My hero :)

Her name is Amanda. People say we could have been twins; well, that is, if she wasn't fourteen years older. If you compare my sister's and my childhood pictures, the similarities are evident: that same dark blonde hair, the straight across bangs that our mother insisted on giving us for a hairstyle, a little bit of Dad, a little bit of Mom, and the same smile that we both still wear today. I remember being younger and hearing people say, "You are just like your sister!". Maybe that would annoy some girls, but to me that is the greatest  compliment I could ever be given.  Of course, my sister is beautiful, but it goes so much further than skin deep.

            My sister has always been my hero. Although, when I was six years old reading her diary, jumping on her bed, playing in her makeup, or getting her in trouble, she may not have thought the exact same of me. She is the bravest person I know. Don't get me wrong; she is most afraid of rodents, snakes, and airplanes. But, she is brave. I have seen my sister deal with situations that would bring most people to their lowest point. Her faith in God shows in every aspect of her life. When she is going through a really tough time, she says "He's got this under control." My sister works hard at everything she does and she strives to be the very best version of herself and no one else.

            It's true that my sister and I are alike in almost every way. We are both determined, reliable, honest, outspoken, faithful, and brave. When someone now tells me that I'm like my sister, it means so much more to me knowing they are talking about our characteristics rather than just those awful straight across bangs.

Purple for a Purpose...

     These past two weeks have been the two hardest weeks of my life. With just one instant, one phone call, and a few words spoken, my world was flipped upside down.
      As many of you know, Katlyn Graham was in a very serious ATV accident, along with Annalyn Bradshaw on Wednesday, May 30th. Annalyn was very fortunate and was not physically hurt other than some obvious soreness and scratches. Praise God!! But, Katlyn, however, was not so fortunate. The Gator that they were riding had flipped over on Katlyn, cutting off her oxygen. To make a very long story shorter, she ended up being airlifted to Jackson and is currently in UMC'S children's ICU. Katlyn is in a severe coma in critical condition.. Recently, though, after MANY prayers, Katlyn has made great progress, along with a few setbacks. She is being kept sedated until her lungs can heal, but the other night she actually opened her eyes! How exciting! Now we are just playing the waiting game.. waiting to see what comes next.
       I can't even begin to describe the insane roller coaster that we have all been on these past two weeks. Ups, and downs, downs and ups.. I can't even begin to imagine how Mrs. Tasha and Mr. Trae feel and what they have been through these past two weeks. I just can't wait until I can see Katlyn, awake, and I can tell her all about what this situation has done in my life and how God has used her as such an awesome witness for Him.
      My relationship with God has been stronger these past two weeks than it ever has been. I have learned more how to rely on God for EVERYTHING. I have learned more how to put every single drop of my faith and trust in Christ. It is so easy to trust God when things are going great, but when he trows in a curve ball once in a while, trust me, your faith is tested. It is important to always remember that God has the power to do anything  His will WILL be done.
       It's also important to remember that when things get better, when Katlyn is awake, doing good and at home, that this close walk that we have all had with God these past few weeks does not need to fade! The prayer life that we have all built up does not need to fade. God lets things happen sometimes to bring us closer to him or to give us all a wake up call- and this definitely was one of those times. If you live in Ellisville, you know that the entire town is purple. Purple everywhere! It's amazing how our town has been touched by this and I feel like it has brought us all together. There aren't many times when I think "I love living in such a small town", but when I drive through Ellisville and see all of the purple...my heart skips a beat.
      I truly believe that God is trying to get our attention. These are just a few things he has showed me through all of this-

1. Life is so very short. As teenagers, sometimes we think we are invincible and untouchable.. But the truth is, we aren't. We are fragile, and we are only making it by the grace of God! It's time to wake up and stop living for ourselves, and live for God.
2. God has POWER. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
3. God knows what he is doing. He has his hands on Katlyn and the doctors.
4. When you put ALL of your trust, worries, and faith in God's hands, you feel SO much better. I have such a peace about all of this now. I know that anything could happen, but I trust that God knows what he is doing and in the end, everything will be okay.

There are so many things I wish I could tell Katlyn right now. I wish i could see her smiling face right now and just be able to hug her. I miss her more than I ever thought imaginable. Our youth group isn't the same without her. It's too... quiet! Haha, Katlyn is always the sunshine of our youth group- the bright, loud one!


