No Day But Today: 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011: A Year in Review

I have discovered that I am a terrible blogger but I am going to attempt to be a better one in 2012. To review what has happened this year, here are my Top 11 in 2011:

11. Ashley & Scott’s Wedding

10. 2 Gungor Concerts

9. Rafting Trip

8. Trips to Auburn

7. Ran (and Walked) a 5K

6. Read 7 books (& part of another!)

5. Visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

4. Girls’ Beach Trip

3. Auburn Won the National Championship

2. Moved to a New Apartment

1. Started Teaching 4^th Grade

So here to a successful 2012 and I hope it was as great as 2011!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Well today is my birthday. I am 23 years old. But I don’t feel that old, nor does it feel like my birthday. With all the craziness of the past week’s tornadoes and recovery, I feel like I am in a different world: no one had power, no one went to work, nothing was open, and so many people lost their homes. It was just strange.

But in honor of my birthday, I thought I would look up the significance of the number 23. Here's what I found:

23 is a prime number
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes
There are 23 discs in the human spine
Psalm 23 is the Shepherd’s Psalm and one of the most popular and well-known Psalm

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³ he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Michael Jordan’s jersey number was 23
Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times
The man who inspired the movie A Beautiful Mind, John Forbes Nash, was obsessed with the number 23
23 is the age of the world’s youngest grandmother (This is insane! I am not even ready to have kids yet!)
The Number 23 is a movie starring Jim Carrey (never saw it but I remember it looked interesting)
23 Enigma is the thought that all events and incidents are somehow related to the number 23
According to the birthday paradox, in a group of 23 randomly chosen people, the probability is 50% that some pair of them will have the same birthday (found this very interesting and I want to test it out!)
The title of a song by Jimmy Eat World (this song was on the One Tree Hill soundtrack, which is one of my favorite shows and the song fits it SO well!)

Also in honor of my birthday, I am posting some interesting things in history that happened on my birthday as well as famous people that share my birthday

1904 – Construction begins by the

United States

on the Panama Canal.

1929 – Audrey Hepburn, actress, is born

1930 – Katherine Jackson, mother of the Jackson musical family, is born

1932 – In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

1953 – Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

1959 – Randy Travis, American Country musician

1959 – The 1st Grammy Awards are held.

1961 – American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

1970 – Will Arnett, American/Canadian actor

1972 – Chris Tomlin, American Christian musician

1975 – Kimora Lee Simmons, American fashion model

1978 – Erin Andrews, ESPN sideline reporter

1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1979 – Lance Bass, American singer (*NSYNC)

1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.

May 4^th is not only my birthday but it is also…

Bird Day in the United States

International Firefighter’s Day

Star Wars Day “May the fourth be with you.” (Pretty clever, huh?)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Urban Ministries

So I realize that I am a terrible blogger but I am doing my best because I have never blogged before!

Last week was Spring Break and I decided to chaperone Asbury's youth mission trip to Birmingham. Every year, they take about 60 youth and about 12 adults to inner city Birmingham to work with Urban Ministries. Now Urban Ministries is a part of the United Methodist Church that helps low income families in inner city B-ham. One thing that they do is paint houses and that is what we did all week. Every morning we would wake up at 7, eat breakfast, and be ready to leave for our work site by 8. We would work, eat lunch, and return to our compound around 4. Then, it was time for free time (mainly Ultimate Frisbee), dinner, devo, and then more free time with games. Everyone knows that middle and high schoolers are crazy, but give them a paintbrush and stick them in a dorm with all of their friends for a week, that’s when they get even crazier! Even with all the craziness aside, these youth taught me so much about a willingness to serve, no matter how hot, how cold, how mean the homeowner, or how ugly the paint color. I always had fun on Urban when I went as a youth and I was honored to be a leader on this trip.

Now you can see some more of what we did.

My group for the week!

The group in front of a sign we saw on the way to our house

Our team name was The Scrapists

Me and Andrea were leaders for the week and Rachel was an
intern for Urban last summer so she helped us out too!

This is where they get crazy!

The guys wanted to joust so Mark told them to make armor

Our house on Monday

Our house on Friday

You can really see the difference in the color from this picture

There was a broken down van parked on the back of the house and
we couldn't get the ladders back there, so the boys put it in neutral
and pushed it out of the way. Here they are pushing it back.

Our group with the homeowners and the finished house

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Looking Back and Looking Forward

After some thought, I have started to write a blog. I didn't think I would have anything to write about but my friend Elizabeth said to just go for it and write about anything. It will sort of be a New Year’s Resolution and my goal is to write a least once a week (hopefully more). So, my first post will be a look back at a very busy 2010.