Refreshing quotes

As I was unpacking, I found a little notebook that I carried around with me at camp this summer. I flipped through it an remembered that I used it to write down some of my favorite quotes from the book "One Thousand Gifts" that I had borrowed from a friend. The quotes are SO awesome and I wanted to share them!

"If God didn't withhold from us His very own Son, will God withhold anything we need?"

"It's only when you live the prayer of thanksgiving that you live the power of trusting God."

"Jesus calls me to surrender and there's nothing like releasing fears and falling into peace. It terrifies, true. But it exhilarates."

"God needs knees more than hands." <--- (put in the context of Martha and Mary)

Happy Tuesday!

well this is different

Well, I'm no longer a nomad....at least, for now anyway.

I'm moved in at my friends house and the overall feeling that I'm getting is that life right now is just weird.

And different.

And not comfortable.

(and I don't like that!!!)

It was awesome seeing so many of my friends this past weekend-ish. I'm kind of glad that I have some down time this week because I feel like I've been on the run around. Who knows when subbing will pick up, hopefully it won't be too long.

I got the babysitting job I posted about here. !! Soooo excited about it. I met the kiddos on Saturday and they are the sweetest kids everrrr. There is a little girl who just turned 4 and a little boy who is 18 months. I'll be watching them this Wednesday for the first time and I'm stoked. The little girl practically begged me to stay and play with her, and counted the days until she would see me..! hahaa if that doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will.

I dropped off one of my sub applications at a district I want to be in and realized I need my social security card which I don't have =/

sooo, since I was planning on going home this weekend anyway, it looks like I will definitely be going home to get that and a few other things. PLUS it's my birthday weekend (22 on Friday!) so it'll be nice to be home for that. I need to present that form of ID before Sep. 12th because that's when they are having a board meeting (where they present the sub names to be approved)

This morning I met with my amazing mentor and friend Kylee because she was in the area. We went to the park and caught up on life. I was telling her about my attempt at this church I visited on Sunday, and how I'm a little frustrated because it seems like mostly old people, families and young couples who are married. Umm...where do I fit in..??

I kind of feel like I don't fit anywhere, but I just need to find something where there are other people like mee. I'm thinking about trying out Saturate which is a larger, (VERYY LARGE) group of 18-29 year olds who meet together like church on Tuesday nights, but apparently they also have smaller life groups that I would like to check out.

I want to fit in somewhere! We'll see...

I'm almost thinking about joining a gym. I want to try Zumba! :) The one around here is only 10 bucks a month, which isn't bad.

Also- there are a BUNCH of stray cats that live and hang out on my friend's back porch..! haa like there must be at least ten. I pull my car up and there is one little kitten that always comes over for me to pet it. And it purrs. :) I want to take it inside and have it be my pet..haha but that won't happen. I'm allergic to cats, I'm pretty sure...so I shouldn't even touch them but I can't resist! They're too cute.

That's the one that always comes over. I'm trying to think up a name for it. (I think it's a she) any suggestions? :)

I still don't know my way around to go anywhere from here, so my GPS has been my best friend.

So those are my life updates. Have a good week everyone!

Pinning and earthquakes

So it's official.

I'm addicted to Pinterest.

I first heard about it from blog-land a few months ago, and to be honest...it seemed kind of weird at first. But whew...I can't stop pinning! Especially since I just discovered the iphone app for it!

I love looking for ideas for my future classroom the most. And I really love finding neat photography tips. And DIY stuff is AWESOME.

It's just great. The fact that I'm addicted..? (..not so great)

Did you hear about the earthquake in VA yesterday? It was reported as a 5.9 and could be felt up and down the East Coast..!

I felt it here in the suburbs of Philly! My first earthquake, and hopefully my last.

See, we East Coast people don't experience earthquakes, well....ever, so it was kind of a big deal.

I was home by myself "packing" and all of a sudden our house was shaking. (not TOO bad...) you know how sometimes your house might shake if someone slams the door? well it felt like that but it didn't stop. I was scared! My first reaction was that my Dad was home...and then I thought "is someone breaking into our house??" and then I went outside to find out the neighbors' houses were shaking too. The water in our big fish tank was sloshing all around!

So...that was my excitement from yesterday.

I'm just glad everyone is safe, there were no major injuries (if any) and very little damage to speak of. :)

We are His

Yesterday it was just, plain, gorgeous outside where I live. It was about 80 for the high, but felt like 70-ish with the cool breeze.

I went for a walk down to this little park near my house and walked the little track they have there.

I was praying and thinking about making sure I'm doing and following God's plan for my life. I'm moving in a couple of days to E-town. Is this where I'm supposed to be? Really? How do I know?

And God really spoke to my heart in a way that only He can to remind me to immerse myself in Him and I'll be following the right path. If I just make sure I'm connected to Him and putting Him above all else...where I go and what I do WILL be right because I'll hear His voice, and feel that peace.

:)

I also wanted to share this verse that I read this morning.

