Going to the Chapel

My best friend is ENGAGED!!! You read that right, my best friend Hayley Ann Holmgren is engaged to THE Taylor Douglas Hall. On May 19, 2012 she will become Mrs. Hayley Hall. AHH I can't stinking wait for her new name

And more than that I can't wait for them to start living life as a married couple. Remember their name people because they are going places! They are going to be the next Steven Curtis Chapman and Beth Chapman, or David and Heather Platt, or Joe and Debbie Jo White. I promise you these two are going to impact the Kingdom in so many ways. I consider myself extremely blessed to have been a part of their journey before it began, during the dating process, and now as they plan a life together forever. I feel very honored to be a bridesmaid and can't wait to stand next to her as she commits her life to Taylor. I have seen them trust Christ with their relationship, and their future as husband and wife. He has definitely blessed them because of it. It's soo cool to see how they reflect Christ and the church. I have been praying for them constantly and can't wait to see where the Lord takes them!

Right after he proposed.

She was shocked to see about 75 people waiting for her back at Taylor's house.

The future Mrs. Hayley Hall :)

The happy happy couple!!

Morgan Newton

Laminin: Being Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Let me introduce you to a Louie Giglio video called Laminin. There is no way you can see these pictures of our DNA and not believe God made us in His image.

DEFINITION:

Laminin-- a family of glycoproteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding in almost every tissue of organism. It is vital for the maintenance and survival of tissues.

 

 

Laminin, the molecule that holds our bodies together is in the shape of a cross, the same place Jesus performed the sacrificial deed that truly holds us together.

If you read more about Laminin online you will find out "it's made up of 3 polypeptide chains-alpha, beta, and gamma." What a coincidence that the trinity makes up 3 parts: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

The anatomy of our human body clearly depicts God's promise to us. Now I dare you to deny His existence in our lives. God is good, all the time. 

Psalm 139:13-14

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Colossians 1:16-17

"For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Morgan Elizabeth

Ashes to Beauty

I've been meaning to write about this for a while but have just now found the time.

Words cannot begin to describe how amazing the sermon at The Link was a month ago. I hadn't been since early this summer because of a crazy schedule, so needless to say I was more than ready to get back to my Link family and soak it all in. Never would I have known it was going to be one of the best, if not the best, sermon's I'd ever heard. Being the 10th anniversary of September 11th, Pastor Josh Foliart, decided to talk about how God takes our ashes and turns them into beauty.

First we skyped a soldier in Afghanistan who used to attend church at CLC. It was so incredible to see how he was praising God for using him in the military. He saw being a soldier as a blessing. Something so many of us would consider a hardship, he was loving with all of his heart.

Then we watched this short video. It's only 20 min long.  You better watch it. Besides that's about how long you take facebook creeping that guy in your class, or checking pinterest. Turn yo speakers up and listen to this incredible message.

Wow. It's pretty stinkin cool how Mr. Mendez shows the love of Jesus to the people in his circus. Sometimes we get so caught up in how bad our circumstances are, that we can't see the beauty in them. A sense of self pity comes over us and we feel as if our problem is definitely the worst!

"You do have an advantage. The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph."

Looking back on the events that occurred on that tragic day 10 years ago, you can't help but wonder where the people are today and how they are dealing with the pain from the void in their hearts. I know my God is healing them from the heartache they face daily. He is taking the ashes left over from the plane crash and turning them into a beautiful story used for His glory. He is a provider, a healer, and a merciful God.

He doesn't stop with that day though. My God is constantly at work mending our hearts to become more like His in every aspect of our lives. It doesn't matter if you are dealing with selfishness, idolatry, cancer, a failed test, or even a little breakup. God ALWAYS intends to turn your ashes into beauty. All we have to do is give them to Him! My God is such a stud.

Morgan Elizabeth

my new obsession: Pinterest

I have successfully found something in.cred.ible. to distract me from studying. Lovely.

If you're not familiar with Pinterest I suggest you read this to it's entirety and soak in the goodness I'm going to tell you about. Pinterest is an application connected to facebook and twitter. How it works is you log in with your account information and begin to look through a mass amount of pictures. These pictures can range from DIY projects, to a good recipe, or even photography of different places in the world. You create boards on your profile and pin the pictures you like to your board. It's the same thing as bookmarking a page from the internet. This enables you to go back and look at all those neat ideas anytime you'd like! It's your own personal scrapbook of fun places, people and things!

