wow...I never blog. I'm not even sure why I have this thing. I do like writing and find it therapeutic at times. That's probably why. Anyway, a couple of updates since I wrote 2 MONTHS ago.
*Garrett & I celebrated 1 year of wedded bliss on July 25th! We went to Memphis for the weekend, stayed in a shady little motel. It had definately not been updated in at least 20 years. It could have been used to film the movie "Clue" if you know what I mean. However, it was an adventure, and we got to go to the American Idol concert and go backstage and see Kris and Katie.
*On August 7th my brother married Megan Davari. So now there is another Megan Ghormley in the world..or one to replace me:) haha. Except that she hasn't changed her named yet...and may never change it.
*Elevation started back in August.Our team served like crazy before the "kick-off" service, moving freshmen into their dorms, passing out waterbottles and gatorade to students, organizing ultimate frisbee games and arm wrestling tournaments! The kickoff service was the best it's EVER been. We have an incredible leadership team this year and lots of volunteers. The atmosphere has definately changed @ elevation. Were doing things differently,we have fresh ideas,& leaders that are REALLY passionate about students. It's wonderful and exciting! Thank you JESUS!
*I started my Practicum @ the UCA counseling center in August as well. This is where I REALLY start counseling people. So far I have only had 1 client, but I LOVED it. I love working @ the counseling center. I learn new things every day. Classes are ok. My favorite is Marriage and Family therapy.
*I'm not a small group leader anymore:( However, I get to attend an AMAZING small group led by my very own parents. It's called the Truth Project. They had a passion to lead a small group for elevation students to help give them a Christian worldview...so they did. It's fascinating. We talk about deep things like Philosophy and world events and how they shape the way we see the world as beleivers. (Wed night @ 7 for anyone who is interested).
*Garrett spoke last Sunday. He killed it. I thought for a little while that my husband had turned over a new leaf as a comedian while he was up there. It amazes me when I stop to think sometimes that Garrett is 23, and speaking to over 400 students on a Sunday night.
*One of my best friends Erin Conner and her husband Craig moved back to Conway a couple of weeks ago. I am elated. She is almost 7 months pregnant and ridiculously adorable.
*I read one of the best books I have ever read this past tuesday when I was sick. It's called "The Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall and Denver (something). I read it in less than 24 hours. I'm telling you, read it and it will change your life! I've never cried reading a book. I think Garrett thought I was crazy.
That's all the updates for now! As you can see I am a pretty blessed girl. I will leave you with a quote Jason shared with our leadership team last night that really convicted me.
"Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."
— Jim Elliot
As blessed as I am, often I am sitting at work, feeling bored out of my mind and wishing my day away. Every moment of every day is precious and it is our choice to redeem it and live it "to the hilt" for the glory of God!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Modeling this feather headband for Amanda's website.
My friend Amanda Muse (that I met through my job at the UCA Graduate School office) makes these incredible headbands! She also makes barretts with feathers and jewels and will customize fancy hair clips for weddings and special occasions! Check out her blog at http://www.thingsmuse.blogspot.com/ Oh and photography is done by none other than Cecilia Lambert!
1st post in 4 months....
So I'm clearly not very good at this "blogging" thing. I can't figure out how to get a cute background (which drives me insane), and uploading pictures is hard for me to figure out. The biggest reason though is the pace of my life. However, I really want to try to be better at my updates. It's therapeutic for me to write my thoughts down even if no one reads them:) So here is what has been going on the past 4 months in my life...
In March, we went on a Spring Break vacay with the Kimbrows to Branson. We stayed in a condo that the conner's hooked us up with for free! 1 week prior to going on vacation I had a dream that my best friend Erin (conner) was pregnant. The dream was very vivid and I remember there were about 4 people in the dream she was announcing it to. The walls were white with floralish patterns.
Anyway, so the week we were in Branson Erin and Craig come over one night and have a big announcement "WERE PREGNANT!!" I immediately was creeped out because it was deja vu from my dream! The walls in the condo were white and it had floral accents,the announcement was to 4 people, even the way erin said it was exactly the same as in the dream! It was so strange. My mom has always thought my dreams were prophetic at times. I guess she was right. Erin is now close to 6 months pregnant and recently found out that the baby is a boy! His name will be Ethan Ascher. So cute. I love being able to watch people close to me go through big life experiences before I do. I learn so much and am able to know the reality behind those experiences(like lots of my friends getting married before I did). I'm definately learning from Erin during this season.
