bet you thought you'd never see one of these again, did you?

Bet you thought you’d never see one of these again, did you?  It’s funny how when I’m at school any free second I have (which is very rare) is used to just sit and breathe.  School is so go, go, go that when I get home, all I want to do is just collapse and not think about anything at all. whatsoever.  Right now, I’m driving down 64 with Sarah and Ali passing all of the bare, leafless trees.  Last time I was on this road the trees were full of bright green leaves and it was warm.  Weird.  This will be my first time going home since mid-August (well except when we went to Sandbridge in September for a YL leader retreat, but I didn’t go home-home) and all I want to do is lay by my fireplace, catch up on all the TV shows my sister has recorded, cook dinner, shower without shower shoes, sleep in my bed for hours upon hours, make crafts from Pinterest, and I guess I should spend time with my family and friends. :)    


With 10 weeks under my belt, and only 3 more after Thanksgiving break, I thought I would reflect over this semester so far- the good things, funny stories, the bad things, things I’ve learned in my walk with the Lord, highlights of the semester- just anything, really.  I feel like I have to do this in order to process everything that’s happened so far, so here it goes:

·      going to the Julie’s lake house on Lake Anna with a bunch of girlfriends for Labor Day

·      living with 6 of my best friends in a suite on campus has been so awesome and has taught me so much about living with other people

This is our suite decorated at the beginning of the year. Now there is an actual bed with the mattress.

·      with that, communication/confrontation has been huge this semester and I’ve learned how important it is to keep short accounts and not let things build up and to also go to the person before going to anyone else

·      our Young Life leaders retreat in Sandbridge in September was awesome and allowed us to get to know our new Area Director, Justin Ryder and his wife Libby better and we were able to dive deep into learning about the Holy Spirit

·      leading Wyldlife at Montevideo M.S. has been incredible and I have seen the Lord so at work there and in our team.  can't wait to see everything He has in store for us there.

Team Montevideo. The best, obviously.

·      our first Wyldlife club since last fall happened in October and the Lord totally blew us away with how well it went and how it’s gone since then- He’s doing great things at Montevideo!!

Last week after we had neon club.  so. much. fun

·      with things going so well with Wyldlife, I’ve learned that it’s completely the Lord- not myself at all.  All I’ve had to do is show up and He uses and works through me. That has been so key to learn.

·      my parents coming up for every. single. football. game.  I’m kidding, it’s been great having them up here so much.  Especially because at every tailgate there’s been such good food. 

·      Dance parties, bonfires, fall parties, etc. are always so fun

·      small group has been really great this semester.  it’s taken most of the semester just to learn how to be vulnerable with each other, but I think we’re finally there.  we’ve been going through spiritual disciplines and then putting the spiritual discipline we learned that week into practice the week following it.   

·      one of my favorite weekends was when rob and stacey and my boyfriend came up from the beach and our friend erin came from tech.  we spent the weekend catching up on life, going to a farm and getting pumpkins, and eating at Dave’s for dinner.  it was so sad to see them go, but I get to see them so soon!!

·      having my first cup of coffee- I know, I’m finally a true college student

·      finding a house for next year was a pain in the butt, but the house we found is absolutely amazing and we are so excited to live in it!  we signed the lease yesterday and felt so grown up.

·      taking my first Communications class.  it’s a lot different than math, but I really like it.

·      my granddad was in the hospital in October for a couple weeks and not doing well at all, but the Lord has healed him and he is on the road to recovery…Love you granddad!

·      celebrating 20^th birthdays!  we’re growing up…weird.

Sarah turned 20 a couple weeks ago!!

·      training for a 5k.  don’t laugh.  Ali, Julie, and I are not runners AT ALL, so this has been a pretty big feat for us.  we run it in Williamsburg tomorrow!!

After our race today.  Sarah was our cheerleader/nutritionist/trainer.  

·      going to Rockbridge the last weekend of October was a blast and I was able to meet and know the awesome freshmen.
·      my roommate, Kayla, got a new brother and no her mom did not give birth to a son, but they adopted Stas from Ukraine!! He is such a blessing to their family and their story is amazing and you can read about it here.

·      this semester I decided to go through Hebrews 11, commonly known as the “Hall of Faith,” and have learned a lot.  I just finished it yesterday (don’t you love when you finish something you wanted to accomplish?) and so I’m still trying to reflect and process everything I learned.  It was great because I feel like so often I neglect to read the Old Testament and focus on the New Testament mostly, so I would read about someone in the “Hall of Faith” and then flip back to read the full story in the Old Testament.  Doing this has allowed me to learn so much about who God is and how He is the same all the way back then as He is today.  So many of the stories I read are the stories anyone would know, but there is so much more to them than meets the eye.  Read Hebrews 11 and about the people in them…it’s pretty awesome.

