Please Pray

It's been a strange evening... after going for a run to get out my frustrations over my Clemson Tigers losing the Music City bowl game to Kentucky I came home to hopefully watch the Gamecocks lose their bowl game. No such luck. So, while keeping the tv on ESPN I dove back into the 5th Harry Potter book that I am reading for the third or fourth time.

Somewhere in the midst of that I decide to check CNN.com to see what's going on in the world. Immediately I was reminded that Saddam Hussein was hanged tonight. That was around 10pm, which was about the time it actually happened (6am in Iraq). Needless to say, my mood and mindset changed as soon as I saw the news. Not too long after, a friend texted to remind me to pray for our troops, including her brother and sister-in-law as there will be celebrating AND riots in Iraq today.

The thing that gets me is that it seems that people like Saddam and Castro should only be people I read about in history books... not people that are on today's news. Go figure that with all of our "progress" and technology and everything we have "learned from history" that we still have people like them out there today.

PLEASE say a prayer for all the troops (regardless of what country they are serving), for the Iraqi civilians and all news crews. Most importantly pray that God will make Himself known during all of this and that He will be glorified... regardless of whether we understand what He is doing or not.

205 Olympics

Well, it was more of a track meet than the Olympics, but that is beside the point. You are probably wondering how we began the track meet this evening at 205, but I am also wondering the same thing. All I know is that one minute I was sitting on the couch watching ESPN and the next minute Robert and Lindsay are home from the Clemson basketball game and I'm on the floor trying to determine who can jump the highest. We are pretty sure Lindsay won that event.
Next came the long jump. Yes, we had the long jump in our hallway! Since only 1/3 of us even participated in track back in the day, Lindsay was the one who jumped the furthest. Although, I came pretty close! The funniest part was when Robert took his turn in the standing long jump... when he landed, he fell into the wall and we all laughed because it would have been really funny had his elbow gone through the wall! But, it didn't. So, there will be no trips to Home Depot this weekend.
There was talk of finding soft things to jump onto from the upstairs in the foyer... but we determined that we didn't have anything adequate enough. So we thought about jumping from the railing on the deck onto the grass to practice since there is a little less distance and the ground is softer than the laminated floor in the foyer.

The closing ceremonies will probably take place tomorrow evening. Please let me know if you would like to attend and I will email a (free) ticket to you!

There was no alcohol involved in this evening's activites...
believe it or not.

Yay!!

Not only did I get to see my nephew last night, but I got some one-on-one time with him while his mom went to get pizza for dinner. Every time I see him I am amazed at what a great kid he is. He's definitely my favorite 7 year old on the planet! We played his little pool game he got, watched a little tv and played some video games (ok, so I watched him play video games). With this pool game that he got, he could play pool, soccer, basketball or target shooting. We set up the target shooting and he had to fire the small ball off and towards the targets, which was some card stock folded and sitting there with 9 holes in it. He got various points for getting the ball through the different holes. The thing that blew my mind away was that he added all of his points up in his head! He's 7!! Granted it was like 100+20+50+30+... but still. His mom told me that he's at the top of his class, that his report card is always good and that she and his teacher were really impressed with his standardized test scores. Wow!

He told me at one point that his dad (step-dad actually) told him he was stupid. Um... negative. I told him he was the furthest thing from stupid and that I personally considered him a genious. Not that I'm biased at all... :)

As I was leaving, his mom told me to give me a hug and it was such a great hug that I made him give me another one :) I told him I loved him, he said he loved me too and I left. The first place I stopped was at Walgreens to get the Star Wars Gen. Grevious that he said he wanted for Christmas. I told him that if I didn't see him before Christmas then I would definitely get his gift to him before 2007.

There are many times I leave there extrememly frustrated or times that I don't get to see him for months at a time. But, last night was all I needed for Christmas from him. He told me about The Hangar at church (they go to First Baptist from time to time) and was telling me a little about God when we were looking at the globe I gave him last year. I know that he isn't being completely shut off from the Gospel but I don't know how much of it he's hearing. But, I have hope. God is far from done with him and his family!

Weekend at the Cabin

You know the weekend was fun when...

