she is back

 Rachel is back.

Her summer was so eventful that she took a break from blogging but now that her life has settled a bit she is back.
I met Rachel my freshman year of college. I still remember meeting her for the first time. She was sitting on her oversized futon in her dorm room telling a story. I am not even sure what she was talking about because I was so distracted by her hands that were moving as she told the story. Its the little moments like that day in her dorm room that formed our friendship.

And for the next four years we shared everything from dresses, swap costumes, st. tropez, jeans, a desks, and our senior year we got to share a room. Over the last four years we have stayed up way too late watching the devil and online shopping, we have planned many costumes, we have analyzed rush in entirely too much detail, we shared in each other's joy and loved each other when times were less than perfect, we have analyzed relationships and shared stories about her mom and my dad, and over the last four years  we have laughed, cried, loved, and grown together. And there are days that I still feel like we are on summer break and that soon we will be moving back in together

But that is not the case this year because sweet rach has a new room mate and there is no one I would rather hand her off to than him. They married at August 14th and the whole day was perfect. She is going to blog all the details so I do not want to take that from her but the whole day I felt like I was glowing. Rachel has had her wedding planned for a long time now and it was beautiful to watch her dreams unfold so perfectly that day. An hour before she walked down the aisle she was the calmest I had ever seen her. After all the planning it was hard to believe we would ever make it to the point but we did.   And the most beautiful thing about her wedding ceremony was that it was completely about the Lord. Even as she walked down the aisle in her gorgeous white dress Amazing Grace was playing and we were reminded just how good God is.

The thing I am most grateful for when it comes to my friendship with her is that Rachel has been blessed with the ability to see people and situations the way God does. And being around her for the last four years has allowed me to share in this. She keeps an eternal perspective when living her life. Rachel has seen things in me and in the rest of our friend group that I had never realized. She is able to pinpoint the qualities in people that often others don't take the time to notice


she is strong and sensitive at the same time
she is independent but is eager to welcome new people into her life
she loves others selflessly and
she has loved me perfectly
and she truly knows what it means to surrender completely to the grace we have been given

love and miss you


Until Then,


Amy

coming back home

"Everybody has to leave, 
everybody has to 
leave their home and come back
 so they can
love it again for all new reasons”

 -Donald miller

It took me only two weeks away to realize all the reasons I love oxford and this weekend I get to go BACK!

Getty Images

The last two weeks in Denton,TX have been an experience unlike any other. There are 16 people in my graduate class. Their ages range from 22-46. Some have boyfriends, some have fiancees, some have spouses, and two have children of their own. Their hometowns range from Minnesota to Texas, from Massachusetts to Nebraska, and there are even two students from Australia. 

We have different backgrounds, beliefs, and even accents. 

But in a world far from the comforts of the grove, mornings at bottle tree, walks through campus, beauty call, the balcony of a bar on a thursday afternoon, the rib cage after a friday night baseball game, yogurt at chaney's, coffee at uptown, and an unlimited supply friends I am learning how to live outside of my bubble that so perfectly consisted of each of these things. These experiences have shaped me in such a way that makes me able to survive in a world without these comforts.

And I am learning how to love Denton. I am learning how to be on my own and in the last two weeks...

I have grilled chicken, steamed vegetables, and prepared full meals for myself

 I have attended church completely alone and been okay with it

 I have attended classes as a graduate student and taken on way to many projects

I have rented nine red boxes and received five movies from netflixs

I have been given a job at clinic where I have the opportunity to love on children and build relationships with their parents

And one day I hope I love this place. I know it can never be Oxford but then again what place can be. 

So for the friends in Oxford I will be arriving early saturday morning and I can't wait to see your faces. For the friends other places this weekend know you will be missed and the grove will not be the same without you

until then, 

amy 

Simply Sunday

"Sunday was a day of rest 

Now, it’s one more day for progress 

And we can’t slow down ‘cause more is best

It’s all an endless process"

-Rascal Flatts

Sundays are my favorite. But only when I treat them the way they were intended.  Most weeks I use it as a day to get ahead and to get a jump start on my work for the week. But this is not why we have Sundays. They were given as a reminder that someone outside of us is taking care of things and we should take a day each week to rest in that truth.

 Each Sunday I am going to provide you with a favorite recipe. Some will be healthy and others just delicious

courtesy of www.flickr.com

For the first week I am sharing an M&M cookie recipe. I found it in my moms recipe box this summer and she was given the recipe by a friend from her hometown. My sister loves to cook and has become a wonderful baker. She loves to add her own touch to an already existing recipe.  She often switches out the M&Ms for different types of chocolate chips or nuts.

My sister made a batch of these cookies for the day of this sweet one's wedding and we happily ate them as we got dressed to watch her walk down the aisle.

Delightful M&M cookies:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
dash cinnamon
2 cups M&Ms

 Preheat oven to 375. Blend oil, butter, and sugars. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Sift the dry ingredients together and add the mixture. Stir in the M&Ms. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

I hope you were able to rest today and maybe even enjoy a delicious cookie and
Until Then,
Amy

a place of my own

“Everybodys just a stranger but that’s the danger of going my own way”

-John Mayer

I have been perfectly planning my new home all summer. Although its just a one bed room studio apartment, its my first home of my own. It is completely mine and it was exciting to watch it turn from an empty room into my own place

Already it has served as more than just an apartment

It has been a place where my family could eat meals, watch movies, and just spend time together before they left

It has been a place where an old friend could come to visit, catch up, and make plans for her sweet wedding in May

And although it is just me living here my hope is that my small apartment serves as much more than a place to hold my belongings

I hope it holds study groups, movie parties, and gatherings for new friends

I hope it holds much needed reunions with old friends traveling from wherever they now call home

I hope it can be a place where I can study and get things done but also a place I can climb into bed each night and find rest

So here is my new place

hope you enjoy it

Until then,

Amy

time to go

“We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it? It might be time for you to GO. It might be time to CHANGE”

Donald Miller

Since April I have known I was coming. I was coming to a place unlike anywhere I had been before. A world outside my oxford bubble. Life for the past four years has been safe. And even in the most unpredictable times of my college career I always had the comfort that consistency brings. Things now are different and I find rest in the words of Donald Miller. It is time for me to go and it is time for me to change 

I write my first blog post in my new one bedroom apartment. A world far from Martin, Campus creek, the yellow box, and world a million miles away from the Chi O house. But in my new home on west prairie street in Denton,TX I have been able to find elements of Oxford. UNT is in Rush and right now I can see them door stack from outside my window. The town is built around an adorable square that has activity at all hours. And the heat here reaches extreme temperatures just as it does in Mississippi

So Although I am in a world far from oxford, the grove, holli's sweet tooth, the library, my sweet friends, and the place I will always be proud to boast as my second home I know I am not the only one changing. This week some people have started graduate school, others law school, some are starting their second year to becoming a nurse or a pharmacist, some are starting jobs, some are planning weddings, some are just trying to make plans, and one very sweet one is learning for the first time how to be a wife. 

Each of our tracks are different. And from now on they always will be. But each of us are seeking to become the people we were created to be. And I look forward to seeing how God shapes each one of us.

But Until Then,

Amy

All images compliments of Ghetty Images