Hey y'all

So I know it has been forever since I have written a blog and I'm so sorry! My computer crashed so I have been having to use my parent's whenever I get a free moment.

So what has been going on in my life you ask? Well.....

1. I'm working about 30+ hrs a week at Old Navy and LOVING it! I have been doing some different things and a lot of behind the sceens things.

2. Matt and I are still dating and things are going wonderful! I see God working in his life every single day and that to me is amazing. Our relationship with each other is already stronger and so is our relationship with God.

3. I have been taking cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby and loving that! There are 3 classes and I will be starting the 2nd one tonight.

4. Since I don't plan on going back to school right now I have decided to take a leap of faith and follow a dream of mine. I have started my own business. Its called Sweet Treatz.

Right now I'm taking orders online through my facebook page I created for it. I have the opprotunity to have an order from my high school band which I'm so excited about!!

But right now that's all that is really going on with me. Life is wonderful and I couldn't ask for more.

my new love

I have a new love in my life. Well it's not really new but something that I have found more joy out of now than ever before. What's this new love you ask? Well it is baking. Mainly making cupcakes right now.

Making cupcakes has always been a favorite of mine and everyone tells me that I am very good at it but never acted on it. Thanks to one of my coworkers Sara, she helped me realize that this really is my dream. Sara and I have signed up for a cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby for every Wednesday in September. I'm so excited about it! Ever since we both signed up for it we have been brainstorming some idea's for different things. My brainstorming right now is making different types of cupcakes.

Today I decided to make some white cupcakes with a strawberry jam center and a vanilla cream icing. Here are some pictures of how it turned out......







Please give me any idea's you might have for cupcakes. I will make them for you :)

Change and growing up

Its my last few days working at WKU and it just feels weird! I have been here for 4 years now and it feels like home. Yes I'm going to miss it but I think I'm going to miss the people more than the work. I have met some AMAZING people while working here who have impacted my life in many different ways. On my last day here I know I will be crying and very sad. Its so weird to leave a job that I have been at for 4 years.

For the first time since my junior year of HIGH SCHOOl I am only going to have one job. For me this is going to take a lot of time getting used to. I'm the type of person who stays busy all the time and not going to school and only having one job, its going to be kind of relaxing maybe. I'm sure I will fill my time with other things or get a second job. I just don't know yet what I'm going to do.

The idea of working in an adoption agency has been stuck in my mind ever since I decided that I was taking the semester off. I just have to keep on figuring out what I want to do and what's going to be best for me.

There are things in my life that I wish would just hurry up and happen but I know that I don't need to wish my life away and that God has a plan for when they will happen. I need to learn to sit back and just enjoy the ride. He is going to take care of me and won't throw anything my way that I can't handle.

Quarterlife Crisis

It's 12:42 in the morning when I'm starting this blog entry......

I have had so so so much on my mind these last few days and I don't even really know where to start. There is so much going on in my life that I just broke down tonight. I just started crying for no reason. Well, I do have many reasons.

But first let me update you on some amazing news. Dad got a job!!! In my last blog I mentioned that a company was contacting him like crazy while we were on vacation. Well, after 2 interviews and a couple of days of figuring out the details he accepted the job and will start on Monday! Its a HUGE answer to prayers for our family. Since he is going to be starting this new job he will be gone more for a little while while he is getting things worked out and calling on all of his customers, but in the long run its going to be a really good thing. I'm so thankful that we had our week of vacation as a family and had such a wonderful time.

Now for what's going on with me......

After doing some research and some figuring I'm thinking about taking the fall semester off. For the last 2 years I have been having to pay for part to all of my tuition and its so hard. I made it 2 years without taking out student loans but this past year I had to take one out. In my opinion I don't think that's bad at all. I'm very proud of myself for that but it has still been very hard trying to pay the remaining balance of it all.

But I'm scared that I might be making the wrong choice in all of this. In the fall I will be starting my 4th year at WKU and I just feel that I'm not getting anywhere. I'm no where near where I should be right now. I should be getting ready for block 1 and then doing my student teaching in the spring and graduating in May, but that's no where near where I really am. I feel like these past 3 years have been a waste. I know they really haven't but to me it feels like it sometimes.

