Inspiration

I have been thinking today on inspiration that gets me through the day.  Inspiration that helps me succeed or motivate me to be better.  This kind of inspiration, I thought, would come from a great book, an influential man, and in my mind a sports icon.  However, as I pondered what to write today and how to best inspire you... I thought about a conversation - this conversation has helped me look at life a little differently... so here is the story.



Nerves, that's the good part - ride that adrenaline.



I don't exactly know where it happened or even when, I just remember the text message I got that changed my perspective on competition.  For years I have been petrified getting up on stage and playing the piano.  It has never been something I enjoyed doing.  Now, sit me down in front of 88 ivory keys in the comfort of my own home and I will tickle those ivories until my fingers sweat.  The thought of getting in front of the crowd on the Miss Arkansas stage just about made me sick in the stomach.  One day last spring I was texting my friend from Baylor, Ashley, and was telling her how how nervous I was about playing in front of people.  She confidently text me.  



Nerves, that's the good part - ride that adrenaline.  




Ashley :




An All-American Selection in 2006 & 2007, Ashley was a first team All-Big 12 Conference honoree and named player of the week for three consecutive weeks. She holds the Baylor Career Record Holder for home runs per game, RBI's per game, slugging percentage, on base percentage, hits, doubles, games played and started. Career-record holder for slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Upon graduating from Baylor, 

Ashley was one of 36 players invited to attend the 2007 Olympic Camp. 

She was then drafted to the National Pro Fastpitch League and the Professional Fastpitch Extreme (PFX) tour. Ashley is still active in the game, playing first base and left field for the PFX Tour, which includes 30 top caliber professional players.




Nerves, that's the good part - ride that adrenaline.


Ashley is a hard worker and I was so honored to work with her the year I was at Baylor and look forward to going back because she was a great friend. Ashley obviously knows what she is talking about when she said those words to me. Being a professional athlete causes you to look at things differently and she was able to impart a little of that knowledge with me and I am so blessed. .  But think about those words.  Ride that adrenaline.  Ride it.  How many times are you nervous or scared of the unknown - it could be a presentation or a conference, even something as simple as a phone call - but the adrenaline we have is looked at as a negative emotion or feeling.  




What Ashley empowered me to do was view the adrenaline, that butterflies in your stomach feeling, as a positive motivator and use that to do your best.  I did.  And after changing my mindset completely I was able to push through the shaking hands and the butterfly feeling and do the best that I ever had.  It is a quote, a feeling, and a way of life that I will always remember and I will always strive to live out.



Nerves, that's the good part - ride that adrenaline.

Why Can't God Tweet!?

I think I told you that I went to Dallas last week and went to church with my cousin Meg at Gateway Church.  Well I really enjoyed the sermon.  He was very relatable and so funny.  So I went to the church website.  Go Here to see the sermons by Pastor Stephen LeBlanc.  This is what your screen should look like... and please if you watch any of them.  Please watch Sometimes God is Silent.

Pastor Stephen Says:  

"Sometimes God is Silent becuase we are not.  We are the servant, we are the one who is supposed to say God, I want to pour out my heart to you and sometimes we just need to stop talking and back off.  And when we back off and we turn off the electronic product de jour and the constant music and constant media - gosh you can't even watch the news without three crawls and this and that.  We are so into multi-tasking.   we are so into microwaving, but God is into marinating.  And he is saying this, listen, I still speak like I did the first seven and a half thousand years.  Come on, God needs to learn how to tweet!  God doesn't do it.  He waits until we power down.  He waits until we cultivate a place of maturity when we are ready to listen and says I am ready to listen because he will not compete on the world stage.  Psalm 46:10 BE STILL AND KNOW!"

WOW!  What a great message.  And that is only a minute of a 40 minute sermon!  Its's so great!

How many times have you wanted the answer now.  I know that recently I have been praying and wanted a straight up answer.  I wanted God to tell me know.  Even after listening to the sermon, I thought that I was doing it right.  I thought that I was praying and waiting.  Little did I know.  I wasn't.  Sometimes you just need to step back and evaluate outside the situation and prayer to see if you truly are leading and praying a life of maturity in waiting and listening.  

Listening is so hard for me.  I like decisions to be made now.  Sometimes that leads to making the wrong decision.  Making a decision that if you would have waited just a little bit you would have made a different one.  You might have seen God's providence.  

I pray today that you wait.  You see. And that you Listen to what God has to say.

This is my work place.  I was booted to a tutor room - but I am okay with that - I have a door, a plug in, and I can watch hulu and sermons all day!  I had an athlete today and I am really enjoying helping and organizing these classes.  It is a lot to keep organized in my mind but with several schedules a highliter pack and lots of excel spreadsheets _ I am able to keep myself organized and on track! God definitely placed me in this position because of my organizational skills!  Pray for my kids that they do their work and have a great semester!

