Rainy Day Friday

What's better than being with good friends,

playing a game of pick-up football,

and being bored on a Friday night?

Adding mud into the mix

A Shout Out To The Jesus People

(Part II of Spring Break)

Thursday:

I came to the sad realization that sometime during Spring Break I was going to have to do some of that homework. So I quickly wrote one of the eight papers that is due in the next few weeks and used the rest of the night to play some Fall Out Boy Trail. 

Friday:

The day arrived when Acquire the Fire had finally come. Unfortunately, the group of around 8 or so that was going with me all had to drop out for powers beyond them. For some reason, I still felt as if I should go and so I headed to Nashville by mys

elf, hoping that God would provide me with a friend and that it wouldn't be awkward or anything (because I never have those awkward experiences).

But when God want to do something, sometimes He likes to go above and beyond to show how powerful and mighty He really is. God didn't provide me with just one newfound friend but with many.

The Women's restroom always just seems to be a magnet to meeting people. The first angel that God sent down to me was a girl named Denise. After ten seconds of finding about me and that I was not with a group, she immediately invited me to hang o

ut with her college group that was also volunteering. The group from Tullahoma Church of Christ were some of the most inviting people, asking me where I was from, what I liked to do, my entire life story and asking me if I wanted some of their pizza. 

In case you were wondering (I was wondering), Tullahoma is located here:

So if you're ever in that area and in need of anything, just head on over to Tullahoma Church of Christ and ask for basically anyone. They're legit.

Through selling merchandise, I discovered my twin. Her name is Stephanie as well. We both love serving God and have the same taste in music and passion for youth. She was with her long time friend Nicole, who is one of the cutest people ever. Sometimes you get to meet people who come in your life for a short while, but they make such an imprint on your life that you just can't forget them. This is how it was like with my Stephanie and Nicole. We only knew each other for about 24 hours but they were so encouraging and loving, even inviting me to spend the night at their house if it was too late to drive back to my house. 

There were others too, like the youth group from Alabama that stood in line with me at Subway, or Jessica and Duane (pronounced Duh-wayne! yes, exclamation point pronounced each time), the Acquire the Fire interns. The thing God showed me the most this year at Acquire the Fire was not anything that a speaker said (mainly because I was dozing off) but what He showed me. You see, I realized that when Paul speaks of the church, it isn't just the church that I go to that the Bible is speaking about but everyone who seeks a relationship with Jesus is part of the church, they are all part of our family so why not reach out in love to our fellow brothers and sisters even if for a short while they are strangers? 

 I like to think of them as distant cousins-- Acquire the Fire was just a big family reunion!

Spring Break:Part 1

My intense week of just chilaxing has been so hardxcore that I figured I should probably update the world on my life so that this post won't be a novel long at the end of the week, so here's a little summary:

-Friday: After finishing some class observations, Christy and I headed on out from Lee to the great city of Thompson's Station. However, our hopes of coming home for dinner were soon slaughtered as we encountered this not 30 minutes into our trip:

  And we spent 2 hours sitting through that little jam. We should've been home by the time we finally got out of that mess. Luckily, we had the Jonas Brothers to keep us company. And then, we had to take a little stop at the Dairy Queen. We finally got home though, a 2 1/2 hour trip turning into an almost 5 hours voyage. 

However, after coming home, saying hello to the mother and eating a delicious dinner, at around midnight, I had to head on over to the wonderful house of Donna Holt as I was traveling to Nashville to work the Youth Evangelism Conference with her, her family and about nine other members of my Jesus Family in the morn.

Saturday (technically):

One would naturally expect that after being in class all day and being in a car for the past five hours, sleep would be the most important thing on my mind. However, seconds after getting out of the car, I heard, "POOKIE!! We're going to Krogers to get pizza! Come with us!" from the mouths of some very hyper and hungry Carrasco and Galardi children. 

All I have to say about the newly built Kroger Marketplace is that it's beautiful. and amazing beyond all belief for a grocery store. and that you can make your own peanut butter there. and they have maps for the place because it's so huge. and they have a jewelry store inside. and that Disney World better watch out because Kroger Marketplace is going to take over as the greatest amusement park ever. 

