happy birthday to me!

        Okay so as many of you know, my birthday was on Valentine’s day! I turned the big 21! Now I know what you are thinking and no....I did not get drunk and go crazy with my girlfriends. It was a Thursday and I had class the next day. AND I am much more responsible than that ;) But if you must know, yes I did have a drink (or two) at dinner…Moving on…

        This birthday was one of the best. Not because I can drink….but because I got to spend it with some of my best girlfriends. I have to give some props to my girls with boyfriends who came to dinner with me and postponed their Valentine plans. Like I said, they are the best. We went to Dave’s Taverna downtown (for those of you who know nothing about Harrisonburg, it’s the classic downtown restaurant) and had so much fun. The only people in the restaurant were a million couples and us…. Needless to say, we had lots of fun ‘couple watching’ during dinner :) 

My wonderful housemates at dinner

        So I’m sure you are all wondering what Mr. Wonderful did for my birthday. I kept telling myself he was going to fly up and surprise me because he has President’s Day off…..and no, that didn’t happen. Bummer. BUT let me tell you what he did do! I got a big package with the logo of a big strawberry on the front. Oh yes, he sent me a dozen HUGE chocolate covered strawberries! He sure knows the way to my heart! As if that wasn’t enough; later in the afternoon I got a delivery of a beautiful arrangement of roses and daises! *Daisies are my favorite…they aren’t just randomly there* Can you say boyfriend of the year!? He sure makes a girl feel special from 13 hours away :)

I ate one before I took this picture....oops!

        Overall, my birthday was a huge success. I got lots of loving cards in the mail from friends and family to top it all off. And I have to mention my awesome brother. He called me at midnight so that he was the first person to wish me happy birthday. Isn’t he the sweetest!? I can only hope that when I have kids, they will be as close as we are! I’m going home this weekend to celebrate my birthday with my fantastic family. I can't wait to be loved on some more :) What can I say….I AM the baby of the   family ;)

        I’m sure I feel like this on every birthday, but I felt extra loved on this one. I was so full of joy all day long and I have my friends and family to thank for that. The Lord has seriously blessed me this past year and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for me this year!

CHEERS ;)

love yall!

life update

Life update!

Hello everyone! Since I have been a major slacker, here is an update from about the last 4 months!

May:

            After finals, I got to go to the beach with sus! We, of course, went to Isle of Palms, SC! We had a blast as usual! Its always so much fun to have a girls trip with my mom! Pretty much all we did was wake up early for the gorgeous sunrises, drink lots of coffee, read, eat delicious food, and soak up a little sun! Here are a few pictures from the trip!

lunch at SNOB!

Sunrise

            When the beach trip was over, it was back to reality…school. Yes, I took summer classes and it was as enjoyable as it sounds. You got it, awful. I took a climatology class and a math class. There were about 10 people in my math class and 6 people in my climatology class. I had math from 9 – 11:15 and climatology from 12:10 – 3 everyday. Math was unbearable but climatology wasn’t too bad! We got to do lots of activities and we had class outside a few times. Classes were hard but totally worth it.

            Memorial Day weekend was the most eventful and most exciting! Barrett graduated from west point!! My parents and I went up to west point for a long weekend to celebrate with allllll the LeHardys! We had the absolute best time! Like I have mentioned before, Barrett has a spectacular family! They are so welcoming and treat everyone like a part of the family! As I expected, my parents fit right it and had so much fun! There was a parade, awards ceremony, banquet dinner, and then the ceremony! Here are a few pictures!

Swearing in as a 2nd Lieutenant

so proud!

Graduation ceremony 

June:

          A week after Barrett’s graduation, we went to Kiawah, SC with his family for their annual beach trip! This was my second year going to Kiawah and it was even better than the first time. If yall have never been to Kiawah, I really encourage you to go! It is so cute and homey. One thing I especially love is that there aren’t a blue million people there! Memaw and Granddad (LeHardy grandparents) have a house in Kiawah that we stay in. It is right across the street from the ocean and it’s a perfect biking distance from almost everything on the island! At the beach, Barrett and I decided to make a short trip down to Savannah, GA for a couple days after we left the beach! I adore Savannah and it just so happens that Barrett has a lot of family history there! Here are a couple pictures from the beach!

Dinner

family pyramid

          My small group leader Emma got married! She is such a gentle, sweet girl and I love her to death! She and Caleb got married in Danville the first weekend in June. A bunch of small group girls came and stayed at my house the night before the split up their long drive back to norther va and pa! We had so much fun and Emma looked beautiful on her big day :) 

some sonflowers at my house!

me and emma!

emma and caleb!

