Last Day of Class

Oh, happy day! I am done with classes! Now, only finals loom ahead. Today was wonderful in many ways...the thought of being completely done with school in as little time as a week was definitely a plus, and I found out that a couple of the grades in two of my classes were better than I thought. God is so good. I've just been asking Him to give me a desire to do this school work! Even better, in light of eternity, because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we can be forever declared righteous before God!! A lot of times this semester when I haven't wanted to do all of the work especially without a specific major in mind, God has graciously shown me His faithfulness and that this isn't about me and my plans, but about His glory. Kinda puts a different perspective on things.

I walked into the house today and all of the kids were busy cleaning and making cookies. Ten minutes later, our house was full of chattering, about 4 of John Mark's friends came down the street to stay at our house for the afternoon. They were all so funny to listen to.

John Mark insists that he is becoming a "big boy." I can't argue, he is almost as tall as me! Reuben measured his height today and he is up to 6' 1.5." He is a hunk! Oh, Reuben and I like to practice swing dancing before we go off to our rooms at night (we live across the hallway from each other in the attic). He is so fun! I don't think I will ever be able to move out of my house, my brothers are way too fun. Reuben helps me wake up in the morning by yelling across the hall, "Sarah, get up! And don't go back to sleep!" This is so sweet since I have been struggling with getting up after studying late.

Caleb and Andrea got their wedding proofs back last Sunday from the photographer! I will have to post some photos as soon as I get the disc. They turned out really good! I think Caleb and Andrea are very pleased.

Well, I am going to run to VFC. This is our last night of the summer, but this Saturday we are going to have a big end of the year party at Cornerstone. Should be really fun. Later.

School is Winding Down

In about 11 days I will be completely done with school for the summer. I have a test or a paper, and in some classes both, this week. My two biggest tests are on Monday in Calculus and Chemistry. I have been studying most of the weekend. On Friday I wasted part of the day sleeping in (until 2:30 in the afternoon, a first for me!). I had been up all night on Wednesday writing a rough draft for English. I went ahead and stayed up the rest of the day and even went to VFC that night...although I don't remember much unfortunately. Hopefully I won't have to do that any more this semester.

The Lord has been so good to me! If I have learned anything this semester, it has been about His faithfulness, despite the lack of mine. As it has turned out, the week that I went to Vision Quest on Spring Break and skipped a whole week of my classes turned out to be great. I got A's on just about all of the stuff that I had to turn in! Thank you Lord! I was so worried and just kept telling the Lord that there was no way that I would be able to get all of the work done that I had missed (as if I could do it in my own power anyway..ha!) I really didn't stress out that much after the Lord gave me peace...the good grades are just confirmation to me that He wanted me to go on that trip. That experience is still impacting my spiritual life.

Today I got disappointed because the '00 Mustang I had my eye on got sold before my dad could look at it. To me, it was PERFECT. Cherry red, rumbling mufflers, tinted windows, leather seats, five-speed...very good price. Obviously the Lord has something different in mind, but I was hoping that He and I were sharing the same thoughts about this cute little "cherry bomb." It has been so hard for me to be patient about getting a car. Might as well get used to it though, it seems to be the story of my life right now. : )

Luke is doing really well in school. A while back he won an accounting competition for his district. He is also running track. He came in second in his very first heat and first in his most recent one. Luke is such a gifted athlete, he is hoping to get to play football his senior year at Fulton. This track fling is just to get him/keep him in shape for football. Besides his success at school, he is such a blessing to our family as he has been serving us with his humble heart very well. God has worked in Luke's heart in so many ways and I really look up to him as a younger brother. He is very patient, kind, and gentle, a very good leader, and a guy that is seeking the Lord. I know that God is going to continue His great work in Luke.

I need to get back to my studying. It is always a nice break to post and to read other people's posts. Hopefully during the summer I will be able to be more faithful about it. Over and out!

Fast Week

I cannot believe how fast the weeks are flying by. I only have TWO weeks of school left! My finals start on May 1st, then I am free!!! Well, it doesn't go quite like that, but at least I'll be able to read the stack of books that I've been collecting from VFC.

The newest one, given to me at Vision Quest, is called the Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges and is super wonderful. Bridges articulates the message of the Gospel so well. One thing he talked about in one of the chapters is not to catagorize the wickedness of our sin according to our standards, but to look and see the payment Jesus had to make for our sin. The fact that He had to die that terrible death and that God poured all of His wrath on His Son is evidence that our sin is disgusting and unacceptable to God. But because of His grace we can be acceptable through the righteousness of Jesus' blood that covered our sin. God is so kind, and I am so thankful that He has saved me from my sin. I could go on and on, but I won't...just read the book.

Last Saturday Reuben had a birthday party at my grandparents farm. It was a blast. Grandaddy had us doing a treasure hunt...which he made all of the clues for. Now my grandaddy, being the genius that he is, did not take into account that not all of his grandchildren got his genes. Some of his clues were really tough! All of us had a wonderful time teamin' up and running all over the farm. I learned one new thing about grandaddy, he will not let anything get into his way of creating an exciting treasure hunt for his grandchildren! He had us climbing on the side of silos and in the rafters of the shed...ha! Later we had a nice bonfire and enjoyed good conversation. There were about 25-30 of us.

