Where Did the Summer Go?

I got on to read my blog and realized just how long it had been since I had posted! It's been such a great and crazy busy summer! It's just gone by so quickly.
The end of May brought a salsa (food not dance) party hosted by the Whitesburg Baptist Church choir. It was here that I met Sara who very quickly became my best friend. Andrew and I went to Birmingham for the Hillsong concert, where we all thought the balcony was going to collapse due to there being soooo many people there. It was shaking and making me nervous. I broadened my arts horizons by going to see MacBeth at the Fantasy Playhouse. It was pretty awesome. I think Sara and I laughed a lot more than we should have.

I went to camp with the middle schoolers at Whitesburg this year. We loaded up around 130 people and headed off to Fort Faith on June 1. I was the leader for the Yellow Wombats. My group consisted of the same girls that were mine for D-Now. They were such a blessing. We had some great discussions on purity over the course of the week. I'll never forget the last night when one of them finally had gotten things settled with God and she ran ALL over camp screaming about how great God was. It was pretty amazing to watch God work in their lives.
July brought my grandparents and a trip to see the Huntsville Stars and fireworks. I don't get to see them very often, but it was nice to be able to hang out for a while.

Mom and I road tripped it to Kentucky and Indiana in July. We've never done that before. She met up with some high school friends at Barkley Lake. I headed up to spend the weekend with Aunt Barbara. All we did was scrapbook and shop. It was glorious girl time.

August brought some sad news. My grandfather passed away. He'd been in a nursing home for a few years with Alzheimers. It meant a trip to Indiana for the funeral though. It's the first time Mom's whole side of the family had been together since Uncle Harvey's funeral in 2007. It was really good for some of us cousins to be together again. We had a great time and laughed a lot. I don't think I have laughed so hard I physically hurt. We didn't know we were all so funny. :) We would just like to get together again under better circumstances.
I've added to my list of ministries too. I joined the Women's Ministry committee a little earlier than planned. My term was to begin in January, but due to one of the ladies moving they asked me to begin in July. We just had the LIFT dinner which is our big kick off for the women's ministry department. There were over 400 women in attendance. It was fabulous! I am also a sponsor for the Student Worship Arts Team (SWAT). We had our kick off in mid-August with a BBQ. The kids were pretty excited about it. The first Sunday of rehearsal we had over 120 6th-12th graders. I'm pretty excited to see what God does in these kids lives as the year progresses.
Well, I guess that sums up the summer. I'm sure there were a lot of things I left out, but these were the highlights. I'm going to end my summer at the beach. I'm headed to Mobile to see Sara and spend Labor Day weekend resting and relaxing by the ocean. I can't wait!

God Moments

It's been awhile since I have posted. The title of my blog has become more fitting than even I thought. haha...
God has been doing so much in my life lately that I just thought that I would take some time and share it with everyone.
My mom asked me to speak at a ladies meeting several months ago. The meeting kept getting postponed, so it wasn't until Thursday, May 14, that I spoke. I think God had things keep getting in the way for a purpose now. Some of you know that my biological sister found me on Facebook recently. It shook me up for a little while, but have really had a great opportunity to get to know her and we are building quite a friendship. Well, since all that had happened, mom asked me to share it as a testimony at the meeting. The whole day of the meeting Satan kept attacking me and filling me with the thoughts of "Why would anyone want to hear that story? Others are going through far worse than you." Mom and I had multiple discussions about it that afternoon. I was so not expecting what happened that night. After I gave my testimony, one of Mara's friends that was visiting the church that night came up to me. She said, "I just wanted you to know that I gave a child up for adoption when I was 17. I have been wondering about him and the family he went to ever since. You have given me such comfort and I feel better about him and his life now." WOW!!! Never in a million years was I expecting to hear that! God is so good! If I went through that whole situation just to help that woman, than I really feel like it was worth it.
Tonight, I was at the gym walking the track and the song "I Don't Want to Go" by Avalon came on my Ipod. The chorus says, "I don't want to go somewhere if I know that You're not there, cause I know that me without you is a lie." That is something that I have been really challenged on lately. I have been in a situation for several weeks now. The end result is something that I really want and have wanted since God laid it on my heart on April 1, 2002. However, I don't want it right now if God doesn't want me to have it right now. I want it in the timing that He wants it to be in and in the exact place and position He wants it to be in. God is good and has given me a complete peace about the whole thing no matter which way it goes.
So, I have also been reading the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chin. A friend of mine is reading it and she blogged about it and sounded like something I really needed to read. I have only made it through a chapter and a half, but it is AWESOME!!!! It's really challenging me and I LOVE that! I'll blog more about it when I finish it.
I realize this blog is kind of vague, but I'm sure I'll be able to elaborate more later. I just got really excited today and wanted to share the God moments that I have had this week, and this was the best that I could do. :)

