Siesta Scripture Memory Team, Verse

Siesta Verse 4

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV

Dreams Still Come True

Over the years I have been blessed with many friends. I would even say a handful of them could be called “best friends.” But, I only have, and will only ever have, one “childhood best friend.”

I don’t really remember the first time I met Laurie. We grew up in the same small town with older sisters that were the same age, and with exception of the preschool years when I went to St. Stephens and she went to Rainbow Circle, we attended school together until we graduated from high school.

In the beginning, our friendship was little more than play-dates and birthday parties, but as the years went on, the friendship grew. We shared secrets and fears. We took classes together and spent lots of time “studying.” We prayed for each other and dreamed of what life would look like when we were old and married.

A few years ago, Laurie met a special guy named Miller that she seemed to really like, and I was thrilled. He treated her like a princess and it delighted my heart to no end. Last month, Miler proposed, and the joy just seemed to overflow from my heart. When we were growing up, we used to talk about our dream wedding and it seemed that things were falling into place for her dreams to come true. I was smiling for days.

Last Thursday, Laurie and I met for lunch. Not surprisingly, much of the talk was about the upcoming wedding. And then, just before we left, she said something that left me speechless and took me right back to Brewton, Alabama and the days of dreaming about our weddings…she asked me to be a bridesmaid.

It’s not every day that your childhood best friend gets married, and to say that I am honored to be a part of it wouldn’t even begin to describe my feelings. While it’s something that we always talked about, that was years ago. Like many friendships, we’ve been through good times and we’ve been through some hard ones.

As the years have gone by, we have gained new friends. Those new friends could have easily taken “my place” in the list and I would have understood completely. But, they didn't, and by asking me, she totally made that dream of being in her wedding come true...I truly can't thank her enough!

Sleep When You're Dead

Things kicked off on Friday with a trip to Tuscaloosa. Someone had a birthday earlier in the week that had to be celebrated.

Sarah Beth picked Chucks for dinner and, as always, it was yummy. I'm pretty sure that I could eat sushi every day, so even though I had already eaten it twice that week I wasn't complaining!

We continued the celebration at Innisfree. Since we had all already graduated from Alabama, much of the conversation was around how old we felt.

There was even a bet placed on how late some would be able to make it before calling it a night. I was pretty impressed with my ability to not be the first one to leave, but by 12:30 I knew I had to get myself on the road to Birmingham. While the drive is an easy one, one hour in the wee hours of the morning after working a full week isn't the easiest. By the time I got home and in bed, it was 2AM...way past my usual bedtime!

Brandon, Sarah Beth's boyfriend, and I being good little Episcopalians. HA!

Saturday morning there was no rest for the weary. I had gotten a call from Caitlin earlier in the week about a little demo/reno project going on at her house. As a surprise to her mom, they were going to be tearing down and rebuilding to make a large master closet/laundry area and then finishing off a bathroom.

Pretty much HGTV in real life...I knew I couldn't pass it up! It was so much fun getting to do all of the things that I see on TV. Sadly, I had to leave before it was finished, so I don't have any after pictures...Caitlin?!?!?!

By mid-afternoon, I was ready for a NAP, but I pushed on and instead made a road trip to Albertville, AL with Molly and Kathy for a show choir performance. While my high school has a show choir now, when I was there we did not, so the whole SC thing is new to me. I must say, I absolutely LOVED it though. The groups were incredible. We didn't take any pictures, but if we had, you would have seen lots of big hair, stage makeup and bright costumes. Those pictures, of course, would have been of the performers. Pictures of Molly, Kathy and myself would have been of chair dancing and our true blue wristbands. Despite the fact that Molly was down a contact and occasionally had to close an eye to see, (at this point, I was grateful that one of my childhood friends used to frequently wear one contact so I was never nervous!) we made it home and I once again found myself climbing into bed at 2AM.

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I got myself up for the early service on Sunday. With all of the running around on Saturday, I didn't have a chance to go to the grocery store for Super Bowl snacks until after church. So many people!! The afternoon was a whirlwind. We typically host groups over at our house, but I'm so glad this time we were going somewhere else. Getting everything done plus getting the house ready would have been too much for me to handle.

Now it's Tuesday and I still haven't fully recuperated from the weekend. Clearly I'm not the spring chicken I once was. What am I saying...I've never been one to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. Hopefully I'll be rested up by this weekend because it looks like it'll be another busy one!

Siesta Scripture Memory Team, Verses 2-3

So, I was a blog slacker and forgot to post my second verse a few weeks ago...and I'm a few days behind on verse three. Whoops!

Posted on the blog or not, I'm loving committing these verses to memory...especially since I know so many others are participating.

Yesterday my roommate and I exchanged verses...and I'm thinking I have a few ideas for some great ones to memorize in the future.