...there is an incriminating picture of John in the hot tub

...Jill almost caught a diaper on fire in the microwave

...Wes was really excited about figuring out just what was in those diapers during the shower

...we were sad when the Hillbilly putt-putt golf was closed

...we almost got a picture of 13.5 of us at Old Timey Pho-tos

...all of the noise in the house stopped when the steaks were ready

...all the noise started back once Nurts was in full swing!

...we got Josh on video doing a running man impression during a round of Cranium

...Allen survived not only meeting all of us at once but survived the entire weekend!

...we're already planning to go back next year for a 3 day weekend!

I love my girls!!

(but we really missed Leslie (&Philip) and Brooke!)

Thankful for Christmas

I LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas. You have an excuse to eat lots of good food, you get to be with your family (hopefully) and of course, it's time to prepare for the birth of our Savior.
How amazing sweet is that?

Thanksgiving lunch at my aunt's house. I think there were about 20 of us total!

My cousin, Karlin... she's so cute.

And another cousin, Alejandro. Don't you love that smile??

We finally got the (topless) tree at 205 decorated! Ain't it purty? :)

There is so much to look forward to at this time of year. It's amazing that we (in the states) get to begin the "holidays" with a day of being thankful. I just pray that this Christmas season will touch you like never before, that you will be able to see Christ as the Savior he came to earth to be.
It was an amazing miracle and he IS an amazing Lord.

TGI Fridays, Squatty Potties and a Little Basketball

It's amazing how much American food you will eat when you are out of the country! We ate at TGI Friday's twice and McD's twice. I think the last time I ate at Friday's was when I was living in Atlanta! And I may eat at McD's once a year. Actually, I think the last time I visited McD's was while I was going through Germany to and from South Africa. It makes me laugh!

Now, I've used squatty potties before. I know they exist and I'm not afraid to use them... unless of course the door doesn't really lock and the only light in the water closet is busted! However, after walking about for a bit and trying to figure out what I was going to do, I realized I didn't have a choice and decided to chance it! Luckily, after stepping outside to make sure the coast was clear, I saw Sasha and told him there was only one. So he said, "It's ok, you are safe!" You will be happy to hear that "Operation Squatty Potty" was a success :) haha!

The gym we were in for our conference on Tuesday was amazing. Although it was REALLY cold! Everything went well and the people we met in the Ukraine were very interested in what we had to tell them about Upward. We are at the very beginning stages, but who knows... Upward Ukraine may become a reality! We'll just have to see what all God has in store.

Orthodox churches are all over the place.

As are statues!!

It was a really good trip. It was odd being in Eastern Europe this time... many things were very familiar because it was Europe. But there are a lot of differences because it's in the east and still has a good bit of Russian influence. I'm thankful that God is allowing me to see different parts of the world and meet people in other cultures... and that's my job! It's amazing. He's amazing. And I'm so grateful for all that He is doing around the world and right here in Greenville. I love it!

I'm in the Ukraine!

First of all.... we made it safely.
Second of all... it's FREEZING.
But third of all... it snowed some today! So at least there was a reason for me being so cold :)

So far, I love it. But to be honest, there aren't many places that I've gone in the world and not loved. We haven't met too many people b/c we only got here about 24 hours ago, but our hosts are amazing and have been wonderful. We went to a market today and loaded up on fun souvenirs and headed to a church service. We ended up leaving part of the way through, but our hosts mainly wanted us to just see one example of a worship service. He actually helped plant that church and aparently it has declined in the last few years with their worship attendance. But he said that their small groups are going strong... a bit odd to me, but he said the church leadership isn't worried about it. If he were still there, he'd be worried, but he has helped start another church in the past 5 years that seems to be going really well. They meet on Saturday afternoon though and our flight didn't arrive until after it was over.

We start our Upward conference tomorrow and from what we've heard, many people are very excited about it. So, be praying for us and the people in Ukraine as they hear about what God has done through sports in the US and other parts of the world. Pray that they will be able to help us understand what it would take to help them use sports ministry here!

the FAITHFUL life

"...being a child of God isn’t about the easy life… it’s about the FAITHFUL life."

That's what I found my fingers typing on Natalie's blog this morning in response to what she's been struggling with (read it). I've always known that the life of a Christian wasn't easy. The Bible tells us as much! But every once in a while I find myself expecting things to always go my way or trying to rest in the fact that "my plans" are going to work out.

