Home means family

Home has been spectacular. 

Resting is something that I don't do often, so I try not to take it for granted. 

I've really enjoyed this break though...for the first time in years I feel like I'm not finding something to occupy every second of my day/finding ways to be away from the house.

Its never been that I don't want to see my family, its just that I seemed to put my friends above m family....and that needed a change. 

 I've realized more and more each break that time with my family is important...Maybe its since I don't get to come home as much, or just because I'm older, or because this is the first time my entire family has been in the house for more than 2 days in years(!), or because I've seen how friendships change---without my home life changing. 

I've seen a quite a few friends, and that time has been precious, but just being around the house has been the best of all. 

The holidays were wonderful to spend time with more family, but I am winding down on my days in Shelby.  I'll be leaving Wednesday morning to go to Memphis with friends for ECU's bowl game.  I'll be home on the 3rd, but leave again on the 5th to go to Raleigh before flying out to Colorado.  (I know, I'm such a jet-setter).

Time for me to soak up these last few days of spending time with ALL my family. 

Closing of a semester

Friends, I can not hide the truth, it is GREAT to be home. Considering this is my 3rd time home since early June, I have anticipating this for a while...but to reflect on the end of my semester...
My semester ended well. Barely falling short of all A's with a silly B in my Early Intervention class.. but hey, it was my favorite class, just a bit more challenging.
Young Life at SCHS was beginning to look up after a rather slow and down semester. Some new girls had begun to come and were bringing along their friends! Most of them are girls that we already know, but just haven't had interest in club before. Campaigners is booming and every week comes as a surprise. I am meeting with one girl one on one every week, and that time has been a huge blessing in my life. She will be going off to college next year, so I am praying that I am being used to give her those extra steps of guidance to head off in a foreign land.
Friends are amazing. I saw way more of them than I probably should during exam time, but I loved every single second of it. I have been blessed by some spectacular people during my time in Greenville.
Roommates and porch sharing neighbors are AMAZING and so much fun. I can't believe we didn't take more time to spend together in our living rooms and kitchens until this last week. But no need to reflect on time gone by, because next semester (and next year for those of us not leaving) will be spectacular! Dance parties, and sharing life just go hand in hand!
On my way home I was able to stop and spend the night with some dear friends in good old Ra-town! I stayed at the amazing McGarvey household and spent time with many friends!
When I got to Raleigh, Quinn and I went to SBucks to find both Urkos working and 2 Smiths visiting! I made friends with a SBucks co-worker, Dru, who just so happens to be a Cleveland County Alum from his college years! It was amazing sharing stories about Yamatos and Young Life! He wasn't a leader, but knew all those amazing people that impacted my life so much in HS. That night we also went to suprise Mr. Smith for his 21st birthday! His reaction was... anti-climactic.. but maybe the suprise party the next day brought about abetter one! :)
Staying with Quinn was amazing. Her family was fun, and going to church the next day was awesome. As was a Sunday lunch with her parents and Jude.
I can not fathom how much God has blessed me in my 2.5 years at ECU so far.
Next will be a reflection of a few days at home and how excited I am to be here. :)

Whirlwind

I feel like my life has been a going at super sonic speed since fall break. Honestly, how did an entire month go by since I was home?? Not that that is a long time for me to be away from home, but this month has just flown by.
I have been a busy little Baird, that's for sure... some of the things that have kept me the most busy were Rockbridge, four square, birthdays, anniversaries, giving the Sin and cross talks back to back, campaigners, spending time with friends, being a mom every afternoon, and school... okay, maybe not school... but I have to make myself sound good somehow!
Life is certainly amazing, and they say that time flies when you are having fun, so I definitely can not complain.
I can not believe that the semester is winding down. I have project deadlines looming before Thanksgiving break, but I look forward to the coming time off.
Before being home for Fall Break, I hadn't been in Shelby since JUNE. Yes, it took my 4 months to make the 4 hour drive home. Now I will be home next Tuesday through Saturday, then shortly after that, I will be heading home for almost an entire month!
Relaxing and spending quality time with hometown friends is most eagerly anticipated.
I will be sure to keep everyone updated on the happenings of this final frontier of 2008.

Birthday!

