I had a wonderful christmas this year. It wasn't as much of a hastle as i thought it would be. (as terrible as I know that sounds) I thought it was going to resemble the movie Four Christmases, but I only had 2. Christmas morning, I woke up at my dad's house and watched my two beautiful nieces tear into their presents and missed my brother terribly. My present to my niece Bella was a hit because it was the most annoying. I got her a recorder. What are aunts for? Har har har.. We then sat down and enjoyed a yummy breakfast together and then the girls started turning into mini godzillas because they were getting tired so they went home and i just chilled out and did my own thing for a while until it was time to get ready to go to Mee Maw's (dad's mom's)
I thought, "Maybe I should curl my hair. It is a holiday, after all." I consulted Dad.
"Dad, should i straighten my hair or curl it?"
"Ehh, go for the curls."
...big mistake.
He and Mikki left without me and TWO HOURS LATER, I emerged from the house and finally made it to Mee Maw's house. Granted my hair looked amazing. I'm not bragging. After two hours, I have a RIGHT to say that my hair looked great, okay?!
Everybody was already eating, so I jumped right in on cue and joined in on the fun and sweet baby J, IT WAS grrrrrrrrrrrrreat. I was pretty proud of myself. i didn't stuff myself. at first.
After we all get done eating, it's tradition for each immediate family to undergo good clean humiliation and do some sort of a talent. Thank God Dad brought Mikki and made her yodel to represent our family. The Flemings had David with his guitar and he had written a song called The Reason. Calm down it wasn't a knockoff from Hoobastank. He introduced it by explaining what the song was about. He said that Jesus is more than just the "reason for the season". He's the reason you get up in the morning. He's the reason you have air in your lungs. (I'm going to start paraphrasing because I can't remember what all he said Hehe) He's the reason I get to have a clean slate every day. He's the reason I get to call myself Beloved. He's the reason I get the chance to talk to God. He's the reason that I dance. He's the reason that I look into the stars and know that there's more. He's not just a man who "was". He's a man and God who IS. Who still moves and lives and loves. Who loves US.
These are all of the things (sorta) that David was saying about Jesus and as he was talking, I wanted to cry. And not in a sentimental way. In the sense that... I could feel how genuinely in love with Jesus David was. And not just to sound holy. Not just to sound better than everyone else. Because he's more passionate about Jesus than anything/one else in the world. I wanted that.
So. I made a decision to get my butt into gear. Once I quit the internship, I kind of quit on God too, and that's stupid. Because God didn't hurt me, people did. And people will continue to hurt me, but I can't let that be an excuse to keep running away from God. And I won't. :)So, thank you, David.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
growing pains
sometimes, well, all the time, i think, growing hurts. it's worth it in the end. but in the process, it's quite uncomfortable.
i know that everything i'm doing is going to be worth it, but i sure am hurting quite a bit in the meantime.
but god never promised that it wouldn't hurt. he only promised he'd never leave me.
I don't understand your ways
Oh but i will give you my song
Give you all of my praise.
You hold on to all my pain.
And with it, you are pulling me closer.
And pulling me into your ways.
Now around every corner
And up every mountain,
I'm not looking for crowns
Or the water from fountains.
I'm desperate in seeking,
Frantic believing
That the sight of your face
Is all that I need.
I will say to you
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it all.
I believe this.
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it all.
I believe this.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it all.
I believe this.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this.
i know that everything i'm doing is going to be worth it, but i sure am hurting quite a bit in the meantime.
but god never promised that it wouldn't hurt. he only promised he'd never leave me.
I don't understand your ways
Oh but i will give you my song
Give you all of my praise.
You hold on to all my pain.
And with it, you are pulling me closer.
And pulling me into your ways.
Now around every corner
And up every mountain,
I'm not looking for crowns
Or the water from fountains.
I'm desperate in seeking,
Frantic believing
That the sight of your face
Is all that I need.
I will say to you
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it all.
I believe this.
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it.
It's gonna be worth it all.
I believe this.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it all.
I believe this.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it.
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloweenie!
So tonight after church service, everyone was trying to find something "halloweenie" (hehehe) to do. tiffany and aimee said they were going to jc penny's so slaus and i tagged along. i did not feel like my night of halloween was fulfilled by shopping, but i DID however get some cool eyeliner from Sephora. and i am going to put in an application there because they said they're looking for help on the holidays and how cool would THAT be?! everybody needs a hook up with some cool make up!!
so anyway, after we went with them, a buncha folks were talking about going out to bear creek swamp. which is just a really creepy road in the middle of a swamp in the middle of NO.WHERE. so we decided to go for that. i couldn't end halloween with shopping at Belk's! so we're ridin dirty with about 9 folks jammed into a tahoe down this freeeeeaky road and of COURSE it's super foggy. and we go pretty far down the road, and then we see another car parked with their headlights on. so we decide we'd park a little ways away from them so it wouldn't be too lit up from their headlights. we wanted it to be dark and scaryyyy! cuz we're idiots.
