Jesus Moments at Lake J.

I would like for the record to show that it is February 27th, and it is SEVENTY-NINE DEGREES OUTSIDE. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

I decided it was too gorgeous to stay inside, so after a beautiful lunch with my Haley at Neomonde, a fantastic Lebanese restaurant across from Meredith College, I grabbed the puppy and went for a walk.

We walked from my house to Lake Johnson. I could not stop basking in the glory of the day! The sky was the perfect color blue, it was perfectly warm outside and the sun was out!

When Milley and I got to Lake Johnson, we went down the water to let her splash around a bit. She decided she would rather lay in the pinestraw in the shade, so we did for a few minutes. I had my iPod in and was listening to Hillsong United, praising my Jesus in my heart for His goodness. While Milley and I were resting, this little girl, I would say about 8, came up and said something to me. Having my iPod in, I had to ask her to repeat it.

"May I have permission to love your puppy, please?" her little voice squeaked.

"Absolutely, sugar! She loves people. Her name is Milley," I replied.

Sweet Little Girl began to rub Milley and talk about how good she was, how gentle she was, how kind she was.

"She's so soft!" Sweet Little Girl squealed. "Can my brother pet her?"

"Of course."

"Stay here, please. I am going to go get him."

Sweet Little Girl comes back, holding her brother's hand, once again talking about how nice Milley is. "She won't bite you, she's gentle. She loves people!"

Sweet Little Girl and Her Brother stay for a few more minutes rubbing on Milley. In the mean time, a couple of other children come up and begin to love my puppy. Milley was in heaven.

As all good things tend to do, the Milley-love-fest ended and the children went back to playing. Milley and I stood up and headed towards the road so we could make the 1.4 mile trip back to the apartment.

While we were walking, it hit me. That little episode with this little girl and Milley is the perfect representation of my Jesus...



We walk up to Him, not knowing why we are drawn to Him, we just know that we are. Timidly we ask if we may sit down beside Him and be His friend. Because He loves us so much and His attention is always on us, He never has to ask us to repeat this request; He is listening for it all the time. Those are the words He most wants to hear.

He invites us to sit down with Him and stay awhile. We soon realize that He is loving, and gentle, and good, and kind, and sweet. We've never met anyone like this before and we want to bring out friends to meet Him too.

"Stay please! Stay where I can find you again!" we plead. Smiling, He stays, wanting nothing more than to have us close to Him again.

We bring friends to Him, knowing that He will be kind to them too. Soon our friends realize all of the wonderful attributes of Him that we have. As we sit there and love him, more and more people see this and come to be apart of it. He just sits there, soaking up every minute of this love and attention.

Milley and I were walking back to the house and I realized that about a block from our house, someone had let a fire hydrant run wild. Water was going everywhere. You could see it, smell it, hear it...it was everywhere. I knew the exact moment that Milley realized that we were walking into this scenario. She perked up and started walking really fast and determined. She was going to lap up some of that water and nothing could stop her. When we got to the intersection of the rapids, she looked around, looking for the perfect spot for her drinking. When she found it, she shot across the road and settled herself in for a drink. She's an old dog, but she's determined.

Once again, I was reminded of my Jesus.


When we get a glimpse of His majesty, we want more. When we get a wiff of His scent, we want to breathe it in. When we see a piece of Him, we want all of it. That desire for Him never goes away. We run as fast as we can so we can be in His arms as soon as we can. When we are finally there in His arms, we do cartwheels, we swim in them, we cannot contain our joy because it is everything we have ever wanted.

John 4:10 "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that sks you for a drink, you would hav easked him and he would have given you living water.'"
Revelation 7:17 "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; 'he will lead them to springs of living water.' 'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'"

John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

I have tasted this Living Water and I have been satisfied. I am satisfied daily by a Savior who is sustaining me, even though most days I feel like th eworld is falling out from underneath. He is good and His mercies endure forever.

Just Some Thoughts.

It might be too late for me to be thinking like this. It is probably too late for me to be expressing these thoughts. But I've been thinking about this for a few days now and I figured I would put these thoughts into the universe.


