And So It Continues...

Life is going on.
I am loving my family and having them here every morning when I wake up. I love to have family dinner every night, even though we have gone vegan. Yes friends, we have gone to the dark side, and now eat only veggies. Haha. I am hoping that this will help my numerous and very uncomfortable headaches. And allergies. And aches and pains. Mom is convinced that eating this way will help, plus, we have a history of cancer and heart disease in both sides of our family. So, I think it's a good idea...it just gets a little bland at times. If it doesn't help my headaches...we'll have to move that mountain when we get there. I'm giving it a month, then I'll see what else I can be doing to help them. I have been getting them really bad lately, and more often. *sigh* Please pray that they will ease as I get more into this eating vegan.
Soo, I am still looking f0r jobs...and it's going pretty well, actually. I have several leads, and am waiting to hear from them. I am going tomorrow to apply for a front desk job at a Sport Clips in the area....they really need someone, and I would love to work somewhere that will help me on my career path. Or at least be conducive to that. Haha. I believe and am praying that I will be attending cosmetology school in January, 2010. Please, please pray that all this works out and that things will fall into place. I believe that this is what I am supposed to do...the execution is just a little slow in coming. The Lord has really been teaching me patience and faith in him, no matter how long things take to fall into place. And he has been faithful...of course. I don't know why I expect him to not come through, or to forget about me or his promises to me. But, as he is perfect and sovereign and the God of the Universe, Creator of Earth, he is faithful and always will be. I am just a stupid sheep. :) But the coolest part is, he still loves me, despite my stupidity and sinful disbelief. He is too good and kind.
That's what's been going on. We are settling into the church life here and I am loving it. It's soo different, but awesome. I love the worship!! It's jamming. I can't wait to get into the college ministry and make more friends. The meetings are on campus this year, so we'll see if I can even find the meetings! Haha.
Well, I am signing off for now. Have a wonderful week!!!
Love ya!

Home Sweet Home

Hello!!! I am now broadcasting live from the new Butt house! We live off this awesome twisty mountain road. *sigh* As you are coming up the mountain, there is this lovely green canopy overhead and at the right time of day, the dappled sunlight falls through. It's so gorgeous!! It's way twisty and curvy, so you have to be very careful driving it. I love that we are all under the same roof together. And we all had dinner together tonight for the second night in a row. It is awesome. We laugh so hard together!! And guess what?! They all missed me. :) Maybe as much as I missed them...ok, maybe not that much.
So, we all got moved in and are settling in fine. The best (aka worst) part about this house is trying to find places for everything....wait, that's moving in general. Haha! Silly me. My drive to work is less than 20 min. That, my dears, is one heck of an improvement. Oh! And, to prove how wonderful and amazing my mother is. While I was at my work, she went out and job hunted for me and the other girls. Isn't she just it? And she may very well have found at least one, maybe two for me. She's the best. I was planning on doing that hunting tomorrow, but she's pretty much taken care of it for me.
I am just feeling blessed. The Lord is so good to me! And things are looking up for my family in ways that have been hard the last few years. And it's all His provision in our lives. They can't wait to get plugged into the church here and be involved. It's all looking wonderful. I'm just praying that this job thing, at least one of them, will work out and I can start getting my life in order.
Blessings.

Four More Days!!

So, this last weekend was just a little depressing. Not gonna lie. We had everything ready to move the family here. All their stuff packed and ready to go on the truck to be brought here, people lined up to help load and unload in both places. And then it happened. The moving truck became unavailable. WHAT?! Yes friends, my family is as yet, not here. :( And that makes me a little sad...until I remember that this whole thing didn't surprise God. He knew it was gonna happen and he planned for it. Phew. That is such a comfort. So, the plan now is for them to come this coming weekend! Yay! I can't wait. It's gonna be awesome and I am soo looking forward to having family time again. When I moved to Charlotte, I left my best friends. So close. :)

Besides that, not much is going on with me. I had an awesome talk with a good friend today. I asked her out on a phone date. Haha. I love doing that. I felt like if we didn't set a day and a time, we would both forget and it had been waaay too long since we talked.

Oh, I got a fauxhawk!! It's soo fun!

