i need africa

mocha club has launched a new platform called

"I need Africa more than Africa needs me"

the basics: (this is written on the inside of each tee)
"When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here," I think. "They have so little, and I have so much." It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people. It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.

The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled. I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness. The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory, indomitable spirits. In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing, and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied up trash. Instead of payback, I find grace. Here, weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of daily life. Relationships and faith provide joy. Love is sovereign.

My new reality… I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances. I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit. I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little. I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating. I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart - I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.

I'm not saying that Africa does not need our efforts. It absolutely does need our partnership. But for me, I've come to understand that I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need. These are just a few of this continent's many lessons. I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa, with all its need, has much to teach me."

be sure to check out the video (about half way down the screen) on the website.

[i'm buying a couple of these tees for xmas presents]

also, marisa writes about it here and annie, here.

wind of change

This is more a season of change than any other. Ok, well maybe not as much of one as getting married, moving to Atlanta, working two jobs, and doing school, but still. Go with me. I'm graduating Saturday, closing the door on a whole chapter of my life that, oddly, Grant wasn't really a (physical) part of. (Shout out to Mason, who's also graduating Saturday--what a rock star.) I'm stepping out into the real world--yuck. Hannah's having/ has had her baby [i wouldn't know b/c i can't see her new blog and that makes my heart very very sad]. Christmas is coming. Jesus is come.

This season of change just brings a lot of newness, uncertainties, expectations, hopes, fears, and a whole lotta waiting around, being patient for everything to work out.

what I want to be prayerful about in the midst of all this change: hannah and aswan's little miracle, a j.o.b. for me, future and further interviews, Christmas time with the fam (actually we'll get to see both, but we'll spend the actual day with mine), Stahler finishing up high school, heidi being far away at Christmas, Coco and Nida working during the holidays, Ashley and Mason tackling a new semester in fla, Zach and Steph being home and together, Maggie starting at UGA and moving into Creswell, little MegaMoo [aka spaghetti] at auburn, Leen and Brandon's engagement as well as Sara and Andrew's, Carrie and Andrew as newly weds over the holidays, Laura who recently had a birthday!, mama and daddy preparing for an empty nest, our small group, our finances, our love. And I've been a little down and out lately, no big, just feeling a little left out of things. What things? idk. life. I think it's just the changing of the seasons, but pray for my little heart. All in all things are good and we are thankful. "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Ps 126:3.

ps. "wind of change," if you didn't catch that in the title, is the name of a sweet sweet 80's monster ballad. it rocks. you should check it out if you're into that.

small group

Grant and I have found the most incredible small group--we're so so thankful! Fits the season. Anyway, we all kinda met together for a structured 8 week thing, but we didn't want to lose the friendships we found so we're continuing it at our place! Last night was the first real meeting. It was awesome. We're going through Andy Stanley's iMarriage. So perfect for us "MWok"s--Married WithOut Kids. Fresh perspective meets local favorite (andy) as five couples sit around and discuss the woes and wonders of marriage. It rocks. quick shout out to chris and jen, josh and amanda, erika and brian, and chris and caitlin! love yall!

Thanksgiving: we're having 10 people over for Thanksgiving! Yay for family! Rick and Janice, Mama Heath, G-ma, Grant's fam: Perry, Leigh Ann and their girls Evan and Aubrey (remember, from the wedding ;) and possibly my uncle merrill. You probably noticed that MY DAD AND BROTHER aren't listed. I KNOW! Stahler's football team is like a big deal (like 4th in the state), and they have to practice on Thursday, play on Friday--LAME! So daddy and Stahler man will not be with us on MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY. so so sad. We'll make it up at Christmas!! I will, however, be cooking for 10 no less. (omg) I'm really really looking forward to it. It'll still be fun and we have so so much to be thankful for.

School: I only have one more week of driving back and forth PRAISE JESUS! Looking at our finances tonight, we noted that gas will be significantly lower, meals out (since I eat out when I'm gone each week) will be much less, and we'll have so much more time together! It'll be like a second honeymoon just to spend all 7 days of a week together in one home--no more couch surfing, though I have enjoyed staying with Mason and Harrison--yall rock. seriously.

I graduate December 13th at 9 am in Tuscaloosa! We're spending the rest of the weekend at the LAKE with the fam! What a treat! But before all that I have two HUGE papers... dun dun dun. They are 30% and 50% of my grade in two of my three classes... can you believe it...? ughhgghh. Anyway, once I tackle those (then immediately forget them in order to enjoy thanksgiving) I can breathe easy.

Hannah: IS HAVING A BABY!!! still not sure it's registered with me the magnitude of that statement. wow. And we can't WAIT to meet little man Nile! If everything works out, hopefully Grant and I will get to make it up to Charlotte before he arrives! But who knows--babies have a mind of their own about being born on time... love you hannah bear.

Job: Please continue to pray for me in this. We kinda really need a second income (more significant than the pt check I get from Bulloch, tho I LOVE what I'm doing there) and I think one may come my way soon. I have an interview December 10th with a headhunting firm. We're just praying over and over again: YOUR will be done, Lord. I know it will work out in His time and with His provision (it sure would be nice if that happened before Christmas...) xoxoox

That's about all that's new with me (total chaos as usual). What's new with you?

quick fave

For the past 4 days I have been lounging on the beach with Nida and Ashley spending some much needed quality time. While I have much to blog about that, for now I'll leave you with my quick fave from the entire trip. On Sunday at church we heard a gospel choir sing--Amazing! This is my favorite quote from that service and one I want to remember forever about the body of Christ:

I pray for you
you pray for me
I love you
I need you to survive.

More to come...
[miss them already, especially as I'm thrown back into school work...]

tag it!

I Am: a wife, a student, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a lover of Jesus
I Have: all that i need. actually probably more than i need
I Think: constantly--i'm always in my head
I Know: where my treasure lies
I Dislike: ignorance
I Miss: my fam--esp precious stahler
I Fear: failure
I Feel: loved, blessed, happy, and content
I Want: peace
I Smell: grant even when i'm away each week b/c i put his cologne on my pillow
I Crave: dexter dvds. that serial-killer is awesome
I Cry: every once in a while. sometimes just because
I Usually: am contemplating the future
I Search: for jobs constantly, continually, daily, hourly, all the time
I Wonder: where we'll be in 5 years
I Care: so much about family, traditions, love, seasons, and holidays
I Love: grant grant grant and of course, dane cook and Jesus
I Regret: not soaking up every minute at uga
I Always: search for the good in people or circumstances
I Worry: that i wont ever reach or respond to my full potential
I Am Not: excited about working in the 'real world'
I Remember: my sweet granddaddy and our 'dates'--lunch most fridays of my senior year in high school
I Dance: ALL the time, in public, alone, with music, without, all the time my heart sings and i dance
I Don't Always: do anything
I Write: all the time. i love reading, writing, exploring words' meanings in written form. words are all we have to discribe this life and all its beauty
I Win: nothing. incredibly unlucky
I Wish: everyone could feel what i feel as a newly wed. seriously, this is the greatest thing ever and i hope everyone is emersed lavishly in love at least once
I Argue: when i should conceed
I Listen: to better understand (but never enough)
I Lose: the backs of earrings
I Don't Understand: why some people choose not to get better, not to change, not to heal
I Can Usually Be Found: with a good book and coffee out on our back porch
I Am Scared: to have children. that's a lot to be responsible for.
I Need: love
I Forget: the hard parts of seasons and somehow remember mostly the good
I Am: grateful

the emerging church

I have been talking about the emerging church a lot since I researched it for some graduate study. Here are the basics:

The Emerging Church—aka “The Emergent Church”
--A Christian movement that focuses on increasing faith by emulating Jesus without adhering to or requiring typical religious traditions or rules. The idea—most popular among young people and un-churched people [those who have never or rarely attend traditional church services]—embraces and emphasizes experience, believing that the deep connection between human experience and spiritual rightness is the key to discovering how Christ lived his live in union—or communion—with God. Participants of this movement call it a “conversation” to highlight its developmental and volatile status, as well as to emphasize interfaith dialogue rather than former “one-way evangelism.” It is arguably the pinnacle of relational ministry and places high value on good works, social activism, missional living, and community and fellowship as acts of worship.

