I want a Thanksgiving like you see in the movies!

These past few days weeks have been a whirlwind...but more specifically these past few days. I must say that even though I LOVE this time of year, Thanksgiving has never really been a holiday I look forward to...not for any particular reason but I'm just not into casseroles (of any kind), and since I'm such a picky eater, it's just never been a big deal. Not to mention that it usually ends up being just my mom, my grandma, and I...and not that that's a bad thing...I'm VERY thankful I get to still enjoy holidays with my (now) 90 year old grandmother and I always love spending time with my mom...she's one of the people I'm most thankful for, but I have always wanted it to be like you see in the movies with tons of people, laughing, games, etc and this year I finally got my "movie." Since my grandmother's birthday party was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we still had family in town so we decided to have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Joe's house this year...(no kidding there were probably 15 of us there) but for me, the more the merrier! The day was filled with good food, some Moscato (not to be confused with Boscato...which is what I kept calling it...or maybe it's Boscato and not Moscato)...anyways, tons of good conversation, a wonderful prayer my uncle prayed and all of us just enjoying one another and hey, my mashed potatoes and peach dump cake even turned out (which is a miracle in and of itself)! After dinner there Jared and I were off to Birmingham to stay with his brother and sister-in-law (who also had a house full) but again, the more the merrier! We stayed up late Thursday night playing games with everyone and enjoying everyone's company us girls being tortured by watching the Outdoor Channel (or some guy channel for longer than I'd like to admit) and then it was off to Huntsville to see Jared's other brother and sister-in-law Friday through Sunday. The weekend was filled with tons of babies, young children, laughing, playing, sleepless nights, great conversation, wonderful God moments, and wonderful memories that I'll always cherish because I finally got my movie Thanksgiving! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few days! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Vineyard 2011 Highlights

SO, again it has been too long since I've blogged but I thought I'd take a few minutes and give a few updates. The weekend of Halloween, my church took our middle schoolers to a place called the Vineyard. It's in Alabama and has always been one of my favorite places to go, not only because it's in the middle of nowhere and gives you a chance to get away from all the distractions, but this time was especially enjoyable. Here are pictures of some things we did while we were there....
1. We worshiped (this is everyone congregating before worship...they look thrilled, right?!).

2. We kayaked/canoed (the leaders even raced!)

3. We had s'mores

 4. We were silly

5. and last but NOT LEAST...we did the slip and slide

All it takes is a pumpkin...

So as I mentioned in Part 1 of my blog post, this is the post that will warm your soul. Wednesday night I had signed my 6th grade girls up to help me work our church's pumpkin patch. This is something I look forward to every year and instead of doing it by myself this year, I decided it'd be a good idea to share this night with my middle school girls. One thing my youth pastor ALWAYS taught me was to be a servant and sometimes I let my selfish, lazy side get in the way, but I really try to serve others so I wanted to put that into action with these girls. Because the shift started earlier than small group, I went out there with plans that once youth started the girls would then be walked out to me and away we'd play, serve, and be silly. Well, let's just say that God had other plans. Now, I say I love the cold, but that's only when I have the proper attire on. Wednesday there was a cold snap and seeing as how I came straight from Leadership Bay, I didn't have time to go home and grab a jacket blanket (or 3)! I was sitting there FREEZING and although a few people came by who were quite nice to talk to, I was continually telling myself I didn't need to be sitting out in the freezing cold and that no one else was going to stop by this late so I should just go inside, right?!...WRONG!

A few minutes after my thoughts of going in, this beat up old jeep pulled in and out came a mom, dad, and their two little girls. You could tell by their car and their clothes (or lack of, i.e. jackets) that they didn't have a whole lot of money. The little girls went CRAZY looking at all the pumpkins, holding them, kissing them, etc...it was so cute! But the parents remained hesitant to look and finally the dad had worked up the nerve to come and ask me how much the pumpkins were. Normally we price them according to size but this year we decided we wanted it to be by donation only, so after telling the dad that he could get whatever he wanted and give whatever he wanted the parents whole persona changed. The parents were running around with their kids, taking pictures in the wood cutouts (don't know the name for these) and laughing and cutting up like they had never seen pumpkins. It truly warmed my heart, but it was toward the end of their stop that the door was opened. The dad came up and asked me what kind of church we were and what we believed and there I began to witness to him and invited him to our church's celebration we're having this afternoon! I don't tell you this story to say, "look at me...I witnessed," but to say that sometimes we lose sight of why we do the "church things" and think that doing something as small as working the pumpkin patch couldn't/wouldn't open the door for us to share God's love with someone. It's in times like Wednesday night that I continue to thank God for his faithfulness and love toward us. That is one night I don't think I'll ever forget and you can bet I'll be looking for that family today at our church celebration!

