Back from Vaca!

I'm back from the beach! We had a great time, and I plan on posting a few photos as soon as I get them uploaded on to the computer.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I hope that everyone had a great 4th! It was a nice relaxing day around my house! In the morning some of my family rode in the perade for Charoles Van Zant! The rest of the day was spent chillin! Here are some photos from the perade!



PS. I will be out of town next week! My family is going to the beach, so I will update when I get home!











Note: Rachel and Jen....This post is for ya'll! I love you!

Sweet Friend...and her beautiful baby girl!

This week I had the chance to go out to eat with a my friend Stephanie! We hadn't seen each other in a few months, so it was great getting to spend time with her! Stephanie and I met when her family started coming to my church when we were in 9th grade. It didn't take long for us to become friends! She has always been dear to me, and I am so thankful for all the fun memories we share! I am starting to know what it feels to look back on things and feel old :)

Almost 4 months ago Stephanie had a beautiful baby girl who is such a cutie! Taylor makes the funniest faces, and has the best smile! I was able to go to the the hospital right after Taylor was born, and am so blessed to have been able to spend some time with Stephanie and Taylor before a lot of people got there!

I enjoyed our time at dinner, and am thankful that we were both able to take some time to see each other!

Stephanie,

You have always been dear to me, and I am blessed to call you my friend! I thank God for allowing us to meet! You are a wonderful mom, and I am excited to see what God is going to do in your life! I will miss you when I leave for school, but you have to promise not to forget about me, and to always remind Taylor of her Auntie Anna and that I was the first one at the hospital :)

-Anna

I thought it would be neat to show some photos of Stephanie and I from high school!

This is us on SLU 201, the summer after our 10th grade year!

This is also from SLU 201
Me holding Taylor in the hospital!

I more recent photo of sweet Taylor! You just have to love that face!

Broken....

I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am that I was able to spend a week of my summer at Go Tell Camp in Tocca Falls GA. It was a week that I will not soon forget, and that I praise God for!

Over the weeks leading up to camp I began to pray about what God would teach me, and I prayed that God would open up my heart and speak to me. I wasn't sure what God was wanting to do in my life while I was at camp, but I wanted my heart to be open and ready to Him.

On Tuesday night I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time. I couldn't put my finger on the feeling. I was tearful, and almost without words for the rest of the evening(after our church share time). I wanted so badly to understand what I was feeling in my heart, but just couldn't figure it out. I didn't have much to say that night in my room, and all I could think of was to pray and ask God to help me understand. I had talked with my mom and Ethan earlier that night and started to tell them about how I felt broken over all that had happened to Chad and Amber and how I didn't think that I had let myself feel truly broken before God up until this point. Well, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that God wanted me to be broken before Him. God wanted me to come before Him broken and in need of some fixing.

I have been so hurt over all that Chad and Amber have been dealing with. I can't tell you how many tears I have cried, and how many times I have asked why.As God began to teach me more about His glory and His power, I started to realize that I should be asking why not.God will be glorified through all of this!! I cling to His promise that all things work together for good to those who love Him!

I can honesly say that I have let myself feel the pain, but I don't think that that is what God wanted me to do in order for Him to heal my hurts. I believe that God wanted me to allow myself to feel all of the pain in a whole to way. In the way of brokenness. Not just tears, but in true humility allowing myself to come before with nothing left to offer. Allowing myself to realize that there was nothing I could do to make the hurts go away.Allowing myself to know that it is not whitin myself, but only through the blood of Christ that all my tears, all my anger, all of my hurt, and all of my frustration can be taken away. I needed to feel broken. I think that it takes our complete brokenness, in order to be fully healed by God. I am so thankful that I am now broken, and am so thankful that I can trust God to heal my brokenness!

He will heal it, I know He will, I trust that He will, and I am resting in His healing powers!

Go Tell Youth Camp

Last week Ethan and I went to camp with our youth group! It was our last youth trip...tear...but it was a great one! God was really at work in the lives of all who went! I am so thankful that I was able to go, because I feel like God used this camp to break down some walls in my life. I feel like I am more ready to take this next step in my life! Ethan played on the Trinity football team, and even though we didn't win , we did make it to day 2, and the team played hard! Plus, it was fun to watch! My mom was able to go as a leader and both Ethan and I loved having her there! She is so funny! She always had Bro.Jeff and Mrs.Tessa laughing! I am so blessed to have been able to spend a week with 2 people I love so dearly! Ethan and my mom help make camp even more great, and I loved being able to spend time with them! I will share another post very soon about what God taught me throughout the week, but for now here are some photos from the week!




Ethan and I before the Monday night worship service!

Mom, Ethan and I on Tuesday!

Mom decided to take a little nap on Thursday afternoon!

Ethan and I before the Thursday night worship service!

One of those sweet moments you just have to love!

Thankful for the rain...

I don't know about you, but I am so thankful for all of the rain we have had here the past few days! What a blessing! Everything was beyond dry and the dust was unbelievable.

All of this rain has made me think about how we are not only to praise God for the rain that waters the earth, but also for the rain in our own lives. It's not easy to praise God when we are going through a storm, but we are told to. God's word tells us to count it all joy when we fall in to trails. We must always praise God no matter what is going on around us. He is worthy of all our praise and we are to be joyful in all things.

There is a song by Casting Crowns that says, " I will praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands for You are who you are no matter where I am."

So no matter where you are today...praise Him. No matter how much you want to give up...praise Him. Even if you are already praising Him...praise Him even more. For He is who is always is...No matter where we are!

For that...I will praise Him!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Today is Ethan's 18th birthday!! I was able to be with him right at 12am because we were on our way back into town after going to see a movie with some friends! I was glad that I was able to be the first person to tell him happy birthday!!

I am so proud of the man of God Ethan has become! He is such a blessing to me and I don't know where I would be with out him!!

Ethan, Happy Birthday!! I love you!

PS. I got Ethan an IPod Touch for his bday and graduation!