To my Medically-trained parents,

Mom, Dad,
Thank you.
No, you weren't actual doctors or nurses, just a couple who knew a thing or two about medicine and small treatments. Thank you both. I say thank you, because growing up, my doctors/ health care providers knew what was wrong with me because you two were able to translate my 7 year old self's "tummy ache" into food poisoning, the flu, etc.
Thank you for knowing when a bone was broken or sprained and knowing when we had to go to the emergency room or not. Thank you for knowing how to set my sprained ankles and jarred fingers.
And mostly, thank you for knowing that, no matter how awkward of a situation I might be in, you've seen worse on the ambulances or at crash scenes. Thank you for being able to switch off the "parent" function and switching on the "medical" function.
Thank you both for your amazing stories that got me interested in medicine today.
And to my parent's medically trained SO- thank you as well. You've not been in my life that long, but I know that if I can't get ahold of one of my parents, I can call you. You are greatly appreciated.
I love you all.
Love,
Your clumsy child.

An open letter to my Momma.

This might make you cry, momma. Just forewarning you.

Dear Momma,
          I don't even know where to begin. You've been there from minute one to now. You've been my rock for nineteen years. I thank you so much.
Thank you for holding me when I cried about how I fell on the playground and hurt my knee.
Thank you for watching Ariel and Sleeping Beauty more than a normal woman should.
Thank you for reading Moo Baa La La la so many times that I could recite it myself.
Thank you for holding me when I cried about loosing that softball tournament.
Thank you for holding me when I cried about a boy who didn't love me.
Thank you for playing Barbies with me.
Thank you for being my rock.
         
You are a beautiful person and a beautiful soul. I'm so thankful that God blessed me with being your daughter. You've done everything that you've could to provide a better life for Morgan and I. And I can't repay you enough.
You've had a hard road as my mom. You gave birth to a sassy, stubborn, classy, smart, pretty daughter. Twice.
On top of having two of the sassiest and most stubborn children I've ever known, you did it on your own. Yes, dad helped you financially and when he was home, but you were on your own.
Then you and dad divorced. You were really on your own then. Your sassy children turned into sassier teenagers.
But through all of this, you've raised the best two young women I know.
I'm proud of you.

You've faced so much hardship in the last twenty years, most women would break under the pressure. I know I probably would have. Thank you for being the strongest woman I know.
I love you so much.
"She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed... Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Proverbs 31:25-29
You are blessed Momma, and I thing Morgan will agree with me. I love you.
Love,
Your Daughter.

PS.... If anyone disagrees, then you clearly need to change your attitude. Especially if she's done nothing wrong to you.

Dear 11 year old me,

          This is you. Like me. I am you, eight years later. Bet you never thought you'd get a letter from me did you? Wait, yes you did.
          You've been through a lot the past eight years. You've gained and you've lost. You've laughed, you've cried, and you've laughed til you cried. People have came in your life and left it, sometimes bitterly. You've felt alone. Many times. You've sat in your room until three in the morning crying your eyes out, wondering why those girls are so mean. You've felt out of place. You've been picked on. You've suffered. Plain and simple.
         Out of all of the suffering, you've attempted to find yourself, like in the movies. You thought that you'd go on this crazy adventure and your life will forever be changed and everything will fall into place.
         I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but that didn't happen. It probably never will. Instead, you found yourself in little pieces, mini-adventures, if you will. You found your physical strength in softball. You found your flexibility in clogging, and dance team. You found your voice in theatre. You found your beauty in boys.
         That last one is bad, very bad. You searched all in the wrong places for acceptance, love. You've cried in your momma's lap for hours and hours on end wondering what is wrong with you. And your momma, hug her more and bless her heart, she's tried and tried to tell you that you are good enough, but you're too hard headed/hearted to listen to her.
          Well Abbey, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are BEAUTIFUL. "Oh beautiful you are my darling! THERE IS NO FLAW IN YOU." (SOS 4:7) Yes, you are a little quirky. Not every normal eleven year old likes spending as much of their time in church. Not every normal eleven year old can read the whole twilight series in a month. Not every normal eleven year old has your heart, or your soul. Not every normal eleven year old has their college plan mapped out in detail. (Which, I'm sorry, you never got to play for Pat Summitt. We had a hard time with that one, but you'll love Maryville College.) But that makes you, you. me. Us.
          You slowly begin to find yourself. However, you didn't find yourself in sports. or boys. or your books or friends or even your parents. You found yourself through Jesus. Yes, you've heard people say this throughout your life. But it's true. You found love. You found Joy. You found acceptance.
And me, that is truly the best thing you could ever find. Life's hard, but you lived.

