Its been a while...

Sorry guys it has been so long but the summer has flown by and kept me away from my duty as a blogger. And in case you were wondering, yes Africa was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! It was very challenging but I had an amazing trip; full of laughter, tears and adventures!

But needless to say the start of school is here. Its bittersweet, im glad to be back but I do not want to start classes. But the im so excited to be back and get to catch up with all of my friends!! The other day one of my best friends Amanda and I were talking about our summers and catching up and doing all the things that friends do when I informed her of one of my new prayer requests. Which is...... I am now praying (amongst other things) that Eminem would become a Christian!!! I must confess that I have a love for hip hop music of all kinds and Eminem has always been apart of that. But I think about Eminem how cool it would be if he became a Christian and all the people who would get to hear about that and how many amazing things the Lord could do through him!!

One of the funny things about this is I told Amanda about my new prayer and like the second thing she said about was.... "you should blog about it." So here it is Amanda, just for you.

Preparation

So readers most of you know this but maybe someone out there is not aware, but I am spending the rest of my summer in South Africa!!!!!! I will be in Pretoria which is the capital and my team and I will be joining up with the Campus Outreach at Tuks University. We will be going into the dorms and and building relationships and trying to share the gospel with the students there! I am so excited to see all that the Lord is doing and going to do while my team and I are there!! This past week we have been at the LP (leadership project) training and spending time bonding as a team! It has truly been an amazing time of growth and we aren't even in South Africa yet. It has been so cool because the Lord has been showing me a ton of my sin and just how Holy Holy Holy he is. He has been so reassuring and has showed me and reminded me of so many things when it comes to sharing with people about his love and grace! He has reminded me that all I am called to do is be a sower of seeds and he does the rest all the working and growing!!! Isn't that amazing???? That all I have to do is tell people about the Lord and share how loving and holy he is; and then I can trust in the Lord to do the rest of the work. That because I love the Lord telling people is just an overflow of my love for him. That nothing actually depends on me. That he does everything!! It was so amazing and so freeing to be reminded of that. Just gets me so pumped for SA and what the Lord has in store!

So here are some of the things I am praying for this summer:
- That the Lord would give Amanda (my ministry partner) and I a black girl and a white girl to really be intentional with and that they would come to know the Lord. That they would really develop a love for God and through that love really develop a love for one another. That racial tensions would be overcome and that the power of the Lord would shine through and showing others.
-That leaders in the Campus Outreach community would rise up and that more Afrikaans girl and guys would really be involved with the ministry.
-That are team would really be united and run towards the cross together and grow closer to one another through the trials, conflicts and tribulations (that are sure to arise when 13 people live together for 5 weeks)

And this is the verse that I am claiming this summer:
"I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."
Acts 20:24

Im a loser

Okay yes it is true i'm a loser. Tomorrow I have to go to Belk and buy myself a fake wedding ring!!! hahaha im lame! but here is the reason... so i work in a public library in the lovely town of clinton, and part of that job entails dealing with some slightly creepy people. So a lot of times there are these kinda weird guys come in and hit on me, so the ladies that I work with and apparently my mother decided that I have to get some kind of bling to wear while I am at work to see if this keeps some of the boys at bay. hehe. so im going to feel like a loser (but i feel like a loser on a regular bases haha). My favorite was when I was asked if I wanted to go on a date to McDonalds! hahaha. the funny thing is this is really my sister's dream date!

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And now for a couple of shoutouts!!!! I promised a couple of people if they became my followers that I would talk about them, so..............Julia I love you and your silly self and wish you would come visit me more!!! And Sarah (my bestie) I cannot wait for tuesday night so that I can see your beautiful face!!!! I love the two of you dearly!!! And i am not giving a shout out to my mother because she keeps making fun of me and then asking why I haven't talked about her in my blog. She always makes fun of my blog so hahahaahahahahahahahaha mom!

Bonding with Ash Bash

So last night my beautiful friend Ashton stopped by my house and we had a sleepover!!! It was so nice to giggle and bond and get caught up on everything in life! It was so wonderful, I felt like I was back at PC going to Amanda and Ash's room and just spending hours in there laughing and crying and eating junk food. Oh the memories! Friendships like the one I have with Ash and other girls that the Lord has put in my life remind me of how truly blessed I am and how much the Lord must love me to put such wonderful friends and sisters in Christ in my life!

On another note, one thing that I failed to mention when I started my blog is that 2 weeks ago Caitlin (one of the best friends i am so thankful for) and myself decided that we wanted to get our ears pierced. Now Caitlin wanted to get her second hole done and I decided that if she was getting something done then I just had to! So I decided to get my cartilage pierced! So we convinced my mom to got with us and before my mother knows it we have convinced her to get hers done too!! Yay! So we made a whole event out of the day. Needless to say I (nor my mother) have been able to sleep on our right sides cause our ears have hurt too much. haha the price you pay for beauty i guess. But last night I finally was able to make it for part of the night!! A wonderful sign that my ear is healing right along!

