2013 Year in Review

2013 was a fab year. In January, I wrote this, "21, you've been nothing short of fantastic so far! I cannot wait to see all the fun things that come with your year!"

This year was incredibly fun. I made and met some incredible new friends, God worked in magnificent ways, I fell in love with a beautiful place, and I continued on this journey that God has called me to. There are some things I wish had taken place during 2013, but they didn't, and I'm just going to have to be content in where he has me this year. So, without further ado, a look back on some of the highlights of 2013! 

January: I turned 21!

February: I led my senior girls in their last DNOW! 

March: Drew got married, and my BD and his wife got saved!

April: Kaila and I went to Atlanta, and I threw Hannah a bridal shower. 

May: I went to Hilton Head twice, and Hannah got MARRIED!

June: I went to camp!

July: I was still at camp!

August: I went back to camp for a weekend, and I went to Florida for Labor Day Weekend. 

September: I went to camp again (clearly I fell in love with camp this year).

October: I started my student teaching (and SURVIVED it).

November: I spent a lot of time with the Dukes at camp, and I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner! 

December: I hosted the FIFTH Annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party!

2013, you really were great. I made some awesome best friends, I slept outside two times too many, I stood by one of my best friends as she got married, I drove to Asheville and back too many times to count, I had two of my best semesters in college, I read as often as I could, I cooked a 20 pound turkey, I was a student teacher for five weeks, I made it a full summer at camp, I watched my birth dad and his wife get baptized, I became an even bigger fan of phone dates and spur-of-the-moment visits, I spent more money at Gap then I should have, I joined a new church, and I made as many fantastic memories as possible. 2014, I cannot wait to see all the joy and fun you bring! 

A Big Deal

"I didn't think it was this big of a deal," she said to me, after the shock of the surprise started to wear off. "I mean, you guys must have driven all night. That's crazy."

It was a big deal, I reassured her. And the driving didn't matter to us. We would've driven longer if we had to. It was a big deal, and we wanted to be there.

During all the wedding festivities on Saturday, I didn't pay much attention to my phone. I kept it on me to keep up with the time so that I'd lead the bridal party to the back of the church on time, and so that we could get Drew and Alli out of the reception on time. At one point, I saw I had a message from my birth dad's (BD) wife, but of course I didn't look at it. After everything was over with the wedding, I headed home, and I hadn't even changed clothes when I sprawled out on the sofa, ready to catch up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I hopped on FB first, and that's when I read it.

My BD and his wife got saved!!!! Something I'd been praying about for almost four years. Before I even met either one of them. My friends, my family members, and coaches and teachers from high school have all prayed about this. There were plenty of times when I thought I'd never see the day that it would happen, but God is gracious, and I did get to see it.

On Sunday, they got baptized, and I wanted to be there. My mom had something at church she couldn't miss, so about 40 minutes after my dad and I found out, we were in the car, headed to Huntsville. I was already SO tired from the whole wedding weekend, but I was also SO excited that we'd get to see this! We pulled into Huntsville around midnight our time, checked into a hotel, got up early the next morning, and surprised the whole family. It was such a cool thing, and I will never forget that day!

After the service--where they got baptized AND joined the church!!!

And no trip to the great state of Alabama is complete without a meal at Momma Goldberg's. 

Almost exactly 24 hours later, we pulled back into Augusta, exhausted yet excited. What a perfect weekend. So grateful, and I can't wait to see what the Lord does in my BD and his family!!!

Also, while I wasn't driving, I read Karen Kingsbury's latest novel. Of course, so good. Check out the trailer below. Side note: I totally get my love of reading from my dad. We both packed in about 20 minutes, and we both packed books to read while the other was driving. 

The Brother I Never Had

I remember being little and always wanting an older brother. I just thought it would be so cool to have a big brother who would look out for you and teach you all about life. I really always wanted one. Well, I have about the closest thing this only child could get to a brother. Drew and I truly treat each other like siblings. The other day I texted him about how I was grateful for him, and he texted me back saying he was grateful for our "siblingship" too. I decided I liked that--siblingship! 

Anyway, we have the best of both worlds, in my opinion. We each get an additional "sibling", have the relationships siblings can have, but we get to ship each other back when we get sick of each other! Just kidding...but really :) He's a great big brother, and when he got for real serious about Alli, I was excited for him. I kept thinking he was going to propose while I was in Australia, but fortunately for me, he didn't! About a month ago, Drew texted me to let me know he was proposing! Well, of course Alli said YES, and Saturday night, Graham and Casie threw an engagement party for them. 

