Juli is giving away some Curiosity

Winn Collier, the former pastor of DCF in Clemson, has written a new book: HOLY CURIOSITY: Encountering Jesus' Provocative Questions. And Juli is giving away a FREE copy of it on her blog. But HURRY!!! Time will be up come next Wednesday at noon.

Check out her post...

PS - if you mention that I sent you there, I'll get an extra entry into winning the book :)

13 people

I need 13 people to respond to this post and let me know what you are thankful for RIGHT NOW that you didn't have last year or that you didn't know you'd be thankful for in a year's time. Got it? I'll go first...

1. I'm thankful for the 9th grade girls in my Discipleship Group. I only met them about a month ago and I already consider them a huge part of my life. If only I'd known this time last year that we'd be chillin' every other Wednesday and on Sunday nights and on Fall Retreat and various other times/places, then I don't think I could have waited a year to meet them.

(more pics from Fall Retreat here and here)

Ok, so i guess i only need 12 people now :)
(Thanks for the question to get me thinking, Mary!)

14 reasons I'm humbled

A month or so ago I emailed some friends and asked for 3 words they would use to describe me. I mainly needed something to put up here for this silly countdown, but wow, I wasn't expecting to feel so inadequate because of the words they chose...

- understanding
- present
- seeker
- loyal
- relentless
- passionate
- selfless
- role model
- caring
- smart
- artistic
- pretty
- fun
- creative

I really don't have anything else to say other than thank you to my most amazing and incredible friends. I don't deserve you guys, but I love you tons!!

29th bday and Trunk-or-Treat

I can't believe I'm 29. Holy cow, just one more year until the big 3-0. But, luckily I have some pretty amazing friends who surprised me the Friday of my birthday weekend... so I didn't have much time to think about the number.

The biggest surprise was that Arica (who now lives in Nashville) drove in for the weekend! SO much fun :)

Sunday - the day OF my birthday :) - was Trunk-or-Treat at church, which is always a blast!

Tinkerbell (aka Adri) playing a little soccer.

A little peace-love from Nick and Gabby.

Mac and Erin - a part of The Greatest Show on Earth!

The coolest small group - i mean, community group - at Grace Church!

When your group leaders, who are avid Gamecock fans, get you a Clemson cookie cake for your birthday... you know they love you :)

Click here for more birthday and Trunk-or-Treat pics.

15 pull-ups

no... NOT the toddler diapers. ew! i'm talking actual, physical, real pull-ups. some guys at work decided to do 100 pull-ups in 100 days. it goes something like this...

Day 1 = do as many as you can at one time
Day 2 = 2 pull ups
Day 3 = 3 pull ups
Day 4 = 4 pull ups
etc....

the number of pull ups for the day we're on can be done over the course of the day (thankfully!). i was already doing a handful each time i went to fill up my water bottle or was in the general area of the work-out room at work. now i just have more motivation. as of today (and the past 29 years) i can NOT do a pull up all on my own. i'm pretty strong for a girl, but those muscles in my arms just aren't developped. so.... we're changing that.

i joined in on day 9 i think. and while i have to use a chair to do the pull ups, i can already tell that i'm not using the chair as much as i once was. so that's a bonus!

let's hope that by the last day i can do at least one without the aid of a chair :)

We interrupt this countdown...

...for recent happenings.
1. Fall for Greenville. ALWAYS mucho fun with yummo food and festivities:

Garrett was planning his route and menu.

Glamorous Kelly and Allison

Yummo....

the boys and their hotdogs

amazing what can be done with a large block of ice and a chain saw

2. It's fall in South Carolina and football is in full swing! Granted, Clemson isn't doing as well as all had hoped, however, we are still enjoying the season, our team... and the food :)

My cousin Morgan is a Clemson Tiger now... although her boyfriend is at the Citadel. But he's pretty cool, so we're keeping him around!

Will and Diana's tailgate

I love this picture of D and Wyatt!

as for this one... my friends were supposed to jump WITH me... :)

16 things...

