2009.. What a year this has been. One of the best of my entire 20 years!

Just to let you in on this..

*The deaths of Aunt Etoyle,Uncle Waymond, Mrs. Annette, Mrs. Eva Faye and Mr. Floyd. All of these precious people have impacted my life one way or another. :) They are living it up with Jesus now.

* Erika's automobile accident. It really opened my eyes to not take anything for granted. She is still suffering from this but praise the Lord she is in GA getting therapy now. God Bless her and her family. :) Love you E!

* Nikki's Wedding- Beautiful and a sweet memory. :)

*Mom telling us a Tiger Woods joke @ Christmas. She's such a precious lady.

* Harper Grace came into my life. She is the sweetest ball of fur in the world!!!

*Montana-Summer Missions. By far the best summer of my life.

(excuse the Paper, please!)


I want to do missions somehow, someway! :)

*Transfering to Ole Miss. Great new friends, Grove, Football Games. BSU! HOTTY TODDY!

(might I add that I had all A's and B's.. pretty pumped!)


* MANY,MANY good times with Friends.

Party @ Ashley's with all the summer missions people, visits from friends in Oxford. Restaurants in Tupelo. We always find ways to hang out and have fun.

* Moving into my own HOUSE! I love it. Come visit us in Oxford.

* Roadtrips to Jackson, Memphis, and many other random places. Always fun!

* I'm now a preschool teacher at my church. I love it! :)

* Overall a very great year. May God bless me this year and reveal his plan for me.

Happy New Year 2010. :)

Hold my Heart.

I need you Jesus to hold my heart. I need to read my Bible more, pray harder and more specifically, and live out my Faith even harder. Lord, You can do that in me and I pray that it starts happening NOW!

God has big plans for me this next year, and I just feel it. I am hoping for a great school year, my husband to be introduced to me Ha!, and to LOVE on people and show them that God loves them to.

2010--Here I come!

I have been reading books about missionaries and listening to praise music like crazy lately. I feel like I'm not doing enough and I need to start doing more for his kingdom. If that's going to Africa for a mission trip, I'm down, or staying in Pontotoc, Ms for the rest of my life. I'm down. Hopefully he's reveal his plan to me in his perfect time.

That's my heart right now, just thought I would share.

Today, I am at work playing on the internet all day. It couldn't get any better than that. I had my grandmother's Christmas Saturday and she is just precious. She is 84 and she made a Tiger Woods joke. It just made my day. I sure hope to be just like that woman when I get old and gray. She is hardworking, faithful to her Lord, and speaks her mind most of the time. I love it. Christmas is such a special time at her house and I love the tradition so much.

Well, that's all I've got. Saw Houston Nutt this morning when i came into work. Sure hope those Rebs are getting ready to kick tail at the Cotton Bowl.

Hotty Toddy!

Random Life

Here we go. Random Post..

Harper is having female surgery today and I am so sad for her. I made her look cute for the doctors though, she had a pink collar and a pink bow in her hair. :) No, I very rarely do this to her. haha

I have been making tin Christmas ornaments for friends/family this morning for little Christmas happies. Seems like when I am at home with nothing to do I always find a DIY craft to do. I love making things and designing things for my apartment.

I am anxiously awaiting the Christmas presents that I ordered to arrive in the mail anyday now. Ugh! I am ready for them to be wrapped and under the tree. :) I just love Christmas Time.

We went last night to my "Mom's" church and watched their Christmas play. Good job, Friendship Baptist. It was too cute.

Oh, I made the Dean's List @ Ole Miss. Woo hoo. I was pretty pumped.

Hopefully I will get some things done today that have been waiting on me to finish them.

Love ya'll.

Elle Pea

Wedding Weekend :)

going to the chapel and we're gonna get married....

That was us this weekend. Nikki finally married that boy named Nathan. It was precious, very simple and Nikki looked BEAUTIFUL!

We had a great time helping her get ready and Merle and I had a sleepover Friday night. We acted goofy and had a fun girls night. :) Love you Merle.

I am in Oxford and I love it because there is No one here. It's empty and I can speed through town. :)

I am working some this week and then it's Christmas time for me. I am so ready to find out grades tomorrow, it's killin me.

Pray for Aims. She is in Peru. I'm so proud for her. :)

Love ya'll!

You're gonna do great things.. I already know.

Finals.. Here we are again.

I hate them and I am ready for them to be over. I am sitting in Oxford, listening to K Love online and trying my best to CRAM for these things. Listening to Christmas music is making me happy too. :)

I have had a great weekend. We had Nikki's shower this Friday night which was a great night for all of us. We had LOTS of fun and I will put pictures up as soon as I can. Saturday, I shopped all day with Mama and Mom which of course was a blast. My grandmother just makes my heart smile. She is so precious.
That night I went and ate with a friend and we had some good conversations.

I am ready for CHRISTMAS. I can't wait to be with family, not be stressed, and be able to celebrate Christmas for what it is.

Please pray for our Church family. Mr. Floyd Gardner died who was a member of our church and like a papaw for all of us. He will be greatly missed but is living it up with Jesus tonight.

Chad.. that video you posted on your blog was pure amazing.. Made me think, that's for sure.

Love ya'll! :)

Made me think...

Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.

This is what Bro. Tommy preached on last night. It made me think about how I need to be living my life and what my priorities are.

I believe that if I get those in the right order then My God will send me that dream guy i've been looking for, for all of these years.

Great weekend. Except for a game that I don't even want to mention.

BOWL GAME--here we come. Hotty Toddy!

School is bogging me down.

Peace!

Thanksgiving Recap

Happy Thanksgiving(yesterday):

Things we did and things I am thankful for.