The point: to create a kingdom of heaven on Earth, believing that Jesus came to give life in the now, not just life in eternity.

Here are some EC books that embody this new theology (a few personal faves):
The Shack, Velvet Elvis, Sex.God.

The Bigs:
Voddie Bauchamof Grace Family Baptist, Rob Bell at Mars Hill Bible Church, DA Carson, Mark Driscolland the Resurgance also at Mars Hill, Tim Kellerat Redeemer in NYC, Todd Mangum, Erwin McManus of Mosaic, Brian McLarenat founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church, Stuart Murray Williams, John Piperof Desiring God Ministries and Bethlehem Baptist Church, Andy Stanley of Northpoint Ministries, Rick Warren at Saddleback, David Wells, and NT Wright, Ed Young at Fellowship,

A few more sites, in case you're interested:

SimpleWay
Emerging Church Info
Every This is Spiritual
The Gods Arent Angry
Open Source Theology
Religion Link
Rethink Theology
The Ooze

And some articles if you have time:

Jones, Tony. “The State of Emergent 2006.” Next Wave E-Zine (Jan 2006).
--Underlining the changes and discoveries within the movement.

Little, Blake. “The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.” TIME Magazine (7 Feb 2005).
--Describing the range and scope of this leader’s influence on a national level.

Hall, Chad. “What Leaders Can Learn From Rob Bell: His sold-out tour shows us a better way to engage listeners on today’s topics.” Leadership Journal (26 Nov 2007).
--Naming Rob Bell the Rock Star of this movement.

Cuccia, Vic. “An Interview with Rob Bell.” The Ooze (3 Jul 2007).
--Describing Rob Bell’s megachurch, Nooma video series, and theology.

Van Biema, David. “The Hipper-Than-Thou Pastor.” TIME Magazine (6 Dec 2007).
--Closer look at Rob Bell.

Kuo, David. “Finding the Big Jesus: An Interview with Rob Bell.” BeliefNet.
--Closer look at Rob Bell’s basic beliefs on Jesus.

Hansen, Collin. “Pastor Provocateur.” Christianity Today (21 Sept 2007).
--Describing Mark Driscoll’s ideology.

Riley, Jennifer. “Brian McLaren: Postmodern Christianity Understood as Story.” Christian Post (18 Feb 2008).
--Describing Brian McLaren’s slant on the movement.

McKnight, Scott. “Five Streams of the Emerging Church: Key elements of the most controversial and misunderstood movement in the church today.” Christianity Today (19 Jan 2007).
--Describing issues in the Church and in the emerging church movement.

The Panel. “Seven Big Questions: Seven Leaders on Where the Church is Headed.” Relevant Magazine. (Jan/Feb 2007).
--The Bigs take on the tough issues using the emerging church movement as a platform.

Kenney, David. “Dynamic Ideas: How Rob Bell’s ‘The Gods Aren’t Angry’ tour is Rethinking How We Talk about Faith.” Relevant Magazine.
--Discussing Rob Bell’s 27-stop, sold-out tour and its big concepts.

books, weddings, and celebrations!

books: I am currently reading A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers and Love and Respect by Eggerichs. I picked up two other quick reads on sale today: a Mary Higgins Clark thriller and Stephen King's Lisey's Story. But I'm not so good with the scary ones. Suspence, thriller, murder mystery, deceit--all the good ones I can handle just fine.... But I don't think I'm ready to read the Stephen King yet b/c I'm usually too scared to watch his movies... so I'm thinking... not ready to read his books.... Anyway, if y'all have read any of these, or have any other great reading suggestions, send them my b/c I love to read. seriously.

weddings: Scotty and Lindsay got married Oct 4th and it was gorgeous! so fun! and on the lake!! [my fave]
This weekend Andrew McCleskey and Allison Wise are tying the knot in Asheville, NC! can't wait! Our neighbors will be newly weds and both of them will be living down stairs! yay! They're having a beautiful outdoor wedding so pray for pretty weather. I have a feeling God has it taken care of.
Next weekend a childhood friend of mine--completely precious angel--Mary Catherine is getting married! we are so excited for her and are privaleged to be a part of things. We're having her bridesmaids luncheon at our house the day before her wedding! so so great! and we are so so excited for them! I got to meet Syman a few times and he's lucky to have our Mimi.

celebrations: I GET TO SEE HANNAH TMRW! how great is that?!?! Yes! Really and truly! for the first time since our wedding and the first time in person with her visible bump! I cannot wait!! two hours of uninterrupted lucy-hannah time. bring it on! There is much to celebrate: she's pregnant and having a baby shower this weekend and a baby [Nile] in December, Aswan is signed and will be releasing an album soon [feb 2009-ish...???!!! i think?], I'm so close to being done with school I can feel it!, we are so so so remarkably blessed it's ridiculous. Oh, and did I mention that my husband is AWESOME!

Looking forward to up-coming travels too: Asheville, NC this weekend with a quick stay with the Duggar clan in Greenville, SC friday night before the wedding on saturday; back to Huntsville the next weekend for Mary Catherine's wedding; Grant's off to Philadelphia for business [no, I don't get to go.... :( ]; then finally Nida and I get to visit ASHLEY! can't wait!!; then possibly visiting Hannah and Azzy before the birth of precious little Nile; then off to Tuscaloosa to graduate! praise the Lord! CANNOT WAIT!

these are very exciting times and we feel so very blessed to have the best friends and family to share it all with. love yall!!! xoxoxo

fireproof

Grant and I spent the evening with our bible study group going to dinner together and watching a movie. It was a really nice change of pace from the typical bible study routine and we got to connect on other levels, too. The movie was incredible.

We saw Fireproof. It was so good and so real and not as cheesy as I thought it could have been. It gave a very realistic dialogue to what could tear apart a marriage, and what could put it back together. you can see the movie trailer here or visit the website to learn more here. I wont go on and on for fear of ruining or over-rating it, but there's nothing like experiencing a movie like that to really appreciate what we have, be thankful for the gift God gave me in Grant, and be more prayerful and watchful than ever to guard what is so sacred to us.

why did the chicken cross the road?

