Thanks

Today I Thank God for...

His creativity. Tonight I witnessed one of the most beautiful Kentucky sunsets ever.

a church with people who I connect with and love me for who I am.

good smelling candles.

cell phones. I love that I can connect with my family so quickly, even though they are so far away.

Hi promises. The promise that there is a plan for my life, and it is wonderfully perfect.

His everlasting love.

Hello Nyquil

So, I had a great adventure with nyquil last night...

Couldn't sleep last night. I was really congested, so I finally decided to get up and take some medicine- nyquil. (one dose, may I just say...) I slept like a rock. I woke up feeling pretty good, thinking, "I can't believe I slept that well. Wow, I slept late enough for it to even start getting light outside." I turned to look at the clock- 8:04am... School starts at 8:00am. I freaked. Why didn't my alarm go off? I frantically, and I mean frantically, searched for my cell phone to call work. Oh wait, the battery is dead. There's the reason why my alarm didn't go off. So I frantically search for my charger. "Why won't my phone turn on!" ... finally called work. The secretary must have thought I was crazy. "Sherry, this is Becca. I took nyquil last night. My phone died. My alarm didn't go off. I'll be there in 5 minutes. Bye." I get to work at 8:17am. Pretty amazing, I must say. My students were so concerned. It was quite funny.

"What happened to you Ms. Paschal?"

"Ms. Paschal, you look a little pale."

"Did you get in a car accident?"

"Where have you been?" most common one

It's ok kids, your teacher just took medicine to help her feel better and sleep. Then she didn't wake up... it's cool. Yeah, that sounds great.

Thankfully, "I just over slept" satisfied their curiosity. :)

However, it didn't satisfy my staff. Now my new nickname is NQ... lovely. :)

Is your state happy?

Random: a recent study was done to determine the happiest and unhappiest states. I have no idea the qualifications of this study, I just know the outcomes.

The most unhappiest states are Kentucky and West Virginia.

The happiest states are Utah and Hawaii.

Why is my state so unhappy? :(

In general, the states where people reported feeling better about life were mostly in the West, and the lower well-being states were clustered in the midwest and south.

Interesting... Just food for thought...

Red River Gorge

I spent most of this weekend at one of my favorite places. 5 teachers and I went to Red River Gorge in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National State Forest. It was so nice to get away. Roast hotdogs and smores, sit around the campfire, laugh and cry as we share real life, play some great games... and then hike and climb rocks! And what a beautiful weekend to go. It was warm and sunny all weekend. Can I just say Red River Gorge-ous! :) If you ever have a chance, please go. If you hate it, I will... clean your house for you. So go and love it, or go and I'll clean your house for you.

The Crew

We stayed at a cabin for the night.

The three youngins of the group

In the morning we went hiking. We hiked some of my favorite trails. Rocks galore... I love to go exploring!

Climbing rocks!

Just hanging around

My friend Robin, the monkey of the group :)

Just getting warm by the fire

ROCKS!

ROCKS!

Weird Rock! I'm so curious of how it was created

I don't know... I can't explain it

We're so cool... and Melissa is falling!

Red River Gorge-ous!

An absolutely fun weekend. I just love being outside and away from everyday life. Can't wait to go back... next weekend. :)

Just Random

- God wants to give me His joy- and His joy is complete. I want to live in complete joy. I've felt so joyless the past few months... compete joy sounds amazing.

- Truth breeds trust.

- "The winner takes it all, the loser standing small" feels like a true statement.

- The comment post was for you.

- "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

- People hurt people. If the person doesn't know, shouldn't they be told? I don't think he knows, and I wish I had the opportunity to tell him how and how much he hurt me. But I know there will never be that opportunity.

- Agape love is sacrificial love, choosing to love someone. There are times when you get to a place where you choose that you and a boyfriend or a girlfriend are not right for each other. How do you get to that place and decide that when you are loving sacrificially? Does sacrifice become too big and you say, I can't sacrifice in this way all the time. Or that sacrifice is too much. If you really have agape love and you are both choosing to love the other person... why does the relationship not work? When do you get to the place when you say, "I cannot agape love you in a relationship anymore." Or do you? I guess there is the human love. (phileo love? I could google it, but I'm not going to.) That is the more, we click, have fun, enjoy each other's company love, right? So, if there is not that type of love, is that when you say the relationship is not going to work, and I choose to love you by not being in relationship with you? But what when you have both types of love? When do you get to the point of saying, sacrificing for you, choosing to love you, is not enough to make this relationship work and we need to go our separate ways? And, how do you avoid that place? Should you? How do you know that you are not forcing something by choosing to love? All sacrifice is hard, so how do you know that you are agape loving the right person, and that love sacrifice and choice is right and good?

-I didn't mean for that to get so long... I'm going to go buy some jeans...

Recent

Brown County with my family

Brown County with my family

Picking the perfect pumpkin

Found the one!

Baking my first apple pie!

It turned out really well! MMM!

The waterfall at the gorge... finally made it there!

At Red River Gorge

What was I scared of? The story of the pale green pants.

LOVE this book! (thanks Hannah!)

Hannah visited! Lots of fun! Nuff said.