I'm HERE!!!!

Well hello there from Houston, TX!!! That's right, I pulled in to Houston Friday night around 5:15!
My sweet friend Ellen took off work to help me drive the long drive! Thankfully, our trip was for the most part uneventful! The only glitch we had was my GPS dying!! But, thanks to my wonderful sense of direction (for those of you that actually KNOW me, you are rolling the floor laughing at this point!) we made it safely to Houston! We pulled in around 5:15, jogged in the house, quickly said hello to Margie, and got started unloading. I would like to say that we had the car unloaded within five minutes, and I was completely unpacked and settled in within 20 minutes!! Impressive right?! We quickly threw on a dress, and somewhat pulled ourselves together and headed out to Westbury Christian Schools graduation! Graduation started at 7:00, so we needed to be there by 6:30 and I live 20 minutes away from the church (I'll let you do the math!). This was a very fun night! I was able to surprise several of the kids that night!
Then on Saturday, Ellen and I spent the morning together. We ran to David's Bridal to try on some bridesmaids dresses, and then went and had lunch before I took her to the airport. I then attended on my students graduation parties! It was a crawfish broil! It was a very interesting experience!!
I am wrapping up my first Sunday here! I attended another graduation party tonight where we played water balloon volleyball! As you can tell, I have been very busy!! But I am loving every minute of it!!
Tomorrow we are all going to play paintball!! This should be another interesting experience!
Ok, sorry this was so long!! Just wanted to kind of update everyone on what I have been up to my first couple of days here!! I love you all and I will leave you with a few pictures!

Me and Ellen at WCS graduation

 

 

Cody teaching me how to eat crawfish!

Me and some of my girls after water balloon volleyball!

TWO Days!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness. I only have two more days to wrap everything here in Alabama! Thankfully both of my professors are giving me my final a day early. I finished one last night, and I will complete my last final today! SO thankful for this!! I will now have Thursday to spend here at home tying up some loose ends!
On the agenda for tomorrow:

• take my car to be rotated and balanced
• get the oil changed
• pack, then pack my car!
• got to Jake's graduation
• SLEEP

I have ALOT to do, but I am SUPER excited about making this journey!! It is confirmed that my sweet friend Ellen will be taking the trip with me! She was so generous to get off of work and get a plane ticket to find her way back to Alabama. I am so thankful for her!!
This will probably be my last post until I am IN HOUSTON!! So, for all of my Houston people, I'll SEE YOU SOON!
I love you all and thank you for all of your support for my journey!
Unitl next time,
Hollyann

The Countdown Begins!!

We are officially one week and two days away from my departure!! I am so excited to get this summer jump started! I know the Lord has got some great plans for this summer! I am just ready started fulfilling those plans! Please be in prayer as I finish up this last week of school and get ready to head out on this incredible journey!

Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;  he puts the deep into storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.The LORD foils the plans of the nations;  he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33

Have a Blessed week!!

happy birthday.MOV

April Update

Oh my goodness! This has been a CRAZY month! I thankfully finished up my Spring semester in school. So I have had two weeks off to enjoy my freedom before my May semester! I don't know how else to describe this past week other than utterly insane. The devastating tornadoes came right through my small home down, leaving nothing but debris and fallen trees. It has been absolutely breathtaking to see all of the damage this small town has undergone. Last Wednesday, April, 27th was the day it all hit!There were two bands of storms that came through. Wednesday morning at about 6:30 AM there was a tornado that came through Ohatchee. This storm hit my family. Thankfully we have minimal damage to the house. A tree fell on one of our cars, and a trailer that my dad owns. We also have about 40+ trees down, or i guess I should say, completely uprooted. So needless to say, we spent all day Wednesday trying to clean up our yard and clear our driveway so we could at least get in and out! All the while knowing there were MAJOR storms coming through that night. So without power AND water, we all settled in to our home safely and waited out the storm. Not knowing this storm would completely wipe out half of our town. All we could do is sit back and watch as the storm came through and then sit back and wait to hear about all of the damage. Alabama took a big hit; this storm claimed over 250 lives. Thursday we went out to some of the main sites that were hit to try and help those that we could. It was so overwhelming trying to help people salvage what was left of their already struggling lives! It was so powerful to hear some of the survival stories; and at the same time just as sobering to hear the horrific stories of those who had lost their lives. We have a lot of work ahead of us to clean up and pick up all of the pieces of our town! Please join me in my prayer for those who have lost so much.
Today I celebrated my 21st birthday! My family took me out to dinner last night to celebrate. It was a night full of fun and laughter. (which pretty much happens anytime you get my family together!) I came home from my night class and my sweet mother had fixed me my favorite homemade apple cobbler...yum!! Concluding this amazing day, my wonderful kids from TX made me a video for my birthday!! I will post it soon so you can see it!

