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.
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? :)
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. :)
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! :)
- 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.
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.
I didn't take a picture today, but hopefully I can paint a mental one for you.
(Sorry, I am feeling very sentimental)
After a long day of listening to the rain on the windows, I decided I should probably get up and move around a bit. I was headed to Danielle's house when I passed several places that took me back to the summer after my Senior year of high school. This was the best summer of my life. I don't think there was a single night that I didn't spend with an amazing group of friends that I graduated with, went to youth group with, or hung out with after one80. I spent so much time with friends that I love and miss terribly. From sitting around the fire and star gazing at Jenna's and Jes's, to Bible studies, worshiping, and praying all night at any of the three Jones' homes, I loved every second of it. I really miss these moments. They were all so precious to me and I'm so thankful for the times that the Lord has blessed me with and the people that he has placed in my life. I'm thankful for the parents that opened their homes to all of us. I always felt welcomed and I was surprised that they never cared that so many of us hung out in to the wee hours of the night( I'm not talking like 5-6 people here, there were A LOT of us!) I'm thankful for those that poured into me and encourage me in my walk with Christ. I grew so much in my spiritual walk this particular summer.
I am also very thankful that I could be a part of good clean fun. At these specific homes, I knew I didn't have to worry about alcohol being present. I know it kind of sounds silly as I write it, but that is something that meant a lot to me. I'm thankful that I had friends who respected me for what I believed in and never pressured me into doing things that went against it. I'm thankful for those that respected me enough to be careful of which way the conversation went and the words they used. And I know that many of them probably don't even remember it, or realize how much of a difference they made. But they did. And I thank them.
I was really struggling to write this because I want you all to know just how much these moments in my life meant to me. And I know these words can't begin to describe what my heart really feels. Every conversation we had under the stars, and every song that was sung around the fire has helped shape my life. I miss these moments so much. I wish that we could all just come back to these places and that things could be how they use to be. Four years later I have graduated again. This time, from college. I have new friends and a lot more memories, but sometimes I just can't help but go back to those old memories of how things use to be.
I never remembered Silver Park being this Beautiful!
I met my friend, Brittany, here to walk around and catch up since I haven't seen her since my Christmas break, and she will be leaving in a couple weeks to work in Branson, MO How crazy? We are in the same places at opposite times! I come home when she goes to Missouri, and she comes home when I leave. Bad timing, I'd say.
I was really amazed at how beautiful it was at the park. I've been here several times before, but I've never noticed the quaintness. I think I might start walking there in the evenings, or going in the morning to do devotions. It's a great place to spend time with the Lord! :)
I'm sorry about the picture quality... All I've got right now is my phone. But I am so excited to spend more time here this summer, I don't know why I've never appreciated this before. Walking around the pond tonight, I noticed a couple families spending time together. One guy ran his dog around the pond while his wife and little boy were sitting on the edge feeding Ducks. Another Father was helping his son fish, while the mother sat back and watched. These types of things make my heart ache. It makes my heart smile, but at the same time, my heart yearns to have what they have.
I came back home and read a couple blogs, of course, of married women. This did not help my heart aching problem. I know that I'm where God wants me to be and that one day I will have the privilege of writing of my future husband here in this same place, it's just difficult at times. Although it is hard right now, I know that the wait will be worth it. The Lord has all my dreams in His mighty hands, He knows my every desire and every need. I need to put all of my trust and faith in this simple truth.
He is a good good Father and He wants good things for me. :)
May 13, 2010
Today I went out to eat at Grinders with one of my best friends, Danielle Baker. I love coming home and getting to see her! It's always fun. And Grinders is great! We don't have those in Springfield. After lunch, we spontaneously decided to paint pottery at this little place called Hot Pots right next to the restaurant. I go in here all the time to look at all the new projects they have, but I've never committed to actually doing something because when it comes to crafts and things, I am a perfectionist and if I'm not certain that I can do it and do it well, I won't do it at all. Painting has all sorts of things that can go wrong, and on pottery, you are never exactly sure how it will look finished. Anyways, I decided the time had come to just do it. I painted sushi dish/decorative candle dish (because I don't eat sushi and this is how they had it displayed). Here is the top view...
I'm sure it will look better once it has been glazed and is nice and shiny :)
I didn't snap a pic of Danielle's :( ... We have to pick them up next week after they have been fired and glazed and looking beautiful. I'll definitely post pictures once we get our projects back.
I just thought this was sweet :) ... an example project they had done. How did they do that?!?!?!!
Oh my goodness! I almost forgot the best part of our day!... TROPICAL SNOWS!!!! This is a tradition when Danielle and I are together. I'm very excited, because starting in June, they will have iced coffee snow cones! I cannot wait!!!
This was my view for the past two days. I am finally home in Ohio after a very long two days of driving. God protected us a long the way. We had a few close calls, but I'm so thankful we made it home safe! And I can't believe I drove THE WHOLE WAY! I DROVE the whole way!!! I DROVE THE WHOLE WAY!!!!!! For those of you that don't know, I absolutely hate driving! and I did have a few minor panic attacks along the way( This could be because I've been in three accidents, all of which have resulted in my car being totaled.), but I made it! And I feel SO GOOD! :) YAY! for overcoming fears! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA! I just had to include this photo. We stopped at a tiny antique shop along the highway and when I walked in to the bathroom, I was greeted with this sight. I immediately burst into laughter and giggled quite frequently throughout the day at the thought of it. My mom didn't understand what was so funny about it... Ummmmmm???? What ISN'T funny about this picture?
I have spent the day in Cushing Oklahoma with my family before making the drive back to Ohio. I am helping my cousin, Abby, make her own "wreck this journal," a little project my friends and i did before leaving each other for the summer. I'm so excited to work on it this summer! http://www.amazon.com/Wreck-This-Journal-Keri-Smith/dp/039953346X This is a link to buy the original. We decided to make our own. It's going to be so fun completing it!
May 9, 2010 This was my last Sunday at Hope Community Church for the next few months. Oh how I will miss it. I can't begin to describe how the Lord has used this church and the people of it in my life these past three years. I have made amazing friends here. There has been so much encouragement and growing. I'm in a very different place than I was when I started attending Hope, and I LOVE it! God is so good!:)
I had this blog for awhile and never used it. I'm busting it back out! I'm doing my own version of project 365. Except I'm starting the day after graduation to document this new season of my life in pictures. Due to moving out and traveling and such, I haven't been able to post my pictures for the last three days. May 8, 2010:My roommate and I of two years standing in our empty room. There were a lot of amazing memories made here, late night talks, arguments(not always fun, but we grew from it), encouragement, our own concerts, a lot of tears and A LOT laughing, some of the tears were caused by laughing. I can't believe this season is coming to an end. I don't think I'll know what to do when I have to sleep in my own room. She will have to come visit me A LOT! :) Right Rach? Her name is Rachel too. We are also known as the Rach(a)els :) Notice our cowboy boots... (I rubbed off on her ;)