As soon as we got back from Spring Break Ben proposed to Megan Davari. Wow...there are alot of hilarious stories about the proposal and all the mishaps but it turned out perfectly! (and yes she will take my former name..Megan Ghormley..still getting used to that one).
In May, we took a trip to Kenya, I think I will wait to write details on that trip and make it a whole blog post with pictures. It was an incredible trip to say the least. We worked with the local church there, did street evangelism, taught English, worked feeding stations, visited orphanages, etc.
In June, immediately after I came back from Kenya I started summer classes. Psychopathology and Learning and Cognition. Thank the Lord those are over, summer classes are never fun. There is something about taking classes in the summer that is not right, plus the campus is so dead it feels creepy. Like the rapture has happened or something.
We began July with a trip to Milwaukee. Garrett grew up in Milwaukee and so his 4 aunts live there and his Dad and all of their old friends. Milwaukee is a GREAT city. I am going to write an entire blog post on that one too. His relatives planned out every day what we would do,what we would eat,activities we would partake in, where we would sleep. We felt like royalty being served all the time.
So now it's back to work after our wonderful vacay. This month will hold lots of wedding activities considering my brother is getting married August 7th, my 24th birthday, garrett taking a team from elevation to baton rouge to work in the dream center for 5 days ( i have to stay and work..pooee) our 1st wedding anniversary and 3other weddings we will attend.
I'm enjoying not being in class this term and hope to get lots of gardening and house cleaning done on my days off work. (cool..when did i get so boring that what i look forward to in my time off is cleaning and gardening??)
Next month it will be back to grad school. I will be starting my 2nd year of classes and my first practicum. I am really lucky to have gotten a practicum position at the counseling center at UCA. ( i don't have to drive to russellville or little rock!)My practicum will consist of me starting to actually counsel people. SCARY!! I have learned alot in class and feel like I can talk to most anyone with relative ease, but it's still different than doing a "real-life" therapy session. I'll be doing that 10 hours a week, taking 9 hours of classes, and working as a GA in the graduate school for 20 hours a week. Whew, my life just keeps getting busier!
So that's a quick(not really) update on my life. Look for Kenya and Milwaukee updates coming soon!!:)
In March, we went on a Spring Break vacay with the Kimbrows to Branson. We stayed in a condo that the conner's hooked us up with for free! 1 week prior to going on vacation I had a dream that my best friend Erin (conner) was pregnant. The dream was very vivid and I remember there were about 4 people in the dream she was announcing it to. The walls were white with floralish patterns.
Anyway, so the week we were in Branson Erin and Craig come over one night and have a big announcement "WERE PREGNANT!!" I immediately was creeped out because it was deja vu from my dream! The walls in the condo were white and it had floral accents,the announcement was to 4 people, even the way erin said it was exactly the same as in the dream! It was so strange. My mom has always thought my dreams were prophetic at times. I guess she was right. Erin is now close to 6 months pregnant and recently found out that the baby is a boy! His name will be Ethan Ascher. So cute. I love being able to watch people close to me go through big life experiences before I do. I learn so much and am able to know the reality behind those experiences(like lots of my friends getting married before I did). I'm definately learning from Erin during this season.
As soon as we got back from Spring Break Ben proposed to Megan Davari. Wow...there are alot of hilarious stories about the proposal and all the mishaps but it turned out perfectly! (and yes she will take my former name..Megan Ghormley..still getting used to that one).
In May, we took a trip to Kenya, I think I will wait to write details on that trip and make it a whole blog post with pictures. It was an incredible trip to say the least. We worked with the local church there, did street evangelism, taught English, worked feeding stations, visited orphanages, etc.
In June, immediately after I came back from Kenya I started summer classes. Psychopathology and Learning and Cognition. Thank the Lord those are over, summer classes are never fun. There is something about taking classes in the summer that is not right, plus the campus is so dead it feels creepy. Like the rapture has happened or something.
We began July with a trip to Milwaukee. Garrett grew up in Milwaukee and so his 4 aunts live there and his Dad and all of their old friends. Milwaukee is a GREAT city. I am going to write an entire blog post on that one too. His relatives planned out every day what we would do,what we would eat,activities we would partake in, where we would sleep. We felt like royalty being served all the time.
So now it's back to work after our wonderful vacay. This month will hold lots of wedding activities considering my brother is getting married August 7th, my 24th birthday, garrett taking a team from elevation to baton rouge to work in the dream center for 5 days ( i have to stay and work..pooee) our 1st wedding anniversary and 3other weddings we will attend.
I'm enjoying not being in class this term and hope to get lots of gardening and house cleaning done on my days off work. (cool..when did i get so boring that what i look forward to in my time off is cleaning and gardening??)
