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| Wow....it's been FOREVER since I've updated this thing. Trevor Lee Deck sent me his newsletter the other day and told me to call him or update my xanga. I still plan on caling him but I figured I would update this too. Right now I am sitting on a hill at Liberty University. I am a 2nd semester sophmore this fall. I LOVE it. Talk about an amazing difference from Hagerstown Harvard (HCC). My classes are amazing. My professors are amazing Christian examples and very intelligent people...morning people however they are not. :) And I am brave enough to admit I actually like Jerry Falwell. Yes I know he tends to repeat himself a lot and talk about his accomplishments but the man is on fire for God and I can only dream of being everything he is someday. My walk with God has grown so much. The transition here wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I had some adjustments to make that I wasn't planning on making but God is faithful and I am doing much better. I've had some physical problems as far as my shoulders and hips are concerned but I'm taking it easy and exercising more so that I won't be so easily broken. My family has grown so close due to some trials we're going through. I am so proud of them and love and miss them very much. Pray for Rachel though, she's a very stressed 3rd grader with a dislocated right arm. Poor thing just wants to be just like me, anxiety and all. :) I've made a lot of great friends here to. My roommate, Brooke, is the best ever!! The girls on my floor are great and so much fun to hang around, even though they are from down south (Jen) or Canada (Sarah). Tracey is another one of the greats. She's on the softball team here and has been an amazing inspiration to me as far as dedication and effort. Then there's Brian. Our relationship has grown so much since we've arrived. He's just the best thing ever. He's so passionate now about his relationship with God and about his schoolwork. I am so proud of him. Tonight I am going to The Center which is the Thomas Road Baptist Church, Jerry's church, inner city ministry. I am going to help out at their tutoring program. I am psyched! I miss my girls so much at EI so not only will being around kids be super but also being able to help them again is great. I'm kind of nervous about being semi-responsible for some child's education but I'm resting in the promise that as long as I'm willing, God will help me...so anyhoo....I am off now to The Center...I'll have to let you all know how that goes.
Have a great day!! | | |
| Hello friends! This must be a new record for me, two posts in one week. That's incredible! Ok maybe not, but whatever. Anyhoo, life is hectic...surprise surprise....I keep telling myself that when finals start perhaps life will calm down a lot or at least allow my schedule to be a tad more feasable. Then I will have time to enhance praise and worship, babysit the kids I miss and love, work super hard on getting the block party ready, work tons of hours at Old Navy, make trips to visit the friends that I miss so much at clinton or places I promised to go like geneva, hang out with my family, visit my grandmothers, go on a shopping trip with Ashley, spend the night at Bethany's, treat kristin to her sweet 16 night, catch up with the beautiful Erin renee, talk and visit ppl from my OB family, talk to Brunner, and darren and Gustican, go on a real live date with brian...yup yup time would be a wonderful thing if I could control it rather than it control me.
Funny thing at school today, the crazy girl in my ENG class came in 45 min late to give her presentation then left as soon as she announced her arrival to make copies of the handout for us. She then proceeded to tell us she was late so she could file a restraining order. My prof looked at her like she was an alien or at least the most bazzare creature she had ever laid eyes one. I laughed just cause this poor girl has tried so hard to be teacher's pet since the first day of class when in reality my prof just kind of tunes her out. I know I shouldn't laugh but it's just one of those things where my mind is completely baffled at the idiotic ramblings and ideas of others who just flat out don't have a clue.
On a really good note for today, other then being on the winning team at the youth group safari tonight (here we go Dairy Queen!), I had Extreme Cell tonight. Let me just say, if you are ever given the opportunity and you really feel that God is leading you towards something like this, then I strongly suggest that you take Him up on His offer to lead a small group. Courtney Cherest is the amost amazing woman ever for being such a great role model and sourse of info to me when it comes to leading a bunch of jr high girls. The cool thing about my girls is that they don't have all the Sunday School answers. So our group convos are by far their true honest to goodness thoughts and answers. Tonight we talked more about True Love Waits but more along the lines of ok, but who exactly are we waiting for? So the girls made their own 10/10 list (10 things their guy better be and 10 things he can't be at all!). It was awesome cause Bethany and I got a chance to re-evaluate ours as well as test our own boys against it. Plus we got to talk about submission and forgiveness and how God is the absolute example of love. We always get back to that point. Ashley McGraw can complain about it all she wants, but that is the one thing I want these unloved, hurting little girls of mine to get. GOD LOVES THEM MORE THAN ANYONE ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET EVER COULD!!! But just the fact that anyone at all loves them, or even likes them is kind of a hard concept for a few of them to grasp. But as darcy screamed BECCA I LOVE YOU as she skipped out of my car I think they're starting to get that EI staff is there for them and we're all about supporting them and showing them the coolness of God.
I should have known too it was going to be an awesome night cause I really didn't want to be there at first and we had low numbers, a late start, and one nasty attitude from a student, but God "takes all things and works them together for the good of those who love Him." PTL!
