White Space

Over winter break my Bel Air church, Mountain Christian Church, did a series around christmas time titled "I'm Dreaming of a White Space Christmas". Here's a short video that illustrates the concept quite well. PLEASE watch it!

http://vimeo.com/17489321

Basically, the concept behind the series was for us to leave some white space in our lives. You know, like the white space, or margin, on the edges of the pages in a book. If the text was to go all the way to the edge of the page, it would look cluttered and no one would want to read it. Just like there's a spacious margin right here on this blog. The text is only consuming a narrow strip of the entire page because it makes it look more appealing to you. It's obviously working because your reading what I'm writing aren't you? The same thing goes for our lives. If we have every little detail of our day rigidly planned out, how in the world are we going to let God implement his plan for our life? The more open space we have in our day to day life, the more room there is for God to work out his perfect plan for us.

Well, at the time of hearing this sermon series I didn't really think about it much. It was over Christmas break so I didn't have much going on anyway. I just thought to myself, "White Space? Check!" Now that I am back at school and getting into the swing of things, I am getting a lesson on the importance of white space.

My schedule is pretty open right now. My only assignments have been text book readings, and things really haven't gotten intense yet like i know they will later on in the semester. I am not going into details in this post because things are still beginning to play out, but I definitely will soon. For now, I just wanted to say that having white space in your life really does allow room for God to work!!!

There have been a couple different extracurricular activities that I have been offered to partake in, but because I was not passionate about them I let them pass by. These are things that I probably would have enjoyed but I knew they weren't supposed to be a part of my life at the present moment. All I can say is: Boy am I glad I have had an open schedule right now because God is most definitely using it to his advantage! I can't wait to share specifics about things. for now I just want to encourage you to create white space in your life! It will be 300% worth it! I challenge you to have done something to create white space in your life by the time I post my next blog. I know you can do it and I know you know what you need to do. What are you waiting for? Do it!

Much love from a Hokie

-Kenz

Christmas Break

During my last few weeks at Tech, we were all asking each other what our Christmas break plans were. My answer was mostly one that included relaxation, time with family and friends, hunting, and even more relaxation. Little did I know at the time what that would pan out to look like.

On Christmas afternoon, Amy broke the news to us that Tyler was supposed to arrive at the airport from Afghanistan in about an hour. However, his flight was canceled and he was on standby for a flight leaving Atlanta at 9:45. We ended up suspensefully waiting to get a call from a borrowed phone that carried Tyler's voice saying that he got on that flight. After receiving that joyous phone call Amy, Dad, Mom, and I drove quickly to the airport to welcome him home just after midnight.

It was such a blessing to get to spend Christmas with Tyler. Even though he didn't make it home in time for Christmas Day, we were still able to share the majority of the season with him. I didn't realize at the beginning of break that it would turn out quite like this. We were able to spend a lot of quality family time, all six of us, for the first time since July. This included playing games together, lots of hunting, and just hanging out and catching up on life. We finally gave Tyler and Amy the boot and sent them back on their way to Tennessee where they will be spending the second half of R&R.

Now that they're gone, I'm not exactly sure what to do with myself. I will most likely continue to hunt and catch up with friends again but it's been really nice to have a slow pace of life again.

Happy New Year! Here comes 2011.

Thanksgiving Break

This post is answering the question:

How was your thanksgiving break? What kind of food did you eat? Do anything fun?

Here is my answer:

My thanksgiving break was pretty good even though it went by too fast! I'll share with you some of my highlights from the last 10 days.

• The day after I got home Brandon took me to the Stephen Curtis Chapman concert that was taking place at our church. Even though I didn't know much of the music, it was a really enjoyable concert. It was musically amazing and incredibly inspiring. The band Caleb opened for him and they were a pleasant surprise. Caleb Chapman is Stephen CurtisChapman's son and has inherited much of his father's musical talent. Brandon and I bought their CD and I've been enjoying listening to it.
• Getting to be at home for more than a weekend, and spending time with family and friends was really nice. I got to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in quite a while. I hosted a party for all of my hometown friends to get together and catch up. Most of us hadn't seen each other since the summer so it was awesome to all be in the same room together again.
• I got to go either goose or deer hunting almost everyday of the week, which was awesome! Even though it wasn't the most successful hunting, I had some great bonding time with my dad and sister-in-law.
  
  
• On thanksgiving day, my Kelly cousins came over and we ate a deliciously traditional thanksgiving meal. Yumm. After dinner we turned on the game for a little bit. Then Tyler called us from Afghanistan and we were able to Skype with him for a good while. It was so great being able to see his face and hear his voice. He was in a very goofy mood (typical Tyler), and was cracking tons of jokes.

Overall, my break was really relaxing and enjoyable, but it's nice to be back to VT. Here goes the home stretch of Fall semester! Wish me luck. -Mackenzie

I'll miss this sunrise until I go home again.

"There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,

Why there's not four of them, now I guess we know.

It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you,

It's what you leave behind you when you go."

Randy Travis, Three Wooden Crosses

Breathing in Fall Air

This week has been absolutely beautiful in Blacksburg! The weather has been sunny with temperatures as high as 71 degrees and wind at about 2 MPH. I have been able to breathe lots of fresh, crisp air which is helping me recover from I cold I've had.

I mentioned the wind speed because this is the only complaint I have had about the weather in the past week. Gran and Gramps came down for a lovely visit last weekend and Dad sent with them one of our kites. I have been dying to fly it one afternoon on the drillfield, especially because its sunny and mild right now. Maybe one day soon God will give me some decent wind so that I can fly my kite.

On Thursday of this week I went outside with my camera and my friends Caitlin and Jen to exercise my photography abilities. Here are a few of the shots I took:

Caitlin

Jen's beautiful feet!

I know Converse pictures are very cliche

but that's because they look awesome!

Caitlin standing under the rafters of one

of the natural resources buildings.

Jen relaxing in the leaves.

Caitlin crawled under a filthy bike rack for this picture!

Jen and Caitlin were awesome models :) Thanks Ladies!

These five pictures are just a sampling of the many I took. There are more posted on Facebook under my "Virginia Tech-Freshman" album. Check them out. I also took some really cool pictures to add to my "Textures" collection that I have been working on.

Peace and Blessings (in my best Glozell voice),

Mackenzie

"Don't listen to them when they say

You're just a fool

Just a fool

To believe you can change the world

Oh the smallest thing can make all the difference

Love is alive"

Carrie Underwood - Change