Pet Peeve.

Lately I have been really struggling with an issue that is a huge pet-peeve of mine.
This would be when Christians (or those who say they are...) cuss.

The reason I've been struggling with this is because personally, I think it is wrong. But I just keep asking myself...why is it wrong? Does the Bible ever say, 'You may not cuss'? Kind of. It talks about not letting corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but not specifically cussing. This is where people get off thinking its okay, I think. Something else I have been debating is, are those words really wrong? And if they are, why are they wrong?

Well after watching the Passion 2011 session from Monday morning, I have come to a conclusion. Yes, it is wrong.
Louie Giglio spoke that morning and one of his main points was, 'Where ever you go, whatever you do, carry the name of Jesus with you'. After hearing Him speak and then later reflection on it, I was thinking about this whole Christians cussing thing and thought to myself, 'If a person who is supposedly a Christ follower cusses, are they carrying the name of Jesus with them? No, the answer is most definitely no. If you are cussing, what is setting you apart from this world? What is making people see a difference in you that comes because of Christ?

Granite, just because you cuss may not necessarilly make someone turn away from Christ...but I can garuntee it is not leading people to Him...and isn't that what we are supposed to be doing? Yes...yes it is.

So there you have it. My views on cussing. :)

I am Thankful

It's that time of year again...Happy Thanksgiving!
I love this time...the leaves are colorfull and on the ground, apple cider is always on hand, yummy fall candles are constantly burning, and pumpkin pie's are in the making. :)

Besides the food aspect of Thanksgiving, I love this holiday because it always makes me realize that I have so much to be thankful for...and alot of those things I take for grantide.
I thought I would make a list of only some of the things I am thankful for. I always do this at Thanksgiving. :)
(PS: sorry I've been MIA from the blog world lately :/ I gonna try to get better at this!)

I am thankful for....
-My Heavenly Father
who loves me unconditionally.
-The Holy Bible
God's words to me.
-The Gospel
no, not the 1st four books of the Bible. The Gospel.
-That the Inn in Jeruselem was full the night Jesus was to be born
otherwise the symbolism that Jesus was born for the rich and the poor would not exist.
-A roof over my head
with out it, I would be outside on the cold, 27 degree night.
-Food filling my pantry
there are so many people who don't know when their next meal will be.
-True friends

those people who never leave you...you know who you are. :)

-FrontLine
a youthgroup that encourages me in my walk with Christ.
-FL Senior girls
the girls who keep me accountable and help me grow in my relationship with Jesus.
-Team Haiti
the 15 people preparing to go to Haiti in March. All of them make me smile. Heller Heller!
-The FL band
the group of people who love to worship God through music...and love to lead.
-First Evangelical Free Church Wichita
the church I have been able to call home for nearly 18 years.
-My family
the people I love, feel comfortable with and who have my back. This would be my friends too. :)

I could go on...and on...and on with so many things that I am thankful for...but it's late...I'm tired...and the Macy's Day Parade is on early tomorrow! :)

So Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm thankful for you.

I'm not running.

Oh my. In 5 days I start yet another year of school. However, it really isn't just another year of school. It is a crazy big year. My senior year. Good grief. Seems like just yesterday I walked in to the AHS gym as a little freshman. I can picture myself sitting there listening to Baier talk about how high school is going to fly by. "Yeah right!!" I remember myself saying as I rolled my eyes. Well...he was exactly right.

This high school gig has been such a rollarcoaster. I'm not even going to get into all of that right now.

So last April/May I started having a few serious talks with my parents about changing schools. I had it all planned out and was certain it would work. I would use my grandparents address...since they live in the Heights district. I was even willing to drive about 20min to school each day. (I would like all of you to know how big of a deal that is. I am NOT a morning person. Seriously.) So anywho...after a few chats with the parentals they said they would talk and get back with me.

