CCC

Preseason has begun and man has it been fun. A week in Nashville with the team showing them my hometown was a blast. Then the 12 hour trip back again to McPherson Kansas was a little less fun. Towards the end of my time in Nashville I was experiencing terrible pain in my knee and with many coaches and physically educated people around they informed me it was simply a very tight IT band (muscle that attaches knee to outer hip). So basically I wasn't practicing like normal anymore. I spend long hours with the trainer icing, heating, rolling, stretching, and strengthening that muscle because I haven't been able to do much else. By today about a week in I am up and playing with the team again doing a few modified exercises, but getting back in there and working towards being ready to play in our opener! Through this process though I have gotten to spend lots of time with the trainer and learn all about her which has been an awesome opportunity.
     Now my coach, let me just gush at how wonderful she is...besides getting me here in the first place.
-She got me a meeting with the music head at the school and I got to play and sing and talk to him, which led to him offering me a scholarship for music, which is what I wanted to do in the first place.
-Having to choose scholarships my coach talked to financial aid and worked it out where if I do music it will be the same amount as the other one would have been, which I really didn't want to be softball manager..
-She is trying to hook me up with the job I want on campus in the MudHole (coffee shop)
- I was having problems eating the fried food in the cafeteria, so in order to get me better she told her assistant to go to the store and get me some fresh food. Then offered to have me over for dinner once a week to help them eat healthier. Which I told her I would love to cook for them
- She also is going to talk to the pastor about giving me a limited meal plan, since I don't plan on eating most in the cafe anyhow. This also means I will be over scholarshiped and get some money back to use for groceries!
- She keeps assuring me I'm doing fine, and that she wants me better for when it really matters. She let's me know my spot is still secure though I am not 100%

So basically Central so far has been such a gift. At least two or three girls on my team are really in love with The Lord and I have connected with them. I have also got to have worship jam sessions with another gal and our voices together are like butta'. I finally hung pictures up in my room and organized most of my stuff, but I'm still waiting for my roommate to get here. Eating well now.

Gold Metal Mentor

I have the best mentor out there..

No contest really. Bethany Melton has walked with me through youth group and all it's juvenile issues, GBC, boys, divorce, thick and thin, and she is still alive and well with me today.
She does such a good job remembering to meet with me and asks the best questions. Today after meeting with her (and getting my hair trimmed, and babysitting) she has answered another one of my prayers and offered to plan and host my going away party! How cool is that?! The stress is lifted and she is the most qualified person I know to do this anyway! God is good to have blessed me with such a woman in my life.

Thanks Bethany.

Yellow Brick Road

God is so stinking good! Well I understand I haven't updated this post in a while so here, in a nutshell, is what God has done in the last month.

I was working a college clinic at ClubWest. What that means is a college coach comes in runs drills and teaches all sorts of stuff, and I was there just to help toss balls, encourage and run things. Well it was the last day of college clinics and this really sweet coach just started chatting with me, told me that one director of my club mentioned to her to recruit me for her school.

So after much chatting, she offered me a scholarship to come play volleyball at Central Christian College of Kansas! I was blown away at this offer and the way the Lord knew my unspoken prayers and the desires of my heart. After some prayer and talking it over with my fam, I decided to take the offer! The coach has worked with me to stack scholarships to help me go on almost a full ride. So with academic, athletic, and federal aid, I'm 900$ shy of a full ride of 29,900$. Which is simply incredible.

For volleyball in college this is pretty much unheard of. I haven't played in two years. I am not in volleyball shape. She would like me to play my old position of Middle Blocker (jumping the entire game) as well as play six rotations (all the way around, not exiting the game) So this volleyball in itself opportunity was so the hand of God.

Bonus is that this is a small Christian College. About 330 students. They offer majors I am actually interested in, like ministry majors. I'm currently interested in pursuing Worship Arts, focus in Worship Leading. That's what I want to do!

So, I can't wait for all this new stuff that is happening! All the doors being opened are far superior to the ones being closed. God has been so incredibly good in so many was even little things:

-Not providing a car right away, so I could use that money to invest in a new laptop for college.
-Working at a club where the director gave me a free pair of spandex and shoes for my new season.
-The coaching job I was pursuing didn't really work out quick enough.
-I was able to get extra coaching time in to aid my savings account.

Praise The Lord!!

