Super Saturday

this morning, charlie and i went to the saturday market in downtown greenville. we purchased some delicioso cupcakes from ICED...i had chocolate, charlie got buttercream with a cream cheese filling (his was DA BOMB DOT COM WITH EXTRA POM POMS)...and we bought some crowder peas (which we are going to shell ourselves) and some un-shucked corn, both from cody's stand which was fun because we got to see him and contribute to his business.

then we headed up highway 25 for some blackberry picking at Purdue's Farm. it's not your typical flat farm, but rather on a hillside so you are picking on a slope kind of. anyway, it's really cool, and i can't remember the last time i picked berries, so we had a blast. did i mention how melt in your mouth sweet and delicious the blackberries were?! charlie said at first when he started, he was picking 1 out of 10 and eating the other nine! needless to say, we got lots of berries and i'm already in the process of making some good ole fashion cobbler!

after that, we came home, got the bud and bug (aka, linus and luna) and headed back to downtown greenville for my first ever, Hot Dog Kind visit. the hot dog king, for those of you not native to the area, is a staple of greenville. i can't say exactly how long it's been there, but it's been there awhile. for more info, check out their facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenville-SC/The-Hot-Dog-King/95698743388

after stuffing myself with two bombing chili dogs, we decided it was a good time to give our dogs a treat. so we wound up at the barkery bistro, which is a little dog shop that bakes their own little treats and goodies for pups of all kinds/sizes and they sell a bunch of dog related products. linus and luna loved it! they also enjoyed the whole walk downtown despite constantly being stopped to be petted and oohed and awed at.

all in all, it was a great time with my husband charlie, who i've missed a lot over the past two weeks. and the fun isn't stopping there. we're headed to my papa's house tonight to spend the night before i go out and play two games tomorrow with the big red. it's a highly competitive and exclusive softball league. ;)

praise the Lord for good times with my best friend. i'm so glad God made him for me.

as the card i got charlie for our 3 year anniversary reads, "I found the one my heart loves." Song of Sol. 3:4

signs in the dark

quick cool story:

i was going to bed the other night at camp after a long day. i shut the door to my room, and bam, my silly bands were glowing like no other. at first i was like, whoa, these things glow! cool! and then, as i took them off, i realized something...i really thought about for the first time what my silly bands are...

now let's take a second before i go on to discuss how i do the silly band thing. i don't buy them. i don't ask people for them. i have two silly bands. why? because two people in life have given them to me. they didn't ask me if i wanted to pick one from their batch or if i wanted to trade. i simply have two silly bands...two silly bands that were given to me by two different people for two different reasons.

ok, let's resume.:

my silly bands are a softball bat and a Jesus fish. and that night, after a long day of camp away from my home and husband. away from my cute little dogs and instead with lots of children, young girls, old friends, current friends, new friends, and really just lost people...i realized why i was where i was. God confirmed it for me. He let me know that i'm not done with softball because He has this for me.

sometimes i wonder, or rather, Satan likes to tell me, you're too old to still be playing. what are you doing still doing camps and being all about softball, Norie? why don't you just quit and do PR and help contribute to the income? why don't you get a real job like everyone always teases you about not having?

but that night, God silenced that voice. He quieted all those questions and all that anxiety/worry/doubt that perhaps i'm still involved with softball out of selfish desires. He let me know something about my life. that right now, softball and Jesus are what i'm supposed to be doing. that if it was just softball, ya, that might be a selfish desire. but because Jesus is alive in me makes all the difference about what i'm doing. and i was, i am so thankful for that. i'm thankful to be reminded that God is using me and yet, still allowing me to be a part of something i love so much. our God truly is greater and higher than we can fathom. and i am so thankful and humbled to know:

Isaiah 55:9 (New International Version)

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Thank you, Lord.

Camp Central

wowzas. been awhile. but let me make my excuses...
1. i don't use my time wisely (i think that's more of a confession)
2. i've been super busy (it's an oldie but a goodie)
3. i just finished 2 weeks of softball camp (ok, so now you're probably giving me a lil bit of slack)

so ya, camp. camp, camp, camp. where do i begin? in the beginning, where it was 1,000 degrees in the great state of SC and there were just over 100 lil girls struggling to even pick up a ball in the sweltering heat...or should i just skip to the next part where i'm so tired that i'd give my right arm (ya, that's the pitching one) to go to sleep but i can't because there are children still awake because after one day of separation they miss their moms or because they don't feel good, which really means they just miss their moms but are refusing to admit it...hmmmm...how about just a summary?

last week:
Furman Camp
-some of the hottest days of my life
-got drilled in my hip by a ten year old i was front tossing to
-took a million kids to the bathroom that didn't actually have to go but just wanted to do anything other than play softball
-met most of the softball girls who i'll be coaching in the fall and loved every minute of them...consequently, i have become even more excited about starting my job because they seem really receptive to me as a coach
-got a silly band from a camper at the end of camp...thanks Haley :) she liked UGA so she hooked me up with a pink bat silly band...love it

this week:
UGA Camp
-equally as hot, but due to the set up of this camp, i was outside for longer periods of time, resulting in extreme exhaustion, mild sunburn (thanks to Troutskies for the neutragena 70+) and probably some dehydration
-had the MOST fun ever at camp with the counselors...especially Wiggins, Razey, Elmo, and Trout (aka, Troutskies, who by the way, i totally fell in love with at the camp; seriously, such a great person...did i mention she has red hair, freckles, and wears chacos)
-got to see brittney hubbard (duh, one of the coolest peeps i know) for a little bit and found out she would be returning to uga which i love because...um...let's see...she'll be super close by and i can come visit her and vice versa for at least the next 2 years of life...total score!
-hung out with moe-seph, aka, moe, who is looking healthier and was not shy to show off her intestine, which is hanging out of her body because she has this poop bag thing and of course she promptly asked me if i wanted to poke it...i didn't
-met lots of new people, mostly friends of mac attack, and they were all super cool
-caught up on some much needed hacky time
-had some really great conversations with really great people :) :) :)

overall...God is good. camp was hard...but He is good...which is cool because if you lean on Him, hard things become good...and weirdly enough, kind of fun.

next up, wilson team camp next week and then...(annoyingly long drumroll)...PUERTO RICO!!! let's pray and hope for good things, which i know He has for us there. my prayer is that He uses me to shine light into darkness.