Sister Date

Today I got to have the most wonderful day with my sister Maggy! She has been complaining about me not talking about her in my blog, so this post is dedicated to her! But this is also showing what a great sister I am because she is always making fun of me for having a blog but I am still dedicating this to her. haha.

We started off our day with lunch at McAlisters! We sat outside in the beautiful weather and just talk for forever about whats been going on and catching up on everything! It was so nice just to be real with eachother and giggle. It makes me realize how truly blessed I am to have someone like her in my life. For those of you that don't know Maggy she is the sweetest, nicest, goofy-est, most loving person ever. I thank the Lord everyday for Him putting her in my life and all of the wonderful things she teaches me and how she shows Christ in every part of her life!

After mags and I went to lunch we decided that nothing funny had happend and nothing worthy of blogging about happened (except for a little girl in the next car who stared at me while i rapped and danced to a song on the radio) so we needed to go shopping!! We hit up a couple of stores in the G-wood and I purchased a wonderfully cute dress for $15!!! (it goes perfectly with the cowboy boots i just got!) And maggy got some shorts and a shirt!! But anyways we came home to watch to Step Up 2! Which if you know me is like one of my favorite movies ever! (I love dance movies besides Disney movies, dance movies are my fav) But anyways the final dance scene in the movie is only like the best ever. And since we like it so much I felt it necessary that we watch the final dance 5 times!!! It was so amazing!! One day I promise that I will know how to break dance. Its my dream to learn how and it will happen!!!

New Moms and New Daughters

So over the past week one of my best friends Caitlin and I have spent almost all of our free time together. And we have had quite the adventures!!! And part of our little adventure involved going up to Flat Rock, North Carolina. While we were there we did a little shopping in the amazingly cute town of Hendersonville. We were in one particular store where the owner was being so friendly and asking us all kinds of questions. He asked my mom if Caitlin and I were her daughters. So she promptly said yes. Haha because after all Caitlin is like family. So we laughed at that over dinner and continued on with our adventure. So that leads me to today... Caitlin and I went to have manicures and pedicures with Caitlin's mom Maria. It was so fun and relaxing! But while the nice lady was doing my nails she talked about my mother Maria. Haha. So this has been the theme of our week. Caitlin has dark hair like my mom and I have blonde hair like her mom. So we have come to the conclusion that we were switched at birth. It's only logical.

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I have some exciting news.... I have inspired a blog!!! So lets welcome new blogger Caitlin (www.caitlinbazan.blogspot.com) !!!!!!

Growing Up

Yesterday morning my brother Hayden (Hay Hay) graduated from high school!!! I was so proud to see him walk across that stage and have that diploma placed in his hands. I was reminded of myself two years ago when I was in the exact same place (yes room and stage) and I felt like the world was ahead of me and I had no idea what to do with it. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life or who I really wanted to be.

But now thinking and watching Hay Hay cross the stage, I am reminded that this life that I am living is not about me and how I think it should all work out. But its Lord that has a truly perfect plan for my life and it is better than anything that I could ever come up with. And through this faith I can totally live my life depending on God and being obedient to Him and that is enough. I know that through and trials and unknowns in this life the Lord will always be there.

"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count."

Psalm 40:5

Home Alone

So last night I came home from a retreat in Athens (whoot whoot CCP!!) but I was so excied because I finally had some time to myself where I could do anything that I wanted! So when I got home I promptly threw my suitcase down the stairs to my room ( i live in a basement, i know sounds kinda sketchy, but i love it) anyways threw the suitcase and decided I was hungry. But we naturally have nothing in our house to eat. So I get to have my dream dinner... Raisin Bran and cheese dip!!! And of course for dessert ICE CREAM! Ice cream is probably my most favorite food...EVER. So the moral of the story is that I have the most balanced diet in the world. haha

so much pressure

So here I sit writting my first entry to my very own blog (I'm not sure if I can handle the pressure!!!) Lets start with an introduction as most of you know I come from a large family of 4 children of which I am the oldest! (haha in your face Mags, Hay Hay and Bro B!) I love nicknames and wait for the very perfect time to which they reveal themselves to me! I love painting my nails, Jimmy Buffett, being spontaneous, movies, dancing, music, reading, laughing, traveling, and so many other things. I'm very sarcastic... sorry to anyone that doesnt understand my humor.

I love the Lord and wish to glorify Him in every aspect of my life! I wish to follow his commands and go out and be a blessing to the world, sharing with them the love that Christ has shown me.