In talking with Natalie about what she is going to do when her little girl comes I've realized that I have absolutely no clue what my future looks like. In 11th grade I remember standing in the AP Chemistry lab talking to my lab partners/friends about how my life was going to work out. I was going to go to the Naval Academy, get a degree in engineering, apply to NASA and become an astronaut. Simple, right? Sure! NOT how God works. Unfortunately I had to learn that lesson a couple of times the hard way.

Of course I know what I would like to do and what I believe God is calling me to do, but I don't know for sure. All that I do know is that He is faithful beyond my imagination. His plans are to prosper me, NOT to harm me. He is in the process of reminding me of that and I'm thankful. I try to look at life with an attitude of excitement... I mean, it's better than a movie because you have NO IDEA what God is going to do!! Most of the time I'm just laughing at myself because who would have thought Miss "I'm going to be an astronaut and no one can stop me" would end up getting her FRENCH degree from CLEMSON to then go live in Belgium and come home to SPARTANBURG, SC (of all places...) to work with a ministry that I love and adore? If anyone would like to stand up and tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor after hearing about my life, then forget it, because I'll just tell you to sit back down :)

Since I didn't know where I was going to be or what I was going to be doing 3 years ago when I graduated from Clemson, what makes me think that I know what even the next year holds?? I'm excited about it. I know that God isn't going to drop me and leave me. There are times when I try and do it with Him, but He is always there waiting (patiently, I might add) when I go sprinting back to Him. If only WE had that much faith in HIM. Wow. I wish I could get to that point and really see what God fully has in store for me.

Trunk-or-Treat!

This was part of my small group working on our crayon costumes: Sara, Marsha, Alicia and Nicky.

The finished product! We had an awesome box of crayons!

Emily, Court and Chris McGowan
(Pirates... not sure if they were of the Caribbean or not)

Erin and Mac McArthur
(Glenda the Good Witch and The Wizard of Oz)

Late 20s

This is the view from the second floor balcony at my office. How amazing is that? Not too bad for a birthday morning, huh?

So apparently, some people think that 27 is still your mid-twenties, which I'm completely fine with, but I had convinced myself that it was OK to be hitting my late twenties today and I don't know that I can revert back at the drop of a conversation. Oh well... God has done some amazing things these past 27 years and I am SO thankful for His GREATness. All in all, I don't think it really matters what "age" we are... God doesn't work on our timetable anyway. Besides, to be honest, I've enjoyed getting older... (notice I didn't say "growing up." haha!) I wouldn't be able to appreciate life if I stayed the same age for eternity. This adventure of life is much more exciting when you have age and experiences under your belt.

Thunder and Lightening

If you haven't heard... James Davis and CJ Spiller are Clemson's "Thunder and Lightening" and are my new heros. They were AMAZING at our game against GA Tech with a 31-7 win. I was at Ryan and Sarah's wedding (as you can see below...) but was able to watch the ESPN Game Day crew and the awesome win on tv after the wedding.

I realize I'm a geek for taking pictures of the tv, but I wanted to capture the full evening and all of the joy! haha! Hopefully we can do this again on Thursday against VA Tech... now that would be a WONDERFUL birthday present!!

Congrats Mr & Mrs Wright!

I've known Ryan since we were 8 years old and going to Fernwood Baptist where his dad was the pastor and we were in 3rd grade at Jesse Boyd. And now, he's off to Australia with his bride for 2 whole weeks! CONGRATS Ryan and Sarah!! The wedding was a blast... and like your dad said, "I hope this is the worst day of your marriage."

This was just before they left...

Dottie, me and mom at the reception.

Ryan's oldest sister, Kristi, brother-in-law, Lee and two nephews, Grayson and Landon.

Landon essentially turned out to be my date at the wedding... now if I could only find someone my age that liked me that much, I'd be set! haha!!

Ryan's other sister, Traci and her husband, Alan.

Mother and Father of the groom with the ring bearer, Grayson.

Meredith, Sarah and Traci at the reception.

It's FALL!

Fall is finally here... Clemson games consist of dressing warmly...