July:

          Okay yall, those of you from Virginia will probably be very surprised to hear this…I went to Busch Gardens for the FIRST TIME. Oh my goodness. Sus and the gov have been holding out on me! It was so so so much fun! I went with my girl Jenny and we had a blast! She had a taekwondo tournament in Richmond that weekend and I wanted to go! Jenny has been to so many cheerleading competitions and she is always there to support me and I wanted to go and support her! It was my very first tkd tournament too! As you probably already guess, jenny is kind of a bada$$. And by kind of, I mean totally! She killed it at tournament! She came in 1^st in sparring and 2^nd in forms! She is so awesome and I am so proud of her!

yeah she is a black belt...nbd

August:

          I spent August trying to soak up every little bit of summer I had left before school started again. Jenny’s family just got a lake house at smith mountain lake and we took many trips down there! The lake is one of my favorite places because you have the water and the gorgeous country surroundings! After many, many failed attempts, I finally learned how to wakeboard! Jenny and Caroline are the most supportive coaches! Of course they are both pros and I looked like an idiot but its just another fun thing we can all share! We have a bunch of different futures we have planned out for ourselves and our latest one….be professional wakeboarders. Ill keep yall posted on that one :)

wakeboarding

          Something very exciting happened this August…Sus turned 50! We didn’t even have to drag her into the BIG 5-0 kicking and screaming! She danced all the way there! The Sunday before her birthday, Susan Lower and mom’s Sunday school class planned a surprise breakfast for her in Sunday school! She had no idea and it was so fun to celebrate with her Sunday school family! Susan Lower and AJ (aunt Janet, mom’s youngest sister) planned a big surprise party for her the day before her birthday! We were afraid something would slip up in conversation and she would find out, but luckily that didn’t happen! They rented a big shelter at the park, we decorated everything in pink and black, there was a ton of food, and so many more friends and family came to celebrate! It was such a great party! And for future reference, Susan Lower is the queen of party planning! The parties were great and mom was completely surprised both times! She can be a little clueless sometimes…bless her little heart :)

birthday diva at the park! 

Sunday school party

          As the summer wound down, there were several tear-filled goodbyes between the girls and me. Being a junior in college and having said bye to them bunches of times it somehow never gets easier. But I think that’s a good thing! Caroline and Jenny are without a doubt two of my best best friends in the whole world.

          The majority of my summer was spent hanging out with my fabulous mother! She is seriously the best mom/woman on earth. I know I’m a little bias, but she rocks! We would wake up every morning, drink coffee, and watch Live! With Kelly! Occasionally we would watch the Today Show hour with Kathy Lee and Hoda but mom usually had writing to do so I would watch them! We got to spend a lot of time together and I loved every minute of it. Saying goodbye to her was by far the hardest one. I always cry like a little baby when I have to leave home…while I was packing, she would come in my room as ask ‘why are you packing? You aren’t going anywhere!’ You could say that we were in total denial and that made it harder to say goodbye. She is such a woman of God and such a role model to me and all my girlfriends. I couldn’t ask for a better mom!

 this is an old picture, but I just love it :)

          This summer was filled with quality time with my friends and family and it was such a great one. I wouldn’t change it for the world! I’m already looking forward to next summer!

Love yall! 

finals

Tomorrow starts my finals. I am so jealous of everyone who is done already because as of right now, I haven't even taken 1 of my finals yet and its wednesday! Tomorrow needs to be a morning of prayer because I have math at 8am and econ at 10:30....whoever scheduled this obviously hates me. So I could reallllllly use your prayers from 8-12ish tomorrow! thank you all so much :)
I would give yall more of an update on my fascinating life but I'm a little preoccupied with studying at the moment..maybe tomorrow?

love yall :)

a dose of happiness

     I survived last week! I was a little questionable there for a while, but I made it! I haven't gotten my math or econ test grades back yet but I did get a B+ on my geography test! This was simply a miracle seeing as though I spent a whole 30 minutes studying for it....oops! sorry mom! :) This week will be a little less stressful but not totally stress-free. I have an econ quiz due wednesday, math project due thursday, and paper due friday. Not too bad but it could always be better!
     This past weekend was Easter! But unfortunately I did not get to go home and spend it with my awesome family. Instead, I went up to Pennsylvania and spent Easter weekend with Barrett's family! (my equally wonderful second family) Let me catch you up on the events from the weekend.
     I drove up Friday after spending the morning/afternoon at the children's science museum downtown. It was fun physics friday and we had a little workshop set up with a baking soda and vinegar activity. Needless to say, we were a huge hit! So after spending a crazy, hectic morning at the museum, I jumped in my car a headed north! About 3 hours later I was in Enola, Pa at Barrett's Aunt Anne's house. Friday night, we all had dinner at the house and had the traditional game night! No one wanted to play scrabble because I kicked butt last time I was there...I definitely get that from you, mom :)
     Saturday morning, we drove to West Point for Barrett's last Army vs Navy track meet! I rode up with Barrett's parents and his little brother Sammy. On my way down, I started reading The Shack. I got about half way through the book by the time we got to West Point and let me tell you, of what I have read, that book is fantastic! I couldn't stop reading it! I know mom has it at home so I didn't take Anne's to finish it, so I'm planning on grabbing it and finishing it next time I go home for the weekend.
     Anyway, we get to the track meet and Barrett's grandparents (Meemaw and Grandad/The General) were there too! Oh my goodness, I love those two like they are my real grandparents. So precious. The weather was surprisingly nice considering we were in New York in the beginning of April! The track sits literally right on the edge of the Hudson River so you better believe it was wiiiindy. My heavens was it windy. Barrett runs the steeplechase and if you don't know what that is, here is a very basic explanation, 7.5 laps around the track and 5 barriers to jump over (kind of like hurdles but much bigger). The catch is that the 5th barrier has a giant water pit that is about 3 or 4 ft deep. So they hurdle over the first 4 barriers and with the 5th one, they jump on the barrier and push off of it to try and jump over the water. It is the most insane race ever. He had an awesome race and came in 2nd! The meet was tied going into the last event, the 4x400m relay. I'm sad to say that Army lost...but it was such a great race!
     After the race, I rode with Barrett back to his aunt's house in Pennsylvania. We were all starving by the time we got on the road so we stopped for dinner at...McDonald's!  So typical of us. I got one hamburger, fries, and a sweet tea. My beloved Barrett got 4 McDoubles, fries, a vanilla milkshake, and a sweet tea. He ate all of his and almost all of my fries..... He ate all of this in about 20 minutes. I swear this boy must have a tape worm or something. When we finally got back to Anne's house, we were all pooped. We watched tv for a little while and then all went to bed. It was a very uneventful night not including the McDonald's eating contest Barrett decided to partake in on the way back.
     Sunday morning, I was woken up by Barrett the Easter bunny who had gotten my a beautiful assortment of flowers! Easter lilies, daffodils, roses, and irises! We went to brunch and then to a cute little park along the Susquehanna River! We played frisbee, walked the dogs, and relaxed. It was so enjoyable just to spend time together doing absolutely nothing.
     I hope your Easter weekend was as delightful as mine! Have a great week!

