Face.

I came home the other night wearing a very sad face.

It had been a bad day at work, and I wanted the world to know it, so I wore it on my face.

However, when I came home, I came home to this face

And also to this face

Which made me put on my happy face.

Then Ava Michelle and I put on our men faces and changed the face of the mantle.

These two picture faces were hung without a tape measure, but with a ball of yarn, a hammer, and some screwdrivers.

Then we hung some more picture faces

Go Wolfpack!

This clock face is now hanging in our hallway face.

Don't worry, Ava Michelle got it on clearance, 75% off.

Ha.

Then we changed the face of our dining room.

Thanks Kara for this wonderful print! I love your face!

While Ava Michelle and I were changing our apartment's face, we came across this face.

I am now wearing my "grossed-out" face.

After we wore our men faces, a bunch of other faces showed up at our apartment face.

Gordo came over and didn't like me capturing his face.

Then this face came home. She's a crazy face.

So Alecia and Gordo combined their faces to give me one picture face.

Pretty soon after, this face came walking in our back door.

I have missed this face. Nick went home to Yankee Land, and now he's back in the South Land, and I'm wearing my happy girl face.

He was greeted by a lot of screaming girl faces.

Alecia then said to Ava Michelle, "I'm gonna kiss your face."

I then told the apartment that I was going to go to sleep.

And Nick gave me this face.

And I went to bed with a smile on my face.

Puzzle Pieces

I stopped by my next door neighbor's house last night before heading back to Raleigh to my apartment. We discussed life and a bit of this and that, nothing too heavy.

Somehow, the fact that I cook for my Bible Study girls every week was dropped into the conversation. My next door neighbor thought that was a sweet thing to do...until she heard I cook for thirty grown-ups every week like it's nothing.

To me, it isn't a big deal. Just double, triple, or quadruple the recipe and then serve.

I love cooking for people. It allows me to know that my girls are eating their vegetables. It also is a fun way for me to serve others and love people, because let's face it, few college kids actually cook...Ramen noodles, spaghetti, and Lean Cuisines are a big part of our diets.

While I was talking with my neighbor, she said something that I've been processing ever since:

"Reba, what is the Lord going to do with that? I mean, most people can't do that. Much less, love doing it."

So true. This sentence is so true. I love how the Lord made so many different people. I love that none of us are the same. I love that He takes the time to craft His children and come up with billions and billions and billions of different fingerprints.

As I have been thinking about this statement, it makes me do a bit of a happy dance about my future. I am already seeing so much of my personality come out as I prep for my first teaching job. Yes, you read that right. Looks like I'll be using my degree after all. This girl got herself a teaching job.

Well, actually, this girl didn't do anything...The Lord gave this girl a teaching job, and she's so excited about it, she can't sleep.

But cooking for 30 people isn't a skill that can be truly utilized as a teacher. I've incorporated singing, tap dancing, creative writing, bad cartwheels, laughter, and many other things into being a teacher. But what about the other little things that I love?

A friend of mine once told me about her parents and how they were/are complete opposites but they've made almost 30 years of marriage work. Her parents talk about how they've seen different pieces of their personalities work together while they've been married. For instance, her dad is an incredibly compassionate and nurturing man which really was needed while her mother was (successfully!) fighting cancer. Her mother was also afraid of marriage before they got together because she didn't want to be tied down and have someone looking over her shoulder all the time. She needed to be independent. Because her husband travels four days out of the week with this business, she got to be independent and still live her life!

It's stories like this that make me excitedly anxious for the future. I can't wait to watch as each piece of the puzzle comes together. As each love and passion in my life gets used for the greater good.

The Golden Rule.

I'm sure you all have heard it.

"Do unto others as you would have them do to you."

It's something that I live by.

People often ask me "Why do you do everything that you do?" i.e. cook dinner for 15 people every week, love your girls as hard as you do, drop by unannounced with cookies, drop by unannounced with just a hug, etc.

The answer is simple: I do what I would want someone else to do for me.

I love getting snail mail, so I try to write at least one letter to someone every month. I love cookies, so I bake them and just drop them off at people's houses. I wish someone would make me dinner, so I do it for others.

I want someone to take care of me, so I take care of others.

Some people call it karma...I call it The Golden Rule.

Yesterday, I was blessed by a big stroke of The Golden Rule.

