Birthdays

Today is a very special day for some very awesome people. Today is my Grandddpa's birthday and today is also Taylor's birthday. In honor of the special day, I wrote Taylor a poem:

Ode To Taylor

On The Occasion Of Her 19^th Birthday: September 12, 2006

Oh Taylor

It is your birthday

It is not your firthday

Let us think back to the days of old,

Before a great bear was hung,

Before you broke the mold,

Before the sound of the recorder rung.

You were Taylor,

The girl with the curly hair,

Who lived through the bathroom.

I came to find that you are rare,

And that you made my life bloom.

Now my life will never be the same,

You are beautiful, lovely, and so sweet.

I would never classify you as lame,

How happy I am that you I did meet.

I love the way you get so excited about everything,

and how you don’t care what people think.

I love that you love to be silly and sing,

and even when you tell me that there are boogers in the sink.

Every day with you is so special and fun,

never boring, dull, or mundane.

From farts to calling shotgun,

you always keep me sane.

If I had a lot of money,

I would buy you lots of peanut chocolate chip muffins, I Love Lucy, and many designer bags.

But since I am poor I will just have to be funny,

and say that I love you like a beggar loves rags.

Don’t ever stop with your Taylorisms,

they make me smile and they are so you.

What the heck rhymes with isms?

oh well I guess that will have to do.

So it is your birthday,

Today is YOUR day!

Let’s have a ball, let’s shock them all.

Put on your dancing shoes,

Any obligations you should lose.

Cause it’s time to celebrate!

I love Amazon!

I have decided that I am in love with Amazon. After paying $1 less than the new price for a USED book at the bookstore I gave up and decided that it was time to try Amazon out. I LOVE IT! I think I've ordered about 3 books recently and they have all come rather quickly. Today I just got a book that my Monday night bible study is using: Developing a Servants Heart by Charles Stanley. It was only $3.74. I went out on a limb, wondering if a book that cheap could be good but hey it was. It came first class priority mail, sealed with plastic, cardboard, AND tissue paper. I love it!

I went to Charlotte this past weekend to see my lovely LaBranda. We had lots of fun just being lazy. And we got some good shopping in. I loved going to the mall - oh modern conveniences.
I also got to enjoy reading a book - something that I don't have a lot of time for up here.

Max has a family now. He was adopted last Friday by a sweet family with a little boy and a big back yard. We are very happy for him. But we still miss him!

I have lots and lots of school stuff to do. Oh classes. Except I do really love music. Tomorrow we start playing the recorder. Which is really fun - I already know how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb. I'm beasting Taylor at it. Haha. Well I'm off to do work!

Adopt Max!

I have a new love in my life. His name is Max and he's an adorable lab mix 3month old puppy. Taylor, Lauren, Katie (and me) saved him from death on Saturday. They were having a pet adoption at Lowes on Saturday and one of Taylor's professors was running it. They started talking and the lady said that they needed people to "foster parent" the dogs for a week or so and then bring them back and hopefully find them a good home. So of course we couldn't resist the cute little puppies! Now Max temporarily lives with the girls at their apartment. He is so adorable! He loves to run around and chew on his bone and he's a big cuddler. He fell asleep in my lap the other day while I was doing homework and stretched his paws out all over my papers. Anyways Max needs a good home. He needs a yard to run around in, owners that love him, and people that can afford him. If you know of anyone who wants a dog, please let me know! Help Save Max!

schoool

So Boone. Oh how I love it. Here are some updates on what's been going on in the past week:

- Moving in the Teaching Fellows freshmen was exhausting but fun. They are a good bunch and I'm excited to get to know them all better.

- Ashley and I went on the Crusade Bible Study Leaders retreat and we loved it! It was at Cherokee Cove, this really gorgeous retreat center about 45 minutes from Boone nestled in the middle of an amazing view of mountains! We had fun hanging out with the other leaders and the Staff and we learned A LOT more information about leading a Bible Study. We have agreed to lead one for the girls in our dorm. Be praying that God would show us who to reach out to and invite and that girls would come and want to get involved and grow. The food at this retreat was also amazing - it was really gourmet and not your average camp food. Unfortunately we had already eaten pizza with the freshie tfs before we left so when we got there and they had dinner we had no room for the delicous roast, green beans, shrimp, bread and much more that was set before us. I did however manage to have room for the Bananas Foster. Yum Yum!

