My story....

...is being written by a great big God who loves me very much!

This brings two things to mind...

First...

"I'm a small part of a big story about a big God who is my Father with infinite love and a burning love for all the world to see"
That's part of the promotional video for Camp Kidjam for our kiddos in XKidx City. It's so cool that we are a part of this whole big story that God has planned out. We don't know what that plan is, but God does.

Second...
"Forever...You are the God of my story...write every line for Your glory"
This is part of a song (one of my new favorites) called "Breathe on Me" by Todd Fields. Love this song. God is the God of my story. And I want my life to show His glory. I love this song, and I love this line from it. Before this line it also says, "Forever...You are my reason for living, merciful Savior, unending...Breathe on me" And God is my reason for living - I want to live for Him, share Him, make Him proud.

I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about God's plan for my life story. And I have no idea what it is. Some days, like I said, that's frustrating. I want to know the plans He has for me, I want to know what's in store, I want to know what my future holds. I like to know what's going on, I like to be in control of things. And I can sit and plan my life as much as I want to - but it doesn't matter because God has the perfect plan for me. When I get past my frustration and past my desire to control things, I get excited. I mean, my God loves me so much that He made a plan for me before I was even born. And my God loves me so much that He wants the absolute best for me - so He's gonna have some pretty great things planned for me!

We just finished a series at church last week called "Intersect." It was a wonderful series!! It was all about how we, as Christians, can intersect with God and truly experience Him.

In the first week, we learned that "when our faith intersects with God's faithfulness, we come to know God." We know God wants us to do something. But sometimes we don't understand why He wants us to. We question God. We wonder, we fret, we worry. But God wants us to step out on faith and follow Him and just trust that He knows what He's doing. When we take that step of faith, we experience God in ways we never thought possible.

In the second week, we learned that when we step out on that faith, we sometimes have to wait. "Waiting on God forces me to either give in to God or give up on God." We pray and we ask God something. And sometimes it seems like forever before we get an answer from God. The wait is a gift. That is when we learn about God and we learn about ourselves. If we wait, eventually we get the chance to give in to God and what He wants to do in our lives. We give in to God and fully trust Him with the situation that life has brought our way.

In the final week, we learned that "the will of God is always accompanied by the resources of God." So many times God calls us to do something and we give Him excuses about why we can't. But if God calls us to do something, He's going to give us the resources, the guidance, and the wisdom we need to carry it out.

Now, Matt and Justin did a much better job presenting it than I just did - but those are the basics. God has a plan, He calls us to His plan, we step out on faith, we wait on God, we learn, and He gives us what we need to live the plan He has called us to live.

That series was very refreshing to me. God's got a plan for my life. He's gonna do great things. I just have to trust, have faith, and follow Him. He'll take care of the rest.

Be blessed!

Oh life...

....life is so good. It's summer time. And, oh, how I ADORE summer!!! This has been my first summer in quite a few that I have not been a student. And I'm LOVING it!!

I've been working on my photography (so much fun!!!) Here are some neat shots I've gotten recently.....

This little guy likes to hang out on the antenna of my car....

I LOVE this one...it looks like he's smiling...

We got some really green bananas so I took pictures of them out in the yard...

So that's pretty much life right now...just enjoying the summer, taking it all one day at a time...

I'll update again soon.... :0)

My sister...

...is just so beautiful.

I took some pictures of her today and this is one of my favorites...

Picnik...

...I have recently discovered www.picnik.com. It is truly a WONDERFUL site!! You can upload your photos and edit them in all sorts of cool ways. It has become my new obsession! :0) Here are few of the things I have done so far...

So...it's been a while....

I got so caught up with work and school that I wasn't really able to update at all during the second semester of the school year. Oops!! (Although, I'm not all that sure that anyone reads this thing anyway....but I'll update just in case) I'm hoping that now that life has 'slowed down' somewhat, I'll be better at keeping this thing updated.

Let's see...what has happened since I last updated???

I graduated!!! I finished May 9, 2008 with my Educational Specialist degree from Liberty University! I am so excited to be done!!! :0) I'm done with school for a while (at least for about 20 years...) I've decided that I might go back and get my Doctorate after I have kids and they are grown, just a few years before I retire (that way I can retire on Doctorate pay). So that's the plan for now....

School's out for summer!! The last day for my kiddos was May 30th. Then I worked June 2 - 3 and a couple extra days after that getting some things done in the classroom. I tell you what, I really loved my little group of kids this year. They were so precious! Never a dull moment in my classroom :0)

I bought myself a couple of graduation presents :0) I finally got myself an iPod!! It's PINK!! And I love it! :0) I also bought myself a new camera - I love it too!!! I've been enjoying working on my photography skills over the past couple weeks!!

So that's pretty much life right now....nothing too fascinating. I'm posting some pictures that I've taken with my new camera :0) Enjoy!!

Here's my new camera :0)

Here are some pictures I took with my new camera....

Mrs. Deborah's chickens....

Some flowers in the backyard....

Family pictures...

Some of my boys...

My girls...

Me & Charlie...

"I'm at the starting line...

...of the rest of my life, as ready as I've ever been.

Got the hunger and the stars in my eyes.

The prize is mine to win."

*****

So I'm quoting a new song by Billy Ray and his daughter...maybe that's odd, maybe not.

But I really like this song, more specifically, the chorus. I can relate to those words.

It's the start of a brand new year and I'm the girl in the chorus of that song. I'm 26. I've finally become content, even happy, with who I am. I feel like I am right where God wants me to be. I finally realized that I am complete in Him. I have learned so much over the past year about who I am and who I can't wait to become. And now, at the start of 2008, I really am at the starting point of the rest of my life.

The thought of a new year holds so much promise - new people, new experiences - prizes to be won. I'm excited about the new year. I'm excited that I've finally learned to live my life and live it for me, doing what truly makes me happy.

So, like I said, I can relate to the girl in the song....

I'm 26.

Life holds so much possiblity for me.

I'm excited about what's in store.
God has great plans for my life.

I can't wait to see what they are!

I can't believe...

...that 2007 will be over in about 12 hours...

Where has the time gone? This year has completely flown by.

It's been a GREAT year though! God has been so wonderful and I have received so many blessings!! I have grown in my walk with Him. I have become more involved in my church than I ever imagined and I love every minute of it! Through Crossroads, God has brought so many wonderful people in my life...I've made lots of new friends and reconnected with some old ones and they all are very dear to me. I can't imagine my life without them!

I continue to work in a wonderful job with some great people. I didn't ever think that I would fit in so well in the place where I work. So often you hear about people who don't really like their job or the people they work with. I feel blessed to love my job and not just work with my colleagues, but to be friends with them.

I've had a great 2007. I've grown so much as a person and learned so much about myself. Unlike last year, I can now say that I am truly happy with myself and my life - and actually mean it. I've become the genuinely happy girl that I was as a child...and I love it.

I'm not one for resolutions....but I think I will make one this year to work on updating this thing more... :0)

I don't know how many people read this (possibly no one....) But for anyone that might, I wish you a wonderful New Year! I hope 2008 is full of joy and blessings!!

Below are just a few pictures (from the several that I took...) from Christmas....