My Easter flowers :)

love yall!

I need prayers yall...

Hello my dear friends!

        I have a MAJOR prayer request. I have 2 tests tomorrow and they just happen to be in my hardest classes, math and econ. My math test is from 9:30-10:45 and econ is from 12:30-1:45. My math test is super, super important because it will be the deciding factor in whether or not I have to retake the class. So if you could just remember me and shoot me a little prayer, it would be much appreciated!

        Also, I have another request. I’m about to get real honest here so brace yourselves. I have been feeling really down about myself lately. I’m not sure why but a lot of it is with my image. I don’t like what I see in the mirror and it just makes me feel sad all the time. I know that God made me in his image and he made me how I am for a reason but right now, I am having a hard time accepting that. I haven't felt this way in a long time and it scares me. 

Thanks you so much for your prayers :)

Love yall!

my girls

Hello everyone! I’m back! And I promise this blog will be a lot less depressing than the last one I wrote…it will actually be one of the happiest! I want to take a moment and talk about three of my best friends in the whole world.  And yes I realize that I’m leaving out quite a few people but I just want to highlight three of them. So no hard feelings J

Caroline Caldwell

            I have known Caroline since before we were born. I know that this probably doesn’t make any sense but it totally does. You see, our grandparents (my dad’s parents and her dad’s parents) were best friends, our parents were best friends, and now we are best friends! We like to call ourselves “The Legacy.” And yes, I capitalized it. That’s how awesome it is.

            Caroline and I have so many fun memories from when we were younger. One specific memory is probably the best and funniest, but I can’t go into further detail…it is still a sore subject for the parties involved J Anyway, Caroline and I danced, cheered, and swam together all throughout high school. There isn’t a single moment that I don’t miss. We have had so much fun together and sometimes I would KILL to go back in time and experience them again. Cheerleading states. Enough said. Expect this time, we wouldn’t get screwed over by those stupid judges. 

            She has been such a huge part of my life and I know she will continue to be in the future. We have grown so much in our friendship. Caroline is such a woman of God and she has taught me so many things about myself whether she knows it or not. Caroline is one of the more encouraging women I know. She knows everything there is to know about me. All those little weird things we all have, yeppp she knows them all. If something big, small, happy, or sad happens, she is one of the first people I want to tell or go to for comfort. I honestly couldn’t ask for a better friend. Here is a link to her blog!

Jenny Lanzara.

            Jenny and I go back to around the 6^th grade in science class. We got yelled at for ‘playing beauty salon’ because we were braiding out hair….I know exactly what you are thinking, uhh how ridiculous!? My thoughts exactly. Jenny has been apart of my life through thick and thin. This is one girl I can ALWAYS count on. I called her at midnight crying one night back in high school and she came over in the blink of an eye. I feel like every outrageous thing I have ever done, jenny has been there right next to me. Dance central. Enough said.

            I really couldn’t imagine my life without this girl. She drives up to Harrisonburg all the time to visit and we always have a blast! This past weekend she came to visit and we literally didn’t do anything but it was so much fun. We watched TV, read The Hunger Games (BEST BOOKS EVER), and baked delicious cookies. We have discovered that every time she has come to visit, there has been some kind of winter weather. It’s wonderful and kind of bad at the same time but we love it! It could only get better if she went to school here ;)

          Jenny and I have been there for each other through so much. When one of us is going through something tough, we are always there for each other. There have been several times when I have been at a low point in my life and she has been there to pick me up. Even though we aren't the best with sharing our feelings but after every long break from school, we both end up hugging and in tears. I think that speaks for itself when it comes to our friendship. Here is a link to her blog!

