Goodybe, July

Thought I'd better write again before July was out. It is the last day of this fine month, you know.
I don't think I can coordinate my thoughts this morning, so a random smorgasbord of bullets is the order of the day.

• I'm currently eating cheese toast with tomatoes on it, courtesy of my friend Rebecca. She brought me a lovely block of Muenster from Wisconsin last week.
• 
• July has been a month of craziness.
• I made a successfully cute skirt a couple weeks ago.
• I need to go fix a seam in aforementioned skirt when I get off the computer.
• Yesterday I went to Six Flags again with some of my awesome friends.
• I have been so busy doing things with my friends this month that I am exhausted.
• Also, I have a cold.
• Wednesday was bad. It was very depressing. Erin gave me a string of yellow beads and that helped.
• My world is spinning around me like mad, but God's got it under control so there's no point in me freaking out about it.
• People are disappointing.
• God is faithful.
• People are also amazing.
• Thursday night I stayed up and colored a unicorn with my crayons. I think people should use crayons way more often.
• Sometimes I wonder if it will ever end, but I don't really know what "it" is. I have a feeling it's not going to, though.
• There is a fly that keeps buzzing around my head and it's driving me INSANE.
• I've been too busy for the past week and a half to journal, which is really sad because I've been busy doing stuff that begs to be written about.
• I've written more in my journal this past month than any other month in my life because I'm determined to remember. Recently I realized that I can't remember huge chunks of my life and it makes me sad. No, I mean seriously sad. Like I've lost part of my life, as if I had amnesia or something.
• God is amazing. I know I sound redundant, but when life goes crazy and you're forced to just spend time sitting alone in God's presence so you don't go crazy with it, that's when His beauty becomes so real.
• Sleepovers, a birthday party, a prayer retreat, a visit with old friends, six flags, VBS, are just a few of the things that have occupied my time and energy this month. And, may I say, they were all fantastically fun.
• As I'm writing, I'm listening to this video: Aaand you should listen to it too because that's my friend Janson and he's entered the Opening Act competition for a chance to open at Celebrate Freedom concert this year. Go watch it. It counts as a vote for him. :) Even if you don't care about the contest, I recommend checking it out anyways because it's a fantastic song.
• I could use some ice cream right now.
• Yesterday at six flags I was wishing I had put sunscreen on the back of my neck, but it was too late... then we noticed someone had left some spray-on SPF 50 sitting on a bench... thank you, random person, for forgetting your sunscreen. My neck is grateful. =)
• Bekka and I convinced Rebecca to get a spur-of the moment haircut while she was in town since she hated her hair. She loves it now. You're welcome, Bex. lol
• On the way back from the retreat, I spent hours talking in a British accent. During which time span this picture was taken. Starbucks' shaken iced tea/lemonade is delicious. Hat shops are less boring when silly boys and silly accents are involved.
  
• Egyptian bellydancing belts... haha. And it's ok if that didn't make sense to you. It won't make sense to most of you, but I felt like it had to be there.
  
• I kept up the accent until it was scared right out of me when I had to run across 4 lanes of scary traffic. O.o It didn't come back after that.
• If there's a cup over the ketchup pump at Zaxby's that means you probably don't want to consume that particular ketchup. Experience is a fantastic teacher.
• Looking at that pic reminds me I really need to work on my gangsta face.
• I won a game of Scrabble last night. Both the other girls I played with claimed to be champs. in yo face!
• I feel kinda bad this post is so disorderly, but I seriously am unable to write about everything in an orderly fashion right now, so it was this or nothin'.
• I never eat ice and yesterday my fingertips got all wrinkly from eating all the ice chips out of my cup at Applebee's.
• Um... I think I'm done for now. Happy weekend, people. <3
  

I like the smell of fireworks...

Happy Friday!
I have decide on this lovely, much-too-warm Friday to share with you all just how very fun last Sunday was. (In case you forgot, Sunday was the 4th of July)

Actually, I'm afraid unless you were there you just won't be able to fully know the amazingness that it was, but I feel that it would be blogger deprivation if I didn't share what I could. So here goes.