*Time spent with my 2 precious cousins Tyler and Justin

*Making a leaf pile and running and jumping in them.

*Great food. My "mom's" chicken and dressing

*hugs and kisses from family

* Cold weather

*cracker barrel supper

*safety in traveling

*sleeping in this morning

*my Harper

*My lovely FAMILY

*Christmas decorations, songs, food, weather.. pretty much everything associated with Christmas

*My Savior making a way for all of the blessings in my life.

*My church family

*Caitlyn, Shell, Whitney, Aims, Claire,Bruce,Alayna, Alicia, all of those friends who make me smile a little bigger. :)

*My Altima.

*Music, Itunes

*Being able to come home whenever I want or need to.

*Those years with my grandmother Patton and Grandaddy Heard. Even though I don't remember much about them.

*My Uncle Waymond. He got to spend this Thanksgiving with Jesus.

*My summer mission trip to Montana.

*Blogs

*Chicken and Hamburgers

*OLE MISS REBELS!!!

*My mama and daddy's trust in me.

Thank you God for everything that you have blessed this sinful, undeserving child of yours with. You are the thing that I should be the most thankful for.

Have a great weekend.

Thank you Lord for this crazy,chaotic life that I live..

Thank you Lord for it almost being Thanksgiving break. I had to be up at 5:45 this morning to go to Quitman county for observation. Listen people, it was heart breaking. Those people need prayer, and support from all of us. They are doing a great job of educating those students but they need help. It broke my heart to see what they are surviving with and made me realize how blessed I was to go to a school like North Pontotoc.

I absolutely can not wait to become a teacher and get to love on my kids and decorate my room and TEACH. But, today made me realize that it is so much more involved than that. I need to start being creative and coming up with ideas that don't cost a lot of money. I am so excited to see things like this and they really have an impact on me.

We got our Christmas cards done today. I love them! You'll have to wait and see what they look like. :)

Last night I found out that all of the churches that I worked with this past summer took up a love offering for us. Goodness, it was the nicest thing and it made my night so much better. I was very surprised and it made me miss Montana even more. Thank you to all of those wonderful people in Montana. See you soon, hopefully! :)

So, last night @ BSU this song was sang and it made me want to go to Africa sooo much more.

If you happen to know of any short-term trips I would love to go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6k-knvCWUA

Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride!

Life here lately, well.. it's good! School is actually going well, most of my BIG time projects are over and turned in so, that's a relief.

My puppy Harper is doing pretty good on potty training so that's always nice. She still takes up most of my time and I love her so so much. Fall is enjoyable this year. Still some 70 degree weather out there. LOVE IT!

I love that Thanksgiving Break is in 2 weeks and I get to hang out with my little cousins. I did go to Jackson this past weekend and got to hang out with the "heards" for a while. We had a blast. Shell and I had fun @ Mistletoe Market and we learned that we could make it to Jackson in 2 hours. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yes, I do forget alot and I'm sorry for that. I don't ever feel the need to tell everyone, everything about my life. I guess that's part of our different personalities. I respect that you can remember so much about people and do nice gestures for people. That's what makes you a good person. I am sorry that "that person" has been my friend for 20 years but that doesn't mean that I can't be friends with you too. You have been in my life longer than some of my friends and I hope that you don't let that detail ruin a friendship. Please just quit being mad about everything that I do and even things that I don't do that are not even big deals. I'm sorry if I have made you mad, that's not been in my wishes. We fight a lot but can usually get over it. This is just a hurdle that we are going to have to jump over. I love you and you have always been a great, special, best friend to me. I hope that we can work something out. :)

Can you say STRESSED OUT!!!

So.. today I had 2 big tests. Gross! I hate them.

Yesterday I had a longgg day but it was great. I was observing in my kindergarten room for 5 hours. It was a good, stressful, and fun day. I was able to help with learning centers, decorating their hall for Thanksgiving, and observing how the day of a Kindergarten teacher goes. I was put to work and I realized how hard the teachers have to work. They are pressured, expected to put up with tons of jobs, but loved on by their students.

Can you tell that I am just a little bit excited to become a TEACHER!

It's a little scary though, that in 1 year I will be in control of 20 something students who are counting on me to teach them! ah!!

School is going good, but goodness I need a break!

Harper is growing and is B-A-D! I loves her SOOOO Much though!

Hope your week is going great!

It's your life. what you gonna do?

It's that time again. :)

Mary Michael one of the cutest little girls I know rolled it with her aunt shell. Too bad Michelle is one of my best friends and my house got chosen! :)

Oxford Mississippi is treating me well. I love it here and I am so proud that I made the decision to come to Ole Miss. I am swamped with school work though, and I am so ready to get done with all this busy work. I am ready to teach those precious little chillens, and hopefully make them learn some important stuff.

My uncle Waymon died last week and we had a touching, sad, and happy funeral for him. God surely blessed his life and he used him to bless my life. You will be missed uncle waymon. Also, a dear sweet man from my church ,Mr. Richard lost his battle with cancer. I am so sick of bad news but these two men are no longer suffering. Praise the Lord.

Happy Halloween and Fall! :)

Lauren

Fall is here..

Pumpkins. leaves. candles. I just love fall....

I am so excited that it is here. Rolling yards, here we come. School is going good at the moment besides the fact that i'm 100% that my computer has a virus! Stupid thing.

Well, I am excited that Ole Miss had a great WIN this weekend and so excited for next game. We froze, but had fun doing it.

I am excited about this week. Bunco, school not being so stressful, and times with my family.

Harper is doing good, biting and being a puppy, but I loves her!

See ya'll soon. Enjoy this COLD weather!

Happy Fall Ya'll....