Graham, Casie, Drew, and Alli. I so love the siblingship Drew, Casie, and I share. 

This one makes me laugh so much! 

(We were trying to explain to the lady taking the picture how to take the picture.)

Please note G in the background. Hahaha.

Umm, how stinkin cute are they?!?!

love. 

So, fun/random story about this sign. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that about a year ago, I found my biological cousin on facebook. Well, long story short, I added him and he accepted my friend request. That's about it. Last week, I saw that he got engaged, and that he and his fiance had a chalkboard sign with "she said yes" written on it that they took pictures with. So, I decided to make a chalkboard and write this on it. It ended up being a GREAT prop for pictures and conversation starter. So, dear cousin who I don't really know, all credit to you and your really cute engagement sign. I'll admit that his was cuter than mine, but my idea came to life in less than 24 hours. I'm assuming his idea was much more planned than mine or he has good female friends that help him out. Whatevs. Still cute. 

I've watched Drew date a few girls, and Alli seriously is the best fit for him out of all of them. She is a beautiful woman of the Lord, and she just goes with him perfectly! I cannot wait to see them tie the knot in March, and I especially cannot wait to see all the things that God does in and through them! 

Miscellany Monday!

Today, I'm linking up with carissa of lowercase letters for Miscellany Monday!

1. I'm absolutely loving these hydrangeas I got on sale at Kroger the other day. Hydrangeas are my second favorite flower, and I just think they are so beautiful! 

2. I'm also enjoying these two Downton Abbey season three previews I've found on YouTube. I'm looking forward to the U.S. premiere in January!

3. I'm so loving these temperatures! Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days Augusta has had in a long time, and I'm hoping fall is on its way. Days like this make running almost seem fun...almost.

4. We talked about walking in the Spirit yesterday with the high schoolers. That requires its own post, but just check out Romans 7. Really, really good stuff. 

5. I'm really excited that this movie comes out on DVD tomorrow. If you haven't seen it, go and buy it. Really it's that good. I'm so excited to watch it again!

6. I'm heading to Auburn on Friday! While I'm not expecting much for the game (they're playing ULM who upset Arkansas in overtime on Saturday), I'm excited to be in the loveliest village on the plains with two of my favorite people. I'm also excited about hopefully going to World Market and seeing the Australian things they have there! I'm missing some mint slice!

7. Last but definitely not least, it's this lady's birthday today! Casie is a huge blessing in my life, and I'm so glad that I got to see her and celebrate a little with her today! Happy Birthday, KC!

something big.

Thursday night, I was lying in bed, praying before I fell asleep (is it bad that I always fall asleep during the middle of my prayers?!), and I asked God to do "something big" tomorrow. I went on to say, "I'd like You to do something big in regards to _____ (a certain situation going on right now)". I figured that if I was bold like that, then God would really do "something big" the next day in this situation.

So, all day Friday, I'm waiting, checking my phone, expecting God to do something big in this one area of my life. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed when it was around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and nothing BIG had happened. I checked my e-mail, and to my surprise, God had done something big. 

But, this something was way different than I had expected. Last week, I was about $800 away from what I needed for Australia. I was trusting God that all would work out, and that I would be covered financially. I wasn't really worried about it, but I wasn't super confident either. Well, the e-mail I got gave me my new total, and I'm only about $200 away from what I need now. How BIG is that? Pretty big, I'd say.

Not only am I super thankful that God would do something BIG like this and just affirm and reaffirm that He wants me in Australia this summer, I'm thankful for the other lesson I learned from this experience. This other situation in my life that I was praying about all that day is something that God's going to work in on HIS timetable, not mine. I know that, but I was just reminded again that even if it seems like He's not doing something, He is. It's just what I need right now, not what I want. I'm still praying about my other situation, but I'm so glad that God still did something big in my life on Friday.

SPRING BREAK!!!!!

I love any time off of school, (who doesn't?), so I'd been looking forward to a this week for a while. For Augustans, Spring Break is a little different than anyone else's. The Masters golf tournament takes place during the first full week of April, so that is when we take our spring break. Our whole town becomes the host of one of the greatest events in the sports world, and if you're a local, you get to sit back and watch everyone gush over this little town.

I'm not much of a golf fan, I've never been to the Masters (I wouldn't mind going one day though), and I don't really like the extra traffic that comes with this week. I typically try and head out of town if I can, which I did for the latter half of the week. However, I did enjoy some time with friends and such before leaving town.

