An Eventful Week

Shew...this week has been an interesting week, and a very busy week. Saturday I got to do a Spring Fling for adults with special needs with my special education class. It was really humbling, and I really enjoyed it. My class worked well together, and it wasn't near as stressful as I made it out to be. Then Erin spent the night with me and we "worked on homework" w, and we had a really good conversation about God and boys. We were busy giggling(what else is new) and didn't go to bed until 1:30 that night, then we got up around 5:45 to see the sunrise at the top of Viking Mountain with Jessie and Kristy. It was beautiful, and we all enjoyed spending time together and soaking in God's glory and splendor in his beautiful creations. It was a great way to spend the first few hours of Easter morning. We spent some time in his word, and headed back down the mountain to hop into our Easter dresses. That afternoon after work I got to have Easter dinner with my family. I was really excited, because when we usually have family dinners I'm always working. I was glad I got to spend the evening eating and hunting eggs with my family. This week I had a lot of tests and projects to do to prepare for finals week. It was kind of busy with all the studying and paper writing and project doing I had to finish. I finished up with three classes this week which is nice, because I only have four finals the week of finals and one of them is a take home which I've spent my Saturday night doing.

Tuesday was the last night for our bible study, and we had snack foods and really enjoyed time together. I feel like God has truly blessed our team, and that I have developed friendships and that we have all grown closer to one another and to the Lord throughout this year. I love my bible study group, and I am thankful for each and everyone of them. Wednesday was the last night of The Well. In the middle of the service everyone got the gold alert text from campus saying there was a tornado warning, and texts and calls from their parents. They continued on with the service, and during the last song everyone was truly worshiping and the spirit was present. I was singing, and all of the sudden I kept seeing flashing lights. My first thought was "Aimee, seriously how many pictures are you going to take?" (love you Aimee haha). Then, I thought "is that a tornado warning", but I just figured they were strobe lights are something then continued worshiping. Then, after the music stopped I realized that it was the fire alarm. It was pretty neat that everyone continued worshiping through the fire alarm. After service we were all told to go on back to school because of all the tornado warnings. We spent most of the night running back and forth from the basement of our dorm and our room. We were blessed to be safe, and have nothing really hit the campus area. However, back home a small area was hit really hard. Many lives were lost, and many houses were destroyed. Its really surreal to see  it happen so close to home. Our community has truly come together, but prayer is still needed and people are still hurting. I know that God is with our community, and even though it was a tragedy he is still there. I'm so thankful that God kept me safe, as well as my family and my home. My mom's good friend from work and her husband, who are Erin's aunt and uncle died from the tornado. It's a very sad situation, and we all must realize that our lives are a blessing and we shouldn't take them for granted.

Rest in the Lord

I always made fun of my mom for making notes. Notes about the things she needs for family dinners, notes of things to do...just notes notes notes. Well I guess I am not allowed to make fun anymore because I write everything down. I write it in my planner, on a sheet of notebook paper, on a post it anywhere so my spastic brain can remember it. Sometimes I find myself making notes of things to do and assignments to finish while I'm in class. I have a planner, but each week I will write all my assignments down on a piece of notebook paper as well. It's pretty ridiculous. I have 19 hours of school this semester, and I work every weekend. So the end of this semester has been a little crazy. This weekend I am super busy with a project that starts at 2 on Saturday for my special education class and lasts pretty much all afternoon, plus working 17 hours. All this on top of all the assignments and tests coming up. However, I'm trying not to complain (not succeeding too well, but I'm working on it). I've been a little  stressed about everything, and during my time with Carly Wednesday we both talked about worrying and stressing about the last weeks of school. God's pretty crazy and the chapter we were reading that week in Hebrews was on resting in the Lord. We are blessed enough that we can rest in the Lord. If we lived in old testament times we would have to schedule in making sacrifices, but thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ we can rest in the fact that he bore the sin for us on the cross.

