true joy and a tutu.

This past week, I was blessed with the opportunity to take pictures of my favorite one-year-old (Ava Hayes) and her sweet momma. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

When I look back at these pictures, I see the joy that Ava Hayes had when she was simply playing in a park with her mom. She found joy in having tickle fights, walking around, looking at the dogs, and eating cheerios on a quilt. I wonder why everyone can't be as happy as a one-year-old and find joy in the simple things. Then I remember that Jesus calls us to be like children. In Matthew 18, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." We really should situate ourselves so that we are completely dependent on God. It is only in that place where we will find true joy.

show and tell

Show and tell was quite the event back in kindergarten.  

Everyone always brought their Beanie Babies and stood up in front of the class and talked about them.  At the end of the year, I still only had 3 Beanie Babies:  Derby the horse, that I got for my birthday from a friend;  Patti the platypus, that I got from a McDonald's happy meal; and Fleece the lamb.  Pretty sure Mama bought me that one.  Every week I took the same 1 (or 2 or 3 depending on how late in the year it was) to show and tell.  

Now that I think about it, it's pretty stupid to take the same thing to show and tell every week.  That's be like me posting the same 3 pictures on this blog over and over again.  But back in kindergarten, that seemed normal.  I remember I was proud of my same 3 Beanie Babies every single week.  Naturally, my family obtained quite a collection of Beanie Babies AFTER I grew out of them.  

Okay, so the whole point is....  today is show and tell from the last few weeks via my iPhone.

This is the cute red barn off I-65.  I've always thought it was so precious and idyllic, and I finally snapped a picture of it.

This is Lake Guntersville.  Charles and I went there to sail with Charles's brother-in-law over spring break, but we couldn't get the boat in the water.  It's funny now, and it was funny then too!  We still had a great time enjoying the car ride and the beautiful weather.

This is downtown Birmingham.  Sorry, it's a pretty bad picture, too.  I spent a lot of time there this Spring Break.  I've probably spent more time downtown since I moved to Auburn, than I did in all 18-years I lived in Birmingham full-time (primarily due to taking summer classes at UAB).  I guess it's just been kind of cool to see somewhere so different from home so close to home.

This is my I Voted sticker.  Cause the primaries were over spring break, and I got to vote at home.  But I was a bad, uninformed citizen and only voted for like 3 positions cause I didn't do my homework on who to vote for.

This is Ross Hall.  The Chemical Engineering building.  It's really pretty on the outside but inside many students are being tortured.  That's a slight exaggeration.  Chemical engineering is pretty fun until you realize that only about 3 out of 80 students in your class will get an A.  Then it's just depressing.  But seriously, I spend a LOT of time in this building.

Spring Break 2012

Amplify: verb to make larger, greater, or stronger; enlarge; extend

I was blessed to be able to go on Amplify again this year for spring break. (See highlights of last year's trip here). I learned so much as we read through this book, worshipped on the beach, spent hours in prayer, and shared the Gospel. It was so humbling to be a small part of God's plan for the city and know that whatever I said to these people, it is God who can ultimately change their hearts.
The second half of the week some sweet friends and I drove over to Laguna Beach. We were able to catch up on sleep, lay in the sunshine, and take walks on the beach. And of course, there was lots of laughter involved with this group.

I'm so thankful for the gorgeous weather we had throughout the trip as it made spring break that much better.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.
-Psalm 19:1

Life Lately

To the few people who read this blog,

Thank you for being patient in my time of negligence.  My life has basically consisted of nonstop school for the last couple of weeks.  And since I assume that pictures like this:

my reactions homework

don't leave you wanting to read more, I have refrained from blogging.  However, now I am on SPRING BREAK so I will catch you up on my life of late.

1)  Kelsey and I got to visit with our dear friend Ashley and her precious baby Emily Ann

2)  I got to help out with the A-Team gala at Ted's Garage.  Unfortunately, they don't allow photographs, so I only managed to sneak one with my iPhone.

3)  "Wicked" at the BJCC.  Awesomeness.  I think I will love musicals forever.

4)  A relaxing weekend in Tuscaloosa.

5)  A really gross experiment in my lab class that involved a cup full of ketchup.  Nasty.

we confirmed that ketchup is thixotropic... now you can stop wondering!

6)  Zebra pens.  Charles introduced me to these wonderful pens this semester.  Using "regular" ink pens just isn't the same experience anymore.

I'm sorry my list of activities diverged from fun weekend events to my new favorite pen.  But I guess that's what I get for condensing a month's activities into one post.