Home is Where My Heart Is

I got off the phone today with Lindsey and I am so pumped for Christmas break, it's going to be a memorable one!! Leigh is flying in from New York, Caleb is coming in town from Virginia, Kyle will be in town from Nashville...and then family, Lindsey, Crystal, Reese, Jordan, Joel, Brandon, and Joseph, and whoever else I am missing are already there. Yipee!!!

Christmas break is going to consist of...
-Catching up with old amazing friends
-Sleepovers with Jenny
-Coffee dates galore
-Christmas and New Years Parties
-Lots of baking
-Working out
-Reflection time on the past 4 1/2 months
-Find areas that need to grow and then start growing
-Finding my summer internship
-Escaping
-Picture madness
-LOTS of love...oh goodness, home.

11 more days I have to pump out and then 3 weeks of freedom!!! Praise the Lord for breaks from the ordinary routine.

matching dresses for our christmas party, naturally (:

long lost buddies...soon to be reunited!!

leigh!!! my loveeee

my favorite roommate ever...we walk through life together. <3

i can't find a family photo, we need one of everyone including sofia, gary, and carson...anyway, it would go HERE!!

<3 me, <3 YOU!

Always

These are the scars deep in your heart
this is the place you were born
this is the hole where most of your soul comes ripping out
from the places you've been torn

and it is always yours
but I am always yours

-always-switchfoot

.we will always have our past, but Christ is always our future.

Nookie Nook

So I found this little 'nook'-my sitting place at the end of upper west the other day. I broke my computer so now I can't use internet in there...my plug in won't work, oops. The other day though, I discovered this lovely little corner right by the staircase that conveniently has wifi...which is where I am currently residing.

I love this place (especially now with the christmas lights up and NO flourescents). No one likes flourescents, I don't know why they are used other than expense purposes. Anyway, I like this spot because I can see the entire hall and the entirety of its beauty. It has also already led to many great conversations that otherwise would not have taken place.

I think I shall get a cushion or chair...I think I shall reside here often. Too many great things have already occured to do otherwise!

God's glory can shine through the most random of places, like my little nook at the top of the stairs.

Overwhelmed with Gratefulness

I've discovered a kind of love that I never knew could truly exist among people.

I sat in bed completely exhausted, but incapable of going to sleep because I was so overwhelmed by how amazing it feels to be loved unconditionally. Maybe I have experienced it in the human form in previous relationships but was just unaware...regardless, I was left stirring in bed, overcome with gratefulness.

God's been showing me what it means to love regardless of faults and without conditions. There is this immense amount of freedom in receiving that kind of love. There is also this urgency to pour out that same kind of love to others! I'm astounded by the way God provides people in our lives to teach us some of His most important lessons...

(I initially said 'most important lessons'-but are any of His lessons more heavily weighted than others....?)

Exploit

Today in Marketing and Communication teams presented an 'inappropriate' commercial and stated how it could have been redone with a Christian worldview. Being the only girl in the class it made me feel a tad uncomfortable, which is an understatement. However, it was interesting to see which groups chose what commercials. Some chose ones that were just purely funny and pushing the line of inappropriate, others chose down right raunchy.

I hate that media exploits a God-given natural desire. We kind of touched briefly on this in leadership class yesterday. We have learned since a young age that sex=bad. So we associate those who have sex before marriage with being bad, which is judgement. Media and the world have turned something that was so beautifully and intricately designed into something that is ungodly, erotic, and taken SO far out of its original context.

Why does television, movies, computers, etc take advantage of a God given desire by exploiting way past its intended purpose? This is a rhetorical question....answers would probably frustrate me further..

Guilty As Charged

This article is where I am at. I am a people pleaser and when I lose perspective I do it out of my own selfish ambitions rather than to bring God glory.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/blog/1412-confessions-of-a-people-pleaser

At the end of the day I want to be able to ask myself, "have I done God's work?"

Link No Longer

P.S. I removed this from being linked with my facebook account for a few key reasons.

1. I blog a lot less when the potential audience that will be reached is anyone and everyone.

2. Selectivity gives me comfort for the time being.