Move Over Annie Leibovitz

Husband and I are about to celebrate 5 years of marriage very soon so we purchased a new camera to celebrate the occasion. In case you thought I didn't take enough pictures before... here are some pictures of Spring spring-ing to life at our house.

 

 

Sic 'em Bears

The Baylor basketball team stopped by the hospital for a quick visit yesterday while they're in town for the NCAA tournament. I feel as though I am an adopted Baylor fan given that all of husband's fam is from Texas and many of them went to Baylor. The Bears play tonight at 7:15 EST and husband and I will be cheering from our couch if we can stay awake. Since my bracket is in shambles anyway, I hope they go all the way.

Camp needs you!

As most of you know by now, I have begun a new position within Children's. If you are new reader, you can refer back to this post. I have been in my new position for six weeks now and am really enjoying it. I forgot how much I love camp. Husband thinks it's quite hilarious that I am the least outdoorsy person that he knows and I am now the director of a summer camp. My new position is part-time, but I have yet to begin the new part-time schedule because I have still been part-time in my old job while my manager is out on maternity leave. I will most likely transition out of Volunteer Services fully near the end of April.

In addition to my new role as camp director, I am also taking on the role of fundraiser. The opportunity to attend camp is provided to our patients and families at no cost to them. It allows them to forget about their illnesses and just be kids for a week with other kids who are just like them. Luckily for everyone, I am not responsible for all of the fundraising. I am; however, doing what I can to spread the word. If you are interested in supporting Camp Independence, please click the below link to visit my fundraising page.

Click here to join my team!

green is lovely

So, my last name begins with an "O", but I'm not actually Irish. I do love the color green, though. Here is a wee bit o green inspiration.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Know my heart

Back in October, our church did a series called When God. I mentioned this on the blog back then, but I have recently listened to them all again over the past several weeks and they have continued to speak truth. In his second message titled When God is Uncooperative, Andy brings up many good points but there was one I thought was worth sharing on here. Now, hear me out and in the words of my friend, Heather, know my heart when I say this...

When something bad happens to you and it causes you to question God's love or maybe even lose your faith all together... this can be a very selfish way of thinking.

Now I know most of you are probably a bit offended like I was when I first heard Andy say this, but here's why...

Have you ever noticed that when bad things happen to other people... or maybe there is a natural disaster that kills thousands of people... it will make you sad... or maybe you will say "That is just awful, I will pray for you (them)"...  or maybe you will feel compelled to donate money or volunteer... but never once will it cause you to lose your faith or question God's love? But when something goes wrong in our own personal life and we feel as though the rug was ripped out from under us... suddenly, God seems non-existent and we feel as though He must not really love us or He wouldn't have allowed this pain and suffering. Why is it that when bad things happen to other people, we remember how big God is and trust that He ultimately has a plan through it all... but when bad things happen to us we suddenly shrink God down to our size and are unable to see outside of our own walls of grief?

When bad things happen, while it's ok to hurt, feel pain and ask God "why?"... never once should we question His love for us or feel as though He's left us on our own. The very fact that we can get up and take each day at a time is proof that His grace is sufficient even when we are at our weakest. The people whose stories I find most encouraging are not the ones that have the "why me" mentality when they face hard times, but rather the ones who say "why not me?" We shouldn't measure God's love for us by what He has done for us lately, but rather what He did on the cross.

Spring Forward

We just got back from a weekend at the lake with Dustin's side of the family. It was a tennis-playing, birthday-celebrating, boat-riding, playground-climbing, s'more making, walk-taking, duck-feeding, BBQ-eating good time.

 

Kony 2012

Dustin and I have been supportive of the mission of Invisible Children since college. A new video had recently been circulating that I can't help but share. Please take 30 minutes out of your day to watch this. I promise it will mean much more than that re-run of The Office or Sportscenter.

Something Beautiful

One of the things that husband I love about living in a big city is the number of concerts throughout the year that are basically in our own backyard. Last night, we went to see Needtobreathe at the Tabernacle. It was awesome for two reasons 1. Needtobreathe is amazing. They're from Seneca, SC and have Clemson roots... enough said. And 2. the Tabernacle is quite possibly the coolest venue ever. It was built in 1910 and began as an old church. It was converted to a House of Blues for the '96 Olympics. Here are couple pictures from the night.

Ben Rector opened for them and came out to join them during the encore.