8 Oh Snaps!

After alot of thought and consideration, I've decided to put up 8 of my favorite pictures from college. Whether it was of a fun memory or a picture that makes me laugh for hours... here they are!

Kenzie and I got our BABIESSS!!! :-)

Spring Break junior year! GIRLS ONLY!!!

This is my #1 favorite. It is simply perfect.

RING DAY!

Summer after freshman year in Zambia!

Senior year. I love these boys so much! They are straight up goofy! haha

Sophomore year Spring Break with my best friends!

Senior year. Dodgeball. It was a must! haha

List of Tens: Fav Songs This Week!

I'm too tired to start thinking of top 10 SB'11 moments...but no fear! They will come, eventually! For now, Enjoy!

-Yael Naim- Far Far
-Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull- On the Floor
-Florence and the Machine- I'm Not Calling You a Liar
-Rihanna ft. Kanye West- All of the Lights
-Enrique Iglesius- Tonight I'm Lovin' You
-Granger Smith- Sorry, I had to! haha
-Jerrod Nieman- What Do You Want
-Dave Matthews Band ft. Incubus- Crash into Me
-Ingrid Michaelson- Breakable
-Josh Turner- Long Black Train

Dedicated to my LOVES!!!! :-)

My loves.
They have blessed my life so much this year.
They are beautiful inside and out.

They are freshman. :)

 I didn't think they actually read my blog...because I figure most people don't...but SURPRISE! THEY DO!

So, ladies and gentlemen...here they are!

KAYDEE BECKER

Kaydee is incredible! Her love for life, her family, and kids make me smile every week! This girl is selfless and relational. Kaydee can be a little shy at first, but the moment you get to really know her, you find out she is a little fireball and is absolutely hysterical. I love it when I can make her laugh because it is the cutest thing in the world! haha The thing I have loved seeing in Kaydee this year is her love and care for others. After we do our studying and talking about life, we move onto prayer requests. There is not a single week when she doesn't want to pray for a member of her family or someone other than herself. She doesn't realize it, but I notice every single week and grin. :-) Kaydee is humble and always wants to learn more. Like I said before, she has such a tender heart for children and I think it reflects her childlike faith she has in the Lord perfectly. She's always wanting to learn and becomes a bright-eyed little girl when we get the chance to meet up each week. I LOVE WATCHING IT! She desires to know the Lord deeply and I love seeing how wise she is already. With the decisions she makes in her daily life, the people she surrounds herself with and her sense of discernment... Kaydee is an absolute stud. Just look at her... she even just looks so sweet and cute! haha

 EMILY SUTFIN

Emily amazes me every week. She is one of the most genuine and real girls I've met. Emily has the incredible ability to open up to you and be vulnerable. I admire this quality so much in her and I believe it shows her strength. She loves her family and friends and wants to become more like Christ every week. One big thing about Emily is that she is very curious! haha (she will laugh at that) She loves to climb trees, learn how to play the guitar, explore, and the one I like most...when she doesn't understand something we're studying, she'll ask questions and not just take it at face value. This quality in her has challenged me so much. I know that if I'm going to study the Bible with these girls, Kaydee will soak up every word we talk about and reflect on it later and Emily will ask plenty of questions right then and there...haha. It makes me study up more than I ever have on the Bible and know my stuff before I'm faced with these two! :-) This is Emily. She wants to find truth and she is constantly finding more and more, which has been awesome to see her growth just within these 2 semesters.

Oh, these two! :-) They are so very different...and actually, we all 3 are very different girls, but it has been one of the most incredible things I've done in college. We have been able to get to know each other's hearts in a relatively short time and grown together in, and because of, the Lord. I remember a few weekends ago, sitting at a table at their Initiation Luncheon and watching them hug and talk and I got teary eyed and all choked up!(...the maternal instincts in me, I suppose. haha) They have grown to love one another and I am confident that even when I can't hang out with them all the time, they will still be solid rocks for each other. Praise God for fellowship and praise God for not making us walk this life alone!

