all you ever wanted to know

engagement pictures...

2006-08-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

just some engagement pictures...compliments of cary norton (www.theordinary.org)

new blog...

2006-08-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

well, guys...this blog is not dead...do not worry. i will still be posting here occasionally. but in addition we all now have staff blogs at gracecampus.net...

my own personal one is www.gracecampus.net/rebekah

come and read me there!

peace.

update...

2006-08-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

this is really just an update for the sake of an update. things have been kind of crazy lately with getting things ready for the first encounter...which, praise the Lord, was more outrageous than anything we could have ever imagined. we are so blessed!...right now i'm sitting on the couch on a saturday morning (which really feels like sunday because i have friday off) staring at the tv cause i can't find the tivo remote (i could watch live tv...but honestly, who does that?).

me and david are traveling to the 'ham today to take engagement pictures. i'm pretty much ecstatic because we have the coolest photographer known to man...you can check him out at www.theordinary.org. some of liz's wedding pictures are actually up there as well. anyways, that's about all i got for now. peace!

you are the one we have waited for...

2006-07-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

so God has been showing me some really cool stuff lately - and i'm not even going to pretend it is because i have been dilligent in spending time with him. i have been struggling this summer amidst david being gone and trying to get time with him whenever, planning a wedding, starting a new job and trying to move to have quality time with my Jesus. but needless to say, He has once again made perfectly evident His never-tiring pursuit of me.

the most evident theme is God just revealing to me who He is (which leaves you with no other choice than to praise His name). He is huge. He is not like us. He chooses us when he does not even have to. He was perfect. He took our sin. He had heaven. He chose our earth. He was immortal. He chose the most despicable, painful death.

tuesday night at girls' bible study, april took us through the passover/sedar meal. it was so amazing to see how thousands of years before Christ, God gave His people a meal that was perfectly symbolic of Jesus who would fulfill it in His timing. it is amazing how this meal is designed. the coolest part to me was the three pieces of matzah bread that were taken out of a special wrapping, the middle piece is broken and half of it hidden. the children would later go find the hidden piece and bring it back for a great reward. this is so evident that the three pieces are: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. the middle piece (the Son) was broken. He was buried and resurrected and whoever finds Him will have a great reward. also, probably one of the most interesting things was that there was a special dipped bread that was given to a loved one at the meal. this is the very same peice of bread that Jesus dipped and gave to judas when He told him to go and do what he was going to do. even at the end Jesus wanted judas to know that He loved him. even as He told him to go and betray Him. and then, at the end of the meal, Jesus started a new tradition - what we know as communion. he took the piece of bread that was hidden and broke it giving it to each of his disciples telling them that that was His body that would be broken for them. and then He poured out a pitcher and poured out the wine and said that just as He was pouring out the wine so would He pour Himself out. He poured Himself out...emptied Himself. He took our cup of sorrow and gave us a cup of redemption. and even though the disciples have been learning this, now they know that "this is the one we've been waiting for...this is our God!" (thank you, chris tomling). i get chills when i just think about it. about what He did and what it all meant and how He didn't even have to do it.

and then we are given this thing called grace. which blows my mind in a whole other way. grace so that we can live lives to completely reflect Him. and we have twisted it into a free pass to live in whatever kind of sin we can think of and use the "grace" card to say it is ok. well, i'm just going to say it, its not. its not to say that we won't all struggle with something, but to just claim defeat and know that God will forgive us is not how He has called us to live. that's why i'm so glad i work for a campus ministry who claims that with every ounce of its being. our banner: by grace. for glory. that's what we're here for and if we aren't claiming that and praying for that to be true in our own lives, we are just filling space and falling short of what we could be. and i'm saying this coming from that place where i have been knowing that but not praying for it, and if i have happened to reflect Jesus its been through His faithfulness, not because of my desperate pursuit of Him. but He is it for me. He is all we ever need. the rest is just a bonus.

what it is to be a ytterberg...

2006-07-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

well, i just got back from my week in michigan with david and his family. we had so much fun. i haven't seen david all summer because he has been touring with the tim wildsmith band so it was so nice to not only see him, but spend quality time with him (and we had 36 hours of that driving from houston to michigan and back!)

anyways, i wish i could explain the wonder that is bethany beach, mi. it started in 1906 as a christian resort with most of the homes owned by swedish baptist families. over the past 100 years those properties and traditions have been passed down within the same families. recently, there have been a few german and scottish families that have moved in, but for the most part, it is overrun with ytterbergs, nybergs, carlsons, and mathisons. you can't turn around without seeing the blue and yellow of the swedish flag somewhere. its really out of control. this year, it was taken to a whole new level being the 100th anniversary of bethany beach. there were festivities every day. we spent most of our time on the beach though which was nice and relaxing. and the mild weather of lake michigan was a welcomed escape from the blazing 100 degree heat of auburn.

while we were there i had my first wedding shower. david's sisters threw us a shower at the club and we had the shower while the boys played golf. it was so fun and nice to kick off the wedding festivities. it is making it much more real for us. i can't wait to have a home!

anyways, so after a week filled with beach-going, card-playing, big dinners, bon fires, and so much more fun we headed back to houston where we had a short layover before i david had to drop me back off at the airport and i came back home. it was sad, but better knowing that i will see him in a few days when they get back. which i definitely can't wait for.

oh man...

2006-07-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

all i know is that i am SO excited to be in houston right now. i haven't seen david all summer, and it has been the best 10 hours of my life!!!!!!

take me back to my youth...

2006-07-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

whoever came up with the saying "its just like riding a bike...you can't forget how" picked a very bad constant in the bike riding analogy. you CAN forget how to ride a bike after approximately 10 years of not practicing. today me and courtney got it in our heads that we were going to try to ride our bikes to the office. now for those of you who can't quite grasp this picture, we live on magnolia, between gay street and ross...for those of you not from auburn, i'm sorry...point is, its not even a block to the office. so off we go about 15 minutes apart from each other. i pull out of the driveway (and when i say "pull out" i mean i walked the bike down the driveway because i was scared) and onto our side street. next comes the task to cross magnolia...very scary. i'm switching gears because they're too tight and i feel like my chain is about to fly out into the middle of the street. i also have my computer bag on whith my macbook in it, which added a whole new level of stress to this situation. so i make it onto the sidewalk safely and have to immediately switch gears again because it is way too easy now (i forgot about coasting) and i'm weaving all over the sidewalk like a fool. finally i make it to the office 12 minutes late. and courtney meets me at the door like "did you almost die, too?" basically we had similar experiences. mine was so bad i ditched the bike at the office and courtney (who had gone home for lunch and picked up her car) took me home.

but, if you think we decided to let this get the best of us, you are sadly mistaken. we were inspired by a guy riding his bike and holding a cup of tea (thank you brave stranger). we decided we had to become such good riders we could hold a drink, talk on our cell phones and switch gears all at the same time. so tonight after girls bible study we head up to the auburn bank parking lot. me and courtney walked her bike up there so i could pick mine up at the office. then we proceeded to practice riding around the office. we actually got brave enough to take on some speed bumps. we were so proud of ourselves. there we were at the ripe ages of 22 and 23 relearning how to stand up and pedal at the same time. it was great!

God never changes...

2006-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

i love these words....mostly because they were written half a millenium ago...

"o eternal Father! o fiery abyss of charity! o eternal beauty, o eternal wisdom, o eternal goodness, o eternal mercy! o hope and refuge of sinners! o immeasurable generosity! o eternal infinite good! o mad lover! and you have need of your creature? it seems so to me, for you act as if You could not live without her, in spite of the fact that You are Life itself and everything has life from You and nothing can have life without You. why then are You so mad? Because You have fallen in love with what You have made! You are pleased and delighted over her within Yourself, as if You were drunk for her salvation. she runs away from You and You go looking for her. she strays and You draw closer to her. You clothed Yourself in our humanity and nearer than that You could not have come.
"and what shall i say? i will stutter, 'a-a' because there is nothing else i know how to say. finite language cannot express the emotion of the soul that longs for You infinitely. i think i could echo paul's words; the tongue cannot speak nor the ear hear nor the eye see nor the heart imagine what i have seen! what have you seen? 'I have seen the hidden things of God!' and i - what do i say? i have nothing to add from these clumsy emotions of mine. i say only, my soul, that You have tasted and seen the abyss of supreme eternal providence."
st. catherine of sienna

catherine was considered, to the medieval historian, a mystic - one who is able through some mysterious power to have direct communication with the Lord outside the walls of a church and intercession of a priest. i just think she was a girl who loved and knew her Savior in a passionate way.

stating the obvious...

2006-07-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

brokenness is amazing...being lonely is refreshing...God is all-sufficient...

staff meeting on wednesday was so good, because God is doing something huge in all of us. some of you got to hear that from biscuet's mouth thursdsay night. it's just so good to know that the older you get, God never stops growing/breaking/teaching you.

can't get the hell out of texas...