Yesterday was my 21st birthday!!! Its kinda ridiculous to think about, but oh so fun.

The entire day was filled with friends and fun and love. That's really all I could ask for. I wanted nothing more than to share that day with people that I love and care about.

I have the most amazing group of friends that can enjoy the simplest things and make the most fun out of any of them.

My birthday went as follows:

-the night before: sharing cake, laughter, and playgrounds with some great South Central Falcon Young Lifers

-being with Reid, Hunter, Aaron, Nathan, and Daniel at the stroke of midnight on the 11th

-coming back to an amazingly beautified apartment...complete with streamers from the fans, 3 posters, and plenty of balloons

-going to breakfast with the amazing Lynn and being served a brownie with ice cream and hot fudge at approximately 8:38am (and having the Cracker Barrell lady servers sing to me)

-going to school for the first time IN MY LIFE on my birthday (so unfair, and inappro)

-making a 96 on an exam... take that teach!

-going to Olive Garden for some wonderful food, conversation, and quality time with Aaron Scott Brooks (we did this last year on my birthday as well... boy am I thrilled that we could share this time again an entire year later)

-playing ultimate frisbee on a full stomach (not bueno)

-getting knocked out while making a baller defensive move.. thank you Reid Smith Warren... apparently since he couldn't get me drunk for my birthday he just decided to knock me out so I knew what it felt like

-sleeping off the pain

-finding flowers on my kitchen table from my amazing older brother

-going to dinner with him

-having wonderful friends over for celebrations that evening which led to four square outside at 11:00... because we so cool that we bring back old school

and our first roommate picture was FINALLY taken last night! Whoooo!

Again, I absolutely LOVE my friends and felt so blessed to have that many people show my compassion on my birthday. Thank you all so much for making it special!

When we finally look for direction

I know its a common struggle for me, and I have found it to be the same for many of my close friends...turning to Christ, and Christ alone, in our life. So much has been going on recently that I have just been letting my emotions rule my life; not much of what I know about my faith has been allowed tobe on the forfront of my actions. It has been detrimental and its about time that I have taken those few steps back to re-examine and go at it all again.

These realizations have come in stages:

First the phrase "In Christ Alone" was stuck in my head for weeks... I didn't even know the last time that I had heard that song or anything, but I was just always thinking about it.

Secondly, great talks with little Lynny, Aaron, and other friends.

Thirdly, getting to catch up with Amy Ruff Ruff Ruff

Fourthly, more things continued piling on.. including an impulsive trip to Barnes and seeing one single copy of this book sticking on on a shelf all by itself. The book you ask? In Christ Alone by Sinclair B. Ferguson. (I have not begun it yet because I am in the middle of The Shack, but it's next FOR SURE!)

and to top it all off... tonight at bible study we reflected on Jeremiah 17:9-10 which touched on the heart being decietful, and the need to base judgement on the Truth.

All these things lining up should eventually tell me that I need to work on how I handle situations involving my heart vs. my head. How hard headed can one girl be in order to need such CONSTANT reminding??

But the Lord is good and is ever faithful in teaching me things.

Today while I was babysitting, I was thinking about these things as I drove the 3 year old home. He loves to tell me exactly where to turn to get to his house from his day care. And its a good thing that I do know where I am going, because, though he gives accurate directions, he announces the turn as we approach the curb...aka, not much notice. I have begun asking him a few seconds before the needed turn if the road we were approaching is the correct one; this allows him to still tell me where to go, but me not put us in annnny danger! I find that we do this in our lives quite often... we're going and don't bother to ask God for direction until we almost pass it by; when he has to throw it in our faces in some form or fashion. Thankfully for us, we can give up the drivers seat and allow him to take control.

I don't believe this would be good for little Hampton since he's already tried to show how he can "reach the pedals."

This is my good buddy Hampton's self portrait... he played with my camera one day on the way home. He really is precious.

