Sliding Socks

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9:04 AM on Monday, May 21, 2018

Sliding Socks

I would rather it be my socks sliding than rocks, but it was still a little annoying. With around 4 miles left to go, one of my socks totally fell off the back of my foot, and was only around my arch. The next one wasn't far behind. I was very thankful to be able to go to the park today because I was so tired and really not feeling a neighborhood run. I saw some little turtles, too! Praise the Lord for a day off! I really enjoyed it! Mom was gone most of the morning, so I had a little time to myself before she was back. After some time out in the sun and Bible study, I took a shower, deep conditioned, and did a face mask. Then I took a nap! It was not as long as I would've liked, but I needed to eat. But a quick yet quality nap is better than a lengthy yet cruddy one! I got to go back outside later, too. The sun took breaks about the same time I did.

I love to match the comics with my life, if you haven't noticed. Mutts often features my posts on their Instagram story! Those are flowers that Mom got from a student at her school. My post-run breakfasts are often random things so that they can be quicker so I can move on to other things or work. Lately, I have done about like that comic, having turkey bacon and sweet potato and some spice! A carb and a protein. Then I add some chickpeas or leftover baked beans.

Phoebe has become adventurous and finally stepping outside. She doesn't last very long, but she is getting better. I honestly want her to stay inside so that she is with us more! I have gotten attached lately.

Finally, National Strawberries and Cream Day! Thankful to the "$10 Box Store," I got to stock up on a lot of different flavors of these.

Today's Bible study time: 
Hebrews 13:5-6 was pretty fitting. But God always does that. I have also come to a place in my faith where I can make any passage relate to my life. I know the Bible is full of things we can use in the present day. I have come to admit that I am a hoarder, and I have issues with money! I like it, I love to shop, but I never want to spend money, and when I buy things, I never want to use them. But that is no good! I have no reason to worry about these things, because God will always give me everything I need. Getting a job has also been so good for me in that I can make my own money to pay for things and to save for later. Now I fear what I will do without one. I want to buy things for myself and for others, and I need to do so for the right reasons. Not be superfluous but be good to myself. Use the good things I buy, and take care of myself. Share and take care of others. But "Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

So while my life may be sliding around like my socks, God's got me.

Throwback Thursday, July 31st, 2014

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Well, it's almost that time...school time.  As for the next 5 days, though, it is summer, and I will make the most of it!  However, I am a strong believer that we should go back to school in September, not the hottest and most summer weather month of the year.

I wanted to share this picture I made last year as a reminder to myself and hopefully an encouragement to lots of other people to remember that we are lucky to be here.  Each and every town and life has its bad spots, that's for sure, but we also have to remember how miniscule those things are in the grand scheme of things.  God has given us life to live to bring Him glory.  He said, "..I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." in John 10:10. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, God's will for our whole life is spelled out in the most simple way it can be put:  "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  This words in my picture are from a song by Jason Gray called Good to be Alive.  It is kind of a throwback song, too, but it is wonderful! 

I just found this picture on my mom's phone yesterday.  On the 4th of July, it would be "un-American" if there were no fireworks.  Actually, it would be un-American to not have fireworks for the whole week before and after July 4th.  It is so strange that my dog will go nuts over a storm that is so far away that we can't even see clouds yet, but fireworks don't even phase him.  Sophie, on the other hand, is not bothered by storms, but does not like fireworks!  That night we had to let her inside the house because she stood at the back door crying and scared, wanting to come in.  I am not a late night person, so I was in bed.  Sophie doesn't care.  If she sees that door to my room closed she actually sees neon lights that say, "Come in!  Kenzie would love for you to wake her, purr, and walk on her face!"  My room is the first place she heads every time.  I love her, though!  Mom came in my room when she heard me talking to Sophie and took a picture of us cuties. 

Motown Madness

 Motown Madness is an area-wide discipleship weekend that my chuch, First Baptist, and another large church in town, Manley Baptist, take turns hosting each year.  This year, Manley was the host church, where we had our worship services in their brand new sanctuary!

 

Friday night, February 28th, we started out the weekend with an awesome service before heading to our host homes.  (Unless there is too few people in an age group and they have to combine) each gender of each grade, 7th through 12th, is assigned a host home where they sleep, eat some meals and snacks, and have small group.  My group, the sophomore girls, stayed at Cassie's house.  We have a large Sunday school group, and most of us got to come along with some that we invited from other churches.

 

Here's some pictures and things we learned and shared over the weekend.  You can find more from anything that anyone posted at Twitter #Motown2014 and Instagram #Motown2014.

