i love you, tomorrow.

T6 for good measure.

1-i leave for camp tomorrow. bittersweet. just praying that the Lord does work and that i essentially get to sit back and watch Him in action. please be praying for me this summer that the Lord supplies for my needs and that i never stop seeking Him. He knows what i need, He is faithful, just pray that i remain faithful in return.
2-my wonderful, adorable, amazing parents have officially been married for 30 years. crazy. their marriage is such a beautiful blessing and example in my life. if it has taught me anything it is that your marriage isn't just a commitment to another person, but a commitment to the Lord, therefore no matter how hard or painful or frustrating it gets you never walk away, ever. thank you mom and dad for loving the Lord enough to keep loving each other through it all. i know my life and your life will be blessed by the integrity of your marriage.(p.s. my parents are happy and love eac other...no worries.
3- family dinners. tonight the family hit P.F. Changs and TCBY for a little family time to celebrate the rents anniversary and my last night before camp. lets just say awesome. i love my family so so much and am so blessed by them and the time we have together. God truly gave me the best when it comes to family. only wish my brother michael could have been there. i miss him beyond belief. good ol' Florida had to steal him away.
4-steriod shots. i have ridiculously bad seasonal allergies. mostly in the spring, sometimes fall. but the point is that today i got a steriod shot to help with my allergies before i head off to camp...and its the best. i hate shots. but i love steriod shots. lifesavers. i feel like a million bucks compared to yesterday. thank God for modern medicine.
5-my cell group. we had a cell group retreat this past weekend and it was one of the best times i've ever had with those girls. i adore every single one of them for so so so many reasons. they are amazing and blow me away and i love knowing their hearts even more than before. i am so blessed. holy smokes.
6-i found out what activity classes i'm teaching this summer at new life. H2WHOA! and Olympiad. holy moly. i'm stoked. H2WHOA is the most hilarious activity class ever cause its for junior campers and its awesome, and olympiad is gonna be da best. i can't wait.
-1 i miss my friends a lot. i had a bunch a friendships really strengthen and grow towards the end of the semester and now all of my friends are gone for the summer. i miss them. YAY FOR NEW FRIENDS AT CAMP!
7- did i mention senior retreat before? cause i'm sure i did but its worth another honorable mention. take my word for it. best.

-abbie lay.

write me letters at camp!
Abbie Lay
160 New Life Ranch Drive
Colcord, OK
74338

have a blessed summer.

tool bag.

t fizzy.

1-lunch with jessica tolan and kelly johnson. my lovely friends and future roommates. it was our last lunch before we all go our ways for the summer, won't see either of them till august...sad.
2-chipotle. i love burritos. also garland autry was there. whats better?
3- maddox cash crossland was particularly charming today. love that little boy.
4-oliver and company. an old favorite disney movie that we never owned when i was little. i recently found it on VHS at Goodwill. best ever. watching it now.
5-chris albritton, ben hartness, and james mix. some of my favorite boys to hang out with. they crack me up. loved unexpectedly spending time with them today
5.5- today i listened to First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes on the way to fay, and then i was on stumbleupon tonight and the music video came up. booyah.(weird video though, not a fan)

"Hey man, if this is torture, chain me to da wall"
-tito from oliver and company.



-Abbie

bones like iron, blood like mercury

tee phive

1-friends...not the real people, the tv show. i love it. i am watching it. i am happy.
2-thrift stores.
3-bliss cupcakes. yum city.
4-the mustache store. all mustaches all the time.
5-"i'm gonna marry you" maddox crossland(the 3 year old i nanny)

easy.

-packs

insomnia

so i believe that to some extent i am an insomniac. i don't know that this is based on fact, but i think its true and my sleeping patterns resemble those of insomniacs that i know. i realize that insomnia is linked to depression and i know i'm not depressed but it doesn't change the fact that i can't fall asleep at night. its cause my mind runs a million miles an hour and keep me awake for ever at night. its been this way since i was a kid. i would read entire books in a night because i couldn't sleep. its a good thing that i am high energy and don't need a lot of sleep to function, give me six hours and i'm set.plus i don't like sleeping, its boring. all of this is said to give purpose to my blogging at 1 in the morning. and thats all.
now for some T5.

