selah.

'my sin weighted on me heavy but i am no longer bound. as sure as Christ wears the crown i know that grace will abound. and even when i feel lost i know in You i am found.'

mission|athens: mission athens music. ↘

my church band is recording a cd! and trust me- you want this. and so does your roommate. and your mom. and your neighbor. and everyone else you know. they are incredible musicians. every single one of them. the singers, drummer, pianist, guitarists, violinist (and probably other instruments that i know nothing about) are all incredible. and they make incredible music.

here’s the dealio: they can’t make this cd without your help! check out the link below for a clearer explanation of what i’m talking about. but basically, if you’d spend $10 on an awesome new cd with great music, then you should at least check out what this band is doing and consider being a part of it because you not only get the music they make but you also get to be a part of them making it!

some of my favorite people are a part of this project. but more then that, their music makes much of Jesus. week in and week out through their music, i am reminded of a Love that has be so fiercely in Its grip that i couldn’t escape it if i wanted to. 

and what could be more valuable? 

missionathens:

OUR BAND IS RECORDING A CD!

That’s right, our band is making a record in March. Maybe you have heard the buzz in the last couple months, and it’s true. We are super excited about this opportunity to bless people with a recording of our bands’ talent making much of Jesus. The CD will be…

to try to put into words my joy and love for this couple would make me sound like a fool. if shakespeare grappled to capture the grandeur of love into words, who am i to try? it’s just not possible. and i think that’s how the best things in life were meant to be: indescribable. and that’s how i feel about this girl marrying this boy. she’s so lovely. and he only makes her loveliness more lovely. i love her with all my heart. and now i love him, too. and i love them. their story is filled with God’s intimacy and grace. from the moment they met to the moment brent proposed to the moment rachael will become his wife to the infinite moments that will make up their forever, God has written such an incredible story for these two. all because He loves them. what a beautiful story of Love. ______________________________ i see your smile and it’s sweeter, after all that i’ve been through. and when we laugh, i get a glimpse of forever and i praise God that i found you. and anytime someone asks me how it all unfolded,  i’ll tell them such incredible chances make for a marvelous love. just like the sun lights up the moon, this love is a reflection of more than just me and you. our lives were less than ordinary. and while i couldn’t see past tomorrow, God was making history. oh my, what a beautiful story of love. unexpected mercy is the greatest thing to find when you’ve been broken many times. my soul found joy and for the first time in a while i felt like singing. oh my, what a beautiful story of Love. -mandi mapes, story of love ______________________________ congrats, my sister. i am so honored to know you, and to be loved by you. you are beautiful beyond words. and loved fiercely with a never-stopping, never-ending, always and forever Love. always and forever.

to try to put into words my joy and love for this couple would make me sound like a fool.

if shakespeare grappled to capture the grandeur of love into words, who am i to try?

it’s just not possible.

and i think that’s how the best things in life were meant to be: indescribable.

and that’s how i feel about this girl marrying this boy.

she’s so lovely.

and he only makes her loveliness more lovely.

i love her with all my heart. and now i love him, too. and i love them.

their story is filled with God’s intimacy and grace.

from the moment they met to the moment brent proposed to the moment rachael will become his wife to the infinite moments that will make up their forever, God has written such an incredible story for these two.

all because He loves them.

what a beautiful story of Love.

______________________________

i see your smile and it’s sweeter, after all that i’ve been through.

and when we laugh, i get a glimpse of forever and i praise God that i found you.

and anytime someone asks me how it all unfolded, 

i’ll tell them such incredible chances make for a marvelous love.

just like the sun lights up the moon, this love is a reflection of more than just me and you.

our lives were less than ordinary.

and while i couldn’t see past tomorrow, God was making history.

oh my, what a beautiful story of love.

unexpected mercy is the greatest thing to find when you’ve been broken many times.

my soul found joy and for the first time in a while i felt like singing.

oh my, what a beautiful story of Love.