Next month it will be back to grad school. I will be starting my 2nd year of classes and my first practicum. I am really lucky to have gotten a practicum position at the counseling center at UCA. ( i don't have to drive to russellville or little rock!)My practicum will consist of me starting to actually counsel people. SCARY!! I have learned alot in class and feel like I can talk to most anyone with relative ease, but it's still different than doing a "real-life" therapy session. I'll be doing that 10 hours a week, taking 9 hours of classes, and working as a GA in the graduate school for 20 hours a week. Whew, my life just keeps getting busier!
So that's a quick(not really) update on my life. Look for Kenya and Milwaukee updates coming soon!!:)
Monday, March 16, 2009
my morning in court
I was having an amazing dream when my alarm went off at 6 this morning. Unfortunately I was not getting up to work out or have a fantastically long queit time, I was waking up to go to court. It sounds so scary right? I thought so too. Garrett and I had my mom's Avalon passed down to us when we got married, and because we never received a notice that our tags were out of date, I got a ticket about a month ago. When we went to the revenue office to renew the car the lady told us to take our paperwork to court and try to get out of it.
So that was my goal this morning, to talk my way out of a 170 dollar ticket. I got there and realized that it wasn't just traffic court but the same court that people that have committed some pretty scary offenses go to. Garrett and I ended up waiting for almost 3 hours to have the "M's" called, and it turns out I would have had to make another court date to plead my case. So I gave up and paid the 170 dollars ( which was frustrating after waiting 3 hours.)
Really thats not the point of this post though, while I waited for 3 hours(with nothing to do) I listened to all the reasons why these people were there as they stood before the judge, confessing their crime and pleading guilty, or not guilty. It was a really sad and sobering experience to watch these broken people explain why they were on their 4th DWI, or why they were caught with cocaine, or why they were charged with domestic abuse.
It opened my eyes to the people that live in our community, that for whatever reason are driven to commit these offenses. You could see the pain and emptiness in many of their eyes, and my heart broke for them. Especially the ones that were toting around 1 or 2 babies with them.
When I was about to have my turn with the judge I was behind a guy that was possibly about to go to jail for 2 weeks. It made me feel pretty good about myself for only having a ticket for expired tags.
Thinking back about this experience as I sit here now the parallel struck me. Before the true and righteous judge (God the Father) we are all guilty. No matter what we have committed in our life, but it's so easy to feel good about ourselves because we don't think were struggling as much as the person next to us. I am just as broken and sinful as the people I sat next to in the courtroom today. That's a humbling thought.
I'm so removed from the pain of what really goes on in the world. Not just in the world but in my own community. It's strange how there can be such disparity when these people could live down the street from me.
When you have an experience where you can discern oppression and darkness, it makes the light of Christ so much more apparent. It brings one of my favorite passages, Isaiah 61 to my mind, and the mandate we have as believers....
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me to preach
the good news to the poor. He has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the
year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide
for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a
crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair."
So that was my goal this morning, to talk my way out of a 170 dollar ticket. I got there and realized that it wasn't just traffic court but the same court that people that have committed some pretty scary offenses go to. Garrett and I ended up waiting for almost 3 hours to have the "M's" called, and it turns out I would have had to make another court date to plead my case. So I gave up and paid the 170 dollars ( which was frustrating after waiting 3 hours.)
Really thats not the point of this post though, while I waited for 3 hours(with nothing to do) I listened to all the reasons why these people were there as they stood before the judge, confessing their crime and pleading guilty, or not guilty. It was a really sad and sobering experience to watch these broken people explain why they were on their 4th DWI, or why they were caught with cocaine, or why they were charged with domestic abuse.
It opened my eyes to the people that live in our community, that for whatever reason are driven to commit these offenses. You could see the pain and emptiness in many of their eyes, and my heart broke for them. Especially the ones that were toting around 1 or 2 babies with them.
When I was about to have my turn with the judge I was behind a guy that was possibly about to go to jail for 2 weeks. It made me feel pretty good about myself for only having a ticket for expired tags.
Thinking back about this experience as I sit here now the parallel struck me. Before the true and righteous judge (God the Father) we are all guilty. No matter what we have committed in our life, but it's so easy to feel good about ourselves because we don't think were struggling as much as the person next to us. I am just as broken and sinful as the people I sat next to in the courtroom today. That's a humbling thought.
I'm so removed from the pain of what really goes on in the world. Not just in the world but in my own community. It's strange how there can be such disparity when these people could live down the street from me.
