An excerpt from the devotion I'm doing with my Bible study - The Me I Want To Be by John Orthberg
" Because you have been created by God as a unique person, his plan to grow you will not look the same as his plan to grow anyone else....
If we really want to help someone grow, we will have to help them in a way that fits their wiring.
Our great model for this is God himself, for he always knows just what each person needs.
He had Abraham take a walk, Elijah take a nap, Joshua take a lap and Adam take the rap.
He gave Moses a forty-year time out, he gave David a harp and a dance, and he gave Paul a pen and a scroll.
He wrestled with Jacob, argued with Job, whispered with Elijah, warned Cain, and comforted Hagar.
He gave Aaron an altar, Miriam a song, Gideon a fleece, Peter a name, and Elisha a mantle.
Jesus was stern with the rich young ruler, tender with the women caught in adultery, patient with the disciples, blistering with the scribes, gentle with the children and gracious with the thief on the cross.
God never grows two people the same way. God is a hand-crafter, not a mass producer."
A year ago today, my favorite nephew, David Walker Scott, was born! 2011 was a rough year for my family, but with David we were able to experience life with a new perspective and find joy and comfort in the chubby cheeks of this sweet new baby. David is such a little boy! He is curious, playful, persistent, and already so smart. He has his Mommy's big pouty lips and his Daddy's big brown eyes and long eyelashes. He is growing up so fast and I can't believe that he's been in my life for an entire year. I can't imagine life without my sweet little nephew. Happy first birthday David, I love you so much!
(here's the video Lindy made from when he was born. Watch it, it's so sweet!)
Here's a look back at my first year as an Aunt...
FEBRUARY 2011
I was taking a biology test when David was born, and I was SOOOO upset that I couldn't be there to meet him. But a few days after I was able to come home and finally see my new nephew!
Look at his cute little jacket! Ah, adorable.
MARCH
David wearing the little clothes I got him from the Gap outlets up here in Boone!
APRIL
Yay, Aunt Laura's home! And suddenly David is a chubby little thing.
Happy Easter!
MAY
Look how big he is getting! He can really start to smile now!
JUNE
Summer means a lot more time with Aunt Laura!
JULY
(After I got back from a run) No more newborn, definitely a chubby little baby! He loves playing with his Grandaddy.
AUGUST
At the beach together! U-S-C, goooo COCKS!
At our 20th birthday dinner at PF Changs!
SEPTEMBER
(Apparently this is the only month I didn't get a picture with/of David! I know I came home for the ECU vs. USC game so I know saw him! We must've just not taken a picture. This is us skyping on the 29th of August though, so that's close enough!)
OCTOBER
The fam came up for a mountain trip to celebrate my Dad's birthday! David loved being outside and playing in the grass.
NOVEMBER
David and I went to Blakeney with Ashley to take a Christmas card photo shoot. They turned out so cute! He didn't like to face us though, he'd rather look at all of the shiny ornaments!
DECEMBER
Finally home for Christmas break! Ashley, David and I got a lot of quality time together, which I love!
JANUARY
I went with Ash and my Mom to get David's hair cut for the first time! Bye bye mullet, hello little toddler!
FEBRUARY
And this is from this past weekend at David's first birthday! I cannot believe that he is one. What a cutie! I love him more than I could've ever imagined.
As I sit here in Espresso News, watching the snow swirl outside, drinking a peppermint white mocha, uploading and editing Her Campus Content, instagramming everything in sight, and procrastinating on anything involving class, I can't help but think of the meeting I had about a year and half ago.
I'm sure I mentioned it on here, but I had met with the head of the Graphic Design department after a semester or two as a graphic design student in the art department of ASU.
I had spent almost 200 dollars on art supplies, lugged two 1ft by 2ft pads of paper around campus, taken drawing, sketched a nude man, painted my way through design fundamentals and I was in the process of preparing myself for the portfolio review process.
I scheduled the appointment to make sure I was on the right track, and the man I met with was the most harsh, arrogant (and wrong, in my opinion) man I had ever met.
After about 30 minutes of trying to tell me to "be what I was drawing" he said to me, "you don't even seem like a creative person" and asked me "why are you even f***ing around with graphic design?"
Needless to say, I changed my major. And I'm really glad that I did.
And sir, (if for some reason he ever stumbles across my blog) I would like you to know that I am now the President-EIC of Her Campus magazine at AppState. I've had an internship with Charlotte Style Magazine, worked for The PEEL, been offered an interview with a leading digital media advertising agency in Boston and submitted an application to Conde Nast just for the heck of it.
I don't know about you, but it seems like you read me a little wrong.
The end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 have been way different than I expected. In one area in particular... and that's friendship.
At the end of 2011, friendships that I treasured and truly believed would last for years seemed to fall off of the map. Whether over petty arguments or just the general fading apart overtime that sadly happens in life, they weren't where I had thought they'd be. I was really upset by it and I still am. I'm hoping it'll change, I hate losing friends. No one likes to think back to good memories and realize that the people involved in them aren't even there to talk to anymore.
Friends are so precious to me because, unfortunately, I've struggled with finding that key group of friends throughout my life. Loneliness is my biggest enemy, it creeps up on me at just the right time.
But thankfully 2012 has been full of new friendships! Her Campus has been such a blessing to me, not only for my resume, but for my friendships. I love meeting with the Exec girls and chatting about TV shows and the HC writers are starting to become some of my favorite people on the ASU campus.
But not only that, I'm also meeting girls through a common faith, which is so awesome. About 2 weeks ago I invited my friend Brooke, who I met through my dorm freshman year, to come to Elevation with me. Having Elevation here is one of the best things that's happened to Boone. I picked her up and we went together and she ended up loving it. During the car ride home, we mentioned meeting once a week for a book-club-coffee-date-god-time.
Well, little did we know that our two person book-club-coffee-date-god-time would turn into about 10-12 girls getting together to grow in the Lord.
I know that God is all over this. We created a Facebook group, I texted friends and Brooke did too, and within a night we'd gotten 5 times bigger.
I know that this is something that was part of his plan. As some friendships are fading, new ones are beginning. "When God closes a door, he opens a window..."
This is a mismatched group of girls. We're not perfect, but we're not judging. Some of us grew up in the Church, others of us know very little. We're all just beginning to get to know each other. But We're all meeting together to just listen, to talk, to socialize, to establish a solid group of girl friends that we can rely on to motivate us, hold us accountable and to draw us closer to the Lord.
I want to try to help lead these girls in the right direction and I want to follow them in their pursuit of God. I'm so excited for what He has in store.
" You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say Lord blessed be your name..."