Megan Brooks

            Where do I even being with Megan?! For those of you who don’t know, Megan was my roommate freshman year! She was legit a gift from God. I remember being so stressed looking for a roommate on the JMU class of 2014 facebook group looking for a potential roommate. I felt like everyone on the page was not the kind of roommate I was looking for. I was about to just go with a random roommate when I got a Facebook message out of the blue from…Megan! It was like we dated or something for a few days before we decided to live together! haha it was such an awkward period but once it was over, things were great!

            Megan and I have only known each other for 2ish years but she is one of those friends that I feel like I have know my entire life. We did so many goofy ‘freshman’ things last year and I wouldn’t take them back for anything. I remember one of the first weeks of class, we were doing something that was probably embarrassing (even thought we weren’t) and some guy passed us and said ‘pshh freshmen!’ it was so funny and so ridiculous! We just laughed all the way back to our dorm and we still laugh about it today!

            Living with someone really tests a relationship in a good way and a bad way. Megan and I really never had any fights and rarely got on each other’s nerves! We were for real a perfect match to share one of those tiny dorm rooms!

            She is another girlfriend who knows everything about me. She is my go to girl for everything! Megan is a girl who always knows what to say no matter what the situation is. If I am in a spiritual low, she knows just what to say to encourage me and get me out of my hole. She is going to be one of my housemates next year and I cannot wait!

I have the greatest friends in the entire world. They are such women of the Lord and I cant’ even tell you how thankful I am for them. Without them, I don’t know where I would be.  I love you girls so much :)

major reality check

It’s day 1 of classes and I already feel like I’m drowning. I have no idea why I am feeling so overwhelmed but all I can do is cry. I just want to go home. I miss my friends and family more than ever and it’s killing me. Since I got back to Harrisonburg on Saturday evening, all I have done is cry. Ask Barrett if you don’t believe me. I’m sure he is getting just as sick of it as I am. I know I am being very real and open about this so I’m sorry if it freaks yall out. I just needed to get this out. Thank you for being so understanding and accepting :)

       I had my first class of the semester this morning at 8am and I already have an 8-page paper due in less than a month. The paper is so extensive that I don’t even know where to start (this is my main reason for crying). I don’t know any of the information for my paper because it’s all about the geography and sociology of my parents, their parents, their parents, etc. My parents are so wonderful and asked me to send them the guidelines so they can start writing down different aspects of their lives and their parents lives that I need for this stupid paper.

       Not sure how it happened, but I only have 1 class on Mondays and Wednesdays and it’s an 8am. Tomorrow I have math and macroeconomics. I am scared out of my mind for macro. Everyone I have talked to says I am going to seriously struggle in this class. Thanks for the positive encouragement, yall…I only hear horrible things about econ classes in general and I am totally freaking out. I have econ on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-1:45, so if yall could carve out that little time slot to pray for me, I would REALLY appreciate it.

       A bunch of you have be asking me to post about the holidays and I sincerely apologize that I haven’t posted about it yet. I got my tonsils out and just laid around the house all of break and never really got on my computer. I will be working on a post about the holidays for the next few days.

  

Thanks for you prayers, I could really use them right now.

love yall :)

favorite season

     hello everyone! I know I am probably the biggest slacker in the blog world and I'm terribly sorry...I'm trying to get better, but its going to take some time. so cut me a little slack, please and thank you! as many of you know, autumn is my favorite season. the leaves changing color, the crisp air, and last but most definitely not least, thanksgiving! thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. wanna know why? okay..I guess I'll tell you.
     thanksgiving is filled with family, fellowship, and (most importantly) food! if you are lucky like I am and we were blessed with a family who knows how to cook, you totally understand where I'm coming from with this! we always have thanksgiving lunch/early dinner at my grandparents house (my dad's parents). grandma stilwell is the BOMB when it comes to cooking. oh my goodness. I could probably go on for days about her sweet potato casserole but I'll spare you...just thinking about it makes me hungry! she is one of the only people to get my to actually enjoy eating green beans too! and let me tell you, that is near impossible. ask my mom, I absolutely despise green beans but somehow I eat grandma stilwell's green bean casserole like nobody's business! one thing we always laugh about is how much food she cooks! you would think she is cooking for 20 people when in reality, there are 6 of us. we will be in the middle of eating and about 3 different buzzers will go off because more food is ready in the oven! anyway, this is just a little preview of why I love thanksgiving so much.
    after we have eaten ourselves silly at grandma and papaw's house on thursday, we pack our bags and head to good ole west virginia for the weekend! west virginia in itself is one of my favorite places but mix the mountains of wild, wonderful west virginia with thanksgiving...JACKPOT! my entire family on my mom's side get together and stay at a lodge for the weekend. there are about 100+ on an 'on' year. 'on' years are when everyone comes (and I mean everyone) and 'off' years are when some of the family is spending the holiday with the in-laws. this year is an on year and I couldn't be more excited! you are probably thinking, lots of little kids running around with chocolate drooling our of their mouths, how is that fun? ohh trust me, its hilarious! side story: I remember one specific time when my cousin adam was probably 5 or 6 (he is 14 now) and he came in the room with a plate full of MnM's. little man has chocolate allllll over his mouth and his entire face. let me remind you, it was probably around midnight at this point. you couldnt get mad at the poor kid because it was so stinkin funny!
     this year at the lodge will be a little different because I'm bringing someone special. I know it doesnt sound like that big of a deal but it totally is. my entire family will be there and last time I checked, meeting distant family is kind of a big deal. anyway, I'm bring my boyfriend Barrett! I have met the majority of his family and I'm excited for him to meet mine! I'm sure it will be a little overwhelming for him, but he is a pretty tough cookie. I think he can handle it ;)
     another thing I love about autumn is the weather! can you say jeans and a sweatshirt!? that honestly is the perfect weather. not too cold and not too hot. and you know what that means? football season! I grew up going to virginia tech football games and I love me some football! I have the best memories of watching football on sundays after church with my family. who is my favorite nfl team? well, I'm torn between the packers (daddys favorite) and the panthers (scotts favorite). but I think I'm gonna have to go with the packers because I have always been a daddy's girl :)
    leaves. that one word sums up my obsession with autumn. all the leaves on the trees are changing colors and everything is just so beautiful. I have a love for photography and I recently went down to the arboretum right off campus and took over 150 pictures...I posted just a handful of them on a page at the top of my blog! check them out if you love fall as much as I do and let me know what you think!

