Detour

Just a quick detour from the challenge, but atleast you don't have to miss me anymore. I just felt the need to report back on our trip and how hilarious my kids are. And also, I haven't been able to scan the picture I need for the next challenge. So we had a great time at the Congressional Cities Conference this week! We took 6 of our Youth Council members up to DC and I will say that the Rock Hill Youth Council are just down right delightful to work with. There are 24 of them total that represent our city, but we took probably the best 6 with us (don't tell the other kids I said that). We saw Obama roll out of the White House and he waved at us with his perfect white teeth and we heard the First Lady speak about her Let's Move Cities and Towns Initative. Some of our youths got to shake her hand and pretty much freaked out about it. So getting to see 2 out of 4 of the First Family isn't too bad of a record. We went to some sessions on education and homelessness and national debt and all the grown-up stuff that was kinda over my head but I enjoyed it anyway. The coolest part for me was getting to chill with KATIE BROCK for the afternooon as she helped our directionally challenged group find things. The trip really reminded me of why I love teenagers so much and I kept noticing how happy I was around them. Weird. Youths give me energy and keep me awake and drive me insane all at the same time, it's pretty rad.

Obviously we had plenty of quotes to keep us entertained throughout the trip. Let's share...
Joey: (referring to our Obama sighting) "Guys, he's no different than any other person in the world."
Austin: "NO! He's 100% different!"

Ginny: "That's probably why Obama waved at me, he thought I was mentally handicapped."

Museum guy #1: "Dude, who's hat is that?"
Museum guy #2: "Micheal Jackson."
Museum guy #1: "Too soon."

Ginny: "Since there is a Wyoming sreet, why isn't there a South Carolina street? Just because we succeeded from the union and we're trying to do it again doesn't mean anything."

Lydia: "Katie, what's that big pencil thing called again?"
Me: "The Washington Monument?"
Lydia: "Yea! That's it!"

Tara: (passing a field) "A llama!"
Me: "Clark!"
Anna: "Obama?"
Tara: "Yea, Obama's in that field over there."

Beautiful Mess

Day 18- A picture of your biggest insecurity.

I actually have no insecurities and no flaws. When I look in the mirror, I can't even stand it I'm so attractive. Isn't that how girls usually feel? Of course I'm insecure about a lot of things. The one that comes to mind because it's recent is the fact that I'm on hardcore grown-up medicine for the first time in my life. Since Mom died I've had really bad anxiety issues, caused by depression the doc says. The meds that I'm taking are directly related to treating depression, but the doc says I just need something that triggers relaxation in my brain. The day I finally fessed up to the issue that "just feeling happy" wasn't gonna cut it, I felt horrible. I was so bummed that I couldn't just shake all those emotions on my own because I've historically been so laid back all the time, I'm not a worry-er, and I've never had to be on medicine for anything before. So yea, it took me down a few notches. But the good news is that it's actually working. No anxiety attacks and I'm sleeping WAY better. Win!

Side note: Sorry addicts, I'll be in DC for the next 3 days for a work conference (isn't that cool? im a big deal) and will not be returning to the 30 day blog challenge until Wednesday. Sorry for any inconvenience. The fact that this will mess up my order and set me back a few days doesn't stress me out at all. Why? I just told you. I'm on meds.

Day 17- A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.
Man I miss my Mom. Mom's are supposed to be at your wedding and play with their grandkids and at age 24, me and Mom had a lot more years of arguing left to do as is custom in Mom/daughter relationships. So it's safe to say that last July 19th changed my life. As cheesey as it sounds, I brag about the 24 years I've lived, I mean, my life rocks. I grew up in a great home with a great family and my parents have always supported and loved me and given me everything I need. So honestly, it's been really easy to believe in God and his love for me because he had proven it over the course of my life. And when I met Jesus in high school I thought, "Why wouldn't I give this guy a shot?" Everyone talks about God's love and goodness and I had always seen it so clearly, but the huge impact that Mom's death made on my life was that I started questioning all that. My view on the world totally changed for a while and I only saw the bad in it. But after some time, I'm finding that I'll never be able to rely on Him if bad things don't happen. Jesus went to the cross to die for me and then he said "it's GOOD for me to go." Because if He never went to the cross, if He just lived this really cool life on Earth while making a bunch of miracles happen and teaching a few things, then the work wouldn't be fully completed and I wouldn't have any hope outside of this messed up world I live in. He lived a perfect life, took on the worst death in history, and called it GOOD. It was better that he died instead of lived. I'm not comparing His death to my Mom's in any way, I'm just loving the comfort that that brings. It's possible that I beleive in God's love more now than I did when my life was seemingly perfect as I thought it was for so long. What I've learned through death is that the goodness of Jesus never runs out and that's brought me out of some pretty dark places.

Boys

Day 16- A picture of someone who inspires you.

