Sara Bareilles - The Light

The Fellows

So the Fellows has begun! We have been waiting for this day for so long and it is finally here. We had our luncheon at the Sim's house last Sunday where all of us and our families joined to kick off the next year. It was such a sweet time to be together and to get to see where each of us came from. The following day, we all, minus a couple of us, started our internships. It's rather wild all the transitions we are experiencing all at once. New home, new friends, new jobs, new routines....shoo its crazy exciting! This past weekend was the high light thus far. We packed up our backpacks and headed off to the mountains for a fun filled weekend of repelling, waterfall/cliff jumping, backpacking, sleeping in hammocks, zorbing, gymnastics, team building games, sleeping in caves with bats, going through the birth canal, and cleaning mud out of our ears and belly buttons. It was by far the most outdoorsy weekend of my life, not to mention so much fun! So, here we are back to reality. All of us are exhausted and sore and sitting in our cubicles. Well, I have a cute office with a couch that teases me because I just want to take a nap, but none the less we are back to our jobs and ready for a fun filled year of growing deeper with Jesus and together! I already feel like I have known my 11 new friends my whole life. It's as if we are just a huge family of brothers and sisters and the Rickster who keeps us laughing. Down below are some GP's of our first week as Fellows!

This Is My Life...

In the past three days I have spent time with all of these kids. From playing Horse with Mac to playing guitar hero with the five below...it has been crazy!

Clara, Andrew, Caroline, Henry, and Kathryn

Kathryn and Clara singing "I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth!"

Will trying to jump rope in the pouring down rain!!

Veggie Tales anyone??

Red light!!! green light....Bennett, Thatcher, and Campbell...

Bennett wanted to eat a popsicle and jump in the puddles outside!

Jenni, Drew, Will and I rode the train at West Town Mall...it was hilarious!!!

Alec and Jake preparing for war! haha SO cute!!!! They killed me in the jump house!

Mac!!!! He and I played horse outside all morning! He was determined to beat me!

A Much Needed Reminder For My Heart..

There’s a passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul describes the hardships he has gone through in order to follow Jesus. It goes like this: ”…In great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

We need to remember that following our Savior is costly. Not sometimes only for certain people like Paul. But for everyone that desires to be a follower – a disciple – of our Lord Jesus, He said there will be a COST. But it is WELL WORTH giving up the things we cannot keep in order to gain eternal riches in our God, which we CANNOT LOSE.

If we are really following Jesus, we will go to the hard places. Being a Christ follower means being acquainted with sorrow. Because we must know sorrow to be able to fully appreciate Joy. Joy costs pain, but the pain is worth it.

Zac Brown Band

One of my absolute favorite things ever is to go to concerts! I LOVE THEM! Might be #2 on my favorite list actually. Nothing gets better than an out doors concert either! Gosh, the weather was perfect, the friends were great, and the music was INSANELY good. When I lived in Palm Beach last summer, all we listened to was Zac Brown Band, it was so fun to see them live here at home!

Smokies Stadium!!!

Good friends + good music + good beverages = life is real good!

support the cowboys!!

Cookie Monster!!!

awww tender!!

Toes in the water as* in the sand, not a worry in the world a cold beer in my hand!!

Zac Brown Band you killed it!!!

Photo Shoot w The Girls...

They dressed me up to look like Elvis.. haha not sure it worked!

Three crazy girls!!

twin sandwich!!

Jump as high as you can!! Maybe they cheated a little and stood on chairs ;)

Mary Helen trying to do one of her cheer moves!!!

Goofy Goofy!!!

TENNESSEE

This past Monday, Lane and I went downtown to attempt to get some decent pics for her graduation announcements...I just got a new camera and needed to practice! Well, we were standing outside the gates of Neyland and this guy comes up to us and asks if we wanted to join the fraternity boys with their tour. We were like DUH!! So, here we go, two girls and 20 frat boys touring Neyland! It was hilarious. I was snapping pics left and right until MY BATTERY DIED haha. All day I thought about how I probably should charge the battery, but then thought nah it will be fine. So, half way into the tour we had to take the battery out every time we wanted to take a picture. Then, we were in the elevator going up to the sky boxes, 20 boys and 2 girls in ONE elevator, I couldn't breathe... I tried to take a pic of all of us crammed in there, but forgot to take the lens cap off and then it died again. The boys thought it was hilarious! It is never a dull moment that's for sure! I was not dressed for the occasion, since I was just suppose to just be the photographer, but of course lane made me take some pics in my running clothes! #Iwasdrippingsweat bah ha Yay for graduations!! Yay for no more undergrad!!!!

we were being interviewed!!!

ah hahahahahaha

I got to touch his head in the 3rd grade at A.L. Lotts and now I can say I have kissed him, ish!

Number one!!!!

It's my own jersey..who knew!!!

I love this pic, its going to be on her graduation announcements!!!

Booyah killed UT!!!!! and that darn hill!! hahaha NO MORE UNDERGRAD!

Baby...

She was so mad at me for A. putting her in her stroller, and B. for putting her sunglasses on her

She loves her little bouncy seat!!!

This is my last week with baby Addison! I have grown SO attached to her that I am going to cry when I don't see her everyday! Gosh, spending all this time with her has made me want a kid of my own EVEN MORE! I'll keep being patient, but I might just take one home from the grocery if I don't get one of my own soooooooon! Well, maybe not the grocery considering my speciality are black African/Haitian babies....but you get what I'm saying!

HOPE in the DARK pt. II

Tonight all that my heart could cling to was that in HIM

we find our hope to live. It is so funny to me that ever since I have a tattoo on my wrist that reads,

"bay espwa" the Lord is bringing up HOPE in so many aspects of my life. Tonight, Every time I would

get sad or feel anxious that my HUGE desire for adoption was not going to happen I would look at my

wrist and be reminded that HE is using me to 'give hope' to the world in many different ways.

Including waiting patiently and trusting that I will love orphans, whether or not I have 30 of my own

or I support and love on families that are adopting; I will be loving and giving hope to a dark world.

HOPE in the DARK

"....When you did it to one of the least of these... you were doing it to me."

-Matthew 25:40

This little shirt is one of the items I came home with tonight. The flower on the shirt is the last thing that Maria drew before the accident. When Steven Curtis Chapman ran outside to see what had happened, he cried out to the Lord saying, "I need to SEE you Jesus!" He had no idea that later that day when it was really true that Maria had gone home to be with her Papa that her last drawing was a picture of a flower with six petals (six in the family, only one being colored in) and with the word SEE on it. The Lord loves/speaks to us in some crazy ways sometimes thats for sure.

Espwa. Tumaini. Hope. 希望 [xī wàng].esperança.

Girls Go To The Prom...

This past Saturday Kelsey, Caroline, Samantha, Cydney, and Allie all went to the West prom. They all looked absolutely gorgeous! It was so crazy to be a part of this. I feel like just yesterday we were at Sharp Top before their freshman year of high school with braces, ring pops, and stuffed animals... and now they are juniors almost seniors going to the prom. It was also weird because I remember my Junior prom like it was just last week! I remember how Thomas asked me, I remember where I got my dress, I remember all of us getting ready and taking pics in gettysvue. I remember dancing my heart out, and sweating all that hard work of make up off. It was just so sweet to be apart of these five girl's special day! They each have a very special part in my heart and I pray that the Lord will continue to write our stories allowing me to be a part of theirs for more years to come!

Kels' shoes!!!!!!!

So sweet..sisterly love right here!!! Fake eyelashes are a prom must!

Curly iron chaos and lots of make up time!!!

Gorgeous.... need I say more!