love yall :)

happy

    lots of exciting things have been going on in my life recently and I am just now finding time to blog about them! I know I'm a giant slacker..but I have just been so busy lately! School is definitely in full swing and I am swamped with work alllll the time.
    school. lets rewind to this past sunday. I had probably 3 mental breakdowns/mid-college crises. I have literally been studying for one class for almost an entire week. what class it is? death. okay I'm kidding...its anatomy. but it may as well be called death by stress. we have covered all the muscles, nerves, veins, arteries, organs, and anything else you could possibly think of in your trunk up to this point. and they couldnt make it easy on us and split up each unit and have a test every couple weeks. no, of course not! they decided to make our lives miserable and do a month and a halfs work in one test! woohoo! i LOVE it when they do that! I had my lecture exam this morning. wanna know how it went? well, it was alright. some parts i knew right off the bat, i could logically work through the others, and then there were my favorite kind. the questions that i had no idea what the answers were. dont you just love those? yeah..i feel the same way. i have my lab practical exam tomorrow and i think it will be a little easier because i just have to identify the structures on cadavers, diagrams, models, and cross-sections. i will probably blog again on sunday or monday to let yall know how it went.
     my major. well, as you all probably know, i am currently a kinesiology-exercise science major with a concentration in pre-physical therapy. why i decided this would be a good major for me? it sounded like a fun idea and physical therapists make bank. and you may be asking, what are you gonna do? change majors? funny you should ask! why, yes i am changing majors! and now you may be asking, what are you changing it to? thanks for asking! im changing my major to elementary education and i could not be more excited! everyone who knows me, know i absolutely ADORE children. and i have wanted to be a teacher since about the 5th grade. my heart is finally settled and i am so happy about this decision. its going to be a strange transition from all science classes to education classes...so be praying for me that it will be a smooth transition please :)
    housing. so jmu is super weird about how they do housing. all my friends at other schools dont have to decide on their living plans for next year until this spring. but of course jmu likes to be different and make us decide in october. yepp thats right. i have to decide this month what i am doing about housing for next year. so weird but oh well. i have been really conflicted about housing until earlier this week. i was going to live in a two or three bedroom apartment with two friends and i was pretty settled on that. but something just didnt feel right about those plans. (*background info - people in Christian organizations at jmu like to rent big houses with 6-10 people in their small groups and name them cool things. some examples, the yellow submarine, the funk house, the full house, the salt shaker, etc*) so i knew some girls in my small group were thinking about getting a house but i hadnt put much thought into doing that because i already made plans with other girls. on saturday and sunday, i randomly got the thought of living with my small group girls. it was so out of the blue that it had to be a God thing. later on sunday evening my roommate from last year (megan) had called me and told me that a spot in the small group house had opened up and they all wanted me to live with them. oh heyyy Jesus! i instantly said yes and knew that this is what i needed to be doing. we have been talking about houses for next year alllll week and have actually seen one house that we all LOVED and are pretty sure we are going to get! there are going to be 10 of us in the house and we will each have our own bedroom! this house is so big and im obsessed. it has lots of potential to be cute. we just need to go in with an open mind and bring lots of Jesus in that house :)
     needless to say, this week has been very super stressful. like i said earlier, i had a breakdown on sunday night. i was just so stressed and confused that i didnt know what else to do but cry. i opened up my devotion that i do every night before bed and the verse of the day was 2 Corinthians 5:7 Live by faith, not by sight. let me repeat myself, oh heyyy Jesus! i love love love when things like this happen. it gives me chills just thinking about it. all these stresses in my life were not random or accidental. the Lord knew what i was going to be going through and he gave me answers that couldnt be more direct. i can honestly say that i am genuinely happy for the first time in a while. i was walking to class the other day and i randomly got the song God is so good stuck in my head. and yes, that is the song that we all learned in like preschool. i have been walking around with a real smile on my face all week and it feels so wonderful and so real.
  * here are some Bible verses i have read lately and they have really stuck with me.
        Matthew 11:28
        1 Cor 16:14
        Romans 12:12
        Romans 8:28
        Psalm 63:3


 love yall :)

birthday shoutout

    Today is a very very special day...wanna know why? well, today just so happens to be my favorite 4, now 5, year olds birthday! I'm sure most of you know about this little bundle of joy, but here are some pictures just to refresh your memory and remind you how stinkin cute he is!