“I don't need to pay a therapist to give me crap. I have a roommate that does it for free.” -Ally McBeal

Some songs I've loved listening to lately...
  -Sean Hayes- Garden
  -The Script- For the First Time
  -Sean Hayes- Never Alone

Now, for the good stuff!

Roommates.

One of the biggest blessings of my year has been some dang awesome roomies! It has been one of the most interesting thing because we are all soooo very different but we have such a great dynamic. The biggest problem we've had is that our kitchen is constantly a wreck...but none of us really care so...NBD!

I want to dedicate this blog to my four roommates. They have blessed my life, made me a better person, and I think they've added years to my life by all the laughter and smiles they've brought me this year!

Here are their profiles, from yours truly! haha

Allison Grace Harrell

Love Language: Physical Touch (owww!owww! haha jk)
Personality: Allie is pretty chill most of the time...but then, out of nowhere, she gets a burst of extreme excitement and weirdness.. which is one of my favorite things about her. She loves good, intentional conversation. She is one who will be honest with you and straight up no matter how hard it may be. She keeps me in line.
Loves: Allie love sports, journaling, and going to It's a Grind for hours. She is a huge math geek and wants to be a high school math teacher and volleyball coach. She's one of the smartest chickies I know. BIG O' BRAIN, YA KNOW!?!?! haha
How we are connected: Allie and I met at Impact Camp when this girl came up to me and said, "Hi! I'm Allie! Want to meet people with me?" Of course, I hopped right on board. We rode on the bus there and back together, talked about sororities and she said "You are FOR SURE a ChiO, trust me" when I was telling her I wanted to be a TriDelt. Told you, she'll say it how it is! We also both have a love for sports, so that is another bond we share pretty deeply. If there's a game, we'll be there! ;-)

Alexis Constance Collett

Love Language: Words of Affirmation
Personality: Oh, Alexis. Who doesn't know her personality? haha She is the most encouraging, intentional, sweet girl I know. She has such a love for others and you will always catch her having an awesome deep heart to heart with someone. She is someone I can go to with my deepest sins and struggles and she'll be a prayer warrior for me and keep me accountable. Lex is probably the 2nd most chill person in our house after Allie, but she too has a fun, sassy side. Just watch her dance! GO GURR GO GURR!!!
Loves: Alexis loves deep conversations where she can see your heart. She loves Greek food (p.s. Alexis is Greek) and she loves to play sports and compete! She is a finance major and will be working at Pine Cove this summer where she'll serve as a senior counselor!
How we are connected: Alexis and I became best friends our freshman year during Songfest practice. Songfest is our philanthropy for ChiO and our baby pledge class does the opening act for the show. Alexis and I LOVE to dance, so we were front row center together! haha We always laugh about that, but we first bonded over rockin' it on stage.

Julie Anne McCaleb

Love Language: Gifts (Get ready, Kerr! haha)
Personality: Julie McCaleb is a ball of fire and fun! She constantly makes me laugh. She has so much energy and joy for life and it is absolutely contagious. Julie is one of those girls who you never have to think what she's wondering, she'll just say it! She is so secure in herself and if you like it or not, Julie is Julie! Man, I love that about her. She loves serving others as you will see by her "Loves".
Loves: Julie loves serving others. :) She started this thing called "Art in the Park" where she gets kids from low-income neighborhoods and takes them to the park to do art projects and learn about Christ. She loves being girly and cooking, but most importantly she loves her MAN!, Kerr Joseph Friedman, who she will be marrying in August!!!!
How we are connected: Julie went to Baylor, but got her head on straight and transferred her junior year. One of my best friends, Brooke, got to know Julie really well and I got to know Julie at first through her. Our first big bonding time was going to Baylor together to see "Sing". We are also connected because we have "Barbarian Days" together, as you can read about farther into this blog.

