i'd like to thank the academy first...my family...friends...:o)
so i'm live from brandon, MS. i'm on vay-cay!
we drove in last night/this morning at 2am..
everyone's gone for right now and i thought this would be the perfect time to update somethings ive been on mind my mind lately...that i know are eager to leave the brain! so here's a serious post..
i love that life is an adventure. that i've learned to keep plans in the back of my mind..of knowing what i would potentially like to do with my life, but knowing full well that is all the Lord's and i've been given TODAY to glorify HIM.
it makes me excited that life is an incredible adventure and challenge-that i'm a messed up girl in need of Christ, but with Him NOTHING is impossible.
God is great and gracious. This community is a blessing. Last week, on Thursday, I had a really busy day..I had to open at the daycare, and then immediately babysit 3 girls (who are quite a handful) and then after that go to the bank so I could go to SuperWalmart (urgHh) for work..come sitting the motorbank, I was give out: stress and it seemed my to do list was just getting longer..this story does have a point....so in the midst of making a deposit at the ATM, I drove off and left my check card in the machine...yes thats how tired I was! BUT praise the Lord, the couple behind me, followed me into the SuperWalmart parking lot to return my card to me...who does that? i mean not that they would have tons of access to a load of moolah, but still...i was so overwhlemed with gratitude and awe..only the Lord couldve orchestrated that.
So Valerie got a slackline for her bday. in a nutshell: its like a tightrope except done with webbing. sunday after the rain, we set it up in the parental's front yard. and the Lord really taught me something. You see, the trees werent the best for setting it up at the height we needed & the wet grass made the webbing slippery. anyways, as i was attempting to balence on it with my left leg the whole contraption was shaking almost uncontrollably. Val was spotting me, and she kept saying "committ. put you other leg on and committ." so I tried, knowing full well that i wasnt putting all my weight on my legs, i still wanted the security of the ground. and what happened? i fell off, got wet and snapped my foot on the webbing, breaking my baby toe. And the Lord was saying "i need you to committ..all the way". not like a get saved, but a give Him all parts of me. I've ended up in a rut of complacency which for me is really easy to do without routine and my independent self which i know is sin. my daily schedule is always changing so its been hard for me to the time to the Lord He deserves. sin. i give some of me, but not all and its hurting me..and my broken baby toe is a sweet reminder to spend time with Him. i confess my schedule & pride is a sin and i want more intimacy.
following this honesty, I want to talk about communication. I think in the multimedia world we live in, its easy to fall into the trap of not confronting and trying not to communicate well. our culture is one of people pleasing and not "stepping on toes" which is so harmful and deterrmental to relationships. Biblical communication requires grace and truth, its about preserving love-real honesty that betters all who listen. I know i'm not the best communicator. I naturally flee from confrontation, but i'm learning that its not a bad thing and i can communication in a way that expresses my hurt/anger/frustration in a way that is not hurtful, angry or disrespectful. communication invovles having grace, patience & love from beginning to end including words, meaning, tone & volume. Communicate in a way that serves-that bring listeners closer to Jesus.
okay..that wraps it up..my plan is to be at the film workshop by noon..can i do it? maybe! more fun posts this week about making movies & the beach.
alisha
okay so the aforementioned birthday pics: (in no particular order)
me, the birthday girl & her cake, Valerie & the birthday castle & party people in the kitchen...
this is my sad face-as you can see i was SUPER disappointed..because for the 3rd time I have attempted to fly in the go-cart and the weather has been bad...maybe i'm not supposed to spread my wings....but it was a fun trip..my grandpa is a trip..we walked around downtown Wharton, ate at the Grand Buffet where i impressed my family with my mad chopstick eating skills & then had cake back at grandpa's while watching the US Open.
my apologies faithful readers...it seems a full time job where i actually do work & playing hard this summer has taken away from my updates. i never dreamed i would become a blogger that hardly updates this thing...
its been a busy month..i did give you the update on the muddy buddy...
so memorial day weekend we planned to go out to lake bryan & ride bikes..but due to rain our plans were thwarted...and that became the theme of the week..due to the rain we couldnt do ______...but i watched a bunch of movies, relaxed, played some 42 with the parents. the next weekend I headed out to Waco/Meridian for a reunion with the one and only Libby Leatherman. We camped it up at Meridian State Park complete with grilled hotdogs, Dr. Peppers, 2 thunderstorms, the longest walk ever and quality conversation. man i love that girl!
what else do i also love?
Living Hope.
I've been regularly attending since the move back & am going to join-i love this community. its refreshing, honest, and home...I went to Hope Group for the first time last week. We helped at the food bank & then headed over to the Palermo's house for dinner and Bible study and it was an awesome time to think about our mission field and sphere of influence in our daily routines & lives.
This past weekend Val and I took a little roadtrip out to San Antonio. Her aunt had free tickets to Fiesta TX;...her aunt's cooking was amazing, enchiladas, guacamole, rice...mmmm & a little cake to celebrates val's bday. Saturday morning she cooked us eggs & pancakes with coffee, orange juice & fruit..and then we headed off to the park. overall..we had fun, but for the most part it was frustrating..2 of the big rides we rode were broken..we waited for 2 hrs on one & 1.5 on the other AND got stuck while we were ON the ride!!! boo.
Yesterday was Val's 22nd bday. i'll post pictures when i get my camera back. good times: balloons, streamer, fajitas, icecream cake, friends & a birthday crown.
Valerie & I built a cake...yes built. A castle cake. It was an experience. I never want to be a professional cake maker.
This weekend my family is headed out to my granpa's...hopefully I'll have some pictures if we get to do the power parachuting..its like flying a go-cart in the air....anyways..i was suppose to do it at christmas but the weather was never good enough.
me, Val, my sister and one of her friends are taking my 13 yr old cousin to Schlitterbahn in two weeks..we're way excited; more on that later.
other fun summer things:
we attended free float night at sonic
ultimate frisbee
jj's sno cones
tuesday morning pancakes
lunch & doogie howswer, md.
okay..well, I have to get ready for work.
hopefully i'll start updating this more frequently...but mo promises :o)