From Top to Bottom Left to Right these are my kids:  Brittney, Donald, Tsuwani, and Cordarius!

Dear younger and more artistic sister,

I miss you so much.  I wish you would come and visit me in Waco, but I understand that you would rather go to Annapolis to be with... well achem, a boy!  It's really okay.  I am not bitter or anything!  But I would really appreciate some wall art for my room!  You are such a talented artist and I would love and think it was the coolest thing if my talented little sister spent time and made me a little piece of love.  You know they say that?  Art is a form of love.  Well, will you love me? haha.  I like this maybe for my room (red black and white and yellow) Love you sister

Your darling older and much wiser sister.





Thought of my good ole friend from a blog around the corner (that's a cute name for a blog if you are looking for one) at Katis Get Away.  Her little boy Ryder will one day play baseball I am sure of it.  And one day my son (who I want to name.....) okay I am so not going to tell you that because then you will like it and use it!  Stop being so nosy! hehe.  I thought these pillows were so cute especially for a little boys room!  Found on pinterest of course!

I am headed to Houston Tonight!  I am going to stay with the sweet and darling Laura Holt and precious little girls!  I can not wait!  I am counting down the hours until 5!  It will be so good to get away and be with Mrs. Laura!  She is so wonderful!  and the absolute epitome of a Proverbs 31 woman.  She is such an inspiration to me and I am so thrilled about our relationship and how I am able to be closer to her and spend some time listening to her and asking her questions.  It is important in life to find those women that are wiser than you and to sit under them and learn!  Why do you think Alexander the Great was so great?  (besides my incredible paper this summer) He was great because he studied under Aristotle who studied under Plato.  They soaked up the knowledge!  Well I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman for my man :)  So I will sit and soak. and LISTEN!

I will leave you with this:

taken from www.joyshope.com

With love you can truly find bliss.  And with bliss you will always be charmed!

Abby

My week in short.

I promised I would tell you about work at Baylor - So here it is.  

BOOK ROOM:

First we have these sheets of paper (below) and one sheet equals one athlete.  Each athlete is taking classes, obviously, and we have to pull their books for when they come and get them.  So we go through the list and check for three things:  

1. no text required classes (we have to double check these in case that is a misprint)

2. Check for Double books

3. And then finally highlight the books that we do not have and can't find so that we can go to the bookstore and complete each student's book list. every sheet almost needs books from the bookstore.

Then we get to look in the BOOK ROOM for all of these books!  Sometimes it is pretty easy, but then sometimes there are soo many books and they aren't alphabetized so it is hard to find... 

 After we find the books we stick the sticky note on top of their book pile and set them in sports groups (track, golf softball etc..) We have almost made it through the women's sports teams!  Yay.  All of this most be completed by Friday at 3!  So we have a long week ahead of us...

Coming home:

So Wednesday after work I left and headed to Arkansas.  I was so ready to get home.  I only stopped once!  And then I made it to Carlisle at about 11 and I got a flat tire.  My wonderful boyfriend drove 45 minutes to pick me up!  I was so thankful for him and for his loyalty to me!  Definitely saved my mom a trip to Carlisle!  I was so happy to see him!  I will tell you one thing - Long Distance is NOT fun!  but I am praying constantly for patience, persistence, and strength!


I went and met his dad and stepmom on thursday night.  We drove to Jonesboro!  It was so much fun.  His dad made chicken - which I love - and potatoes and grilled vegetables.  On our way I decided we needed to take pictures and 'document' our road trip.  Taylor was so sweet to let me snap a few with my phone.  He really can't stand phone pics - but at least we have some.  Oh and the sweetest thing - we went to dinner last night and then to watch the Help.  By the way - if you haven't seen it!  GO SEE IT! It was unbelievably good!  Even Taylor liked it!  Anyways, he had this picture on his phone background!! How sweet is that!  love this boy.

 Went shopping at Target with my mom yesterday and bought some stuff for my room in Waco!  It took us forever to pick a bed spread but we decided on this yellow with a red quilt!  Do you like it?  I am sure I will be posting about my room decor later.  I am really excited!  My mom was so sweet - she really does not like to shop - but she was so sweet to go with me and help me pick up all of my room stuff.  It is kind of hard moving into your first house after college because you really haven't accumulated anything, well at least not from ouachita because all of the rooms are furnished.  But we got most of it!  And I want to say I can't wait to decorate - but actually I can.  I really like my time at home this weekend and do not want to go back!

Hanging out on Friday night.  This boy is soo sweet.  CHeck out how we are matching in our red rain  coats!!! 

PINTEREST FINDS!  If you do not have a pinterest account - create one!  It is amazing!

Amazing long distance quote I thought it was cute!

And of course I can't have a blog post without cupcakes!!  Thought this was a cute quote and pic!