Kenzie Louise Chesnut

Love Language: Service
Personality: Kenzie is quirky. She is one of the most unique people I know. Kenzie loves to figure people out and analyze personalities. She also loves being a connector. She loves bringing people into groups and making them all mesh and come together. She is very outgoing and is probably the most genuine person I know.
Loves: Kenzie loves discussing life. She does NOT love sports, which i don't get. Kenzie loves being roommates with me (we live in the same room) haha. Kenz likes art, fashion, design, photography, anything that keeps her creative juices flowin! She also loves mentoring younger girls and investing in the lives of others.
How we are connected: We got to be best friends our junior year through being pledge trainers together. We're still not sure how we never really hung out before that because we just CLICK! We are also both very goal oriented people so we bond by making goal sheets with each other and making sure we accomplish them.

And yes, you guessed it. My love language is quality time. Our house makes up the 5 love languages. Isn't that weird? How do we get along so well? We've definitely learned how to love each other well in our own individual ways. I love these girls and have such great community with them!

Yay for GURLFRANS!

Yes... this post is on Guinea Hens...deal with it. :)

Oh...the Guinea Hens...haha

I will never forget the first time I was driving through the historic district and spotted those goofy lookin' turkey-like creatures walking through someone's historic yard haha. My first thought...

"What are you doing sitting in your car? Go get something- a gun, slingshot, rope, anything!- and go kill dem' turkeys, girl!!! How were you RAISED?!?!"

Haha...for some reason when I revert back to my tribal instincts, I have a redneck accent? Anywho, I thought I could get some free turkey in my freezer for dinner! Good thing I stopped myself. Turns out these things are "Guinea Hens", or "Guineafowl" as those more politically correct would call them, and they are illegal to shoot and kill and take home to your freezer...!

When I moved to 505 Ayrshire, I discovered that they were living in my area very quickly. I was woken up every morning by these creature's "SQUAKS!". At first, I hated their existence so I tried to come up with a plan to sneak into my neighbor's yard (hoisting a sign with the words "Guinea Hen Crossing" in their yard and a corn distributor to attract these animals) and then tie strings around their beaks. Now-a-days though, I have grown to absolutely love them!

I love going outside in the morning to sit on the porch for some alone time and watching their goofy bodies waddling along the yard...haha. They bring a smile to my day. What a strange and interesting creature for God to put in our lives to make us grin. Turns out, these birds are actually really cool! Look at what Wikipedia (my favorite "scholarly source") says about them:

-The species for which the information is known are normally monogamous, mating for life.

- If a guineafowl's mate were to die, it would mourn for several weeks before choosing a new one.

-All guineafowl are social, and typically occur in small groups.

-Guineafowl that are kept in the United States are often kept for meat, but their eggs are edible as well.  (hmm...maybe I was right on my 1st instinct...I KID! I KID!)
-Guineafowl have a long history of domestication.

AWWW!!! Guineas!!! I guess you're pretty cool in my book :-)

List of Tens: Things I want to do before college ends!

I am a goal-oriented person. Having a list and accomplishing it makes me get butterflies...as strange as that may sound. Some people understand this fire in me... others think it's very Type A and ridiculous. Nonetheless, it is me and it drives me to accomplish the things I lay in bed at night dreaming about doing! Here is my list:

1- Run 2 more half marathons, 1 with Chris, 1 with Allie!
2- Take pictures by the "Gig 'Em" Barn!
3- Have a Fish Aides Reunion with the class of  '07. :-)
4- Road trip to Galveston one last time!
5- Visit my Granny and Popo for my last "college crew" trip there!
6- Have another "Barbarian Day" at Lake Bryan full of kayaking, journaling, exploring, connecting a knife to the end of a stick to "catch fish", opening a cold brewsky with a rock (right, Jules? haha)...
7- Make personalized arts and crafts for graduation that show my friends what they mean to me and characteristics I love in them.
8- Go to the George Bush Library (sad I haven't done that yet!)
9- Plant a time capsule with my best friends!!! haha like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...
10- Write my name on the wall at The Chicken! WHOOP!

So keep me accountable, friends!

"It's not about FASTING from sin, it's about FEASTING on Christ" -Meredith Zeophat

WOW! This weekend's Masterpiece Conference was absolutely incredible! Last year was the first year the conference was held and it's put on by Ben Stuart's wife, Donna Stuart. Like I've said before, something about women getting together to praise God with singing and dancing is quite a sight to see.