I received this hilarious email from my dear mother and had to share it with you all [hannah, nida, sometimes-ashley and other vegitarians, flexitarians, and vegans, please do not take offense to this post]:


Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a
change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he
recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the
chickens on the other side of the road... ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

SARAH PALIN: BECAUSE, PRAISE JESUS, I WAS GONNA SHOOT HIS SORRY LIBERAL A** OFF FOR BLOCKING MY VIEW OF RUSSIA!

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little
chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified
to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the
chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about
me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road.
We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not.
The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground
here.

DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the
satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your
definition of crossing?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now
against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the
chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black
chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize
that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before
it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to
do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his
current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is
why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken
learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm
going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the
road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the
road.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was
going. I had a standing order at the Farmers Market to sell my eggs when
the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider
information.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.
Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be
listening to the chicken
tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced
a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream
of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads
together, in peace.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road
move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

confession

Ok. So. I have a confession to make: I might have a renewed addiction to... Dawson's Creek.

I know. I know. But that's so high school... and then we all watched that in college in between classes. In the past, right? Nope. I'm watching it all over again, reliving the teen angst, one dvd at a time. o.m.g.

Anyone else have a guilty pleasure? Annie, I know you love Reba, and girl, I love her too. Anyone else???

what?!

I can't believe that Alabama beat Georgia last night. Apparently I'm now more into football that I ever was in college and follow it ardently. Seriously. Last night we were all in shock. Then the fighting that broke out around us snapped us back to reality, we picked-up our tail-gate, and went home. Sad day.

On a lighter note, we loved watching Ole Miss demolish Florida. THAT was awesome. Actually, yesterday there were a lot of upsets, I just never saw the Bama/ UGA one coming. Family gatherings with Mama and Daddy Heath should be interesting for the next few years... xoxoxo

amazed

today, buckhead church was awesome. not that it isn't other sundays, but today was different. today was a baptism sunday that engaged my heart, mind (and tears) till the end.

The first lady, a very attractive 30-something explained her story: college, met a guy, got married, got pregnant. sounds great until the guy left her 8 months pregnant, broke and alone. she started coming to buckhead church, working in waumba land volunteering with kids and coming back around to the idea of God when she met a guy. they got engaged, but the engagement was broken "abruptly" and she hit an all time low. she realized that she needed jesus, and surrendered to the Lord. what is interesting in this story is that you don't immediately feel content b/c it's not over yet. she doesn't yet have the perfect house and kids and husband, but the Lord is faithful and can give her hope and love in the midst of all that "unfinished-ness"--enough to allow them to be baptized. she (and all the girls on my row, myself included) cried through the whole thing. it was beautiful.

The second was a guy from britain. his tape messed up. no sound. seriously. the tech guys could not make it work, and there was an anticipation that turned to panic when we all realized we wouldn't hear his story--you mean God brought him all this way to this place to have a congregation not hear his story? five minutes later they gave the man a mic and he gave a concise slightly emotional account of his story. it was amazing, b/c it wasn't recorded or proofed or perfect: it was REAL. afterward, we all stood (several thousand) and applauded his courage to speak about a personal relationship, a personal transformation live in front of so many strangers. it was a beautiful thing: what God had done in his life and what God did in the hearts of our church today. needless to say, i was a wreck by the end.

the worship was touching and andy's message was--of course--totally real and pertinent, but the service was unforgettable because of the people who shared their stories and were baptized. wow.

linked in

as i was recently writing and researching web 2.0, i discovered more about the "business-world facebook" linked in. then, on my way home from tuscaloosa yesterday, i listened to rob bell talk about being connected, and i wondered: am i too linked in?

i have facebook, gmail, gchat, a blog, twitter, a cell phone, internet, text, voice mail. that's quite a list of distractions. i love them all, but sometimes i'm on information overload. i need to just turn off my phone, stop checking the web, and just be--by myself and with people. i need to stop serving communication and just enjoy it. i need a time out. so tonight i'm doing just that. grant and i are having a date--he's cooking for me! yay! i'm turning off my phone. i'm not checking the internet. and we're coming back to some real QT. i can't wait. i'll come back to the infromation highway tmrw, i guess, but just for tonight, it's like i'm not linked in.

God in the straw

just a quick thought from fredrick beakner:

“The child Jesus is born in the night among the sweet breath and steaming dung of beasts, and nothing is ever the same again. Those who believe in God can never, in a way, be sure of him again. Once they see him in a stable, they can never be sure where he will appear, or to what lengths he will go, or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in his wild pursuit of human kind.

If holiness and God in all his glory were present in this least auspicious of events--this birth of a peasant's child--then there is no place or time so lowly and earth-bound, but that holiness can be present there too. If God's in the straw and the dung, then all events can become holy. And this means that we are never safe and that there are never places we can hide from God, no place where we are safe from his power to break into and recreate the human heart, because it is just where God seems most helpless that he is most strong and just where we least expect him that he comes most fully."

and check out this 2007 article in TIME magazine on rob bell.

thankful

i am so incredibly thankful. i'm actually surprised as i look back on my journal the past 3 months to see what i'm thankful for. it seems that God is so good he's turned what i expected to be bad into something i'm grateful for:

lucy's expectation/ God's reality:

13 weeks of commuting to tuscaloosa for school would suck/ i get to spend roughly 8 hours in two days listening to Rob Bell pod casts, praying, and talking to the ones i love most

gas prices would break our budget/ gas is 40 cents cheaper in tuscaloosa

grant signed us up for a bible study i knew nothing about/ i am totally in love with our new bible study, its leaders, and my wonderful husband

grad school would kill me/ so far so good and only 9 more weeks!

working and school would kill me/ love my job, love my hours [up to my discretion], love the money [more than we expected]

staying with people each week would put them out and be inconvenient/ i've LOVED having one-on-one time with some of my favorite people

work and school would take me away from grant/ we plan incredible intentional time, dates, and dinners with amazing quality time

the tight budget would kill us/ we get to cook together, eat together, play together

This newly-wed season has taught me so much about turning my expectations upside-down and being aware of what God's doing without trying to make assumptions about what he'll do next. I've never been happier; i have much to be thankful for.

seek adventure

grant and i had a blast in augusta this weekend, but the real adventure was our labor day fun!

augusta: had THE BEST TIME with his mama and daddy, sister, brother-in-law, and little noel--the new addition to the family. we ate shish kabobs, baked potatoes (my FAVE!) and cheese cake, and cheered the dawgs and the tide to victory. awesome.

labor day: sunday was our three month anniversary, so i decided to plan something fun [a SECRET!] day trip where we could spend quality time together and immerse ourselves in nature.

what we did: drove through most of western north carolina [gorgeous!]
made our way through a local 6 ACRE corn maze [barely! whew!]; SERIOUSLY, the picture is of the maze itself. it was a doozie.




drove the Blue Ridge Parkway

went to Sliding Rock in the Pisgah National Forest and slide down into icy water!

visited several precious lake/ mountain communities including Bat Cave, NC, Cashiers, NC, and Transylvania County, where they dedicate the entire month of October to Halloween and Fall Festivals [now that's my kinda place!]