After leaving there with 10 pizzas, that's when I realized that I might as well kiss sleeping goodbye. Instead the rest of the night was spent trying to figure out how to cook all those pizzas, drinking mello yello and playing card games that had no point other than to yell at each other loudly. 

I finally got my sleep, about 30 minutes worth.

Would I trade hanging out with my Jesus Family, as five of us shared a tiny sink while trying to brush our teeth while half-conscious for a full night's sleep? HECK NO!

And so we all headed off to YEC, groggily and drinking yet more Mello Yello to serve as ushers and merchandise sellers. I was semi-conscious the entire time but of the parts that I can remember it was a blast
 The merch table headed by the Buttermilk team: Buttermilk, Hanukkah, Mu-Gu, Smurf and Pookie. The best thing about these conference things is meeting and working with new people who also love Jesus and youth as much as I do-plus we all gave each other sweet nicknames.  753 gave their lives to Christ on Saturday--now that's awesome!

Sunday:

After getting my spiritual stomach fed at church and my physical stomach filled with deliciouso chicken nachos at the amazing Pancho's, somehow I had to catch up on sleep from this weekend--Enter in the hammock and nice warm sun.
 And because everybody needs a napping buddy, my dog decided to join me:Monday:

This is a photo of the greatest couch in the world. Over the years, it has been broken into with the most care so that naps can be comfy and perfect. 

This is the nap couch: 
      The cat is an added bonus on cold days when feet need warming

Tuesday: In the morning I went to the barber's and left with 6 fewer inches of hair and looking like Dora the Explorer
So to help myself get over the shock, I headed on over to one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby. I could easily spend $1000 at this store and still not have my artistic cravings satisfied with all the cool things in thereI mean, where else could I make my own dinosaur?

Afterwards, I went on a little outing with the mother, checking out all the cool new stores that Spring HIll has to offer.

First stop: Rack Room Shoes so that I could stare at some of the most beautiful things in the world. One day I'm going to win the lottery or Oprah will leave her inheritance to me and these are going to be the first things I buy:
   One of each color please

However, then we had to stop by the new Ross store where they sell my favorite type of clothing
     That's right, the mumus are awesome

Wednesday: Gloomy, chilly and just one of those lazy days, somedays one simply wants to hang out with themselves and create. This is my art book-Ten Modern Short Story Novels, published in the 1950s it's soon going to be given a new life after sitting in the Goodwill store for awhile. 

Spring Break

Spring Break could be one of the greatest things bestowed upon a hard-working student like myself. Nothing better than relaxing at home for a week with the (hopefully) warm sun and weather. However, this spring break is not going to be a worthless waste. Heck no, I plan on being pretty dang productive:

• Friday: after a thrilling 3 hours of observing middle schoolers in their natural habitat of a classroom, mi amiga and I are going on a marvelous roadtrip back home. This is where my mother is going to cook me the greatest meal ever. It will be epic.
• Saturday: because I apparently don't believe in sleep, I'm waking up at the buttcrack of dawn (6 am) to hang out at the YEC conference- a little of selling merch, listening to Stellar Kart and hanging out with amazing people is a great start to a spring break.
• Sunday: Church, then Pancho's, then the best nap on a couch that was made only for naps. I've been looking forward to this day since the beginning of time.
• Monday: probably a pajama day, then going with my mother to Zumba class with all the other middle-aged ladies at my church.
• Tuesday: a little haircut action then probably playing some Fall Out Boy Trail, my new addiction.
• Wednesday: art day. Just chilling out with myself and a whole bunch of art supplies. Then hanging out with some of the most incredible youth in the world at my youth group
• Thursday: meeting up with some amazing old friends. Pancho's will probably be calling my name.
• Friday + Saturday: OMG OMG OMG! It's Acquire the Fire time! Something I've been looking forward to since October. Basically YEC x12 on the amazing radar. Selling some merch again plus about seeing 10,000 teenagers and worn-out looking adults. Hello Leeland, I can't wait to see you!
• Sunday: Church, food, packing up, coming back to the land of the Leevites

Yup, this spring break is going to be the bomb.com that's for sure. 

I 

am

so

pumped!