Hey Friends!!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to get on this blog... Break has been busy and crazy, but is finally starting to be really what I thought it was going to be. Well most people know about everything with my family and with my brother and that was really wearing me down at first. My heart really ached for them in many ways and I had no idea what to do or how to make it stop because it really got to the point where I was really sad and broken and was really finding it hard to love like I usually do. I didn't understand why the thing that had come so easy to me was so hard that it almost seemed impossible for me. My quiet times were there, but they really lacked the quiet. My house is always pretty loud and I was beginning to think that at any given time of the night and day you could find someone in the house up and making lots of noise. I would take time and read the devotion for the day and read chapters of God's word, but I was easily distracted from the noise and people coming in and out that my quiet times were not a time that was fully devoted to God... if that makes any sense. I felt like my life was really lacking peace... and if there was anything that was needed in my house that was it. So that night Julia and I decided to have a real quiet time of an hour where more listening was done and I really actually spent time with God than just doing the required readings I set myself up with because of all the distractions. I really just prayed for everything that was going on in my family and for peace in my heart that everything was alright. That night I prayed until I fell asleep which was probably for about an hour or hour and fifteen. But I really feel like God answered everything in that prayer. I got what I desperately needed at that time rest and most of all rest given by him. After that day, probably the 21st or earlier, my quiet times have been amazing and full of answers! And I couldn't be more thankful for them! I really am seeing God and all that he created from the very beginning of time, since I am going through the Old Testament. And I really see God loving down on them and really delivering promises of the faithful. Not to mention some leaders that God really guided their life.. it is encouraging and beautiful! I just see God contstantly at work and reveaing himself to people. I see the knowledge that God have given them because they sought him. And I am just exploring how God developed a nation that was for Him.
haha sorry to make this so long but I am catching up since I haven't posted... I have also finished reading Redeeming Love and seriously when Chelsea told me that I would never put it down... I believed her, haha knowing that she knows a good book when she reads one, but I literally did not put it down! I read it straight through one page after another and I was really astonished not by the love story between Michael and Sarah, but by the love that was there with Sarah and God and how he formed her and loved her in her life...It made me cry and just realize how truely beautiful and life changing a life with the Savior is... which I think sometimes I forget to really aknowledge that. I think back on the book on all the intimate moments she had with God... and I see them in the book and aknowledge them as inimate moments with God, but in my life I think I look past many of them. Which makes me miss something that God is given me due to the desires of my heart. I just think back to particular scenes that I can't mention cause everyone hasn't read, and I really see how God loved her and sent Micheal to show the love he had for her by him. Wow it was really just amazing. The best book I have really ever read.
And now I am reading Captivating which is also really really good so far! So if anyone is looking for another good read I'd recommend that one! But I am really looking forward to next semester and seeing how God is growing in all of us! I can't wait to see you all again! I miss you guys so much and I really miss spending time with everyone! I hope everyone's breaks are continually good and revealing things that our hearts are asking and lifting up!

Love
Kelly Kemick

Hi lovelies!

I'm so glad to hear about how everyone is doing...that everyone is safe and that Christmas break seems to have been treating you all well. God certainly heard our prayers! It has been fairly uneventful for me, which is nice, since I really just wanted a relaxing time. I have been sleeping in every day (except Christmas), reading a lot, eating too much, playing with my siblings and loving on my baby brother (who is now walking!), and spending lots of good time with Devon. I have also gotten to catch up a lot with friends from the youth group. One of my best friends, Amylynn, moved to Portugal shortly after I went to college, but her family came back for Christmas here and it was sooo good to spend some time with her.

One thing I have enjoyed so much is being at my home church on Sunday mornings and seeing all the familiar faces and talking to the people I love so so much. Quiet times have been consistent as well, and although nothing has been lifechanging, God has been using different things to show me exactly what it means to surrender my life to Him. When I reach the end of the day and am talking to Him, often I feel (as Logan mentioned in her blog) like a failure. I think of all the ways that I should have loved my parents better, how I shouldn't have been snappy with my siblings, I should have this, I should have that, etc etc. He has shown me through His grace (!!) that of course I will mess up. I cannot possibly become perfect in a day. Or ever. But He loves me in spite of my mistakes, He forgives me, and He continually changes me to become more like Him. I just have to trust that I AM being changed...I pray for that so often - just that He would mold me and break me and do whatever it takes to rid me of myself. So basically what I am learning is quiet obedience and faithfulness. I come to Him, talk to Him, read His Word, and He is there with me. I don't have to have my world rocked in every conversation or quiet time. I just need to be faithful and obedient, and He will have His way in me. I take such comfort in that.

I am looking forward to second semester - I constantly have to remind myself that I'm not at home forever! I keep forgetting I eventually have to pack all my stuff up again (which I'm dreading) and go back. First semester was definitely blessed for me, and I'm so thankful for that. I could not have asked for a smoother transition! I can't wait to see all of you and have core group again; I have really missed it!!!!!! Please stay safe and keep writing on here because I LOVE hearing about what's going on!!!