well one minute, i'm looking up admiring how the trees are actually quite pretty, and then the next, someone screams, "GET IN THE CAR! APRIL JUST GOT A TEXT!!" .........and then everybody starts running for the car!! ???????????
after i got in barely making it in with all my limbs still attached before they slammed the door on me as we're flying down the road trying to get outta there, i asked, "what the CRAP?! what just happened?!"
apparently, april had texted someone and told them where we were, and they replied, "there's someone out there who'll do more than just freak you out." and then that parked car that was sort of near us, turned their headlights off and started slowly driving towards us and everyone FLIPPED.
including me. hehe
i'm sure the person on the phone was just trying to scare us, and it definitely worked. everybody wanted to turn around and go back and i was like ARE YA KIDDING? i really would like to not get cut tonight. so me and 2 other girls almost cried like big wimps because we had to go back. we finally convinced them to leave and just go to the house of crosses, which if you're not from here, is a house that belonged to a man who lost all of his family in a car crash, and after that, he kinda started goin a lil over the edge. there are huuundreds of crosses, different sizes, in his yard and random rusted signs and old appliances with messages such as, "HELL IS HOT. JESUS SAVES. SEX USED WRONG SENDS YOU TO HELL. NO WATER IN HELL. HOT HOT HOT. READ YOUR BIBLE. REPENT." i noticed there were a lot of rusted air conditioners and stoves out there. maybe having to do with the whole hell is hot thing? creative. and then there were a buncha mail boxes with messages on them. and slaus and i were trying to figure all of this out and she said, "maybe you won't get mail when you're in hell??" haha
oh and there was another group of teenagers there. at one point, i saw them making out and i was like .. seriously?? THIS turns you on?? amazing. so i said, (very loudly) "hmm! these signs that say SEX WILL SEND ME TO HELL sure does make me wanna make out!!" haha
one of the guys with us made a good point though. he said it's kind of sad that this man is just extremely passionate about jesus and doesn't want people to go to hell, and now, people use it as a circus side show. they come on halloween and laugh. he said, "when really, we're all supposed to be like this. maybe not to this extreme.." haha
something to think about...
so anyway, after we went with them, a buncha folks were talking about going out to bear creek swamp. which is just a really creepy road in the middle of a swamp in the middle of NO.WHERE. so we decided to go for that. i couldn't end halloween with shopping at Belk's! so we're ridin dirty with about 9 folks jammed into a tahoe down this freeeeeaky road and of COURSE it's super foggy. and we go pretty far down the road, and then we see another car parked with their headlights on. so we decide we'd park a little ways away from them so it wouldn't be too lit up from their headlights. we wanted it to be dark and scaryyyy! cuz we're idiots.
well one minute, i'm looking up admiring how the trees are actually quite pretty, and then the next, someone screams, "GET IN THE CAR! APRIL JUST GOT A TEXT!!" .........and then everybody starts running for the car!! ???????????
after i got in barely making it in with all my limbs still attached before they slammed the door on me as we're flying down the road trying to get outta there, i asked, "what the CRAP?! what just happened?!"
apparently, april had texted someone and told them where we were, and they replied, "there's someone out there who'll do more than just freak you out." and then that parked car that was sort of near us, turned their headlights off and started slowly driving towards us and everyone FLIPPED.
including me. hehe
i'm sure the person on the phone was just trying to scare us, and it definitely worked. everybody wanted to turn around and go back and i was like ARE YA KIDDING? i really would like to not get cut tonight. so me and 2 other girls almost cried like big wimps because we had to go back. we finally convinced them to leave and just go to the house of crosses, which if you're not from here, is a house that belonged to a man who lost all of his family in a car crash, and after that, he kinda started goin a lil over the edge. there are huuundreds of crosses, different sizes, in his yard and random rusted signs and old appliances with messages such as, "HELL IS HOT. JESUS SAVES. SEX USED WRONG SENDS YOU TO HELL. NO WATER IN HELL. HOT HOT HOT. READ YOUR BIBLE. REPENT." i noticed there were a lot of rusted air conditioners and stoves out there. maybe having to do with the whole hell is hot thing? creative. and then there were a buncha mail boxes with messages on them. and slaus and i were trying to figure all of this out and she said, "maybe you won't get mail when you're in hell??" haha
oh and there was another group of teenagers there. at one point, i saw them making out and i was like .. seriously?? THIS turns you on?? amazing. so i said, (very loudly) "hmm! these signs that say SEX WILL SEND ME TO HELL sure does make me wanna make out!!" haha
one of the guys with us made a good point though. he said it's kind of sad that this man is just extremely passionate about jesus and doesn't want people to go to hell, and now, people use it as a circus side show. they come on halloween and laugh. he said, "when really, we're all supposed to be like this. maybe not to this extreme.." haha
something to think about...
Thursday, October 29, 2009
god's heart
This was from my prayer time today:
(this was actually part of a song)
Let the fragrance of my praise, FILL this holy place.
