2 posts in one

How exciting... a picture of the clouds!!!!!!! Maybe chels has a better pic in her 5th folder?!?!?!? I tag chelsea 5 times over

HaPPppPPPpY biRtHDaY RACHAEL KATHERINE

you are now the big 2 - O

i love you and am sooooo thankful for a loving, encouraging, funny, thoughtful, godly, giggly friend like you!! Hope you enjoy the slideshow and i apologize ahead of time for some of the pictures in here, but they brought back sooo many fun memories i just couldn't let vanity stop me. Hope you feel the same.

LOVE YOU! 

to be totally honest, the real motivation for posting was to put a new song on the blog =)

Thanks uncle Joe for letting us dress up for Halloween. It was so fun. 

Kim was the BEST dressed by far! He was making us laugh all day long...

and our customers

We LOVE our pah soooooo much...he's the best pumpkin carver in the neighborhood 

Clay's fish - Very nice

Family Night

Dad's "shrek" pumpkin 

Nell's winking pumpkin

Mine... not totally sure what i was going for but it turned out to be "the phantom"

ACCESS

i should have counted.

Jonathan Aumen painted this masterpiece and the "Design Team," Heather, Rachel, Jonathan, Josh and i, all worked together to create an atmosphere that reflected the theme of the message. being a light...

time to come back to VA Preston!

Happy Birthday to us!

August 31st was Chelsea and my birthday & September 2nd was Jenni and Jessi's birthday, so we decided to get all the celebrating done in one night.

Thanks Hunts for opening up your lovely home!

Chelsea Madison...

first off, i'm pretty sure i decided to be born on August 31st before you, thus, you copied me. But, that's ok cause it has been such an honor to share it with you :) It's also fun cause someone else in the world is just as excited as I am at 11:59 PM Aug. 30th!!!

Sorry I had to beat you this year with the "happy birthday" phone call. Try harder

next year, K?!?!?

Thank you, chels, for being my DEAR, DEAR friend. I don't think you will

ever realize what a huge blessing your faithful and true friendship has meant to me, as goes for all of my friends!!

I feel like the Lord has placed YOU in my life to teach me many things... all good of course... for the most part! No, really... i am saying these things, not to build you up, but to paint a picture of how the Lord has worked through you to provoke and encourage me and i'm sure many others. 

1. You are constantly asking for input and never afraid to take it when i begin to say,

"well... I mean, i struggle with this too, but i think you could grow in..." It is so great for me to witness you eagerly battling your sin and seeking others help.

2. I remember you asking me to pray that you would grow to be a more loving

and gracious older sister to your siblings. Girl, all i have to say is that now, i am learning from YOU what it means to be, not only a sister, but a friend to MY sisters.

3. This is the last one... not for the lack of examples, but for sake of room! When you share your struggles, you use biblical terms and you get down to specifics. That has challenged me to really be aggressive with knowing in what

ways i am tempted and how the Lord would want me to battle against them.

Lastely, I would be sooo embarrassed if anyone ever caught you and i,

at any moment, when its just us together being our crazy selves, on tape... basically, i feel not worthy of my age.  Love you tons and glad we r friends forever!!!!!!!

Christine and I... love you girl!



Jessi... where do i begin?? 

Well, I guess, to be honest, when we first started hanging out, years ago, i wasn't sure how close we could get because of our personalities. You seemed pretty quiet and tomboyish, and i was into makeovers and dress-up. Boy, was i wrong! You are someone i LOVE being around and talking to and i am so very thankful to be able to call you my dear friend. I never knew you could cry, but as i got to know you more, i knew that every time you would talk about the Lord or your family, you would eventually be moved to tears. Thanks for your humility and sensitive heart! I treasure you and pray as we enter into new seasons of our lives, that we would continue to grow in our friendship. 

Thank you for your example of a HARD WORKER. From faithfully running on your dirt path, to serving your family, to diligently working hard at school... to most important... falling more and more in love with your Savior each day.

If you were to ask me what you are most passionate about, i would, without a doubt, say the LORD. That is such a blessing and it inspires others around you. Violin comes in close second... :) :) keep it up girl, and invite me over to you mansion when you become famous... well, more than you already are.