checked out the beautiful Looking Glass Falls

loved Brevard

loved even more, the Highlands

hiked the 4,930 ft Whiteside Moutain in the Nantahala National Forest [amazing view from the top]




and stopped last at the Dillard House


hiking waterfalls, viewing cliffs, and taking a roadtrip with my love. could it get any better than that?

words of wisdom

ask and it shall be given unto you. welp. ok.

my first of two little nuggets from God hit me today, while driving back from tuscaloosa listening to Rob Bell (oh, how i do love that man). he was talking about honoring people, what that really means, and what that actually looks like. and then rob said two really profound things: 1) you can't honor them if you are bitter toward them and 2) you'll only internalize that bitterness, let it fester into hate, then be disgusted and surprised when it takes hold of your life and you suddenly become the very thing(s) that you were rebelling against.

and here's the nugget: the hate, the bitterness, the frustration with the other person that i can't forgive, it's rarely about them. it's about me. at the heart of the thing i hate most in others is the recognition and rejection of that same disgusting thing in me. ouch. that one hit me like a ton of bricks.

i evaluated the people i had beef with and asked myself why, and it was revolutionary what happened in my soul. it was like i finally confronted what i didn't know i hated within me, then, having separated the person from the [my] issue i was able to let them off the hook and let go of the bitterness and anger. i realized that all this hating and seeping and raging inside me [that satan cleverly let me overlook and downplay] was really huge and really ugly. and keeping it up was exhausting. the moment i could finally quit blaming them for the hurt in me or the anger in me or the frustration i felt, i was relieved. like i could breathe again. like i didn't have to keep a running tally of their screw-ups or hang-ups or things that drive me crazy. and i could just be. and deal with the ugliness in me that i didn't even know was there. and, wow, was there some ugliness. i think satan uses our minds, our intelligence, against us sometimes; plays us against ourselves b/c he knows we'll lose and fall deeper into his trap all the while, without realizing it at all, though thinking it to death. how can i be so self-aware and full of constant self-evaluation, and yet unable to recognize the ugliness in my heart? AND unable to make the connection between that other person's faults and MY OWN? speck and plank, for goodness sakes!

but God doesn't give out freebees without expecting us to take the knowledge and apply it to our lives [shoot.]. so, i've decided to tell them i've been harboring stuff against them, that's its my fault and my judgment and my own stuff from the beginning, not them, and ask them for forgiveness because i have truly wronged them in my heart.

nugget number two: i cannot gain wisdom without forgiveness of others/ self; if i can't realize my own stuff and call it what it is and deal with it healthily, it's like i can skim the top of the water, but never dive into wisdom.

so, i mentioned i was cleaning house. i truly am. i'm throwing out bitterness, hatred, anger, and blame. i'm cleaning out the ugliness in me, [only] with God's grace. and i'm replacing that crap with forgiveness, ready for God to dwell richly in my newer, cleaner space and teach me a few more nuggets about wisdom.

ps: rob quoted colossians 3:13, 16: "13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts." amen, sister friend!

what do y'all think? xoxo

my jumbled thoughts

if all my blog posts were put together in a word picture, this is what it would look like.

create your own fun at wordle

idunno

as my good friend annie has noted, "God and I--we work in themes" and our current theme seems to be wisdom. in the past few weeks, i have heard two different people preach on gaining wisdom--who did in the bible, who listened to the people with wisdom, and how the whole thing turned out for God's glory, even when it looked rather desperate for the person/ nation at the time--and have come across three bible verses about wisdom. interesting...

andy stanley preached on wisdom being one of the main messages he would give in his series, letters to the next president--an extra-earth-shatteringly-awesome sermon series... love it.

and these are the verses i've come across in my quiet times lately:

solomon's wisdom:
"God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man... and his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life... He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fist. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom."
1 kings 4: 29-34.

Wisdom with a capital "W":
"Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as Understanding raises her voice!... Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For Wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it."
proverbs 8:1, 10-11.

prophecy of jesus:
"And the Spirit of the Lord with rest on him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited... He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment."
isaiah 11:2-5.

and my personal favorite:
"The Lord our God hasn't explained the present or the future, but He has commanded us to obey the laws He gave us and trust in Him." Deuteronomy 29:29.

i feel like in this world and in school and in the socio-political circles we exist in, it's often viewed as stupid or ignorant to just admit "i don't know" so we people create and invent things--statistics, plans for the future, relationships, conflict, even fake-resolution--to convince ourselves and others that we have it together, that we are intelligent and well-educated, and that we are in control. but we're not. we never were. what i'm realizing more and more is that God doesn't think we're stupid for saying "i just don't know," "i don't have all the answers," "i'm not in control of that [insert here]"--He chooses to see us as obedient, waiting for His will in our lives. we still, of course, must be proactive in discovering his will (not potato-couch-slug-christians), but simply accepting that we don't know and submitting to God brings him glory. and when we do it, other people notice. waiting on the Lord, fearing and trusting the Lord, being submissive and obedient to a God i haven't met in a world that is not The Kingdom--these are my toughest spiritual battles. and they involve a lot of mental debates that i usually lose with myself, as well. i'm sick of trying to reason it out or out-think God. and this--admitting that "i don't know"--i think is the beginning of Wisdom. so i'm currently cleaning house, throwing out all the things i thought i knew, and relearning the spiritual lessons and disciplines again with a focus on gaining wisdom. we'll see what happens. i'm kinda excited, but what do i know ;)

i still don't know where God's taking my with this one, but i'm open to instruction and ready to learn of this obedience, knowledge, truth, and, of course, wisdom.

classes and such

so my classes don't totally suck. in fact, i found out by talking to many of my friends in the program who chose their classes based on content and professor (not by time slot) that the classes i picked haphazzardly are actually AMAZING. they're with three professors that "everyone says" you're supposed to take your last semester and "you'll totally love". yay. so God's picture really is bigger than my time-slot-class-schedule. good to know.

i'm really excited about every single class. in one, students from last semester are on their way to being published (my next goal) and in another past students are presenting a presentation at national conferences (HUGE! and a good way to network and find funding for fun projects, etc). so i'm pumped. i'm gonna be the student they talk about next semester who...(fill in the blank)... [maybe if i'm lucky].

i'm exhausted, but the drive is not all that bad and gas is so cheap in tuscaloosa, grant and i are hoping the commute won't put the incredible divot in our budget that we initially dreaded (again, God is good and so much bigger than our little stresses).

quick happy updates:
got to SEE NIDA WEDNESDAY. like face to face. in person. got to hug her neck and hangout on my bed chatting for hours like we did in college. loved it! my little nids! what a treat!

got to talk to ashers in the midst of her present chaos: mason leaving/ Fay distroying everything/ beginning grad school/ classes cancelled. she's a blessing as always.

hopefully going to lunch with jen garrett friday (LOVE that possibility)

and having the altmixes over on monday!

broke bread with allison and drew last week and am hoping to catch up with many more friends very soon.

friends from germany are in town and grant and i are hanging with them at the LAKE this weekend! yay!

long time family friend mary catherine caldwell and her fiance syman stevens are having an ENGAGEMENT PARTY in huntsville this weekend, and we'll be heading up from the lake to enjoy their company for the night, too. CONGRATS MIMI AND SYMAN! love yall!

grant's cousin (and my own good-good-friend-turned-family) evan duggar, a freshman at clemson, is coming in town next weekend for the alabama-clemson game! i think it's being played in the georgia dome! she's bringing friends and we're so excited! it's like college all over again mixed with family! yay!

that reminds me, you should all come visit and play asap as well. and on that note, i'm out. between readings and driving 4.5 hours today, i'm exhausted [but excited]. peace.

good news

two quick things, both GOOD:

1. i got into my other class that i needed, you know, the required one. yeah.