Easter and April Showers...

It's already the middle of April! Where in the world does time go? This year seems to be FLYING by! I had the privilege of participating in my church's Easter play "The Healer". It was one of the most powerful performances of the life of Jesus I have ever seen. God really did some amazing things through it. I know this cause He did so in my life. Each night I felt like God was speaking to me. I'm pretty sad it's over.

I met up with mom, dad, Destinee and the Adams' for lunch on Easter Sunday. It was nice to have every one (well, almost everyone) together. I have been craving the family time. It was short due to the matinee performance of The Healer, but mom and dad and matt and tonya came to watch, so I got to talk to them again. Then it was back to my house for "Friends Night". I cooked an Easter dinner since most of my friends weren't able to go home. It's the first time I have ever done a full holiday meal. We feasted on ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and green beans. Andrew made dessert- brownies cooked with Reese's inside of them with ice cream sundae toppings to go with them. It was YUM-O!

I guess the storms have really been the issue the last week or so. I have spent more time in the stairwell at work the last several days. Thankfully, I have my i-pod and a few short movies on it. Lisa and I were cutting out coupons a few days ago while we were there. People laugh as we wheel our chairs with our bags in them. I am so thankful for God's protection over my house. I have been trying to park my car under trees, light poles, etc. hopeful that something will fall on it. It never happens. Things fall all around it, but never on my car. I don't even have a hint of hail damage! Either my car has 9 lives or God really wants me to keep this car. :) haha...

I went to Chattanooga today with Katie and her friend Megan. It was so nice to have a girls day. We went to the 4 Bridges Art Show. There were some pretty interesting pieces of art there. I enjoyed it. I also got to eat at my favorite place- Sticky Fingers and drive through Temple's campus. I forgot how quiet it was on Saturdays. I totally reminisced the whole time. It made me miss the good old days and my friends. Everyone's lives are so busy and we are scattered all over the country. The fountain had no water in it. I wonder how many times it has been sudded this year. I loved the year when the ENTIRE 5th floor snuck out at our End of Year party each with a container of laundry detergent and the year when they had to shut down Bailey Ave because there were suds floating down the street. hehehe... oh the good ol' days! Or how about the time Mrs. B took the girl RA's out to Steak and Shake after curfew and we came back to find one of the girls on my floor sneaking out the window of our TV room??? Talk about being BUSTED!!! Those days had to leave us sometime, but boy am I thankful for the memories. My years at Tennessee Temple University will never be forgotten. I have had amazing roommates, was given opportunities I could have only dreamed about and was taught things that I will never, ever forget. As much as I miss those days, I am thankful for the times that I have now, in Huntsville, with my family, friends and church life. God has been so good to me.