·      celebrating Dad’s 50^th birthday!

·      adding really fun things to my boards on Pinterest (a must get if you don’t have one)
·      a lot of loved ones have passed away this semester, but as a result God has been glorified so much
·      Hikes on Skyline Drive (hate the hiking part, but love when I get to the destination)

·      my suitemate, Laura, will be running her very first marathon on Sunday- she’s trained hard and is more than ready…GO LAURA!  our little no-meat eater also broke her vegetarianism (made that word up I think) a couple weeks ago after 6 years of being a vegetarian…big deal.

This list turned out to be a lot longer (and more random) than I thought it would be and I’m pretty sure that’s not even half of everything that happened/I learned.  It’s been a whirlwind of a semester and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of it.  Hoping to blog more while home this week...

xoxo,

erin with a p and a double r

happy birthday, mama jean!

The past few summers, including this one, I have been able to cut my grandma's grass.  For some reason when I tell people I mow the grass they just laugh.  They think me in all my preppiness can't handle a lawn mower.  Well believe it or not, not only do I do it, I actually enjoy doing it.  AND I can tell you all the ins and outs of a mower and where the spark plug and all other parts are.  I know, weird. Right?  

Every Thursday morning I would head over to Norfolk and find my grandma sitting on her screened in porch expecting me.  She would have the mower out, gas already in it, and oil filled to the perfect amount.  All I would have to do was start it.  After I was done mowing, I would blow the driveway while she got my cranberry juice and BLT ready.  We had a system.  A good system.

We would sit on the porch and talk about life.  The best times were when she would tell me about growing up.  I love hearing my grandparents tell stories of what it was like when they went to school, or when they were in the war, or when they had to work the farm.  It fascinates me. 

Today is Mama Jean's birthday!  Wahoo! We are celebrating with steak and cake tonight at our house.  My grandma is one of the most selfless people I know.  Anytime we have a family gathering she is always the one to prepare the meals, clean the meals up, put fresh sheets on the beds, make sure we have clean towels, etc.  One day this summer we got into a discussion about our quiet times.  We had never really had a conversation about our faith before.  I mean, she knew I loved Jesus and I knew she did, but it had just never come up in conversation before.  She showed me where she had her quiet times, what she did when she has them, and what she had been learning lately.  She said everyday she reads a chapter of the Bible and writes down what she learns.  She said she been doing this for at least the last 50 years and had been through the Bible multiple times.  Then, she told me every morning when she reads it she is always surprised by how the Word never gets boring and how it teaches her something new each and every time.  I loved being exposed to this part of my grandma's life.  How had we not gone this many years without talking about our faith?!  I don't know, but I'm so glad the Lord allowed us to share about it then.  My prayer is that I will be at least half the person is my grandma is, following the Lord with her whole heart and serving everyone around her before even thinking about herself.  Happy Birthday Mama Jean! I love you!! 

Mama Jean!

The whole family!

Cousins with Mama Jean this past Christmas

MJ and Jack, the newest addition to the family, this past June!

My grandma and probably her 2 favorite granddaughters at my cousin's wedding in June!

Always cooking something in the kitchen!

We love you Mama Jean! 

xoxo,

erin with a p and a double r

           

a last hoorah

This weekend was filled with celebrating the end of summer and going back to school.  I use "celebrating" loosely because of course we are sad to leave each other, but we can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us this sophomore year.    


We started Friday night off with dinner in Towne Center at Bravos.  We all ordered something different so we could pass our dishes around the table and try everyones.  Our waiter was awesome.  He wanted us to draw him flow charts on the table to help him understand what I was talking about.  I know, sounds weird.  So, I drew him some flowers while I was at it to show how much we liked him.  We sat around the table laughing and laughing.  I haven't laughed that much in awhile.  I think everyone around us must've thought we had something to drink we were so loud and crazy!  But it was joy.  Just pure joy. Anyways, after dinner we went to go see The Help.  Such a great movie!  Again, everyone had to get a different snack so we could all share.  It's the best way to do it.  It was our last hoorah before everyone went back and it was a great one.  I love you girls and can't wait to visit!!!

Lauren and Kelsey!

mmm Lauren's dish

my "pasta mediterranean" 

flowers for the waiter!

LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

Happy Sunday!
xoxo,
erin with a p and a double r

Vacation 2k11: Lenox, MA and Lake Placid, NY

We woke up the next morning in Lenox feeling refreshed from our great night of sleep.  We grabbed some breakfast downstairs and went to "town."  When I say "town" I mean the maybe 2 streets of shops and restaurants.  I'm going to be honest and say I was not crazy about Lenox.  Sorry if I offended you.  It is a very artsy fartsy town. You'd walk by benches and see people sketching or writing while wearing their Birkenstocks.  Most of the shops were filled with abstract paintings and the streets were lined with rod iron sculptures.  It's definitely for some people, but not for me.  The one place Mom and I did really well at was Talbots.  You can never go wrong at Talbots, especially when they're having a sale.  They lady there even told us we had southern accents.  Me? Have an accent?  I don't think so.  

After our quick visit to Lenox, we made our way to Lake Placid.  And since Dad, the driving hog, wasn't around anymore I got to take reigns.  We made it to Lake Placid and found our way overpriced room that wasn't so nice.  But the view was definitley worth the money.  We put our stuff down and hopped in the car to go to Saranac Village in Saranac Lake, NY.  It's also known as the best place ever.  Seriously though.

Saranac Village is Young Life camp that I have spent a lot of time at the past 5 summers. To me, it is a glimpse of what Heaven will look like.  The lake is so serene and all the buildings have that perfect Adirondeck feel to them.  The summer after junior year in high school I was able to go there for a month to do work crew.  It was an awesome month and I was able to grow so much with the Lord.  Each morning I would wake up and get to spend time with Him on a huge rock overlooking the glassy lake and the majestic Adirondeck mountains.  There's nothing like it.  This year it was my sisters turn.  She was a server during the month of July and our whole trip was based around picking her and our friend, Hannah, up from there.  It was neat getting to hear them talk about the same exact experiences I was able to have.  They had met new life-long friends and had grown in their walk with Christ.  

My mom had never been to Saranac before.  We wanted to show her one of the most fun nights there, so we brought her to 50s night!  This is a special night because kids are introduced to what sin is and how it has separated them from God and usually the speaker leaves them with the idea that there's nothing they can do about it.  Kids are pretty discouraged after hearing this because a lot of them have never heard it before.  So, we make the night fun for them and nonstop to take their minds off of it for awhile.  As soon as they leave club they run to the boat dock for the tableau, then they run to put their best 50s attire on, then they have pizza and wings in the "diner," then it's time for the opera (where program guys put on a "play" to resolve a problem and usually and the bad guy turns good and where they take popular songs and change lyrics to fit the situtation they're in hence the name opera), and then it's time for the crazy, sweaty sock hop in the game room, and then it's finally time for ice cream sundaes!! See? It is a nonstop night. 

50s Tableau!

Morgan and Hannah

Glow Sticks!

Work Crew Buddies!

The rest of our time at Lake Placid was pure relaxation.  One day we layed out by the pool, which was on the lake, for 7 hours just reading and snoozing as we pleased.  It was great.  The next day was rainy so we went to all the fun shops they had (including a Gap outlet!!).  We discovered a sandwich/salad place that we fell in love with!  We ate 3 out of the 5 meals we were there for at this place.  It is called Simply Gourmet and I highly recommend it!!  One night, we went to the 1980 Olympic Ice Rink to watch the Ice Dancing Championship.  It was really neat.  I will never understand how they do what they do.  We ended our Lake Placid trip on Saturday by kayaking around the lake and picking up some more sandwiches for the road!  We picked Morgan and Hannah up, drove 11 hours to Winchester to pick up my dad, spent the night there, and headed home on Sunday to a large group of girls waiting to surprise Hannah and Morgan in the kitchen!

Ice Cream!

They had Black Raspberry for their flavor of the day and that's my ultimate favorite!!

This was a yummy Italian place we had dinner at one night.  I don't know if I can go back because I will never forget it was the place that an old man threw up right beside us and the color was the same color as the sauce we ate.  GROSSSS

Lake Placid seriously had the prettiest flowers all around!

The Sandwich place we were obsessed with.  It had 46 sandwiches all named for one of the mountain peaks in the Adirondacks!

Cute Lake Placid!

View from our room!

The End! That was the last of our Vacation 2k11. It's almost the weekend which means only 1 more week until I go back to school! Ahhh, so much to do!  Hope you're enjoying these beautiful days of summer :)

xoxo,

erin with a p and a double r