2. the prof's forcing me to leave my husband TMRW.... "it is in your best interest to be here...Lucy, I really encourage you to locate reasonably-priced accomodation for tomorrow night. You will miss a lot of material if you are not in the first class." grrrreat.

yay, academia. woohoo

heheh jk. ps. who goes to class during drop/add...?!

my ode to academia

the world of academia is a total crock. i'm a little perturbed at present because the university of alabama dropped my schedule, cancelled my classes for the fall, and nearly dropped me out of fall enrollment. after a whole day of freaking out and calling the school, the dean, the secretary, my mama, and grant, i got two of my three classes back, and am hopeful to get the third (and REQUIRED class) by tmrw. here's hoping.

O Academia
you are so full of it
you dropped all my classes
and left me with no exit.

O Academia
you really tick me off
and sometimes when i think of you
i laugh so hard i cough.

O Academia
I can't wait 'till we're through
but then again i might be back--
to law school! 'touchet!' to you.

that was so so bad, but it kinda perked up my stupid stressful day.

ps. anyone else hate school? anyone?

a new addiction

ok. so i have a new addiction... twitter.com. please, if you love me, you'll join me in this.

it's just like sending a text to all your friends letting them know little snippets of your day between blog posts and emails, but it's online instead of cell phone.

find me and follow me. it's really fun, and really addicting [i believe this is the sort of justification high schoolers use; disregard this and do it anyway. if you love me you'll do it... wait, that's another one. shoot.]

twitter.com/lucyduggar

oh, no. i'm hooked....

o.m.g.

ok. so i'm babysitting ava, the cutest thing ever!!! and its great. our schedule is pretty awesome: watch 101 dalmatians, snack, play leapfrog's leapster, snack, color, lunch [grant comes home for lunch! yay!], play hide-and-seek, snack, go to the pool, snack (you get the picture). anyway, when grant comes home, we have a great time. ava has a pretty amazing crush on him and loves to make him chase her around and pick her up, etc.

so yesterday grant and i decide to sing a camp song to teach ava--full on hand motions and butt-shaking involved. pretty sweet. in the middle of the song, ava jumps up on the bed, starts shaking her butt in a three-point position singing BABY GOT BACK! O.M.G. grant and i lost it. we couldn't breathe when we finally peeled ourselves off the floor. and there's ava, on the bed just shakin' it, "i like big butts and i cannot lie, you other brothers cannot deny! mmm mmmm mmmmm mmm big thing in your face you get sprung!" it was amazing. her mom later told me that it's on the shrek soundtrack. hehehehehhehehe. wow.

anyway. ava's awesome.

oh, and since you asked, yes, we've now watched 101 dalmatians 5 times in 3 days. xoxox

just for fun

ps. several small but GREAT things this week:
1. after working 2 jobs for 2 months, i have 3 DAYS TO DO NOTHING!
2. i'm making bank babysitting one of my favorite little girls a few days this week and next
3. ava (the little girl) and her parents came over last night to see our place
4. wes turner stayed with us last night! we had so much fun, cooking, telling funny stories, and repeating favorite pick-up lines... way too much fun. glad he and grant are such good buds.
5. i think i'm skipping the drop/add part of school, so i won't start driving till august 27th instead of the 20th.
6. katrin and michael (two AWESOME friends from germany) are coming to visit and grant and i get to play with them at the lake two weeks from now
7. kelly and john and the baby are doing GREAT! so excited for them and loving that all are in good giggling health.
8. the wedding, again, was so much fun. well done.

ld

carrie and andrew boyd

this weekend was awesome. carrie and andrew tied the knot at lake martin in a precious chapel on the lake with a lighthouse to boot! the reception was at the Willow Point Country Club, which is also where we, the wedding party, stayed. it was so beautiful and, remarkably, not oppressively hot!

we rolled in friday, checked into our "villa" at the cc--awesome! went to the rehearsal din din--great food, great company. very sweet things were said of carrie and andrew and a good time was definitely had by all. some friends i was finally reunited with include laura self (my love), julie chamberlain (introduced to me 5 years ago as "j.nasty" by her roommate carrie), garrett hill (carrie's cousin and my former date to the deb ball 100 years ago) and many many more to play with (paige, amy, melanie, patrick, holmes, brooks, etc)! it was fantastic seeing everyone. grant and garrett finally got to hang out, which they both loved, since we shared our villa with the whole Hill clan--anna and skipper (garretts 'rents), holmes (younger bro at clemson), earl and nancy (the grandparents, aka earl was grant's favorite person at the wedding). it was phenom. the night ended as most successful nights do: at the pool with music and adult beveriges and lots and lots of laughter.

saturday morning came early, but grant and i (because of the time change) were definitely up an hour or more before the rest. we had a very nice breakfast at the cc, then went to carrie and andrew's brunch at a pretty incredible house on the lake (and by house i mean mansion and by pretty incredible i mean estate). we left that to hang out with everyone pool-side until the wedding festivities commenced. At 3.30 laura and i headed to the Children's Chapel on the Lake to watch carrie get ready and take pictures. at 4.00 i dutifully took up my job as greeter and guest book administer...? (whatever, i had to make people sign in). i helped everyone pin on their flowers (and saved mine b/c they were beautiful white roses) and get ready. carrie, of course, looked stunning in her debutante dress--an old Victorian tradition that once the young woman makes her "debut" into society, she is married in the same gown. awesome. the guys wore blue seer sucker suites (CUTE!) and the wedding was perfect.

onto the best part: the reception!! the band was awesome, the cake, delicious! and everyone danced all night long. grant and i danced all freakin night and were the last ones on the dance floor (shocker, i know). carrie and andrew left through glow sticks and bubbles to "oh, when the saints! come marching in!" (which always reminds me of kathleens alarm clock...) and are currently loving their honeymoon in colorado!! they'll be back before carrie starts back at alabama's grad school (with me, commuting... ughgh!) in a week or so. she has until may and i have (thank the Lord!) until december. God's been so faithful to our friendship that He would bring us through the same seasons of love and happiness (and school) at the same time.

We had the best time this weekend. going to/ being part of a wedding after you're married is a totally different experience. it's a renewal of vows, a new appreciation of friendship, and an indulgence in the sweetest things: cake, wine, dancing, enjoying each other, and spending quality time as if we're the only ones having a private conversation in the midst of a crowd. true beauty. God is so good that only He would create such a holy bond as marriage and allow such an honest and limitless love to exist between two people within that covenant. i know carrie and andrew feel the same way.

be still, my beating heart

ok. so don miller is stealing my heart one page at a time. i've always loved blue like jazz (how many times have i read that one...) and i kinda know him through a friend of mine in oregon, though we've never met... [insert sigh here]. i'm currently reading (among a long list of others) through painted deserts. its freakin amazing!. if you know anything about me, my journey, or my soul, you'll understand why mr. miller is wooing me so [fear not, grant!].