 fun with my macbook pro

smile like the mirror 

chuck e cheese! 

my graduation 

 beach trip

he is so adorable 

rippppped 

he gets his sassy-ness from me :)

     As you can see from these pictures, he is the cutest child on the planet! I got to babysit/be his nanny this past summer and it was so much fun! There were times when he woke up with his sassy pants on and he had to sit in the blue chair for 2 minutes...but this didnt happen very often ;) This little boy has blessed me in so many ways. He is so full of joy and happiness and you cant help but smile when you are around him! The name Asher means "happy" and I couldnt think of a more perfect name for him! Its so hard to believe that I have only known him for two short years! He is the sweetest little boy you will ever meet and I love him like a little brother.

Happy birthday Asher! I love you sweet boy!

the smallest things

     So I have successfully (well..kind of) survived my first two weeks of sophomore year. I have only had one mental breakdown! so I think I'm doing pretty well! 

     This post is going to be relatively short because I have lots of work to get done and I just dont have a lot to say! shocker...I know... 

     I live in an apartment with three other girls and so far its going alright..there have been a few instances with certain roommates but so far so good. One of the girls isnt a Christian and she gave me the biggest compliment ever tonight. While I was washing dishes after dinner, she was asking me a bunch of questions about InterVarsity. The conversation started because she asked if I was going with one of my other roommates to small group....I didnt go. I know it sounds bad that this is how the conversation started but I just have so much work and reading to do! and I'm not even being dramatic!

     Anyway, she was asking me what we do at small group and how many girls are in my small group and just simple questions like that. Then she proceeded to ask me who some leaders were and how you got to be one. I explained the whole application process to her and then she said, "I really think you should apply! You would be such a good small group leader!" Holy smokes. That little compliment completely turned my day around!

     I feel like this meant so much to me because she isnt a Christian and she can see something in me that, in her opinion, would make me a good small group leader. I can only hope that the joy I have in the Lord is rubbing off on her and others around me!

    Being a small group leader is something I have done a lot of thinking and praying about in the past year. Applications dont come out til early spring, so I'm going to talk to my small group leaders and do lots of praying about it! It would mean a lot if you could pray for me too! and I will keep you updated over the next few months!

love yall :)

i'm not even being dramatic..

    I know I said I was going to start blogging regularly and so far I'm totally failing..my bad. but I'm trying to get better, I promise!
    well, as most of you probably already know, I started classes this week. everything was fine and dandy until last night..I had, what you could call, a mini mental breakdown. okay, I'm being a liiiittle dramatic but  you get the point.
     my day started off pretty normal; went to class, had an hour break and read a book, went to class, went to lunch with kristen, and then went home to the apartment. it was my first day of anatomy lab and I was super stressed about it even after class was over. so to relieve a little stress, I cleaned/organized my closet and bathroom, hung up some new picture frames, and did a little facebook stalking. then to put off some homework and skyped with one of my best friends, caroline. after that, my day went downhill real fast.
     I was being super moody and cranky for no apparent reason. I thought venting to the boyfriend would help and it did for about 3.4 seconds and then I was all upset again. at this point, I had no idea why I was so upset. so what does every girl do when they are confused about their life? call/text their mommy! (and btw, my mom has some of the best advice everrr) I texted her and asked her a perfectly logical question, if I could drop out of school and live on my brother scott's futon in blacksburg. and what do you think she said? typical, she said no...scott and I had it all planned out too! oh well..a few seconds later, I burst into tears. I thought I was losing my mind for crying over nothing but of course, mama bear cheered me up!
    why was I crying? yeah, thats an excellent question and I wish I had the answer for you. I told barrett that I just needed a good cry and that probably added to my river of tears. another big part was that I was feeling so overwhelmed with classes starting and actually having homework to do. so basically, it was just  me being dramatic that made me cry.
     and if you were wondering, I feel much better today! every morning, barrett calls me between 6.45 and 7am before his 7.30 class to wake me up and chat for a few minutes. I know this sounds crazy, but we don't have a lot of time to talk during the day, so its worth it to be woken up an hour or so before my alarm :) cheesy...I know but whatever! its about 5.15 and I'm all done with classes and I'm gonna go hit the gym and work on my fitness. hopefully this will help relieve some of the left over stress from last night.

love yall!

