encouragement is...

encouragement is...

a hug in the airport when you're sending your daughter to the other side of the world.
sending a card to show someone you care.
that you value them.
that you value their sacrifice of a 'normal' life in the u.s. to bring Hope to filipinos.

encouragement is...

investing in the lives of the next generation.
telling them they are loved.
they are cared for.
they are beautiful.
even in their dress-up shoes.
and when they want to let the forks dance.





encouragement is...

cheering on your 7 yr. old cousin in pee-wee tackle football.
yelling "split the v. dot the i. curl the c. t-o-r-y. t-o-r-y. victory!"
a hug and a high-five after the game for all their hard work.

it's a friendly smile when you're new and you don't know if what you're doing is right.
it's a shared squall-fest when you know all they want is someone to cry with.
it's an "i've been there and you're going to make it through this."
it's letting a little boy know when they hold a door for you, that you appreciate it.
it's telling that boys' parents that
"you're raising him well. keep on doing what you're doing."
it's commenting on a blog and letting them know what they wrote spoke to you.
it's an email from one of your favorite bloggers saying, "what you said meant so much. thanks."
it's anything that makes the person on the receiving end want to keep on keeping on.
___________________________________________

sunday september 12th is the 'national day of encouragement'.
(in)courage and dayspring gave their readers an awesome opportunity to spread hope and encouragement by sending hundreds of readers a 10-pack of their new 'hope and encouragement' cards.
for free.
i received my pack this past tuesday and the cards are absolutely beautiful.
i've already mailed two overseas to two special people.
(those are the pictures above).
there are others that i have in mind to get my free cards.
thanks so much for enabling us to encourage others through these awesome cards.
it made my week. for real.

if you haven't visited (in)courage, please do.
those women have changed my life in the words they've written over the past year since i've discovered it.
being open and honest about their struggles.
their victories.
everything.

i joke with people that my spiritual gift is encouragement/exhortation.
they think i'm crazy, but it's true.
when i encourage someone, i always feel as if i've received a blessing rather than been a blessing.
i'm so thankful that's one of the gifts God has given me.
i'm so thankful that He lets me uses it.
He...encourages me to use it through nudges of His spirit inside me.
(say this. go hug them. just be there for them.)
that's what i hear.

if you're visiting from the link-up at (in)courage, thanks for stopping by.
you've encouraged me.
:)

___________________________________________

how do you encourage others?

crazy, how time flies.

Tomorrow changed everything.

Well...today, if you're not reading this until Friday, September 10th.

Anyway, tomorrow, a year ago, I got a phone call.

A phone call that I had been waiting on for months.

A phone call that led me back to Mississippi.

But not in the way that I thought.

I've come to realize over the past year that God rarely works in the ways we think are best. Something about that sounds biblical.
Isaiah 55:8 anyone?
I know, I know...why have I not realized that until the last year?

Call me hard-headed.

That's only one of the things I've realized over the past year since this crazy adventure got started.

Other things include:
- nieces are so much funnier in person
- sometimes hugging a friend after a long time apart makes it feel as if it hasn't really been that long
- there are jobs where your co-workers care about you and aren't just acquaintances but rather, friends.
- there are jobs where you can actually leave work at work and not stress every night about what needs to get done.
- lots of other things that if included would make this list would go on for a long time because there's just SO MUCH.

I'm so glad that God never stops working on us.

That we're continually being conformed more and more into His image.

That's all I got.

Well, not actually. You should totally watch this video because it's pretty cool!! Except, watch it without the sound because the sound was annoying to me.

I know...how do you write something that wonderful and meaningful then end it with a Pac-Man video?

I don't know.

But wait, it's not over.

Compassion has a group of bloggers in Guatemala this week. Reading the bloggers posts back in the spring is what led me to sponsor a child in Kenya (Lillian. She's cute. And has the same birthday as me. AND she has 2 sisters and a brother. Crazy!! Not crazy...God, but you know, that's the word I use when I'm left without words).