Life has been busy here in Oxford, Mississippi. School, fun, football, and shopping. All of my favorite things in life all mixed in one. Haha. Aims is finally over all of her illnesses, and we are back to normal. School is stressful, and I'm jealous that most of my friends are getting fall breaks. :(

Mrs. Annette died last night of cancer, so please remember her family. She was a sweet lady and I pray that she is in a better place. :) RIP Mrs. Annette!

Ole Miss vs. Alabama Saturday. HOTTY TODDY! It's going to be a crazy day in Oxford. Can't wait.

I am having fun in my education classes. Today, I was talking to a little boy, Atticus and we were talking about his life. He told me that he used to have a mother and I asked him what he meant. He said that she was in heaven and it just broke my heart. I told him that she was watching him and he said, "oh, I know. It was precious! :)

God knows exactly how to take care of us when we need it. Thank you Lord for that.

Harper got to visit the Pumpkin sale and the picture up there is proof.

Loving this fall weather. No more rain, please!

Shell and I babysat last night. 2 girls=13 kids! Wow. It was an adventure. They liked to handcuff us. It was a fun night.

God, please let us remember that you care about every little detail of our lives. So, please let the rebels win saturday. HOTTY TODDY!

(haha. just kidding. Sorta!)

Love ya'll!

The God of the universe wants to do great things in your life...

Thanks Nick Young for those encouraging words this weekend.

I went to CSC with 4 amazing girls this past weekend. We laughed,cried, and had a fun little road trip to Jackson. We met up with the Ole Miss BSU and had a great weekend. God truly wants me to do missions as much as I want and can but I know that it's all in his hand. I pray that if summer missions is in my life plans then God will reveal that to me.

Sunday, I went to the doctor with a sore throat. Gross. Then.. I skipped class on Monday morning. I just couldn't get up. Then Aims finds out she has the swine flu. Poor thing. I feel so bad for her. But, I know that God will heal her soon.

Yesterday on my way to class, which I had a test, I get locked out of my house. Bugh! Luckily someone here has a key so I got in quickly. Then, today I was taking Harper out and I forgot the alarm was still set, well.. it went off. Good grief what a week.

Go rebs this week and hopefully everyone will have a great and fun time.

Lord. Could we have Sunshine please?

I don't know about ya'll but I am SICK, SICK, of the rain. This weather makes me sleepy, tired, and wanting to stay inside. Blah!

Harper loves the sunshine so I am hoping that we get some soon. Harper is being so good. She is getting the potty training thing 99.7% of the time. haha.

She is soo sweet.

I loves her.

My family, friends, are doing good. I love the fact that Erika got to come home Saturday and that she is doing ok. I pray that God will ease her pain and let her enjoy her time at home.

I started student observing at Lafayette High School last week and I go once a week. I think I am really going to enjoy it. :)

Hoping for a great week. CSC this weekend!

/

Peace!

World meet Harper.

This is Harper. I loves her!

She is 7 weeks old and is into everything. School is going, very different from good ole ICC, but I love it. :)

We have our first home game Saturday, and if it doesn't pour, I'm there! :)

I am so glad that Erika gets to come home Saturday, I know she is too excited.

Pray that tomorrow is a great day and that I do good on my quiz.

Love you all.

God blesses...

Life is good. I have had a great weekend.

Reasons:

Caitlyn came friday night and spent the night in Oxford.

My family celebrated birthdays at Kabuki, and it was great.

I got my precious HARPER!

She is just beautiful. She sleeps ALOT and is very happy when she is awake.

I am so blessed. I have an awesome church family,an amazing family. BTW: Pray for my brother. He keeps passing out and we can't figure out the cause. :(

I am just amazed that God continues to always bless in my life and that he cares about every, single, detail.

Hope all is well with you. GOD BLESS! :)

The day goes on..

Hey Ya'll.

Well 2nd week at Ole Miss and still loving it. So much reading, work, and "stuff" to get done but going great. I am having a bad day today just because I was supposed to adopt a dog, a PRECIOUS dog from the Humane Society and she left last night. So sad.

There is another Harper out there for me! :)

Here are some pictures of Aims and I living it up in Oxford. Really, come see us sometime. :)

We like cooking, easy stuff only though. :)

Aims got a flosser stuck between her teeth. It was quite hilarious.

Picnic in the Grove! So much fun is going to take place here!

First Days of Big Girl School

I'm an Ole Miss Student! :)

It's so much fun here. The atmosphere is amazing and most of the people I have met have been very nice. I do miss the family feeling that i left at ICC though. I'm making new friends everyday and for that I am thankful.

Aims and I are having a blast in our "house". We cook and clean and just have a ball. Last night we stayed up with 2 pretty cool guys and cooked cookies at 12:30. Oh, the joys of college. We were super tired this morning though.

I am liking all of my classes so far even though I can already tell, busy work here I come. I hope that this is the year that I find that special someone, get ready for my soon coming career, and learn to lean on God 100%.

Pray for us, and Oxford!

Peace

Well.. here we go.

Tomorrow I start big girl school. Ole Miss. I'm really scared/nervous excited. :)

Aims and I are at our house and I know that this is going to be fun. We have to go get groceries tomorrow or else we will starve! haha

My speech about Montana was presented tonight at church and it went really well. I talked for like an hour. I'm pretty sure I teared up a couple of times just thinking about Montana.

I've realized that I am growing up and that I have a lot of changes happening in my life. I sure hope that I am ready for this and I know that God is going to bless my time here, and now.

Ole Miss here I come...

Peace!

Never take anything for granted!

well, tomorrow Erika has her surgery. It has me thinking that I take WAYYY too much for granted. I know that I shouldn't, but it kinda just happens.

I am so glad that she is doing better, and that God is showing his hands through all of this. I know he has BIG plans for her somehow, someway.

