My Sister's last Sports Banquet

This past Thursday night was Cassie's sports banquet.  She went with her friend Nathan.  She looked gorgeous!  I can't believe it's her last one!  

I need some kids of my own..... one day!

I babysat Kaley, Logan, and one of my best friend's little girl a few weeks ago.  I thought I would be the fun one and let them make cookies.  I didn't really think it through enough though.  Those little ball sprinkles are from the devil!  They went everywhere!  Here are some pics that are in random order:

Logan and Addi eating their cookies.

He's taking here on a date.  She doesn't look too impressed!

Addi trying to share a cookie with Logan

This boy melts my heart!

I took Kaley's shirt off to avoid ruining it with blue icing, only to find that she was wearing a bra.  She is obsessed with bras.  She tried to get me to take a picture of just her in her bra, but her pose was a little too provocative! ha!  I told her "girls don't do that."

Look at Logan's smile!

I always put Addi's hair in pigtails when I have her!  I can't resist!  She is so cute!

These next two are her "modeling pics."

He helped himself to some cereal.

Baking/eating the cookies.

Check out Addi's Cowgirl boots!

Past Due Pictures

These pics are from tailgating on the quad for the Alabama vs Auburn game in Tuscaloosa.

My dad getting the grub ready.

Me & Charli

The girls watching the game. 

Me & Ryan (He must be trying to seduce the camera.)

My sister looks like a lizard in the picture.

My dad watching everyone paying hundreds of dollars for tickets right before the game.

Me & my friend Kyle.  

Side note:  He and my sister managed to pay a gate worker $20 each to let them slip into the game without a ticket!

Several of us before the game.

Happy May Saturday!

December 17th is a special day in my family.  Basically when my cousin was first born 24 1/2 years ago, my grandmother started this tradition called May Saturday (It's not in May and it's not on a Saturday, so no idea why it's called that!).  I think she saw it in an old Shirley Temple movie.  Basically the gist of it is that you choose one day a year, and on this day you make a special effort to be with the ones you love.  

So every year since I can remember on December 17th (only my grandmother knows why this is the date she chose) we get together with my grandmother and my cousins.  For 6 1/2 years it was only me and my two cousins Candace and Kristen (Sis).  Then my sister came along and their little brother.  And now it's the five of us and Kaley and Logan (Candace's two kids).  And for every May Saturday my Grammy gives all of us a Christmas ornament.  When we were younger we would have tea parties (with real tea, crumpets, "cream," and sugar) and make cookies, but now we usually just have dinner or lunch together.

So Happy May Saturday everyone!  This is the first year I am actually home to celebrate.  So I'm off to see my Grammy.  Unfortunately, we all are grown up now and it's harder to meet on the actual day, so we are having May Saturday lunch on Sunday.  (I know that's so confusing!)

My Grammy has tried so hard to leave us with so many great memories and traditions.  I never appreciated them until I got older!  She loves the Gilmore Girls and now every Thursday night is Gilmore Family Dinner! haha!  We all meet at her house and eat together.  Another special thing with my Grammy is that we all have nicknames.  They were given to us when we were born and to this day she still calls us by them.

Candace:  Cupcake

Me:  Princess (Because I am! ha! jk!)

Kristen:  Cricket

Cassie:  Peaches

Trey:  Prince of the Forrest

Kaley:  Mia (Short for Pinchetamia....not sure about spelling= Which means "Little Darling Mine")

Logan:  Hunter

If you aren't around us, it just seems crazy, but it is one of those special things just between us.

This will sum up all of the grandkids relationships with my Grammy:

Monday I was in the car with Kaley and Grammy and Kaley tells Grammy: "Grammy, I just only like to go shopping with you because you let me have whatever I want."

That pretty much says it all!

New Do

I have said several times that I want to grow my hair out for Locks of Love.  Every time I end up cutting it off before it gets long enough to actually donate it.  But this time I'm convinced I'm definitely doing it.  I have a little ways to go before it's actually ready.  I don't want to end up with a cut up to my chin, so I'm letting it get pretty long.  

Here is my long hair inspiration:

My short hair possibilities:

I want it to be below my shoulders for sure.  

Sorry for this kinda superficial post.

