My silly puppies

I miss my sweet puppies....

This is Cambi and she is my sweet girl. I've had her for going on six years now and she was the best addition to my family ever. She has the greatest personality and makes me smile whenever I am sad. I wish she lived in Tennessee with me everyday.





This is Arley and she is my baby girl. She is the baby of the family and has brought so much fun since I got her. She loves to play and has such an energetic spirit. She makes my heart happy and I wish she was here to make me laugh.

Aren't they precious?!

YS Day 3

Today was another full day of work at Youth Specialties. I feel as if I have talked to thousands of people about Vertical Ministries and our passion for reaching the lost. I think I finally understand why some speakers lose their voice after speaking at several events. Wes and I both woke up with scratchy throats today.

The Superwow booth decided to display the Georgia/Kentucky game today during our break. It was so much fun to just sit and watch football with friends, especially considering we were in the middle of a HUGE congress center, ha! It was great. Family Force 5 played at the late night session tonight and we rocked out with them to top off our wonderful day.

I've had so much fun this weekend and I'm a little sad that tomorrow is the last day!

Here is a picture of our booth...

Pretty nice, huh?

Youth Specialties

So my voice is kind of slipping away because I have been talking for two days straight at the Youth Specialties event in Atlanta. Wes and I arrived yesterday and immediately began or session. We are here to promote Vertical and all of our ministers.

So far we have had a blast, besides being exhausted. We were up at 6:00 AM today in order to make through Atlanta traffic. I only about 4 hours of sleep so I was dragging a bit around lunch time.

I've run into quite a few friends while being here...Chris Norris, David Gantt, Jennifer Lynch and a few Superwow staff members. It's been great to see everyone and to catch up with the few I haven't seen in years.

Tomorrow we should be better rested because we don't have to start until 12:30 PM! Yay for sleeping in:)

Family Force 5

I went to the Family Force 5 concert tonight at Rocketown and it was amazing as always! I never get tired of seeing those guys. They have so much energy and personality on stage that you just get sucked in to dancing the whole show!

We had a pretty big crew with us tonight and every single person danced until the last song was over. All I got to say is "Ugly people put your hands down..." haha!

I wish all of you could have been there to experience what we did.

Silly moments

For some reason I get a British accent whenever I'm in a hammock! Not sure why but this video of Emily and me makes me laugh every time I watch it.



We act so silly sometimes!

Colors

While riding back from the Atlanta area today, I stared out the window at the beautiful colors scattered across the wooded areas. There were reds, yellows, oranges, greens and browns. It looked like God picked up a paint brush and carefully painted this picture of beauty and wonder.

I was thinking about each color and what I felt when I looked at them. Yellow brought me a since of joy because it makes me think of golden rays of sunshine. I love how the warm sun feels on my face in the middle of the summer and those yellow leaves took me back.

Orange makes me think of the music in my head. I think of vibrant lyrics and beautiful voices singing. I can remember when I was young, singing softly while sitting under my favorite tree in the fall. It was a pine tree and I always sat there when I needed time to think and reflect.

The red leaves made me think of caution and warning. Sometimes I have all these great ideas in my mind and all these changes that I would like to make but I know I should stop and think. Ask for direction instead of taking the path I want for myself.

Brown leaves make me think back to all the people I have known and have passed along my journey. Makes me miss my Grandma and remember the amazing things she shared and taught me along the way.

The green leaves make me think of life. Possibly a new life. After being in Corpus Christi and seeing thousands of people being born again, green makes me remember them.

Fall is the most beautiful season in my opinion. I love the chilly weather and the magnificent colors. What do the colors mean to you?

My roomie Emily

I don't know if all of you know this but, I have a fantastic roommate named Emily. She makes me laugh and she has always been there when I needed someone to talk to! Emily is an amazing woman of God and teaches me more and more each day. She has a heart for service and just loves on people.

We share a room here in Nashville and we have had many late night talks about Jesus. She makes my heart happy and I am glad she is in my life!





All smiles!




We were in a cocoon... we emerged beautiful butterflies:)




I love this girl!

Night Three

I can't really explain how amazing this week has been! No words could ever be enough to tell all of you how God showed up. We saw over 11000 people this week and over 1300 people made decisions for Christ! How amazing is that....

God showed up and to Him be all the Glory!

Night Two

I'll sum up night two in a few bullet points for you...

*Over 4000 in attendance

*One incredible outreach

*Over 400 decisions for Christ

*One amazing God

Tonight was not about words, songs or tricks. Tonight was about God!

Thanks God

Night One

God showed up! In a huge way...

Tonight was the first night of FX and we saw a crowd of over 1500 people! That's big for a first night. I recognized some faces from the schools we visited today. It was so great to watch these kids enjoy themselves.

But the most amazing thing was the number of decisions that were made tonight. Over 350 people dedicated their lives tonight. What an amazing sight to see kids and adults flood the aisles just to learn more about Jesus.

It was truly an amazing experience!

A Broken City

We have arrived!

Today after some extensive travel, we arrived in Corpus Christi, TX! Our team came in from all over the United States and we are geared up and ready for what God is going to do this week. Satan has already started his attack but we are going to keep pushing through because we have a mission. A mission to share this great love! A love that is so pure and so strong that it can mend broken hearts and heal broken spirits.

