And Off They Go...

Well folks, today is the day! I can't believe it's already here. The day that my precious friends, Jon and Sally, leave for Africa to serve there for at least 2 years. It is a bittersweet day. I just hung up the phone with her to tell her goodbye and to wish her a safe trip. I didn't cry, but I so easily could have. It's a strange feeling when someone you love so much leaves for a long period of time. SO much can change in 2 years, I can't even imagine. I am so relieved and grateful to know though that I can still call her. They actually have an American phone number that is available ALL the time. Do you know how much better I feel?! TONS!! I can't imagine not seeing her for so long, but not talking to her?! OH my!

As much as I know I will miss this precious family. I know they are where they need to be, and where they are called to be. I don't think I've ever seen a new family so excited about serving so long in a foreign land. And this is only the beginning. Sally knew this was her calling, even back in elementary school and I am so excited it is finally coming to pass. And, that the Lord brought her a sweet husband almost 3 years ago that shares the same desires and passions. HE is so good.

So, lift them up if you think of them, would you? Or, even if you just read this post. They are so excited to see what's in store. And I love sharing in that joy with them. They're flight leaves tonight and I do know they would be SO grateful if you even just lifted up the plane ride. Riding with a ONE year old overseas, that really explains it all. It could be LONG trip.

I love them dearly and am so excited to venture with them vicariously for the next 2 years. Enjoy some pictures of the precious family, Jude, and my sweet girls. We will miss her so much!

Harvest

As most of you know I am in a christian sorority called Sigma Phi Lambda or Phi Lamb as we like to call it. Every year we do a campus outreach called Harvest. We get bands, speakers and provide free food for the people that want to join us in The Pit to hear good music, good speaking and a Gospel Presentation!

Tonight is that night and we are pumped. I think this year is going to be awesome. But, it can only be amazing with prayer. So, would you pray for us tonight if you think about us? We would greatly appreciate your prayers. I know sometimes that on the particular day of Harvest we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off and forget to actually be still and pray. Would you pray for the people coming out, especially the non-christians that they would hear a clear message? Would you pray for the weather? (No rain, please!) Would you pray for us as a sorority to be unified? Would you pray that people notice something different in us? Would you pray that the night goes smoothly? Would you pray for this skit? I know I am asking for a lot, but, I know that our greatest dependence is on Him to do great things.

I greatly appreciate all of you out there in blog land more than you know! And, I definitely covet your prayers.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday. Get out an enjoy the weather! It is beautiful today.

Oh Glorious Day....

Parent's Picnic & Pigskin, Blue Bell in a Bag, and Vacuum Vampire!

So, I know the title is extremely long, but my sweet mother took hours coming up with it, I am sure (you should have seen her at dinner), so I just had to use it. (Even though we've already discussed Blue Bell in a Bag!)

But, before I go into the weekend details, I will have you all know that I met Jackie on Friday night!!! Y'all, she is just precious. And, I am so proud that I have another "tall" friend to add to my list. I was surprised to see that she and I were the same height. And, that always makes for great hugs. She was up in Huntsville on Friday night to watch a friend of hers play soccer against our team, so, I headed my sweet lil' self over to the soccer field to give this girl a hug. I would never pass up meeting a siesta! I so wish we could have talked more, but she was busy and I was busy so we hugged, chatted for about 10 minutes, took a picture, hugged again, then went our own separate ways! It was too fun. And, can I say that I felt like I've known her for forever. It was just like we were meeting up again after a long separation or something. I know everyone on that soccer field thought we were weirdos when they heard me say, "I feel like I've known you forever!" They just don't understand. After meeting her it just makes me even more excited for the spring semester to be back at Tuesday night bible study. I can't even imagine all the siesta's I will meet then!!! Oh joy!!! So, Jackie, it was just delightful meeting you!! I can't wait to meet up with you again!!

