Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Withit in Wytheville

Do not be fooled, we are not jousting.. we are high-fiving!

Pocahontas

Did you know if you put a cup of water directly in the fire, the cup will not burn? Incredible.

Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel?

The Shot Tower.... or as Layne says, the "shock tower." crazy girl.

Betty Crocker

Well, it's late and I am waiting on some cookies to bake, so I figured I'd blog a bit to stay awake! Layne and I are headed north this weekend... up to Wythville, I think that's how you spell it.. but it is said With-ville. So, we are going to be "withit in wythville this weekend." Oh yes, we are excited. I love Layne. She is a great friend. We have so much fun together. She makes me laugh hysterically every time I am with her and she is real. She is honest and beautiful and she is so smart. I love how God brings his people together. He has taught me and blessed me so much through our friendship. I don't know what I would do without her!

It's been one of those weeks that you start by looking at it thinking, "wow, how on earth is everything going to fit in...." and then you look back at it and think "wow, where did the time go?" It just kinda zoomed by me. I think I was there, but I can't really remember..

Here's a few snip-its from some of my fav. tunes:

"She thanks her Jesus for the daisies and the roses, in no simple language... "

"sittin on the porch drinkin ice cold cherry... COKE.."

"hey baby, is that you.. wow, your hair got so long, yeah, yeah, I love it i really do.."

"and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter and I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin, and he said someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dyin.."

"Under the board walk, out of the sun, under the board walk we'll be having some fun, under the board walk, board walk..."

"Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me.. my name is graven on his hands, my name is written on his heart, I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart..."

"the promise of you.. sleeps in the air.. the air that I breathe... and I know that it's true... don't have to convince myself to believe..."

"there's a big ole hole, goes right through the sole.. of this old shoe... and the water on the ground ain't got no place else it's found.. so it's only got one thing left to do... "

"He thinks I'm pretty, he thinks I'm smart, likes my nerve and he loves my heart.. he's always saying he's my biggest fan.. my baby loves me just the way that I am.."

"she's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus and America too.."

"more than fine, more than bent on getting by...I want more than just ok"

"take, these broken wings, and learn to fly again, learn to live so free..."

"When you feel there’s nowhere...Left for you to turn...Well, I got all you want, and everything you need...Come on back to me..."

"Lighten up while you still can, don't even try to understand...just find a place to make your stand and take it easy..."

"Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true..."

"Are ya ache-in... yep yep yep.. for some bacon yep yep yep..."

"I want to be beautiful, make you stand in awe, look inside my heart and be amazed..."

"Skidamarinki dinky dink dkidamarinki dooo... I loveee yooooo..."

"Goodnight you moonlight ladies....Rockabye sweet baby james.....Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose, won’t you let me go down in my dreams....and rockabye sweet baby james..."

"We are the Pirates who don't do anything, we just stay at home, and lie around.. and if you ask us to do anything, we'll just tell you... we don't do anything..."

"I got sunshine, on a cloudy day... when it's cold outside, I got the month of may.. I guess, you say, what can make me feel this way.. my girl..my girl.. talking 'bout my girl.. "

Cookies are done! :) Yummy in my tummy!

Fun!

Family Housing Resident Director, Erin Matyak, and Dr. Ken the snake man! Whoa.

Me and Marti bein' brave!

For goodness snakes! LJ and Wei Ning at the family housing Snake Man show!

Mama with her three girls. Yeah, we're cool.

Don't play ball in the house...

Technology is incredible. I am sitting outside in my back yard (yes, I have a back yard... yet another benefit of living in family housing) typing on the internet and there is not one single cord plugged into my computer. Whoa. It boggles my mind. It is such a pretty day. The sun is as beautiful as ever... and the sky is so blue. Not one cloud. I like clouds. I think they are fun. The puffy ones are my favorite. Maybe they are everybody's.

