Nurse mom to the rescue

I thought since I wrote about my dad earlier I would talk about my mommy. This past week I have been sick (i know poor timing with Spring break around the corner-but hey what can i do?) Anyways I have been sick and whenever I'm sick and not at home it always makes me appreciate my mom a million times more. Mom naturally is nurturing and loving and I think that is why she loves being a nurse and is so good at it.  I find myself telling everyone that my mom is a nurse- I guess because I think its awesome that she finds a joy in helping people feel better. For instance, yesterday I was at Redfern and I asked the nurse how long she had been a nurse and she was telling me about herself and then I just couldn't help but tell her about my mom. Then later that day I met a girl who was in the nursing program here and yet again I was telling her all about my mom and all the nursing things she has done.
Not only do I love that mom takes care of me when I'm sick but when my friends are sick because I've been around my mom so much I feel like I can take the knowledge I've gained and I know what to do--- or if worse comes to worse I just call her and she knows exactly what to do.
I'm so thankful for my mom and all she does and that she spoils me- for instance when I went home the other weekend she bought me a pair of flats I've been dying to have just because she loves me. Gosh I have the best parents.

Here's a pic of mom and I a couple of years ago...man I hope I look like her when I'm her age

Yeap- so that's a little bit more about me...I might actually write another post later.

Go enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather!
  With all my love- Cam

It's that time of the year....

That's right it was ACC tournament weekend and I went home to watch it with my daddy. I suppose in this post you'll get to learn a little bit more about me. Ever since I can remember, I've always watched basketball with my dad. Every time the UNC Tarheels played I was by my dad's side watching the game with him. I'll never forget the first UNC game we went to- just me and him it was a game against Georgia Tech and Jawad Williams broke his nose- I only remember that because after it happened he came back in the game with this big face-mask thing on. But anyways this weekend there wasn't a lot going on in Clemson and I needed some R&R so I decided to surprise my dad and come home this weekend to watch the tourney with him. (Of course mom loved me being home too) So, literally this whole weekend the tournament was on just about every TV in the house and we all were watching it. To our dismay UNC lost by 3 today to FSU BUUUUT FSU is a great team so no hard feelings.

Anyways, you might be wondering why I'm a UNC fan because one I'm from VA and SC and two I go to Clemson. Well I guess it's because my parents are such UNC fans its just part of my blood. My mom is from High Point North Carolina so she has grown up a Carolina blue girl. My dad played basketball in high school and went to a bball camp at UNC and met Dean Smith and ever since that day he respected Dean and his team and has been a fan ever since. When I say fan I mean literally watches every game if he can't he will record it and he reads so much about each player every year that sometimes I feel like he thinks they are part of the family. Now you might be thinking well then if they like UNC so much why in the world would they name you Cameron since their arch-rivals' -Duke- stadium is Cameron Indoor Stadium- well my parents say it was a momentary lapse in judgement and that they just really liked the name and thought it fit-so that is why. Anyways, that is why I'm a UNC fan and probably always will be one. It comes with great memories and a common bond my dad and I share.

Along with that.....after ACC tourney means MARCH MADNESS! Seriously best time of the year.

hahaha picture of me and dad I found this weekend... yes we were watching a Carolina game but please check out those 90's glasses the hair and mustache....oh Greg you are such a great guy.

 

This is a little bit more about me

With all my love- Cam

Most Bitter Sweet Night of the Year

That's right folks, tonight is the most bitter sweet night of the year. Ya wanna know why? Well I'll tell ya.....it's because you LOSE an hour of sleep:( BAHHH to a college student that's the worst news EVER because well let's be honest we lack sleep anyways and to lose a whole hour - "do the words cruel and unusual punishment mean anything to you?" - haha to quote one of my favorite movies Remember the Titans. I don't know if you're like me but whenever day-light-savings comes along it always takes me like a week to figure out the time change and get use to everything- I may be a pansy but hey I like my sleep. Anyways, We may loose an hour of sleep BUUUUUUUUUUUT we GAIN more day time!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!! That means it feels like a longer day, I tend to be more productive, the sunsets are more breath-taking, and DUN DUN DUN WARMER WEATHER is on the rise!!! YES YES YES YES YES. Best worst day ever! Hope yall had a great weekend

DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS FORWARD (otherwise you're going to be very behind)

       With all my love-  Cam

Expectations

First let me start off saying I love old people- okay okay true life I just love people in general. Random I know but at the dermatologist (yes yes i go to the derm anyways) There was an old couple there and they were the sweetest things ever. The old man had a walker and he couldn't open any doors and the old woman after kissing his cheek told him she needed to use the ladies room. So since she wasn't there to open his doors and it would have been difficult for him to open them I got up and opened all the doors for him and he looked at me and said "You know back in my day we would have been rivals" Now this took me by surprise and I said "Now really!? Whys that?" he replied "Now I'm a Wofford man graduated in '52 and we don't really like those Clemson Tigers much." Realizing I had on a Clemson sweatshirt I said "Well I'm sorry to hear that because I sure do love my Tigers but maybe we could have been friends." He chuckled and said "why yes I think we could have, ya know I went to seminary and served as a Chaplin in Vietnam twice and served in other places too." I told him how amazing that was and how I was really glad to meet him and he just smiled and went on his way. Gosh he made my day. So, then I went home and made dinner yay! If you don't know I LOVE veggies and I like to make sure dinner is a well balanced meal. SOOOO for tonight I made lemon garlic tilapia (basically take tilapia filet and add lemon juice a little garlic a smidge of butter and herbs), mashed potatoes, carrots, zucchini patties (basically take chopped zucchini add some bread crumbs, an egg, and some old bay-I love these because its different than just having grilled/baked/or steamed veggies and you still get the nutrients!) Anyways here is the final product and let me tell you the fam loved it.

On to expectations. I've really actually been thinking about this a lot lately and here is what I've come up with. We have SO many expectations (well I can't talk for yall so I guess the correct pronoun is I) but correct me if I'm wrong I think everyone has expectations.  There are expectations of ourselves: getting the best grades, being the best student, having the best YL club, being the best YL leader, being the best daughter/son, doing our quiet time every day, being the best Christian, being the best friend, making sure people like you, keeping up your great reputation, if you are an athlete being the best athlete. Then there are expectations others have of you: teachers expect you to do the work they assign, friends rely on you to be there, you are expected to keep up with your responsibilities in any organization you are involved in. Also, there are expectations of events- let me elaborate. Say you are going to a place where there are a lot of people hanging out and in your mind before you get there you go through a scenario that you will hang out with this person and get to know them more or it's going to be the best time ever and there won't be any awkward moments- you're setting an expectation for how you think the night will go. I may be weird in the fact that sometimes I come up with scenarios in the far future - for instance this summer I will go ahead and think oh I'm going to do this and this and this and I'm going to get closer with this person or this person- and by me doing that I'm almost setting myself up for failure because I'm setting and expectation for what I think will happen.

This is BAD and it often leads to a lot of disappointment. Trust me I know from plenty of experience. BUT here is what I have noticed. When I go into situations without expectations I find that I have SO much more fun, more than I could have imagined. And when I don't feel the pressure of expectations I end up being better than I could have expected. I know there is a lot of pressure and we feel like there are always going to be expectations but here is my challenge let's try to live life without expectations. By doing that we can live in the mystery of God and God's plan for us. It takes A LOT of pressure off AND in the end we end up having so much more fun than we could have even imagined.

Let me paint you a picture. Here is a story I KNOW many if not all of you have heard before. But let's look at it through the eyes of expectation.