A day or so later, my mom and I were talking and she told me that everytime she thought about me switching schools she thought of Jonah. Dang. I couldn't believe it...but yet it kinda made since. A little. All I could think was, WHAT? Me? Jonah? No. Absolutly not. Jonah was a terrible person! God wanted him to tell His people...His broken, desprite people about Him and Jonah was too scared so he ran. The little sissy. Um hello, Jonah! Do you not realise how huge that is?!? God spoke to you and told you to go...and you ran. Lame.
Mmmkay. So back to how I'm like Jonah.
God didn't just drop me at the doors of Andover High for the heck of it. No. He had a reason. To this day I really don't know what that is...but there's a reason. Im sure of it. Do you see the similarities? I was trying to run from the difficulties in my life...just like Jonah did.

Ug. So here I am...5 days away from going back to AHS for my last year. I am not running from my problems. I'm facing them. So bring it, AHS. I'm ready.

Am I really teaching myself a lesson?

As I spend more and more time preparing the lessons I will be teaching my campers, I just keep feeling like these lessons are speaking to me far more than they will to the girls!

Accepted. Important. Safe. In Jesus
Those are kinda the 3 concepts for the week. This will be my 4th year as a councelor, and every year we teach those same 3 things but I think this is the first year that I've really stopped and thought about them. Wow. Thats about all I have to say.

Jesus accepts us just as we are! While we were sinners, Christ died for us! Amazing.
We are important to Jesus! This one kinda blows my mind. How could I be important to the one who created this earth, King of Kings, Alpha and Omega. Craziness. But is so comforting!
We are safe in Jesus!! We are safe from everything this world throws at us. He is always there to protect us. Something I need to always remember!

The first time I opened the lesson book, I just wanted to shut it. The first lesson is titled, "Best Friends Forever." Oh great, I thought. "BFF" is sort of a sore subjuct. (But not to worry, it is so much better!!) The memory verse for that lesson is John 15:15b. "I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." In the lesson book it has places that gives you personal stories you can share with your campers. One of the prompts in this lesson is: "Share here with your campers about a time when Jesus proved to you that He is your Best Friend." Wow. Where do I begin?! My whole life! Oh goodness. I can't wait for the campers to come Tuesday morning!

Well, considering I leave at 7:30am tomorrow and my suitcase is still in the storage room I should probibly stop blogging and start packing!

Love you all! Can't wait to share about Kids Camp!
Would LOVE all your prayers for me, my co-councelor Emma and my campers: Grace, Lauren, Rachel, Hope, Claire, Julianne, Denver and Jullianne. :)

YoungLives Camp 2010

Wow. What a week!

I think I am finally caught up on sleep...i slept 12 hours last night :) It was much needed! I came home physically, mentally and emotionally exausted! Pretty much every day at camp I journaled alittle bit about the day. I thought I would share some of that with y'all! (I swear, I have never heard 'y'all' used so much in one sentance!!

-What an eventful day! We left for YoungLives Camp at 7:30 am. About 3 1/2 hours later the tire blew out in the suburban behind us. We stopped for at 30/45 min to put the spare on. Started driving...about 45 min later that same suburban's other back tire compleatly blelw out! It was scary to watch! We stopped at some schetch canoe place for 45 min while they changed the tire. It was miserable...it was 101 degrees out. Quite obvioiusly Saten wants to make it hard for us to get to camp! That means that big things will be happening this week!

-For starters, lets just say that I want to scratch my eyeballs out. Last night was the 1st night of babysitting. I am with the 3-6month olds. Our nersery is about half the size of my own room...full of 17 babies and 13 childcare workers. Not to mention the cribs, toys, chairs, rockers and changing station we had to cram in there! For the full 4 hours we had them they all screamed bloody murder. It was compleate insainity. Finally, the moms picked their babies up at 11:15 (wayy to late to have babies out if you ask me!). I skipped breakfast this morning just to get an extra hour of sleep in! Here's hoping today goes 100 times better...or I might just run back to Kansas!