Yeah, I have been wanting to do this for a while, but I finally got around to it. And I love it!! It's spunky. :) Like me. My boss calls me Spike. Not sure if I like that yet. He is my boss, after all. One day I came in after I had it all done up for a few days with it down and everyone was like, "Hey! Where's the hawk?!" I can't get away with not hawking it too often...they all get on my case. Haha. I have noticed when I'm at the store or just out, little kids stare at me. Moms look at me like my hair offends them. Like I'm the first fauxhawk they've seen. I want to go up to their kids and say, "boo!" Maybe I shouldn't. I still think it would be funny. *p.s. aren't my mom and I cute?? Love her!!*

That's all I have to say. Have a blessed week!

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1.9

My Downtown Concord Adventure

Praise the Lord!! They dismissed my ticket! Oh my, I am SO relieved and happy. :) The Lord was so gracious. I was one of the first 30ish people to be called, and I was out of there by 9; I got there at 8.30. Yes, I am glad all that is over with. Now, I can move on with car mess, job mess, and moving mess. Yay.
So, I had a free morning. The courthouse was in downtown Concord, so I walked around. Found the coolest little hippie store with Tibetan art, belly dancing paraphernalia, awesome jewelry, even a ring in the shape of a buffalo. So cool! When I left, I smelled like incense. :) Which I love. I found this gorgeous ring made with simulated stones that looked like opals. Oh my, it was amazing!! And it was my size too. *hint to mom: the store's name was Little Feather. :)* And then I got coffee at the little place with the most amazing couch that was a butt magnet. Haha, no pun intended. And the board with all their options was all spelled wrong...I think the owners were native Mexicans. Good coffee though. Then, I headed into this little shop cause they had a sale. :) Me and sales are tight. There was this niceish guy in there, and he started talking to me. I don't mind in the slightest, except he started asking me things like was I married, where did I live?? Hmm. I quickly left that one, but he kinda walked with me and tried to make conversation. Double hmm. I ditch him for the Little Feather and stay in there for a while. When I come out and head to the parking deck, the same guy is on the other side of the road. He hollers for me to have a good weekend. Without looking, I just lifted a hand. Then, almost to the parking deck, this truck pulls up to me and rolls down the passenger window. He says, "I saw you waving at me from across the street and I thought I'd introduce myself." and sticks his hand out the window. I'm like, OK. He asks me what I was doing, and I said shopping, hoping to deter him, and that I was heading home. He asks where home was. Haha!! I'm like, whoa. Deja vu! I was like, it's nice to meet you. Thankfully, he drives off. Then, I walked to my car. But, dear friends, that's not the end!! I drive away, checking to see if either guy has followed me with my doors securely locked. When I find the main road, I pull into a gas station to fill up. And like, 5 guys come out and swarm the car. I'm like "what?!" Seriously, I was kinda worried. I crack my window, and I'm like, "hey guys...I just need some gas." One said that pump was a full service pump. I laugh nervously and drive to the next one.

Wow. It was an exciting time in downtown, to say the least!! I wonder if it was because I was blonde...anyways, the good news was that I didn't get lost at all. And my ticket stuff was taken care of. Praise the Lord for both of those blessings!
That's it for me. Have a great weekend! Grace to you.

This is What I Get?

Ok folks. You remember when I got in my accident? Yeah, well...I am heading to court for it on Friday. I guess I'm going for the driving without insurance?? Not exactly sure about that. But, I do know 2 things about that day: 1. I'm really nervous! 2. God has a plan and will be with me. Maybe they should be in opposite order...but for now, that's how things stand. I am soo happy that it's in the morning, and that I don't have all day to stress over it before it happens. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. :)
On a different note, my family found a house!!! Yay! It's all going rather fast, actually. Dad and I will be moving into the house starting the 19th, and the family is expected to make the big move by the 25th!!! I am SOOO happy right now, y'all! Phew, this is gonna be a fun ride. I've been enjoying my own room and bathroom for the past few months, commodities that are unavailable at the new house. But, I get my family, and that I am willing to trade a bathroom for. :) *I might need reminding in a few weeks.*

