Charleston :)

Last weekend Jessie Burgess, Keri and I packed and went to Charleston to see Jessie and Matt for the weekend. Curtis surprised all of us and drove up on Saturday too! We had a great time with the newly married couple in their cute apartment. There is nothing like being with your best friends, even if you are not doing anything. We did some cool things on this weekend trip though: ghost tour, shopping, tour of downtown, pumpkin patch and carving just to name a few :) It ended up being a wonderful weekend, and we all are looking forward to more in the future.


We took way too many pictures to post on here, so go to this link if you want to see the facebook photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=172122&id=562445190&ref=mf . We are all picture freaks (well, minus the guys) so this is still only a handful of the pictures we took!

PS: We are going to plan a trip in the spring to go skydiving in Charleston, so let me know if you are interested!

i SHOULD be working...

I posted this from Laura's blog:

What were you doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago I was in Junior High-so basically doing homework and going to cheerleading practice everyday. My best friend was Keri and we were still at the same school :)


List 5 things on your "to do" list today:
1. Listen to the 9 voicemails on my phone, left by angry clients.
2. Get something accomplished at work.
3. Meet Jess for Access :)
4. Fold laundry at the house.
5. Go to bed.

Favorite snacks...
I really like fruit, my favorite is pineapple-but I also like popcorn!

What would you do with an unlimited supply of money?
I would purchase the new insulin pump with CGM (continuous glucose monitoring), a house, pay off my car and all my debt-then help family and friends out before investing it.

Where have you lived?
Middleburg and Orange Park.

Where have you worked?
YMCA, La Petite, Grady Williams P.A, and Magdalein Stratton and Associates.

Who are you tagging?
No one

No Fear

Fear is something that everyone experiences. Both as children and adults, there is always something in our life we are fearful of. It may be the dark, the monster under the bed, snakes (my personal fear), or something completely immaterial or tangible such as pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ and working to advance his kingdom in everything we do.

I am going to be honest and say that this is a fear I struggle with. Why? Simply because it is in our nature to fear rejection and it is inevitable going to happen. No matter how many people and how clearly you share the Gospel with them, they have the opportunity to reject it and also you for believing this. That does not mean that we should fall back on our beliefs, but instead stay steadfast and strong in the Lord. I think that once we accept the challenge and begin living our lives simply for Him and no one else-that is when we can really begin to impact the world and change lives. Romans 14: 7, 8 says this: "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." Therefore, we need to stop living for ourselves and our own selfish pursuits. We need to be real, and stand up for our beliefs-no matter how many people may reject them! We belong to him and he laughs at our plans. He had a plan for our life before we even knew how to breath, so lets allow him to show us his way.

I know it is easy to hit roadblocks and get discouraged. Stay focused on the cross! "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9. Our prize is an eternal live with Jesus Christ, remember that :)

Thanks for reading.

UF vs. LSU

After all the trash talking from LSU and their fans, the Gators dominated (heck yeah!). I ended up getting a ticket at the last minute thanks to Mr. Milligan-good thing too because this was not the game to watch at home on the couch. The energy in the swamp was different than any other game I have been too. It was simply amazing. I think we all paid for all our screaming in church this morning...singing was out of the question. No matter what, this game was totally worth it. LSU=Gator Bait!

Here are some pictures from the game:

Jessie Japzon was here with us in spirit before the game started! Go Gators!
Jessie and her excitement at the game was contagious!
Gooooo Gators!

Work, work, work

Work has been CRAZY the past few weeks with all the negative activity in the market. People calling constantly, and on top of that-we have also done a few seminars and a training for other agents...needless to say I have been super busy. I love being busy though, it is much better than having nothing to do. My boss is leaving today to speak at a convention in Kansas City until Friday. The timing of this trip is perfect, because I have a lot to do in his absence. Hope I can complete my to-do list before he comes back on Monday!

...now I am done with my blogging break, and back to work!

Gator Football Pictures :)

The crowd parted and there was my friends Libby and Ashleigh! So random to run into them in a crowd of 90,000 Gator Fans!

This is me and Curtis before our hike to the stadium for the Miami game. I love this picture because it accurately describes our personalities!
I love Jessie Burgess and she loves Gator Football, this is one reason why we get along so well :)

...so it's been awhile

I just realized this week how long it has been since my last blog post. I guess between everything going on with work, school and church I just never thought about it!

Speaking of work: We have been super busy the past few weeks with almost all of our clients calling daily FREAKING our because of the market. Yeah, the market has really made my job harder the last week or so. I understand every one's concern with their IRA's and investments, but really there is not much we can do other than move your money to a fixed account. However, no one seems to like this option because then they are not going to make any money, but they are guarantees a certain interest rate-a low one. So basically, everyday we are fighting with senior citizens that have worked their entire lives for this money and are not being faced with the threat of loosing it or parts of it due to a falling economy.

School is another story! I started my internship with Libby a few weeks ago doing mostly Family Law in Orange Park, and that is going really well to date. We have both been really busy with our lives so we have not gotten to spend much time together, but working together one day a week gives us an opportunity to catch up on each others lives :) Plus, I get to learn at the same time!

Church is great! I starting going to Southpoint Community Church several weeks ago, and have really enjoyed it. We just finished a series called 'One Month to Live" which was outstanding, and this week a new 4 week series is starting that is based on the Rocky movies. The church is great and I am meeting new people there every time I go. One of my best friends Ben goes there, so he has been able to introduce me to some people. Also, I have been getting involved with a non-profit organization/ministry that was started by a guy at SCC; Chance Craven. The organization is called itsChance, and I encourage you to check the website or myspace to see everything this organization stands for. www.itsChance.com and www.myspace.com/itsChance I am sure you will be motivated and encouraged to make a change and advance the kingdom of Christ!

That is really all the recent happenings in my life since my last posting. Oh, well I have to mention Gator Football! The season finally started with a game against Hawaii. It rained, and there was no escaping the water so we were all soaking wet the entire time! We kicked off tailgating for the Miami game (also a Win!!!) which was great! I will try and post some recent pictures for you to enjoy!

In Him,
Em