My Chillens!

Logan, my original kid before I liked kids :-)

As anybody that has known me for a while will tell you, I've NEVER been a kid person. Don't get me wrong, I love children, I've just never been able to be around them for long amounts of time (thus I have a degree in SECONDARY education.)

However, in the past year, God has done something very miraculous in my life. He has enabled me to develop a passion for children and has used me to love them to Christ. (Before you think this is a bragging session, believe me, it's purely a shout out to the Lord because He's the real worker in this situation.)

It all began this summer when God called me to work at the Oklahoma Baptist Children's Home in OKC. I went thinking I would be working primarily with the teens and leaving the little kids to the other two missionaries. While I did form great relationships with the teens, the age group I found myself focusing on was the younger children. I woke up every morning looking forward to playing with them, eating meals with them and letting them crawl all over me in the pool. After the summer was over, I was so sad to leave but figured this bout with working with kids was over...I was so wrong!

During the summer I was asked by my friend Larissa if I would be willing to babysit her daughter Jadyn every Wednesday while she was at class. Being close to Larissa and Jadyn for a while, I couldn't refuse. Not only that, I was asked to teach the 4 & 5 yr. old choir at my church on Wednesday nights. By this time it was obvious God was calling me out of my comfort zone, so I said yes. Hanging out with Jadyn and teaching that class has been the biggest blessing in my life this semester. I even worked my classes around next semester so that I could teach the class again next semester.

Through all this time, God has been using me, and it's all Him because  I certainly don't have the "natural ability" to do what I'm doing. That being said, I'd like to show everyone the kids in my life, be prepared to be keeled over by the cuteness:) Unfortunately, they're in NO order because this is my first time using pictures:/

This is Jadyn:-) I've known her since she was two. I'm really gonna miss our weekly adventures.

                                  

This little guy is Levi Pruitt! He hits his head alot but we still love him:)

The wonderful Memorial cottage from OBHC. I miss them everyday!

This girl is "My Pheobe". Her parents are houseparents at OBHC and we got super tight this summer!

This thoughtful little guy is Super Jack. He's all heart and all logic, it's pretty amazing!
I love having him on Wednesday!

lol lol OH TYLER! Every Wednesday this kid cracks me up! Class Clown/Most Popular

Ben and Adleigh Fuller (Awesome Mom Angie, pictured). These kids are my pride and joy,!

The wonderful Pickett boys. Unfortunately I only have two of them on Wednesdays
but they are all wonderful!

This is Super Jack's little brother Elliot! His laugh is contagious
and I love getting to hold him:-)

Jack and Elliot's sister Meredith is a total girly girl.
Every time I see her she pretends at first that she doesn't know me,
 eventually we're friends again:-)

These are just a few of the wonderful Chillens in my life, I hope their parents don't mind that I posted them on my blog:/ lol

Keep Your Rain Drops on Roses!! (I Don't Even Wanna TALK About Whiskers on Kittens!)

The other day, my bff Jade asked me what some of my favorite things are, and after naming a few I got laughed at by one Seth Geiger (aka "Gaches House Hobo", aka "Resident Random Guy"). This experience got me thinking, what ARE some of my favorite things? Given that this is now December and the holidays are upon us, I decided to blog about 50 things that continuously make me happy.

I have left out such obvious things as "Family", "Friends" and "Jesus" because everyone in the world knows that I love those people. So don't read this and judge me for not mentioning them.
Some may not share these little nuggets of happiness, but I'm more than willing to hear anyone's list of favorite things:) Do keep in mind, that none of these are in any particular order.

1) Filling my car up with gas=Fresh start on life!
2) Vacuuming the floor and hitting a really dirty spot. The sound the vacuum makes causes me to feel that I'm not working in vain.
3) Quarters!! (Or as Katy Stulce would say in a mimicking tone "Kwah-duz!")
4) Dumping the contents of my Inbox into the Trash on my computer, the sound is rewarding.
5) Liam Neeson, my old man crush.
6) Revelations that I get from reading the Bible. (Holy Spirit "A-HA" moments)
7) Anything Christmas-y
8) Musicals!
9) My Oklahoma Sooners
10) U-CO, you know!
11) Jane Austen
12) Finding a challenging paper topic and feeling the accomplishment of knowing I drove my point home.
13) WEDDINGS! I've loved weddings since the day I was born.
14) Giving presents!
15) Cooking for people:-)
16) Practical jokes.
17) New England. I spent two summers there and am now borderline obsessed with that part of the country!
18) Babies and Children
19) The Snow Miser
20) Dance Parties
21) Traveling
22) Reading about monarchies
23) Stealing my sister's socks
24) Reading the Funnies in the paper
25) Playing "Signs"
26) Movies
27) Valentine's Day (yes, I LOVE this holiday)
28) The color Red
29) Red Velvet Cake, and anything with that flavor
30) Hockey
31) Being with people
32) Peaches, Honey, Cinnamon
33) Hype (I love hype)
34) Speaking in accents
35) "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Peas
36) Coke Icees
37) Facebook Quotes (funny ones)
38) Edmond, OK (aka "The Emerald City")
39) Hearing songs on commercials and looking them up on iTunes later
40) Yahoo! Movies website. I look up movie trailers daily.
41) Emma by Jane Austen (yes, I mentioned her again:)
42) Pussycat Doll Workout Video
43) Kitchen aisles at any store
44) Walking through Home Accessories and planning out my future life.
45) A1 Steak Sauce (I put it in my beef, and on everything else)
46) Pressing the "Walk" button on a Stop Light crossing until it changes
47) Dressing up like a Princess
48) The UCO Wellness Center
49) Capitalizing Everything in a Sentence, Except for Prepositions, Articles and Conjunctions.
50) Creeping into other people's pictures

There you have it! 50 of my favorite things. I hope you've enjoyed this little time of narcissism. If you didn't, you probably stopped reading at number ten...if you read it at all :-)