Life is wonderful. Crazy. Busy. Fun. Hard. Exciting. And ever flowing with the grace of God. 

I’m going to have to keep this short for now, but I will note a few things. 

- I got a new guitar a couple months ago! yay!

- I am now, as of Sept. 19, the only teenager in my family. (Ang turned 20! go ang!) 

- We’re having a concert with Reilly this Friday. (woo!) 

- My brother bought a house! yay!

- umm. OH. I’ve recently had a new found desire to dance hip hop (influence of  watching Step Up again recently). Though I know this is will NEVER happen in my actual life, I plan on fulfilling that in my dreams maybe. 

- We are now in our 6th week of school. 

- I have started my occasional Christmas music listening in anticipation for the coming Holiday season. huzzah!

- and that’s all i can think of at the moment. Now you can just look at some pictures. Sound like a plan? 

So here’s my new baby…’98 Gibson Les Paul Standard! (affectionately know as Gibby)

Here’s the head I made in my ceramics class (it’s currently being fired so i can glaze him and make him all cool looking) His name is Peter…I call him Pete. 

And Here’s Celeste and me at Ang’s croquet birthday party! Don’t these croquet balls look delightful?

And last but not least, we were at the Exchange (a fave store of ours) in downtown Gainesville one friday night while stopping in at different art galleries, when that fine gentleman lent me his jacket. 

Well that’s all for now. Hope you all are doing well!! 

Loves.

So. I will give some highlights…and lots of pictures  

In the past few months I’ve gone to NYC with sisters Ang and Stephanie and bro-in-law Chris. SUCH an incredible trip! Then we went right into a missions trip to Titusville, FL which was awesome. That weekend Tall Tree got to play at a big July 4th show for the city of Titusville, which went really well. Then a couple days after that we went to Arkansas for a week to see my grandparents…were home for 8 days and then Ang, David and I fly out for Nashville where we had the incredible opportunity to play at a conference called Immerse put on by GMA (Gospel Music Association). WAY fun week. Then a day after flying back in to orlando we fly back out for the Worship Conference which was INCREDIBLE!!! God was so faithful to meet us and got to meet up with some old friends and hang out with new ones. Got back from that and spent a couple days with JAGE!!

We then headed to Ormond Beach for almost a week! First I’d like to say that our dear friends Rayna the Urquharts are such gifts. Their home is such a refreshing place for us to go and spend time just sitting around laughing, playing games, singing, or just talking and enjoying such wonderful friendship. Last week was a special week however, as my dearest rayna was proposed to by her life long best friend and boyfriend of almost a year, Sam Dunlop. We were in on the whole thing for the whole time, and were able to be there to celebrate with her when they got back from their “day out together.” So much fun…so many memories. 

As for now I’m just preparing for school to start on Monday. It’s my 3rd year going to Santa Fe college…taking college classes…but my first year as a real college student, so I’m excited  

Well, now time for pictures! Basically a recap of the last two or three weeks. 

This in Nashville…Michael W. Smith hosted the concert we played in so we got to meet and talk to him a bit…such a cool guy! 

We opened for Leeland…which is simply insane to this day. I love Leeland!

Playing music. 

Before WG09 started a bunch of us went up 2 days early to sight see in DC and then serve Todd’s dad’s big camp in Baltimore by doing a worship night and we (tall tree) also played. So much fun…about 600 kids packed under this outdoor pavilion thing. Very fun. 

Some of my favorite girls! Chillin in Barnes and Noble before the Worship conference started…

(i love ang…never a dull moment) 

Our FL group!! (plus Megs…she’s a Cali) Such amazing and dear people. 

Spending time with Jage in Orlando!

Love you so much!

Now onto Ormond Beach! One day we went to the mall for the main purpose of taking picture in photo booths, which we did…and took some crazy pictures in between.  

Me and my dear Rayna. 

Yeah.

and of course, the beach!

Our granny pose. 

Rayna and her crazy awesome siblings Nolan and Hayley!

One morning we got up to see the sunrise and spend some time in the word together. Watching it is such an amazing reminder of God’s incredible creativity and magnificence. 