Now since I have been thinking about all of this I have been questioning myself about my decision on teaching. I went through all of this last fall going into the spring semester and I thought that going part time would help me in all of this but it really didn't. I think that it might have made things more confusing.

If I do take the semester off then I just plan to work a lot and save for an apartment and tuition money. One thing that will break my heart if I do leave for a semester is leaving my WKU job. I have grown so close to some of my coworkers there. Our campus photographer told me the other day "Sarah, do what you love and the money will follow." This statement is so true! I need to find what I'm passionate about and I know that God will help me find this.

Thoughtful Thursday

"Do what is going to please you the most and the money will follow"

-Clinton Lewis, WKU photographer

life

This summer I am starting to realize how precious and wonderful life really is! I can't really place my finger on the one thing that has really gotten me thinking this but its like it really has hit me this summer.

Yes Dad lost his job basically at the beginning of summer and hasn't gotten a job yet but has had 2 interviews and this second one he didn't even apply for. This company (CPC) has done all of the contacting and pursuing Dad. Its making Dad feel so great to have someone see the hard work that he puts into his work and recognizes it.

Last week my family and I went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. Man was this a trip! I'm starting to see now that this is where I really started to realize how precious life is and the importance of family. Yeah we had a little to much togetherness at time but for the most part it was a WONDERFUL trip! We have memories now that I don't think we can ever forget.

As I'm getting older and starting to really think about moving out I'm seeing this that family is extremely important. Yeah I have always known this but I guess I'm just being more 'in tune' with my family right now. We have been having some of the best times lately just goofing off and being us. Its such a wonderful feeling to have and feel the love from your family.

Things with Matt and I couldn't be more wonderful! In the last few weeks I have gotten to meet his family and hang out with them. They are wonderful people and I can't wait to spend more time with them.

Perfect To Me- Chris Young

You put on your suit every morning
Put your long hair back in a bun.
Its almost a crime how you hide it
What I see when it all comes undone.
No words can describe it
But for you I'll give it a try.

(Chorus)
Its a love stronger than time.
Big and wide open like a Montana sky.
It's the highest of highs,
the greater than life.
How can I make you see
That your perfect to me.

I love how you look in the mirror
and say that skirt don't fit you no more.
As your stealing the air that I'm breathing.
Everyday your more beautiful than the day before.
I know I'm not good enough for you.
But I know what you get when you're mine.

(Chorus twice)
Its a love stronger than time.
Big and wide open like a Montana sky.
Its the highest of highs,
and greater than life.
How can I make you see
That you're perfect to me

That you're perfect to me

MIA

So I just realized today that I have totally been MIA in the blog world! Life has been so unbelievably crazy for me since school let out. Let's see what all has been going on.....

• I've started basically working 40+ hours a week with both of my jobs

• My Dad lost his job last week. It was totally out of the blue! He had worked for this company for 17 years and they are the reason we moved to BG in the first place. This job was better than the one before it so we can only imagine what his next job is going to be like. It has been really hard on him because he feels like he let his real estate get in the way and that his heart wasn't it in. So right now he is just trying to figure out what to do.

• I'm still in my boot. I go back to the doctor on June 21 and I hope to get a real good report. It has been bothering me a lot lately so I can only hope, pray, and do what the doctor tells me to do.

Scout Helps Hospice for Final Project

Hours before his senior prom Saturday, Trent Norris, 17, was covered in dirt and sweat as he planted trees and shrubs around a gazebo at Hospice of Southern Kentucky.

Starting last fall, Norris, a junior at Greenwood High School, took on the task of bringing a gazebo and landscaping to the hospice facility on Scottsville Road as his final project before becoming an Eagle Scout in Troop 202.

“It’s the last big step,” Norris said.

Norris chose the project after he saw how much comfort hospice was able to provide his grandfather, Frank Eads, before he succumbed to cancer.

“Hospice really helped him out in his last few days, so I thought I should give back to them,” Norris said.

