God is really really good.

For as terrible as a weekend I've had, I'm feeling so blessed and encouraged this morning.  :)
My sister basically disowned me and is in a severely emotionally abusive relationship with her boyfriend.  Apparently, they are engaged, which I found out from a friend because Anna blocked me from her facebook page.  I'm 13 hours away from home and feel hopeless in the situation.   When I went to call my mom to get clarification about this new piece of information, I found out that my phone has been shut off because the guy my sister is apparently engaged to racked our phone bill up to $1000!(Yes, he's on our plan. Why? because my sister threatened to kill herself if she didn't have a way to talk to him.) And I'm waiting to hear back from interviews about potential jobs.  Now, they have no way to get a hold of me and I have no way to get a hold of anyone at home because we don't have a land line anymore and my sister blocked me from her facebook and doesn't check her e-mail.  It's just a mess. On top of all of this, I've been extremely emotional lately, so my poor roommates have to deal with me crying pretty much all the time, lol. AND I developed a cold pretty much over night, so I'm all stuffed up and have a sore throat.
Even though this is a mess of a situation and I've felt completely hopeless, I will not let the enemy defeat me. I know that the Lord has this situation in His hands and He knows what He is doing.  I'm so thankful for the people in my life who are helping me to be strong in this situation. I had a wonderful time with the Lord this morning reading about His promises to keep me and strengthen me in His love.  And all of the blogs that I'm subscribed to posted encouraging words and scriptures about the same thing. :) God really knows what He's doing.  I'm so thankful to have Him to lean on through the trials.  I pray that Anna will eventually realize the same thing and that he eyes will be open to what real love is. 
Now I have to write a paper for my class tonight... It's extremely hard to be motivated when you only have the class one night a week.  I still need to get in the swing of things with this whole grad school situation. It's a good thing and I'm so happy to be where I am. 

someday.

I recently stumbled upon this beautiful post. (twirl)
First of all, I love when I find Christian bloggers, especially those that post beautiful tutorials as well as beautiful  things the Lord is doing in their lives.
You must go read this post, it is absolutely beautiful(I know I've used that word a lot this post. Lol.)  Maybe I just really needed to hear it tonight, but it's really good.
When I was finished reading and had wiped the few tears away that had escaped, I suddenly felt inspired to pray for my future children.  I've always focused on praying for my future husband and even have a journal dedicated to him. But I hadn't ever thought to pray for my children (how terrible).  I ran back to my room to get my "Someday book"  It's a book that I made to paste pictures of wedding ideas and ideas that I'd like for my  home someday. :)

So, I decided to make a page for my future children and the things that I want for them.  I wrote the verse that this woman uses, Zeph 3:17.  I'm going to print out the post and paste it in the book next to what I already have written. 
As I was looking through other things in my book, I had this revelation:  I spend all this time planning out my future, from big ideas to the tiniest details.  The Lord knows my heart and my desires and while I have all of these plans for what I want my house to be like or what flowers I want at my wedding, He knows what I need and has my whole little world in His hands. :)  I left the front page open when I started the book and I think I'm going to write a prayer dedicating the book, my hopes and dreams,and all of my somedays to the Lord. He's the one that's holding them all anyways :)

Sleeping in.

It's saturday and I slept in til NOON. ( Maybe it's because I didn't go to bed until 4 AM.)  I don't know about you, but I hate sleeping in..  I just don't like sleeping the day away.  And we had a long list of things to do.

We are still working on getting our apartment finished up, which means more trips to wal mart and the fabric store:)  I'm not complaining, I love that place!  Photos to come of our sweet buys and our finished products.

feeling crafty.

It's late and I'm not feeling very creative, but I really want to start blogging ever day.  Even if it's boring. Lol.
I had a forty5 set this after noon(the forty5 is 45 hours of continuous prayer and worship that my church does one weekend a month.  I love just being in the presence of the Lord, singing and playing for His glory. I had a good time with Him:)
I've really been reflecting on His love for me.  What an amazing love it is!
After my set I went running around Springfield trying to find a backing for my Duvet cover that I'm making. I found this duvet cover at urban outfitters and fell IN LOVE

Due to the price and some bad reviews on the quality of this piece, I decided against it.  I just couldn't get this vision out of my mind and tried to brainstorm on how in the world I could accomplish this look.
I found this fantastic store called H&M fabrics. Oh my word.  I about passed out when I walked in there.  It was like I was in the stores they go to on HGTV or Project runway.  There are bins upon bins of bolts of fabric  and everything is under $8 a yard! I was in heaven!  I found this amazing fabric and although it's not quite as ruffly as the urban outfitters duvet, it still has the ruffly girly feel and is totally me. :) (and was definitely more affordable)
 Here is the finished product....