1. God's grace and forgiveness. it is new every morning. great is His faithfulness.
2. the fact that He is strong in my weakness. I was given the opportunity to speak to some seniors in high school this weekend about what it looks like to do ministry in college(i am totally not worthy of that honor), and going into i really didn't know what i was going to say, but it was so beautiful to see God pull through and give me words. Praise Him from whom all blessings flow.
3. sweet incoming freshman. this sounds weird but like i said i hung out with seniors this weekend and they are amazing! I cannot wait to further my friendships with those girls cause they are wonderful!so blessed.
4. laughter. i love nothing more than laughing. i love to make other people laugh and i love laughing with others. this weekend i laughed more than i've laughed in awhile. so much fun with new and old friends. i love the unexpected community that the Lord has placed in my life, He knows my heart so well.
5. My cell group. they could be in my T5 everytime. cause they are superstars and i love them so much. Being at a senior retreat made it so hard to not get emotional and start counting down the days till my girls graduate(which is two years from now...makes me teary), but i have to constantly remind myself to live in today with them and take advantage of every moment we've got. LOVE THEM. as i said before God knows my heart so, so well.

-abbie lay

bingo

so this is lame but i thought that my blog got deleted and i went into panic mode....maybe that says something about my blogging habits...

todays T5

1. MY NEPHEW IS 1!!!!!!!!! my lands, cannot believe that my sweet baby nephew is already 1 year old! So thankful to God for his health and safety in his first year of life! praying God continues to protect his sweet life and make him into a man after God's own heart, theres nothing i want more than to see that sweet boy grow into a Godly man, good thing he has parents that love Jesus so much!

2. last college ministry group of the year. i have been so blessed by my group this year and have absolutely loved that new friends and thefriends that i've grown closer to because of it, so beautiful! i will truly miss them this summer

3. Jessica Tolan, Kelly Johnson, and Katie Hartness. my roommates next year. my heart just jumps for joy every time i think about it. after a year of living alone i can't wait to have community in a living arrangment. holy mokes, i am so blessed to have them as my roomies for at least the next 2 years!!!!

4. God's unfailing love. no matter how much i dislike myself or get down on myself God never stops loving me, and not even for any particular reason, not because of anything i've ever done or will ever do, He just loves me because He is love. There is nothing more puzzling and beautiful and freeing than that. i mean wow.

5. challenges. i love when God challenges me. gives me something new that i absolutely cannot do within my own human power. i love needing him and relying on him. I love Him most.

my momma, liam daniel, and me at lunch on his birthday. love love love.

-aunt abbie

You are my JOY

so i've been super good at blogging lately because it keeps me from studying...and i hate studying.

1. my World Lit final- easy squeezey lemon peezey. so much better than i could have ever imagined. PTL.
2. CROSSLANDS ARE BACK. holy smokes i missed those hooks while they were in the Bahamas! i mean really. they are wonderful and 10 days was way too long to go without seeing them. really.
2.5 while the crosslands were gone Maddox grew an inch...bitter sweet. my little pirate is growing up way too fast.
3. Sonic date with Hannah Hawley. nuff said. she is truly a dear. love her sweet spirit.
4. getting the Staff Compass(handbook) from Rhett today for NLR this summer. Got me so excited for the ranch! golly its only 14 days away...ooc.
5. my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. probably my favorite family. i love that they live so close and i can spend time with them. they are wonderful and i love them.
5.5 today my nephew, Liam, cuddled with a stuffed elmo toy and it was by far the cutest thing i've ever seen...can't believe he's one day away from being a big one year old! crazy!

