Victory is won not in miles, but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more."

Everyday Frustrations

  Mmm. Frustrations seem to be a larger-than-life part of the routine lately. At first, my method of dealing with these problems were to just grin and bear it. It hit the downward spiral of pure aggrivation and then, just as I was teetering on the precipice of insanity ... God brought to mind James 1:2-4

   "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

    I don't know how many times I've looked at that verse and not thought a thing about it. But when the Lord brings storms, trials, or just simple everyday testing it always seems to come to mind. Through all the craziness life throws our way, He's slowly-but surely working in us and perfecting us into the people HE wants us to be.

The Little Steps

  So often God brings little steps into our lives that lead to even greater opportunities than we could have ever expected. This past Spring, God brought me to the Pregnancy Center as a volunteer. I have semi-acclimated myself to how things are run around here and absolutely love it! :)

   For the past month or so, I've been talking to the N.C Pregnancy Center director about possibly transferring to their Shelby center when I return to school this fall. I met with him on Friday afternoon and was given the job. I was thrilled to death, to say the least.

   God went over and above in answering my prayers! I'm so thankful.

   I also had an interview at Chick-fil-A where one of my friend's works and I got that job as well. It sounds like a lot of craziness between schooling and working, but the Lord has brought me to it and He'll bring me through it as well. I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. :)

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched , they must be felt with the heart.

Rambling on ...

 Good morning, world!

  It's been slow going at work today, which that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It gives me the time to catch up on files or follow-up cards, or just find little things to do around the office. I'm sitting at my desk listening to the train and watching as the clock on the wall rattles in it's wake.

  My sister left for Camp Barnabas yesterday morning, which kept both of us up until midnight the night before packing last minute. We checked the list twice, but not five minutes after she pulled out of the driveway I noticed a folded pile of clothes on my bed.

  One of her favorite shirts, a denim skirt and that green and brown plaid shirt she looks so cute in. Bummer. Hopefully that's all she forgot. If not, I'm sure the friend of mine she's staying with will be more than happy to help her out. ;)

  Little bits and pieces of my wardrobe have gone AWOL on me. Pretty sure they're sitting in a big red suitcase on the dorm floor in North Carolina right about now. If not, K is probably wearing them.

   I don't mind. Girls are girls, sisters are sisters and we love sharing clothes ... most of the time, I'm the one doing the sharing. lol. The girls and I think Dad should just put in a big "closet room" to dump all our clothes in so we won't have to be so dissorganized by splitting the clothes into three different closets.

   He just smiles and says, "Um, I don't think so."  :D

   Can't wait to have my sissy back, but I'm really glad she has the opportunity to go to camp and help Mr. D in the kitchen. I did the same thing last summer and loved it!

Don't Move The Mountain!

"Lord, don't move the mountain ... or I may grow weaker. Give me the STRENGTH to climb! Give me trials that I may not stray. Lord, reach down and show me the way!"

Wherever we are.

"... Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For THOU hast been a shelter for ME, and a strong tower from the enemy." Psalm 61:2~3

 This verse has been such a big encouragement, as well as a comfort to me over the past few weeks. Things are seemingly rising up out of nowhere and could really be disheartening. But the Lord gave me this verse in my devotions several weeks ago and it just seems to stick.

 I LOVE it when God puts something in my path to remind me of His unending love and protection, regardless of whatever I'm going through! We serve an amazing God, I'm beyond thankful and sometimes it just gets me ... That Big | Amazing | Wonderful God is my God!

The Chick-fil-A Cow

So yesterday, Mom and I stopped at the new Chick-fil-A that opened up in Waynesboro.  I love the food, the atmosphere and the friendly people ... but there's only one thing that I really HATE.

                                     The Cow.

Don't fall on the floor in shock! You're not the only one who's asking how in the world can anybody hate the Chick-fil-A mascot. I've often wondered the same thing, mmkay? :)

Everywhere we turned there were people! It's the opening week, so obviously there's going to be a lot of people showing up. Mom and I found a table by the door and not five minutes into our meal, the cow came hustling through the door.

A handful of ideas popped into my head without warning ...

1) Chuck my styrofoam cup of Tea over my shoulder in the direction of said mascot.
2) Excuse myself and head to the bathroom to wash my hands -- that aren't even close to dirty.
3) No eye contact. Maybe he won't pick up any friendly vibes and pass me by, yeah?
4) Suck it up and take it like a man -- just hug the dumb cow already!

Ok, so number four would have definitely been my last resort. But I settled for the lesser of two evils, and avoided making eye contact. And yes, my mother is of course dying laughing. I wasn't about to put it past her to call the cow over and say, "Excuse me, she'd like a picture with you."

Ah, what horrors. :P

The 4th of JULY

We girls took advantage of the time we had while waiting for the parade to start, and climbed up in a tree.

The girls and I being silly -- I was mocking E's natural pose and she's faking a smile like mine. Maybe we were just high on popcicles or soda's ... or something.

My mad face |  K is laughing at me.

P & T lighting Sparklers for the little guys under the big tree.

 Mom bought a big pack of 500, so the guys stayed pretty busy.

Terribly posed | This is before we decided to do a

SILLY POSE!

... yeah, no way I'd post that one. Or five other people would

so be all over me!

All in all, it was a great HOT day. We passed out all but about 60 of our popcicles with tracts.