(I'll have to post better pictures later.) 
I have some of the fabric left over to make a couple pillow cases.  I can't wait to post pictures of my room once it's finally complete! :)  It's starting to come together and I'm pleasantly pleased with the outcome so far.  I'm going for a vintage look, we'll see if I can accomplish it.
Well, it's 3AM and my brand new bed spread is calling my name :)

It's been awhile...

Wow... It has been a long time since I've posted on here.  I definitely miss it and I'm always thinking about what my next blog post will be about, I just never take the time to make it happen.  Last Friday was my last day to work at the bookstore.  It was just a temporary job, but I miss it... I like seeing everyone and having visitors come in while they are on break from class.  It's alright though, I know the Lord has something else for me... I've just got to find it.  I don't even know where to start looking for a job.  It's definitely a process. 
This weekend, as much as I wanted to make the thirteen hour drive home to the Canfield fair, I decided against it and went on a camping trip with Lauren and Amy, my roommates, and some families from Lauren's church.  Oh my, are there some stories to share.....
You should check out our blog that we just started   http://positivelyphototactic.blogspot.com/
We will be posting the funny things that happen in the apartment some projects that we are working on, and other random things that we find interesting :)  It's going to be a good time.  We will definitely be posting about our camping experience.  You should totally follow us:)
Well, both of the roommates are at work and our apartment looks like a mess from all of our camping stuff, so I better get up and movin...

Why I hate technology.

Those of you who know me at all, are aware of the fact that I strongly dislike technology.  I use it to fit into the world and, I admit, it is convenient at times.  Although convenient, it is not neccessary. I think people depend on various forms of technology way too much.  Perfect example:
Yesterday at work(I'm working at a doctors office) the computer system went out.  This meant that no one could make an appointment and no charts could be found for the people that were there.  It was just one giant mess! And today, when the guy tried to fix the computers, the phone lines went out and may not be fixed until thursday.  This means no one can call in, no one can call out, and offices can't page each other.
I won't ramble on, but we've all become way too accustomed to the leisures and benefits of having technology.  We rely on it way too much.  That's all I'm saying. A "minor" problem with the phone system shouldn't cause an entire office to go into hysterics.

Blessings.

Today was filled with all kinds of small little blessings.

This morning was the family breakfast.  I have a very large family with a lot of cousins and great aunts and such.  I'm not sure how I'm related to some of them, but nevertheless, we are all close and I love it! :)  I'm so blessed to have so many people that care about me and are so supportive.  I love that we all get together once a month just to keep in touch. And they all love the Lord!  I'm related to half of my church :)  I'm ok with that.

After a fun time at breakfast that was filled with laughter, I would expect nothing less when my cousin Keith is present, I did laundry and HUNG MY CLOTHES ON THE LINE! :D  It was a beautiful sunny day and one of my favorite things of all is to have my clothes and sheets dried in the fresh summer breeze! I seriously want to pile all my clothes on my bed and sleep on top of them! They smell so fresh and clean! eeeeeeee! :D 

While I was waiting for a load of clothes to finish, I drove up to the farmer's market in Alliance.  I didn't even know that we had one of these, but I was pumped (SIDE NOTE!--- I was equally pumped when I found out that we had a FOREVER21 in the Canton mall!!! I started squealing and taking pictures, my sister was embarrassed.  It was beautiful, and ginormous!  I will definitely be using some of my next paycheck there.) I was really hoping to get fresh peaches, but it's not really the season for it, so I didn't have much luck there. However, I was secretly hoping the whole time that there would be fresh flowers.  AND THERE WERE! :D  They just brightened my day! And now I see them in the vase sitting on the window sill and it puts a smile on my face.  I get enjoyment out of simple things.