2006-06-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

...cause it's the hell raisin' center of the earth! (just wanted to clarify that i wasn't cursing here)

i feel like i have just spent the last week of my life floating through this dream-like existence. and now i am back in auburn, laying on a subleased bed, and have killed 2 roaches in less than ten minutes. my dad used to look at pictures of wyoming and wonder how you could feel homesick for a place that isn't actually your home. now i understand that and my answer is yes.

i got to spend 6 days in a car with three of my best friends - courtney, christi, and mckenzie. that in itself is so cool. but the time we had and the things we experienced were so much greater than i had ever in my wildest imagination could have dreamed. i haven't read through painted deserts by donald miler, but i feel like i have just lived something similar to it. we got to experience a great small town - waco - and all it had to offer. we spent an amazing 2 days in austin and it was over too soon. we got to spend some great time with my two best friends in the whole world - mandy and joel - in san antonio and then we pit stopped in houston to cut the trip and visit a lonely friend, brett. the time in the car, however, was priceless.

one of my favorite conversations was actually with daniel - our austin tour guide - (it took place in the car, so it still counts)when he was telling us about this woman in england who started a ministry for college students and she was never successful in the world's standards, but how her dream was to leave for her children a legacy of ministry instead of money. and that's exactly what she did.

austin also taught me how to love. i know that sounds stupid, but i have never met more genuinely nice people in my life. and they aren't all believers and i know that -in fact the majority of them aren't. but still to see people who are nice because it's better than the alternative is a nice change. it just made me realize how much time we waste being stupid, or rude, or in a bad mood about something ridiculous, when really we should just embrace the time that God has blessed us with to make the most of every moment. and that includes relationships.

the moral of this story is to be so wise with your time, and realize that you can't get it back. as mckenzie said as we left our friend's house sunday night, "life goes by too quickly, and this day is just proof of that." i have come back from this trip with a genuine thirst for Jesus and for Him alone to satisfy me. it has been a long time coming and it is such an amazing place to be.this is my favorite picture of the whole trip because christi looks absolutely precious...it was supposed to just be a test shot for the self -timer, but it is so cute!!!!

all of us in a cut out of texas. this was at the rest stop into texas but we had to turn around because we were actually leaving texas...boo!

andy and jenny's rehearsal dinner

i'm so glad we got lost or we never would have found this

us with daniel...he spent his one day off showing us around...he's a very nice boy

austin java company...only one of the reasons we loved our visit to austin...and we don't even know who this boy is with us

totem pole

basically we were tired of the same old pose...there were only the four of us (well, five in this picture)

last stop on the way out...houston...and we got to see brett - yay!

everything is bigger (and better) in texas...

2006-06-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

well, since it is 1 am, this will just be a very short post. basically, we are in austin right now. we are leaving tomorrow for san antonio. and we have already left waco in our wake of destruction. we have made a new best friend and are having the time of our lives. we are so sad to leave austin because it is the most fun city we have ever been to in our lives. i can't even describe the sadness we feel about leaving this amazing place. everyone is so nice!!!! i can't even understand it myself and i'm here. anyways, i have got to go to bed but there will be a more extensive blog coming later with pictures and everything!

p.s. i sat next to chris tomlin in church tonight....that's right, i'm so cool.

two days til texas!!!

2006-06-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

so, to put a little break in our laid back auburn summer, me and some of my best girls - courtney, mckenzie and christi - are deciding to go to texas. our reason, andy and jenny's wedding...our intention to find a good time wherever it may be. here is a rough schedule:

friday morning : depart around 5 AM!!!! that's right. got to get on the road early to get to waco in time for the rehearsal dinner on a freaking cool river boat. and its western themed. fun!

saturday : we have a day to kill before the wedding. rumors of the dr. pepper museum are swirling. i'm not quite sure, but i sure am excited.

saturday night : immediately following the reception, we shall depart waco for austin - a.k.a #1 city in america for singles and 20-somethings. woot woot!

sunday : we shall be escorted around austin by some friends we have awaiting us there. so excited!!!

monday : we will still hang in austin for a bit but will be on our way to san antonio to stay with my bff's, mandy and joel. there we will hit up the riverwalk.

tuesday : finish up business in san antonio and head on to houston later in the afternoon. we will be staying the night with david's parents before heading back on wednesday

i can't wait. to see new things. to get out of auburn for a little while. to just have a good time with some great girls. yeah!

such great heights

2006-06-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles
In our eyes are mirror images and when
We kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate that God himself
Did make us into corresponding shapes like
Puzzle pieces from the clay
True, it may seem like a stretch, but
Its thoughts like this that catch my troubled
Head when you're away when I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road for
Several weeks of shows and when you scan
The radio, I hope this song will guide you home

disclaimer: i'm really not that sad and i'm having fun this summer. but i miss david.

sad summer...

2006-06-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

well, not really that sad in the scheme of things. but this is my face the day after david left. it is sad. i'm not one of those girls who really can't handle their significant other being out of town. i'm really not that needy. but i guess things are different now that we are getting married, especially since that is only 5 months away. and i'm so excited that he gets to go on this amazing tour...hang with robby seay (hopefully) and make awesome connections. i'm just sad. two months without dave. but it will go by fast, especially since it won't even be 2 months. i actually will get to see him in july when we take a quick detour up to lake michigan which i am so excited about. probably one of my favorite places on earth.

on the plus side, i have some things to be looking forward to:
1. father's day - especially now that my dad bought a harley roadster
2. a wicked road trip to texas to see the sites of waco, austin, san antonio, and houston that we will be documenting...travel channel here we come
3. 4th of july at the lake
4. michigan (already mentioned)
5. sitting in the office with courtney
6. friday's off

anyways, that's about all i got. i promise there will be positive blogs this summer. not all moaning and groaning about david not being around. it is going to be so much fun and my last summer as a single girl so i am going to enjoy my time with my gals - namely courtney since we pretty much live inside each other's brain. but anyways, i can't wait to see what the rest of this summer holds. i love summers at auburn!!!

i almost have a job...

2006-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

well, so now i'm in that awkward period of time between being supported by my parents and being an independent with a steady paycheck. i have already started working part time with grace campus ministries while i wait for the rest of my support to come in. i am very close however. the only thing is that even when mine is raised we still have to get david supported. we are faithful though, knowing full well that God has opened so many doors to allow us to be here and He has kept us here in spite of doubt and discouragement. i am so excited to work with gcm, though. its pretty much the best job you could ask for. first and foremost, its all about the glory of God. even while i sit here making the deposit and emailing our accountant. it shows me God's faithfulness to support His children through the giving and selflessness of others. also, its completely casual. i can wear jeans and a tshirt if i want to. i love that! really importantly, i get to work with some of the coolest people i know. i love it! i just love being in the same office with these people. even there are only 5 of us here this summer. it is still great. summers at auburn are the best. they are so calm and quiet and there is so much community that happens. that's actually how i met and started dating david...auburn summer 2004. anyways, i just ask that you continue to pray that david and i will be supported so we can actually pay bills and insurance and stuff. but also, that we will remain faithful and learn what God has for us during this time. also , in the off chance that anyone reading this wants to support us you can email me at rebekah@gracecampus.net or just message me. thanks to everyone who has supported us. it means the world!!!!

night...

2006-06-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

so my love of history, especially world war II, combined with some free time have led me to read the book "night" by elie wiesel. the book (which isn't long if any of you would like to read it) is written by a concentration camp survivor (elie). the basic theme, however, is of the journey he was on and how it led to his loss of faith in God. after reading so many stories like those of anne frank and cory ten boom and how they remained faithful and loving - for frank until she was ultimately killed, it was a reality check to read the story of someone who had been so faithful and eager to learn about God and who just found it to make more sense that God can't be real.

"never shall i forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. never shall i forget that smoke. never shall i forget the little faces of the children whose bodies i saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
never shall i forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
never shall i forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity of the desire to live. never shall i forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. never shall i forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. never." elie wiesel, "night"

his words are so moving and harsh and you almost want to agree with him that there is no way it could be possible for God to ordain something so horrible and unimaginable. but then i think of the "screwtape letters" which c.s. lewis was writing around the same time that wiesel was experiencing all of this and in it the devil is telling is nephew (screwtape) that it is important for humans to think that all the lies he (the enemy) tells us are our own thoughts. if we were to suspect that they are lies from the enemy, we would be able to fight them with the power of the Holy Spirit. in any case, i can't imagine being in such a terrible hell-on-earth sort of a place, not even believing in the Messiah (elie, like most orthodox jews, didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah) and losing faith in the one thing that had ever made sense in my life - God.

"He was not the only one to lose his faith during those selection days. I knew a rabbi from a little town in Poland, a bent old man, whose lips were always trembling. he used to pray all the time, in the block, in the yard, in the ranks. he would recite whole pages of the talmud from memory, argue with himself, ask himelf questions and answer himself. and one day he said to me: "its the end. God is no longer with us.
and, as though he had repented of having spoken such words, so clipped, so cold, he added in his faint voice:
'i know. one has no right to say things like that. i know. man is too small, too humble and inconsiderable to seek to understand the mysterious ways of God. but what can i do? i'm not a sage, one of the elect, nor a saint. i'm just an ordinary creature of flesh and blood. i've got eyes too, and i can see what they're doing here. where is divine mercy? where is God? how can i believe, how could anyone believe, in a merciful God?" elie wiesel

i think the most amazing thing about this book is that despite his comments to the contrary, it is most evident that he still believes in God, but can't make sense of the world around him. there is still a fear though...a reverent fear of God that keeps him searching for answers. i can't even begin to understand what those people went through and say that it would be easy to remain faithful, but i think the difference is believing in a personal God who desires a relationship and the belief in an impersonal God who just seeks out those who need to be punished.

"i simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death...i think...peace and tranquility will return again." anne frank

long time, no blog...

2006-05-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

so sorry that i haven't blogged in a while...does anyone even read this anymore? well, just to catch up on the events that have transpired since i started sponsoring my little ugandan child...my sister has officially become mrs. jd wilson. it was the greatest week of wedding craziness i have ever experienced. we had such a great time. we started out on wednesday night with the bachelorette party...but it was vegas...what happened wednesday night stays on wednesday night. (it really wasn't that crazy) then thursday was all that stuff like the bridesmaids luncheon and the rehearsal...both of those were great. friday, though was so much fun. we started out at morgan's salon...if anyone lives in birmingham, go to morgan ashley..she's the best. we were there from 10 to 2:30 getting hair and make-up done, eating panera bagels and hanging out. it was the most relaxing morning of pre-weddingness i've ever experienced. we then moved on to the church where we got ready and started taking pictures. cary norton (see theordinary.org)was the photographer. he is amazing and i can't wait for him to do my pictures. if you saw their awesome engagement pictures, he shot those as well. we had the most amazing time of prayer for liz and needless to say afterwards, we all had to reapply our makeup. anyways, it was the sweetest and most romantic wedding i've ever been too. it was great. the reception was so fun...sanchez delivered. besides the near death smoke accident with the sparklers, the night could not have been better. when i have pictures, i will post them. just a little side note, this blog is brought to you by my new macbook. its the first major purchase i've ever made and i can hardly believe it. i'm so excited. i should graduate from college every week.

meet my baby

2006-05-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

how could you not see this face and fall in love? so for those of you who aren't familiar with the invisible children movement, it is an organization that is trying to raise awareness about children being abducted in the middle of the night in northern uganda and forced to fight in the LRA (lord's rebellion army). it is such a sad story so these children have been on my heart since passion. so this sunday the mwangaza children's choir came to cornerstone to sing and they are from uganda (crazy!) so me and courtney had it set in our mind that we had to go. we went and they did a few songs and the two of us were in tears the whole time. we went back that night to see the whole program with the intention of picking out children to sponsor. i went thinking i wanted a girl, but as soon as i saw little joel's face, i fell in love and couldn't put his picture down. so he is the one we have. me and david have taken it on to support him throughout his entire education (and hopefully longer). ours and courtney's children are from the same village in western uganda so now we pretty much have to go plan a trip to visit them. they are from an area of uganda that is very AIDS ravaged, rural - mostly made up of refugees from rwanda. how can you look at these faces and not do anything? if anyone reading this by any chance wants any more information on sponsorship or making donations you can go to African Renewal Ministries Website, www.africarenewal.org or if you would like to learn more about the invisible children movement, you can go to www.invisiblechildren.com.

day of rest...