Katlyn,
     You have no idea the impact you have made on my life and many others. You are SUCH  testimony, and you don't even know it yet! I haven't passed one purple ribbon without praying for you, and we pray for you constantly. I miss you so much. I can't wait to see you able to be goofy again. I need some sunshine in my life! Guess what? We had a prayer vigil for you at church Thursday night after your accident. There were so many students there and I know you would be proud! (finally the "cool church"...Hahah). Through all of this, my faith and trust in God has grown more than I ever thought was possible. I love you so much and I can't wait for you to get better!

 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD." John 16:33

Our youth went and visited Katlyn's family at the hospital last Sunday

This was from a day during Spring Break when the youth was working concessions at Jones. Crazy Katlyn!

Purple everywhere!

I've been a bad blogger...

Yeah, yeah, I know it has been about 7 months. I don't even know where to start!
September: Well, after my birthday, I got my license and I took over mom's Buick, which is now my car :) My birthday present was a room makeover!

Before...

After!

 October: Besides the fair, crowning in the pageant, and Halloween, October wasn't very busy. Here are just a few pics:

Kylon was in the Womanless Beauty Pageant at school...This disturbs me, but he won prettiest face!

November marked mine and Kylon's 3 year anniversary. I know that God has placed each of us in each other's lives for a specific purpose, and I have no complaints! He treats me like a girl should be treated, and that is hard to find these days! I love him, and I couldn't be happier.

December: Ahh, Christmas time! December is by far my favorite month, but also my busiest! With all of the regular Christmas activities, I also had Dinner Theater (which is a huge fundraiser that show choir does every December) and our youth went to Winter Extreme in TN!

I love these girls! I am blessed with so many amazing friends!
Dinner Theater 2011-2012

One of the night sessions at Winter Xtreme 2011/2012.
Nothing like hands raised worshipping Jesus!

My beautiful mother and me at Dinner Theater!

Yeah, yeah. My boyfriend spoils me just a little bit..

Youth group looking at Christmas lights in Purvis. Love these girls!

All bundled up in downtown Gatlinburg on New Years Eve!

February: For Valentine's Day, Kylon planned a special date for us! :) He wouldn't tell me ANYTHING about what we were doing, and it was driving me crazy! My friends said I would love it, and I sure did! When I woke up and got dressed (which is hard to do appropriately when you have no clue where you're going or what you're doing) I got in my car with no idea where to go. He told me to check my mailbox, where I found a rose with a note tied to it. I soon discovered that I was on an intense scavenger hunt around Ellisville. It was so much fun! He sent me with "clues" to places that were special to us or places that we liked to go together, and at each place I would find a new rose with a new clue. After I found the last rose, I was instructed to meet him in Hattiesburg at my favorite resturant, which is obviously Tabella. We ate lunch and spent the day together! I couldn't have asked for anything more thoughtful or special! Honestly, I was impressed that he did it all on his own! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures!
February 21 was Kaylie's birthday, so a few of us went out to Mi Casita to celebrate :)

Love these girls :)

March:  Well, March was very busy, but the main event was my trip to FAME ORLANDO with South Jones Company! The trip was a lot of fun; I always enjoy time with my friends and my show choir family. We went to Universal Studios, where we not only had a BLAST at the theme parks, but we also competed at the Hard Rock Live in the Fame Competition series for regionals. We placed First Runner Up, with VERY close scores! We were all very excited, because... this meant that we were advancing to the Nationals competition in CHICAGO! We are so very blessed with an awesome director and great parents that helped get us where we are and mold us to who we are now.
We leave for Chicago next Wednesday and compete Saturday (April 21).

Sophomores with the trophy!

At Harry Potter World! (it had been raining)

Cassidy won Most Beautiful in her school pageant! I was one proud BFF :)

Recently/April: As you can tell, the last few months have been so very hectic. I can't believe the school year is almost over!
 Easter was last week, and as always, I was reminded of the amazing sacrifice that my Savior made for me on the cross over 2,000 years ago. You know, as I sit here and recall all of the things that have been going on lately that have kept me so busy, I realize that I don't stop what I am doing often enough to thank the One who gave me life- the one who makes all that I do possible. I am blessed beyond words, and God deserves every bit of me. Easter shouldn't be the only time that we remind ourselves of the amazing, unthinkable things that Jesus went through and suffered for us all. I am challenging myself in all of this busy/craziness to take the time that God rightfully deserves to thank him and use more time to do his works. After all, that is our sole purpose as Christians for being on this Earth. I hope everyone had a great Easter and continue to have a great Spring! Here are a few more pictures:

Had to share Colby's fish he caught. He was so proud :)

I was the Easter Bunny at the kid's egg hunt the Saturday before Easter

Not the greatest picture of me because of the sun, but this was us on Easter. I love these two :)

This one is a little better. Me and Cassidy on Easter!