- I've spent lots of time at Lauren, Taylor and Katie's apartment. It is tre cute and very welcoming. We've played my fav game Balderdash twice and had some freshmen girls over one night. I've enjoyed getting to see my girls again!

-I had a little incident yesterday. Okay so it wasn't so little. I was on my way to pick up Lauren & Taylor before church and was driving up the very large hill to their apartment. I reached for my phone in my purse to call them and tell them that I was almost there and of course my car veered to the right cause I wasn't looking and I hit the cute little landscaped brick wall. I somehow (Godthing) made it to the top of the hill and into a parking spot where I then saw that my front right tire was completely blown out and torn up. hehehe. So the rest of the day after church was spent calling AAA and getting that taken care of. And then today after work I went and spent my precious money on a new tire - I would much rather have bought a purse, clothes or something else. Anything else but a tire. Oh well.

- I love my new job - more on that later. But it is so much fun and the kids are adorable!

- Tommorrow is the first day of classes so I need to go organize stuff and get ready for that Have a great evening!

Boone!!!

I'm here......I am really and truly in Boone, sitting in my room with the lovely Ashley. Our room is adorable. Really it is. And it's so comfy and welcoming with our couch and super neat entertainment center. Everyone else is going to be uber jealous. I got to see Lauren and Taylor today - we had dinner at McDonalds and then we went to Walmart. It was just like old times again, us being loud and talking and saying funny stuff. I love them! I missed them so much!
Ashley and I finished unpacking tonight and now we're just chilling and relaxing. Actually I'm quite tired and we have to get up early tomorrow so I think we're going to get some shut eye soon.
More to come.....when I have time......which could be never.
Freshmen move in tomorrow - yay!

Tonight is my last night at home. Tommorrow morning, bright and early at 7am I will be leaving Raleigh for a while. Not sure when I will be back home. I'm sad to leave Raleigh and a lot of people but I'm overall VERY EXCITED to go back to Boone. Even though I hate packing. Side Note: I have way too much stuff. My entire car (Nissan Altima) is packed down with stuff and then we are borrowing a truck from family friends for my futon, fridge, and even more boxes and stuff. I'm a pack rat. But this year when I packed I could at least picture where everything is going to go in the room. The beauty of not being a freshmen (cause I'm so far removed ha!). My roommate, Ashley, and I keep calling eachother every so often saying how many hours till we get to be roomies! We are going to have a spectacular year - I can feel it! Well I'm off to get some sleep before the early morning. More once I am there tomorrow!

Beachy Keen!

Just got back today from the BEACH!! Every year my family and two other families we have known for a long time get together and go to Holden Beach, a nice quiet beach about an hour north of Myrtle. We rent two houses, have plenty of beach time, eat great seafood, I read good books, watch movies, and have a blast! Sybil had been coming with my family for the past 2 years and we were even lucky to have LaBranda come for the first part of the week - it was so much fun to have my girls (missing amy!) all together before we all head back to school!

don't you love the bay watch run?

at our house.........Paradise Isle

chilling on the double rocker

no of course I wasn't looking away from the road.....hehe

The lovely Sybil in the car on the way down

Vision Check

Aaah today was my last day of babysitting. So relieving and satisfying - this family is a godly family that made me feel very appreciated and whose kids I loved! I spent the whole morning as a jungle gym because for some odd reason 2 year old Grady saw me as a climbing post. I was sitting on the couch and he would come and put all sorts of pillows on me and then climb and jump on me. I might have a couple of bruises but overall it was hilarious and I have to say, he's my favorite so I didn't mind too much.

Then it was on to more errand running. I have never been so sick of shopping before. Yes, I shopping lover, said it - I am sick of shopping. I feel like I have been in every single Ross that exists in Raleigh and every Target & Walmart. And don't even ask me about bathroom rugs and mats and finding them in corresponding colors and sizes. My room looks like a tornado hit as I try to bring some order to it with packing for the beach and then this thing called repacking for college. Aaaack - I hate packing!

