6 days.

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes."- David Platt

groovy.

I have wanted to tie-dye t-shirts for a while. I meant to plan a day last semester in auburn to do it, but I never got around to it. So, when my mom came home a couple of weeks ago and said she wanted to tie-dye some t-shirts, I was super pumped!  On Saturday my grandparents, sister, brother-in-law and sweet niece came over to grill out. While the men were doing "manly" things, all of us girls decided to tie-dye some t-shirts.  

We might have gone a little overboard at Walmart. 

I am pretty sure I have the best mom. :) 

After tie-dying the t-shirts we ate some sweet beer chicken my Papa had grilled and had a friendly competitive game of tape-ball in the front yard. I have to add that my team won and yours truly caught a line drive to end the game (this NEVER happens and sadly I don't think it will again.) 

When you tie-dye t-shirts it good to wait a day before you wash them. This helps the color become more vibrant and last longer. So, after waiting a day we decided to open them last night to see what they looked like. Some turned out cute, others....not so much, but either way I can't wait to sport some tie-dye in Honduras. 

Only 9 days until I leave for Dallas and 11days until I leave for Honduras! 

encouraging.

http://www.vimeo.com/23683149

I would encourage everyone to watch this video. Brad Booth is an example of a man whose Hope is in Christ and Christ alone! (not sure how to get the video on here, but if you copy and paste the link it should take you to the video.) 

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.- 2 Corinthians 4:8-11

great quote

This quote is by Oswald Chambers. It is taken from his book My Upmost for His Highest.

“The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost, to the end of all my sin and meanness and selfishness and wrong, will send me forth into the world to love in the same way. God's love to me is inexhaustible, and I must love others from the bedrock of God's love to me. Growth in grace stops the moment I get huffed. I get huffed because I have a peculiar person to live with. Just think how disagreeable I have been to God! Am I prepared to be so identified with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness are being poured out all the time? Neither natural love nor Divine love will remain unless it is cultivated. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained by discipline.”

a few of my favorite things.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

I have been singing the song "My Favorite Things" since our RUF intern Meggie had a My Favorite Things shower about two weeks ago, and it made me start to think about what are actually some of my favorite things. Some of these are new, some are old, but all have become some of my favorite things. :) 

Biking- this is definitely a new favorite thing. I honestly never thought that I would ever own a bike after my dad threw mine away a few years ago. I can remember telling my mother that I would never ride a bike in Auburn (too many people for me to hit and too many people to hit me.) I should know never to say I am not going to do something, because I usually end up doing it. About two months ago I went on my first bike ride with a friend to Town Creek Park in Auburn. To say I was a little nervous is an understatement, but we successfully made it without any accidents (mostly due to the fact that the person I was with is pretty much a pro at riding bikes) and I actually enjoyed it. Since then, I have ridden to Town Creek with my sweet friend Hanna, and also done some solo trips. I had to leave my bike in Auburn, it couldn't fit in my car, but my sister is planning on bringing it home soon. I am excited to ride it on the land around my house, and hopefully do some trail riding this summer.  

China- I love China. I went on a mission trip to work in orphanages during the summer of 2008 and fell in love with everything about China. It is my prayer that I would be able to go back to visit and serve the wonderful people of China in the future. I am also pretty sure that I am one of the few twenty year olds looking forward to my thirtieth birthday with excitement (you have to be at least 30 to adopt from China). 

Mumford and Sons and Ben Folds- I must admit that my taste in music is pretty sad. I have always been the girl that has basically liked anything that comes on mainstream radio. I also must admit that I am the girl that likes to sing along to every song that come on. My idea of a perfect car ride is one where everyone sings the entire time (my siblings love this....not). So, if I am not familiar with a song, I usually don't want to listen to it and it normally takes me a couple of times listening to a song to like it. One day I decided that I wanted to broaden the selection of music I listen to and my sister, Mary Elizabeth pretty much has the best music taste of anyone I know. So, with her help and Pandora I have been introduced to a whole new world of music. I had no idea what I was missing out on! 

