30 Days---Day 24

Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.

Well...our family has certainly grown! It is no longer just the 5 of us. My oldest brother is married, and they had their first child in August. My youngest brother (no he is not married!!!) but is dating Chrissy, and has been for a couple of years! It can be real awkward at times...when we are all here and go to eat or something, there is my mom and dad, Devin and Kelli, Dustin and Chrissy, and then me. Even the waiter at El Pueblito (a restaurant here in Chanute) made a comment about "where is your significant other?" as if I wasn't already aware that every other person in my family has one! haha And I'm not throwing myself a pity party, I am very happy for my brothers. It's just weird, that's all! :)

 My extended family has grown. My cousins are all getting married and having kids. It's pretty exciting. For a while there seemed to not be many young ones, but now on both my mom and dad's side, they are everywhere! It's fun!

But back to my immediate family...my mom, dad, brothers, sister in-law, and nephew...well, I will say one thing....they are the best! We get along really well and always have a lot of fun together. They are always making me laugh!

My little brother and I used to fight on a daily basis. He drove me crazy and I drove him crazy. I always had to stay and watch Dustin and take him places once I was old enough to drive so we spent a lot of time together. Let's just say there were a lot of phone calls made to my mom when he wouldn't listen to me (or the weather man pretending I was calling my mom! It usually worked...until he caught on). We wrestled a lot too...believe it or not, I used to be able to take him down! :)

 I can't really say Devin and I ever really fought....I mean we did every now and again...but what sibling doesn't? It wasn't quite to the extent of Dustin and I, that's for sure. But I wasn't around him quite as much either so maybe that helped!

But now that we are all grown up, I can honestly say that they are my friends! :) We definitely like to joke around with each other and push each other's buttons...but I suppose it's our way of saying, I love you. When it comes down to it, I think know we all care for each other and are there for each other! The day we are all living in different places will be so SO weird!

My relationship with my parents...well I have already answered that in a previous blog post towards the beginning of the "30 Days". They are fantastic parents though! They are still happily married which, too, is becoming not too common these days. Breaks my heart.

I am forever grateful for my family!

30 Days---Day 23

List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

1) Photography. I don't know a lot about the technical stuff, but I do love, love, love to take pictures. Where ever I go, my camera goes with. :) Definitely something I would like to learn more about and get better at!

2) Reading. I do enjoy reading, I just don't do it near enough. 

3) Does spending time with family and friends count as a hobby? Because I love to do that!

4) A hobby of mine used to be playing the piano...and then I moved away. I would like for it to become my hobby again, though!

5) I enjoy playing tennis just for fun! I love to go and hit around. Or play ultimate tennis...best game ever!

I just remembered the last part of the question....why I love to do the things listed above. Rather than writing in the same answer for each one, I will just answer it all at once. I love to do these things because I enjoy them, they make me happy, they are relaxing, and fun! :)

30 Days---Day 22

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

Honestly, I have no idea. No. Idea. Kind of scary...but exciting all the same!

I am going to be taking bible classes beginning either August or next December depending on the money situation! I am very excited for that! So hopefully when 5 years from now comes around, I will be done with that. That's all I know though.

Where will I be living? What job will I have? Will I be married? Will I have a kid? Oh boy. Who knows.

I have learned to not make plans. I mean, I can make my own plans, but it's God's plan for me that matters. And He tends to not really let me in on what is coming next until right before it's happening! haha. Makes life one big, exciting adventure I suppose! I am just looking forward to getting to that place where I can get settled in. But as I say that, I don't know if that is the word I want to use. I don't want to "settle in" and get so comfortable with the spot where I am that I become complacent. It would just be nice to find a place and stay a while...although I don't know how long "a while" is! I feel like the past 3 years have been one big whirlwind...lots of changes and moving back and forth. So I am ready to settle in, in the way that I know what I want to be doing now, and I'm ready to start doing that.

The wonderful thing...I think I have found that place where I am doing what I love....ministry has stolen my heart! That is what I want to do with my life...serve God. Serve the Church. Serve people. It's a pretty fantastic feeling to get to be doing that! I am enjoying every minute of it! So until God tells me differently, here I shall stay. I look forward to seeing where I am in 5 years and what the Lord has done in and through me, but I don't want to get caught up in having a "plan" figured out. God has it all under control and I am following Him.

30 Days---Day 21

Weekends are bad and throw me off of schedule. They distract me. I do love my weekends, but they always  seem to get busy! This past weekend for example....I played softball Saturday. Sunday I was tired from softball plus other things I had going on, I didn't get much of anything accomplished... like blogging for instance.

And here it is, Wednesday. Where do the days go?

Anyway. I'm back. I am determined to finish this and finish it strong! :)

Today's thing: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?

It would be neat to have the ability to become invisible. Which makes me think of Harry Potter and the invisible cloak he has. haha. Think about it. You think about those times when you really wish you could be a fly on the wall and see/hear what is happening in whatever the situation may be?  And I don't mean that in a nosy, "let's get the juicy details and latest gossip" kind of way. It would be interesting to be behind the scenes...to see what is happening when you're "not there". See how the situation is handled, what kind of behavior the person has...etc. I guess this comes from a love of people watching. People are so fascinating, why they do what they do, and how they do it. What makes a person tick...