My mom works for FCA, and they, along with my church, host a golf breakfast every year on the Tuesday of Masters' week. They have a golfer come and speak, and almost 1,000 people get to hear the Gospel presented. This year, our speaker was golfer Aaron Baddeley, from Australia (thought that was pretty cool :) ), and Mom let me meet him :) He was a GREAT speaker, and he BOLDLY proclaimed the message of Christ. My favorite line was this: "God with rather watch His son die than not be able to spend eternity with us..."

I read this the first weekend of spring break. So good, like all of Karen Kingsbury's books. 

Celebrated my Dad's birthday the first Friday of spring break! 

Hung out with these cute kiddos the first day of my spring break :) 

I went to Alabama the latter half of the week to visit my BM's parents. On the way there, I had lunch with an old friend in Atlanta, and I decided to take the scenic route to my grandparents' house. I drove through Sewanee, the University of the South, in the mountains of Tennessee, and Chattanooga. It was SO pretty. I may or may not want to move there one day :)

Tennessee River. 

Barn on my grandparents' property. 

All in all, it was a great spring break. I enjoyed some time with my BD, his wife, and some friends during the beginning of the week when they came here to go to the Masters. I really enjoyed the peacefulness of staying with my grandparents for a few days in the country. Ending the week with Easter Sunday tomorrow is perfection! (Oh, if you're a local and not at church at 11 AM tomorrow, check out WBC on WRDW, News Channel 12. It's our first Sunday on TV! Or check us out on the web.) 

Listened to Mystery, by Charlie Hall on the way home today. Perfect for Easter Sunday. My favorite part: "Celebrate His death and rising, lift your eyes, proclaim His coming!" So grateful we serve a RISEN King!

It's Been Five Years.

Last night, I was out with some friends and one of them said something about how something happened this same weekend a year ago because it was DNOW this weekend last year. It got me thinking about past DNOWs, and I remembered that it had been a DNOW weekend when I found out some pretty interesting stuff about my biological family. I did the math, and I figured out it had been five years since that DNOW weekend. Five years. Really? I couldn't believe it.

Five years ago I found out that these sweet people are more than just sweet people. They're a HUGE part of the reason why I'm here today. They're my birth mom's parents. My biological grandparents. (Pretty positive that my grandpa is pinching me on my back or something like that which would result in the awkward smile/laugh combo I have going on.)

When I think about where I was five years ago and where I am today with the whole adoption/biological parents issue, I can only believe that God has been walking down this path with me. Five years ago, I never would have imagined that I would be spending my entire spring break of my sophomore year of college with parts of my biological family. It can only be because God went before me and planned for all of this to happen, because, trust me, I wouldn't have chosen this path on my own.

I still remember the Monday after I found out about my grandparents being my biological grandparents. I was at school and for some reason we didn't have to work out during P.E. I remember sitting in the gym, spilling my heart out to Chelsea about the whole thing. She listened and gave advice when needed, but she mainly just listened, which was exactly what I needed her to do that day (so grateful that she still listens to me about this crazy stuff to this day!). For me, as a 15 year old girl who thought she knew everything about everything, life had been turned upside down. I really had never even imagined looking for my biological parents one day, so finding out that I had known my biological grandparents my ENTIRE life was crazy confusing to me.

Five years later, I look back on what God has shown me during this journey. He's shown me just how sovereign He is, by removing me from a bad situation and putting me with two loving, godly parents. He's shown me that He has me right where He wants me, which is something that I sometimes question, but I know I shouldn't. He put me here, with my people, who have graciously walked this journey with me and will continue to! He knew that I would embark on a crazy journey my senior year of high school, to contact and eventually meet my BD, and He put just the right people in my life during that journey.

Five years later, I'm even more grateful for my BM's parents than I ever thought I could be. I know I was grateful for them back then, but now I am even more so. They've loved me, they've supported me, and they've shown me that despite the fact that this is a weird situation, they love me just like they do their other grandkids.

Five years later, I'm glad that I've had these past five years and that I've been able to do exactly what the Lord had planned for me. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me for the next five years!

70 Days!

I'll be in this pretty place in just 70 days!! I go to Sydney for two days before I head to Pakenham, so I hope to get to see this pretty place (the Sydney Opera House). I'm so excited that I'll be in Australia this summer; I seriously cannot wait!