Let me take a few steps back: One of my good friends, Kimberly (who is also one of the four I'll be living with next year), stopped by my place Tuesday night with some exciting news: she got in to the grad school program that she wanted to, as well as the summer internship that she wanted. We squealed a bit, jumped up and down a bit, hugged a bit, you know, general girl merriment festivities.

After we had settled down, she looked me square in the eye and said, "You look exhausted."

Folks, I was exhausted. I've been working between 40 and 50 hours the past few weeks plus other various activities. I could have easily curled up in bed at that moment and not woken up for at least a day.

Kimberly gave me a hug and some encouragement, but then showed herself out the door so that I could go upstairs to (finally) go to sleep.

Yesterday, I went to work. To say the least, it was a bad day. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just couldn't snap out of the mood. After my shift ended, I got back in the car and drove home, grouchy and moody the whole way home. I was having 15 people over for dinner and I hadn't started cooking yet. The whole time home I was just thinking...I wish someone would cook dinner for me. Why doesn't anyone ever do anything nice for me?

Seriously...I was groooooouuchy.

I got home and plopped in front of the television for an hour before I decided to start cooking.

I headed upstairs...and near 'bout had a stroke.

My room was clean.

My entire room was clean. Straighted, vacuummed, dusted...genuinely cleaned!

I certainly hadn't done it.

The last time I checked my room looked like this:

Yeah, I know it's bad. I take care of others, but I really don't take care of myself. Feel free to judge.

But I feel like you should know exactly what this little cleaning fairy was getting herself into.

She may hate me for ratting her out, but the world needs to know just how good she really is.

Kimberly had talked with my roommate and come over and cleaned up my room while I was at work.

The ironic part about all of this is about 5 minutes before I headed upstairs I hit rock bottom in my selfish, grouchy mood and decided to share it with the universe on Twitter.

"The only thing I really want in my life is for someone to take care of me."

Oh Rebekah, if only you knew...

Well, give yourself about 38 seconds and you did.

I also would like to point out that Kimberly left a note for me explaining where she put everything. I love that the first line expresses how well she knows me.

Kimberly literally gave me the gift of time. I was able to take a nap yesterday, and I was able to enjoy being with the people that I had over for dinner because I wasn't thinking about the thousands of other things I needed to be doing at that moment. I got to go to sleep last night and not lie away worrying about when my to-do list was going to get done. I was able to pack for my adventure this weekend and not stress. I love coming home to clean house, but I knew it wasn't going to get done this time, and it really bothered me. She gave me peace of mind, time, sleep, and so much joy!

Kimberly, you are straight up, the best friend a girl could ask for. I love that I can come to you with anything and you accept me, love me, listen to me, rebuke me, advise me, and still at the end of it all, cherish me and our friendship. I am so excited to live with you next year so that I can serve you and beside you. I have loved getting to know you and becoming friends with you and watching you grow in the Lord and just as a person these past few years.

 

Words will never express how appreciative I am of our friendship. Not just for this extreme act of kindness, but also because you truly make me a better person. I love, love, love you.

Breakdown Impending...

I have started this thing called "Wednesday Night Dinners" with a group of my closest friends.

It's pretty simple. I cook a big meal, and about twenty people come over and devour said meal, and leave me with lots of dishes to do. Well, "leave me" isn't exactly the correct term since every time they try to do something, I end up yelling at them to get out of my kitchen. Oh well, I still blame them.

Tonight, we had a Wednesday Night Dinner just like any other Wednesday night. I've never seen that many people in an apartment before. Whew! Well, Barn Party Project Pancakes may have it all beat, but who knows...

As a bunch of us were standing around outside, delaying the inevitable getting-in-the-car-driving-away-to-go-home-and-study-for-our-last-exam(s)-EVER, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I may never been in the same close area with these amazing people ever again. At least not all at the same time.

This heartbreak is different from the ones with my girls. My girls are stuck with me for life. So are my grandgirls and my great-grandgirls. These people have molded me into this person. They have prayed for me when I've asked and even times where I haven't had to ask. They showed me that good community doesn't just exist on Summer Projects, but also in real life. We spent every single weekend together my junior year and they emotionally and financially sent me to Lebanon the following summer.

As we were standing around, Kimberly pulled all of the girls into one big group hug. I stood there praying, with my arms around some of the greatest loves of my life, that my girls would know a joy such as this. That this moment could happen again and again. That I would know love like this again. That miles only separated our physical beings but never our hearts and our prayers.