I stopped in my friend's bookstore while I was downtown and they just had some very encouraging words.  They really make me feel appreciated and loved and I'm so thankful for that.  When I start getting down on myself, God always sends someone to remind me of who I am and that He is proud of me.  I mess up just as much as the next person, but God loves me beyond that.  Today I just had a moment of appreciation for who God made me and has allowed me to be.  

My cousin had a graduation party which meant spending more time with more of my awesome family!  My aunt and uncle are really good at spotting sales, so on the way back home we made a random yard sale stop.  I ended up buying a set of bowls that I already have in pink, but these are the original pyrex set of dishes.  Everyone in my family has a set and it's something that I remember from my childhood.  Every time I see a set I check the price because they NEVER go for less than $65 which isn't a terrible amount, but to me it's expensive.  This guy was asking $15!  So I grabbed them and when I went to check out he informed us that everything was discounted because he was closing up.  I got them for $10! I was so excited!

My aunt informed me that her niece, who had just met me at my cousins wedding two weeks ago, thought that I seemed responsible and fun and wants to fly me to her house in Virginia on new years to babysit her kids while her and her husband are away for a few days. Um, WHAT!? Yes please! ... She offered to pay for my plane tickets! I'm not really suppose to tell anyone, but no one really reads this anyway. Lol. So that's exciting and something to think and pray about. Btw... she lives 10 minutes from the beach, it will be cold then, but that's still stinkin SWEET! 

Tonight I went for my evening walk and ran into one of my really good friends from high school. It was so good to see him and catch up for a bit.  I really love my friends! Old and new! God did a wonderful job of placing people in my life.

A lady from my church called me on my walk to finalize plans for our day together.  She's taking me out for the day! :)  I'm so blessed to have a loving supportive church family.

Happy Father's Day!

In honor of Father's day, even though part of me wants to be bitter, I thought that I would write a little bit about my dad.  He passed away six years ago, wednesday. It kind of stinks that it happened so close to Father's Day, but God's plan is perfect and I just keep trusting as I go.  Many of you never got to meet him, so I thought I'd share a little about who he was to me and write a few of the memories that I have of him. :)

*********************

Dad and I were really really close.  As a little girl I went with him EVERYWHERE- I was definitely a daddy's girl-  He even took me with him to the various farms that he worked at. I started out just riding with him and playing with the baby barn animals, or the other kids when I was little.  As I grew, I started helping him out with his work.  He had such patience with me as I would get so bored, and probably very annoying, waiting for him to finish his paperwork.  But that's who he was, a very patient man. 

He was a very quiet, soft spoken man.  He never said much, but carried a presence with him.  I would say that everyone that knew him had highest respect for him.  He rarely raised his voice, but was stern when he needed to be.  He was a hard worker and a man of his word.  He never spoke badly about people and  was an amazing example of a Godly man.

*********************

Every night, he would tuck me in and say prayers with me and rub my back or feet when I asked him to.  This continued all the way until he became too weak and I was the one who tucked him in, rubbed his aching back, and prayed over him harder than I ever had prayed before. 

********************* 

I always had a feeling that he would pass away while I was younger, it was something that I just knew. However, I was always afraid that he would die in a car accident.  He drove everywhere for his job, at all hours of the day and night.  Waiting for him to come home was torture.  He was pretty much blind, so blind that he saw round bales in a field one time and thought that they were wild buffalo. Haha! He refused to get glasses because he didn't want to spend money. So, he wore these OLD glasses that I have to giggle about every time I think of them.  I'm not sure exactly when he got them, but these things looked like they had been through the war and back. I think there was only one thing attached( the things that holds them on your ears) yeah, there was only one, and it was held on by electrical tape.  So, pretty much, he had to balance the glasses on his nose.  The lenses were completely scratched and foggy, I'm not sure  how he even saw out of them. Haha! But he swore they helped and he looked ridiculous every time he wore them.

********************* 

Some people may not like the song, but pretty much at every wedding our family went to, Dad and I would dance to Butterfly Kisses.  This was our song.  I couldn't wait for the day that I got to dance to that song with him on my own special day.  That's never going to happen, and it's one of the things that I struggle with the most. The thought that he will never walk me down the isle and give me away, or even meet the man I will spend the rest of my life with really gets me.   (I should be thankful that I even had a father and got to experience that great priveledge.  Some children have never gotten to experience a father's love.)