(Kristen, Jennifer and Brooke modeling their warm Clemson attire at the Temple game in Charlotte... you know, where we won 63-9).

We carved some pumpkins and ate some taco soup...

(Kelly and John with their mad pumpkin-carving skills...)

And then spent Saturday evening in downtown Greenville at Fall for Greenville!

(This was Lindsay and Kelly after our first round of delicious food from Sassafrass.)

It was an awesome weekend. Food, fun, friends and a Clemson win. You really can't ask for much more than that :)

searching for life

"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!" Luke 24:5,6

I read this passage this morning while eating my Cinnamon Toast Crunch and it stuck with me. I've read it numerous times before and heard it more than that. It's part of "growing up in church" and being there every Easter Sunday. But what got me this time is how TRUE it is.

I've heard a lot lately about speaking truth... whether you need to speak it to yourself or to a friend. The thing is, it's not just truth, it's Truth, with a capital T. It's the Word of God. It's the living Christ. It's what gets me through my day and many times is the only reason I get up in the morning. Jesus didn't die on that cross for nothing. He died for you, he died for me, he died for Bill Gates, he died for bin Laden and he died for all the Muslims who are in the middle of Ramadan right now (http://www.30-days.net/).

He had a purpose in what he did and it didn't stop there. HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD. His living, breathing Word speaks Truth day in and day out. He isn't physically sitting next to me right now, but he never leaves my side. He isn't audibly speaking to me each day, but I hear him often.

I just wish I could speak this Truth to others around me with more clarity than I think I will ever be capable of doing.

First Birthday Dinner of the Month

So, my bday really isn't until the 26th, but since Arica was here and it was October, we went to dinner with some friends to "celebrate." It was fun!

Lindsey Mart, Robert, Lindsay, Chad, myself and Arica went to PF Changs for dinner. But don't worry... we'll be celebrating again ON my birthday as we watch the Clemson Tigers beat VA Tech!!

My brother

This is my brother, Matt.! He's up in Fort Mill right now about to help open a restaurant called Six Pense Pub and Grill (I think that's the full name). Anyway, he's an awesome chef and I'm not just saying that because he's my brother! He just moved down from Blowing Rock, NC and I'm glad that he's a little closer now so hopefully I'll be able to see him a little more.

If you're interested in going up for some good food, let me know and I'll tag along!

SC Tour for a Texan

My friend Arica was in town this past week from Texas, today is her last day here :( and we took a tour of SC. We went from Greenville to Clinton, to Walterboro, to Isle of Palms, to Charleston, back to G'ville, to Clemson, to Rock Hill, to Fort Mill to Spartanburg and finally back to Greenville. Whew!

Check it out...

Clinton was the first stop to see Adam and Leah (the girls were in school, so sad!).

This is Eric, my former youth minister. He's now pastoring a church in Walterboro called Beadon Baptist. It was my first trip to that part of the state. He showed us around. It took about 10 minutes.

Isle of Palms!!

One of our goofy pictures.

We got this shirt for her only a few hours after she landed in SC!!
I mean, she needed something to wear to the game on Saturday...

Sunday night was Family Night with the Greens... just like old times. Except for the part of us NOT being in Belgium. Rock Hill is a tad bit different than Brussels. But only a by a little...

Our last stop was in Fort Mill to see my brother. But, since you can only upload 6 pictures in one post, I'll have to post that one of him and me later.

But, it was WONDERFUL to have Arica here and I wish God would call her to SC, but I know He's using her tremendously out in Texas. Oh well, at least we're on the same continent for the moment and can call whenever we want!

I am not skilled to understand...

"I am not skilled to understand...
what God has willed, what God has planned.
I only know at his right hand...
stands One who is my Savior."

"My Savior lives
My Savior loves,
My Savior's always there for me.
My God He was,
My God He is,
My God He's always gonna be."

-Aaron Shust - My Savior My God

I LOVE this song. It's been on the radio for a while now and I've just found out it is actually a hymn that has been redone (go figure). A friend at work emailed it last week at the end of an email update to let us know what God is doing in his and his wife's life as they get ready to bring a son into the world. There are some complications with the baby, but to see their faith through all of it has been so incredibly encouraging.