how my sweet taylor and carter crossland will forever live in my memory. this picture is from summer '07 when i went to florida with them...i'm 15, tay is 8 and carter is 6...tears.(i just got the teeniest hole in my heart.)
-abbie

Mums Day

1. today was my sweet nephew's 1st birthday party! Such a joyful celebration of his little life! love love love that boy
2. reunions. the bulk of my cell group was at church today and we all sat together at college ministry-jessica, katherine anne, tiffany, me, sarah, and sam! love being together again, miss those girls, we're spread between JBU, UofA, UCA, and OBU. but we're together again, love 'em.
3. studying for finals-now don't think that i like finals or studying but this means that its almost finals time which means school is almost over! booyah.
4. this one is from friday but it needs to be T5ed, after much prayer and patience The Lord provided a job for Al Stehben. God is so faithful and i'm so happy to see that family trusting the Lord and being taken care of! LOVE.
5. last but not least: MOTHERS DAY. I am blessed with the greatest mother alive. i mean really. she is wonderful, such a blessing and example of a Godly woman raising a family and loving the Lord. i can never thank her enough for all she does and can never thank God enough for giving me her!


Probably one of my favorite family pictures ever.
love love love it.

-abbie lay.

its that thing where...

i'm really feeling the T5 blog, so i'm gonna keep trucking along

1-listening to "The Best of Passion" and they are singing "we fall down" in swahili and skyping a tribe in Africa, and everything about that is so beautiful. Connecting the church here to the church across the world. So awesome to remember our brothers and sisters worshiping the Lord right alongside us from other continents. LOVE IT. God is great.
2-another beautiful May day, it actually got hot today, which is a dream come true.
3-sweet sweet time with my cell girls again today(this weekend has been full of them, love it!) we went to the RHHS spring folly to support Sara Reidy and then went to TCBY(delish.0). love spending good quality time with those girls
4-time with my family. always good. gotta get in the quality time before i head off to camp for 10 weeks.
5-looking forward to camp...its so exciting to think about how i get to spend the whole summer watching God's glorious plan unfold in so many individuals! holy moly i can't wait!

"I may not have gone where i intended to go, but i think i have ended up where i needed to be"
-Douglas Adams
(story of my life)
-abbie

T5+T5=T10

(yesterday)
1. i got an A on my final paper for my Modern American Literature class. Which means if i get an A on the final I'll get an A in the class...hallelujah.
2. last day of classes until August 22nd...nuff said.
3. thrift store shopping which resulted in a VHS copy of my favorite Mary-Kate and Ashley movie It Takes Two. now this is a big deal cause i loved the movie as a kid and we recorded from tv, but its missing the first 15 minutes, which always broke my heart. now i have it. also i love VHS, something about it makes me smile. so simple.
4. snow cones. honestly whats not to love? my perfect day involves bike riding and snow cone consumption...quick way to my heart? sing phil collins and buy me a snow cone.
5. foam party at the dojo. even though it got shut down by the cops it was still a blast and tiffany pennington was there. great time with friends, old and new. plus who doesn't love dancing in 2 feet of foam? nothin but net.

(today)
1. sleeping till 10:30...i haven't done that since...ever.(still only got 8 hours cause i didn't go to bed till 2...oh well)
2. lunch with mandie and wil, sweet john brown friends that always bring a smile to my face.
3. spending time with my cell girls. they are easily some of my favorite people alive. today we went to hope's soccer game and had some sweet time just being together. i love it. i will miss them so so so so so much this summer. they are my greatest gift from God. He knows me so well.
4. Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium. if you haven't seen it, watch it. makes me cry everytime. i'm a sucker for whimsy. it may be a children's movie but don't be fooled, its got some good stuff in there.
5. sitting in my bed reading harry potter 4. i haven't had a second to read anything but a school book all semester and have been sitting on page 347 of HP4 since Christmas break, its so nice to finally have time to do some leisure reading...i'm such an english major.

thats it.

"So many doors opening and closing - it's like a tornado some days. Almost as if the universe is clapping."

