Just call me 'Anna Clare' (Embarassing Moments)

Just call me 'Anna Clare'. HAHA! Do you get embarrassed easily? I definitely do. Part of it has to do with my naivety and how gullible I am. When embarrassed, my face turns red as a beat and my skin gets hot. I cannot hide my emotion, and it is very obvious.

Times like these has been the source of a good laugh for many people for many years. And so, occassionaly I would like to share a moment or two with you.

Today I want to share an embarrassing moment of Hunter's, that directly involved me. Surprisingly I was not embarrassed at all and laughed it off. However, his eyes grew as wide a saucers and he continues to apologize.

Last Thursday Hunter and I stopped by his grandparents house for him to change out of his ACU's for the BCM Church tailgate. This was the first time I was able to go over there with him, so we took the opportunity for me to meet his father's parents.

Since Hunter returned from BCT/AIT we have laughed at the fact that he is bad at introducing me. I think he just honestly isn't used to me being there and he is still coming off the brain washing. Not that he won't introduce me, he just waits a little bit into the conversation to finally say, oh by the way, this is Keri. HAHA!So no biggie, if I don't remember the name of the person I am speaking to, I am not going to try to awkwardly introduce you either! ;)

Anyways, back to the story. Hunter and I walked in to his grandparents living room and he said, Hey, this is Anna Clare. His grandmother questioned and when I realized what he had said I was shocked and then doubled over in laughter! His eyes were as wide a saucers and he immediately apologized, said he had no idea what he was thinking and reintroduced me as Keri. HAHA! Whoa.

This has been the joke of the week when something goes wrong. Just call me 'Anna Clare'. Hunter and I returned to his grandparents on Sunday and he successfully reintroduced me, as Keri. Wound mended, time table restarted.

Have you ever done something complete mortifying?

I feel that this is the beauty of God's grace. We are human, guess what!? We aren't perfect! So many people judge so quickly and look so harshly at others when something goes wrong. However, how many times have you made a mistake today? Often times it is an honest mistake. Deal with it people, you are HUMAN!

Praise be to God for the forgiveness of all the times we wrong Him, whether we mean to or not. Praise God for His infinite mercy.

Chaotic Afternoon

Yesterday, my afternoon turned to utter chaos. I was having a hectic day at work trying to get things done before the start of classes today. Hunter was able to come back with me on Sunday rather than driving down on Monday like originally planned. This threw a wrench into my surprise party planning... but thankfully it all worked out.

Here at UA I have an assigned advisor and a research advisor. My assigned advisor is very disorganized and rude. It makes me sick to have to go see him every semester.

Yesterday, I received an email from my advisor saying that he had been looking at my transcripts and that I must meet with him, that afternoon. After a series of emails discussing that I have to work and could only come at a certain time.. we finally found a time.. and the sickness was on. I was red hot stressed and physically nauseous. Yeah, I know... but he bothers me that bad.

After I got off of work I went by picked up my books and headed to my appointment. He was actually in his office at the time he said he would be and I was shocked! (Last time I waited for over an hour for him...) We met and discussed a lot of things, he said a lot of hurtful things and then completely redid my schedule, literally the day before classes start. After discussing this with an old friend who assured me it would all work out, I went to see my research advisor and tell him what had happened. They each have differing opinions of what I should take. My research advisor is who I trust, someone who remembers my name, and took the time to get to know what I wanted to do with my life, etc. My advisor can't even remember the name of the undergraduate university I attend, all the while hurling insults in my face about it.

Unfortunately, my academic advisor is who signs off on my graduation, so my research advisor and I were forced to comply with his wishes.. completely changing my schedule. Side note: My academic advisor had no suggestions for me on what to take this fall back in the spring when I met him for advising... that is why my research advisor scheduled my classes.

So, I went down to the computer lab, registered for the new list of classes that I was supposed to take and then returned to the secretaries to turn in the books I had just received and get books for my new schedule.

As I was walking out to my car, it hit me. No matter how crazy this seems, how scary it is to go from a plan you have had for a long time to suddenly throw that out the window.. God has a plan. This plan has been the theme of my life, especially since moving to Tuscaloosa. I have experienced the worst of utter chaos, and here I stand to tell about it. This, class change, was just another bump in the crazy road called life. God gave me and absolute calm and a sincere peace that He was turning things upside down again to protect me. In the end, God will provide and His provision is all I need.

I thought that was then end of my troubles for the day and I went to my apartment to get things ready for the party. Just when things couldn't be any crazier, the person who reserved the club house for me didn't do it correctly and I was out of a party venue. My sweet roommates agreed to frantically clean the apartment and have everyone at our apartment. Gabby and I were sure Hunter knew about the party... and that there would be no surprise.

