Congrats class of 2012!

Today we went to watch my brothers girlfriend, Bam graduate high school. She graduated with Honors! and she was ranked #7 out of her whole class!! She is wayy to smart for my brother...JK ;)
 Congrats to ALL graduates of class of 2012!!! Enjoy this time!!

Me Reminiscing: I can not believe it has been 2 years since I graduated...time sure flies! The day I graduated (June 12, 2010)...after my party we went home and I went to my room and shut the door and cried my eyes out...and I don't even know why lol. I felt sad but happy and scared yet excited. Knowing it was over was hard but knowing I made it sure made me feel special. You wait your whole life to graduate so you can "have a life" and "make your own choices" and then after you gradaute you would do anything to go back and do it all over again lol Life is funny like that; you spend so much time waiting on something to happen and then once it happens you realize you missed out on living because you were so caught up with the waiting part, wanting it to be over. I remember my first day of high school when they told us "this will be over before you know it," "it will be over in the snap of your fingers." I thought to myself, "man i wish it'd hurry up" lol and in a snap of the fingers it WAS over...and now it has been 2 years. okay i am done reminiscing lol...

Here are a couple of pictures of Bam on her big day:

This is her and Josh (my brother)

Here is my family with Bam :)

^"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13 KJV

Life is really about seeking and finding the Lord. because life without HIM is no life at all! HE is the way the truth and the life  (John14:6) <3 Don't live to be famous, to have the most degrees, to be rich, or to have the most friends...Live your life for God. What we do for HIM is the only thing that will last.

on another note, today is my LAST day of being a teenager :(( but i am excited about my birthday tomorrow :) God has been so good to me and has given my (almost) 20 wonderful years of life :))))

Birthday Boy~~Caleb James

Today is my "little" brother Caleb's birthday! He is now 17 years old!! He is my one of my little brothers but by no means is he little...he is 6'3! and still growing...Since it is his birthday today I wanted to make this blog entry about him.

Seventeen years ago on June 7, 1995 at 7:00am I got my second little brother. I don't really remember that day since I was only 3 (was about to turn 4 though in 3 days.) It is funny how things change and how fast everyone grows up. With Josh, who is 1 year, 1 month and 1 day younger than me I feel like we grew up about the same time but with Caleb it is like he grew (and still is) over night. I wonder where that little brown haired, bright blue eyed boy has gone.

*this is a pic from a few weeks ago @ Macaroni Grill...he wouldn't let me take any of him today :(

Some Things I KNOW about Caleb

• First of all he has the awesomest older sister... ME ;))
• He LOVES baseball!He has such a heart for this sport. He is #21 on the Liberty Red Devils baseball team.
• He is pitching almost 90 miles an hour now! i am sure he will be pitching even faster when baseball seasons comes around next spring
• He is an amazing pitcher
• His nickname is C-Rob...Daddy gave him that nickname years ago
• COD (Call of Duty) is his weakness ;)
• I believe one day he will turn into a taco because he loves Taco Bell wayyy too much lol
• Basketball is also his sport! he is great @ free throws and dribbling.
• He HATES school...but who doesn't?? lol
• He has the prettiest eyes...light blue like the color of water
• He can pick me or manda up soo easily (he does this alot and it's pretty annoying but it always makes us laugh!)
• He is super shy but loud when he's angry ;}
• He comes up with the most retarded sayings but they always stick and we go around saying them for months lol. the one we are all saying right now makes me LOL so hard!!
• He used to be very hyper so Daddy made him get his room painted a "calming" color LOL it is dark green and I don't think Caleb even likes green that much lol
• His favorite verses are Proverbs 3:5,6 :)
• He looks up to Josh (always has) but compares himself to him...but both are awesome at everything they do
• We have been told Daddy acted just like Caleb when he was young...idk for sure if this is true though lol
• The boy is a garbage disposer!!! he can eat and eat and then 30 minutes later be starving again!
• When manda was a baby she called him  "tub" or "dob"...don't ask me how that sounds like "caleb" because i have no clue LOL
• He is currently taking the electricity course at the career center so who knows one day he might be and electrician.
• When he was little he had his own language and no one knew what he was saying...i think he thought he was speaking spanish ;) it was cute lol
• He has wonderful parents who do anything they can for their children <3
• Lastly, he is my littlest brother and I love him and thank God for him!

