Real Life-Amy Brown a.k.a. Amy Brown

This is Amy Brown, another person that plays a huge role in my life. For me, coming to Gardner-Webb felt right and I knew it was but I knew it would take some getting used to and work to become the person God was calling me to be. Immediately I jumped into a bible study with a bunch of girls who did Young Life with me and was led by Amy. I think it was either the first or second bible study meeting when God put it on my heart to be open and honest with Amy, which isn't an easy thing for me but an awesome quality about Amy is the comfort you have just being around her, she is fun and crazy but loving and caring just as much. After talking with Amy a giant weight lifted off my shoulders but it was just the beginning of my journey here at GWU. 


From there Amy along with many others have just challenged me to grow in my faith and just be the person I was meant to be. Amy and I laugh a lot because our lives and stories are just crazy similar, which makes it great because she understands my life and vice versa. I am just super thankful for her and the things she has done and helped me with.


Another really awesome thing about her is her passion for youth, a passion we both share but for me I sometimes get overwhelmed with the chaos of middle schoolers, I mean who wouldn't, but when I see the love that she pours out to them, I just get really excited and fired up again to keep doing what I love and follow my heart in my growing call to do ministry despite different obstacles.


I really wish most people could know Amy like I do along with my other great friends because it has changed my life a lot since college and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Real Life- Bunions stink!

I don't know if any of you know what a bunion is, besides just a funny word, but a bunion is when the big toe points towards the 2nd toe and causes a bump on the outside of the foot. Sometimes bunions arent really a problem your feet just look funny, but other times they actually can be pretty bad and hurt. Luckily for my little sister she had one of her left foot that was killing her, plus she plays alot of sports so it kept getting worse and worse. From this the only way to fix it is surgery which she had 3 days ago. She was really nervous about being put to sleep and so was I but everything went great, and it was so funny to see her completely helpless after the surgery (which sounds mean but this kid is super stubborn and never gets help so the fact she couldnt get a tissue from where she was sitting to a table was just hilarious)


Check out the xrays and her before and after surgery party:

Real Life- Brittany Mote a.k.a Bmote

Hmmm....I dont even know where to begin when it comes to Brittany Mote. She's hilarious, she is sweet, she is one of the most caring people that I know, she worries too much, she is a selective vegetarian (Ill probably get in trouble for that one), and she is just straight up awesome.

This past summer Brittany and I had just a lot of time to grow together, we both had busy lives but when we had down time we spent it together and I just fell in love with her. Not that I didnt love her before but I definitely saw us as opposites, she tended to be high strung and I just didnt care but over time I have just learned so much about her and so much from her. I thought I knew how to love people well but she taught me how to love even more and with my whole heart. Her passion for the things that she is involved in runs so much deeper than most people and you can just see it in her eyes, and it rubs off for sure.

Me and Bmote
Cleveland County Fair 10'

But with all that love, you must have laughter and boy does she create laughter. Sometimes I wonder how in the world she would like all of us to respond to the ridiculous things she does but in the end we laugh. She also knows how to put on her sassy pants and just say whatever she's thinking. So watch out!

Seriously though, Bmote has been so big in my life over the years even when I didnt notice. I love her alot and I know you would to, and hey she would love you too because she is so good at loving people.

Real Life- Hannah Vaughn a.k.a Banana

I said in the blog before this that I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends because they are really awesome people and deserve some shout outs, starting with this kid. :) Well she isnt really a kid but she can wear kid clothes haha, you can laugh, its cute.

Hannah Vaughn is some one who has shared lots and lots and lots of laughter with me over the past year, from her pretending to fall out of a chair, a window actually falling on my head, or having slapping wars which just look really absurd. I like to think of her as my little ball of sunshine because well, she is. I love being around her along with most people.

Top qualities about this girl. Probably one of the strongest people that I know, hands down. Now I'm going to be honest and say that Hannah and I havent been best friends crazy long, we do Young Life together so I've known her for a while but I was dumb and didnt attempt to get to know her sooner, boy was I missing out for sure. BUT despite the lack of effort, she still stood out to me because everyone just loved her and there was always laughter that surrounded her and I just knew she was special, and she is very special to me.

If you need someone to live in the moment with call banana because she will fully embrace whatever that moment is and laugh about it afterwards. She has a good heart and loves people and I love that she loves me because "All You Need is Love," am I right or am I right?

Love you Banana!

Real Life-Junior Year

Ahhh cant believe it is time for another year at school! Super pumped about it but its just crazy, I'm this old? :) Just kidding just kidding. It is going to probably be the best year to date. Last year was good there was a heck of alot of growing and alot of craziness and so this year my group of friends and I are working on filling in the gaps, living life, and loving each other the best that we can-even if it means giving them a hard time over a first date.


Its just another year that we get to grow together in the body of Christ, which is so cool to me. I wish that everyone could experience what I have got to experience since I came to Gardner Webb as a transfer sophomore. From day one I have been challenged, I have been loved, and the greatest of it all is that I've been free to be me, what more could I ask for.


My group of friends is the most absurd group of people anyone will ever be around. As I said earlier I wish everyone could experience each one of them the way that I have and it is just sooo good, we are very complex in our own ways, but we seriously know how to be "high on life" because never has a day went by where there wasn't enough laughter to spread around campus. It makes me smile so much just thinking about it. Maybe over the next few blogs or so I'll introduce you to them because they are great and they have changed my life and have brought so much light into my life. And the coolest thing about it all is that the extent of the love we have for one another doesnt just circle around us it just expands and we constantly are looking to reach out to others and bring them into this body of Christ that we were made for and should all have the chance to experience.