-Wow. Thank you Lord! Today was so much better than last night!! There were still some screamers...but i suppose that's to be expected! I'm pretty sure I am going to be responsible for 2 babies now....Malea and Alexiz. I was originally only supposed to be with Alexiz...but I was with Malea for the majority of they night and the grannies in there kept saying that I was so good with her. I hope that goes well!

-I just don't even know what to say. Today sucked. I want to stay in bed and never leave untill Tuesday at 11. (when we leave.) The suckiness has nothing to to with the babies for a change. :( Oh, and I really hate being refered to as "The Kansas Girls".

-I am starting to realize that I am going to miss sweet Alexiz and Malea when camp is over! They are both such sweet girls! Even though Malea is kinda high-mantenice she is still such a joy to be with. I am glad that I had her as well as Alexiz.

-Wow. Tonights club was really cool! 3 different trip leaders shared some stories about some of the girls in their group. Wow. Thats really all I have to say. Those girls come from such hard and difficult backgrounds. I can't even imgine it! So many of them were so shocked to hear that the childcare workers actually had to pay to come take care of their babies...and we arn't getting a penny for it! I think hearing those stories gave me a sudden energy burst. I want to take care of these babies well. Their moms so despritly need to hear about Jesus and that will happen because we are watching their kids!

-This is the last day of camp! It's sort of bittersweet. I am so ready to get home...sleep in...in my own bed and hang out with my friends! At the same time, I am really going to miss these babies. Also, I feel like I am just now starting to form a connection with Malea&Alexiz's moms!

-Well, Im on the bus traveling home. 9 hours in a charter bus...with 11 babies. This could get interesting! This morning was really cool. They had a New Beleivers Walk. All the new Chiristians gathered and walked to a few places and someone talked about their new faith and what it ment. It was very cool to see. As tired and stressed as I am, I think I want to go back next year!

Malea and I out for a stroller ride :)

Alexiz and I on the bus going home!

The "Kansas Girls" :) Our Childcare workers on Western Night

Prayer Request!

Hello fellow bloggers :)
At 7am Wednesday (the 16th) I depart for my adventure to YoungLives Camp.
I am going to serve as a childcare worker for the teen moms attending camp.
It is going to be a fun, exausting, hot, meaningful, spiritual and stressful week!

I am writing to ask for your prayer.
It is going to be a whole new experience for me! I will be around a new group of people...people I usually am never around.
It is also going to be a tremedously hot week in Texas! It isn't supposed to get below 91! I can handle some heat...all those babys, though? Not so much.
Also, be praying for the girls coming to camp. Pray that they come with hearts ready to hear what the Lord has for them. Pray that they will listen to Him and respond. Also, pray that it will be a time of bonding for them and their child. Also, pray that they have an incredibly fun and memorible week. Their lives are tough, so pray that this will be a very nice chage of pace.

I will be specifically taking care of a 6 month old named, Alexiz. Her mom is Breanna. I would love it if you would pray for Breanna this coming week. Also, pray that Breanna and I would be able to connect. I truly hope I can serve her well.

Well, thats all for now.
I'll be giving you all an update in the next week&a half or so!
♥ Hannah

It's about that time

Well, it's about that time!


I'm a SENIOR!


I know, I know...it blows my mind too!!





Wasn't it just yesterday that I walked in to the gym of Andover High school as a little Freshman?


I remember rolling my eyes everytime someone said "High school is going to fly by, so enjoy it!". Now, I realise that it is so cliche but oh so true!

Today was senior open mic Sunday at youth group. Some of the things they said really stuck with me.

• God needs to be your number one priority.


• Don't become "obsessed" with the next step in life. If you do, you will miss out on lots of mission opportunitys here.


• High school isn't all about finding out what you are good at and what you should do in the future. It's about finding out what God has for your life.


• You are what you eat. Spiritually. Eat Jesus, his word and prayer.

I pray that as I become a senior, I also become a better leader and someone that people look up to.