Let the fragrance of my worship STEAL YOUR HEART!
Lord, let me catch your eye. Lord, let me be the one that you look down upon and you hush your angels while they are singing so that you can hear my voice singing out to you. Let me be worth talking about. Let me take your breath away.
isn't it amazing to know that we actually have a real and true romance and God? that no matter what we've done or said or thought about, He still calls us His beloved? He still calls us His children. He still sets us apart to be used for something amazing. oh, to live a life that would be worthy of a thief of God's heart. but that's the thing. there's nothing i'll ever be able to do to be worthy of it. all He asks is that i just love Him. just include Him in my day. and love others like He loves me.
signed,
the thief
(this was actually part of a song)
Let the fragrance of my praise, FILL this holy place.
Let the fragrance of my worship STEAL YOUR HEART!
Lord, let me catch your eye. Lord, let me be the one that you look down upon and you hush your angels while they are singing so that you can hear my voice singing out to you. Let me be worth talking about. Let me take your breath away.
isn't it amazing to know that we actually have a real and true romance and God? that no matter what we've done or said or thought about, He still calls us His beloved? He still calls us His children. He still sets us apart to be used for something amazing. oh, to live a life that would be worthy of a thief of God's heart. but that's the thing. there's nothing i'll ever be able to do to be worthy of it. all He asks is that i just love Him. just include Him in my day. and love others like He loves me.
signed,
the thief
Saturday, October 10, 2009
man, imma smoooooooooooth criminal
i was too tired to write about my adventures yesterday so, here we go.
i FINALLY got my stinkin car back!!!!!!! for probably going on 3 weeks, maybe a month, she has been causing all kinds of mischief. when i say "she", of course, i mean my car, Lady Marmalade, or Lady M for short. it has taken so long just to figure out what the crap was wrong with her! eventually we figured out that it was the security system and only the dealership can fix that. greeeeeeeeeat. lucky for me i have the best daddy in the world who took care of it for me. :) so yea i got it back yesterday around 5pm. and then alyssa (she's the 14 year old in the family i'm mstaying with) rode with me to winn dixie to get drinks and dessert for angie (host mom)'s sound meeting for church. she gave us ten bucks and when we got there, we had all kinds of chaos with the self checkout. i will NEVER. EVER. go to a self check out there again. so some lady rung us up and apparently charged us too much so i thought we could only get 2 2-liter cokes. i prob should've thought it was a little fishy that 2 drinks cost 7 bucks??? but when you're stuck in leannaworld, its hard to get out and notice anything. i do good to put one foot in front of the other. so i ended up going to winn dixie 3 times before we got everything settled and everything we needed. WHEW. i know everyone's name in there now, so that's convenient at least.
and then i decided to head to my dad's house in wetumpka to get my laptop that my brother in law had so lovingly fixed for me. he removed all the std's that were on it and put anti virus protection on it. so alyssa decided to ride with me there, too. we were jammin out to some black gospel on the radio and said, "how funny would it be to get pulled over and we've got this awesome music blarin out the radio?!" ... you know that scripture that says to be careful what you say because your tongue holds the power of life and death?? yea....
about 5 minutes later, i saw blue lights behind me. crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrap.
i pulled over, very bemused. i had my seatbelt on, i wasn't speeding... at that time. i was a little ways back, so i figured he must've been followin me for a hot minute and jsut now decided to pull me over. he walked up, asked for my license. i don't have it. i don't know where the crap it is. he was like, "well, ya KNOW you have to have that, to drive!!"
"yes, sir.. i don't have my whole entire purse! (not a lie) it's at my friend's house!"
"*sighhhhhhhhhh*........ do you know your license number?"
"yes,sir it's blahblahblah and i think i have an insurance card in here!"
"you look for it while i go run this number. by the way, do you know why i pulled you over?"
"no, sir."
"because your lights were off when i passed you on the road."
.....i look at my dash, and the button is lit up that tells me my headlights are ON. and i was pretty sure they had been since i got into the car and pushed that button...
he said, "yea, i know. they're on now. it's weird but when i passed you, they were off."
..hmmm...
i pull out the card out of the glove box. it's 8 days expired. awesome. especially since i already knew what he was about to say...
"maam!! how LONG has your license been EXPIRED?!"
"i'm sorry! i've just been tryin to get the money to do it!"
"it costs 25 dollars to get a new license! you spend that ridin around in a week on gas!"
"I ONLY WORK ONE DAY A WEEK!.. here's my insurance card..."
"THIS IS EXPIRED TOO!!!!!"
"i know!! i'm sorry!!!!!"
".......get a new license and keep your headlights on!"