Christmas Survey

1. Wrapping Paper or gift bags: Cute paper with matching ribbon
2. Real or Artificial Tree: fake, but I might consider a real one once I have my own house
3. When do you put up the trees? It's different every year
4. When do you take the trees down? We keep ours up as long as possible.  Usually sometime after New Years
5. Do you like Eggnog? no.
6. Favorite Gift received as a child? It's probably a tie with my jeep, trampoline, My Buddy
7. Hardest person to buy for? My mother.
8. Easiest person to buy for: My grandmother.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? I don't personally, but my mom does
10. Mail or email Christmas Cards? none
11. Worst Christmas gift? A pullover my grandmother bought on ebay.  She was trying to be cool and get us some Northface stuff.  When I pulled it out of the box I was laughing hysterically but trying not to cause a seen and hurt her feelings.  The pullover was monogramed with someone else's initials.  It was hilarious!  To this day, she still doesn't know.  I didn't have the heart to tell her.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas.  I love old movies and musicals.  But Christmas Vacation is also up there.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Depends on when I have money
14. Have you ever re-gifted a present? yes! 
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? all the holiday desserts
16. Lights on the tree? white.  And lots of them!
17. Favorite Christmas Song? Oh Holy Night with Rich Valenta singing it!  (You G-dale people know how amazing this is!) and Mariah Carey "All I Want for Christmas is You."
18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? Both 
19. Can name all of Santa's Reindeer? yes
20. Angel on the tree top or star? neither
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or Morning? both.  We choose one for Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? traffic
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Bold and bright ones
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Something that's out of the norm.  I get so sick of the ham and dressing stuff.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? IPOD Dock for my IPOD.  That's the only think I can think of.

Weekend Review.

Friday:  

I had lunch with some of my favorite people.  Courtney, Breanna, and Lacey.  These are some of my best friends from high school.  Courtney, Breanna, and I see each other all the time, but it is rare that we get to hang out with Lacey.  She is married and has a sweet little baby girl (and lives across town), so it's a bit harder for her to find the time.  We ate at one of my favorite places, Cocina Superior.  I love their filet tacos!  They are fab!

After lunch we walked around the mall while I searched for my gifts for the angel tree at church.  Because I haven't worked in a while, I was definitely on a budget.  I prayed before I went that I would be able to get everything I needed (two shirts and a dress for a 7 year old little girl) for $20.  But, I didn't want to have to settle and get something ugly just because I was on a budget.I wanted to find something the little girl would love!

I knew $20 would be a stretch to get all three items, but I was willing to really look and at least try.

Well..... I went to to Macy's first and found a very cute shirt.  It's short sleeved, which isn't ideal for right now, but it will be so cute with a long sleeve shirt under it and then she can wear it in the summer also.  Total cost of this purchase:  $1.67.  It was waaaayyyy marked down!  Amazing!  

Next we headed to Belk.  They are such a hit or miss place when it comes to finding the big deals and sales.  You either get it for great or you pay full price for it.  But they have great things!

With the help of my two friends, we were able to find the cutest pink shirt with different color polka dots all over it.  I wish I had the money to buy her some cute skinny jeans to go with it and some shoes.  But I know she will be precious in the shirt!  Then we had to find the dress.  Dresses are way more expensive than shirts.  And I was completely shocked to find that kids clothes are almost as expensive as adult clothing.  All of the dresses needed tights to go with them and the cheapest tights I saw were $15.  I refused and kept looking.  Finally we found a cute red dress that came with the attached tights!  2 in 1!  I love those!

Total cost of this purchase..... Cute pink shirt:  $4.27; Cute little red dress with included tights:  $13.97

Everything I bought was on major sale.

Total cost of all of the cute clothes:  $19.01---- That was awesome!  

Friday night after shopping, I did my friend Autumn (more to share about Autumn later) and her sisters hair for a Christmas party.  Then a big group of people went bowling.  I must say, my bowling has really improved over the past few years.  I have bowled a 131 and 132 the past two times I have went.