 But also it would be nice to have the ability to "disappear" for a little bit...even if only for 10 minutes. I'm not talking days at a time or even hours...just for a bit! To be able to go wherever with nobody seeing you. Nobody walking up and starting a conversation with you. Nobody asking you questions. Just a break where you can't be bothered! And this makes me sound like I don't like people....I love people! I promise! But I think there are times when every person, no matter how much of a people person they may be, just needs a break from people. Even if only for 5 or 10 minutes. Am I right?

And well...you would always have the advantage when playing hide and seek! And you could play a lot of tricks on people and never get caught. :) Oh the possibilities!

30 Days---Day 20

Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

Let me start by saying, you may think you had a cool childhood, but mine was better! ;) Just kidding. But really, it was the best.

1) Hanging out with the James gang...all. the. time. They lived across the alley from us. We had sleepovers all the time. If my mom would have allowed it, I probably would have stayed over just about every night. haha. But I was at their house just about daily. We would ride our bikes around the neighbor hood, we would play school and make our young siblings (Dustin, Larryn, and Bethany) be the students and us be the teachers even though they begged to be the teacher, we would play nurse or doctor, we played house (again the little ones were the kids whether they liked it or not!), we would go up to the attic and spend hours playing up there (that or until we go so hot we couldn't take it any longer)....Oh...playing knock out in our driveway until 2:00AM!

I could go on and on. So many memories with them!!

2) I was staying the night with my friend Nicole, who happened to live right by the swimming pool. We spent a lot of time there. But anyway, this particular day we got brave and went off the diving boards at the swimming pool. We went back that night when the pool reopened for night swimming and pretty sure we spent an hour or two of doing nothing else but jumping off the boards over and over and over again.

Why this particular memory came up, I'm not really sure. I too, have so many memories with Nicole! Such fun times we always had!!!

3) When my parents would go out to dinner and stuff with friends...it didn't happen too often. But when it did, Devin stayed home with Dustin and I. We always ordered pizza, got out the sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows, and would watch a movie...or probably more like me watch them play playstation...that sounds right. I don't remember that part as clearly, but I do remember it always meant pizza for dinner and hanging out with Devin...and the ginger. :) Just kidding Dustin...but really. I hung out with you all the time. Devin...not near as much!

30 Days---Day 19

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

Oh my 'lanta! Why must these questions be so hard? For a person who has the urge to travel and see the world just about every day, this is too hard to choose just one place. My list of places I want to go to is growing constantly. Well...I don't technically have one written down per say, but it's all in my head. :) And, I'll be honest, I will go anywhere! That is my list...everywhere! I love traveling and going to new places I have never been to. When I go a year without taking a trip somewhere, I get real antsy. 

But where would I live? Hmmm. I think it's pretty close to my "places I want to go" list! :) I'll go pretty much anywhere the Lord calls me to!

I would love to live in a different country at some point in my life. Even if it's only for a year or two. Somewhere like....Africa! I want to hold, love on, and play with all of those kiddos! But not just them, but to hear the stories of all the people living there. And to ride an elephant. :) That place is at the top of my list for sure. And some day I would love to go back to Honduras!

Where do I want to live in in the states?

Well...I do love Kansas a lot. It's really not that bad here! California would be nice...that is the location that is on my heart at the moment! There is a Bible College there that I am very interested in going to. Colorado is super awesome. I would definitely be okay with living there. And maybe even Texas. 

Why those three places? Because those are just about the only places I have actually been to! Not quite but pretty darn close. Just for fun, I decided to put up pictures from each place I have been to. California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, New York and Honduras. I have driven through some other states, but I don't have pictures from all of them. Plus I was never "there" for anything. Just driving through, so in my book that doesn't count! :) 

P.S. My goal was to put up only one picture from each place....I couldn't pick just one though. Too hard! Story of my life....not being able to choose my favorite of anything! haha.

Colorado

Colorado

Colorado

Colorado: Garden of the Gods

Colorado: Top of Pikes Peak

Honduras

Honduras

California

California: we went to this church....it's all glass! Pretty neat!

New York: You can't really tell but I'm on top of the Empire State Building.

New York: Statue of Liberty...obviously. :)

New York Skyline

Washington D.C.  I can't find all of my DC pics so this is the best I have. 

Williams, Arizona

Grand Canyon with the roomies, Amanda and Anna.

Sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Awesome!

Dallas, Texas

Downtown Dallas, Texas

Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Dome for Passion 2012

30 Days---Day 17

What is the thing you most wish you were great at?


I could think of a number of things. Would you like a list?

Dancing. I would love to be able to dance and not look ridiculous. Singing. I always thought it would be neat to lead praise and worship, but I think my voice would be more of a distraction. ;) Run. I wish I was a runner. I'm working on it though but it doesn't come easy for me! I wish I was great at being super outgoing. I'm usually more on the quiet side until I'm comfortable around people and know them well. I would like to work on that. I would like to be more athletically gifted. I'm afraid my brothers took all of those genes though! I want to play more instruments...be able to play the piano really well. Learn how to play the guitar. Oh how the list could go on and on!

But the thing about this list of things: Most of them, I can get better at! Even great if I really want to and put in the time/effort! Neat! I guess it's time for me to get busy! :)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!