Step Sing Indy Ladies

I'm also not an Indy Lady, but I thought this was just fantastic. They should have placed better than they did!

Step Sing UM Video

*Sorry this didn't post before! I've been having some trouble with saving things to post later*

At Samford UM stands for University Ministries...they put on different chapel opportunities etc.

So when I heard their show was called "In the Potter's Hands" I thought it was some play on God being the Potter. I couldn't figure out how they could make a show out of that.

Ha. Well.

How about HARRY Potter? Yeah. Him.

Too funny.

(Sorry this video is small...it's the only one I could find.)

Step Sing AOII Video

I may not be in AOII, but I watched this video earlier today and thought they did a good job at Step Sing last year. Enjoy :)

Let Step Sing Begin!

I start Step Sing practice tomorrow!!!

(If you don't know what that is, just scroll on down to my previous post. Short version is that it's a HUGE production at Samford every year where different groups compete with songs and dances. Tickets sell out and we practice non-stop (well, between classes and homework) for 3 weeks straight.)

Which means I will have approximately 0 hours of free time for the next 3 weeks, but still. I'm just so excited!

I got to Samford yesterday after driving way too long and far. It took me a sweet forever to unpack and rearrange my room - I got tired of the layout while sitting in here studying nonstop during finals week. I had to change it up for a new semester. :)

The past 24 hours have been filled with settling in, see a few friends that are already here, relaxing, and anticipating the rest of my friends arriving today. Even while I've been writing this I've heard screams from the floor above me...they've been happening all day because there's always someone that just got here and a reunion takes place.

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Anddddd as I was typing that last sentence one of my friends arrived. Go figure. :)

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Anywho, I thought you might like to see a few Step Sing videos from years past? Let's start with the winner of Step Sing 2011 - DAP (Dudes A Plenty)

Come back the rest of this week for more videos! :)

One Week Left

I can't believe I only have one more week at home.

I thought about erasing that last word and putting quotation marks around it, because it doesn't feel as much like home here...not compared to 6 months ago at least.

Home has become Birmingham, and it didn't take very long for that to happen.

I've been trying to fit a lot into the time I have left here because let's not pretend that I'll have any free time once I go back to school. Have you ever heard of this little thing called Step Sing? Oh my goodness. It's the little production that Samford students put on every year for thousandsss of people.

Yes. I'm in it, of course.

Singing and dancing? Two of the very things I love most.

If you happen to be in the Birmingham area February 16-18 I would highly recommend you come out and watch! Many many groups of Samford students (hundreds of us!) will be dancing and singing, competing with each other to get first place.

Practices start the day I get back for classes and they are every day for HOURS until the shows begin. So imagine you get up early for your classes, spend all afternoon doing homework so that you can practice for four hours dancing (oh you know, til midnight), so that you're prepared to dance in front of thousands of people. And then you go back to your dorm, shower, and go to bed. Only to wake up after a few hours of sleep and do it all over again.

For three weeks.

It's going to be exhausting, but I'm SO excited for it!

I have always loved singing and dancing, so although Step Sing isn't what made me choose Samford...it sure is a huge plus for me!

Needless to say, though, I won't have any free time at all. I don't frankly know how I'll keep up with homework! But it'll have to happen somehow.

With my free time right now this is what I'm doing:

(I know you might not care. And I know you might not want a list.)

(But I'm trying to hold true to blogging more often than I did the past few months.)

(It's 1:06 in the morning and I can't blog deep thoughts right now so this will have to suffice.)

(Moving on now)

1. Pinning

Yes, I'm on Pinterest and I would say it will be my downfall except that I've actually made some of what I've pinned! Amazing, I know. Pinterest is just all the rave (umm, what.) at Samford and I refused to join it last semester until I was back in Florida. I'm sorry, but I know myself and I knew I would be on it every day at school. And not just on it, but crafting instead of studying. So after spending half a day at home bored out of my mind, I caved.

It's safe to say I'm addicted.

2. Crafting

That's right, I'm actually making what I pin. Genius idea, I know.