.  I will never forget the moment when this song played on the radio a couple weeks before Dad passed away.  We were coming back from one of the farms he was working at.  I was with him to help out because this was during the time that he was starting to become very weak.  Butterfly kisses started to play and I prayed as I looked out the window with the sun shining on the fields as we drove by thinking about all the times we'd danced to this song before.  We both sat there silently listening to our song. As the song faded out, and a few small tears were rolled down my cheeks, I looked over to Dad and saw that a few tears had escaped from his eyes too. After a few moments, in his soft caring voice, he said "Wow, I haven't heard that song in forever." Then he looked over at me and said" They played that just for us."  What a moment and a memory I have. I realized that the song meant as much to him as it did to me all those years. 

********************* 

Dad loved to experiment in the kitchen. Although he was a good cook, he made alot of scrambled eggs, mac and cheese, and pizza.  My cravings didn't let him branch out much. :)  He still managed to keep things interesting.  We always knew that if he asked you how it tasted, that meant that he did something different than usually, it was mostly a scarey thing.  Haha! 

He was never satisfied with how fluffy his eggs turned out, even though they were 10 times fluffier than I could ever hope for mine to be, I still don't know how he did that.  He decided that baking soda may be a good fluffing ingredient.  Sorry Dad, but that was an epic fail. Lol. The eggs didn't even cook, they just sort of foamed everywhere.  He must not have learned his lesson because he tried the same thing with waffle once. Same outcome. 

********************* 

Alot of people say that my dad and I were pretty much the same person.  Which, i agree that my demeanor is the same as his, although I've become a lot more outgoing these past few years. This one memory shows just how scary it could be at times that we were so similar.  We had gotten our first computer and while he was at work one day, I decided to get on and explore all of the awesome features that it had.  In my searching I found the calculator and exclaimed, "Oh cool! A caclulator!"  I wanted to try it out, so I typed in my favorite multiplication problem 6x7, to my surprise, the answer came out 42! It worked!  Dad came home a few hours later and explored the features of the new computer while mom and I were on the couch.  After a little while, we heard him say, "Oh cool! A calculator!" I just laughed and ran to see if it would work for him too. Guess what he typed in to try it out.... Yep! 6x7.  He got the same answer too. :)

**********************

During the last few weeks of my Sophomore year of high school was when he started to get really sick. He wasn't eating anything.  He had no appetite and became weaker by the day.  My choir banquet had arrived (This is the one where all the awards were given and the new members were inducted into the Young & Alive)  This was the moment I had waited for since I first saw those sparkly red dresses in the gym of my elementary school- I think I was in Kindergarten then- I couldn't wait to be in Y&A. I had tried out, and that evening I would find out if I got a rose, which meant I would get to be a part of this magical group.  I knew Dad was weak and his back ached all the time.  He didn't need to suffer and sit through that banquet.  So, I begged him to stay home. I told him that mom could run home to pick him up before the Y&A inductions so he could just be there for that.  He refused to stay home and ended up eating two whole chicken breasts! Lori always caters the choir banquets and her chicken is pretty much the best and Dad knew it.  It was the most he had eaten in weeks! He made it through the whole banquet and even though he never got to see me perform, he was there to see me receive my rose.  

*********************

Some random things I remember and miss about him

-The way he always smelled of the barn when he came home from work.  I don't know why, but I just find that comforting.  You could tell which farm he'd been to because they all have distinctly different smells.

-He had a strange obsession with Meg Ryan.  She was his favorite actress and he would watch anything that she played in

-We would go into the movie rental place and while it would only take me 30 seconds to run and grab my favorite sing a long with Mary Kate and Ashley, it took him FOREVER to pick out a movie for him and Mom to watch. I definitely inherited his indecisiveness. 

-In the summer, his left arm would be 10 shades darker than his right arm because he always drove with his arm hanging out the window.

-He always gave a two finger wave.  I always laughed at him for that.

-When he was deep in thought or worried, he would rub his index finger over his mustache.  This sounds weird as I write it. Haha. But that's what he did. 

-He also rubbed his feet together while he watched TV.  I find myself doing that a lot. 

-His favorite commercial was that one with the little pug dog.  It was for some kind of medicine.  The owner of the dog was chasing after it and at the end, the owner was riding up the escalator when he passed his dog that was riding the down escalator.  For whatever reason, he found this to be the funniest thing he'd ever seen and would laugh so hard, he would cry.