Exciting news, I just got Luke, Dad, and I signed up for the New Attitude Conference in KY this May. I am very happy. I was starting to experience anxiety after one hotel told me that they were booked. My friends have been after me for weeks to get signed up. It will be a fun time for Dad and Luke in part because they will get to be with my VFC crowd and will finally get to put faces to names. I also anticipate hearing from the Lord! Can't wait, can't wait!

My brothers played paintball all day today. Samuel Joiner, a Marine that is on leave for a week, joined them and Luke got to be on his team (much to Luke's delight). I think Luke said their team won all but "maybe" one game. Samuel joined us for dinner one night this week and it was cool to hear about some of his experiences being in the Marines. He just got back from officer training in the California desert so he was full of stories. He leaves for Iraq in September for 7 months. My sociology class watched a news video about the military in Iraq recently and it made me appreciate what they are doing for our country. What a way to serve. Joe Obenschain, one of my friends from highschool, is going to Iraq in May. It puts a new light on things when the people you grew up with and went to school with are the people that are engaging in the war and not just the military you see in the news. The war is a lot more personal.

Well folks, thats all she wrote. Signing off, over and out!

Vision Quest...best week of my life!

Isn't this sunset one of the prettiest things you have ever seen? I just got back ( ok, so it's been a couple of weeks)from Laguna Beach, Florida on a spring break trip with Volunteers for Christ, one of the ministries of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville. This is only one of the beautiful views we got to experience down there.

I did not know what to expect on this trip and was feeling a little guilty that I was leaving my school work for a whole week. I didn't think the professors would be too sympathetic when I got back and was overwhelmed at the amount of work that needed to be completed. Well, the Lord has been gracious to me to say the least. When I came home and started working on all of my projects and looking ahead at all of the tests and papers I had due the following week, I did not even know where to begin. Mrs. Kittrell (the pastor's wife of Cornerstone) spoke to the girls at Laguna about not listening to our emotions but to speak God's truth to ourselves on a daily basis. When I looked at all of the things I had to do that week, I was tempted to panic and...do what I do most of the time when I get frustrated....cry. SO, instead of sitting down and crying about all of the stuff I had to do( hey, I never claimed to be a tough cookie), the Lord reminded me of His faithfulness, His trustworthiness, His goodness and provision, because I knew I was supposed to go on this trip according to how it worked out and even my parents TOLD me to skip school...I wasn't going to argue! As it turned out, God gave me an overwhelming sense of peace as I worked on my projects and studied for my tests tears-free. I did pull a couple of all-nighters, which I am sure is minor league to some of you seasoned students. Thank goodness for strong coffee!

The trip itself was...one of the best trips of my entire 19 years! First of all, it was a wonderful because of how I saw the Lord answer my prayers in certain areas of my life. I anticipated hearing from Him, and He was faithful. Second, the other college students are SO great! They really have a heart for the Lord and want to serve each other. I hit it off with several of the girls down there and am thankful that the Lord has allowed me to have friends that are really passionate about Him. I am so thankful that I know about this group! Really, I thank the Lord regularly for this!!! While we were down there, we played beach volleyball, had a dodgeball and basketball tournament, (by the way, Morgan, I still have a bruise on my nose!) swam in the beautiful ocean, got an awesome burn which-then-itched-and-then-peeled-and-was-nasty-but-still-cool, a talent show, and...best of all, had a swing dance the last night! I was surprised that most of the guys already knew how and I learned a couple of new moves to show my bros. All in all, it was a great trip and worth skipping school.

Guess what? I only have 3 weeks of school left!!! Can it be true? The year has flown by! I am not sure about my summer yet. Want to get a fun job and buy a car. Don't know about next fall...I am seriously thinking about declaring a major in math, but want to see how calculus class is going to shake out. I really like math, but do I want to make it my major?

Caleb, my oldest and "newliest" married brother, just turned 25! What an old man he is. We are going to have a birthday party for him this Sunday at our house with the Rochats. We were going to do it last week, but Andrea wasn't feeling well and Dad was out of town. Us kids did go play with him at the park (I know, he will never grow up) and had to tackle him to give him his birthday spankings. It was tough getting him down...took four of us to pin him while Rachel and Anna did the honors. :)

Oh, one more story before I close this entirely too-long post. Last weekend Mom was in Charlotte and Dad was in Chicago, so while they were gone one of my mom's friends came over to babysit while us older ones were gone to work and such. Well, James is just getting potty-trained and sometimes has accidents in his britches. While Margie was babysitting, he had one of his accidents, so she got the whipes and started wiping down his legs to clean him up. Noticing that he had food all over his face, she got another wipe and started to clean off his face. James looked at her with a puzzled look and said, "Did I pee on my face?" We got a kick out of that...have a good week!

A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Pictures from Vision Quest