my heart may be broken, but i will NEVER quit.

hey there,
sooo school just started for a whole wack of people. exciting stuff! i started yesterday and i know i had big plans for this year. going to camp two weeks ago helped me to see what areas in my life i needed to work on and learned a lot about what i could do to change it and to live my life glorifying God. i felt so ready to come back home and make a difference. going to school, i felt motivated and prepared. "chill yo i got this!"

mega fail.
honestly, i felt like i was hit with a bunch of rocks. i never expected how hard satan could try to hit me and i definately wasn't prepared to fight this battle on my own...how are you sopposed to live righteously, happily, and continually setting an example for people when you're surrounded by people who couldn't care less about righteousness or what it even means?! i was falling hard and it was only the first two days of school. i was dissappointed in my friends for how they were acting, dissappointed that things didn't work out the picture perfect way i imagined, and dissappointed in myself for not being the Godly person i wanted to look like.

my problem was that i shouldn't have relied on myself at all! i should have been relying on God. i know i'm not the only christian who has been through this. it happens all the time. what amazes me is how easily we can rely on ourselves instead of the strongest, most secure person in the universe. GOD! God is the one who provides us with opportunity, with the words to say, and with the courage to do the right thing...but we ain't got nothin' if we ain't got God!

if there's anything i learned from this, it's that the second i look to myself for anything is the second things start to fall apart. God needs to be first on my mind no matter what i'm doing or who i'm trying to help. we need to come into the battle prepared; but not with our own understanding and knowledge, with God's word and a little bit of faith.

it doesn't mean the battle gets easier, it just means we'll get back up when we start to fall. the past few days we a little rough, but thank God for grace and forgiveness, pick up and carry on.

"Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Ephesians 6:13-17

a toughy but a goody!
eh.

and then take a left on memory lane,

sooo on the last day of camp, i was about to leave, and i thought, "well this week just wasn't exciting enough, i think i need to dislocate my knee." so i did.
sarcasm. i had NO intention of screwing up my knee, but i did anyway, so here i am, almost a week after camp, still on crutches and still bored to tears...no joke, i actually shed tears over my boredom. and in this boredom, i decided to look through some old photo albums! maaan those bring back memories :)

oh wyatt, broken arm and STILL jumping through bushes...some people never learn.

i can never get enough of those little sunglasses! wy, you were always the stylin' one.

if you haven't done this in a while, i highly recommend you do...who knows what memories you'll dig up!

ta ta for now!

eh

life in full swing

I'M BACK :)

from new england teen camp, of course, where i had he most amazing time of my life. like it's almost dissappointing because there's probably only a limited amount of these fantastic moments and i just had a week of them...who knows how many more i'll get?!

anyway, this camp; a week of fun, of learning about God, and a week of fellowship. a week of super awesomeness! the theme was "authentic" and it challenged each of us to be just that. we learned about being open with people and how important that really is. we talked about the authentic standards we need to have, and we talked about God's authentic and indescribable love for us.

honestly, i don't even know where to begin, other than the fact that i have a lot to change in my life. it's crazy! but i guess a good place to start with that is at least to be open with people. then your feelings are out! maybe you'll realize what your issue is or maybe the person you're talking to will, lol. either way, you could learn a lot from yourself, others, and most importantly God, simply by humbling yourself and being real with people.

this year, i don't feel like i came back super excited from camp...like not that "i'm going to conquer the world!" feeling, but it was more of an anticipation to go back to reality with God as my focus. with God i can do anything. with God i can live in peace, with contentment, with unending love, with forgiveness, with security. with God i can change. i couldn't ask for anything better.

camp buddies



reunited...and it feels so good!



mad tired.

i could talk for weeks about what went down at camp, but i'll spare whoever's reading this and finish off by saying that we all need a relationship with God. humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and do great things for Him!

eh.

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."

1 John 4:16

i heart summer!

this summer has been outstanding. it started out with my attitude being a bit "glass half empty" however, since then i have not only learned a lot about God - which is awesome - i've learned a lot about myself, and the things that i can change in my life to make it more about God and less about moi. i'd say in the last month and a half, there's been quite a few changes, and i see more coming soon!

it's not even over yet! the best part of my summer is yet to come...in FOUR SLEEPS! teen camp baby! OH MY DEAR i am so excited it actually physically hurts. this is going to be a fun filled week with TONS of learning, a lot of reflecting, good times with friends, and awesome food!
this song about sums up how i feel about this summer.

i think my version of summer is a little more peppy and enthusiastic, but you get the picture. summer. is. awesome.

beach, sand, perfect tans,

day walks, night talks,

sleepless nights, pillow fights,

spending every day

hoping summer will never, ever go away.

eh!

fiesta!

oh happy days.

today my lovely friends zoe and patty came to visit meeee!

we ate food and talked and patty clipped her toe nails. good one pat...we played dora candyland, which of course i POWNED at, made it to the fiesta first every time. oh my goodness, i just love my friends.

THEN we decided we were just too good looking so we went webcammin'! jokes we're not that good looking haha. but we did enjoy ourselves. look! we all made a patty face, then an ellie face, and then a zoe face. we even got emilie and her princess poodle in there!

ellie face...those faces are me to a t obvs

patty face!

lol zoe face...

we're cool.

as you can see, my friends and i, we're too cool for school. no joke though, they're actually awesome, and even though they're both youngsters, they are constantly setting an awesome example for me.
zoe, you inspire me to be a more compassionate and understanding person. always thinking about other people and their feelings. patty, you have honesty and integrity, and it always amazes and inspires me.
love you girls!
eh!

jammin' all day :)

down with webster. stereos. faber drive. hedley.

SUMMER RUSH.

yesterday was an awesome posssum day. why? because summer rush came to town! wooots! it was long, it was hot, it was loud, it was squishy, it was a blast.

1. i got to go with my very good friends: autumn, kristie, audrey, and meara!

2. we saw andrew thereee!

3. we got right near the front and jammin' was the way to go!

it was a super long day, and by the end of it not only could i not sit down (my legs hurt so much) but i legit thought i was going to die. probably won't be going to a concert like that again for a little while, BUT it was definately a day to remember.

 

yussss hedley!

faber drive

down with webster....make a W!

eh.

holla!

OHAAAY
so i was talking to my friend maria this morning and she showed me this video! it rocked my world. here it is!

eh.