2006-04-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

so if i have slightly said two words to you over this past semester, i'm sure you've been able to pick up on a little underlying stress. blame it on my internship, raising support, planning a wedding, helping with my sister's wedding...basically not trusting God. well, this past week has also been compounded with a sinus infection/cold. so today i accidentally took the day off. i overslept my alarm clock this morning (couldn't sleep cause i ran out of cough medicine and am too cheap to go buy more) so in my daze this morning i called in sick...normally i would wake up and go in late, but i was too tired to think straight. anyways, so i took the day off and got some desperately needed sleep. well, david told me to get ready and we were going to lunch. so we went and got jimmie john's and took it to samford lawn. this was not only refreshing to be outside on such an amazingly gorgeous day, but to be back on campus was great because i have missed it so much this semester. we did however, have to park at the grace office and walk because of the traffic, which meant i carried my old comforter across town and into jimmie john's in the middle of the lunch rush, but i was fine with that in order to get some quality time with my man. so we sat, ate and laid on samford lawn for a while just catching up and enjoying each other (we haven't physically laid eyes on each other since sunday night) so that was so great and refreshing! after an emergency caused us to leave (i won't say what but the caffeine hit me hard), we went to get david's hair cut. it was so nice to get out. sad to say that our little excursion really wore me out, but it was worth it and it think it did more for my health and spirits than laying around the house all day ever could have. thank you Jesus for my amazing day of resting with You!

what a day...and its only noon

2006-04-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

on days like to day its important to remember twice as many good things as bad things...

top eight:
1. my precious mother who let me cry to her this morning prayed for me over the phone
2. i got to drive to school in daylight
3. my 2nd block students started singing "amazing grace"...they didn't know why but it was really encouragement from Father
4. i got asked to the prom
5. my 3rd block kids said they were really going to miss me
6. Jesus loves me
7. this day isn't over
8. good thing its not about...the bottom four

bottom four:
1. i overslept an hour for school
2. i got a speeding ticket on the way going 63 in a 45
3. i had my final observation today and my supervising teacher was not there (and neither was the lesson or the papers i needed)
4. i had to teach all three classes (if you knew 2nd block...you would understand)

what a great weekend...

2006-04-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

can i just tell you how happy i was to go home this weekend??? i really was. i haven't been home since my birthday in february and i love my family so i miss them when i don't see them for a while. anyways, this weekend we kicked off wedding fun for liz with her first shower. it was great.

friday>> me and my future sister (sort of) christi left auburn for the ham. first we stopped by chick-fil-a for a luscious milkshake to get the trip kicked off right. i was exhausted so i slept for while before chrsiti panicked in montgomery because she didn't know where she was going. so i woke up about to die of heat stroke because of the sun and christi's hot computer sitting on my lap (listening to iTunes...this is what the kids that don't have iPods do)...when the computer died, we rocked out to jock jams (not just one cd...we listened to both of them). finally, we reached our destination. we got home only to turn around and leave again with my mom and sister to run some erands. we went many places but the only place that matters was macy*s because macy*s holds my dream pair of shoes...i can't even explain how amazing they are...i would give my soul for these shoes. too bad you can't convert soul into cash, because i left empty handed. we burned the midnight oil licking and stamping wedding invitations. friday night we had a bout with a tornado...me and liz slept right through it but christi was scared...we were all pretty tired the next day.

saturday>>we got liz's dress altered and got our hair did. morgan has recently started selling vintage jewelry and accessories in her shop so i was super excited to be there. then we went to the mall and did some more shopping. i didn't do any shopping but i did look around a bit. it was fun just hanging out with the girls (oh yeah, carol had met us by this point). saturday afternoon chrisi went on a date with zachary bryant (a.k.a. hottie cheerleader) and that left me, liz, and carol to fend for ourselves...after about an hour of painful debate, we decided on a large pizza with olives, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions on one side and banana peppers on the other with an order of garlic cheese bread. full and happy i fell asleep in the chair.

sunday>>the big day! liz's tea...we had so much fun catching up with old friends and family. everyone was asking how my planning was coming for my wedding and for once i'm glad we had nothing done so i didn't have to repeat the same thing a thousand times. i just said "its not."

anyways...i know this is stupid and may seem boring...but it really was a great time to see my family and especially my sister. we had a great time and i'm ready for easter.

i love my future job!!!!

2006-04-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

right now i am stuck in this place that i can't for the life of me figure out why i am here. i am teaching some of the biggest punks. actually right now one of them is talking about his prison terms and how right now there is a warrant for his arrest and he is a suspect in a shooting that happened last night...this is my world. thursday a freshman went into labor in class and these are only things that are recent. i can't really explain what it is like here. its probably the most frustrating thing i've ever done...

BUT

the light at the end of the tunnel is that in may i am starting my dream job...david and i are going on staff with gracecampusministries. i love it. i have been a part of it for the past three years and have just really found my home there. this past week was so hard because the whole staff besides myself were in atlanta for the passion thirsty conference. not only was this an amazing opportunity find refreshment in the Lord but also it was an exciting time for our staff because matt dean had the privilege to lead a breakout session. i wish i had been there!!!!

but i did get to meet up with them this weekend at the lake. it was great we were all there including the babies and tim who came all the way from omaha for the momentous occasion. we had such a great time, so in honor of our weekend, i'm stealing (once again) courtney's top eight bottom five of the staff retreat:

top 8:
1. david's speedo
2. tim, matt, biscuet, and courtney's acting out moses and ziporah circumcising isaac
3. jake's impression of tim (fully equipped with matching tatoos) - dick wildsmith commin atcha!
4. sleeping in the tiniest space on earth (i felt like i was back in the womb)
5. watching tim tube (we thought he put on a lifejacket because he was going to go first...nope, just scared of water)
6. finally having an explanation for will's personality :) (and everyone's for that matter)
7. mine, john, andy, and barrett's "ode to courtney hurst"
8. april foolsing biscuet into believing that i dropped courtney's new iBook

bottom 4:
1. 12 people's morning breath
2. riding back with trash in the car
3. cold showers (and then finding out that it was only our shower)
4. david's speedo

i could have danced all night...

2006-03-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

man, last sunday night me and david partook in his early birthday present. that's right, jamie cullum at the tabernacle in atlanta. needless to say, it was amazing!!!! it rivaled coldplay for the best concert i've ever been to (but its really hard to compare the two because they are completely different). anyways, he was so energetic - i mean the works: jumping off his piano, beating on his piano like drums, playing drums, playing guitar...everything. plus, he was just funny. it was a great night though, for me and david to hang out since that doesn't happen very often.

on another note, i'm really sad my spring break is almost over. one more weekend in clearwater, then back to phenix city to teach the adorable little seniors who are just as ready to graduate as i am.

my new nickname...

2006-03-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

well, i have a new one that the kids gave me...in addition to being called wilkey way (the white chocolate milkey way), i have now earned the new nickname ms. silkey. i don't really know what it means and i don't answer to it...i only respond to ms. wilkey, but it's still funny.

sometimes i love my job...

2006-02-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

there is nothing funnier than a ghetto gangsta football stud impersonating napolean dynamite...and being dead serious

..."wha mi wike? i lo tha guy...he so funny! could you bring me some chapstick? my lips hurt bad! ga!"

who wouldn't want to marry this guy?

2006-02-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

you heard right...

2006-02-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

the moment has finally come! david and i are getting married!!!!!!!!! can you believe it? i hardly can. it was a pretty crazy day yesterday...so here's the story...

my birthday is tomorrow and he was going to take me to destin for my birthday to shop for jeans. so we got up early and drove to destin and went shopping...couldn't find any good ones but we did get some good stuff and banana republic. so then we went along onto the beach. we were going to kill some time before we had to go to the restaraunt to eat. so we were chilling in the car. we really were talking about just putting a movie in the portable dvd player and taking a nap (cause we had gotten up really early). but we talked for a little while then decided to go walk on the beach. for those of you who don't know, we had our first kiss on the beach in destin. so we were walking along and it was probably about 45 degrees outside. and naturally we decided to walk barefooted because we were on the beach but it felt like we were walking in the snow. so anyways, after a while i begged to stop walking cause i thought my feet were going to fall off. so, we stopped and we were all bundled up together and he started telling me how glad he was that we do stuff like this and how much fun we have together. and at this point, i don't have a clue and i'm talking back to him and we're laughing but he's really trying to propose. but so he kept saying sweet things and that progressed into how i'm the only person that he wants to be with and how he couldn't imagine being with anyone else. and then came the "and for that fact i couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else" (and somewhere in here i thought he said something about losing a leg in vietnam and i would still love him, but apparantly i was hillucinating) so then he gets down on one knee and i immediately freak out because i didn't like being left alone up there. and he said "rebekah wilkey, will you marry me?" and i said yes. and i was really impressed with the speed at which i answered because when he said "i love you" for the first time it took me like 10 minutes to say something back because i was in shock...so i thought for sure the proposal might never get an answer, but i immediately said yes. and then we kissed and all this was while the sun was setting. then we made our way back to the car because is was so cold and he have me a piggy back ride most of way back because i couldn't feel my feet. it was amazing...it couldn't have been better. so then we went to dinner at this place called 30 degree blue in panama city. it was awesome even though they treated us funny because we were in jeans. we watched batman begins on the way home then when we finally got back to auburn, we walked into my house and a whole bunch of people who thought they were there for a surprise birthday party got a big surprise because it was an engagement pary too. so that was that and it was amazing and the best day i could ever imagine!

last night has me thinking...