Wow

Wow... It's been quite a week and a half for me.
It took me a little while to recoup from D-Now. Sometimes, I still don't think I have. Anyway, I have really had to find myself trusting God in some areas this week. I can't share what they are right now, but I would really appreciate it if you (whoever- if anyone- reads this) would pray for me and my situation. I know God will show Himself mighty in this. Ok, that being said, I woke up Thursday morning at 3am with severe pains in my stomach. I thought it was appendicitis. I was actually crawling on the ground in pain. Then, I suddenly found myself feverish and had the worst chills... I was wearing flannel pj pants, a sweatshirt, had flannel sheets, a quilt and a fleece blanket on top of me and could NOT get warm. Now, I hate doctors (except Dr. Patty) and hospitals, so I opted to lay there and pray really, really hard that God would take the pain away. It subsided enough to go to sleep. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me, but I knew I needed to take the day and rest. I never felt the pain again, but the feverish symptoms continued. It was so not fun. We believe it was a symptom of anxiety. *sigh*
We spent the weekend in Indiana with my grandparents. My step-cousin got married on Saturday. It was a really nice wedding. The reception was held at the old courthouse. It was the snootiest room I think I have ever been in. Pink marble about half way up the wall with shamrock green colored walls trimmed in white and gold. The chandeliers were to die for! It was AMAZING! I had a blast. We learned a lot about my dad's high school years. haha... I even pulled out old family photo albums. I always get made fun of because I cry looking at them. This time I just laughed till I cried to cover up the tears. For some reason, pictures get to me every time. I honestly think this is one of the best trips to Indy I have had in a long time. I think I just needed to get away for awhile. I told maybe 3 people I was leaving- only those who needed to know. I still feel like I am lacking on sleep.
We went and saw the movie Taken last night. It was very intense! My body physically still hurt this morning from tensing up. I can always feel the pain when I see it. It was a great movie though. I still enjoyed it. After that we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I love spending time with friends.
So, I am hardcore into couponing and sale shopping. I have always been a bargain hunter, but I am finding myself more and more into it. I love watching the numbers drop off my price. Kroger has been my best bargaining thus far. I am still working on Publix and CVS. There is more information posted on my facebook about those deals.
I guess I need to finish my taxes and head off to bed.

Middle School D-Now

God put an amazing opportunity in my lap this past week. One of the leaders for our Middle School D-Now (at church) got sick and they needed a replacement. After getting a facebook message late Wed. night from my friend Katie C (who had heard from the youth pastor) and responding with a "Sure I'll do it." I never heard anything. Then Thursday around 2:15, I got a call from the Associate Youth Pastor at Whitesburg saying he had run into my friend Katy F and she had suggested me as the replacement. At this point I was like "Ok God, I get it." Miraculously, my schedule was free this weekend. The only complication was that I had less than 24 hours to look over the material. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a jam packed schedule as it is. In that 24 hours, I had a dr's appt, small groups and I had to work 8 hours then head straight over to my host family's house. God was going to have to work through my lack of preparation.
I met my host family on Friday- The Yates. They were awesome. We had so much in common it almost got freaky. We had lived in Orlando at the same time, moved to Huntsville the same year, went to CCA, etc... We even discovered that Mr. Yates sits two rows behind me in the balcony every Sunday. I ended up with 9 amazing girls. 6 of which are exactly like April Johnson (and anyone who knows her understands what that means) and the other 3 were stark opposite- quiet and serious. They grilled me the moment they arrived. The first session they had a hard time concentrating, but then all of the sudden it was like they had questions and wanted to have a serious discussion about the Holy Spirit and Heaven vs. Hell. It lasted 6 hours! It was 2 am before we finished! We got up and had another session where the girls wrote the sin that was dragging them down on a piece of paper and then burned it. After that, it was time for "The Amazing Race", where we got clues to go all over Huntsville- starting at the Recycling Center and ending at the Space and Rocket Center. We spent 2 hours goofing off at the Space and Rocket Center. I rode Space Shot 4 times. It wasn't till after we left that I realized my stomach couldn't take it anymore. I never threw up, but I felt terrible. I'm too old. That night we had a group session at the church with amazing worship and a challenge to take Huntsville for Christ. The girls were broken. We spent that evening discussing how they felt about it. Then I had one on ones with each of them. We had a blast, but they learned something too. I think I only got 6 hours of sleep the whole weekend, but it was so worth it. I think every teenager should go through D-Now. I am so thankful that God gave me the opportunity to work with them.