Love them, love college, definitely going to love Junior Year! Bring em out bring em out!

Reba & Chelsea

Court, Steph, Trem, Amy, & Hannah

Montreat
Amy, Chelsea, Me, MC, Amy

Katey (BEST FRIEND) & Me

Caroling Party- Dec 10'

Bmote and Me

Cleveland County Fair 10'
Baili, Steph, Me, Sara, & Faith

Chelsea's 21st birthday!

Real Life-Summer 2011 recap

 Well Summer 2011 has been a rollercoaster of fun...whooo, can you hear my excitement??! Its been a good bit since I have blogged so I figured it is about time to hit it up but I just dont know where to start, so I'm going to break it down as simply as I can. We'll start from the beginning I suppose...


The end of May and beginning of June I spent a month in pompano beach, I was able to blog while I was there cause I had internet. During that month my aunt from NC who lives down the road from me took my grandfather back with her to NC, leaving me and my grandmother to party hard meaning she had knee surgery and I ran errands, which was easy to do in the sunshine state. I had the chance to grow in the Lord, get a handle on some things, hang out with my awesome grandma whom I call Mama B (not many grandmas have 'G' names like that), and work on my tan. I read alot of books which is something I love to do but never slow down enough to do and got addicted to the show Swamp People which I highly recommend, even my grandma thought I was crazy but loved it by the end.


Anyways after a month in the Sunshine State, and once my grandmother felt better from surgery we headed on up to Shelby, NC. With my grandmother in NC there is still no time lost, she always likes to get projects going on her parents house down the road from me so needless to say all the hours of watching HGTV and TLC came in handy. My little sister Sydney and I almost single handedly renovated the kitchen there.


Busy busy busy. My grandmother stayed in Shelby for about 3 weeks, after we finished the kitchen I took off one weekend with my friend Lydia to visit my best friend Elizabeth and her family in Johnson City, Tennessee. We left went to Asheville and hung out, I experienced my first Gay Parade, very interesting, we picked Elizabeth up spent the night at her house in JC and this summer Elizabeth worked at a camp in Banner Elk so we chose to take her back to camp the next day (1) because the mountains are beautiful and I love just driving through them (2) I missed my best friend so I wanted as much time as possible. It was a very spontaneous exciting trip to TN. But was one of those that ended too soon and back to Shelby we went.


When I got back to Shelby, my grandmother was again ready to hit the ground running but this time it was back to her house. When it was time to go back to Florida, she needed someone to drive her and my grandfather because it is a 12 hour trip, I was free so what the heck. Alright now bear with me for this cause that week was hectic... on Wednesday I went to Carowinds, Thursday I drove us down to Pompano, and then on Friday I hopped back in the car with more family from FL and drove back up to Lake Norman.


Yes, Lake Norman. One of my aunts uncle and 2 cousins live on the street over from my grandmother, and last year they rented a house in Lake Norman and this summer they did it again. Conveniently we got back just in time so that I could ride back with them instead of flying home. But I definitely dont recommend 24 hours in a car that fast, it was so tiring. Anyways we drove to Lake Norman my sisters came up that night and we spent the whole week there with them. I fished alot with my cousin Ethan, my uncle brought his Skater boat up so we hit 90 mph a couple times on the lake, and one day we rented Jet Skiis. (Ill have to put pictures of all this up later too)


After the week was up, they went home and I was onto my next crazy adventure. Appalachian Trail here I come! I met Elizabeth and her family again but this time at their mountain house between Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland, parked the car we packed our backpacks her dad Allen dropped us off and Elizabeth Marianne (her mom) and myself were on our way. Did I say I had never backpacked before? Oh yea, nope, this was my first time--now lets be for real, real life-I thought I was going to die. It was definitely a trip that I look back on and was like that was beautiful but during it the only thing on my mind was "Are we there yet?". But really it was great, I got some awesome time to hang with Elizabeth and the mountains are beautiful. God was so big during this whole trip. 

   

Needless to say the trip was great, but the shower I took afterwards was one of the best showers I've ever taken and the meal afterwards mmmm....soo good. I loved being with Elizabeth but eventually the fun had to end and I had to head home. On to the next adventure I should say....

A few days after I got back from backpacking I was in the car AGAIN on my way to Marietta, GA to spend time with my little cousins Dylan and Alexis. SN: they are my two most favorite people, I love them to death Any who I was excited to spend time with them. When we arrived in Marietta there was construction going on at their house. A while back a tree had fell on their house so they took the opportunity to renovate things and one project was to stain wood in their living room. Fortunately for us the guys did it the day we were heading there, the smell was soo strong we spent the entire week in a hotel. Now Dylan and I did not object to ordering wings through room service and the three of us watched shark week, my aunt yelled at me for it but I took the educational opportunity very seriously. But all that was short lived, its rough 5 people living in a little hotel room for a week so we packed up and went back to Shelby to finish out the rest of my summer till school. 

2011 Summer recap for you peeps. Its alot but real life-my life right ?? haha Deuces yo!

Real Life- Heaven is for Real

MUST READ.... IT IS SO GOOD!!