Camp

I'm getting excited about camp! Only 1 more week of planning. I absolutely love my job and getting to put things together for trips and camps, but nothing is as much fun as actually participating in something that you have spent months preparing. I haven't done all of the work, not even close, but I love it when the event actually happens. I was thinking today that I'm ready for some change as well. Life has been quite the "normal" routine lately and I'm excited that camp is coming to mix things up a little bit.

I've been working on stuff for my small group. The Bible studies are on Joshua. It's gonna be great. I love learning and teaching about incredible characters in God's Word.

My new phone...

Thursday night, I got this phone, a Samsung Blackjack. It has got to be the coolest phone I have ever had, cause of all the really cool stuff that it can do. The problem is that my phone is cooler than me. Or at least it is smarter than me. I have done multiple things to mess it up and I'm still not really sure about all the features, but I'm trying to learn. I know one day I will be a pro with my phone, but until then I'm somewhat of a Blackjack Idiot. I'm also going to get some kind of cover for it, for the following reasons: 1. I have a tendency to drop my phone (a lot). 2. According to some of the students, PDA phones are manly. Because of these reasons, I'm going to make my phone a little girly. I'm somewhat excited about this!

Ok, so other things this week. I finished my current class New Testament 2. I have about 2 weeks off before my next class, Communicating Biblical Truth, begins. I'm excited and nervous about this class. More on that later.

Some of my extended family is coming next weekend for my cousin's High School Graduation. I'm excited about that, cause I have the greatest extended family ever. Pictures and information will follow sometime after next weekend! Also, we are getting ready for camp. I cannot believe that it has come so soon!! I'm excited about what God is going to do!!!

I'm starting to fall asleep. Until next time!

An ode to my cell phone

Dear Sweet Cell Phone,

Today, you let me down. We have been through so much together and last week, you experienced the horrible incident of being dropped and a little broken. Still, I continued to use you as I am addicted to you. Well, it's not really you, but the people you connect me with. Unfortunately, I dropped you in cup of water today and you no longer function. What will I do without you? Because of your untimely death, I will be forced to pay large amounts of money to replace you. And because I cannot live without you, I will pay.
I hope that you have enjoyed our time together. I certainly have. You will be missed, but will probably be soon forgotten as I plan to replace you with a newer model. Thank you for your service.

With love,
Shawna

No focus

As I type this, I'm aggrevated with myself. I have a set of lessons due tomorrow for my class and for the most part they are done, but I think they stink. I am so easily distracted and drawn away into other things, that I'm pretty much not able to give 100% focus to the things that need my complete and total attention. I hate it. It's like having ADD as a 25 year old... I'm off to go study for my exam.

My oldest friend...

I've been thinking a lot about people lately. I happen to have quite a few people in my life who make life a little sweeter, so I've decided to blog about them. Above is my dear friend, Misty. I have been friends with her longer than I can really remember. We met when I was in 2nd grade, she was in 1st (although she is only 3 months younger than me.) If you do all of the calculations, our friendship has perservered through almost 19 years. It absolutely blows my mind. There are a few times in our friendship that I'm not so proud of, but the great memories far outweigh anything bad. We have gotten into more trouble than any 2 people should be allowed. We have pulled numerous pranks and she is the person who always makes me laugh. In high school, we had about 1,000 inside jokes and enough nicknames to call each other something different every time we saw each other. Misty was famous for writing me poems, but not like a really nice poem... her poems always rhymed perfectly and made sure to let me know that she was the queen of poetry while at the same time cutting me down. They were so cheesy, and still make me laugh to this day. She will always be the one to understand that to have a good party, ya gotta have cheese dip! :)

Misty graduated from college on Saturday! I'm so proud of her. No, she hasn't been there forever, she worked for awhile before starting. Our lives are completely different. She is married with a fun 2 year-old boy and well, I finished college 3 years ago and haven't really gotten married yet. I'm so grateful for her friendship. It has been tried and tested in so many ways and I'm thankful that after all these years I can still call her a friend. Normally, I embrace change, but I'm glad that a few things have remained the same.

Mom & Me

On Friday, May 4 my mom finished her cancer radiation treatments! That evening, we went to a Mother/Daughter Banquet together at my parents' church in Jonesboro. This is just a snapshot of us before the banquet. I think my mom looks absolutely beautiful! God has been so good to me and my family. I had some great laughs with my mom, but my favorite part of the evening came at the very end. The lady in charge of the banquet asked Mom to pray. I have never heard a more beautiful prayer. Mom's prayer came out of the overflow of her thankful heart. I will never forget it as long as I live. I'm so thankful that blessings abound and grace has been sufficient to meet our needs! How amazing it is to serve a God who cares! He has proved Himself so faithful!