MAKING YOUR FAITH YOUR OWN

I've been going to the same church my entire life. Literally. Like I was going to First United Methodist Church of Coppell since I was in my mom's stomach. Throughout the years I have learned a lot from my church because my parents took me every Sunday, but I never really made my faith my own. I just went to church because my parents took me. I definitely believed the things I was taught in church, I just never felt super connected to God and never took time out of my day to spend with just me and Him.

This was how my life was until the summer after 8th grade when I went to Camp Pike for the first time. This is where I first felt what it really meant to have your own faith. I could actually feel God's presence in the mountains and started to form a strong connection with Him that was just about me and Him. I have continued to go to Camp Pike every summer since and each year my faith grows and grows.

As I have started my life as a college student, I am beginning to learn how to be more of an independent person (which I was not at all before haha). Not only have I learned to do my school work because I know I need to and not because my parents told me to. But I have also learned to go to church because I know I need to (and WANT to) and not because my parents told me to. This is the biggest thing that has really helped me make my faith my own. Being away from home and away from my closest friends is very different because I don't have people telling me to hop in the car and go to church or bible study with them. I am now taking the initiative to go to church because that is what I want to do. I have this huge passion for the Lord and getting closer to Him and encouraging others to do the same and now that I have made my faith my own I am able to do those things.

I want to encourage y'all to do the same. Find an awesome church that really fuels your fire for the Lord (if you're in the Austin area I highly suggest trying out The Austin Stone). Surround yourself with people who have a passion for the Lord who can inspire you to become more passionate and keep you accountable in your faith. And actually take time out of your day every day to read the bible and spend time in prayer. By doing this I have noticed my thought process changing in a way. When I have decisions to make I try to think "what would God want me to do" and I've noticed myself trying to be more of a christian in every aspect of my life which is such an amazing and fulfilling thing.

HAPPY OCTOBER!

I am currently sitting in the coolest little coffee shop right on the lake outside in the most beautiful weather in my favorite outfit (a flannel of course) and it could not make me any more pumped for the month ahead. I've never really been super ecstatic about this time of year, but the past few days have been so wonderful that I can't wait to see what this month (and the rest of the year) has in store.

I had literally just been talking to my roommate, Madi, about how I felt like we really hadn't made any close friends yet when one of our guys friends called and invited us to go hiking and carve pumpkins. We obviously had nothing else better planned to do that night so we decided to go with a bunch of girls from our dorm and a few guys that are in the christian fraternity. Lemme tell ya, these people are awesome. That night was definitely the best night I have had so far here in Austin. It was so spontaneous and fun and just what I needed. I realized that okay yeah we really do have friends here and they freakin rock. We just jammed to some good country music and a few Disney tunes (the other people there probably thought we were weirdos but whatever) and carved pumpkins right there on the rocks. I also got to see a few cute dogs so that made me even happier :)

even madeline came to visit all the way from college station!

Also, earlier that day I had some last minute work to do on my homework between classes and the weather was so awesome that instead of going back to the dorm I just hung out on the lawn in front of the tower. That's when I realized how much I love this school.

how cool is it that I can sit in front of the tower and have this cool view of the capital

Today I went to the UT/Baylor game and then came back early to go to dinner with my roomie and our friend Taylor. We all bonded over Chuy's mexican food and basically everything else. The three of us are pretty much the same person and I love them to death. I also love how the three of us can just chill here outside on the porch of Mozart's enjoying each others company. I could definitely get used to this.

NEW BEGINNINGS

As a freshman in college, I'm in the middle of experiencing the craziest/scariest/weirdest/most exciting new beginning in my life. College really is a lot different than high school. For one thing, you get so used to your town after living there for 18 years and you're so comfortable there that another year of school is just that. Super normal and nothing to worry about. The shift into the college life is a very interesting one though. I'm living in a completely different town 4 hours away from my parents/brother/pets, but I really do love living in Austin. Also, I am 2 to 8 hours away from my best friends who I miss more and more every day. Although, I have met the coolest people ever so far especially through my sorority, Kappa Delta. I thought it would be super hard to find Jesus loving freaks like my friends back home, but through KD I'm finding that it's not all that hard, which has been a huge relief. I'm only on my second day of school and I've realized that I have no idea how I'm going to balance everything. I don't think I'll ever catch up on my sleep no matter how many naps I take. There's always some sorority thing going on whether it's a meeting or a party of some sort and on top of all my classes it's really stressing me out. One thing I didn't realize is how hard the transition would be into such a busy life. With rush last week and new classes next week it's caused a lot of anxiety in me and I cannot wait until I finally get into a routine so it will stop stressing me out. So basically to wrap all this up because I know I ramble too much and am horrible and organizing my thoughts, here's a list of what I've learned from my start in college:

