Oh, and one more thing.

Today, Katie, Emily, and I sang "C.S. Lewis Song" in church today. You can't see me, but I'm the ghost that sings occasionally and is playing the piano :]

"I can't shake this fire deep inside my heart"

I am SO EXCITED FOR THIS CONCERT(S)! Hillsong United recently released their new album, A_CROSS // the_EARTH and it is OFF. THE. HOOK. I am now in possession of my tickets and am looking forward to getting to the venue EARLY so I can be as close to the stage as possible. I seriously cannot even express how ecstatic I am right now.

P.S. This has been the best trip to Jersey thus far. Definitely digging it!

Picture of the Day: Summer. Swings. Sunshine. S-friendship.

LYRICS of the Day: You Hold Me Now [Hillsong United]

On that day when I see

All that You have for me

When I see You face to face

There surrounded by Your grace

All my fears swept away

In the light of your embrace

When Your love is all I need

And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold

In Your presence here to hold

Let these songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain

No suff'ring You hold me now

You hold me now

No darkness no sickening

No hiding You hold me now, 

You hold me now

In this life fin'lly stand

Through my joy and my pain

Knowing there's a greater day

There's a hope that never fails

When You're name is lifted high

And forever praises last

For the glory of Your Name

I'll be livin' for the day

When the world has finally cease

All creation rest in peace

Let these songs of heaven rise to you alone

For eternity

All my heart will give

All the glory to Your name

Bennys Go Home.

I'm back in Jersey :]. Beautiful, beautiful New Jersey [Rebekah Pepper, stop what you're thinking, you KNOW that my state is awesome]

So while driving  up, I noticed a few things.

1. The water under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is beautiful. Today is was this really pretty teal/green. Ahh, it was beautiful. As I was getting off the bridge the scenery was just awesome. There was this pretty cliff-like piece of land and paired with the colored water, the picture could have been found on an island. So cool.

2. I am a very impatient driver. But then again, there are a lot of stupid people on the road, so I guess there's a slight excuse for my lack of patience. I almost got hit by a Delaware driver who wasn't looking, and a lot of stereotypically bad drivers added to their bad reputation by cutting me off, driving under the speed limit, and just sitting at green lights. 

3. I am not looking forward to the multitude of Bennys hitting up my Jersey beach. They are already heading my way, as evident by the New York plates  on the road today. Sighh. Bennys, go home please.

Anywho. Despite the Benny influx, I am really excited to be home. Tomorrow should be fun, I have an eye doctor appointment in the morning, then I'm meeting Emily and Katie for coffeeeee/practicing our song for church, then ultimately Thompson Park! :]

Should be tiiggghhhttttt. I'll update soon :]

Picture of the Day: Oh, Hi Jersey!

My blog got a makeover :]

The theme of this template is called "1960 Kitchen"

I'm diggin' it.

:]

Also, I got my comments to work, so feel free to leave comments :]

Picture of the Day: I'm eating a strawberry that I picked

"Have I not commanded you?"

"Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go"- Joshua 1:9.

[Colonel Leaphart, this verse always reminds me of you!]

I just started Joshua, I figured I'd hit up the OT for a while, give my buddy Paul a rest :]. Here are my thoughts, you can agree or disagree, but this is just what popped into my head. When I read the line "the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go", I relate it to the verse before it, a verse that I think gets overlooked by the famous Joshua 1:9. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth meditate on it day and night so that you may be carful to do everything written in it." By meditating and gaining understanding of the Word, God's presence will become more and more known. I think the process of  doing "everything written", makes God more and more evident since our actions are God inspired. He will be with us wherever we go because we also make the decision to hang on to Him. Of course, His omnipresent nature promises that God will always be with us, but His role in our lives is somewhat determined by our choices and desire to have the Lord influence our lives.

On another note, a totally random note. The goslings living in the Regent "lake" have been getting really big. They doubled in size.

Also. I love my job. It's only been a week, but at Oshkosh, I was bored by day 1, I haven't been bored yet. I thoroughly enjoy the "grown up" feeling of a 9 a.m. job, the concept of running out the door in the morning with a cup of coffee. It's an appealing part of life for some reason.

And one more thing. Acceptance is a beautiful feeling. For the firstish time, I really felt accepted by the other youth leaders at church. Sunday night was Kaitlyn's graduation party, and I felt that I belonged to the group of leaders at the party. Totally comforting/ an answer to prayer.

:]

Pictures of the Day:

Strawberry Picking! :]

The girls on the American Rover Boat Ride

Tim, Chris, Me, Christine, Brad, and Jordan at the beach!

Lots of fun things.

This week has been the start of some cool new things. Let's see... where to start.

-I started a new job yesterday! Toooootttalllyy stoked. I'm working in Undergrad Student Services. Definitely diggin' it thus far. Getting this job was a complete blessing and God thing. I am working the exact number of hours I wanted to work and getting the pay I desired. Muy bueno!

-Classes start this week! So far so good. I'm taking all spiritual classes this summer, so I've been analyzing my "private life" [as one of the authors I'm reading calls it] and my relationship with God. I'm looking forward to learning a lot. My goal is to stay off facebook in class :]. And off my blog.

