11/6/14

As a member of the executive committee, the riverside warrior family, and a good friend of Marshall Williams- spirit week will go on tomorrow.  With complete respect to the wishes of Marshall's family, close friends and classmates- the day will be in honor of Marshall Williams and also in honor of these camp courage families impacted by cancer and/or blood related diseases. This world brings sorrow but through this sorrow, can come the greatest hope and joy. The warrior family, specifically the class of 2015, has been through so much together and stands tall no matter what. Marshall is a great person who will always hold a special place in my heart, and the hearts of RHS and this community, and truly always be a Riverside warrior. As warriors we must stand together, united, and bring light to Marshall's name, the beautiful life he lived, and the very deserving lives of these camp courage families. Please join us in a day full of honoring and respecting of a great life- positively impact the lives of others and rising up as one, united, Warrior Nation.

Life

I don't care how many times someone has told me "high school flies by" or "senior year goes by with the blink of an eye" Ir is impossible to realize this until you are in the midst of it. Right now in my life I am not sure of a lot of things but I am sure of that. Everyone says they feel like walking into school and being yelled "FOUR MORE YEARS" in their faces feels like yesterday. Quite frankly, my memory is AWFUL and I don't specifically remember such things.

Quick Flashback to my first day of my freshman year:
Wake up, phone breaks
Get dressed, favorite sandals break
Loose my schedule (thank the lord for my mom who made copies), and then late to my carpool
Need I go on...probably not

Needless to say, things have gotten so much better since then. I would not trade my last 3 years at Riverside High School for the world. Every late night doing homework, every spirit week, every awkward moment, every laugh and every cry. And believe me I am basically an emotional wreck so there has been several cries...So here are my latest thoughts and what I have learned, not necessarily advice..but here I go.

Not going to lie, I jumped right into high school. Sports, good grades, student council, family, church, Younglife, FCA, BETA CLUB...basically you name a club I have been in it...then eat, sleep, run, school repeat.... I basically prided myself in how many things I could squeeze in one day. Trying to figure out life on your own is EXHAUSTING. Trying to make yourself happy by filling your schedule does not work. I will tell ya that. I know everyone does not live like that... I realize other people don't enjoy making spirit week banners in their free time or designing Class T-shirts. Other people try to fill their lives with other things...boys, drugs, alcohol, etc... we are all different and lead different lives, that is just life.
The theme or common denominator here is that High School truly is the time in our lives where we are trying to figure out who we truly are. We fill our lives with all sorts of different things in order to try to figure out who we are...and let me tell ya NONE of these things I have previously listed will fulfill you for about more than a day or maybe a week.
Not ONE  person, not even yourself is going to remember how many clubs you were in, or what your grade was in a class by the end of this school year...let alone 10 years down the road.
What people do remember is memories with you, the times you laughed together, cried together, prayed together, played together, partied together what have you. If there is one thing I have learned from life it is that there are about 3 important things to know:

1) God loves you
2) Our purpose in this life is to go out and love others, as God loves us, and serve them as well
3) We can only do this is if we trust in God and love OURSELVES first

Just to backtrack..this summer at Younglife's Crooked Creek Ranch...our speaker spoke several times about our life as a glove. We try to fill our lives with things (mentioned above) to fit in our glove. These things truly just don't. I am not out to beat anyone on the head, and you just have to figure this out for yourself someday...but we can't fill our glove. God made us to fit perfectly in our glove as we are, He has a plan that is greater than one we could EVER come up with. I can't say I always remember this 100% time, but if I learned one thing this summer at CCR it is that.Also, can;'t say enough grand things about Younglife. I love my leader Kathleen, homegurl has my back. Also the organization just simply shows you the love of God through amazing people. One of my BEST high school decisions, DO YOUNGLIFE.

