where has the summer gone?

It seems like just yesterday summer was starting, and now it's already the first full week of August. I've barely done anything "summer-y" this summer considering I have a grown-up job now. I didn't get to experience every minute of church camp. And I can't just pick up and go to Holiday World. And there's no sleeping in during the week. And I don't get "vacations" per say. But I do have a full-time job, which is nice.

We have officially moved to our new location. The new building is smaller than the last one, so we are still trying to find a place for everything. And we've had a few technical issues with printers/engravers/sublimation printer, but things are starting to look up as of this week. The super good news is that there is a new coffee shop in our new building. Good for my well-being, but bad for my wallet. They are super nice people and the place is decorated so chic/vintage/coffee shop-ish. Very cool for my small town.

I am very thankful for friends. We still meet every Thursday night and usually hang out on the weekends and Sunday nights, and chat throughout the week. It's so nice to have people you can rely on. If there is something I need prayer for, I can always ask them and know that they will stop what they are doing and pray right then. If I ever move away, that will be the first thing I look for.

I just finished reading through Job. I knew the gist of it, but I had never read through the whole thing. It really made me reconsider what I value and what I consider important to me. Is God the most important thing to me that He would allow the devil to take everything away from me? Would I understand that He thought so highly of me? Would I understand that He was testing me? Would I see past my current situation to where God is trying to take me? Would I ignore the advice that my so-called "friends" give me and wait for God to speak to me? When God did speak, would I repent of sin and turn to Him? Even as I am writing this and saying 'would,' I can feel that these things happen to me all the time. But how often do I answer rightly? As I was going through Job, I was praying that I would be like Job, and then praying that I wouldn't be like Job, and then praying that I would be like Job, haha. I want to be unwavering in faith, the ability to know you need repentance.




I am so excited for this weekend because I am finally going to get one day off. My parents and I are going to the Ocoee River. Dad is going kayaking with his friends for part of the day and rafting with me for the other part of the day. Mom is going to take pictures. I'm ready for a much needed break from working.

1) I worked in the nursery at church during Sunday School and got to spend some quality time with my sweet Hallee Jae.
2) The high school kids having a dance party in the tabernacle late night at senior camp.
3) My mom doing what she does best on 4th of July -- SycamoreGrovePhotography
4) My brother & Hallee Jae on the beach without me :(
5) Jackie & I at junior high camp
6) Celebrating the end of camps at Jackie & Austin's house with a killer pool party.
7) My mom and I got this lovely bouquet from the local farmer's market the other day.
8) All us girls with my friend Beka who got married a couple weeks ago -- She made such a beautiful bride!!
9 & 10) All us friends hanging out yet being anti-social on our iPhones. Oh, technology!
11) My BFF Becca stopped by on her way back to Evansville and her little sister was with her.

exploring & working

A couple weeks ago, I went to Missouri with my parents. My dad likes to go kayaking on the St. Francis River near Fredericktown, and he wanted to take me and my mom to see it. So two Saturdays ago, we went to check it out. There was still snow on the ground. It was beautiful. The beauty was an incredible reminder of God's wonder and majesty. It never hurts to be reminded of it. On the way home, we stopped through Perryville, MO and found an incredible pizza place, Galati's. It was really good. I highly recommend it if you are ever in that area.

My job has been going really well. I'm still learning all the printing lingo and jargon. Because I'm pretty well-versed in the computer end of the business, especially the Mac platform. But we've been pretty busy, which is good for business. So I can't complain.

We've been planning lots of events for the youth. Last night we had our youth leaders meeting. The spring banquet is going to be EPIC to say the least. We're already talking about camps, and summer mission trips. I'm so excited for all the things the youth are going to get to do. God is so going to rock some faces off of these youth kids. It's going to be awesome.

Here's a few pictures from our trip to the river & a few pictures from the past couple of weeks :)

1) new pizza place in Perryville, MO called Galati's — this is my extra cheesy smile for deliciously cheesy pizza
2) I got candy & a balloon at work for doing such a good job one day :)
3) helping Jackie paint at her new house
4) my new JFK book, "The Quotable Kennedy," I got at the antique mall in Marion this past Saturday. it's filled with some interesting stuff.

valentine's day

Well, something big has happened since my last blog post.
I got a job! A real, big kid job. I got to work from 9-5, pretty much Monday through Friday. And it's almost like a graphic design job. I'm doing some designing, but mostly typesetting at a Print Shop in town. We make copies and trophies and awards. I'm still learning the ins and outs of it all, but it's interesting.
Still working on designing for the girls conference this spring. We are almost done with that. I can't wait for that to get here. I think a lot of junior high and high school girls are going to get rocked by it.
Recently, I made my mom a logo for her photography company. She's a pretty accomplished lifestyle photographer. I get to be her assistant sometimes. Basically, she has recreated her image. She just got a new website. She takes pictures of babies, seniors, children, families, and couples. Pretty much, she does it all. Go check it out: Sycamore Grove Photography.

This morning in my devotion I was reading Hebrews 13. I got to verse 8,

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

And that just made my heart so happy to have that reassurance. Because Jesus will never ever change. He was at the beginning of time and He is right now and He will be forever. And nothing about His character will ever be different. He is just as patient and kind as He was then. That is incredible to me. Forever I will trust in the fact that He won't change on me, no matter how often I change.

I'll leave you with some iPhone pictures from my week.

1] I'm never up before the sun, but I had an appointment in Evansville last week and happened to see this fantastic sunrise, and I was reminded of God's beauty and majesty.
2] my awesome friend Allyson sent me these mustaches that attach to your bottles while you are drinking to make it look like you have a mustache, hehe
3] my dad delivered flowers to me at work on valentine's day
4] my sweet Hallee Jae is the only valentine I need, who is now 9 months old
5] I love cheesy valentines, like this Harry Potter one I found online
6] a close up of my pretty flowers