The Awakening

Amazing. That is the ONE word I have for the retreat last weekend. The whole theme was "The Awakening". We are called to WAKE UP instead of being asleep. To arise to the calling of following HARD after Jesus.

What I love about myself is that I pray, for this particular retreat my prayer was that the Lord would show up and show himself faithful in ALL of our lives, not just mine. That he would break each and every one of our hearts the way they need to be broken. Well, what I love is that first of all I scare myself when I pray like that, because HE IS more than willing to do just that, if we are willing to let him in. I get scared because I really don't know what he has in mind when I ask him that. But, what I also love about myself (in a totally sarcastic way!) is that I pray like that, and then I doubt. I doubt that he will show up and that this retreat will be like many other, and we will leave feeling all nice and fuzzy on a spiritual high. Can I just tell you that I am the doubt. I doubt myself. That is the truth. When I pray like that, I then think to myself, "Oh crap, what did I just do." Then, when I feel the Lord tugging on my heart, I can either ignore it and keep going as I am, or act on it. Thankfully, and Praise the good Lord, I acted on it. I acted on that tugging of the heart! And, I was NOT the only one. I, in all honesty, have NEVER seen the Lord move in a more powerful way. I have never seen so many girls absolutely BROKEN. And it was BEAUTIFUL!

We were all able to individually examine our hearts on Saturday night and then go to these "stations" to do different things to "wake up" to the Lord. All of these stations were so God centered, and they all pointed to the cross. For that I am so grateful. It was a time when I was un-interrupted, and I let the Lord work mighty in my heart! HE is so good! I really don't know if this makes any sense to you. But, to be honest, when the Lord is so there, it is just so hard to explain. You were there, and you are so thankful, but you don't know how to express that. Praise the Lord it's that way, it just shows how BIG he is.

We had an amazing time. I danced (like a crazy lady!), I did interpretive dance (yes, you can laugh!), I LAUGHED so hard (alot!). It was amazing and beautiful. I will always cherish my girls. I love phi lamb so much more now than I ever have. The girls are all incredibly beautiful and have such amazing hearts! My heart overflows with JOY! I wish I could go to Canyon Lake again this weekend. That's how much I loved it! I hope that you would let the Lord speak to you in a mighty way, it is absolutely refreshing!

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." -Hebrews 3:12-15

To hold you over...

I know, I know. It is Wednesday and I have not updated one thing about this weekend. Well, I will have you know that it was an absolute BLAST. The Lord showed up in a mighty way, and I laughed real hard. And, no, those didn't happen at the same time! :)

Anyway, here is a picture to hold you over until I am really able to tell you about retreat. I am in the middle of a huge project that's due tomorrow so this will just have to do for now!

Do you think I had fun?! OH, you bet I did!

It's Friday...

It's Friday, and I am thrilled. Not only because it has been a wonderful week, full of NON-stressful lesson plans, but, this weekend is our phi lamb retreat! :)

We are headed off to Canyon Lake for the weekend, up near New Braunfels. I just checked the weather for the weekend, and tomorrow we have a high of 76, with NO RAIN possibilities!!! HOLLA!!! This means that all of us lovely ladies, get to have fun in the lake, and lay out. Now, don't worry, I do plan on using sunscreen for the mere fact that I don't want to be miserable again.

Anyway, if you would pray for us, we would ALL be most appreciative. I know Satan wants every bit of this retreat to be his, simply because we want the Lord to show up, so bad! But, we will give Satan NO foothold at all. (At least that is what I have been telling him!) I say this, because we are girls. With 32 girls all together in one weekend, you can only imagine all the crazy things that could happen. The theme is Awaken. My prayer is the the Lord would Awaken our hearts to sin, himself, and fall more in love with him. I pray we can all love each other this weekend and just be open and honest with each other, THAT is what Phi Lamb is all about.

So, off I go to pack. I plan on bringing my favorite swimsuit and a beach towel. I am doing this, because I know it will be gorgeous. I am Believing God for good weather! :)

HUGS to all of you. And thank you, in advance, for being faithful prayer warriors.

Pictures will surely follow, upon our return! :)

The Re-do!

As you can see, I have done some "re-doing" otherwise known as "updating" my blog! Why, you ask?! Because I felt the need and wanted to!! :)

Most of this was triggered by my bestest friend, Jennifer, who now has her own blog. I am most certainly ecstatic about it. Now, not only can she keep up with me while I am here, I am can keep up with her while she's in the great south city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana!! :)

YEA, I have absolutely come to love blogging. And, you should too. So, join in the fam of what I like to call "the bloggin' world!"

It's fun.

Who's invited?!

