God is Doing Big Things In The Lives Of All Of US OBC & PDS Clarksdale Family

hey everyone,

God is Doing Big Things In The Lives Of All Of US OBC & PDS Clarksdale Family


as promised here's an update on What God is doing in our lives.
Most of you know Natalie Havens, I grew up with her at PDS & OBC - OakHurst Baptist Church,
She is seeking our prayers as she seeks God's will for her & her husband's lives. she is either moving here to Jackson or to memphis, so she's seekings God's will where on where they are suppose to go.


It is very evident right now than it ever has been that God is doing something big. God has brought 4 of us back together already, First Heather Jones & Chris Nowell & then Christina Hill & I were brought back together through our church online wednesday night and then reunited sunday morning at church. Before he lead christina and I to find each other wednesday night, he did some really big things in my life and answered 3 prayers, first he provided me a job after nearly two years, second he provided me with a job that works for what I want so that I can still go to bible study on wednesday nights, stil be able to be at church on sunday mornings & last but not least he provided me with a job out of retail and away from clothing stores. 4th, he has finally helped me take the first big step in doing what I want to do with my life and not what everybody else thinks I should be doing or what they want me to do. I threw away 6 years of my life in retail that I can't get back. I'm so thankful God finally decided to close that door now for good! I had to throw away 6 years of my life to get to this point. the two years of waiting for this moment was well worth the wait! Frustrating but worth it!


I listened to a lot of friends advice who have been in my shoes or worse situations, who have worked several years in retail, restaurants, fast food places who know what they are talking about and I was able to share a lot of my stories with them. they were all able to give me a lot of good advice to help me get to where I am now.  I am doing okay now, I have a business of my own on the side, I now have a day job at YMCA, while I am also actively involved in a church that I absolutely love! I really feel good about things for the first time in my life. My church has asked me to take pictures for the event on May 5th. So I really Feel like I am TWO BIG STEPS  toward where I want to be down the road and what I want to do with my life and I am so way beyond blessed to have this church, the amazing friends I have made through this church who are now helping me be two steps toward the direction I want to go in my life eventually when the time is right and when God opens some more doors in that direction.  I feel like in just a matter of a couple of days my life did a complete 360.


my mind was completely blown wednesday night when I was asked to be the one to take pictures at the event, none of them even know about me and my camera and my awesome pictures yet unless they just happened to look through my photo albums on facebook, one lady in the bible study group pointed at me and said I bet Tara could take pictures. I WAS GOING WOAH.... HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT!!!! God works in mysterious ways!!!! I am here to tell you God is deffenantly at work among all of us. God was just blowing my mind left and right all day and all evening wednesday. 


I am so excited that God is doing something in Natalie's Life and I have a feeling with the way things are going God is about to bring Natalie back with us. I just told Christina this evening that this is SOOOOO CRAZY. first Heather & Chris Nowell were re-united & then me & christina were reunited & now Natalie might be moving this way. I told Christina that we need to be praying about this and seek God's will and his plan for why he is bringing all of us back together now. some how & for some reason the people God has placed infront of me so far are: Shawn StackHouse  the life group leader, then Mr.Tim Horn & Mrs.Sara Horn, Heather Jones & Chris Nowell & Christina Hill & now possibly Natalie THATS WHY I'M LIKE  WHAAAAAAAAAAT IN THE WORLD!!!!


I will continue to keep you updated on this situation and tell you how this is coming along!


Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers as we seek God's will about this, and I continue to seek God's will for my life down the road and as I Continue to seek his will about weather or not we will still end up moving to madison in a couple of years.


I will talk to ya'll later in the week!

GoodNight!

Holly's Bridal Shower Saturday April 21,2013 at 2:30pm

Holly's Bridal Shower

Saturday April 21,2013

at

2:30pm

Looking For A Connection and or a Reason or Both

just sitting thinking about what Christina said this morning about how she's still curious because of how all of this started and the last bit of information we found out about who Heather Found, so I'm sitting here trying to connect all the dots and figure out whats going on. all this started with shawn our life group leader who knows Tim & Sara Horn which lead Christina and I to finding each other and I then told Heather Jones about finding christina who tells me she also found Chris Nowell from our first grade class who was only in our class for a little while and then left, he lives close to heathers mom in chattanooga, theres got to be some connection some where  I dont think this is just happening randomly out of the blue.

There's A Reason for all of this happening, God has some sort of plan and I have a feeling there might still be some more suprises in store before he reveals his plans and his reason.