When you look at the numbers of how many people have walked across the face of this earth, and then you look at the numbers of the people who dropped it all and followed Him, those numbers are so small.


I turned down an opportunity to go overseas next year about a week ago. I just knew it wasn't the right thing for me to do. I was talking to a friend about it and one of the reasons that I gave for saying no was that they were asking me to sacrifice too much. These sacrifices were things like the Sanderson Extravaganza Lake Week. Nothing too big, but pieces of my life that I really enjoy being there.


I was thinking today, "What if He asked me to drop it all and follow Him?" What would I do? What would I say? What would I try and negotiate?


What if He asked me to not watch Eden grow up?
What if He asked me to not see my brother graduate from high school?
What if He asked me to not go to another midnight premiere with Spencer Lynne or Shirley?
What if He asked me to never eat Bojangles or drink Diet Coke again?
What if He asked me to not see my Kelsey walk down the aisle and marry the love of her life?
What if He asked me to never see any of my girls marry the loves of their lives?
What if He asked me to not watch my sister walk down the aisle?
What if He asked me to never hug any of my Project sisters again? Or Hannah Nana? Or Mattie?
What if He asked me to never hug any of my girls again?
What if He asked me to live without air conditioning and have no books other than the Bible?
What if He asked me to never get married?
What if He asked me to not have biological children?
What if He asked me to hug Nina goodbye and never hear her laugh again?
What if He asked me to never share another holiday with my beautiful family?
What if He asked me to cry into a lonely pillow, to have no community to wipe my tears?


I've faced the idea of leaving and not coming back. I reconciled that idea. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. What if He asked me to get on a plane and never come back?


But Lord, You don't understand, I'm Eden's favorite. She needs me.
No, she doesn't.


But Lord, You don't understand, I need to be in those pictures.
No, you don't.


But Lord, You don't understand, those hugs are the reason that my soul is still breathing.
No, they aren't.


But Lord, I need to get married. I want children. This is something that my life will be incomplete without.
No, it won't.


But Lord, my family is everything. If something happened to me, it would tear them apart.
No, it wouldn't.


"Who of you by worrying can add a single minute to their life?" Matthew 6:27
"Anyone who loves his father or mother--wife, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even his own life, is not worthy of Me. He cannot be my disciple." Matthew 10:37
"Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." Genesis 12:1-3
"Then He said to them all: 'Whoever want to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" Luke 9:23


People that follow a "gospel" that says, "Love the Lord and He will give you lots of money and no harm will ever come your way"...I don't know what Bible you're reading. Above are four verses from my Bible. Four verse that have been playing over and over and over again in my brain as I seek out what to do for next year, and the rest of my life. Hearing words like "leave your family," "deny yourself," "do not love your father and mother" isn't fun. But those are the words from the mouth of my Savior and my King of kings.

I have told some people in my life that I don't think I'm strong enough to hear things like, "I'm ashamed of you." or "I have never been more disappointed in anyone." or "This is the most selfish thing you will ever do." or "The only thing I will be doing at your funeral is saying 'I told you so.'" again. Yes, I said again. I've told God the same thing. His response?


"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" 2 Corinthians 12:9


One day I'm going to have to answer to Him. I don't want to say, "Yeah...I know you told me to do this and love that person, but they don't have Bojangles in Iran. I had a problem with that." I really don't want to see my Father's reaction to that statement.


This is where I am now. These are things that I'm thinking. This is what I'm struggling with.


I know it's Monday and those are deep things, but these are the types of questions that are going to define my life. I'm just trying to figure out where to go from here.

My Life, in Cute, Short, Dialogue Stories.

Over the past week, I have slept very little, done homework a lot, cooked a bit less than that, and laughed really hard...and loved (almost) every minute of it.

My life has a lot of people in it. I like it that way. I hope it never changes.

I thought I would share some cute dialogues that I have have with these people over the past few days.

Story #1:

Me: "I don't believe people when they tell me I'm 'beautiful'. I feel like "beautiful" is such an overused word. I just, don't believe it..."