Wednesday night (night before the big engagement day) a bunch of friends came over, including abbott who decided to come from orlando for the night to hang out! 

So Ang and I, knowing that sam was about to surprise her and sweep her away for the day (which she had no idea about yet), schemed a plan to get her a cute and ready that morning. She thought she was going to work but he had already called in and gotten the day off for her. SO anyway we talked her in to getting up for a little photo shoot thing in the morning to get some new pictures for her wall that she wanted. Clever, eh? ha

It was very bright. Hence the squinty eyes…ha. 

One of the best friends I could ask for! The Lord has truly truly blessed my life through girl. 

ANDDDD that night we had a party party for the adorable couple!! 

Future Mr. and Mrs. Dunlop.  

The beautiful ring.

And that is all I’ve got. I’ll be amazed if you’ve gotten this far!!!

Hope ya’ll are doing well! 

Until Next time…

Life just seems to be running away and I feel like I’m in a constant state of holding on for dear life, hoping my grip is tight and strong enough to not let go. Though I know the truth is, my grip is never strong enough…and if left on my own, I probably would have let go a long time ago. But isn’t it wonderful that GOD is so rich in mercy that He loves me enough to help me hold on…to sustain me when I’m weak…to help me jump when there’s an obstacle and push through when there’s temptation. What freedom to not have to live in fear of “letting go”…or fear that if I mess up, if I miss a step, the consequences would be too great to overcome. Thank you Lord for being my strength when I have none…for being my rock when all other ground is sinking sand…and for gently taking my hand and guiding me back to straight and narrow path when I am tempted to wander. Oh what a kind God we serve.  

Well, as you know, I love pictures. I always hate when good events go undocumented. But thankfully, we’ve gotten lots of pictures lately, and I think that’s the best way to catch you up (if you so desire to be caught up) on what’s been going on. 

First, a few weekends ago was Stephanie Klinger’s (now Peterson) wedding!

Jenn was there…which made me very happy. It was amazing to see her and HUG her and yeah. Miss you Jenn. 

The same night was AGCC’s first Gounds and Sounds coffee house, for which I had the honor of playing for!

(I don’t know if I’m blinking or looking down…hm)

And some fantastic friends (Ariel, Emily and Michael) drove from Orlando for me…I love them!

the Beautiful Ariel

Ems and Michael

Not sure where the rest of ems went…

Tall Tree played at the FCA banquet…went very very well! (thank you Lord!)

this is Jimbo introducing us…

Timmmm Tebow. He was outstanding. 

So one lovely Friday my friend Abby (she was on my basketball team btw) came over and we made Valentines cookies! 

ang was responsible for the face ones…can you tell? 

The night ang pulled an all nighter at school Stevo and I were out keeping her company for a few hours!

working. 

rockin her sweet safety glasses…haha.  

And then the next day we had starbucks with ERIN! Hooray! Love her. 

Ang…no idea how she was alive and walking around that day being as tired as she was. 

Ellie was home for the weekend and joined us It was sunny and quite chilly…she only took her jacket off for the picture. ha. 

K wow that was a ton of pictures. So I’ll stop here Hope you all are having a fantastic week!

Last week was my last week of highschool basketball. We went into the tournament as #1 in our district. We played our first game, which was the district championship, and won that which was QUITE exciting! I was able to score a personal high of 21 points (we thought it was 19 but found out the other night it was 21…hooray) We went on to win the pre-conference champ game, won that, and prepared to play in the last game, which was against pretty much our rival. During the season we beat them once and they beat us once. In the end, they came out ahead by 4 points. But it was a good and fun game…one to remember for sure.

To say the least, I’m sad it’s all over…it was an incredibly fun season and my team was simply amazing. I love those girls dearly! I hope to keep up the relationships that were built over the past year for sure.  God was gracious to save us from any severe injuries and we were able to make the most of the time. SO! Here are a bunchhhh of pictures from our last game, all-classic game (where a few from each team are picked to play in like an “all-star” type thing…it was fun…we ended up winning against the team we lost to ) and the basketball banquet. 

