Graduation: Part 2

When you read "class of 2011", does it mean anything to you?

It's a little difficult to write this post. My heart is heavy as these words flow from my mind. A few days ago I sat in an uncomfortable seat to see my youngest brother graduate from high school. I still can't believe he is finished with high school. Seems like yesterday he was starting school, driving or even talking for that matter. 

Barton is not only my youngest brother but he's one of my best friends and almost like a child to me. We understand each other and are always there for one another. I've been more than a sister to him on many occasions and I frequently find myself feeling responsible to care for him not only in the normal sense, but in a godly perspective. He has grown into a strong, proud man for Christ and I couldn't be more proud.

We started the celebrations just us, sitting down and decorating his graduation cap. They unfortunately wouldn't let him walk with it on, but a dear friend stepped in with a replacement so he wouldn't have to ruin it. It was good to spend some time together before graduation.

I got there before any of my other family arrived and saved everyone seats. Soon after, the ceremony started and I saw little brother graduate.

I love this picture. It captures his spirit and take on life. He's always excited about something and I think that's because his focus is on something most teenagers aren't.

We found him after it was all over and of course, hit paparazzi mode. Everyone, everything, all of it. We took a ton of pictures and congratulated the graduate. And after some time, we all go tired of it...

...but they weren't over until the three of us got a few....for me. 

I can't believe he's all grown up...

...but I am the proudest big sister in the world.

Graduation: Part 1

Tis the season to be graduating!

Last week I hoped in the car with my aunt and Starbucks, and drove to Cookeville to Tennessee Tech University to see my sister graduate!

First, I can't say how crazy it is that she's already graduating college. It seems like she just graduated high school. And it makes me feel old. But nevertheless, we got there and fought the crowds to see her walk across the stage and receive her degree.

Her husband also graduated and here they are flirting while waiting....(notice her white hat!)

We got out of the ceremony and got to celebrating. We are so unbelievably proud of you, Hannah.

And so is your family.

We are so proud of Chris, too. 

Hannah is going to have to teach him some of her nursing skills. 

We continued celebrating into the afternoon and evening.

My family likes all-day celebrations. 

My favorite part was going to her house after lunch, sitting on the couch and just living life like we've always done. Since the day she was born it's just been us. She's my best friend and I love her more than she'll ever know. 

Congrats, Hannah!

24.

It feels like my birthday sort of snuck up on me this year. I knew it was coming when it was finally May, but about the 20th I remember thinking, "Whoa, I am turning 24 in three days....crazy."But those three days came and went and yesterday was May 23, 2011: my 24th birthday.

To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to my birthday. Last year, turning 23, seemed to be the last one I could really look forward to. At 13 you're a teen, at 16 you can drive, at 18 you're legal, at 21 you can drink and 23 was my golden year. So 24...what's happy about that? Certainly nothing in my opinion, except another year older. I guess part of it was because 23 was such a good year. The night before my 24th,  I found myself looking back at the year. I grew so much as a person, a woman and a lover of Christ. So many good things came from 23. Another part is that I am dealing with a lot of trust and faith issues with Christ and where He has me in life. I want to trust in Him completely and have faith that He has a plan that is best for me, but sometimes it's so hard. There are a lot of things I want and things I aspire to do and being patient is hard. So with all this, I wasn't happy to see 24. But, although feeling unexcited and like I was going to be disappointed,  I sucked it up and tried to put on a happy face.

I woke up to an unexpected letter and Starbucks gift card from my younger brother, Matt. It was filled with words of thanks and love. I got my free birthday drink and headed to work. I got to work and was surprisingly greeted with smiles, well wishes and birthday hugs all around. A couple of very dear friends came by my office and gave me gifts that meant the world to me. One included a Scooby-Doo balloon from a very sweet three year old (it's the little things). My youngest brother, Barton, even came by and brought me a sweet gift and a card I'll forever cherish. Barton, myself and the amazing children's team I am blessed to be a part of headed to Demos' for a birthday lunch.

It was a wonderful lunch. I am blessed to work with such amazing people. They gave me a very sweet and thoughtful gift, too. After lunch we had a team meeting and I got a little more work done and then headed to Camino Real for dinner with a bunch of family. It's one of my favorites and everyone enjoys it so we all headed to eat. It's always great to celebrate with a bunch of family...except when they secretly tell the waitress it's your birthday.

After dinner, I headed to a friend's house to hang out with some dear friends. We had birthday cake and talked about things of God. There's no better way to end a birth day. I got home and started writing and looked over my texts, emails and Facebook posts. I just sat and felt God's presence come over me.

I am blessed. I am beyond blessed. Life can be crazy and difficult and busy, but in that moment I could feel the weight of God's blessings on my life. I have family that is messed up, but they love me. I have friends that support and love me more than anyone should deserve. I have a great life. God has blessed me and I pray that I can pass blessings on to others from Him. My God is so very good and He is so very good to me. Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful 24th birthday.

