The Glory of God

Day 4 - Favorite Quote.

I debated what to say for this one.  I have so many!  But in the end, Psalm 19:1 is my favorite.  

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

This is one of the reasons I love living in Amish country.  Everyday I walk outside and simply cannot deny God.  It's clear everywhere I look.  His beauty, His majesty, His artistry, His love is E V E R Y W H E R E!

He paints beautiful masterpieces in the sky every hour of every day and I simply love being able to enjoy it.  And this verse just reminds me of his glory in the heavens and the work of his hands.

At first, I just wanted to grab a picture from Pinterest that had the verse, but I have so many amazing pictures of His handiwork.  All these pictures were taken by me on many of my various travels and back road adventures [correction: the fourth image was taken by a fellow camp counselor, Jenna ].  Each one has a story that I could tell you about, but I'm going to let you simply enjoy Psalm 19:1-6.  I think of His glory every time I step outside.  Such a blessing to see and be a part of His handiwork.

North Carolina with family

Disney with Jasmine

Back roads in Amish Country

Marmon Valley over the Hen House

Storm clouds over the house

Clouds on the way to Cali

Rainbow on the way to Alamere Falls

Jamaica Sun

Clouds at Marmon Valley while berry picking

Marmon Valley - catching horses in the morning fog

Sunrise while leaving Findlay's barn training for Semi Finals

Jamaican sunset

Field by where I used to ride

Disney sunset at Epcot

The awesome-ness of the past 2 months

Like I said earlier, it's been a whirlwind here for a few months.  But so cool at the same time.

For instance, we made a ton of hard tack this year after Thanksgiving!  I love this tradition and am so blessed to hang out with these guys every year (not to mention we make some pretty awesome stuff here!)

We made 58 3/4 lbs of hard tack this year!

Doesn't the hard tack look amazing!

Oh, and I bought a truck.  Petey is officially gone.  He lived a good life and we had a lot of fun and a plethora of adventures.  But now I get my little truck (a baby truck, as Corey calls it).  I don't care what he says, I love it and it's mine :)

No more Petey, but we did have fun together

My new truck, he doesn't have a name yet, but I love him! (sorry for the awful  phone picture!)

I made a bunch of Christmas presents thanks to the amazing tutelage of Mary.  She has taught me so much and I'm so proud of what I've made!  Pictures will come, eventually.

This is what I came into the day before my birthday!  I love my job!

My coworkers surprised me for my birthday.  So did my brother, Dave.  He showed up while I was at work and when I got home, he was hiding under my covers!

[[ Sad note, I did blow another tire, that wasn't so fun, but Bub was there to help and support me! ]]

What are big brothers for?  Changing tires of course, haha

I had an amazing Christmas with my family.  I got to spend an evening with a bunch of my cousins that I don't see all that often. What a crazy bunch!  So much fun to be around!

I love my family.  None of the pictures have us all looking or smiling,
but they are so fun!  I especially love Kenzie's crazy face in the bottom left!

My godson is now 3 and is totally into Christmas and 'Ho-Ho.'  Greatest. Thing. Ever. watching him open and play with gifts... And someday, he'll do more than throw and destroy houses (complete with sound effects, mind you) built out of the Lincoln logs I got him... haha.  

Isn't he adorable?!?!?

I have also started to acquire a collection of board games.  I really want to do game night someday if anyone is interested.  And if you haven't learned of the game Fluxx, you should.  It's pretty much amazing!

And the last of my vacation coolness... I got to spend New Years with none other than Miss Ashley!  I love her!  And haven't seen her since September! Add in a phone call with the third in our trio and the day was completely made. I finally played Risk for the first time (and dominated once I took over Asia)! We watched the ball drop and then sat in bed talking until 2!  And then she took me shopping! Finish New Years off with dinner with Anthony's family, and let's just say it was a perfect two days! 

I learned to play this on New Years... Notice the green in Asia and Australia?  Yeah that's me!!!

Basically I had an awesome couple months, just with a few minor set backs and changes. Gotta love life!

Day Zero... What's that

Okay, truth time.... I think about writing in here a lot. But I never actually do it.  I have so many cool things to write about from this summer, but just never have.  Someone mentioned my Day Zero project the other day and that really got me thinking.  So today I went through and kind of depressingly looked at my list.  After all, I don't think I've looked at it since April, so there was no way more than like 3 things could be crossed off.... And to my surprise, I totally get to mark off  FOURTEEN things!  Which may not seem like a lot, but it kinda is. So for my re-entry to the blog world, I'm going to stop doing recaps and focus on right now.  God's doing such cool things in my life and I want to share them with you now, not 3 months down the road when I finally get caught up. But I guess this is a recap, but more fun... the 14 things I've accomplished off my list this year:

80.