Now onto Parent's Weekend. This is ALWAYS a good thing simply because of the FREE things I receive while they are here. A.k.a. groceries, dinner, gas...you know, the things I normally deal with! ;) J/K, it's all their money anyway! They were only here Saturday evening but it was just delightful. We went to the phi lamb picnic (#2 picnic of the weekend), the football game, then to a quick dinner, then back to my apartment so my dad could fix my printer and so I could use my mom's Dyson vacuum to vacuum my apartment. That thing is a hoss. I feel as though after the use of that thing, I have new, fresh carpet. It's simply amazing! After they left, I fiddled around for a bit then went to sleep with great excitement because of the hour of sleep I was gaining because of FALL BACK!! I don't think I've ever been happier than in that moment of turning my clock back. Oh, what a glorious night!

Sunday was pretty laid back. I went to church, attended picnic #3 (otherwise known as free lunch for college student's), came home and relaxed a bit, then headed out to play Ultimate Frisbee with some other folks. That was a workout in itself. But, such a fun time. I am so gonna miss these people. They have become my family away from my home church family. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world! They have blessed my socks off!

Sunday night a few of us went out to Shenanigans for some country western dancin'! One of the churches here in Huntsville has rented out this dance hall every Sunday night for the rest of the semester. It's a pretty cool deal! Free entrance, free drinks (obviously non-alcoholic) and you dance the night away. It's their outreach. They also show a Numa video during the evening which is never disappointing! So, you better know that I did some Boot Scootin' Boogy!

Enjoy some pictures from my fun filled weekend! Unfortunately, my camera decided to die on my while I was taking a picture with the parentals. Someone else took it with their camera, but I don't have that photo yet. I promise to post it once I have it! I love my parents!

Me and Jackie!! I love that she is tall, too!!



We're just a bunch of crazy girls!

Okay, for real, smile for the camera! (You should have seen the amount of parents with their camera's. I felt like a movie star!)

Look, I have long hair again...

Me and Hannah dancin' it up at Shenanigans!! ;)

Blue Bell in a Bag?

I saw something I've never seen before this weekend.

My parents came for a visit on Saturday for Parents Weekend. (More on that later!) We went to the phi lamb picnic, went to and watched some of the football game, then left the game at half time because I wanted to take them to one of my favorite restaurants here called Mackenzie's. Oh, it is so good. You can either have the BBQ side, or the hamburger side and I chose to take them to the hamburger side since those hamburgers are simply delightful.

Clearly, we had already eaten a little bit earlier at the picninc, so my Mom decided to get some dessert. Let me tell you, it is slim pick en's for dessert there at Mackenzie's, but she decided to get the peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Sounds normal, right?! Oh yes, that is until she came back to the table with the peach cobbler in a nice Styrofoam bowl and Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream in a BAG. Y'all, I am not kidding. We were VERY tickled to say the least.

We investigated the bag for a while to see if there was anything else in there, like a Popsicle stick maybe? But no. Just the one scoop of vanilla ice cream. I've never seen anything like it. Can you tell I live in Huntsville, Texas. Oh, the joy's of small towns.

The end product was mouth watering, very yummy. But, no more gallon or pint size ice cream for sale, Blue Bell is sellin' it by the bag now! One scoop for all...

Anybody want some?! ;)




And for those of you that haven't had the pleasure of tasting Blue Bell ice cream. I am so sorry. You really are missing out on a little part of Heaven here on Earth.

Identity Crisis

Before you go on thinking I have collapsed from the 3 mile run, you can think again. I made it on the run, and you will be happy to know that I ran again, and plan to keep it up. There's nothing like the runners adrenaline addiction. :)

This week has been terribly fast and exhausting. And, might I add that #1, it's already Thursday and #2, it's already NOVEMBER! Folks, where has 2007 gone?! I am still kind of freaking out that it is November. Know that I am counting down the weeks until school is out, which happens to be 5 weeks left, but that means I'm gonna have 5 weeks of pure craziness with everything that I have left to do to pass methods. Sometimes I really wonder if I'm ever gonna make it out of school or not. It is fun but oh, so stressful. If you ever thought that being an education major was easy, please think again. That is so far from the truth.

Enough about school, I think I've had an identity crisis this week. From being in College Station all weekend participating in MANY Aggie traditions, to Phi Lamb Scary Skate Night, to Halloween, I'm really not sure I know myself anymore.