So yes...
1) God loves you...he sent his son to die on a Cross so we could have eternal life. WOW ok.
He created us all, beautiful in such different ways to love eachother and interact in his beautiful creation. WOWEE. So each day we are to pick up our own crosses, our burdens, our worries, our insecurities and wear them proudly becasuse HECK YEAH WE WERE MADE THAT WAY. We are to live out our lives to the fullest every day...
I especially struggle with worrying,..This summer I had a lot of time to stop and think. Worrying is so silly when your life already has a plan greater and better and awesomer than I could imagine... So then why the hecking do I worry? Because I am not perfect, I am human, I am stupid and wierd sometimes..
So one thing I know for sure DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY (cheesy but true)
God's plan is greater than ours...He :loves us so that we can change, we never have to change for him to love us. Change is good, but scary, but still good. I am now trying to realize that.
2) LOVE others. As I touched on earlier. no one will remember you by a club or sport or GPA...but how you treated them honestly. We were put on this earth to constantly love and encourage others. Never in my life have I been as happy as when I help someone or watch someone I love do something awesome (100000000x better than any self accomplishment)..like watching one of my very favorite cross country/track friends win the state 4x8 was a tear jerker...even more so when one of them won the 2 mile the next day..boring running talk I know. But seriously, I may not love running so much,
but some of the gals and guys I have met through high school sports are truly THE BEST.
Get involved with a high school sport...No RAGRETS there...not even one letter...
Serving others is so very rewarding, volunteering is great, just simply opening the door for someone or flashing them a smile or asking "How are you?" is so great. Investing in other people is so rewarding.
Student Council has taught me so much about serving. Serving should be done ONLY from the goodness of your own heart. Nothing makes me happier then to see a smile on someone's face at a fun spirit week event, or the even brighter smile of a make-a-wish child who we had just provided money for to go to Disneyworld...life changing stuff.
So, love all. serve all, create NO sorrow.
Think before you speak, even the most sarcastic and innocent jokes can make negative impacts on people that they will never forget, negative comments stick with people, more than you would think.
Live every day as a constant effort to life people up, not bring them down.

3) All this is great. life is great. So much out there...so scary...such an unknown time of change and wierdness for me. Friends leaving for college, me doing college apps, etc. But I REFUSE from here on out to get caught up in that. This is also an exciting time, a time for growth, change, AWESOMENESS...
I get to live out my life for Christ every day with amazing friends, family, and school. Two of my best guy friends get to be the school warrior MASCOT (tears of joy) #WarriorNationforlife... There is so much to be happy about. This year I just would love to stay grounded, humble, grateful, and energetic/positive about my life. Because it rocks- all the lows are ALWAYS outnumbered and squashed by the highs. 
But loving yourself because you know God's love for you is KEY,CRUCIAL, SO Important.
Throw yourself out there, NEVER BE EMBARRASSED. Embrace who you are, every stinkin part of Y-O-U. Don't compare/contrast yourself to others..In the words of Dr. Seuss "You are you, that is true (somethin) there is no other person that is YOU-er than YOU.
LOVE YOURSELF always allday errday...24/7...365

DO BIG THINGS
I could not be more excited for the year ahead of me...so ready..yet so not...this post may not have any sense, but ya know life just doesn't make sense either.

Peace and Blessings,
A very tired and crazy Erin Woods

PGS

Palmetto Girls State.
One pretty freakin' awesome/ but unusual experience of a lifetime.
If you are not familiar with what in the world it is. PGS is a week long program 
sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary for rising senior girls from all over 
the state of SC. We learn about the government, leadership, politics, and about 
today's world in general. We form our own government, elect officers, eat, sleep 
(very still), compete, sing, cheer, and go cray cray. We form political parties, 
make posters (my faaaaav), create a House& Senate (similar idea as with Youth in 
Government "YIG"- if you know what that is) We wear a tshirt with a skirt ALL 
WEEK LONG, we dress up, post lots of pics, and finally meet up with the boys 
version of this program in Columbia to trade shirts and inaugurate our officers 
(Governor, treasurer, etc.) and EAT CHICK FILA #turnup!!!

So yeah, A lot of sweet memories, but more importantly I learned a lot.
Sure I learned about government, leadership, and the US of A...
But more importantly I learned a lot about my purpose in life.
I learned that a lot of things that life IS, but also things that life is NOT.

1) Life is NOT about the jack rogers on your feet... It's about where those feet 
lead you or even where God directs those feet on his path for you.
2) Life is not about you show off Lilly Pulitzer dress you wear, or the cute J 
Crew skirt...It's about how you outwardly portray yourself, your personality, how we show 
ourselves to others, showing our true colors.. Just being real.
And
3) That our purpose in life is not to rack up achievements and advance ourselves 
forward. Life is about doing everything we can to bring others up with us. 
Achievement by definition (straight from dictionary.com) means:
1. something accomplished, especially by superior ability, special effort, great 
courage
This "something" I learned is not getting all A's, being student body president, 
winning a game, or an election...
This something is how well we can use your God given talents to have an positive 
and powerful impact on another person's life.
One speaker, don't remember who exactly said something along the lines of 
"People will not remember what you achieved or what you said but how you made 
them feel." 
Thinking back, this is really a WOW.
So true... so awesome.

One of my very fav people, Kid President (search him on youtube- he rocks) said 
"The world would be so much more awesome if everyone's goal was to make 
someone's else life awesome"
Wouldn't it be so cool if we could do this??? The world would be SO AWESOME.
Making someone else's life awesome does take superior ability, special effort, 
AND great courage.
It takes the effort the ability and courage to be real with people, open up, let 
them see the real you. We have to put yourself out there I know this, we have to 
take a chance and believe in people. Life is one big adventure, and true success 
or achievement in life is reaching our and connecting with beautiful people then 
rising up together to live out the life that Chris laid down for us on the 
cross.