So, me and the girls, Jen, Jo, and Sal are making it tradition to have a "Girls Weeked" every year. (And yes, "weekend" is really spelled "weeked" the last time we checked the infamous cake!) This is simply because our lives seem to be getting more hectic and crazy instead of more calm and collected! Last year it was held in College Station. Really, it was all a ploy to get Joanna engaged, she had NO idea. What a fun time it was! So, we decided to make it tradition each year. Not for Jo to get engaged, but to have a girls weeked. Well, this year, we are having it in Baton Rouge because that is Jennifer's home now. We are all so excited and can't wait.

Obviously, though, this takes MANY emails and much planning because as I said earlier, we are some CRAZY busy girls. Grant is so kind to let us invade his home for a whole weekend. Normally, Jon is the patient one and oh so generous to deal with us, but this time it is Grant. He is one lucky dude.

This is an email I recently received from Jen:

So, Grant was standing over my shoulder last night as I was checking my email. In my inbox I have the emails about Girls Weeked. It says that the emails are between Lindsee, Joanna, Jennifer and Jonathan. Now, we all know that this is because Sally and Jon share an email address. But Grant said "Y'all really want Jonathan to come to your girls weekend?"

This is just a heads up, NO, even though we love you, Jonathan, you are NOT invited to our GIRLS WEEKED.

This gave me a good laugh. Anyway, thought you would all enjoy. This is what our email consist of! :) I love my girls!

Until Girls Weeked '07.....

My Sweet ones! :)

The infamous cake!!!!!! :) Oh, I love it. This just goes to show when you work hard, you don't pay attention to the details!!!

S.B.F.B

This stands for, Spring Break Flew By. I CANNOT believe that it is Monday, not only Monday, but the Monday after spring break! The rest of my spring break was definitely enjoyable.

First, I will have you all know, that I absolutely BURNED myself like no other. I was so tired of the rain, after it poured down in buckets on Tuesday and Wednesday, that I decided to lay out a bit on Thursday because it was nice and sunny. Well, stupid me laid out for an hour and 45 minutes, only thinking I wasn't getting anything. WRONG. I got a bit too much. I honestly can say I have never been in so much pain from being burned. I can only blame myself. I am pretty much healed now, and thankfully, for my kind of skin I tan more than I peel. So, now I have a nice tint to my skin!

Anyway, Thursday Joanna and I got to run around like we always do. She got the most precious bag from Charming Charlies, I am hoping they still have one, because now I really want it! Then we had Pappasitos. Always an experience there! No, but I love those times. They are so few and far between now, so they are just sweet. I do cherish them, though. Because in less than 4 months she will be living in Montana with her hubby!

Friday was fun because not only did Mr. Jude come over with Mommy, but I got to see all my girls. Jenn, Joanna, and Sally. We were all in the same room at one time. Now days this always seems to amaze us because we don't all live here. As now Jen lives with her hubby in Baton Rouge. That was a fun time. I am still getting over my bitterness because while we were together that whole time, we didn't take one picture. DUMB.

Then came Saturday. I just tooted around getting things done. That night we had a fun welcome back/baby shower for Jaclyn! Those times are always so fun. We did have a good time, and Jaclyn is probably the most precious pregnant person I have ever seen. She is absolutely glowing! Sunday was a grand day. I got to have lunch with my precious Jen. Talk about times few and far between, I miss this girl so bad. It is so weird not being able to just pick up and go somewhere with her, but when she does come into town and I see her it makes those times all the more special!

Oh, and I can't forget to mention that my grandparents, from Colorado, have been here visiting all week. They were here before I got home from school and they leave tomorrow. It has been fun having them around. They are probably the most laid back people I know! We keep them quite busy! :)

Well, that is my spring break in a nutshell. It flew by, but it was grand! I hope yours was equally as good.

Jude, and his absolutely precious smile/laugh

Jude and his obnoxiously high ''shorts'', he's a cutie.

Me and Jen at the shower! :)

Cute bellies and cute sisters!

Me and Kevbo obviously enjoying the waterwall. ;)

WATER!!

The Grandparents. Olie and Bev!

3 generations!

Me with the grandparents, you gotta love 'em!!!

Hope you enjoy!!! :) And, hope everyone has a great first week back at school! As I always say, the sooner I go back, the sooner I finish!!! :)

HUGS and LOVE to all!!!

Sweet Beth Moore!

Oh, folks! I always say when I am home I shouldn't go to Beth Moore if possible, because it only makes me miss going that much more! But boy am I thankful I went! :)

She brings the word like no one else I've heard. Her love, desire and knowledge of the word is something I so long to have.