-He always came to my rescue when there was a spider.

-Sometimes he would buy me a carnation on Valentine's day.

-He hated it when I got my hair cut short.

-He always told me he would not approve of any guy I brought home that had earrings. Lol, he was really weird about that.

-He was always fascinated with technology.  I wonder what he would think about the world now- iphones and ipads, he wouldn't know what to do!

-He would ask me questions from my notes to help me study for tests.  

-Somehow he always knew what time it was. Seriously.  He had an internal clock or something.

-He always read me Bible stories before I went to bed. 

-He would make me a glass of warm milk sometimes when he came back to say prayers.  He always put it in the pretty little glass cup that I loved so much.
-He always wore a trucker hat.
-I never got to actually go to a tractor pull with him, but when we were walking out of the Canfield fair at night, every year, we would stop at the grand stand and watch part of it from outside the fence.

-In the winter he always wore a black sweatshirt and one of those thick flannel vests.  It worked for him because there were no sleeves to get in the way while he was working.  When I was with him in the milk parlors shivering, waiting for the set of cows to be done milking, I would hug Dad so my arms were inside the vest. It was so cozy. 

-Another thing that was cozy was his suit coat jacket.  Pretty much every sunday, especially during the summer, i would wear my little sundresses to church and end up freezing during service.  He always gave me his suit coat jacket to wear.- One of my favorite memories. :)

*********************  

There are many other things that I could write about Dad, but I don't want to bore you all.  I really wish you all could have met him. .
However, the Lord had other plans for my life and I have such a testimony through this experience.  I'll have to write about that another day.I miss him a lot.  Sometimes it's worse than others.  

But I love thinking back to the memories I've had with him and I'm glad that I can share them with those of you who read this

I'm wishing all the fathers out there a very Happy Day!:)

Bridesmaid Dress!

So, I'm the maid of honor in my cousin's wedding on Saturday and I'm SO EXCITED! :D  I always looked up to her as a little girl when she was my awesome babysitter. And now I get to stand beside her on one of the most important days of her life! AHHHHH! :)  I really love weddings! And her fiance is definitely a keeper.  A very hardworking man.  I haven't been around the two of them very long, but I can definitely tell how much he cherishes her and her two children. 

A few months back, I went shopping with my friend, Lauren, for my dress for the wedding.  My cousin pretty much gave me free reign on buying a dress (David's bridal did not.)  She has to be one of the most laid back brides I have ever been around.  She's just happy that she's getting married, nothing else really matters.

So, I went to David's bridal in search of a dress and had a pretty traumatic experience.  I won't go into details because it will just anger me.  Anyways, I ended up getting the first dress that I tried on(the same dress as the rest of the bridesmaids), which I absolutely hated.  But due to shipping schedules and fabric colors, it was literally, the only dress that I could order. I told my mom we would be doing some tweaking.

When the awful thing arrived, I tried it on hoping that I would have changed my mind about it ,and seeing it on me in the correct color would make it look better.  Negative.  I still hated it annnnnnnnnnnndddd..... IT WAS TOO SHORT! - And with Zero seam in the bottom, this was going to be a challenge.

But, you know, my mom is awesome and between her fantastic sewing skills, and my ideas, I'd say, the dress turned out pretty great! :)

Here it is... Terrible.  Lol. Too short, and I really don't like what's going on at the top.  The only thing I like is that the waistband makes me look somewhat thin.

And here it is.............

The finished product!

I really love it:) 

I pulled it down to give it length, then we added the ruffle at the top so nothing would show:)  And I think it looks a thousand times better... So take THAT David's Bridal! (I'm not bitter or anything. ;) Lol. 

Here is a close up of the top

The gray part is all sparkly too :)  I love sparkles!

I can't wait to wear it!

Long week!

