who I would be without my sisters!! We may all be very different and not always get along but I am so thankful for the sisters that God has given me! I have the privilege of living with my oldest sister, Caitlin, this year (after four years apart) and so far it has been great. We are learning more and more about each other and just getting to know one another again. We are all very different even though my dad calls Morgan "my mini-me" haha. She is just a ball of fun. She wears what she wants and likes some of the strangest things but does not care what others think of her. I am grateful to be apart of their lives and getting to see them grow in their walks with the Lord is one of the coolest things ever!

 

 

 



 

 



 

I am who I am because God gave me these girls as my sisters!!

I love you Caitlin and Morgan!!