TOMORROW IS JULY!!!

July is officially the best month ever.  It's the middle of summer, it's blue skies, it's fireworks, and it's birthdays!  My birthday is July 21, if anyone wants to get me a present!  I'm so pumped for TOMORROW!

Tomorrow evening, I'm presenting a little something at Camp for the Sr. High Mission Day.  I'm going to talk about mission work and share some of my experience, especially some things from my last mission trip.  I'm pretty excited.  I'm also a little nervous, but I'm mostly just excited!  Then I'm going to go home to Evansville after I present for the weekend.  I have a haircut on Friday morning - nothing drastic, just a trim and some layers. Typical.  Marly and I are going to go to Family Christian Store and The Vineyard to look for music and stuff for Music Workshop at MAD Camp which is ALSO in July!  I'm very excited.

You know who I love?  Those Kardashian sisters.  I just love them! They crack me up!  I love Khloe because she's a hot mess, I love Kourtney because she's sweet and a cute little mommy, and I love Kim because she's beautiful, and she can be pretty sensible sometimes.  I just bought the 3-pack of Kim's workout DVDs because she tweeted a coupon code for $20 off! Yeah!  I'll have my bikini bod back in no time! lol

RiverCity Faith Fest was last weekend.  It was a HOT day, but I think everyone that was there was blessed by the event.  I think for the festival next year, there are going to be some bigger and better plans!  Hopefully the event will be free to the public, which would be awesome!

Jason got those pesky teeth pulled on Monday.  He's recuperating quite well.  I think it'll take a little while for his wallet to recuperate, though. :-/ However, I know he's so happy to have that wisdom tooth gone, and hopefully he'll complain a lot less! Ha!

I'll leave you with this verse.  It is what I'm sharing with the campers tomorrow, and the same verse that Seth and Lauren spoke about at RiverCity Faith Fest:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  - Matthew 9:35-39

Tiny Little Things.

I love tiny things.  I love things that are miniatures.  Office supplies are my favorite tiny things - like, tiny staplers and tiny scissors.  There's a tiny baby hole punch at work that I love to play with, too.  I just LOVE it!

You know what else is good tiny?  Food.  Think about it.  The best foods are tiny - Reese's Pieces, Rits Bits, Butterfinger BB's, little weenies, cheese cubes, M&M Mini's, chicken nuggets, mini cornies...  You know you're salivating right now.

In life, we tend to think, "Bigger is better."  No way, dude.  Tiny is way more fun.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace...

Well, that estate sale didn't prove to be very fruitful for me.  The bedroom set that they had suggested I might want had already been sold when I got there.  However, I did end up with a little round side table, a griddle and 2 cooling racks.  That'll do, pig.  That'll do.

Things in my life are pretty dandy right now.  I have my apartment back!  For those of you who know what's been happening in that area of my life, then you know what's up.  For those of you who don't, let's just say it's been a trying month for my patience and my tolerance while living in that apartment, but that transitional period of time is now over, and I have my sanity back!  Hurrah!  After work today I plan to go home and CLEAN!  I'm excited about vacuuming and moving some stuff around and cleaning out the refrigerator/freezer/pantry.  Today is going to be a good day!

I went home over the weekend for Father's Day.  Jason came with me.  It was such a great weekend!  I think the best part about it was that I didn't have any pressing engagements or things to do, really.  We were able to pretty much just chill out with the family and do what we wanted!

On Saturday morning, Charity, Shannon and I went to David's Bridal to try on the bridesmaid dresses for Mindy's wedding.  The dress itself is pretty, but unfortunately it was awkward on all three of our different body types.  We found one that works much better, but there's a pretty good chance we're going to end up staying with dress number 1.  Let's just say that this wedding situation is beginning to be a little bit stressful for all parties involved.  I wish Mindy the best of luck with her marriage, and I hope that everything falls into place and works out for the best.  But I will be honest that I too am frustrated right now.  But thank goodness I have the peace of Jesus in my heart.  I've always been a patient person and a tolerant person.  I've ESPECIALLY found this out about myself over the last month.  I think in this case, I just need to try to be a peacemaker.  I need to try to be understanding and supportive of everyone's feelings and opinions and try to work as the glue to hold things together rather than just another piece of the puzzle that can fall out.

I'll leave you with this prayer of peace that I believe everyone should place solidly on their hearts:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
 
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Amen 
(Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi)

Meet me in St. Louieeee!

This past weekend, I went to St. Louis for my friends Mitchell and Heather's wedding.  It was SUCH a beautiful ceremony!  I'll be honest.  I was a little nervous about the experience because my boyfriend and my ex-boyfriend were both groomsmen. lol Awkward, right?  It ended up not being so bad.  There were no fights or anything.  haha ;-)

I haven't been to a lot of weddings, but it seems that it's pretty much become that time in life where everyone starts to settle down.  Mitchell and Heather are married, Jeremy and Sam are getting married in October, Mindy's planning on getting married sometime...  It makes me really excited!  I love how life works, and I love how people grow from being your childhood playmates who make you laugh and are fun to be with to full-grown, lifelong friends who you can't imagine your life without.  It makes me proud that I have friends that are mature enough to make lifelong commitments to another person and can commit to spending a life in a loving, Christ-centered marriage.

Mitchell and Heather's ceremony took place at the chapel at Heather's college campus.  The reception was later in the evening at the Jewel Box in Forest Park.  During the time in between the wedding and the reception, some friends and I decided to go to the zoo!  It's in Forest Park, and it's FREE!  Yeah, buddy!  It was a really fun time, but by then end of it, we were hot, sweaty messes (it was suuuuch a hot day!) and I could barely walk because of my heels. 

The reception was beautiful as well!  The Jewel Box is made to look like a green house, but thank goodness it was air conditioned!  We were all a little afraid that it really WAS a green house and that it would be miserably hot.  But it wasn't.  The food was delicious, and the company was great.

Mitchell and Heather are honeymooning at Disney World right now.  Best of luck, you two!

On Sunday afternoon, Jason and I decided to hit up the St. Louis Science Center.  I hadn't been there since probably the 4th grade.  It was so much fun!  I'm basically an astronaut now.  I love doing fun things like that.  And, the best part was that it was free, too!  Way to go, St. Louis!  It cost to park, and it cost to go to the Planetarium, but it wasn't too bad. 

Overall it was a really great weekend!  Then on Monday, Jason and I celebrated our first anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend.  I fixed us a great dinner (Fiesta lime chicken, Mexican rice, and pico de gallo) and he brought me flowers! :-)

All is well in my world.


I'm going home briefly on Friday/Saturday to maybe buy some furniture from an estate sale.  I'll probably fix that same dinner for my family, because it was delicious!

That's all for now!