One crazy week...

Well, it has finally come, the day I've been waiting for...SATURDAY!! I must say this has been one of THE busiest weeks. Started off by packing, cleaning, organizing, and re-packing everything at my house in preparation of my move that was to take place Tuesday. My oh so sweet friend, Ashley came over and helped me clean and pack EVERYTHING...seriously, she was so sweet to give up her weekend to come and help me pack and clean MY stuff, and because of her, we got it done! So Monday night another sweet friend, Cassie came over and helped me pack my friend's truck and my car and dark-thirty while trying to find every nook and cranny to lightly place shove stuff in and that we did! Tuesday, the moving day finally arrived and despite the sprinkles downpour earlier in the day, the rain did decide to hold off just long enough for Mrs. Val and I to move all my stuff in! I can't even tell you how excited I am to be in my new home with my new roommate. Tuesday evening Mrs. P brought over my FAVORITE meal (Poppyseed chicken, green beans, rolls, and fruit) and myself, my roommate Tiffany, and her sweet boyfriend Chase sat down as a family at our table and enjoyed our first meal. The best part about it was having to use toilet paper as our napkins because we forgot napkins and paper towels. So on Wednesday came and man was I dragging...went to my Leadership Bay Session ALL DAY (but I must say I love this group of folks and we have become fast friends). Wednesday night I headed straight to the church as I had signed my small group up for selling pumpkins (that story will be on my following post) and Thursday I was up bright and early to head to a meeting I was supporting on base from 7am to 5pm...that's right...a 10 hour meeting (wanted to pluck my eyes out) but it was that morning that I remembered why I hate living on the 3rd floor of an apartment. I was leaving my house around 6:15 when I began to descend the first flight of stairs and about 2 or 3 steps into me walking down, I fell face first down the concrete steps, skinning my legs from my ankles all the way to my knees (seriously, it looks like someone took a bat to them, and feels like it too) and hit my head on the rod iron fence that was at the plateau before the next flight of stairs...can I just say that this would be my luck?! Anyways, I was fine, got up and on my merry way I went to the meeting where I then came home enjoyed my one un-hectic night of the week so far and then it was Friday. I worked and then headed home early to meet the cable guy and Ashley who came to stay the night. I'm always very leary of cable guys and any other random men coming in my home when I'm by myself so I called in Ashley for backup! As the cable guy was here, I decided I wanted to make cookies to put in my cookie jar and low and behold, I didn't burn them. I was so proud of myself I even offered them to the cable guy!!! They were delish! So here it is, Saturday morning I've been up for quite awhile, watching HGTV, sitting by the warm fire and even decided to make some cinnamon streusel muffins that ALSO came out without burning...man, my house smells wonderful!!

Sweetly Broken

For the few one person out there that reads this, I must put the disclaimer out there that lately I've been broken... emotionally and spiritually that is. I don't know what's wrong with me but today was one of those days (and maybe you've never had one) where you just want to be around someone...anyone and it seems as though no one is available. However, I knew God was trying to get my attention...he wanted me, all of me, a fully focused me. So after some hesitation, just because I felt I had other things I wanted to do (just being honest), I realized that's what I needed to do...I needed to get away to where it was just God and I and there were no other distractions...no tv, no phone, no music...just us! I decided to go walk on the Bailey Bridge and as I began walking, I just began to pray and thank God that HE loves ME, that HE never leaves ME, and that HE gives ME strength. Some things have happened semi-recently in my life that have left me questioning and have made me realize I have to be patient and wait on God (something I'm not good at and have prayed for more of...patience). A friend of mine and I were talking recently and I came to the realization that I've been talking to anyone about this situation that will listen to me...to the point that I tire my friends, acquaintances, and even myself with my sob story when really all God wants is for me to come to him about this. As I continued walking and praying this afternoon I began to just cry, asking God why? (I'm sure those that passed by were wondering what this crazy person was up to) and I started talking to God...telling him my frustrations, my worries, my desires, etc and a peace came over me in my state of pure brokenness. This peace was short-lived because I now sit here crying as I write this and I realize that as I'm writing about how I need to go to God I'm writing this and spilling my guts but I've been on my hands and knees asking God why, begging him, pleading with him, and getting impatient with him when all I need to be doing is resting in him. So there it is, my sob story for the night. I promise the next post won't be so emotional.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."-Matthew 11:28

Let Freedom Ring!

