This week has not been the best of weeks for me and I have found it very challenging to be positive. For those of you who read my last post, you know that on Sunday my closet flooded in my apartment. Needless to say, last night was my first night back in my own apartment, in my own bed. Now as much as I dislike my tiny room and uncomfortable bed, sometimes its hard to be away from YOUR things. I was so blessed to be given a place to stay at Zack's parents house for the week, but it sure is nice to be back!
While going through this week with all the stress from dealing with my room and a midterm I was freaking out about, I kept searching and searching for something to lift my spirits. One of them was the bible study that I am currently doing. It's called the Disciple's Cross and I highly recommended it. Having this bible study to go through and having that daily time with the Lord has really given me calm in my storm.
The final thing that brightened my spirits was Kid's Club. Every Thursday afternoon, a group of us from the BSU go out to the trailer park of Oxford and play with a large group of children. This area is filled with great poverty and is overlooked by the people of this town. Before I had heard about it, I figured with as much money as there is flowing through this town, there is no way there is a poor part of town. I was very wrong.
These children are such a blessing in my life and I look forward to seeing their sweet faces every week. I was privileged to tell them the Easter story this past Thursday. God calls us to be disciples and spread the Good News everywhere we go, and what better place to spread it than in the hearts of our children! Each and every one of these children are so very special and are learning to love Jesus with all of their hearts. Please pray for these sweet children and their families and pray that we will be able to continue ministering to them for as long as we can.
Well guys, this has definitely been an week full of adventure so to speak. The first thing I would like to say about this week is the weather, excluding Thursdays downpour, has been absolutely wonderful!
At the beginning of the week, (I'm referring to Tuesday) I got to hang out with my long lost buddy Hannah Beth. I just love this girl. We have been through so much together these past few years and its nice to get to hang out with her every once and a while. We decided to soak up a little sun and lay out by the pool for a few hours and then go treat ourselves to a lovely dinner consisting of our favorite salad place on campus! We LOVE our salads! That and we are both holding each other accountable for eating healthy. She does a much better job than I do! I also got to hang out with her a little on Thursday night after going to the Wesley. We decided to go get some mini frostys just to get a little taste of chocolate and it was GOOD! Afterwards, we went over to her apartment and just sat around chit chatting like normal and I even french braided her hair! I must say, I think I did pretty good for my first time!
I know I'm going out of order, but I'm going to talk about Monday now. Monday my sweet Paisley had to go to the vet to get spayed. I love her, but not enough for there to be multiples of her! It was such a shock when I got back from my mission trip to see how big she has gotten and even this week I can see her growing so fast! Zack can't really see it as much because he gets to see her every day, but she is getting on up there! I even have a hard time picking her up these days! I can't wait to see how big she gets!! :) She sure is a sweetheart!
And now I will talk about today, Sunday. I was pretty upset when I woke up at 9:45 this morning. For those of you who don't know, sunday school starts at 10:00. Obviously that wasn't going to happen. Thankfully I made it to the church service...but not on time. Why, you ask? Well as I'm getting ready and reaching in my closet to get a dress to wear I hear a "squish" and my foot is soaking wet. This has got to be a joke. For the past week or two my apartment has been having water problems due to the lovely people above us. Yay for college boys! (Catch the sarcasm?) So I sit here writing my blog, the contents of my closet are scattered throughout my room and I have a massive fan blowing on the floor. Oh the college life. Hopefully this does not happen again.
The final thing I would like to mention is the fact that late last night there was a shooting a Mississippi State University. A male student from Madison was shot at his dorm and died while receiving medical attention. Last I heard, the shooters have not been caught. Tragedies like this are absolutely devastating and are another reminder of how quickly life can be taken away from us. I ask that all of you pray for the family of this young man and give them some form of comfort in peace. Pray that they find that peace and comfort in God and also pray the same for the friends and fellow students. Times like these are never easy, but even when it is this hard, knowing that God is still in control and He still reigns and has a far more wonderful plan for all of us than we do for ourselves is something that can get each of us through the roughest times.
And I will end with one of my favorite verses:
"The grass wither, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever."
Isaiah 40:8
I know it may seem like I am a terrible blogger, which I am, but I do have an excuse for not blogging for the past week.
This week was Spring Break for most students across the country. Typically I would have gone home and sat around doing absolutely nothing, which is great sometimes! It also would have been an opportune time to make a trip down to the beach, one of my favorite places ever. But this spring break I felt called to do something more with my time. I wanted to give my time away for this past week and use it to share the love of Christ with the people of New Orleans.