Jenna inspired me to draw this picture.  Being rooted in faith, you grow, and when you grow, people can see it and you can give off seeds to make others grow, too!
"So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Colossians 2:6

Along with being firmly planted in the faith, I gotta stay firm!  I know through lots of experience lately that there is nothing in this world that I can put my trust and hope in.  The only One who can always satisfy my soul is Christ.  I often get distracted then disappointed by things that I want to do, but I know that my efforts are pointless if they are not backed by Christ.
"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God is my Rock in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."  Psalm 18:2

More roots...
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how long and high and wide and deep is the love of Christ."  Ephesians 3:17-18

This is a collage posted by the girl in the bottom picture wearing the purpleish scarf.  Her name is Katie, and she was one of our college leaders with our group for the weekend.

Up top left is Bella, who like me, loves to sleep.  And she loves cats.  How convenient we got a picture of Bella sleeping next to a cat. 

On Saturday, everyone gets free time between lunch and dinner, and since the weather was gorgeous, Panther Creek Park was a the hotspot!  In the top right, Bella, Katy, and Maddie set up their Enos and "hung out" for the afternoon.The bottom picture was Saturday night after small group.  From left to right is me, Abby, Katie, Patty (our amazing Sunday School teacher), Sara, and Olivia.

Here again is Olivia, who used to be one of my absolute best friends when we were in elementary school.  We had the craziest sleepovers and laughing fits, and of course I had to have a crush on her brother at one point.  Seems like everyone had that friend when they were young.  It has been great getting to see her at church again lately; we were all thrilled she got to come.
Abby has also been a great friend of mine for a long time!  We went to preschool together, but then went a long time without getting to see each other.  Now, we are both at the same church and are growing together all the time.  We even have the same birthday!

Katie is a new friend, but we're all glad she joined us!  She has a home church and church she sings at on Sundays, but she gets to come to FBC on Wednesdays.  She is one of the many college leaders we are blessed to have with us!  It is so important to have older, yet still young, people in our lives to share with us and encourage us in what they have learned.  Something that she said that I really liked was, "It's just as much of a sin to think that you aren't good enough," because God has made each of us to be used for His purposes.

This was while we were waiting around before worship on Friday night.  In the back is one of my best friends since preschool, Parker, and his friend who moved to the other side of town for high school, Ed.  They're such fun and goofy guys, but they're also sweet, too.

This was also at the park during free time.  Cassie and I tried to get a picture swinging, but those swings were hard to get high on!

Everyone always love the food at Motown.  It's a lot of people's favorite part!  Around here when kids her Motown Madness, they think of the awesome worship services and food.  We had all kinds of yummy stuff Saturday morning like muffins, coffee of course, fruit, sausage balls, ham rolls, and any snacks and sweets people brought to share.

I took a group of girls on a hike up to the highest point at the park, on a trail called "Point Lookout" where you can look over the lake from wayyyyy high up, and it is gorgeous.  We had a ton of fun!  One of the things we talked about in worship was being rooted in our faith in the Lord, so we had to get a picture with some major roots!

We also went to Sonic during free time, and Patty thought it was hilarious that the cat loved to lick milkshake off of a spoon.

 

I don't have any pictures to go with this, but the speaker/preacher who does Motown Madness is the one and only Chad Poe!  If you ever hear that he is near your area, you should really go listen to him speak.  He is not here to tip toe and make you love yourself, but to be honest and really share what life with Christ is all about.  He always says things that push me to be a stronger Christian.  He is also hilarious, so I promise no matter how long he talks, you will not get bored.He really hit me head on that weekend with plans, the way for my life.  I have plans.  I have a ton of plans and my own ways that I want my life to go.  But ya know what Jesus says? 
"I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  John:14:6.
Christ is not a suggested route of travel to eternity or a rest stop along the way, He is The Way.

Another tree analogy:  "Without roots, it is no longer a tree, it is an obstacle."Remember that the service, the music, the people, the clothes, the weather, the day, the circumstances won't always be the same, but the God we worship will always be the same.This is something that he said that I remember to stay humble:  "Until I realize that I deserve the wrath of the Lion, I will never get the mercy of the Lamb.

This is a picture I took a screenshot of on Instagram.  This is the man and his band who have been leading the worship at Motown for the past few years.  He is Chuck Hooten!  Not only does he have a great name, he has a fantastic voice and opportunity to use it to glorify the Lord.  I also just now found his blog!Having a strong worship leader is very important because music is a sermon in itself.  It is beautiful, teaches and inspires us, and gives us opportunities to worship our Savior!  Chuck did a great job of getting us fired up to learn and grow.

