Friday, June 29, 2012

tattoo lovin'


people seem shocked sometimes to find out that i have tattoos. usually the first one people notice is the one on my wrist. it's one of my favorite verses, hebrews 11:1 "now faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen" i got it as a reminder for when i'm low on my faith, whether it be my faith in God or my faith in people (usually the latter). sometimes when i am struggling, my friend will tell me "you gotta have faith, just like your wrist does" it's a daily reminder that is not a one time decision, it's an every day, sometimes multiple times a day, decision. it takes work but it's worth it.



the second tattoo i got was these music notes and heart on my ankle. ideally the notes would have been the size they are on sheet music, but he said he wouldn't be able to do it that small, so we enlarged it a bit. i got this one because music is a huge part of my life, and i have a deep love for it. i almost always have some type of music playing, and i love pretty much all of it. i love to sing, and dabble in piano. i'm not sure where i would be if i didn't have music in my life. it definitely ups my mood no matter what.


my most recent tattoo is a reminder that i don't need to over think everything as much as i do. (and it kinda ties the other two together) i am horrible about over-analyzing almost every decision i make. it's possibly part of why i am so indecisive. sometimes i need to be reminded that not everything has a different meaning. not everything has horrible consequences. sometimes instead of thinking about it, i need to just go for it. 

i love my tattoos, and i don't regret getting them. there are a few more that i want, and they all have meanings behind them, despite what my parents think. (they think i just go out and get them without thinking, which is very much not true) tattoos are like scars, they are part of your story, and a way of showing who you are. i don't plan on going over board with my tattoos. i love hearing stories about why people get the tattoos that they have. i have yet to meet someone who got a tattoo just for the fun of it, there is usually a story behind it. 

what are your views of tattoos? if you have any, what are they of?

Thursday, June 28, 2012

the girl behind the blog

so this is my first time ever doing this, and i am pretty nervous about it. but here goes nothing



Sunday, June 24, 2012

hey batter, batter



let me just say, i LOVE baseball. it is easily one of my all time favorite ways to spend an evening. and i was fortunate enough to go to two games in one weekend. the only thing that could have made it better was if my dear royals won at least one game. (i hate the cardinals and really don't like losing to them, especially at home) friday night my dad was able to find some last minute tickets on stub hub. it was great. one of my favorite traditions of the royals is fireworks friday. (when i was little they made me cry, now i can't get enough of them) they helped ease the pain of a horrible loss. but it was a fun night and i got to spend time with my dad, which is always awesome.







this afternoon i went to the game with the boy. crazy thing is he's a red sox and cardinals fan and guess what games i've gone to with him...that's right, a red sox game and a cardinals game. we make things into a competition and right now we are 1-1. we need one more game to be a tie breaker. (same situation with putt putt) it was a really hot day and we were sitting in the shade, but they are the days i am made for. my awesome friends mark and paige were at the game also, so boy and i went to see them for a bit. it was a fun time. today's game was a much better game to watch. we still lost but it was a lot closer. 

as you can tell, seats were a lot closer than friday night, but it was still so much fun




i tend to take pics of the boy without him realizing. i promis at some point i will take one when he is actually paying attention and i can share his handsomeness

for as long as i can remember, my dad has taken all of us kids to sporting events. so much of my childhood memories are spent in lawrence, ks, watching ku football and basketball games, and kauffman stadium watching royals games. when i was in middle school he started taking me to arrowhead for chiefs and wizards games. (we kind of steered away from soccer games for a while because of the drunks. he's protective of his little girl =]) they are some great memories because for one, i adore my daddy and love spending time with him, and for two, it's created this love of sports, and the atmosphere that come with them, in me. i still look forward to games with my dad and brothers. (one of my favorite coffee mugs has a picture of me and dad on it from a royals games) i only hope that i can do the same with my future kids. 

love my daddy so much =]

my royals are playing tampa bay next. let's hope that series is better than this one was. 
who is you favorite baseball team? or what is your favorite sport?

Thursday, June 21, 2012

summer nights

while i love this song from rascal flatts, it is very much not my life. i am not a person who goes to field parties (the midwest version of a beach party), or any parties for that matter. i wish i could easily just have a giant bon fire on the beach. how great would that be?

but i love being able to just hang out and have a great time with my friends. it's a lot harder to do that lately since most of my friends live far away. i have one best friend who lives in michigan, and one who lives in jefferson city. it's been really hard on me to have my friends so far away, and hardly ever getting to see my friends who do live around here. march was the first time i had seen my best friend from michigan in three years, and i probably won't get to see her again until her wedding next june. granted i get to see christina more often, since a three hour drive is a lot easier to make, i still don't get to see her as often as i would like to.

this is christina, me, and felicia in march when they were both in town at the same time. christina lives in jefferson city and felicia lives in michigan.

don't get me wrong, i do have some very dear friends here. we just usually have very different schedules and rarely get the opportunity to hang out. but thankfully today and yesterday, i was able to grab some coffee with two great friends. yesterday i was able to catch up with paige. she told me about how she and her husband are getting ready to go on a two week road trip which sounds like a blast. she's still praying for me to find a new job. she's been a great friend and encourager for me ever since i met her when i was a junior in high school 6 years ago. i love having her in my life, and she is someone i view as a mentor, even if she is only a few years older than me. 

