Jogging with the Lord...

"I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
   With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
   my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
   nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
   you will fill me with joy in your presence,
   with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalms 16: 7-9

I have made it my goal to start jogging and getting back into shape while I am in Houston this summer! I have only been at this new task for all of three days, and I am already feeling Satan pulling at my edges! He is doing this through lack of motivation and planting excuses in my head!! My original plan was to get up every morning around 6:30 and go for a jog to start my day off....well for those of you that know me, you know this plan never came to fruition! I can't seem to force myself out of bed when I have another hour to sleep before I have to get up for work! So, I decided to compromise with myself... .around 7:30 PM the humidity isn't so bad, so it is bearable to get out and go running. The only con to this is sometimes my schedule does not place me at home around 7:30ish. Anyways, this time I have alone with the Lord has really proven to be a solid, peaceful time! As I was studying the other day before my jog, I came across Psalm 16 (the passage above). "With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken", my new motto. As most of you know, Holly is SEVERELY out of shape!! So there has come many times when I have been jogging that Satan starts feeding me these lies: "Oh you've run long enough", "It's starting to get dark", "Your heart is literally about to beat out of your chest, STOP!", or "uh..yea...you're legs are seriously about to splat into a puddle of jello!". I have found, however, reciting this scripture and demanding Satan leave this sacred time I have with the Lord has been truly reviving! I find myself talking to the Lord....OUTLOUD! I know these TX people are thinking, "Where do these crazy people come from?!" I caught myself the other day saying, "Lord...you see that STOP sign up there?..ok, I'm not stopping for a rest till WE get there....so you better be picking up your pace, because I'm slowing down!"...hahaha..don't you know how much the Lord is entertained by our stupid complaints!! He quickly reassured me,
"With me at your right hand, you will not be shaken!"

I am so thankful to serve a faithful God, and God that takes time out of running this crazy world to go on a jog with me!....ah..I think I am in love:)

P.S. things are great here in Houston! I will try and update on what is going on here sometime next week...not much is happening right now while the kids are taking finals and finishing up school!
Love you all!

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