                                                   *Me and my "little" giant brother

I pray for my little brother everyday that God will use him and that Caleb will become what God wants him to be. I pray God will give him something real and that He will be on fire for the Lord. Last week we had Bro Zeb Mcdaris and his family with us at church. He preached sunday and monday night. He said something that I have been thinking about...He said it is easy to pick a career or what to go to college for but no one wants to ask God what he wants them to be. It is easy to choose something to do but is it what God wants you to be?...I have been asking God what he wants me to be. I want and long and desire to be what he wants and has made me to be!! I pray for Caleb, Josh and manda that they will become what God wants them to be too and not just what they want to be. I love my little brother more than he knows. We all fight alot (just being honest lol) but I wouldn't trade my family for anything! God chose me to be their big sister and that scares me sometimes because I know I HAVE to be the example. I pray all the time that I will do right so I don't lead them astray.  Moma and daddy took him to lunch earlier today and then he had a baseball game tonight. We all got to eat birthday cake! Happy Birthday (Kiki-ina!) Caleb :)))

Tonight we got to eat RED VELVET cake!!! Best part of birthdays is the cake lol <3   also i got braces put on today...i am in a lot of pain right now so please pray for me. Y'all have a good friday tomorrow!!

God is still God

hey yall! Hope everyone had a great monday. This morning my mom and I spent some time at the hospital with some very special people from church. My preachers dad had open heart surgery early this morning. Please keep him in your prayers as he recovers...his name is Gary. Thank the Lord he came through!!  God is good and he always answers his children's cries! I am glad we can pray for each other and that God hears. Then tonight I got to see my lil bro Caleb hit his FIRST out of the park home run!! i was very happy for him. He's been waiting for it to happen for a long time. :) Last thursday I got 8 SpAcErS put in my mouth...i thought it would be no big deal but I was SOO wrong :/ I have not been able to bite down on either side of my mouth since friday. I've been having to chew with my front teeth...It makes me feel like a chipmunk! LOL I am getting braces on thurday the 7th. I hope and pray it won't be too painful! My poor mouth has been through it over the past few weeks!! Please say a lil prayer for me that it won't hurt bad:)
Today at the hospital made me thankful that my family wasn't the one waiting while my daddy was having surgery. It could be later but I am thankful today it wasn't! It also made me think of the last time we sat in a waiting room on Feb 24, 2010 and the doctor told us nothing more could be done for my great Grandma. We were in NC where my mom's side of the family live. That was one of the saddest days of my life. She was such a fighter so we all believed she would pull through. She had been admitted many other times but she had always came home...that time she didn't. It is funny how one person can hold a family together...I always think of her as the "glue", she held her family together! But now that she is gone, the glue is gone too...The world is truly a different place without her here!

Right after she died I went straight to the bathroom because I did not want anyone to see my cry (i don't like to cry in front of people!! especially my family) While trying to regain control a nurse asked me if I was alright and I told her my Grandma had just died...then this total stranger gave me a hug. I don't know who that lady was but I have never forgot her compassion. It meant a lot to me! I know it was just a hug but it means so much to know someone cares at times like those! I am glad when we are falling apart there are still some people who care enough to help hold us together(even if it's a stranger!). My family had just went through a death just 2 months earlier. My "Gramme" (my daddy's mom) died very unexpectedly on Dec 16, 2009 just a few days before CHRISTmas. That was so hard because I had never lost anyone! We didn't get to see her much because my dad's side of the family lives in Oregon. But I am thankful for the memories we did get to make over the years when her and my Pops would come stay with us <3 I miss my Gramme and my grandma a lot! So we went through 2 deaths during my senior year...that was rough but I am glad God is still God no matter what!!! I don't know WHAT tomorrow holds but I am glad i do know WHO holds tomorrow!   