this is christina, paige, me, and sarah when paige got married a few years ago. 

today i was able to catch up with rose. she is easily one of my favorite people to hang out with. we work together at the Y and she used to be my personal trainer, and hopefully we can start that up again soon. she quickly became a great friend of mine, and it's only gotten better as we continue to learn more things about each other. she has a one year old daughter who i have pretty much adopted as a niece, since mine lives in texas. today as we sat and talked, i learned she got a children's ministry coordinator job with her church, and i am so excited for her to start it. i believe she is going to do a great job at it. like paige, rose is only a few years older than me but someone i dearly look up to. 

this is rose and i a few years ago at trunk 'n' treat, a halloween event the Y does each year

all of my friends have a dear place in my heart. i know they are all in my life for a reason. and even though i may not get to see them as much as i would like some times. i still keep in touch with all of them in some way or another. and a great thing about starting this little blog, i have been able to make some new friends that i hope to be able to meet at some point. 

friendships are a big deal to me. if we are going to be friends, i am going to make it a point to stay caught up in your life and try to know how things are going for you. i have gotten better about not just knowing how things are going with others, but letting others know how things are going for me. it's really hard for me to open up to people. but i've learned that if i am not open with people, they might not be open with me, and then much needed healing won't happen. i'm still picky about who i fully open up to, for certain reasons, but i am continually working on it. 

do you live close to your best friends? if not, do you keep in touch with them regularly?


Friday, June 15, 2012

witnessing Jr Higher's THRIVE

wow. camp experiences amaze me, no matter what. i am so beyond glad and blessed that Flaming Spirit has been such a big part of my life. i went there as a camper for 12 years, and have been continuing to go back as staff for the past four years. 16 years of going up there and spending time with God and with friends. it's been fantastic. and this year was no exception.

our theme this year is Thrive. the theme verse is John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." and these kids definitely learned how to live it out, and even started doing so.



Dallas Henry, a good friend of my oldest brother, was our speaker. He was willing to come over from chicago-land and invest some time with middle schoolers in the same camp he went to at their age. (an awesome thing about camp is almost all of the staff were campers there also) one great thing about dallas is that he is able to speak to jr higher's on their level, instead of talking down to them. the campers actually listened to him, and i loved talking to my family group after his talks to hearing what they thought about it.



Garrett Hawk was our mission guy. he's part of the christian campus house at northwest missouri state. (go bearcats) the guy in the picture isn't garrett though, it's brandon, the campus house leader. he also helps with campus house at missouri western, but rarely goes down to mowo unless the leader there has a problem. they are all great guys who are so on fire. they are very missional guys, and are always looking for ways they can help. garrett one night started picking up drunk college students and driving them home. it's now a program with the campus house, and the car is called the "swag wag".

josh getting baptized by his dad

westyn getting baptized by jim kelly

briar getting baptized by his dad


one of the best parts of the week, to me, was seeing three young men make the decision to get baptized!   two of them had the amazing privilege to be baptized by their dads. awesome God story: so briar came up to rick one night after chapel and was talking to him, in tears, about wanting to get baptized and what brought him to the decision, and he said he wanted to get baptized as soon as possible. so they went up and called his mom, but his dad was in virginia. mom called dad, and dad flew out that night and surprised briar at camp! it was so awesome to see briar's face when he was in the water and saw his dad come out from behind everyone. i cried when it happened, and cried again typing about it. then we even had a teen helper tell us during the staff meeting this morning that he made the decision to get baptized sunday when he is at church. how awesome is that!? four amazing young men deciding to make that public display of faith and getting baptized! (side note: i got baptized 13 years ago in that same spot you see in these pictures. I remember it clearly. and i love literally going back every year and seeing other people get baptized in the same spot. it's a humbling and awesome experience)

it was such an awesome week of camp, but i feel like "awesome" or "great" can't even begin to describe it. these jr higher's have such great hearts and i love having the opportunity to be able to spend a week with them and invest my time in them. i pray they realize how much the staff loves them. i am blessed to have spent this past week with a FANTASTIC group of around 100 7th and 8th graders, and the awesome staff. love them all and can't wait to go back already. here are some more pictures of the week. 

i played carpet ball with tennyson. he's four and a half. i let him beat me. he's a hilarious kid.

i learned to play euchre. they tried to teach me to play pitch also but that didn't work. euchre is a lot easier. 


ms. mackenzie and titus. such a happy baby. and loves to squeal very loudly. 


my family group working on our skit. 



titus chilling in the pool with ms mackenzie, ms sylvia, and ms jessica.

tennyson decided to take a little break and lie down



lou playing against tenny

dallas's new baby boy justus

and his older boy boaz. he's a little spit ball. so funny to watch him and tenny play.




campers watching the baptisms 








proud dad lifting up his son

it's never camp with out ultimate frisbee and rich's card tricks. 

and last but not least, and original song from faith and atheah. kenny and danny are faith's older brothers, and dad is in the background in the red shirt.