Anyway, I read Ann Voskamp's post this morning at work and if you don't finish reading this post just to go read that...do it. Oh my goodness, usually I don't get her posts because she uses words that to me are too 'flowery' and big (I bet y'all are smarter than me and can 'get it' :) ) and my little mind doesn't get analogy well...but man alive, that post. If you haven't read it yet...seriously...go read it. I just linked to the same post 4 times because I want you to read it!

And, you'll probably need a tissue.

Also, Shaun Grove's post was awesome as well. I totally get the Long Distance/Slow Violence thing. So so sad.

Can you help? Can your family sponsor a child? More than one? It's so rewarding. I've received two letters from Lillian and they just make my heart happy.

SO...this is actually the end of the post. Y'all please consider sponsoring a Compassion child. Whether in Guatemala or Asia, Africa. Just...somewhere.

Help end poverty.

Help bring justice to the impoverished children of the world.

Help bring Hope to these kids. :)

The end.

sweet sixteen.

It was a super busy weeekend!

Friday night was the football game.

Then Saturday a bunch of girls from church who I'm privileged to call my friends from a completely different generation, got together to celebrate Chelsea's Sweet 16.

She had actually turned 16 the Tuesday before that but a proper Sweet 16 celebration could not be had on a weeknight! ;) So, we celebrated by having breakfast at IHOP, going to see Despicable Me, spent some time shopping, grabbed a snack, then rode the carousel. Followed by a much-deserved Saturday afternoon nap (at least that last part was me.) :) Here are some pictures from our day.

This man was just sitting out on his swing waving at every single car that passed by. Made me wonder if he does that all the time. Am I'm not talking about one of those little 'Hey, how ya doin' waves' that we're partial to in the south. This was a full-out 'Hey, I hope you're having a great day and I want you to see me and wave back' waves.

Birthday girl!
She reminds me a lot of myself at 16.
She talks.
A. LOT.
She never meets a stranger.

But on the flip-side, she has a passion for bringing people to Christ that I did not have at that age. A while ago, I was talking to her about Ricky, a homeless guy who I helped out last winter. I hadn't seem him in months and he just popped in my head one night. I was sad because I had never outright asked him if he was saved or knew about God, church, anything. Chelsea said, "Well Bekah, that's why you should ask people about God the first time you meet them. You may not get a second chance."

That really stuck with me. I'm all for building relationships and actually getting to know a person and witnessing to them by showing them love, but sometimes, you just have to come right out and ask. She reminded me of that.

Mostly everybody got chocolate chip pancakes. YUM!

We went and saw Despicable Me and it was ADORABLE!
If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
SO. CUTE.
It has so many cute one-liners that I can't even remember them all, but a little girl, Agnes, really steals the show. :)

We took a mirror picture in the bathroom.
Mainly because I had never done it before and this was a day all about having fun and feeling free and...so...we did. :)
The quality isn't that great. But...oh well. :)

This is our silly faces mirror bathroom pic.

I just love this pic because of the stripes.

They are such teenagers. Love it.

Since we were already at the mall, we did some afternoon shopping.
Cori is such a model and was trying to decide on this hat.
She didn't buy it that day, but eventually winded up going back the next day and getting it.
Ha!

I love this pic. Minus the price tag.
Charlotte Russe had some beautiful jewelry.
I got a bracelet that I love.
And I'm not entirely sure this is legal.
Taking pictures in a store, that is. :-/

$2.99? For some cute clothes?
Yes.
Please.
And thank you. :)

Our breakfast had kind of worn off so we snacked on some pretzel from the pretzel shop.
I got a cinnamon sugar one.
Oh my goodness, it was sooooooooooo good.

The carousel at the mall.
This may be one of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken.
And I've taken a LOT of pictures.
The girls rode while Molly, Kristin and I stood and watched.
But all the pictures of them actually riding are really blurry.

Second favorite picture I've ever taken. I think. I don't know. I just love it.

All in all, it was one of the best Saturdays I've had in a really long time.
Who knew that hanging out with 6 girls that are 10 years younger than you could be so much fun? We're going to have to do it again really soon.
Birthday celebrations or not.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

-Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

this is how i spent my friday night.