I had a great day today. I now own season tickets for those amazing OLE MISS REBELS! Hotty Toddy!

I also went with Aims and Kyle to find our classes and to the BSU and we hung out with some people there. It was neat to meet some new people.

Life is good! :)

Come see us in Oxford. We have cable and internet now. Woo hoo!

God, Let me have an amazing time @ Ole Miss and honor you throughout the process!

LP

Finally on Southern Soil.

I'm home!!!!

So...excited. Family,friends,the south,Sweet tea,Mom,haha.

Seeing my friends and church family was great. It was fun.

I do miss Montana a little bit though. I almost started crying talking about it the other day. :(

I'm moving into my new house in Oxford. It's gonna be cute. :)

Life is good. Summer was great. God is amazing. He loves us so much and I am needing to realize that more and more everyday.

I am growing up, WOW!

Praying for Erika and Devin. :)

Peace!

One last one :)

Well. It's going to be my last blog in Montana! Wow! What a journey..

Here goes:

I have learned this summer how to depend on God for anything. He is there no matter what.

I know that God put me in Montana to show me that everyone is different and people aren't just like me. Boy, this was hard at first.

Look at that sunset. wow! :)

God wanted me to be completely sure and know that I am TRULY blessed.

I've learned that missions isn't always easy, but it's soo worth it.

I've also learned that people just need to be LOVED on and know that they are cared for by at least one person.

Little kids have my heart. :)

My family, friends,church family, are the absolute best!!!!

I am a true SouThern Belle- I miss it.

I have a heart for missions and I love traveling. God will use this some way- some how.

"Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God." --John Piper

I'm really excited about going home. 2 days...

God knew exactly what he was doing every minute this summer and for that I am thankful.

I'm gonna miss these precious kids, awesome host families, and the beautiful scenery. God help me to always remember and thank you for my summer in Montana!

See ya'll soon!!!!!!

Just a few.. I have PLENTY!

Man. I'm going to miss those! :)

Isn't he precious!?

My last week as a summer missionary.. :)

Well. Here we are. Our last week in Montana! :) We are in Helena with Mallory and we are having fun. Playing catch phrase at this moment! haha. Maggie left us Friday and it was sweet, sad, and a good thing all rolled into one.

Radersburg was awesome and they treated us amazingly but I am so glad to be in civilization. Internet, and phone service= WOO HOO! We have the 3 year olds this week and they make me laugh. Tonight they were talking crazy. I LOVE them.

I have had an amazing summer in Montana and I know that I am going to miss it when I leave. I am super duper Excited about seeing Mom, mama, daddy, I guess Adam! :), having sweet tea, cracker barrel, fried chicken, and all that great stuff! :) Can't wait.

See ya'll soon!

Peace

Oh you don't know where that is?.. Exactly?

Hello,

I am in Radersburg, MT and believe me, we are out in the middle of nowhere. To get cell phone service I have to stand in the road. :) The people were are with are precious though, they love us and are taking really good care of us. We pretty much have a 2 story house by ourselves. It's amazing.

God has blessed us with 5 kids in VBS and they are soo sweet. A little hyper, but cute. We are hoping that they get Tons out of the lessons this week. Pray for that.

Also 4 boys from yellowstone were involved in a car accident this past week. One of them is in critical condition. Please pray that God chooses to heal them and that they are ok front top to bottom.

My time in Montana is about up and I am getting a little sad about it. Pray that I have a great rest of my 2 weeks.

love and miss ya'll

Peace

No Cellphones. Spending time with God! :)

Well. I've been at camp all week and it was crazy, beautiful there. We were out in the middle of NOWHERE and it was absolutely an experience. I stayed in a cabin with 4 girls and another counselor. We had a great time. We laughed, stayed up late, and just had fun learning about Jesus. God definetely blessed us as summer missionaries because he gave us a week to get away from VBS for a little bit and to meet up with some of our other missionary friends. :)

We got to see amazing scenery and had fun with all the kidderos that came to camp. A few youth groups that we had worked with previously, so that was fun.

I haven't had internet for a week so I am catching up on time lost. haha. My time in Montana is coming to an end and I can say that I am just a little bit sad. I've made some awesome friends and had the time of my life but I am soo soo ready to see my mama, daddy, Adam, my Mom! I also can't wait to have sweet tea, cracker barrel, abners, my grandmother's creamed potatoes, Bellevue Baptist Church, Mi Pueblo, Thaxton Mississippi, and all those Friends that I have missed this summer! :) You know who you are. I also have an apartment to decorate so that is exciting as well.

I love doing missions work and I thank God that he gave me this opportunity to serve HIM this summer. :) I hope he chooses to call me to do his work forever, in whatever way that may be.

Love and miss you all! :)

This is me learning to play the guitar! :)

Lauren

And The adventure continues...

Montana is getting more amazing and adventurous every week. This past week I was in Butte, Montana and I had a blast. I do believe it was my favorite week so far! :)

Look at what I got to live with for a week! :) They became my FAMILY!

This is Ethan, Owen, Priscilla, and Jonas!

We attempted to go rock climbing and all of that outdoorsy stuff, and had a blast trying. We were treated like family this week and they let us experience our southern chicken and all that goodness! We got to eat at the 1st Sonic opened in Montana tonight and it was heavenly. YES, I had Sweet tea! :)

We had an amazing week. Man! I got to babysit those precious kids and spend time with Mrs. Alisa, we went shopping without the kids. I think she had tons of fun, I did as well. She is an amazing MOM and she had the most patience of any mom I had ever seen. We also got some mexican food this week and man, Mississippi is blessed with our Mexican food. hint hint...