BK take LBK

I just arrived back home from a ten day trip to Lubbock, Texas. And man was everything bigger! I went with Bre to her hometown and had a total blast meeting her family and friends. We did things the Lubbock way, which basically means we ate a ton of delicious food, because that is all there is to do there. Nah, just kidding, but not cause we ate so much good food, and yes of course I took pictures of all of it!

We embarked towards Dallas at 7 am on a Friday morning in a red Ford F150 with no working air conditioner, a cooler of sandwiches and snacks, and the LBK playlist ready to blast. I would say overall we played alot of:

1. Rascall Flatts

2. Multiplied

3. Vertical Church Band

4. I-G-G-Y

5. Frozen

6. Coldplay

7. T-Swift

8. Justin Bieber

9. Katy Perry

10.Play it Again

We also listened to a couple sermons, and tried to read a book aloud, but that didn't work super well with having to have the windows rolled down most of the way there.

The original plan was to stay the night in Dallas with one of Bre's brothers and family, but we just had the traveling vibe and wanted to get there fast, so we drove all the way through and arrived in Lubbock around 12 am. So it was a wonderful 17ish hours!

The whole Tardy family was so sweet to me. To highlight just some of the fun things we did:

1. The Reborn- life as it was meant to be- dance recital, which was so beautiful everyone was in tears as these dancers shared the Gospel through dance

2. Eating at Rosa's, Raising Cane's, Bahama Bucks, Sheridan's, Triple J's, The Arrogant Texan, Torchy's Tacos, Keva Juice, Whataburger, Buns over Texas, Macey's Home, Tardy Home, Eddies BBQ, Hopdoddy, and I'm sure I missed some in there

3. Driving the truck out in a cotton field with pillows, blankets, and a bunch of wonderful girls to watch the sun set and the stars come out.

4. Celebrating Sydney's 20th Birthday with The Fault in Our Stars, Olive Garden, and Hot Tubbin

5. Smores

6. Running with the kids to get a half gallon of Death by Chocolate ice cream and downing it with a few spoons.

7. Going to the pool

8. Shooting with all the girls

9. House sitting with Bre's friends, swimming in the pool, gourmet grilled cheeses, and The End of the Spear in the Theatre room.

10. Learning to make homeade Biscuits

I know I left a lot out, with all the people I met and all the things I did, but this was just a few. On the way back we stayed in Dallas with another relative and had a great dinner at Hopdoddys and headed back to NashVegas the next day. So I'm gonna add all my foodie stuff to my foodie blog if you are interested ;)

justtryityoumaylikeit.blogspot.com

Some good BBQ

Homemade Biscuits

Car ride to ice cream

Keva Juice! Chai Drink

Everything Bundt Cakes for Syd's Bday

Twice.

Hopdoddy

Syd's Bday

Summer Nights

Beautiful Sunset

The really nice pool

Dying Syd's hair redish

Smores

Salmon pecan salad at Triple J's

Caleb, Bobcat, BoBo

girls

Bahama Bucks

Rosa's real Tex Mex

Car ride to TX

Whataburger serves honey chicken biscuit @ 11pm

Snapchat with the ladies

First timer @ Whataburger aka waterburger

Kristi and Bre shooting

the competition

pool lounging

skeet competition champion

lookin good

Torchy's fried avocado

Torchy's

Homemade meal at Macey's

#BKtakeLBK

More Love

I began to sing some very old songs the other day one of which was:

Lord I want more of you
Living Water rain down on me
Lord I need more of you
Living Breath of Life come fill me up
We are hungry, for more of You

As well as a newer:

Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain that I can't control
I want more of You God, I want more of You God.

And it kinda struck me funny. God is not hiding or withholding any of himself. We can be as close to God and have as much of Him as we choose. When we tell God we want more of Him, I heard the reply, "I want more of YOU". The conviction came that God wants and so desires a relationship with me, my time, my devotion, my love; He never withholds Himself from me. So the free will comes in again and it's my choice. If I want more of God I need to give Him more/all of me.

Plan Change

So, God continues to blow my mind. Just like with school, and GBC, and plans I had for myself, He continues to guide me in different, better ways. This summer the plan was to get a job and make as much money as possible to prepare for whatever The Lord has next for me. But God knew better. He knew that this summer was a key relational summer. A time I needed to grow in relationships, build new ones, and be a connector of people. In the past two or three weeks I have met so many people in which it was so obvious The Lord placed them in my life for a reason.

