Moving?

So this weekend has been interesting, stressful, and fun... Let me start off with the fact that I am thrilled to be done with block 3 lab and know that I am about to be student teaching! We had our last day on Thursday at the elementary school we were teaching at. On Thursday I went over to Alabama to go to the Georgia State vs. Bama game in Tuscaloosa with Valerie, Leigh Anne, and Christina. On the way there I got a phone call from my roommate Melanie saying we got a noise complaint from our downstairs neighbors. Well, I was a little stressed out.. these neighbors have been after us for months. Let me make a note that we NEVER got complaints from the people that lived underneath us before them. These people have approached us in the parking lot and at our door before, when you aren't even supposed to do that.

Okay, so our apartment complex office said in this notice that we would need to move to a bottom apartment or move out of the apartment complex for whatever it says in the rental agreement. At this point I was really mad!! I was also in traffic, which made me late to the game.. but that's okay. Anyway, this was not okay. Melanie had to go talk to the new manager that we just got at our apartment complex (who at this point didn't know any of the past that we had with these neighbors). Melanie went on Friday and they came to the conclusion that for our safety we should move to the bottom apartment. Was I a little stressed? Yes! However, I do believe it will be better for us in the end. I mean the other night they came and almost banged our door down, because they have anger issues and don't want us to walk around our apartment (that is the whole issue, since I haven't said that already).. They can't even hear us talking, they just say that we walk around too late.. Well people, it is an apartment.. that's okay though!

We are going to be moving to a new bottom apartment the week after Thanksgiving, even though we are all moving out in May. The positives are: 1. We will be getting away from these neighbors. 2. It is a better apartment. 3. We don't have to pay more money for the better apartment. I mean it isn't ideal to have to move to only have to live their for 5 months, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. We are going to make the best of the situation. I figure there are other things in this world that are bigger issues than having to move apartments.

Now, I am not going to lie and say I was just okay with this situation at first. I was mad, sad, stressed, and many other emotions. However, I am so glad I finally got okay and at peace with the situation. I mean I probably shed too many tears over the situation. I am now ready to move and reorganize our new apartment after Thanksgiving.

I am super excited about Thanksgiving break and spending time with my wonderful family!

This situation made me think a lot about the Bible study we have been doing with our C4C girls small group on James.. It's been amazing and well this verse has just been heavy on my heart recently..

² Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

James 1:2-4

Where do I begin?

Where do I begin? Well I feel like life is moving so fast recently, but exciting things have been happening and that's been great! However, I sometimes sit and think that I just need to stop and take in every moment that is happening.. I try to do that anyway, but let's just be honest that is hard to do all of the time. Well, at least for me!

I have been wedding planning, finishing up my last semester before student teaching, enjoy being with my C4C family in Columbus, hang out with my friends, and other things... that sometimes I just sit back and think ::Where is the time going?? Is the day really already gone??:: I really got thinking about this during last weekend while I was on the Cougars 4 Christ fall retreat. We had a hour quiet time and I just sat there and thought how wonderful it was to have a whole hour just to spend time with the Creator. I got to enjoy that moment in life to think about all of the wonderful things that are going on in my life instead of just rushing around in the hustle and bustle of life and not getting to just take it all in.

On a different note, the wedding planning is coming along really well. It has been fun and exciting and I am very excited about this time in our lives! I definitely have lots of exciting things going on and that has been fun!! I have my first student teaching meeting this Friday and so it will be fun to start figuring out all of that stuff as well. I have been wanting to write in my blogs more, but with it being the end of the semester it has been a little harder to write as often.

I'm Engaged!

Well, I am now engaged to my sweet Cameron Wilkins! We had such a memorable trip to California visiting Jessica and Luke. I was surprised and got proposed to on that Friday night when we were in LA. We went to the observatory when the sun was setting and were taking pictures of the beautiful LA skyline. Cameron and I were turned around taking a picture facing the skyline and he got down on one knee and asked me! Of course,I said yes!! We are both so excited about this new chapter in our lives!

Our whole trip to Cali was great! We did lots of fun things and ate lots of good food! Needless to say it was an AWESOME fall break!!

We are going to be getting married May 14, 2011!

I will write a new blog soon!

Here are just a couple of the pictures we took in Cali. We took over 150, so I can't put all of them up!

Ready for Fall Break!

My life has been absolutely crazy busy recently. Everything has started in the full swing.

I have started lab at the elementary school and I am in 4th grade this semester. I am going to be honest, I was nervous about this since I haven't been in an upper grade yet to teach in the blocks. However, it has been a great experience so far. I have taught 3 lessons and all of them have gone well so far. We actually have to ride a bus to and from the elementary school, because it is 45 minutes away from CSU. It is entertaining some days on the bus for sure though. It takes up a lot of time, but it is totally worth it. I really am enjoying my teacher (who happens to have grown up in Dville, so that is pretty cool) and the school is great as well!

C4C girls small group started up and we are studying the book of James. It has been great so far! I am so excited to see what all the Lord has in store for our group of girls as we continue this semester. Our volunteering at the women's and children's shelter also started up and it has been great to see new faces coming out and helping every Tuesday. Those children look forward to us coming every week and so it makes it totally worth going. C4C on Thursdays is going great as well, it has been wonderful to see tons of new people every week. I can't even get around to speaking to everybody that I don't every week. I think that is such an awesome thing!

