Rocky Top... You'll Always Be

Home sweet home to me.

And that was true this weekend. I had been feeling a little anxiety about being in Nashville for so long, so my good friend Kaitlin and I decided to go on a miniature road trip to Knoxville. It was much needed for both us, but we knew our lives would be crazy for the two days we would be there.

We left at 8 am on Friday morning and made the trek towards K-town. Kaitlin and I have been friends since we were 5, but have gotten a lot closer in the past few months. She attends Cross Point church with me, so I get to spend some time with her every Sunday night. The car ride flew by as we talked about everything from where we wanted to eat lunch to some deep aspects of our faith. We were so excited to arrive, but I really cherished the three hours we got to spend together. And of course, there was some really great singing involved. :)

Kaitlin and I

We got to Knoxville and decided to eat at Firehouse Subs. I do love that place, and now they have these incredible drink machines that are touch screen. You can pretty much make any concoction of beverage you can dream of. So yummy.

One of Kaitlin's friends was kind enough to allow us to stay at her apartment. After lunch, we went over there and spent some time with her and heard all about her life. It was really great for them to catch up, and I enjoyed getting to know her better. We got ready for the rest of the day, and went to meet up with one of our friends from college.

I have known Philip since I was a measly little Freshman in college. We went through the PR program together, and ended up becoming pretty close friends. Over the summer, we spent quite a bit of time together reconnecting and learning about each others lives. It was really great to just sit down with him and hear about how things are going. He is also in a band, The Black Cadillacs. He has a great heart, and I'm blessed to have spent some time with him.

Philip and I after one of his shows a while back

After meeting up with Phil, we went to Starbucks so Kaitlin could chat with a friend of hers. I sat int he corner thinking I would do some much needed work, but the curse of free Wi-fi got me and I spent the entire hour doing things that were extremely unimportant. It was still great just to relax and drink some yummy coffee.

We got hungry pretty quickly, so we ventured down to Market Square to grab some food. After going in 34231345 restaurants and trying to decide where to go, we settled on Oodles. If you live in Knoxville and haven't been there, I definitely recommend it. During our light-hearted dinner talk, Kaitlin and I begin to talk in a very raw fashion. She knows a lot about what is going on in my life, and we began sharing many of our struggles that are difficult. Really heavy dinner conversation, but so so great to talk in such a raw fashion.

We ate, then moseyed on over to the Bijou Theatre to see The Black Cadillacs and The Dirty Guv's. Both of these groups are Knoxville bands that we have grown to love over the years. It was a terribly fun show!

The Guvs!

The Black Cadillacs

We decided to go to the Old City, which is downtown Knoxville, after the show. All I can say is wow... So many random people that we could not contain our laughter. From a 40 year old man with jeans tighter than mine, to a birthday girl that gave us stick on tattoos, to some crazy people rocking it on the dance floor. We had a great time watching these characters and listening to lots of cool music.

This post is long enough, so I'll post about Saturday later on.

Wednesday, Wednesday

After taking the GRE and being absolutely elated, I headed to Smryna to have coffee with my good friend Jared. I have known Jared for several years, but we have just now gotten closer through this year. I knew that God was doing amazing things in his life, and I was really excited to talk to him about all of it. We talked for a couple of hours about all of the wonderful things happening in his life, along with the church his family has planted, Hope Fellowship. I'm really thankful that God has put people like him in my life to encourage me and remind me that He is in control, not me.

After grabbing coffee with Jared, I raced to Green Hills to have dinner with a college friend, Kaitlin. I saw Kaitlin at Christmastime, but wasn't able to really sit down with her, so I wanted to make sure we got to sit and have a good conversation. She told me all about her new job and other new things that were happening in her life. We even talked about the possibility of living together at some point if our paths crossed. She is such a great encouragement, and I really enjoyed just hanging out with her.

Wednesday night, I surprised the youth at Inglewood by showing up. I was a little late, but it was so awesome to worship with that group of kids. I really miss being there for their lives. I think the hardest part is getting a text message from a girl that I've mentored for 5 years saying, "you've missed so much." My heart totally broke for her because I know that she is going through so much and I'm not there to be with her. I know that she understands what I'm doing here, but it is still so hard to know that she has a lot going on and I'm missing a lot. She also informed me that I'm missing her graduation, and I think she was upset, but she will understand at some point.

After church, I had dinner with my pastor and his wife and kids. I really love their encouragement and words of wisdom they lay over me every time we meet. I'm really excited about what God is doing in their lives, and I'm so thankful for their support of my ministry.

Wednesday was super jam packed, but I loved every second of it. God was truly blessing me throughout this trip, and I'm so thankful for all of the incredible people he put in my life to be with me.

More later :)

The City That Stole My Heart

Hi friends!