I am desperately trying to avoid studying for a biochem. test I have tomorrow morning. Gross. Sometimes I wish the Lord made us with a little disk drive where we could just pop in cd's and upload them to our brain. Kinda like you do with itunes. I would want to upload the one with scripture on it, so I could remember more of the Bible. I'd like a program to be able to remember peoples names and their stories so the next time I saw them I could just add more and not have to go back and ask them all the stuff they told me the first time around. I have a bad memory. If there was one that had sports on it, I'd like that one too. I have tried to learn the different rules, but I think my brain doesn't think like that.

I guess he didn't think that was good to make us like that, cause he didn't. I see some benefits to not remembering everything.. the most obvious being, you can forget. Forget things like arguments and words that hurt and the pain that sometimes comes from just living. Everybody has pain. Everybody has a story. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives we think we are the only ones who hurt. That's wrong. I guess the thing is, we live in a broken world. Broken to bits. Nothing works right. We catch glimpses every now and again of how things are supposed to be, but as a whole, everything is like shards of a glass from a broken vase. Like a little boy playing ball in the house after his mother told him not to, so is our life. We do things we know we aren't supposed to but it just seems so fun and like nothing could go wrong. Then the vase breaks. Ashamed, we try to scoop it all together and hide it, dreading being found out, feeling so guilty for ruining such a beautiful treasure. The thing is, God sees the brokeness, he knows we were playing ball in the house after he told us not to and knows we broke the vase. So what are we to do? The opposite of what we want to do. We want to hide. God tells us to come to him and confess. He says, repent and you will be saved. Here's the thing. He loved the vase, God did. He valued it, so he put a price on it. He said, anyone who breaks this must be punished. When we come to Him, and tell him we broke it, he doesn't just say, "Oh, it's ok, I didn't like that vase anyway." It breaks his heart. First, because he loved the vase, and second because he knows he has to stick to his guns, do what he said, and punish us. Yikes. Here's where Jesus comes in. It's like having a big brother who steps in and says, " I love my little brother. I told him not to play with the ball in the house, but he did anyway. He didn't listen to me.. now he's broken the vase. I know you said that you have to punish him, but if it is ok with you, I want to be punished instead of him." Now that brother didn't do one single thing wrong.. in FACT, he told the lil brother to stop playing with the ball.. he set a good example for him.. but the little brother didn't pay any attention. Jesus's love and the grace that he has given me, unmerited on my part, are more than I can ever understand. I didn't do anything for Him.. in fact, I did the opposite of what he showed me and asked me to do. Then, when I blew it, he didn't just run go tell dad... He took my punishment. And what does God do? Treats Jesus as if he is me, and me as if I am him. Perfect and without fault.

My favorite promise I have as a believer is that he takes all those shards of a life a have broken, of a world that is broken and, because of Jesus, pieces them together into more beautiful of a treasure than I could have ever dreamed. He scoops up the pieces of my broken vase and breaks and shapes them in ways I sometimes can't understand... and knowing full well what he is doing, places a radiant crown of splendor upon my head, looks at me, as if I owned the life of his beautiful son, and smiles.

Whose line is it anyway?

My little sister Becca can impersonate this person hilariously well.. do you know what movie this line is from? You can guess in the comments part!

Odd

In the bathroom in Daniel Hall today, I noticed a small sign. It says:
"To preserve the luster of this toilet partition, wash every month with warm mild soapy water and follow with a good quality car wax."
Who waxes toilet partitions?

Stephanie and Jessica Kareoke Blog Style

Go Tigers!

Communion

This might seem really silly, but everytime I go to church, I look in the bulletin to see if we are having communion. The reason is that I have never really enjoyed communion. I have gone to many different churches throughout my life and it seems everybody does it a different way. Some eat the bread when they get it, some hold it. Some drink all together some do it individually, some sing while it is being passed, some pray. I am scared everytime that I am going to do it wrong, so I check the bulletin to see if I need to be nervous or not. I say that to say this: this morning, I experienced communion the way I think Jesus intended it to be.