Here is a picture I took of Chuck up there doin' his thing!  He was a little panicked at one point, because the batteries in his earpiece died, and he had never sang without his music.  We encouraged him to wing it, and he did, with great success!  Now hopefully he will be more confident to burst out anywhere sharing his love for the Lord!

This poetic picture as she called it was taken by my friend Morgan, who I think is just super cool!  Today is her birthday as well!  She takes very pretty pictures when she goes places, like here at the park, the beach, and even overseas and on mission trips.  She also loves sports and is always up for something fun and challenging.  Her hair is also really long and silky, and she almost always has a smile on her face.  Her Biblical knowledge is amazing; we always go to her when we have questions!  I love her spirit for the Lord!

This beautiful girl has a terrific future ahead of her; she has an amazing voice and can play the piano and sing like a pro!  Her name is Hope, and you better just watch out because she will be out there singing and performing one day like those on KLove, like Laura Story and Mandisa!

 

Here's a final picture I threw together to sum up our adventures.
Small group, worship, happy hour at Sonic, and a walk in the park.

Week-Long Weekend

Well, I am pretty ticked off right now.  I went to update and publish this post that I had worked on for a long time last night, and it deleted every bit of typing that I had done, even after I had saved it multiple times.

So here goes round 2.

I can't remember ever seeing this much snow on our back porch!  I snowed for over 12 straight hours!  We had no idea that we would be getting any snow at all, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

During cold weather, Mom lets Sophie inside, and she always makes a beeline straight for my room.  I woke up multiple days this break to a cat literally walking across my face.  She also loves to sit in my desk chair and refuses to move.  She finally sat up and took a very short look at my AP US Government and Politics.

I got this idea from a retweet I saw on my Twitter feed.  It's a peanut butter banana roll!  All you do is flatten out a slice of bread, spread some nut butter on it, and roll up the banana!  I used Peanut Butter & Co's The Bee's Knees, which is the best PB I think I've ever tasted!

What could be a more exciting food to try than cereal?  This week I found

Nature's Path Sunrise Crunchy Maple, and it is fantastic!  Honey or maple makes everything taste better!

While I was snacking on some cuties the other day, I had some "defective" ones that wouldn't peel right, so I had to slice them.  Sucking the innards out, I thought of how silly I looked, so I decided to capture the moment.

Friday, Mom was no longer afraid to drive on the roads because most of it had melted on the main roads, so she took me to the Jefferson City Community Center to swim and run on the treadmill while she went to Walmart.  This was probably the best workout there I've had!  It felt great!  Afterwards, we made a lunch date at The Creek Café again.  I love going to small businesses and helping people out, so I made sure to get some of the Fair Trade coffee while I was there!  I also added some cinnamon hazelnut to it as well.

Yum!

Today is Small Business Saturday!

Their coffee cups are cute, too!

This morning, Dad and I got up early and headed to Cataloochee to get in a morning of skiing.  Conditions weren't too bad, and it wasn't cold out at all!  (Compared to some days we've had lately, anything above freezing is a heat wave.)  Crossing Douglass Lake, we were shocked at how much ice was still over the top!

Queen Sophie claims her overlook of her kingdom while I enjoy the warm weather, actually getting to wear shorts and a tshirt!  I hadn't shot basketball in so long, so I decided that I would go for it.  No matter how long I go without playing, my muscle memory always comes through!

This is my wonderful Dad!  Although he is the biggest procrastinator I have ever met, when he does get around to doing things, he always does a great job.  Spaghetti is one of those things.  Whenever Dad is going to make spaghetti, I just expect it to be hours after normal dinner time.  But there is not a spaghetti out there that can compete with his!

Look at all those peppers and celery!

What a Rainy Day...

For the second day in a row, I was woken up by my cat, Sophie,  That's okay, though, because I needed to get up and get going!  I finished my workout around noon, and fixed this omelette for brunch!

I need some work on my omelette-making, but I wanted to try today to work out some things to improve on.  I will use the smaller skillet instead of the large next time, and I will use less filling.  Then it should go together better instead of spilling out all sides.

My filling here is:

hummus

goat cheese

red bell pepper

jalepenos

onion

turkey sausage

mustard

salsa

spinach

celery

black pepper, dill mix, and cilantro

One thing I was really looking forward to doing over break is having more time to study my Bible!  I have, though not as much as I would like (you can never get enough of God's Word!).  This devotion book has one for each day, staring with January 1st.  It was a birthday gift to me from my friend Abby Mitchell (so many Abby's!), and I started it with the new year!  I think it will be a great challenge to me, because it has deeper language used, like the King James Version, but I am always up for growing in my knowledge of the Lord!  Since I am still using birthday gifts, this could go great with my "Putting My Birthday Presents to Good Use" post.