Sometimes I feel like what i write is soo random lol but this is what i felt like i needed to say. 
This will probably be a pretty exciting week for us!! My sister has a band concert tomorrow night (she plays trumpet...just like i did!)  then Wednesday we have ChUrCh! Then thursday it is my lil bro Caleb's 17th birthday!!! and i am getting braces that day too and my brother, Josh is off work so we will get to see him! Then on Saturday my brother's GF Bam is graduating high school! then Sunday the best day of all...is my BIRTHDAY :))) I will be turning the BIG 2-0! I am a little depressed to leave my teen years but I am kinda ready to be a lil older lol. 

Singleness and Praying for your FH :)

Hey everyone :) So happy I am getting to blog tonight! Just wanted to share something for those of us who are still single...The Lord has worked in my heart so much in the past year about being single and waiting...I'll just go ahead and say it, i hate waiting!!! Some days it is super hard to be patient. But I have been told so many times "good things come to those who wait" and I have come to believe it. The Bible talks a lot about waiting. God wants us to be patient. Patience is such a virtue. You can't just get it, find it, buy it at the store, or inherit it from someone; YOU have to learn it. Some things are difficult to learn and patience is one of those things. I recall praying a few months ago for patience; that God would teach me to be patient. And I know he heard that prayer because he sure has been giving me some lessons on it lol. I think one of the main reasons I am still single is because one day sometime around a year and a half ago I told the Lord I just wanted the "one" and I did not want to waste time on any other guys. There is no point in getting to know someone who is not the one your are supposed to marry. I remember as a little girl my mom would say "you don't need a boyfriend until you are old enough to get married." I thought that was crazy!! But now I stand by that, I've told my sister and my cousin that they do not need a boyfriend until they are looking to get married.

We are pressured so much to have a boyfriend at such an early age. Even kids in kidergarten are "going out" with each other. Most kids have their FIRST KISS in K-4!!! Schools have dances where preteens are "supposed" to ask someone to the dance or they are a nerd. In high school It is all about the PROM and oh my goodness if you don't get asked to prom you are just the scum of the earth and a major loser...(i'll just stop for a minute and say i did NOT GO TO PROM because It is worldly and I do not want to see guys and girls in their immodest dresses who think they are in love {when really they are just in lust} making out and hanging all over each other out on the dance floor. ANd i won't even get started on what happens afterwards!! I believe God doesn't approve of PROM so neither do I) It is like the world measures a persons worth by how many people a person has slept with or dated...how messed up!

Growing up I never had many guys "like" me..i guess it was because I wasn't really like any of the other girls. I tried to be modest because for one my mom taught me that it was right and secondly I wanted to look different, because I was different. I did have a few though...I remember when I was in 6th grade (my 2nd yr in middle school (the school i went to started middle school in 5th grade)) a boy in 5th grade (lol) "asked me out" and I told him I would let him know the next day what my answer was. I went home and asked my mom if i could have a boyfriend and she said NO! so I obeyed and told him i wasn't allowed. I truly believe, that rule my parents inforced helped keep me from messing my life up by messing with the wrong boys. SOOO here I am today, less than 2 weeks away from turning 20 years old and i have still NEVER had a boyfriend. But I thank the Lord he spared me and after getting closer to him since I got saved I now see that HE protected me and he didn't let those worldly boys i went to school with take interest in me. I am glad God gave me parents that didn't let me do whatever I wanted but tried there best to make me do what was right. And I now know the right thing to do is...WAIT ON THE LORD.