When you have an experience where you can discern oppression and darkness, it makes the light of Christ so much more apparent. It brings one of my favorite passages, Isaiah 61 to my mind, and the mandate we have as believers....
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me to preach
the good news to the poor. He has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the
year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide
for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a
crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair."
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Well I was kidding...my blog didn't crash...I just can't work computers apparently. I already knew that. I was trying to put a really cool template on and I cannot figure out how to do that for the life of me! If anyone can help me please let me know!
While I'm at it, I will do a quick update on my life. I say quick because I really should be studying. I have 2 tests on Monday, a test on Tuesday, and a project thing due on Wed. Why do they decide to pile up all of the tests, quizzes and projects in the same week in grad school??
However, if I can get through next week I have a very exciting weekend waiting for me! You see, I have always loved history, especially Roman and Egyptian history. The first time I read about King Tut's extensive tomb treasures I was mesmerized. I have always wanted to see them. Next weekend I am going to Dallas with my parents. (while Garrett roughs it camping with the guys for Garrett Peters bachelor party)The reason we are going is to visit family but mainly to see KING TUTS TREASURES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ridiculously excited about this. I'll tell you a couple of other things I'm excited about in my life right now....
1. Going to Kenya this summer with Elevation! I think about this trip every day. We are taking 21 people to Kenya to work in orphanages and partner with some churches over there doing ministry. I have always wanted to go to Africa so I can't wait. On a deeper level I can't wait to see what the Lord does on this trip. Seeing what the Lord is doing overseas is always so inspiring. It's unlike any other experience to see the body of Christ work together for a common purpose.
2. I'm loving leading a small group again. I haven't led a small group in about 2 years and I have missed it. It's not even about leading it, because I really don't do that much. It's about the fellowship and how the Lord speaks to me through every one of the girls in my group.I love the girls in my group. They make me laugh so hard that my stomach hurts.It's amazing how a group of people that didn't know each other 1 month ago can be so close and transparent so quickly. Again, I have never experienced this kind of bond so deeply and quickly outside of the body of Christ.
3. I've been thoroughly enjoying watching American Idol this season, for obvious reasons. Every tuesday we go over to my parents house and cook dinner all together and then watch the show. This is a new thing for my family. We have never been big television watchers but it's really fun to "follow" a show.
4. Being married. It's a blast, I'm excited every night to come home to Garrett. He's my best friend. However, marriage is WAY harder than I ever imagined it would be, and yet the most refining thing I have ever experienced. Maybe I'll blog about that next time.
While I'm at it, I will do a quick update on my life. I say quick because I really should be studying. I have 2 tests on Monday, a test on Tuesday, and a project thing due on Wed. Why do they decide to pile up all of the tests, quizzes and projects in the same week in grad school??
However, if I can get through next week I have a very exciting weekend waiting for me! You see, I have always loved history, especially Roman and Egyptian history. The first time I read about King Tut's extensive tomb treasures I was mesmerized. I have always wanted to see them. Next weekend I am going to Dallas with my parents. (while Garrett roughs it camping with the guys for Garrett Peters bachelor party)The reason we are going is to visit family but mainly to see KING TUTS TREASURES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ridiculously excited about this. I'll tell you a couple of other things I'm excited about in my life right now....
1. Going to Kenya this summer with Elevation! I think about this trip every day. We are taking 21 people to Kenya to work in orphanages and partner with some churches over there doing ministry. I have always wanted to go to Africa so I can't wait. On a deeper level I can't wait to see what the Lord does on this trip. Seeing what the Lord is doing overseas is always so inspiring. It's unlike any other experience to see the body of Christ work together for a common purpose.
2. I'm loving leading a small group again. I haven't led a small group in about 2 years and I have missed it. It's not even about leading it, because I really don't do that much. It's about the fellowship and how the Lord speaks to me through every one of the girls in my group.I love the girls in my group. They make me laugh so hard that my stomach hurts.It's amazing how a group of people that didn't know each other 1 month ago can be so close and transparent so quickly. Again, I have never experienced this kind of bond so deeply and quickly outside of the body of Christ.
3. I've been thoroughly enjoying watching American Idol this season, for obvious reasons. Every tuesday we go over to my parents house and cook dinner all together and then watch the show. This is a new thing for my family. We have never been big television watchers but it's really fun to "follow" a show.
4. Being married. It's a blast, I'm excited every night to come home to Garrett. He's my best friend. However, marriage is WAY harder than I ever imagined it would be, and yet the most refining thing I have ever experienced. Maybe I'll blog about that next time.
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