How long has it been?

It has certainly been too long since I've posted! So, once again I will post a bunch of pictures. David Madeira and I got engaged on July 4th and are getting married December 29th of this year! So, that is certainly the biggest news so far! But, I am also starting my first teaching job on Monday at Smyrna High School and will be teaching Spanish 1. So, this will certainly be a very big year! But, Dave and I are very ready to get married and are excited about all the changes to come! I will also include some lakehouse pictures for my family to see... All my mom's extended family in one house... it's such a blast! =) Adios!

an attempt to summarize the last 3 months of my life

Wow... it has been WAY too long since I've written. I suppose that's how every one of my blog starts, but this time it is really true! So, instead of telling boring story after boring story about my life, here is a recap in photos!

For my birthday (September 6th), Dave took me to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, the children's science museum here in town. It was so much fun!

Obviously we both have promising careers as space explorers.

Doesn't it stink when there are giant insects chasing you?

Me and Dave in the pretend ambulance... we're good to have around in an emergency.

There was a tower you could climb up to the top of the museum. Here is the view of Nashville from the top!

My new favorite place. =)


Dave's step-brother got married at the beginning of October in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So, we got to make the road trip up there and I got to meet his dad's family! It was a lot of fun, and I now know for sure that he has a great family! =)
Me and Dave on the right with his sister and his sister's boy-friend on the left!

Dave's family as the wedding party

Me and Dave at the wedding rehearsal

Me and Dave during a break between his "groomsmen photo sessions"


I was planning on visiting Deborah at Mercer for fall break, but it turned out that my fall break weekend would have been really inconvienent for her. So, ONE WEEK before fall break, I bought a plane ticket to New York City! I have a few friends studying out there this semester, so I stayed with them and we did "NYC in 3 days". It was awesome! I had never been there and it was a lot of fun. I'm glad that I got to head out there at the last minute. I think it may have been the best fall break yet!

Me in Times Square

Here is a view from the Empire State Building... (can you believe it costs almost $20 just to get to the top to see the view?)

Times Square (it's even more impressive at night!)

Brooklyn Bridge

Me with some friends in Central Park

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

H&M on 5th Avenue... can you believe all these people shopping? it's actually quite sickening.

Rockefellar Center (this is where the big Christmas tree is during the holidays)

Little Italy (right next to Chinatown)

This is the view of St. Patrick's Cathedral... the biggest in the US (Europe really puts us to shame in this area.

End of the Summer!

So, the summer is winding up and I'm heading back to Nashville in just a week! I can't believe how quickly the summer has passed! Before I know it, I'll be back into life in Nashville, classes and life there. I'm torn because I'm excited to get back and see my friends there and get back into the "school swing," but at the same time I'm sad to leave my family. It might be the last week that I ever live at home! And I'm certainly going to miss my sisters. Hannah is going to be in high school, and now Deborah is going on to college, so Deborah and I are going to be leaving Hannah at home... I hope she survives just with my parents. =)

This summer I've really enjoyed spending time with and getting to know the children and youth at Grace. I've also learned a lot about ministry and how I feel that it works. In the past, I've always thought that it was "powerful speaking," worship and loud music/movies that brought people into the church, but that's not it at all. I've realizing that it's love and the presence of God that draw us into the church, and more importantly, into a relationship with Christ. I've seen how churches and Christians totally confuse the name of Jesus and make us feel like God is something to be marketed... which couldn't be further from the truth! We can not market God (that doesn't mean people don't try... and haven't appeared to succeed), but instead we can experience Him. And that is when others are drawn into a relationship with Him. When they are drawn into the experience. Christ's love is overwhelming. And can only inspire awe and humility. But, when we try to "sell" God's love, we give people a false sense of who He is and how He desires a relationship with them.

Now, I'm sure my opinions on all things spiritual will change and expand as I draw closer to God and learn more about Him in time. But, as for now, these are my reflections... and how my views on God and the church are changing. I'm excited to see where He takes me from here!

I hope you have all had a marvelous summer as well! And that the end is relaxing for you! Have a great week!

(Dave and I went camping and hiking this past weekend... here is a picture of us! Enjoy!)

Family

So, I just got back from the Lake House in Michigan visiting my mom's extended family. It was so fun! The lake house involves staying in a 3 bedroom ranch right on the lake with about 20 people for almost a whole week! It's so fun, but it's also crazy! Aunt Stephanie has 7 kids ranging from 2-19 years old. And there was my family and then Aunt Jennifer with 2 of her kids. It's just so fun to hang out with my family and see every one.

I think one of my most favorite parts of the week was watching and listening to my little cousins say the cutest things. For example, my little cousin Kimberly who is 4 years old told us one night that she was going outside to "praise the Lord" and that she didn't want any one else to go outside to distract her. Well, then through the window we saw her dancing around and she was saying things such as, "God made everything.... And it is all beautiful... and God made me... and I am beautiful... and He is so big and amazing..."

How awesome is that?! I wish I praised like that. I've been realizing recently how easy it is for me to come to God just with a list of stuff I want and need or "feel" like I need. And I very rarely go to Him to just thank and praise him. And I CERTAINLY do not go to Him to just listen. And THAT is what I need to be doing! Another time my mom was sitting on the dock trying to just be quiet and listen to what God was telling her. And then Kimberly came up to her and asked her what she was doing. My mom said she was listening to Jesus' voice and asked Kimberly if she ever heard the voice of God. And Kimberly said, "well... I usually talk so much that I don't have time to listen to Jesus."

