What I've Been Up to Lately!

School is out for the summer! Which means my day-to-day schedule/life as I know it changes quite a bit! So here is what I have been up to lately!

I came home the Thursday before Mother's Day to go hear a comedian with my mom and aunt! Jeanne Roberson. She is hilarious and one of my favorite public speakers because she makes you feel like you are in her living room listening to stories! She has tons of videos on youtube. This is my favorite, entitled "Don't send a man to the grocery store." She isn't male bashing but explaining the difference between left brain and right brain,,, (it is also called elsewhere, "Left Brain's Grocery List."

I just love listening to her! I was one of the youngest people at her show! Tons of senior citizens were there and it was a prime people watching night! She is popular among people who love Southern, clean comedy. Which includes myself and 70 year old!

While at home I have also been doing lots of things on my "Greensboro list."Things like getting my great grandmother's china, washing out old mason jars from my grandparents basement to decorate with, cleaning silver, buying fabric for a chair for my room in Greenville etc. I have gotten most things on my list done. This is how I have cleaned my silver.  With aluminum foil, salt, baking soda, and hot water. I love pinterest for these type of what I call "old lady secrets."

But the main reason I am in Greensboro is to meet with all of my ministry partners! I have been meeting  with as many as possible! I am so thankful for all of the people who partner with me in ministry! Together we truly are changing lives! I love the opportunity to share what is going on at ECU and invite people to be a part of it!  I am speaking at a church tomorrow and I was getting my notes together and came across this blog post which is a great summery of why I love campus ministry so much!

I have just a few more days in Greensboro, so I am trying to make the most of it. Tonight I am going to have a wild night of playing cards with my mom, my aunt, and a few of my mom's friends! ;)

Fat Mirrors and Dove Videos

So lately I have not been liking how I look or talking well about my body. I know I am not obesese, but in all honestly I have gained 5-10lbs in the past year. No big deal, I just need to watch what I eat and exercise right! Right!

Well I don't know what my deal has been b/c I have sort of been obsessing over it. I try to camouflage my body and cover up the extra weight. This takes forever and stresses me out. One thing I have done that has helped is to remove the "fat mirror" that was hanging on my closet door. You know how some mirrors are skinny, fat, or normal. Well removing this mirror, which actually needs to be thrown out has helped tremedously. So has getting a pedicure, buying a pair of jack rogers, a few clothes that fit. (PS  the jack rogers were my "I got my tax return back" splurge!) All that has been great but I think the thing is that I don't need to look in a mirror that much anyway. I just need to make sure everything is covered up and that I don't have something in my teeth!

Also, I came across these dove videos and realized how important it is to not worry about my image. Of course scripture is uber helpful, but something about watching these videos made everything "click" in my brain! Click this to watch my favorite video on the dove website! I couldn't believe the women could not come up with anything that they love about their bodies. I love my eyes, my fingernails, and my collarbone area (random I know)! My eyes really are my favorite, but they are inherited from my namesake great grandma, my granddaddy and mama! Watch these videos! It is sooooo crazy what the media tells us about our looks. God created us in His image! He thinks we are beautiful! But the most beautiful part about us that know Him, is that we are His!!

I did order a cookbook that I am excited about to help me eat healthy! Dr. Josh Axe also has a facebook page with lots of helpful hints etc.

But in general I have decided to just be healthy and embrace the body that I have! Everyone isn't a supermodel. Even supermodels don't look like supermodels!

Conferences this Past Year

Our ECU Crew at Campus Harvest!

The month of February was filled with conferences. First was our annual Campus Harvest. This is in Durham, NC for our college students. We took 60 students from East Carolina to join the crow of 700 students from Virginia, Tennessee, & North Carolina. It was a fun weekend where tons of students gave their lives to the Lord, 6 from ECU got baptized, and 6 from ECU felt called into full time campus ministry. 

Cute girls! Rachel on left is one girl I mentor that got water baptized!!

Rachel getting Baptized!

Grace and I had an awesome opportunity to speak during one of the break out sessions. We talked about "Being Set Free and Sent Out." It was about receiving healing to be able to go out and do all that God has called you to do! We just talked about how to practically recieve healing and how their really is no formula. For me it has just been through time spent with Jesus, praying and worshiping to music in my room and reading my Bible. I have also received healing during church, worship nights, conferences, Harvest Institute, the EN School of Ministry, the School of Empowerment, going to Christian Counseling, reading Christian books, reading novels, watching movies and so much more! 

