3 F's

    Three things I love more than anything: Faith, Fellowship, and Food. Sounds like the perfect way to spend a Sunday to me. Brandon delivered an awesome message during his Jail Break series about Faith and Insecurities Sunday Morning.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Morgan and I were more than happy to entertain and utilize our space at Tillman!

The Menu: Meghan and I slow roasted ribs all night, along with Macaroni and Cheese ( courtesy of Paula Deens Recipe), Mashed Potatoes, Black Eyed Peas, and Ice Cream Cake!

A few of the friends that joined. Got to love Sundays!

My Summer Fling..

     As my summer has come to an end, I have done a lot of reflection on these past few months. I have had such a good summer, and have grown in soo many areas, one of which I would like to share. I am not sure if I can even express what I want to get across but here it goes..

    I have talked about Alicia numerous times throughout this blog, but this our friendship has really changed. See, the crazy thing about us is that God has parlleled our lives in so many different ways throughout our friendship. Up until the past year or so, we thought God put us in one anothers lives in order to be best friends. What we didn't realize, was how HE brought us together in order to get closer to HIM. After bring friends in high school and living together in college,the topic of faith did not come up once.

"I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 Ever since our junior year in college, Jesus has been the focus of our friendship-praise the Lord for that! Alicia has been rock for so many years, and now she is not only my best friend but my sister in christ.. That's huge! I have watched God transform her into the woman of God he desires her to be. Her light is so radiant and her love for the Lord is apparent in everything she does. I am so blessed to have a best friend that puts Christ before anything else in the world and desires to learn more about him and love like he loves.  

" I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved." Psalm 16:8 

   This summer has been so full of blessings and I am so grateful for a best friend that I could I could share them with. I have to say, the highlight of my summer was a few weeks ago on August 7th. My friend Jordan and I drove up to Athens on Saturday ( as well as a bunch of her other friends and family)in order to be there on Sunday to celebrate Alicia's baptisim. I would not have missed it for the world! It was so incredibly emotional for me to see her go from death to life, the Alicia that I know and love! I cried like a baby. The other day we were on the phone and just took a second to reflect on the spiritual bond God provided for us that is unbreakable. We never ever would have predicted our friendship be developed into what it is today. I am so encouraged by her walk and her obedience to the Lord, and I thank God every day for our relationship and providing me with such a solid accountablitiy partner. I am blessed beyond belief!

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

Tillman Park

     After three years of living at Campus Crossing, it was time to make the move from apartment to apartment in Statesboro. A couple weeks ago, Sarah and I said goodbye to 1005 and all the memories that apartment held for the four of us for so long. It was definitely bittersweet, but I was more than ready to move on and start fresh! I moved into a place called Tillman Park-which are not the typical college apartments. It is at a really convenient location so we can walk drive anywhere really quickly. My two new roommates are Morgan and Courtney who are both juniors on the soccer team here, so I am sure I will be referring to them a whole bunch in future blogs. I am so excited to live with them and for our new place. We are real spoiled:   

 Our recent addition to the living room is a new 40 inch TV ( courtesy of Morgans mom and dad!)

Pretty much our entire apartment is vintage or from a thrift shop. love it!

 View from the front door

 My favorite place- the kitchen!

    That's a virtual tour of the place we now call home. Maybe when I get my room together I'll post pictures of that!

Tilly Mix

     So Morgan and I decided we wanted to create the best trail mix we could possibly think of. This was the best idea and worst idea we have ever had. I am pretty sure I have had a pound of it in the past 24 hours. We like to call it our Tilly Mix. Delish.  

This is what is included in this phenomonal mix:

Raw Almonds

Honey Roasted Peanuts

Pumpkin Seeds

Oatmeal Squares

Honey O's

Raisins

Dried Fruit

Chocolate Chips

Butterscotch Chips (crucial)

M&M's

Grown Ups

   Stephanie is one of my best friends from highschool that I am still very close to. She recently just graduated from the University of Georgia and without even looking hard and being stressed over finding a job, she got hired. I love how that works out. She was a finance major and now works for a company called Integratec. Basically, I don't understand what she does.. but I do know she has a big girl job now. Not only does she have a job, but it is in Atlanta- which I am excited about. It is so crazy that just a few years ago, we were begging our parents to have a sleep over on a school night before a volleyball game and now I am visiting her very own apartment in Buckhead.  

    This may have been my first non-college apartment I have been to. Not too shabby.

A lot has changed over the years, thank goodness.

