Merry Christmas!

What a marvelous surprise we found Christmas morning when Mom, Jarvis and I ran outside! The sight was breath-taking!

This little machine was the second most exciting part of Christmas morning (besides the snow!) My mom poked fun calling me Suzie Homemaker, but I don't care a bit! :) I've already finished the top piece of my quilt and looking forward to many more sewing projects!

I hope y'all had a beautiful Christmas with your families! How blessed we are to be with special friends and family during this time!

26.2

It was probably the most painful, difficult thing I've ever done, but gosh...I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It was awesome!

Were it not for my dear friend, Kate, my running buddy living in Texas, I wouldn't have made it. So thankful for her encouragement and friendship!

After 25 and a half grueling miles, the man at the corner yells, "26 at the top of the hill! You're so close!" All I remember about those last 2 tenths of a mile is lots of cheering, a huge grin, and giggling the whole way to the finish line! Ah! That feeling of sprinting over the finish line after 5 and a half hours was indescribable. Glorious!

I cried and laughed at the end, saw lots of sweet sweet friends, and then slowly shuffled to the car. Grandaddy Loftin, who you just need to meet, later asked if I'd like to borrow his walker. Said it seemed like I needed it more than he did! :)

What a day. Let's do it again soon!! But not really soon.

There are lots more applications for this moment in my life, but I'll just save those for a later post.

Hooray for the end of the semester/exams and the coming CHRISTmas holidays!

Princess Dianna

My beautiful roommate, Dianna, is engaged to be married to a precious guy named Joe. May 7th is their date!

Check out their GORGEOUS engagement pictures here!

The Lovely Union

His Ways

Well, please excuse the lack of blogging in the past, oh...month!
I've been simply snowed under with:
- Grad School reading, papers, and projects
- Learning new things in the Athletic Dept
- Training for a marathon (which I'm super excited about!)
- Taking care of Baxter, the puppy
- And reading when I can squeeze it in!

In the midst of all this busyness, I've been especially praying about the next year of my life, and where The Lord wants me to be. For almost three months, I've been praying about going to South America to use my passion for 1. Teaching 2. Spanish 3. Children, to serve The Lord and be His "poetic expression," in the words of our Pastor at FBC Starkville.

This weekend, I was able to talk to the missionaries, Robin and Wendy Gutierrez, who run a school in Macas, Ecuador, and are in need of an English Teacher. After talking with them for two hours, I had such a sense of peace, knowing this was where The Lord wanted me to be. Looking back, I can see that He's been preparing my heart for this for many years. What a cool thing to see His plan and know why He allowed things to occur for my growth toward something greater than myself. His ways are much higher than my ways.

I'll be leaving at the end of June and staying a full year, and after that...who knows!! I have lots more details about the school and city, but I'd better save those for another post! If you want to check out the school website, click here:

http://english.emanuel.edu.ec/vision-3.html


Thanks for your prayers and love!

-Laura

Happy Birthday Rachael!

Just a few blasts from the past...

I wish I had pictures to document all the times we made mud pies in the tree stumps, hid from passing cars in the pink mimosa trees for hours, and swatted at wasps out in the playhouse. One of my favorites was the rash we got from rolling around on the hay bales all day! :) From out in the pasture to Freshman Year in Griffis with the fourth floor nerds, we've been through alot!

We've grown up with so many precious memories with each other, and I'm so glad to call you my cousin. Happy Birthday Rachael! Love You!

"Missus An-na"

Taking a break from homework tonight and rewarded myself with a movie. I forgot how much I loved this one, and how much I want to be a "Missus An-na!"

My Jerusalem

He said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem"

"In our Lord's life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father's will upon the cross."

It is our goal in life to find and follow His Will, and go toward our "Jerusalem."

"Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed."

I don't know where my Jerusalem will be, but I know that The Lord will lead me there, if I am not diverted by things on this earth. I pray that we keep our eyes on Him so that we can follow Him, and "By the Lord's grace, end in glory."

-My utmost for His Highest

Just a little chuckle :)

Found--while poetry lesson planning...:)


Roger Renfroe-Jones Kincaid

The meanest boy in the fourth grade
Is Roger Renfroe-Jones Kincaid.
He's meaner than a junkyard dog.
He's meaner than my sister's frog.
My sister's frog ate my friend, Brown,
And all Brown did was fly around,
Then land on top the frog's dumb head.
Brown licked his wings and 'THWACK! ' was dead.
My sister's frog is called Boo Bear;
Though he's a frog and not a bear.
But bears get mean when they're afraid,
Like Roger Renfroe-Jones Kincaid.

