Little bit of Home

This weekend I was fortunate to have 2 girls from home to come up and visit for the weekend. So I got to show off my little ole city of Troy to them! They got here late friday night so i took them to Moes on campus so they could see it and the students. Then  after staying up talking and laughing we final got a little sleep then got up and got ready to go to Montgomery and Prattville for the day. We grabbed breakfast and then headed towards Montgomery, to make our first stop of the day in Pine Level at a place called Sikes and Kohns. This is like a old factory building that has name brand clothes for a little cheaper and the month of February is the Anniversary sale so it is an extra 20% off everything in the store. Then have everything from Miss Me Jeans, to Northface, to Drake, Columbia, Guy Harvey, and Yellowbox and gorgeous boots that are out of my price range still! But the have some great things when you just take the time to look at it. Then we went to one of the malls in Montgomery and then headed towards Prattville to the Bass Pro Shops. We grabbed a late lunch and then made it back home to take a power nap. We went and saw Nicholas Sparks Safe Haven in the little movie theater in Kelseys words and Kolbie just talked about how cute it is! lol. Driving home Kolbie said lets lay in the road to take pictures like in The Notebook, well you wouldn't think that at 12am there would be much traffic but there actually was some. So we finally got some pictures and then headed back to the house. Just stayed up talking and catching up on things. Its always great to have someone visit and can make you feel like you are at home. It was a great weekend filled with laughs and smiles and memories. Now back to reality with midterms this week, but in 2 weeks will be Spring Break and a week back at home then! Hope that you have a blessed day and that you create your own little Sunshine on these rainy days! Quote of the post: I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference!

Common Ground

Yesterday afternoon 5 of us girls in our D-group loaded into one car and headed towards Montgomery, not to return till late that night! We had a wonderful times full of first experiences for myself! We went to volunteer at a ministry called Common Ground ( http://cgmlife.org/ ) When we first arrived we toured the area and saw the different areas for the children from Kindergarten all the way to middle schoolers. I was blessed enough to work with the Kindergarden age which we had around 5 kids. There is someone who is in charge (mostly the same volunteers) in each grade and then each one of us girls assisted them. From 3-4 the kids would arrive from school and receive a snack (pop-tart and juice box) and work on their homework. Then they would receive one on one attention or some would have a lesson. My group had a scriptures that they would write in their journals everyday. On my visit the verse was: Isaiah 43:5 "Do not be afraid for I am with you." Since my teacher did not have a set plan and since i was there to help i worked with a little boy named Tori on his alphabet and numbers. We said the letters, wrote them out and then we worked on putting sounds together for 3-letter words and writing them out. He has been behind a little bit so it was a slow start. We worked on this for an hour and then we did our numbers also and worked on simple math problems. We used our fingers to do simple problems such as 5+4 and 8-8. Then after helping a boy with his George Washington Carver project we went out to dinner at a place that i compare to McAllisters and Jason's Deli, it was called Chappys! Which a few girls had been to before, then we went to ICBY, which one girl in our group her mother and aunt owned it, so New York Cheesecake yogurt to end the night! It was a great time away from Troy and and relaxing after a stressful two days of test for me. I hope that you are having a great day and that you are smiling! Quote of the post: "It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. John Wooden

Love All Around

Being Single doesn't mean the you don't get to celebrate Valentine's Day, but that you get to celebrate it with others!! Mom and Dad spoiled with candy and iTunes this weekend then got a Camo Otterbox in the mail! Then today i received goodie bag from Leslie! Such a great sister to send me something on her BIRTHDAY today! I love you and happy birthday!!! Then one of the girls from back home mailed me the Single Ladies LadyBug, which actually she received it last year from me and one other girl to make her think that it was from a guy! So it got passed along to me this year! I hope that you all have a great day today and remember you have 365 days a year to tell people you love them, don't just wait for this one day to speak. You never know when their last day maybe! I love you all and thank you all for being apart of my life, you have helped me to be who i am today!! Happy Valentine's Day from good ole Troy!!!

In Heaven wasn't so Far Away

Today is not just the day before Valentine's Day, but it would have been Maw-Maw's birthday. I have thought about her a lot today, as she has been gone for 8 years now, she would have been 86 today. I have thought much about her today more than usual. The only way I remember her is after her stroke, where she was never able to talk like a normal person she always would try so hard to say something but the brain would not process it quick enough or it was very hard to impossible for her to put a sentence together. But that did not change the way she would love and care for us. As a kid we would do something to make her mad and it took everything in her to try and get mad at us and to get all he right words out. Paw-Paw most likely wasn't the best help either, always irritating or being stubborn along the way. I remember he would always pick us up from elementary school which that mean he would get there at least an hour before school got out and sit in the window sill display out in front of the library so that he could talk to all the teachers and staff there. Many teachers that are still there today that was then (not many) will be able to tell you about Paw-Paw being there. Then when we would go back to her house she would always fix us an afternoon snack! I remember the Whells chocolate snacks and then the big cheap version of the chocolate rice crispies! I remember it like it was yesterday! There was one room that was the toy room where everything was kept and then when we would have Thanksgiving or such we would have the "kids" table and it was a little wooden table that we got to sit at and have our own little meal! Maw-Maw always gave some of the best hugs too! i as told the other day that I got my blue eyes from here and all i could do was smile! I remember the day and week after she passed away and have thought of her very often, but she has left us with Paw-Paw to put up with, just like she did for many years! We have laughed about it and said she was looking down on us and laughing at us trying to work with him! She did such a great job around the house, raising 3 wonderful kids and many grandkids. We all miss her all the time and i can't wait till i get to Heaven and get to talk and just see what all she has to say! I know that she is looking down at me and giving me one of those big hugs right now! I love you Maw-Maw<3

To Serve not to be Served

Here at Troy when I first got here I was blessed to have someone know someone to get me involved with Campus Outreach (CO) Ministry on campus. If it wasn't for this group I don't know where I would be here today. When I first got plugged in i was assigned to a small group better known as a Discipleship group (D-group) where it was myself and 3 other girls and another girl as our leader. I have been blessed to form relationship with each and everyone of them and to pray for them and then in return have them prayer for needs that I have. God has truly blessed me with CO and with my D-group. This semester we added another girl and switched leaders. And only 3 weeks into it, God has been at work. We have our D-group every week where right now we are going over John Piper's book 50 Reason Why Jesus Came to Die, this is an excellent study that each D-group is doing in CO. The study goes back to the basics and makes you appreciate the small things that Christ has done for us. In a few weeks my group and one other will be going to Montgomery to a place called Common Ground to work with an after school program to be able to give back to them and help those less fortunate. And another thing that we started this semester was Prayer Night, which at 8:00pm on Thursdays we meet at the church and just simply pray. We have a piece of long white paper to write down names of the lost and the found to pray for. But to be in prayer with yourself and then in groups is truly amazing. To be able to see the power of prayer is indescribable to say the least. Next Thursday we are doing something different and we are going to learn about Evangelism and then going to the different dorms and evangelize to others. So please be in prayer as we do this and as we continue to lead others to Christ. There are many people that come and are so close but don't want to or are scared to take that last step. May you pray that God uses be as a tool to let His light shine through me. 

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45