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 :)

On the road again...

Tomorrow morning I'm hittin' the road! We're driving down to ATL for one of our Upward Leadership Training Conferences and then Saturday when it's over I'm leavin' on a jet plane for NYC! I'm so pumped. I love being "on the go" and rushing around. It gets my adreneline (sp???) pumping.

Of course the thing that stinks is that Melody is moving back to Tennessee tomorrow :( I'm so sad. She's been such a huge part of my life since I started working at Upward and it's not going to be the same without her there!! I've about cried multiple times just thinking about it over the past few months, but the tears finally came as I hugged her bye and left her house tonight. It's so odd because she's one of the two really good friends that I've made since graduating college. Does that make sense? Anyway, I'll definitely see her again b/c I'm going to be the photographer at her wedding. We just don't know the exact date of that event yet :) See? There's a silver lining in every cloud. Or something cheesy like that. ha!

Alright, I still have to pack my overnight bag for ATL and get a few hours sleep before getting up in the morning. No idea if I'll be able to get online while I'm out and about next week, but I'll post pictures if I can!