Spontenaity

At 5 pm or so yesterday, Aaron and I left Raleigh. About 20 minutes down the road we were both just sitting quietly. He pointed out a car that had 2096 bumper stickers on it, all that were pro-life, shove God down your throat types... and he said that he hated how Christians were often portrayed like that. A few minutes later, I was just thinking about bumper stickers and noticed that none of the cars around us had any... which I found odd, because I felt like most people usually have them... going through statistics in my mind, I saw a car with 1 sticker. It was an Atlantic Beach sticker with a lighthouse... I mentioned that it said AB (for Aaron and Baird....duh) and he was like, ooh look a lighthouse. We began to wonder what lighthouse it was, because I had never seen one at AB before... this led to Aaron's brilliant idea to drive to Hatteras. And brilliant is not said in a sarcastic tone. It was a wonderful trip. :)


I pulled out the map and began planning our route while calling 411 to get ferry schedules to the island. We ended up stopping in Greenville to get gas from Sheetz (I mean, gas cards, so who would get gas anywhere else??) We left Greenville just before 7pm Saturday.


It was an adventure. I won't go into all of the details of the adventure of getting there, but I will tell you a bit about our arrival.


Around 11:30pm we got to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Obviously the visitors center was closed and it was deserted... but nothing was blocked off, so we walked right up. The half-moon was shining brightly, and as our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we took in the beauty

of the night. It was silent and still, while lit up by the steady beams of light and the moon. It seemed majestic.
The sky was beautiful and clouds were passing by quickly. As we took it all in, we noticed a deer strolling up silently. It was beautiful to watch it walk closer to the lighthouse in such a graceful manner. We backed away and headed back to the car. We ventured down the road a bit to the beach access. The waves were crashing and the moon was peeking in and out of the clouds. It was a beautiful sight and we stood there and thanked God for taking the time to give us such a marvelous night. He created so much, and still puts enough precious time in for the details of things like the Cape Hatteras National Seashore at 12:30 at night.



Right around 12 hours after our departure, we rolled back into Copper Beech. It was a wonderful, spontaneous night that I will never forget.

The blue line is the "getting there" route and the red is the "coming home" route.

Our feet as the waves roll in.

What the beach can do...

So I've started to write a new post quite a few times now... but to no avail...
Let's just say that life comes and comes and keeps coming. But a fresh breath of air is there for you when spending a few moments with Christ.
Hecticness is up and going, but I know that more is to come because my fall schedule still isn't in full swing yet. ... by that, I mean that Young Life hasn't kicked off for the year yet. I have been busy trying to pursue some girls this summer, but its just not the same as the school year.
So far this year I've made it out to a football game, volleball game, and 2 days of lunches. And they've all been fantastic! Its so great to see how God is backing me up and showing me that though the year, and these girls, may be tough, He's there, watching me follow His plan and trying to show these girls what a wonderful path it is to live on.
We had our Young Life leaders beach retreat this past weekend, and it was so encouraging to see approximately 30 of us crammed in a little, old house, all for the same reason... coming together to pray, worship, fellowship, encourage, and plan to go out and meet Pitt County high schoolers right where they are and to live as an example of Christ in their lives. I was thrilled that this trip came together, because I can already tell a difference in this year and last year, when we never had the chance to share that weekend together. God is going to do great things as long as we continue to live for Him and surrender to His amazing love.
Please pray for me and my brothers and sisters in this ministry!
Grace and love...