This whole semester is about wising up! :) It is mainly based out of proverbs, which is a wonderful book! But, last night, she spoke on the tongue. And, oh, how I needed to hear that. Let me just tell you one thing, as humans, we have NO greater power in the human body than our mouth and our words. SO TRUE! Our mouth is such a vital thing when it comes to praising our Lord. With the same mouth you can dishonor your father, you can also praise him. Does that scare anyone else?! Oh, how I hope we are a people who use it to HIS glory! Every time we abuse that vessel, our mouth, we have lessened our ability to be powerful and use it for his glory! How sad!

There are MANY things I learned. And as I am posting this, I was just thinking I would only give you a few. Then, that few turned into many points I learned. So, this blog post is going to be a lesson to all those reading. I sure hope you will read on and learn what I learned last night, as I was blessed tremendously by her word to us. Now comes the points!

• God's words are OMNIPOTENT, our words are POTENT.
• Misuse of our mouth = misuse of words
• Nothing is sweeter to HIM than our lips! :) (We give him praise with our lips!) Heb. 13:15
• The fruit of our lips will reward us (Prov. 12:14)
• We have to inhale God's word through reading and meditating on it, as it is all God-breathed. But then we exhale God's word through speaking it! AMEN!
• HE speaks, and it is done.
• He commands what we need to say, and HOW we need to say it. (John 12: 49-50)
• We should want to use our words as they were intended, for Godly use!
• You don't want to be around a gossiper, because if they are talking TO you, they are probably going to talk ABOUT you.
• A few verses on the tongue: Ps. 81:10, 2 Cor. 4:13, Prov. 18:21, 15:4, 18:8, 12:14, 12:18, 15:28, 15:23, Isaiah 50: 4-5, 55:10-11 and MANY more!

One thing that stuck with me was gossip. I am a woman, so therefore I do it. But, alas, that is NO excuse. I will say, if the Lord has taught me anything in the last year, he has taught me to absolutely DESPISE gossip. It's bit me in the butt too many times. HE hates gossip. It brings NOTHING good to you or the other people involved. My prayer is that we would all come to a point when it is something we absolutely hate and CANNOT stand. Be bold, if something is getting out of hand, be the one to stop it. It may be embarrassing and awkward, but it is rewarding in the end.

Proverbs 18:8 says, "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts." When they say inmost parts, did you know they are talking about bed chambers?! Yes, a place of intimacy we don't even belong, and most of the time it's not even true! Oh, how powerful! Be reminded that if you associate with gossipers, they are clearly talking to you about someone, so therefore, they probably are talking about you when you're not around. Oh, how I want to flee from that. I don't want to talk about, or be talked about!

Anyway, sorry I have rambled, I could go on even longer, but I will refrain! Needless to say, I was blessed last night by the word spoken to me. I hope you are equally as blessed! I can't wait till student teaching when I get to go every Tuesday night again! :)

P.S. To all those who had Rascal Flatts tickets to the rodeo, so sorry you didn't get to see them! I am thankful I didn't buy tickets for myself, as I was so about to, but then they were sold out! So sorry, folks! Maybe another time you can see them! :)

Wedding Dress Shopping

Before you freak out, no, I did not go wedding dress shopping for myself. My dear roommate is getting married August 4th. As you can definitely see, that day is quickly approaching! So, today was the day of shopping. And oh, what a day it was! It was an exciting one, and an exhausting one, but a productive one! After 3 stores and MANY dresses, dear Kimmy found THE ONE.

It is absolutely gorgeous. I would surely post pictures for you, but that would be most inappropriate as a certain someone could randomly end up on my sight and see the dress. Oh, what a horror that would be. So for now I will refrain. Until then, you will have to imagine for yourself what kind of dress you think Kim would have picked out!

I will say I am grateful I don't have to do this for a while. I am completely and utterly exhausted, and shopped out! After this post I plan on getting in bed and getting a wonderful night's rest.

I will probably dream about wedding dresses! :)

The MUCH anticipated SPRING BREAK!

Well folks, it's here! Yes, spring break is finally here. Although I say "finally" here, I will honestly tell you that up until now, school has absolutely FLOWN by! No joke. I honestly CANNOT believe it is already March, and for that matter, spring break.

I am excited, though. It should be a fun one. I don't have too much planned, but enough to keep me busy. Hopefully, I will remember to post on this thing to keep you all updated. Monday is the day I am going with Kim and her mom looking at wedding dresses...YAY! She's excited, so it should be a fun and eventful day, maybe she'll even find one, how great would that be?! Than, Tuesday, I get to go to Beth Moore! I cannot wait. I seriously look forward to spring break for this reason. I miss going on Tuesday nights, so bad. Thankfully, I have TRUTH, which you all know I LOVE, but Beth is just wonderful. I'm excited!