 Get a pedicure

The lovely Miss Rachel Dunn totally went with me to get pampered during the spring semester.  We had such a blast and my feet never felt any better... oh and ice cream afterwords at Mr. Freezes =
  AH-MAZING!!!


43.

 Learn Guitar

 So I'm definitely no pro, but I can make my way around it... kinda... maybe?


34.

 Take pictures with my dad on Campus

 We got all decked out for a banquet and then found some places to take pictures.... Fellow Alumni :)

Fellow Falcons!

33.

 Graduate from College

Already wrote about this... but such an awesome day!!!

Such a good day (p.s. So thankful for my awesome Professors!!!)

66.

 Learn to drive a four wheeler

We went to the sand dunes in Nevada...
  AKA the flippin' desert!!! It was so hot.  I'm pretty sure I told Brandy 100 billion times that I was just going to roll over and die in the desert... Any way, I totally learned to drive four wheelers.  It was sweet!

Woot!

55.

 Celebrate graduation with Brandy

 Fancy dinner included :) Yay us!

Too many pictures to choose from... sorry about that

77.

 Write a letter to the people who most influenced me when I graduate
  college

This took two months to finish, but I'm so thankful to everyone that helped me. (And to Brandy for sealing the envelopes, haha)


52.

 Go canoeing

2 best friends + 1 of their boyfriends + 2 1/2 year old godson + me = amazing night on the river.  He's such a happy kid!  I love him!

My lil' man is such a water baby

17.

 Go on a zip-lining course

7 Zips (4,025 feet worth), 2 50-foot belays, 2 rope bridges... oh and two amazing friends... yeah we're cool like that.

What a fun day with amazing people

21.

 Learn to sew

I made my first project - a pair of some pretty sweet pj shorts... Thank you Mary for teaching me :)

3. & 49.

Learn to golf and Golf with Dad

These two are the same.... basically.  I had to sub for my mom in a golf scramble with my dad... So I went out back with Dad, hit a few golf balls and then played 9 holes with his team at the Elms :)  What a blast [[And for the record, I take back every bad thing I ever said about golf...]]

Awesome golf team here... haha

98.

 Watch a meteor shower

A couple weekends ago we had a major meteor shower... So a friend and I laid on our backs on the bed of a trailer and watched the sky for a while.. Amazingly peaceful (pretty sure we saw 6 big ones and then like 7 little ones in an hour)

36. 

Go to an Air Show

Natalie asked me to go about 5 months ago, so we went with her dad and spent an amazing day at the Cleveland Air Show (Earplugs would have probably helped, but apparently they are lame, haha) From tricks, to a wing walker, to the Blue Angels, I can't wait for next year!!!!

SWEETNESS!

Part 2 - Journey to Nationals

Where did I leave off... graduation... We left graduation and headed towards an airport in Dayton.  My flight left at 3:30 to go to Nationals.  We were having an awesome trip, but that apparently was meant to end when it dawned on me that I had forgotten my license in Bowling Green, an hour away.

This could be a problem.

Confession of a 22 year old... I forget everything. It's a really bad thing...

Theme of the month...

After trying to see if it had been packed somewhere we hadn't looked, we decided to accept the fate that I didn't have my license.  David called us to tell us that you can get through security without a license, so thus we should try it.  Turns out you can get through security, but you can't get your plane ticket without it.  Thus I missed my flight.

Not cool.

I called Chris, my coach  that was in North Carolina waiting for me, to update her on the situation and she just told me to relax and take a deep breath.  [[ Cue waterworks here. ]]  We then decided to continue driving to Grandma's to figure out what to do next.

Me reading on the first part of the journey

We arrived and after calling a million and half places, the cheapest quote we found on a rental car for 12 hours was over 500 dollars!!  [Did you know most rental places close between noon and 1 on Saturdays... totally annoying].  I looked at Mom and then I looked at Grandma and just said, "Can't we just take Grandma?"  (Much love to my grandmother... She was totally excited to go, throwing her bathing suit in her suitcase, planning her beach vacation in N.C.  How funny?)

So happy she could come

Needless to say, the three of us (my mom, grandma, and myself) headed out.  I know that it wasn't planned to happen that way, but I must say, I'm totally glad it did.  I love traveling with them --> the proof is in the Jamaica trip.   We had a blast going to N.C.  It was a 12 hour drive filled with a cute diner in Kentucky (where I called Sue, my other coach who couldn't go to tell her about the missed flight.  Her advice - "When all this bad stuff happens before a show, it means you'll have a GREAT ride!)  I love my coaches!

Isn't the moon gorgeous?  God made such cool things

Anyway, so the cute little diner, the magic tunnel, the moon - which was the closest it's ever been to the earth, and lots of fun conversations.  Oh and I got time to read Harry Potter again, always fun.

We arrived at the hotel at 5:30 am on Sunday.  I had to be at the arena at 6 am for schooling of horses.  I got there and went up to Chris' room, where she was walking down the hallway.  I'm pretty sure I just stood there with my arms out, ready to cry and said, "I'm here." She just came and gave me a big hug and said okay let's go.