• You really will miss your parents. And your pets. And even your brother. A lot.
• You really will meet the coolest people. 
• Jesus loving freaks are all around.
• Everyone parties and there are parties all the time (although, you don't have to drink at them or you can just go to the Christian fraternity parties like me ;) ).
• I don't know why people keep talking about the freshman 15 with all the walking you have to do... I've been wearing my fitbit and I walk like 3 miles a day at the least.
• You will get anxious a lot, but you're not alone. I'm still trying to get over this, but I know that I just need time to get used to things.
• Being in a sorority is a pretty cool thing. It goes way deeper than the parties and the tshirts I promise.
• Classes aren't as intimidating as they sound. And same with the professors.
• Being in an all girls dorm is actually lots of fun.
• Finding your way around campus can be pretty confusing, but if you give yourself a lot of time it's not bad.
• After rush you can pretty much talk to anyone (which is weird for me because I know I'm not the most social person).

I can't wait to see the person I have become after my freshman year and how many extra tips I'll have to add to this list. I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot (from classes and just life in general) and I'm going to grow a lot (into a more mature "adult" and into an even stronger Christian). This is a very exciting time and I can't wait to share my experiences with y'all throughout the years. Oh and one last thing... hook 'em.

CAMP PIKE

I can't even begin to describe how incredibly blessed I am to get the opportunity to go to this camp every year for the past 5 years. This camp has made such a huge impact on my faith every single year and has given me the greatest friendships I could ever ask for. I hope that everyone can find something that does the same thing for them because it's honestly the greatest feeling. Being in the mountains for me is where I feel the closest to God. I first felt His presence in the little chapel at camp when I was in middle school and since then my relationship with God has grown tremendously. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to have a place where you can feel God's presence. And also how important it is to be completely surrounded by loving people that you feel comfortable with sharing your faith and Camp Pike is that for me.

Inspiration Point

Matt is the best

Crags has the prettiest trail

my co-counselor rocks

you just can't beat these views

we hiked Pike's Peak through a cloud

we were the second group to summit!

wish I could be here right now

SUMMER ADVENTURES

This summer I have been crazy busy. Not just busy with preparing for college, but I'm also constantly busy with hanging out with friends. It's probably the best way to be busy. This week leading up to me leaving for camp on friday is completely full of little adventures with my friends.

On Sunday...

Shannon and I went shopping and found some really cute shorts! Then we went and got Great American cookies where they have that deal of buy 5 get one free, so yes we bought 6 cookies and ate them all and I don't feel guilty about it one bit. After making a stop at sonic, we went back to my house and painted these canvases on my back porch. It's been a long time since I last painted so it felt good to be crafty with my best friend.

On Monday...

Maci and I ventured out to the lake but went the completely wrong direction and ended up on the opposite side. But we found this really cool park that has a bunch of picnic tables spread out by the water with lots of trees for hammocking. And that's exactly what we did of course. After adventuring down by the water and taking these cute pictures we went back to set up our eno hammocks. I forgot to mention though... it was extremely windy. Setting up our hammocks was soooo hard and hilarious because the wind kept catching them. And just when we thought we got it all set up, I got in my hammock and was practically laying on top of Maci. After we finally got it figured out, our friend Megan came and joined us and we ended up hammocking for about 4 hours. It was so nice spending so much time with them with an awesome view like this.

On Tuesday...

I took my cousin, Hannah, to the lake that Maci, Megan, and I went to on Monday. She was at camp all last week so it was nice to catch up with her. We first made a stop by bahama bucks of course because we are addicted. Then we hung out by the water for a little bit and then hung my hammock up in some of the trees. It was really funny trying to get the two of us to fit in my single nest eno, but we made it work. I'm so thankful to have a cousin that I'm so close to. We laughed so much today that my voice is worn out. I love days like these.

On Wednesday...