God has shown me a lot this past week... He's reminded me how much He is in control. Earlier this year I was able to move into my "dream job" and have loved it. But in my head, I thought that was just the beginning. I thought for sure that since I had gotten the job I had been waiting a year for that everything else would fall into place; the "everything else" being a guy. Well, I was hanging out with a friend a lot for the past couple of weeks (ok, we were essentially dating) but instead of continuing to build into that relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend, God used this guy to remind me what HE has called me to do. I want to work in missions, I want to go around the world and show people how much Christ loves them and I still want to live overseas again. This guy and I had different goals in mind and while it was fun hanging out, we weren't on the same path so it never would have worked. It's true that we are both awesome, but we'll be even more awesome with the people God has intended for us.

So anyway, "I'm not skilled to understand" all that God is doing but I'm thankful that He let me see into a minute piece of what the past few weeks were about.

Happy 30th LindsEy!!

Blowing out the candle...

The girls... me, Lindsay, Lindsey, Juli and Missy

The Marts!

This is what we like to call a Lindse(a)y sandwich. haha!

Happy Birthday LindsEy!! I hope the next 30 years are just as wonderful if not better!

I know... I know...

It's been a little while and I've been totally slack, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on. I guess after my "North American Tour" this summer life is pretty boring. Although, I've been hanging out with some cool people lately but I'll fill you in on those details later. Clemson won their first game, lost in double overtime to Boston College in their second game and we've got FSU in Tallahassee tomorrow. Be praying for our Tigers!!!!! :)

Next up: Ukraine!

Yep, I'm headed to the Ukraine in November for work. I've been blown away these past 4 months that I've been working in our Global Dept at how much God is doing around the world. Aparently there is a lot going on over around Russia and I'm excited about going to check it out. So, pray for me as there is a lot of work we need to do before we head over!

Peace out.

Clemson Kickoff!

So, I'm a pretty big Clemson fan... if you haven't figured that out yet then you either don't know me at all or haven't been keeping up with this blog. Anyway, we had our first game today against Florida Atlantic and finished the game out with a solid score of 54-6. It was pretty sweet. Yes, there could have been some better plays, we could have done without the turnovers, our team could have connected better, etc. BUT we won and had some pretty sweet moves to get that score. Plus, I was excited to be sitting in Death Valley with some of my closest friends. Even if it was so hot that my khaki capris I was wearing were soaked with sweat. It was pretty gross... it looked like I had sat in water or something. And yes, I know you wanted to know that! Let's just hope that the Sept 23 game against UNC is at least a tad cooler!

And by the way... we had an addition to the tailgate this year. You've seen her before, but here she was all decked out for Clemson! Andrea joined us fully... well, except for the eating part. And getting to go downtown in a stroller instead of walking. And taking a couple of naps during the day. But other than that, she was already one of us!!

Isn't she adorable?? I personally like to call her
"Chunky Monkey" but it's completely out of love :)
Just look at those cheeks!!!

Finally...

It's been a while, I know, but here is the link to my New York pictures. There are a good many there, but I'm really proud of a few :) So... enjoy!

New Hope New York

Times Square... in the flesh!

What a great week! We had about 58 kids for flag football camp and 27 for cheerleading camp and had a blast. We ended the week with a block party for the neighborhood of Mott Haven in the Bronx, which went really well and was a hit with everyone. All of it was free... the food, the magician and the kids performing what they learned at the Fine Arts Camp and the cheerleaders performed some cheers and their pom routine. We even had time for a little site seeing during the week. I love NYC but those kids were amazing and I miss them already!! God did so much last week and if we did anything at all, we planted some seeds in these kids and made sure they knew that God loves them. Pray for Graffiti 2 in the Bronx and the ministry they have there. It has already been an amazing thing for those kids!

Carly, Natalie, Myrna, me and Lance sporting our Statue of Liberty hats with the NYC skyline in the background. You won't believe it, but Myrna and I actually had people want their picture taken with us in these hats! It's ok to be jealous that I didn't bring you one... maybe next time! haha!

Myrna and me on top of the Empire State Building... it was a little windy, can you tell?

Derek showing the guys how football is done!

Natalie showing the girls how cheerleading is done!

Well, there's the overview... I'll post more later... or maybe I'll post a link to the rest online. That may be easier :)