THEN HE TURNED AROUND AND WALKED AWAY!!
i started yellin my thank yous to god!! i mean, he could've got me for 1. no headlights (which was baloney- yes, i knwo i spelled that wrong, but i like to spell it the way i say it. get off me) 2. no license 3. expired license 4. expired insurance card.
i FINALLY got my stinkin car back!!!!!!! for probably going on 3 weeks, maybe a month, she has been causing all kinds of mischief. when i say "she", of course, i mean my car, Lady Marmalade, or Lady M for short. it has taken so long just to figure out what the crap was wrong with her! eventually we figured out that it was the security system and only the dealership can fix that. greeeeeeeeeat. lucky for me i have the best daddy in the world who took care of it for me. :) so yea i got it back yesterday around 5pm. and then alyssa (she's the 14 year old in the family i'm mstaying with) rode with me to winn dixie to get drinks and dessert for angie (host mom)'s sound meeting for church. she gave us ten bucks and when we got there, we had all kinds of chaos with the self checkout. i will NEVER. EVER. go to a self check out there again. so some lady rung us up and apparently charged us too much so i thought we could only get 2 2-liter cokes. i prob should've thought it was a little fishy that 2 drinks cost 7 bucks??? but when you're stuck in leannaworld, its hard to get out and notice anything. i do good to put one foot in front of the other. so i ended up going to winn dixie 3 times before we got everything settled and everything we needed. WHEW. i know everyone's name in there now, so that's convenient at least.
and then i decided to head to my dad's house in wetumpka to get my laptop that my brother in law had so lovingly fixed for me. he removed all the std's that were on it and put anti virus protection on it. so alyssa decided to ride with me there, too. we were jammin out to some black gospel on the radio and said, "how funny would it be to get pulled over and we've got this awesome music blarin out the radio?!" ... you know that scripture that says to be careful what you say because your tongue holds the power of life and death?? yea....
about 5 minutes later, i saw blue lights behind me. crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrap.
i pulled over, very bemused. i had my seatbelt on, i wasn't speeding... at that time. i was a little ways back, so i figured he must've been followin me for a hot minute and jsut now decided to pull me over. he walked up, asked for my license. i don't have it. i don't know where the crap it is. he was like, "well, ya KNOW you have to have that, to drive!!"
"yes, sir.. i don't have my whole entire purse! (not a lie) it's at my friend's house!"
"*sighhhhhhhhhh*........ do you know your license number?"
"yes,sir it's blahblahblah and i think i have an insurance card in here!"
"you look for it while i go run this number. by the way, do you know why i pulled you over?"
"no, sir."
"because your lights were off when i passed you on the road."
.....i look at my dash, and the button is lit up that tells me my headlights are ON. and i was pretty sure they had been since i got into the car and pushed that button...
he said, "yea, i know. they're on now. it's weird but when i passed you, they were off."
..hmmm...
i pull out the card out of the glove box. it's 8 days expired. awesome. especially since i already knew what he was about to say...
"maam!! how LONG has your license been EXPIRED?!"
"i'm sorry! i've just been tryin to get the money to do it!"
"it costs 25 dollars to get a new license! you spend that ridin around in a week on gas!"
"I ONLY WORK ONE DAY A WEEK!.. here's my insurance card..."
"THIS IS EXPIRED TOO!!!!!"
"i know!! i'm sorry!!!!!"
".......get a new license and keep your headlights on!"
THEN HE TURNED AROUND AND WALKED AWAY!!
i started yellin my thank yous to god!! i mean, he could've got me for 1. no headlights (which was baloney- yes, i knwo i spelled that wrong, but i like to spell it the way i say it. get off me) 2. no license 3. expired license 4. expired insurance card.
and i got off with a verbal warning. now that's favor from god right there!!!!!!!!!!!! ah cha cha
Thursday, October 1, 2009
i like pepperoni
not on pizza. by itself. but that's beside the point.
so thur was cambria's technical last day of her first year as an intern. she started later than the first class last year, so when we started, she still had another month of the first year rules. and there's this guy that has been waiting for her the whole 9 months. pretty rare in the male race, right? :) so now they're together and they're really REALLY cute together. it was awesome. she got to go get a massage and a facial and then she thought brooks (her new man) had to work that night at the fire station, but he actually took the night off so he would be able to surprise her and take her out that night. he sent her roses that day, and i must admit. i was a wittle bit jealous. but its ok. one day, i'm gonna have a man that loves me and wants to treat me like a spoiled princess. sorry, mr. dreamboat. but my daddy did a great job of spoiling me. you have some pretty big shoes to fill. :) also, i had an awesome prayer time thur. i was asking god to help me to realize what my passions/gifts are. what tugs my heartstrings? what do i love most? because pastor joey says once you know that, you can tell where you're supposed to go in life/ministry/etc. so i was kinda just talkin to god about it. and then i said, "help me to love those who feel they don't deserve to be loved." and after i said it, i was like... wait. that wasn't me. i mean, i said it but i just knew it wasn't REALLY me. and then god just started showin me stuff like troubled teens who are in institutions because they're socially unaccepted, battered women, children with horrible homelives, people with addictions who have ruined their life... now. i don't know which one of those areas i'm supposed to focus on, but it's a hint!! and i'm excited to have a direction now!!! god is so awesome!!!!!!!!