Forever

Sunday was Palm Sunday and Saturday instead of reading in the book of Isaiah for my quiet time I decided to read the story of Jesus entering in on the donkey when the people raised palm branches and praised his name. I've read this before, and I thought about it before but it really struck me this time around.This verse especially made think about the power of our Lord.
"They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the king of Israel!" John 12: 13
Many many years later I am here today and our Lord's power and majesty still remains. They were praising him then with some of the same words I am today. His power doesn't dwindle, and he still deserves to be praised. We sing a song called "Hosanna" at the Well alot the lyrics say
"I see His love and mercy. Washing over all our sin. The people sing, the people sing.Hosanna, hosanna. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, hosanna.Hosanna in the highest" I just think its really cool that they were praising him that way when he came into town as I am now. I think that just shows that our Lord is even cooler.
It made me think about movie starts or popular artist. Honestly it kinda made me think of Justin Bieber. Justin Bieiber is very popular right now, and all the young teenage girls love him. If he were to come into town people would probably get excited about him coming and may even have a parade. If here were to come into town 50 years from now the excitement level would probably not be the same. If  someone were to talk about him 1000 years from they probably wouldn't know him. With God however, his power and love still remains.  When I was younger the Backstreet Boys and Aaron Carter were the stuff. If they were to have come into town when I was 12 people would have probably gotten really excited. Even now only 8 years later people probably would be as excited. With God, however, his power still remains. He still and will always deserve our praise.
Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Lovely Times

Thankful for my sister in Christ.

Friday was Erin's 21st birthday, and Erin is one of my very best friends! I have many memories from all of our family vacations together. One that we really remember, which doesn't make a lot of sense is our first fight. I was never allowed to let people use my hairbrush when I was little. On one of our family excursions Erin asked to use my hairbrush and I told her no. She was very offended that I told her no, and I for some odd reason said "ABC Wall", whatever that even means haha. Even still we are really good friends, and I am very thankful that God has placed Erin in my life. We can be super silly together, and we always are laughing and having a good time. I hope that one day when we are older and are on summer vacation from teaching we can take our daughters on family vacations and they can become best friends just like us! 
Tuesday Courtney, Kristy, and Erin came up for a girls night out. Courtney had won a Mary Kay party pampering session and we went to Cheddar's. It was a great time to be silly and do alot of make up stuff, that we don't know alot about, well especially me and Kristy. I think the consultant got a kick out of us being ridiculously silly, but it was a great time.
Thursday my roommates and I got to spend some time together decorating Easter Eggs. It was an interesting time, but it was also a nice stress reliever because school is coming to a close so all of our projects and tests are coming at once.

Making Easter Eggs with the Roomies

Friday I went to Leanne Kirk's classroom to tell stories for credit in my storytelling class. I told "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse" and "How the 'Possum Got it's Tail". I was really nervous, but I had alot of fun. The kids seemed impressed at least, and they asked alot of questions, so  I guess it went well.
I also registered for classes this week. I have been really stressed out about this semester coming up in the fall. I had originally thought about getting an add on in special education, graduating a semester early, or just doing an add on to make my self more marketable. I took 18 hours and 19 hours this year so that these options may have been available. I've prayed about it, and I feel like taking these options through school is just because of my doubt in the Lord's plan for my life. I'm really nervous about not finding a job when I graduate, and I think that is a sign of doubt in my faith in him. I don't feel that he has called me into being a special education teacher, and I think I just need to do get my k-6 degree and trust in him. I know that the Lord has a plan for me, and I decided to just take 12 hours this semester, and next so that I will be able to graduate on time after my block schedule and student teaching. Only taking Tuesday/Thursday classes will also give me opportunities to be more involved with The Well and also volunteer and work more. I'm planning on getting an apartment in Johnson City so that will be a big step for me as well, because I will be living up there full time. It's kind of a big step in my life, but I'm very excited and I'm working on fully trusting in the Lord.

Also my church made their annual peanut butter eggs this weekend. They are yummy, and full of calories (which make them very healthy). This is the first year that I've not helped, which makes me feel very old. I always had a blast making them, and I miss it very much. Luckily I still get to eat them. :)

Profound Thoughts with Parking Spots

Thursday I left campus in the middle of the day to go talk to my Aunt and Mammaw because they were in JC. I knew that when I left I would have to give up my parking spot that was only three spaces away from the stairs. It was 1:30 in the afternoon and I knew it would be difficult to find a parking spot near my dorm. I pulled into the first parking lot not directly behind my dorm, but right next to it. I found a parking spot immediately but it was the farthest one away so I thought about it for a minute and then decided that I would see if something better was closer. Even though finding a parking spot closer was very unlikely because it was still midday and lots of people were still in class.  I continued on to the parking lot directly behind my dorm, and I found a spot. Not only was the spot a good one, it was the one closest to the stairs which made it the best spot in the whole parking lot. As I was walking to my dorm I started thinking about how finding my parking spot related to real life. A lot of the times we don't want to take risks when something easy is right in front of us. However, we know that something that is a little out of reach may be out there if we just seek it. Just like the better parking spot was out there, but I already had one it just wasn't that good. Sometimes God has really awesome things out there for us (like a parking spot), but we just choose what is right in front of us because we are scared of what might happen if we try. We are afraid of failure, change, and just sometimes we doubt our God.  I am guilty of all of the above, but I don't want to miss out on those great things God has planned for me.

