thoughts...

"when someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required."

luke 12.48

faithfulness & pumpkins

our friends at the reliable : free dictionary . com say faith is this: 

faith  (fth)

n.

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.

2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See Synonyms at belief, trust.

3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.

4. often Faith Christianity The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.

5. The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.

6. A set of principles or beliefs.

Our friend Paul (i think?!? gosh... dad's a preacher and bf is in div school... i should know this... but i im not 100% on this one....) anyway. our friends in Hebrews say 

Faith is: 

 1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The latter is my favorite definition of the word. 

Anyway. Faith is a word i like a lot. OK... lots of people like it. but God is so faithful to me (and us all really) . He always has been- and always will be. i wear a bracelet on my left arm (since the summer of 06) that simply says FAITH. it reminds me everyday to keep my faith in the Lord. really. it does. i love my bracelet. and i love that word. that simple word is so powerful and mighty. and just one of my favs. 

anyway. God IS faithful. he has answered my cry- and plea- (really. it was a plea). and.... drum roll.... 

i am working DAY SHIFT!!!!!!!!!!!

no nights for me!!! i mean. i have not even started nights- but pure dread at the thought has put me in a rotten mood at times and a truly scared mood. God knows what I can handle- and I feel like He knows how rotten of a person I would be if I were working nights.   

So yes. we can all praise Jesus and be happy... bc He answered my prayers. i mean i feel so silly (and selfish)- there are so many terrible things in the world and ive been praying for my work schedule. other things too... but still. my work schedule. either way- GOD has answered my prayers and been faithful to me- yet again. 

my faithfulness in Him just continues to grow. 

like a pumpkin. 

haha. what a segway. 

i wanted to top off the post with some pictures from the pumpkin patch we went to last night. 

before i begin those... some pumpkins do grow HUGE. ry and i were watching a show just the other night about the world's biggest pumpkins. Biggest one yet was like 1,670 pounds. yes one thousand. sooo crazy. 

we didn't get any that big... but we did get some big ones, small ones, and i got a white one! we had a blast picking pumpkins in the FRIGID cold (its in the 30's here) then we carved them and drank some stellar homemade (by sir justin) apple cidar... mmm so good. and soo fun. 

enjoy the pics!

(this is the whole gang)

can you guess what they are?

the one on the Left is Ry's... 

the joker: why so serious?!!?... 

the one on the Right is mine... 

not so sure what he is. kinda looks like a sailor to me... 

well after writing a monologue tonight- im back to enjoying my hot cider, reading blogs, and relaxing in bed... 

love and peace-

sunnny-sunday.

let me recap my day. 

1. went to duke chapel: 

granted its no LaGrange College chapel

and they def dont have as cool as a pastor as Alvin...

but good grief what a service it is. If you have been you understand. Think of what you would consider "high church". very formal. very serious. very traditional. very everything like that. if you can think of that... you are thinking of duke chapel. its an hour and a half of a beautiful service of incredible music (the choir is like 100folks), always a fabulous sermon, and such a different experience than the previous week. i can't describe it- but luckily ryan and i both love it. its a nice change from the good old UMC church (that i do also love). anyway going to duke chapel for church is unlike anything else in the world- and we figure we dont have our whole lives to go there- so might as well go while we can. 

ok enough about that. if you come on a sunday we will take you. you may or may not like it. we love it. so yeah... its cool. anywayyyyy

after church ry worked out. i sat on a random bench and read. it was spectacular. the weather was perfect. gorgeous blue sky. breeze. mmm. so good. 

next we went to eat at noodles and company. mmm. talk about some good noodles... basically you go in and pick your noodle type- the sauce- then add some meat... and you are in for a delicious treat. 

afterwards we went to the div school library for ry to do things... 

finally we headed home and parted our ways... 

i hung out with some great friends tonight... then went over to ry's to watch a movie. a horrible one at that. "the strangers" is the title. enough said. but really. its awful. its scary. made me yell. made me say a bad word. yes. it made me. AND its just a sucky movie. like weird. and strange. and crappy. so yeah. i dont recommend it. 

(i will say it was super fun to cuddle up next to ryan and be really scared and silly and bury my head in his chest. it was a lot of fun really... haha) 

so after watching an episode of "paris hiltons new bff" -also dont recommend UNLESS you need something to get your mind off scary things.... - i headed home and am seated here now. typing away. about to turn on the tele and head to bed. 

i have my list of things to do tomorrow sititng on my desk. 

we shall see what i accomplish. 

:) love and peace....

nature.

so. i have come to the conclusion that nature is my thing. its truly how i experience God.

simply looking at and pondering the colors of the fall trees makes me really ponder the intricacy of God. Its so amazing to me that leaves change colors and paint a beautiful picture. 

I am so blessed to drive around and see this first hand. All of the leaves here are beautiful. So much color and so different. Every tree is one of a kind- and fits so wonderfully with the one beside it. I truly am in awe of the beauty of the Lord in this world he has created. 

