Amy & Dan's wedding

Wow! I had the amazing honor of getting to be at Amy and Dan's wedding yesterday in San Marcos! Such a sweet wedding and such an amazing picture of God's sovereignty and faithfulness. It was great to see them and reconnect with several of my ol'Turkey buds. Time was way too short, but it was still great. Here's a few pics for those of you who couldn't make it. (Oh, I also went to Tennessee for a family reunion, but I'll have to post about that later.)

Amy trying to talk someone into taking a hit at the pinata at the reception!
Man, how I miss that laugh!

Together again, except in San Marcos eating fajitas instead of kofte in Istanbul! Oh, well and then there's the Dan and Amy married part too - that's a new twist. :)

Benjamincim! Oh Rindy, canim, I can't believe it's been three years!
But so thankful that it only seemed like it's been three minutes.

fun little diversion

Okay, so I really should be productive at the moment, but found this super fun quiz to do! It takes like 30 seconds - here's my results! Although I'm not from the midwest, my Dad is and I've been told I don't really have much of an accent. What do you think?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
The Inland North
The West
The Northeast
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

You gotta love this!

Okay, so rarely in life is there something that so clearly encapsulates so many things I'm passionate about. Shoes...Hello! What's not to love about shoes? And Kurds...well, maybe I'm unique in this, but I truly do love Kurdish people. And kids...especially ones needing heart surgery! Besides the fact that I had heart surgery myself when I was a teenager, only a completely compassionless person wouldn't have a "heart" for them. (Man, I am so cheesy!) And well, I can't think of anything much cooler than a business-for-blessing in Iraq. Do you ever look at this world and just feel overwhelmed at the need and despair and can't imagine how you can help? Know that you're supposed to bring Jesus to this world, but don't know how? Well, here's at least one thing you can do. And if you're like me and can't imagine spending more than 20-30 bucks on a pair of shoes, well...this isn't really about you. Or the shoes. And besides, how much money did you spend on gas last month? Or at Target? Or drinking Starbucks? Or on concert tickets? Go ahead, suck it up. You can do it. A teeny little sacrifice won't kill ya. Go ahead. Click on the link. You know you want to.

Two months in retrospect

For those of you still checking my blog, I applaud you. You're persistence should be commended. I humbly thank you for sticking with me. It's not that nothing has been going on, but rather too many somethings. This will be an attempt to fill you in on the highlights...hope you're getting excited!

May was pretty much filled with busy work stuff. The approaching summer hits with an onslaught for the student ministry minded and onslaught it did! My time was spent getting ready for Senior Recognition, a senior boat trip, camp preparation, camp preparation, camp preparation and a thousand other things I already forgot about. But, the highlight of May was definitely going to Louisville (that's looavull for you foreigners) for Will & Kristi's wedding! It was such a wonderful weekend and HUGE gift from God to me. I didn't think I would be able to go because plane tickets to L'ville are not-so-cheap and I'm not exactly Mrs. Moneybags these days. But, God being rich in mercy and lovingkindness provided an incredible way for me to go. An incredible young and poor married couple decided that since they weren't able to go to the wedding themselves, they would like to help pay for me to go. Wow! So awesome! So, I booked my plane tickets and got excited. Will has been my fellow student ministry guy, friend, brother, goofball for the past couple years so it was very special to be a part of his big day. AND!!!! Kristi is my relatively new (since last summer) dear heart connecting kind of friend and so I wanted to be there for her as well and be in the house party and all that good stuff. My favorite moment of all the wedding festivities was when Kasey and I spur of the moment helped her bustle her dress in a public restroom right before the reception. Ahhh, good times. AND...also so fabulous was that I spent the weekend staying with and catching up with old friends from my seminary days at Southern. I had such a blast staying with my old roommate Alicia and her husband Bo and playing with their two babies who I hadn't even met before! And then I spent some time with Homola Granola (also known as Connie) who used to teach my sunday school class. And I got to eat pizza from my favorite pizza place in the whole world - Tony Boombozz - TWICE. So yummy! AND I got to worship at my old church and see lots of old friends and it was just so refreshing. AND I spent one afternoon with my super special friends Rob and Chandi and their two little girls (who I also met for the first time!) Wow, it was such a great weekend!