Ok gang, I'm out...hunting for animals all over H-town is exhausting. I wonder what it's like for all those who did the same thing but lost. I know that my labor was not in vain, I have reaped a reward for my harvest. What do the losers have to show for it? nothing...jk! Perhaps I can find a way to make the loss worth the while.....
toodles~ | | |
| I did it...I finally did it...I gathered up the energy to come out to my computer and FINALLY post on my xanga again...After much harping on by people who are active in my life and those who only keep track of me through this thing, I am posting again.
I really don't have much to say. Life is busy! Between thrity hours a week at Old Navy and another twenty hours of school work and plenty of EI work I feel like all this effort towards impacting lives is wasted in the lack of time i don't spend actually building relationships. I saw my family for a total of 10 hours this past week, maybe spent 3 with friends and spent 4 with my boyfriend. On the up side however, I spent plenty of time with God. Our girls breakfast has been discussing prayer. While I don't feel our group is actually involved, I think a lot during the week of the importance of prayer. Which at first was a mistake. I think people spend to much time pondering the purpose of prayer and how it's vital to our walk with God rather then just up and doing it! I wonder how many things we would regret if instead of over analyzing them, we just did it. So this week while at work, driving, sitting in class, I talked to God. And I think I really talked TO rather than AT. SOmetimes I pray to God forgetting that He's real...so I talk at him like a person would talk at a wall. But when I think about it, and talk to God or with him rather than at him I feel like I'm really connecting with him. That he hears me and that he's with me.
Anyhoo...I must run away again...this time to clean my room, clear out my car, return the keys and their dog to the Cortina's, enjoy small groups, work on yet another school project and then probably fall asleep watching Microsft Excel print out my report. yay to me....
OH! so i finally bought the new life house cd...and I was told that by saying I loved the band that must mean that I think they are hott...so by telling you, who ever it is that is reading this, I love you, I am also telling you that I think you're hott! So congratulations to you, you stud muffin!
Love!!!!! always,
becca | | |
| Haha, look at me go...Seeing as how faithfulness was the fruit of the spirit section I was going to work on, I figured it'd be a good idea to not be faithful to this thing and only post maybe once a week...I suck...haha...anyhoo...The past couple of days have been nothing but not stop activity. Like I can't even remember much of anything before Thursday.... Thursday I went to talk to Matt and Brian at the Mission about what exactly I was going to do there. Turns out I get to be "the girl behind EI" as Matt put it. I love Matt and Brian to pieces so I'm really excited about helping them organize things and work on details and just totally "girl" it up. I'm also in charge of staff relations...Meaning Matt wants me to work on uniting the staff into a family setting. I would love to tell you all what I have in mind, but seeing as how some of my dear fellow staffers read this I'll just hold back. Thursday night we had a staff meeting for EI and it was awesome cause Chris and Adriene showed off "Pumkin Bash II" It's going to be amazing and it's going to be a lot of work. There should be a website soon that I'll be posting on here at some point and time so you can take a peek into the world of our Pumkin Bash as well as a little portion of Extreme Impact...aww snap!
Then Friday I almost killed work....oh dear it was sooo awful...but we're not talking about it....
Then Saturday came and I went to Strasburg, PA.... Wow! Erin Dell thank you sooooooooooooooooo much for my weekend! I must have got to see about a thousand OBers...It was cool too cause I got to see them in their normal day to day lives. Just goes to show that OB friendships are the type that you keep for a long while. Like I got to see Tye Baby in his creamery outfit and see the kind of car every one does drive. Which for the record, everyone still has a nicer car than me with the exception of Khyle Keener. But we need to pray his car through...cause it just does not like to shine it's little light and that is a very sad thing. So yeah, I got to talk to Doug and Tyler Griffith a lot this weekend and honestly, I can't remember having a real convo with Doug before Sunday night. So that was neat getting to know more of the leaders. We went bowling Sunday night and just so you know, I suck...Like I think I had a 50 something and then silly Khyle liked to point out that he doubled my score cause he had a 100 something...I dunno...It's just a game and my shoulder hurt a lot....Oh yeah, Tyler peed his pants at the bowling alley too....Then Monday I came home and left again to stay at Bethany's house and that's where I am writing to you all from while she's getting ready for the day.
And to whoever reads this, please pray for my family. Something is wrong and if I could figure it out I would tell you how to pray but I just don't know what's going on. All I know is that my mom is sad all the time and my dad never wants to be home because of it and my brother and sister just fight with everyone else all the time and poor little Rachel just cries every 5 minutes and when my mom isn't on the phone with the nursing home trying to straighten things out with my gma she's crying or yelling at my uncle who is being a real jerk about everything...and by everything I mean everything....So yeah, I just don't want to be home but I know that is where I need to be...I know that right now I should be helping out around the house instead of getting ready to go shopping...Hmm maybe I will just go home...I hate to send Bethany by herself but I have a feeling my family really needs me at home...I do miss being with them seeing as how I've been away from them for about 5 days now...Which is nothing compared to 6 weeks but still....I just know I need to be home with them....
