Life is Good, Life is Great!

Greetings-

This past weekend, I experienced something that I consider to be a huge blessing. First of all, let me just tell you one little fact about the lovely way college works…. One week, no papers, no tests, no homework, no nothing. The next week… All of that plus whatever else you can possible have. I don’t know how they do it, but I like to think all professors get together and establish which week they would like to make us go insane! So for me, this would be the perfect description of my week even though last week was pretty crazy also. I am in a Freshman Leadership Organization here at A&M called MSC A LOT (Memorial Student Center, Aggie Leaders of Tomorrow). Earlier in the year, I was given the opportunity to be a counselor at a leadership conference that ALOT hosts. I was so so excited about this and I just knew it would be really fun. Unfortunately I was on the road when the mandatory training sessions were held but some how, they agreed to let me still participate. Come about Thursday of last week, I began to get reallyyyyyyy stressed out with all that was approaching me so fast. I have to be completely honest with you, and admit that all my excitement for the conference soon turned into a very negative attitude. I even considered dropping out at the last minute because I figured if I didn’t go, I would be able to use the whole weekend to get everything done for this week. I spent a lot of time in prayer about this and decided that was definitely NOT the right thing to do. When I say that was one of the best decisions I’ve made, I mean that 120%.

The SLOT conference for high school juniors and seniors (student leaders of tomorrow) was to begin on Friday, and end on Sunday. I took off work, got as much done beforehand as possible, put a smile on my face…. and went! I got there not knowing what to expect at all. I had no training and therefore didn’t know the schedule or anything at all actually! Little did I know, I was in for an experience of a lifetime. I was fortunate enough to have 8 amazing kids in my little family. In fact, I absolutely fell in love with them. They were all very sweet, talented, and all around just great kids. In the short amount of time I was with them, I felt like they could be my very own. As much as I hope I was able to impact their lives in some way, they also very much impacted mine.

Through out the weekend, I met so many new faces and even made some really great friends with the other counselors in ALOT. I never even thought about my homework and just focused on what I would be able to give to the students. By Sunday, I felt like I was 100 years old because I was so exhausted! I had a blast! Even though I was tired, I was also in awe. It may sound cliché, but this weekend really taught me a very valuable lesson. I need to listen to God’s plan for my life rather than the desires I have for myself. And to add to all of this, since this weekend, several of my kids have sent me the nicest messages ever!!! If I wouldn’t have gone, none of this would have been possible and the people in ALOT probably wouldn’t have much respect for me at all. I could go on and on about this, but to sum it up, I am SO THANKFUL that I chose to go and it really was an awakening moment in my life.

So with such a great weekend, there was just no way I could start off my week any other way than being so refreshed right? I’ve still slept very few hours this week, but I do have 2 papers, a resume, and a test (that I completely ACED by the way) behind me! Now I’m only left with a 2 page paper, an application, and my Retiring Address outline due on Friday. When ever I do so well on a test, it for some reason gives me the mind set that I deserve to celebrate?!? Soooooo… this is exactly what I did! Last night Mai Lee and I went to dinner, then to my very first Aggie Baseball game, then spent a couple hours at Barnes and Noble, then to Starbucks, and then finally we went home! What a great day it was! To end off this week, my mom aunt and grandmother are coming to stay with me this weekend. Hopefully this means some much needed shopping! :) More importantly though, I really am excited they are coming and I wish Saturday would hurry up and get here!

Whatever it may be, I hope that each of you can learn something from this. If anything like my story from this weekend has happened to you, or you can relate to the feeling, I would love to hear from you! If you don’t want to comment publicly, send me an email or even a message on facebook. I look forward to hearing from you! Have a great week and Be Blessed.

Live is good,

Macy

I survived!

Howdy!