This afternoon I had my yearly eye doctor appointment. I really didn't want to go because I had to reschedule it about 3 times and my eyes seem fine to me. Well I sucked up that bad attitude and went through it anyways. I did all the stupid little tests - side note: when I was younger I was deathly afraid of one of these machines. It's the one that gives a poof of air to your eye. Well many years ago my oh-so-nice big brother Keith told me that when the poof comes a needles comes and pokes your eye. So of course the ever trusting little Julie believed him and when it came time to go to the eye doctor and do that test, I became a ball of nerves. They had to get the receptionist to come in and HOLD ME DOWN while they did the test. No I'm not bitter, I've forgiven him of that. haha. Ok so then Dr. Moser gets to the "what's the smallest line you can read" and "better at one or two, two or three, etc". I mean really, how the heck am I supposed to know which one is better - half the time I think I just end up guessing and hope that my answer will stop the endless questions. Oh well, my vision is as sharp as ever, though my right eye is becoming a little bit nearsighted. Which is supposed to happen, because I used to wear glasses and contacts but about a year ago I stopped wearing them and they said my vision had improved and was perfect (it's from all those carrots I eat).

I was driving around later, thinking about my afternoon at the eye doctor and how even though I didn't think I needed to be there, I needed my vision checked. I think that's how we as Christians tend to act. We think that everything in life is ok, but most times we need our vision checked - our spiritual vision. If we don't see things the way that God does, we need a check-up. For instance, the whole point of our middle school girls summer bible study is to see yourself the way God sees you - as a beautiful person inside and out. The problem is not that we are ugly people. The problem is that we look at ourselves through the world's eyes and the eyes of our friends, the media, the opposite sex, etc. To really have a changed life we have to change our outlook and the way we see - we have to see through God's eyes.

I also was thinking about how so many times God reveals things to me in the little moments that I would not see if I was thinking with my selfish, julie-centered mindsight. Or how many times I realize these things after something occured and saw that I missed out on something special. For instance, with all of my errand running today I probably saw about 5-6 cashiers and receptionists. I would ask them how they were doing, pay for my items, and leave. As I was leaving the eye doctor I chatted for a couple minutes with the receptionists about babysitting and Appalachian. As I left my heart had a light, easy feeling. It was then that I realized that reaching out to those around me isn't as hard as I make it. It can be as simple as small talk, a smile, a simple "have a nice day", or a helping hand such as holding the door open for a mom with a stroller. While I may miss many of these moments because I can only think about myself, I am thankful that sometimes God throws a day like today in my path to wake me up and show me how much He is at work (haha world changers theme) in the world and in my neck of the woods in particular.

The Pink Spoons: Coming to a stage near you soon!

So, the fun of working with middle school girls. At some point in this lovely summer a couple of the girls where talking with Sybil and I and we decided to form a band called The Pink Spoons. The Pinks Spoons because Sybil and I are part of a very secret underground spoons (the card game) league that started in 10th grade. And Pink because it's our favorite color.
Whenever we get bored at Bible Study or wherever we plan out songs and such for the band. Oh let's also note that I am not in the band, I am the manager. According to certain lead singers and also my best friend, I am tone deaf. But I'm okay with that. As long as I get 60% of the income. Haha.
Monday night was our very last summer bible study. We had a little suprise for the girls but first we did our study as usual. That is after we stopped talking about the Pink Spoons. Somehow the topic came up and boy did they run with it. We have a lead singer, a drummer, a guitar player, a manager, and a ton of Groupies (the sporks).

Some song titles:
Leave room (for Jesus)
Whatcha Name
Sketch
Happiness in a Can (the caffeine free diet coke song)

And they we started to come up with some lyrics for Whatcha Name. The music video involves a boy and girl walking down the halls of the 3rd floor at church. It's really stupid but hilarious.
We told them that we'll have auditions for more band members in a couple of weeks. They got all excited and into it and we had to stop and remind them that this is just a joke, that there will never be a real band, that this is just for fun. Darn. :(

But if we did have a band called the Pink Spoons:

- our t-shirts would be black with hot pink sparkly spoons on them that are like stick people (or should I call them stick spoons?)