Ok well that's all from me...I'm tired of rambling about nothing...Thanks again to you great Lancaster ppl who made this past weekend such an amazing one! I love you guys soooo much!! | | |
| Hey! How's it going? I hope God is working in your life as much as he has been working in mine. Hmm where to start.....Last night after talking to my parents for a few hours we decided to stay at Maranatha at least until the 40 Days of Purpose are over...PRAISE THE LORD!! I am sooo psyched...Cause not only do we get to stay at our church but we're also going to host a small group. Now true it'll be a jr. high group and I won't be involved in any way except for praying for them, but my parents will be leading it and I'm so excited to see them get involved.
Then I went to Ashley's house to help her pick out an outfit for her date tonight...That was fun to hang out with her and her family and Tim for a bit. I also got to talk to Khyle on the phone cause I was in need of some advice. And even though he really didn't have much to say in the area of advice giving, he was just real encouraging and listened and made me laugh tons. Khyle also helped me discover that I'm shallow enough to like a guy strictly for his car.....by the way, that was pure sarcasm but it just made me think how sad it would be if that were true....Anyhoo...
That was Thursday night...Friday, today, was an awesome day. I have been mad crazy stressing about this coming school year and how I was going to balance school, work, my way cool awesome new responsibilities at EI, youth group, family, friends, and everything else that I do. But then about a week ago I was asked the question how much do I depend on God? And I really got to thinking about that and realized that I don't trust him as much as I should. So I really started praying and surrendering my future over to God. Now it was and still is a daily effort but I've really started to have a peace about this fall and God really poured out his blessings on me today. I went to HCC today to register for fall classes. So I went and talked to an advisor about what all I should take in order to have a smooth transition to Liberty...Yup that's right, I'm going to Liberty. What are my thoughts and feelings on that? Well really I'm not to sure at this moment and time. All I know is that I'm just trying to stay in the center of God's will and it just flowed so easily out of my mouth when the advisor, Mike, asked and I haven''t felt any regret since then...Now true my mom was beside me when he asked and I was scared of being murdered in front of dear ol' Mike but I do belive that I made the right choice in going there...Sorry Erin Dell but I don't think I'll be headed to LBC. But hopefully I'll be at your house next Saturday...I'll call you tomorrow about all of that though :)....Anyhoo back to school...So Mike and I are talking and we find out that my semester isn't going to be as gross as we thought it was going to be and I still have Tuesday and Wednesday nights open for church and Extreme Impact. I also have no classes on Fridays and I have no morning classes. I just can't stop thanking God for such a great time out at the school today.
Oh I forgot to tell you about what Matt wants me to do out at Extreme Impact. Not only do I get to lead an Extreme Cell...waa hoo, I love those girls...But I get to be the girl part of the Exteme Impact staff meaning I get to take care of all the details so that Matt and Brian are free to be all they can be for the kids. I'm also suppose to be all about encouraging the staff...Which totally takes me back to my OB days...Oh and the best part, ok not really but this just made me happy...I have official clearance to use the office! My name is going on the message board and everything! Now, I can't tell you this yet, but be watching for some exciting news about which office I'll be using. Ha, I just gave you all a preview of a future post...Who says that? Where did I pick that up from? I'm guessing some wanna be kool kid...who knows...anyhoo...
Oh yeah so then I took a nap cause I was so relieved from stress and kind of worrying about my classes that I all of a sudden was very peaceful and tired when all was said and done. Then I went to Andrew Wheeler's 4th birthday party where within 10 min both Bolio's thought it would be a good idea to throw me into the pool. Luckily I talked them out of it cause well let's face it folks, I have no muscles what so ever to resist Travis or Josh or really anything for that matter cause well I have no muscles. All the more reason why Travis and I are part of the FMFF for life club. That's Fatty Mc Fat Fat for those of you who weren't there when we crushed a box of donut holes and "Jumbo chees fries" in one day....haha that was also the day Travis apologized to me for my face being so ugly. Good times good times...Anyhoo, back to Friday....
After all the swingin' good time had by all at the bday party, Travis, Bethany and I all went back to the Shanks for the night. I watched part of the Olympic opening ceremonies with pastor Ron while picking out Bethany's senior portraits. She's such a pretty girl, in and out. I LOVE her to death and I will miss her muchly while she is in Maine for the week. I also got to drink some Bolivian tea which was yummy but not nearly as yummy as the Moxie I got to drink...ahh first moxie in two years. I have no words to describe that soda...ok yeah I have one, YUMMY! :) Then Brian came over and messed with some people on my buddy list. Sorry to those of you who he talked to.
So that was my Friday. It was great. God is good and I love my friends and yeah, the olympics are here. Tomorrow is gymnastics so watch it and remember 4 star girls, there will be a test. Ok not really but do expect to be talking and hearing tons about it while at work...
Now if you made this far in my post, congratulations to you. I'll stop rambling now and head to bed because I need my rest. I have to go shopping with Nancy so she can buy accessories for Misty's wedding and then I'll be fighting with Joey about not going to play laser tag tomorrow night....Which to fight with Joey I'll need all the rest I can get. Good night all! | | |
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