"I want to change because it's God's way... I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently... And the closest thing I can liken life to is a book, they way it stretches out on paper, page after page, as if to trick the mind into thinking it isn't all happening at once."

"This is from where the story stems, the stuff of its construction lying at our feet like cut strips of philosophy. I sometimes look into the endless heavens, the cosmos of which we can't find the edge, and ask God what it means. Did You really do all of this to dazzle us? Do You really keep it shifting, rolling round the pinions to stave off boredom? God forbid Your glory would be our distraction. And God forbid we would ignore Your glory."

"I started wondering if life was something different than I thought it was, if there was some kind of raging beauty a person could find, that he could get caught up in the why of life. And I needed to believe beauty meant something, and I needed God to step off His self-help soap-box and be willing to say something eternally significant and intelligent and meaningful... I needed God to larger than our free-market economy, larger than our two-for-one coupons, larger than our religious ideas."

"I wonder, though, if the good feeling will last. I do this with good things; I think joy into its coffin; I analyze too much. I don't want to think about life anymore; I just want to live life."

"I guess what I mean is, he isn't one of the millions of us who are always looking for an escape, for distraction. He [paul, a character in the book] doesn't need to be talked to, but he isn't a recluse, and he doesn't need to hear music all the time, but he likes music...I guess you could say he is healthy or something."

"I guess I'm looking for what any guy is looking for. I want a companion, you know. Just someone to share life with. I want her to be my biggest fan and I want to be her biggest fan too. I want us to raise kids in a home where they know their parents are in love with each other and with them. I guess that's all I want."

"The way I figure, every girl is beautiful, you know. It's our arrogance that makes us think one is better than the other."

"Maybe when a person doesn't buy the lies anymore, when a human stops long enough to realize the stuff people say to get us to part with our money often isn't true, we can finally see the sunrise, smell the wetness in a Gulf-breeze, stand in awe at a downpour no less magnificent than a twenty-thousand-foot waterfall, ten square miles wide, wonder at the physics of a duck paddling itself across the surface of a pond, enjoy the reflection of the sun of the face of the moon, and know, THIS IS WHAT I WAS MADE TO DO. THIS IS WHO I WAS MADE TO BE, THAT LIFE IS BEING GIVEN TO ME AS A GIFT, THAT LIGHT IS A METAPHOR, AND GOD IS DOING THESE THINGS TO DAZZLE US."

"Matter and thought are a canvas on which God paints, a painting with tragedy and delivery, with sin and redemption. LIFE IS A DANCE TOWARD GOD, I begin to think. And the dance is not so graceful as we might want. We learn to dance with the One who made us. And it is a difficult dance to learn, because its steps are foreign... and I think to myself, I HAVE EVERYTHING I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS STORY, TO DANCE WITH GOD."

need i say more... i mean, wow. i'm only about a day into it and will finish it tmrw, only to read it several more times over the next week. don makes me think, and most contemporary prose writers don't. anyway, just food for thought. i'm eating it up.

bs

grant and i are looking for a bible study. if you know of anything helpful in the city, send it our way. we're a little overwhelmed by buckhead church's size and want to fellowship with people we'll really live life with (see multiple times a week). we want to have or create community here. if ya got any idears, lemme know! xoxo

inspire me

i need to be inspired, so inspire me. it's not that i'm particularly under-whelmed or disappointed even, just un-inspired. i'm ready for fall. i've become disillusioned with summer. since working at this montessori school, i've decided a) i'm gonna have to be one heck of a better person (with more patience, kindness, etc) to have kids and b) summer's way too short. when did that happen? when we were kids, summer seemed to stretch on and on and on. now we just work through the heat without a vacation or anything. lame. and kids. the kids are absolutely the worst. they don't want to be there. we don't want to be there and we certainly don't want them there. we're fighting a losing battle just by showing up each day.

i love fall. when its not 104 degrees of sweltering heat at dinner time (like it was at 6pm yesterday). when the clothes are the cutest--scarves, sweaters, corduroy jeans, jackets, layers and layers of wonderful softness. i love it! and it's totally romantic. chill in the air makes you want to snuggle. football games (pray for night games) with your hunny bunny (or hubby!). camp fires and smores and hiking and playing at night. fire-flies and candles and cedar in the air. i freaking LOVE the fall. plus the leaves are changing and falling and the colors are amazingly beautiful. and my very favorite holiday of all time is in the fall: thanksgiving with all the love and family of christmas without the pressure or spending or finding "the right" present.

i think i just inspired myself: one last week of hell (aka montessori) and then starting my LAST semester of stupid grad school and THEN the very best of AUTUMN in all its glory and THANKSGIVING!!! yay! and then grant's bday (the big 2-5!!! what?!) the day after thanksgiving. oh. much better. now i'm quite inspired and can continue without loathing everything between now and then. great! ttyl.

from the duggars

heyo! both duggars here, writing to say YOU HAVE TO COME VISIT US!!! seriously. we love ya and miss ya and you should totally come visit [grant: you need to receive it!].

we saw the dark knight this weekend and it was totally awesome. very scary and really dark [excuse me, grant says it wasn't that scary... yeah right] and violent and rated R. i thought comics were for kids. apparently not. the joker was such a conflicted character heath ledger--who did an incredible job and should be nominated for something for sure--was losing sleep over it and the sleeping pills prescribed to him were part of the od.... crazy. the movie was amazing and i've never seen anything like it--dark and yet so well done i really liked it.

we're thinking of going to athens tmrw, but are still not sure about those plans. we love and miss sweet athens so freakin much.

grant says he's glad he gets to play golf tmrw. sounds nice. it's for work. i on the other hand, will be herding cattle, i mean snotty-nosed children around for 6 hours, counting down the seconds till go time. but then again i get at least the month of august off.

highlights:
we had allison and leen over for dinner--so fun!

i got to talk to maggie who is currently on vaca in CALI! sweet!

coco passed her boards, so she's a Registered Nurse! and is job searching! please, God let it be Atlanta!

megen is visiting us next weekend [get out your planners and pick a weekend to play right now!]

carrie and andrew are getting married august 9th, and we're excited to be a part of that!

ashley's back from europe and i got to talk to her today--LOVE!
PS. WE ALL NEED TO PLAN A REUNION/ ASH BDAY/ VISIT ASHLEY AT GRAD SCHOOL play date asap!

nida's bday was a few days ago and i called her at midnight. perf. she'd just gotten back from hawaii so she was jet-lagged and tired--sorry nids, but i love you so much i had to call to celebrate your birth on georgia time! xoox

georgia (our great dane) and layla (allison's dog living here temporarily with her) are not yet friends... sad day... actually layla doesnt know what to do with GA, so she just shows her teeth, and GA licks them... it's hilarious to say the least.

i'm finally becoming a full Georgia resident tmrw by getting a fulton county license plate [OMG! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!] crazy.

i will no longer have anything to do with day care or children as of august 7th. praise jesus. jk... well kinda not really... xoxoxo

steph is totally due a visit to marietta and ROSWELL! let's petition her to get her here asap. xoxo missssss you!

hoping to go to a braves game next week to celebrate john neal's bday [25!] but it's a surprise get together, and those never go to plan, so we'll see.

oh, and ps HEIDI'S MOVING TO FINLAND?!?! we'll miss her so so much. i think she's flying out Sept 4th or sometime right around then... sad sad day.


ok. grant's now napping which means this blog is over and we should eat. i'm trying to ease him into blogging. attempt number 1: hard to tell: half success, half nap time. we'll see about duo posts in the future.