Pinterest project SUCCESS! I'm so addicted to Pinterest..

Well, that is all for this one big blog! Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! (Haha)

The latest news.

Wow! This past month has gone by so fast. I have been so busy with school and everything else that I have slacked off on my blogging.
Here is a brief recap of the last month:
School is harder this year. I have homework almost every night and teachers are tough. Aside from that though, I think this is going to be a pretty good year.
We have had some fun dress up days for football games. We all look crazy, but that's the fun of it.


We had our first pep rally downtown the Thursday night before our first game. This was taken right before the cheerleaders' music messed up and they didn't get to dance.




This was uniform day on the Friday that we played Laurel. I love my show choir friends :)
The score for that game- well, let's not talk about it.



This was from Beach day when we played Seminary.
Yeah, let's also not talk about the score that night.



This was on Camo day last week when we played Northeast Jones.
We played well, but still didn't get a win.

BUT, tonight we got our first win of the season! I'm so proud of our Braves. We played Vancleave and won 24-17.

Today was my best friend's birthday (Olivia Chatham). Me and Peyton took her out to eat to Mi Casita to celebrate last night and we had the best time! I rarely ever get girl nights with my two best friends, and it was much needed!



Me and the birthday girl!

Today was also my friend Bailey Davis's birthday. I hope they both had a great day and enjoyed the brownies I made them- because that took forever haha.

Here are just a few snapshots from here lately-



One Sunday our youth went and played laser tag in Ellisville and it was a lot of fun. If you're looking for a church to visit, West Ellisville is the place to be!



One Thursday night, Roxie and I went to see Laurel Little Theater's production of The Wizard of Oz. It was very good!! We had a great time.

This is mom one night fighting with Kylee about something she dropped behind the bed..



This is me and my two best friends, Peyton and Olivia, when we went to Mi Casita for Olivia's birthday.

Here is just some of my latest photography of Warren and Wyatt Phillips. They were so much fun to photography and they're both so sweet.

That's all for tonight. I have to wake up early in the morning to work at our youth group car wash.

Until next time, God bless!



Answered Prayers :)

 What better way to express some feelings and vent than to write about it? I feel like I need to share a testimony with everyone about a struggle in my life that has recently been taken away (Well, mostly anyway.)
 It all started about 2 years ago. I attend West Ellisville Baptist Church. We had a youth group that was on fire for God. We were all so close and we loved each other. Until, our youth minister resigned and left the church. After that, our youth group steadily was decreasing in numbers and there was nothing anyone could do that would save it. Some of us tried to save it. We tried really hard, until we just said "forget it!". It wasn't worth it to us anymore when nobody wanted to participate in anything.
 Then, our church pastor also resigned. Our church members over time became discouraged as we waited and waited to find a pastor. Faithful members stopped coming, families started joining other churches, and the people who stayed with us were just so tired of waiting.
 My mother had the opportunity to be on the pastor search committee. They were constantly visiting churches, reading over resumes, talking to preachers, asking around for recommendations-everything. I saw my mom come home many Sundays after visiting churches disappointed. Nobody was understanding why we couldn't find a preacher..
 Here was my struggle- I was getting tired of it too. I started visiting another youth group on Wednesday nights. I needed to be fed by the spirit, and I couldn't get that from WEBC because we didn't even have a youth program anymore. We were lucky to get 4 people in our girl's Sunday school class. I spent many nights broken over the loss of our church and our youth group. I couldn't understand why nobody wanted to be involved in anything. I begged my parents to switch churches. I got to the point where I was always leaving WEBC in a bad mood. That is not how it should be with church. My parents kept telling me that you had to fight for your church to keep it going and to make things work again.
 Then, the search committee decided that they were done looking for a preacher. They said that God would send the right man for our church to us. Soon after that, he surely did. To make a long story shorter, we now have a new pastor at WEBC. His name is Bro. Keith Ulmer, and he is definitely the right man for our church. God sent him to us, we didn't have to go searching for him. The whole time we were griping about not having a preacher, God was preparing Bro. Keith's heart to come and be our new pastor.
 To make things even better, he has a precious wife and 2 children that are in highschool. We not only gained a wonderful pastor, but also 2 youth!
  I look back now, and I am so glad that I didn't transfer churches. I have gained such a great friendship with his daughter, Cassidy. God had a plan, and he always will. I never thought that things would turn out as great as it all has. I have learned an important life lesson through all of this- God has a plan for our lives, all the time. When we give our struggles to God, they're in his hands. God can handle anything and everything. It is just such a humbling experience.. God is so mighty and so wise, and I am not. He is so holy and worthy, and I am not. He is so faithful, and I am not.
 I serve a God that knows what he is doing. Our next plan is to get our youth fired up again. I would love to see us grow in number and in closeness with each other. I would love to see us go back to the times when we went on all these mission trips and youth conferences that were so spiritual and brought us all so much closer to God. It is going to be hard, but if we stop trying to do it all on our own and just give it to God, we can do it!
 In the words of Chris Tomlin: Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power.. Our God..Our God..
 I just felt led to share this story with anyone who decided to read this. My prayer from now on is that God will just bring me to my knees everyday to realize how awesome he really is. I pray for the youth in my church that they will realize that you can NEVER be "too cool" for God. I pray our youth will come to have a close relationship and that our church will also. 
 God never lets go of us, even in the hard times when we feel so far away from him. He is always right beside us if we allow him to be.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