Seriously one time I really felt like I was supposed to watch the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Target was selling it at the time for $5 so I bought it and watched it. Well there was this one scene between a couple and I just balled. God was dealing in my heart about how I could be loved and have a Godly relationship. God is awesome in that He knows our hearts, what will "speak to us" and He uses that for His purposes!! 

All of us Campus Ministers!

The weekend following Campus Harverst, a group of our Young Professional ladies (and friends) went up to the DC area to the Rethink Singleness Conference! This semester I am helping to lead a Young Professional's women's Bible Study with two friends at our local church. Our group combined with two other groups (a coed and a guys group) make up the new Young Professionals group at our church! It has been fun to get the ball rolling and I can't wait to see all that God does through the YP ministry!

All of us with Lynette! We felt like celebrities b/c she posted this picture on her blog! 

I love Ron and Lynette's love story. They are Pastors in Raleigh, NC and NYC.  Lynette was 40 when she got married. Her book Remember the Roses is a must read! It talks all about her journey with the Lord navigating singleness and how her love story unfolded.

Well the conference was awesome. I felt like I was in their living room, eating some popcorn, pilled up on the couch listening to their every word. It was really encouraging!! We also heard dating advice, always a fun topic!

Hanging out with all of these awesome ladies was amazing as well! I am so thankful that God has surrounded me by such great friends! Any season of life is much easier when you have fun friends to go through it with!

Me and Elissa!

One of my best friends in the world was there! We didn't know for sure if each other were going to be there!  So, I was so plesantly surprised to see her at the conference! Elissa and her best friend Janice flew up from Texas to be there that weekend. It was great to spend time with her! Phone calls and facetime are great but nothing beats actual face to face time!!

All in all two awesome conferences!!

2013

2013 has been a great year so far! Busy, but great! The most recent development that I can report is that   I started helping to get a Young Professionals ministry started at GCF. There were already two life groups that were for this demographic but Lily, Laura Sprinkle and I started a one for the ladies! It has been so much fun. I can't believe I haven't taken any pictures of anything we have done so far! We are using The Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh Demoss. I am excited for all that God is going to do with the YP's! (PS we can't think of a better name so that is what we are sticking with for now!

New Years Eve was a fun night!! We went out to eat, went to a comedy show and then watched the ball drop at my house! Love the ladies and everyone we went out with on NYE! 

Below are pictures of VCM and Zeta stuff I have been up to! :)

Beginning of the year bowling hang out!

Yes, guys do come to VCM ;)

Love this girl! Victoria was the first student I mentored my first year of campus ministry.  She is now almost finished raising her ministry partnership team to come on staff with VCM!! So thankful for a fun friend to do life and ministry with!

BootCamp!! This year we have amped up BootCamp with food, games, prizes, and teeshirts. It was fun making all of that happen. BootCamp always kicks my butt and makes me look deeper into my life and the idols I have...My top idols are comfort and approval. 

As always we like to keep things real at VCM. We did our 2nd annual "Sexperiment" at our Thursday night meetings. We have these huge boards on campus that students can write on to promote the event. This one says "What's the best kind of sex." The comments were interesting to say the least!

Grace and some of her girls passing out fliers!

Meeting baby Keller on Valentine's Day!! What a precious boy! Melissa and Alan have an awesome family! 

Mendenhall Connect group girls. We had chocolate fondue at Katherine's house one night after CG! This semester has been so fun with these girls!

Oh you know just being silly on campus!

ZTA brought home several awards at the All Greek Banquet!!

 I love all that I am involved in these days! I have been saying a lot lately that I need to take more pictures and I really do! Also need to blog more often so I can talk about all of these things more! ;)

A snapshot of the things rolling around in my head this past holiday season....

(I wrote this post over Christmas and didn't have the guts to post this until now!)

Perfection! Our hodge podge tree!