To make another long, crazy story, short... Everyone made it to my apartment fine, there was plenty of food and fun, and Hunter was totally surprised. :) I am so thankful for my church family... what an amazing night, and Hunter was so thankful. We were able to celebrate him graduating, coming home and his birthday while he was at basic. What a great night.

In the end, God is our healer and provider, and no matter what chaos may be thrown our way... it all will work out, just the way God planned. PRAISE THE LORD!!

Hunter's graduation

I had such a great time traveling to Arkansas, staying with Hunter's parents and then traveling with them to Missouri for Family Day and Graduation.

It was a great experience that I will not soon forget. Family day was interesting because we were allowed to spend most of the day with our soldier, yet he wasn't allowed to do anything. So, we just sat around post, ate and chatted. These boys are like zombies... it will take a while for them to get back into a normal routine after 16 weeks of basic training.

On graduation day we got all dressed up and waited for our soldiers to arrive. They marched into the theater shouting an Engineer cadence. What a sight. So many proud new soldiers, and many more proud families and friends.

After graduation while waiting to be reunited with our guys, Hunter's mom looked to me and said they each looked like zombies. And she was right. We learned from Hunter that they had been awake since 3:45 that morning... wow. Every last one of them was sleep deprived and worked to near death. I am sure they were glad to be done.

I spent another two days at Hunter's parents with him, getting things done and just being lazy. It was a great and much needed vacation. Short and sweet.. but so happy. I am glad to have Hunter back in town and look forward to many great things this semester.

ROLL TIDE!

Forgiveness and Feelings

Here is a quote from my "Girlfriends in God" devotional today.

"Forgiving the debt is a deliberate choice that is made by an act of your will. You may not feel forgiving. It doesn’t matter. Just do it and many times the feelings will follow that choice – other times they won’t. Feelings are irrelevant but obedience is crucial. Do not base the validity of what you are doing on how you feel. Make the choice to forgive and then obey."

When I began this journey I had a particular heartache that pained my every day life. Significant dreams in my life had fallen apart. But, as cheesy as the quote sounds 'Good things fall apart so that better things can come together' really rings true in my life.

It was in this time in my life when I didn't feel like being happy, I didn't feel like I could trust. I knew the words of the Lord in my heart, but I couldn't feel them. I was completely numb.


Praise the Lord that our faith isn't about feelings!! I once spoke with my college group and told them, PRAY what your heart knows, without doubt. The feeling will come later. How true that is. So many times I prayed, I repeated verses and I dove into my Lord arms. I didn't always feel the healing that was happening. But I trust and knew with my whole heart that God knew what was best for me, and that I would come out of this stronger!

Praise the Lord we don't have to rely on FEELINGS!

Couponing

Ok, so I haven't been doing that great with my coupons. To be honest, I am just too busy. But I did make a commitment a few weeks ago to make sure to buy each Sunday's paper so that when I got started back I would have all the coupons I needed.

This week I needed a few personal care items that I had seen coupons for in the past two Sunday papers. So I went through my coupons, (thanks to my roomie for helping clip them!), and got out what I needed.

I go to SouthernSavers.com to help me organize my shopping trips and after price searching I decided CVS would be my best bet. So, with CVS store coupon ($2.00 off), Nivea coupon ($3.00 off) and a Softsoap coupon ($0.75) I was armed and ready to go.

My softsoap body wash was on sale at CVS and I ended up getting two Nivea chap sticks (love them) because my coupon was $3 off two. :)

I spent a total of $4.29 on my three items (each item easily costs that much on it own!) and saved a total of $7.64! I was so happy! I had a total of $5.75 in coupons and then saved more by buying items that were on sale! So, if you average it out, I paid $1.43 per item!

Now that is couponing at it's finest! I hope to continue to save money on every day items that I already use and hope to continue to have time to coupon! If you have never tried it, you should! Happy shopping!

A year from now...

Yesterday was a hectic day, move in for UA started and Building Maintenance is crazy busy. Here I am typing my blog, at work... on Saturday. HAHA! I am working 7am-5pm, today... and tomorrow. But, I get to work with the best guys in the world. So I don't really mind. ;)


Yesterday afternoon as I was wrapping things up around the office getting ready to go home I got an all too familiar question asked. "Are you engaged?" I laugh every time. People are so hilarious. It is a question I am asked more often now that I am getting older... and the presence of my 'True Love Waits' ring kind of throws people off.