I love New Orleans. I think it is one of the most interesting and beautiful cities in the South. Every where you turn, there is something new or fun to look at! Lately I have prayed over and over for God to break my heart for the hurt and lost people of this world and if you don't already know this, you ask God for something like that He will not hesitate to give it to you. Over the past few months my eyes have been opened to many needs not only around my college campus and my community, but to everywhere. So off I went with a group of students from the Ole Miss BSU to New Orleans, LA. (I'm going to break this down day by day)
Days 1 and 2:
Prayer Walking the Irish Channel:
This activity is something that I have never done much of but have found a passion for. My team and I went out to a neighborhood called the Irish Channel that is full of poverty, crime, children, and senior adults. It was very tough for me to see extreme poverty only one block over from extreme wealth. While prayer walking we encountered a few people, even some visitors from China, and were able to share the gospel and pray with them while walking around the area.
Before heading to our next locations (Lower 9th Ward), three of us really had to use the restroom. Now I promise you that this detail is COMPLETELY relevant to the story I'm about to tell you. Out of all the "sketchy" gas stations in New Orleans, I am fairly convinced that my friends Daniel, Kaylee, and I picked the absolute worst. After discovering that the bathroom was in no shape to be used, we realized that there was a Subway across the street and decided to use their facilities instead. We kept asking ourselves why we would pick THAT gas station out of all the other places we could have gone. Then it all started becoming clear.
As we were walking into the Subway, we noticed a few homeless people on the surrounding street corners and decided to buy them a few Subways pizzas while we were in there. Daniel took a pizza to the two men on one street corner and Kaylee and I took a pizza to the woman on the other. As we walked up to her, we saw that she had a dog with her and a backpack with everything she owned in it. The woman was tattooed from head to toe and was holding a sign that said "Anything would be a blessing." Kaylee and I introduced ourselves and learned that the woman hadn't eaten and a while and did not know when she would get to eat again. We offered her the pizza and a cold bottle of water and asked if we could bless her food before she ate it. As we were praying for Nikki and her dog Bailey, the Lord's presence was absolutely unreal. When we left, the smile on her face and the tears in all of our eyes were so refreshing and such a blessing. God uses all of us in mysterious ways...even when we have to use the bathroom!
We then traveled to the lower 9th ward and cleared some overgrown lots where houses once were before they were destroyed by Katrina. It was absolutely devastating. We did this for the rest of the day and all day the next day. It was physically exhausting. We were so blessed, however, to have a meal prepared for us by a local to the 9th ward, Mrs. Leetha. What an amazing woman. Mrs. Leetha does not have very much for herself and her family but was so kind to prepare a feast for over 30 students working on lots all week. And let me tell you, she sure can cook!
Days 3 and 4:
On these last two days we spent our time at a house in Uptown painting the exterior for a elderly lady who we were to call Mrs. Julia. She was amazing! This project wasn't as demanding but was a great way to minister to Mrs. Julia and others in her neighborhood. It was also a great experience because through all of the activities I was able to build relationship with the people of New Orleans and my team members.
Even though I didn't get much rest in New Orleans, the experience I had were well worth the hard work. God showed me some amazing things.
I would like to ask that you guys continue to pray for the people of New Orleans who are still struggling with their loss from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The effects of the hurricane are still very prominent and the hurt is very deep. I would also ask that you will pray for Nikki and the many people like her who are hurting and counting on the kindness of others to get by. Pray that the people who are struggling, lost, and hurting will come to see God's love, grace, and mercy and will understand that He has wonderful things planned for them and that He loves them so much. And lastly, pray for the teams that are still down there working this next week.
Thank you all who helped fund this trip for me! I couldn't have done it without you guys and I am so appreciative of the opportunity! :)
Go ahead you guys! Crown me worst blogger ever! I have been MIA for a whole entire week! Here's the deal:
I went home not this past weekend, but the weekend before and had a wonderful time and took a whole bunch of pictures so that I could blog about how amazing being home was. When I got back to Oxford, I had every intention of blogging about it until what happened? I got sick. I have literally been bed-ridden for an entire week! It has been absolutely awful. So needless to say I haven't blogged because when I did have time to actually rest and get better, I immediately fell asleep. I guess you could say I have been asleep for a whole week. Now because I have skipped a whole week of blogging, I will just have to start where I left off...two weekends ago.