I hear that the McWhirter family is still having a very hard time so we need to continue to pray for them. I hate that so bad and I know that these next few months will be so hard! :(

I finally got our pictures from White water rafting. Thanks to Ben in England! :)

Here they are...

I have lots more!..

Montana has been simply amazing. I've only got 3 more weeks to make tons more memories. :)

Pray for us this week.. we have youth camp. To God be the Glory! :)

Peace!!!

Butte, Montana. Singing, Lord, I was born a rambling Man..

Those lyrics are from a Rascal Flatts Song.. We are in Butte, Montana and so far our day has been wonderful. We have had a great day and boy it has not been relaxing.

What a week we have had in Helena. Last week was a BIG challenge but praise the good Lord above we made it through. God knew what he was doing but we had to hand it over to him and put it in his hands.

I learned that when we have a problem talking about the person is not the answer. Giving the problem to God is... He can take care of anything. :)

This week we are all split up into different homes and I think that it is going to be a neat experience. We are so used to being a group that we are kind of excited to see what happens. I am staying with a family that has a 2 year old little girl, Priscilla, and a 8 month old, Owen! I am really excited to see how God works in this VBS!

Yesterday we got to go to Yellowstone, and boy I had a fun day. I took LoTs of pictures and I saw some neat animals. I loved it. We left at 5:30 AM and got home at 1:00 AM. Big long day.

We are doing VBS again this week and I am teaching the 1st and 2nd graders. Pray for us and pray that God provides exactly what those little boogers need to hear.

Peace! :)

A month has already gone by..

Well.. it has hit me that a month has gone by and I just can't believe it. Let me just tell you, I was nervous/excited/scared/ about this summer and worried about what would become of it. God sure does listen to every minute of our worries and he cares about every detail of our life.

He loves us no matter what, and he expects very little in return.

Today in VBS we learned about how Peter followed Jesus and we were talking about missionaries and we talked about how they give up something usually to follow Christ. I started thinking about this and about how I gave up a Summer Job, my family time, possibly a vacation, but yet GOD has blessed me with so much more this summer. He has given me patience when I needed it, new friends to love, and a peace about being away from home. I miss my family, and friends, NO DOUBT. :) But, I am blessed and grateful to be spending my summer in Montana!

God knows exactly what he has accomplished and I am proud to know that I may know what God is up to but he knows even the # of hairs on my head. I love the expression I get when I tell a little child that. :) Warms my heart.

This summer has been full of learning experiences and finding out things about other people. I am happy about working with kids ALL summer because it has shown me that I still want to pursue Elementary Education.

Snapshots of Memories...

Beautiful Sunset in Townsend!

My Attempt at a Heart. :)

You may be the only Bible anyone ever reads.

Today I realized that not all people have heard about Jesus and his Holy Bible. You would think that I would know this but it hit me hard today. We did a food drive around the community in Helena and we got some pretty neat responses. We would ask for food and then the people would either decline or accept and then we would offer them a Bible. Most people that I came in contact with either had a Bible already or just didn't want one.

Some people were rude, and some were just brutally honest and told us they didn't want one. It broke my heart to see people so unwilling to even take a New Testament and try it out. God will bless that though and I pray that one day the book is read and if they are not saved, that a change as great as God would happen in their lives. I once heard a quote that said, "You may be the only Bible anyone ever reads". As scary as that is I firmly believe that God can do great things through me, and I hope that because we gave our time today for him that he will do just that, BLESS! :)

Pray for the people in Montana. Some people yelled at us to go away, and some people took us in a talked for 20 minutes. One lady was precious and I know that she is a fellow believer and she just wanted somebody to talk to. One man was glad to get a Bible and then proceded to show to me that he had no clue what a Bible was. I told him that it was God's word and he said that he would love to keep it. I felt so great being able to tell him that it was all his and he could have it for FREE! :) I am so glad that God allowed me to do this and show me that I am so blessed to live in the Bible belt with a family that loves hIm!

My cousin Craig is having some interviews for a job this coming week so please be in prayer for him. If something doesn't happen he may have to move away from us and we surely don't want that to happen.

Today we slept late and went to Gates of the Mountains, which is a 2 hour historical Boat ride. A lot of fun and very relaxing. We then went to eat at Hardee's and came back to the house. :) God has blessed us with a relaxing week.

Peace! Hope all is well with you!

I'll serve you while I'm waiting...

Hello from Montana.

We are busy doing nothing right now and enjoying being able to relax. I am learning so much this summer that it is crazy. God sure does have "Crazy Love" for us. He is amazing and I pray that I continue to learn SOOO much more about him and his love. I also hope that I am a blessing to these precious people that just need to be loved on by him.

Hope all is well. We are hopefully going and doing something "FUN" today so I think that will be a joy. :) Yay!

Well, we went to see "My Sister's Keeper" today and it was amazing. I cried through the WHOLE thing though. It definetely was a tear jerker but it was such an inspirational movie. I realized that God has blessed me with perfect health and that I should be doing all I can to help people with Cancer. I guess it hit home because my grandmother and granddaddy both had cancer and it was so hard on them. Thank you Lord for my health. :)

We are tired. We had VBS tonight and we went and talked to a lady downtown today. We had fun meeting some new people in the community and I pray that somehow we witnessed to her. Maybe a seed was planted.

Miss and Love you!
Peace!

God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame. ~EBB

Here I am in my 5th week of Summer Missions in Montana! God is so good. Let me tell you. I have surely been shown that I am blessed beyond measure and I should Thank him everyday. We talked about yesterday how our parents should teach us about Jesus and I can't thank my parents enough about raising me in church and showing me the way i needed to grow up in God.