A dear friend wrote me a letter for my birthday and included in that letter was this verse, my birthday verse:

"May God himself, the God of peace, 

sanctify you through and through. 

May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless

at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

-1 Thessalonians 5:23

That's my prayer, Lord. Let me shine in 24.

Pie in the face.

I have taught the fourth grade girls small group for two years now. Recently, I was brainstorming ideas to get them more interested and excited about learning memory verses. Last month, our virtue was humility. In Philippians, there are nine verses on humility. While in class, I asked the girls what they would memorize the nine verses for. One girl said, "I'll memorize them if I can put a pie in your face!" Everyone laughed and agreed so I did, too. Why not, right?

Well, the girls had a whole month to memorize all nine verses and recite them to me. It came to the last Sunday and I had thought I was home-free...until my girls got to church. Sydney came up to me, very flustered and almost in a panic said, "Ms. Abbey, I can say ALL NINE VERSES!" I was happy for her but realized I was about to hear something that confirmed a pie in my face. Next thing I know, all nine verses had been said, word for word. I told Sydney that next Sunday would be the day. You could see the joy of accomplishment in her face. It made me happy to see her so excited. 

So Sunday came...and you can only imagine how I felt...unless you've had a pie in the face, of course.

Whipped cream up my nose, almost touching my brain.

Sticky curls of hair that had to last 4 more hours.

Eyes burning as it melted down my face.

But more than anything, I created a moment of happiness, ultimately in Christ, for a girl who is dear to my heart. She may look at throwing a pie in my face as a fun, silly moment because she memorized a verse, but my prayer for her and every girl in my group is that they look to me and see Jesus. I pray that every word, study, action and day reflects back to Him and as they grow older, trust in Him completely and see why I love them so much.

And pretty sure my grey shirt is stained from whipped cream.

Who knew?

Day #5.

Day #5: A picture of your favorite memory.

This one is hard. There are so many dear memories that come to mind and I have way too many pictures to choose from....so I am going to make an executive decision and change it to 'a picture of my favorite memory in the last year.

Okay, I think this may be doable.

Almost this time last year was my 23rd birthday and it was one of my favorite days: Sunday.

Every Sunday morning for the last two and a half years has been spent with an amazing group of girls that have been the biggest blessing in my life. So like any other Sunday, the day began with spending some time with them in the Word. And of course, a birthday breakfast. 

After worship and connection classes, I headed out to the parking lot and to my surprise, I came upon this:

 

Needless to say, I was shocked.

But it was a wonderful surprise.

I have amazing friends.

My 23rd was difficult, but oh so wonderful.

It's awesome how happiness works. 

It's totally a thing from God.

And my God is good.

And so was my birthday.

One awesome memory.

 I bet anything there's still tape in my windows.

Orange Conference.

I am trying to get my blog back up to date, so bear with me as I go back to April. This post sums up April because I already posted about Easter, and the only thing left in April in the awesome, the amazing Orange Conference.


Some of you may be asking, "What is Orange Conference?" Well, Orange Conference is a time where church leaders come together to understand and learn new ways of how to approach family ministry within a traditional church.

The idea of "orange" is that yellow, representing the church, and red, representing the family, come together and partner to lead children to a life with Christ.

Every year our leadership attends to grow in what we're doing in the ministry and learn about new things. There are different breakout sessions, main speakers and events for an entire week in Atlanta.

We started our week off with an awesome goodie bag of lovely orange items...

...got to meet and talk to Reggie Joiner, founder of Orange,...

...enjoy many sessions and grow in knowledge...

...strengthen relationships and make new ones...

...watch Adam try and win a game...

...learn about awesome organizations that more people should support...

...enjoy breakfast with a dear friend...

...see my younger brother grow as a follower and a leader...

...and have one amazing week at Orange.

For more information on Reggie Joiner or Orange strategy, click here.

Made me listen.

I can't believe it's already May.

But what a good month to be in. I have so many things I need and want to write about but finding the time is hard these days. Those are to come...

Anyways, I want to ask you a question. Have you ever been at a point where you didn't listen to God?

Yesterday I opened my email to see my "verse of the day" that I receive every morning. I opened it and read the word 'patience' and immediately closed it. One, because that's the season I am in and two, because I was in a moment where I didn't want to listen to what God had to say.

So from there, I went on to my devotional. It's an application on my phone, and as it opened, this is what I saw:

My instant thought was to close it, but I read on to see what it said. It spoke of how grateful I should be for a God who loves me and wants the best for me. It's hard to not know what's going to happen, but I can trust him. The verse that started it off is 2 Peter 3:

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

I sat back and heard God tell me that He is faithful to what His word says and what He has promised. I smiled, and for a moment, realized I didn't have to worry. I went back to my email to read the verse that I  looked over and to my amazement, it was the exact same verse. 

Funny how God works.