Now, this all cannot happen if we don't love ourselves first. Love comes within, 
and I have learned we HAVE to love ourselves in order to have love to give to 
others. We must have faith in ourselves, and the confidence and strength to love 
on others. LOVE is so important: for ourselves and for others. 

This week I had the opportunity to do this with 600 girls from across he state 
of South Carolina, like woah.
Especially the 28 girls in the city of SPEARMAN #fearthespear #SPEARcity
28 girls from every corner of SC... At Presbyterian College ... All With 
different stories, completely different lives: viewpoints, opinions, stories....
28 of the most awesome/crazy/weird/unlikely girls to connect and mesh together, 
but we did. We may not have won much... Or anything at all. We may have only 
slept 3 hours a night and we may or may not have had a TWERK session, a yelling 
session, or even just a cry session. But I love these girls with all of my 
heart, and am beyond happy they were all put in my life.

Every moment was beautiful. And each of these new connections and friendships 
are successes in my book. I wouldn't have traded a second for the world.
And 1,000 boys from all over the state got the same chance and experience at the 
same time @ Anderson University. Wahoo.
This is where I will preach again, sorry bout it. I firmly and whole heartedly 
believe that we were put in this world for a reason, and everything happens for 
a reason as a part of God's great plans he lays for ALL of us, EVERY SINGLE 
PERSON.  
He put the 28 girls of Spearman city and the 600 girls at Palmetto Girls State 
together from June 8- June 14, 2014 for a reason.
We are able to lean on each other, share with each other, laugh with each other, 
cry with each other, and learn how while we are all so different... We are also 
sooooo the same, beautiful girls made in God's image.

Usually during a school election, if someone where to stutter, or share they 
were nervous, say something awkward, or even shed a tear they would be ridiculed 
and make fun of. At girls state, the crowd cheered and encouraged each and every 
girl on. Girls that would not have usually won elections at their school 
(because sometimes those are just popularity contests) got their moment to shine 
here, an wowed everyone with beautiful speeches and words from their hearts. 
This not only makes me kind of tear up with tears of joy, but also gives me hope 
in my generation. We are freakin awesome with awesome ideas and awesome outlooks 
on life.

I grew close this past week with lots of these awesome gal pals.
And back to Spearman city...
We all have each other's phone numbers, snapchats, and even a group me. We are 
friends for life... And I could call any one of them at an hour and ask 
anything. 
Not only these girls, but I have gained lots of other sweet friends for all over 
my state. New friends I can even call my sisters for life. Sisters that were 
strangers 7 days ago.
If that isn't an achievement then idk what is really. Awesome. Really awesome.
And while I was on that adventure, several of my other friends were on beautiful 
adventures on their own all over the world. Europe, Punta Cana, Wilderness Ranch 
in CO, and Washington Family Ranch in Washington.
Even awesome-er.
Any of these adventures no matter how big or small or long or short were true 
blessing. An opportunity to succeed. To grow in our faith. To live life. Love on 
others, and connect with other beautiful people. 
Over the course of the week, I smiled and smiled and smiled. Another speaker 
said "A smile is a tell tale sign of a full and happy heart" Well, my heart is 
not just full, it is overflowing. 
South Carolina. "Smiling faces, beautiful places" After this week I truly and 
honestly believe that. 
And let's just take a moment and talk about how cool it is that after all these 
adventures we can come home, changed people, and trade these stories and 
connections once again, impacting each other. Connecting, sharing, loving, 
succeeding all over again.
That to me is so beautiful.
That is success.
I am so thankful and blessed.

1 John 4:7-21 

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has 
been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, 
because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that 
God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this 
is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be 
the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to 
love one another."

Romans 8:28 

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for 
those who are called according to his purpose."

1 Corinthians 13:13 

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is 
love."

Younglife

Contrary to popular belief, Younglife is not about instagramming pics every Wednesday or chucking up YL with hands in every one of these pics...
It's not even about the cool T-shirts (even though they are a plus)..