I had been doing so well with updating my blog, but I know I went MIA the last few days. I promise you though, it was for a very good reason. Well... kind of :)

Last Friday was my Senior Sorority Formal! It was on the riverboat, and it was so much fun! We went to dinner first at Wasabi, which was delicious, then went on to the riverboat. We sailed away from 10-12 then ventured to Waffle House for some yummy eggs and bacon! I like IHOP more, but everyone else wanted to go to the Awful Waffle. I sure did eat it though..

I haven't added my pictures yet, but here are two of me with some of my sisters.

Oh Chelsea Lane.. You have a piece of my heart

The Lovely Courtney Holder!

I had a great time with some great friends, then got to sleep all day Saturday! I also went to dinner at O'Charleys and watched Napoleon Dynamite with my friend Michelle. It was great to just hang out and do nothing with some awesome friends.

Sunday was my favorite day of the weekend. I went to Church of the Cove for Sunday morning service and was tremendously blessed. We had a "guest preacher" named Rusty and he was very refreshing. He came up and the CSI theme song "Whoooooooo Are You? Who who? Who who?" Come on. Just imagine me singing that right now in my BEAUTIFUL voice. Haha

He talked about who we are in Christ. He really emphasized that we are CHILDREN of God! It is definitely good to be encouraged and be reminded of how amazing God is, and all the things He means to me. Rusty was also wearing a cape and had not mentioned it the entire service, so of course, I'm sitting there in my chair wondering why in the world this grown man has a red cape on! At the end of his sermon, he finally discussed the cape.

He told us a story of a man that wore a cape everywhere that he went. When the man was asked why he said, "because when you see someone with a cape on, you think, something good is about to happen." Shouldn't that be what Christians look like? When a person professes Christ, shouldn't people around them say oh yeah, something good is about to happen.

This definitely changed the way I think. I so often live my life as if no one around me is watching. Not that I do anything ridiculously bad, but people don't look at me and say, SOMETHING good is about to happen, whether it be encouragement, a friendly smile, or anything! I have missed so many opportunities to be nice, and share Christ, but I miss them because of my mood. I need to be nicer, I need to encourage people, and I need to LOVE. Rusty really blessed me and I'm so glad that the Lord placed him in that church that specific morning to minister to me.

Sunday night the youth group went to feed the homeless in Knoxville. That is definitely always a blessing. I always "help" Mr. Jack cook, but I get to stand there and talk to him and really be encouraged by his sweet words. Not only were the youth talking with the homeless and forming relationships, but we were helping people out, and that is an awesome feeling.

Before I left I didn't realize something. That was probably my last time to feed the homeless with Church of the Cove since I'm leaving Knoxville soon. I've had so much fun feeding the homeless with them, and I might even make a special trip just to minister to those people with them.

Monday dragged on.. like most. But Kaitlin and Caroline came over to watch Dancing With The Stars, where we laughed a lot and made fun of Kate Gosselin. For real... she's terrible. But she was better this week than last week when she walked around the dance floor with an angry glare.

Please watch and enjoy this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIIxcihGiGo

Tuesday has been my favorite day, by far, in a really long time. I went to my child psychology class, which wasn't half bad that day, then hit the road for Nashville. I got home and me, my mom AND my DAD (he was so very helpful) put together all of my graduation invitations. Talk about a WEIRD feeling. We got all of the done except for about 9 that I have to do now that I'm back in Knoxville. After we finished my mom cooked this awesome meal of grilled chicken and smoked sausage, yummy noodles, beans and cornbread, deviled eggs, and cottage cheese. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal for once.

After dinner, I went to Trevecca Nazarene University to see my friend Jacob Perry perform his senior recitation. I’ve always known that Jacob has written poetry, but I have never really heard or read any of his stuff. I was so excited to see him because I had not seen him in over a year, maybe two. He began with some songs that he had written, and then moved on to reading part of a collection of poetry that he wrote.

After being blown away by his talent, we went to the hallway to eat yummy treats that his mom made for us. I had this AMAZING brownie and some wonderful punch. I got to see a bunch of old friends from high school and got to chat and hang out with them for a while.

Jacob had asked me a few days before his shindig if I wanted to grab coffee and hang out after he got done, so we went to café coco. That place is probably one of my favorite places in the world. It’s so chill and relaxing and we got to talk about life, love, and everything else going on in our lives. It was so refreshing to talk to a boy (excuse me, man) that really loves the Lord and strives to do His will, and His will alone. As Christians, a lot of us talk the talk but don’t walk the walk, and I can truly say that Jacob is a man that does both.

Like me, Jacob has had a really rough year. We were able to relate to each other and talk about everything that both of us had gone through. It was so refreshing to have someone understand the struggles that we were going through. It was such a fun time to reconnect, and we’ve decided that this summer is going to be filled with fun adventures.

It was a short trip to Nashville, but totally worth every second. I’m so happy with where I am at right now, and I know that I’m making good decisions. Now if I can make it three weeks, I’ll be done with school and headed back to the city that stole my heart.

>K