Bible Study Girl: "Is it the same as you not believing my request for some ice cream?"

*proceeds to spread her hand across my kitchen table, where in fact, I have not placed a bowl of ice cream.*

Story #2:

Scenario: I'm sitting on my couch, quite tired. One of my girls comes in and jumps on me...

Bible Study Girl: "You know I love you right?"

Me: "What did you break?"

Bible Study Girl: "That's not fair!"

Me: "I beg your pardon." *pause* "What mess do I need to clean up?"

Bible Study Girl: "Is that seriously what you think of me?"

Me: "You know not! Are you hungry?"

Bible Study Girl: "BINGO! Will you make me a quesadilla?"

And they tell me I don't know them...

Story #3:

Scenario: Sitting around with my girls after dinner, but still before Bible Study.

Bible Study Girl: "That was probably one of the best meals I've ever had."

Me: "I'm glad you liked it. It was really easy to make."

Bible Study Girl: "Could I get the recipe?"

Me: "Sure. First you take two cans of marinara sauce..."
Bible Study Girl: "Oh. My bad. When I said, 'Could I get the recipe?' I really meant, 'Could you make a big pot of this and just bring it to my house?'"

Why do I get the feeling that I'm just a walking robot wearing an apron with a spatula in hand?

2 Truths and a Lie.

Let's play two truths and a lie, shall we? I am such a fan of playing games.

#1: I didn't sleep last night.

#2: Carolina City Girl is throwing a giveaway on her blog.

#3: I am not skipping class, sitting in the library, pretending to do work, while in reality I am updating my blog.

Can you guess? Do you know which one it is? Which one is the lie???

If you said #1 is the lie, you're wrong. I didn't sleep last night. Life has been busy and dramatic lately, so I spent last night doing the dishes, doing laundry, reading, watching The Bachelor, drinking Diet Coke, and prepping my girls' meal for Bible Study tonight. No sleep for this girl.

If you thought #2 is the lie, sorry friend, wrong again. Sweet Christin is doing an awesome giveaway on her blog, and I want in on it :)

If you said that #3 is the lie, good job! I am currently sitting on the breezeway on the second floor of the library, skipping class, staring at a really long to-do list, but alas, updating the blog.

Now, if #1 or #3 bother you, don't worry. It's just life. No one gets out alive anyhow. And I have a good life. Don't believe me? Stop by my house about 6:15 tonight and see how many smiling faces there are sitting in my living room--I'm sure I'll be glowing.

In case all of that doesn't convince you that I don't take my life too seriously, allow me to leave you with a picture to prove it...

The happiest of Wednesdays to you all.

Valentine's Recap.

February 15th. The day after Valentine's Day. Which means it's the best day to tell you about my awesome Valentine's Day.

But first...

The winner of the Valentine's Day Giveaway isssss...

This pretty girl.

Congratulations Spencer Lynne :)

So yesterday I went to my ballet class, discipleship, and then came home and baked over 100 chocolate chip cookies and a casserole and then spent the next six hours frolicking around Raleigh spending time with my baby girls and friends and other loves of my life.

Including these cute people, who I jokingly call Mom and Dad...

But, as I was sitting in this pretty girl's kitchen...

I got a text from this pretty girl...

Telling me that she and this guy...

ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!

I jumped up and screamed and started crying and screamed some more. My heart rate still just freaks out whenever I think about it.

Welcome to my over-the-moon-happy, absolutely wonderful, beyond amazing, the best day I could ask for Valentine's Day.

Day of Love.

Happy Day of Love!

I have no romantic story to tell, except for the story that I am blessed enough to write every single day with The Love of My Life, my beautiful Savior.

I thought today could be shown through pictures.

Every picture here is a different representation of love and blessings in my life.

Each one of these photos makes my heart skip a beat for a unique reason.

Even if it's just a picture of me and one other person, it represents something far and beyond it.

So there it is. My life in pictures.

It's also not too late to submit your name in any of the SEVEN different ways for the Valentine's Giveaway!