so blessed

     hello again. i know i am probably the worst blogger ever because i havent updated since my trip in june...oops! i have been super busy all summer between babysitting, vacation, and spending time with friends and family. so today i am finally gonna start blogging regularly again (hopefully). this is a very special blog because its dedicated to a very special person in my life..my mama!
      today is my mom's birthday! she is finally turning 40! (i hope that gets me some brownie points...) my family is one of MANY nicknames, courtesy of my goofy brother scott. a few of mom's nicknames are mama, little mommy, tubsy, t scrubbs, q tip, and the list goes on and on...but lately we have just been calling her q for short :) so for the rest of this post, if i refer to q, you will know its my mom.
      my mom has been such an incredible blessing to me since i was born. i know its so cliche when everyone says 'my mom is my best friend/hero', but my mom really is. she is such a positive, awesome role model in my life. even my girlfriends go to her when they have problems or need someone to talk to about anything and everything. i want nothing more than to be like her when i'm a mom.
     scott and i always pick on her because its almost impossible for her to be mad at us. if scott does something dumb and it makes her mad, he just says something stupid or the always classic 'i love you mommy!' and we all just crack up laughing. its takes lots of patience  to put up with the two of us, so i give her a lot of credit. even though we (and when i say we, i mean scott) pick on her and get on her nerves, we love her more than anything in the world.
     she is one of the biggest spiritual leaders ever. and im not even being dramatic. she is the bomb. mom wakes up at the crack of dawn everyday to do her devotions and pray for us before we start our day. she prays specific things for each of us every morning and if you are reading this, i can almost guarantee that she has prayed specific things for you too! my mom is an incredible woman of the Word. i always say that she has memorized the entire Bible but being the humble woman she is, she denies it...but we all know she really does know it by heart :)
     i could legit go on for days about how wonderful and awesome she is. no matter what i do, i dont think she will ever know how much she really means to me. i could not have asked for a better mom, best friend, or role model.
    did i mention how smokin hott my mom is? well in case you forgot, here are some pictures ;)

 Israel - Spring 2011

 Israel - Spring 2011

 Israel - Spring 2011

 Aunt Janets wedding 

 lookin good with no makeup in cancun :)

 trip to nashvegas

 Cousin's wedding

my senior homecoming

 im pretty sure she is the only one who reads this so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY! i love you so so much :)

day 6

            Going into today, I had no idea what to expect. But if I had set any expectations, they would have been blown out of the water. For real. Today was AWESOME! It was our first day of the sports camps! We have basketball, football (soccer), volleyball, and swimming! Each sport is at a different camp and some are at different times so for most of the day, it was just DeeDee and me!

DeeDee is one of the best swim coaches ever. She coached the US National team, Honduras National team, Chile National team, and now she is coaching a swim team in Iraq! She was a teacher/swim coach in the states for 20 some years, lived in Mexico and Chile for a while, and she is now living in Iraq. She just opened her own school in northern Iraq and she is an English language teacher! She is such an amazing woman of God and I have learned so much about swimming, life, and Christ this week!

We got to the pool around 7.30ish and met the other swim coaches Moosa and Elias! Moosa doesn’t speak a lot of English, but enough for basic communication, and Elias speaks great English and would translate for us! There were kids from age 20 to age 8! All the older swimmers (high school age) spoke English but the younger ones did speak a lot of english. At first, I was afraid the language barrier would be really difficult but it really wasn’t! I picked up some Arabic words pretty quick and whatever I didn’t know, I just got Moosa or Elias to translate for me! As a whole, I think practice went really well this morning! Especially for it being our first time with the kids and not really knowing where to start with their training.

Coming in, I didn’t really think I would make close friendships with the kids here but I was waaaay wrong! Sabine Hazboun changed that thought very quickly. I became instant friends with her. Sabine is the Palestinian National Champion Swimmer. And did I mention she just turned 17 a week ago? Yeah..ridiculous! She is leaving in a couple weeks to go to China to train for a month and then she is finishing her senior year of high school in Barcelona, Spain! She is going to be training and going to school there. There is about an 85% chance that she will be swimming in London for the Olympics next summer..CRAZY! Her family runs the Catholic Action Center is Palestine and they are all very strong Christians. Sabine is such a sweet girl and I am definitely going to stay in touch with her! aka I will go to London with her next summer for the Olympics :)

It’s only day 1 of camp and I have already met so many great people! I cannot wait to spend more time with them the rest of the week!

love yall!

day 5

            HOT. HOT. HOT. And that would be an understatement. We started the day in Masada which is in the middle of the dessert. Basically, it is a giant mound of dirt and rock with zero shade. To get to the top there are two options: hike up on a little tiny snake path or take a ski lift type thing up to the top. Clearly our guide chose the ski lift because we got there right as it started to get real hot. Masada is where King Herod lived with his 239834697298347 slaves. He had several palaces that overlooked the Dead Sea from the top of Masada. Back in the day, the Dead Sea water level was much higher and much closer to the mountain. This is the site that got destroyed and lead to the downfall of the Jews. Fun Fact: When a soldier of the Israeli army completes their 3 years of service, they have to pledge to always protect Masada to prevent another fall of the Jews!

            Next, we drove down the road about 20ish minutes and went to Ein Gedi! Ein Gedi is where David hid from King Saul when he was trying to kill him. David found one of the caves that was in the rock and hid there for a few days. At one point, David got out of the cave and found King Saul and had the chance to kill him but he didn’t. Instead, David just cut off a piece of the King’s robe. There are several trails in Ein Gedi that lead to different waterfalls and/or the very top of Ein Gedi which would be a verrrry long hike. We took about an hour hike and went to a couple different waterfalls and they were breathtaking. David’s Waterfall was beautiful. It was so tall and the view looking back towards the Dead Sea was incredible! Most of us had on our bathing suits and took a short dip in the pool and stood under the waterfall and got a nice massage!