we spent the rest of the day thur getting ready to decorate the stage for our new sermon series "socialitis". it's all about facebook. since everybody (or most people) are addicted to it, it's easy to relate facebook terms to real life situations. this weekend, it's all about "friend requests". on all the different people that you may have to deal with and HOW to deal with them. pretty nea-toe.
then fri, i worked at the daycare, and after voicing that it would be nice if i didn't have to work with the 2 year olds EVERYtime i work, i got a break and actually got a semi well behaved class!! i know!! i almost passed out. it was a pretty awesome day. we had a staff meeting while the kids napped, which meant FREE LUNCH!! and that night, some of the girls were going to the homecoming dance so slaus and i went to their house to help them get purrty. slaus on hair, myself on makeup. we're quite a team. :) and then sarah corley came into town!!! so she came along to join in the fun. we got all dolled up and took pictures. and i must say. i looked pretty dang good.
now. for today, since we spent most of the week doing randomness and setting up for the stage stuff, we had no time to do our weekly cleaning. so we had to be there at 11 to finish everything up. BUT they bought us pizza from the new place marco's in prattville. and it was THE BEST pizza i've ever had in my life. even better than tomatino's!
during the service, me and the other 2 interns did a skit that's pretty hilarious. me and slaus knock on clifford's door and we pretty much only know how to interact in facebook lingo so that's how we talk to him and he's totally freaked out. at one point, sarah pretends she's writing all over the side of his house and he says "what're you doing??!!!" she says "I'm writing on your wall! duh!!" haha. it was great except for there's a point where i'm supposed to yell "STATUS UPDATE!" but not until slaus finishes her line. i kept thinking she was done, and she wasn't so i ended up sounding like i had an extremely loud stuttering problem... "STA- ST-S- STATUS UPDATE!!" ugh. it was awful... i wanted to crawl up under a chair and disappear. luckily, we were summoned to the gym right after the skit to go and set up chairs and tables for pastor's luncheon tomorrow. thank ya cheezus.
after service, i spent some time with my new fam and we ate angie's santa fe soup. i was in absolute heaven. that junks is gewd!! then i went over to trey and amber barden(a cool young couple in our church who loves us interns for some reason)'s house to watch the auburn game. WARRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!
overall, an awesome weekend.
so thur was cambria's technical last day of her first year as an intern. she started later than the first class last year, so when we started, she still had another month of the first year rules. and there's this guy that has been waiting for her the whole 9 months. pretty rare in the male race, right? :) so now they're together and they're really REALLY cute together. it was awesome. she got to go get a massage and a facial and then she thought brooks (her new man) had to work that night at the fire station, but he actually took the night off so he would be able to surprise her and take her out that night. he sent her roses that day, and i must admit. i was a wittle bit jealous. but its ok. one day, i'm gonna have a man that loves me and wants to treat me like a spoiled princess. sorry, mr. dreamboat. but my daddy did a great job of spoiling me. you have some pretty big shoes to fill. :) also, i had an awesome prayer time thur. i was asking god to help me to realize what my passions/gifts are. what tugs my heartstrings? what do i love most? because pastor joey says once you know that, you can tell where you're supposed to go in life/ministry/etc. so i was kinda just talkin to god about it. and then i said, "help me to love those who feel they don't deserve to be loved." and after i said it, i was like... wait. that wasn't me. i mean, i said it but i just knew it wasn't REALLY me. and then god just started showin me stuff like troubled teens who are in institutions because they're socially unaccepted, battered women, children with horrible homelives, people with addictions who have ruined their life... now. i don't know which one of those areas i'm supposed to focus on, but it's a hint!! and i'm excited to have a direction now!!! god is so awesome!!!!!!!!
we spent the rest of the day thur getting ready to decorate the stage for our new sermon series "socialitis". it's all about facebook. since everybody (or most people) are addicted to it, it's easy to relate facebook terms to real life situations. this weekend, it's all about "friend requests". on all the different people that you may have to deal with and HOW to deal with them. pretty nea-toe.
then fri, i worked at the daycare, and after voicing that it would be nice if i didn't have to work with the 2 year olds EVERYtime i work, i got a break and actually got a semi well behaved class!! i know!! i almost passed out. it was a pretty awesome day. we had a staff meeting while the kids napped, which meant FREE LUNCH!! and that night, some of the girls were going to the homecoming dance so slaus and i went to their house to help them get purrty. slaus on hair, myself on makeup. we're quite a team. :) and then sarah corley came into town!!! so she came along to join in the fun. we got all dolled up and took pictures. and i must say. i looked pretty dang good.
now. for today, since we spent most of the week doing randomness and setting up for the stage stuff, we had no time to do our weekly cleaning. so we had to be there at 11 to finish everything up. BUT they bought us pizza from the new place marco's in prattville. and it was THE BEST pizza i've ever had in my life. even better than tomatino's!