Parties
It has been a busy couple of days, folks.  We've been getting things ready for Anna's graduation party, which turned out really well.  I loved seeing everyone! :)   I made strawberry salsa, it's like the only thing I'm good at. Lol. But it was a hit at her party, so that's good I guess.  I cannot wait to learn how to cook in my kitchen in my apartment!
Last night Anna kicked me out of her party when all her friends got there, so I went my friend's house and got to hang out with way cooler people. :) I had a great time catching up with all of them and playing EUCHRE! I miss this game and for all of you friends in Springfield... I'm so teaching you because I love this game and I am not going another three years without it...So be prepared! ;)
I had a headache pretty much all day, but I never take pain medication for it because it usually goes away, well something happened in my body and it took a drastic turn for the worse.  While I was at Rachel and Jared's my headache developed into the worst headache I've ever experienced in my life.  My eyes hurt and I felt nauseous I can't really explain it.  We were outside on the porch watching the storm and every time there was a flash of lightening, I thought I was going to die. I didn't even know if I could drive home.  Well, I did, in the pouring rain and fog on back roads that have no street lamps.  Totally safe.  Haha.  Well, I made it to my grandma's house in one piece and went straight to bed.  This morning I feel SOOOOO  much better! Although i still feel a little funny behind my eyes, but thank the Lord it's not as bad as last night.  I never want that to happen again.  I am currently wearing my glasses because that may have had something to do with it. 

Funny Story
I can't really remember what all happened this week, it's kind of been a whirlwind of a week.  But I did want to share this story....
So, my mom and I were driving back from Canton on the highway and this guy in a white truck was weaving in and out of traffic and was trying to get in front of my mom.  My mom said, "he's going to get up here and have to slam on his breaks, I'm going as fast as the car in front of me."  Sure enough, that's what happened.  The white truck guy had to slam on his breaks.  Well, the car in front of him was slowing way down to get into a turning lane.  You could tell that white truck guy was not very happy, I don't blame him.  He stuck his arm out of the car window as he passed the slow driver, now in the turn lane.  I fully expected him to flip the guy off.  Nope.  He instead, gives the man a thumbs down. I died laughing.  Who does that?? It's a great alternative though. Lol.
Job
As far as my job situation goes.  There is none.  The job that I was promised didn't exactly work out, so I'm not quite sure what is going to happen.  It's kinda hard when all of my friends are telling me of their multiple job opportunities that the Lord is blessing them with, and I'm stuck here with nothing and no options.    I'm just trusting that the Lord has his hand on the situation and is orchestrating opportunities even at this very moment.  All I can do is trust.

Sunday Picnics.

Sunday

 I sang special music at church this morning :)  I love coming back to the church I grew up in my whole life.  I see all the familiar faces and know that they support me and have been praying for me during my time away at college.  I sang the song "A Little Longer" by Brian and Jenn Johnson.  I absolutely love this song.  It's so simple and I was really singing it to myself this morning.  I need to let some of my everyday life happenings go to make time just to sit and be with the Lord.  The song is on the play list at the bottom of my blog if you want to listen to it:)  It's a good one.

I went to a picnic at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  Uncle Sheldon is pretty awesome... :)  He has this block of would propped up for throwing hatchets and he taught me how to throw!!!!

This was my third throw. 

Seriously!... I did that!!!!!! :D  This is me being excited about it!!!...

My grandma decided to get in the action as well.

It was so fun!

My cousins are foster parents and are currently taking care of this one 11 year old boy who has had a pretty rough life.  He's gone through more than any person should in their whole life time and he's only lived eleven years.  It really breaks my heart and I just want to love him and encourage him and help him be the best he can be.  He has a lot of behavioral problems, and to tell you the truth, I don't blame him for half of the stuff he does.  He's hurting and has been through so much.  I just really want things to turn around for him.  So, if you could just be praying for him, that would be awesome :)  His name is Lain.

MIA- updates.

So, I've been MIA the past few days.  I want to fall in love with blogging, but I just haven't yet.  

Let's see...

Recap of my week...

Monday

Anna's choir concert

Tuesday

The weather was BEAUTIFUL! again! So, I went for a walk out by my house.  I just love the quietness and enjoyed being surrounded by fields.  AND! I found a turtle :)  Two turtles actually, but one had an unfortunate encounter with a car or truck, or tractor... Speaking of tractors... It's so great seeing them on the roads.  I don't know why I like it so much, it's just home I guess.   I would much rather be stuck behind a tractor than get caught up in city traffic.  It's more relaxing than frustrating for some reason, for me at least.  Next Friday is drive your tractor to school day:)  I love that we do this at our school.  It gives it character, not that our barn shaped library and silo of an entrance is enough. Haha.  Oh how I love West Branch. :)

Wednesday

This was Anna's choir banquet. Every year, they have an awards banquet and recognize the seniors. It was a bit different this time, since all of my friends have since graduated.  I love going back though.  Choir was a huge part of my high school experience.  I was in every choir possible including the Young and Alive, which is our show choir, and participated in all of the musicals.  And, despite getting yelled at all the time by Zamarelli haha,(He really is the best choir director.) I loved every second of it.  :)  I really miss it!  