“They’re wonderful people,” added Glenda Eads, Norris’ grandmother and Frank Eads’ wife.

After his grandfather died in his home in Alabama while under the care of a hospice worker, Glenda Eads moved to Kentucky to be near her daughter and Norris’ mother, Bonita Norris.

“I’m so proud of him,” Eads said, as she sat in the gazebo and watched her grandson work Saturday morning.

Norris started the project by requesting donations from family, friends and local businesses. The response surprised him.

“It was actually really good, better than I expected,” Norris said.

By February, after five months of fundraising, Norris had enough money on hand to purchase the gazebo. After securing the gazebo, Norris went about soliciting donations for the landscaping. Donations from businesses and individuals helped Norris get all he needed.

“Alvaton Nursery really helped us out,” Norris said.

Saturday’s work should be more than enough for Norris to reach the 100-hour service requirement to become an Eagle Scout. He was joined by fellow Boy Scout Troop 202 members, many of whom were working toward becoming Eagle Scouts or had recently earned the title.

Norris’ uncle, Neil Sherer, was on hand Saturday morning. Sherer, of Carbon Hill, Ala., is a former Boy Scout troop leader, and said Norris’ ascension to Eagle Scout is no small deal.

“You can’t just say, ‘I want to be an Eagle Scout,’ ” Sherer said.

Norris was hoping to finish the landscaping before having to get ready for prom, but said he would be back to finish the project over the course of several afternoons if necessary. Future plans for the gazebo include paving bricks families can donate on behalf of loved ones, which would be used to create a pathway leading to the gazebo.

Don't be afraid to ask for help

These last couple of days of my life have been a little weird and crazy! Sunday when I was leaving from church I fell down 3 steps and hurt my foot. One of the guys came out to see about me but me being the stubborn person I am I said I was fine and didn't need any help. Well I was WRONG!!!

See I have this extra bone in both of my feet (The doctor called it something special with this really long name but I couldn't tell ya what that is). Well when I fell I tore some cartilage between my foot bone and the extra bone and also pulled some muscles. Now I have to wear a boot for 2 weeks and be on crutches for about a week.

This is very hard for me to do because I'm a very outgoing and busy person. I'm always on the go and always doing things. Through all of this I'm having to learn that I need to rely on people and that I can't do things on my own. I need to slow down and enjoy life.

Its that little things

With everything that is going on in my life right now I have forgotten about the little things in my life that make me happy. I get up in the mornings and either go to work or school, come home, do homework, visit with the family some and then go to bed. But this past weekend my grandparents came up from Alabama.

Earlier in the week I had asked Granddad if he would bring me some Lacy's Ham and Cheese Sandwiches and of course he said YES. Lacy's is a little hole in the wall place in my hometown that has the BEST ham and cheese sandwiches and pizza in the world! I have missed it a lot since we moved up here. I know its sad, but if you ever have one you will understand where I'm coming from.

Thursday when I got home from classes I was showing Mawmaw my bathroom that I had painted all by myself and she asked what the quote was that was on my wall.
When I wake up in the mornings and are getting ready in my bathroom I see this but hadn't really looked at in a while. Mawmaw saying something about it really triggered something with me. You know it really is the truth. You can't live your life having regrets or wishing that you would or could do something. Get out there and be the person you want to be and do what you want to do. After everything that I have gone through in the last month I'm really living by this now.

Need a Break?

Ever feel like you just run and run and run and then you finally crash? Well that's me right now. BIG TIME!

These past couple of weeks have been very stressful and full of decisions that I haven't wanted to make. Some of them turned out good but some turned out bad. Why can't life be easier? Oh that's right if it were easier it would be boring.

A couple of weeks ago was my spring break but I really didn't get one because I was working so much, like I do every week. Yes it was nice working and making the money but I'm kind of regretting it now. I wish I would have taken a day or two to do nothing at all.

Right now I'm really wanting to get away for here and go to Alabama to my little small hometown and sit on my grandfather's pier and go fishing. Just to slow down and be lazy for a couple of days would be so amazing right now.

Oh the joys of life!