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,

²⁰You were bought with a price [purchased with a ^[b]preciousness and paid for, ^[c]made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

I love these verses! God bought us with a price and we are His to bring HIM glory!

LOVE.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

This morning I found and read these verses in Habakkuk 3. They were so encouraging and I feel like I will be keeping them in mind these next few days and weeks as I move and begin trying to make connections in this time of such hopelessness that is employment.

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,

¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!^(A)

¹⁹The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

I'm pretty excited because I was looking around the area I'll be living to see if there are any walk-in clinic type places where I can get a renewed TB test (a couple of the schools I want to sub in require this within a year.) And I found something that sounds perfect...so here's my plans...ps. these plans have been so up in the air and scattered that I don't think I've really said much about them..

I'm planning to help out a friend move into her dorm for the first time on Thursday. Then on the way back I will get my TB test. I'll be staying with some friends (yes, I'm basically that weird nomad girl) for a couple of nights before I can actually move in to the place I will be staying.

Then...hopefully I can get my test read by Saturday and go to the school's with my info on Monday. (Can't waste anytime, you know)

I found a baby-sitting job that is in the SAME little town that I will be living in also..! I talked with the woman, she's seems so nice, and she said she would let me get myself settled and then we can meet.

Regardless of whether this actually works out or not it was so neat because the timing of it all was such a God thing. She had posted the same day I decided to look (I found her on care.com), she got back to me right away, and we'll be in the same town. Which...in itself is a miracle because it's so small.

Like "Are you from around here, because I didn't recognize your name"..kind of small. I've put it in God's hands though.

In other news...something funky is going on with my laptop keys. First, the "v" key was acting up and sticking, then that was better but the "a" key was stuck...an now that that is unstuck my "d" key is hardly working. I have to like pound at it to make a "d". ha...so if I should be missing a "d" somewhere in this post, you know why.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? I would love a new computer but not really wanting to actually buy said new computer.

:)

Newness

Hey yall :)

(I'm not southern but sometimes I like to pretend I am :)

It feels like it's been a while since I've posted anything. I'm not really sure why...

Summer is almost over :( It's so bitter sweet but mostly just bitter. haha

I've been pretty anxious the past week. I'm planning on moving out on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I'll be moving an hour and a half to the area in which I went to school.

I have a bunch of stuff to work out with subbing and the schools I would like to be at. It would also be nice to just get settled in before school starts.

In case you don't remember(or haven't heard), I am moving in with a friend and her family. They are graciously letting me use one of their now occupied bedrooms until I find something more permanent.

I don't even have to say how much I hate change...but it's still true. The medicine I take helps A LOT with my anxiety, but I can still feel a little worried like any normal person would. And it's not even worry exactly just the anticipation of it all. I'm anxious for it all to get rolling and to see how it will be.

I'll also be trying to connect to a new church....so that should be interesting.

ahh....it's just so much newness in a very short amount of time. But I guess it'll be ready or not...here I come "real world."

RIP Brandi

So, this past weekend my Mom and I went to Maryland as we do sometimes to see some extended family and also it was my Uncle's birthday. It was a good relaxing weekend, but I came away from it a little sad by the fact that my Nana and Papa's dog wasn't doing so well. She was a little brown, long-haired dachshund. For the past decade or so she had always been kind of overweight for such a little dog and it was so strange because she was this little skinny thing when we went down this past weekend. (sooo skinny)

My Nana told us she wouldn't hardly eat anymore and it was clear that it was almost her time.

Well last night, Brandi had a couple of seizures I guess..and so they put her down. :(

I'm glad that she's not suffering anymore, but it's a weird feeling. (even if she WAS "just a dog", and not even my dog, at that)

I had a special connection with Brandi though. My grandparents got her when I was around 4 or 5 years old. She was just a little puppy and I could hardly wait to play with her and see her whenever we visited Maryland. (and our visits were more frequent back then) I have so many childhood memories with her in them. I'm mostly really sad for my grandparents too because I know it was and is really hard for them. She lived for 17 years!

RIP Brandi. I'll see you in Heaven! <3

Fabuolous Friend Friday...onnn Saturday- JJ

I know, I know...it's not Friday. buuut last Friday I missed it and I didn't have time last night, sooo I'm doing a fabulous friend Friday post today. Saturday.

Today, I think I'll talk about my dear friend JJ. Aka. Jess. Aka. Jessica. :)

I wish I could include her picture but I'm in MD and it's not seeming to work on this computer...

I have known JJ for about 4ish years I guess you could say. I THINK we met when I was a freshie in college and she was a junior. We weren't really friends though until a couple years ago. (before that we were really only friends by association)

We got to be closer when I was a junior and somehow we really just clicked.
She is the type of person you always just feel comfortable around...even if you don't really know her. She has a special way of connecting with people that I find pretty awesome.
We're both pretty introverted people at heart. AND we are both only children. (I mean I don't know many really...so it's cool)

I love joking around and laughing with her.
but, I love that we can also talk about serious things and confide in each other. We've had many a heart to heart!