So one of my little gifts from Zack for Valentine's day was enough gas money so I could get home and spend some time with my family. I hadn't been home since Christmas break and it was starting to get discouraging. Man am I one lucky girl to have such a thoughtful boyfriend! :) So off I go to Clinton on that Friday morning and I'm literally so excited I can't get home fast enough.
When I got home, I went out to eat with my wonderful mother at McAlister's and was so hungry that I had eaten every single bite before I realized that I didn't even take a picture for my blog! So if you're going to McAlister's and you have no idea what to get, try the Sweet Chipotle Chicken sandwich with a side salad...its fabulous! Well it seemed to me very quickly that this weekend would be centered around food. So warning: 99% of my pictures are of food. I love food.
After getting back after that lovely lunch I decided to take a cat nap on the couch and then I got to spend some quality time with my father! I never really get to do that often and I just love it! Most of my weekend was with dad, and I am so thankful for the time we got to spend together. So he gets home from working and ask me if I want to go see a movie. For those of you who do not know, my dad is the father of 3 girls and no boys. I am the only one of my sisters that will watch war movies and football with my dad so I guess I'm as close to a son as he is going to get until us 3 get married...not anytime soon...and then I'm sure he'll eat that up!
ANYWAYS! Dad and I drove out to Tinseltown in Pearl to see the movie Act of Valor. Wow. If you like war movies and you want an eye-opener, go see it now. It was such and incredible movie and definitely the best one I have seen in a very long time. I laughed and cried and I think dad did too! It was interesting to see how war really work. Real war. Nothing sugar coated. SO many of us take for granted the freedom we have in this country and never take the time to realize that there are people out there risking their lives just so that we can live the life of a very blessed American with so much freedom we don't even know what to do with it all! And we don't even take into account the braveness and selflessness of the family that they leave behind. So there is something for you guys to think on.
After the movie we came home and ate leftovers, which was perfectly fine with me because it was a new meal that I hadn't eaten in forever. And besides, I used to a whole lot of grilled cheeses and PB&J's so YAY FOR LEFTOVERS! Later on we ended up hanging out and watching TV (American Pickers and American Restoration) for those of you who were wondering and my sweet daddy fixed me ice cream with brownies that my mom had made broken on top. I'm convinced they try to fatten me up every time I come home! :) It was amazing, of course! And sadly this was one of a few bowls of ice cream I had while I was home!
By the time it was time to go to bed, of course I was sleeping with BOTH of the dogs because Caroline had gone to a friend's house to spend the night and Daisy will not sleep by herself. I walk into my room and this is what I find. Yes, she has claimed her spot for the night. Silly dog, when will she learn that she is not alpha dog when I come home! Pretty sure she slept on top of me all night. It was a losing battle for me. (Thank goodness she is smaller than Zoey!)
YAY FOR SATURDAY! I got to go to my first Marathon Makeover meeting. I don't get to do that since there isn't a training group nearby and it was so nice to see some new and familiar faces! I got to do my miles with a sweet family friend and had a lovely time catching up with her! I'm about to call my father and I out big time with this. The week's discussion was on diet and nutrition. For lunch, dad and I did the absolute opposite of what we learned about that morning! Oops! But hey, I only come home every now and then! ;) It was amazing! And for desert I had a massive piece of chocolate cake that had chunks of cheesecake in it! HEAVENLY! Might I add that I experienced the Coke Freestyle craze for the first time. Definitely interesting concept. If you haven't seen one of those machines, they're kinda awesome. ANY drink combination you could probably think of! I had a cherry Sprite...I didnt' get too crazy. Dad on the other hand...that's another story...
Can I just say that my mom is probably the best cook in the whole entire world?? Lasagna. Homemade. Oh my goodness. The picture says it all. 
Now I've finally made it to Sunday morning. I'm sitting in church and look over and I notice Caroline has a pink streak in her hair! Its dyed! I was like what is this! So I pull out my phone in the middle of the service and take a picture because I just can't believe my eyes...and I got "the look" from both of my parents. Oh well. Then I had to rush home to be at the nursing home by 2:15! It was such a wonderful weekend with my wonderful family and I can't wait to see them when I drop by for a few days on my way to New Orleans for my Spring Break mission trip.
I think this is enough "blog" for one day. For those of you that made it this far, you're awesome. :)
The final thing that brightened my spirits was Kid's Club. Every Thursday afternoon, a group of us from the BSU go out to the trailer park of Oxford and play with a large group of children. This area is filled with great poverty and is overlooked by the people of this town. Before I had heard about it, I figured with as much money as there is flowing through this town, there is no way there is a poor part of town. I was very wrong. 