This may be a stretch, but stay with me here. I'll start off by saying that if you knew the young men I had crushes on in high school, you would call me a loser. They were your typical sports playing jerks who were in love with themselves and the occasional cheerleader. Even in my first year or so of college, I had my eye on guys who didn't love Jesus, and if they claimed they did, it wasn't enough for what I (and every other girl) deserves. So I bring you to Brandon Hammond. This is a picture of Brandon and his beautiful wife Ansley and their first child, Myra Grace. The Hammonds were pretty much our first Campus Crusade staff to come to Winthrop. The more I hung out with Brandon, saw how he treated Ansley and just people in general, and how much he loved the Lord, I made up my mind that I wouldn't settle for just some guy who might want to take me to dinner. My standards in a future mate have improved tremendously thanks to Brandon. It helps that we have so much in common. We both LOVE sports, we both play guitar, we both like bright colors, both played soccer in high school, both love the beach. The Hammonds were a blessing to me in my college years. Ansley discipled me and I learned so much about relationships through conversations with them. Not only marriage type things, but ministry relationships and their passion for people to know Jesus only fired me up for it as well. They left Winthrop my senior year to move to NYC and they've done great great things on staff. They are currently on staff in Charleston with 2 precious babies and thankfully I have higher hopes of seeing them more often now that they're in this state. And if you think this is weird, don't worry, Ansley and I have had many conversations about how Brandon has inspired my new set of standards in boys. Thumbs up, marriage.

California Dreamin'

Day 15- A picture of something you want to do before you die.

There are two US states that are superior to all others. You can't beat South Carolina, but California is a close second. Sure they're in billion dollars of debt and they'll soon break off into the Pacific ocean but it's beautiful out there. California combines all the things I love about the outdoors and includes perfect weather, all year round. In the same stretch of only a few miles, you'll see beach after beach and then mountain after mountain. Just on the 45 minute drive from San Jose to Santa Cruz, you drive through the mountains. Over the 10 weeks I was there, it rained 0 times, the temperature never got above 85, and humidity didn't exist. All that to say...I want to live there before I die. I'm not sure if a summer counts as "living there." And I don't know if it will actually come true because I have plans for staying at my current job here for a while. But California is and always has been my back-up plan. I have dreams about surfing and Santa Cruz and puppies almost every night. So I guess those are my favorite things and one day me and my future puppy will go to California and live and surf and be poor because it costs so much to live there. That sounds like a great life to me! And yes, I spent 10 weeks looking at the above picture, taken by my buddy Kelly.

Daddy's Girl

Day 14- A picture of someone you can't imagine your life without.

My Dad is awesome! He's not like normal Dads. Normal Dads try to emberass you, they're all over protective and want to beat everyone up, and they're usually into video games and weird sci-fi movies and stuff. My Dad watches chick flicks and actually enjoys them. He has no shame in sitting down to watch Hairspray with me and Mom. He grills out, which is what every man loves, and he also helps do the dishes (I've always bragged about that one). When I was younger, I was a big punk and didn't really get along with my parents. Not in a bad way, it's just that I spent most of my time in trouble for my grades and bad attitude so we could never really connect ya know. But as I got older and wiser, Dad and me started to hang out. He was always at my soccer games, cross-country races and tennis matches, and he wasn't one of those annoying Dads who gets all upset during games because he thinks his daughter will make it to the pros. I think deep down that's where I learned how to be a good sports fan. We like to watch sports together, any kind of sport, and we don't get too emotional or yell at the TV like we can control anything that happens. My favorite thing to do with him is our usual lunch outing at Pete's. He for some reason puts up with all of my drama, he knows all of my friends and what their favorite colors are, and we have a lot of similar opinions. After our famous lunch dates, Mom used to always say, "Did yall solve all the world's problems?" I like to think we did. Oh and I'm pretty sure he can fix anything. So it's always good to have a Dad around.

This is the only picture I could find on my computer of the two of us. His eyes are closed, but you get the point. Love you Dad!

Love in this Club

Day 13- A picture of your favorite band or artist.

As most of you know, I'm black. But you would never know, because I listen to the Black Eyed Peas and they are indeed my favorite band (would you call them a band?). Even though I'm pretty sure listening to BEP makes you more white than anything, that's ok with me because they rock the house. I went to their concert last year when they were in Charlotte, and next to being born, it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. It was like being at a club for 3 hours, but you had your own seat and space to dance and the music was way louder. BEP pretty much keeps reinventing hip-hop music over and over with all their new technological sounds that always make it to #1 before you realize they're even on the radio. Will.I.Am says he tests out the new beats in the club when he's dj-ing and can tell if people like it or not by the way they're dancing. So he takes the beats that he created and makes them into songs for BEP. Cool right? I'll have those skills one day, and I'll be the white girl dj-ing at the back of the stage on tour. Coming to a big city near you. But give me a few years.