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU! COME PLAY! XOXOXO

can you FREAKIN believe it?!

we have new neighbors and it's ANDREW AND ALLISON! how crazy and wonderful is that?! God's plan is so awesome! here i am praying for fellowship, wanting to find community in a new city, and God gives me an old friend and a new one--Drew and Allison--at the SAME season of life (getting married in October), in the same city, same apartment complex, SAME BUILDING!! how incredible it is when God works in the details of life. we are truly blessed to be called His.

Falling off the earth

it's been so nice falling off the earth. i've been so out of touch for the past month, for several reasons. first and foremost: marriage is a BLAST! it's a dream everyday. seriously. it's so worth the wait b/c nothing is better (except children, i hear, but that's at least a decade or so off). but now back to reality. i'm working two jobs and only getting paid for one of them--the other's an internship for school (working 8:30-6:30 ea day). i will [FINALLY] graduate in december, but the road will be long and arduous for sure. all that to say time and money are very little at the duggar home so we don't have cable/ internet. i check it when i can about once a week--hence the blog snobbish behavior or lack thereof and falling off the earth.

back to my favorite: marriage. it's seriously so much fun. we had the best time at the wedding and then spent most of the honeymoon remembering it and talking about our favorite parts. it was amazing. the trip itself was pretty perfect, too. puerto vallarta, mexico is beautiful and... HAS A RAINFOREST!?! did you know that? we had no clue, but when we found out, we, of course, did a zip-line canopy tour of the rain forest from about 450 feet up. 8 zip lines. 450 ft in the air. repelling down 2 water falls. hiking through the rainforest. and riding mules. did i mention that there were large animals involved? it was great. another day we swam with DOLPHINS! they were beautiful and so smooth and playful like Georgia [ps. if you're reading this blog and you haven't met georgia our great dane yet, your life is seriously lacking.]. we got to kiss them and let them pull us around by their fins and push us with their noses. it was an experience like none other. what a blessing.

i am currently job searching for the fall/ spring. i'd love a part-time job just to pull in some income until i graduate in december, and if it could be in the field that would then turn into the full time job i want and need, that would only be better! pray for me, please that i 1) find a job, 2) find a small group [girls only], 3) find a couples bible study, 4) figure out the monetary dilemma of working while commuting back to tuscaloosa for school in the fall.

[in re: to this title, please know that i WANT TO STAY IN TOUCH with my girls, it's just hard for me right now without the time, money, and internet. but calling or texting is GRRRREAT! i love you all to much to let too much time go by.]

until then, know that i'm enjoying being a newly wed (cooking every night for my love, spending so much time together, washing clothes, watching movies, and pinching pennies--as do most newly weds ;).

like hannah said, we have so little but we have so so much. xoxo

5 more days

i'm so excited that we're getting married in just 5 days! it's bittersweet, though, b/c my family and i are doing the "lasts" of some stuff: the last time i'll be home again without grant (for a while, at least), last heath-only trip to the lake, last time they'll help me move without grant, last family cook-out, etc. it's been really fun spending quality time at home and being with them during this last month of engagement; i would have missed this time later, had i not spent it at home. my fam and i are really really close and they're all kinda sad that a new hero has stepped into my life--new family, new home, new love, new allegience--but they're so happy that its grant and they love him so much, the love outweights the longing in their hearts. i am using this time to really saturate in prayer and meditate on the ceremony and what the next chapter of my life will hold. we've waited so long for this week, counting down from the 130s, and i'm so glad it's finally down to only 5 more days.

LGN

this is how i look good naked. lgn. keep on keepin' on. alright.

april showers bring may flowers

so, if you remember from roll call, april totally sucked except for my sweet bach weekend, which made up for everything all year long! but may, in striking contrast, is much better than the papers and projects of april. this month represents many great things. my birthday. our wedding. finishing a semester of grad school. my birthday was really sweet and totally special, but very low key. grant knows how to make me feel celebrated. and i got to talk to some of my very favorite ladies. xoxo. i got to hang out with nids and take her to the air port and spend some time with a great new friend, kate altmix (check out their website here). my family and i are moving my house (my life) into mine and grant's apt. so much fun! it makes it feel real: bringing all our stuff to one place we call home (or soon will call home). i got an internship with a sweet historic home in roswell (1.4 miles from our place. yay! check it!) and i'm really excited about starting. that means: school credit plus experience plus an "in" with people that could potentially hire me equals eeeeee! (steph, you're my fave; that's a shout out to you xoxo). we're just tying up loose ends: wedding programs, rehearsal dinner invites, new addresses for a few of the wedding party, and choosing scripture and music. it's so much fun. and a dear dear friend of mine just got engaged too, mary catherine caldwell, and is getting married to syman (love him) october 4th. this is truly a season of love. i couldn't be more blessed. wish us well on setting up shop with the help of the 'rents! can't wait to see our place full of furniture not boxes.

our first place

we're slowly moving into OUR FIRST PLACE!!! grant's already pretty much moved in, and when i went to visit and job search in atl on monday, i got to see it. it was awesome: big empty rooms with boxes and random lamps on the floor never felt more like home.  grant and i were standing there, holding hands, in our first place, wandering through empty spaces talking about what we want to put where and how it will look. who knew an empty apartment in atlanta spells h.o.m.e.?  we are so so blessed, and we are fully aware of how lucky we are to have each other in our new place. i can't wait to get married and really call it home!! 

www.thelodgeontheriver.com 

bachelorette weekend

well. the bachelorette weekend at the lake with my faves was AWESOME! seriously. we had the best time. someor all of the following may or may not have happened: skinny dipping, jumping off the top of the dock, getting in the hot tub, counting shooting stars, playing a game i loved, playing a game i hated, getting stranded on the boat (so so funny!), hoppin' on the jet ski, opening presents, dancing to rap music (omg... who knew that many white girls knew those lyrics. ha!), spending quality time with my girls, praying for me, grant, my job, and our future. all in all it was incredible. oh, and did i mention the food? mama carpenter really hooked us up! leen brought the food--coolers full of it! italian, breakfast casserole, sammiches, ridiculous dessert truffle thing (aka death by chocolate), petite fores (delish!), and chips... did we talk about the chips? we girls ate about a bag and a half a day... mary brought the alcohol and nida brought the cloves. don't worry. it was awesome. the food was great and we had a blast. i felt so loved and blessed. i have the best friends in the world! thank you kathleen, hannah, ashley, nida, heidi, megen, carrie, and mary. and we missed you: maggie, steph, coco, emily, kelly, laura, alice, and lindsay. we're SO having a lake reunion every summer. get ready!