Abby and me…seriously love her. 

Kelly Wing…she played SO well. 

This was in the last seconds of the 3rd quarter…I was able to hit a 3 at the buzzer…if only it had been the LAST quarter…haha.

In the last few seconds of the game…

During the guys halftime, the other team had this little cheerleading squad. They were hilarious and just ok. So our girls (this is not  the first time they’ve done this) decided to do their own thing so they went out and did the “2 bits” cheer. It was amazing. haha so funny…

The crowd loved it. 

Both of our teams got runner-up. 

Our team in the classic game. 

At the banquet (Tori, Hannah, Trish, me and Abby)

(L-R:Jenny, Michaele, Kelly, Rachel, and Kelley)

The team

Awardsss

My WONDERFUL coach and me  

Rachel and Abby  

ok, wow that’s a lot. 

Also, the other day ang had to do a photography assignment and had me be her “model”, if you will. and I’m only putting these on here for Jage. They turned out pretty cool (cause ang is good like that)…here are a couple…

Ok well that’s all I’ve got for now…Hope you all have a good week!

Today was fun, David was still in town so after service we went out as a family to Sonny’s (YUM). It was delish. 

Mom and me

haha. I love my momma

Dad and me…the blue-eyed ones of the fam  

David and Ang (Oh the many faces of The Dave) 

handsom

What what?

them again… ha

I can’t believe another week is about to begin…I wish weekends could last just a couple days longer! 

Oh other exciting news…it’s almost certain that Stephanie, Chris, Ang and I are going to be going to NYC in March over our spring break!!!!! I’m so incredibly excited about spending that time with my sisters and bro-in-law and getting to go see all of things we’re planning! Stephanie has a good friend that lives just outside of Manhattan so we’ll be staying with her, which will be fun! So yeah, definitely something to look forward to.  

Ok…well I think that’s all for now. (hey I think I’m getting better at this blog thing…) Hope yall have a fantastic start of the week!

Here are just a couple pics that one of the guys got from the game…

(this is right as I faked a shot and made her fly fly fly… ha) 

Kelly going for another sweet layup

This weekend was a regional Men’s Retreat that our church hosted. So David has been in town which is always so fun. Today has been filled with sleeping in, cleaning the building after the conference, Tall Tree rehearsal, my momma’s homemade veggie soup with cornbread, wonderful family dinner conversation and biblical fellowship, and now watching a movie which I am going to go join  

I hope you all are having a splendid weekend!! Enjoy the glorious weather….ah such beautiful weather. 

Loves.

I wish you all could know how dear Rayna and her family and our other close friends there are to us…Rayna, dear, i love and miss you already. And it was so great to see you other wonderful ladies as well!  :) 

And now, as always, here are way too many pictures. can’t say I didn’t warn you…

Just outside of Gainesville…the beautiful Payne’s Prairie at sunset. 

Ang and Stephen…being Ang and Stephen.  

We listened to some pretty great music on our car rides…

in the backseat. 

Saturday:

At Larry’s Subs…YUM. he loved those doritos. 

Sam got off work and was showing us some serious bubble-making skills…

It was a BEAUTIFUL day as we sat out in the grass playing music…*delight*

:)                                                                                                 Stephen and his outrageous taco bell hat. 

Sam making grass into an instrument

Ang  

Cute. 

Seriously. love. them. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time…haha

we’re tried and true….I love that. 

we watched the moon rise…SO pretty! 

Walking                                                                           I looks like he’s jumping to the right…but he was actually spinning                                                                                                                                 while jumping left….crazy, right?

Pretty much some of the best friends. 

Sunday:

Momma and Papa U!!!! Love them. 

We stopped in Barberville on our way home at the classic statue selling place…we had to take a few pictures. of course. 

Ang and the epic dragon. 

I made a new friend.

Stevo and the Chief during a very intense stare-down competition. 

And that’s our trip! And that’s all I’ve got for now…so have a good start of the week! take it easy friends.