Love love love,
Chelsea

He has a plan, don't worry

hello lovely ladies! first of all, jane latham, i am so glad to hear that you had a argument-free Christmas and that God traveled with you and your friends to colorado. that's so amazing!secondly, thanks you so much logan for sharing your "God news" with us. i've actually been experiencing something similar; more a feeling of humility and of simply being small. and that's what i wanted to share with y'all...

so, i just finished redeeming love yesterday and i can't say enough how much God spoke to me while i was reading it. honestly, despite chelsea and julia's high praises of the book, i went in not expecting to love it. but it's such a good novel! as those of you who were able to go on the retreat may remember, i've been getting frustrated with God over the last few years because i have yet to been sent a boyfriend. i always thought that it would happen eventually, so why rush it; God knows what he's doing, right? but as high school came to a close and i had yet to have that kind of relationship, my patience began wearing thin. however, over the past semester, and especially while reading redeeming love, God began giving me peace about it and enlightening me that he has a plan so much bigger than anyone of us can even fathom. He told me that before he's going to send me someone, He wants me to get to know myself and Him so much better so that my future husband doesn't become the center of my world, my Father does. after reading, i have a feeling that i'm still not gonna find my future husband for a long while, but He's putting me at ease about it. seriously! read redeeming love, if you have already, and you will understand exactly what i'm talking about.

sorry for such a long entry, guys. love and miss y'all lots! [is that deep enough for you, logan? ;) ]

hello girls!

i have really enjoyed catching up on our blog today...because my internet was down for a few days and then life became very busy around Christmas...so i havent been on since my last post! i just wanted to say that i miss you all bunches and im really excited for seeing all of y'all back at UVA. Christmas was really good for me, and I hope that it was just as good if not better for all of you. I spent a whole lot of time with extended family and friends, and I really felt God's presence throughout all of the goings on. I especially especially LOVED being back at my church for our christmas eve midnight candelight service, it gets me teary eyed and gives me goosebumps every year! on another note, I am very thankful because this year christmas went by without a family argument or anything like that. that may not sound like a lot, but many years have included unpleasant hiccups to the happy spirits and love...so the lack of arguments was really good this year! thanks be to God. that was an unplanned blessing in and of itself.

Right now, I am sitting in a condo in Breckenridge, CO on a ski trip with one of my best friends from highschool. God has definitely been close to me throughout this trip, because today we arrived here after a straight 30 hours of riding in the car. There were pretty bad road conditions due to the snow and ice on the roads, and I can literally say that God saved us on our journey. This morning around 7:00, I was sleeping in the car only to be awoken by my friend's mom screaming because the car was out of control due to an ice skid. We spun around multiple times, crossed the median, and stopped literally 10 feet from the other side of the highway and oncoming traffic. I was very very scared, but I could stay calm because I could feel God's presence and my mind was full of thanks and prayers to him. We are all fine and got out of the embankment with the help of a state trooper, but I know that God is the reason behind our safety and amazing luck.

SO...sorry for the somewhat dramatic news, but I just feel the need to share this and to express my deep deep thanks and gratitude to God. I pray that all of you will remain safe throughout the holiday and your trips back to school; I know that God will be watching over all of us.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful next few weeks! It's going to be a strange change to go back to school after being home for so long, but I am looking forward to it.

I love all of y'all!

<3 Jane Latham

nothing in this world

Hope everyone's christmas went well. Mine was really nice this year, very busy though. My family goes to PA every year to spend it with all our extended family. It was great, we had several evenings of wonderful dinners and exchanging gifts and I was able to go skiing a few times with my brother and cousins so that was really fun. I'm back in the 757 now and I'll be here for another week and then I leave for the Dominican. Also, Julia and Carson and a lot of other people in chi alpha are at Onething right now, so it'd be great if the rest of us could be praying for them and what God's doing there. Hope everyone is loving Redeeming Love... I have a book anyone can borrow if you'd like.

In God news.. I think God is stirring some things in my heart... I'm not sure what's really going on, sometimes I feel really distant from God and that I'm a failure at being a good friend, a good leader, a good servant, at being a Christian in general.. and then I'm reminded that I am a failure in my very essence and that is the reason I need a Savior. God does not need me to do anything, there is nothing I can add to His work, and all my striving to be whoever I think I should be is very futile; He continually whispers "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted..." Psalm 46. I think when God does the most teaching in me is when I'm still and He's free work outside of my expectations. And yet I constantly struggle with letting go of them. And, on another note, sometimes I feel very hungry for more of God and I think I'm going to chase that feeling right now...
I just listened to this song while writing this and it seems to perfectly describe how I feel.. I love it when that happens :) so enjoy.. and feedback is definitely welcome.. it'd be sweet if we took this blog a little deeper :)

Nothing in this world
no treasure man could buy
could take the place of drawing near to you
theres nothing i want more
than to spend my days with you
dwelling in your secret place of praise

and oh how i need i need you
jesus i need you
you are the one that satistifes
you are the one that satisfies

so place within my heart
a fire that burns for you
that waters cannot quench nor wash away
and let that fire blaze through all eternity
where one day i shall see you face to face

Tim Hughes - Nothing in this world

Hey!! I hope everyone's Christmas went amazingly, and that break is going well. I miss all of yall so much and can't wait to see you again! I haven't started Redeeming Love yet, but I'm going to use Kelly's copy when she's finished but I did get a new study Bible for Christmas and it is absolutely amazing, it's all about knowing God and I already feel like I have learned so much. But anyway, I just wanted to say hey to everybody and let yall know how much I miss you! <3 Amy

hey y'all! i'm so glad to read that everyone is having a great break! mine is going swimmingly as well. i got home the night of the twelfth, so i really can't complain; the time has been full of sleep, friends, and lots of home-cooked food! :D so good. as a surprise for the when i got home, my ma made me a little uva christmas tree along with the regular one that we have. the little one is covered in blue lights; orange, blue, and white ribbon; and silver ornaments. it's so cute! so after that she got the idea that we should make one for my friend, jess. jess about flipped when she saw it and got even more excited when i told her she could actually take it home and keep it. baha! but it really has been amazing to get away from uva and be able to breath - as much as i DO love it. i just needed some space from certain people, if you know what i mean ;) family stuff has been going well, also, praise God! and julia, i am in the process of reading redeeming love! i'm only on chapter3, which is basically the 9th page, but i love it already...for basically no reason. it's gonna be good, i can tell!

i pray that everyone had an amzing Christmas! love you all!!!! <3