Yay for HP 7!!!!

I ended up just changing into jeans and a polo after giving Lauren a hug (she was already down there, LOVE!)  After a quick bite and a stop by my room to say bye to Grandma and Mom (and goodnight, they were tired), we drove to the arena...

And that is where I leave this post... up next Part 3 - IHSA Nationals.

I feel like the journey itself deserves its own post.  I'm very blessed with my family.   I can't believe they drove all the way from BG to Raleigh. Thank you so much to Mom and Grandma for getting me there.  /the adventure was kind of totally worth it.  Sorry for the forgotten license, but I don't think I would have wanted it any other way truthfully...

Aren't they the coolest?

Re-living Jamaica

I can't believe I graduate in three weeks... not even three weeks.  Life is about to change big time and I couldn't be more excited about it! My updates have kind of gone on the wayside, but I want to share the rest of my Jamaican trip, specifically the two other items I checked off my list:

8)Learn chess (again)

14) Travel outside of the US

24) Travel with Mom and Grandma

It was over a month ago, but it was an amazing time.  I've never went outside of the U.S.  I've just never been called to leave here.  At one point in time, I thought I was meant to go overseas (I was set on Papua New Guinea), but that fell through. Things worked out like they were supposed to, but I'm glad Mom and Grandma picked Jamaica. It was awesome. 

Everything was so colorful! And so drastic.  When we drove through a town, it was packed!  Through the country, it was so desolate.  Everyone was so friendly too.  I can't wait to go back there!

 

The best part of the entire trip though, was spending it with Mom and Grandma. I am extremely blessed to have them in my life :)  Not only are they amazing, they are a riot!   So funny.  It's so fun to be around them.  Life is never dull and I understand why!  We have a lot of memories from there and I really hope that we can spend time together like that again.  I would love it! 

I also got to play some chess in Jamaica with Mom.  Pretty sure we were supposed to be getting Grandma an ice cream cone, but we got distracted... by a giant chess board!!! Not as giant as say wizards chess in Harry Potter, but still... it was cool.  And I totally won!  Haha, it was a blast!

Semi-Finals 2012

Adrenaline rushes... I've had a few.  Whenever I was younger, dancing at a competition would give me one.  In the past few years, a few that stand out are the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, zip lining in the mountains, jumping in Lake Hillbegone, and the biggest was probably skydiving...

Anyway, the point is, I don't think I've ever had one quite like last Saturday.  Remember me talking about Semi-Finals? 

The hat looks awesome with the shirt

The day started out at 8 a.m. I got there and became completely overwhelmed.  Here I was thinking that Semi Finals was just for Ohio.  I was wrong.  Schools from Texas, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and more were all there trying to make their way to Nationals.  After calming myself down over that revelation, we drew horses (I got this little cutie named Janis).  And then we waited.  Forever. And ever.  I didn't show until 4:30.  It was a long morning. 

The highlight of the morning was being surprised by my friend Lauren.  She showed up to support me.  The coaches and she worked it out, and they actually surprised me!  It was cool.

Janis

There were 14 riders in my class.  They did 2 splits, and I just so happened to be in split B.  The top four riders of each split rode in the finals.  I had an awesome ride in my split.  When the judges finally announced who would be going to finals, my coach and a few others screamed!

This is us after they announced I moved on

We had to draw new horses, and I went from the fastest horse, to the slowest, named Butter.  We went into the show pen and did fine, until Butter 'broke' (i.e. stopped trotting) right in front of a judge.  So I kept going, knowing that I pretty much just gave myself 8th place.  I did my pattern, got off the horse and stood with the other riders. 

This is Butter

We all joked around and told each other about our rides.  I saw my team behind me, they looked happy.  I'm not sure I could say the same.  They announced 8th place, and surprisingly it wasn't me.  I turned around and our captain gave me thumbs up. I just shook my head.  They kept going and I ended up with fourth place.  I smiled and took it.  After all, fourth is a pretty darn good place in Semi-Finals.  But not good enough.  Only the top two went to Nationals... or so I thought.  I turned around and walked towards my team, shrugging and saying "I'll take it."

I've decided this is my favorite
picture ever at BGSU

Then the world got a lot more exciting.  My team was screaming and jumping and being obnoxious really.  Someone mouthed "You're going, You're going" and I just stopped and my mouth dropped. They took the top four!  And then I danced... haha. Lots of screaming, lots of jumping, lots of hugging.  It was awesome.  A small town girl just managed to make her way to Nationals. 

So cool

It's funny what happens when life just kind of hits you.  And when you tell everyone, including God that you're excited to be done.  He normally has different plans.  I'm not sure what He's up to, but I'm up for it.  It should be a fun ride.

My awesome support team