After the final rose...

I'm just going to go ahead and write about what everyone is talking about anyway. The final episode of The Bachelor was on last night. I generally watch the show, but never have I been so hooked on a season of it. It started because I felt awful for the way Jason was treated by Deanna, and then because of Stephanie who was from Huntsville. Granted I don't know her, have never met her, but sometimes you just have to pull for the girl from your city. Well by the time Stephanie got booted, I was so hooked, I couldn't miss an episode. I was so pulling for Melissa to win it last night. I had many friends texting, calling and facebooking through the whole thing. We were all stoked when Jason proposed. I think many of us cried. It was beautiful. Then on the "After the Rose Special", Jason comes on the screen looking like someone had died. Then he just popped up with "Things changed after the show. I don't love her. I don't want to be with her." How in the world can you claim to be "in love" with someone, then propose to them and then "not be in love" anymore? He also claimed Melissa knew it was coming. Judging by her reaction and what she said, I DON'T THINK SO!!! Melissa said to him what he needed to hear. It didn't matter. I think she's better off any way. He also claimed to still be in love with Molly, which he then got the opportunity to tell her. She should have said no way, but that's not the way it works. She is taken aback, but gives him the opportunity! I can be a little understanding about the fact that it didn't work out, but what flabbergasted me was that he had the audacity to break up with her on national television. Seriously, do it in private. UUUUHHHHH!!! Then 7 minutes later he's planting a nice kiss on Molly.
I'm currently watch the third part of After the Rose and am listening to Jason drone on. Melissa couldn't make the show. Could you blame her? I'm interested to see what Molly has to say. Apparently, hers and Jason's relationship is going well. If they are truly meant to be together, then good for them. I just feel bad for Mel. I'm looking forward to hearing who the next Bachelorette will be.
I recently watched the movie "He's just not that into you". I came out disappointed in the fact that they really made girls looked psychotic. Never do they point out that guys actually do things to make girls think that they like them. I found it funny that they turned it around and completely blamed us. Now I'm not by any means saying that some girls don't take it the wrong way or that girls aren't stupid about things. I'm just saying its not completely our fault.
I'm not a male-basher. I have a lot of really great guy friends that I am really thankful for. I just wonder sometimes what has made society the way it is?

V-Day 2009

I have never been a huge fan of Valentines Day. I usually just celebrate Singles Awareness Day. This year, I got challenged by one of the Assistant Vice Presidents of the Credit Union to decorate my house for V-Day. She is a hard one to argue with, so I found myself putting out most of the items I had. May as well enjoy the "pink" holiday, right? :) I actually found myself really getting into it this year. I came into work one day this past week and Lisa had posted an anti-Valentine on my computer screen. I laughed so hard. We even had a Valentines snack day at work.
I had the ultimate distraction this year since Preston and Vicki got married. It was a beautiful ceremony at the Huntsville Museum of Art. Preston was as goofy as usual, which made it loads of fun. I got to watch Emmy during it, which kept me from tearing up too bad. :) Mom brought me some yummy white chocolate and a recordable card for V-Day. I loved it. I'm saving the chocolate though. :)
I spent most of the day trying to decide if I was going to attend this year's Ladies Knights at Whitesburg. I ended up choosing to go and I am so glad that I did. The boys did an excellent job. We got escorted up the stairs, chairs pulled out for us and served all night long. They served us salad, lasagna, breadsticks and cute little cupcakes. Then we watched the movie Fireproof. What an amazing movie! I missed having my closest friends there, but I was able to catch up with some of my other friends that I don't talk to very often.
Valentines Day isn't so bad after all! :) Happy Day of Pink!