That being said, I will keep you posted on this!

Goodnight!

REUNITED WITH A LONG LOST FRIEND FROM 20 YEARS AGO THIS MORNING! WHAT A WONDERFUL MORNING IT WAS!

okay its official now!!!!! Reunited with my very long lost friend this morning from obc & pds that I haven't seen since 1994!!! That friend is Chrissy Sanders - CDALE FOLKS! That is CHRISTINA HILL!!! Sooooo good to be back together after all these year! So glad to have a familiar face around!! Its Sooooooo good to have you back Christina!!!! CANT WAIT TO SEE YOUR MOM! I dont know if any of you caught bryant saying during prayer time or that long time friend you ran into again. I figured someone must have beat us to him and told him before we could! Haha! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!  it was GREAT THIS MORNING! She still seems Genuine as ever, she ran up and gave me the biggest hug and didn't want to let go! I kind of wanted to cry. I had tears in my eyes all morning!


GOD IS GOOD!!! im here to tell you this never would have been possible had God not layed it on Bryant & heathers Hearts to start this church The Exchange In Pearl! So thank you Bryant & heather for being part of why we are reunited!! For those of you that missed this news I will tell you wednesday night. LOVE BRYANT. SHES IN COGNITO! Lol! WELL OBVIOUSLY because I never would have known it!

I have a question now, Im questioning if we will end up moving to madison in a couple of years, I'm thinking thats very unlikely now. So much happened this week that really makes me ask that question and think probably not. God threw a wrench in that plan this past week & put a twist on things as well. He answered three prayers this week, prayer #1 to find a job, prayer #2 to be able to get out of... working in clothing stores and go a different direction, prayer #3 to find a job that would allow me to be able to be at church every sunday & be able to go to life group on wednesday nights & God did just that he provided me with all of my needs & wants and then he put a big twist on it and as christina said this morning for some reason reconnected Christina & I through our church after all these years, for what Reason God brought us together, I don't know, but I have a feeling God will reveal it one day. it may not be today and it may not be tomorrow, but it will be interesting to see if God reveals why. I find it interesting because one of our classmates from first grade Heather Jones has found Chris Nowell who was in our first grade Class, so this is very interesting to see all of us that have moved away at some point and time reconnecting. Heather said it was crazy that I found christina just like she found Chris Nowell and Christina said it was NUTS that we found each other, I said it was CRAZY that we found each other and then God answers 3 prayers all in one day. GOD HAS BEEN BUSY THATS FOR SURE! as Mr.Mark Kelly always said and I'm sure he still says it, GOD IS GOOD.... ALL THE TIME!

 

 

As I Just told my friend Chad Perry From Crossgates as he was talking about his weekend was about catching up with old friends, I chimed in said mine was the same! one thing is for sure though I have never gone 20 years without seeing old friends before until now!! I said I WILL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN AND THAT'S A PROMISE! I have every reason to make that a priority now that My Life is getting back on track and I'm not searching for a job anymore. My Life is about to be slammed for atleast the month of may, there is a lot going on in May but once I get passed May. That's going to be one of my priorities is spending time with old friends. I think I have already made that a priority considering Natalie is coming to see me soon to get that old door down out of our attic that she wants.

 

 

I will be starting my new job in may, I have a pampered chef party to go to in may on May 2nd, I have Life Group in May, I have that Life Group Event May 5th, Skylar Laine at Brandon Day May 4, Little Big Town May 11 at Flowood Family Festival, London's preschool Graduation May 17, my first party for my business I started May 18th, After my party I have to go with my church to Pearl Day To Work Pearl Day, EXCITED ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I WILL GET TO SEE JO DEE MESSINA!!!! SHE'S PLAYING PEARL DAY THIS YEAR!  London's Birthday Party May 19 at The Jackson Zoo. So Yep I am pretty booked up in may.

 

 

 

I am excited about beginning this next chapter of my life this morning! I see BIG THINGS AHEAD! 2013 IS JUST A BIG YEAR FOR ME! 2013 HAS BEEN TOO GOOD TO ME ALREADY! GOD HAS BLESSED ME WAY MORE THIS YEAR THAN I DESERVE! I will keep ya'll posted as we go through out the rest of this year on what God is doing at the exchange and what God is doing in my life in General.

 

 

I hope everyone has had just as blessed of a weekend as I have had! I Hope all of you have a Great Rest Of The Day Today! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

 

I will talk to ya'll later!

