The Civil Wars @ Workplay

Hannah and I took a small roadtrip to Birmingham yesterday to see the always amazing Civil Wars at Workplay for a "special" afternoon show! What can make great music even better? Well Joy Williams and John Paul White's amazing chemistry and stage presence can. They know how to put on a concert. I have never heard any two people's voices mesh together better than these two, and they just released an album (already at #1 on iTunes! Yes, it's that good!) and you should really go get it! So here's some pictures and videos of the concert!

After some heavy stalking, we found out The Civil Wars were at Oz, and we immediately went! Ahhhhh!

We were super excited about seeing them!!

Lucy Schwartz!

Sound check!

Set List!

Joy Williams' sassy personality and adorable style always makes their concerts even better! She's adorable! :)

"The day I'll know we've made it is when people begin to say Johnny Depp looks like me" -JPW

Adorable Shoes!

And now I've been listening to the Barton Hollow Vinyl all day long!! (No making fun of the ghetto record player... It was my dad's and I LOVE it!)

I'll be adding videos to this post tonight!

Thanks for reading!
-K

"I'm all ears, all eyes for you...."

Wow. My friend just shared a verse with me, and I don't even know what to say about it. (that's a first, I know!) I just want to share it with you guys. This is such an honest, raw prayer from David. I hope it means as much to you as it does to me.

"If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice,

I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you.

Point out the road I must travel;

I’m all ears, all eyes before you."
-Psalms 143:8

David continues in verse 11 and asks god to enliven him to do His will. He asks God to make him energetic and lively to do God's will for him. Wow. These are some amazing verses. Just wanted to share.

Thanks for reading!
-K

Strength to Stand 2011

This last weekend I went to Gatlinburg with my youth group for the Strength to Stand Conference. It gives me chills to think about how much God spoke to not only me but my friends through this conference. This years theme was TUG - One tug. One call. One life. It was all about surrendering our lives to the "tug" god places on our life, to that call he has on our lives. For me, this conference had amazing timing. I'm becoming a "big girl." :) :( I have no idea whether to be happy or sad, but I can say I'm super excited to do what god has called me to do and start on this new journey. During the trip, it became more of a reality that I'm an "adult" now. The decisions I make now will affect my future. They will be my future. Wow, that's scary. I can choose to do what god wants me to do or what I want to do. Hopefully the first. That's definitely a sobering thought. I hope that when all is said and done with my life, I will be able to look back and say I did what I was here for, and I fulfilled gods plans for me. That's all I can ask for. This weekend really made me think. Now, I'm super excited (and a little scared) about my future! :)

Oh and I forgot to mention I got to see the always amazing Needtobreathe for the fifth time!

"In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere."
-Ephesians 4:1

"I Dreamt I Bled With Your Praises..."

John Mark McMillan has to be my favorite songwriter/singer of all time. His lyrics are creative and carry a whole lot of weight with each word. I LOVE a good song but more than that I LOVE a good song with good, meaningful lyrics. One of my favorite songs by John Mark is "Kiss Your Feet." It has my number one favorite line in a song in it. "I dreamt I bled with your praises just to make the world smell like your grace again." I'm not going to lie, it took me about a month to pull apart and decipher that one line, but when I did I was in pure awe and amazement at that statement.

Now, I absolutely love all these changes in my life (especially the being out of high school part!) but there have been a few that have hurt. They have hurt bad. Some of these changes have caused major pain in my life, but I'm beginning to see how God is/was using my pain and hurt and these changes to draw me toward Him.

I have never understood lyrics as much as I did those when dealing with the hurt caused by those changes. At first, I tried to handle the problem myself. Apparently, I attempted taking control of the situation and epically failed. I attempted to play god in the situation and screwed myself over. But I learned to praise God for the changes and his drawing me to himself. I began to "bleed with His praises." When we get cut, we bleed. We don't tell ourselves to bleed or even think about it, it just happens. It's our natural reaction. So when I get cut, bruised, and beat up by the world, do I bleed with his praises? Do I react by automatically by praising god and not even thinking about it? No. But how awesome would it be if I did. How much better would I handle bad situations if I automatically praised him for allowing me to be there? Just something to think about...

Thanks for reading! ;)
-K

Miss Maggie Leigh Hamner

My sister had her second little girl on December 30, 2010. So of course I have to post some super sweet pictures of her! My new niece has to be shown on the new blog!

At first Marichase wasn't too happy...

Then sweet Maggie Leigh came!

And Marichase still didn't know what to think...

But she warmed up to her and loves her little sissy! Who couldn't love that sweet face!

Sweet girl loves her carseat!

And, of course, so does her big sister!

Thanks for reading!
-K

So Long Familiar!

So new year. New start. New Adventure. NEW BLOG! I don't think I've blogged in at least a good six months, but I'm super excited to start back again! I graduated from high school in December and I don't have to start college until August. Do I know where I want to college? Yes. Do I know where I will go? No. I'm just along for the ride at this point. Life has changed so much over the past few weeks and I can't wait to see what other changes are in store over the next couple of months. So that brings me to the point of this blog. I'm going to be "documenting" my adventure of saying so long to familiarity and saying hello to new adventures. I'm super excited to see what God has planned for me, and I can't wait to see the changes come as I learn to let go and live. This year could potentially be one of the most exciting of my life. I could move away from the town I've always lived in and try something totally new, but I guess we will see! Thanks for reading guys! 


"I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."
-Philipians 3:12-14 (The Message)


-K