I know I have been really bad about posting anything on here- Sorry! Life is crazy and I barely have time to sit down. But I LOVE reading all of your posts and will hopefully get some time to post this weekend! Love you all!

Last months post I never put up! haha oops :)

Where do I begin? 2008 flew by (December especially) and 2009 has continued to fly by for me! Life is crazy and I wouldn't change it one bit. The Lord has truly blessed me with an amazing support group of people that I am honored to call my family/friends. If it wasn't for those people pouring into me life everyday and shining Jesus to me, I don't know how I would be able to handle any of the insanity of this world!

December has always been my favorite month. Ever since I was a little kid, I've loved it because of my birthday and Christmas. And that definately hasn't changed :) A few of my amazing girls took me out to dinner this year. SO much fun:)

The following week I flew out to California (and dragged Mom with me) to visit tons of friends that I had gotten really close with over the summer in Hungary. And of course I saw my Jamie :) We had such a great time, and then on top of that, my mom got us tickets to go see Carrie Underwood and Little Big Town in Orlando at UCF the night we flew back! And we ended up sitting right by Kristie and Kimberly. How random? haha. So over-all, it was an amazing trip! Carrie Underwood is amazing live and Little Big Town does such a fun show as well :)

Christmas was so much fun as usual. This is our lovely tree Christmas morning.

My dad always makes pancakes whenever we have friends over and they are really good, so he decided he would make them Christmas morning, too. Sounds good, right? Yeah, it was a good plan until my mom pulled out the organic pancake mix. Now don't get me wrong, I love organic food and eating healthy, but no lie, the mix was in a spray can. Enough said. I think this picture says it all.

New Year's Eve was pretty mellow this year. Just a few friends came over and we hung out by the fire and then watched RushHour2 :) haha.

That's pretty much all I can remember from December! haha

Time flew by and I am so excited for this new year!

I pray God blesses you all! Love you! :)

Here we are

Here we are

The broken and used

Mistreated, abused

Here we are

Here You are

Here You are

The beautiful one

Who came like a Son

Here You are

So we lift up our voices

We open our hands

To cling to the love

That we can't comprehend

Oh, lift up your voices

And lift up your heads

To sing of the love

That has freed us from sin

He is the one

Who has saved us

He is the one

Who embraced us

He is the one who has come

And is coming again

He's the remedy

Here we are

Here we are

Bandaged and bruised

Awaiting a cure

Here we are

Here You are

Here You are

Our beautiful King

Bringing relief

Here You are with us

So we lift up our voices

And open our hands

Let go of the things

That have kept us from Him

Thanks for the David Crowder Band cd's Rebecca! I listen to them constantly :)

And here's a quote for the day:

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
C.S. LEWIS

Just catching up on everyone's blogs and realized how crazy life has been the past month. I guess that explains me never getting around to write anything. So here is a quick catch-up for my life this past month:) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is Ethan, one of my favorites from work. Am I allowed to pick favorites? ;) I get him almost everyday:)

For my dear Morgan's 21st birthday we drove up to Orlando and fell in love with some boys on stage. Wait, no, I mean we watched some extremely talented musicans preform ;)

I also re-discovered how ridiculous middle school boys are. But seriously, SO much fun :)

See, I can be a good sister- I take them bowling!

And get this, Casey turned 13!!! Seriously, that needs to stop. He's officially taller than me. And has more facial hair than my 16 year old friends. Enough said.

I also got to watch my sweet Emmy again :) I used to watch her four days a week before she went to day-care. So now I just get her when her school is on break, but Mommy's work isn't :)

And of course I spent time with my boys :) Elijah thought it would be funny if while I was giving Thad a bath, he took the water guns and started a war with me. I so won:) Needless to say, by the end of "bath-time", the floor was soaked and we were mopping it with towels. (I think Elijah & I had more fun than Thad haha)

I kinda love kids in case you couldn't tell :)

This blog just wouldn't be complete without talking about the three that take up every spare moment of my life. And I wouldn't have it any other way. My life just wouldn't be complete without them:) (And it would be so boring!)

Needless to say, I love them:)

And I pray the Lord blesses me with sons one day. I'd much rather deal with those three than mini-me's haha!

This place has truly become my second home. I was here almost daily before I started working here, but now I’m here constantly. I came for yoga this morning and haven’t left since! Well I take that back. I left for ten minutes to go get a Lean Cuisine meal from Publix :) But I came right back to use the microwave and get some school done ha-ha.

Working in the Kiddie Kare here has been awesome. I love kids so much, so this is the best! It amazes me daily how much we can impact these kids’ lives. The other day, I only had a few kids (for some reason the rain keeps people away!) and the one little girl is a regular. She’s five years old and the sweetest thing ever. She started telling me about her birthday, and one thing led to another, and we were talking about how Jesus is incorporated into major holidays! Kids see things so simply, I love it! Christmas, “is Jesus’ birthday.” Easter “he woke up” ;) “because the Friday before (she swiped her hand across her throat, like she was being killed) He died. “ Ha! They crack me up! Even simple things, like helping them with their homework makes them trust you, and once they do that, you can help them in so many ways! I also wear a purity ring, which has been kind of a hot conversation topic with the older kids since the whole Jonas Brothers & Jordan Sparks statement on the VMA awards. (If you haven’t seen that, it’s on youtube!)

A lot of these kids don’t go to church or anything, and they are all at that age where they are excited to learn, so it’s a great witnessing opportunity! Now that I look at the clock, I need to get going. I have to do a short shift today and then workout before church. I’ll be in the nursery tonight- more kids! :)

Love. We all think we understand it. We think we know what it truly means. At least I did. But the truth is, we can’t until we go to the heart of it. God’s heart. Love doesn’t come and go as it conveniences us. It sticks around. It doesn’t flee at the first sight of trouble ahead. It’s tough. It’s pure. It’s of the Lord. I’ve heard it said to go with what you feel. Like love is a feeling. Well it’s not. And honestly, if we followed those “feelings”, we would stray so far from what love truly is. Those “feelings” we have & feel are of our human nature. Our sinful nature.

Our flesh and it’s “feelings” waver. According to Shakespeare, love does the exact opposite.

“Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;”

I’d say he was a wise man who had a good grasp on what love is.

Coming back to the heart of love can be difficult. It can be painful to realize that what we saw love as is wrong. I gave up on someone because of a lack of trust. I stopped caring. Or so I thought. But what I found was that I couldn’t. Even though things will never be the same between us, it was impossible for me to stop caring. And the reason for that was love. I have thanked God everyday since then for showing me the true meaning of love, and what it entails. Love requires stepping up. It demands your soul. It captivates your every thought- when you let it.

Love never fails.

S♥