Some might say I’m a good friend, but I think Ms. Mai Lee better be saying I’m a GREAT friend after this weekend! Part of our duties as a State Officer is to work a major livestock show. Like many of you know, I worked Fort Worth already. Well, Mai Lee was supposed to work at San Antonio and just a few days before, found out she was going to be there all by herself. Of course I felt terrible and so she somehow talked me into going with her! A little background, Mai Lee lovesssss pigs, and me on the other hand, not so much. Now steers, I would be thrilled to work that show any day. I used to show in High School but I bet people probably thought I came straight from the city after these last couple of days!! I might have showed for 10 years but I have never enjoyed getting dirty which is exactly what we did! I can’t lie to you, when we got there on Sunday, I wore flip flops and that lasted about 10 minutes until they made me go change. They told us we would be done working about midnight and needed to be back up there the next morning at 3am, wow! To some this trip up, it was a long and interesting couple of days but it was worth it. I saw many of you there and that just happened to be on my gate every time. My duty was to open and close the gate when the exhibitors brought their pigs in to the holding area. That gate and I became best friends because we got to spend so much time together! Parents yelled and screamed at me hundreds of times telling me to OPEN THE GATE. It got super intense thats for sure, but it was really cute getting to see all the little kids showing for the first time.

I guess I need to back up a little bit… On Saturday, Lora and I ran a 5K in support of Breast Cancer. It was very cold and windy and I somehow forgot my inhaler (not a good combination). So of course when I got done, I thought I was going to die! No but really, after running this I didn’t feel very good because of allergies and all the stuff that was already going around. Later that evening, I met Mr. Wallrath in Huntsville for dinner. I really admire this man because he is a living example of what it truly means to be a servant leader. For those of you who have had the opportunity to read his book, its very good and will give you a greater understanding of his background. He actually told me a while back that a company wanted to make his book into a movie, which would be really neat!!! Now I’m back to where I left off… between the 5K, not sleeping due to studying, and several days working the pig show, I haven’t felt so great! Mai Lee, Reagan, and I went to dinner Monday night in San Antonio and our waiter told us we looked pitiful. Pretty good compliment huh?! All 3 of us were sick and would wake each other up during the night coughing… not fun! Good news is that I think we are all getting better and my voice came back so I’m extremely glad.

What I learned from this experience is something I think we all take for granted some times. You see, us working in San Antonio might not have been our exact definition of a fun time but someone has done that for us before. Who do I think opened the gate for me every year I showed at that stock show, Casper? Probably not! Each time I would catch myself wanting to complain, I kept reminding myself of Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men.” I want for you to keep this in mind next time you are asked to do something not so fun, or even to remind you to thank those people working for YOU at livestock shows. Take a little extra time to reflect on what the true definition of service really is. We should never do it for recognition of others, but more importantly recognition of the big man upstairs. Make it your goal this month to remember this and apply Colossians 3:23 to your everyday life.

In just three short weeks, I’ll be in New York City for Spring Break!!!! I have been looking forward to this trip and especially getting to see Britney Spears in concert for quite a while now! Good luck to any of you still showing in San Antonio and congratulations to those of you who did well. Hope to see you soon!

Be Blessed,
Macy

Fort Worth in a Nut Shell

Hey guys!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! I actually just got back to College Station after working the Fort Worth stock show. I'm sure I saw many of you there but unfortunately there were many I didnt get to see! :( If you showed, I hope you did great!! Rachel and I were very lucky... we got to hand out ribbons Thursday and Friday during the steer show. I've shown animals since I was in the 3rd grade but I NEVER watched the show as much as I did these past few days! haha We got to see the good and the bad being where we were. When I say bad, one very good example comes to mind. When the steer exhibitors are waiting to go in the ring, they have to wait and line up in a so called "holding" pen. Everyone's nerves are super high, its really crowded, and those big fat steers do not want to be there! One little boy was trying to get through the gate when he got elbowed by another kid's parent. To make a long story short, that man ended up pushing the little boy down and 2 steers stepped on him! From what I hear, a fist fight arose because of this. When I heard this, I couldn't believe it! The steer superintendents said that if they would have known this earlier, they would have disqualified the kid whose parent did that! Now I am probably the most competitive person there is, but NEVER would I even think about pushing someone just to get in the ring!!

Even though that happened, a lot of really good things happened as well! I had a blast getting to see everyone and I know Rachel did as well. Looking back, we truly were very, very lucky for getting to be as involved with the exhibitors as we were! I do want to say Congratulations to Ms. Berkley Iden for having the Reserve Champion Exotic steer. What a great honor this is!! I'm sorry I can’t name everyone who did well with their project, but I promise I would if I could. Now for those of you who know me even just a little bit should know that I absolutely refuse to wear cowgirl boots! Number 1, they are uncomfortable, and number 2 I grew up in Hickville America, (O I meant Stephenville) and so boots just really aren’t my style. Well, obviously since I was working this stock show I figured I should just suck it up and wear my boots… So I did. They were super dirty and there’s no better place than a stock show to get them shined. This was the day before she showed, but I somehow convinced Berkley to get hers done with me! I guess this is why she won because the boot shiner and I gave her good luck! Haha I’m just kidding about that, but that would be cool to say though!