Things I learned in the first month of my freshman year in college

Hey Internet! You're favorite East Tennessean here. (At least, I THINK I'm your favorite East Tennessean. Please don't tell me otherwise.) I've been so busy, I haven't had the chance to write! So, I started college. Finally. And even though I've only been here a little over a month, I've already noticed the differences from the fantasies that the wondrous Hollywood has created. So, to be short and sweet, here are Ten things I learned in the first month of College.


1.) Don't loft your bed.
    Everyone will tell you that "it'll save space" or "it's so cute." However, at Six AM, your feet can barely make it up and down the "ladder" they gave you. Plus, unless if your bed is flush up against the wall (unlike mine, thanks to the air conditioning machine), you're gonna feel like your bed will collapse every time you move in your bed. There are ways to make your room cute and functional without lofting your bed. So, if you want to loft your bed, just be warned. Mine lasted a month. And to be honest, I feel like I sleep better now that my bed is de-lofted.

2.) Communicate with your roommate.
  Now, most likely, you are rooming with a person who you don't see eye-to-eye with. That's typical. Most of my friends either don't like or are annoyed by their roommate. Personally, I feel lucky. My roommate and I get along relatively well. There are a few things we don't agree on, but all in all, I consider her one of my best friends. The main reason we can get along as well as we do is because we communicate. It's hard, especially if you are a person who doesn't like confrontation (Like myself). But you just gotta keep talking and working with your roommate. After all, you two are stuck together for a year. So attempt to get along with your roommate.

3.) Get some sleep.
  This is tougher than you think. In college, you don't have the same classes every day. One day you might have a class at eight am and then the next day not one until two. Your friends want to go out, homework goes until two, three, or even four o' clock in the morning. Sleep becomes a beautiful thing, quickly. So seriously, create an "open hours policy" for yourself. One my dad always enforced when I was a kid was no cell phone use from ten am to ten pm. So just create your own "open hours policy."

  4.)Bring all of the clothes you can. Seriously.
   This room is your home for a year. Sometimes it might even be your home until you graduate. Trust me when I tell you, bring your summer/fall clothes at once. Basically, get rid of the clothes that are either too small or you don't want, and bring the rest to campus. It's so much easier deciding what to wear than remembering something that you left at home when home could be three, four, even five hours away. You can always take back what you end up not wearing. But seriously, bring all of your clothes. Also, bring a pair of boots. Cowboy boots, work boots, fashion boots, anything. Just bring a pair of boots with you.

5.) DO YOUR LAUNDRY.
  This should go without saying, but please. Do your laundry. Momma isn't there to do it anymore. And your RA's sure wont. So find a day where you can set aside (at most) an hour and a half for your laundry. Another way is to do laundry when your laundry basket is full. But I don't recommend that.
(See number four)

6.) Call your mom.
    She misses you. A lot. This is the first time you are away from home for an extended period of time. She misses you. Yeah, you might have younger siblings to keep her busy, (Like myself, I have a fifteen year old sister.) Or, you could be the baby. So call your mom. At least once a week. Let her know how school's going. Tell her you love her. If you can, send her a gift. My mom and I had this rhyming game when I was little. She'd start off with "I love you more than a fox." I'd say, "I love you more than a box." We kept going until someone "lost." In order to help her with me not being in the house, I went to Walmart and bought two blank canvases and painted both of them with each saying. I gave her the "more than a box" one and I kept the "more than a fox." Simple, didn't cost me but maybe seven or eight bucks, and she absolutely loved it. Make sure you talk to your dad and your siblings too. They all miss you just as equally as your mom does. If you have younger siblings, keep invested in their lives. They look up to you, whether or not they tell you or not.