So, God is doing huge things in me right now. I was recently convicted of a bitterness in my attitude towards God, concerning my circumstances. And my wise mother kindly pointed out, the things I am bitter about are consequences of some of my bad decisions. So, if I'm going to be angry, be angry at me. Basically, that's what she said. Haha. (Moms are so awesome. With love, they bang you over the head, and you thank them for it. :] )And, while this is entirely true, I do believe that in all this that's going on, God's purposes of my sanctification are being played out. I realized that I've PRAYED for all this to happen; I've prayed for God to break me, mold me and make me more like him. Yeah, I asked for this!! But did I mean it? This made me stop. Wow. We all pray to be sanctified, to be conformed to the image of Christ, sure. But do we blame God and shake our fist at him when things get hard? God never promised things would be easy for the Christian...he only said he would be with us every step. So, I ask you: do you know what you are asking for? When you pray for these things, what do you think it means? These questions have changed my whole perspective on trials. Because believe me, I don't think I knew what I was getting when I prayed to be more like Christ! The coolest part of all this mess that my life seems like right now, is that I know that all this is inside God's plan for me. NOTHING that happens to any of us is outside of his will. He means us good, not harm, and his IS making us more like Jesus. How comforting is that?! Whoa. That is powerful stuff.
My parting thoughts for us all: drive carefully! :) And let the Lord work in you. Be an empty vessel, and trust Him to make you more like himself. Let go of the control you think you have, and let him work in and through you. That's the goal, what we hope and long for. Harder said than done, as I well know. But for me, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Jesus.

Blogging is Good

Hey Friends!!
Sorry it's been a little while. I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Seriously, it's been a crazy few weeks. Cait's graduation and party was last weekend, and I went home for all of the festivities. That was soo awesome!! It was amazing to see everyone and hang out with my family. This past weekend, I had two sisters and Mom in town to help with Tim and Rachel's wedding. These are dear friends and it was wonderful to see them on their big day. I was driving the getaway car, as Rachel had graciously let me drive it since my car is still dead, and so Saturday morning I took it to Auto Bell and had it cleaned. It was fun to feel like a part of the day. One of my "Raleigh" friends stayed Saturday night with me and we talked the night away. So fun. She was sweet enough to bring me a housewarming gift! Sparkling grape juice and chocolate. Yumm. And yesterday, one of my favorite things happened: I saw the Charlotte Symphony play!! Oh yeah, it was amazing. The theme was dancing, and they played so much fun music. It was hot outside, I'm not gonna lie. But so fun to relax with friends and listen to the live music. Oh, and cloud watch. :)
A little update on my car: Still dead. We have an engine, but I have to get the money together to buy it. Gah! It's most definitely a learning experience. The Robbins family has graciously lent me a van of theirs until I can get my car fixed. So please keep that situation in your prayers!
Well, that's all folks. :)

So, Where's the Good News?

This has been a rough week. All week, I've been praying and trying not to stress about my car and what needed to be done to it. At first Dad and his friend thought that, looking into it as much as they had, I needed a new cam shaft...we hoped that the engine wasn't damaged. Well, as they took off the engine head and looked further into it, they saw that I needed a new engine. A new engine. That's right, A NEW ENGINE!!! *sigh* Plus a cam shaft, and a new timing belt. I'm not going to be driving my lovely car, Sabrina for a while. The Lord graciously provided transportation for me for this week! That has been such a blessing and I am going to be able to utilize it until next weekend. A wonderful friend offered their family van. :) So, in all this, I've been searching for the silver lining, the blessing with the trial, and all that. I havn't found it yet. Pretty much, all I know about my life right now and what's going on in it is that God is faithful, he loves me, and I don't know what he is doing in my life, but I know because he told me that it's all for my good. Also, he promises not to give us anything we can't handle. Phew. That's pretty hefty! I wouldn't have thought that I'd be able to handle all this at once...good thing he knows me better than I know me, eh? I seriously don't even know what to say anymore: if something else happens, I'm just gonna take it like a champ. Cause it feels like it's all happened to me...anything else, I can handle. I was talking to a friend, and I was like, maybe I'm supposed to drive cross-country for the Lord, or give my car tgo someone, cause it's gonna be in wonderful condidtion when I finally get it back! We will see what God has in store for me: I havn't the slightest idea, but I will be accepting submissions at the end of the month via email. :) Also, if you wouldn't mind praying for my transportation in the weeks to come. Not sure how everything is gonna pan out yet...
On to other things; my family might have found a house!! Yay! Praise the Lord!! It seems to be great space, in a great place, with a fencedin backyard, and three full bathrooms! Looks like a really good place to live too. Please be in prayer that if it's the Lord's will, it would happen soon!
Another blessing amidst the craziness;I got a part time job! I'm working with a friend from church doing some sewing for his home business. He tunes pianos and makes covers for them also. He is trying to get more business with the covers, as there are only a few people in the country that make them, and I am sewing sample fabric and putting together his catalogues. It's super flexible hours, and I love working for people I know. This is going to help me get my car a lot faster. Great timing.
I think that's all...seek the Lord with your all this week. And let him draw you closer. He's drawing me, whether I like it or not. God bless.