Here at school, I go to Clemson Presbyterian Church. This is different from what I grew up with, but I really love it. One main thing I love about it, is that they don't just DO religion. They focus on the person of Jesus and getting to know him more. Today's communion went something like this:

Jimmy Agan, our pastor, told us that we don't do communion because it is a neat idea or a cool tradition. We do it because that is what Jesus did on the night he was betrayed and he asked us to do it and remember Him when we do. He told us that the Lord's supper is not a memorial. Memorial's are for dead people. The Lord's supper is a celebration. God's work is finished, his wrath has been poured out, the day of the Lord has come and gone and Jesus bore the wrath of God because of sin. It is finished. Not only has his wrath been poured out, but he continues to change and use us. He wants us to take the bread and wine because he says the bread is his body that was broken and the wine is his blood that was poured out for us.

Jesus is as real as the bread is against our teeth and the wine against our lips. He is nourishment of our soul.

Dr. Agan explained that this feast was for those who have given Jesus full reign over their life. It is a celebration of what he did and what he is doing. He then explained that for those who have never traded their life for Jesus's, for those who are not seeking him, whether they are a believer or not, they should let the elements pass. He asked them to think about what it all means and why we are even here doing this church thing and for that matter, life. I like how he challenges even Christians by saying that if you are not seeking him, if he is not real to you in your life, let the elements pass you, re-evaluate and then come back to the table when you are ready to celebrate. Before he passed the bread, he said, "when you take the bread, please hold it until everyone has theirs and we will eat it together, because together we are the body of Christ." (Yes! Clear directions! No nervousness! and an explanation of WHY we are holding it nonetheless!) When we passed the "fruit of the vine" he told us to take and drink it whenever we were ready to symbolize that while we are all part of the body, Jesus died for each of us individually and cares for us individually. (Yahooo! I GET it now! There is actually a REASON why we are doing this!) I think so many churches miss the boat when it comes to communion. We just do it because we are supposed to instead of really thinking about what it is we are doing! That is dumb. We have to change it.

On a side note, while I was thinking about the night Jesus died and how he passed the cup... I would like to note that there was only one cup. Now, we used the little tiny cups for everybody, cause that would be one big ole cup if we all shared in church, maybe a little gross too.. but my point in saying this is that I think it is quite clear that drinking after other people is Biblical.

Grandmama and Grandaddy Hunter at their 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. What an inspiration!

This is my beautiful sister. She is only 16!! The prettiest part about her is her heart! What a babe!

My Best Friend Kelli and me at the Clemson/Wake game. Sorry guys, she's taken!

Ta Da! This is Layne and me lovin life at the campground with her fam. Weinie head.

What a Day! I cannot really describe how great today has been. It would be a really crazily long blog. (would that make it a blong?) I had class today, which was normal, but good. I love the people in my classes. Somebody really smart recently said that college is about way more than just class.. it's about people. I think this is profound. There are people in each of my classes. Real people with real lives and real joys and struggles who have good and bad days. I want to make a point to care about them. Ask about how things are going, remember what they said, and then talk to them again about it tomorrow. I know I can't get to know everyone in all of my classes, but for those who I come in contact with, I want to really see them for who they are, people who are important enough for Jesus to die for them. Oh to view others how He views me...

So, I have cool friends. Friends in high places. Literally. My great friend Stephanie took me up to the top of Tillman today. She knows the code to get up to where the bells are... so we went! Wow. It was so beautiful. You can see the mountains way far in the distance and lake Hartwell and all of Clemson. It is incredible. Then she showed me how to play the bells... AND I DID! I played the bells in Tillman today! All of Clemson heard me play twinkle, twinkle little star, heart and soul, and Jesus loves me.. among other things. I feel like I can graduate a happy girl.

