The big city is getting to me

One of my first days in Spartanburg, a fellow Grand Opening Trainer shared with us that Spartanburg is number four on the list of "worst cities to be in the southeast."  

My mom told me last Sunday, "you guys need to be super careful. That's not a great area."

We should've taken heed. We so should have! Last week, when setting up the restaurant, my friends left their belongings on a table. Two guys came in to get an application, and one of them helped himself to my friend Cassie's wallet. The worst part about this was that she had flown and had to contact her home state's DMV to get some sort of ID in order to fly home! Long, boring story short-they tracked the guy down, tazed him, and put him in jail. Bad news was, her wallet wasn't recovered. 

Then, yesterday...this happened 

 

Yes. In case you were wondering, that's where's side view mirror should be. No, it's no longer there. Honestly, I have no words for this!

All I know is that this small town girl who forgets to lock her car (and sometimes her house) is so not ready for the crime of the big city of Spartanburg. Watch your wallets...and your car parts! It's shady over there. 

God will move

You can never predict how or when God is going to move in a group. You can never predict how your message or teaching is going to come across. You never know. You just have to rely on God and let Him move. We've been really learning and focusing on this concept in our Wednesday night Bible Study and I saw the truth in it! We've been talking about the Holy Spirit and how sometimes He wants us to be unscripted and just let Him move! 

This week was just insane for me and I was in charge of both Sunday School and PM Small Group this week. It was starting to stress me and by Saturday, my plan was as follows:

1-prewatch our Sunday School video and prep some discussion questions for it. 

2-be ready to show our Small Group video with the group; if the Lord leads to a good discussion-great, if not, that's ok too and we will fellowship some more!

I felt sort of disappointed after Sunday School. I felt like there wasn't much discussion and that I was unable to keep people engaged. However, after talking to several people in our class, it apparently was very good and they got a lot out of it. So glad that God spoke when I didn't have words. 

Then, Small Group came around and I had watched about 2 minutes of the video. We watched it as a group and discussion was slow starting. However, by the end several people had shared personal testimonies, encouraged one another, and I was able to teach some thigs that had been dear to my heart about Lordship of Christ and Security in Salvation. None of this was planned, but the Holy Spirit moved. 

What I've learned through this day is that it's not up to me. I don't get to plan when God will move. Sometimes my scripted plans end up going differently than I anticipated. Other times, I plan nothing and God plans things. It's good. We need to rely on Him to plan, not just consult Him with our plans! I'm so grateful to have seen God's hand our our groups today. 

Andi's Baby Shower

Several friends and I (Chelsea and Margaret, you've met before from their guest posts...and Shannon), along with several ladies from our church (who rocked some food) hosted a baby shower for our amazing and fantastic friend Andi and baby boy Liam his afternoon. We went orange, blue, and grey with some elephants thrown in, in the hopes that she can reuse for her nursery theme. 

Andi posted this sneak peak of her nursery on her blog and I ran with it!

The invitation:

I got my graphic design on for this shower! Love the way these precious invitations came out. 

So, here's what we did:

Our good table featured our orange and blue theme as well! We had pimento cheese sandwiches, goldfish, blue corn chips, guac, and two fantastic cakes. For decor-we used chevron fabric backing and an embroidered Liam banner. We hung invitations along the edge. 

Close up of banner and cake. 

My mom did all the great banners!

Here's where Andi and her scribe (grin-Shannon) sat! We hung onesies and her sonogram pictures with some sweet grey elephant fabric. We had a cute end table with a vase of oranges in water, as well as a coordinating notebook and pen waiting for Andi!

Gift table with another cute banner-this one had fabric scraps tied on!

Here's the "opened" gift table. I created the fun printables in the back (I framed 5*7 ones as part of Andi's gift). Margaret did the diaper cake and a fun "write on the diaper" station. 

The rolls on the right were cute Thank you's from "Liam" that a sweet lady at our church made:

Full gift table: (Liam is already so loved).

Left to right: Shannon, Andi, Chelsea, and me. I so love my best friends with my whole heart!!!

I think everything turned out so cute. I don't know when our friend group "graduated" from the group finishing college, to the group getting married, to now the group having kids!?!? But, welcome to the new age I guess! 

Come on Liam-we're ready for ya!

#SavilleLifeInPictures2014. Week 14

Day 89: so glad I could squeeze a little basketball into this jam-packed weekend! Love watching this girl play. 

Day 90: dedication dinner for Spartanburg CFA! So grateful to be a part of opening this great restaurant. 

Day 91: backstage tours ready to go! Fresh squeezed lemonade, handmade biscuits, fresh produce, and premium brands! 

