random bull beauty

i've been meaning to share this picture with y'all, but haven't found the perfect post to include it. so, it is just going to be random fun! i love this photo so much. we got close enough for mr. bull to give us this fabulous look of "i see you and you better not mess with me". so, you are probably wondering when i took this photograph, because it is not everyday that i am out in the country hanging out with bulls. well, i took it a few weekends ago on our tour of the clark's land after i finished photographing their sweet little thing:

be sure to check out my photography page on facebook to see more of her sweet photos!

happy memorial day

i hope you all had a wonderful memorial day weekend! we spent the weekend visiting our dear friend brooks, who just so happens to be in the army now. it was so great to see him and spend some time with him. knowing that he is sacrificing his life to be in the military makes days like memorial day so much more meaningful to me. so thank you, brooks for your sacrifice and service!

exciting news: we bought a car this weekend! yes, the liberty is gone to a good home and we are now the proud owner of a 2011 hyundai elantra! she is such a doll and will come in handy in the city thanks to her hi-tech gps and good gas mileage.

after church on sunday, we headed to lake martin and enjoyed being on the water until sunset. thank you aimee and wyatt for that much needed boat ride!

i forgot to pack my camera, but thankfully tyler had his iphone so i could capture some of our afternoon. tyler even edited these for me on his phone...just one more reason why i need an iphone, right?

this time next week we will be living at the beach. pinch me, i must be dreaming!

the ends are beginning

school is officially over and room b111 will no longer be my home. so surreal to move out of my classroom and say good bye to the leopard hall. i took this picture of my classroom the summer we moved to auburn, right before we got married. with all the change that is occurring/about to occur in my life, i keep telling myself nothing will be crazier than the summer of '09: graduated college, got married, moved to a new state, and started my first year of teaching. whew! exhausted just thinking about all of that. time has flown by since that summer, yet so much has happened. i will miss being on the leopard team so much! my team and i definitely knew how to laugh and have fun!

here we are looking so fresh and so young at the beginning of my first year. leopard love to everyone!

after i cleaned up my classroom and turned in my keys, summer began with a going away party for the harts. i will never forget the day i met chane' at teacher orientation and what a gift our friendship was during our time in auburn!

gosh, the ends are actually beginning which is so surreal. ahhh i hate good byes and y'all know how much i love packing!

in the meantime, i am going to soak up every bit of summer! i have been enjoying ellen in the mornings, mid day gym visits, living in my pjs, lunch dates, and pampering myself with a hair cut. what's next on my calendar? oh just a little, okay LOT of organizing and packing! we will be living out of our suitcases during the month of june as we travel what feels like the world. get excited, because i am packing my camera and my appetite!

sole hope

last week our small group got together and got our craft on to help out a wonderful organization called sole hope. our friends, the stevens, were actually in a small group with the woman who started sole hope, back when they lived in asheville, north carolina. sole hope is a non-profit organization out of asheville that brings hope to widows and orphans in africa, by providing them shoes and teaching the women the trade of shoe making. shoes sound so simple and unimportant, but a lot of diseases enter the body through the feet. watch this video if you want to know more of sole hope's inspiration. the video is very graphic, but important, in order to realize the impact companies like sole hope and tom's shoes can have.

so, how were we able to help fix this huge problem?
we traced the shoe design on donated fabric samples, cut them out, and bagged them according to size. very simple and very fun! here is an action shot of the process:

such a wonderful experience to be a part of. with each pattern we cut out, some woman in africa is now going to assemble the pieces and create a pair of shoes that will protect someone from getting foot infections. so exciting! thank you stevens for introducing us to this wonderful organization!

confession: these past three weeks have been very busy and we have not been here very much. okay, so only once. but don't worry, we have made time for this:

yep, the best ice cream you could every buy at the grocery store. check it out. you won't be disappointed!

moving on up

so, what has been going on in the mccrary household lately? a lot. we had our second yard sale two weekends ago with the harts and had a blast. tyler especially loved the scooter while i loved soaking up some rays! the weather was perfect and the crowds were entertaining as all yard sales go. we didn't have much to sell, but what we did have to sell, sold and earned us some date night money {amsterdams, duh}. the bike is gone now, just in case you were wondering. what are we selling now? oh, just my car. moving to the city = desperate need of a fuel efficient car.

speaking of moving to the city, we will all be moving on up to our respective cities soon. we are definitely going to miss hanging out with the harts :(

we do have some exciting news though to share about our move to the atl...