If you like to cook you can make a 'Recipes' board and pin pictures of food or recipes of delicious dishes. 
Two bundt cakes stacked on top of each other plus some orange frosting makes for a great Pumpkin Cake!!


Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi rolls!


Perhaps you are always wanting to travel to different parts of the globe. There are breathtaking photos of different hidden treasures in the world. I'd loveee to be able to float this river in Indonesia.


Maybe you just got engaged and you need some creative wedding ideas. Look no more! You can plan your entire wedding just by pinning pictures.


Maybe you're a new parent (Jill and Trevor) or you're expecting (Stephanie and Mary Elizabeth). You can find so many cute ideas for nursery's and endless ideas of fun things to do with your kids when they are older. 
Put food coloring in water bottles and you have a fun and safe game of bowling. If you put glow sticks in it you will have glow in the dark blowing for night!

  

If you're a fashionista there are pages among pages of complete outfits put together to give you ideas before you hit the mall.

As you can see, the list goes on and on of what you can pin. Now you understand why it's such a distraction. You should definitely check it out and find things that you love!!

Happy Pinning!

Morgan Elizabeth

it's all downhill from here

A little recap since the last post....There are pictures at the end for those of you who don't like to read.

PCAT: I took the PCAT in July. I did about average. I'm taking it again on September 28th and need to raise my score a few points in order to be accepted. All prayers appreciated.

RUSH: We made it through Recruitment 2011!! I'm so proud of the 134 Baby Kappas we gave bids to! I loved every minute of working with Holly Hilburn and Erin Warden. Our president Chelsey Gilbreth was hands down the best prez ever and we made her an honorary member of "The Trio." The air conditioner kept going out everywhere we went and some nights I slept 1.5 hours. But every bit of it made me grow closer to my chapter and really appreciate the sisterhood that we have. Cheesy yes but memorable none the less.

SENIOR YEAR: I started my senior year. Few things make me emotional, but looking back on the past 3 years I honestly can't help but feel overwhelmed with emotions. It's hard grasping the fact that this is my last year in Fayetteville. I will hopefully go on to Pharmacy School next year meaning I have to say goodbye to this place I have called home.

ROOMIES: Last April when Maggie Jo Pruitt, Kate Phillips and I decided to be roommates, the only things I knew about these girls were their names, hometown, and majors. Now after spending a month together I can say I have never seen God orchestrate a more perfect combination of roommates. So far we haven't let a day go by without engaging in deep spiritual conversations. Every time someone asks me what it's like rooming with two sophomores, I tell them I couldn't have picked two better girls to share my senior year with. They challenge me, encourage me, and most of all distract me from studying. It's going to be a great year in the 207.

DATE DASH: I had my 'last' first function! I met Jessie Green last year when I invited him to our date dash so it was only fitting I ask him to the same function to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of being friends. The theme was Opposites Attract. We went as texting and driving. 

PEP RALLY: I painted my entire body blue. Probably the first and last time I do that. Kappa apparently got disqualified. Sometimes I think they forget to tell us all the rules because they secretly don't want us to dominate like we did my freshman year. But that's just my opinion. Maybe we really weren't as loud. We'll get em next time!

FOOTBALL: The season has officially started! I loooove my Razorbacks and can't wait for us to win the National Championship this year. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. With the devastating loss in the Sugar Bowl last year, there's really no way to determine how this season will turn out. But no matter how our team performs, I became a Razorback fan when I was in the womb, and I will continue to be one til the day I die. 

The Trio with our Commander in Chief

Seniors on Pref Night.

All our hard work paid off. 134 baby Kappas.

Date Dash. We made our costumes in 10 minutes. I'm a car (that's supposed to be a steering wheel) and he is a phone.

Smurf. Avatar. Blue Man Group. Kappatastic.

Kappas love the Hogs.