            Qumran was next on the list of places to see in the middle of no where. We literally got off the bus, watched a short film about it, toured it, took pictures, and got back on the bus in a grand total of 30 minutes. It was probably the shortest stop so far! Qumran is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. These scrolls had the Old Testament written on them and they were found in random caves on the side of a mountain. Fun Fact: Ester is the only book in the Old Testament that doesn’t mention the word ‘God’!

            Now time for everyone’s favorite…the Dead Sea! It was so much fun! Fun Fact: If you swallow the Dead Sea water, you could die within minutes of swallowing it. The water is so salty, that it dehydrates your body so fast, that your organs cannot function and they will all shut down. After hearing that, I second-guessed whether I really wanted to get in or not! But we all got in anyway and put mud allll over us! Back in March, I just put it on my arms and legs but this time, we got a little more adventurous and put it on our face! It burned like heck but it was so worth it because my skin was so smooth afterwards!

            Jericho was our last stop of the day. We went to a shop that sold all the Dead Sea products and some random pottery before going to dinner. There were probably 10 peacocks just hanging out outside the shop! There was some bird and (it may have been a peacock but I’m not sure) and it sounded EXACTLY like Kevin from the movie Up! Being the child that I am, I totally freaked out and got so excited! I wish I could have recorded it making the noise because I’m pretty sure Pixar found that bird, recorded it, and used it as Kevin’s voice…We drove to this very elegant restaurant where we met Taysir Abu Saada. He wrote the book, Once An Arafat Man and he is President/Founder of Seeds of Hope. After he talked to us for a little bit about his story and his foundation, we ate a fabulous dinner. My true Rinehart colors were shining during this meal…It was probably the best dinner I have had in years! (no offense mom…) All the salads, pita, and meats were so delicious. And we had this super tart lemonade with mint leaves and it was just the perfect compliment to the entire meal. I could go on forever about it but I’ll stop before I embarrass myself!

            Today was a very looooong day! We left the hotel before 8am and didn’t get back til about 10.30pm and we were going non stop from place to place. I am so exhausted but it was totally worth it. The sports camps start tomorrow and I am pumpeddd! Good night!

Love yall!

my bad...

I'm so sorry I have been so awful about posting for the past few days! We have been so so busy and the internet crashes like every 10 minutes..We are at a different hotel now, so I'll try to get all caught up tonight!

day 4

            My feet are not very happy with me today…We did a normal two day tour, in one day! We walked essentially through all of the Old City of Jerusalem.  We started out on the top of the Mount of Olives where Jesus started his journey through Jerusalem to his crucifixion. There is a beautiful view of Jerusalem from the top of the Mount of Olives even though the Dome of the Rock is directly across the valley.

            As we made our way down the Mount of Olives, we got to the Garden of Gethsemane. I love gardens, so once again I was lovin every minute of it! The story behind the Garden of Gethsemane is in Matthew 26:36-46! Right next to the garden is the Church of All Nations. There are 12 (I think..?) different nations represented on the ceiling of the church. The United States dome is the first one on the right side! This is the site where Jesus prayed so hard he sweat blood!

            The Pools of Bethesda is another really cool place in Jerusalem. This is there sick/disabled people would hang out because the spirit would stir up the water and the first person in the water after it has been stirred would be healed. This is where Jesus healed a man who had been going to the pools for over 30 years and never got healed. He was paralyzed so he could never get into the water because he didn’t have anyone to help him. Jesus saw this man’s desire to be healed and he healed him right then and there!

            The Western Wall was next on the list. Since it is Saturday and we went before sunset, lots of things were closed because people aren’t allowed to work on the Sabbath. This is the Holiest site for people of Jewish faith because they believe that the presence of God is in the wall. When they are finished praying, Jewish people walk a certain number of steps backwards because they do not want to turn their backs on God. We went up to the wall and some people put prayers in the wall, prayed, and then we left. It was super crowded so it was a pretty quick trip! We couldn’t even take pictures at the wall because that is considered work!

            Next, we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This church is believed to be one of the possible sights where Jesus was crucified. The church is divided between 3 major religions (Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian). The Greek Orthodox parts of the church are the most obvious because it is decked out in gold and jewels! There are several mosaics on the walls that would have taken forever to complete and they were all done by hand! They were truly unbelievable.

            One of our last stops was on the other side of the Mount of Olives at Caiaphas’ house. This is where Jesus was taken before he was put before his crucifixion. He had to stay the night here because it was the Sabbath and there was no working allowed which meant no judging was going on that day. Jesus was lowered down into a pit/cave that only had one opening at the top so it was impossible for anyone to get out. Psalm 88!

            Last stop: the Garden tomb! The Garden Tomb is another place that people think Jesus could have been crucified and buried. The mount that is believed to be the crucifixion site is all rock and there is the face of a skull in the rocks. It’s called Golgatha which means ‘skull.’ The garden was full of gorgeous flowers and foliage so once again, I got a bunch of pictures!

            Today was great and filled with lots and lots of walking but we covered the whole city in one day! Pretty impressive, huh? Tomorrow is going to be a long, hot day because we are basically going to be in the dessert all day..good night!

Love yall!