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

This summer, I knew that the ministries that I was involved in wouldn't be meeting as much reguarly. In fact, FCA doesn't meet at all, nor does College Life. Collide meets some, but I didn't get a chance to go to the first few and they are going through a book... so yeah.
At the beginning of the summer I decided to check out Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF). They meet on Wednesdays from 6-8... they have dinner then, do a bible study for an hour. I had been asked to go during the school year, but the time conflicted with FCA...
The first few of the summer were great. I met some new people, who quickly became friends, and the bible studies were always great. We would discuss a topic dealing with our faith, and they always would bring up a bunch of bible verses in relation.
I haven't been able to go much these past few weeks because of other meetings, work, or being out of town, but tonight it randomly crossed my mind, and I decided to go. Let me just say, way to go God. It was fantastic. I didn't go for dinner because we had something with work, but I got there around 6:45 expecting the study to begin at 7. At 7 we sang some songs... Marvelous light, Mighty to Save, and Inside Out...awesome. We were waiting to begin the lesson because a woman had stopped by the house who was in need of a place to stay, as well as some food. Those were her physical needs at least. Kyle and Martha were able to provide food, some love, and listening ears. What a blessing...
While we were waiting for them, we decided to pray for the woman, sing some more songs, and then we began lifting up praises to God. Time passed quickly, and with Martha Grace and Kyle came back upstairs it was almost 8. They had planned a study though, so we dove into it. They presented the question of "why are we here?" Saying, what was our purpose in coming to Wurship that night. And on a broader scale, what are our purposes in meeting with each other? They read James 5: 13-16, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15, and Hebrews 10:24-25. These verses tell us why we should come together as believers, and what we should do for each other when we meet. The floor was opened for discussion on this subject, as well as to offer up encouragement or concerns that should be shared with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Great discussion followed. One thing we brought up was that we should go out into the world and share our hope with others who don't know Christ. But as a cycle, we must be "refueled" in a sense by meeting with believers and encouraging each other after being out where Satan can beat us down.
I was very encouraged about our meetings with christians and gaining christian friends. When we come together we should always ask how each other is growing and how they can be lifted up. It is easy to hide our spiritual life, so if we are faltering, and no one is asking or challenging us, we can easily continue a downhill slide.
Martha Grace had a great quote tonight. She brought up the verse, "Where two or more of you (believers) are gathered, I am there also," and said that we shouldn't make God show up for no reason. --If he isn't discussed or honored, we wasted that gathering of his faithful.--

I am meeting tomorrow with my South Central girls from camp. I am going to discuss some of these verses with them as a way of introducing campaigners and our reasons behind encouraging one another in faith. God prepared me well tonight, but please be praying that they are open to sharing their growth and faith and struggles with one another and myself. It can be tough.

Sharp. Top. Cove.

I punctuated between the syllables because the dramatic pauses will add to how amazing it was. Or so I hope.
Folks, this past week 8 Pitt County Young Life leaders peaced out of Greenville with 41 of our high school friends to head to Jasper, Ga. The hills of Jasper, Ga. actually. To Sharptop Cove. I tried to have no expectations going into the week, but was also so super excited because 3 years ago I had just had my first YL summer camp experience, so I knew the amazingness that was in store. Oh, but wait, I actually had NO IDEA what amazingness was in store. Coming to camp as a camper is one thing. Going again as a camper is another. Going as a leader is not even in the same realm of thinking. Learning the purpose behind little things at camp and the timing of activities was so awesome. Young Life's camping experience is like a science. They've learned what works, and what best expresses Christ to lost children throughout the week.
I absolutely loved this past week. Spending precious time with precious girls. Growing closer to them and watch them take those steps to get closer to their Lord and Savior was a blessing beyond compare. I had 9 of my South Central friends go, and we were in a cabin with the 2 Conley girls and Sandra Anastacia.
Serving those girls and showing them the love that has so freely been bestowed upon me was so sweet. The little things that they'll never notice were the most rewarding. They were amazing to be with, and amazing to talk with.
By the end of the week, hearts had been softened, ears and eyes had been opened, and secrets had been shared. 15 Pitt County folks stood up at say so to proclaim to camp that they had accepted God's proposal to them. 16 met or recommitted their lives to Christ this week after seeing God in an amazing new light .
Brian Summerall was the speaker, Ryan Clark was the special music. They were both fantastic. I've heard a lot of camp speakers, but I know that even as a leader, the things that Brian said will stick to my heart. He had a great way of talking to high school kids on their level and expressing Christ in a way that is important to their struggles now.
God worked in amazing ways bringing me closer to these lovely ladies that I am excited to spend the next few years (and hopefully on after that) loving on. They are God's children, and my constant prayer is for them to know that and His love for them. But also to recognize the work that He is doing in their lives now.
I hope that many more of you will be able to experience camp this coming summer as we take more and more kids to a place where they encounter Christ on every level, every second of the day.

Changes

Its funny to think back over the past three years. Three years ago I was looking forward to my senior year of high school. My dreams and aspirations are so different from what they are now. I just looked back through my xanga postings at this time in 2005. One cool thing is that I had recently gotten back from my first trip to a summer Young Life camp. Now, three years later I am about to go on my first summer camp experience as a leader! So exciting.