I am having a great week in Helena. We have been able to help out and teach in VBS and we have also had some down time. Today we rode a carousel, went to some shops downtown where i got an ICED COFFEE! WOO HOO!!!! :)

God has shown me this summer that I can do anything in him if I believe in him even more, and Trust him for it all. So far we have been able to share our testimonies and just be a friend to these precious kids. They may not remember a thing we said but they sure remember if we LOVED on them or not.

Please pray for us that we have a HUGE impact on them and their families. We are doing a food drive at the end of this week and I know God will show up and bless that.

Lovin this summer.

Peace!

I just hiked a Mountain!

Today is our last day in Belgrade. We have had a lot of fun here this week, it has been amazingly laid back and restful. Well.. except for yesterday and today. Yesterday we made reservations and went white water rafting. It was AMAZING! :) We had a blast and we shared a raft with some guys from London. They made us laugh and laugh. Today we visited houses in the community, and then they gave us the rest of the day off. We decided(to please Stephanie) that we would hike to the M which is a 2 mile hike up the mountain. Goodness, we made it but it about killed me! I am soooo out of shape, but we had a lot of fun in the process! :)

We are leaving tonight to go to Belgrade Stock Car Races and then to Helena where we start off our week with an air show. I love Montana.

Today was my mama's last day as a University Employee and I am sooo happy/sad for her! She is going to be missed, I am sure.

Love and miss all of ya'll! See you soon!

Belgrade.. I love you! :)

ok.. So we are in Belgrade Montana having a ball. We got to this town yesterday and the people pretty much had no clue what was going on. We are staying with a PRECIOUS family though. :)

I have figured out that God knows exactly what he is putting in our path and we have to be ok with that. Our group is like a family now!

This morning we went to the Church and they had nothing for us to do so we got to drive to Bozeman and go to Target. I had fun for sure. We then went to the church and met the pastor, Curtis Crow. We organized the VBS material and then we worked in their clothes closet. We threw out the old clothes and pretty much just started cleaning out the room. It was a lot of fun!

We then went back to Bozeman and went BACK to Target and then to Borders. I bought "Crazy Love" and "Captivating". I am soooo excited and can't wait to read them!

Hope everything is good in Mississippi! :) Miss and Love YA'LL!

He Must Become Greater. I must Become Less!

So.. we are finishing up our last day in Boulder, Montana. This week has been great and we have been able to work with little kids. We have been a part of a drama/basketball/backyard Bible Club. It was so much fun and we have learned while preparing for our lessons. :) God has brought us closer together as a team and that is for sure an answered prayer.

I have to share a funny story. I am one of the Backyard Bible Club teachers and we usually on a good day have 5 kids. Well, one of the little boys,"Rutger" asked me the cutest, most innocent question the other day. We were learning about how Joseph and Mary were traveling to Bethlehem to have baby Jesus, and telling all of the details about their travels. Well, he looked up at me and said," How did her stomach open?" It was so precious, but I just told him that she had him like all other mama's today do. He was completely ok with that answer, Praise the Lord.

God is really doing some awesome things through us and for us. We are so blessed.

Please pray for all of my friends doing summer missions. :) I am sure they need our prayers too!

Peace!

Boulder.. 3rd week!

We are in Boulder, Montana and it reminds me so much of a little western town. We are all tired but having so much fun with the kids already. This week is much more laid back than last week and we have a lot more downtime. Praise the Lord. :) We have a church van that we are driving and that is pretty awesome.

I am so excited about my time in Montana because I am definetely seeing some things I could never see in Mississippi. But.. I have found out that I am a Southern Belle for SURE! I could never live here. It is wayyyyy toooo different.

I still have no wireless internet so no pictures. :(

Having fun though.

Peace

What a week.. Wolf Creek! :)

This has been our first week in montana working for Jesus! .. We went to Wolf Creek Baptist Mission and they are a precious community/church living for him! They served us meals daily and took the best care of us EVER! We are going to miss them soo much.

God has BIG plans for us this summer though. I'm excited. I taught preschool with Maggie and we had a great time teaching those little ones Bible Stories. I really hope that they learned a lot about Jesus!

We get our mail tomorrow and are meeting our supervisor for lunch. MAJOR EXCITEMENT.
Will post pictures as soon as I can.

Peace!
Miss all of Ya'll- Not you guys!

A Wild Crazy Adventure!

Here we are. We are in Missoula, Montana and we are enjoying ourselves for sure. We had to get up at 6:00 and drive 2 1/2 hours to get here. We got here and met our other 2 girls Maggie and Stephanie. They are awesome girls and I think Maggie and I are going to be great friends! :)

We met tonight at Bro. Rich's house in town where he has an in ground pool. Some people got in but the water was FREEZING! We had BBQ and potato salad, and brownies. Wow! A southern meal.

The people here are awesome and they treat us soo great. We have been fed, driven, and taken care of everywhere we have been.

Pray for the people in Montana. They are very to the point and they are not going to be changed. The staff are telling us to form relationships and become friends with them, and only then will they become people of GOD. Pray for us and them, please.

I also have a lot of other friends that are around the world this summer. Please keep them in your prayers also.

Love ya'll! :)

This was our group for Orientation for Summer Missions!

This was a view of Montana from our Front porch! :) In case you can't tell.. it is Beautiful!

Being a Rubber Band!

hey Ya'll.

I am sitting in Townsend, Montana with absolutely nothing to do. We have had a great first few days but now I am getting very bored. I am ready to start working with the kids in Montana and getting my hands dirty! I know God has a big plan and I am anxiously awaiting that plan. I have been thinking about home and wondering what they are doing there. A lot of my close friends are in other parts of the world and I am praying for their safety also. :) Please do the same.