Younglife gives us {the Young] a chance to just do [life] together.
Younglife is almost something bigger than we fully realize and acknowledge.
Younglife teaches us that we have a Savior who died for us on a cross so that we may be free from our sins and have eternal life. This savior loves us more than we can comprehend, even without us loving Him back. Like Wow. He accepts us for who we are and where we are in our lives. Nothing we can can make him love us less. Another wow.
Younglife presents such a unique opportunity to come together wherever we are in our chaotic lives, and just love on each other and be silly and be fun. We are young, we are spontaneous, we all screw up. But this "Savior" we speak of gives us this gift of life to be silly, fun, spontaneous, and to do it together. Why not accept this gift that is just waiting for us? And live out our lives for the Lord, the one who gives us life.
I just feel extremely blessed to be apart of a group of people, that despite any difference or circumstance, can come together and share one thing in common: our desire to learn about this Savior.
We have amazing leaders, (busy college students, a dad, working adults) who take time of their busy lives to invest in us high schoolers, and they do it because they genuinely WANT to. They get right down and crazy and fun with us. They even meet with us separately, with these groups we call "campaigners" that meet with and learn more about our Savior and vent to each other about our lives. In this world, we so often get so caught up with our own lives that we don't realize others struggle right along with us. I look forward to meeting with my girls every Tuesday night. They build me up and remind me that I was not mean't to do life alone, we are meant to walk together and hold each other up with the love our Savior shines through us. These girls and my Younglife leader are some of the best friends I have ever had. I am blessed, I just am and I don't even deserve it.
Every smile, every laugh, every hug, every prayer builds someone up more than you would ever think, believe me.
You will never feel more love than when you walk into Younglife Club on a Wednesday Night or walking into Campaigners on a Tuesday. Younglife also provides various trips and opportunities to distance ourselves from our busy life here in G-ville to kearn more about this Savior. Weekend camp at Windy Gap (NC) and Caroline Point (SC) are available, as well as a trip to Crooked Creek Ranch in Colorado, and various camps all around the country. It's amazing what a network and community Younglife is, literally everywhere. Teenagers thousands of miles away from each other learning more about this same awesome Savior we call Jesus Christ.
I am beyond excited and blessed with an opportunity to attend Crooked Creek Ranch with Younglife this summer, and can't wait to see what is in store for me.
Younglife is such a great opportunity to enjoy this beautiful life we are given as young teenagers with those who are in it together with us. As they say in high school musical, We ARE all in this together.
I am sure I don't know it all. One thing I have learned for sure is that we were put on the Earth for a reason, to love each other just as much as Jesus loves us. One smile, compliment, laugh, or memory you can share with someone can impact someone more than you know. Living humble-ly, accepting our flaws, and making the effort to reach out to one and another is so so so important. Younglife has given me the chance to experience this way to live firsthand, and for that I am forever grateful.


“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other just as I loved you. All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.”
John 13:34-35

17 Things that I know for sure

In exactly 9 days I will be 17 years old. 17 is scary. 17 is old. I am growing up. I am learning, I don’t have it all figured out, I don’t know it all...or basically anything for the most part, but I do know a few things for sure:

1) I am a nerd at heart. I will always be flustered when a teacher yells at me, I can’t text in class...it makes me nervous, and I care about school and my grades, I would love to read more if I had the time to. 

2) Everything will and DOES happen for a reason. It just has to.

3) I am a natural procrastinator, no matter how much I try to deny/fix this problem 

4) I am, and will always be trying to learn about the Lord. I am working on my faith, and it is a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. I am a work in progress.

5) Happiness can only be found within myself. Searching for happiness in people and things NEVER brings about pure happiness. 

6) Stemming off of that ^ God loves me---> I have to love myself and who God made me to be ----> then I can love others the way God loves me, and the way I love myself 

7) I get high off of school spirit, there I said it. Joining Student Council was the best decision I have made in my high school career so far. It has taught me so much about myself, and how to successfully interact with other human beings.

8) I will never be tan, I need to just accept it.

9) Yes, I love MY CLASS aka. THE Class of 2015. 

10) I love T-shirts, I have too many, I especially love Class of 2015 T-shirts

11) I will never really like cheese, no matter how much I force myself too.

12) I tend to worry about a) others b) things out of my control c) just everything in general. It’s hard for me not to, it’s a work in progress.

13) I love planning things, I may or may not plan my future wedding someday. Sure, sometimes I am bossy. Planning and organizing make me happy beyond words.

14) Turtlenecks, crocs, and fleece will always be cool no matter what ANYONE says ok. 

15) I may not have a great taste in music….but I LOVE me some rap. Drake, Lil Wayne...need I go on...oh wait MY VERY FAV= miss ELLIE GOULDING <3

16) Retainers are way worse than actual braces...why didn’t anyone ever tell me this?

17) This life is good. For the most part- it has its up and downs, as much as I complain I really do love my life and the people in it. [Insert cheesy quote here--->] “I am not lucky, I’m blessed” “Life is short but sweet for certain” both super cheesy, but true. s/o to nicki minaj and google. and God really. life iz real good.
There ya go folks, all I got.

x