I have been reflecting on where I was with my walk at different stages in my life recently in hopes to connect with more of my South Central girls where they are. We've been where they are, so we need to reach down to them and try to lead them on the path that has served us in such an awesome way.

Even looking to last year or two, I can see how much of a change has taken place in my life and those around me. College is crazy in how much you mature.... or don't mature.

I encourage you to look back and see what has led you to the place you are now. Reach out to those who are where you were recently. Ryan Eaton and I talked about this the other day---how we look up to the elders in churches and older Christians to model our lives after theirs. We get the honor of being that to those younger than us. So talk to the Lord and ask him to prepare you in ways that you can't even imagine. Ask him to point out turning points in your life that you can share. Our lives define us. You can't just push your past away.

here are two great pictures from November of freshman year. Mike and me out to dinner for his birthday. :)

And Aaron and I at West End for a Friday Night Hang Out.

Funny how these guys were both fun people to hang out with freshman year, but who would have guessed that became so important in my life??

Awesome.

Camps: Caswell and Sharptop!

This past weekend was fantastic. :) Aaron and I went to Caswell, hung out with amazing people and had some great times. Thrift store hopping for decade dance outfits, funny photoshoots, running on the beach, decade dance, and other fun times with the Caswell Staff of '08 were fantastic!

On the way home, we stopped to see friends in Wilmington. Scott Brewer and Jason Pogue. Oh those kids. We hadn't seen each other since the lake, and it was a fun reunion. Then the little miss Ali Jo Forester came to join us! Oh that was just wonderful! I love love love seeing people from school. She's so fun. The visit was short lived because I had work that night, but its okay. Little reunions+ice cream=unbeatable. :)

Can I just express to you guys how awesome life is?? I am getting so stinkin' excited for camp. William (my younger brother) just got home from Crooked Creek yesterday and was raving to me about how awesome it was. I haven't gotten to hear the full story yet, hopefully that will come later today, but I know it was a great time for him with friends, new people, awesome enviroment, and the big man upstairs. How cool is it that I get to be a leader for kids experiencing these same things this coming week??!?!?! I have done nothing worthy of being put in this position, but wow, what an honor to serve My Creator and Savior like this! Its giong to be one heck of a week. Please pray for Pitt County at Sharptop Cove! I have 9 girls going with me from South Central and am so so blessed in that aspect!

Things that make me smile

Soo, sometimes our emotions run away with us. We get caught up in the little things in life and loose control and find ourselves on an emotional roller coaster. I know that when this happens to me, I am always very shaken up... I am not normally a very emotional person. But the good news is that when anything gets us down, we all have so many blessings that we can think about and rejoice in.
some things that I always remind myself of are:
*I am a beloved child of God
*Nothing is stronger than my savior
*My true friends will always be there to help me up
*My family is amazing
*Encouragment can be found in any avenue of my life

Renew is one of my favorite words... we must renew ourselves daily with our walk and discovery of Christ. Doing this can allow us to find that the smallest of blessings can brighten the worst of days. I hadn't had a great day the other day..things seemed to keep piling up on me. One of my recent, constant stressors has been that I have lost my camera. To destress, I decided to clean my room, and in one last sweep, I decided to check a place that I have looked multiple times since I lost my camera, and sure enough, it was there. Oooh kids, you may not understand how big this was for me to find it. I didn't even care that I may have had to buy a new camera soon, but I had just taken some pictures that were precious to me, and I just wanted those back. Great news for me. :) I'll share some of these pictures soon.
<3

I don't want to survive, I want to live!

