The 14th of February

Happy Valentines Day Everyone! I hope everyone is having an awesome day.  It's 70 degrees and sunny today in Tuscaloosa, a perfect day to walk around the quad if you've got some free time! Thank you Jesus for the sunshine!


This weekend I went to Purcell Farms in Sylacauga for the JH Staff Reunion. It was so great to see all of my friends that I got so close to over the summer. It really is amazing how deep friendships can go when they are centered around Jesus. I hadn't seen some of these people in eight months, and they came just  as naturally as the friendships that I have here in Tuscaloosa. 

My better half, Ali Stefanek

The Housekeeping Crew that I love SO much!

After an incredible weekend, I've been doing a lot of thinking about how different my life is today than it was this time last year. Last year, I was still living at home, I had maybe five friends that I could always rely on (Take into account that I counted my dog as one of those five), unfortunately I had not pledged AGD yet (MiZ), I was involved in a couple of unhealthy relationships, and I just remember always wanting to move forward and get to the next step in life. Nowadays, I'm a college student and I am living on my own, I finally found something that I am passionate about and now have an idea of what I actually want to do with my life, and I am surrounded by people who love me and care for me deeply. Words cannot describe how much happier I am. I am perfectly content in my skin, which I have never been able to say before. Ask anyone who knew me last year, all I cared about was how my hair looked, if my outfit for school the next day was perfect, and if I had any facebook notifications. Talk about POINTLESS!!!! It started changing when I went to the Ranch this summer. I know I always talk about JH, but once you go you'll see, you never stop talking about it... so deal with it. Being a camper was great, but once I was on staff my world got rocked! I was immediately put on the housekeeping staff when I got to the ranch and I was the opposite of excited. Housekeeping was like a bottom-of-the-totem-pole-scrub-toilets-every-day-no-matter-what kind of job. After being taught how to scrub a boy toilet correctly by Mrs. Grace Dean and how to remove the mildew and fungus out of a shower, I was completely humbled and broken. Long story short, for some strange reason I thought that I was the shiz-nit, and I was the exact opposite. You know the song "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands"? It is so true and I finally believe it! I always thought that I needed to control SOME of the stuff in my life but Jesus says he wants it ALL. Once you give it over to Him, your life will never be the same. 


Basically what I am trying to say in this blog post is that Jesus is faithful. I know that sometimes we don't think He's up there listening, but he IS! He LOVES YOU SO MUCH. People always care about what we look like on the outside when we want to impress someone. But when Jesus looks down, he doesn't see that new CoverGirl mascara or that big red truck with the big black tires, he sees your heart. So my question to you today is, do you think Jesus is proud of what he sees when he looks at you?I don't know about you, but I want Jesus to look over the clouds and pull over Joseph and Abraham to his throne, point down at me, and say, "LOOK! That's my daughter! Look how well she is doing!" Obviously we are nowhere near perfect and we never will be, but all He asks is that we give it all over to Him and try our very best!


I know today is the day of love and picnics and roses and candy and hearts but the love of Jesus is so much sweeter. He will NEVER stop loving us, and even better, you can NEVER do ANYTHING to make him love you less. 


Don't think you have a Valentine today? You do. You have one everyday, and His name is Emmanuel.

ahhh back bloggin it UP

ahhhh hello blogging friends! what a crazy month it has been. last time i blogged i was talking about getting ready for mary margaret and kenny's wedding, and now it is almost their one month anniversary! the lovebyrds honeymooned in the bahamas, and then came home christmas eve so that we could do christmas together! christmas at the dorr house was magnificent as usual, lots of gifts and love and quality time together before kenny and marge left. we actually had a white christmas this year which made it even more special!!! now marge and ken-diggity dawg are settled into their apartment in virginia, and very happy. they are awesome. and in the words of forrest gump, "that's all i have to say about that"

christmas break was a 39 day break for me. thats a month and a week! i loved being back in my house with my family and puppy dogs and my own room! it was just fabulous. at the beginning of the break, i entered into a photo contest with Seaside cottage rental agency, and with the help of my family, friends, and sorority, my picture won!!! i was so excited. i released the rights of my image to them and so now they can use the picture in their advertising! so i'm really happy about that. thanks to everyone who "liked" my picture!

i thought i would leave you with the entry of Jesus Calling for today, its so good i read it three times!

"Let Jesus prepare you for the day that stretches out before you. He knows exactly what this day will contain, whereas you only have vague ideas about it. You would like to see a map, showing all the twists and turns of your journey. You'd feel more prepared if you could somehow visualize what is on the road ahead. However, there is a better way to be prepared for whatever you will encounter today: Spend quality time with Jesus. He will not show you what is on the road ahead, but He will thoroughly equip you for the journey. His Living Presence is your Companion each step of the way. whispering His Name whenever you need to redirect your thoughts. Thus, you can walk through this day with your focus on Him. His abiding Presence is the best road map available."

smooches, kitty

2,000 views yeauh

i hope you enjoyed that video that i took of my family as we were looking for our christmas tree :)

i've officially been home for christmas break since saturday, and it has been such a relaxing week hanging out with my family and puppy dogs. its going to get even better today because kenny kenny byrd yall is flying into birmingham to hang out wit da dorr fam and get ready for his and mary margaret's wedding in EIGHT days!!! its crazy to think it is almost a week away, i remember when we were  counting down in the 100's and now it is eightttt days away. i can't wait! mary margaret has her last dress fitting today, and we have a couple of small things to do before the rehearsal dinner but besides that, we are pretty much done planning and getting everything together. mary margaret and kenny are so excited, and  i am so happy for them! as you can see in the christmas tree video, kenny fits in so perfectly with our family, jesus could not have picked anyone more perfect for mary margaret. i probably wont have much time to post this next week getting all of this last minute stuff done, but i will be putting up some of my pictures from the wedding :) talk to you guys in a week! 

 CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN: SIXTEEN DAYS!

why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?

even though the title of my blog post was said by a british guy in what a girl wants, a movie from 2003, it is still one of my favorites. last week during alpha gam's freshman bible study we were talking about how hard it is to fit in and the reasons why you would want to fit in. going into college, all i wanted to do was make friends. and to make friends, you've got to do the stuff they are doing, wear the clothes they wear, listen to the music they listen to, say what they say, and so on. in our bible study we were talking about WHY we do this to ourselves. jesus  is not only our creator, father, and savior, he also wants us to be so close to him that we consider him our best friends. can you even imagine your life if you didn't care what people thought about you because you knew you ALWAYS had the perfect love of jesus? seriously his love is perfect. he is the only thing in the world that is perfect. why would you not invest your time into him every day? he will NEVER let you down. and he obviously created you, so he thinks his creation is great too. you will never have to "win him over" or impress him because he already loves you so much. we have GOT to stop wasting our time trying to win the approval of others, cause at the end of the day, the only person who's opinion matters is the one of jesus. he created us to be salt and light to the world, and i don't know about yall, but that to me means STANDING out and being SET apart. i think that the last thing he would want is his children not being able to be picked out of a group because we blended too well.

just something to think about today.

jesus loves you so much and wants to be your very best friend.

WEEZY

TODAY IS A BIG DAY FOR TWO REASONS:
1) WEEZY IS FREE.
2) I'VE GOTTEN A THOUSAND VIEWS ON MY BLOG!! YAY!! THANKS EVERYBODY.


THAT IS ALL.


ROLL TIDE.


SHOUTOUT TO MICHELLE DUNAJCIK, SHE MY HOME GIRL.


PEACE AND BLESSINS

so blessed by your faithfulness

so. i went to huntsville (aka h-town, huntsvegas) with margaret anne pate and matthew brightbill for fall break. it was such a relaxing and much-needed break from stress and school. i cant even tell you how much god has blessed me by placing these two people in my life. have you ever gotten back from doing something and you are sitting in your bed later or maybe in the shower and you think to yourself about how awesome the people are that the lord puts into your life? happens to me literally every single night. 


i know this phrase is so overused and a tad cheesy, but for me its entirely true. i do not know what i would have done without them in my first semester here at alabama. so much changed in my life over one summer. after working at the ranch and getting back home i was no longer a young girl in high school, i was an adult entering college. its still really weird to think about really, picturing myself as an adult. but it still completely amazes me just to think about how god really does have my entire world in his hands. 


the lord knew that i needed to meet these two people at the ranch this summer to succeed in college. so he put it on all of our hearts to first of all work at the ranch. and then we were all accepted, put in positions at the ranch that were near each other, and margaret anne lived in the same trailer that i did for two months. there is absolutely no way that it was just coincidence that i am friends with these two people. in not saying that matthew and i are getting married, but these two special people are literally and most definitely my soul mates. 


i can't even imagine tomorrow without having them by my side. 


these two people are so real, so life-giving and just so perfect for me, i know we will be friends for the rest of our lives. and just to think that our little triangle of awesomeness is centered around mr. love, jesus christ himself! it just blows my mind to think of how perfectly god makes things work in your everyday life. true story: my whole senior year i was begging jesus to bring just a few godly friend into my life. i had friends at vestavia, but i was just so worried about going to college and not knowing anyone. not only did jesus give me friends, he gave my very best friends that i am kinda sorta totally obsessed with.


THANK YOU JESUS FOR BEING SO FAITHFUL! 


if you want something from the lord, ask him and he will bless you way beyond what you asked for.


Ecclesiastes 4:12 "A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

love. plain and simple.

today i was walking out of my computer lab when i saw a girl dressed in all black. my first thoughts were, "she is emo-tastic." but then i got closer to her and was able to read her shirt and it literally blew my mind. this shirt had no fancy labels or tags on it, no funny pictures or quotations on it, all the shirt had on it were four simple letters. 

L-O-V-E. 

this shirt literally had me thinking the whole way back home. usually when you think about the word love, you think about skipping on the beach with your awesome boyfriend in july as the wind blows through your hair and the sand sinks beneath your toes. but this shirt was black with white letters. it wasn't pink and red with hearts all over it. it was just black. i think that this shirt is challenging all of us to get out of our comfort zones and stereotypical love bubbles and really LOVE PEOPLE! can you even imagine how much it would increase the quality of our lives if we automatically loved everyone that we met instead of judging, stereotyping, or accepting the past rumors about a person? not only would they appreciate it, your life would also change for the better. everyone is always looking for something they can do to 

change the world. 

the random girl who was wearing this extraordinary shirt has finally found the way. love the lord. love people. love the girl in your class who doesn't talk to anyone. love the boy on your hall that stays in his room all the time. love your competitors, no matter what team they pull for. love that one person who you think you hate. love the person who cuts you off on the road and makes you run late. love the person who accidentally steps on your foot in the elevator. love your atheist teacher who attacks your religion. love the people you work with. love your family. love your friends. love all of your enemies. and then love yourself.


of course my jesus already knew all of this...
1 corinthians 13:13 new living translation: "three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love."


now everybody get out there and LOVE SOMEBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!