Saturday:

Saturday morning I got up and went to the Gardendale Civic Center at 7:15 for their annual Breakfast with Santa.  Basically people buy tickets and eat breakfast and then everyone has their picture with Santa and all of the kids get to make around 12 crafts to take home with them.  I volunteered to work one of the craft tables.  All of the kids were so cute and had a great time.  Their parents on the other hand, were a bit crazy!  One little kid was taking his time and perfecting his popsicle stick christmas tree while his mother is having an anxiety attack standing behind him because she was loosing her patience!  She finally grabs the sequins he is placing on the tree and says, "Just put the stupid things on there!"  Then she looked up at me and just smiled.  There were lots of inpatient parents there.

Saturday afternoon was a bit of  a sad one.  Bama finally met it's first defeat against Florida.  That's all I'm even going to say about it.  We did have a big group of people who got together to watch the game, so the fellowship was a lot of fun.

After the game a few girls went to see the movie "Four Christmases."  It was really cute.  Definitely not as good as Sweet Home Alabama, but I love Reese Witherspoon!  Seeing her with Vince Vaughn was a little weird though.

Sunday:

Sunday morning I made it to church early for the first time in a long time (not shocking to many of you!).  Sunday night was our College/Singles Christmas party so I went to Autumn's house and made snacks to take to the party.  We made sausage pin wheels and truffles.  All of the truffles I have had in the past are made with cream cheese and oreo cookies dipped in almond bark.  We did ours with german chocolate cake mixed with a tub of cream cheese icing dipped in almond bark.  They went over great with a lot of people and not so good with some.  The "texture people" didn't care for the cake/icing mixture.

After cooking for about 3 hours we went to the party.  It was a lot of fun and everyone brought so much good food.  After eating we cranked it up with some karaoke..... it was hilarious!

Tonight we are going back over to Autumn's to sort through all of the angel tree gifts that we collected so that we can deliver them on Wednesday.

The Fur.

Lately the college and singles at church have been doing mission projects on Sunday afternoons. We are really trying to reach out to the Senior adults and single moms in our church and community. We haven't gotten to do a lot for single mom's yet, but we are doing an angel tree to help some of them out for Christmas.

The big thing we have done for senior adults is yard and house work. They are sooo appreciative and love it when we come over. Especially the widows. I think a lot of them just get bored and enjoy the excitement that 20-30 college and singles bring to their home.

So last Sunday we are at the home of an anonymous lady. I will call her "Betty." Actually, that really is her name. Anyways, we go in Betty's house and she shows us everything she needs done (which was only planting some flowers). Everyone has walked outside except for my friends Charli and Chad and me. At this point the three of us are just walking around the house as Betty shows us all of her Alabama memorabilia. Which was A LOT! She is a huge Bama fan and has two season tickets to all of the home games. She and her sister go together. They are in their 70's and that cracks me up! Before we could ever actually look at the China cabinet filled with everything University of Alabama, she was leading us into her guest room. So we looked at her framed turf straight from the field in 1982 and her d

ancing 'Big Al' and then she started going through her closet. While Ms. Betty is pulling out all of her old clothes, shoes, etc we look around at her pictures and everything else in the room. It was at this moment that I noticed the fur coat lying on her bed. So trying to butter her up and make the old lady feel good, I begin to make a big deal about her fur coat. Example: "Oh Ms. Betty I looooovvve your fur coat!" Well of course I didn't looooovvvvvveeee it. It is a fur coat, so I loved it as much as you can love a dead animal that wraps around your body. But I would never wear it. Fur coats just aren't me. Not because of PETA or anything, but just because you don't see many 24 year olds wearing fur these days. I don't think it is really a reflection of your social status like it used to be.Anyways...... before I could say anything else, Ms. Betty has picked up the jacket and is beginning to put my arms in it and wrap it around me! I know m

y eyes were huge! Charli and Chad are hysterical at this point. They are trying to stay composed but did a terrible job at it! So these are Ms. Betty's exact words to me, "Well hunny, I was going to give this to a homeless person, but if you love it so much, then you can just have it!" And she was serious and very excited to be giving it to me! She was very insistant that I wear it around that day. So I walk outside and everyone just looks at me. I lost it I was laughing so hard. All I could do was pick up a rake and begin raking the leaves while I'm wearing the fur coat.

My friend Joy, who knows everything about fashion and used to work at Gus Meyer, comes over and inspects the jacket and informs me that it is actually a real fur. I honestly thought it was fake. Ms. Betty was so excited and kept telling everyone how good it looked on me. I just smiled and kept asking her if she was sure that she wanted to give it away. She said yes.