I realize I miss ALOT of things about home.  And I never thought I would say this, but I might move back here.  I keep telling myself that there's no opportunity for me here, but the Lord will provide, if this is where I'm suppose to be.  Right now I have such a love for this place that I've called home for 22 years of my life, that I don't know if I'm ready to leave it for good.  I may change my tune later on down the road when I have other factors to consider, like a job and, Lord willing, a husband :)  and family. One thing I do know, my heart will be restless until I'm back living in the country SOMEWHERE.  It's too much a part of me. 

Thursday

I visited my aunt over at her place and got eaten up by misquitoes, Lol. It rained a lot, so they are pretty bad this year. I have 17 mosquito bites... ON ONE LEG.   I also went out to my house(I've been living with my grandma- so I'm at her house pretty much) to see my mom and Anna and the NEW BABY KITTENS! There are SEVEN! Five of which are girls, we think.  We always name our kittens in themes, previous themes include flower names, types of beans, chinese names, types of breads, glittery girl things(that was Anna's doing).  This litter's theme.......................... ..............Weather terms!, or weathery things.

(My friend Nate would like this. :) Names include:

Thunder(boy)

Lightening(the runt- we're prophesying over her, that she will be powerful. :)

Sunshine-big fluffy yellow one

Rain-fuzzy gray one

Hurricane(boy)

Any suggestions for the last two???

We were thinking Eclipse... (I'm not telling Anna that I like this one because of Twilight;)... She would not approve. Lol.

Friday

I visited my Grandparents on my dad's side and drove them out to my Aunt's farm.  YAY FOR FARMS! Seriously guys, it's so bad.  I just LOVE LOVE LOVE being in the country. My grandpa yelled at me for driving too fast, and my grandma wouldn't let me roll the window down, which hurt my heart a little. Lol.You can't drive around on back roads in the country with your windows up! Lol.

Anna and I filled out some of her graduation invitations for her party that is NEXT WEEKEND.  Talk about last minute. Lol.

I'll write a post about today later on.  Sorry this was such a long post, and lacking pictures... I'll update with some later. :) Oh, can you please pray that I find my camera... My cell phone just isn't cutting it. And I'm going to need to hard core document when RACHEL COMES TO VISIT!!!!! :)

Oh! and I'm still waiting to find out about the job that my mom promised me when I came home at her office... Please be praying for this too, if I don't have a job, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  Anyone need a babysitter? or nanny?  Jessica, you're my only follower around here... know any families needing childcare? :) 

Summer desserts.

I love light refreshing summer desserts such as this one.  My aunt came down today to fix supper, and she made this dessert.  Oh how I'm looking forward to more of this over the summer.  I just love how refreshing summer desserts are! :)  I could eat this whole thing for almost no points on Weight Watchers! 

I went for another walk this morning! It was beautiful again today, and hot! Definitely not as bad as MO was last summer, though. 

Grandma is always cold, so we haven't had the air conditioning on, and except for at night when I have to shut the windows, I am enjoying it.  I love to have the breeze blowing through the house filled with aromas of fresh cut grass and amazing food that one of the neighbors grilling. :)  Oh yes.

I also started making a bucket list.  I don't have much on it yet and when I finally finish, I'll post the whole thing.  Some of the things on my list:

Ride a motorcycle

See a musical on Broadway

Take a trip to Vermont

Write a song

Go to a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert

Learn how to tap dance

Fall in love

Get married and raise a family

These are just a few that I can remember off the top of my head, but like I said, I'll post the whole thing when I'm finished. :)

Sunshine and Concerts,

The sun finally decided to come out today! YAY! It was a beautiful day!  I went for a walk this morning to and soaked up as much of it as I could. 

I soaked up some Jesus too!... I currently don't have an mp3 player of any kind, so there was nothing to distract me, and I liked it. :)  I walked to the old school by my grandma's house, there's a little park there with a walking trail.  It's nothing special, but I decided to camp out on one of the benches to read for a little while.