So yesterday I had an amazing day in Raleigh! I got to see GREAT friends, share laughs and hugs and pictures and ringtones. What an amazing time with Lacey, Sandy, Quinn, Heather, Laura, and Yaron! Following this, Aaron and I went out to eat with other YL friends to celebrate the births of Katy and Kristina! We ate at a great Seafood Grill called Michael Deans. Now, for me to say this place was great is... crazy. I don't consider myself to be a fan of seafood, but here I was eating halibut, crab cakes, mahi mahi, and tuna... but not just tuna, but raw tuna! Oh my gosh. You guys should be soooo proud of me. :) We stayed there until late, but Aaron and I made it even later by going to see Wall-E!!! SUCH A GREAT MOVIE. <3 Definitely awesome. And it has a great pre-video with a bunny who is pretty sick at some magic tricks. I love bunnies and rabbits.
This morning I woke up early and left Durham to drive back for the trash-a-thon. Dangerous drive for me because I was so tired! The trash-a-thon was great though. We beasted it and got done really quickly. And it was great times with some girls that I unfortunately haven't seen in a while.
My aunt and cousin are in town for my cousin's soccer camp. Tonight I went to dinner with my aunt and it was such a great time. We talked for about an hour and a half; it blessed my life so much. She's amazing and I hate that I don't see her more often.
The title of this post is a quote from Wall-E. I loooved it. The captain said it when he began to realize what all he was missing out on. Let us strive to LIVE. We all have something to live for, so do it! We should never be "okay" with how things are, we should strive to Love, Invite, Value, and Encourage people through the love with which Christ taught us to share.

Celebrations

It always seems like there is so much to celebrate... birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc. Sometimes it seems like everything comes on at once, but really isn't that how life should be?? Full of celebrations? We should celebrate with our Lord for those who turn to him and praise him. We are his handiwork, and that is such an honor. Let us always turn to Him and lift up our voices and emotions to show Him how much we rejoice! We can never show our God enough praise!!!
This came to mind because I am about to head out to Raleigh to celebrate the birthdays of two lovely females, Kristina and Katy. It should be good times with some great friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and role models. :)
I will get the chance to see some of my closest friends before going to dinner, and I couldn't be more excited about it! Because of this excitement, I'm going to shower and hit the road ASAP!

Dear avid readers

Hello all! All being the 4 of you that will read this... :)
So...I'm really pumped that a lot of people are being all cool and awesome and blogging. That word just makes my face light up. I used to be a blog addict, I can admit this. I miss it at times, mainly because I don't want to forget where I was in my life at these times. So much happens, and we can't remember it all. Of course we can't keep account of it all either, but bits and pieces will help me remember when I am old and gray. [I just lost...]
Anywho--I hope that through this blog, I can update you on little happenings in my life. I don't want this to just be an account of what I did when and how much I enjoyed it. I also want it to be somewhere where I can share things about my faith. I know some of my closest friends will be looking at this from time to time, and though we are all so close (and growing closer), the deep parts of our lives aren't always at the forefront of conversation. This could be such an avenue for us to share things that we may not bring up as we sit and watch "I love the new millenium."

This post wouldn't be complete without a run down of some recent fun times that I've had.
Yesterday I got off of work at 4 and drove to good old Kenly, North Carolina to see that kid that I call boyfriend and his grandparents. We had dinner, discussed the amazingness of the E. Coli infestation in the Greenville water supply, and talked about Aaron's miniature horse, Jimmy. After dinner we drove to Zebulon for a Carolina Mudcats game. For those of you that aren't as country as this... I'll fill you in (though I can't lie, I wasn't exposed until yesterday). The Carolina Mudcats are a minor leauge baseball team out of Zebulon. There are quite a few teams throughout NC that I am learning about. :) We had fun and enjoyed the game though those silly catfish lost. After that adventure, Aaron and I had to go to WalMart to get bottled water and the classic disney movie, The Sword in the Stone. We didn't finish watching it, but we will soon. I drove back to Greenville this morning, worked, went to the UBE for a book, and went to Town Commons with my bible for some Jesus time. It was awesome... it was a hot day, so no one walked by the the entire time. Great alone time. After that I went to the CB and met up with Mike and Bryan. After ordeals, we ended up at the U. Manor pool and went TaNnIn' together. Hahha. We were all reading books and working up a sweat. After a dip and some drying, we headed back to their place and watched the tele. We had some great laughs at the "I love 2003 and 2004" Oh wow. I love those boys. They've blessed my life since freshman year hanging out in Jones hall. I went for a run tonight too! How exciting!!! I ran 3.5 miles and was very proud of myself... I haven't been running much at all, so this is a starting point for me.
Life is grand. Sorry for the long post, but I hope that if you read it all, it brought you some smiles and good times.