3. Seeing friends

Pretty sure that one doesn't need an explanation.

4. Babysitting

Gotta make money for the Phi Mu bill somehow!

5. Watching TV

Now I know this sounds like a complete waste of time.

It is.

No regrets because I barely watch TV at school so these 6 weeks? VACATION TIME = TV TIME. The problem will be when I go back to school and must somehow fit all these shows into my "free time" that I know I won't have. But I can't just give up on these shows! They need me. Ahem.

I've been watching Grey's Anatomy (of course. loyal fans gotta stay loyal.), Private Practice (this new season? not a fan. but yet I watch, of course.), The Biggest Loser (guilty pleasure and something I've always watched with my family, so watching at school was a small way of feeling connected...only to come home and find out I'm the only one that watched. cool.), Top Chef (I would never eat 98% of what they make but it fascinates me), and lately I have found this little treasure..

Downton Abbey

Okay. A show with English accents based in the long time ago history and issues that I can't totally comprehend because, umm, long time ago history...and yet I caught up on two season within approximately 26 hours.

One, who knew. Two, who am I. Three, IT'S ON PBS. I am 19 and watching PBS and loving it.

6. Exercising

This just sounds like a joke, even as I type it. I don't exercise. Ever. I hate it. When my roommate comes in our room after going to the gym and exclaims how good she feels, I'm almost positive the look on my face is not one of encouragement but of pure confusion. I don't like pain  so why subject myself to it?

But since being home I've begun to work out in the privacy of my own room. Shock of all shocks my ENTIRE BODY could barely move after 3 days. And then when I added in stretching to the mix, I pulled something in my back and haven't been able to walk properly. For a week.

That's funny and just pure irony. I finally exercise and try to be more "fit" and I hurt myself so that I have to stop for a while.

My goal is to go the the gym once a week this semester, though. I know that doesn't sound like much at all, but it sure beats the three times I went all last semester. Granted, I did try to go more often...but each time I went the gym was closed. Rooms finally stopped going with me - she said I was cursed. :)

7. Writing

More about this is to come, but lets just say that one of my New Years Goals is to write the first chapter of my book.

8. Editing

I'm sure I've said this before, but my dream job is to be a Christian book editor. So when I was having a catch up date with a lovely friend and she mentioned she was writing a book and needed an editor, I got just a tad excited. She hadn't remembered that was my dream job, so when I calmly (but with a big smile on my face) offered to edit her book for her, we both looked at it as a prayer answered. For her it really was, and for me it was one of those prayers you don't even pray because how could it happen to you now..it's one of those far off dreams.

Well. I'm currently editing about 16 chapters worth of (wonderful) words so that she can submit it to a book writing contest soon. The deadline is pressing in and I've just begun editing, so that will take up most of the time I have left at home. A little sad about that fact, but very thankful for this great opportunity to love this girl and whoever reads the book by using whatever talents and passions God has given me for the written word.

It's 1:24 so I think it's time for me to go - but have a lovely night (morning) and I will hopefully be back soon. :)

P.S. Thank y'all SO SO SO much for the encouraging words on my last post. I'm still thinking about what to do as my next step. I think #7 might be part of that. :)

Passion 2012

The "event" has changed me. I was blessed to be able to spend Monday-Thursday at Passion this week. I'm still "recovering" by catching up on sleep but I never want to recover from what I have learned, seen, and been a part of.

I've tried to think of how to write this post, but I really just don't know how.

How can I write how it felt to be in a stadium with 44,000 18-25 year olds praising and worshipping Jesus? How do I tell you what the speakers said and how it impacted me? Is there a way to share how the music, the words, shook me to my core - made me throw up my white flag and surrender to God after years and years of saying...

God, surely someone could do it better than me

Maybe I've misunderstood

I don't know what to do. I'll just wait.

What will people think of me? They'll judge. This can't be meant for me.

I'll likely fail.