I always feel like I can tell her basically anything and she won't judge me for it. Which I love.

It has been SO special this summer because since she moved to my area (after being newly married!) she was able to get a job as the Bible teacher at camp. It's been sooo sweet, and an awesome blessing from God. (I get to see her basically everyday.)
It's especially sweet because when I was still in school, we saw each other nearly every day. We basically had a routine down... and then the next year we hardly ever saw each other because she moved. I was serioulsy deprived of JJ. Read here. (<---WARNING the post is longgg (and not all about that) ha) So it's been EVEN more special in that way.

We've done soo many fun things together. Sleepover during a snowstorm. Hiking through waist high snow in that snowstorm to sled, while getting icicles stuck on our eye lashes. Unlimited hours playing monopoly deal, pinochle and hearts while eating ranch sunflower seeds and drinking water melon slushies. Watching friends. Building an epic fort. Playing cello and singing like whales. haha:) and the list goes on...

A couple of summers ago her and I and Amanda felt like we were all in similar places with God, kind of a low place, and that's when we started the "tuesday group" (If you click on that link to the right there's more detail there) It was for a short time but felt awesome that we all wanted to try to get close with God together. It meant a lot to me.

I love you Jessica Lynn Mooney! You are so special to me and I'm incredibly greatful for our friendship. :)

One Thousand Gifts

So, I am currently blogging from Maryland. :) It's very relaxing and quiet here. I'm at my grandparents house and basically just chillin'...you know. So I thought I would blog.

I just started a new book yesterday called One Thousand Gifts.
It took some getting used to but I think I'm starting to like it. I've been wanting to read it and the library copy is constanly out, BUT a friend at camp has it and is letting me borrow it.

In the book, Ann, the author, describes how virtually everything good springs from gratitude.. and in a season in her life when she is feeling particularly unfulfilled she starts a list of 1,000 gifts from God. It's kind of like the idea I started on my blog but she kept actual journals handy all the time and kept the list going. I want to do it! She talked about how much joy she began to feel just by looking for all the gifts we have to be thankful for.

Here of some of the quotes that I really like so far:

"oh yes, I know you. the busyness of your life leaving little room for the SOURCE of your life. ...God gives us time and who has time for God? Which makes no sense." p.64

"Hurry always empties the soul" p.67

"I only live life to the full when I live fully in every moment. And when I'm always looking for the next glimpse of glory, I slow and enter. And time slows. Weigh down this moment in time with attention full, and the whole of time's river slows, slows, slows." p.68

"Thanksgiving creates abundance; and the mircale of multiplying happens when I give thanks..."

"I am thank-full, I am time-full."

"Joy and pain, they are but two arteries of one heart that pumps through all those who don't numb themselves to really living." p.84

Idols...kind of

I've been reading a TON this summer.

I'm not sure how much I've actually mentioned it on my blog, but I LOVE to read. I've been averaging one book a week...which is a lot for me these days, considering work and everything.

I just finished the first book in the Hunger Games series. The plot of the story is kind of gory and brutal but I couldn't stop reading it. It was very well written.

Besides that, I'm feeling the need to blog right now about something that's leaning on the personal side.

I checked out the "She Seeks" website tonight again on a whim (I really don't check it too often) and it was about friendships and how they can "be imbalanced."

It talked about how, often, women make their friendships too important or not important enough.

Something God has really been gently walking me through all summer (and early spring) is that I tend to form an "unhealthy attachment" to some of my friends.

By unhealthy I mean that I can very easily place my friends as a "god" in my life, that is above everything else.

I realllyy highly value my friendships and it's a big weakness on my part. I let my trust fall more on people sometimes than on God. He needs to be at the highest place in my life and when He's not the highest...my "thing" that takes the place reserved for Him is friends.

Everyone has something that they struggle to not idolize (I mean, they do right..? right?) I'm realizing that friends/relationships are mine. I really truly struggle with it and I'm praying that God will help me to create a healthy balance.

People can't be trusted above all. Only God can. When I put a person in such a "high" place, they will and inevitably DO let me down in some type of way, because they're human. The person YOU love the most in the life will let you down.

God will never, ever, ever, EVER let me down or fail me. He will never change or leave me.

What do you struggle for as an idol in your life?

Whatever it is, pray that God will ultimately be at the highest point. When you can truly grasp and believe that God is everything you need there is really nothing else that compares!

Your love is enough

Hey y'all :)

I'm feeling so crafty right now, I don't know why. It doesn't happen very often, especially on a camp day.

This weekend Christin and I got to go to the beach for the day :) It was lovely. I don't haven't any pictures to show for it...but I did buy this awesome shirt at the Life Is Good store.

The words at the bottom say "Smile, God loves you!"

I got a youth size so that it would be cheaper. :)

This is week seven of camp. Week seven. How can that be?

I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it. I really love that camp, and everyone there.

I'm feeling very secure in God this summer and I think it's in big part because of camp. It's all about God and it really helps..

Right now I'm listening to this song by Dara Joy:

soooo good! Check it out:)