After that, not much is planned. Hopefully I can be productive in getting my room a little more put together. And, me and Jo plan on laying out and getting wedding stuff done for her. So, it will be a blast. I know it!

Know that if you are going on a mission trip I am praying for YOU! I hope God works through you and you are able to share his precious love with someone who may not know it!

Love to all of you! :) Hope you all have a wonderful spring break. I will keep you updated on mine, for sure!

The WORD.

Well hello, everyone. Or, if I was saying it in my not-so-good English accent, you would probably hear me say, loud and clear, "ELLO!!!!" :)

Aside from bad English accents, I will have you know that I have been absolutely filled by the word of God lately! It has been such a joy and encouragement, and boy, does it make a difference in your day!

Seriously though, I think for the past month I have just been hit hard by everything I hear that says"YOU NEED TO BE IN THE WORD!!" And, oh, how I long to be, but like always, it's just excuse after excuse. One being, I already have to wake up so freaking early! But, behold, that is NO excuse! Anyway, I just have wonderful people in my life who have encouraged me GREATLY in the word and have just taught me some precious things! I had a great one-on-one time Sunday night and then Monday, and then tonight! The Lord is so good to us! I am just here to say that it is so vital that we are in the word each and every morning. I have been challenged to do just that, so I am challenging YOU to do just that. I promise, it makes all the difference.

Remember, the Word of God IS LIVING and ACTIVE! (Heb. 4:12) If you let it REIGN in your life, you won't be let down. So no, I am not saying I am perfect and get up EVERY morning and do this. I am telling you that I am simply STRIVING to do this. So far it has worked, so keep me accountable, would you?! Be bold, ask me! And I, in return, will tell you the truth. I pray it is a YES, I am falling more in love with the word of God daily!

Fall in love with me, will you?!

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Forrest

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Forrest! They got married this past Saturday, March 3rd. Everything was absolutely beautiful and we all enjoyed ourselves thouroughly, despite the 50 degree weather for an outside reception! Here are a few pictures from the wedding, hope you all enjoy!

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Forrest

I got to sit by the one and only Marcy Crocker!! :) Love this girl!!

Congratulations, Daniel and Ashley!

Oprah

To all who read this before 4:00:

You all need to watch Oprah today, yes, even if you normally don't. Our speaker from last years woman's retreat, Lori Johnson, is going to be on her show today!

Lori lost her baby son, and her husband in an awful plane crash, sad story, but she has an amazing testimony. If you watch, you will get to hear it for yourself. I would encourage you all to watch it.

I am taping it, because I have class! :)

If you do get to watch it, though, let me know what you thought!!

Headaches, back aches, sneezes, fevers....

Yes, and there is plenty more to go around! It's Thursday...whew! What a week it has been!

I will have you know that I have spent most of the week in my comfortable IKEA bed, or on my precious slip-covered couch! Don't get me wrong, this wasn't my choice, I was simply sick out of my mind!

As you all know I had our high school retreat this weekend, and what a weekend it was! Full of laughter, singing, talking, preaching, you name it, we did it. But, one thing that didn't happen often was something I most definitely love, SLEEP!

Well, the whole deprivation-of-sleep thing didn't help with whatever I came down with. I started feeling 'allergetic' on Sunday and thought nothing of it because I do have allergies. Especially, since I had been playing outside, with Tubby! Monday came and I felt a bit worse, but, once again, pushed it off as allergies. Well, low and behold come Monday night, I felt worse and worse, and worse. So, I took me some Sudafed and laid my sweet lil' head down! But, I did not sleep a wink. I was up all night, sneezing, coughing, HOT out of my mind, yet freezing. A.K.A. FEVER!

I woke up Tuesday morning to go to my reading block in Madisonville, in which I then realized, I just couldn't do it! So, I spent basically all day Tuesday sleeping. Yes, I can't complain, it was nice getting that rest. But, I felt like a horrible student for missing all that class! I also missed TRUTH that night, which, if you know me you know I HATE missing it! Something I so look forward to every week!!

Anyway, I went to what we call here on campus "the quack shack" and got me some medicine. The doctor proceeded to tell me I just have the virus that seems to be plaguing the campus! So, watch out all you SHSU students, wash your hands!

I am feeling MUCH better today, and according to my Hawaiian wearing t-shirt doctor, I should be back to normal in 6-8, but maybe 9-11 days! :)

One thing I can't complain about is the nice sleep I have been getting. I guess the Lord knew I just really needed to 'catch up' on some sleep. So I praise HIM for that!

Anywhoo...I hope you all have had a splendid and healthy/restful week!!!

Until next time...