On another note, life has been pretty crazy the past three weeks. My boss was out of the country for almost two weeks, and I was the "woman in charge" of our high school ministry. It wasn't too crazy, but I'm really glad my boss is back in town :) Today, we had a mega yard sale to benefit our summer camp, and it was so cool to see God work! We raised LOTS of money, and I even got a few good deals. When we opened the doors this morning, we almost got trampled by all the people and a friend and I said we felt like it was Black Friday! Ha! It feels good to be done with that event, and hopefully we can get our student building back to normal soon :)

My spring break plans are set! My spring break is later than pretty much everyone else's due to the Masters Tournament being the first full week in April. So, there's no way I can really do anything with any of my close friends, so I'm making the week be full of family. My BD, his wife, and some of their friends are coming into town the first part of the week to go to the Masters, so I'll be spending a lot of time with them. I haven't seen them since September, so I'm really excited to see them! At the end of the week, I'm heading to Huntsville to see my BM's parents. I haven't seen them since Christmas 2010, so I'm really excited to see them as well! It will be good to spend time with family before I head to Australia since I won't have time this summer.

In the last week, I've gotten to see all of my best friends! Panera with Mary Beth, working out/hanging out with Chelsea, and pricing yard sale items with Caroline seriously made my life so much better! I'm so grateful for each of them. Also, if you've never worked out with your best friend, do it. Chelsea and I decided it's so much more fun that way!

I'll leave you with this verse from Mark...so good!

Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. - Mark 11:24

God Knows.

Last week at Passion, Christine Caine spoke to us two times. She is a huge advocate for freeing slaves who have been trafficked, and she really taught us a lot about sex trafficking, human trafficking, etc. While she was speaking one day, she told us how she was adopted.

Of course I immediately felt a strong connection with her. Our stories are quite different though, and she said some things that struck me quite strongly. She said how she didn't know of her conception or any of the details surrounding her birth and adoption. I know these things, and I just kept listening to her story. But then she said, "God knows. Even though I don't know these details, God knows. He says that He knew you before you were even formed, and that's something I put my trust in."

A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from my BM. Now isn't the time to go into details, but let's just say I've been struggling with the whole thing, and I haven't really decided how I "feel" about it. But, when Christine Caine said that God knows, I really related with that. I may never have the opportunity to know my BM or the cousin that I found on facebook. I may never know them. But, God knows me and that's all that really matters.

thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where I so WISH that my family had traditions that we held every year. But, last year we went to Leah's house so that our families could celebrate Thanksgiving together. We're doing that again this year, and I'm thinking that it may become our new tradition. I'm totally okay with that!!

This year, I'm thankful for...
--my house! Even though it means that my grandma is in an assisted living facility (which really is a blessing), I'm SO thankful that my parents are cool enough to let me live in it!
--my NEW great job. I was talking to a friend today, and I said, "I don't even feel like I'm at work when I'm here. It's so fun." Thank You, Lord, for letting me have this amazing opportunity!
--my great family. I have such amazing parents, and I don't know where I would be without them. My extended family (i.e. my aunt who is making me a t-shirt quilt--YES) my BD, his family, my BM's parents, and every other family member. I love them all.
--my precious and sweet friends. I so love every single one of them. They are amazing blessings in my life, and I would not be the person I am today if not for them.
--all the sweet babies in my life. I love, love, love that the Lord lets me be "Ash-Ash" to some of the most adorable babies/toddlers in the world (not that I'm biased or anything...). What an awesome blessing that the Lord gives me even though I don't have "real" siblings!
--our precious and gracious heavenly Father for loving me enough to give His Son for me. How great is our God?!

What are you thankful for this thanksgiving?!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 28

Day Twenty-Eight: What Have You Learned in the Past 30 Days?

That it's hard to do a 30 day blog challenge and post consistently every single day. My first day was September 24th. So, I'm past my 30 days, and I still have a few left. Oh well, life going on outside this blog is what makes this blog possible, so it's totally okay!

That I actually feel like I have a part of me missing, and I want to find out more about my biological family. After finding my biological cousin on facebook, which you can read in this post, I've wanted to find more. I've wanted to know who this whole other part of me is, and why I am the way that I am. I know that my identity is in Christ, and it always will be. But, this quote by a 10 year old adopted kid sums it all up for me, "Being adopted is like being a puzzle with a piece missing."

birthdays.

happy birthday to three of the sweetest people in my life!

My lovely mom! Greatest mom in the ENTIRE world :)

My cousin Austin. He's sixteen. I cannot believe it! 

And Kim, my "stepmom". One of the sweetest ladies in the world. 

Glad I got to spend the evening with my mom. Hoping and wishing the rest of them had a great day as well!