    We ended up going to dinner with a few other friends (who also just graduated and have full time jobs) and it made me realize how young I feel and how unprepared I am to enter the "real world." I know in two years that time is going to come for me, but I am so blessed that I still have a little more time to mentally prepare for that transition. I am so excited for Stephanie and I love seeing how God's plan for Stephanies future is so different than her own.  

Steph, I am so proud of you and I love you!

Minnesooota

     After a year and a half, I made it back up to Minnesota! I was born in Plymouth, Minnesota and moved to Georgia when I was 5, but my moms entire family still lives there. We usually go back once a year, but the last time I visited was over a year ago in the winter time. Summer in Minnesota is absolutely beautiful. I almost got tricked that I would want to live there, but then I remembered it is only like that for maybe two months out of the year. I love the sun and heat too much to live anywhere else but the south. Needless to say, it was really good to visit with my family I don't see all that often. 

  My aunt and uncle live in Minneapolis and are avid bike riders. The lakes around this area are so gorgeous and the place to be at during the summer. 

We ended up going on a 22 mile bike ride throughout Minneapolis- and I didn't even complain that much!

  The Metrodome (where the Vikings play)

The upper bridge in this picture is the I-35 W Mississippi River Bridge that collapsed almost 4 years ago. They are currently building a memorial for all those that died and got injured in the collapse. 

My cousin, Brandon, is a huge Manchester City fan. We went to this really cool pub called the Local to watch them play. Cameron is a huge soccer fan as well and I.. well I love to eat so I was game to watch some soccer. 

 I finally got to meet my cousins baby Azalea! So I guess that would make her my 1st cousin once removed? She is cute as a button. 

It's always so good to see my grandma. And I love it when we are matching. After we took this picture, she proceeded to say, " That's enough of that!" 

We ate at lots of yummy places, but this place was right on the river and it was such a beautiful day. No humidity is rather refreshing!

Visiting Azalea and Melissa at her super cute house on the way to Mall of America.

Mall of America + no sales tax on clothes = bliss. 

     It was such a good quick visit to Minnesota but it is always good to see my family and connect with my home roots! But I have to say, the south is my home!

Finally, a new post!

     So I have obviously been neglecting my blog, and I hate it. I am hoping that I can give a quick update on what I have been doing this past month so I don't have to play catch up anymore!
    What took up a majority of my time this summer was my 2 online graduate school classes. I took a Theories of Counseling class and a Lifespan Development class. I really enjoyed my Lifespan class, but the amount of work and reading each week was pretty overwhelming. Taking classes online requires a lot of self discipline and time management, and lets just say I had a whole lot of late nights. It was nice to be able to work while I took classes but I am also really looking forward to being in the classroom in the fall for my next classes. 
    Speaking of work, I was so blessed to have a job this summer. I have worked at the same camp for 4 summers now and I love it. I work with 4 year old's at a summer camp at Schiff Preschool. Yes, it is at a syangouge; No, I am not Jewish. We don't teach anything religious during the summer, although most of the kids and teachers are Jewish. My mom and I got the job through one of her friends and I really can not complain about a Monday thru Friday job that goes from 9-2. I had so many questions about Judaism and the Jewish Culture and I was not afraid to ask them. I can't imagine my life without Jesus and it really broke my heart to be around so many people who don't know him. What is so crazy is that although they don't know him, he loves them so much he gave his life for them. How great is our God?  
    What I found difficult was being around the young kids who were just born into their beliefs. I genuinely cared for so many of the kids and teachers I worked with and I pray that one day they come to know Jesus and fall in love with him and that he transforms their life like he did mine. Compared to all the other summers I have worked at Schiff, this was by far my favorite. The teachers I worked with, the counselors, and the kids stole my heart. I am going to introduce you to a few of them. 

On the left is Henry. Henry stole the show this summer. He is a high voiced, loveable, out going little boy from "new jewsseyy" who loves to have his hands in his pants. On the right is Emily. She just moved here from Korea and barely spoke any English when she first got to camp. It was really cool to watch her interact with the other kids and how she would follow whatever her peers did in order to blend in. The cutest thing she did this summer: the first time I asked to take a picture of her, she held up a peace sign. You can see her holding it by her side in this picture. I think she started to notice that not everyone does that for every picture taken. 

 Like I said, Henry loves his hands in his pants. Gotta love him. 

   Some of the girls with their cat face paint!

My love, Henry!

These are a few of the people I worked with this summer that made it such an enjoyable, awesome summer! 

    So school and work consumed a large part of my summer, but stay tuned for more highlights!