I have been going home and teaching one of the middle school girls Sunday school classes and it is going great. I am enjoying getting to knowing the girls in the class better each and every week. I am so excited to see what all God has in store for me as I work with the middle schoolers this year.

In the midst of all of my crazy, busy life I have been thinking a lot about the C4C key verse this year.

Matthew 6:33

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."

Even though I am so busy, above it all I need to remember to seek Him and He will give me everything that I need!! I love that verse!!

Fall Break is near-in a week Cameron and I will be visiting our newlywed friends Jessica and Luke in Cali! I am so excited! I will definitely post some pics and write about the trip.

Mighty to Save

"For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs." -Zephaniah 3:17- (NLT)

"Your God is present among you, a strong Warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, He'll calm you with His love and delight you with His songs." -Zephaniah 3:17- (Message Remix)

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." -Zephaniah 3:17- (ESV)

I shared 3 different versions to show you different ways that the same thing can be said in different versions of the Bible. I like all three of these a lot.

You know the song "Mighty to Save" has been sung so many times, so many places.. I know I have heard it in multiple settings and it still means so much to me every time that I hear it. Our God is MIGHTY TO SAVE! He can move the mountains!! He is there to calm our every fear, our every doubt, our every worry... He is PRESENT at ALL times. I think sometimes we forget that He is always there. He is there when the people, places, and things of this world let us down and leave us feeling completely empty, hurt, lost, and so many other emotions. I think that this verse reminds me of more than just the Lord being MIGHTY TO SAVE, but a reminder of His love for us as well.

I just wanted to share that verse!

Snacking or Feasting?

So last weekend we went on the back to school retreat with the middle and high school students. It was a blast! There were 121 people total that went. We talked about being "full" and letting the Lord fill us up and make us overflow in the things in our lives. The speaker, Greg Key, gave different illustrations throughout the whole weekend. I am a visual person, so I definitely appreciated it. He had a loaf of bread on a table and talked about God being the Bread of Life. He asked if we were snacking on God or actually sitting down and taking time to feast on God. I mean how often do we get up or right before bed say, "Oh wait, I need to take 10 minutes to spend with God." I don't think we think about sitting down and just spending time with Him without running to our next thing in our busy lives. This hit me really hard, I know that I am guilty of just sitting down quite often and just doing my one little verse, prayer, and whatever else to get up and run. I want to feast on God instead of snacking.

I also began my senior year of college last week. I can't believe it is here! I am excited about this year as a whole. My classes so far have been good. I am trying to pay attention and not get too bored so early in the semester. We had our first Cougars 4 Christ of the semester and it was great. I have missed those sweet friends of mine.

What a break!

Over this break I have had lots of exciting things going on. One of them would be that we had a surprise anniversary dinner party for my grandparents, Poppa and Grammy. It was so wonderful to see all of the people that love my grandparents in Douglasville and family from out of town. It was not just a yearly anniversary, it was their 50th! That is a pretty big milestone in today's world. I have been fortunate to not just have Christian parents that have always taught me to be Christlike and be Christlike in their example as well, but I have been fortunate to have two sets of grandparents that have also. My Grammy and Poppa are very important people to me. They have lived a life full of travel, giving to others, helping others, working in the church, and so much more. I was happy to celebrate their 50th anniversary with them. I couldn't ask for better grandparents. I love them both!

Another wonderful thing that has happened over the past week is Cameron is now working as the middle school youth minister at our church. It was definitely a quick thing, but it has been such a God thing. It has been wonderful to see how God provides. The middle school youth are so full of energy and it has already been so fun to work with them. Sunday night we had a middle school event "One Crazy Night" where parents and their kids were both there. We played silly games, ate pizza, and kids brought their favorite dessert. It was awesome! I am so excited to see how God continues to use Cameron in that ministry.

My sister started her junior year of high school last week. It was funny to see her taking AP language with Royal, which I did. It brought back some wonderful memories of Leigh Anne and I playing sudoku and listening to music in Mrs. Royal's class, while of course paying attention. :) I also had the privilege of going to help with First Priority this morning. It was so awesome to see about 140 high school students worshipping the Lord at 7:45 in the morning!! That is definitely something that is so cool. I have never seen that many high schoolers at First Priority. If you don't know what First Priority is, it is a non-denominational Christian meeting that meets before school where kids come to worship and fellowship with one another. These kids all go to churches all over the county and they come together to worship before they enter the halls of their school. The other cool thing is in high school your mom doesn't make you get up as much anymore and get out the door, many of those kids drove themselves to school and they were there to worship the Lord before school. In one word it was AWESOME!!

I am getting excited about seeing my Cougars for Christ and early childhood friends next week at school. As much as I am not excited about school starting back, I am excited at the same time.. mainly because I am going to graduate so soon. I know after this semester means that I student teach and then I am done... so I guess that makes me excited too!

God is definitely teaching me a lot right now. He is teaching me that He will provide, and I need to remember that. He is teaching me that sometimes he shakes things up to remind me that He is in control and He will take care of me. Thanks to my sweet friend Mandi I remembered that!

This weekend I am going as a chaperone on my church's Back to School Retreat! It is going to be so awesome. We have 123 people signed up to go, that includes about 22 adults I think. Please be praying that God works in the lives of the youth there, that they may get refueled and pumped to go and dive into the rest of the school year.