College Station was a blast at the least. I always love visiting the Lambert's. Fun times are always had and there is never a dull moment. After a fun homemade pizza dinner, a few of us headed out to go bowling. Do you know how bad of a bowler I am? It's pretty bad. But, you can never go wrong with bowling. I definitely lost both games, but was at least able to laugh at myself. I even learned a few new tips from our bowling instructors! (They weren't really the "bowling instructors" per say, but in my book when you've taken a bowling class, you know more than I ever will. Which, in return, makes you my bowling instructor!)

After bowling we all headed to midnight yell. Once again, I was the dumbo that knew nothing. So, I simply followed the lead and whooped when I knew to. I know I'm not an Aggie, but I really feel like an Aggie by association. It's quite fun. And y'all, I know some of you think it's a cult, but they do have some pretty fun traditions. After yell practice, all of us old folks were quite exhausted so we put our lil' selves to bed. And what a good night of sleep I got.

Saturday, after FINALLY showering, we all headed out to tailgate before the game. It was such a gorgeous day. I'm telling you, I am absolutely LOVING the weather. Not only did we walk around, eat good food, and laugh a lot, but, I got to see Joanna. Probably the sweetest part of my day. I was only with her for about an hour (maybe) but the time was so worth it. I can't believe she's already back in Montana. I miss her so! When the game started I went with Claire and Russell back to their friend's house where we watched some of the game before they took me back to get my car so I could head back to Huntsville before it was pitch black (in which I didn't make that goal!) Upon my return to Huntsvegas, I changed to comfy clothes, talked with my girls, and relaxed for the rest of the night. A good weekend was had by all.

Monday, Hannah and I were old ladies for our sorority skate night. Y'all, oh my gosh, I really don't have any words except that I think we may have wet ourselves from laughing so hard all night. We even skated with just our knee highs and no socks. That was a joke. It was a lot of work becoming old, so I don't plan on adventuring down that road again any time soon. But, it was definitely an experience.

Last night, for Halloween, a few of us helped out at our churches (UHBC), Trunk or Treat! It was so fun. And guess what Hannah and I were this time?! Ketchup and Mustard. I never knew, but, it was such a hit. EVERYONE that walked by us had to at least announce to the world that we were Ketchup and Mustard. And, on top of that, I think I heard more Ketchup jokes last night than I've heard my whole life. I so wish you all could have seen what I saw last night, though. I'm sure you all saw some pretty cute costumes, but my goodness, there was some CUTENESS roaming around. I so wanted to take pictures of all the little cherubs, but I refrained as I thought people might think that was a bit stalkerish. We had grapes, ladybugs, transformers, penguins, golfers, princesses, cheerleaders, sharks, and you name it, we had it. I know I'm not even married, but I can't wait to dress my child up for Halloween. You should go see Jaclyn's blog to see what her little Grace was for Halloween. It's precious. She might have even had an identity crisis herself!

Enjoy all the pictures from my identity crisis. And, if you feel the need, pray for me as I return back to my original self this weekend. I can't wait.

Claire and I enjoying our homemade pizza!!! :) I love visiting the Lambert's!!

Look at our cool bowling shoes!!

Our wonderful bowling instructors! (Or maybe I should say my bowling instructors since I'm the one that needed the most help!)


At midnight yell! (Hints why I look so tired, it was WAY past my bedtime!!)



Photo op with two of my favorite married friends. (If only you were there Jen and Sal!)


Fun tailgating times!!


My day was made when I got to see my Joanna. Even thought it was only for 45 minutes, every minute was worth it! I love her so!!


The old lady getting money from the ATM.


Old lady #2 enjoying her Fresca!!


I don't have very many words for this one.


We had to help each other skate...such sweet friends. ;)


Smile for the camera, Gertrude.


Old Ladies are scandalous!!


Shakin' up some Salt!! Where's the Pepper?! :)


You know I love me some salt.


Time to play Ketchup and Mustard!!



Anybody need a squirt?!

We talked to more people this night than I think I've talked to anybody my entire life. All because we were Ketchup and Mustard. Oh, the joys of condiments.

My precious roomie! Notice the golf theme. Oh my, Cohen was precious!!!



Acting our parts. (If that's even possible!)



Some 80's chicks...


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the fall weather, I know I will. A nice quick run might even make it into my schedule tonight, simply because of the weather.



Happy late Halloween and Happy November!!