Hey. if u haven't gotten the memo i got my nose pierced. for those of you who wanted to see how the experience went (like my dad), here is the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3SudPU-fSE


Happy watching!!

there is this special girl
the wind blows through her hair
it cools her down, it gives her chills
but she won’t acknowledge it is there

she sees it move the trees all around
she sees it dance through flowers
she hears it when it blows on her window
she hears it when it moves the showers

so why can’t she understand
why can’t she see
that the wind
is the one thing that changes me

I want her to be moved
I want her to be changed
I want her to be torn apart
I want her to be rearranged
i want her to let go of what she thinks will help her on that hot day
I want her to acknowledge…the wind can be The Way

God help my friend to grow
God help my friend to seek
God help my friend to day after day
become more and more complete

this is jami......................................this is sarah...

just thought everyone should know. they bless my life...

GIGATT

AHHHHHH...back to college again. It has been a splendid time getting back with the flow...of being a college student. After a summer of cleaning throw up and waking up at 7am, its nice to be a little lazy....

What better place to be lazy in than a bed right? WELL, i have got the most amazing bed made in creation!!! It is a lot created by my dad...and here is is (with a little bit of a girl's touch)

I gave it a name...everyone meet LONNIE* the loft

Its ok, you can take some time to pick your jaws off the ground now

he made the steps last year and decided they needed s matching friend (the loft)

some nice shelving...

some nice lighting

AND THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM>>>>>

very nice!

Now here is my bed...the most amazingly awesoe bedding ever...and the nice shelves...

BUT WAIT....

SECRET STORAGE SPACE...oooooo..ahhhh...

Well now you have seen it. Dad is amazing. Everyone is jealous. I just know I am blessed to have my dad build this awesome bed for me. I will sleep in it forevver!!!

*The name "Lonnie" means "handsome one" and that is very true!!

Loftin it

Summer has been wonderful. I've been home for about 3 weeks, and in those 3 weeks, dad and I have been working on a little (big) something for school next year...





It all started with a little wood.

And then a big saw

and another saw thingy...(can't remember what its called)

AND A LOT OF DAD DOING HIS WONDERFUL CARPENTRY



also, there was a lot of sawdust

AND KABAM

MY LOFT
Isn't it wonderful!!!!!!
Dad is even installing a light


So, I have the coolest dad and the coolest loft. And even though I haven't used the power tools (didn't wanna lose a finger before camp) I have been sanding the bed by hand!!

Well, I am back at home once again. It is kind of sad to see the things a girl would want done that a guy doesn't care about, and that has happened with my dad. See, he is a guy; theres no need for extra cleanliness or really cleanliness at all...and one thing he did not do a very good job at taking care of while i was gone was MY FLOWER GARDEN!

Now I understand that he is busy, but one year without work and that garden looks more like a burnt down forest than a beautiful flower garden.

So today I have been working a little in the garden. I worked for maybe 1 1/2 hrs pulling weeds and no substansial progress has been made. I was listening to my fipod(fake ipod) while working and enoying some time with the Lord and I got to thinking about the garden thing. It is so amazing how God made creation to reflect Him. While I was pulling those weeds I felt like giving up. I thought "well maybe I could just pourlots of dirt over this and cover it all up" But that would not have worked! See, Those flippin weeds are like our flippin sin. They get deep. I would pull and pull on a root and would have to use my full bosy strength to get the one root out. That reminds me of some deeply rooted sins. And the truth is, I had to stop working today. My hands were getting raw and it began to rain. And sometimes sin connot be fixed with one day. It is not going to be taken care of by one great church service or camp experience...it takes time.

BUT..there is a heavenly gardener who is willing to work with you, taking the lead, and help you get those roots out and plant something good. After the time goes by, you will want to have deep roots, but not with the weeds of sin, but the beauty that the Lord plants, the word!

So thats just some of the random thoughts that have gone through my head. Praise the Lord that the things around us can allow us to think about Him.

GIGATT
Stephanopolus

ps...i wouldn't say I am bored, but the fact that I am gardening says I am pretty close to be:)

Beth has done it again

Hey Guys. As you know, Bethany came to Gardner-Webb just about a month ago, and she sang a lot of her new songs at the concert. They are amazing. This CD takes a step up from the last CD in that Beth is growing up and maturing a lot in her music. I may be biased, but it is an amazing cd...and it would go as a wonderful gift to all!!!

GIGATT

waste

I've been taking this environmental biology class this semester where we are learning a lot about how wasteful we are, and what we can do to treat the environment better. For some reason I have been easily swayed by the frenzy. I even went out and bought some organic food. Yea, it is hippie behavior, but if the show fits, I might have to wear the hippie shoes (probably berks).
In light of all of that I have been feeling pretty wasteful myself, but not in an environmental way; in a spiritual one. I've been really empty and dry...i really want more, but i have been wasting myself...
And you know how the Lord does things, leading you to a passage of scripture by "accident," and it speaking to you like a textbook. Well, that's what happened to me. It was all in Isaiah 55.

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come you who have no money, come buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul ill delight in the richest of fare."

Now that passage keeps going on, but i think i might be up all night writing this if i go any further. Man, sometimes i just don't feel like I deserve such amazingly clean words from the Lord... It was as if the Lord were saying "Stephanie, come to me. I have what will fill you up. Why in the world are you spending your money, time, efforts and worries on things that won't and don't matter? Just cling to me and I will fill you and satisfy you."

