God Hears!

Have you ever thought praying is a waste of time? I have been there! I didn't see a need in praying so I didn't. I didn't until my school all went on a mountain trip 3 years ago. We were supposed to go white water rafting one of the days. But there was a shortage of water because of no rain. They called us and basically said it was cancelled. All of us in denial prayed and prayed it would rain! We started praying around 9 pm and I am not kidding it rained right at 9 pm through the WHOLE night! The people called us back and said we could go!
I never really experienced anything like that before. I mean I would pray before dinner with my family. I was only praying because I had no choice. When I was alone and had the choice, I never prayed.
Since that day I have been praying openly with God. I tell him how I feel all throughout the day! Crazy things like the rain incident have been happening a lot since I started praying a lot.
I know it may be hard to pray for some people but I promise God hears and will not leave you hanging!

Labor Day weekend

My long labor day weekend is over. Today I was pulled out of my comfortable bed and was put into the busy halls of my high school. What a difference. It was a little body shock to wake up extremely early. So much so that right when I came home, I slept for 2 hours! It felt good!
Labor Day weekend is in honor of people that work. I consider myself working at school. I mean people do math for a living. So I am glad I just figured out I can celebrate another holiday for myself. In order to celebrate you have to have fun. Oh has this weekend been fun! I spent the night with Siara and Jo on Friday. That was a bast! Saturday I went to Ethan and Ashley's football game. No it is not coed, Ashley cheered! :) Sunday I went to church then out to eat with some friends. Monday I went to Matthews Alive with Kenzie and Ashleigh!
Yesterday my brother, Jackson, left for college. :( While it was very sad and emotional for Ashley and Brooke, I just wanted to say good-bye and get it over with. Don't get me wrong I love my brother and will miss him terribly! But, I don't like having emotional memories being the last memory. I don't want to think the last time being with him was an awful one. Therefore I kept it simple and tear free. I think I just hasn't hit yet. This weekend will be the first weekend without him. That will be when I shed a bucket or two of tears! ha.
I have lots of homework tonight so I better pull myself away from my blog and start.
Happy late Labor Day!!

My Dad!

Big strong arms,
hold my frail arms,
Big brown eyes,
look into my blue eyes,
Respected,
Respects,
Loved,
loves,
His kind heart,
reminds my heart,
how much he loves me...
My Dad!

My dad is amazing! I don't really know why I am writing about him, but I decided I should dedicate this post to him! Little does he know I am writing about him and all his little ways. Little ways... Oh my do I have some blackmail on this dude! I won't embarrass him too much. :) One of my favorite memories up to date of him, was on the way to school one morning. We were all pretty tired and not looking forward to a day of school. So my dad being the way he is turned on the song, "I like big butts and I can not lie!" He cranked up the music, rolled down the windows, and danced! I mean he flat out danced! Oh my gosh... Me and my sisters were dying laughing! He definitely woke us up that morning! I promise you I would randomly laugh that whole week thinking about it!
Oh dad, sometimes you embarrass me so much... but I still will always love you!




(next time you ground me.. remember this post :) ha jk!)

Influence

When I say someone influences me I don't just mean when someone is nice to me or does anything for me. Sometimes the people that have an influence on my life, I really don't even know. Which comes to me as strange. I let that person change my life from tiny to maybe even huge and I don't even know them!

Like for instance this morning... My alarm went off. I had that feeling of, "seriously again?" I was annoyed and begged myself to go back to sleep. Honestly I am proud of myself for not! It was not easy! :)

I sat in my bed for 10 minutes just thinking. Sometimes when I think, my mind goes 100 mph! Like words just pop in and out. So that for 10 min was a little hectic. I put it to a halting stop and stepped out of bed. I then went to start my morning routine.

When I finished getting ready I checked my emails. I saw one from someone I don't usually get emails from. I clicked open and was shocked! My mouth dropped I even got a little teary eyed! Which doesn't happen often. As I kept reading this person told me to go to a link. Not knowing where that would lead me I put my trust in her and clicked on it. It lead me to a blog I have never seen. I read and read. Near the bottom I figured out some of this post was about me! I didn't even know this person. She had read my story about Africa and showed her daughter a video Jo had made of the trip. Her daughter was so inspired that she decided she wants to go on a missions trip! I couldn't believe it. Someone I didn't know, I touched. That little girl influenced me to keep pursuing missions and the love I have of Africa. I think sometimes in this busy, always on the go country I forget what life is really about. So that post this morning really helped me remember its not about making an 'A' on a test or making the most friends. Its about spreading the love of Christ to everyone!
So thanks Alivia! :)

First day of school!