One last thing... I've been wanting to tell you this, that i am excited to see how the Lord uses you at ODU. I know that others are going to see something different about you... maybe your smile, maybe the peacefulness about you, but whatever it is, i pray that you will have faith to reach out to them with love, compassion and boldness. Don't let these last years in school pass you by without investing in what is truly of most importance. Education is great, but what is of lasting reward is not straight A's or recognition. Love you 

Ferf, art buddy, singing buddy, fake tan for graduation friend, bad sense of directions friend... umm yeah, you're all that and so much more to me!! Thanks for always being the one to stay up and talk till late with me at sleep overs. We never seem to run out of stories to tell or things to laugh about. Thank you for being such a faithful friend, girl. 

You are someone who provokes me in the area of looking out for others and putting their desires above your own. You are reflecting the Lords character every time you take your eyes off yourself and put to death selfish desires by turning instead to serve others. You are always doing things for your friends and family, like taking the boys to ice cream or movies, playing cards with your cousins, having your younger friends over for sleep overs... Thank you for being a role model to so many younger girls... and older girls...aka, me :)

I will never forget that one sunday when you came to me with something important to say. Tears began to stream down your face and you proceeded to tell me that when you were reading in your Bible, the Lord gave you a scripture to share with me. I know i thanked you tons then, but i want you to know that that meant so much to me. I knew i wasn't trusting the Lord in all things and i had begun to belittle his power, care and authority over and for me, but being a loving and faithful Father, he spoke directly to my heart through you. Thanks for being obedient to the Lord. Love you tons!       

           our sweet candles  

WATER COUNTRY USA was a blast. All i have to say is it was 1. billion times better than we expected, right chels???? hahahaha

Hello!!!!!! Here are some pictures from our time in Maryland. I know other people have posted about the coldplay concert, but Chels was getting on me for not posting so here it is once again:) Hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer, and here is a quote that someone gave to Liz and she gave to me because she is such an awesome sister who cares for my soul and encourages me with wisdom and godliness. I LOVE IT... reminds me of how foolish it is of me to think that i am running this race by my own strength. 

"The BEST place

is wherever He puts us, and any other would be undeniably

all the worse because it would please our fancy

and would be of our own choice.

Do not think about DISTANT events. This uneasiness

about the future is unwholesome for you.

We must LEAVE to God all

that depends on Him and think only of being faithful in all

that depends upon ourselves."

Alas, the Wisdoms are Gone

  This past Thursday I had my wisdom teeth taken out. All four were impacted, which simply means they hadn't come through yet and so instead of being pulled they had to be cut out. There were concerns about a nerve that was very close to my bottom teeth and about possibly fracturing my jaw(I guess my jaw bone is very small), but the Lord allowed there to be no complications. Yesterday I felt fine after the surgery, I was somewhat walking around and talking a lot.  Well today is a bit different. I didn't get much sleep and overnight my mouth got WAY swollen. So I am just laying around watching tv (Princess Diaries- the best) and blogging. My Mom and sisters have been taking such good care of me. I don't have to lift a finger. Thank you guys. Thanks everyone who called me or text me-i love getting them. Thanks Mel, Joey, and Beau for stopping by and for the giftcard - that was so kind and meant a lot to me. Ok, so that's what has been going on with me. Can't wait to see everyone on Sunday.  

    "... For you, O Lord are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upo you... for you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. for great is your steadfast love towards me; you have delivered my soul!!!"  Psalm 86:5, 10

Smoothies and some burnt buns

Thurs. night Jess, Jenni, and Rach came over for a few hours to hang out with us. We all had a great time just talking and laughing with one another. Thanks girls for coming over. I love you girls, come back over soon!



jenni recovering from a close call- ok so in addition to being a bit burnt the cinnamon rolls were really doughy on the inside, yeah, something went wrong.
They had such potential, no they were pretty good and we had many laughs eating/choking on them ; )
the smoothies were too good to wait for a picture.
the smoothie/milkshake makers (minus Laura)
a little overdone : ) this one actually looks pretty good. (I would just like to remind you girls who was in charge of these..... Mary, Rach... mmmhhhh)
Rach!