Old Navy: Project ONE

I have been at Old Navy for about a month and a half and I LOVE IT!!! It is so different from working in the restaurant business but I actually like it a lot more. I have met some amazing people that I get to work with.

Last week we started out Project ONE (Old Navy Evolution) remodeling and it will last for about 8 weeks. The first week was cleaning and painting and this week started the actual remodeling. Not all of the Old Navy stores are getting to go to Project ONE and our store was almost cut from the list. Our store is the only one in this area that is going tothis. Here are some of the things that are going to be happening:

*the registers are going to be moving from the side to the middle
*fitting rooms are going to be moved to the center in front of the registers
*all of our fixtures are going to be lowered to 6 ft tall and all white
*kid area is going to be more kid friendly (more to come later)
*things are going to be a lot more open and shop-able

I was asked to help out this week with the major part of remodeling. I got my schedule for this week and I saw I was scheduled to work 9PM-6AM Sunday, yesterday. I have never ever worked an overnight shift before and I'm not much of a night person. I had no idea what I was going to be doing during this shift or how I was going to make it through the night.

When I arrived at work I was a little overwhelmed by all of the people who were there working. All total I think we had about 20-25 Old Navy employees, some from our store and some from the Rivergate store and then about 15 construction workers. We all got assigned different task and got started working for a while. I didn't get sleepy but did get a little tired when I didn't have a lot of things to do. We moved booths and cleaned them, rearranged product, cleaned the whole store, and did visuals with product. Also Clezey, one of our workers found $5 and then lots of change. So Clezey and Paul went to GADS and got us donuts. Those were much needed! We also had Subway and cookies from The Cookie Store. I had no clue that Subway at 2 AM would be that good.

About 4 AM everyone but 6 of us left and for me this was the most fun of the whole night! I finally got to finish my visuals for the girls shop and got to interact on more of a personal level with my co-workers. We sang lots of Disney songs, quoted lines from movies, and played a little soccer/football. We all also got a little slap happy and had some sugar highs. It was amazing! After all of it was said and done I really did like working the overnight shifts.

Here is a little preview of how things are going to look when it gets finished:

Happy 101

I was reading on Jen's blog and someone had challenged her to write down the 10 things that made her happen and then challenged me. So here is my list of 10 things

1. My loving family
2. Wonderful friends
3. The wonderful love that I feel from God
4. Brian
5. the D-group I'm involved in
6. Working at Old Navy
7. My wonderful church family and Church; Woodburn Baptist
8. Singing
9. Being outside
10. LIFE

Now I challenge

1. Pate Life
2. Count it all Joy
3. Bright Young Things....
4. Amy's Adventures
5. God is teaching....
6. Grace
7. Journey to Our Little Girl
8. Kathryn Meryl
9. My Reverie
10. Hind's Feet

I don't do this much

So I don't brag much but I have to just this once on my brother, Trent McKinnley Norris.


Trent is 4 years younger than I am and we haven't always gotten along. You know those annoying little brothers you see on TV shows that but the big sister all the time? Well that's Trent for ya, but I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Since Trent has gotten into high school (he is a junior now) he has really grown up and found who he is. He plays lacrosse for Greenwood, is a boy scout working on his Eagle Scout and a lifeguard during the summer time. I love my brother to death and I'm very proud of him for everything he is accomplishing. I would have to say that I have the best brother in the world!

Trent and I don't talk a whole lot but when he does come to me for help or does want to talk I cherish those times. He knows that I'm always here for him no matter what kind of trouble he might get into, how much he wants to vent about something, or if he needs help with girls.

The reason that I'm most proud of him is because he as stepped up and become a leader on the lacrosse team and he is going for his Eagle Scout Honor. Trent is taking both of this very random things very serious. He will come home from practice and stay outside and practice for another 2 hours. He is very dedicated to winning and also to getting a lacrosse scholarship to somewhere big. But his Eagle Scout project is what gets me the most.