I had a nice lunch with Shannon and our moms at J Macklin's of course. Then my mom and I went and got pedicures, which we have become quite obsessed with doing lately. Later that night, my church was holding an event where a bunch of food trucks came. My friends and I all chose to wait in the longest line of course (almost a 2 hour wait) but it was totally worth it. The truck was called Ruthie's Rolling Cafe and it had a bunch of different types of grilled cheeses. I got "The Boss" and Ali got the "Italian Hippy" and we shared them and oh my gosh. It was the best grilled cheese I have ever had. Seriously if you live in the Dallas area, you need to check this place out. After we devoured our delicious grilled cheeses, a bunch of us headed over to Ali's house for a surprise birthday party for our friends Ric and David. That was a lot of fun getting to hang out with everyone and eating some delicious cake.

On Thursday...

It was July 3rd and our town had a huge fireworks show going on that night. I was so excited to go because usually every year my family goes to my uncle's house in Oklahoma and we get to shoot off fireworks in his neighborhood, but I leave for camp on the 4th and won't be able to go. But this way I still got to see some awesome fireworks and got to spend some time with a bunch of my friends before I left.

On Friday...

We decided to be crazy rebels and snuck into this beautiful place. I only had a little bit of time before I had to leave so we just stopped by for a little bit to get some cool pictures. Then I finally left for Camp Pike!!! I have been anticipating going back to my favorite place on earth as soon as I stepped off the bus last year and it's finally here! Can't wait to make a post about it when I get back.

GOOD FOOD AND EVEN BETTER FRIENDS

Tonight I had the best dinner date with three of my best friends (Stacey, Ali, and Megan) and it was honestly one of the best nights I have had in a while. It's been a few weeks since I've seen these lovely girls so thankfully we had this great opportunity to catch up. Back towards the beginning of the year as prom planning started to come around, we decided that we would put everything together for our group and planned dinner and the after party and all of that good stuff. We worked sososo hard on planning prom and making it perfect and the restaurant we used was super nice to mail us a gift certificate to come back and eat there! Let me tell you, this food is to die for so we were pretty stoked about this gift certificate. 

It was so fun to get all dressed up in the midst of a summer full of nike shorts and tshirts to eat the most delicious meal ever all over again. Ali even said "you know how when you read a really good book for the first time, you can never read it that way again? well every bite of this it's like you can." That's how good this food is. But enough about the food... 

This night was extra special to me because we had the greatest conversations. We would talk about everything from boys to church and that's why I'm so glad I have friends like these. They are always so supportive with whatever is going on in my life. It's the greatest feeling and I definitely felt it tonight. I love that we can be so open with each other and have really serious conversations, but at the same time we can be completely goofy and laugh til we cry (which happened quite a few times tonight). 

We all leave for college soon and I'm going to miss times like these. It won't be so easy for us to get together for dinners like these, but I have a good feeling that we are all going to keep a close bond throughout the next four years. We even decided that tonight we're all going to write down everything that's going on in our lives at this moment and four years from now, after we graduate from college, we will get back together for a dinner at this same restaurant with our letters and reflect on how our lives have changed since then. I'm so excited for what the future holds for all four of us and I'm hoping that we can continue to have this goofy, supportive, Christ-loving relationship in the years to come.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

I'm super late on this post, but at the very beginning of summer I took a trip to Hilton Head Island for a week with my whole family. We have a timeshare right on the beach that we usually go to every other year, but we skipped last year so I was ecstatic to find out that we were going back this year. It was seriously the best trip to Hilton Head yet. I got to hang out with all of my crazy cousins every day and it was a blast. Hopefully I'll be able to join them in the summers to come because Hilton Head is one of my favorite places to go (it's a close tie between HHI and Camp Pike). And with me going to college and everything it'll be a lot harder to find time to go. So here a few pictures that sum up the week...

Here is our awesome view from the balcony

The littles buried Uncle John

We were lucky that there was a full moon one night

Hannah and I got up early to watch this beautiful sunrise

The littles love taking goofy pictures, they just about died laughing at Hayden's face in the middle

I also made a video of the whole trip, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to get it on vimeo or youtube because the file is so big! But as soon as I get it to work I'll definitely be posting it here.

GOODBYE SENIOR YEAR

It has been WAY too long since I have been on here and so much has happened since I last posted that I am just going to have to recap the past couple of months through some pictures...

Banquet was a lot of fun with my best friend and my roommate:

I finally chopped off all of my hair and donated it:

Celebrated Senior Sunday at church:

Performed in my 15th and final dance recital:

Had fun dressing up as a guy for senior dress up week with Shannon and holding Monty for the first time:

Went to tons and tons of grad parties:

Met my cute baby cousin who fell asleep on me:

                

And finally graduated with all of my favorite people: