On BCM.

Today was not only my last day of class as an undergraduate, but tonight was my last BCM ever.

I don’t get emotional about moving on very often, but when my friends started giving senior speeches and talking about what the last four years have really meant, I couldn’t help but tear up a little bit.

And as mad as I was about there not being a senior video, I have to admit that it might be a good thing. Don’t know if I could’ve handled that.

I chose not to give a formal senior speech for a couple of reasons, but this post will do a better job of saying what BCM has meant to me than any speech would have anyways.

BCM wasn’t the biggest part of my college experience, and it wasn’t even the most important, but I can honestly say that it had a huge impact on the last four years.

Without BCM, I probably wouldn’t have this group of beautiful friends (plus a few other lovelies not in this picture). There have been crazy times in the last few years, but somehow we managed to stick together since the freshman girls bible study that brought us all together in the first place. & I think we’ve come pretty far.

Without BCM I probably wouldn’t have ended up with these two crazy roommates for the past couple of years either. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them, and I don’t know what I’m going to do once we move out of the lovely Harriett Plantation. But BCM brought us together, and I will always be thankful for that.

BCM also changed my whole life plan. Whoa. If I hadn’t done Sendmenow Summer missions, I might not have ever even thought about going into occupational therapy, and now I can’t imagine going into anything else.

& speaking of Sendmenow missions, without BCM I would have never started working at Camp Hawkins or Camp Jackie, and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to fall in love with so many precious kids like these::

..or have had the opportunity to work with so many amazing people there. Like these crazy ladies and so many more that aren’t in the picture.

Without BCM I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go on seven different mission trips over the past four years, and I wouldn’t have gotten to spread Jesus and love on precious babies in Ecuador or Haiti.

And most importantly, I wouldn’t be where I am today in my relationship with Jesus. Just having a time to worship and learn with my friends every week made such a huge difference.

I would like to think that I’ve changed a lot in these past four years, and BCM has been a major part of that. Friends, a couple of awesome interns, a great campus minister, and missions opportunities have all helped me grow in more ways than I would have imagined when I signed up for an email list at summer orientation.

I feel like I need to say that, as great as it has been, it hasn’t been all rainbows & butterflies. People in BCM have hurt me and made me cry, and I’ve probably done the same to them. I’ve been offended, felt unappreciated, gotten mad at the way things happened, and even said a few a lot of things that I probably shouldn’t have. I also didn’t find my future husband, so that’s kind of disappointing. You know, whatever. But overall, I’m so, so glad that I didn’t just give up then because it has definitely been worth it.

I wouldn’t trade these past four years at Mercer for anything. I found a community that I loved here at this school, but I found my family at BCM. & while I’m ready to move on and see what’s next, I’m going to miss it so much. You don’t just find a family anywhere. I have been so blessed.

Love Lessons.

This past weekend I got to spend time with a super awesome girl named Jessica.

She’s beautiful, sassy, and hilarious, and to say she was boy crazy would be a huge understatement.

Most of our weekend together was spent either talking about boys, flirting with boys, or following boys around.

Thankfully, our boys are very good sports.

Jessica’s methods of getting the guys are quite different from mine. However, my best estimate is that she has had at least 4 boyfriends in the past year, which far surpasses my zero boyfriends in the past 6 years.

So I thought that maybe I could take some advice from her. I’ve compiled a list of love lessons I learned this past weekend.

Who knows, they might come in handy.

1. If you’re interested in someone, it’s not important to know their name.  You can immediately start referring to them only as “boyfriend.”

2. There’s no need to wait until the right time to say “I love you.” You can tell someone you love them the day first day that you meet.

3. It’s okay to be interested in two boys at the same time.  Even if they know each other. Even if they are brothers.

4. Use being interested in two boys at once to be nonchalant when one turns you down. You can simply say, “I don’t love you anymore, now I love your brother (or friend, etc).”

5. Be honest about cheating.  It’s not good to keep it a secret, but always include an apology.

6. Boys love it when you write and record love songs for them.  You can even write one love song for multiple boys.

7. Fight for the guy you’re interested in.  Don’t let another girl get in the way.

8. Sometimes it’s necessary to (literally) get on your knees and beg someone to take you back.

9. If your guy says he needs time to think about your relationship, don’t be patient. Keep asking him every time you’re around him.

10. It’s okay to like older guys.

11. …or younger.

12. Share you candy with the boys you’re interested in.

13. Tell the boys you like how hot they are.

14. More specifically, it’s good to tell them how hot they are while doing something they’re good at. (Example: “You’re hot playing the drums/guitar/etc.”)

