It's Official

Now I have an awesome stamp for the back of the cards me and my mama have been making.

It says "Sweet Sage" which is the name that Kyle helped me come up with.

We've been making cards out of the pictures I've taken with my new camera, and we should have lots to make now cuz I printed out about 100 for my mama for her birthday yesterday! Let me know if you want some!

love.

difference of ages

I've had a couple realizations of age the past weekend. I guess it's probably because I turned the big 2-0 yesterday. A.J. asked me how many fingers old I was going to be and I said "all your fingers and all your toes" and felt so old. Now I realize 20 really isn't that old, but it just doesn't feel like I should already be 20. I feel like I just started driving, and just graduated from high school...but I love the chapter of my life that I am in now.

Kyle bought a game for the Wii called "Cooking Mama" for us to play, and I'm pretty much addicted to it. You use the remote to chop up vegetables and stir ingredients together and there is a grilling level that Kyle loves. Anyways we were having a blast playing it, and I was finally getting the hang of it. Then one of Nick's friends walks in and goes "You guys are playing a cooking video game? for fun?" haha...I guess our idea of fun is a little different than theirs.

Ours involves safe cooking, fun.


Theirs involves going to Goodwill, buying big wheels and riding them down the big hill in our neighborhood dressed in our old play clothes...unsafe but hilarious.


I guess I'll stick to Cooking Mama, real cooking with my new chef's knife and cooking mat, taking pictures of their crazy ideas, and enjoying the beauty of everything around me.

kids

It only seems fitting to do a blog entry about kids since they are the ones I spend the majority of my time with. I started babysitting pretty young, mostly for my brother or the neighbors when my parents were close by. Needless to say I got burnt out on babysitting very fast. If you've ever met my brother you would understand. In high school I babysat every now and then, but never enjoyed it or looked forward to going. Last summer I started babysitting for a family with two boys (AJ and Jack and now Ben) and absolutely fell in love with them. God really placed a love for kids in my heart and I try to find as many ways possible to serve around them. My Sunday school kids always bring a smile to my face, and I love hearing their views on life, God, and problems. This past week they were talking about birthdays, and I said mine was coming up so they asked how old I was going to be and I said "20" One of the girls looked right at me and said "You better start looking for a husband then!" She is five. Seriously? Moments like that just make me laugh.

Being around kids all day is difficult and wears me out, but in the moments where I am just annoyed or exhausted, God always sends relief. Either in the form of a crazy comment like AJ's last week-- We were leaving the park (which is always an adventure!) and I was pushing them in the stroller back home and I hear AJ saying "No Jack don't touch my peeter, you can touch my leg." and then they would both start laughing. They are crazy, and so hilarious. But the moments that really but things in perspective for me is when I hear them talk about God. They don't have a big list of questions to bring up God like we do, or read books on evangelism they just speak without fear. On the way home from the park AJ was asking "Who makes the river flow?" and I just answered "um it just flows cuz of the water." and he answered, "No, God makes it flow." It just brought a huge smile to my face, and so much joy to know that this little boy knows Gods amazing power and love. Last summer in my Sunday school class I told a little girl her dress was very pretty and asked her if her mom gave it to her. She looked at me straight in the eye and said "No God gave me this dress." So beautiful.

Jesus called the children to Him because they have a true faith in Him. Untainted by the world, unaffected by fear, unchanged by doubts. Yet Jesus tells us we as adults have to leave everything we have and then come to Him. Obviously we have things to learn from the kids.

love.

DC

Realized I never blogged about my DC trip. My dad had a conference in DC last week and asked me if I wanted to go with him, so of course I jumped at the chance. It was beautiful weather the first two days we were there, close to 90, then it dropped down to about 60 and rainy.

The first day me and my dad tried to find Georgetown because I had heard it had beautiful houses, and I wanted to get some good pictures. We took the Metro, turned the wrong way when we got off and ended up walking a couple miles before we realized we were by "the mall." Which was also a great place to spend the afternoon. We saw the Lincoln monument, Vietnam memorial, Korean memorial, Lincoln memorial, and lots of other stuff. It was awesome.

The next day, I decided to do a double decker bus tour. I took the Metro to Union station and headed out on my journey. The bus makes about 25 stops, and you can get off at any of them, walk around, take pictures, and catch the next bus (they come every 25 minutes). The tour, without any stops takes about 2 1/2 hours. I got a good seat up on the top and started taking some awesome pictures! I got off at the National Cathedral, but there was a service going on so I couldn't take pictures inside. It is massive, and beautiful. The craftsmanship that went into building it, and carving each pillar is amazing. I also got off in Georgetown for some lunch, and found a cute little sandwich place and got an amazing chicken salad sandwich. Overall it was an awesome tour, got an awkward suntan, and some pretty good pictures.

On Wednesday me and my dad headed back to the National Cathedral, because I wanted him to see it and I wanted to take pictures inside. It's hard to even describe how huge it is, and how intricate the designs are inside. I'll add some pictures so you can feel like you were there!

It was an awesome time, I love going on trips with my dad. We always have fun, and find cool places to eat and see. I found a new favorite sandwich/breakfast place (Cosi) and we ate some awesome fish at a restaurant one night, and just had a good time.

Beautiful trees in bloom

So many amazing buildings

Finally made it to Georgetown and it's beautiful

The detail on the buildings is unbelievable

Loved this clock, and the building behind it

Inside the National Cathedral

Unbelievable stain glass windows, one even has moon rock in it