After the passing of our grandfather, Pop, I didn't realize how much it affected Trent. I remember seeing this 12 year old boy standing beside his grandfathers burial plot and laying a Dr. Pepper can inside the plot right before they closed it up and then turning and crying into Dad's chest. That's the first time I realized how much it affected him. When it came time for Trent to pick what his project was going to be, he decided on doing a Memorial Garden in memory of Pop at the local hospice center. He planned it all out himself. He raised money and got donations from friends and family to get a gazebo to place out there, plant flowers that have been donated and then to let people create stones with the name of their family member who has passed away but had help from hospice.

When Trent told me this is what he was doing I couldn't have been any happier for him or more proud of him. He is truly the best brother in the world!!!

Temporary Home

The first time that Carrie Underwood was on American Idol I told my parent's that she was going to be the new American Idol. Well who called it?? Yup that would be me :)

Ever since AI, I have been a big fan of her's. I would love to see her sometime in concert but that's not the point to this post. On her new album, Play On, she has a song called "Temporary Home". It is a very sweet and sad song to a degree. I heard an interview with her once saying that she decided to write it after readying The Purpose Driven Life (which I'm reading right now and love). But the first time I heard this song it just spoke to me BIG time! I don't know what it was but I just loved it!

In the song she sings about 3 different people in 3 different stages of their lives.
1) a little boy who goes from foster home to foster home
2) a woman and her small child who are living in a half-way house trying to make it on their own
3) a old man who is in the hospital dieing and surrounded by people he loves

After each of these verses the chorus starts and says that this life we are living is just a temporary home and that we have a better place we are going one day. This is so true! You know we are just on this earth for a short time and one day we will be in Heaven with God. Its so amazing to think about that!

Here is the video.... tell me what you think?

This song is on my heart.....

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And If I stumble again
I'm caught in our grace
Everlasting, Your light will shine
When all else fails
Never ending, your glory goes
Beyond all fame

My heart and my soul
I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting, Your light will shine
When all else fails
Never-ending, your glory goes
Beyond all fame

My heart and my soul
I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine
When all else fails
Never-ending, Your glory goes
Beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out

Lord my soul cries out

Cord of 3 and Seventh Day Slumber

On Sunday Brian and I went to the Cord of 3 and Seventh Day Slumber concert in Owensboro. One of your mutual friends, Brandon plays the bass guitar for them and Brian has never seen him play before and has wanted to.

Back up a little......

Cord of 3 was one of the bands we had play at Metalfest back in October so I had heard them and loved them from the beginning. Brandon and Brian went to high school together and played football together and it wasn't until recently that Brian realized Brandon was in this heavy metal christian band.

Back to the present....

Friday night Brian and I were hanging out and we called Brandon to see where exactly the concert was and get some details. Well, Brandon informs us that the show is sold out but they are going to let 50 more people in because the place can hold 200 people. So if we wanted to get a ticket to get there before the doors opened and we could get one or we could go to the Monday night show that they had. Brian and I decided that we wanted to go to the Sunday night show since we had class and planned on being there are like 5 so we could be sure to get tickets.

Saturday night came and we were trying to figure out details and it was getting all confused and difficult to plan. We had almost decided not to go, but there was something in me that was saying we really needed to go. So we got the details worked out and planned on going still.

Sunday came and we went to church then our separate ways for a little while until he came to get me at 3. On our way over there Brian and I were just talking about different things and how we wished that some of his friends would have come with us because we both knew that they needed it. We found the place just fine and decided to go get something to eat before hand so we wouldn't be so late getting home after stopping.

We had a little issue after we returned because the security guy said no tickets were going to be sold until everyone who had a ticket got in. So he wanted us to stand in a line in the rain waiting until 6 o'clock. And let me add he wasn't a nice person. Brian pulled his truck up near the line so that we could stay in it for a while and then hop in line later. After a little bit more and more people started showing up so we got out and stood in line. While we were standing there a gentleman came up to me and asked if I had a ticket. I told him that I didn't and then he handed me a ticket and said Happy Birthday. I was very tickled by this! There were several people who were selling tickets to others but by the time they got to us they didn't have any. (Why they didn't start at the beginning of the line beats me) A little bit later a young guy who looked to be a youth minister came up to Brian and asked if he had a ticket. Brian replied with a no and the guy handed him a ticket also. So Brian and I got in for FREE!!!! We were very excited about it!