Before we leave the Senior adults houses, we always try and pray over them. So at the end of the day, everyone gathered around Ms. Betty and prayed for her. My friend Stephen was behind me and he kept petting me throughout the prayer (Because I didn't take the jacket off in fear of hurting Ms. Betty's feelings).

The day after Thanksgiving I did decide I would run to the mall and just check out the sales. What a disappointment they were! But I did check out the furs in Belk and one that looked similar to the one given to me had a price tag of $8000! That's not a type-o. So who knows!

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this coat. The sugggestion I have received many times is to sell it and give the money back to the ministry or use it to do more mission work. I just don't know how much someone will actually pay for it.

So if anyone is looking for a mink coat that's in great condition, PLEASE feel free to let me know!

Here is Charli and April modeling my new coat!

Stacey modeling the fur!

I really am Smarter than a 5th Grader!

I was reading over some of my last posts and I realized that I often make LOTS of grammatical errors! My bad y'all!!!! I just wanted to address it so that everyone knows I typically do not proof read this blog. I just type and then post.

This weekend will probably be one of the biggest football games I have witnessed in a long time! It's the IRON BOWL! Which means... Alabama vs. Auburn! I am so excited! Alabama is undefeated and it's the first time in many years we actually have a chance of beating Auburn. We are heading down to Tuscaloosa on Friday and will be tailgating on Saturday. We don't have tickets to the game, but hopefully we might score some cheap ones (yeah right!) before the game. My sister always has a way of working the system and getting a cheap one (Don't worry it's all legal and appropriate!). So who knows!

Ok, I'm off to do some cleaning. Hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving! And good luck to those who will be making an attempt for some bargains on Black Friday! For the first time in a while, I will not be one of them!

My "7" List

7 Things I want to Do Before I Die:

1. Get Married

2. Have babies!

3. Be a grandmother

4. Travel, travel, travel!

5. Lots of mission work.

6. Live in another country. Not forever, but for a short time.

7. Have a large family.

7 Things I Can Do:

1. Paint (Like paintings, not walls)

2. Hair/Makeup

3. Plan Events

4. Procrastinate

5. Shop (I'm good at finding great stuff for a good price!)

6. Change a tire

7. Babysit. ( I love kids and I love to keep them! Unless they are bad kids.....)



7 Things I Cannot Do:

1. Food with weird textures or smells

2. 24--- The show ( I have tried several times, I just can't do it!)

3. Wake Board (I want to so bad, but something in my brain doesn't click with my body to get up)

4. Shop when I have no money to spend

5. Read in the car (I get motion sickness like an old woman!)

6. Grow my fingernails out. I have an awful habit of biting them or they just break.)

7. Sit on my bed when it's made. I hate it and I'm seriously OCD about it.



7 Things that Attracted me to my hubby: (Well I don't have a husband so I'll just say qualities I'm attracted to)

1. Obviously someone who loves the Lord. And they are passionate about it.

2. Someone who cares about and thinks about others. So I guess they aren't selfish.

3. Someone I can laugh with and doesn't take everything so seriously, but has a serious side.

4. Someone that everyone likes and he gets along with most people. Especially my friends and family.

5. A family man.

6. Someone who is adventurous and willing to try new things.

7. I need someone who is a guy's guy. I can't handle the feminine boys. No offense to anyone. I just need manlyness.

7 Celebrities I want to Meet:

1. Reese Witherspoon

2. Jennifer Aniston

3. Jessica Simpson

4. Brad Pitt

5. Patrick Dempsey

6. Sara Evans

7. Kimberly Williams Paisley (Kind of random, I know!)


**This was a lot harder than I thought I would be! I took out a section called "7 Things I say the Most." I couldn't come up with any!

I tag Sara, Amy C., Jessica G., and Beth Spray

Can I get a "WOOT WOOT!!!!!"

I have great news! I have a job! It's not what I was really thinking would come, but at this point I'm over the moon with excitement! Here's the story:

I checked my email earlier this week and had an email from my old boss at Student Life. Basically the summer months, along with December and January are very busy times around the Student Life office. She was asking me if I might could come in and help her out some during these next few weeks. But she wasn't 100% sure she would need someone. I told her yes and thought I might hear from her in a few weeks. Then a few days later I got an email from another girl in another department at Student Life. She basically asked me if I had a job yet and if I would be interested in coming and working in their department. Once again I said yes and we made plans for me to meet with them on Friday (yesterday) to discuss my schedule.