Most girls today try and get as many boyfriends as they can. They dress like they are for sale just to get attention from guys. sorry but that is not the kind of attention I want!! I want a man that will treat me like a lady. Most girls want to know ALL the fish in the sea and then they will "know" which one is their soulmate. I totally disagree with that logic! This world is HUGE and I know i can not find "my Boaz" (that is what I call him ;)) on my own so back in January of this year after reading an amazing book that changed my views on some things greatly (called Young Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall and Debby Jones) I told the Lord I would not "look" I put it all in HIS hands because I've learned He really does know best. Elisabeth Elliot said, "Do nothing." and that is what I am doing. I am not searching for my Boaz and I am not trying to "figure" out how it will happen...I am just waiting and I am just praying. I am trying my best to let God do with me what he wants because I know I will never be a good helpmeet without him working on me and helping me. 

I have a list I made i call it my "Boaz List." It is a list of the qualities I want my Boaz to have. I got the idea from the book I told about a few paragraphs above... Here it is:

1. Spirit filled Christian (Eph 5:18)
2. Jesus is #1 in his heart and life (Mark 12:30)
3. Teachable (Psalm 143:10)
4. God fearing (Proverbs 1:7)
5. Broken; knows how to totally rely on Jesus (Phil 4:13, Psalm 55:22)
6. Ministry minded; a good steward. Wherever he is, he is available for Christ (1 Corinthians 4:2)
7. Burdened for lost souls; has a vision (Romans 10:14)
8. Sensitive spirit; bears others burdens, sees others needs and cares (Gal 6:2)
9. Faithful and responsible to God and me his future wife (Eph 5:25-31)
10. Humble (James 4:10)
11. Man of prayer; he knows the key to success is his private time with God (Col 4:2)
12. Family man; he desires to have kids and raise them properly for God's glory. (Prov 22:6)

*These are all equally important to me so the order doesn't really matter :) another thing I need to add to my list is that he is thankful. I am learning I can make it through anything as long as i remain thankful. No matter what is happening or no matter what I may lose in this life I will always have something to be grateful for. God is good no matter what!
I keep this list set out in my room on my dresser so I see it a lot and reminds me not to notice the wrong kinds of guys.


I am praying for him, my future husband.
I have a book called Praying for your future husband. My awesome moma got it for me a few months ago. It was good and quite helpful. It has many chapters of things to pray for, for your FH. Contentment, commitment, to be a God lover, trust, patience, good friendships etc.. I always thought it was dumb to pray for someone you don't even know...but the Lord showed me otherwise. It is important to pray. We never know what a person might be facing. There are many stories in the book about ladies praying for their FHs and then after they are married they find out around the same time they were praying their husbands were going through hardships, sickness, and other difficult times. I do not know who my future husband aka my "Boaz" is but God does and he knows exactly who the prayer is for!

I pray for my FH and I also pray for one other young man...well he is kinda my crush i guess you could say lol ((and might I add he is a definately a Boaz)).  A while ago he, suprisingly (not saying his name lol) showed some interest in me and we talked some but nothing else has happened. but anyways I got my hopes up (stupid me) about him and then I was pretty devestated when nothing happened, so for weeks i prayed God would let me move on and forget about him. I prayed that SOO much but it didn't happen... But one night while praying and asking the Lord to help me to move on and just forget him it felt like God said "just pray for him." So that is what I have been doing.I pray for him everytime i think about him. I read in a book that just because a guy actually is a true Boaz doesn't mean he is "your" Boaz. That is hard to swallow considering there are not many good guys left. But God might have told me to pray for him because he might just need a prayer warrior and i am happy to be that for him.
*Remember God makes no mistakes and his way and plan is perfect and nothing is too hard for him. He has someone out there made just for me and he has someone out there made just for you too. Don't give up and don't give in to the dating pressures of the world. Wait on God and you won't be sorry. In GLAM we learned to place your heart in God's hands and he will keep it safe and he will give it to the right person for you!!

