following grace

All my brothers, sister and me.   A week after leaving my sweet family, they came to visit. Guess they missed me ;)   Their 24 hours here flew by but it was such a refresher and so nice after my first week back. And it makes the month before I see them again, not seem so crazy long.   My siblings and dad had never been to the campus, so we enjoyed touring around and even getting some fun filled hours at the Snowflex. The boys LOVED it. And I just loved them being here to do it with me for once. :)   It was the perfect family weekend.   Now back to those books..   Have a great week y'all! -Austyn

of completing the first week of the semester.   What a small milestone that sounds like, but what a HUGE check off it truly is.   If you would've asked me on Monday my opinions on college, I would've talked anyone and everyone out of ever going. Coming back to school 4 hours from home, and being on my own with no constant plan and schedule and chaos like I was used to for 5 weeks, was rough.   But as the week went on, and Jesus worked on my heart I made it I had a great end to the week and I am so so glad to be back.   What a miracle work that funny guy is! ;)   Here are some tidbits from my first week back.. Basketball White Outs. Girls Nights with my favs. late night homework time at the new library. our 1st traditional Thursday lunch with my sweet Liz!   I survived, it is finished. Here's to 15 more weeks of pure chaos bliss.   -Austyn

Do you ever have those times where you just can't get rid of something?   Like every time you go in public someone's talking about it the pastor preaches on it you read it in your quiet time you see it on a billboard {Okay, maybe not the billboard..} but really   I have been praying for a semester full of a new desired closeness and bonding with my creator.   And I've noticed that the one thing that he has made crystal clear is that if I wanna see him move, I've got to get moving myself.   He is not gonna show up to the scene unless I am willing to show up there too.   We get in these safe spots, the shade on a hot summers day, if you will and we just wanna camp out, where its cool and protected.   But the Lord wants us to move out. He wants us to pack up our camp and follow him.   To follow him, we have to go somewhere. Just in case you were wondering.   No one ever followed their momma to th...

    Sitting in my sweet little home abode last night for the first time in a month was such a bittersweet feeling.   being home for a month after living life for yourself hundreds of miles away for months is like a vacation, a long long vacation.    I never thought I'd see the day where I came home to my chaotic little home 5 people on 5 different schedules with 100 things happening at any given minute as peaceful . While I was on the go quite a bit when I was home, I'd often find myself just sitting and observing. In a given 3 minutes, every family member had a different request of me. "Play with me" "Lets go get milkshakes" "Come tell me about your day" "Look at my instagram picture" "Lets watch a movie"   after being on my own for 4 months, just me, my agenda, my time, my decisions, my choices I just enjoyed soaking up the unique feeling of home, that I've known as normal for...

I have to admit, the thought of a month at home living out of boxes sounded overwhelming at first. But it has been such a blessing. The time I have gotten to catch up, relax and just enjoy being home has been a complete dream.   Ive enjoyed Winter Jam with friends dinners out with the family. spending time at camp with this girl on her birthday. having time on the beach with camp friends. and the Lord. and soaking up every bit of this gorgeous sunset at my favorite place on earth. lots of sister time. lunch dates with my favorite boys. The Lacey's lobster party.   cousin time. play time with my crazy nephews. Christmas lights and movie days. Basketball games like old times. catching up with old friends when they come in town.   seeing high school friends now play in college. celebrating our first year as alumni. and enjoying my last day of break catching up with camp fri...

After a wonderful week of being Thankful I headed back to campus for a week of Fun, Finals and all things Christmas. My darling RA Missy left us to go do the Lord's work in Africa :) We sure will miss her! Its not finals week without a fun prank. Christmas Convo with some girls from my hall. Ugly Sweater Christmas party with my Iyada girls. Sweet visits from friends to brighten your day. International Fashion Show and just soaking up the love of Christmas.   It was a great week and so nice to run us into Christmas break.   -Austyn

Since I won slacker of the year award for 2013 I shall start of 2014 by catching you up on last year...   Starting with Thanksgiving break. We had a great time of being thankful, and since I was home for an entire week we got to enjoy some fun memories on top of Turkey Day. :) We enjoyed dinner with Paw Paw Gary. and decked the halls and got signed up for basketball for our little baller! We visited with sweet Paw Paw Gary some more. Mom and the bigs packed shoe boxes for OCC, at the plant nearby The sisters took on Black Friday {Thursday} Me and my sweet boy got lots of sweet time together. SO thankful for him! We had a family dinner with everyone for Mom's birthday. and I got to go back and teach my SS class.   What a splendid break it was. :)   -Austyn