Siesta Verse 2:

"By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a Godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence." 2 Peter 1:3 NLT

Siesta Verse 3:

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:12-13 ESV

Happy Birthday, SB!

While not a dedicated commenter, I know for a fact that I have a dedicated reader of this here blog. Sarah Beth is in law school and likes to take study breaks for blog reading. So, whenever I let too much time pass between posts---which is pretty common these days---she says something.

Well, she didn't ask for this post, but she is getting it anyway. You see, today is her birthday!! And not just any birthday, the big 2-3. You know, the year where people finally start to respect your opinion a little bit. It's a big one.

Since she's dedicated to studying for law school pretty much all the time, it's hard to see her much these days...so I knew that I needed to find a way to see her on her special day. I made plans a few weeks ago to get down there...nothing like a trip to the dentist. :) The dental visit was totally worth it to get to see SB on her birthday. There's just something about getting to see someone on their special day and getting to see them open their gift....I like to see people's reactions, so mailing gifts is not something that I really enjoy.

The big celebration will come on Friday night...pretty much the only time that she can be convinced to put away the books. I'm sure we will have a great time...as we should because she's an incredible gal.

Happy Happy Birthday, sweet friend!! I've been blessed a thousand times over by your friendship and can hardly wait to party it up with you on Friday!

A Catch-Up...Kinda

Don't you hate it when you run into someone that you haven't seen in awhile and they say something to the effect of "I've really missed seeing you...things have been really busy for me lately...I'd love to tell you about it, but I can't." You hate it, don't you? I do too...but I'm about to have to do that. Things have been crazy busy...some I can blog about...but most of it I can't. Guess all 2 of you that read this thing will just have to forgive me, and hope that one day I'll be able to share.

So the last post was three weeks ago...whoops! The days have been such a blur, but for the most part, it's been a pretty good blur!

A few weekends ago, I found myself snowed in...well, more like iced in. Birmingham got hit with some really cold weather, and since Alabamians don't really know how to drive in the snow, we were pretty much couped up. Thankfully, we knew it was coming, so I was able to get over to my Aunt and Uncles house. Let me just say, if you are going to have to be snowed in, there is no greater place for it to happen than there! We ate, watched movies, ate, napped, ate, played wii, ate, watched football and oh yea...ate. It was perfect, but after 2 days, I was thankful to be released to go home.

I've traveled, traveled and traveled some more. Colleges are back in session, so I've been traveling a lot for my job. My first days back were actually in Auburn. Things were pretty crazy those first days. Lots of toilet paper in trees and it seemed everyone was smiling. I did my best to stay away from all of that!! Things weren't all bad in the enemy territory...I got to see some of my favorite girls and was even introduced to a great breakfast place I had never tried before...Barbecue House. Yummy!

I finished up my meetings in Auburn on Thursday and spent Friday getting myself organized from the week...and the weekend. I had the opportunity to participate in Disciple Now at my current church. I was one of the leaders for the most precious group of junior girls ever. I hope they enjoyed it, because it was by far the best Disciple Now weekend that I have ever been a part of...and that's saying a lot!

Let's see...that gets me up to January 16. Goodness...I'm not doing a good job at this!

The past two weeks have been spent traveling, baby-sitting, church, hanging out with family, going to high school and church league basketball games...and tons more that I can't even think of.

Pretty much, I'm wimping out on this post...maybe February will be better!

Libby Lou

If you don't already think I'm crazy, I'm guessing you probably will after you finish reading this post!

For as long as I can remember, I have absolutely loved spending time with and getting to know high school girls. While not all girls are the same, quite often they are so full of life and ready to take on whatever it brings, they are searching for what's next in life, they are learning what it means to have real friends...and how to be one, and to top it all off, I have found so many that love the Lord with a reckless abandon. True, they make mistakes...but don't we all?!?!

For me, one of the best things about moving to Birmingham has been getting the chance to know and "do life" with some of the sweetest high school girls I have ever met.

I got the chance to have dinner with one of those sweet high school girls on Thursday night...Libby.

I remember the first time I saw Libby. She is a dancer for the same school that my cousin cheers for and was performing at a basketball game. I knew nothing about her, but out of a group of almost 30, I picked her out as my favorite. That was almost a year ago, and now she is still my favorite, but for so many more reasons than just being the best dancer. Her encouraging spirit, compassion towards others, strong work ethic, positive attitude and love for the Lord truly make her a young lady that is beautiful inside and out.

Dinner with Libby was by far the highlight of the day, but who wouldn't want to spend time with someone with all of those qualities?! We ate dinner at Zoes, one of my favorite places...we chatted...we laughed. It was perfect...and I can't wait to do it again!