New Friends

God has truly blessed me with wonderful friendships. I am especially thankful for the friendships that I have found while I am in college. Last year God placed me in Governors Hall  for a reason I didn't know at the time but I do now. If I wouldn't have been put in Governors then I wouldn't have been put in a preview group with Jillian and maybe not have developed the friendship I did with her. Nor, would have I met Chelsea or Ashley through Jillian. God works in incredible ways and I am so thankful for Him blessing me with them as my roommates as well.

God has continued to bless me with new found friendships in college. This time last year I officially met Carly. I've always kind of knew of her and we met for the first time at the county wide baccalaureate our senior year while we were both on stage and nervous wrecks. Carly and I hit it off instantly, we both have big personalities and love to talk and talk! We hung out a couple of times last year as well as a few times over the summer. Now that she is at ETSU with me we have gotten even closer. We have recently started meeting once a week on Wednesdays to study the book of Hebrews. We eat supper in the Culp (although now I know I'm not allowed to take food that I have not bought from the Culp into the cafeteria) and talk and dig into God's word. We usually talk about silly things while we are eating, but they are always good conversations that I always look forward to.  We've only gotten through the first three chapters of Hebrews, but we've already learned alot about the God who desires us. My prayer is that through this, our friendship and our walk with God grows. Even though I've only know Carly for about a year I can't wait to actually do all the crazy adventurous that the two of us talk about.

This time last year I was excited about being able to join ministry teams my sophomore year. I was excited about being a part of a ministry like the Well as well as serving others on campus and God. I knew that I would grow spiritually through this, and I was especially excited about making new friends. I got placed on a team with Eliza and I lived in the same dorm last year as Eliza did but I didn't really know who she was. I always wanted to get to know her because she seemed super cool. Eliza is an education major as well and we both have grown pretty close and have alot in common. I enjoy our silly talks as well as our good talks, and I hope that our friendship continues to grow as well. Since we both are education majors we will probably start having more classes together and I am so glad, because I certainly have enjoyed giggling during our "exercises" n storytelling together.

Oh Happiness :)

I am going to be one of those moms when I get older. One of those moms who cut coupons, buy in bulk, and buy stuff that you may not need just yet just because its on sale. This Monday I made a special trip to Wal-Mart just because I had a few coupons that were going to expire. I saved 5 dollars and I was so excited about it. I will probably get even worse, but I think it's a good thing. David and I also had a coupon for free queso dip from Chilli's, we were pretty pumped about it. They also sent home free chips and salsa., we had soooo much chips and salsa that we ate it for three straight days. We didn't complain at all, and neither did Chelsea.
I also have an embarrassing story to share from this week. Tuesday I was walking to my night class, and trying to read my story that I was going to tell  Thursday at the same time. Well needless to say it didn't end so well. I stepped right in a hole in the middle of the sidewalk and got stuck and my pants were soaked (the hole had water in it). Why there would be a hole in the sidewalk  I do not know, but I sure got a good laugh out of my clumsiness.

Wednesday was a fun night at the Well because of the banquet on Thursday. We had it at Fun Expedition, and we had a blast. I love laser tag, even though I am horrible at it and its super short.
The banquet went really well, and I didn't spill anything on anybody. It was neat to hear some of my friends on ministry team tell their testimonies. It was great to see how the Lord worked in their lives, and despite my gorgeous white man shirt it was a good night. The theme for the banquet was Splendor which is what we talked about the ministry team retreat at the beginning of the year. It was based off of Isaiah 61:3 "They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." Ironically enough I have just started reading Isaiah during my quiet time, I'm only on chapter 17, but I'm really enjoying it even though I've learned that reading the old testament is a lot harder to read and understand than the new testament. I read earlier this week in chapter 11 about a tree reference as well. It was Ch. 11 1:1-3 it was titled  "The Branch from Jesse".  "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him- The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord- and he will delight in the fear of the Lord." 
Saturday as I was driving home I almost fell out of my seat because it was so gorgeous. The mountains were spectacular so I took a little detour and went into the golf course parking lot and took pictures. God's beauty took my breath away, and the mountains just amaze me in so many ways. Still, the God who made those mountains takes time to listen to me. The picture doesn't even do it justice. It was just a gorgeous day and it made my heart super happy.

 

I also have really been wanting some chacos, but I'm super cheap and didn't want to spend that money buying them. I finally broke down and bought them because I know that they would come in handy when I was in Peru. David also picked me flowers today :)