2006-02-10T07:02:00.000-08:00

so, i've really been thinking about something matt said last night at encounter. he said something to the effect that we are a generation that loves to talk and sing about God's glory, but i'm afraid that we are going to be a generation to leave it at talking and singing and never act on it. that is something that God has been putting on my heart this past year. i don't care what anyone says theologically about knowing God...it is a completely different think to acknowledge God and His power and glory and then to actually act in response to that acknowledgement. don't get me wrong...i'm not saying to know God with your head is bad...you need to experience Him with your mind, intellectually as well as spiritually. too often we assume that because we can't feel God, He isn't there, when the truth is you can't trust your emotions and to know Him with your mind reminds you of that (if that made any sense whatsoever). but the point is, knowing without acting is nothing. we like to talk a big talk these days then turn around and live a completely different life. the ONLY thing that can sustain a God-glorifying life is God in us. we don't do it. it is nothing of our own effort. and when we think it is is when we mess up. it is a daily surrender and forfeit of your "rights" to your own life. because a life led by God takes us to places so much sweeter than any place we could have gotten by ourselves.

my daddy's on cnn...

2006-02-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

that's right...fire marshall greg was on cnn.com because he has been investigating the 9 church fires that happened this past week. that's him in the green jacket and boat hat (he sunburns easy)...so anyways, how often is your dad on cnn?

my new obsession

2006-02-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

so, i love project runway. while i'm at school i think of things i will be doing later to keep me excited. yesterday i thought about the new episode of gilmore girls (which, by the way, rory and logans "big news" was a total letdown). today, i cannot wait until me, mckenzie and emily get together to watch the new episode of project runway. i love the tension of designing the dress then shopping for fabric in 30 minutes on a $150 budget. i sit on the edge of my seat waiting eagerly for santino to snap. i want daniel to win so badly i can taste it...i only wish i could wear his clothes...even the flower dress. why is he gay? anyways, this is what i am looking forward to. dinner with the band then project runway with the girls. don't let me down, daniel. don't let me down.

quote of the week

2006-02-01T06:02:00.000-08:00

"is that like nelly-vanelli?"
-my mom in response to my sister saying she wished she had known nelly was going to be at lenox mall. oh, claud!

stick with me...

2006-01-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

ok, this is a bit long, but there was no way to edit without it losing a little "something." it is from crowder's praise habit so if you've already read it, feel free to move along to the next blog on your link list. or if you don't want to read something long and "serious" you're not going to hurt my feelings. but i was sitting in the doctor's office today for what felt like an eternity (approx. 2 hrs. 55 min.) and this chapter hit me like a bag of bricks upsides the head. so without further ado...

"psalm 50 starts with what must be one of the grandest statements of history. GOD informs us that He is about to speak. and if there is confusion about which god, well it's God the God of gods - GOD. you know, Caps Lock GOD. i'm pretty sure no other gods get the caps lock key. when caps lock happens it indicates a translating of the personal name of God. the one revealed to moses at the burning bush. you will see it in some translations as LORD. caps lock. caps lock GOD doesn't show up to make a meed request, "um, excuse me. uh okay, i'm about to say a few things if i could have your attention please." no, this is not what happens. His entrance is huge! He speaks - no, shouts - "Earth!" whoa. the hair on the back of my neck just stood up. this voice could split you apart. GOD shows up shining, scattering glittered beams everywhere, His magnificent spledor on display. the whole of the heavens are summoned. all of the cosmos is at attention. this is huge! it is our Creator who is about to speak. the One who started this all is about to open His mouth as judge.
He starts proceedings with good news. He states that He doesn't find fault with israel's blood sacrifices. but then He begins to question. He asks why He should want them? did He not create the bull and the goat? do we think He is hungry and in need of them to feast on? is He thirsty and the only thing fit to quench such thirst is the blood of a freshly slain lamb? then after this rhetorical line of questioning, He makes what i think could be a defining statement for our understanding of praise. the sacrifice caps lock GOD is looking for...praise.
what? isn't that like calling us all together to say "hey i just wanted to be the center of attention?" let me try to reframe GOD's address and perhaps make it cut a little more for our moment.

i don't find fault with your singing of songs. but do you think i'm in great need of music? do you think it is too quiet where i am? did i not make the air molecules to vibrate and dance in such a way tolet melody float from here to there? do you think i am in great need of hearing these songs that were my breathings in the first place?

we may argue, "isn't that praise? songs=praise, right?" i think they're more like burnt offerings. the good news is that GOD doesn't find fault with our song offerings. there's nothing wrong with them. in fact, they can be beautiful expressions. but often they're nothing more than ritual, and at their worst they can even be provoking to GOD. well then, what is He looking for? what is this praise He's after? it is praise living. it is GOD leaning in and shouting, "I am the center!" and the sum of our lives nodding back in agreement. it is the core of our hearts echoing this statement...he is not begging to be the center - he is the center. He is the source. our songs might verbalize and echo that at times, bt so what? it is the nuts and bolts of our living that indicate if we really think this is truth. i would be so bold as to say eating barbecue and wearing the sauce on your fingers and face and a grin as big as texas with the knowledge that caps lock GOD is at the center of this can be truer praise than belting this "song ritual" that we have elevated to dangerous heights.
...higher than our ritual is the simple acknowledgement that, in truth, He is what we need. we, like the israelites, often find rescue in the burnt offering and not in the GOD who is the source of all. we find comfort in the song and not the Comforter. it is a subtle but necessary shift. it is more difficult to find the Creator in a barbecue sandwich than in your favorite Sunday-morning song, but when you do, when you begin to find Him in all the stuff of life, everything starts singing. every moment breaks into song. every breath becomes sacrifice, and the songs become sweetness. this is living praise."

heart for the nations....

2006-01-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

there is no doubt in my mind that God is raising a generation of people whose goal in life is to glorify Him and make His name known to the ends of the earth. i am so excited to be a part of a generation that is saying yes to Him and opening our arms wide to embrace whatever it is He has in store for us, even if it takes us as far as Africa or China.

beau in china charting villages that don't have churches

carol in guaimaca, honduras

sherri in Africa

liz in honduras on orphanage emmanuel

maggie in tanzania

me in honduras also on orphanage emmanuel

t ward in kosovo

christi on the opposite side of honduras

amen, thank you Jesus...that all may know your name...

2 BILLION UNREACHED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

that's right, my boyfriend's hot

2006-01-21T17:22:00.000-08:00

say hello to the new david

go therefore....

2006-01-19T23:06:00.000-08:00

so i know that probably everyone's blogs are going to be flooded with reflections on tonights message and i know that i should probably be in bed right now because it is late and i have to get up in 5 hours. but i don't care. God is so amazing and i'm so excited right now. not an emotional excitement but more of a culmination of everything God has been doing in my heart this past month. matt (browning's) message tonight on God's heart for the nations just made my heart want to burst for the people of the world who NEVER HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY to hear the message of God. and the fact that only 1 cent of ever dollar in America donated to foreign missions goes to unreached people groups appalls me more than i can even express. but then what do i do? God has given me a heartbeat for these people. me and courtney stayed up one night at passion talking about it. its not that my heart doesn't beat for the people of auburn, because i do care about them, but it's like we said that night and matt reiterated to night "you can't swing a dead cat around this town without hitting a church." people in auburn have a choice of about 10 campus ministries and a couple dozen churches at their disposal and there at 2 billion people who have never heard the name of JESUS. oh, what parched land that is longing for just a drop of rain. my desire is to someday be able to organize groups of college students to send to different areas and lead trips to some of the most unreached areas of the world. God has revealed that to me lately, and i am content to wait and be a part of gcm's role in the china ministry until i have the opportunity to accomplish that dream. i am so blessed to be going on staff with a ministry that not only longs to reach the hearts of college students in auburn, but the future leaders of some of the most corrupt nations in the world. i don't know how i will sleep tonight but i will have to try. for now i am going to stop this ramble. but i pray the power of the Living God over anyone who reads this that God will pull at your heart as He has mine for these people who are begging - all creation waits desperately for the sons and daughters to be revealed - for someone to come and tell them about Christ.

mmm, mmm, mmm

2006-01-16T16:02:00.000-08:00

i mean, is it any wonder that i love this man? well, i do and i think most of you know that. dave is probably one of the coolest people i've ever met and i bet that most of you have never even seen that side of him. not that ya'll don't think he's cool, but i love that he has this whole other side that i think i am one of the few people who gets to see it (besides his family, crusty, floyd, and walt). come to think of it, i don't think i've ever really written about him on here. anyways, we have officially been together 1 year, 4 months, and 24 days. oh yes, i just counted that up. the greatest thing about him is that he finds his satisfaction in our Jesus and not in me or his music or anything else. i don't mean this to be a sickening, sappy blog. i miss him. i haven't seen him in a while and we haven't really talked since wednesday. but anyways, i figure, though that i would steal courtney's top 8, bottom 4 and give you a humorous look at our relationship (and he's probably going to kill me for this):

top 8:
1. he always asks me how my heart is
2. he doesn't try to pretend to be something he's not
3. he has longer hair than mine
4. we have way too much fun together in the dumbest situations
5. my little cousin is in love with him (when a little girl is in love with someone for as long as kaylee has been in love with david, it's a good sign...little girls know what's good)
6. he likes to buy groceries and cook (thank goodness, cause i thought i was gonna have to do that)
7. he lets me air drum with him and tells me that i do a good job even when i suck
8. he's a rockstar, duh

bottom 4:
1. i air drum now
2. when you're talking to him and he doesn't answer he's thinking about drums on ebay
3. he farts in the car then child locks the windows
4. apparantly my body doubles as a human djembe

but you know what? i love the bottom four just as much as the top eight

i'm tired too, charlie...