Tennis- I love to watch tennis. I could literally watch tennis for hours. Who wouldn't want to watch tennis when Rafael Nadal is playing? One of my goals is to make it to all four of the major tournaments. The Australian Open is first on my list. I started attempting to play tennis about two years ago. I am not terrible, but my goal this summer is to become better. 

 Just Dance 2- I am addicted. I first played this over Easter weekend when our friends, the Weathers, brought it to our house. It is a dance game for the Wii (hence the title Just Dance) and is a great way to exercise while having fun. My mother, sisters and I played on Sunday for around two hours. In the Haynes household everyone is competitive, so our dancing turned into a competition. My brother Will and brother-in-law Jordan even got in on the action. 

Elisabeth Elliot- I have recently become obsessed with Elisabeth Elliot. I have read two of her books and started my third in a little over a months time. Her books are not always the easiest to read, she is extremely honest and blunt, but they are full of great truth. She is such an example of a woman whose focus is on Christ and His will for her life, no matter what the cost. 

My Family- Of course my family is one of my favorite things. I have been blessed with parents who love me, siblings who are my best friends, a brother-in-law who loves and puts up with the crazy family he married into, and a niece who in my opinion is the cutest baby ever. I am one blessed girl. :) 

Only 22 days until I leave for Dallas and 24 days until I leave for Honduras! 

to be low is to be high

Let me start of by saying I NEVER thought I would have a blog. NEVER EVER. All three of my sisters have one, but I have never felt the urge to write my thoughts and feelings for people to read- until now I guess. :) This blogs primary purpose will be for me to record my thoughts and experiences while serving in Honduras during the month of June; however, right now it is just going to serve as a place to share what all the Lord has done in my life the past semester.


Verse 1
When You lead me to the valley of vision
I can see You in the heights
And though my humbling wouldn’t be my decision
It’s here Your glory shines so bright
So let me learn that the cross precedes the crown
To be low is to be high
That the valley’s where You make me more like Christ


Chorus
Let me find Your grace in the valley
Let me find Your life in my death
Let me find Your joy in my sorrow
Your wealth in my need
That You’re near with every breath
In the valley


Verse 2
In the daytime there are stars in the heavens
But they only shine at night
And the deeper that I go into darkness
The more I see their radiant light
So let me learn that my losses are my gain
To be broken is to heal
That the valley’s where Your power is revealed


This is a song I am pretty sure most people have heard. It is In the Valley by Sovereign Grace. It is a song that has never meant more to me than it does now. You see the Lord has humbled and shown me my sin more this past month, than my entire 20 years. My prayer this entire year is that the Lord would show me sin in my life that I was not seeing, and that He would grow me spiritually so that I may be used fully in the mission field abroad and at home. Throughout the year the Lord has shown me sin here and there that I was not dealing with; however a month ago is when my eyes were opened to sin that I had not seen as sin. The Lord chose to get my attention in a way that was painful, embarrassing, and extremely hard to deal with. I tried so hard to look to everyone else in the situation and point out their sin, but the Lord kept showing me more of mine. Although, my flesh wishes more than anything that the Lord would have chosen a different way to get my attention, I am so thankful that He finally did. I am not the same person I was. While talking to my mom, she told me that she and my dad had been praying (years!) for the Lord to get my attention in this particular area. What a blessing my parents are. I say all that to say that though this semester has been a painful one, it is one that I am thankful for. I am excited to see how the Lord uses me in Honduras, and pray that He would continue to refine me and make me more like Him, no matter how painful it may be. I love the quote by J.I. Packer, and though there is still many sin struggles in my life, I am thankful for God's grace and sanctification.


Sanctification says the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q.35), is "the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness." The concept is not of sin being totally eradicated (that is to claim too much) or merely counteracted (that is to say too little), but of a divinely wrought character change freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues.
- J.I. Packer, Concise Theology




*for all of you grammar folks, sorry*