I don't know how many people actually read this thing and I don't know who you are...but if you have made up my heart and life over the last few years, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for loving me so much that I don't want to graduate.
Thank you for allowing me to love you.
Thank you for eating my cookies, pasta, chicken, and pancakes and always giving my ego a boost when you clean your plate.
Thank you for allowing me to call you "mine".
Thank you for putting up with insanity and my drama and my mood swings and my sass.
Thank you for praying for me.
Thank you for allowing me to pray for you.
Thank you for sharing your time with me.
Thank you for sharing your life with me.
Thank you for sharing your hearts with me.
Thank you for this amazing adventure that I get to call 'college'.
Thank you for...

for...

everything.

I truly don't take it lightly.

Sleeping With The Fishes.

Last Saturday, I was sleeping with the fishes. I didn't know it at the time, but I was.

Around 9 a.m., the puppy woke me up so we could go for a walk outside. I rolled out of bed reluctantly, shoved my glasses on my face and pulled on whatever sweatpants I could find first.

I stumbled down the stairs, put Milley's leash on her, unlocked the front door, and opened it.

...

I couldn't get out my front door. I scratched my head, yawned, and wiped the sleep from my eyes, telling myself to focus...what is that?

Cups of water?

With dead goldfish in them???

And my car is Post-It noted?

Also, do you see how my car is a bit blurry? That's because my front porch is Saran Wrap-ped.

Heavens.

No, I do not currently have any suspects.

I really wish I did, if for no other reason than to shake their hand and say "good job."

Coooooooooook OUT!

My beautiful parents offered about six weeks ago to throw a cook out for my friends here in Raleigh. How does a girl say no to free food and fellowship with some of her favorites?

This dinner was supposed to be mainly for my Bible Study girls so that my parents could meet these gorgeous girls who I have spent the last three years of my life loving. I then pleaded and begged to add to that list. In my dad's words, I was to invite "[my] girls and then the first 25 people you think of in Raleigh." So I did just that. Last night from 5:30pm to about 9:30 pm in Wendell, 48 of my closest friends and Bible Study girls pulled onto Lake Drive and ate and laughed and fellowshipped.

I took the opportunity to snap a generation photo with my girls and grandgirls that were present.

 Six of these girls are mine. Two are my Hannah's. The rest are my Lauren and my Kelsey's.

We're missing about thirty girls from this picture.

My sweet little goofballs.

I am blessed to know you.

I am overjoyed to love you.

I am humbled to serve you.

To everyone else that came out last night, I have no words for how much you mean to my life. I am so incredibly blessed to call you friend.

An Apology and A Question.

Well hello again.

Yes, it's me, the awful person who makes it seem  that she forgets all about you. But I promise it's not true!

I've been off traveling the world. And by the world, I mean downtown Raleigh, I-95, I-20, and Evans, Georgia.

This post isn't going to be much better. You see, I'm here to give you another warning. I'm packing up my car and heading North and West for the weekend. I'm off on a grand adventure to hug these people:

 Plus a few more that may or may not know that they're getting a hug from me yet.

I apologize that I can't give you a full run-down on this past week, because heaven knows it was amazing. Maybe it will make you feel better to know that in the next 27 hours, I may or may not have to do all of the following:

• Write 4 3-page papers.
• Read a play.
• Do 3 homework assignments.
• Clean my house.
• Pack my suitcase.
• Feed 14 Bible Study girls.
• Lead a Bible Study.
• Attend a Bible Study.
• Attend 3.5 classes.
• Do at least one load of laundry.
• Read two scenes of an epic poem.
• Take a quiz on said epic poem.
• Sleep...maybe.

Yeah, no big deal.

And then I get to hop in my car and drive about 9 hours. By myself. Just me, and some Harry Potter audio books. Once again, no big deal.

I'm sorry to neglect you.

On the other hand, I have a question for you.

I am planning to make the four or five weeks following my return to the Capital City full of old stories. I have at least 50 pictures that I took but never found the time to share with you. Some of adventures, some of stories, some for recipe instructions. I want to start a series about these old pictures, stories, recipes.

However, this series needs a name.

Help please?

There will be a prize for the most creative title for this blog series, I just haven't decided what it is yet (feel free to post ideas about this too). I'll be posting my first blog in this series next Friday. You have until then to comment.