Jenna: I received an out of the blue text from a mom I know who happened to know another mom who moved to the area recently and her daughter needed to meet some people, so somehow I showed up in the conversation and was asked to have lunch with this gal... Kinda crazy huh? Well I did. We had a wonderful breakfast at First Watch and really connected, and basically are really good friends already, waiting to make slumber party plans!

Nate: My girlfriend Bre and I needed food at like 10:30 one Friday night so we decided to go to Walmart and look around. (I never go to Walmart) Well it just so happens a guy about my age was headed in the exact same time to get some ice cream and we started chatting. He moved here two months ago to pursue music and hasn't met a ton of people yet, so I offered to hook him up with some friends and maybe some fun outings with people. We so far have gotten bubble tea, Chipotle, a rainy picnic, and I was able to share my testimony with him! Just a really cool opportunity that God put in place.

Rheed: An old friend from high school reconnected with me through FaceBook and we were able to catch up over coffee. This friend I have missed! He is a Christian and a musician and he just encourages me in so many ways!

Becca: My cousin whom I haven't seen or talked to in ages reconnected with me after seeing my testimony on FaceBook. She was encouraged and wanted to catch up and hear about all the things I have been up to! She is studying religious studies and I am so proud of her for stepping out in faith and pursuing what God desires of her! Go Becca!

Brookes: A bloke I knew in middle school reconnected with me on FaceBook and basically we should be best friends! He came back home from Bryan College, is doing an internship at Crosspoint, and this kid is just super easy to talk to about everything, especially things of The Lord!
--side note-- when we hung out in person playing frisbee at the park, a older gentleman named Josh just began talking to us and sharing his heart and situation very freely. Brookes was able to speak truth and encouragement through scripture and we left with a chance to pray over him and his family, and it was simply incredible being so led by the Spirit!

Sam & Mitchell: I got done with a late volleyball practice, went for a late run, and came home to eat dinner. After dinner I was just full of energy (which is not normal) so I called up Bre and said hey let's do something right now at 10 pm. She said ok let's meet at Chipotle and decide what to do. So I get there, sit with her, start telling her this funny story about practice, and this random guy walks up and asks if we would like to join him and his friends to eat... I was really confused and somehow got an.. "ummmm yeah sure" out. So we ventured outside and began chatting with these two guys and two girls. The guys were musicians and had just played a show that night. After a bit of getting to know one another we decided to let Chipotle close and leave, but not before the guys offered to play us some songs. We are in Nashville so this kinda stuff is very normal... sorta. So anyways we just went to the parking lot jumped in the bed of Bre's truck and listened to these two guys play and sing, and they were real good! Just a crazy cool encounter and they were all interested in hanging out again sometime!

So, I have learned a few things:

1. God's thoughts and plans are higher than my own.
2. It is vital to continue loving people as Jesus loved us.
3. FaceBook can be a really great tool for reconnecting.
4. Coffee is always a good choice to chat over.
5. Be available ALWAYS for the Spirit to move.
6. Coincidence is not real, God has crazy cool plans!
7. Even though I'm not working very much, The Lord is faithful to provide.
8. I love HAVING to trust in Him for everything

--And a further side note--
Check out TheMainStreetSM cause they are pretty good!
#TheMainStreetSM

Know

Welp, I have finished my first year as a college freshman and it feels so good to finally have somewhat of a brain break. But before it gets too relaxed, my grandma asked if we could stay in student mode and do a study of 1 John together, to which I replied "umm of course!" I want to be a lifelong student, everyday learning more and more about my God. So, I went ahead and read 1 John through a few times and simply asked the Lord to reveal things in His word that I do not fully understand, or things need to be implanted on my heart. What I really walked away with after a brief time was what we as believers can be assured of and know with confidence.

Believers know:

1. That a righteous life indicates regeneration, 2.29; 5.18
2. That we shall be like Christ at his coming, 3.2
3. That Christ came to take away our sins, 3.5
4. That brotherly love indicates that we have passed from death into life, 3.14
5. That he lives in us by the witness of the Spirit, 3.24
6. That we have eternal life, 5.13
7. That our prayers are answered, 5.15

I'm so thankful today that I can stand on these truths. They are unwavering, solidified, and helpful. John says so simply that those who love the world and the things of the world do NOT have the love of the Father in them. 2.15-17. My continual daily prayer is that I am purged and cleansed of all things impure or worldly that will prevent the love of the Father from dwelling in me and being poured out on others through me. The outward sign of life in Christ is brotherly love. Loving one another. It's God's commandment.

If we love God, we love His people. If we do not love His children, we do not love Him.