And Baseball!  You know how much i love it - and then this is just wonderful!!  I cant wait to do this one day!  Just makes me soo happy to see that little hand on that ball!

 I hope I look like this.. yah right!

I am going to leave you with a video:  Watch it!  Enjoy it - and then pray that God gives you the strength to live day to day through the trials, the temptations, and even the good times - don't wish anything away, don't take anything for advantage - instead live life as though today is your last.  God will give you strength - and it is amazing when he does.

Especially those times that you look back and you say  THAT WAS GOD.  

Enjoy life - and live it!  Be Charmed!  God will help you through and thats wonderful.  you are not strong enough, but with God you are!

Abby

The Wait Is Over!!

Taylor and I finally took a picture together and how I'd love for this to be an entire blogpost about how cute and precious he is or how perfect we look together.. I'll refrain because it will probably sound like Delilah and I don't know about you but when I hear Delilah on the radio I want to gag. So I'll jut show you pictures! And if you want to comment.. Feel free!


Did I tell you that Taylor brought me to St Louis this weekend? We drove up after he got off work on Friday and brought my cousin Trey and his girlfriend Madison. They are juniors in college. It's so wonderful how Taylor was thinking about us and our witness and how we should NOT come alone to a city! Taylor is great and always takes the high road with me! Love it!

We got up today and went downstairs for hotel breakfast and it was $12 a pop so we went to McDonalds!!

Then it started raining so we chilled in the hotel room for a while and finally left and went to the Galleria where we had Panda Express - I do not know what it is about mall foo courts but they rock! We saw several cubs fans and because Taylor is a Huge cubs fan he had to talk to them all!

When we came up here Dad was still trying to get us tickets.. Well we got them around 1:30! They were great seats behind 3 base line! however, it would have been nice if i would have known the game started at 3!  at 3:30 Taylor received a text from a buddy asking where we were sitting.. hey guess what!  we were still at the mall! So we rushed to the stadium (about 15 minutes) made some great friends at the parking lot and then ran inside!  Our seats, again, were wonderful and we had just the most wonderful time.





Here we are at the food court!  First official picture together!! Adorable!





In the suit store waiting on our boys - this is Madison and she is dating my cousin Trey! She was so much fun to hang out with this weekend!






This was Maurice and he helped Taylor pick out a suit for next weekend.  Okay let me let you in on a little something special in Taylor's life (besides me haha joke!)  Taylor is getting the honor to perform the wedding ceremony at one of his great college friend's wedding's next weekend.  How awesome is that.  So he had to get a suit - which is a great purchase for a 22 year old. He needed a suit.  Well, this suit was wonderful. and Looked very handsome on him.  I am getting to go to the wedding and I am wondering what I should wear - I will probably call my friend Amy, she is the best dressed... EVER!  I wish she lived with me!  She should most likely come over this week to check out my options.  I will give her a call.





Taylor in his suit!  Love it!  OKay - can i just state again if I haven't before how crazy I am about this boy and how excited I am to see him do his job.  He has been going over notes and praying about this sermon for a while and I am thrilled to see what God has in store for this couple - And I get to be there!  Have you ever been with your family, boyfriend, or friend and just been in utter joy that you were with them... that is called BLISS my friend! And I have a ton of it right now!  This boy makes me soo happy.  Oh, and I am excited to sit and watch him do a great job... can you be excited for that?  I am.





Here we are at the Cards Cubs game.. which the Cubs lost MISERABLY at.  However, the cubs came back today and won 6-3.  Touche Clark!  Taylor does not meet a stranger so everybody we saw ALL DAY that had a cubs shirt on, he had to talk to!  We got some crazy stories, but for the most part - I have learned that Americans are very friendly people and if you are being authentically genuine - they will be the same back to you and it will all work out!  Be inspired to be authentically genuine to a stranger tomorrow.. whether that be in the gym, at the store, or even driving - wave, say something nice, ask about something positive!  You will find bliss.





The gang at the game!  We had so much fun altogether and let me tell you something - madison can talk some smack!  The cubs were not playing veryw ell, the GM got kicked out, bad play at third, lowsy call at second - and they could not hit - 3 up 3 down every inning but the first.



After the game we went to Cheesecake Factory and there was an hour wait to get a beeper!  and then a 2 hour wait after that.  we said - no thanks!

and headed to red lobster -

Rules of the trade:

1.Get the Coconut Shrimp!
2. Get the Lobster Pizza
3.  DONT FORGET DESSERT _ CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE AND ICECREAM!



No lie - it was gone in a blink of an eye - and it was GOOD!




Me and Taylor - Still with that silly hat on - At least I know he is faithful and loyal!!  :)






So Today - with everything going on... I have decided to sit in peace in the knowledge that God sees everything, he knows everything, and he holds me together!  He knows what is coming up and what shall pass!