last weekend we got a call from our realtor that a new condo was up for rent at one of our favorite buildings. we jumped in the car and 85ed it to the city. i am so thankful that we were able to see it, because it.is.perfect. definitely the best thing we have seen. two bedroom, two bath, hard wood floors, washer and dryer, wonderful work out facility and lots of natural light. a dream! we have been making many trips to atlanta to find the perfect spot to call home and i believe we are finally done searching. the Lord has provided and i am so excited about living in the city. i mean, come on, who wouldn't want this view???

until then, we will be wrapping up the school year, packing, taking some much needed vaca, and preparing for our new lives in atlanta. i look forward to showing you the before and after of our new home!

bike for sale

the end of an era. no more biking to school for tyler. it is hard to say good bye to a bike, but i don't think he will need this on his commute down peachtree to work :) good bye college, hello real world.

check out the ad on craigslist if you are interested!

small group supper

last week we had our church small group over for a little bbq! this group is great at a lot of things: sharing life, talking about our faith, praying together, moving people, watching sporting events, and especially sharing a meal. we've got some aspiring chefs and grillers in the group, which makes nights like these a lot of fun! for this supper, we went for a southern bbq theme, complete with backberry cobbler. i will share the recipe soon, i promise. take a look at this good looking food! yay for cookouts and especially corn!

small group couples, minus greg and mitchell.

the newest and sweetest member to our church small group, john embry. aimee and wyatt, thanks for that addition. love him!

disaster in the south

here is a reminder for all of us to continue to pray for the people that were affected by the tornadoes that ripped through the south last week. oh how thankful i am that He protected us from this storm.

genuine wisdom

well, i started writing this post about three weeks ago, and i finally finishing it! okay, so about a month ago i attended genuine wisdom, a women's conference at church of the apostles in atlanta. it was a refreshing weekend full of wonderful speakers, enlightening small group time, delicious food, and of course lovely little things like these flowers.

my dear friend meghan was in charge of this shindig and she did a wonderful job! each table had a unique table setting and each girl got a journal, handmade bookmark, and le pen to document the weekend. below is one of my favorite table arrangements. best part about this display? those are real eggs from one of the woman's chickens. chickens in the city? yes please.

okay, so now to the real reason for this post!

so, what did i learn? what nuggets of truth can i share with you? well, i wrote about 5 1/2 pages in my journal, so i believe the best way to share some of the things i learned with you will be in bullet form. i will also include some reflection questions through out, the exact ones that i asked myself while listening to the speakers.

• Fact Train vs Feel Train - this concept connected with me on a lot of levels. a lot of times in life and throughout the day to day we are faced with choices. personally, i ride the "feel train" often, and if i wasn't a Christian, i would never get off it. let me give you some examples: i don't really feel like cooking dinner. FACT: we need to eat dinner. i don't feel like cleaning the kitchen. FACT: if we don't clean the kitchen, then we will have bugs everywhere. now, i know those are simple examples, but this idea can be applied to much more deep and spiritual ideas. example: i don't feel like donating any more money to help that cause. FACT: as a Christian, i am called to give generously and serve others for the glory of God. i don't feel like forgiving the person who just hurt my feelings. FACT: i need to be quick to forgive and not keep a record of wrongs.
• which train are you on?
• definition of marriage - marriage is a permanent exclusive public commitment to share your entire life with someone else {roughly taken from a Tim Keller quote}
• the best gift you can give your spouse: spiritual independence
• we must be vulnerable with God first and deal with our sin before we can be honest and open with our spouse
• no one, not even your spouse will never satisfy our God-sized whole in our hearts. if we put our spouse on the pedestal where God belongs, we will either become clingy or exhausting.
• marriage is a sacrificial love - practice this in the mundane things in life
• raising children - Colossians 3:18-21; Ephesians 6:1-4; Psalm 127:1a
• the Lord must be your rock and foundation before it can be your family's
• pray, a lot. and then pray some more.
• freedom - only the free gift of grace through Jesus' death on a cross can bring you true freedom {John 10:10}
• grace is all we need. keep running back to the gospel!
• freedom comes when we give our struggles to the Lord - anger, bitterness, selfishness
• what are you holding on to?
• God is interested in change.
• are we allowing Him to change us?
• Isaiah 55 - the whole chapter!

i hope you find these words encouraging no matter what stage of life you are in or what you are going through. click here if you want to listen to any of the speakers from the event!

when i saw the commercial for this about a month ago, i knew i had to try it. i have been a maybelline mascara user my entire makeup career, and this is by far the best mascara they have ever made. i typically buy the double sided tube - the one that you prime first, and then darken your lashes. "falsies" not only cuts my application time in half, but also gives even better volume and length! i love it. i look forward to putting on mascara now.

p.s. i tried to take a picture of my lashes to show you the results, but my eyeball just looked too weird. feel free to stare at my lashes next time you see me or try it out yourself! as always, if you do try it, let me know what you think!