-I'm planning on making an amazing pasta dish for dinner.

-I witnessed Keith slaying a dragon yesterday.

Tomorrow I have off, so I might hit up Dressbarn in hopes of finding some work clothes. Oh, and tomorrow is the American Rover boat ride, round two. Hopefully this time it won't rain...

I believe that is all.

Pictures of the day:

Me, driving Tyler's HOTT MUSTANG [Yes, he owns my dream car]

The birthday cake I made for Liv:

Chuck and I in Williamsburg

Sarah and I on the American Rover

The busiest not-busy week ever

I enjoyed this week. I bonded and hung out with some really cool people who I never talked to outside of large groups. The condensed groups allowed me to strengthen some friendships and learn more about people.

Fun things that happened this week:

-Boat ride for Alicia and Scott's graduation

-Scott's graduation party

-Graduation/Chick-fil-A/Tyler's Mustannngggg!

-Tyler's house for Slumdog Millionaire

-Tyler's house for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button/Sal's Pizza/Apple Crisp

-Chilling with Jenny in her room and finding random objects

-Ocean's 12

-Williamsburg

-Beach with Christine, Tim, Jenny, Keith, Tyler, Micah, Chris, and Brad

-The Jewish Mother

-The lake

So classes start tomorrow. I think they'll be pretty chill and not tooooo demanding. I also picked up an application at copy services today, so hopefully that will work out for me!

Another thing, facebook changed its chat. It's stupid and I don't like it.

Now, I would like to elaborate on Benjamin Button. I enjoyed it a lot more seeing it a second time. We picked up on the yellow trend, there was yellow in most of the shots. Beautiful hints that popped in clothing, the sky, wood flooring, hair, everything. It was pretty. I really like the coloring of the film.

Well, this post has been random, but this week has been random and full of fun adventures. I liked it.

[There would be pictures of the day, but for some reason the blog won't let me upload. Hmm...]

A lot of words.

I've got a lot on my mind, just... random things. So I'm going to jot them down in a list of words.

-Tired

-Star Trek :]

-Confused?

-Missing

-Loving!

-Beach

-Water

-Relaxed

-Color

-Sun

-Graduation

-A's!

-Hillsong United

-Gossip :[

-Housing

-Drama

-Laughter

-Friendship

-Kindness

-Appreciation

-Acceptance

-Surprise!

-Momma

-Jersey friends

-Candles

-Tour?

-Money

-Job? Uh...

-Bridal Shower

-Adidas sandals

-Belonging

-Grace

-Need

-Romans

-Poop

-Smallest horse

-Sail boat

-Full moon

-Keep away

-Goals

-Sleepy

Also. In writing my words I want to list some summer goals. I would appreciate accountability :]

Goals:

-Write a script

-Learn guitar

-Get in better shape

-Learn to play soccer

-Avoid drama/gossip [I'm really trying to work on this!]

If I think of anymore I will add them to the list.

Today was a listy day.

Picture of the Day: World's Smallest Horse [worldssmallesthorse.com]

Finally!

...I've managed to squeeze in some time to post. Life has been incredibly crazy! Let's see, I'm going to recap as quickly as I can.

April 12-18: Meredith and Charlie came to visit!! Ahh, such a blast. We made various forts, played lots of pranks, ate various flavored buffalo wings, and "squeezed the lemon". Such good times.  It was great having them in VA with me for a while :].

April 20-24: I basically had RUC stuff EVERRRYYY DAYYY. The BBQ was a success though; we had over 500 people come! More people that at the Chili Bowl! :]

April 27-30ish: Stress! The semester is coming to a close and it’s been crazy trying to get all this work done! I thought I was failing a class [I figured out that I’m really not] so that added on to the temporary stress.

And now, the present situation. I shall elaborate a bit more.

Today was well… certainly interesting to say the least. I handed in a paper, cleaned, made Olivia a cake, then hit up Panera with Micah. Probably the most hilarious part of today; Dollar Tree. Micah and I came across these little ceramic statues that were so funny/creepy looking. We proceeded to laugh a lot. It was nice to not have to worry about school for a little while. Later in the evening was Liv’s party, which was the interesting part.

The party was slightly weird for me. I stuck to my standards and morals, good.  I had fun, good. But for some reason I felt unsettled, in a way I really can’t put into words. I prayed a bit during the party actually, just because I want GOD’S will, not the will of the people around me. I want to remain modest and Christ centered, and follow His commands, not the words of other people.

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us" -Romans 8:18

Yeah, I'm going to have weird, stressed, awkward, fun, and ugly days, but if I continue down God's path, I know that those days are going be far from the back of my mind when I finally see the amazing plan He has for my life. So I'm thinking that I need to just drop everything and follow Him.

Tomorrow I'm going to Williamsburg. This will be a good time to reflect, sort my thoughts, and escape from the crazy stuff going on at school. Speaking of school, only 2 more days and I'm DONE with my freshman year!

Thanks for reading, sorry for not posting in so long!