Quick internship update: I finish my May classes May 26th, so I leave May 27th to head that way! As of this writing we are 22 days away!! I am so excited about seeing my family there and I know the Lord has so many wonderful plans in store for us!!

Until next time,
Hollyann

Summer 2011

Wow...I can't believe we are already within two months of another awesome summer! It's about that time to get this thing back and running for SUMMER 2011!!! I can't even begin to express to any of you how excited I am about this upcoming summer! The Lord is already working in some pretty amazing ways, and I can't wait to see all that he has in store for us! I am super excited about taking this journey with you all again!!!
More to come soon, so stay posted!
Hollyann

Home....but heart broken...

Well folks, this will be the last post...I have been home now for a little over a week. It is great to be home, and see my family and friends that I have missed....but Oh my heart won't let go of my kids back in Houston.
I got ALOT done my last week in TX! Steve and his family went to CO for vacation, so it was my personal goal to get as much as I could done, and surprise Steve when he got back! OH BOY was he surprised! I busted my tail! I completely cleaned off his desk, and straightened up his office. My next project was to hang the pictures with the Tshirts I decorated the youth room with. Last but not least, I painted the hallway leading into the youth room. WOW was this a BIG job! So big, I even pinched a nerve in my neck doing it! But it was cool being able to surprise Steve with all that got done!So my last Sunday in Houston, the kids threw me a going away party. Oh my, it was too sweet. Some of the girls put together an AMAZING scrapbook! This isn't any ordinary scrapbook...this thang is VERY well done. I know they had to have spent countless hours working on it! And they will never know how much it means to me! As a matter of fact, I look at it every night before I go to bed! BUT....that is NOT ALL! They wrote me a song!!!...and they sang it to me at the party. Oh thinking back to this night just brings tears to my eyes! Once all of the sad goodbyes were said, we took it outside to the courtyard for a fun-filled evening with WATER! So many memories were made in this night alone. Pulling out of the parking lot that night was probably one of the hardest things I have done in a long time!

pictures with t-shirts

hallway that i painted

the girls showing me the scrapbook

But every good thing must come to an end...so I am now back home. Everything that I do, I'm always thinking, ' I wander what they are doing right now' or, '__ would love this!'. I even caught myself talking to myself in my car! Each of the kids chose a song on my Ipod, and we listened to it anytime they were in my car. So of course, I listen to those songs ALL the time! But one particular night I was coming home from work just a singin' to the their songs, and then I started having conversations with them! Thankfully my cell phone rang, helping to realize how insane I had gone!
So, for the time being, my prayer is that the Lord will start to heal my heart. I need my joy restored! I am having such a hard time finding happiness in anything that I am doing. I start back to college next Thursday, so hopefully I will get busy, and it will help to get my mind on other things. In the meantime, please keep me in your prayers as I am still adjusting to my life back home. I am leaving you with some pictures of my last days in Texas.

the whole crew at the water party...

It has been a fun summer, and I have enjoyed taking this journey with each you! Love you all!