VALENTINE'S GIVEAWAY 2011

It's here!

It's finally happening!

The Chronicles of Reba Valentine Giveaway!

Yaaayyyy!!!

Before I show the items, can I please share how obsessive I was over what I should give away? I've been wanting to do one since about Christmastime, but I wanted my first one to be perfect. I already have another one planned for the end of March, but I couldn't wait that long!

I'm not Valentine's Day biggest fan. I believe in cherishing the love around you each and every day. However, there are things that I love more than others. I do have favorites and I do love to spread joy. Valentine's Day is usually accompanied by the color red, which happens to be one of my favorite colors. So I thought, "Why not do a red giveaway?" and then I thought, "Why not do a Valentine's giveaway? It could be red, and love-themed, and...IT COULD BE MY FAVORITE THINGS!" I sent out a few emails to a few friends and my blog gurus to see what they thought about my ideas and when they all came back with positive feedback...well, here we are!

A few of my favorite things!

A 4 x 6 picture frame in cherry red.
A pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
A 6-Pack of Diet Coke.
A double-feature movie: Ever After and An Affair to Remember.

Did you really think I would do a Favorite Things Giveaway without Diet Coke being featured? Let's be real people.

I am convinced it is humanly impossible to go in to Target and come out without buying too much or not buying something for yourself. With that being said, I attempted to convince myself to do just that when I went in to purchase the giveaway items.

But you should know, I bought a pack of these babies for myself. You're lucky you're still getting this one.

Speaking of lucky, these are two of my favorite movies.

Why? Cary Grant. Cinderella. 'nough said.

It took a lot of convincing to not open this early and watch both movies (neither of which I own on DVD and I don't have a VCR at the apartment) before giving them to you. I promise, it's still in the wrapping.

One can never have too many picture frames. Or too much red.

So here it is folks. The Chronicles of Reba Valentine's Giveaway.

There are multiple ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment to enter yourself into the random drawing (Facebook comments and text messages won't count, just FYI). --only one comment per person will be counted.
2. Leave a link on your Facebook page, blog, or Twitter sending your friends back to the blog. Then post a comment where you showed off Chronicles of Reba so I know to go and find it. --up to three entries allowed per person.
3. Follow me on Twitter @bekahsuzanne. (if you already follow me, you still get a vote. but leave a comment and remind me.) --one comment will be counted per person.
4. Leave a comment with the title of a post you would like for me to write about. You can explain what you mean or you can just leave me a title and I'll run with you. Or you can just put an idea for a blog post up. --up to two comments will be counted per person.

BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR NAME ON YOUR COMMENT. I've received multiple "Anonymous" comments in the past few months. If you're "Anonymous" then I don't know who to congratulate and bestow gifts upon.

The winner will be announced either Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on amount of activity and the amount of homework I get done tonight.

Ready...set...GO! :)

Broomball, Baby!!!

Last night was Crusade's Junior/Senior Broomball.

To say I was excited would be an understatement.

The name "broomball" is a bit misleading. There are no brooms involved, but there are a whole bunch of balls.

You start off by inviting all of the juniors and seniors in the Crusade movement to come out to the Cary Ice House, telling them to wear warm clothing and tennis shoes.

You then give them different color jerseys, which just goes to show you how competitive we are. As if the jerseys weren't enough, you throw a few soccer balls onto the ice and say, "GO!"



No one really keeps score, even though I know that the yellow team won :)

Other activites, such as dodgeball (or, as the guys thought it was was called, "bullet-ball"...ouch), and freeze tag, also happen.

The night is so fun. One of the reasons is that it's just the juniors and seniors. As great as the freshman and sophomores are, it's so wonderful to know everyone there and to be with the people that you've "grown up" with in college.

Of course, no night is complete without a few pictures.

My sweet Rita and B. Knox goofing off on the ice rink.

There is also a DJ who plays popular, secular, very non-Crusade music. But that doesn't mean Hannah, Katie and myself don't know how to have a good time.

All photo cred goes to this pretty girl, Miss Ella. Thanks for capturing the memories last night!