15. Always tell your guy goodnight.

16. Make a normal hug better by refusing to let go.

17. Come up with excuses to walk by the guy you like. Each time you do this make some kind of physical contact.

18. Grab his hand or arm when you’re walking together.

19. Ask for his opinion on things like a new hairstyle.

20. Finally, just be extremely bold and persistent.

In return for observing her approach all weekend, I offered her two pieces of my own approach:

1. It’s probably not a good idea to cheat on your boyfriends.

2. The art of Facebook creeping.

The first she ignored, the second she was a fan of.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to follow her method. It’s not exactly my style. Something tells me that I’ll never catch up to Jessica in boyfriend count, and that’s really okay. But maybe I’ll need to use (tiny pieces) of her approach someday. I can’t dismiss it completely unless I give it a shot.

I’d Rather Sleep My Whole Life Away Than Have You Keep Me From Dreaming.

This Song. 

Tuesday Thankful. There is so much. I mean, there always is, but this week I’m just feeling it a little bit more.

Also, excuse the overkill of puppy pictures. I can’t help it. Really, I can’t.

Here we go:

66. I’m thankful for being able to go home.

67. I’m thankful that my sweet Molly is a wonderful mother.

68. I’m thankful for the puppy with the red ribbon.

69. I’m thankful for the puppy with the orange ribbon.

70. I’m thankful for the puppy with the yellow ribbon.

71. I’m thankful for the puppy with the light green ribbon.

72. I’m thankful for the puppy with the dark green ribbon.

73. I’m thankful for the puppy with the light blue ribbon.

74. I’m thankful for the puppy with the dark blue ribbon.

75. I’m thankful for the puppy with the pink ribbon.

76. I’m thankful for the puppy with the purple ribbon.

77. I’m thankful that my refund check from Mercer finally came.

78. I’m thankful for grad school application scares being worked out.

79. I’m thankful for shortened school weeks.

80. I’m thankful for last minute decisions to go to the fair with friends.

81. I’m thankful for cotton candy, caramel apples, and all the other unhealthy fair foods out there.

82. I’m thankful for dogs that ride scooters and monkeys that do back-flips.

83. I’m thankful for being able to watch part of Air Buddies while babysitting today.

84. I’m thankful for peppermints when they work as a bribe for little girls to go potty.

85. I’m thankful for the mix of old friends and new friends.

86. I’m thankful for welcoming hugs from children that barely know you.

87. I’m thankful for the birthday of my sweet mommy.

88. I’m thankful for my bed.

In fact, I’m about to get in it now.

 

Puppy Love.

On Thursday night and Friday morning, our Golden Retriever Molly had 9 little bundles of joy.

It was pretty much the best day ever.

Since I couldn’t be there when they were born, I was super excited to head home for the weekend and see them on Friday afternoon.

I promptly held each one and tied a bow around their neck. Would you expect anything else? Now they look ever cuter (if that’s even possible), and we can identify them by color.

There are seven little girls and two sweet boys in her litter.

I’ll introduce them to you::
This is a little girl. She’s one of the smallest, and also one of the darkest in the litter. Look at that face! I can’t even handle it.

This is also a little girl. She’s the smallest in the litter, so we’ve been making sure that she eats enough. She seems to be growing along with the others (and probably enjoys the extra attention.)

The little girl with the yellow ribbon is the lightest puppy out of all of them. She’s also the biggest of the girls. So, so precious.

This little girl is the darkest out of the litter. She resembles her daddy more than any of the others. She is also the only puppy who has pooped on me so far. I had no choice to forgive her when I looked at that face.

This is one of the boys, and he is the biggest out of all the puppies. He’s a chunk, but still super cute.

This is another sweet girl. She seems to be the sleepiest out of the bunch. She takes more naps than the others. We bonded over that.

This is the other little boy. He’s not quite as big as the other, but he’s still bigger than all the girls. So sweet.

This one is a sweet little girl, too. There is so much cute in that itty bitty body.

& this is the last little girl. She obviously prefers to sleep on her side. I don’t mind one bit.

This weekend was fabulous. Not because I really did anything, because I think I only left my house once, but because I got to spend it with these little guys.

I watched them eat, and I watched them sleep. It’s pretty much all they do, but they still look cute doing it.

& we had some individual snuggle time too. So much love.

I’m not even going to lie- I cried when I had to leave them.

By the time I see them again, they will have their eyes open and be walking around.

I can’t even wait.

I have to squeeze in a lot of puppy time in the next six weeks before they go to their new families.

But, if you know of anyone who wants one of these precious puppies, let me know!

Unfortunately, my parents won’t allow me to keep them all, so they’re for sale.

You want this cuteness in your house so bad. I know you do. Don’t even try to lie about it.