2006-01-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

[...hannah's words.] today i got the awesome opportunity to drive to birmingham with hannah, christi, and courtney just so christi could get her hair cut from a friend of mine. well, we wound up listening to the charlie hall cd about 5 times. for the two hour drive, all we did was talk about Jesus and each time we would get quiet and turn it up when this song came on. this world is broken, we are tired, Jesus take us home...well, i'll just let charlie tell you:

Jesus come take me away; i long to see your face

this world is broken yet beautifully made

Jesus come take me away

Jesus i'll patiently wait; til like a vapor i'll fade

help me fulfill all Your dreams for these days

Jesus I'll patiently wait

You'll come again with a shout

like a thief in the night, You'll come riding on clouds

finally the voice i have followed for life

has a glorious face that is lit up with light

and you'll come for me; no more pain...peace

no more fear...release

just lost and consumed with my glorious King

Jesus today i am tired; i need You're music to come and inspire

i give myself to be refined in this fire

but Jesus, i am so tired

come for me

i don't know what to do with myself

2006-01-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

so my first week of internship is over, and as many of you know i am in phenix city.

please let me set the scene for you:
the high school i am at is in this tiny little freak show town where everybody knows everybody and everything about everyone. there was a traffic jam a few nights ago because so many people showed up at the visitation of one of the local barbecue restaraunt owners. but seriously this school is like steel magnolias meets boston public

and now the cast: the social studies department:
mrs. blackshear...my teacher who is the spitting image of mrs. incredible. she is tiny weeny with
with the perfect bob and an attitude sky high
ms. wooten...rachel ray on acid. she's the teacher across the hall who was born and raised in
phenix city. she always has the low down on everybody. and she calls everybody "baby" or
"sweetie"
mrs. cox...a.k.a. miss perfect (because that's what her husband calls her) at 26, she's the
youngest in the crew...but appearances can be fooling because she's nowhere near as innocent as she seems
coach duke...the one on the verge of retirement who is a lot like the old man on "coach"
mrs. byrd...the department head who doesn't take any crap off anybody but is hilarious if your a
teacher and terrifying if you are a student (you know the type)

so now, here are some of my favorite quotes from this week:
"i know yesterday some of you were saying, 'ms. wooten's cussin you out in her head.' and you know what? i was, but you don't cuss out somebody's child. mm, no you don't." -ms. wooten

"this is miss wilkey" -mr. johnson
"you mean miss smokin'!" -random 9th grader

"you can have my baby!" -another random student to me...ahhhh!

"if that's 4 inches, i'm one proud sun of a gun!" -coach duke (now i know that's disgusting, but if you saw this man, you would have thought it was hilarious)

"i promise. i read it in playboy." -mrs. cox (what was funnier was the silence and crazy looks that followed)

"her mother is the naked driver. yeah, she drives around naked." -ms. wooten

"when i heard field sobriety test i almost crapped my pants." -mrs. cox

ok...so anyways...this week was really funny and i know they were probably way funnier if you were there. anyways, hope everyone has a great three day weekend....i'm hoping to sleep in til oh i don't know, 6 am.

such a cool creative God

2006-01-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

so louie talked this week about the bigness of God and how creative He was to create the expanses of the universe that are just ridiculous and do the one thing they were created to do and that is to glorify Him. and it really hits home the idea of how big God is and how all these other creations He has that glorify Him for no other reason than He is, but He still came and died for us, and what that says about us, and much more importantly what that says about Him.

so thursday afternoon, me and courtney sat on the hubble telescope site looking at bizilions of amazing pictures. and these are some of the coolest pictures in the universe, litereally.

"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? [pictured above] Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (the Lord speaking to Job in...) Job 38:13

I have no clue how this happened but it was on the hubble site. its some sort of star. how amazing is that.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1

"'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One. 'Lift your eyes and look to the heavens; Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing." Isaiah 40:25-26.

I mean what does this look like to you? me and courtney immediately saw an angel. this is such a majestic picture and it gives me chills to look at it.
"Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him all his angels. Praise Him all his heavenly hosts." Psalm 148:1-2.

my last days of freedom

2006-01-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

ok, so i know some of this is review, but i decided to add pictures. i'm back in auburn now because i had orientation for my internship that starts monday so i'm bored but i'm back to dsl internet which is a great thing. so this picture is of liz and jd the night they got engaged. it was fun. you can read all about it on her blog. but this was at macaroni grill afterwards. it was also her birthday.

and i don't have many pictures of christmas break because i had surgery and was kinda out of it for most of the holidays, but i did get to go to passion again. which was amazing! it was very different from last year, but still quality time with jesus, friends, and some of the brightest minds and best communicators of our generation.
see how much fun we had? this was one night just being silly outside before they opened the doors to get in. so what did we do. sang old sunday school songs like "father abraham" and took pictures making stupid faces.

and this was when we got to sit on the front row of the floor the night crowder played. even though he was on the other side of the stage he's a true homeboy and came to our side of the stage. i love him. i could listen to him talk all day. he is so amazingly gifted. i mean it comes across in his lyrics, but to hear him speak is such a blessing because he has such a unique and interesting way of looking at and explaining things. i love it!

and now i want to introduce you all to some people. this is mandy and joel. they are my two best friends in the world. and i think its funny that joel is wearing a texas shirt because this picture is about a year before they knew they were going to move to san antonio and joel randomly has on a texas shirt. but anyways, i talk about them a lot and i wanted to throw up a picture of them so you could see their precious faces. probably the biggest events that have ever happened in my life they have been there for and hopefully every other major event that happens in my life they will continue to be there for. even though its hard to hang out when you live so far apart, there is always a way to keep in touch with people you love so much.

so anyways, that about wraps it all up. so peace out.

christmas update

2005-12-28T17:41:00.000-08:00

well, i haven't posted in quite a while...why, you may ask? we still have dial-up internet in the good ole 'ham so it takes about ten years to do anything. but i thought i would give a few highlights of my christmas break so far:

my cousin had her second baby...a precious little baby boy named andrew...on december 8 so he is only a few weeks old and so stinking cute. we are hoping now that my sister-in-law will get the fever and want to have a baby. also, andrew's older sister, kaylee, is 4 1/2, a drama queen and is not used to not getting attention, so christmas day was quite funny watching her play with her baby dolls like they were andrew and trying to get attention.
as many of you now know, i'm sure, liz and jd got engaged. that was a hilarious night of plan after plan going wrong, but everything worked out in the end. she said yes. now we are on to planning a wedding in five months...way more stressful than it sounds!
i had surgery...nothing major and i'm not giving any details, but needless to say, i completely underestimated one-day surgery. i thought it would be simple but it was a full-blown, air tube down your throat, surgery. that was no fun and i lost three days that i had planned to get things done.
most of you know my dad's mom passed away this summer. it was really hard cause it was so sudden. but for christmas, my mom and aunts took one of her diamond rings that had eight diamonds in it (she has 8 grandkids and always said we would get it) and made a diamond pendant for each of us. we all cried but they are so beautiful and i love it!
one of my favorite nights was getting to hang out with my best friends who now live in san antonio, mandy and joel. they are the best most coolest people i've ever met in my life and we've been friends since 6th grade. joel is actually the youth pastor at max lucado's church in san antonio and he informed me that he uses stories of all the ridiculously stupid things i did in high school as illustrations...thanks joel!

well, so that's about all i've got. my break hasn't been too eventful because of the surgery and the fact that there isn't much to do in birmingham. i've mostly been hanging out and watching that 70's show with my dad (my dad and red are two peas in a pod and i'm not even kidding!). but i'm super excited about passion and getting to see everybody again! i love you all and see you soon!

i'll be home for christmas

2005-12-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

this is andy...he is my dog. and at the risk of sounding like a first grade reading book, i am going to start using more complex sentances. he is one of the many reasons i am excited about going home for christmas. other than the fact that i am officially the last one standing at my house, and i am supposed to be studying for a final that i have tomorrow (i can't even begin to tell you the amount of roman emporers that have been murdered that i have memorized...what a violent society) i am just ready for a break from school. this will be my first christmas break to not work at the good ole american eagle which i am very excited about.

thursday i'm going to hit up the atl and visit my sister (and rachel) because liz is turning 23! exciting. hopefully there will be an exciting trip to stone mountain for their christmas festivities in store for us! then it will be home to the 'ham for a while. i enjoy chillin with my parents (which is apparently strange to some people). me and my dad enjoy watching c.s.i. reruns and being all-around dorks together. me and my mom love to watch old movies and cook together (when i feel like helping). and andy, oh andy. he gets so excited when i come home because i let him cuddle with me on the couch! true story: the day i left after thanksgiving break, my dad and mom said that he laid on the living room couch all day by the window waiting for me to come home and when i never did, he sulked straight in the bedroom and went to bed :(. how sad is that. so i can't wait to see andy. he really is like a little person. he has actually faked being asleep - or what we call in the wilkey household "playing possum" - before when i was trying to get him to get off the couch. he had his eyes closed when i was talking to him, so i stopped talking and just looked at him and he opened his eyes and looked up at me and when he saw i was looking at him, he closed his eyes again really quick. promise!

it will be rather sad though i think, because liz won't be home for the break. she's a working woman now so i have all this time to kill and no one to kill it with. therefore, i will be spending a few days in huntsvegas with my brother and sister-in-law. i'm pretty excited about that because they just built a new house and i'll get to see it. and courtney lives up there so maybe i will see her! and then just a few days later...PASSION '06! i can't wait for that.

but for now, i should probably be studying, so until then....

ode to dr. k.