On Monday ang took Celeste’s senior pictures. they went out earlier in the morning while I was sleeping and then called and woke me up and then picked me up and we went out to this scary abandoned house Ang once found and took some pictures out there. It’s a good thing I went with them though because once we actually got out there I was CLEARLY the only brave one since I had to go first and scope things out. I went up and looked in the dirty dusty window and saw right facing the window a very old and falling apart piano. It was incredibly fascinating!! Here you can kind of see it…

After that we went to lunch and then to the PARK! Here’s some pictures…

Swinging…which i find most relaxing. 

Celeste has an incredible gift of falling/tripping/slipping/etc. Here she abruptly slipped almost completely out of the swing…how? i have no idea. but no worries…she held on. 

Ang and Celeste…so adorable.

feet! Ang, Celeste and me. Isn’t it funny how much shoes can tell you about a person?

Swinging again…she ended up falling off of this one too…hehe love you celeste

Well, some exciting things are happening with Tall Tree!! Among a few other things, it was just made official yesterday that we have a VERY big gig coming up in Feb. We are going to be playing at the FCA (Florida Christian Athletes) Heart of Champions banquet. This is a very large event that’ll be 400+ people in attendance with special speakers being Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer. The media will also be covering some of the event. So to say the least, we’d LOVE your prayer as we prepare and perform at this event! It’s an incredible door that’s been opened and we pray that as a result of this more doors will be opened in the future. 

Speaking of Tim Tebow, GO GATOORSSSSS in the national championship thursday! woooo baby…

Well, that’s all i’ve got for now. Hope everyone is having a good week!

I was thinking and realize that no matter how many things went wrong in our eyes, or despite how many things we didn’t get done last year….no matter how many disappointments or failures…despite trials or obstacles…2008 was still an amazing year. Why? Because GOD, in fulfilling His incredible promise to us, was FAITHFUL. Because GOD was present and working and moving and continues to do so. And He blesses us with things that are far greater than all of those negative things. I can say for myself that though there might have been times of difficulty and struggle, I had a wonderful year with so many blessings, fun memories, friends, family, laughter, safety, surprises, and so much more. He was TRUELY faithful to me. 

This morning my Mamaw and Papaw left to go home to Arkansas. Last night my Papaw wanted to have a time of prayer with my family. So we did and it was very good. Afterwards my Papaw, during a discussion about what the future holds for the church in the midst this fallen and changing nation/world, made the comment… “The Lord WILL build His church up strong and it will be a mighty people……I just want to be a part of that.” I was struck by that and was just overcome with a new sense of desire to be a part of what God is doing in His church. There will be times when things seem to stand still…but the Lord has promised to be faithful to EVERY generation…I know He will be faithful to us to. It was just a cool thing to think about going into a new year. 

Well, I have to go. I hope everyone had a good New Years day and are well! I’ll leave you with a picture or two, as always.

Love to you all. 

Ang and I got gator pom poms in our stockings…these are our cheer faces

Then we decided cheering wasn’t for us and found a better use for the pom poms…

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*EDIT

I went to the doctor today (Monday) again, this time it was my doctor (we had to go to an emergency care place the other day cause it was saturday) and found out some good news. She said that it shouldn’t take me a whole month, the most should be a couple weeks to recover. I’ll still be weak, but I should be able to play basketball before the season is over…isn’t that exciting?!

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I am feeling a bit better today…I was able to get up and venture into the kitchen and family room to breath some fresh air, which was lovely. I slept until around 1pm and haven’t really been able to sleep much since. But hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight. 

Tomorrow Steph, Chris, the kids, and David come up because my grandparents are here and we’re going to have Christmas with them so they’re all coming up for a couple days. I’m excited to see them again and I’m glad because tomorrow I shouldn’t be contagious anymore! (they said it’d be about 48 hours after i start my meds, and tomorrow will be 48 hours…hooray) 

Well, there’s not really much else to report. I guess I will leave you with a couple of random pictures from different things from December. 

Here’s Mallory and me at our AGCC Christmas Gala

And a December picture of the Gilland (and Jessee) girls

Happy New Year friends!