I started reading "Authentic Beauty" last year sometime, and as I do with all books without plots, I quit halfway through.  Of what I read before, it's an amazing book and I'm excited about starting it again, hopefully I can make it all the way through this time.   What I read today is exactly what I needed. I'm in a place again where I need to realize that God is my knight in shining armor. I keep watching for my prince to come rescue me from this "lonely" season I'm in.  HELLO, RACHAEL!... He's been there all along! It's crazy, and kind of pathetic that we need to learn things over and over again, and sometimes it just never REALLY sinks in... I'm excited to go on this journey again:) with my real Prince.

Tonight was Anna's final choir concert! Wow. I know I had an amazing four years in choir when I was in high school, I hope it was the same for her. 

 Worst picture EVER!... but all I have is my phone.  My camera got lost somewhere during packing.  Hopefully I'll find it when I go back to Springfield in the chaotic mess people are calling a storage unit.  I must say I AM NOT excited to go through that....I better not get started on that subject...

I snagged a picture of me and the sis... in the restroom at my high school after the concert.

 

I must say, it sums up our relationship perfectly. Haha! :)

My old Alma Mater.

- So, this turned out to be a little random and I'm sorry for my poor writing skills.

I visited my old high school today! :)  I always feel that I need to look really good(at least I try to look good) when I go back, cause you never know who you'll run into... Well, that was kind of ruined today. Ha! Anna needed me to come pick out our seats for the choir banquet. She text me 10 minutes before I needed to be there and I had just gotten out of the shower. Nice. Lol.  So, I hopped in the car and headed for the school, wet hair and all.

 I got to sit in on the choir practicing for next Monday's concert. I really miss choir! ( This is becoming a very sentimental visit home. Lol.)  I also got to talk to some of my awesome teachers.  I can't believe it's been FOUR YEARS!  Not much has changed there, well, with the building at least.  The kids are a lot more disrespectful than I remember from when I went.  Maybe I was just sheltered and naive, I don't know.  Anna got to show me all of her art work and the awesome resources she has to create them. I'm proud of her. :) I'm so thankful that she invited me to come and spend some time with her. God is good. 

My cousins Melvin and Gloria came to visit this evening.  They are two of my favorite people! Grandma had a rough day today and Gloria stopped all conversation and laid hands on her and started praying.  I want to be more like this.  I'm ashamed that I'm not. My heart always hurts for people and I have such great empathy, but why don't I take the time to stop what I'm doing and pray with them? I need to work on this.

We also reminisced. I really love to hear people talk about my Dad. I like hearing all the good things they have to say, to know that he really was the good godly man I always thought him to be. :) People say they see a lot of him in me, and I really hope that's true. 

It was a great day! :)

I'm not sure if it was the mixture of my gum and this drink, but it tasted EXACTLY like that pink medicine I got to take when i was little!  I loved that stuff! I will definitely have to try this again. :)

Today was GREAT! :) First of all, the sun was SHINING! and it was warm and it actually felt like the summers I remember in Ohio. I got to talk to my old roommate while sitting on the porch swing sipping my morning coffee. That was a great start to my day!

I got to take my grandma around to run some errands.  I could have easily gone and done everything by myself, but it was the first time that she's been out to get groceries since her accident back in January.  It kind of tired her out, but we had a good time. :)

Then, I got to talk to one of my new roomies about our apartment, which I think is starting to sound more promising, and I have such a good feeling about the new place we are thinking of renting from.

I went barefoot all evening, spending most of the time outside talking with my aunt and watching the kids play with scooters and that new skateboard thing that you have to wiggle to keep your balance... (there is no chance you will find me on one of those things).  I was surrounded by the aromas of fresh cut grass, and FIRE!... I LOVE THAT SMELL! One of the neighbors was having a bonfire.  

AND! I heard that DIERKS BENTLEY AND GRETCHEN WILSON will be headlining at the CANFIELD FAIR this year!!!! Oh my gosh! WHAT?!???  There is no doubt about it... I must figure out a way to come back for the fair.  I have already been trying to figure it out, I've gone every single day of the fair for 18 years! It's been horrible not going at all these last four. Now, I really have no choice.  This is the best set they've had in a while. The only thing better, would be if Garth Brooks was performing. :) I need to pray that God makes a way for me to get home.