Jesus Calms the Storm  

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”  ²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm ²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” 

 So here's my thing. There is this huge storm....I think of something like in the movie the Guardian for the last mission they go into the ocean and the water has these massive swells (it could have been even bigger than that but I digress), so they are in the midst of this storm and obviously they are freaking out. I love how Jesus is sleeping and is chill because He knows everything is under control (man to have faith like that) anyways so the disciples go over and wake him up. Here is where expectations come into play. The disciples woke Jesus up expecting Him to do something - I'm not sure what they were expecting him to do, maybe tell them it would be okay, maybe for him to give them a clear direction for a way to get to the shore faster, I don't know- but what they WEREN'T expecting was Jesus to completely stop the storm. In the midst of chaos, winds shrieking, water spewing, panic flying all Jesus had to do was say stop and it was dead silent-still and peaceful. Now this BLEW the disciples away and you know why? Because it was beyond what they were expecting.

What would it look like to actually live in mystery and be blown away by Jesus? I can tell you what it'd look like it'd look pretty awesome. Like I said earlier when we don't have expectations everything seems to be better. So my challenge for you is to not have expectations and when you feel yourself start to day-dream or imagine how you think a situation is going to go or put expectations on yourself stop them and let Jesus work- let Him calm that storm.

Live in mystery - With all my love- Cam

"But I know who he is...because I see him on this picture." MAKE KONY FAMOUS

I first heard about Invisible Children last year at DCF when they came to talk. Instantly I was moved by their cause and was amazed that such injustice and cruelty was going on. Let me first start off by saying that I am ridiculously naive and I am so selfish that it is almost sickening. On a daily basis I worry about myself and my problems but don't even think that in other parts of the world there are children who are scared for their lives and families who live in constant fear that their children will be ripped away and will be sold for sex or trained to kill. I am so selfish. Even right now I can't begin to imagine what that feels like, what that constant fear and terror could even amount to. As I sit in my pillow-top bed with pillows surrounding me typing on my Apple computer there are children trying to fall asleep but can't because they haven't eaten, they are sick, they are sleeping on the ground, they are terrified someone will come take them or even worse kill them. Tiny voices cry out in the night, I'm sure ear-wrenching screams are heard throughout and millions of tears are shed. I am so selfish. There are many factors to these awful circumstances but one very influential factor is Joseph Kony

It makes my heart sing seeing my Facebook news-feed being blown up with the Youtube video about Joseph Kony. People I wouldn't even expect are all joining in to make Kony Famous and it makes me so excited.  After watching the video and being reminded that I am so small and my problems are so unbelievably miniscule, my heart was dying inside. Seeing faces of the children and knowing that some evil evil man can ruin so many peoples lives I couldn't help but have tears streaming down my face. I want to go there and hug the kids, I want to go and adopt all of them and bring them here, I want to go feed their little tummies, I want to go kiss all the little boo-boos, I WANT TO LOVE THEM, but most importantly I WANT THE WAR TO END so they can live in a little less fear.

While I don't think it is plausible for me to go over there right now, right this instant there is something that I can do and that WE can do. We can continue to make Kony famous- don't let the initial emotional appeal and sudden outburst die. Let's continue to make this big and talk about it to anyone and everyone. My gut tells me that as the week continues the newness and large impact of this video will die down and we will all go on about our lives and worrying about our "problems." But my challenge and prayer is that WE all remember how SMALL we are and how BIG our God is. Our problems that we think we have are so minute compared to people in other parts of the world and I hope that we can remember that and remind each other of that fact.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

We are called to take action. So my friends take action make this a conversational topic, give money to the cause, buy a T-shirt (which I personally think are super cute btw), buy a bracelet, buy a Kony Action Packet. Like Nike says Just Do It.  Do something about it, take action, do what we are called to do- Love others as we love ourselves (and let me just tell you, we love ourselves waaaaay to much).

If you haven't checked out the video here it is:

 Also for more information about Invisible Children and where donations go to as well as what their organization is about AND ways to buy Tshirts and such here is their website:
http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/about.html

Take action- With all my love- Cam

Servant

So I finished reading Ruth and let me tell you if you haven't read it you definitely should! It's a short and beautiful illustration of mercy, kindness, selflessness, and servitude. Let me just share with you a quote from Ruth that pretty much encompasses what selflessness is. Ruth says to Naomi (her mother-in-law who has recently lost her sons and husband) "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay." Knowing that Naomi didn't have anyone Ruth did not return to her family to be with them or be remarried, instead, she faithfully stayed with her-mother-in-law and not only took care of her but also went out in the fields every day diligently in order to make money and feed both of them. 

