Things I look forward to....

There are days when I feel like I am living life for the future....Like this is a time of waiting in my life. In a way, it is. I'm waiting for heaven but in the mean time I have an amazing opportunity to live life in the now. I am trying to focus on those things. At the same time, I have some things I look forward to and today I want to share those....

In random order (as they came to me)

1. I look forward to heaven, constant worship in the presence of the Almighty

2. I look forward to my first "Big Girl" paycheck

3. I look forward to getting married

4. I look forward to Sunday as soon as Monday morning comes

5. I look forward to seeing the mansion God has built for me (and actually living there)

6. I look forward to the Streets of Gold

7. I look forward to washing my husband's dirty socks because it means I have a husband

8. I look forward to the birth of my first child

9. I look forward to the look on my mom's face or the sound of her voice when I tell her she's going to be a grandmother

10. I look forward to going on a mission trip one day, hopefully to Africa :)

11. I look forward to the times I get to spend with my amazing friends

12. I look forward to graduation

13. I look forward to the look on my dad's face when I tell him he will be a grandfather, again

14. I look forward to preparing meals for my family

15. I look forward to meeting Jesus, face to face

16. I look forward to waking up to that special someone, over and over and over again

17. I look forward to hearing my children's feet as they walk down the hall to my bedroom, asking for breakfast on a Saturday morning

18. I look forward to the day when the Lord will say "Well done, good and faithful servant"

19. I look forward to the day when each and every person in my family comes to know the Lord

20. I look forward to the Lord's goodness being more and more evident in my life because of how much He has changed me

There are so many more but for now....20 will do...you were probably bored at number 2!

Until next time-
Les

A week of....Nothing

Ahh....this week has been extremely refreshing. I've read 2 1/2 books and I've gotten to get some extra sleep. Funny thing though....you know when you are "busy" you always look forward to down time but when you only have down time, you are looking for something to keep you busy. Part of the "problem" for me is that I don't have any money to do fun stuff right now so I just kind of have to hang out. Wednesday morning, I was almost starting to complain about free time. At church last night, a friend reminded me to just soak it up and enjoy what is right now. So, today, I'm doing that! I am greatly enjoying my free time today. I realize it will be over next week when I start my internship.
Tomorrow's my birthday so there is no way I'll be complaining about free time. I love it when my birthday falls on a day that I don't have to do anything that I don't want to do! It'll be a good day. Just hanging out during the day, eating dinner with my friends and playing some putt-putt!
And to top all of that off, college football begins on Saturday!!!! Woohoo!!!
Love you all
Until next time-
Les

Tornado Sirens??? Who Knew

Well, it's been a few weeks since I "blogged". Life has been busy and oh so good.

I got to go home for a week and I had a great time catching up with everyone and hanging out. I had my Mexican food fix, three times, and my Japanese food fix, once. Yum, Yum, Yum.
One night some of the people that I graduated with from high school got together to have dinner and just hang out. It was an adventure and very enjoyable. It is always great to catch up with those that you haven't seen in a while.

I was able to be home for G-Teezy from Louiezzy's 1st birthday party and it was such a joy. There were lots of people there to celebrate, despite the rain and I think the little man had a good time. After the party, I headed back to Birmingham and it was so good to be back. I am still in awe of how quickly I have made friends in this area and I thank God for that. They were all as excited to see me as I was to see them.

This past week has been a busy one because my new roommate moved in and I've been helping her move stuff and get settled. I am so stinking excited about her being here. We have so much fun together and we are being taught so much through our friendship with each other.

Yesterday's sermon was challenging and it was so good to hear from the Lord. I enjoyed the whole message but it was not until the end that I was overwhelmed by what God was saying. He said "You have a call on your life, don't ever doubt it!" I was moved to tears when I heard this. I'm still not 100% sure why I was so overwhelmed by that but I am thankful for it. It was in that moment as the service ended that I wished for just a few more minutes to soak it up. So often we are impacted by something a pastor says and then we don't get time to absorb it, we leave to go have lunch, we take our nap, do our chores and we never get back to that moment of excitement, learning, joy. I don't want that to happen to me anymore. I want to soak up what God is telling me, take the time to reflect on it and then move forward.

Today, Val and I woke up at 4:45 to begin our 40 days of Physical and Spiritual Strengthening/Renewal/Refreshment/Etc. I am super excited about what God is going to do in us, through us and for us during these next 40 days. We have each set some physical and spiritual goals that we want to achieve during these days and I'm pumped about the outcome.

So, about the title of this blog. As most of you know, it has been raining a lot in Alabama during the last few days. This morning after Val went to work, I decided I would rest for about an hour or so and I was awakened by an annoying siren type sound. I could not figure it out and about that time, a friend called and I asked him what it was. He said that it is a tornado siren....I've never heard of that, by the way. Later on, I talked to another friend who told me that I live close to city hall and that's probably why it was so loud. So, this is a good thing because it warns about tornadoes but they should tell you this kind of stuff when you move to Alabama, don't you agree????

The question of the day: What do you like to do for fun on a day when it is raining and you don't have any other set schedule?

Heading to Louisiana

Val and me!!
The Whole Crew!
Rachel and me!
The three of us had such an amazing time!
Jack Russell!!!!

Friday makes 11 weeks that I have been living in Alabama. Time has flown by. It has been approximately 3 months since I have seen either of my parents (I'm missing them a little bit) and about 3 1/2 months since I've seen anyone else from home.

Life has been so busy with internship that I haven't really had the opportunity to miss anyone plus I have been having such an amazing time with all of my new friends. This week has been a week of sleeping, catching up on apt. stuff, updating my resume (which is harder than I thought), and packing and let me say, I'm anxious to be home. It is going to be a fun week. I know I will be going non-stop and I'm looking forward to it. It will great to catch up and see everyone that I love.

At the same time, I am getting sad about all of the fun things I'll miss here in Birmingham. I'm trying not to think about it....so I better move on!

Tonight, I went to see Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 with Rachel. She is such a sweet girl, just one of the great people I have met and become friends with here in the Ham!

I had planned to start job hunting this week but since the resume revision has taken so long, it's looking like I'll just wait until I get back next week. I'm not behind, I just wanted to get a jump on things. So I'll be ready to get going after my amazing week at home.

I think I'm going to attach some pictures from this weekend...we will see if I can do it!


Until next time-

Les