Showing Appreciation

This past Saturday the youth group put on an Appreciation Lunch for all the Elders, Deacons, Ministry Leaders and their families.

As with any event like this, my main focus was the decorations.

Myself and one of the Senior girls came up with the theme, 

and then a small group of girls helped me to put it all together on Friday night.

Since it is so close to Valentine's Day, we wanted to incorporate hearts,

but wanted to avoid the lovey-dovey sweetheart theme that we did last year in this post.

So I came up with a conversation heart theme.

1) Because I am obsessed with them.

And by obsessed I mean I have probably eaten 5 bags if not more of them this year alone.

and 2) because they say "Valentine Friends" to me.

I was very happy with how it all turned out!
The lunch was a huge success as well.
We had a catered meal that was served by our teens,
and then each teen spoke about one of the families that was in attendance to thank them for their work and service to the church and our Lord.
They all did such a wonderful job, even if they were nervous to speak in front of everyone.
It did get a little awkward when the adults started appreciating myself and Michael, because that was not the purpose of the luncheon at all, but their words were kind and appreciated nonetheless.

We are so thankful to the many leaders that serve our church,
and give of their time and energy to help share Christ with our community!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

As you might have guessed from the title, 

today is my Mom's birthday!!

If you don't know her, you are missing out BIG!

She is pretty great!

She is (most) everything that I am, and everything that I one day hope to be!

To honor her, I made this collage.

 Please excuse our early 90s hair-dos...

And vests...

And turtlenecks...

It was a rough time.

I love you Mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Week in Review

This week has been a roller coaster.

To say the least.

On Monday, if I even thought about my test I wanted to (slash most times did) start crying.

It was scary.

That night I purchased some practice exams, and I felt a little better.

I took off of work the rest of the week so that I could focus on studying.

I had kept myself on a strict schedule:

Morning - study flash cards and sheets of each model.

Afternoon - take a 200 question practice exam.

Evening - Study the ones I missed on the practice exam.

Night - Take a 100 question practice exam.

Before bed - Read articles about the models.

*Of course, I left some time in there to watch the Bachelor too!

These were my friends for the week. 

Those are all the models of Family Therapy.

They equal about half of the sheets I had to study.

They took forever to make, but I really think they helped on the actual exam.

By Thursday, this helped to give me some confidence:

If they thought I was ready to take the exam, surely I was.

But then I got to the test.

And it was really hard.

And I said "What the heck is it talking about?" on almost every question.

Once I had actually answered them all, and was going back through checking them, I felt a little better.

In the end, I will be surprised if I pass.

But I will be more surprised if I fail.

So that's a good sign...right??

The highlight of my week was getting these beautiful flowers from my family.

Oh course, I was too scared to open the door when the florist came,

(I never answer the door when I'm home alone)

so I didn't get them until late on Tuesday,

they are so happy and comforting just the same. 

This verse was also a great comfort to me during the week:

These words, as well as many words from family friends gave me so much encouragement.

On Tuesday, Michael posted a status about me studying for my test, and I immediately felt the peace from so many peoples' prayers going up on my behalf.

Not only did people pray though, but I got so many texts, emails, facebook posts and messages, tweets, and calls of support and encouragement that I was on cloud nine.

I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life that are there for me,

whether I pass or I fail.

God is so good, and it is all in His hands now.

And I leave you with this.

Stylish, classy Buster.

It was fun being a stay-at-home Mom to him this week!

Mrs. Brooks

My sister is a MARRIED woman!!

We spent this past weekend celebrating Bailey and Jon as they became husband and wife.

It was the perfect ceremony with the most beautiful bride!

 I can't wait to see the real pictures, and post more about it later!!

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Brooks!!

We love you!!

This Happened

You know how I said I would only blog if something big or wonderful happens...

Well today, this happened!

I can hear the Vitamin C song already!

I am SO ready to graduate!

Even if I don't pass this dumb test in a couple weeks, I will still graduate,

and I will still get my degree.

I may not get a job, but I will be a Master.

That's right, Master Brittany.

You can start practicing that now.

Throw Back Thursday

Remember the time I said Shannon Miller was my idol...

Yep.

That's what I'm talking about.

Leotard - check

Balance beam - check

Totally early 90s hair bun, complete with white scrunchy - CHECK!

In case you can't remember that far, check out this post.

And if you don't know what a scrunchy is...we can no longer be friends and you shouldn't read my blog anymore.

Please Excuse Me

So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, good bye...

Just kidding, but kind of serious.

I will be a little bit MIA for the month of January.

I have this little thing called a licensing exam coming up on February 1st.

(Prayers are GREATLY appreciated)

So, I will be spending every free minute reading the study guide, making note cards,

studying note cards, and listening to my study CDs.

I will blog occassionally, if something big or wonderful happens, but I wouldn't count on it.

See you in February!!