7.) Attendance DOES matter.
  Thanks to Hollywood, the idea of college has gotten this beautified façade of "Wow! I don't need to go to class! I can skip school and party and have fun!" (Please note my extreme sarcasm.)I go to a small, Liberal Arts, Presbyterian Affiliated college in the south. Teachers know who you are and are concerned with your grades. One of the main thing that I love about my school is how much the professors actually care. (Go Scots!!) Now, if you accidentally oversleep, that's alright. If you're sick, email your teacher. They understand. One thing that will make your teachers judge you and not help you in the long run is not showing up to class. So seriously guys, just show up and learn something. After all, that's what you're there for.

8.) Research your books before you buy. 
  College text books are expensive. My ASL 110 book alone was $100 from the bookstore. Honestly, go to the bookstore last. There are some really good websites to price match and even rent books from. I used www.slugbooks.com to price check and then I rented two of my books from www.chegg.com. On Chegg, I rented both books for $80. I saved about $200 dollars on those two books alone. Chegg also offers homework help, tutors, and flashcards on almost all devices. (Seriously, Chegg is awesome. No advertisement.)

9.) Get involved in the local community.
   Most likely, you're not even in the same area that you grew up in. Hopefully your school had some sort of fair thing that had booths from businesses around the area to give you some ideas of plugging into the community. Anything will look great on a resume. Volunteering at an animal shelter, tutoring students, helping out at the senior center, anything like that will give you a boost.

10.) Have fun.
   College is hard, and picky. Yes. However, once you find a group of friends that you love, college will be the highlight of your life. Find some friends who like the same stuff you do, go do them and love and support each other. Also, your school should have a Student Planning Board. They'll make movie nights, laser tag, Nerf Wars, you name it. Get involved and go to those. Just recently our SPB just put on a Jurassic World movie night. (Which the movie was AWESOME, if anyone hasn't seen it yet.) It was so fun getting to hang out with my friends and eat popcorn and watch one of the best movies of the year.

  If you're a high school senior, enjoy your last year. It goes by fast. Wear your letterman's jacket, as often as you can. Look and apply at some places, see which one has the best fit for you. I couldn't be happier at Maryville College. Go on campus tours. Find out what you love. Apply for scholarships, as many as possible. College can be the REAL best four years of your life, if you make it to be. Good Luck and God Bless! Abbey