This makes me think of the verses in Matthew: 

 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 

so yeah. im not worrying... because its so true. if the Lord is doing this with the trees... He can do lots with me. and He will. so there is my sermon of the week. ha.... enjoy the pictures of the amazing creation of the Lord. 

the view out of my window: 

really!?! yeah. its gorgeous.

(no i didn't go there. i googled it)

(also a GORGEOUS googled image)

this is for real though. mmm

mountains. 

so powerful and beautiful. and BIG.

oh trees. and a windy road. 

this makes me think of my life. 

and of course the ocean. this was from sb08! 

in west palm beach fl. 

a place called blowing rock. 

yeah. its gorgeous. 

im a sucker for a good sunset... 

and this one... over the mountains... come on. 

its like a kiss goodnight from God. 

the sun rise and sun set is another thing i ponder a lot. 

but ill leave that for another day. 

i just love thinking about the sun disappearing from our sight- but is visible across the globe- and in just a few hours it will rise again. 

i dunno. 

it gets me though. 

the mechanics of the world... they leave me in awe. 

peace and love from a girl in thought... 

scattered saturday

i just uploaded this to my comp...



the best copeland song there is.
its called california. this is the last part.
where they just jam out.
everyone sings loudly.
its a uniting experience for all involved.


my saturday is so scattered and lazy. its wonderful.
right now my window is open.
a nice breeze is blowin in my room...
and i can hear the rain splattering outside.
talk about relaxing holy cow.


my plans for the rest of the day...
nothing.
i should clean. go grocery shopping. hang things on my wall. organize.

but no thanks.
i think ill continue to lay around and be lazy.
its way more fun.

no picture.

sadly... i have no picture for this post.
i kinda wish i had a picture for every post.
i will try to make that a goal.

next sadly... its a friday night at 10. i dont work tomorrow. and im home. in my PJ's. one hand i wish i was out doing something.... other hand. its realllLLLy nice. i have on notting hill. fabulous movie from 1999... back in the day i was not allowed to watch movies. (thanks mom and dad)

its true. i wasn't allowed to watch movies until college. i mean G and SOME PG. occasionally i got to watch a PG13 ONLY IF mom and dad had seen it. of course... like every kid in America I snuck in movies that were pg13 and i def watched a couple R movies at my friends house (joelle miller to be exact- who's dad was a pastor also and happened to be great friends with my dad...hahah) . thats when i was in my "crazy" days. yeah i was wild. i know...

anyway that was a side note about my younger days.
anyway im reading a book right now dad recommended... "the shack" i believe its like a modern day pilgrims' progress. ive only read the "forward" but what a forward it was. def drew me in!!!

but i will say im a sucker for starting one book... and then stopping and starting another book. if it doesn't suck me in ill stop reading it. OR if i find another book that looks reallllly good ill just stop reading the 1st to read the second. example. right now im technically reading three books...
1. harry potter book 5
2. the heart is a lonely hunter (thats after i read margaret's blog)
3. the shack (thanks to dad)

i think the plan is to finish the shack. finish the heart. finish harry. then start a new one. maybe just maybe ill stick to one for a while.

work was good today.
dinner was fun. ry and i explored out and went to "china palace" this hole in the wall sketch place that we pass every single day. its always full of cars- but looks sketch on the outside. today we decided to go.
it was delicious. pretty authentic chinese if you ask me. my reasoning is bc ive never heard of most of the things on the menu.

anyway. im looking forward to the next 3 days of rest. no work until TUESDAY!

hip hip HOORAY!

peace and love.

not the best day. not even close.

for some reason today sucked.
probably for many reasons.
#1- first day back on the floor after EIGHT days away. (i was home for 6 but 2 other days i was working in different areas)
#2- i was quite sleepy.
#3- i was just really discouraged all day
#4- i felt dumb multiple times
#5- i miss playing all day at home
#6- my boss told me im going to nights in two weeks. (UGH... biggest UGH of the day)

so yeah. im not too sure how this is going to go. i mean i want to be positive. sara did a phenomenal job of encouraging me and thinking of positive things about working nights... such as-
#1. i may actually be able to see ryan more since i will be free in the afternoons and evenings.
#2. it will be WAY less stressful
#3. i will probably be able to blog and be on facebook all night long since the nights im not workin but have to stay up late.. ill have nothing else to do... so yeah. late night blogging is prob in my future.

anyway it should be an interesting transition.

also i want to write a book. gosh i think i could write a book of this first year as a nurse.
anyway.
im off to watch greys anatomy ( a show i do not like really. too much sex. its ridiculous. ) but i kinda want to watch a hospital/doctor show just to laugh at how unrealistic and crazy it is. really. a hospital is not like this at all. people do not look that good for one. haha... but all the drama involved. woah. its crazy.


ok. im out. off to rest. sleep. read.