Brave.

This entry is dedicated to this wonderful CD, Nicole Nordeman's newest, called Brave. The title song is really phenomenal. I think i could listen to it all the time. Before I continue, i want to share the first verse and chorus with you:

The gate is wide, the road is paved in moderation.
Welcome to the middle ground.
It's safe and sound and
they're kind and quick to pull you in
cause it's been fear that ties me down in everything.
But it's been love,
Your love that cuts the strings...

So long status quo,
I think I just let go.
You make me wanna be brave.
I wanna be brave!
The way it always was
is no longer good enough.
You make me wanna be brave.

Anyway, I feel like this is such a powerful song especially because of where I am/my friends are in life. I was talking with my friend Jessie about it today actually. At this stage of life (post-college/starting "real" jobs), we're told the community and fellowship we had in college is just a "college" thing and that it's time to grow up. Now I totally understand that as you get older, you get more responsibilities. duh. But the fact is, even Christians have bought into this lie that the older you get, you have to buy into this "getting through life until you retire" mentality. We're not necessarily told this in words but through actions. My grandmother is on the verge of dying any day now and as I go to the nursing home where death is a constant threat, I realize that if this is my fate at the end of life, i want the Lord to be so deeply engrained in me that the ppl there see him glorified in me til my last breath. I want to be that old woman in the church who is so in love with Jesus that all of the teenagers are so encouraged b/c this woman has known Jesus for 50+ years and is more in love with him than EVER!!!
Going back to the song, I love how it points out that JESUS makes us brave, HE makes us WANT to be brave. He makes us want to go to china on trips or to go anyway he has called us...like Abraham, who did not know where he was going:) story of life right now. My old ways are no longer good enough, and i don't want to be satisfied with what a typical life should look like. I want the life that Christ wants for me. No more middle ground for me. I want to be brave. For Him. That's who He has called me to be. Tight. Thoughts? Oh yes, and you should ALL BUY the cd or get the song on itunes.

Happy Wedding!!!! And we have pictures!!! New dimensions!

This is Kimberly Nall Simmons, oldest of the Nall fam!



This is my little sister Chaney and I posing at Kimbo's wedding as maids of honor!

We all had a blast at the wedding and one way fun dance party. It's so exciting to see her in this new stage of life and we LOVE Grant! Chaney looks pretty good despite the fact that she cried like the whole ceremony:) I didn't fall in my 3 inch heels which was a plus. But really the most exciting thing about all this is that Kimbo and Grant are married and the Lord was glorified! I have one more week to go at the church and Chaney, Elaine, and I are going to see Kelly Clarkson FRIDAY! Whoop!

Wedding Week!

My life is slightly crazy at the moment with the wedding fast approaching...tonight was the "wine and cheese" party...pretty sure i'm not having one of those when i get married. I hung out in the kitchen with chaney for most of it. I have three more parties before wedding night...they will be fun! or this is the attitude i strive to continue to have! Chaney and I have been trying to come up with good wedding toasts...so far this was what we came up with:

To the tune of Saved By the Bell Graduation Song

"It seems like only yesterday you started dating (ooohhh)
And soon you'll move all the clothes from your closet (from your closet)
We'll go on with our lives in this new chapter (ahah)
As we have now gained a brother (ahaha)
The double dates that we did not go on
Because you didn't talk to boys til you were 16
Oh my gosh what a loser
No we're just playing Kimberly (Kimberlyyyy)
We are so excited about Grant
We are so glad he'll be in our family
And soon you will live on Greenleaf
We're happy for you Grant and Kimberlyyyyyy!!!!!

Anyway, Chane and I can't sing through it without dying laughing so it's back to the drawing board. I'll probably just think of something off the top of my head...who knows?:)I hope you've enjoyed your insight into life before a family wedding. Peace out.

life...

well, i turned 23 yesterday...slightly strange, i sure don't feel like i'm that old but maybe i'm going through denial. Who knows? It was a good day but pretty chill. Excitement of the day was going to Benihanas (sp?) with the fam...if you don't know what Benihanas is, you're missing out! It's a Japanese restaurant with family style seating and a huge open stove in front of you where they make your food and do tricks as they cook...way fun! Kimbo and Grant's wedding is a week from tomorrow (July 22) so I'm gearing up for that and trying to finish out the summer at hppc strong since i'm done at the end of July. I'm pretty pumped that chaney's my sister (she made me write that b/c she didn't see her name in the blog entry:) What i was really going to say is that i'm pretty pumped that i get to go back to cs and student teach in about a month. I think even more so i'm pumped that at some point i get to figure out what will happen post-december...i think i'm pumped about that:) i don't really know...i don't know a whole lot right now. i do know that i am NOT living in HP ever again. I have a heart for my church and i love my family but i am not 100% convinced that i cannot live here... i don't say this meanfully but truthfully. I was not made to live here. I could even live in Dallas, just not here. :) sorry, i'm rambling today. I'm kind of in the stage of trying to be content where i am but i'm so ready to move on to my next stage. The Lord has been so good showing me things here at home that i needed to see/still need to see and has taken away bitterness or frustration with this place and allowed me to see the church here as he sees it, rejoicing in his triumphs here and praying hard for the change that needs to continue to happen. And that my friends, is tight. I kind of feel like it's been a cleaning house summer, spending time with the fam and restoring relationships within the body here at home...stuff i'd just assume leave the way it was, but that is not the king's way! So anyway, praise the Lord for this time but I am ready to get to the next stage this semester! oh yes and chaney is awesome...she keeps interjecting for me to write her name...but i do love her a whole lot. she brings me cookies at work and vanilla dr peppers and decorates our bathroom for my birthday and gives me free ipod nanos with downloaded music on them...(no i'm not joking...CRAZY story. just ask!) but i love her for a whole lot more reasons than that...she's cool. so's the rest of my family. i like them. This next week is gonna be CRAZY...chaney and i want to sing kimbo and grant a song for their wedding rehearsal dinner toast. Any thoughts??? peace out homeslice...in honor of landon carl:)