So I went in and met with the two girls I would be working under. Then I asked how lmany months/weeks she would need me. Well she told me it wasn't just a temporary job. They need me all the time! I instantly felt as if a huge burden was lifted off of my shoulders!

The job isn't full time, but it is about 30 hours a week. Which is actually perfect because there are so many other things I have gotten my hands into over the past month or so. God has taken care of my insurance and I'm not having to worry about that, which everyone knows is such a huge blessing! It's also going to work with my Children's Hospital Volunteer Schedule!

See I told y'all it would all work out! No need to worry ;) haha!

I have such a peace about this whole thing. The timing is perfect. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about the holidays. They are such an expensive time. It also takes so much pressure off about finding another job. I know I still need a full time job eventually, but now I do not have to be in a hurry. I think it was getting to the point that I would have taken the first job that became available no matter what it was. The only negative is the job is about 25 to 30 minutes from my house. This summer I spent a ton of money in gas, but now that gas has gone down so much, I'm not as worried. And I do LOVE working on that side of town!

So enough about that.... I have one more thing to share. On my last post I told y'all about my new driving rule of not going over 2RPM's. Well, the other night I was on my way home with my mom and a police pulled out behind me. I was going up a very large hill and I refused to go fast just because he was behind me. Well he ended up pulling me over, I guess because I looked suspicious driving about 20 when the speed limit was 55. My mom tried to encourage me to drive faster, but I was willing to risk it.

When he walked up to the window he asked me if I was nervous. My response was "because I was driving so slow?" He said yes and that I got in the other lane a little. I told him I just didn't go over 2RPMs and I'm not sure why I was in the other lane. His conclusion, "You must have just gotten policidice" (not sure about spelling). I guess when my mom told him we had been at church, he knew we couldn't be that big of a threat. He probably just thought I was crazy.

But anyways, I thought I was hilarious that he pulled me over for going too slow! I think the Morris police need some more excitement in their town!

Ramblings.

Side Note: I still feel like my last post was such a dreary one. I should have elaborated more on the fact that God has completely provided for me in every way possible during this challenging time. Every time I start to doubt, He completely shocks me! I really don't know why it shocks me anymore, because I know He always comes through with more than I ever expected.



I have really been pondering a few things lately. The first is that I think I have learned so many things about life lately. Things I never expected to learn. So I think that I'm going to write a book. I'm pretty sure it will be a best seller! The title I've come up with so far is "Living Life & Growing Up: The Things They Don't Tell You"



It's going to be from a Christian perspective and each chapter will be about different things I have learned over the past few years. One chapter is going to be about money/financial information. I really think too many people believe that finances aren't supposed to be worried about until you are out on your own and making your own money. But by then, it's just too late.

When you aren't making any money, you begin to learn how to truly stretch a dollar. These are a few things I have learned lately:



1. Don't ever let your car get over 2RPMs. This will save you mega bucks on gas. If you are doubting me, just try it! Now I must warn you though, if you have no patience, this is probably not for you. For most cars, only driving 2RPMs means that you probably will not be driving over 60 mph. But you will definitely get way better gas mileage. You have to really watch it going up hills and when you first take off. That's when you use A LOT of gas. And you will probably be the slowest person driving on the interstate.
* I have converted a lot of people to my new way of driving.


2. If you do not have self control when you go shopping, then DON'T go shopping. I practice my self control when I am making the decision to go to the mall or not. Once I get in there, I'm hopeless, so for me I just don't go.



3. Don't eat out a lot. And if you do, learn to eat at places with a dollar menu. Avoid Chick-fil-A. They are a great Christian company with semi-healthy food, but unfortunetely they are super pricey. So if you are saving money, just don't go there.



4. Don't go to Target. Ever. There is something about that store that you can't just walk in and walk out without buying anything. I feel like I have to purchase something if I go in there. And don't buy shampoo and stuff like that at Target. They are usually more expensive.



5. Find fun things around you that are free. You will be surprised at how many different things there are to do that do not cost money.