I met a man in the airport today named Marty. He is from Corpus Christi and he was telling me all about this broken city. He said that only 10% of the population here is churched. The pregnancy rate and high school drop out rate is extremely high. Middle school girls are having not one, but two babies between the ages of 13-16.

God has brought us to this city for a purpose and I am so excited about watching Him move. Please pray for us as we go into battle against a city that desperately needs the love of Jesus Christ!

On the road again...

"On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again"...

We leave for Corpus Christi, TX tomorrow and I am super excited! The chaos begins and God is going to move like never before! This Freedom Experience is going to be the biggest one this year...

We are hoping to see over 10,000 people this week. We're bringing in all the big guns this week with Group 1 Crew, Eleventyseven, Outcast BMX, Boarders For Christ, Team Faith Motorcross and of course, Brock Gill!

I can't wait to get on that plane tomorrow:)

Look for pictures and God stories in the next few days!!

Office Fun

This is what we do when we get bored in the office, haha!



I love that puppet:)

Happy Halloween

A night dedicated to fun costumes, sweet candy and being silly! I used to love getting all dressed up and heading downtown Greenville for a crazy night with all my friends. It was the biggest event of the year.

This year, I decided I would dress up as a soccer player but for some reason I never actually put the costume on! Haha...sucks getting old!

So what did you dress up as for Halloween??

Relentless

I witnessed this absurd act today at a local restaurant that took me back to my waitressing days. One thing I know is that sometimes people have a way of making days worse than they already are.

Kim and I went to Backyard Burger today for some yummy food. While we were there, these two ladies and one fellow came in with attitudes from the start. I felt really bad for waiter who was obviously having a really hard day. The three people placed their order and somehow the order got all mixed up. I believe one of the burgers had a tomato on it when it was ordered without it. The lady threw a fit and started yelling. She stated several times that she wasn't going to pay for her food and that it was ridiculous that they got her order wrong!

Honestly, how hard is it to take off a piece of tomato. It blows my mind how rude and relentless people are especially when all they want is something for free!I think that everyone should take a class in college on how hard it is to work in the restaurant business! It would definitely change some people's minds and hearts when they realize what waiters and waitresses have to put up with!

OK venting session over:)

Homecoming, ECU Style

I went home this weekend and I had the greatest time ever! I wish I could type out all the details but it would be the longest blog ever! Here are the highlights...

Seeing my parents and getting to hug them
Staying with Janis and Joe
Starlight Cafe and strawberries
ECU killing UAB
Yummy CPW's( which I miss all the time)
TKE sober drivers
Running into all of my sorority sisters in 519
Catching up with an amazing guy
Losing my license in 4th Street
Janis wanting to fight the girl in 4th Street, haha
Hugging my favorite Kristen
Haivng a heart to heart with Jarrod
Couch swap with Mike
Seeing the Johnson's
Boston winning the World Series
Making Pookie look at all 2200 picture on my computer
Eating Parker's BBQ
Just being home

I could go on and on... but instead, I'll show pictures!

You all should have been there!

Photo Shoot

So my friends Natasha, Kim and I decided to do a photo shoot this past weekend. And what better placed to make memories, than downtown Nashville!

Here are a few:

It was so much fun to be silly and capture moments:)

Going home

I'm leaving on a jet plane, I don't know when I'll be back again....

I'm going home tomorrow and I'm super excited! I get to see my parents and friends for three days and I'm not really sure what could top it! You never really know how much you miss something till it's not around anymore! I miss home!

Can't wait to land in Raleigh, NC:)

My doctor's visit

So I've had some pretty traumatic experiences lately but yesterday just took it all! I laugh now but yesterday, not so much!

I went to another doctor yesterday because I had been on meds since Friday and my ear infections were not getting any better. They were actually getting worse, so I needed a second opinion. Well, I went to this amazing lady in Cool Springs who took one look into my ears and told me they were beyond infected(not good). So she told me she was going to give me a shot of antibiotics and she was going to give me a new prescription which would clear everything up quickly! I love quick recoveries!

Well, they gave me this shot in my hip, which I hate shots! From the second she injected me which this medicine, I became light headed and I had to lay down. It only got worse from there. After 15 minutes of laying in the patient room, the doctor told me I was fine to go. As I walked to the front desk, I became very nauseous and I dropped to my knees because my head was so light.

So, to speed the story up, I threw up in a trash can while all the nurses watched then I laid on the cold bathroom floor in agony for 30 minutes from stomach pains. My 20 minute doctor visit turned into a two hour drama!

Lesson learned, DON"T get shots!

Cleansing

This amazing lady in my life said something to me the other day that has been stuck in my mind...

She was telling me a story about a tough time in her life when she was so low she found herself screaming out to God, "God why are you letting me drowned like this?" She knew that I had been struggling lately. In was in that moment when she cried out to God, at her lowest point when He spoke to her and said, " I am not letting you drowned, I am cleansing you!"

WOW!

Sometimes when God is teaching and cleansing us, it's when we are hitting rock bottom with no one but him to turn to. He cleanses the filth and sin from our lives so that He can rebuild us...from the bottom up!

REFRESHING, huh?