I am so glad to have a chance to be in Montana and see their culture, it's excited and VERY different. They don't have a Wal*Mart every 20 miles, more like 2 hours away. No Wendys, Burger King, or McDonalds, where I am anyway. We are roughing it! haha

Pray that God would bring excitement to us right now and that we be grateful for what we have.

Peace!

Montana.. Here I am..

I am here. Loving it!

There are 5 of us missionaries in Montana at orientation right now and we are having a blast. Our flights were good and we have been busy ever since we got here. :)

We have eaten Montana Pizza and Buffalo meet so far and it was good. Pictures to come soon

Love ya'll!

Lauren

It's Time!

Here I sit in the Memphis hotel right outside the AIRPORT! Can you believe it? I will be in Montana in 16 hours! haha.. I am very excited, nervous, scared, and in shock! This has been such a process but I am soo glad that it is fixing to begin..

Please pray for

* My mama, daddy, and Brother.

* My flights and safety.

* My mom ( grandmother)

* My testimony and Witness in Montana

* All God has in store. I am fully expecting great things to happen because of him!

I hope that you all have a great summer and please pray hard for all of us. We will (I'm sure) get homesick, have colds, get down, and wonder what we need to do. God know these thoughts even before we have them. God Please hold our hands!

Love ya'll. Enjoy the SWEET TEA! That's something that I will miss terribly! :)

Peace!

How BEAUTIFUL are the feet of those that bring good news!----Isaiah 52:7 :)

Almost time.. :)

Hello everyone!

I have mixed emotions as I write this. I am very excited about school being over and very sad that my time is over at ICC. Graduation was fun and LONGGGG! I think we all pretty much talked the entire time. haha

I am leaving for Montana in 16 days and boy let me tell you, I am scared, excited, nervous, but ready to go! I know God has big dreams and I just have to be faithful! :)

Pray for me as I prepare to go and Pray that I reflect HIM the whole, entire time. I am soaking up every minute these next two weeks with friends, family, and having me a good ole time.

I will post my address for the two months(WOW) that I will be gone on here and please write me! :) It'll make things ten TIMES easier to hear from people back home!

peace!

Here Comes Goodbye..

Wow, I only have two more finals left at ICC. Praise the Lord!

I am fixing to start packing my stuff in my dorm and getting it ready to move home.

I can't believe this is finally almost the end. I was reading in my journal the other day and I found that the last time I wrote was the weekend that we moved in. Kinda made me a little sad.

I am having a good week--besides the whole finals thing. :)

May 31st-Leaving for Montana :)

Pray for me! God is going to do big things! I am fully expecting it. Ok.

Hotty Toddy! Oxford, here I come!

Peace

Come See us!

Bittersweet Goodbye! :(

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because you were there! :)

Wow! Where to begin.. I remember my first day of freshman year at ICC. We had band camp the first week and I was not excited. I was excited about living away from home, meeting new friends, and starting something new.. but boy was I nervous. I was walking toward the band hall and I knew NO ONE! I saw this girl and stopped her and she said that her name was Jennifer Hanson. I looked at her and said, I don't know anyone so you are my new best friends! To this day we are still friends and have many memories together. Alaska. Bible Study. Band. :) Thanks for being my first friend at ICC jennifer..

From that day to now i have made a ToN of friends that I will cherish and I am so sad that I have to leave. Let me name them. Claire Mattox, Chad McCoy. Sara Beth Davis. Kiersten Seward. Beth Thomas. Cate Dupree. Nick Young. Haley Leggett. Nikki Dew. Bruce Peters. Melissa Boyd. Kelsey Laprade. Meagan Leach. Carlye Carpenter.Tara Morgan. Ashley Farris. Kallen Donald. Brittany Pruett. Ashley McMillen. Austin Cook. Scott Mathews. Will Robbins. Joseph Zepeda. Cory Finn. Taylor Gore. Jeremy Haynes. Mallory/Megan Whitehead. Amy Simmons + LOTS more! ( Sorry if I didn't name you)

I think it just hit me today when Bro. Chris said, " Let me pray for the ones that will not be coming back next year." Wow! I got really sad and I just looked around and saw everyone leaving. All at the same time Ash, Claire, Aims, Chris and I all got tears in our eyes! Great times have occured in that BSU building! Wow.. ok. enough sappy stuff..

I am going to miss everything about the BSU, but I know God has a great plan for ALL of us wherever we are going.

Peace,

LP

****** "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

My Life.

God now has a definite and set plan for your life - and He will now be the One to guide you every step of the way into the fulfillment of that plan!

I think right now in my life, I have many things that I am thinking about. My future. What exactly God would have for me to do. My grades. Everything. I see things all day long that make me think, am I doing what I should be doing. I am really excited about growing up, paying rent, doing things that adults do, but goodness it scares me too. I absolutely am sick of school at this moment. It's a drag and very consuming. My mother always told me, Lauren, by the time you get to Ole Miss you will just be ready to get through and make money. Man, is Mama always right? I know that when I get to Ole Miss that I am going to love the grove, tailgating, football and baseball games, hanging out in town. But man, I think I am going to be sooo ready to just get done and TEACH!

If you are reading this, please pray for me! I need God's peace to overflow in my life.

So.. It's been a while since I blogged. If you haven't heard by now we had a minor accident at the dock the other night after BSU. Nikki dropped her keys in 6 1/2 feet of water, and after a LONG day of finding a magnet, and searching for those keys in the Tombigbee.. WE FOUND Them! Nikki owes us big time, and we had fun helping her out though. :)

Here are those Keys! :)

Saturday my mother got skybox tickets for the Ole Miss Grove Bowl 2009. It was amazing. I want a skybox now, so I better marry rich. :) Goodness, it's like heaven up there. WOW!

Off to another good week.. Hopefully! :)

peace

Love Many, Trust Few, and learn to paddle your own Canoe!