The concert was absolutely AMAZING! Seventh Day Slumber is one of my new favorite bands! The lead singer shared a lot of stuff that hit Brian and I hard. He also shared about Compassion International which is like World Vision where I sponsor a child, Nina. I had been telling Brian for a while about the joy that you get out of sponsoring a child from another country and knowing you are making a difference in their lives. So Sunday night Brian decided that he wanted to sponsor a child from Haiti through Compassion. It's only $38 a month and 81% of that goes straight to the child and their family and then 19% goes to Compassion so they can stay up and running. I was so excited that he did this!

God was moving in that place Sunday night and he is still moving with Brian and I. We are going through some "changes" in our relationship for the better and it's going to help us focus on God more like it's supposed to be. I can't wait to see what path God leads us down.

Why I love this week

I'm so excited about this week and what all it holds.....


*I started off my week (sunday night) going to a Christian heavy metal concert- Cord of 3 and Seventh Day Slumber. (More about this in a blog soon)

*Classes start this week and I only have classes on Tuesday and Thrusdays

* Dgroup and BCM 180 starts back this week! I have missed everyone bunches

* Friday Night is Triple date night

* I have a job interview

Changes

It's the Friday before classes start back for the Spring Semester. As I look out the window in my office I see students moving back into the dorms and campus coming back to life after 6 weeks off. It makes me think about the changes in my life and how this semester is going to be different for me.

At the end of last semester I decided to go part time for the Spring semester, try to find a new job, and save money so that I can move out. In the past few days I have really been thinking about all of this. Going part time is going to set me back some but I can take some summer courses and get back to where I need to be. Since I haven't found a new 2nd job yet I'm going to have some free time on my hands to find this job. Yes I know it's probably a bad time to find a job with the economy like it is but I know that it will happen when its supposed to. If I can't find anything by the time Chaney's opens back up in March I guess I'll just stay there for a while. It isn't my ideal thing to do but it will have to work. So if anyone knows of someone looking for a nanny a few days of the week and some nights please let me know. This is what I want to get into since I am going to be an elementary teacher.

Haiti

As I start to write this blog I am listening to the radio and Jeremy Camp's "There Will Be A Day" started playing. Just listening to the words makes me think so much about what that day will be like when we do meet God face to face. Its going to be a wonderful day! And it also makes me think about what I was setting out to do when writing this blog entry.

Hearing about the massive earthquake that hit Haiti has been thinking a whole lot. When I first heard about it and saw pictures my heart broke. My heart broke for the people of Haiti, for those kids who have lost their families, for the parents who have lost their children, for the ones who still have their families but have lost everything else, for the ones who are still waiting and hoping and praying that they find their family members, and for the ones here in the US that have family members over there and haven't heard from them. Growing up I have heard about this kind of thing happening and felt bad for them but I have not felt this bad for a country before. It tears me up to see the pictures and hear stories.

I was laying in bed one night this week and saw some pictures of just different scenes from there and I just lost it and started crying my eyes out! I want to help those people so bad but know that I can't physically help them right now. I want to do something for them so bad and so I just started praying and praying for God to protect the people of Haiti. I know that I can't do anything physical like go over there right now but I can pray, send donations through World Vision and give things that they need. I'm planning on doing all of these things. For some reason my heart is just drawn to this country and the people of it.

With all of this going on with the country of Haiti it has me thinking a lot about Nina the girl I'm sponsoring through World Vision. I think about how I haven't kept in contact with her as much as I wanted to and how I wish that I could send/ do more for her and her family. The day I was thinking about all of this I got a card in the mail about becoming an World Vision Ambassador and spreading the word about World Vision. I sent it back to them saying that I wanted more information about it. Once I get it I'm going to look things over and pray about it and see if that's something God wants me to do. I have gotten so much joy out of sponsoring her this past year and I want others to feel that same joy.

I still have a place in my heart for Haiti and want to do something for them. I don't know what just yet but I will continue to pray about it and see where God leads me.