-abbie
my heart overflows.

To Be Young

So i wanted a little break from writing an analysis of Robert Browning's "The Lost Leader"(yes, it is as exciting as it sounds...), so i thought i'd blog. Mostly cause i haven't blogged in something like 2 months, maybe longer, but i also wanted to write something that wouldn't be graded. where i didn't have to worry about ANYTHING. i can write as many choppy sentences as i want and as many long, wordy sentences as i want. i do what i want. also i just needed to put all my thoughts out of my little brain so i'd have more room to think critically about Browning's opinions on liberalism and conservatism. boom.

Thinks i am thinking:
1. i really like straight lines
2. i like patterns and symmetry. a lot.
3. i could do an entire blog inspired by what i read in My Utmost for His Highest everyday. no lie. its the best book ever written in my opinion.
4. i secretly like writing papers.
5. i make myself laugh harder than anyone else makes me laugh. except for maybe tiffany pennington and arrested development.
6. today i wrote a play that my mother read and then asked me what drugs i am taking...perf.
7. 80% of the music i have listened to in the last 2 weeks has been Shane and Shane. can't get enough. food for the soul. subsequently Shane and Shane pandora station is the best one yet.
8. I go through jags like that where i just listen to one or two artists or one playlist for about a month and then find a new obsession. First it was my Parenthood(tv show) playlist(best playlist ever made), then it was my 90's music playlist, then it was Mumford and Sons, then Passion 2011 for about a month, then Avett Brothers and Ray LaMontagne(another best), then Dave Matthews Band(for about another month), and now its Shane and Shane all day e'er day.
p.s. Avett Brothers pandora station is another winner if you're ever in the mood for some solid folky tunes.
9. i both love and hate the truth that the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. Its so easy to gauge where my heart is by the way that i think and speak. awesome accountability.
10. Avett Brothers song "Colorshow" is a new favorite. "be loud, let your colors show"
11. "Lord I'm finding who I am in all You are" beautiful.
12. it sometimes genuinely scares me, and always humbles me, to think about how abundantly blessed i am. my life is a true testimony to the Lord's beautiful, gracious faithfulness. not in the conventional way that people would think of a life being blessed, but i am blessed in a way that speaks of God's glory, and that is the best kind of blessing that a child of the King could ask for.
13. i am sorry that i didn't pray for Osama Bin Laden's soul while he was alive. we are the body.
14. i cannot wait to be in heaven with my Jesus, but i LOVE being apart of Christ's mission on Earth. the greatest honor.
15. my nephew is about to turn 1 year old. unbelievable. it feels like my sister was just telling me she was pregnant yesterday.
16. I never realize how often i am injured until i tell people about it, then i understand why people make fun of me.
17. i pray daily that people don't see me when they look at me, but that they see Jesus.
18. "break my heart with the things that break Yours"
19. i wish i was good at photography. photographers are so cool.
20. i love responsibilities. i love being forced into rising to a challenge. tasks are one of my favorite things.

Sometimes when i think back to who i was in high school and even who i was last year i can't help but smile. God has completely changed my whole world and my whole heart, and heres the thing, back then, i thought i loved Jesus. But i didn't even know what that began to look like. I loved Jesus because of what He could do for me, not because He allows Himself to be glorified through my life. i am now so much more of the person that back then i wished i could be! God is so faithful. i'll blog more about it sometime, but God has really put me through the fire and very little about it has been fun or even appealing from a worldly standpoint, but from where i'm standing, eyes fixed on Christ, its looking alright to me! God is so good and knows exactly what we need as His children. that is so beautiful. if you simply allow yourself to sit back and watch Him take control of your life, it'll be better than you'd ever imagine. He is so good. truly, wholly, perfectly, completely: He is good.

i will leave with my favorite quote from a children's movie:
"Your life is an occasion, rise to it"
-Mr. Magorium

"that'll do pig."(theres another for ya)
-abbie