About a week ago my mom called and asked if I wanted to go to a service that honors Wounded Warriors. I remember seeing pictures of this from the past years and always wishing I had gone, so of course I jumped at the chance to go. However, that was last week and this week turned into one of those weeks where I had something EVERY night so by the time Thursday rolled around, I just wanted to be home...relaxing, eating, watching tv, etc and then it dawned on me...it's because of THOSE wounded soldiers and every other soldier past and present that I can be at home and relax, where I don't have to be afraid of walking outside and getting shot. I have the freedom because of THEM to watch tv, read, pray, and attend church without feeling scared or fearing that everytime I step outside someone might take that freedom away from me. Long story short, this was an emotional day! It started out by me deciding that I wanted to join some of my co-workers (and other people in our community) to line the Hathaway Bridge with American flags as these wounded warriors were escorted past us. I thought this was going to be something for us to show our appreciation to them (and we did) but to see them taking pictures of us lining the bridge and us thanking them was a sight. Here's a pic and although it's hard to see because I couldn't zoom in, the bridge was LINED with flags!

As they drove by everyone just began to cry and yell out thank you! The spouses were crying, the soldiers were crying...it was EMOTIONAL! After that I ran to meet my mom for a quick bite to eat and then we headed to Living Word Fellowship for a service devoted to them! It started with my childhood church choir director leading her choir (from Southport Elem) in patriotic songs that she wrote. Let me just say that patriotic songs get me every time...but when children sing them, it makes it that much worse (or better)! A middle school choir also sang and then a local high school band played the different branch songs and the different branches stood up as their song was played.

Some were crying, some were singing their branch song at the top of their longs and some just stood in awe. Afterwards they had two of the wounded soldiers and their spouses speak about how they were injured, what they went through, etc but what got me is that every one of them that spoke was so humble and stated multiple times how they would love to go back. How can these men and women that have been wounded want to go back?...talk about sacrifice, talk about love for your country, and talk about devotion! These men and women will forever inspire me and I can't wait for this service again in 6 months. We don't honor our heroes near enough and to them, I will forever be thankful...for my freedom, for their sacrifice, and for their dedication and love to our country.

Labor Day of Love (Part 2)

Disclaimer: This post jumps around a lot more than the other but I knew there was things I'd been thinking about all afternoon that I wanted to share (you'll see when you get to the end of the post)! Ok, so picking up from Saturday evening...Sunday morning was obviously to follow with a GREAT service at church (the worship was amazing)!!! Not to mention, my aunt, uncle, and cousin have been visiting my church for a few weeks now (they're "regular attendees" according to the sign in book), but this week was extra special with a visit from my other cousin and her sweet little girl Adeline! She wanted to be miss independent (even though she's small enough that her idol is still Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse) walking through the church halls and even at the lunch table, but man oh man, is she oh so sweet and adorable! After lunch a few of my friends and I headed over to my friend Faith's house (she lives in Chicago but came down for a short visit) to see her and her baby (which none of us have seen and I hadn't seen Faith since December when she was pregnant) so a visit was FAR overdue for us! We got to spend time with just her while Owen napped and we got to spend time with him before and after his nap...isn't he so cute?!...I could just squeeze him! The lighting isn't very good but man is he a cutie!