... that I'm thankful for.

1) God's grace
2) His Son, Jesus
3) my amazing family (mom, brother, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins!!)
4) my Clemson girls
5) phone calls from old friends (like the one I just received from Melody!)
6) a job that i love
7) the fact that i consider the people i work with to be more like family than co-workers
8) the 5 months that i lived in Belgium
9) Arica and the Greens, none of whom i would know had i not gone to Belgium
10) the chances i've had to travel the world
11) the fact that i have friends in 6 different countries who would let me sleep on their couch should i ever get over to see them... :)
12) my Clemson Tigers (regardless of their ability to play sports)
13) a church that i love serving with in Greenville, SC
14) a small group - i mean, community group - that i adore
15) my new camera
16) cherry coke and chocolate

ok, i realize that last one had two in it, but they HAD to make the list. and really, i could go on FOREVER with things that i'm thankful for. this list doesn't even really scratch the surface.

what are YOU thankful for? everyone has at least 2 things they could name off the top of their head. come on, you can do it!

17 more days...

... until I hit 29. Wow. I've been freaking out a little bit because the next birthday that rolls around will be the big 3-0. Not that I've ever really been that into the number of my birthday... it's just the fact that it IS my birthday :) But, this is my last one in my twenties.

The other thing is that while I was never one to have my life planned out (by this age I'll be married, by this age i'll have a career, by this age i'll have so many kids, etc.), I really didn't think I'd still be single at 29. It's really a minor thing because I have an amazing life! I have SO many things that I'm thankful for (keep an eye out for #16 in the "countdown") and God has used me in ways that would have been more challenging had I been married.

However, it would be really fun to share this life adventure with someone. But, I know God has a plan (Jer 29:11) so I'm just chillin' until I get to share this cool life with someone else :)

18 Years Old (post 2)

The Christmas after my 18th birthday, I asked my mom if the family could all pitch in for my Christmas gift. What did I ask for? All I wanted was a "real" camera, like one that professionals use! That Christmas I got my first SLR, a Nikon N50... and I was in love.

This was my baby. I loved this camera. While I was co-opping in college, I purchased a zoom lens and took even more pictures. In the 8 years that I used this camera, I know that I took thousands of pictures. And loved snapping each and every one. Now that we're in the digital age, I've probably taken twice as many as I ever did with film. Maybe three times as many...

Well, along with time and practice and falling more in love with photography, it's time that I take it to the next step. No, I'm not a pro, but I've created a photography blog and I hope to have another website one day soon. I'm excited to see where God takes me with this venture.

So.... I'm officially introducing PS: Photography by Sabrina. So check it out.... www.sabrinalewis.blogspot.com... and tell everyone you know!

18 Years Old (post 1)

Finally... something for the number 18 :) In fact... I have 2 things!

When I was 18 years old I left an amazing group of friends and headed off to Clemson University. Little did I know that I would find another amazing group of friends. In the past few weeks, I've seen people from both groups and am amazed and SO thankful that God has allowed these people to remain in my life.

Back in March, we had our 10 Year High School Reunion (above). And this past weekend, I had lunch with the Scharffs and Jean. I love that even after 10 years, after going to different colleges, after some have gotten married, had children and moved to different towns, we can get together and still laugh and have fun.

The girls in the picture above (minus the Mrs Chapman, who is next to Jennifer, the bride) were in my bible study my freshman year at Clemson. These are the girls that I daily live life with. We certainly don't see each other every day or even every month, but we stay in touch, stay connected, stay close and stay in touch with what's going on. We've gone on cruises, we've gone to the beach, we get a cabin each December, we've been in each other's weddings (as you can tell above!), we've been at the hospital for births, we've been to funerals... and we plan on doing MUCH MUCH more together as the years go by.

As I've talked to people over the years, I've really realized just how blessed I am to have both of these groups of people in my life. God always knows what He's doing but it always makes me smile to think that He knew FAR more than I could ever have dreamed when He brought all of these people into my life... and have let them stay in my life!