during the service, me and the other 2 interns did a skit that's pretty hilarious. me and slaus knock on clifford's door and we pretty much only know how to interact in facebook lingo so that's how we talk to him and he's totally freaked out. at one point, sarah pretends she's writing all over the side of his house and he says "what're you doing??!!!" she says "I'm writing on your wall! duh!!" haha. it was great except for there's a point where i'm supposed to yell "STATUS UPDATE!" but not until slaus finishes her line. i kept thinking she was done, and she wasn't so i ended up sounding like i had an extremely loud stuttering problem... "STA- ST-S- STATUS UPDATE!!" ugh. it was awful... i wanted to crawl up under a chair and disappear. luckily, we were summoned to the gym right after the skit to go and set up chairs and tables for pastor's luncheon tomorrow. thank ya cheezus.
after service, i spent some time with my new fam and we ate angie's santa fe soup. i was in absolute heaven. that junks is gewd!! then i went over to trey and amber barden(a cool young couple in our church who loves us interns for some reason)'s house to watch the auburn game. WARRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!
overall, an awesome weekend.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
no one knew thee but to love thee...
*i started this blog yesterday, but then i took nyquil and was incapacitated before i could finish lol*
before i start, let me say that i feel like poo poo, so if this sounds depressing, it's really not. i'm just kinda blahhh.
wellll, today was interesting.
started off with me waking up to my director's wife, tiffany, leaving a message on my house phone saying, "LEANNAAAA!!! LEANNA! ARE YOU THERE??? LEANNA!!!" it was 9:00. i thought i was given the day off to take care of car stuff, but apparently i misunderstood and i was only supposed to take time off whenever the car was going to be towed, which wasn't until later this afternoon (didn't know that part either- when they would be there to tow it) so i had to get ready REALLY quick and slaus came to pick me up.
when we got to the church, ric told us to follow him in our cars. we ended up at the cemetary!!!!! creeeppyyy! ric told us to get our journals and walk around the gravesites and if we saw any epitaphs that were interesting to us, to write them down. there were several that caught my eye, but a few faves were:
-to my lady: the sweetest, kindest, most loving mother and wife in the world. Beautiful in life, beautiful in death. we will always love her.
-budded on earth to bloom in heaven (the baby died at 3 days old)
-gone fishing (haha!)
-none knew thee but to love thee
-her children arise up and call her blessed (prov. 31)
-love is neverending
-beloved daddy
and then we all met back with ric after walking around the cemetary a while. we shared some of what we had, and then he said all of the people buried here have great things written about them because their family will choose to remember the good about them, but someone else may walk by their grave and remember them by somehting else. maybe something not so good. maybe a secret, or something that person did, or said. maybe someone will walk by and say, "i had an affair with him." or "she was really the one who killed her husband." then we talked about the story of joseph in the bible. and how potiphar's wife lied to her husband, the king, saying that joseph was trying to seduce her, when in fact, she was the one trying to seduce him, but was having serious denial issues about the fact that he rejected her. and to this day, we don't know potiphar's wife's name. she is known by her lie.
what will we be remembered for?
what will people say when they walk by our tombstones? are there skeletons in our closets that keep people from recognizing us as children of God?
then we took time to write down all of the things in our life that we have to change in order for people to see us as children of God, and not by that sin.
here are some of mine:
lust
arrogance
selfishness
bossiness (if that's even a word haha)
jealousy
always wanting the spotlight
not communicating with friends and family as much as i should
insecurity
lies
being judgemental
in romans 12:1, it says we are to be "living sacrifices". what that means, is daily, we have to die to our sinful ways and give ourselves up at the disposal of the king. we have to conform to his way and not our's. i have to die to the things listed above daily, hourly, minutely haha.
i want to be like the christians they talked about in antioch. that was the first time the word "christian" was used. they described paul and barnabus as being christ-like. they were so different from anyone else they had ever encountered. that's how i wanna be. not the typical christian that everybody has in their mind. i wanna blow people away with my love and compassion for them. people aren't used to being loved. not really, anyway. i'm here to change that!
lovin you,
lovin life,
lovin jesus,
leanna
before i start, let me say that i feel like poo poo, so if this sounds depressing, it's really not. i'm just kinda blahhh.
wellll, today was interesting.
started off with me waking up to my director's wife, tiffany, leaving a message on my house phone saying, "LEANNAAAA!!! LEANNA! ARE YOU THERE??? LEANNA!!!" it was 9:00. i thought i was given the day off to take care of car stuff, but apparently i misunderstood and i was only supposed to take time off whenever the car was going to be towed, which wasn't until later this afternoon (didn't know that part either- when they would be there to tow it) so i had to get ready REALLY quick and slaus came to pick me up.
when we got to the church, ric told us to follow him in our cars. we ended up at the cemetary!!!!! creeeppyyy! ric told us to get our journals and walk around the gravesites and if we saw any epitaphs that were interesting to us, to write them down. there were several that caught my eye, but a few faves were:
-to my lady: the sweetest, kindest, most loving mother and wife in the world. Beautiful in life, beautiful in death. we will always love her.