Exhaustion

I title this blog exhaustion as I sit here writing it at almost 11:00. Sometimes I think I have insomnia or maybe I have scheduling problems. One would have thought I would have gotten lots of extra sleep since Emily went to bed at 8, but I found it virtually impossible to go to sleep before midnight. I was in bed at 10 last night, but wide awake till 12. *sigh*
Anyway, Emily was really good all weekend. Only a couple of minor incidents, which is understandable. She makes me laugh especially as she starts to talk more. She wanted to wear "Dez gasses" and my shoes. We watched a lot of "Melmo" and did puzzles. I always enjoy my time with her, but I was ready to get back to my "normal" (which certainly isn't normal) schedule by the time Matt and Tonya got back. I may go back into Couples Retreat Babysitting Retirement though.
I came home to clean it up and get things ready for church and "Friends" night. It's not at my house tomorrow so a lot less cleaning was involved- just cookie baking. I think that is one task I will never get rid of and one I am happy to keep. I love cooking.

Praise God

I wasn't planning on posting this week, but I just feel I oughta. This morning I was on my way to work and had made it to the Sparkman exit on 565. I was pulling off the ramp (still slowing down from going 70 on the interstate) and a taxi who had previously been stopped pulled very slowly out in front of me. I slammed on my brakes and could tell there was no possible way just doing that was going to keep me from hitting the car in front of me. I swerved into the other lane (thankfully there were no cars there) and the taxi continued to pull over towards me and I almost hit it again. Next thing I knew I was in the gravely, grassy area and was headed for a metal sign. I immediately swerved back into the lane and was able to stop at the light. By this point, I was shaking and crying. My heart had about flown out of my chest. All I could do was thank God that he had spared me from hitting that car and causing injuries to myself or to the other car. I am thankful my mom prays for my safety each morning. It was only God who got me through that one.

The true end to birthday month

I truly ended birthday month with a bang last night. Kimberly, Rebekah and I went out to celebrate our January birthdays (and other things) at Bridge Street. After a yummy dinner of Lettuce Wraps, Crispy Honey Shrimp and Pepper Steak at PF Changs, we hit the shops. We all got a pair of super hot high heels to celebrate a new year. :) After that we headed to Rebekah's house in New Hope to indulge in cheetos, oreo ice cream and brownie bites, watch "The Women" and paint our toe nails. How girly is that? Poor Jarred just rolled his eyes and went to bed (after he stuck a freezing cold metal flashlight on my back). Rebekah's sister Jenn (she lives in Chattanooga) showed up shortly before we started the movie so we let her enjoy the birthday festivities with us. We probably got 30 minutes into the movie when we just started talking and ended up turning it off. All of the sudden we realized it was 2:30 in the morning. It was like reliving our middle and high school years. I am glad we did it, but boy am I suffering today!
I also wanted to let you know I have started a 2nd blog. I was reading a fellow scrappers blog the other day and she is doing something called Project 365 where you take a picture everyday for 365 days post it and tell a story about it. I thought it sounded like a super cool idea. You can find mine @ dezproject365.blogspot.com. Check it out!

The end of birthday month...