 It makes me so sad to see Christmas trees kicked to the curb on the December 26th. It honestly makes me sad to see them on the side of the road at all. But I understand people want to de-clutter their houses and get ready for the new year. I especially understand that young mothers want to do it while their hubby is still off work and can be a second hand in the clean up crew. I had a friend tell me just this yesterday. I was glad for her sake that the red and green tupperware boxes were already out of sight at her house and in the attic. (Our tree didn't come down until MLK weekend, which is just fine by me!)

I love Christmas and am always sad to see Mary and Joseph wrapped in newspaper again and tucked away with the Charlie Brown books and Mickey Mouse ornaments. I don't want the holiday food to be over with. Even though I need to get myself to a gym asap! I still want to make a batch of my Memaw's famous (in our circle of family friends anyway) sugar cookies. I bought the ingredients but didn't have time to make them or devour any of the dough. I have fond memories of eating that dough on a spoon out of her refrigerator and sitting on the arm of Memaw and Da's couch watching Lawrence Welk. 

Besides the food, my other favorite is the decorations.  My favorite kind of Christmas (and anytime) decorations are the ones that are made of memories. Everyone has their preference of decorations and I appreciate that. But I really love our hodgepoge tree. This year my roommate Laura and I decorated for Christmas together. I was fun to look at her ornaments. Her mother sent her home from Thanksgiving with a shoebox full of ornaments. Some of the ornaments weren't even her's they were her older siblings. I thought that was pretty classic! Because the type of trees where everyone is included are the best type of trees. 

Some of the ornaments I contributed are from fun places I have been like the Grand Ole Opry and some are from special friends from elementary school like Hunter that I don't get to see often enough. Some were my Memaw's, some I made in girl scouts, and some were hand- me- downs from home. Even my tree is a hand-me-down. But that is what makes Christmas much like any thing we celebrate in life. We carry into it all of our memories from the past and hopes for the future. I am single so Christmas can be bitter sweet. I have always wanted to be pregnant during the season to get a better understanding of what Mary was feeling carrying baby Jesus. Some of my single friends don't wish to ever be pregnant, but I hope this hope comes true one day! I would love to happily send out Christmas cards with a picture of my big pregnant self with my cute hubs in front of a Christmas tree! (Sending out picture Christmas cards is an odd thing for singles and a story for another day.)

Some of my favorite ornaments on my tree are pressed wood cutouts of charlie brown and Disney characters that my mom painted when my parents were first married. My parents haven't been together for three years now. Three years of Christmases that were different from all the rest. Where I didn't know how to see my dad on Christmas eve without making my mom upset. Wondering how to split up the time and what was the "right thing to do."When all I really wanted was everyone to be together, but knowing that ship had sailed and things would never be the same again. Do those ornaments still get put on the tree? What about those good Christmas memories? What is to be done with them?? Why are things so hard and what if you don't want to have "Four Christmases??"

I want to make the most with the life that God has given me and the people that I love. Even if things are messy now and everyone doesn't live under one roof. I don't have it all figured out, Jesus is still healing many areas of my heart, but I want to enjoy the ride and not be bitter. I want to enjoy the memories.

My personal Christmas favorite treat,,, butterscotch haystacks!!

Christmas is made up of memories because life is made up of memories. Christmas makes me miss family members that are now celebrating their Savior in heaven. I love everything about what the true meaning of Christmas is. Jesus coming to Earth, to our home, out of His comfort to live among us. This God who is 100% holy and pure, being born in a manger to poor parents with rumors of scandle about His "mother." Jesus who would later die on a cross for our sins so we could spend eternity with Him!

I love all of the things that our culture and the cultures of the world have added to it. The movies are my fave! Frosty, Home Alone, The Grinch old school cartoon, all of the cheesy Hallmark movies. But what I really truly love the most (besides Jesus) is people gathering together for fun times, delicious food made just once a year, to sing songs and play silly games. My mom has a plaque at her house that says "As long as we have special friends, Christmas time never truly ends..."

I did end up making Memaw's cookies in January! They were delicious even though they never seem to turn out quite like hers!

December

December seems like forever ago,,, I was going to write a post about it but never got around to it! Better late than never! I'll just sum up that busy month with pictures! :)

Our Garrett Connect Group Christmas Hang Out! Love these ladies!

Our VCM Christmas Party was a success with great food, games, & dancing!  