Many moons ago {in reality...it was as little as 5 years ago} I spent every Saturday in a band uniform. See Exhibit A below.

Yowsa, that's a bad picture. That's me, second from the left.

Before that, I spent 5 years of Friday nights in a band uniform. {I was in the high school band in 8th grade...I was quite good.} There are no pictures of me back then. Well...at least not handy. There are and I'd rather not go back and relive those days!

Before THAT I spent my Friday nights being a band groupie when my oldest sister, Leah, was in high school. I'd hold music for band members in the stands. I worked in the concession stand. I was quite good at making popcorn. I was all-around awesome. And I had multiple crushes (I was 9 or 10) on Leah's friends. Nothing like a teenager with bad acne that played an instrument to make a girl swoon. HA! :)

With all that being said, I love football. There's nothing like the feeling of sitting under the Friday night lights and watching boys take their teen angst out on the opposing team. However, I have not been to a high school football game in 3 years! Until Friday night.

Our youth pastor's son is the star quarterback at a local high school, one of his daughters is a cheerleader. Another younger girl from youth group was a cheerleader for the opposing team. We go to church with one of the coaches from the opposing team. So, I figured I'd go to this one. Here are some pictures of my night and boy how it made me feel young again. I absolutely love the smell of hamburgers being grilled, the sounds of the band and cheerleaders, not so much the smell of the boys (we were standing on the fences because there were NO seats available in the stands...it was a rival game and we got there 45 minutes early and still there were no seats. crazy). It is all fabulous.

a dog most definitely got on the field.

mooreville's team coming out. they were swaying and it was scary.
very intimidating.

look at this sunset!!!! is that not ridiculously gorgeous??

ridiculously gorgeous sunset, again.

mantachie was about to score a touchdown.

helmets held high when they were about to kick-off after scoring the aforementioned touchdown.

my good friend, holli. this is a great picture of us if i do say so myself.

there's not much better than being surrounded by great friends.

this random little kid was sitting next to us.
i looked down and this is the face he was making.

chelsea! she's the cheerleader for mooreville.
we were pulling for mantachie.
such a cutie.

is this not one of the most adorable children ever?!?
her name is emma, and we go to church together.
she refuses to speak to me.
one day she will.
one day.

love these girls!
kelsy and madi, who i also go to church with.
madi is the only of the youth pastor's children that wasn't on the field.
they are best friends.
such sweeties.

that's dalton.
i really like this picture.
by this point, they were getting beat pretty badly :(
but, this boy is a winner regardless of what the scoreboard says.
he's one of the few boys i've seen that has a winning attitude despite losing.
he's a leader of that team and i'm so proud of him.

my good friend, lilly.
we took like 6 or 7 pictures and this was the best one. :S

this is lilly and her fiance, les.
they both went to mantachie and are getting married in less than 2 months!
they're such a funny couple.

holli and her husband, brandon.
he went to mantachie.
holli went to fulton with me and we played softball together.
we weren't that great of friends back then but now we're tight.
like...something that's tight. :)

molly and matt.
they're my neighbors.
and molly and lilly are sisters.
i've known matt since junior high and molly for the past 5 or 6 years probably.
they're the sweetest couple i have ever known.
you think i'm exaggerating, but i'm not.
i don't remember if i've mentioned their housewarming last weekend, but molly has an interior design degree and she did a fabulous job designing the interiors. ha.
it looks like a pottery barn catalog except better.
awesomeness.

i have no idea who #15 is, but #21 is trent.
that boy has an awesome testimony about what God has delivered him from.
and he's only 15!
i don't remember if this is right before or right after he scored one of the last touchdowns for mantachie.
it was a special touchdown because they had just buried his grandmother that afternoon.
he wanted to score a touchdown for her and he did.
so so so sad.
that family has been such a light for Christ during this tough time.
they're one of the best families i know.
no joke.

game over.
mooreville won.
chelsea was picking up trash.

overall, it was one of the best friday nights i've had in the past 8 years.
i'm definitely looking forward to making it to some more games this season.