-mandi mapes, story of love

______________________________

congrats, my sister.

i am so honored to know you, and to be loved by you.

you are beautiful beyond words.

and loved fiercely with a never-stopping, never-ending, always and forever Love.

always and forever.


0 plays

there is a song i love more than any other song that has ever been written and that will ever be written. 

i know this for fact.

it makes everything better automatically, regardless of what was wrong or what was right in the first place. if things just suck, regardless of how badly they suck, they don’t anymore, if even just for that second i hear these words. if things are great, regardless of how great, they just got that much better, if even just for a second. 

everything i ever needed to know about life are in the words of the bridge (which is really what i’m talking about when i say this is my most favorite song). something i like about myself is that when i commit, i commit hard-i’m all in. and these words have me sold and i will love them always. i feel confident my God will use them again and again to draw me back to Him, if even just for that single moment in time when i hear them. these words are my most favorite prayer to my Father and my most favorite promise He gives me. 

take me and pull me through, because i can’t move without You.                                  

‘I won’t leave you alone,’ You say. ‘you will be okay.’                                                    

only two things on this earth are eternal. the living Word of God and the souls of man.

and this promise from God’s word is imprinted on my soul. forever.

I love the game of football. I love my job. I love Georgia. But what I do is not who I am. I’ve said that before. I think sometimes if we become what we do, & then things aren’t going just right, then all of a sudden our entire world falls apart. I’ve got a faith in my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, & I know that God loves me & is going to take care of me. I just truly believe that. When all the games are done & all the life is lived, I know where I’ll be for eternity.
mark richt. wow.


what did i do this last weekend, you’re wondering? well, you probably know since i have been blogging expectantly about the events of this last weekend for a while now. but it seems only fair that after that much build up, i give you at least a summary of what went down in what has been affectionately termed #VAis4lovas2k11. 

in short, it was the best weekend EVER. i say ever a lot. speaking in ultimatums feels risky. but heck, i think i mean it. 

so thursday circa 5:30 pm, paige, katie, rach, and i piled into paige’s tank of a car headed and for the grand city of charlotte, nc. there we grabbed brent, and we were off. 7 hours later (from when we left athens) we were in the lovely city of roanoke, in perfect time to celebrate mrs. bonne cecil’s 24th birthday! and what a glorious celebration it was. after 12 hours at the lovely cecil residence, we hit the road again for the one and only lexington to see the davis’! but wait, i’m getting ahead of myself. i’m sure you want to know more about our stop in roanoke. okay, i’ll tell you some trip highlights thus far…

-we played “would you rather” for the first hour of our road trip. ask me how much i love car games. (a loooot). wish you could have played with us? well here’s a sample question: would you rather burp chunks or fart liquid? (i think we might have been a 2-2 split on that one).

-we stopped at a super cool gas station on the way up and snagged some sweet candy treats for bonne’s birthday gift, including disgusting looking coconut bon bon’s (we just had to) that only rach ended up really liking. 

-the second we arrived in roanoke, we sang happy birthday to bon, holding up the brown wine bags that doubled as birthday signs and gift bags. awesome makeshift gifting. 

-first thing’s first: we got an awesome tour of bonne and kyle’s AWESOME home. it is so stinkin’ cute. for realz, bon knows how to decorate.

-kyle told us all about his first year in med school. it was thrilling having a real live grey’s anatomy-esque intern in the making in our presence. (and also great to catch up on the latest happenings on grey’s anatomy. kyle’s a loyal fan…)

-let’s be real: the real winner this weekend was the self-timer on my camera. to say we took advantage of that nifty feature is to say virginia is for lovers… duh. the best part? self-timer continuous shooting. so every shot we took, we got 10 photographic goodies. art at its finest if you ask me. 

-thanks to brent, we learned all about vodka gummie bears (one of bon’s awesome gifts). so of course we had to try it. let’s say we messed up the vodka to gummie ratio. our gummies were soaked. and slimy. but just as awesome as they sound. 