- we could sell those little spoon rings, except they would be hot pink of course

Oh the life of dreaming. On another note, while at World Changers, Joel introduced us to some very fun music. The album is called Too Much Free Time and it's by Ross King & Chris Tomlin. Here are some samplings:

Foot in My Mouth
I was braggin' to a friend of mine
how I ran over this cat,
I said "His name was fluffy, cause I read the tag..."
"right after I squashed him flat"

She said "Fluffy? My cat's name is Fluffy! He was my best friend."
I said "No, I didn't say his name was Fluffy!"
"I said his name was... Twinkles"
here I go again...

(chorus)
I got my foot in my mouth,
guess I should watch what I say,
I got my foot in my mouth,
it's prob'ly better that way

There's more, but I can't find the lyrics. You'll have to hear this sometime. Very hilarious!

Quotes

So recently I have been reading Shadow of the Almighty, the Life and Testament of missionary Jim Elliot as documented and gathered by his wife Elizabeth Elliot. It's so inspiring. Here are some quotes from it and from a couple of other books that I've been perusing through:

“There is a within a hunger after God, given of God, filled by God. I can be happy when I am conscious that He is doing what He wills to do within. What makes me tremble is that I might allow something else to take the place my God should have….I tremble lest in any way I offend my Eternal Lover.”

- Jim Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty, pg 68

My soul is night, my heart is steel,

I cannot see, I cannot feel.

For Light, for Life, I must appeal

In simple faith to Jesus.

“’Every hour I need Thee.’ My love is faint, my warmth practically nil. Thoughts of His coming flicker and me tremble. Oh, that I were not so empty-handed. Joy and peace can only come in believing, and that is all I can say to Him tonight. Lord, I believe. I don’t love, I don’t feel, I don’t understand, I can only believe. Bring Thou faith to fruition, Great Harvest Lord. Produce in me, I pray.”

- Jim Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty, pg 70

Life requires countless “little” deaths – occasions when we are given the chance to say no to self and yes to God.

- Elisabeth Elliot, Passion & Purity, pg 72

“Even when I’m feeling most alone – on that moonlit night, in the middle of the candlelit supper, when the phone call and the letter don’t come – can I be ‘full of joy, here and now’? Yes. That is what the Bible says. That means it must be not only true, but possible, and possible for me.”

- Elisabeth Elliot, Passion & Purity pg 81

“I protest. Women expect too much of me. I can hear the howls of protest from the women. ‘Men want to play around. They lead us on, try to get what they can out of us, deceive us,’ and so on. True enough. Which is exactly why I beg women to wait. Wait on God. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t expect anything until the declaration is clear and forthright.”

- Elisabeth Elliot, Passion & Purity, pg 100

“All I want in life is a camera with endless black and white film, a paint set with hundreds of blank canvasses, a piano to write my own music, and a plane ticket. It sounds like a lot, but how much is it compared to everything most people have. I was never a princess. Growing up, I wanted many things but never received them. Desire is not selfish. I desire many things, but I don’t get them. Desiring is part of dreaming.”

- Rachel Joy Scott, from an undated journal entry

And of course I have to add this comical one from a good friend of mine at Appalachian:

Cinderella is proof that a pair of shoes can change your life.

- Laura McFall

I need a new title for my blog. Julie@ASU was too boring and hmm.... is just temporary. Any suggestions?

summer pictures

Impact: One of my girls Natalie and I

on the lake with Sarah & her dad

some of my precious Palm Tree Princesses!

don't you love her 70s hair?

suprise birthday get together at burger king for syb.......we had all these cute disney princess party stuff

Fireworks at the fairgrounds
So, LaBranda, Sybil and I went to the NC Arboretum & Gardens on Sat and yes took fun pictures together as we all wore jeans and white shirts......corny yes, but fun and incredibly hilarious, OH YES!