weekend fun

this weekend was packed with friends, family, parties, and quality time. it was awesome. friday night grant and i went to crescendo auction, which was really fun, and met up with ashley and mason for dinner and auctioning. i think we might've actually almosted bidded on several items, but out waves went luckily unnoticed! the saturday am (very early am, btw) grant, mama, grandmama, and i headed to athens, alabama for a tea that gma's 157-year-old friends had for me and grant. it was sweet. seriously. old women plus one handsome man plus presents equals fun. it was hilarious. we left that party only to return to a full house in huntsville. a college bff of my mama's drove all the way from fairhope to meet grant and go to the mother-daughter lingerie shower some friends hosted for us in huntsville. she stayed and played until party time at 7.00. while mama and i were sharing stories and hearing advice--while i got some sweet unmentionables--grant and mason had a play date at bridgestreet, which is awesome, btw, if you haven't yet gone. the party lasted until 10.30, which was delightful. then grant and i got to hang out and goof off. sunday began with company at 9.00am, a huge breakfast, and a quick siesta before we 4 (grant, me, mama, and daddy) went to the 2.00 matinee performance of hhs' Les Miserables. stahler's in it. it was AWESOME. i can't even begin to describe it, but rest assured, it made me laugh, it made me cry, and the talent and stage set were so incredible i often forgot it was a high school performance. if you can make it to a show, GO! wow. then we ate lunch at one of grant's fave restaurants in huntsville, and headed back home. grant and i got to chill out one last time before he drove back atl today--i stayed and am driving back tmrw am for class. it was a hectic weekend. and most hectic weekends = no sleep and no quality time. but this weekend was different. it was exactly what we needed. God is so good to give us what we need when we need it. grant is moving into OUR appartment tmrw! he'll be all moved in before thursday, which marks the beginning of his bachelor weekend with the boys in st. simons and my bachelorette weekend with the girls!! we both can't wait! we are so blessed with the coolest friends! as for school and work, i'm hoping to hear back from some places i applied to last week and hope to set up interviews for the first week in may. and school: my last hell week is this one. by thursday when i'm with my faves nothing school-related will matter, b/c that will all be said and done, praise the Lord. tho the weekend was fun, i'm so tired, so i'm out. but i'll try to write more consistantly in the future. ciao.

Babies, bands, and jobs!

it seems like everyone is having babies! hannah and aswan, kelly and john (future in-laws), dr. albertson (advisor), etc! babies are a gift and i can't wait to be an aunt! yay!

a few wedding updates.

i'm so excited b/c grant and i have finally picked out our wedding bands. and grant moves into our future home april 21st! yay! we're talking about all the stuff we're bringing together and how we'll set up our new place. it's all very exciting!

jobs!

please pray that i find a job in atlanta or something. i'm currently employed but unhappy working under a boss that stresses me out and lacks organization. i need something that will contribute to the joint account (we have no money;) but will also allow for me to be full time in graduate school. ideally, a temporary part-time job until december that will become full time upon graduation, that's not too far from home and is (full time) salary-based with benefits rather than hourly and sucky. you know. we all have a bottom line. i just want to meet it and be happy and be a newly wed and be a good wife and a good student all at the same time.  i know God will provide, but the dollars and cents of it all is overwhelming sometimes. 

romance

i am presently consumed with the notion of romance. it seems that i've just discovered it, yet it's been around us all the while without our knowing--in the little things, the details--changing our lives without our attention.  sure, there are the obvious things--grant loves me and has romanced me like none other, to no end, and with no comparison--but there are smaller things than intentional gestures. a letter in the mail. surprise concert tickets. one single text message that matters most all day. taking care of my puppy when i need it the most. making me laugh. giving a hug. i feel overwhelmed with the possibility of love. love in friendships. relationships. old ones. new ones. family. future. fellowship. neighbors. strangers.  it's overpowering if you think about it.  but then again, isn't that they way God intended it to be? romance, the stuff that knocks you off your feet? takes your breath away? when you discover it, when it finds you, when you open your eyes to the incredible story we're all apart of. my only hope is that, for as long as i can, i will retain this heightened sense of awareness that love is all around us and that the author of our love story is wooing us unceasingly with romance.

frustration

oprah is frustrating me and is leading millions astray in her new age "global community," the largest "church" in the world.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FhqBsyCxao&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDeLYSu8RPE&feature=related

roll call!

let's see... i'm overwhelmed with school and this is why:

april 1: group presentation

april 2: presentation of research

april 6: 5 page paper due

april 8: 20 page paper due

april 9: create group project power point

april 9: edit 22 page group paper

april 10: group project presentation

april 18: group assignment due

april 21: two assignments due  

april 24: group project and presentation

april 28: group presentation 

april 28: 20 page research paper

whew! i'm just keeping my eye on the prize:
BACHELORETTE WEEKEND with my LADIES!

augusta engagement

we had the very best time in augusta this weekend!  our families got to hangout for the second time (they met at our huntsville engagement party) and we got to play with old friends and new family. yay! some of my very favorite people were there: kathleen, hannah, coco, and maggie. and two of grant's guys came too: michael and tony. it was awesome. plus my 89  year old grandmother made the journey (6 hours) from huntsville with my 'rents! she got to chat it up with grant's nana--they were, of course, instant bffs. we got tons of gifts. seriously, i'm not sure everything will fit in our cute little apt. but i can't wait to set up our home and try!  grant and i just feel so loved and incredibly blessed.  i really couldn't ask for more.  now i'm off to writing thank you notes for all the gifts...! xoxo

upcoming excitement

i'm really looking forward to this weekend for so many reasons. grant and i have an engagement party in augusta! yay! we get to hangout with our closest friends and family. our families get another chance to be together--second hangout since they met at our huntsville engagement party. and most of our wedding party is coming! yay! quick preview: thursday: atl; friday: aug; sat: party and play time!; sunday: atl; monday: back to reality, work, and school. can't wait to meet all of grant's family friends and play with my GIRLS, too!!!

please excuse my ignorance

i don't really know what i'm doing, but several of my dearest friends have started bloggging, and since we're scattered all over the map, this seems like the best way to stay in touch.  

i am currently in grad school at alabama working toward my Masters in Library and Information Studies with an emphasis in knowledge management and the organization of information.  i basically take a system and make it better--and i love it!  i hope to work in a specialty library (law library of some sort) or a museum.  

i am engaged to the love of my life and we're getting married may 31st! we can't wait!!! we're honeymooning in puerta vallarta, mexico, with an incredible resort set on cliffs over-looking the pacific. yay! wedding planning has been surprisingly easy and stress-free. i have the best mama/ wedding planner and the best friends in the world as bridesmaids.  this is a really great season of life and i've never been happier.  i'm learning more each day about contentment at its fullest.  

i have a precious little girl (95 lbs), my 11 month old great dane, Georgia. i can't wait for grant, georgia, and me to move into our cute new apartment in atlanta, set-up house, and begin our family! check out our apt: www.thelodgeontheriver.com (2 bed 2 bath).

i also have a job. i'm working for the emory group; i'm a regional sales manager for a promotional advertising firm, which really means, i sell tshirts to sorority girls.  it's a ton of work, but most of the time it's worth it and really rewarding.  i spend most of my time reading on my back deck with georgia girl curled up with me. i can't complain at all.