She did not morn, she did not complain, she did not question, instead she faithfully served and nurtured. She is not seeking anything she is just faithfully serving and out of nowhere comes Boaz (who in my mind is a wonderful wonderful Godly man). Boaz didn't have a clue who she was yet he offered her food and something to drink as well as protected her by telling his men "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her." Eventually they go on to get married but I think it is such a beautiful picture of a couple of things.

1) The Lord provides when we least expect it. Ruth wasn't expecting to find a man who would treat her with shear and genuine kindness as well as protect her. But while she was doing her work, being a servant, and seeking the Lord, He provided. I say all of this trying to say that I'm not sure if  Ruth was even looking for a husband or wanted a husband but for any girl who is trying to find a boyfriend/finance/husband whatever, I think that it truly won't happen until you seek the Lord fully and serve Him as well as those around you with excellence. That is all Ruth did she was selfless, she genuinely wanted to serve and provide, and she wanted to find favor in the Lord. So, needless to say I think we should strive to be better servants because the Lord provides when you least expect it.
2) I think God is portrayed through Boaz.  The way that Boaz provides, pursues, protects, and admires Ruth, I think is how God treats us. He provides us with what we need and promises us that He will always provide (Mt 8:25-33), pursues us (basically read anywhere in the Bible and you'll see how we constantly turn away yet he is always there and always loves), protects us (Psalm 32:7), and we are his children so he loves us immensely and the fact that he created us and we are created in his image I'm sure he sits back and admires the work he has done.

My little thing I will leave you with is that I hope and pray we can all be better servants. I pray that we seek Him through everything and strive to only serve Him and others around us, rather than ourselves. The Lord does that  for us and he provides when we least expect it; So this week be a servant:)

With all my love- Cam

AHHH SO BUSY!

First of all let me say I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY BLOG and that writing a post every day is a little ambitious but I can always strive to do better! With that said let me catch you up on my life. Last week I went to Pickens every day and I loved every bit of it - I seriously love my friends and I love going to catch up with them, club was phenomenal on Monday, lunches Tuesday and Thursday were great, and we had a great dinner date on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday after lunches I got to catch up with Courtney- I really am blessed to have her in my life and I'm even more blessed and excited that she will continue to stay in my life because she was accepted into a masters program here at Clemson! After that I got to hang out with Eylse the rest of the day and it was SO great to get to hang out with my teammate and learn more about each other. While we were hanging out we made cake pops for the FCA bake sale. They were really easy to do but took a long time to do them. Here is a picture!

Anyways so we sold those Saturday night at a FCA dance- which was definitely such a great night! Then today I went to DCF and had a great time of worship restoration. If I can be completely raw today I really felt the Lord take my need from control away. It's been something that has really hindered me from growing and relying solely on Him and today I felt him break those chains from me. I've been complacent and really just not growing and I really feel like I became way to complacent and I've been hindered by me trying to take control of everything and every part of my life. KT said a couple of things today that really hit me and I wanted to share. First, it's not about a feeling, its not about feeling something that makes you know God is there or has control of you, its believing in truth and having faith. Clearly, I struggle with this but when he said that it made me reflect back and realize that I rely on trying to feel something rather than just bask in the truth and be restless in that peace.  The second thing he said is along those lines but when you pray don't pray that God will be there and have control but pray that you will believe fully that He already is there and doing that. In the Bible it already promises that God is there so there so the thing to be praying for is that we can have strong belief that it is true.  After hearing that I just knew that the way I pray the way I read and my faith has just become so complacent recently and it is my prayer that my relationship just blossoms and grows.

My prayer for you is that you aren't complacent that you feel some tug or something that you feel like you can grow in and work on growing. I also pray that if you have chains holding you back release them to the Lord allow him to work so you can live freely in Him and his grace and you will know that there is nothing that you can or cannot do that will make Him love you less.

With ALL my love- Cam