2005-12-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

as many of you know, dr. kicklighter is probably one of my more favorite people in the entire world. he is the reason i manage to still want to go to class after working the wee hours of the morning. one of the things he is known for is his use of horrendously large words (licentious, cosmopolitan, mercurial, nepostism, venal...and oooh, ooooh usurper - that's a good one) another one of his many attributes is his talent with the one-liner. so since many of you do not have the pleasure of having this great man in class, i decided to put together a few of our favorite quotes (as recorded by miss anne womack):

"thursday night humps"
"We can be friends, have great sex, but no children." (we can't have bastards running around - and that was in the non-cussing way...if dr. kicklighter can say it, i can...he has a heart of gold)
Just because you're a good philosopher doesn't mean you'll have good children."
"Any port in a storm"(regarding some people's desperation for sex)
"Picking up hot chicks"
"They would probably have to go to Vestavia, not Mountian Brook, ya know, training snobs"
"Some people might say 'gee, it's already 10 o'clock. I need to get home, have some milk and cookies, and say my prayers' "
"What is that crap you're wearing?"(in reference to Anne's UVa shirt - the use of such strong language was shocking and therefore very funny)
"She has a big ole asp!" (referring to Cleopatra's suicide by snake bite)
"Today we have pills, guns, stick your head in the oven"(in reference to modern suicide tactics)
"nay" (one of his favorite contractions)
"AT! When will this class finish AT, mr. hood. It will come to an end in 1688." (he doesn't appreciate poor sentance construction)
there are no words to describe the secret squirrel dance (using alpa gam secret rituals as a parallel for ancient greek religious cults)
"mr. dunn, our resident expert in all things licentious and lurid" (referring to joshua's love of the slightly pornographic hbo series "rome")
"just because you're a bastard doesn't mean you can't live it up"
"you know, any spare kid you got layin aroud will do" (ensinuating a queen might try to fake a birth to have a son)
"the colts will prevail!" (this was actually a slide he put in the middle of a powepoint lecture to silence the students who doubted the colt's ability to defeat the titans)
and my personal favorite: "oh, it's a song about farming. he's an agricultural lover" (in reference to ludicrus's song "you's a ho"

well, you get the point...to truly appreciate this wonderful man you should take a class with him. he is amazing. and he also loves peyton manning...go figure! (and dr. kicklighter, if you read this, i am aware that i did not capitalize properly...habit...i know, kids these days)

i hate school

2005-12-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

YIKES!!! what is this picture? no, no, i'm not in rehab...this is a state of misery. i have been sitting at my computer working on this stupid paper and i have no motivation whatsoever. this is the paper that determines my grade and whether or not i intern and i could seriously care less. why is it that you work hard all semester and when it comes to doing the stuff that matters you're ready to give up? is that bad? if you notice my room is a disaster area because i haven't had time to clean in days. what's on the tv? a terrible biography on "we" about prince william because i need something on in the background to occupy my subconscious but it can't be something i really care to watch. the guy doesn't even look like william...he's not even cute. i wish i had a laptop so i could at least get out of the house, but here i am...chained to my desk. i could probably die in here and no one would find me for days, because i haven't left in so long. ok, well, i suppose i will get back to my actual work...peace out for now.

verses of the week

2005-12-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

ok, so last night at encounter (what an amazing and holy night!!!) i was completely inspired by the men who spoke. i don't know if anyone one else noticed or was amazed by their ability to quote entire passages of scripture but it completely blew me away! i guess because that is the one thing that i am so terrible at...intentionally memorizing God's word. i'll be like, "you know where it says that thing about this" and someone will be like "oh, yeah, Leviticus 5:17" and i'm like "how the heck do you know that?" so this is my goal...not because it will get me "in" with God or to be percieved as more holy or anything, but for my own edificationin the Spirit and to take to heart the words of Father, I am going to start intentionally memorizing scriptures. ya'll are free to hold me accountable to this. so here is my passage for this week:

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. [and here's my favorite verse] Let him bury his face in the dust - there may yet be hope...Though He brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love." Lamentations 3:25-32

and thanks to schweers for the inspiration to read lamentations. this passage is so loaded my words to expound on it wouldn't do it justice, so for now i will let the holy words of God speak for themselves (imagine that).

phenix city, here i come

2005-11-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

*disclaimer to this picture...hendu was on the couch...i was on the floor...random picture...not as scandalous as it looks...he and biscuet were making us watch "second-hand lions"*

well, as some of you know, my unsuccessful attempt to change my major left me with the anticipation of finding out where the delightful (if only you could hear the sarcasm) people in the education department office placed me for my internship this coming semester...well the results are in...PHENIX freaking CITY. this would not be that bad except for the small detail...its the only city in alabama in the eastern time zone (just kidding, i know it's not the only city...i was just going for dramatic affect). i just hope gas is cheap in phenix city. maybe i will get to spend some time with the hendus...who knows though, i'll be done with school in the afternoon so i don't know if they will even be home. i was really hoping for auburn, because i'm really not too excited about interning in the first place. oh well...

and apparantly i'm the only person in my major who doesn't actually know what all an internship entails. i just found out that after observing a few weeks, i completely take over. i will be teaching, by myself, every class period of every day for the majority of a semester. i look like i'm about two days older than some of these kids. that's just ridiculous. someone said that their teacher when they did their internship just left the class. he spent everyday in the teacher's lounge and stuck his head in every now and then. i almost wish that was the case, then there wasn't as much pressure...and i could slap some kids around if i needed to. anyways, it should be interesting. so, if you never see me next semester, the reason may be because i will be getting up at 3:30 every morning and going to bed at 8 every night.

4 in a row

2005-11-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

well, war eagle! i am so glad to say that i can graduate having beat bama all four years i've been in school. that makes me very happy...i can hardly talk from screaming the entire first quarter. here are some of the highlights from the game:
1. 12 sacks
2. aj getting todd's attention on the field in the silence before the national anthem
3. the eagle flying and me crying (and laughing at myself for crying) because this is my last home game - what a way to go out
4. they 20 yard line, being bama's best field position during the 1st quarter...and the 40th being our worst.
5. gandy's closeline
6. shatz! shatz! shatz! shatz! (our chant for the punter)
7. aubie's sign that said "we welcome the mullet
nation"
8. tommy running around the student section holding up a four
9. just imagining how shula had to have been reacting to the game
10. #1 defense in the sec, who?
11. natalie's sign that got us on the jumbotron 3 times!!!
12. proving to the guy in front of us that i knew the difference between offsides and false start...jerk
13. the guy who had the skeleton set up with a bear bryant hat on with a sign that said "shake bear bryant's hand"
14. "overrated" (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)
15. getting to turn ramma jamma, yellow hammer back on bama
16. going undefeated against bama my entire college career.

well, this will probably be my last blog until we get back from thanksgiving break because we still have good ole dial-up in the 'ham...so i love you all and happy thanksgiving!

home sweet home

2005-11-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

ok, as most of you know i live in this house that was built in the 60's or something so there is definitely something to be desired in the design aspect, but after living here for four years, there are so many strange things about it. most of these things i have been thinking about because having three new roomates move in this fall has made me be more aware so that i can tell them about these things. some of these things they still don't know because i forgot to tell them. anyways, here is a list of some things i find strange or unique about my house (and some of them have to do with the people who live in it - including me):

1. the front steps are not only made of 2x4's but the bottom one is also not attached to the rest (which makes for some interesting rainy days when you are trying to run into the house but instead bust on the porch, huh, rachie?)
2. the light switch in the kitchen doesn't turn on anything but you can't turn a lamp on in the den unless the switch is up.
3. roaches are killed and left to decompose (we are just leaving them there as a warning to others)
4. i somehow remember everyday that the trash needs to go out on monday...well, i remember everyday but monday
5. the kitchen sink doesn't turn off when you turn it off...you have to turn it off then move the handle to the right a little
6. i hate it when the ice gets used but the little lever thing doesn't fall so it doesn't make anymore ice and you're left with that one huge chunk of ice that is really just a bunch of pieces of ice stuck together so you just give up and leave the cup on the counter to return in an hour when there is real ice
7. there is only one thermostat in the house so there is literally about a 10 degree difference between upstairs and downstairs.
8. we do have an awesome den decorated by none other than mr. james farmer himself who took all our crap and made something cute out of it.
9. we have an awesome stairwell that is perfect for sliding down it in sleeping bags because if you angle just right you can slide into the bedroom at the bottom of the stairs (a little off and it's nothing but wall) - this activity is only encouraged in the company of trained professionals and do not attempt it headfirst because you could die (just ask liz)
10. we have a baby gate at the top of the stairs...we don't have a baby, just the gate (apparantly this is popular in this style house because jake, dan, gav, and brett's house also has a baby gate - they live one street over)
11. auburn high school is at the end of the street so the boy's cross country team runs through our neighborhood (if your in to that sort of thing)
12. we have a pet chipmunk that lives under our stairs...maggie feeds him jelly ( i don't know why he likes jelly, but he eats it every day...think lorelai and paul anka on gilmore girls...it's that kind of relationship)
13. it is haunted.

glory, glory to WHAT?