Last night was the best last summer night ever! I hung out with Dexter, Kenzie, and Jackson! Ahh.. It was so fun! We went shopping and out to dinner. :)

Today was the first day of school! The first day is always intimidating! I mean you have to make new friends, you get new teachers, new text books... everything new! New is not always good. As much as I love fresh starts sometimes I miss the past endings. Like, not all my friends came back. One thing I was excited about was Carrie coming back! I thought for sure she wasn't coming back. But I do love surprises! :) I LOVE some of my teachers this year! They are all young and hip! :)
This year I think I am going to like History and Science! Both are very interesting and lots of information! I hope my homework load does chill a little. Getting lots the first night is not a good sign... but I am sure it will shred once we get in the hang of things.
Well I need to go get started on my homework! I hope my attitude today stays all year about school!

Pressure!

I am going to warn you this is not going to be a post where you laugh so hard you pee in your pants or a little giggle. No ma'am this is a post about my life right now. I just want to be completely honest and tell it like it is. So since I have been back from the beach I have been pressured a lot lately.
Pressured to look great.
Pressured to be friendly.
Pressured to act like I care.
Pressured to have a first kiss.
So many more I could come up with. But in order not to bore you half to death I'll just keep it to those four. Some girls in my life right now are making me feel like I am not good enough. They make me feel like I am the one at fault and always wrong. Even when I know the truth my thoughts bring me down. I hate that. I just want to be completely confident in who I am. Tonight I went out to dinner with Carrie. We then met up with some friends. I had a blast with Carrie we laughed so hard about stupid things! It was great. Well when it was time to meet up with the others. I mean I am going to be honest I kind of just wanted to run. Like they are so over powering sometimes and so judgmental I just want to scream. I hate that I can tell what and when they are talking about us behind my back.
I also found out one of my friends was lying to me. As much as I keep telling myself its stupid to get upset about... I am upset. And I can't hide it forever.
Tonight was just a breaking point. Like all this pressure has been building up and I feel overwhelmed. Like I am trapped and no way to get out. Tomorrow will be a better day.. I know in my heart that tomorrow WILL be a better day!

Home!

okay so I'm home from Africa! I have been home for like a week! I just haven't had time to get on here! I was supposed to get home Tuesday but didn't get home till Thursday night! What should of been a 30 hour trip turned into over 100 hours!!
I slept in my bed (which has never felt better!) and Friday morning I went straight to She Speaks! Which was awesome. But always something goes wrong there. Like this year LeAnn called Kenzie and wanted a "heart to heart" conversation. She told us that we needed to be setting a good example and that we needed to stop skipping some sessions. So we literally ran down there and went to all the sessions.
After She Speaks Ashleigh came over for a few days! We stayed till Wednesday. We had fun doing everything we missed over the summer. She gave me the cutest present ever when I got back from Africa. It was all these cards and each one had something that reminded her of me while I was gone. For example one was a necklace with my favorite colors on it. Best gift ever!
After she left Wednesday I crashed and slept like the rest of Wednesday till Thursday morning. I then babysat Thursday all day! That was fun to see the kids I missed but also very tiring! While babysitting my mom called and was saying how I got invited to go to the beach with the Whalens. I was so excited. The only think was we were leaving the next day and would be gone for 10 days! I had barely been home for 24 hours at a time and now I was about to be gone for another 10 days!! But I knew this would not be an option again any time soon. So with a big breath I said yes!
Yall have to understand something, I had been gone in Africa for 7 weeks! Then home not even a full day and was gone 4 days. Then home 24 hours without anyone over and gone another 10 days! So I am so tired beyond belief but having a great time! I just think after this trip I am going to become a hermit and sleep for the rest of this year! :)
On top of all that I just found out one of my best friends at school isn't coming back. This still hasn't fully set in with me yet. But I know its going to suck once school starts! I'm secretly praying her parents change their minds and send her to ACA! haha :)
Oh and by the way guess what happened to my phone? I mean honestly I was ticked off! My phone was in the beach bag and someone put a coke bottle not fully closed and it spilled all over my phone. So guess what happened... Its broken!
B- Broken
R- R.I.P
O- Off to phone heaven
K- really.. cant think of a "k" :)
E- Even though I was so good with it
N- Never again.
Yes people I just did an Acrostic. Dont hate. Just a way of laying out my anger!
With all that said we are getting ready and about to go have some Sea Food! yummy! So excited knowing we are swimming with what we are about to eat. :/