confession time

it is late and i need to go to bed (seeing as i overslept last Sunday and missed our college Sunday school that is held at this cool little statesborian coffee shop called the Daily Grind), but i am compelled to write at least a few short words.

confession: i watch lifetime movies. and i love 'em. sure, the acting is usually not academy award winning and a 3 year old could probably predict what was going to happen about 5 minutes into the movie--but, it is what it is, i love them. i didn't watch any during the summer and have no idea the last one i saw. with that being said...i watched one tonite that almost did me in. i cannot remember the name of it at the moment, but it was about this woman who went into an inner-city high school and established a class called "no more victims" that was a voluntary class for kids who had been victims of abuse, neglect, rape, emotional trauma, and so on. the whole thing was just about how these kids were transformed by the love from this teacher. they started believing in themselves and realizing that what had happened to them in the past did not mean they were not worthy of a bright and wonderful future full of people who would care about them, support them, and love them for who they were, despite their scars. it portrayed the battle these kids faced within themselves of self-worth because of what had been done to them.

before this summer, i would probably have watched this movie and still have been moved. i probably still would have cried some just because there were many moving scenes. but, as i watched this lifetime movie post-Hephzibah, i just hurt so deeply. i had all these pictures of all of our kids' faces popping up in my brain and it brought back memories of their stories, their hurt, pain, bad attitudes, misbehavior, harsh words, and the phasad that they all put up of being so tough when all the while you could just see the pain deep in their eyes. just makes me want to get in good ole ravioli right now and drive back there. just be there and remind them that they are great.

the movie was based on a true-story and real-life teacher that did this. she loved them unconditionally and was determined to provide them with a chance for a future far beyond what they ever imagined for themselves. i am so glad we all have a Teacher like this in our lives. like this lady in the movie, God loves us a million times more unconditionally and in a way that we could never hope to grasp or understand. it is comforting to know that even though it really does break my heart to know what our kids and so many other kids are going through, that God is right there and has His hand gently placed on each of their little hearts. and the same goes for anyone. not everyone has experienced trauma of the magnitude of some of the kids on this movie or as their best friend or some guy in the grocery line, but we all have hurts and God's love is just as strong and true and permanent no matter what we carry.

well i could go on these thoughts forever, but i need to hit the hay. i hope everyone is doing wonderfully, enjoying their weekend, enjoying eachother, and enjoying God's love. sleep well...

a rainy, humid, lovely day

here are some fun pics of what i like to call "operation: move rooms." i had to move all my junk from one room in our house to our big back room that lin (see pic of my wonderful 'ole bff below) and i now share. this is what it looked like for about a week as i waded through the masses of randomness, throwing stuff away like it was nobody's business. this task was not very fun for me because i was not in the mindset of having to organize and decide what to throw out, what to keep, and so on. i am one of those people that has a little bit of an issue throwing away. but as my roommate advised (rather sarcastically, i might add) i had to "let go of the movie ticket from 9th grade." after i beat her up, i got down to business.

what did i learn from this? well the obvious but enlightening analogy is just that our lives are filled with a bunch of junk--just like my room. we have all this junk we hold onto in our lives--hurt, pain, old relationships, memories of the past, shame, and so on. and a lot of times we depise the idea of dealing with everything. it is easier to put it in boxes and store them up high in the closet where no one can see instead of sorting through it and putting it where it belongs (the junk in my room needed to go to the trash, and the junk in our lives needs to go the foot of the cross). we just carry it all with us and move it from one place to another, in the back of our minds knowing that it has no rightful place in our lives anymore. and even though the thought of having to sort through all those boxes in my room was not my idea of a great way spend my last week of an already challenging and tiring summer, i feel a lot better now having accomplished it. and it has freed me up for the gifts this year holds. hmmm, yay for simple, everyday life lessons.

here is the finished product. we are enjoying it. please come over.
(note: as you can see, there is still work to be done. it takes time to sort through it all and sometimes we aren't ready for it all at once. thankfully, when we ask God to help us, He gives us just enough strength to get through what we can at that present moment.)

current tasks: enjoying my house FULL of crazy and amazingly funny girls, and planning my life after college. these tasks have been fun/hilarious and a little overwhelming, repectively.

i miss all my big H peeps. but i do love how God puts funny things in my path to remind me of them and the wonderful/terrible moments we shared :) love ya'll.

my roommate, bri, and i are sitting in our dining room on our computers and have been for the past like 2 hours. this is sad to us. we have been being so lazy lately, it is starting to get to me. not that i haven't enjoyed the calm before storm of classes...and i have been somewhat productive as i have been cleaning and organizing my room along and along for the past week, it's just that i am realizing i like to have more of a purpose than that. plus, i just uttered the words "i wish wendy's delivered."





visited my little ones yesterday! adorable. same 'ole big H. drama city over there, but on the up and up. God's working (as always) and that's way more than enough assurance that all will be well.

well, since wendy's does not in fact deliver, i think i am going to try and talk bri and earle into going to grab some food. internet surfing and random conversations make a girl hungry.

picture time, my friends...

here are some fun pics of the events of the past week or so. a lot has happened in a short period, that is for sure. saying goodbye to the big H and summer buddies (holler at your girl). hello to the boro and lots of house preparations, babysitting, etc. hectic and busy right now with lots going on, but my face-piece is smiling, don't worry :)


what a pair...here is jake and the adorable mr. george. he was seeing us off as we packed it up and headed out to lexington. i heart mr. george like it's nobody's business. i can't help smiling at just the utterance of his name. like right now, i'm smiling as i type.



massive cross we spotted (couldn't really miss it) while road trippin it. a big thanks to jake-stud who was our chauffer from ga to ky. good talks and fun times were had by all:)



jake's bff's, erin and dave...there are no words to decribe how awesome these two are. we were spoiled rotten in lexington.



final goodbyes to a great summer of truly amazing people...



my view as i headed home.
"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies."
Psalm 36:5



me and lish, one of my new roommies. homegirl has already gotten 'new roommate of year award' at merrywood drive due to her hooking me up with a rug doctor treatment before i got home from lex and helping me paint the very large back room that belongs to me and lin.



mama came to help participate in the painting. little did she know we had other things in store for her (i.e. vaccuuming and cleaning sinks)



here i am showing my painting skills (do not listen to any rumors that i got paint all over the carpet or that i accidently painted over a couple of sockets)

back in the 'boro

i am a statesborian once again...and i like it.