 After visiting/playing with Owen, Faith's parents agreed to watch Owen for the rest of the evening so Faith and I could go "out"...now normally out means dancing, dinner, movie, but to Faith and I it means Target, Walmart, Ross, TJMAXX, etc. Faith has always been one of those friends that I can call up and we never have to have anything planned, we'll run errands together, do laundry while visiting, etc...but no matter what we're doing, rest assure that we're having fun! Unfortunately that was the only time I got to visit with her but I know we will see each other again soon (and we do talk every week) so other than being here physically, I'll still be talking to her on a regular basis. After visiting with Faith it was on to the Rogers I went (where we watched Limitless) but it's always nice to just go and visit!
This morning I was SO excited! I had asked my mom if I could come raid her house to look for "nick nacks" that I could have or use and if you know my mom...you know she has a lot of nick nacks. I used to bug her about all the "stuff" she had but now I love that I can go over and scrounge through all of it and put something that was her's and that has a story behind it, in my house. I couldn't wait...normally I am NOT a morning person, I repeat, NOT A MORNING PERSON, but today I was up and on my way to her house by 9!! It was nice just visiting with her, drinking coffee, looking at ideas online, helping tutoring her on how to use facebook, and just messing around the house before setting out to (no kidding) Target, K-Mart, Ross, TJMAXX, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, The Salvation Army, The Humane Society, JoAnn Fabrics, and last but not least Kohls...whew, I'm tired just from typing all of that. Although the only thing I found was a GREAT deal on some new sheets, she was a trooper to say the least...she put up with my whining, indecisive, sick (yes, still sick), tired yet excited self all day and even upon returning and hearing that I was bummed on not finding what I wanted she reminded me to be positive and be patient (two things I definitely need to be more of)! I started out writing this post to update and share all the love that I experienced these past few days with friends, relatives, etc yet upon ending this post all I can think about is how selfless my mom is and how there is no earthly and selfless love like a mother's. So here's to all those great, selfless, compassionate, loving mom's out there! To you, I say "thank you!" I thought this picture below was appropriate because although this was a HUGE day for me (my college graduation), it was also a day where I really reflected on all the love my mom has shown me through the years, all the sacrifices she's made to see me through to this day, and all the appreciation I have for someone like HER!

Labor Day of Love (Part 1)

Well, despite this crummy weather, I've tried to take advantage of the long weekend as much as possible, although I must admit, I've had some sinus junk going on since Saturday that has provided me sleepless nights, a nauseous stomach, and a head full of pressure but I'm not going to let that stop me! I think because it's weather related sinus stuff that it's not contagious (or at least I hope not) but anyways. This weekend isn't even over and I feel as though it has been filled with love, fellowship, laughs, and fun. It started early when two of my good friends Kat and Tyler had their precious little baby girl Thursday afternoon, isn't she precious?!

Then it was on to Friday night which was spent hanging out with my sweet friend Ashley. We decided to run in the mall to the University store and on our way in we ran into our dear friend Sandy and her crew at the mall. The twins were getting their ears pierced just as we walked up (it was their prize for being potty trained) and thus we spent the rest of the evening watching/playing with the kids, and catching up with our sweet friend and her family.

Saturday morning Ashley, Katie, and I were up and ready to head to the Florida State game. It was oh so fun filled with some frozen lemonade, laughing, talking, cheering, sweating (gross, right?!), and catching up with our friend Megan McDowell afterward at a yummy Mexican restaurant called Tijuana Flats!

It was oh so fun, even though it was oh so hot but this will not be the last game we attend this year...guaranteed! I MUST add that upon returning to our car after the game I got a text from one of my dear friends Sallie who said she's engaged and although I don't have a picture of the two of us, I wanted to say how truly happy and excited I am for her and her future hubby! I worked with her at FSU and we now work down the road from each other and although I don't see her as often as I'd like, I'm ecstatic for her and can't wait to gush with her over this exciting time in her life! (Congrats Sallie and Sean)!!

Just call me Martha!

Lately I've been on a HUGE redecorating kick which Ginny, Kat, and Elise can all testify to. I've been driving them all batty (and myself too) with all the constant ideas and changes I've had/made. I'm really wanting to slowly redecorate the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom but if you know me well, you know that I never do anything slow...once my mind is set, there's no changing my mind (except for what colors/patterns to use) but I'm too impatient to wait around and pick things up here and there. I will be getting a new love seat and recliner soon and am going to sell my living room furniture that I have now. However, I was afraid there wouldn't be enough seating if I just had a love seat and recliner so I thought I'd get a crazy chair to go with my "matchy matchy" furniture. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE things to match and am a symmetrical person but I'm really trying to get out of my comfort zone and realize that things don't always have to be perfect. Imperfections are sometimes the things that remind us we aren't perfect and that no matter how hard we try, we'll never be as good as Martha Stewart. A friend of mine was over the other day and as I was telling her my idea of buying a crazy chair, she suggested I just reupholster an old chair that I already had...so that's what I set out to do. After a little LOT of hunting, searching, questioning, returning, and thinking, I finally found a fabric that initially I had to be talked into buying but now that it's on the chair, I just LOVE it. It was soooo easy to do and took all of about 10 minutes! If only cooking were this easy...but don't get me started on that. I'll save those stories for another post...however, I will say I'm working on improving in the kitchen as well and am hoping I'll work up enough courage to start trying to cook again but can I just say, after assuming someone would eat six eggs at a time and burning them because I turned the burner on too high in an attempt to cook them faster, I'm still a little hesitant, so Lean Cuisines it is for now, but I digress. Here are the pictures of my project. One chair down and one more to go! Thanks to Elise, Ginny, and Kat for their help, suggestions, and patience with me!
                          The Before...