Busy as a...

These days, life is filled with athletic work, school work, running, cooking, and reading! Lots of FULL days! Lovely days!

But...

my strength lies daily in God's Word, without which I'd be in trouble.
Thank you Lord for giving us what we need for the tasks you've given us!

Training

Running is challenging. It's a battle of the mind. It's not so much a physical game, but a training of will power, a drive to keep moving.

There are some mornings that I wake up, put on my tennis shoes, and take off, knowing that a solid run is ahead of me. Other mornings, I feel like Elmer's glue trying to peel myself out of the bed. My legs feel like they have lead inside them, and each step takes all the strength I have.

Despite the kind of morning I feel when I wake up, I know that the run is necessary, a jump start to the rest of my day, and a goal I must meet. It's on those mornings when my legs feel like lead that I have to push myself the most. Yet when I reach my goal, I grin with pride. Pushing myself past the point of comfortable, even through pain, I finished the run. It's not by my own strength...surely I know that. Only through The Lord's encouragement and refreshment am I able to make it through those tough runs, and it is for His glory that He gives me that strength.

Praise The Lord that He gives us the things we need to accomplish the goals He has laid before us! What a Mighty God we serve!

Gardening

Sometimes, The Lord closes a window in our lives so that He can open a new door for us to look out. It may not be pleasant to close the window, but when we can finally look out of the new door that He has opened for us, we realize the wonderful reason why He was longing us to look at a new view.

For a while now, I've been looking out one window in "my house," enjoying the view of wildflowers and dandelions. I've had some wonderful laughs and memories from this window, but The Lord helped me to realize that it was time for me to take a look from another door: The front door of "my house." How is it that I've been missing this view for so long?

I had become so distracted by the beautiful view from the window, that I forgot to be experiencing life from my front door, the place that The Lord has been longing for me to return to. What a blessing that He closed the side window to bring me back to the center of my world, my relationship with Christ.

I'm so excited to be looking out the front door, helping My Savior work in the flower beds and pull up the weeds that have collected in my life. What a Great Friend He is to take this special time with me, working in the dirt, to create a more beautiful expression of His glory through my life.

chocolate

Tonight, I gave in. It was just one of those nights.

The Working World

I'm sitting now in the MSU athletic office...actually in MY office, with a view! My own computer, nice big desk, and a wall of windows looking out over the lake. (It's not technically my office, but will be until a position is filled and shifts me to the cubicle.) :)

I started my new GA job today and I think it is going to be so much fun! I have been here since 10 this morning, and this is now 5pm, so my four hour work day has turned into seven! But I love it!

My cousin Steven, who found this great job for me, works in the same office, and was so sweet to drag me around this morning so meet what seemed like the entire campus faculty, though it was only a small portion! I am quite overwhelmed, but everyone is SO sweet and hilarious! It's a great atmosphere! (I got to see the football team working out and saw Coach Dan and lots of other cool people!)
Blah blah blah...to many details... I'm just bored now because my boss is in a meeting and I don't have anything to do!

My job is to basically be a personal assistant to my boss, who is great. I get to walk around with a calendar and clipboard and make sure that she makes it to all her meetings and all the events get planned! What fun!

This makes me ready for school to start and for football season! Go Dawgs!

The Sweet Life

The other day, The Lord knew that I needed a refresher lesson in who to put first in my life. Sometimes, this can be a hard lesson to learn, but necessary, nonetheless. There are lots of things that sneak into my life to distract me, and then The Lord has to come in and gently remind me to place my eyes back on Him.
Why am I so stubborn in continuing to make this mistake over and over? My heart wants to obey so badly, but my flesh sometimes gets in the way. I know that the more I walk with Jesus everyday, the easier it will become to keep my focus on Him. This is when we taste of the sweet life!
What a delightful peace comes when we know we are walking rightly with The Lord. He is the giver of all things good, even gentle reminders, and for that I am eternally thankful.

Watching Grass Grow

Summer School was over early last week. Fall class doesn't start until next week. And I'm in Starkville, just filling time with anything I can come up with.