Day 92: nothing like a little night ride back to the hotel. So glad to be at an opening where I can go home for just a little bit!

Day 93: oh my goodness-breaded Avacado tacos. I don't normally Instagram my food, but this was epic. Haha

Day 94: some of the family came to see me in Spartanburg! Mackenzie has mastered the group selfie. 

Day 95: got home and these were waiting for me. I might have a slight problem! 

I can't believe I've been documenting my life for 95 days and blogging for just as long! Love it. :) thanks for being my faithful few. 

Fitness Friday. Edition: We Ran a 10k

Last Friday night, Moose, my sister Morgan and I loaded up our new truck and took it on it's first road trip. 

We headed down to Ga to meet up with Moose's family and my SIL Whitney. Three of us were going to run a 10k the next morning. The rest were just ready for some fun family time! Friday night was dreary, and we feared the worst for Saturday morning weather (or most of us did. The Savilles aren't known for optimism ;) ). Early to bed we went!

On Saturday morning, the weather was dreary still, but not rainy, Praise The Lord! We got to the race with not much time to spare. Morgan, Whitney, and I went quickly to pick up our bibs and stretch. 

We made our way to the start. Morgan's hat is a dot in front of this picture. 

We took a start line selfie

As we ran, Whitney and I were great accountability for another! We kept pace and negative split for all 6 miles. Our last mile was rather rough. I told Whitney one point "we've got 1/2 mile left!" To which she responded, "that is not encouraging!" Lol. :)

Morgan beat us to the finish line...by quite a bit! But we all had fun. :)

Love race days!

So glad I could spend my first 10k with these sisters. 

Feels Like Home to Me

I drove through Travelers Rest the other day (and to some of you, that means nothing....) and felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and "home." You see, I grew up there and a part of me, though I have nothing left there, still considers it home. 

I began thinking about home. I feel like I can chunk life into segments of "homes". The first 14 years of my life is the TR segment, then comes Williamston, the. Clemson/Married Williamston (which sort of melds together and is happening now). 

There are defining things about each segment--people, churches, houses--each of which feel a little bit like mine. They shaped me; I grew there; I left pieces of myself along the way. Home has been so many places. Ultimately, though, for me, home is where my people are. It's not a house or a place; it's not a town or a community. It's where I've built my heart. Home is a feeling. 

When I got married, a good friend of mine said, "your house with your hubby isn't gonna feel like home for a long time. You'll feel more comfortable on your mom's couch with your whole family on a Sunday afternoon for awhile. Maybe even after you have kids." I thought she was crazy. That same friend and I heard Chantal Kreviazuk's Feels Like Home (you probably know it from How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days) and I got it. My people feel like home to me; feel like I'm exactly where I came from. As I grow in my marriage, my husband feels more and more like home to me, but I'm still most at home when my husband and all my people are together. It makes my heart full. 

It felt like home when I drove through TR the other day; I will always have great memories of this chunk of life. My heart was full thinking of these memories with my people in this time, but I'm so grateful that I get to do life every single day making memories that will be my nostalgia of home one day in the future. 

What feels like home to you? Is it people? Places? How do you "chunk" your homes through the years? I can't wait to hear!

The whole reason

I heard a quote Monday night at dedication dinner (a Chick-fil-A thing where you dedicate your business to the Lord and the "baton" is passed from corporate to the operator and ultimately they employees. Very cool.) that said "the whole reason for my life at work is to show that God is at work in my life." I thought about that for a minute and began to wonder. 

I wrote a series of mentor sessions and one of the last ones was about glorifying God with our work. It said, "most believers see work as a means to an end of glorifying God-with their income or their time-rather than a way to glorify Him daily." I continued thinking...and wondering. 

And finally, I follow Jon Acuff, who blogs often about going after your dream as a way to honor God. More thoughts came from this idea. 

Genesis 2:15-16 tell us that God put Adam to work in the garden-before sin and the fall of man. 

All four of these concept have led me to see work in a different light than I had been. Is work something I do to advance myself or to advance the Kingdom? Is it a means to an end for me? I know we are told to "do everything we do to the glory of God," but what does that entail in the day-to-day? In the work that I do now-substitute teaching and CFA Grand Opening Training, am I glorifying God? 

To me, that means am I doing everything to the absolute best of my ability? Am I living like Jesus so others see somwtgibg different in me? Am I being a good steward of the time and money I have been entrusted with? 

What is your reason for working? Is it to provide, to develop, to be able to do ____? Or is the whole reason of your life at work to show others that God is at work in your life?