The end of birthday month is always sad for me. I don't know why, but I just love the whole month of my birthday. My house has been decorated with cards, cupcake towels and other random birthday paraphenalia. I'll have to put up the birthday pajamas too. *sigh* I love birthday month.
Anyway, I won't drone on about that anymore. This has been quite a week or so... I have been carefully scouting out TV's all month. Anyone who has been to my house to watch tv knows that people look awfully sickly. It was struck by lightning many years ago and it left an ugly "scar" in the top left corner. I am happy to report that I have made my first electronic purchase without the help of my dad. I did send him links to seek advice, but I found it and bought it all on my own! I also purchased an icemaker for my fridge. We all know I am totally not capable of putting an icemaker in the fridge. Thank God for good friends who are willing to help me out (even if it is for selfish reasons- who knew ice was so important?). He even set my tv up for me! YAY!
I got to spend Wednesday evening with my best friend Rebekah and her family. I drove out to New Hope to see her and let her pluck my eyebrows. I got to play with Abigail and hold Olivia. After staying and eating a yummy dinner, I headed to the Walmart in Hampton Cove to buy groceries for Thursday nights dinner at my house. After purchasing my groceries, I headed out the door where I proceeded to set off the alarm. After determining that it was not my groceries or the camera, ipod, mp3 player or any of the other electronices in my purse, it was decided it must be the Taylor Swift cd case that was in my purse. The man at the front was pretty harsh and asked me if I had a reciept. I told him I bought that cd months ago and that the cd wasn't even in the case (thank goodness I had left it in Kimberly's car). He wouldn't let me leave. I waited about 20 minutes before security let me go. Apparently when you buy a cd, you have to take apart the inside and take the security tag off the paper part. I think this is just too much hassle, so I don't think I will be buying very many cd's from Walmart. Boy am I grateful for i-tunes.
We didn't have small groups this week, so I invited everyone over to my house for dinner and a movie. It ended up being me, Brad and Roxanne. I made spaghetti and we all sat around the table and ate and talked. It's been a really long time since I have done that. Then we sat down and watched Mamma Mia! It is my new favorite movie. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. The best part for me is always the singing and dancing. I watched it twice that night. I even stopped making cookies to watch. That NEVER happens! I downloaded the sound track and played it all the way to work. Poor Lisa had to hear me randomly singing the songs at my desk.
It was Girl's Night Out at Whitesburg this evening. I love having the chance to get together and meet other girls. Being in a church as large as WBC, its hard to meet people outside of your Life Group. Tonight was a great opportunity for me to scrapbook with fellow scrapbookers and make some new friends. I had a great time and am REALLY looking forward to the next Ladies activity which I think is the women's retreat.
Tomorrow (Sat) holds our annual birthday dinner. I probably shouldn't say annual cause we have really done a bad job at going out EVERY year, but we are trying again. Rebekah, Kimberly and I all have birthdays in the same month. When we were younger, we would have separate parties, but now that we are older, we like to just spend that time together. So, its dinner at PF Changs for us! I am super excited about it. I love that place.
I'm off to eat Disney Princess Spaghetti O's (at least it has a full serving of vegetables) and watch my hush-hush show. :) Have a great week!

Best Birthday Month EVER!

When I started off this week, I just knew it was going to be AWESOME! It started with MLK Day- which means a day off of work. I was able to get some things done around the house and almost finish a scrapbook. It's been awhile since I have had my scrapbooking mo-jo, but I am happy to report it is back! Must be the scrapbooking room...
Tuesday was back to work, and felt like 10 Mondays in one. We found humor during the inauguration when one of the preacher's stood behind the podium and you could barely see him. He got named "the munchkin" which obviously led to Lisa and I singing- "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" and "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" and later Lynn added to it with "If I only had a Brain" and "Welcome to munchkin-land". In the midst of the chaos at work, Katie sent out a text offering 2 free Dancing with the Stars Tour tickets. The catch was it was in Nashville- that night. Anyone who knows me knows that I have an unhealthy obsession with that show. I play my playstation 2 game of it all the time. hehe... Anyway... we left after work to head up there to see it. I have to say it was AMAZING! It was way better to watch live. I have now added dancing lessons to my list of things to do this year. It was all I could do to sit in my seat.I added a video to the bottom of this post.
The rest of this week is been pretty normal. Life is good. We officially started back to small groups this week. We are learning about God's promises. I think the next 4 weeks or so are going to be pretty good reminders of those.
The cookie of the week this week was Fudge Ecstacies. I didn't really have any left to take to work. They were a big hit. It's taking me a while to figure out what to make this weekend, but I am sure it will come to me.

Here we go...