So, that pretty much brings us to JUNE. I just thought May was busy. I had no idea. June has pretty much been camp, camp, and more camp for myself and the whole youth crew. But it has been amazing. After lots of long hours, and even longer days, and God being extremely and sweetly gracious to me in exactly the moments when I needed it, all 372 of us finally got on buses and headed to camp about 5 hours away. It was a glorious week with God's favor resting on us in amazing ways. We had fabulous weather at just the right times, I had a great group of kids in my tribe, we had so much fun, the creation was simply breathtaking (God said "Good morning" to me that first Monday morning as the sun peeked over the mountain at me) and God moved in the hearts of our students in a way that left no doubt that it was all Him. So sweet. This year our camp theme was walking through Exodus and one afternoon we all trekked like the Israelites (except for a bit less than 40 years) up the hill about an hour or so, had dinner up on the hill and then trekked the rest of the way to a life-size recreation of the Tabernacle complete with the ark of the covenant and all of the elements and the high priest's proper dress. It was an amazing visual for me that I will never forget. The theme of the week was basically the gospel and how we must live in the gospel every single day. His grace and only His grace is sufficient for us to meet with God. Sins paid for. Once for all. The curtain has been torn. Jesus is the only way. Here's what we memorized during the week...Hebrews 10:19-22 "Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, opened for us through the curtain that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." That's it. That's what's we live on. Paid for. Everyday.

Quincy - yep, you know the one - is

engaged. There's hope for all of us. :)

What to post...

Strange. Maybe not so strange. I'm sitting here at my computer, actually with time to post, and for the life of me I can't think of anything to post about. Not that my life has been dull lately, actually kind of busy, but maybe it's just too much to write about or perhaps it just seems boring to the rest of the world. Let's see...what's been going on.
1. Moved out of my apartment and in with my sister and brother-in-law and nephew. I was sad about sacrificing the joys of living by myself, but it's been really nice to be part of a family again. So far, so good. Of course, I still have stuff that needs to be unpacked once I figure out where to put it.
2. Oh, the reason I moved back in with my sis (after 2 years or so) is to save money. Lord willing, I'd love to buy a house!
3. Still loving the job. The longer I have this job the more I realize how blessed I am to love being where I am and doing what I do with the people I'm with. Few people have it so good and I'm grateful to be in this spot for now.
4. I'm loving teaching my senior girls on Sunday mornings. I never prepare like I should, but they continue to be a delight - not to sound cheesy, but I just enjoy relationship with them. I'm usually surprised by their drastic swings between great depth and insight one moment and their eyes glazing over the next moment. :) They are such a joy and yet a burden too. My heart just longs for them to really want Him.
5. I just erased the previous entry for number 5 which was about boys and how complicated they are. Actually they really aren't complicated at all, but being a girl, I just like to make them complicated! Perhaps another time.

This blog is just not doing it for me. Should I just erase the whole thing and give up? But that would make the last 15 minutes a complete waste of time with nothing to show for it. So, I'll leave it. Ah...let's see, pictures always make things more fun right - let me see what I got...EUREKA - maybe eureka is a little strong, but I'm going to put up my favorite pics of me with my fam. Sorry if you've already seen 'em. I am shocked to discover that I don't have a single picture on my computer (at least not that I can find) of my nephew - that is pure craziness that must be remedied especially since the bond we have now formed sharing a bathroom. :) First off, my nieces - Lauren, Lindsey, Landri . Adorable stinkers.
My brother Andy - the father of aforementioned stinkers - shocker. I must admit though, he gets sweeter in his old age!
And yes, my baby Carly. Nobody on the planet adores me as much as she does - in my opinion, the number one reason to have a dog.
Mom, wow, she is the best. She comes second to Carly in adoring me and unlike Carly, she has loved me from day one and is probably the most selfless and godly woman I have ever known.

Dad. Again, I have to be amazed at how blessed I am in this world to have a good dad. A rare treasure - and funny too. If you think I'm funny, he's probably why!
Speaking of funny, my sister, Kate. Honestly, I can't imagine living life without a sister. Whether far or near, she's always on my team and there's no one else on the planet I'd rather go to WalMart with. (I'm a bit bothered by that hanging preposition, but it just says what I mean, ya know?)

And Z-man, I promise I'll add you too soon.

Day to day pours forth speech...

(just a side note: I just saw that you can now blog in Hindi....hmmm....maybe my next post)So, I spent several days last week in Virginia Beach visiting my best friend and her husband. I can't even put into words how refreshing the visit was for me - body, soul, mind, and spirit. It was just such a relaxing, fun, ,and encouraging time. We went to the beach three days in a row and just marveled at the dramatic changes from day to day (including snow and freezing wind one day) and its amazing vastness. Truly, all creation seems to scream of its Creator.

And as for another of God's great gifts, there's nothing like a friend who knows all the ins and outs of you and still thinks you're wonderful, but also not afraid to tell you like it is. That, and just encouraging me to be more Christlike, is an awesome quality in a friend. Thank you Mark and Rebecca for your hospitality, your encouragement, your wisdom, your godly example, your prayers, and for letting me be. Oh...and thanks for making me cry, geez! :) Well, it's been a crazy busy week since I've been back in the real world and so I'll be keeping this short. Here's some of my favorite pics...love it, love it, love it!

Can I just tell you how absolutely frozen we were! At least we had the beach to ourselves!

Such an awesome sight

Just hangin in our cozies looking at photos and just being together.

We are hysterical. Obviously.

Can you get any cuter? Or more in love? I don't think so.

Super cool craftsman guy in Williamsburg.