                           The in between....

                           The finished product! You like?! 

 Next post I will hopefully have a setting the house on fire cooking story!

That's what friends are for!

To be honest, I don't even know why I titled this post what I did. If you didn't know/remember, the title is also the name of a song; a song that was played at my grandfather's funeral and as sad as I get when I hear the song, I think of how many people always told me he was a true friend and would do anything for anyone, and man I aspire to be that kind of friend to someone else. Anyways...I've always been one that considers my friends to be my family and although I've always considered them a high priority in my life, it wasn't until recently when I realized how truly blessed I am to have such wonderful friends. I recently had the privelege of spending some quality time (which we don't get a lot of) with some amazing, passionate, and Godly friends and what good that does to my soul. Recently I have felt that God has kind of pulled my close friends away from me (I think he's really trying to get me to figure out who I am, be comfortable with that, and most important, fully rely on him instead of others). As much as I KNOW I need to rely fully on him, sometimes it's hard and I'm working on it but I did recently get to spend some time with some great friends and we even made a video of us acting silly (if you haven't seen it, it's on my facebook page and it's hilarious...or so I think so) :) Some people thought it was stupid and some thought it was hilarious but to me...it doesn't matter if no one else thought it was funny. That night myself, my friend Brooke, and our soon to be mommy friend, Kat laughed until we cried, pretty much all night. Believe it or not I can get a little crazy (I know, I know...it's hard to believe), but I haven't really been crazy/silly like that in a LONG time and it was medicine for my soul and I don't know how many times I've thanked God for awesome friends like that recently (not just Brooke and Kat but sooo many others) and thought "I wish I laughed like that more often and that we could hang out more often," but then again...times like those make me cherish even more the random times we do get to hang out, laugh, cry, and act crazy! After leaving that night I thought, "wow...that did my soul good...I really needed that," and yet, I don't know how many times Brooke and Kat have both told me how much THEY needed that! Isn't that what friends are for?! Thank you Lord for truly blessing me with awesome friends that I can act crazy with and they still love me!

Love is Here!

Yet again it's been forever since I last updated my blog but I PROMISE I will really try to keep up with it (as though you guys wait on pins and needles for me to update). I've been wanting to update my blog and after much thought frustration with trying to get a new background uploaded, etc, I've finally done it! I've really been thinking a lot (I know I have too much free time) about what I wanted the title of my new blog to be and have finally come up with "A Season of Change." I've really gone through a lot of seasons lately...or so it seems, and at this stage in life, I thought it was appropriate. Not only am I in a new season because of  becoming a working girl and being a recent FSU grad but I've really entered a new season with Christ. Through recent prayer, situations, and struggles that I've experienced, I feel as though God has been saying "Megan...you love me, but you're not in love with me." Two weeks ago my church had it's annual Youth Week and we had a wonderful worship leader come (who will be touring with Tenth Avenue North) and bless us with her talents. Every night we have dinner, worship, and a message and then one of the nights we have late night worship where it's for people that truly want to be there. I always love things like this because it seems more intense, yet personal and really allows you to spend time with God and not have a time line of when it needs to end based upon kids being picked up, etc. Anyways...during late night worship I was praying and asking God for wisdom and understanding with some things that have recently happened in my life and I began to weep sob during the song Love is Here and it says, "Love is Here, Love is Now...Love is flowing from his hands and from his brow. Love is Near, it satisfies, streams of mercy flowing from his side, cause Love is Here! and during this song I felt as thought God was saying, "Megan, I have you in my arms and I am all that you need." Man...I know that God has me and I know that God is all I need...but sometimes it's hard to live that out because I depend on my own ways, my own ideas, and my own ability and not on his. It's in this season that I choose and desire to really progress in my relationship with Christ, really get to know him, and know what it truly means to be in love with him.