6. Learn to be giving with what little you do have. Many times, it isn't so much money but your time. We usually spend more money when we are bored and do not have anything else to do.



7. Learn to make a budget and develop the discipline to stick to it.

So that's all I have for now. And no, I'm not really writing a book, but I really am learning enough right now that I feel like I could.

I haven't mentioned something new that has come up recently. I am now a volunteer at Children's Hospital. I'm not saying it so you can give me kudos, I'm just telling everyone because 1. It's finally something new in my life and 2. I think I'm going to have a lot to share from this experience.
It has been about a three month process just to be able to go in and get started. Last Friday was my first day and I absolutely loved it! I'm working in Orthopedics. It is way more hands on than I ever thought. I basically assisted in putting on and taking off cast. I've never broken a bone, so I haven't ever really seen the cast process. For those of you who haven't experienced that either, when you take off a cast, it is a terrible smell! One mom had to walk out because she thought she was going to throw up. It's like really smelly feet times 100. Ugh, I just ate dinner and it makes me a little woozy thinking about it.
I was suppsosed to be a nursery nanny (which meant I would rock the babies), but the times they had available just didn't work out. I think that may be best for now though. Every three months we have the option of changing our departments so I will definitely be considering that again for the future. It's so easy for me to put myself in the place of these people and I get a little overwhelmed with emotion. So I think it's best to introduce myself into this environment through orthopedics first.
I can't wait to share more about it with everyone!

I think that's all of my ramblings for now though. I'm going to try and get in the bed at a decent time tonight.

I'm still here.

I'm seriously starting to feel like a broken record, but I'll go ahead and say it again "there still isn't any job news."

I know that God is doing something. I have no idea what it is, but I do have a peace about that. I'm currently reading/going through a study called "Becoming a Woman of Faith." (Amy, I went to find the "Becoming a Woman of Purpose" book you told me about, but stumbled across this one instead.) The whole book is exactly what I have needed during this time in my life. I'm learning so much new stuff and being reminded of so many things that we tend to forget when we actually need them.

"Faith" is definitely something I am learning a lot about right now:

-I don't want to be like Peter who had enough faith to start out walking on the water, but once he saw a challenge he lost faith and he began to sink.

Matthew 14:30

"But when Peter saw the wind, he was afraid and began sinking."

I have definitely been seeing a lot of "wind" lately. I don't really feel like I've been myself because I have so much stuff on my mind. Not just the job situation, but all of the other things that come from not having a job. And I'm just trying to figure out my life right now. I am doing much better about just taking it a day at a time. I don't need all of the answers right now. Sometimes, it's a little more exciting not knowing. If I didn't have the rest of the world wanting to know what I was doing or why I wasn't doing what they think I should be, I would be a whole lot better.

I can honestly say that I am doing what I feel like God is telling me to do right now. And some days, it's so easy. But then there are other days, when I realize I have no job which equals no money... and then I get to feel a little stressed.

-Psalm 138:8

"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your Love, O'Lord endures forever- do not abandon the works of your hand."

I know that God has a plan for me. I do not know what all it is. Sometimes during these times, it's so hard to keep that faith and realize that even though we can't really see what God is doing, He IS doing something. I can look at my life over the past few years and it is so evident that God has had His hand in every opportunity that has come my way. I think one of the things that makes it hard is the fact that I thought I was called to work in the ministry. And by 'ministry' I thought I was called to work in a church. For so long, this was all I would really consider. Over the past year, my heart has completely changed. I have loved every opportunity I have had to work in a church, but my heart just isn't in that place anymore. I think that freaks me out a little bit because church work was way more predictable.

My major in college is Psychology and Religious Studies. Mainly because I thought I wanted to be a counselor or work in Girl's Ministry. But now, I just don't know. If I could have any job right now, I would be some type of Event Planner/Coordinator. The problem is that I don't have a ton of "real world" experience in that area.

-This is a prayer that I have been praying over the past few days (I didn't write it, I got it out of my book):

"No longer will I be concerned about what self wants, but about what Christ wants. When I pray I will not always be asking for things for my comfort and convenience but rather I will be seeking a place in God's will and asking for grace to stand where God wants me. I will not strive to show my love for God by the efforts of the flesh, but rather by the worship and trust of my heart. I will no longer try to show what great things I can do for Him, but will yield myself to Him so that He can show the world what great things H can do for me."