It was so cute, and also so true. I would try to gloss over the fact that I don't take the time to shut up and listen to what God is trying to tell me. I just try to keep "plowing through." and instead of listening to what He is trying to tell me, I am always trying to "do" things, either for myself or even for Him. When that's not what I'm supposed to do... It would be better for me to just stop and listen instead of always trying to just keep going and plugging my ears to hear what's really going on... and what He really wants me to hear. Whether it's a challenge or a an encouragement. So, I guess there we go... I need to stop and listen. Why am I even blogging right now? haha =)

Here are some pictures from the week! Enjoy!

Andrew, Hannah, Joe and Emily for a Jet Ski Ride!

We somehow ended up all giving each other foot rubs.

It was so windy and made so many waves that we needed to wear goggles! We felt like such dorks... haha =)

Slide Show

4th of July

Happy 4th of July every one!
The truth is that I LOVE this holiday... I know it sounds wierd, but I really do. It's one of my favorites. Not sentimental or anything, but it's always really fun. It's one of those holidays that you get off of work and get to be outside while eating good food... and then of course there are fireworks! And I really like fireworks. They're loud and pretty... what a great combo. haha =) And the great thing is that our next door neighbor has a big party and sets off his own fireworks. Which means that I get to sit on my back porch and see an awesome show from the comfort of my own house... it's great!

Other than that, life has been pretty busy. I've been doing quite a bit of work at the church, so it's great that I love my job. Since there was a group in Honduras led by Joey, I got to take over some stuff, and Thomas and I got to "be in charge" of the Encounter service on Sunday. It was awesome and so fun! We had a prayer service and it was great to just have some time to pray. We had some of the elders come too to pray over people that wanted or needed prayer. It was such a cool experience. I wish we did that more often. It's so awesome to have people pray over you. And there is such power in that! There is so much more power in Christ than we could ever imagine or think. It's kind of mind-blowing. He offers us so much, yet we tend to be content with whatever we can provide for ourselves! It's like when Jesus said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. And I never take advantage of that! My faith tends to be so weak... and I prefer to stay in my comfortable zone where I don't leave anything up to Jesus. But, if I give up control to Him, my life will go MUCH BETTER than when I try to do it myself.

Here's the thing... it seems like I've learned this lesson hundreds of times before. But, I always have to keep learning it... I guess it's just one of those things that we will be learning our whole lives. The more it sinks in, the more my life will change, but I won't truly believe it until I'm in heaven... oh haste the day! =)

Dave comes to Mahomet to visit me in Mahomet this weekend and we're even going to go up to Wheaton for a day to see his family too. So, hopefully there will be some great pictures to post! We're definitely looking forward to it.

Happy Independene Day to all! =)

The Most Boring Blog Ever Written

Wow... it's been a while since I've written! So, I've decided to update you all on my life. There's not too many "exciting" stories, but I can let you all know what's been going on.

I'm finishing up my thrird week working at Grace Church of Mahomet for the summer. I'm mostly working with the Children's ministry, but I also get to work with the youth (6th-12th grade) and do some office work too. It keeps me quite busy, but it's awesome! I love being busy hanging out with people at Grace.

The past couple of weeks have been super busy. Over Memorial Day weekend Deborah graduated from high school! It was super fun to have so much family in town and get to hang out with every one and have parties with family friends and people that I haven't seen in so long. Here's a picture of the family on Deborah's Graduation Day.
And here's a picture of the Desana, Zoltani and Carley cousins!! We're super silly. :-)


And then, last weekend Dave came to visit to meet the family and hang out for the weekend. It was so great to have him in Mahomet for a while. It's a fun place to be. :-) And today I just finished taking a Praxis Test which decides if I'll be qualified to be a teacher or not! AAHHH!! What pressure! What stress! hehe... I'll be finding out in a month how I did. I'll keep you all posted.

Well, this is just about the most boring blog I've ever written. But, my brain is a bit too fried to write anything interesting or philosophical. Maybe next time. And I'm sure I'll be getting great stories from my time at the church working with the youth. Well, I'm out for now. Have a great summer every one!

Just a Photographic Entry

Here are some updated photos from the end of my Junior Year!! I can't believe I'm now officially a Senior at Belmont. Now I only have a year to decide what I have to do after college... the pressure is on! :-)Happy Easter!! Here are two of my awesome cousins, Wade and Kyle. My sisters, Deborah and Hannah are sitting in the front. For Easter Day we went to Grandma Carley's house and spent most of the day on the sun porch, even though there were thunderstorm and tornado warnings. It took us several hours to smarten up and head to the basement. :-) It was one of the most fun Easters that I can remember.

Here is some family on my mom's side of the family. Cousin Rachel and Lincoln are in the photo with Aunt Suzanne. We spent a weekend in Murray, Kentucky watching Lincoln play baseball. It was SOO awesome to get to see them! We had a lot of fun and I'm so glad that it worked out for us to get together even though we are living in Tennessee, Texas, Colorado and Kentucky.

Travis, me and Eric at a birthday party. I'm going to miss these guys over the summer!

This is a group of girls at my friend Samantha's Bridal Shower/Bachelorette Party. She's going to get married in August. I can't believe my friends are starting to get married! It's so exciting. We had SOOO much fun! I can't wait until there are more friends getting married. And more parties! :-)

Now, meet Dave. He is the newest awesome part of my life!! We met on a blind date a while ago, and we've been having so much fun since then. He is such an amazing guy and we took this picture in downtown Nashville when he took me to the symphony. He is currently studying Classical Music Composition at the graduate level. He's been challenging me in so many ways and teaching me so much about life and faith and I love it! :-)

Dave and I (on the right) went camping and hiking at Fall Creek Falls with some of his friends this past weekend. I had never done the camping thing before, and it was SOO fun!! I'm excited to go again sometime. Fall Creek Falls is also SO beautiful.. I recommend it if you like hiking and/or nature.

Here is me and Dave hiking. We stopped for a bit for a photo break!