My letter to any teenage girl in this big world

Girls. And yes, I mean, girls. Teenage girls. Anyone from twelve to eighteen years old. Please read what I have to say with open minds, open hearts, and open souls. I my teenage girlhood is slowly coming to a close. And in just a few short months, I will legally be an adult. So I have most likely experienced/ am experiencing very similar events to you. PLEASE LISTEN TO ME. Dear Girl, Beautiful daughter of God, I want you right now, wherever you are, however old you are, to smile. Yes, listen to some random website, smile! Smile because there is a God who LOVES you. He loves you so much, He sent His son, His only Son, to die for you. Crazy, right? You are now at an age where most likely, a boy has told you he loves you. You might be like me, naïve, and believe him. And soon, he changes his mind. And where does that leave you? Heartbroken, left alone to pick up the pieces. Then a different boy comes along to "help" you pick up those pieces, and then the process just starts itself over again. And by the time you're an adult, you can't love. Because no one has ever told you about true love. And no, not true loves like in the movies. I hate to break it to you, but those specific loves, don't exist. True love I'm talking about is God's love. The chorus to my favorite song, "More" by Matthew West, gives us a small taste of God's love, TRUE, actual, everlasting love. "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine. You are MINE, and you shine for me too! I love you, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I'll say it again, and again! I love you MORE!" Oh, my dear sisters, if only we could all hear that song! God tells us that we are HIS. And God wants to be ours! If we solely focused on God, then boys would never be a problem. But, we are human, and we get off track. I know all to well what it is like to forget God over a boy. That is why we as girls need women leaders in our lives. Like how the Israelites needed judges. Whether it's your youth minister, a Godly celebrity, or even your sister, we all need role models! But when I say this, I don't mean for us girls to make our daily decisions based upon those women. We base those off of God. Boys will hurt you. That's just life. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Girls, if you only remember one verse from this letter, PLEASE let it be this one! Your heart is your most sacred and special organ. Literally everything you do comes from your heart! Your heart controls your life. The very second it stops, your life ends. Very rarely does it come back. Wouldn't you want to protect every aspect of something that literally gives you your life? (I'll have you note I am squished in a bathtub writing this due to tornado warnings) Anyway, your heart has different points of view, the two main ones being physical and emotional. We pretty much covered the physical viewpoint of the heart, let's move on to the emotional viewpoint. The heart is capable of doing what no other organ can: love. The heart controls all emotions, but love is the strongest emotion. Love will change and effect a person more than anger or bitterness could even imagine! 2 John 6 gives us the definition of love. "And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love." The Greek have four distinct words for "love." 1.) Agápe, meaning a spiritual love, an everlasting love. This love is unchanging. God's love for us! 2.) Éros, meaning a sensual, physical love. Like between spouses. We'll talk about this one in a moment. 3.) Philia, meaning a mental love, like towards your friends around you. Again, to be continued. 4.) Storge, meaning a family love, like between a parent and child. Okay, éros, is your relationship love. Definitely where Proverbs 4:23 needs to come in! And passages like 1 Corinthians 13. This shows us how holy relationships should be built on. Another mini passage to look at is 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13. And definitely books like Song of Solomon and Philippians. And, in certain bibles, just find reference pages in the back of your bible, find love, and start reading! Philia, makes me think so much of Philippians! Paul wrote Philippians to the church of Philippi while he was in prison. Prison! And the key words in Philippians are "joy," and "rejoice." He was in prison! And he was giving love to his fellow Christians in the Philippi church by saying "I hold you in my heart..." (V. 7) and "This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ." (V. 9-10) All of this is in chapter one of Philippians. He loved them that much! The final thing I want to talk about but don't know how to Segway into it is beauty. GIRLS. YOUR OUTER BEAUTY DOES NOT MATTER. WHAT MATTERS IS THE BEAUTY THAT IS IN YOUR HEART! 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, (in our times, things like makeup, cute clothes, body image, etc) such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothing. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Please, REMEMBER THIS PASSAGE! Write it on your mirror, even get a tattoo of it! Just never, ever, forget this verse! That's all I have. Girl, whoever you are, always remember God has a plan for you. He made you special, and he loves you VERY much. Your sister in Christ, Abbey Philippians 1:7

Cherokee Mission Trip 2014

Dear friends and family, I hope you all are doing well. I am currently a junior at Union County High in Maynardville, TN. Along with school, I teach the three year old Sunday school class at my church. School is going well. I have theatre and I am on the fast track to college. Church is going great as well. My children continue to amaze me with their knowledge of the bible and their bright smiles each Sunday. And as for the high school ministry at the church, I feel like I continue to excel in my relationship with Christ. Speaking of which, I feel like God is telling me to take his hand and trust him on my very first mission trip this spring break. My high school ministry is going to The Cherokee Indian Reservation in Cherokee, NC. I feel that God is calling me to be apart of this experience. This trip is over this spring break, March 15th through the 22nd and it costs $515. It would be a HUGE blessing if you could support me financially. If finances are unavailable, prayers, advice, and moral support is also greatly accepted. My key verse for this blog is Deuteronomy 20:4 "For The Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you to give you victory." I want to add another. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after the orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Living on mission doesn't mean we have to fly all the way out to Africa or India, even though that is awesome and people are needed over there, missionaries are needed here in the US. If you can donate, please donate as much you can, but send your money to Providence Church, 1432 Lovell Road Knoxville, TN 37932. Please put my name on the envelope. Thank you all so much for your love and support. And again, please pray for a safe and wonderful trip for us! With love, Abbey

Welcome, Little One!

Well Internet, my family gained a child Friday, March 29th. Ainsley J. Fritts was born at 9:10 that night to my aunt and uncle in San Antonio. Since little Ainsley's arrival, My nana has 7 grandchildren. 5 girls 2 boys. I am now no longer the only "A" baby or the only March baby in this family. I can't wait to meet her this summer!! Here are some pics: Here's the weird thing. Ainsley and I look a lot alike when we were born. I am on the left and Ainsley is on the right. We are all excited for this new arrival. Except one. Her big brother. He hasn't warmed up to little Ainsley yet. Lol