I think it pretty much explains itself.

All of this is kind of random, but it's just a small, small part of what is going on in my life right now. I hope it all makes sense. If some of you think I have fallen off the face of the Earth, I haven't.

I am in a constant state of surrender to God. Every day is a new day and every day has different challenges of its own. Even though I seem like such a Debbie Downer right now, there are some really great things going on in my life. I have amazing family and friends that I am absolutely loving getting to spend time with. I'm loving being a part of The Generation (College/Singles Ministry) and I am excited about so many other things.

Here are a few pictures from the past few months:

These are way out of order.....

Our Costume Party we had for the Young Professionals at church.

Jon and Kate came to B'ham. They didn't bring the "Plus 8" though :(

My sister's last home game ever and her Senior night. SO WEIRD!

I took Logan to the Galleria to ride the carasel. He is so precious and he melts my heart.

Some of the girls at the Costume Party. (Dorthy, me-the Lion, Mary Poppins-she took her hat off and her hair down, and the Scarecrow)

Our Group at the Costume Party. We didn't win, but we so should have. I love April's (AKA Dorthy) shoes. They are the modern day ruby slippers!

I have been playing in a Bunko group. I know it sounds very old ladyish but it's so much fun. It's 12 girls from the Young Professionals class. This month was "Bunkoween."

I had several ethnic babies in my swaddle that's around me.

Blahhhh.....

Well still no job news. If anyone calls my phone, you will hear my new voicemail say that it's "Brittany with Little Black Dress Cards." Basically this is something new that I am doing with a friend in Dallas. It's a card company and I am a sales rep in Alabama. I'm super excited about it and can't wait to really get it going. It's something fun I am doing on the side. Karley (that I lived with in Dallas) is the artist for them. I actually talked about the company on a previous post. If you like the picture at the top of my blog, you will love these cards! Karley drew this pic. There are pictures on the website of all of the cards, but the pictures do not do them justice. They are sooo cute!

Please keep praying about my job situation. I'm getting all of my stuff together to substitute teach until I find something else.

This is all I have for now. I had some pics I wanted to post, but I can't get them to upload. I'm off to find out who got kicked off of Dancing with the Stars.....

***Update: The picture below is from my friend Charli's Grand Opening of her hair school. It was a pretty fancy event and it was so much fun. Reubon Studdard's wife is in the hair school with her. We walked into the event with him. We tried to play it cool and pretend like we always see "celebrities" but that lasted for about 1.5 seconds until I turned around and told him I couldn't just pretend like he wasn't walking behind me :) Apparently he is doing very well in the R&B music industry so we can consider him a celebrity.

After I wrote this post last night, I applied for a job that I would absolutely love! So I'm praying that they find favor on me. I really don't have the experience I would need for it, but you never know! I've realized if I want a job in the "real world" I have to get my foot in the door somewhere. Which means I will have to deal with bad pay and bad benefits most likely.

No news isn't good news!

Whoever made up the saying "no news is good news" obviously was NOT trying to find a job!  I have nothing to share with anyone, because as of 3pm today I am currently without a job.  Ugh!!!!!  So frustrating!  

And it's not because I'm not trying.  The only explanation I have is that God just has a different plan.  And I am definitely stepping outside of the box and just applying for things that I never thought I would!

Funny Story:  Yesterday I was looking on monster.com and came across this add:

DANCERS Needed for
Source: The Birmingham News Employment Ads Employer: SAMMYS GO GO Location: Birmingham, AL United States Last Updated: 09/28/2008	Please see Job Details for Apply instructions.

Job Description

DANCERS Needed for Dayshift Apply at Sammy's 342 Valley Avenue.

I emailed my dad to ask him what he thought.  He said I should just check and see about the money. ha!  I mean, I was praying that I could get a good job working the dayshift.?.?  And Sammy's is the "classy" strip club in B'ham...... but I guess I'm not that desperate yet ;) And I don't think it was really from the Lord.

Ok, I'm going to get back to work finding me a real job.  It's looking like I might substitute teach some until something else comes up.  It's not bad money and I will save a ton in gas!

Keep Praying!!!!