Anyhow, the Holy Spirit was definitely amovin' in that place! :) We had one speaker for all of our main messages and she was so great. That woman knew Scripture like the back of her hand and it was definitely one of the things I was convicted on this weekend. We also had break-out sessions and we were able to choose 3. We also had the whole gymnasium set up for "A Part of the Solution". There were numerous mission organizations there that we were able to give money to, pray for, and write letters to as another element of our weekend worship.

This weekend was a time of refocusing, resting in the Lord and the Lord alone, finding out more about my identity and security in Him, and resting in His plan for my life. From learning about Sin and Redemption to how to be good stewards of our finances in the working world that is soon to come, there was so much wisdom poured out over us...

The Lord has such a tender way that he relates and talks to us women and this conference did an awesome job of channeling that. Overall, it was an emotional time with the Lord that involved a bunch of wrestling and a lot of growth! Praise God for showing himself to some College Station women! WHOOP!

Here are a few of the songs they played that I loved! Enjoy!

Christy Nockels- Choose
Christy Nockels- A Mighty Fortress
Chris Tomlin- All To Us
Chris Tomlin- I Will Follow You

List of Tens: Songs I Love at the Moment

I was doing my usual lurking of blogs...and I stumbled upon one of my favorites, Krissy McKenzie's! She had this great idea to do "List of Tens" and she gave me permission to steal this idea for my blog! Thanks, mamma....you're the best pi (I think I can say that considering no other pi's look at my blog...okay, maybe nobody else but like five of my friends do...and my moms!)

Behold, my List of Tens: Song I Love at the Moment
1) Tyler Ward- Born This Way (cover)
2) Phil Wickham- Heaven Song
3) Lady Antebellum- Our Kind of Love
4) Adele- Rolling in the Deep
5) Florence and the Machine- Cosmic Love
6) Diddy ft. Skylar Grey- Coming Home
7) The Civil Wars- Poison and Wine
8) Lecrae- Go Hard
9) Eric Chruch- Love Your Love the Most
10) David Crowder Band- Never Let Go

Until the next list of tens! Peace and Love...Peace and Love... haha

Breakaway Ministries- "Coming Clean"

Wow...it's been awhile since I've last posted.. I will try to my best to get better about that!

So, I have a confession.

Three words.

All Men's Breakaway.

Every year... a lot of my friends and I really enjoy listening to the podcasts to see what they talked about ha. What I like about most of them is that they never have to do with things girls would normally talk about in their All Women's Breakaway.

They're not about emotions or self-worth or anything girly, but rather, they're about pride and realization that one have fallen short. A lot of times that's exactly opposite of what girls are taught because we struggle with confidence or image, but I think this other aspect is vital for girls to hear too.

God isn't ONLY the God who loves and adores us but He is the God who is constantly sanctifying us and humbling us to remind us of His grace.

All this to say, the All Men's Breakaway podcast this year blew me away! It talks about how we position ourselves to become so good at a certain type of spirituality, whichever one that may be (consistently doing quiet times, speaking eloquently about spiritual things, serving others constantly) in order to make ourselves think we are okay, when in reality, we are all defiled and filthy in comparison to Christ.

The overall conclusion of the sermon was this, as Ben Stewart says: "I'm not shocked by sin in my life anymore. I'm disappointed by it, I'm grieved by it, but I'm not shocked...but Christ took my defilement for me...he's sanctifying me and making me holy. I grieve the sin that's still in my life but the answer is Jesus."

Today, I will praise God for humbling me by this podcast and I want to examine the things I do more closely and check my intentions behind everything in my life. I am not perfect. I'm one screwed up little girl and I have come to grips with that.

The good news? My Father is working on me even still and he has cleansed me from my filth. ALSO, All Women's Breakaway is tonight!!! :) I am glad I can go into tonight with the realization that I am dirty and a mess, only to most likely hear more about how God cleanses and redeems me. How cool is the complexity of God? WHOOP!

If you haven't hear the podcast, go to Breakaway Ministries, and the sermon is called "Coming Clean". Check it out!