My ring, however, gives me a great opportunity to minister to all those who ask about my non-existent engagement. I am so proud to share that my ring is a commitment to my Lord to be pure and abstain from thinks such as pre-marital sex, drugs and alcohol. The Lord knows how to show Himself, even when we don't know. It is amazing how simple actions can convey the love of the Lord.

As 'pchamp' continued to talk to me about my ring eh then moved to ask me how old I was. HAHA! I am a total child compared to this guys. Working here gives me almost 80 big brothers and dads... and I just love it!! When I told him I was 23, he asked if I was dating anyone... when I responded yes, he asked for how long, so I told him Hunter and I had been dating almost four months and he responded with, "I give you a year". This had me hysterically laughing at my desk! He said, I am serious, I give you a year until you get engaged. With a smile I told 'pchamp' that I would still be working here in a year, so that he would get to see if his thoughts were true. ;)

That is why I am posting it in my blog. Too funny. I love these guys, and in a year from now, I am going to look back on these posts and see how much my life has changed, and if 'pchamp's' prediction comes true. I know it will all happen in God's time and I am honestly not worried about it at all.

In 5 days I will get to see Hunter for the first time since the tornado. I am beyond excited to see him, and beyond excited to be able to spend time with him. Our church friends have jokingly labeled us as 'courting' rather than 'dating' because we have only been able to communicate by letters for most of our relationship.

I thank God for the wonderful blessing to get to know someone this way, and to have a legacy of letters that I will be able to share with many generations to come. Writing letters is truly a lost art, and hey, if this math girl can like it, ANYONE can!

I hope you have a happy weekend!

10 days!

Wow... it has been a whirlwind past few weeks.

Last weekend my college group at church went white water rafting and camped out at the Ocoee in Tennessee. It was GREAT! I had never been rafting before... and it was a marvelous was to experience God's creation.

Last week was finals week. I took my final on Friday morning. By the grace of God I am finished with this four week class. It was definitely tough. The class went so fast, and we had so much homework every night. Fall classes should seem easy after this July term!

This weekend I went home to be with my family for the last time before school starts. This coming weekend I am working move in for work and the following weekend I will be in Arkansas with Hunter!! HOORAY!

Mom and I went shopping for the tax free holiday and had a good time just spending some time together. I got four great pieces that are very versatile and two new pair of shoes for work/every day. I don't have an over abundance to spend, and even if you do, key pieces that work in multiple ways are ALWAYS a good idea. I am proud to say I got everything I bought on sale, PLUS an extra percentage off!

I was also able to spend time with an old friend of mine that I haven't gotten to see much over the past year. It was nice to catch up, and to know that things between us haven't changed. Never have I known someone to go through so much, yet still take care of others before themselves. I am privileged to know her, and I praise the Lord for her.

I am looking forward to a semi-relaxing week ahead. I have two weeks off before school starts back. I hope to get my apartment cleaned, get caught up on some things I haven't had time to do, and just take a little time to do something for me.

Next week I get the ultimate vacation of a lifetime! I will be traveling to Arkansas, then Missouri for Hunter's graduation. 10 days left... oh how I can't wait to see him and spend time with him! We are so blessed to have come through this journey together. And I am so thankful for God placing him in my life. What a blessing.

Good times, and a little about 'time'

This past weekend I was blessed to have the bestie fly down from DC to spend the weekend with me and us travel to a friends' wedding together. I had so much fun getting to spend time with her, chat, and just hang out. I forsook all homework for this weekend and it was a glorious weekend.

After the wedding a group of old friends went to Starbucks and then dinner together. It was just like old times and we were both sad to have to leave. It just reminds me what a blessing my undergraduate experience at Troy was... and how I am so blessed to have great friends.

As for the homework thing... this summer class is kicking me... And yesterday... I let the devil get me down. Working full time, while doing grad school can do that to you. This summer I am doing my research, and in July I added on another class. Bad idea.

So yesterday, after not being able to finish my homework the past few nights and having an upcoming test... I am stressed to the max. I began to tell God I didn't have time.. there wasn't enout time in the day... and that I am just so weary....

Again, I love being in control... and unfortunately my 'self' likes to take the reigns from God. However, after crying my eyes out at work (of course this would happen during the most emotional time of the month...) my faith was restored. Clint told me not to worry, that in the end, whether or not I had an A or a B in this class didn't matter in the grand scheme. And my devotional for the day was about 'not having time'.

I put WAY too much emphasis on school, and often times left my school and school work define my worth as a human. However, this is not true. God defines who we are and loves us so much!! I need to get my priorities back into place. Even if I don't have time, there is always time for God.