Well. I've waited long enough. Failing by my standards, by the words standards, is to start something and not complete it or be made fun of/looked down on. Failure by Gods standards is to not obey by not beginning. Maybe He wins in the failure after I start if it draws me closer to Him.

So. Deep breath.

That whole pornography thing? It's time for me to speak up and make a difference. I don't know where to begin and I don't know how a little 19 year old that's never even seen porn is supposed to help those struggling with it and/or work towards eliminating it...but I have to stop with the excuses.

If He has called me to try, I will try.

I want to live by His definition of failure, not mine.

We raise our white flag

We surrender

All to You, all for You

We raise our white flag

The war is over

Love has come, Love has won

(White Flag)

My white flag is up. The battle, the war...it's over. Love has come and Love has won.

Why am I fighting Love with excuses?

Passion is not just an event. It is not just a time to raise money for a great cause and great organizations (this year the focus was on human trafficking and slavery. Did you know there are 27 MILLION slaves in the world today?! That's more than at any other time. I don't know about you but I thought slavery was mainly a thing of the past. Oh sure I knew there were sweat shops and child slaves far away, but I thought maybe a hundred thousand - A TON, but not as big of an issue as world hunger etc. Wrong. 27 million. It doesn't seem that huge until ou put a face or a name with a statistic. I looked around the Dome at the 44,000 people and imagined them all us slaves. It was hard to comprehend. Then I doubled it in my mind and it was devastating. Then to think that would be just under 100,000...no where close to 27,000,000. Anyways, we raised $3,066,670 and the goal was $1,000,000. I'm so proud and so excited for this generation. We can do such great things. I know 3 million doesn't sound like one big number, but we're college kids. For me to bring any money at all to donate was hard - I have so many other things I "need" that money for, and I'm going to have to sacrifice because I gave it away. But what kind of sacrifice can it really be - I'm not a slave.).

Anyways - Passion is all that ^ and so much more. It's a time of intense training and encouragement from some of todays best speakers. It's a time of worship and shouting praise with some of todays best worship leaders. It's a time to be challenged.

I will not be the same. My eyes have been opened to a huge issue in our world today.

It's not that Passion is amazing, it's that God's presence is breath taking and I don't think I've ever in my life felt His presence so strongly.

Please bare with me as I figure out where to go from here. All I know is that I've got to start in the Word.

I don't want to ever recover from this week.

Happy New Years! :)

The fact that it took me 5 minutes to figure out which password was needed to access my blog is not a good sign.

Clearly I have been away for too long. Much too long.

I went to college and basically haven't blogged since. Amazing really, because I want to keep these memories and remember the last 4 months of my life. I have hundreds of pictures that will remind me for years to come of the wonderful people I've met, but I sure do miss blogging and writing it all out.

The problem is timing. I know that at the end of the day I'm going to college to get a degree and to meet people that will become my very best friends. So I've spent the last four months of my life working towards those two things. I got great grades (Dean's List baby!!!) and met some crazy wonderful people. The last four months have stretched me and I have grown a lot while learning a lot, but I am a better person for it all.

2011 has now come to a close, just as my high school days are over and the first semester of college has a little check marking that it has been completed. I've grown up. So much so that I just registered today to vote.

Y'all. When did I become an adult?!

But as I sat last night thinking over 2011, the good times and the bad, the things that have shaped me and the things I want to do better with in 2012, I was struck by the fact that I fell off the blogging wagon and never got back on.

Well. I'm getting back on.

It's the first day of 2012, so I certainly can't say that I'm going to do well with this goal the entire year, but I'm promising you now that I will do better. I will find the time some how. Because although it's great to get good grades and make wonderful friends, it's even better to document it so I'll remember it years down the road. :)

These are the good days, friends. You may not be into the whole New Years stuff or making resolutions, and I totally get that. For years my resolution has been to not make any resolutions.

But no one can deny that it's nice to have a fresh start. A new beginning. A launching pad. A place to begin again, take a deep breath, and say 'today is a new day.'

Well today you can say something a little different, something a little better.

Today is a new year.