-we decided since bon was turning 24, that we should have 24 awesome moments in the 12 hours we were together. we didn’t quite hit 24 (i think we quit at 5 or 6. being together was enough awesomeness in and of itself). but we did get in a couple of good moments, i.e. rachael doing a cartwheel down a narrowwwww hallway (and freaking out mid-air) and bon speaking in a british accent intermittently during breakfast.

-speaking of accents, rach, cros, and i crawled in bed with bon friday morn and sang happy birthday to her… in every accent we could think of. and we’re pretty creative peeps. we sang happy birthday in spanish, portuguese, nerd, robot, british, french, southern, opera. you name it. e ficki. e ficki… e ficki, e ficki, e ficki! (a little sampling of our portuguese happy birthday).

-and speaking of breakfast, we had some delicious homemade muffs thanks to chef bon. also, they have an awesome stool in this awesome little nook in their kitchen. that’s where i spent most of my time friday morn during breakfast prep. 

-falling asleep thursday night felt like the opening scene of a horror movie. bon lives near a railroad track and there was a scaryyyyy train cart making weird haunted noises as we tried to fall asleep. ask rach or katie. it was scary. oh, night time train horror. 

roanoke was just so so so wonderful! the best part obviously was getting to see bonne and kyle’s sweet, sweet faces and getting to spend hours upon hours catching up on each other’s lives. it was just plain good. i love them both dearly and i loved getting to see glimpses of their new life up in va. we love you, bon and kyle. and are so thankful for your friendship. y’all are a treasure and a bundle of life and joy. thanks for a wonderful start to #VAis4lovas2k11. you da best. 

stay tuned for part 2 of #VAis4lovas2k11 coming soon…

even more evidence that God is so so good. and not just vaguely, off in the clouds good, but good to His children. and in this case, me specifically. i can’t believe i’m blessed enough to share life with these four other girls day in and day out. truly, i can’t believe God would give me such incredible friends and roommates the way He does. they are each so beautiful in such unique and different ways. i love each of them. they’ve loved me and changed me in indelible ways by showing me more of Jesus. and i am forever thankful.  i’m so glad you’re my roomies. you rule and our house rules. especially now with the recent living room makeover. it’s totes def still the coolest. p.s. i think end of the year nostalgia is hitting hard…

even more evidence that God is so so good. and not just vaguely, off in the clouds good, but good to His children. and in this case, me specifically.

i can’t believe i’m blessed enough to share life with these four other girls day in and day out. truly, i can’t believe God would give me such incredible friends and roommates the way He does. they are each so beautiful in such unique and different ways. i love each of them. they’ve loved me and changed me in indelible ways by showing me more of Jesus. and i am forever thankful. 

i’m so glad you’re my roomies. you rule and our house rules. especially now with the recent living room makeover. it’s totes def still the coolest.

p.s. i think end of the year nostalgia is hitting hard…

evidence that God is good to me.  nine months ago, i didn’t know a single one of these girls. today, my life is beyond blessed to know them all. we’re all so different and i love it. i’ve learned more about life talking to these girls than i ever did in a social work class. (except that ‘shit’ is actually the politically correct term for ‘poop.’ i learned that in class). they’ve made my first year in grad school what it’s been and my wednesday nights/weekday lunches some of the most laughter-filled, joy-filled times of my week.  i love y’all. i can’t wait for our sleepover may 18th. long live supppppppper club!

evidence that God is good to me. 

nine months ago, i didn’t know a single one of these girls. today, my life is beyond blessed to know them all. we’re all so different and i love it. i’ve learned more about life talking to these girls than i ever did in a social work class. (except that ‘shit’ is actually the politically correct term for ‘poop.’ i learned that in class). they’ve made my first year in grad school what it’s been and my wednesday nights/weekday lunches some of the most laughter-filled, joy-filled times of my week. 

i love y’all. i can’t wait for our sleepover may 18th. long live supppppppper club!