2005-11-14T18:08:00.000-08:00

ok, so obviously this weekend i was with about a couple of other auburn die-hards in athens supporting our team agains the georgia bulldogs and even though our seats were so high we were practically hanging from the lights, it was still so awesome! however, ever since my freshman year when i heard louie giglio give a message about God's glory, i haven't been able to sing glory, glory to ole auburn. louie makes an excellent point in his message about how we so often steal God's glory and give it to other things that are beyond ridiculous (in this case football). so as i'm sitting at the game saturday night i'm listening to 90 thousand people sing glory glory to ole georgia/auburn, and it occurs to me: what would it look like if we got this excited about God?

now, i know that that is a thought that probably everyone has had at one point or another. it's not a very profound thought to have. but think about it. football in the south is probably more passionate than anywhere else in america. only football would make you freak out and scream at the top of your lungs, high five a total stranger in excitement, yell war eagle at anybody you pass wearing orange and blue, etc. etc. and i started thinking about the night ranier came to encounter. he told two of the most amazing stories i've ever heard about redemption and salvation and about a thousand people sat there in total silence. i remember wanting to cheer and clap but was afraid i would look stupid so i just sat there. i'm sure i'm not the only one who had that reaction, but nonetheless, our own fear kept us from showing our excitement...saturday night you couldn't have paid me to sit down and shut up. what's the deal!

now, i won't lie...there is something to be said for witnessing something first hand. i probably wouldn't have reacted the same way to someone telling me about the game as i did actually being there. the same is probably true for ranier's stories. we were excited, but it wasn't the same as seing it. and here is this guy who witnessed these amazing things and was probably thinking "man, my english must be terrible because they are just staring at me." but just imagine being able to see something like that. or better yet, imagine being able to be in heaven watching first-hand the literal spiritual battle that surrounds people daily and seeing Father and his forces come out victorious. no wonder when someone gets saved there is such a ruckus in heaven...it's not like the angels are sitting around the breakroom and there's some neon sign dings and the salvation count goes up and they're all like "yay" and raise their coffee mugs in a tired way after milleniums of seeing people come to the Lord. HECK NO! they get freakin excited....so far beyond southern football excited....about people who accept the call of the Lord on their lives and celebrate the victory that Christ has had again over sin and death and the very grips of hell. i only wish we could see that, so we could truly appreciate and be excited about what the Lord is doing.

but i take comfort in the fact that there will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess in heaven, on earth and under the earth that Jesus is Lord. and what a picture that will be. it will blow football (or anything else that can be subbed in here) out of the water. that gets me so pumped!

glory, glory to ole auburn just seems silly now.

intentional faithfulness

2005-11-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

the most important lesson i have been learning lately is to be intentional. i know that sounds pretty vague, and i hope i can adequately put into words what i mean. i have learned (as many of you out there maybe going, finally! she gets it!) that it is not enough to read your Bible or go to encounter and hear an awesome message, but you have to intentionally act out your faith in everyday life. you have to intentionally ask God to live through you, not just throughout your day, but also in specific areas that are so hard to let go of.

let me just give you a brief summary of where i am at right now...i am working at a job where on a daily basis i am made to feel about this big, usually because i am a girl, but other times because i am just that stupid, apparantly. and i am supposed to be working in a christian atmosphere. then i go to class for four hours and sit through classes that right now i can't understand why God has me there. (i know there's a reason, i just can't see it.) i dread my internship next semester. the one thing i even want to do, i have no clue whether or not it's even going to work out or not - well, at least the way i want it to...(God, insert laugh here).

well, the other day david and i had just finished lunch at jimmie johns and were walking to class and he was telling me about this book that he borrowed from matt, and i wish that i knew the name of it, but i can't remember it, but it's a really old book. and there's this guy asking this other guy how he can get up every morning and just live for Christ (the guy being questioned worked in a kitchen or something at a restaraunt.) and guy #2 just says something to the affect of "i wake up every morning and ask God to give me the grace to work with these pots and pans and do it for Him." and we just started talking about how important it is to do all things to God, as if it was the most important ministry opportunity on earth. and all things are for His glory. ["so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." I Cor. 10:31] i know that sounds like serious second grade sunday school, but it's SO true, and until we can grasp that fact, we cannot be effective ministers in other people's lives, because what if the people i worked with only saw me at work and i don't like my job so what if i was in a bad mood every day at work; that's what they would see.

anyways, so that got me reading uprising by erwin mcmanus (thanks kro!) i started reading this book last spring, and never finished it, but God had me put it on hold for such a time as this. i was reading about "the quest for enlightenment: faithfulness, perseverence and wisdom" and let me just leave you with some of the most profound thoughts, at least for what i am dealing with right now:

"the great things of God come out of the small acts of faithfulness."
"to live a life beneath our divine capacity is equally dishonoring to God"
"whoever is faithful with whatever God has given them will be candidates for expanded responsibility in the kingdom"
"more than work itself, it is the work in us that makes it significant"
"every wise person is marked with the scars of perseverence"

[and my personal favorites, and the ones that hit home the most...]

"even in the smallest things our character is being formed. in fact, in the smallest of things, the deepest aspect of our character is shaped and developed."
"it is not about believing in a miracle or believing for a miracle; it is about an unshakable confidence in the character of God."

anyways, if this has been a blessing to at least one other person, that is so exciting, and if not, that's cool too. i just love to share what God is doing in my heart. so God bless vulnerability on the world wide web! i hope this spurs everyone to dig into the Word and hear from God about what it is to be truly faithful. peace out!

i love girls!

2005-11-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

you know how there are two kinds of fun you can have: one with all your girlfriends when you are really who you are and then how you are when you are around a bunch of people. well, this weekend was so great cause i got to have so much of that good girl time.

it all started friday night with an excellent idea on the part of april dean. to celebrate matt being out of town, she decided to have some girls over to their house for dinner. it was so much fun just sitting around the table doing what God made us to do and that is to just share Him with each other through companionship and conversation. we talked about the most random things about ourselves (christi is afraid of the easter bunny, i am o.c.d. about fire prevention - thanks, greg wilkey!) josh and caleb were such studs hanging out with 10 girls. anyways, it was just so much fun having that awesome girl time where you can be silly and actually sit and talk and even enjoy washing dishes together.

then i decided to spend the night with christi and hannah. we stayed up and talked in courtney's room discussing the joys of being a woman (note: serious sarcasm). these are the times that you enjoy being you disguisting, nasty self. i met courtney's friend amber for the first time friday night and i think her and her dog maxwell know more about me than david does...not good things. it was fun. then me, christi and hannah went to sleep. we thought hannah might be dying because she started to do that scary cough and wheez thing that happened in texas last spring but it turns out she just had the croup...didn't keep me up cause i was tired.

the fun continued on saturday. me and david drove up to b'ham because one of me dearest friends in the world, morgan, got married. it was awesome, but that's not the point. on the way i got to talk to my best friend, mandy who lives in san antonio now because her husband (and my next best friend) joel is a youth minister at max lucado's church. i miss her so much it makes my heart hurt but it makes me so grateful that i have such amazing friends like her and joel in my life. when i got to b'ham, my long lost roomates, carol and jamie were at my house and i almost tackled them i was so excited. i haven't seen jamie since graduation. we had so much fun together and i miss the old times of living with them. me and carol got to sleep together again (we used to have regular slumber parties in auburn - even though she had her own room she would slumber with me...it was great). i was already asleep when she came to bed though and apparantly i was beckoning her to join me in my sleep but i don't remember that.

anyways, my point is sometimes it is so great to have time where you just enjoy being with other girls, just like it is important for guys to have their guy time. i thoroughly enjoyed my weekend. i also almost had to fight some high school girls on three separate occasions at the wedding for my man, but that's another story for another blog.

just a few random thoughts

2005-11-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

well, i can't say that i really have anything profound to say. i just haven't posted in a while so i felt like staying on top of things. this weekend was my cousin's wedding and me and liz were both in it. i will put some pictures up when i get some good ones (i know you're waiting on the edge of your seats)...it was a great fun family affair...katie is one week older than liz and we all grew up really close. my mom and my aunt are best friends and i am so glad i have such an amazing family. another thing i learned this weekend is that i am so glad that i love david's mom, because i don't think i could marry someone who's mother was a pathological liar. but that's beside the point. it was really funny though because david and deej came to the rehearsal with me and liz so the next day one of the groomsmen asked me who's boyfriend looked like heath ledger...i think it is so funny because i don't see it, but whatever...heath ain't too shabby and neither is dave so i'll take it. it's a good comparison.

sunday afternoon, we went and visited this house that my friend morgan just bought. she is getting married this weekend and they have been fixing it up. it's a nice beginner house, but it's kinda creepy cause the old man who lived there before her died in the house and some of his clothes and stuff are still there...but it was funny to make jokes about. so me and david taped off a room while liz and jd painted...we belong on some home decorating show for real...we were real pros.

i'm also really sad that i missed the kickin halloween party at j.p.'s house. i wasn't feeling so hot and was tired from a long weekend of wedding fun, but i hear that the costumes were great: the lovely ladies who were the four seasons (hannah, christi, courtney and keri anne), john and t brooks as dirty old men, jen and mckenzie as redneck MEN, and of course david who was also a dirty redneck. we tried to come up with some couple ideas, one of which was him as james bond and me as a questionable representation of a bond girl, but we decided that was probably a bad idea, as funny as it may seem to us and those who know our hearts...probably not the best road to take. i wish i could have been there though, because now i missed the haunted hayride AND the halloween party. oh well...

ok, so i'm definitely just rambling now. so i will stop. i'll get back to you when i have something important to say.

doubting thomas

2005-10-21T20:22:00.000-07:00

what will be left when i've drawn my last breath

besides the folks i've met and the folks who've known me

will i discover a soul-saving love

or just the dirt above and below me

i'm a doubting thomas

i took a promise

but i do not feel safe

oh me of little faith

sometimes i pray for a slap in the face

then i beg to be spared cause i'm a coward

if there's a master of death

i bet he's holding His breath

as i show the blind and tell the deaf about His power

i'm a doubting thomas

i can't keep my promises

cause I don't know what's safe

oh me of little faith

can i be used to help others find truth

when i'm scared i'll find proof that it's a lie

can i be led down a trail dropping bread crumbs

that prove i'm not ready to die

please give me time to decipher the signs

please forgive me for time that i've wasted

i'm a doubting thomas

i'll take your promise

you've always kept me safe

oh me of little faith

this is one of my favorite songs right now...it is on nickel creek's new cd (amazing!). i just love it because it is so profound and honest. i don't know that i've ever felt quite as distraught as this song, but it does bring up so many good points about faith, and our struggle to live in a world where that is constantly challenged day in and day out. if you just skimmed over the words and didn't really read them, i really do encourage you to read them.

the first verse is so relevent to the "bigger story" goal of my life. when i die, what will be said about me? what will my life have been worth? will i have just another girl from alabama who lived in died at the turn of the century? or will i be someone who contributed to the bigger story of God's glory...the only thing that will outlive me, you, this earth and the universe.