 

 

WHAT AN AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!!!! GOD HAS BLESSED ME BEYOND WORDS.... I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN! A TESTIMONY OF WHAT GOD IS DOING AT THE EXCHANGE

 WHAT AN AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!!!! GOD HAS BLESSED ME BEYOND WORDS.... I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN! 

Amazing Story to share with all of you Today... So here it goes... 


Many Many Many Many Many Years ago back in my hometown of Clarksdale,Ms, there was a family by the lastname of Hill and I went to Church at OakHurst Baptist Church & school at PDS - Presbyterian Day School with the Hill Girls, Christina - Who now goes by Chrissy, Ami Hill. One Day Ami Hill was killed. I won't go back into all of that now. I would rather share the happy part of this story, anyway, The Hill Family Moved Away to Grenada shortly after Ami's Death in 1994 shortly after I started school at pds. my family & I never saw them or heard from them again after that until Tonight and this is when the happy tears and laughter and looking back and reconnecting and putting two and two together and realized who each other is. 


It all started Lastnight in my life group bible study when I shared a funny story about my church back home in clarksdale,Ms Oakhurst Baptist Church how one time the whole youth group came down with strep throat at the very same time  LOL DAVID! NO I WILL NEVER LET YOU LIVE DOWN GIVING US ALL STREP THROAT!!!!! all because the youth pastor David as mentioned above gave us all strep throat because he came to church with strep throat and we were suppose to be helping serve at a dinner at the church and as I was telling this funny little story tonight my life group leader says, OH DO YOU KNOW TIM & SARA HORN and I said yes, he was taking over as the pastor at  First presbyterian day school church  the year I was Graduating 6th Grade at pds. 


So when I got home Lastnight I pulled out my pds annual from 6th grade and scanned a picture on the computer of Tim Horn LOL! To show my life group leader Shawn, And a girl from church who is in the praise and worship band on sunday mornings comments on the picture and says NO WAY, I WENT TO PDS IN CLARKSDALE TOO.  and so it began..... I asked her what years she went to pds and she said 1991-1993 Pre-K  and a little of first grade and then I told her I started school at pds in 1994 and that I started in the middle of first grade and that I came from LeeAcademy and that I went to Pre-K and part of first grade at Lee and then she proceeded to tell me that she left and moved away after the death of her sister and I said who was your sister and she said Ami Hill and so I at that moment stopped and put two and two together because her lastname now is Sanders so I never would have known had lastnight not happened, she's married now to a guy named Steven  he is also in the praise and worship band, he is the lead singer in the praise worship band. I then said WOAH WAIT A MINUTE.... YOU'RE CHRISTINA HILL ?? WHO KNEW all this time since I've been at the exchange since end of July since right before the exchange actually launched in August and became a church  at first it was just us folks who helped start the church that Christina Hill has been right there at church with me all this time.  


anyway, so the moment I realized that Chrissy Sanders is actually Christina Hill, I said I remember your sister very well, and she said was Ami in your grade and I said yes, I ran into the living room and said mom.... do you remember The Hill Family  and Ami Hill that was killed and she said yes I was really good friends with her mother and said okay you know the girl who plays the bass guitar in the band on sunday mornings  I know you're going to be shocked but that's Ami Hill's sister  Christina Hill and she said REALLY?? we were both in complete shock, I was still having trouble taking that moment in  I was wanting to pinch myself and go SOMEBODY PLEASE WAKE ME UP.... THIS CAN'T BE REAL... 


I still feel at this moment as I'm typing our story Like I am in a dream. it's so hard to believe this is happening right now. anyway, so I came back to the computer and chrissy and I continued talking for a good while and I told her my mom is Ellen Litton and my mom was really good friends with your mom. 


she said OMG! you have no idea what you've just done for me and I said yes, and also what the exchange has done for both of us, we not only have Shawn to thank but we also have heather & bryant to thank because if they had not of started this church we wouldn't have ever reconnected like this on such a huge level.  and she said I agree and right before she said that I had just said bryant our pastor is going to be like WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT??????  she said I know Bryant is going to flip! I can't wait to tell him sunday and I said Wait until I get there  we will go talk to bryant together when I get there and so we agreed, I told her I had all the pds annuals and all the oakhurst photo books out looking through them and she ask if there were any pictures of her in the annuals or books from oakhurst and I told her yes and promised her I would bring the books sunday for her to look at. I also told her I said what Bryant didn't know when he started this church was that this was all in God's plan.


so anyway, we continued talking a lot more after that, I started naming people she probably remembers and I told her about how Bro.Jeff Holland is at Pinelake now and he lives in Mill Creek just a couple of minutes down the road from my neighborhood. 