Well folks, I'm off to Target to pick up a few last minute things for tomorrow's giveaway! I'm so excited about it!

A Teaser of a Snow Day.

All of the local news channels were calling for snow to show up Thursday morning. I was so looking forward to cancelled classes, chocolate chip pancakes, sweatpants, an Oprah marathon, and so much more.

I woke up to find this beautiful glaze of snow over all of my backyard and car and it was just beautiful. However, my classes were not cancelled, which means that I couldn't stay in my sweatpants and make chocolate chip pancakes. It meant that I had to wake up and get dressed and go to classes.

Isn't it beautiful?

Before I ventured off to classes, I had to scrape off my car. Thanks for your help, Taylor.

I was driving through campus on my way to the parking deck. Going down Dunn Ave there are trees on each side of the street. All of the trees have lost their leaves, but they had this sweet dusting of snow on them. I thought,

"This is either the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced...or the most depressing. I'm seeing all of the beauty...and I have to go sit in a classroom and discuss some very vulgar and depressing literature."

After six hours of classes, I got a two hour break and spent the majority of it with one of my grandgirls over coffee. Precious, precious baby girl.

After coffee with Madison, I went to work. Instead of hanging out with the eight-year-old, Super Z, I got to hang out with the three-year-old, Captain K. Three-year-old brains never cease to amaze me.

Captain K: Rebekah, will you write your whole name?
(I write my first, middle, and last name on his chalkboard)
Captain K: No! You need another name! Girls have four names!!
Me: What do you mean, baby?
Captain K: Girls get married and then they four names. Like, my mom. Her name is R. E. S. U. And because you are going to marry me, you have four names: Rebekah. S. Sanderson. U.

Ohhh, three year olds. Gotta love them.

After I got off of work, I headed to El Rodeo and went to celebrate this pretty girl's birthday.

Happy Birthday, sweet Alecia. I love you :)

Don't forget to check back in on Sunday and get all of the details about the Valentine Giveaway!

Announcement!

Hear ye! Hear ye! I have something to tell ye!

First off, Meet Virginia is having another give away. A Whole Foods giveaway. Check it out and maybe you could win something.

Secondly, I have already broken one of my February goals--blogging three times a week. My bad. School is crazy. Life is crazy. Whatever, I suck. I get it.

But the big thing that I am so excited to talk about is...

Yes! My very first Giveaway!

I will be showing all of the details on Sunday and then announce a winner either Monday night or Tuesday morning. But I'll give you a hint...I'm taking after Oprah and giving away some of my favorite things, and sticking with the theme of Valentine's Day of the color RED!

Prepare yourselves. It's coming. And I'm excited!

February Goals.

February Goals!

Let's take a look back at January, shall we?

1. Spend one-on-one time with at least 5 of my girls. --Check! Kelsey, Lauren, Hannah, Andrea, Kaitlyn, Danielle, Amanda, Rachel! Oh man. I even had some extra :)

2. Clean my room. --Check! Really! I know, I can't believe it either! I should post some pictures.

3. Try something new at Global Village. --Nope. But I also haven't been to Global Village this year, so I guess it would be hard to try something new if you haven't been there...

4. Begin spending time with my grandgirls and great-grandgirls. --Check! You can check out my evening of utter joy details here.

5. Run at least 3 times a week. --Well, some weeks yes, some weeks no. But I think it averages out to 3 times a week, does that count?

6. Finish the collages for my bedroom wall. --Nope. Once school started, I got sucked into this awful black hole. It happens.



February Goals!
1. Keep spending intentional one-on-one time with my girls! (What can I say? I just love them!)
2. Keep up with my Bible Study reading: The whole Bible in a semester! Huzzah!
3. Continue spending more time with my grandgirls. They're stinkin' precious--I just can't take it.
4. Attend every ballet class for the rest of the month.
5. Try at least one new recipe!
6. Blog at least three times a week (and twice in one day doesn't count!).
7. Keep running at least three times a week.
8. Host a February Give-Away!

Happy Month of Love :)