matt has been speaking at encounter about how you talk about what you love and what you are excited about. and what it would look like if we talked about God that much and had Spirit-led conversations about Him. its so funny, because i so often feel like that line, "i bet he's holding His breath, as i show the blind and tell the deaf about His power." and i think how absurd it is that God chooses to use us - those who praise Him with one breath and with the next curse men - to be the mouthpiece of His goodness and glory. and then He gently reminded me that we do not do anything. Spirit-led conversation is simply that...spirit-led. all you have to do is follow where the Spirit leads and be open to what He is telling you to do and say. me and edie had lunch today and we were talking about how that can just be resisting the temptation to leave God out of the story at all and just give Him credit. i don't think that made sense, let me give you an example: i am in education yet have no desire to be a teacher. some of the people in my major cannot understand how i could get to the last semester of school and decide that i don't want to do that...well, i could very easily just say that i'm not worried about it, and i will figure it out. instead, i decided to do what the Spirit led me to do, which was to say, "i know God has me in this major for a reason, but it's not to be a teacher. i'm not worried though, because i know He will lead me to what he has me to do. i really have the desire to do ministry of some sort. that's the only thing i've ever done where i've felt like what i was doing was worth something and bigger than myself." and that is pretty much where the conversation ended. i got a couple of "oh that's cool"s but it's just the satisfaction that i didn't deny God that public declaration of His goodness and faithfulness. that is what is important.

anyways, this song just really makes me grateful that it doesn't have to be like that. i don't have to doubt that i lack the skills to proclaim God's goodness. paul himself said that he spoke simply, because God's message is simple. its not about the way we say it, its what we say. we don't have to worry about not being "safe" because we live with reckless abandon to follow wherever God leads us and into whatever He has in store for us, but we rest in the blessed assurance that He has us right where He wants us.

things i learned from elizabethtown

2005-10-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

so, tuesday night, keri anne, mckenzie, edie, hanna, christie, maggie, and myself decided that we had had enough of this not hanging out crap and planned a girls night out which consisited of dinner and a movie. we went and saw elizabethtown (which comes highly recommended) and had so much fun enjoying being girls together! it was such an awesome movie that got my creative juices flowing and so here are all the things that i learned from elizabethtown:

sometimes, being a total weirdo because you can't help it when you like someone does just the trick...it makes you impossible to forget (i got david, didn't i? seriously, he thought i was weird..he actually still might, come to think of it)
make sure your phone company has free nights so when orlando bloom calls you, you can stay up all night talking to him
kentucky is a randomly beautiful state
make time to watch the sunrise...everyone has seen a sunset, but to go from darkness into light is so much more amazing
free bird is a timeless anthem
chuck and cindy had mckenzie's dream wedding party (lovin' life, lovin' you)
apparently my entire family was hired out for a movie and no one called me.
paper mache + stage lighting = disaster
who says cemetaries aren't romantic, and urn-shopping the perfect date?
movies where characters that are supposed to have accents should be played by actors with that accent because in the middle of the movie when they lose their fake accent and start speaking in their normal vioce it really ruins the mood
i must take a cross-country road trip, but only if i have a kickin map complete with detailed road trip soundtracks

the only thing i have to complain about is that orlando found in kirsten what he needs from Father. that's no bueno, but what do you expect from pagans, really? so this is definitely my favorite movie-of-the-moment...if you haven't seen it you should. ok, i've said my piece. (don't you love how i rip off everyone else's blog with the picture show and the lists...sorry rachel and d)

you CAN go home again

2005-10-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

just imagine my surprise when in the middle of my most wonderfully entertaining shift at the biz the door swings open and i see the sillohette of two girls walk in and...wait! i'm blinded by the sun reflecting of one of their hands and then i realize it's hanna! and rachel! two of my favorite people in the entire world came back to the plains and they made a special trip to the biz just to see me. word's cannot describe. the rest of my shift was filled with joy because i knew that that night i would get to hang out with them. so we went to mellow mushroom for dinner and then went and played battle of the sexes (which the girls won, of course) and just enjoyed each other's company. at dinner we were talking about the old days and rachie, in her wisdom, said "i miss ole times" so in honor of some of the most amazing women i have ever met and inspired by dianne's birthday picture montages, here are to the good ole times!

encounter retreat

2005-10-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

so encounter retreat was this weekend and though i have yet to recover in my sleep, it was one of the best times i've had in the community of grace campus ministries. the weather decided to take a wicked change on us and it was ridiculously cold and everyone wore the same outfit all weekend because we each only had like one long-sleeved shirt (not really...we did change, but you understand the dramatic effect). it was such an amazing weekend of fellowship and just resting in the presence of Father, who was undeniable to anyone there. He broke down barriers in my own heart as well as in so many others. i learned how independent i have become and how tiring trying to live out of your own strength is (go figure).

jason morant led worship and he was amazing. i've been a fan for a while now, but he was amazing as a worship leader and not just as a performer. his band was pretty cool, too. they all hung out with us and the bass player even went hiking with us one afternoon. i felt like i was at camp...we would all spend the nights up at the convention center drinking glass bottled cokes (compliments of a mister will mcclain) and eating brownies and hanging out. it was so great. sitting in the rocking chairs, shooting the breeze, playing with peter's dog. then when all the snacking was over, we would retire to our rooms where i would then eat another piece of funfetti birthday cake in honor of courtney hurst's birthday...i think i single-handedly took down half of that cake.

josh dean was absolutely precious in worship. watching all the people in front of him raising their hands, he raised his up and even started bouncing to the music. it was so sweet. i know he's only two but that kid has got Jesus all over him, and that is a direct result of such amazing parents as matt and april saturating that boy in prayer.

there were also the hilarious stories of the weekend, the best of which was when bruce brushed his teeth in the dark only to find out as his mouth went numb that he had brushed his teeth with anti-fungal jock itch cream. we also got lost a couple of times on our forever long hike to the water tower, only to realize that we just wasted all that time to see a water tower. but it was a nice hike...sort of. i fulfulled a life long dream of writing yetty (heart) wilkey on the side of the water tower. and i got the greatest pleasure in the world...snuggling every night up to christi wilson. ah, what else could you ask for in a weekend?

COLDPLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-09-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

AMAZING! that is the only word i know to describe how awesome the concert was last night. it was a night i had been waiting for for so many months because my awesome boyfriend got us tickets so we went with my sister and jd and david's sister, liz, and her boyfriend, charlie. we didn't all sit together but it was still so much fun. they were so awesome. and far exceeded my expectations. plus for an arena the acoustics weren't as bad as i thought they were going to be. the only bad thing that can be said about the evening is that we sat next to "that" couple. you all know what i'm talking about. they were all over each other and making out but it was well worth it. they even
brought out michael stipe to sing a song with them and they did a johnny cash tribute which went over well. it was so awesome! lele was the only one who got the "from the concert" phone call because i know that "fix you" is her favorite song, but the rest of the show i was too in awe to even think to call anyone. i highly recommend a coldplay show to everyone. even though i had to get up at 5:30 this morning i would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

also, props to coldplay for not doing the fake encore. they left stage once and said they would be back in five minutes, but that was about halfway through the show. so i was really proud they didn't do the planned encore. it's way overdone.

...this is the longest day of my life

2005-09-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

so after a brief sabatical, i finally finished the first season of 24. wow...first of all, jack bauer is amazing. if my dad weren't a kick-a fireman, i would wish jack were my dad. nina totally threw me off. i still can't believe it. i totally thought it was chapelle. the daughter isn't that hot in my book but gray says he wouldn't mind eloping with her. but poor tony. i mean for a guy with a soul patch, he's totally not cheesy and really good looking. i feel bad for the guy. i bet he felt so used. and palmer, i would vote for him (even though he's a democrat) but of course its easy to be a good politician on a tv show. i'm just glad he ditched that biotch wife.

i totally can't wait to start the second season but david says he needs a break because he was starting to have dreams that he was a ctu field agent.

p.s. i just realized most of my posts pertain to tv shows...that's kinda sad.

i love the o.c.

2005-09-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

that's it...i just love the o.c.

hurricane rita

2005-09-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

just a quick prayer request for all you kids out there. as many of you know, david's family lives in houston, tx...(his parents, his sister and brother-in-law and his grandmother) and they are having to leave to be on the safe side cause it looks like this hurricane is going to be another monster and houston isn't that far from the gulf coast of texas. irony of ironies, houston is where the bulk of the katrina refugees were sent, and david's parents church actually undertook the amazing task of feeding everyone in the astrodome three meals a day for two months (or at least they were going to for two months before all of this happened). now they are having to get out not knowing how bad the damage will be. please be in prayer for them and everyone that lives around that area. houston is the 4th largest city in america. i can't imagine what it would be like if it was hit as bad as katrina.

also, side note. i was sitting in bizilia's tonight talking with my dear friend christian schweers and we were discussing Christ's imminent return in the face of all this craziness. and he said that he looked it up and katrina means "pure." how crazy is that that the hurricane that wiped out one of the darkest, most wicked cities in america was named "pure." coincidence, i think not.

gilmore girls

2005-09-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

so i just watched the new episode of gilmore girls and i'm sick of lorelai being such a jerk...this tough love thing has gone too far, and it's making me sad. that's all i'm gonna say. i also believe that not only has rory gotten hotter this season, the witty banter has gotten funnier...i didn't think it was possible and i know some of you are thinking it couldn't be true, but it is. it's quite hilarious. ok, i'm hungry...i'm going to zaxby's.

nothing important

2005-09-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

well, i'm new to the whole blog thing. i just read hanna's about her getting engaged and i figured this was the best way to keep updated with all my friends that have moved away :( graduation sucks. except when you want to graduate like i do. i'm so excited for you, hanna, by the way.

so, for any of you who are keeping up with my sister (and i'm sorry for all of you that i told you i would keep you updated and i haven't) she is doing great. she had surgery on tuesday to have an ovarian cyst removed that was the size of a baseball, and if you've ever met me sister, she isn't that big. luckily, it wasn't cancer and they took care of everything that needed to be taked care of. she is recovering now in atlanta but will be moving to birmingham soon to stay with our parents until she can go back to work. she is still having a lot of pain and nausea, but claudia the wonder nurse (my mom) said that she is doing excellent for only being out of the hospital a few days.

ok, i don't have a whole lot other than that to say so i am going to not drag this on longer than it has to be. love you all...peace!

oh btw...i'm working mornings at bizilia's now so come check me out...no more amsterdam cafe.