There is also a daily, online version of My Utmost for His Highest.

"The old has gone; the new has come!" 2 Cor 5:17

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has gone; the new has come!"

  2 Corinthians 5:17

Although I'm not big on changing a whole bunch just for New Years (because any moment is a God-given opportunity to change), I thought this would be a great verse for the new year!  When you accept Christ into your heart, He makes you completely new.

This has been the best Christmas break I have ever had, and New Years also lived up to the standard!  On December 31st, I got to do something I have been wanting to do for over a year; I had a pancake party!  I texted 3 of my best running friends the day before to ask if they wanted to go for a run then have pancakes, so they headed over!  (Katlyn was getting over a cold, so she didn't run, but she met us for breakfast.)  Chantal, Cherie (who live within walking distance), and I ran down the highway towards town and back for around 7.6 miles.

Here we all are in our new shoes!  (and black tights.  We didn't even plan that.)

Mine are on the left, Chantal on top, Cherie right, Katlyn bottom.  Part of my shoe actually glows in the dark, but I haven't gotten to try it out yet.

My new griddle!  This is one of my Christmas gifts.  I made us each 2 big pancakes.  Chantal, Cherie, and I had Recees Pieces pancakes topped with peanut butter (I also had honey and sugar free syrup), and Katlyn chose York Pieces pancakes.  I love this griddle, because it is big, fast, and easy to clean.

Here we are about to dig in!

I am so blessed to have these girls.  Every time we get together, we have so many laughs, encouragement, and uplifting feelings!  These are girls that I can trust, and we can help each other grow in our faith.  When I'm with them, I have no worries or bad feelings about what I'm doing.  It is so important to have friends like this in your life to help keep you on track!

At my house, it has become "tradition" in a way over the past few years that when the cross country girls meet for food at my house (for example, my birthday), in our pictures for making memories, we always do a silly one with food in our mouths!

On New Years Eve, my friends the Wolfenbargers always invite us to party with them.  The party is either at their house or another house in their neighborhood, the Paxton's (which is where it was this year).  Daniel Paxton, the man of that house, is one funny man!  This is one of my long-time best friends, Noah.

This game, The Game of Things, is what we spent most of our time between our late eating "dinnerish" and desserts and the ball drop doing.  It is similar to Apples to Apples in that their is a reader who announces the category, then the everyone submits a corresponding response.  However, this game gets funnier, because the responses aren't already provided, but you write in your own!  We got many laughs out of this for sure!

After being up until around 1:30 the night before, on New Years Day I slept until 11:00, when Sophie came in and wanted to cuddle (more for her satisfaction than mine, obviously from all her purrrring).  Once I finally got up and did some core workouts, Dad and I went to the park for a run.  Dad doesn't usually like to run there because of the uneven surface and falling and ankle-spraining hazard, so it is a special occasion when he goes with me, even though he unfortunately can't keep up anymore since I have been in high school.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and not too cold either, especially in the sun!  I got in a nice, long run, while Dad's was a bit shorter.  It was fun getting back out to the park since I have been out of the habit since cross country ended.

By the time I got home, stretched, and ready to eat "breakfast," it was after 2:00!  I had some pumpkin and cream cheese-topped waffles and an apple then got to work.  I am still celebrating Christmas, so I watched Christmas Vacation while I worked on putting everything onto my new 2014 calendar!  

Since last year, I have gotten the Peanuts "Love is..." calendar.  This is another one of my Christmas presents!  It has a sweet saying and picture for each month, and it also comes with stickers to correspond with various events throughout the year.  This is the January picture!

Celebrating the Savior

This was the day, the day we'd all been waiting for!  I think it is so neat that each Christmas,      Hobby Lobby puts a full page ad in the paper about what we are truly celebrating-Jesus's birthday.  I just wanted to put this picture first, because it is truly the source of all life's joy.

 

As I've gotten older, I have noticed that I don't look forward to the gifts so much, but find myself getting more excited about the little things, like get-togethers with friends, moments with friends and family, smiles and laughs, and just relaxing and taking in the beautiful world God has blessed us with.

Mom just had to let Sophie in for Christmas!  She just loves her kitty.

Here is our lovely tree before we left for Christmas Eve!  Christmas morning, it looked a little different, because the gifts to and from grandparents weren't there, but a stack for me from "Santa" had appeared!  Mom has our entire living room matching.  The wrapping paper each year also must color coordinate.  She also won't put an ornament on the tree that doesn't match, no matter who it came from.  (I even have an anniversary ornament on my tree because it matched mine better.)  I do love to look at Christmas decorations!  Not a bit of ba humbug in our house!