Oh how true my title of this blog is...

Today is Wednesday, I got to go to our BSU luncheon for the first time this semester and it absolutely made my day! :) I no longer have any band, Praise the Lord, and I am glad glad glad. School is a complete drag these days, but it is all going to pay off when I can teach those kindergarteners/Special Ed kids. (whatever God decides to bless me with). I can not wait to be around kids EVERY DAY!!

After reading everyone's blogs about graduation coming up and how there will be soo many people leaving, it kinda makes me sad. I have had an amazing 2 years @ ICC, and I will miss it greatly. I am really excited about being at Ole Miss though! HOTTY TODDY!

These days this is my life.. Breakfast.School.Homework. Laying on the tanning bed. Homework. Walking. Homework. FACEBOOK.Bed.

I am loving the college experience, but gosh, it is soo stressful sometimes. OK.. after the most random post ever..

PEACE!

* Jesus Kept his Promise! :) *

Today is Easter. Thank you Lord for keeping your promise. I often try to remember that Jesus promised that he would die and then rise again. He did what he said.

This weekend has been fun! We went antique shopping for my apartment (house), went bowling in Tupelo, and went and picked out Bridesmaids dresses for Nikki's wedding. Major FUN! :).. Thank you Nikki for picking out Cute Dresses! check them out... http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998974&currentIdx=30&subCategory=-49998976%7c-49998975%7c-49998974&catentryId=1000085

I can't wait for her wedding in December! :).. I then had a family reunion Saturday in Ecru, and then we ate at my MOM's today! I have had a busy weekend, but boy! did I enjoy it. I love being at home for longer than two days.

Hoping this week is going to be a blast! Hope school is not a drag! Ugh! Summer Hurry up!

Thank you God for Easter!

Peace!

God uses the weak to lead the strong... **

Well.. let's see. This week has started out great. This weekend I got to spend Thursday-Saturday in Jackson with 200 other students who are going to be Summer Missionaries. Pretty awesome, I must say. We worshiped together, prayed together, and became friends and made some pretty great memories. I met two girls that will be going to Montana and I am excited even more now. I must say that I am still fearful of the unknown, but I know that God is looking out for me and he has a GREAT plan!

I am graduating from ICC on May 10, leaving for Montana on May 31. I am coming home on August 8th and moving into my house as soon as I get home. It will be amazing but soooo much to do in a short length of time. I am very excited about what God has in store for me this summer. I am ready to see the sights, tell those precious kids about him, and enjoy myself and enjoy seeing the world that my Lord made. Pray for me, and all of my friends that will be going this summer from ICC-BSU.

Thank you Lord for letting me know that even though I am weak that I can make a difference and I can impact kids lives for a whole summer. Big responsibility=awesome challenge, and a lifechanging difference. :)

Peace!

☆ Leaving for Orientation....

This weekend is going to be a great one. I am Jackson bound for Summer Missions Orientation. I am really excited, scared, nervous, not knowing what is going to happen. I get to go with some of my BEST friends so that makes it all worth the while. :) This week has been very stressful, tests galore, projects, reports.. I'm ready for a break! The Lord has been good and blessed me though through it all.. I still have my cold that Won't go AWAYYY!!! Ugh...

Until next time.... Peace!

Marjorie, Tyler, and I ... Love My Family!!

Our Group from San Fran!

A little behind..

Spring Break was awesome.. San Fran. I want to go back. We had a blast working for the Lord, but it was just that WORK! We got to do alot of things that we (or I) don't ever do here at home. We redid the outside of a girls dorm, put a brick sidewalk down, and outside jobs like that. We had a great time and felt a feeling of accomplishment. The girls and guys at the Seminary were precious and they were very nice in telling us how much they appreciated our work. Our flights were good, some were delayed by no big deal. Scott demolished(only word to describe) his toe in the airport and bless him.. it was terrible. Thank you God for a great Spring Break!

I have a terrible cold and it is wearing me down. I went and got a shot today and I am praying that it heals fast. Ready for what the week ahead has.

Pray for Lizzie ( a girl our age who died of cancer-friends with Lindsay Wall) and Jordan Lindsey.
Thank you Lord for another day!

Peace--

☮ Black nails.Franchesca Bastinelli.Jackson, Mississippi.=Good Weekend!

Hey guys!

What a weekend. I had tons of fun and I am still tired from it. Friday night I chilled at home with my parentals and did some homework! Saturday I got up at 4:45 AM and went to the Ole Miss Soriority Yard sale with Aims. This is our new tradition. :) Then, I drove to Madison, Mississippi to see my cousins. They are 6 and 3 and it was their birthday party. They are precious! I just love them! :) I drove and almost fell asleep the whole way home! I was exhausted.
Sunday we had a Gideon speaker at church and he was precious! He reminded me of Jack Nicholson.. and it was an awesome service. God is good. I worked WinterJam too and got to work at Franchesca Bastineli's table.. I got to meet her and got a free cd out of the deal. Her music is awesome.. check it out.

That's my weekend, and now off to a brand new week!

Love! ☮

God is Amazzzing!

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me!
Today I took the Praxis, and Passed! woo hoo!. God is soo good. I was scared to death, went to the wrong place, and even started late but praise the Lord, I passed. I called my grandmother, "Mom" and she said, " Girl, the Lord is smiling down on you today!" This just made my day. I love having a family who encourages me and lets me know when they are proud of me. I have some pretty amazing friends too! We held hands and prayed in the cafeteria today at lunch for my test, and Hoby's. I love having friends who genuinely care also.

This means now that I can sign the lease on a house in Oxford. Yay! I'm a big kid now. :)

I am so tired, and fixing to go to bed.

Love ya'll! :)