-budded on earth to bloom in heaven (the baby died at 3 days old)
-gone fishing (haha!)
-none knew thee but to love thee
-her children arise up and call her blessed (prov. 31)
-love is neverending
-beloved daddy
and then we all met back with ric after walking around the cemetary a while. we shared some of what we had, and then he said all of the people buried here have great things written about them because their family will choose to remember the good about them, but someone else may walk by their grave and remember them by somehting else. maybe something not so good. maybe a secret, or something that person did, or said. maybe someone will walk by and say, "i had an affair with him." or "she was really the one who killed her husband." then we talked about the story of joseph in the bible. and how potiphar's wife lied to her husband, the king, saying that joseph was trying to seduce her, when in fact, she was the one trying to seduce him, but was having serious denial issues about the fact that he rejected her. and to this day, we don't know potiphar's wife's name. she is known by her lie.
what will we be remembered for?
what will people say when they walk by our tombstones? are there skeletons in our closets that keep people from recognizing us as children of God?
then we took time to write down all of the things in our life that we have to change in order for people to see us as children of God, and not by that sin.
here are some of mine:
lust
arrogance
selfishness
bossiness (if that's even a word haha)
jealousy
always wanting the spotlight
not communicating with friends and family as much as i should
insecurity
lies
being judgemental
in romans 12:1, it says we are to be "living sacrifices". what that means, is daily, we have to die to our sinful ways and give ourselves up at the disposal of the king. we have to conform to his way and not our's. i have to die to the things listed above daily, hourly, minutely haha.
i want to be like the christians they talked about in antioch. that was the first time the word "christian" was used. they described paul and barnabus as being christ-like. they were so different from anyone else they had ever encountered. that's how i wanna be. not the typical christian that everybody has in their mind. i wanna blow people away with my love and compassion for them. people aren't used to being loved. not really, anyway. i'm here to change that!
lovin you,
lovin life,
lovin jesus,
leanna
Monday, September 28, 2009
yay for first blog!!
So yea. to start off, i have told most people that i am in an internship through my church, Destiny Christian Center, in prattville, al. http://www.destinycc.com/ you can check out our church there. :)
i'm up there all week. literally. we do intern stuff mon through fri 8 to 5, then i work at the daycare there all day fri, then we attend all four services on the weekend, including a sat night.
it's a nonstop operation, but i love it. someone once told me "the world is run by tired men and women".
but anyway, my family suggested i start a blog to let everyone know what i'm doing in the internship and my progress and whatnot. so... here goes!
since i've been in for 3 weeks already, let me catch everyone up to speed:
-i live with the praise and worship leader, angie brening and her husband, Keith, daughter alyssa, sons isaac and nathan, dog rylee, and several fish. it couldn't be a better fit. i love them completely. not long after i moved in, the subject of my lack of a middle name came up in conversation somehow. so angie decided to give me the name Estelle, meaning the star. and then it was taken farther when we all met the entire staff on our first day and discovered i'm the oldest intern, so i'm now lovingly known as "granny estelle." :)
-we memorize 2 scriptures a week, so i'll be updating that prob everyday because it will keep it fresh on my mind haha. last week was 2 corinthians 5:17 and galatians 2:20. this week is romans 12:1, and john 14:21. the last 2 focus on obedience to christ.
-there are 3 other interns. 2 of them first years like me (clifford and slaus), and 1 is a second year (cambria).
`ok, that's all of the stuff i can think of, there's lots more, but i'll prob just blurt it out as it comes.
today, in prayer time, i started really diggin into wondering where god would place me after the internship, then out of nowhere, i asked god to help me get rid of my trust issues. being burned in the past several times, i'm not a person that easily trusts. and god started to mess with me about myself. he said that i tend to feel so insignificant that i think i can be forgotten. and that's where my jealousy and anger stem from- my insecurity. and he said until i can see what i'm really worth, what i look like to him, then i can't move on to receive what god will have for me after the internship. so yea, i'll be working on the trust thing with a PASSION because i so wanna know what i'm supposed to do with my life, so i have to get through this first.
`then we had staff meeting and learned about how a good leader needs to delegate. there's no point in thinking you should do everything just because you can do it better and quicker (even if you can!). you have to give people a voice, a place to stand in the project, a sense of purpose. and if you keep taking all of the control, you're overlooking all of the possible gems that are inside of people by denying them a chance to shine. good stuff.
`then we had creative meeting, and we had to write a skit for our next sermon series, which is called "Socialitis", a disease triggered by TOO MUCH FACEBOOK! haha, so we wrote a skit that was inspired by a video we saw all about people interacting face to face the same way they would on facebook. it's hilarious. if we video it, i'll send the link.
`then slaus (her name is actually sarah slauson, but slaus is just way cooler) and i drove to wetumpka to drop off my baby, the jetta at dad's house. he gave me the buick park avenue, who i have respectfully named lady marmalade, and she respectfully quit on me about a week ago. guess she doesn't like the name.