I know this is scattered like always lol but I hope it will help someone. like I wrote about the other day: God is enough. He will help us wait because his grace is enough. Just trust him and lean on him :))) 

HE is enough, HIS grace is sufficient

hey yall! I have been SOO busy and haven't been able to write...been wanting to so bad though. well, anyways the main reason I haven't been able to write is because last thursday (may 17) I had my WISDOM TEETH pulled and alo had 4 others to get my mouth ready for braces. So I have been recovering from the 8 huge holes in my mouth :(( it has been quite painful, really sore but the Lord is still good and he has gotten my through it All! I sure am glad I have HIM!! I had always dreaded getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Everytime I went to the dentist they would say I needed to get them pulled but because it is SO expensive we kept putting it off....but sadly about a month ago i started having really bad pain in my throat and ears and lympnodes because the stupid teeth! my gums swelled up and were really bothering me so I had to get them pulled. I was so scared because I had never been put to sleep, i was nervous about it and also scared because everyone says it hurts so bad. I am one of those people who let fear eat them all up! I wish i wasnt that way but i am. I prayed and prayed and prayed that I would have total peace and that the Lord would help me through it...So finally the day came at I wake up and I wasn't even nervous (suprisingly) but as 9:30am rolled around and it came time to go get in the truck to drive to the doc I just couldn't help it...the tears started flowing :(( I walk in the office and sign my name in and the lady stats telling me how it isn't "that" bad (when ppl "try" to comfort me it normally makes me cry even more lol) I sit down in a chair and wait for them to call my name and I see a Bible so i [ick it up and start reading...I was reading 1 john and it is amazing how just remembering (thinking about) you are truly saved can give you faith and strength. but i was still petty scared, then my name is called and it is time to go back. I get back to the chair and i kinda stopped crying but then they start the IV (and let me tell you...that thing hurt!) the tears start flowing again and the assistants are trying to calm me down. the doc comes in and says a few things to me then he tells the others in the room that I am going to be a dental assistant and i hear them say aww you look like a dental assistant. and then I remember nothing. I wake up and my teeth are gone. moral of the story is that it wasn't near as bad as i thought it would be and even though I might not have felt the Lord there...I knew in my heart he was because he has told me sooo many times he will always be there. He loves me and cares for me more than anyone else ever could!! I don't know how people go through major things like cancer or open heart surgery and not have the Lord, I can't imagine the fear they must feel!!! 

I actual was so suprised at how good i felt. I even went and walked around CVS with my mom while we waited for my medicine. She made me walk with a buggy bc she was scared i might fall over lol (i am clumsy so she knows me pretty well lol) thankfully i didn't fall! We got the meds then went home. everything was fine except that I couldn't sleep bc the blood :/ around 6 that night my family went to my brothers award banquet @ his school so i was left home alone...my mouth started bleeding worse and worse and i ran out of gauze...all the blood made me stress out majorly!All i could do was stand over the sink, it was that bad. I text my mom to come home but they didn't until like 9:30. She said the bathroom looked like a murder scene LOL finally after they brought me some more gauze my mouth stopped bleeding around 11/11:30. I was soooo happy about that! lol

I have been sore since then but slowly getting better! still a little pain today but i can tell it is healing. I went for my check-up yesterday and He said everything looked good :) Many people were praying for me through it all and I know every prayer helped! It means so much when you know someone is prayer for you as you go through hard things. I am thankful i have so many people who care about me. So many FB messages and texts people sent letting me know they were prayer and asking how I was doing. It meant so much to me <3 The Lord showed me through this that HIS grace is sufficient! No mater what comes my way I will make it through all because I have him. Jesus is always ENOUGH :))))  I will be getting spacers put in next week on May 31st and then braces on June 7th. please keep me in your prayers...not looking forward to all that pain But i know HE will get me through :)  i have a few things i really want to blog about so hopefully I will be able to sometime in the next few days. Lots of stuff to tell yall about what we've been learning in G.L.A.M.