And it is true. I have been spending my money, my time, my worries, by SELF on things that aren't worth it. I have been wasting it. Man, that stinks...it stinks to think that I walk around laboring on what is gonna just dry up at the end of the day, it stinks to think that I have been spending my money on things I don't need. Sometimes I just wanna punch myself so maybe I will understand better the things the Lord says over and over...grr (directed to myself)

But the thing is, this is something that I have dealt with ALL year...since i got to GWU I have struggles with my priorities...and i just can't get a hold of it. This is really one of those situations where i really have to allow God to be my strength, b/c i am so weak...so so weak.

Isaiah 55 has so many more words from the Lord that are really alive to me at this time...this season, this week, this day, man, this minute...and i think that's pretty cool. Why in the world God would love me so much to have so much grace to POUR out on me in my struggles. Why would he posses a love that would see that I am wasting the precious life He gave me, but to still hold me in His arms and teach me a little something about who He is. It is truly an amazing love.

YYYi wanna b a spiritual hippie for the Lord

...

i Y H

So as much as I love this place, this college life, i really miss home. Since Ecuador I just wanted to go home and tell of all the awesome experiences and get and give some HUGS...i really miss those...I just miss it. Tonight I feel it. I need some good home lovin...

Can't wait til Easter Break!!

4 plane rides+
7 random juice drinks+
15 stops at el panaderia+
1 night on a party bus+
500 digital pictures taken+
100s of times saying "repite por favor?" or "yo no se"+
the smiles and tears of children=
one amazing trip to quito ecuador

Her last name is not DILLON???

Ok, so the day finally came. March 7th. Yup, the Day of Bethany Dillon coming to GWU...this day goes down in history...well in my book anyways...So i was pretty much excited...

So i did what WBFJ taught me to do best...be a GOPHER!!

but i did get to go to the concert...sat with tara...it was prett cool!!

here are some people lines up for the concert...

Alana, Carmen, Sabrina, Princess, Maggie, Tara, and ME

here is Matthew Paul Turner..his books are cool..you should buy them!

Here are the Future of Forestry...they were talented...

and then the one and only...the tender-hearted...the humble..Bethany Dillon...(but thats reall not her last name...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrEZEnzK3Bg

Here is her singing..check it out

So it was a great night...it ended with hanging wwith the tour people...

Focus

This past week has been so exciting..my body is running out of excitment energy...here's the re-cap...

This past weekend i was in Cherryville, or as they say it chair-ville, leading in GWU focus trip...

we did double lockins...yes DOUBLE LOCKINS...that 2 nights all night with only about 5 hours of sleep...

it all started with the moon...

Lets see...day one was filled with some interesting pics...especially past about 1:00am....

Thats Rachel Redding...she is a little confused by the bright lights...

and those are some of the youth..looks like Logan, Nick, and i can't tell who the other ones were...

that noodle hitting started soemthing bigger..much bigger...at about 5am, pandamonium broke out...noodles hitting, people running..it was maddness..and quite funny

then there was Jeremy...he decided to sleep

But at the end..well you can see the beauty that came from the weekend...

but here is us riding home...

man...good times i tell you

Valentines Day, Surprises and the skis

Valentines Day... It can be such a gloomy day...only if you let it be though. My day was going ok...I wasn't hoppin around like a bunny, but I wasn't gloomin it either...i was ok...content...happy with who I was. I wasn't expecting anything from the day...

little did i know....

I got a call to go to the University Police to pick up a package...and I had, well, you can see it for yourself...

Flowers, for me? Pshh, there must be some mistake...but no, there is not...but who in the world would sent me flowers??? Surely not a guy! Surely...Well, it was a guy...and the only guy that has the key to my heart!!!...

it was my daddy... No one could make me feel more special than him!

See that face...that is excitement...that is joy.

So that made my day. I mean, i have never in my life gotten flowers, especially on valentines day...so i didn't expect anything more... nothing...but, i sure did get more...

A PACKAGE!!!

from who?? well, the one and only Vannoy family from my church...yup, they love me very much...and what in the world was in that package???

"lots" doesn't even compare...

penguin socks!!! Yipee!(cause all my other ones are in the laundry..hehe, college life)

speakin of laundry...this will take care of that problem!!!

Thanks guys! That was pretty coolio!! Everyone was mad at me the rest of the day for gettin a vday package! So now everyone can see how much joy it brings to a colllege student to get stuff from home...i may be at home here, but it doesn't mean i don't miss "home" like crazy!

AND LASTLY, WE WENT 2 SKI!!!!

Me, carmen and princess suited up...

and we rode for hours up there and waited hours there to get to go down the slopes 3 times...long story, but we did have fun...and, we looked the part....

We had fun...but there was one thing I did not like...

having to wear ski pants HIGHER than my bellybutton...i may act like a grandma, but I don't like to have to dress like one:)

SO thats the update. Miss you, love you, see you next weekend!!

GIGATT

STEPH

If theres a will, theres a way

Well, I've been busy, but i figured that being a college student can give you some type of authority in getting these kind of things goin...can i just say I am flippin excited...!!!!

snow day

i knew it was gonna snow. i knew it. and i knew we weren't gonna have class...i knew that even more. I woke up at 6:00 and checked outside and saw snow...not much, but snow none the less... SO, i found out we didn't have class and decided to get some friends together and go play. 8oclock am...college students playing in the snow...so here u go... thats my brand new boots (got them for Christmas) being put into use...
and this is the first snow ball rolled in a whole year!!!
i don't know what smart person put caution tape up at the bottom of the steps, but tryin to manuver ones self over the caution tape was more of a caution than expected....therefore i decided to tear down the tape... i love the snow!

Meet Tara. She is my bestest GWU friend- she rocks my socks..and she is from Kernersville...CLOSE TO HOME...so, i love her much. she played in the snow with me...

but by about 12 the snow turned into water and mess.,..,but the morning was beautiful...thanks Lord for the snow...!!!

GIGATT