 

Our stockings also match, mine (which you cannot see here) hangs in the middle with a reindeer on it, and Mom and Dad's are on the ends with Santas.  Since this dress I got "would not fit in any sort of wrapping,"  Mom just hung it up with my stocking.  Cute idea I thought!  So I quickly "opened" my first gift upon walking into the room.

I got so many great gifts, some of which you will see in later posts of me putting them into use, but I don't want to elaborate on the gifts I received.  I already have everything I need because of Christ.  Although this Christmas has been super busy, it has been amazing.  I have enjoyed it so much!  I am so blessed to be living this life.

Last year, I got a Garmin GPS watch (the one I am wearing in this picture.).  I was so excited, wanting to try it out asap.  Remember how when you are a little kid, Christmas Day is spent playing with all your new toys?  Well that's what we did, play with my new toy.  (Meaning, we went for a run.)  This year, Mom and I (mostly mom) got Dad a GPS watch!  So we had our second annual Christmas Day run!  As you can see in the above picture, I had to show him how to use it.

 

We have a couple more Christmas Day traditions with our food.  Breakfast is cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole made by Mom, then dinner is spaghetti made by Dad!

Monday the 23rd Already?

Shew, I cannot believe yesterday was already the day before Christmas Eve.  It was a great fun day, though!

After I slept in and laid in bed for the first time in what seemed like forever, I worked out downstairs for an hour and a half.  Then I fixed a breakfast of all new things I have been waiting since Thanksgiving break to try!  I wanted to wait so I could sit and enjoy it.  I got these things at Target-the wonderstore!

 

Archer Farms Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal-I love creating pumpkin spice foods, so I decided to try a premade version, since I know that Archer Farms is a top, trustworthy brand.  It was a success!  I mix my oatmeal using Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk then topped it off with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and nutmeg...perfect!

 

Kashi Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies are something I don't even consider a dessert.  I ate a Kashi Oatmeal Raisin Cookie before almost every race this cross country season, too.  They are so healthy, you just can't feel bad about eating these cookies!

 

Added to my coffee was another Target treat-a Dark Chocolate Espresso stirrer. I can't find an internet page for these, but there are multiple flavors available during the holiday to add some flavor to hot cocoa, milk, or coffee.

Dad took our sheltie, Frisco to get a bath!  Thank goodness...if you had seen (or smelled) this dog before he got bathed, you would not think it is the same dog.  He enjoys to bark at the rain and roll in the mud, so he is always a mess.  But, precious puppy cleans up nice!

Even the most spastic of all dogs we have had is such a lover.  He starves for attention.  Frisco wouldn't hurt anything!  He "plays" with bunnies that get into the yard.  He will hold them down, but gently, while he licks and pets on them, then he lets them go.

I can't believe that I got him to look at the camera!  He was about to clobber and lick me to death, because he was so excited to see me!  Dad told me to get some good pictures of him while he was trapped on the deck, because once he got down, the fluffiness wouldn't last long.

Here is the cutie again, with his "sister," who is now an outdoor cat since she decided whenever she got made she would pee in the laundry baskets.  When the weather gets cold, all she wants is to come back inside!  Our family believes that they think they are of the same species, because they look out for each other so much.  Frisco hardly ever leaves Sophie alone!  She may not admit it if she could talk, but we even catch Sophie snuggling with and chasing Frisco around, too.  Pets are such a wonderful gift from God!  Although they can't speak, they touch hearts and lift spirits.

As of this day, I still was not done delivering or even wrapping gifts.  So my afternoon and night was spent doing just that.  After leaving Ingles, Mom and I drove to a friend's house to take her a gift from me.  At home, I worked on additions to my parents' gifts and took treats to the neighbors.  After dinner and a shower, I headed downstairs to wrap the gifts from me to Mom and Dad while watching Charlie Brown Christmas for at least the 4th time this year.  Mom and Dad were upstairs watching one of the funniest Christmas movies, in my opinion, Four Christmases.  I caught the last 45 minutes and still got a ton of laughs.  I must say, however, my dad's laughter at certain scenes made me go into uncontrollable laughter more from him than the movie!  It has to be good to get my dad tickled like that, and I love to see it!  He is so funny; I just love him.

 

Today was full of so many things I love about Christmas:  sleep, exercise, breakfast, gifts, shopping, wrapping, doing crafts, and spending time with the pets and family, and laughter and love!