random acts of kindness

Yesterday I put a couple of bags of trash outside my door, intending to take them out later that night or today. When I went out a few hours later, they were gone! My neighbors seem nice enough, but I've never really gotten to know any of them. I can't believe that someone saw my trash and took it to the dumpster for me! The bags were really heavy and I'm sure it wasn't a simple job to take them. Another act of kindness that sticks out to me happened when I was a freshman at ACU. I drove to Taco Bueno for lunch and got something in the drive-thru. When I got up to the window to pay, the lady told me that the people in front of my had already paid for my meal! I was shocked!! When I see or hear about people doing things like this it lifts my spirits and makes me want to do more for others. It seems that I get so busy and have so much on my mind that I don't think of what I can do for others often enough. I want to serve others, doing random acts of kindness whenever I can.

church

Last week I tried out a new church and I really liked it. It is very small and the people are so welcoming. They invited me out to lunch and really seemed to be interested in getting to know me. This morning, Matthew went with me to the same church. I'm so excited because he liked it, too! It's a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ is another name I think). They do pretty much the same things as churches of Christ, but there are minor differences of course. The pastor uses lots of scripture, we sing familiar songs, and they have communion every Sunday. They also have several areas where I could get involved (children's and youth ministries especially). I'm planning on going back next week. I really hope this is the church for me! If you're reading this, I would like to ask you to stop a moment and pray. I am in serious need of a church family, and I'd really like to find a place that Matthew likes and one that he feels comfortable going to with me. I feel like this church is an answered prayer. Matthew says he saw lots of similarities between the service this morning and things done at Catholic churches. I've been praying for a church that's a kind of "middle ground" between both of us. I'm excited to see what God has up His sleeve!! Enjoy your week!

i love fall!!

I love the change of seasons. I don't care which one it is...I just enjoy the change I guess! Well, fall is quickly coming and you can feel it in the weather. This motivated me to re-decorate my apartment this weekend, adding a touch of fall. Here are some pictures:

This one is my favorite. My willow tree angels are on top of the fireplace, and I put a pumpkin and scarecrow girl on the tile. That's Max's tail on the left!

Here is my couch and pictures. With my next paycheck I'm going to buy some fall-looking pictures to replace these.

My favorite room in my apartment! I love the bathroom because it is huge, has a huge closet, and it's pink!!

Here's a picture from my bedroom. I put a little scarecrow on top of my dresser. Matthew gave me those roses for Valentine's Day and I can't bear to part with them!

I took this picture from my doorway. As you can barely see, Max is lounging on my bed (this is one of his favorite activities)!!!

Decorating is so much fun! I can't wait for Christmas!!

funny kids

Kids are so funny. Most of them don't even try to be...they just are. I have this little boy, let's call him Drew (that's not his real name). He takes seriously FOREVER to try to explain things. And sometimes I just think he raises his hand because he wants to talk. Usually this drives me up the wall because I try to move quickly to fit everything into one day, but not with this kid. He's just too cute!! Yesterday we were talking about things we can do to help our community. I called on Drew, and he just went on and on about seemingly nothing. Well he finally got to his point (I still have no idea what it was). After that, I just couldn't hold the laughter in. I could feel myself losing control, so I just told the kids, "Ya'll are so cute and you make me laugh. That's a very good thing." And then I just started cracking up. I was laughing so hard that I was crying! Of course my kids started laughing too, and we just had a good ole time laughing and crying. I'm sure they'll have some pretty interesting things to tell their parents about Miss Watkins. Well, I'm off to the dog park with Max! I haven't taken him there in months and he really needs to get out. Hopefully he won't get attacked like he did before! Have a great weekend!