1. Moved my furniture into my apartment- dealing with the mustard yellow walls.
2. Read The Help- loved it.
3. Organized Children's books on the bookshelf :)
4. Painted toenails- Dim Sum Plum
5. Made Homemade Pizza
6. Re-potted plants
7. Went to a Rehearsal Dinner with Luke
8. Ran into Marathon Makeover Runners Sat. Morning
9. Made friends with our new cat, Eliza (Doolittle)
10. Hung a picture collage in bedroom


Homemade Pizza is SO much better than store bought.
-two packages Great Value pizza dough- just add water
-small can tomato sauce
-pizza seasoning
-turkey peperoni
-mozzarella cheese
-fresh tomatoes
-whatever other toppings you desire!


This is such a quick and easy recipe! Yummy too!

Tomorrow's Project:
- getting copies of old pictures I found in our attic of my parents when they were dating! Anniversary gift?

Happy Birthday to my brother Benton! I Love you so much, little brother! I'm excited about us being in Starkville together this year.

Later Tater! :)

Bucket Listing...

While I'm in Grad School and have a good amount of free-time, (hopefully!), I decided that it is time to cross something off my Bucket List: A Full Marathon. Yikes. This is somethings I've wanted to do for about a year and this next week begins the official 18-week training program. Pumped I am, yes!

Last December, my sweet friend Kate and I trained for and ran the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis, which was THE most fun thing I have EVER done in my life! I giggled the whole 2+ hours! Since then, I have run two other Halfs, and now I know it's time for the full!

My mom thinks this is unnecessary wear and tear on my body, (and she might be right), but I only want to do this once so I can cross it off my Life List!

Blogging about this event makes it official, which is why I'm sharing this! I'll keep you updated on my training for the next four+ months! yay!

Reading

Laurie Parker, Mississippian Author, has a great book: The Sweet Dreams Book. My Mom gave me a signed copy for Christmas this past year, and it was instantly one of my very favorites!

I wanted to share it with you as a delightful bedtime tradition someday! :)

"This is a book you should read before bed
To put hints for beautiful dreams in your head.
these lullaby wishes will help you to keep
A smile on your face as you're falling asleep."

"Have dreams about soap bubbles, carousels, swans,
Cute majorettes twirling sparkly batons,
Jingle bells ringing on reindeer that fly,
And billions and jillions of stars in the sky."

"And when the stars fade with the coming of dawn
And finally you wake and the night dreams are gone
Greet the birds singing and welcome the sun,
The people you know and the day just begun.

Your life will hold just as much wonder as dreams
As soon as you realize it's not what it seems.
The world's a dream also; it's God's dream, you see.
He dreamed it for you and He dreamed it for me.

...and that is the sweetest of dreams there could be."

The End

Blueberries

When I retire one day, it will be to the country with a Pick Your Own Blueberry farm...and Cucumbers, Sunflowers, Blackberries, Watermelons, etc. I envision a tiny little cottage with a great front porch swing to curl up and read books. And of course, a yard covered in flowers of every kind.

Just dreamin'. But how lovely would this be? :)

Thanks friends for letting me drag you to the Blueberry Farm in Pontotoc. This was a truly delightful trip!

Corn Silkin'

I'm taking a class in the Graduate program for Education called "The Teaching of Writing." It's a fabulous class. We are encouraged to dig deep and to laugh, sharing our writing ideas with our small class of 7 girls. It's delightful. I've learned so much about the people around me by listening and responding to their writing.

Today, we wrote Free Verse Poetry.
Thought I'd share mine with you. Still open to changes...

Silkin’

A small load this time,
thankfully.
It was muggy in the garage,
even with the two fans
Granmama came to help
she’s the professional corn silker.”
been putting up corn
every year since she was 7.
That’s 81 years of corn silkin!

I am also named a silker
because it requires lots of patience
Maybe I got it from Gmama.
Mom has to deal with shucking
Because she doesn’t take her time.

At 88, Granmama moves slower
But she’s still the same
She soaks up the sweet time
Being covered in corn silks
Knowing its precious time
Laughing with her loved ones

When I’m 88
I hope to still be the silker,
Taking life slowly,
One silk at a time,
Relishing in the sweet life.



-Laura

Happy Father's Day

Dear Daddy,

You love shuckin' corn, fast cars, riding a tractor, and family time in Mt Pleasant. You love MSU and Nascar, and dessert is always a must.
I couldn't have asked for a more godly example in my life. You have taught me how to love my Heavenly Father above all. What a blessing you are.
I praise The Lord for you!
Love you dearly,

Laura