First week as a sophmore

   Well, today was my fourth day back to school and I am already thinking.. "Is it summer again, yet??"
This really is going to be a difficult year. With all of the extra show choir practices after school, chemistry homework/tests, Spanish (Which I have NO idea how I am going to pass), geometry, economics/driver's ed, Gifted english 2 (Or 3, I am not sure which one), and all of the other craziness at South Jones, I am going to be one busy girl! I can't imagine being one of those girls who is involved in EVERY after school activity.. I can barely keep up with everything I have to do now!
  We did blocking for our first song in Company today; that was pretty exciting. Other than that, the days at school go by sooo slow. And the classrooms are HOT.
  Tomorrow the GLEE movie comes out in theaters. Hopefully Kylon and I will be going to see that tomorrow night. If you haven't heard, I am a little bit of a Gleek. I mean, I only have EVERY song that they've ever done downloaded on my itunes. No big deal.
   I had a photoshoot with Roxie Saturday, and the pics turned out really good! I just love doing photography so much.. Saturday evening I am shooting two precious little boys. Can't wait!

¡Buenas noches! (that is "good night!" in Spanish..Maybe I should go study for my 3 tests tomorrow.) ¡Adios!

My last days of summer...

 I just can't get the idea through my head that school starts back THIS MONDAY. It is rather depressing to think about, so I will just give an overview of the past few days. Wednesday night after a great church service at Salem Heights, I went to Raising Canes with Kylon, Ak, and Olivia. Raising Canes is probably my favorite place in Laurel to eat; I wish Ellisville was good enough to get one! I spent the night with Olivia for some much needed best friend time. Thursday morning we woke up early and went to Elegant Evenings to try on pageant dresses. I would love to work at EE while I am in highschool/college. Olivia found a GORGEOUS pageant dress, and we both fell in love with it on her! I have a very pretty best friend :) . A lot of people have a bad idea about pageants, but I love them. They're fun if you like to get all dressed up for a day and be pampered. Placing in the pageants isn't important, it's how much fun you have!

Most Beautiful 2010-2011



SJH  pageant



Thursday night Olivia and I went to Open House at the school. It just made it seem even more real how close we are to the start of school.

Friday I had lunch with Drewcilla Shumake, who is my long lost friend that now lives in Virginia, where she attends Liberty University. We ate at the best place in town-Cafe Le Fluers. Then Kylon came over to swim for the rest of the afternoon.

Now, It is Saturday and we have been doing some heavy duty cleaning. I am about to go do a photoshoot with Roxie Hudgens! I get so excited about photography. I only pray that God blesses me with my own studio one day.

Speaking of praying..Tomorrow, West Ellisville Baptist Church will be having a new preacher come speak. We hope that everything works out so that he will become our new permanent preacher! We are already so in love with him and his family. Pray that everything works out for the best and that God's will can be done. After all, praying is what got us this far! :)

Have a great day and week everyone!

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6

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