Deuteronomy 32:3-4 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.  Oh, praise the greatness of our god!  He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all His ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright, and just he is!

I am sooo impatient!  I want the answers NOW!  However, I bet God is laughing.  He is probably saying oh my child - have you learned nothing.  How many of us wander in life and think why isn't this working out - why isn't everything happening like it should.  It's because we don't have the missing puzzle piece - JESUS.  It is so bard sometimes to see God's hand and his plan at work, but walking daily and praying daily for his hand and his help and guidance in faith knowing that HE HAS REASONS AND HIS PLAN IS PERFECT!

Psalm 33:11 - But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Yes sir, that is a true verse!~  As everything in life starts wokring out again, and everything begins to unfold - I always feel so silly - like Look at your perfect plan jesus!  Your wonderful timing - WOW!!   Every curve, every tear, every bump and bruise had a purpose - and that purpose gave me a divine conspiracy.  He formed me - he knew what would happen!

I hope you are encouraged to slow down and be patient!  God does have a plan - and if you are unsure what that is right now... GET EXCITED!! that just means the best part of the story is yet to come!!  YAY!

Have bliss in a charmed way!

Abby

God, do your thing!

I have had the most fun time at the beach! Destin is by far the best place to relax and rejuvenate the soul. Preacher at church last Sunday said that he was at Yellowstone National Park and God said - look at what I created. Without any man made interference - I did this. This is what I can do when you let ME DO MY THING. Wow! That is kind of how I felt when I saw these sunsets at the beach. No, they do not even begin to capture the magnitude of God's beauty - but it does make you sit back and think. Hey, what if I didn't interfere with what God was doing in my life - What do you think would happen? Would you begin to see miracles, would jobs line up, would sicknesses begin to heal, would troubles seem to leave? Life might be a little easier - if we just let GOD DO HIS THING.

Yah, okay - now that I look at it - It's pretty disgusting! haha but here is a better picture from the back porch looking onto the Bay side (not ocean front).

And then here is one of a prettier day at the beach!

If you haven't been reading my blog Miss Cupcake Queen (Here) then you probably don't know about my obsession and insane craving for blueberries. After my diet for Miss Arkansas I have been craving blueberry ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING! I am pretty sure I showed you yesterday the blueberry cake thing that Bethany and I made, so today I am going to show you the blueberry things I ate.

This is a blueberry pancake my dad made for me. I grew up eating powdered sugar and butter on my waffles and pancakes - call me weird, I know! But I love it! In fact, everyone was making fun of how much powdered sugar I had put on my Pancake in ratio with the actual BLUEBERRY pancake. Let me tell you - it was so good. Dad put real blueberries in it. It was delicious. He told me a trick that I will share with you: Heat the blueberries up in a ziplock bag before putting them in the batter - that gets some juices out of the berries so that they will mix in the pancake batter and give a fresh berry taste! Nom. Nom. Nom.

For lunch we went to Panera Bread and then got FRO - YO at 32 degrees. It was really good - of ocurse I got the Blueberry Cheesecake yogurt with real berries on top. DELICIOUS!





A picture of the Fro- Yo bar. It is actually a really cute place - but it was legit 32 degrees in there. It was a freaking ice box! yikes! we sat outside.



Girls Night Out! We all went to the Back Porch for dinner.

1. took Molly Anne forever and a day to eat her 1/2 pound of crab legs - we had paid and she had cleared our table before Molly Anne was finished. ha

2. Our waitresses arm muscles were ripped = we eventually asked her if she was a gymnast. She said yes, when I was younger! What! I wish I had arms like that good grief!

3. We no lie - sat down at 9:30, food at 10:15 and did not leave until 11. late night. yikes! still fun oh and we got t-shirts out of the meal!








After dinner - we stopped by Alvin's Island.

1. the most perverted shirts I have ever seen - i will never walk back in another one of those stores.

2. my sister got a cute destin shirt - (last picture)

3. Molly Anne won $2 in quarters out of this gambling machine.

NOTE TO READERS: she lost it all trying to win MORE! GAMBLING does that to you - don't waste your money. Okay, off the soap box. :)










Last morning there - Bethany And I made a spread of breakfast! Everybody was happy :) it was a good day. Cinnamon Rolls, Bisquits and Jelly, Eggs, and Sausage. Wow! Just call us IHOP!






This catches McKenzie in Action! She was spitting off of the 12 floor and trying to hit the man doing yard work. after about 5 tries.. she actually did it! No worries, he had a hat on.



Then, finally our last night - we had picture time! Here are some of the best!

This is my family!

All of the girls that went! We had a blast can you tell!

Then we went to the Mellow Mushroom and had some pizza!

Remember that no matter what happens - the same God that puts the stars out at night, and the same God that created sunset and waters the earth - cares for you!

He loves you. Be blessed in that and Thankful and have bliss in your life.
Abby