Well... I made it to 26. Yes, I know that was last week, but I am wicked slow at writing on this thing. Anyway, I really didn't want to get any older than 25, but I just couldn't stop it. :) It rained- hard- the whole day. I braved the weather anyway and met up with Katie and Roxanne for lunch at Logan 's, where I was thoroughly embarrassed. Then that night I met up with my family and of course the Adams' for my birthday dinner at Connor's. I requested a snooty birthday dinner with everyone dressed up in at least church clothes and for the most part I got it. I got the "special" birthday song where everyone at the table sang in completely different keys and none of them were on the correct key. I laughed so hard. It was good. My friend came over later that night and we chatted till 2am. Exciting birthday, huh??
I usually wait till my birthday to make my "real" goals for the year. My main thing for this year is really going to be about branching out. I want to try new things. I intend on trying snow skiing, water skiing (and getting back in that tube), maybe even camping and hiking.
I am getting involved at church again. I took a hiatus for a little while and was visiting another church. For now, I am back at Whitesburg and will probably attend Willowbrook in the evenings. Whitesburg has an AWESOME women's ministry and I really love that group of women. I've been getting involved with that again and am praying about getting involved in the youth group. I really miss my teens at Friendship. We had Sweet Surrender this past Friday. It was a really awesome time of fellowship with each other and with God, as well as some pretty amazing desserts. I look forward to Girl's Night Out at the end of the month. I intend on scrapping and playing some volleyball.
I am getting consistent with walking at the gym. I still can't run due to that lovely tumble down the stairs in December. I just know the swelling and the knot will go away eventually. I can do the elliptical for short spurts of time. One day I'll get it all together. :)
For "Friends" night a couple weeks ago I made the most amazing chicken. It was marinated in a honey dijon mustard sauce then topped with bacon and cheese and baked. OMTG! It was out of this world. I wrote keeper in big letters on it! The cookie for this week was a peanut butter, chocolate, caramel one. That was another big keeper. (BTW- I'll trade recipes with anyone who wants to trade w/ me. I cook for a group of 4-8 fairly regularly)
Anyway, my BFF promised me that 26 was going to be the best year of my life and that she thinks I am going to get an amazing surprise this year. I know what she thinks the surprise will be, but I'll keep it to myself and let you know when/if it happens. ;) So, here's to 26 being super amazing.

2008

It’s the end of 2008 and I thought I would join the growing trend of bloggers. :) This year was not in the least what I thought it would be. There have been smiles, tears, and much laughter along the way.

I discovered that planning is definitely my forte. I started the year with planning a trip to Gatlinburg for 10 of my friends. We headed up to the mountains in early February to do some relaxing, shopping and some trail walking (yes, I did walk the trails). The time away really gave me time to think. I think the theme of the trip boils down to Matthew 6. A couple of my friends and I also assisted in the planning of the singles beach retreat for two large churches in Huntsville. 100+ singles attended the event in Laguna Beach, FL on Memorial Day weekend. It was an amazing time of worship, activities, and fellowship. Shortly after this (meaning about 4 days), we were starting a small group Bible study expecting only 6 people. We were surprised that first Thursday night when we had approximately 14 show up. In order to keep the group small, we opted to divide the group. Shortly thereafter, we found that both groups had doubled in size. Next thing we knew, my friend and I were dividing the groups again! By early fall, we had 4 groups going throughout the city. It was amazing to see what God did within all of the groups. Christmas time came and my friend and I found ourselves planning a formal Christmas dinner for our small group Bible study. We chose to cook a dinner consisting of beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and crème brulee. Afterwards, we played a game of Catch Phrase, played Rock Band and watched “White Christmas”. I loved having the opportunity to dress up and play hostess. :)

Even with all of this planning, I found time to participate in a women’s Bible study with my mom and several other women who have played key roles in my life. I have found myself challenged to not only believe in God, but to truly believe Him. I spent quite a bit of time at the river, coached Upward Cheerleading, and a multitude of other things . I lost a significant amount of weight (I’m down 2 pant sizes!) Oh- and I bought a house! It’s a small 3 bedroom, 1 bath in South Huntsville. It’s farther from work, but closer to my social life. I’m enjoying it for the most part. I host a small group of my closest friends over weekly for dinner and “Friends” night.