I ask her if she knew about our pds principle mrs.farris passing away a few years back and she said she had heard about it and we both talked about what an amazing person and what a sweet sweet lady mrs.farris was. We talked about some other people she probably remembers, I asked if she knew about mr.ricky ferguson's mom passing away too, I reminded her that that is courtney, chris, tully's grandmother, she said YES I REMEMBER THEM and then she said remind me to tell you the whole story sunday.



I reminded her that everybody at church knows me as Casey's cousin except for Heather because Heather & I knew each other before the exchange, we knew each other at CrossGates Baptist Church in highschool, so I then said now everybody is about to know me a whole nother level with our story we are about to share sunday morning. 


I feel a little more at home now at the exchange and I knew there was some reason why I loved the exchange so much. because I am surrounded by pds- clarksdale alumni, sara & tim horn and christina hill, shawn. 


I don't know but it sure does seem like God just decided to bless me like crazy Yesterday with answering two prayers, one for a job and the other to get out of working in retail and clothing stores all together, and now this, It really warms my heart to know that I could be such a blessing to christina after she told me I had no idea what I had just done for her. she said also shared with me that she has had no one to talk to about Ami except her family even though this wasn't my doing at all, this was all God and she kept saying how nuts this is. I sat there thinking  MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! you've already seen me state my thoughts on how nuts this is. 



I Look Forward to us reuniting sunday morning for the first time in person since we've figured all this out and found each other  and sharing our story of how we go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back and our story of how finding each other and reconnecting and how The Exchange brought us back together.



For those of you from back home who would love to see her now and what she looks like now,
well here she is. I will try to get a picture of us on Sunday!
 

 

AN ANSWERED PRAYER!

hello Friends & Family & Life Group! 


First of all, I want start by thanking each and every one of you who have prayed for me during this 2 year long process of looking for a job. It means so much to me to have so many of you praying for me. I don't know what I would do without all of you. I LOVE YA'LL SO MUCH! I couldn't have gotten through these past two years without each and every one of you. you have all been such a wonderful support system and a shoulder to lean on. those of you who have offered me temporary side jobs. a HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!!! it will be two years in June. so PRAISE GOD!!! I am so thankful right now that I am not going all the way to the two year mark of having no job. 


 I HAVE SOME MAJOR NEWS!!!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST WHEN I WAS SO SURE OF IT THAT I DIDN'T GET IT BECAUSE I DIDN'T GET A CALL WHEN I WAS SUPPOSE TO, THE Y CALLED. I GOT THE JOB AND I'M STARTING WHEN SCHOOL IS OUT. L...IFE GROUP NOT TO WORRY I WILL STILL BE THERE FOR OUR LIFE GROUP EVENT MAY 5TH. this guy is really easy to work with. I will only have to work 3 hours a day. starting out during the day during the summer and when school starts back it will be evenings.

 

also those of you supporting me as I have ventured out and started doing my own business. thank you thank you thank you so much for showing catalogs around, those of you who have gotten several catalogs from me to show around thank you for helping me get started. Those of you coming to my first party in may, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!!
 

God has really given me one of the best support systems and the best friends & family I could ever ask for. Ya'll are amazing. Ya'll are truly truly amazing!
 

Those of you who were just there to listen when I needed someone to talk to when I was really feeling down because I couldn't get a job. thank you for just being there. especially you Kimberly & Evelyn & Joey- My best buddy!
 

I will say this, I fought this battle and I won in the end! its a shame how many people passed me up through this process but you know what God answered a prayer I really wanted answered anyway which was to get completely out of retail and do something better with my life. I'm so thankful that in God's timing he has answered that prayer. I learned a while ago that I had to just let go and let God worry about my future and just leave it all in God's hands and just keep praying about it. 
 

it's quiet funny because I had just read another fortune cookie saying that said, You are about to be offered a job with a regular paycheck which might be a good change to what you are going through financially. 


 I don't know how they predict this stuff! this is the 2nd time I've had one come true!

Hayden's Dance Recital - Ballet Mississippi - Spring Performance - Saturday April 13,2013

Hayden's Dance Recital

Ballet Mississippi

Spring Performance

Outreach Ballet Program

Saturday April 13,2013