love languages, but not really

i think i have two love languages. they dont really fit into the 4 categories. it's like when i put on my sock that says left foot, i always put it on the right one. i dont like categories. but i digress. i respond really well to people who mercilessly mock me/tease me/ maybe even wrestle me, but then maybe like an hour or so later they come right up next to me and without saying anything, they just hold my hand. yeah thats my love language. but my second one is nicknames(!!!). especially when they don't have anything to do with my own name. so for my own sake so that i never forget how much i am loved i am going to compile a list of nicknames that I have held throughout my lifetime, and a brief story for those that are not glaringly obvious.

1. anna banana/banana/bananz

2. banana nut muffin - such an evolution.

3. keegan/keegs/keegz (distinction necessary. back off me.)

4. newkat --newk - during my first week of my first summer working at camp i (stupidly) decided to wear a shirt that said "there's a new cat in town". looked like i was trying to make such a statement. zach started calling me newcat from there and it caught on.

5. annapeno -- peno - one night for dinner at the beach i cut up jalepenos. welp. i touched them with my hands. then with my hands i touched my eyes. and my lips. needless to say i was on fire that night, couldnt fall asleep, and woke up the ENTIRE family in my desperate search for lotion, ice, anything. 

6. epi-banana - im allergic to fire ants. every time i get bit by one im fine for like 24 hours. and then the next day by upper lip swells up an ungodly amount and i have to take a benadryl.  but im a lightweight. so that normally puts me out for 17 hours at least, causing me to miss school and everything. so i have an epipen. naturally im epi-banana. 

7. ANNAmal - i made a stupid comment about animals one day. i made caroline swear to never tell anyone about it. but to taunt me and remind me that she potentially could, she calls me annamal. rude.

8. shmeebly- literally no idea. gotta love younglife.

9. professor shmeebly - the marriage between number 10 and school of rock.

10. mom/grandma - my younglife girls obviously think highly of me.

11. spike - "land before time" anyone?

12. nnaaa - my name in pig latin. glory. 

wizdom from the babez

today i took a little break from being a real live college student and went to hang out with my seester, rebecca, and her two babies, finley and cole (seriously the best nephews in the whole world). we went to monkey joes, aka a jungle of inflatable slides and obstacle courses and played our little hearts out. no, little sign that says 'under 60" only', i will not obey you. anyways on the way back from the joes i witnessed this little convo.
beebz: hey fin. when we get home do you wanna watch a bug's life? would that be fun?
fin: yeah mom. but sometimes it's a little scary.
beebz: but fin remember what i told you? in movies, the bad guys never win. so even when the grasshoppers are big and mean, we don't have to be scared. because we know that they are just going to end up losing. the good guys are going to win in the end!

oh my gosh spiritual truths. i mean honestly. we dont have mean grasshoppers making us work really hard so that they can have food while we starve to death. but we will go up against some serious things. and while everything in the situation looks big and scary and honestly hopeless, the bad guys never win.

i have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. in this world you will have trouble. but take heart! i have overcome the world. - john 16.33

we know who wins. what would it look like if we actually lived like we did?

on a brighter note: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82194450/
^seriously watch it.

love ya beebz and the boyz

why i should go to bed earlier than four.

1. i just sent a text that read:
"my head feels like its trying to float away but my neck is constantly holding it down. stupid neck. let it float."
like what?

2. i am currently really paranoid that i'm a part of a truman show scam and i'm on tv and my life is a set-up. who are you people? are you paid actors?

that is all.

ponderings from dec(k) 1

1. december is way funnier if everyday you pronounce dec as deck. like today is deck 1. hey, dont ask me to explain the reasons behind why it's so funny. it's simply annaglish and i love it.
2. my first real meal since sunday night was..... mcdonalds!! and it hurt so good. sorry not sorry little stomach guy.

 < me

3. i heard these exact words today: "anna, you love the library more than you love me!" dad! are you reading this?!?! history has been made this day, deck 1 of 2011.
4. i actually heard someone get offended by a yo mama joke today. #durham

in other news, im off to prepare for my week of 4 papers, 1 presentation, and 3 exams next week. brb.

wait. read this: "so you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are His child, God has also made you an heir." - galatians 4.7
and listen to this: cee lo green ft. melanie fiona - fool for you

i'm an alien.

first of all, i sort of believe in aliens. judge me. but that's not at all the purpose of this post.

second of all, i have been learning a lot lately that this is not my home. and by that i mean earth. I don't have citizenship here (actually on a literal level i do... both in the us and england!!! dual-citizenship, y'all). I was created and purposed and designed for another place. that is why sometimes it is just so stinking hard to live here. like sometimes when you think you are doing well in your classes and you're excited and then you realize you aren't. or when you miss your sisters a whole lot each and every day, so much so that when you think about it you cry. or maybe like you feel tired and discouraged by your ministry. yeah maybe that. but the thing is, this isn't my home. i have something so much greater and exciting and fulfilling and beautiful in store for me. and that is what i get to look forward to while I'm living her in my not-home. i have an eternity with my best friend and father. and that is good. and that is enough. recently, i had a tough conversation with someone who told me that i live too much looking forward to heaven. and i cried. and well, the awkward thing was that i cried right there to her face. and it was not that kind of moment. and i was heaving. and i think that's just because that is where all my hope and peace lie. if i don't get to look forward to heaven, then that makes life here so much harder. so i'm choosing paul's words: for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. So i get to love my not-home and enjoy the people and opportunities I have been so blessed with. but I also get to be a little home-sick. praise Jesus!!

but how old am i? really?

welp. just in the midst of a little identity crisis on account of the fact that no one seems to be able to reconcile my face/self to an age. shesh. para examplar:

- i've started observing in a middle school this semester for the school of ed. i LOVE it. however, on the first day, about four students asked my cooperating teacher, who is cute and about 30, if i was her daughter. suffice it to say, i didn't make a good first impression with ol offended ms. k.

- the next week when observing i walked around the room to help ms. k check the practice problems. one of the little boys, juan, covered his paper when i walked by. then he turned, saw it was me, and stated, "oh i thought you were one of them eighth graders trying to copy off my paper." no, juan. and if i was trying to cheat i probably wouldn't copy off yours, ifyouknowwhatimsaying.

-last week when observing one of the little problem children called out to me.
hellion - "ms emma?"
me - "it's anna, bud. you know that." -- he always calls me emma no matter what.
hellion - "right. well don't tell ms. k."
me - "don't tell ms k what?"
hellion - "don't tell her what i said."
me - "what'd you say?"
hellion - "that i think that you might be pregnant."
um what?!?!?!?!??!?!? so i gave him my fiercest teaching glare.
hellion - "ohhhhh she didn't answer. she must be pregnant."
good thing i have two more years to work on that glare, i guess.

- finally, on friday i took my little brother to the fair. in will's words, i "refused to parallel park so we parked a thousand miles away." in my mind, i wanted to avoid fair traffic so we parked a reasonable distance from the fair, which in turn made it so i also didnt have to parallel park (!). anyways, on our brief journey back to the car, a girl nearby (i swear she is not any older than me), asked, "excuse me but im about to get in my car. are ya'll sure you are okay to walk in the dark?"

so apparently im either a) young enough to be the daughter of a 30 yr-old b) an eighth-grader c) old enough to be with child or d) too young to walk in the dark (which in my mind is like 12).

smh. srsly.

i know i'm dramatic. get over it.

sometimes you get out of class at seven. and even your bones are chilly. and you realize you have three papers to write tonight. and then you look at this picture and all is right in the world. and your heart wears a smile.