Mom says I have the best stories from this year and that I should write a book. I figured I would sum them up and share them this way. I think I’ll start with my “surprise” birthday party. My friends were so sweet to throw me this party. The only problem was that I was the first one there. We all had some good laughs. J I guess the next one started with the bat at Andrew’s house. He claims it’s my fault it came in, but he left me standing outside so I say he deserved it. Haha… Anyway, a bat ended up in his house probably through the fireplace. We were hanging out with Chris and Larissa that night. The plan was to play Rock Band. After an hour and half (or more) of trying to catch the bat or make it fly out the door, Andrew ended up killing it. It had to be done. We have been called murderers, but I guarantee all actions were taken before this was done. Then this summer we were out on the river, and I had agreed that I would tube. So, the boys pulled out the 3 person tube and 3 of us girls got on. The first round was kind of funny then we switched people. That time around I kept telling them to stop, but the spotters weren’t paying attention. I ended up with a terrible case of whiplash. So, several trips to the chiropractor later, I was back to normal. Our family vacation brought more good stories. My favorite way to describe it is: 2 Hurricanes + 2 Tropical Storms + a search and rescue + several unexpected trips to Disney World= PRICELESS. I don’t think we will be going on another cruise during hurricane season. I think the next best thing came when I was driving home after meeting Kim and April at the High School Musical 3 premiere, which ended at 2am. I was driving and singing the songs from HSM2 at the top of my lungs and suddenly I realize there are flashing lights behind me. I couldn’t understand why since I was going the speed limit, but I pulled over. I realized it wasn’t just one cop that pulled me over and it wasn’t two, but THREE cops pulled me over! They said I was swerving (it was windy) and asked if I had been drinking. Once I explained where I had been, we shared a few laughs and they let me go. Next on the list would have to be after small groups the second week of December. I had been sick all day, but went anyway. We always watch The Office and a movie afterwards. This time the movie was Elf and I fell asleep (this is not too unusual for me- once I get in that papisan chair I’m out!). Well, once the movie was over, I got up to head downstairs to get my things together and go home. I go to step down and I just couldn’t catch my footing. All I remember is hitting each stair all the way down and hearing Brad go “NO NO NO NO”. Once I got to the bottom, I just prayed I hadn’t broken anything. The tears were there, but there was no way I was crying. I got to the bottom of Andrew’s driveway and completely lost it. I didn’t have time for that kind of injury. We had a formal dinner on Saturday! Needless to say, I could barely walk on Friday morning. Mom had to take me to the doctor where we discovered nothing was broken. I ended up with 3 extremely large bruises and 5 smaller ones as well as a 2nd butt. I am happy to say that I now I just have a small knot still there, but I am healing! If that wasn’t enough, exactly a week later, I’m headed into work (on time for once) and I get on the elevator. I know I just work on the 2nd floor, but I was still in a significant amount of pain. Anyway, I get on and it gets all the way there and goes to settle and the power goes off. At first I thought I’d give it a couple of minutes and see if the power came back on. When it didn’t, I called my boss. She didn’t answer the phone, so I thought, “I’ll call Kevin. He always has is phone on him”. Sure enough, I asked him “So, is the power out up there?” He said, “Yes.” I was like, “Well, I’M STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR”. The next thing I know everyone is asking me if I’m ok, if I need food, if I’m ok again. Good grief, how long was I going to be in there? 30 minutes later, they had manually pulled the elevator down and pried the doors open and I was free. The most overwhelming thing was the 50 or so people standing outside. Lisa made me face my fears and get back on it that day, but I have been trying to avoid it if at all possible. J The last couple of weeks have stayed calm- thank goodness.

Well, those were the highs and the humorous of 2008. There were some lows, but I don’t want to dwell on those. I want to learn from the mistakes and press on. I won’t be making any resolutions this year. They are too easy to break. Instead, I am going to make goals, one of which is to travel to places within a 2-4 hour radius more. I have a lot of friends I haven’t visited in a while. Secondly, I am a pretty cautious person. I won’t do it if I even remotely think it will hurt me physically or emotionally. It’s time for me to start branching out- more than trying new foods. My fun goal is to find as many snooty events as I can and get involved- even if I have to plan them myself. Life is too short to not celebrate the things that make us happy.