lots of pictures.

It was recently my birthday.

I was given some lovely things by some lovely people.

This is from Luke's mom and sister, Mrs. Barb and Katherine.

They are so crafty.

One day, Mrs. Barb, I will learn to sew.

One day.

Every time I go home, I go by Mrs. Robbin and Mr. Doug's home.

She feeds me, gives me coffee, lets Luke and I play with her children, and sends me on my way with nifty giftys.

She makes lovely jewelry.

This is my birthday necklace.

She also gave me a rocking jewelry box, but I forgot to take a photo.

Next time.

Here is another nifty gifty from Mrs. Robbin. She and Mr. Doug gave me a French Press coffee maker. I am very excited about it. Luke and I haven't gotten the chance to try it out, but we will soon. I'll tell you how it is.
I have recently become obsessed with containers.

My obsession has evolved from plastic containers to jars.

I love jars.

I Keep my toothbrush and other bathroom toiletries in jars.

I keep coffee and tea in jars.

Long story short, I want more.

Luke and I found this one at an estate sale.

Since the rule is, "all cool things go to the girlfriend" I got to keep this little guy.

I love being the girlfriend.
Here is another jar.

It used to be full of coffee, but I finished it off this morning.

Not only am I obsessed with jars, but a couple of other items have really started to take my interest.

I love empty frames, candle sticks, and coffee cups.

My home church in Laurel had a wicked awesome rummage sale.

Luke and I may or may not have walked out with 8 coffee cups, about 7 empty frames, a candle stick, a chair (that we got for free), 2 lamps, and a bulletin board. I think we actually got more things than that, but I cant remember them right now.

We paid more for 1 lampshade at wal-mart than we did for all of the things we got at the rummage sale.

It was a great birthday.

I set this up on my dresser at the dorm.

This is one of the empty frames.

Mr. Luke spray painted it and now it looks amazing.

He also got me those green candle sticks and I cannot stop looking at them.

Not only was there a sweet rummage sale to celebrate my birthday, but it was also time for the Loblolly Festival in downtown Laurel.

The weather felt amazing and I got to spend some time with some of my greatest friendships.

(Finally its cardigan weather!)

Brooke got to wear a nametag.
Patrick and Luke are besties.
Kristie signed autographs because she is a big deal.

I would give anything to have half of her talent.

Yes, this is a posed picture of Mr. Luke and me.

Sometimes you just have to pose.
We ate delicious terrible-for-you-fair-food.

Thats definitely one of my favorite things about fall.

Fair time.
Later in the evening we spent time with the most beautiful girl in the whole world, Sicily Axton.

We went to Pasquales which is my favorite restaurant in Laurel.

Basically, I had a great birthday.

Mr. Luke and I went to Lee's to hang with Brooke and eat lunch.

She made a cheesecake.

I guess when you get married, the awesome cooking genes finally come into action.

I am hoping that happens for me. I can't cook a thing to save my life.

Sidenote-- speaking of genes, Morgan and I were having a conversation about children and motherhood. She said, "I would be a terrible mother to a little girl." My response was, "Oh come on, your mom genes will kick once you have a kid. Then you will wear mom jeans. They're a package deal. You can't have the mom gene without the mom jeans." hilarious.

My whole family came over to my house and my dad grilled up some steaks.

Once he and my mom realized that the grill wasn't working properly, they cooked the rest of the steaks on our little griddle inside. That had never happened before, but the griddle steaks were tasty.

Later in the evening Luke kept trying to get me to leave. I was not very happy about leaving my family. That would've been rude.

He finally got me out of the house and took me to my surprise party that he and Sicily had put together.

I may be the easiest person to fool.

It was amazing. We sat outside on Brooke and Brandon's porch, ate chocolate chex (favorite), and sang songs all night.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

Last night, Luke and I got the opportunity to lead worship for the college ministry at First Baptist Jackson. At the end of the worship set we sang "Lord Deliver Me"

This song changed my life 2 summers ago.

"Lord, deliver me from me

Lord, deliver me to you

Lord deliver me from the desire to be noticed, loved, exalted.

Lord deliver me from the desire to be favored, popular, chosen, or acknowledged.

Lord deliver me from the fear of being wrong forgotten or ignored.

Lord deliver me from the fear of being humiliated or left behind.

Lord deliver me from me

Lord deliver me to you

Grant that I may seek to comfort rather than be comforted by others.

Grant that I may understand and love more than be understood and loved well.

Lord deliver me from the desire to be noticed and encouraged.

Lord deliver me from the desire to be appreciated and included.

Lord deliver me from me

Lord deliver me to you."

These words are intense. Again it brings me back to phase one of my struggle for learning and living in humbleness. I think I deserve all of those things mentioned, but when we really think about it, Jesus deserves all of those things. I know there are times when I don't include or appreciate or notice what Jesus is doing. How dare I expect those things when I don't give them to the Lord first.

I am still struggling to live a humble life.

Last night at church, our speaker spoke on the finding and living out God's will for your life.

As silly humans, we make things so complicated.

We look for obscure signs instead of seeing what is in front of us.

God's will for our lives, is to be like Him.

The speaker, Melinda (I cant remember her last name) made the point that God's will is not this maze we're running through looking for the cheese. Its taking on the attributes of our Lord and living them out.

She encouraged us to write 5 words down that we would want to be. Her example was faithful and just. By praying for those attributes the Lord has shaped her to look like Him.

I want that.

I want to be molded by the Potter's hands.

What I have molded up is paranoid, cocky, and lazy.

Those are not the attributes of the Lord.

Again, it goes back to letting the Lord do His job in our lives.

I am challenged.