Where did summer GO?!

Well...the last thing I remember was stepping off a plane from Florida, and then I blinked...and suddenly we're halfway through July! Well, almost. Seriously. I don't know where my summer went. 

My family & I spent the last week at my Mamaw's house, helping out with her church's VBS, which was absolutely wonderful and which sadly I don't have pictures for yet. I got to help out in the nursery, which meant that I got to spend an entire week with 6 lovely children that were absolute dolls to play with. 

And our theme for the week? 

No matter who you are....trust God.

No matter how you feel...trust God.

No matter what people do....trust God.

No matter what happens...trust God.

And no matter where you are...trust God.

Suffice to say I needed reminding just as much as my kids did. 

So now that I have 5+ VBS kids songs stuck in my head (with hand motions of course!) I sit down with a calender & I look at the remaining time i have at home with my wonderful family. 

This coming week I'm babysitting the lovely twins Blake & Megan, whom will tie up my mornings and my energy in more ways then one. Afternoons will involve packing and getting ready for college, becaaaaausseee....

the week after work my little sister's best friend Dasha arrives! Which means that my family will be entertaining and traipsing all over the grand state of Texas, which HOPEFULLY includes a Fiesta Texas visit that I will be able to drag 1 of my friends to ;) 

After THAT I'm off to Georgia for Alumni Reunion, my little sister turns 16 (AH!) and we leave early for a wonderful roadtrip through Savannah, Georgia, which ENDS with my family depositing me at Columbia International University for the fall semester...

WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED. 

Needless to say, I can't wait for all these wonderful happenings to occur! I'm still working on my summer bucket list, and although a FEW items have been crossed off as done (and a few have been crossed of as not happening...there's no beaches that I want to walk on in Texas...) there still needs to be some lovely things that need to happen. 

And all of this happens with me STILL humming VBS theme songs. Of course ; D

Item #2....complete! JuneBugs in the making.

2 down, 74 to go! 

Item #2: Take one photo a day for an entire month. 

FINITOED. We're gonna pretend that's a fancy word for finished. Maybe I made it up. That seems to be a trend! 

Well. Technically I still have one photo to go, with the tag #friend, but that will be completed as soon as the sister friend pulls into my driveway. But other than that, I actually buckled down and took 1 photo a day for the entire month of June! Sometimes they turned out pretty stupid, but for the most part it was insanely awesome to be able to document my month & then go back and look at it :) 

SO. The highlights of my month! 

DisneyWorld was definitely a highlight. But since I've pretty much already written about it, that's all I say. Disneyworld. Beautiful. Got to see Kartwright. Awesome memories. The end :) 

The best sister friend turned 19! One year left of teenagerhood, and I got to spend the entire weekend with her. Lovely lovely times and some pretty laughable memories :D

My Charles Martin liking has become....well, rather obsessive. Not that I'm complaining. I've been incredibly thankful to have several afternoons to just sit around and catch up on my reading! Most of which includes Sherlock Holmes (official book nerdness) and this wonderful writing man ^. I've been happy. And have Kartwright to thank for introducing me to him!

We got to go to an Astros game, and got WONDERFUL field level seats because we bought Faith & Family tickets. Jordan Schafer, my new favorite player since *cough* Hunter Pence decided to leave *cough* was a short distance away. Thankfully Patricia kept me from running onto the field and embarassing myself in typical fan, Bethany fashion ;) After the game we got to watch Third Day, live & in concert and they were great! We left just in time to watch the sun set behind the Houston skyline, which  MIGHT be one of my favorites in the world. Oh. And I thought I saw Hunter. (I didn't. It was a letdown.) 

And FINALLY, the complete highlight of my month were THESE lovely beauties! World, meet Bonnie, Clyde and Smalls my snail. They are just fish, but have come to hold a very special place in my heart, and will be making the college trek (somehow) with me in the coming month. I LOVE THEM. The only downside is, you can't really cuddle with a fish. so that's a party dampner. Also, when I tried to remove them from the bag they got stuck. I saw their lives flash before my eyes. GOODNESS. But they're okay now :) 

so, that was my June. To be honest, I'm COMPLETELY thrilled for the month of July.

Oh. And to end. God has taught me so much in this past month. He has revealed areas of my heart that I previously thought were locked, loaded, and already fixed. Once again, He has shown & promised me that He is NOT done with me. Thank the Lord for such a wonderful Savior :) 

Summer To-Do's !!