Anna's Briday Shower @ mi casa

Cute little gazebo picture

sybil can never stop laughing sometimes

Summertime!

Wow! I can't believe that it's already July! Aaah! It seems like I just got out of school yesterday - okay not really. But it has flown by! So many things have been happening:

*Had my teaching fellows discovery trip where I went all over North Carolina touring public schools with other NC Teaching Fellows. While this trip was exhausting (we stayed at 5 universities for a total of 6 nights) it was a great experience. I got to know a friend that I met through Lauren a lot better (we were bus buddies) and really enjoyed getting into some elementary schools. Some of the schools were excellent and inspiring and others needed some improvement. All of the schools welcomed us in so well with food (which we quickly gobbled up), presents (that had their county school system logo all over it of course), and hospitatlity. At one of my favorite schools we even had a 2nd grader as our tour guide - he was precious!
* Working at church is going great - I absolutely love it! I am there most of the time and especially was before Impact. Impact, our youth camp, went well. I had a group of 11 rising 7th grade girls and they are so much fun and a blessing. It amazed me how much they looked up to Sara (my co-counselor) and I. One of the girls wanted my advice on so many things - it really flattered me even though I sure don't have all of the answers. We saw our girls grow together as a group, make new friends, and really experience some great times of worship and take in some awesome teaching from Brian Frost & Leon Tucker. I really enjoyed having them as speakers - everything was so practical yet wise and very biblical. Needless to say it was a super week and I was completely exhausted when I got home.
*My babysitting jobs are going good - I work about 2-3 days a week from 9-1 for different families. Its kind of chaotic not having a "steady" job but it's been a good lesson in trusting Christ to provide. Right when I think that I'm about to go near broke and spend all of my money He brings another job or opportunity into my life. How amazing His provision is!
*My favorite part of the summer has been hanging out with friends. God has given me some amazingly loyal friends! 3 of my girlfriends and I are particularly close. Amy, LaBranda, and Sybil are girls that I hang out with a lot. We were all great friends in high school and then went our separate ways for school this past year. When we came back it was amazing how quickly we went back to being the best of friends. I love it so much!

Summertime!

Wow! I can't believe that it's already July! Aaah! It seems like I just got out of school yesterday - okay not really. But it has flown by! So many things have been happening:

*Had my teaching fellows discovery trip where I went all over North Carolina touring public schools with other NC Teaching Fellows. While this trip was exhausting (we stayed at 5 universities for a total of 6 nights) it was a great experience. I got to know a friend that I met through Lauren a lot better (we were bus buddies) and really enjoyed getting into some elementary schools. Some of the schools were excellent and inspiring and others needed some improvement. All of the schools welcomed us in so well with food (which we quickly gobbled up), presents (that had their county school system logo all over it of course), and hospitatlity. At one of my favorite schools we even had a 2nd grader as our tour guide - he was precious!
* Working at church is going great - I absolutely love it! I am there most of the time and especially was before Impact. Impact, our youth camp, went well. I had a group of 11 rising 7th grade girls and they are so much fun and a blessing. It amazed me how much they looked up to Sara (my co-counselor) and I. One of the girls wanted my advice on so many things - it really flattered me even though I sure don't have all of the answers. We saw our girls grow together as a group, make new friends, and really experience some great times of worship and take in some awesome teaching from Brian Frost & Leon Tucker. I really enjoyed having them as speakers - everything was so practical yet wise and very biblical. Needless to say it was a super week and I was completely exhausted when I got home.
*My babysitting jobs are going good - I work about 2-3 days a week from 9-1 for different families. Its kind of chaotic not having a "steady" job but it's been a good lesson in trusting Christ to provide. Right when I think that I'm about to go near broke and spend all of my money He brings another job or opportunity into my life. How amazing His provision is!
*My favorite part of the summer has been hanging out with friends. God has given me some amazingly loyal friends! 3 of my girlfriends and I are particularly close. Amy, LaBranda, and Sybil are girls that I hang out with a lot. We were all great friends in high school and then went our separate ways for school this past year. When we came back it was amazing how quickly we went back to being the best of friends. I love it so much!