My neighbor from China brought me Chinese Dumplings for supper tonight. If you have never had chinse dumplings, you haven't really lived. They are the BEST! The same neighbor was one of two women who came to my house for the first Bible study of the semester. I spread the word about a Chinese women's Bible study that would be happening at my house this fall and Ya Wu and Xing Xing came! Amazingly, BOTH are believers. Ya Wu's testimony is awesome. Her husband tried to come to Clemson in the fall of 2003, but was denied a visa, basically for no other reason than the Chinese government felt like denying him one. He applied again in december and was granted a visa. He came here looking for an apartment to sublease and met a Chinese man named Ryan who was looking for a subletter. Ryan was a Christian and asked Ya Wu's husband if he would go with him to church. After about two months of going to Bible studies and fellowships, he gave his life to the Lord. He called Ya Wu to tell her he had become a Christian and she was furious. She was so angry with him. She wanted to know why. She couldn't imagine what would make him want to be a Christian. She said that in China there was no God, no Christianity, and they were ok. She said she didn't understand what Christianity was... in China they have budda and some people believe that, but why Christianity?! She ended up being able to come to America to join her husband in April of 2004. She went to church with him and Bible studies. They were involved in fellowships with other believers and she says that step by step, she learned that the Bible was the truth. She said that during this whole time, the Lord prepared her heart and showed her her sinfulness in rejecting Him. She told me that every night her husband prayed for her to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior, but it wasn't until her dad started having some difficulties with his health that she searched for peace. She prayed, before she believed, and God gave her peace. She knew He was what she needed and gave her life to Him. When I asked her what really made the difference, she said that in America she didn't see religion, she saw Christians. She said she saw that they had peace, they were nice, and she wanted that. Jesus said that "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Never before has this verse been so real to me. As my friend Layne told me, I may be the only Bible someone ever sees. I pray with all of my heart that Jesus would take me and make me a sweet representation of himself.

Here's what I'm feeling: It's like I am jumping on a trampoline. God is so good and just filling me to the absolute brim with wonder and awe of just how amazing he is. It's so exciting. It's like the feeling of jumping really high. I am just jumping and jumping and and the momentum from the jump makes me want to flip and bounce and touch my toes and just laugh! That's how I feel. Now, thoughts on husbands: not particular husbands, but the idea of them. When jumping on a trampoline you get in a rhythm and the rhythm is good. If somebody else hops on, one of two things can happen, they can either buckle your knees and mess up your bounce OR they can double bounce you. If two people are both bouncing, really great bounces, when added together at just the right time in just the right way, they send each other soaring even higher! For the rest of my life, I don't want to settle for anything less than being double bounced!

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

This is my first experience with this thing they call a "blog." I think it is a very funny word: blog. It's one you have to say to get the full effect, kinda like thneed. It's raining buckets here in Clemson SC, but life goes on.. I lost my keys today so I had to walk to class. Well, I would have had to walk to class, but there are these really nice maintenance people in family housing who hooked me up with a ride. It's cool to pull up to a class and hop out of this big honkin maintenace BUS! People are definately puzzled by it, but on days like today, it's a great thing! It's good to have friends!

This semester has been eventful thus far and will continue to be, I am sure... I have started my student teaching observation at Pendleton High School. It is going really good so far... Today's a big day though, because I am teaching my first lesson on Photosynthesis. I hope they aren't bored. The class I am hepling with right now is an AP Biology Class of only six students.. talk about a DREAM class! I recently met the one deaf student at Pendleton.. well, we had met before, but I went to his biology class to observe him and his interpretter and their interactions during class. It was so fun. I learned some really neat new signs. ASL is amazing. I think everyone should learn it! It helps the world make sense because it takes words and ideas and makes them real where you can see them. I love it. After being in there for a while, I did decide that I would rather TEACH than interpret. I like to interpret, but you aren't supposed to add things to help the student and that is my favorite part of teaching. There are only like two jobs in the entire state where this would be feasible.. so we'll see!

On other note, I am taking tennis this semester. How cool is it that I go to a university where I can get actual course credit for learning how to play tennis!? People are shocked that I do not know how to play tennis. It's not that I am just built like a tennis player or have a really large forearm or anything... I am the daughter of a celebrity. Well, in my opinion anyway. My dad was just named State Tennis Coach of the year along with adding another ring to his state championship collection. My dad refers to this place as "moo U" or KlemPson.. he's a hard core USC fan... but it's things like tennis class that keep me comin' back, dad!

There is A LOT going on right now.. and I am looking forward to being able to blog about it. I am learning a lot and growing a lot and getting a whole new perspective on a lot of things.. I'll keep ya posted!