Well. After much thought and wheedling (word? awesome.) from the best friend, I've finally compiled my list of summer must do's. Granted we're now 1/2 through summertime, but I've been working on these since June. SO. Here we go :) 

SUMMER BUCKET LIST!!! 

1. Impact360 Alumni Reunion! (Well at least I know I'll get one...) 

2. Finish my list of Disney Movies (basically all of them...) 

3. Finish my Impact books! (eek.) 

4. Use a fake name at Starbucks. 

5. Make a Taco Bell run at midnight with Rachel and Patricia and anyone else who happens    to party hardy. 

6. Have a yogurt date with my little sister. 

7. Visit Florida! 

8. Do my puzzles.

9. Go to Schlitterbahn.

10. Stay up all night & watch the sunrise!

11. Watch the entire Avatar: The Last Airbender with my little brothers.

12. Finish writing about my year at Impact360. 

13. Walk on the beach.

14. Go to a midnight premier. 

15. Actually MAKE something creative off of Pinterest. (glow -in-the-dark bubbles don't count. They didn't work.) 

16. Pray through an entire month.

17. Memorize 2 Corinthians 4, Proverbs 31 & Isaiah 40. 


18. Finish one of my leather bound books from Barnes & Noble. 


19. Finish at least 1/2 of my "Must See These Movies Eventually!" list. ("eventually" never seems to come around...) 


20. Do the Brio Girl 30 Day Challenge.


21. Make new friends :) 


22. Listen to the Crosspointe Church series on Ruth again! 


23. BREAK THE HABIT OF BITING MY NAILS. goodness.


24. Watch Wyatt Earp. And pay attention this time. 


25. Buy a new dress! 


26. Learn how to country dance :D 


27. Write a letter.


28. Make 4th of July cupcakes. 


29. Go bike riding. 


30. Learn at LEAST 1 song on the guitar. 


AND....


31. sing a duet with my lil' sister Poptart Turshy Snips Snickers Seastarr Seester!! 


Probably won't get through ALL of these...but it's worth a shot!! :) 


Quote of the Day: (I was reading.) 


"Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible." - C. S. Lewis <3 

Right & Wrong & Timing

"You met the right person....you just met him at the wrong time."

I've heard this phrase over and over again within the past week, whether it was meant to be a comforting word from friends, a line in a song, or a dramatic scene ender in a movie (also just made up the word ender. awesome.) So I'm taking this blog post to address that little idea.

I'm not normally one to be bursting bubbles, but you didn't meet the right person at the wrong time...you met the WRONG person at the RIGHT time.

Somehow I don't think the God of the Universe is sitting in heaven crossing His fingers watching you live life....and then sits back and sighs in disappointing when you and your husband's path cross 3 years before He meant for it too. Now granted, there's such a thing as not being READY to be in a serious relationship with "the one" because you're still learning what God wants you to learn. But if you don't end up with what you consider the "man of your dreams" it's not because you met him to early....it's because God has a far greater and bigger plan, and someone even better!

Maybe this is just common sense....but it's something I've been thinking about :)

Item #1!

Well, after MUCH planning, I've finally gotten started on my bucket list! Which is very, VERY exciting.
And in true Stewart fashion, we started big.

Item #1: A DisneyWorld Summer Visit

After 18 years of fingers crossed, the Stewart family has finally made it to Disney World! All prior conversations basically went like this:

Stewart Father: Yes daughter. We will travel to Disney World as soon as your youngest sibling is no longer in need of this strolling device!

Young Bethany: Okay!

*Stewart Mother proceeds to have a son*

Stewart Father: It's okay daughters! As soon as your youngest sibling has exited the stroller we will traavel to Disney World!

*Stewart Mother has ANOTHER son*

Okay so maybe not quite that British "tea & crumpets" - esque. Basically it was this long continual cycle, and as soon as Matthew got out of the stroller we moved 1/2 across the world to Israel.

But we finally got there! And it was magical, and made 18 years of waiting completely and totally worth it. I am so, SO thankful that God made this trip with my family possible :)

Also, I got an added bonus that was a huge blessing in & of itself, because I got to spend a day and 1/2 with my best friend! 3 weeks seemed like a loooong time :)