Luke 9:25

For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

In the BIG picture... God is the only one that matters. If He brings us to it, He will bring us through it. If we choose to let Him have control and let Him lead... then all other things will fall into place.

Now, just because I trust in God and I chose to put Him first yesterday didn't mean I finished my homework last night. I did 4 problems, in 4 hours... then I was so tired I had to call it quits and go to bed. Here's the thing. I didn't pray and spend time with God yesterday afternoon for the sake of God miraculously finishing my homework for me... that isn't the point. The fact is, when you spend time with God your soul and mind and spirit are strengthened.. I was given a peace knowing I did something that truly mattered yesterday afternoon. I spent time with my Father, time with my Maker.. and my soul was given peace and rest. This is what matters... time spent doing what matters most... and the rest will work out. You can't just throw it down, God expects you to be a part of the process. So get up off the couch and get it done! :) Just know, that God will bless you beyond your wildest dreams if only you trust Him and let Him be in control.

This is a daily process, a daily fight agains satan's snares. Pray with my and for me as I pray for each of you!

Lord,

Bless us indeed!! Help us to put away foolish things and make our hearts thirst and long for You like never before! Captivate us Lord, move us to the place that You want us to be. Encourage and strengthen us Father. Give us the courage and the strength to let you be in control dear God! Open our eyes to see how much more life is when you are number one in our lives. Lead us Lord, teach us. Help us to live out our lives for You, knowing that everything else will come into place. I love you and praise you God for what you are doing and what you are going to do. May the glory be all to you Lord. ~Amen.

Side bar: After telling Clint how I wasn't smart enough to handle classes and work, and telling him I was giving up (all before the Lord used Clint and my devo to convict me) Clint was able to make me open my eyes and gain a different perspective. This morning at work Clint handed me this:

 I am a 'smartie' ;)

30 Days

The waiting is almost over... It is hard to believe that is has been almost three months since the tornado.. and and almost three months since I have seen Hunter. I am thankful for the 5 minute phone calls, (sometimes I get a 20 minute call!!), that assure me that he is doing well.

Yesterday's letters said that God has blessed us through this journey. And I could only agree. I am so happy to have gone through this time with Hunter, and I am so glad that he was willing to go through this time with me. I couldn't be happier, and the legacy of letters and memories from this summer filled with old school communication, aka 'snail mail', will be memories and times I will not soon forget.

30 days.. 30 days left until I travel to Arkansas to make the journey to Missouri with Hunter's parents. I was fortunate to have coffee with them on their most recent visit this weekend. The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather and I had a great time sitting outside Starbucks just taking the time to chat. We solidified plans for my coming and I am so thankful to have such a blessed relationship with Hunter's parents!

30 days. When I first started this countdown 76 days ago, I almost felt as if I would never make it to this point. Don't get me wrong, there have been times I was so sad, or worried, and I wasn't sure that I could deal with him being gone. But God has provided and blessed. God has given me the much needed time to focus on my studies while Hunter was away, and has strengthened me and grown me in ways I never thought possible.

I am so thankful for what God has blessed me with through Hunter. I pray that the Lord would continue to draw me close to Him over the next 30 days, and then continue to draw me closer beyond that time. What an amazing chapter to add to my journey. God's blessings are definitely better than anything that we could ever imagine!

Decisions

The past two weeks a number of varying decisions have come my way. Through spiritual guidance, consulting of trusted friends, spiritual mentors and my mom ;) action has been taken.

Yesterday, when I was in the final steps of decision number two I realized, either one of these things could happen, and my life would be changed forever (again). These are probably some of the biggest decisions I will ever make, and I am glad to say that they are completely in God's hands.

No matter what, I know that God has a plan. I pray that He will direct my future in the ways that He sees fit. And I pray the he gives me a peace with each decision as it transpires. Lord, bless me indeed.. lead me into the CENTER of Your will. 

In the coming weeks and months, I will know the answers to some of these decisions, and right now don't feel that God wants me to share these ideas with everyone. I just ask for prayer, that God's will be done above all else, and that whatever happens it works for the good of the kingdom work.

I am thankful to be able to open myself to so many opportunities. Many times, as in this time, God calls us to wait. Right now I feel as if I am in a circular room, with doors all around me.. many of which are open. Rather than taking control and trying to figure out what is best for me on my own, I have decided to act in the only way that I can, and now sit, and wait for God to lead me to a specific door.

I love you and praise you Lord. Thank you so much for overflowing my cup with blessings.