Morgan Elizabeth

 

Finding Strengths in Weaknesses

" My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Psalm 73:26

       What powerful words. I have come to realize that I alone am a failure. As harsh as that sounds, it's true. I say hateful things, I have too much pride, I procrastinate to an extreme amount when studying (like now), and I don't exercise and take care of my health the way I should. The list goes on and on but that's about all my selfish heart can come to grips with right now (oh yea add selfishness to the list). Truth be told, we all fail. No matter how many baskets you've made, homeruns you've hit, degrees you have framed on your office wall, or even how many patients' lives you've saved, we set ourselves up for failure the minute we say, "I've got this."

       "My flesh and my heart may fail." My flesh and heart have let me down many many times. As I'm sitting here attempting to study for my finals in summer school, I start feeling defeated. I've barely slept and my medicine cuts my appetite. Naturally I'm at an energy deficit and start to think to myself I can't do this anymore. I have 3 exams this week, then get to turn around and study 2 more weeks for the PCAT (It's the MCAT for Pharmacy School... a.k.a. hard.) and I think how am I going to be able to remember everything I've learned in college for one exam? And on top of that, this exam is to determine my future? Oh yea, and after all these tests I have a little thing called Rush where I am the Assistant Recruitment for Kappa (at least there are 3 of us sharing these duties!) I'm feeling this sense of worry, or anxiety if you will, because I'm relying on my own strength, which will never be enough. 

       I'm one who wants to do everything on their own. You could say I'm a little bit defiant. The fact that I feel tired, fuels me to want to succeed all the more. My mom says I burn my candle at both ends just to accomplish a task with perfection. As humans, we have expectations of ourselves and when we don't meet them we fill our minds with the idea of not being good enough. God is continually reminding me that having Him as the center of my life is enough. Heck I even screw up Ramen noodles. I am definitely dependent on others whether I like it or not. It's like a guy putting something together without the instructions. I go through life thinking I can do things on my own without His instruction. I get to a point where I think it's smooth sailing then bam, I hit a brick wall. I stop listening to Him and rely on my own strength, and the end result isn't pretty.

 

       Okay enough of the negativity. The thing I love about this verse is the word BUT. It's such a small, yet powerful word and it can completely change the context of the message.

       This part gives me hope, "but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." It shows me that I can become successful, I can cook Ramen, and I can have a heart like His. In order to do this, I have to fully submit everything to Him and let Him work through me. Having the tendency to be a leader makes it a bit hard not wanting to take control of my life. But why would I not want to give everything to the One who created the heavens and the earth? Because I sure as heck know I couldn't have done a better job. Sometimes as Christians we want to have our cake and eat it too. I've said it multiple times, "Hey God you know I love you and I want to be a follower, but I kinda don't need your help with this so I'm just gonna do it on my own then come to you later, okay? Thanks for understanding. You're so great!" We want to be a follower, but lead our own life. Well my friends it simply cannot be done. If you've found a way to live like this then please introduce yourself. You are actually probably in denial. Another problem we have which makes us think we can do it on our own. 

       Figuring out it's acceptable and necessary to ask for help is honestly a relief. It takes off the pressure to live up to the expectations the world or even I set for myself. I never realized how exhausting it can be trying to carry my own weight. God never intended for us to do that. He sent his Son to carry the weight of this world on His shoulders at the cross. We aren't strong enough to carry one person's weight yet Christ can carry everyone at once? Talk about true strength. That makes the worlds strongest man on ESPN look weak. God is humbling me daily by showing me where my strength comes from now, and where it should come from, Him. He is breaking me down piece by piece to prove to me that I am inadequate on my own, and need Him to be successful. He is surfacing my weaknesses to show how empty my cup is, and in order to be filled back up I am to become less prideful and more dependent on Him. For His love, His mercy, and His strength. And I love it. Now I know when I give myself to Him, He will renew me every single time.

Alone I am nothing, but with Christ I become everything.

That's an accomplishment worth framing. 

Morgan Elizabeth

 

Independence Day on Beaver Lake

T5

1-the lake

2-fellowship

3-country music

4-our freedom

5-sunsets

The whole crew minus Marcus

Me and Jadey

They are "drownded"

Divas

Perfect day with my best fran :)

Sunset on the Lake

 Morgan Elizabeth