Go-Go Creative Juices!!!

As I leave you once again for the better part of the week, I want to leave you with a smile on your face. Therefore, allow me to leave you with a picture of the world's most adorable niece.

Adios mi amigos.

Warning!

It's Saturday!

Praise the Jesus!

It's also Spring Break!

PRAISE THE JESUS ONE MORE TIME!

I am super excited to report that I am staying in Raleigh and working with Vintage21 Church to love Raleigh doing Sacrificial Spring Break.



I have been put on the team to work with the Boys' Club of Raleigh. I will be building benches and cleaning a playground in the morning and in the afternoon I get to love little children.

That will be Monday through Friday.

Saturday on the other hand, is a different story. Oh my heavens...Saturday!

On Saturday I am getting in my car and heading to Evans, Georgia. My Aunt Beth Ann, Uncle Doug, and cousins Jackson and Bryson live down there. I'm going to hang out with them for about 24 hours.

But guess who else is going to be in Evans, GA that weekend?

Any idea?

I can't wait and stall and tell you a funny anecdote because I'm too excited...

THE PIONEER WOMAN!

I LOVE THE PIONEER WOMAN! LOVE HER LOVE HER LOVE HER!

I saw from her website that she was heading to Atlanta for her book signing and I thought, "Uhm...Seven hours. A seven hour drive for a book signing? Eek."

BUT THEN, I checked back a few days later and saw she was going to be in Evans. Evans, unlike Atlanta, is only a 4 hour drive.

I called up my mom and asked, "Hey Mama, where does Aunt Beth Ann live?"

"Evans. Why?"

Before she could get out the "Why?" I was too busy squealing and promptly hung up on her to call Aunt Beth Ann and to ask and see if I could crash at her place. I made sure to call her Bam-Bam just like I did when I was three so she would remember when I was cute and I was her favorite person on the planet.

What do you know, it worked!

I picked up a copy of The Pioneer Woman's new book, "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" yesterday from Barnes & Noble.



I'm currently on Chapter 6 and loving it more and more every page.

All I need now is a little inscription from the author to make my day.

I'm also taking down my copy of her cookbook for her to sign as well.

My dad is really enjoying making fun of me saying that I'm wasting lots of gas money to get a book signed. Whatever, I'm meeting a celebrity. He can get over it. I like being the black sheep :)

This whole blog was to tell you that I won't be updating until next Monday. I might throw in a story or two during my breaks this week, but don't count on it.

If you're out there, and you're the praying kind, I would love for you to toss one up to The Big Man about this week. We're going to be interacting with a lot of people and hopefully making a difference. Pray for good conversations and for our love for Jesus to be evident. Pray for good community among our team of 100 college kids (who call 5 different universities home). Pray that I get my house cleaned in time and pray that the Game Night that I'm hosting on Monday will be a success (yes, a bit prideful, but what else is new?). Pray that I efficiently love the two girls that are staying with me over the week. Pray for Haley, Jeremy, Risa, and my Kelsey who are in charge of this whole kit-and-kaboodle.

My life is amazing.

That is all.

Streets of Paris: Cru Semi-Formal

Last Friday was Crusade's Annual Semi-Formal. We danced the night away in the perfect dresses with fantastic dates and we all had a ball!

Our awesome group after dinner at The Bonefish Grill.

Hannah, Johnathan, Nataleigh, Zack, Yours Truly, Kyle, Michael, and Katie.

My wonderful brother Zack.

If you've ever wondered what I would be like in male form, look at this guy.

The former Oasis girls.

Yours Truly, Ava Michelle, Suzanne, and Alecia.

My beautiful Liz.


Me and Katie.
Althought I do love this picture of me and Katie, I would also like to point out Michael's impressive photo bomb lean.

My sweet date, Kyle.

Probably my favorite picture of the night. I love how much love and happiness is in this picture.

Jacqueline.

Nataleigh.

One of the sweetest conversations I've ever had went as followed:

Rebekah: Thanks for letting your boyfriend be my brother.

Nataleigh: Girl! It's my pleasure--it means that you get to be my sister!

Mi-Mi.

Emily!

Beautiful, beautiful, absolutely beautiful friends.

Haley, B. Knox, Rita.

Everyone thinks about what they want their last...whatever to be like.

Semi-Formal passed all expectations.