After having a great, relaxing time in Fort Worth, I got to go home for the rest of the weekend! I went home Friday, was completely exhausted, and my best friend told me to be at her house at 6:30. My birthday is this Wednesday and a few things happened earlier that day that made me suspect all my friends were planning something for me. Annnddddd… I was RIGHT! I went over to JP’s and then I heard “Surprise!” I guess then I wasn’t so tired anymore because this really made my day! We had some great food, but some even better cheesecake! All I have to say is this was probably the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. And after this weekend, I shouldn’t eat again for a month! I consider myself so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends, you know who you are, thanks sooo much! The rest of the weekend I just relaxed and spent time with my family. Last semester I was so homesick, knock on wood, but this semester I haven’t been at all... so I didnt even cry when it was time to head back to C-Stat! :) O and the most important part was that I had a hair appointment Saturday morning at 8, overslept, and now I’m sad because I don't know when I can get it done again?! Go ahead and laugh but for us girls hair appointments are very important!!

I hope everyone’s month of February has been good so far. Valentine’s day is just right around the corner. Boys… Think of something extra sweet for your girl! Haha. I hope to be going to San Antonio early next week so if your there, give me a holler!


Be blessed

Macy

Catch Up!

Greetings Texas FFA-

It seems like it's been forever, but with the help of our new advisor Mr. Blaze Currie, we have finally found a great way to keep in contact with everyone! I'm really excited about these new blogs and I hope that you can take advantage and feel free to post comments, questions, concerns, etc!

The month of December was a pretty calm month for us, January picked back up, and now we are back to the full swing of things!! At the first of January, my team and I had the opportunity to spend a week in Austin touring the capitol, training, board meeting, and even began convention planning! It just doesn't seem possible that it's already that time, but I cant wait! We have some really cool things for Convention and I hope each of you will be in Dallas in July. While in Austin, I got really sick so I didnt get to do much... But I did get to meet the Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. We got to go in the senate chamber and get small glimpse of what goes on there. The session was to begin 6 days after we were there, so you can imagine how crazy things were! By the way, Governor Dewhurst is 6'7"... Just in case you wanted to know a random fact about him... :)

I started back to school on January 20th after having a nice, long, 6 week break! So far, this semester has been SOOOO great! I really enjoy the classes I'm taking and it's always a huge bonus when you have friends in there with you. I have met so many new people this semester as well, and I also never knew what a small world it really is. I meet one person, who knows one of my other friends, who I was friends with in 7th grade... so on and so on. :) Believe it or not, Mai Lee and I have been hitting up the Rec quite frequently! It sorta defeats the purpose when we work out really hard, and then.... go eat Chicken Express! But, she had never eaten there before and that just wasnt ok with that! (we have only done that once though so we can just pretend it didnt happen.. haha)

This past weekend we went to San Antonio for the Rural Youth Awards Banquet. What a fun and very productive trip! After the banquet, we went to the River Walk and got to walk around and see all the cool things SA has to offer! Saturday morning we spent the entire morning planning State Leadership Camp, more Convention stuff, and any other business we needed to finish. Talking about these things makes me more and more excited everytime. I almost forgot my favorite part of the trip, touring James Madison High School on Friday afternoon! I was amazed! What a lucky bunch of kids they are to have such amazing facilities and some of the neatest Ag Teachers I've met in all my years of being in the FFA!

Reagan stayed with me in College Station when we FINALLY got back... I said finally like that, because... well lets just say we got lost and our drive took us 4 hours longer than it should have!! oops... I dont imagine my dad was too happy with us for accidentally telling him the wrong directions... But I've got 2 more days of class, then Rachel and I are headed to the Fort Worth Stock Show! I think we will be working with the pigs, so if you are there, we would love for you to come visit us!!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful week and talk to ya soon!

Be Blessed,

Macy