`when we came back into town, we were good little girls and walked/jogged a little over a mile. we started our healthier lifestyle yesterday. then we came back home and ate soup. then i had scrambled eggs with melted cheese hehe. BUT i haven't had a single carbonated drink today! water and tea. i refuse to give up sweet tea. i have to have ONE vice. c'mon!
and then i made a new cd for us to listen to in prayer time. it rawks.
`on a sad note, one of our interns was asked to leave the internship last night. i miss him a lot and am deeply saddened that he has to leave. it was a matter of rules and he just couldn't do it anymore. i know that god would've done great things in him, and still can, but it always hurts to see people lose opportunities. i'll keep him in prayer and hope that he continues to grow instead of running away.
`from the carwash fundraiser, where i was sponsored to raise money for our trip we're taking in january, because of my awesome friends and family, i raised 247 dollars just from that fundraiser! that's mroe than half of my trip paid for! thank you all so much!!
`well i'm going to hit the hay now
loves.
romans 12:1 therefore, i urge you, brothers, in view of god's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to god-this is your spiritual act of worship.
;)
i'm up there all week. literally. we do intern stuff mon through fri 8 to 5, then i work at the daycare there all day fri, then we attend all four services on the weekend, including a sat night.
it's a nonstop operation, but i love it. someone once told me "the world is run by tired men and women".
but anyway, my family suggested i start a blog to let everyone know what i'm doing in the internship and my progress and whatnot. so... here goes!
since i've been in for 3 weeks already, let me catch everyone up to speed:
-i live with the praise and worship leader, angie brening and her husband, Keith, daughter alyssa, sons isaac and nathan, dog rylee, and several fish. it couldn't be a better fit. i love them completely. not long after i moved in, the subject of my lack of a middle name came up in conversation somehow. so angie decided to give me the name Estelle, meaning the star. and then it was taken farther when we all met the entire staff on our first day and discovered i'm the oldest intern, so i'm now lovingly known as "granny estelle." :)
-we memorize 2 scriptures a week, so i'll be updating that prob everyday because it will keep it fresh on my mind haha. last week was 2 corinthians 5:17 and galatians 2:20. this week is romans 12:1, and john 14:21. the last 2 focus on obedience to christ.
-there are 3 other interns. 2 of them first years like me (clifford and slaus), and 1 is a second year (cambria).
`ok, that's all of the stuff i can think of, there's lots more, but i'll prob just blurt it out as it comes.
today, in prayer time, i started really diggin into wondering where god would place me after the internship, then out of nowhere, i asked god to help me get rid of my trust issues. being burned in the past several times, i'm not a person that easily trusts. and god started to mess with me about myself. he said that i tend to feel so insignificant that i think i can be forgotten. and that's where my jealousy and anger stem from- my insecurity. and he said until i can see what i'm really worth, what i look like to him, then i can't move on to receive what god will have for me after the internship. so yea, i'll be working on the trust thing with a PASSION because i so wanna know what i'm supposed to do with my life, so i have to get through this first.
`then we had staff meeting and learned about how a good leader needs to delegate. there's no point in thinking you should do everything just because you can do it better and quicker (even if you can!). you have to give people a voice, a place to stand in the project, a sense of purpose. and if you keep taking all of the control, you're overlooking all of the possible gems that are inside of people by denying them a chance to shine. good stuff.
`then we had creative meeting, and we had to write a skit for our next sermon series, which is called "Socialitis", a disease triggered by TOO MUCH FACEBOOK! haha, so we wrote a skit that was inspired by a video we saw all about people interacting face to face the same way they would on facebook. it's hilarious. if we video it, i'll send the link.
`then slaus (her name is actually sarah slauson, but slaus is just way cooler) and i drove to wetumpka to drop off my baby, the jetta at dad's house. he gave me the buick park avenue, who i have respectfully named lady marmalade, and she respectfully quit on me about a week ago. guess she doesn't like the name.
`when we came back into town, we were good little girls and walked/jogged a little over a mile. we started our healthier lifestyle yesterday. then we came back home and ate soup. then i had scrambled eggs with melted cheese hehe. BUT i haven't had a single carbonated drink today! water and tea. i refuse to give up sweet tea. i have to have ONE vice. c'mon!
and then i made a new cd for us to listen to in prayer time. it rawks.
`on a sad note, one of our interns was asked to leave the internship last night. i miss him a lot and am deeply saddened that he has to leave. it was a matter of rules and he just couldn't do it anymore. i know that god would've done great things in him, and still can, but it always hurts to see people lose opportunities. i'll keep him in prayer and hope that he continues to grow instead of running away.
`from the carwash fundraiser, where i was sponsored to raise money for our trip we're taking in january, because of my awesome friends and family, i raised 247 dollars just from that fundraiser! that's mroe than half of my trip paid for! thank you all so much!!
`well i'm going to hit the hay now
loves.
romans 12:1 therefore, i urge you, brothers, in view of god's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to god-this is your spiritual act of worship.
;)
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