reminiscing already?

 *for all of you who know you are criers, just go ahead and get some tissues*
Today I finally decided to clean the most unorganized corner of my room...where my organizer is... Ironic?
I've been putting this off for WAY too long and decided that it was time to tackle the job since I could no longer even sit in my desk chair to do homework or anything anymore. I started by clearing out the stacks of papers, yearbooks, and notebooks so I could get to my organizing drawer and went through EVERYTHING. I trashed stuff, put things in different places, laughed at some of the things I'd actually kept, and was reminded of some things I'd already forgotten about. I didn't think this whole reminiscing on my life thing would happen until I start packing up for college, but no I definitely just flipped through my life in a nutshell for the past few hours.
Some things I found...I'll just stick with the top 10:
1. My ACT scores - I am so thankful that God helped me get EXACTLY the score I needed for full tuition at Auburn. I only had to take the test twice and am SO glad. Thank you, Lord!
2. All of my Children's Hospital volunteering letters and information - this is an opportunity that I have really enjoyed/am enjoying. I volunteered last spring and am volunteering this spring and love just getting a feel for what my potential career (as of right now) would feel like.
3. Old AP U.S. History work - oh goodness, that class. Looking back, I am glad I took the class, learned lots, and earned AP credit, but I have to say I am beyond thankful that I am done with that class and praise God for getting me through it, because there is NO way I could have made it through without Him.
4. Prayer journals and old sermon notes - I loved being able to read back through some things I wrote throughout middle school and high school, seeing how God worked things out in ways I never could have imagined at the time. God is good.
5. Old yearbooks - I'm talking elementary school old. It's amazing to look through those and see how much people change...how much I'VE changed...note to self : hide these from Mom so she doesn't find them after I go to Auburn and starts to look through them and cry. Bad idea...
6. Birthday cards and concert tickets - I too often overlook this fact about my life but I have AMAZING friends. Friends that I go WAY back with, and some that I'm only just now getting to know better and wish I would've gotten to know them sooner. quick shout out to my wonderful friend Rachel Autrey---when my family first moved to Birmingham right before I started 4th grade, my parents had the intention of visiting a few churches they'd heard about before deciding on one and the first one we visited was Shades. We first visited on a Sunday night when they would do a service and have a dinner afterwards and my parents met the Autreys and Rachel just immediately reached out to me and made me feel right at home. Seriously the way her family reached out and helped us influenced my parents' decision to stay at Shades and we never even visited anywhere else. I am so thankful that God knew exactly where my family needed to be and got us there...I can't imagine what my life would be like if we hadn't stayed at Shades. Praise the Lord for great friends, timeless memories, and spiritual growth.
7. South Africa trip information - I am so excited about going to South Africa over spring break!!! I've been on several mission trips with my church before but this one is seriously stretching me to get out of my comfort zone, which is pretty cool to be honest. I need that kind of a challenge in my life. I'm looking forward to what God is planning on teaching me through that trip.
8. Verses from my parents and Sunday School teachers - I found Mrs. Marti's Micah 6:8 verse, the verses my mom gave me during the times I've become beyond stressed over school, and the verses my dad gave me to encourage me to keep pushing on and have "no regrets." I am so blessed to have these role models in my life and definitely don't thank them enough for what they do for me. (Thank you mom, dad, Mrs. Marti, Mrs. Paula, Mrs. Marla, Fernanda Lima, Katherine Crutcher, and all the other role models I have in my life who I know I can go to when I need advice. You always help me get right back on track, giving all the glory to God, which never ceases to amaze me.)
9. Old crafts that my brother made for me - I know, right? precious. Sometimes I forget how great he is, since now he's older and sometimes acts like he's too cool to know me, but he is the best brother I could have ever asked for and am so thankful for him (yes, I really did just say that). although I'm not going to lie, I miss the old days when we were little...
10. okay the tenth thing is not really something I found, but while I was cleaning and dusting my room, I decided to change the clothes on my American Girl doll because she was still wearing her Christmas dress, so I'm counting Kit as the 10th item because I want to talk about how wonderful my grandmother, Bambie, is. When I was little, I wanted an American Girl doll for a pretty long time and when I turned 9 years old, my grandmother got me the Kit Kittredge doll (Kit was always my favorite....a writer with an adventurous spirit, looking for hope during the Great Depression) and pretty much everything else that went with it (the bed, all the outfits that went with her, etc) and I pretty much did everything with that doll for the rest of my childhood playtime career. As I was playing with Kit again today, brushing her hair, remember how special she was (and still is...) to me, I thought back on all of the memories I have with my grandmother. Before we moved to Birmingham, we lived one block away from my dad's parents and I loved to go spend the night with them on the weekends. Bambie would cut out Ann Estelle paper dolls from magazines for me, which I loved and pretty much kept all of them in envelopes to play with over and over again. We would play board games or watch movies (that's probably where I started my love for Mary Poppins) or, once I was a little older and could actually help, would do puzzles. At bedtime, Bambie would let me pick out a story for her to read to me and would come read it to me and stay with me until I fell asleep. These memories are very near and dear to my heart and I'm so glad that I had this opportunity as a kid. My grandmother is one of the strongest and most selfless people that I know (grammatically correct? I don't know and actually don't care for once). She is currently battling cancer and I know that God is watching out for her, even in this circumstance. But just to reiterate my point if I haven't really made it there yet, I love Bambie and all of the love she has shown me unconditionally throughout my life and am so thankful for her, as I also am for my other grandparents, who all support and love me more than I can ever know or understand.

So now that I've probably made some of you cry, some of you laugh, and some of you think "why do I read her blogs when they're always WAY too long," I hope I've at least reminded some of you of all you have to be thankful for and all of the memories you should keep close to your heart as you go into the next steps of your life, whether it may be high school, college, or just the trials of life. I have been reminded today of how fast life flies by, but how wonderful life is when you can remember all of the steps you have been through and see how they are working together to bring you to where you are now. What I've learned today: don't waste your life, have no regrets, keep holding on [to God] during every trial in your life, and hold on to the special memories that you never want to lose.

"Now listen, you who say 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" - James 4:13-15

Grace and Peace.