Annual Mike's Farm visit= they have a restaurant, then we go on this hayride through the woods to see these awesome Christmas lights! This is my favorite "Eastern NC" tradition!

Some of  "the big girls" came along for the fun night!

Savannah, GA!! I finally got to go to the city I have been wanting to go to for years!! But I only got to spend an hour there b/c  we were in route to Jacksonville, FL for the Every Nation Campus Ministries Christmas Summit! Savannah, I hope to see you again soon for a proper "visit!" 

In Jacksonville, Victoria and I stayed with Meghan and Katie! Grace stayed with Bella and Elissa! So glad for these awesome ladies who love the Lord! Glad I get to serve with them around the great country of the U S of A!!! (Bella left in Miami, Elissa Texas. ps do you like our "awkward family photo?)  

Nick talking about the "Target Cities" for church plants!! Blue dots= where there are EN churches. Orange= hopeful church plants. Chicago is one of the new church plants! I am going with a team for a spring break mission trip!

Our "Old School" ECU crew minus Alan & Melissa. (Nick and Heather far right were our ECU directors for years and now they serve as our National Directors. To take this position they moved to Nashville, TN. So glad for them but sad for me. They are like second parents to me!) 

So after Jacksonville, I got to fly to the Bahamas to stay with my sister, bro in law, nephew and their friends. My mom was there the week before me so I only saw her at the airport for a few minutes. 5 days in paradise was just the ticket. I did not want to leave at all! It was fun to hang out with this rascal!

Carrie and sweet Jack on the beach! He absoultey loved the beach, digging holes, and playing in the water!  The beach this summer will be tons of fun! (This past summer he wasn't walking yet so this was the first time Jack was able to walk on the beach!) 

I got back into NC just in time for a sleep over with these lovely ladies. Sadly this was the only picture I took. Steph was in town from Kansas so naturally we talked and she knitted. ;) Kendall was gracious enough to host our sleep over! The next morning we went to breakfast with Sprinkle and then had a fashion show at the bargain box! I need to locate those pictures!

So sad that this was the only picture I took of Christmas day! Mom... I mean "Gigi" gave Jack an elmo doll just like Carrie used to have when she was little! It was the best gift of the day other than Jesus!

All of the hype about Les Mis made me dig out this and watch it! I need to post about this later but our dance studio did a rendition when I was in middle school!

Sarah was in town from Kansas as well and we got together to hang out and watch Les Mis!

Christmas break was so awesome and jammed packed with lots of good visits with friends and family! It went by way too fast as always!

Life is good, real good!

Well,  I did not find my husband on the "Show us Your Life Singles" Though I did get a few emails that did not turn into anything... Life moves on and I am glad all of my eggs weren't in that basket. 

Though it sure would be nice to be engaged right now or to even had a date last night for NYE, I am happy and content with where I am in life! :) I have a loving Savior, faithful friends, a bright future, a great ministry to be a part of everyday,  a car that works, and a super cute townhouse and on and on... "Life is good, real good" as Nacho Libre would say! 

Here is a recap of my semester:

Fall Retreat with our ECU crew at Campus Munda Vista in Asheboro!

10 year High School Reunion at Page High School

 This was the same weekend of the Fall Retreat so I was just able to go to the tour of the school which I loved. But man am I glad that I am not that insecure girl without Jesus that I was back then! I used to stress out about so much in High School, especially school work. Glad that chapter of my life is closed. Thank you Jesus for your redemption!

Went to help the girls set up for the Reunion party that night! (Hunter, Colby, Meredith, & Keely)

One Sunday I taught Tonsha, Tria, & Natayla how to make friendship bread! This was so much fun! I wish my kitchen were bigger with an island so I could have more "cooking classes!"

Went to see Elizabeth perform in Annie with these lovely ladies from connect group!

Became the VP1 Advisor for the Iota Rho chapter of ZTA! I have loved this! I sat on the Planning Committee a few semesters in college so this is a lot of fun!

Threw a Halloween party for Victory Campus Ministries! I love dressing up as anything 80's!

Shamefully the only pictures I have of Thanksgiving!! My mom with my precious nephew Jack!

I have to start taking more pictures to document everything! My friends will love that! ;) Christmas post to come soon!