Almost our whole Sunday school class (which is a lot of people) showed up, plus a couple stray youth group kids. (Something happened when I turned 20 and all of a sudden I'm calling everyone a kid, like I'm actually older than them or something. haha.) Our favorite class activity goes like this: Everyone brings their favorite games and some food to Floyd's, and then we spend hours playing and eating. And maybe pretending to faint on Floyd's nifty sofas... ehem.

I brought cookies and watermelon. Heh heh... Nobody even knew what I did to the watermelon.


There were footballs and Frisbees and bubbles. There was Wii. There was Apples to Apples. UpWords. Life. Uno. Other games I don't know and didn't play... Lots of stuff going on all at once.

Even some modeling.

(The other models, I think, would rather their picture not be posted publicly.)

Katie and Keith and I wanted to play Uno, so we rounded up some people...
Somebody took this great picture of Anna Leigh and Laura...

Matt brought his nifty camera. He left it unattended at some point... That was fun.
Props to Matt for sharing these pics with me so I could share them with you. :)

I took this pic of 3 of my favorite people!

The boys were hardcore and grilled us some foods.
Anna Leigh took a picture of my foods.
There also happens to be a picture of me eating said foods. Wow. Thanks.

You know what? I don't think this post is doing the day much justice at all.
There were just too many people having too much fun for me to properly express it.

Here's this picture of everybody.
The best game of Catch-phrase ever was sacrificed for this picture!


So, we ate lots of food, and played lots of games, and had lots of laughs. The day ended with fireworks, as it ought. Fireworks and "Jesus music" and Christian college horror stories and snarkiness... Perfect. :)

The End.

P.S. I just had to edit this post because I used to word "awesome" about 3 times.

Just Today

foreward: This is a seriousish post about a conversation I had with God about me being single. If that disinterests you, you may tune out now. =D I wasn't going to post this on my blog, so it started out earlier today as a little note on Facebook. But now it's officially a blog post too, just in case any of you would happen to like it.

So...

I was going to do this as a blog post, but then I decided that
it wasn't blog worthy. Or too personal maybe? Or that people wouldn't like it.
Or think I'm weird. Or something. I don't know. Something kept me from posting
it on my blog, but I just wanted to share it. Mostly with Erin because we've
been talking about this kind of stuff lately. (contentment, trusting God,
relationships, talking to God... you know...)

Well, I had a revelation
the other night. Or maybe it was an epiphany, whatever that is. Or just a
realization.

I was lying in bed, trying to muster up the courage to tell
God "if you want me to be single for the rest of my life, I'm okay with that." I
do a lot of my talking to God at night, in case you haven't noticed. Anyways, I
really couldn't even manage "I am content to be single til I'm 42, if that's
your will for me, God." Because, honestly? I want God's will and only God's will
for my life, but how can I promise that I'm going to be content being single
every day for the rest of my life right now?!

And then the neatest little
thing happened. God said "You don't have to be content to be single for the rest
of your life. Just today."

Just today?
I thought I had to sign it all
over and say "Lord, I am ready to be an old maid for you! Let's do
this!"

And He was like "nope. Just today. That's all I really
want."

That makes SO MUCH SENSE!

I can live with being single
today. We're supposed to take life one day at a time anyways, right?
He gives
grace when we need it, and right now I don't NEED the grace to be content to be
a crazy old bird lady for the rest of my life. All I need right now is the grace
to serve joyfully where I am TODAY.

And I dunno if this is necessarily
scriptural, but why should I force myself to say "I'm content to be single
forever" when God hasn't said that's His will anyways? I don't know WHAT His
will for the future is.

But I must act on what I DO know of God's will,
and I DO know that TODAY I am supposed to be single.
I can deal with that.
=)

And sufficient grace for each new Today will come as it gets
here.

And if it turns out that I AM supposed to be single forever, well I
guess that'll be ok too, because not only will God give grace, but Erin has
agreed to be a crazy bird lady with me.
<3