“One tree can start a forest

One smile begins a friendship

One star can guide a ship

One word can frame a goal

One vote can change a nation

One sunbeam can light a room

One candle wipes out darkness

One laugh will conquer gloom

One step must start each journey

One touch can show you care

Once voice can speak with power

One life can make a difference”

I started and ended my speech on Monday with that quote. I did that because I’ve recently realized how much of an impact just one life can make in the world. It’s amazing to think of how one person influences another and the influenced one influences another, and that continues suit.

The eight of us are here learning how to be that person who makes the difference. In Life Vision class, Grace has been teaching us about how the fears and lies we believe affect the person that we are. Besides having a terrifying fear of snakes, I’ve always thought I was fearless and didn’t believe any lies. My bubble was busted when I found out that wasn’t the truth, but God’s showing me His Truth in so many ways during my date with Him every day.

Saturday, we all discovered our hidden photography skills….or the lack of them. We went out and tried our hand at modeling for each other. Starbucks and laughter was included in the deal, so I was a happy camper.

Miss Stacey Smith has been with us the past two days. Her life is the prime example of a life that’s made a difference. She has an incredible testimony of a life that God’s redeemed and she’s using it to influence countless ladies in prison. She ended her time with us by signing “The Power of the Cross.” It gave the song a whole new meaning when we saw her signing it.

Tomorrow morning, we’re going camping in the rough and rugged wilderness. That’s a slight exaggeration, but it will be intense, I’m sure. Two of the AE girls have never been camping, so it should be an adventure. I’m not much of a camper, but I’m all about the social part of it and the group that I’m with can make anything fun. Our hope is that there won’t be any casualties, so stay tuned for exciting and exhilarating camping stories.

Drink Starbucks, try your hand at photography, go camping, laugh a lot, and make a difference.

-Whitney Hall

Sarah’s BLOG Entry

Over the weekend my classmates and I were surprised with a special valentines dinner. This was not just any meal, it was specially prepared by our fantastic leaders, Grace, Chrissy and Hannah. We were privileged to reap the benefits of their culinary talent. We clothed our steaming pasta with spicy tomato sauce, dipped our bread in bruschetta, and colored our plates with Caesar Salad all under the candle light of the AE room. In addition, our night was fragrantly topped with Chocolate Lava cakes. The sound of that name makes me hungry all over again. What would Valentines Day be without chocolate?

As I was away from my family on that special day, (I do miss you terribly btw Dad, Mom, and Melissa!!!) I was blessed with the reminder of my Divine Valentine.

Divine Valentine

-A valentine may give you flowers, but God sent you the most beautiful rose of all, Jesus. “I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valley.” Song of Solomon 2:1

- A valentine may be far away but God is always with you.

“I am with you always” Matthew 28:20

- A valentine may give you something, but God has given you everything.
“God…gives us rightly all thing to enjoy” 1 Timothy 6:17

Sarah Feeny

Sarah Kim

“O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Who hast set thy glory above the heavens. (Psalms8:1)”

‘Photography is the documenting of the magnificent glory of God,’

says our IPS speaker, Sarah Danaher.

Sarah arrived today to teach us and share with us her love for photography.

Seeing the wonderful creation of God through the lens,

sharing His glory with all kinds of people,

sending a special message to this world…

Photography is so much more exciting than I ever thought.

After learning about the important tips of taking great pictures,

we went to the park to produce our own work of photography.

The green trees bravely standing in the midst of the cold weather,

the dim sunlight shining through the clouds,

the rough, brown texture of tree trunks running up and down…

God is truly, a magnificent artist.

The snow made everything more beautiful.

I never expected this much snow in Dallas, Texas but

God gave us girls a special present

to make us smile J

We finished two weeks of Advanced EXCEL

and we are set and ready for the next exciting week.

How time flies!

I marvel at God’s perfect, intricate, and amazing plans He had for this Advanced EXCEL.

Listening to the testimonies of how God led each one of us here,

I was filled with gratefulness.

God called us here together,

in unique ways, with different goals, and for diverse purposes.

He worked in each of our lives, at this point of life,

so that we can be here, right now, right this moment.

God led each of the leaders through

the difficult and startling paths of their lives

and brought them here right now, right this moment.

God equipped them so perfectly

so they can love, encourage and challenge us

with their testimonies and lives.

The God of the impossible,

the God Almighty,

the God that sees,

Intricately planned and guided each one of our lives

So that we would be here today,

as sisters in Christ,

learning more about Him,

and loving each other.

Thank you my Lord!

God knows where I am right now.

He knows where you are too.

Let us stop for a moment and remember His faithfulness.

Then walk today in total trust in the God who will never forsake us.

It’s been snowing all day, most of us slept in until about six, today’s assignments have been turned in, verses have been said, it’s almost meal time, and we got to pla….work with caulking and compound all day. Yes, that qualifies for a good day. They treat us pretty good here.

This morning, it started snowing and as I’m writing this right now, it’s still snowing heavily. I’ve lived in East Texas my whole life, so this snow is pretty spectacular to me. It’s absolutely gorgeous. After breakfast, we went outside for a group picture, and somehow that turned into a short impromptu snowball fight. My hands were not prepared for that, and I’m pretty sure I lost feeling in them for at least ten minutes afterwards. It was definitely worth the fun, though.

After the exciting time in the snow, we all headed to the sixth floor to get suited up for the day’s class. The sixth floor has a closet full of “precious treasures” in the form of old and paint-stained clothes. We all picked out our lovely attire and quickly got ready so we could start class with Mr. Holdeman.

We got a quick picture before starting work. We made up a pretty good team. L-R Katie (pre-EXCEL student), Myself (Pre-EXCEL Leader), Sarah Feeny (Pre-EXCEL student), Graciela (Pre-EXCEL leader), Carissa (Pre-EXCEL student), Sarah Kim (“Mr. Bell”), Beka (DMC Staff), and Olivia (DMC staff).

Mr. Holdeman started us off teaching us about some plumbing. That was a new experience for several of the girls. Mr. Holdeman was a great teacher and kept us highly entertained with a courtship story which we all loved. He also gave us the chance to unleash anger with tearing out the wall paper. J We had so much fun ripping that off. The poor bathroom’s walls looked horrible when we were done with that part.

After doing all that, it was time for caulking. That was probably by far the most exciting part of the day because it meant we got to get messy. Beka and I had a little too much fun with the caulking. I think we forgot that it’s supposed to go on the wall and not each other’s faces. We did show our support of Advanced EXCEL with putting AE on our cheeks.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, and our good day is following suit and coming to an end.

We made a lot of memories today that will be remember for a long time. I love each and every one of my team members and leaders, and I’m so grateful for God sending me here and putting each of them and all of the speakers in my life. God’s more than good to each of us.

Live life to the fullest. Have unexpected snowball fights. Write with caulking on other people’s faces. Take fun pictures. Change the world.

-Whitney Hall

“Don’t live for the one thing everyone else lives for.” - David Powlison

We're now halfway into our second week here, and our days are filling up fast. God has blessed us with many opportunities to grow and expand our thinking. This morning Mr. Bell talked about being a leader and how each of us influence those we are around. I'm very thankful for the leadership team he has placed over us, and I thought I'd take a moment to recognize them for all they are doing for us.

Hannah, Chrissy, and Grace have been wonderful examples to me the past week and a half. From specific examples in each of their lives they have shown me more of who God is, and just how much he cares for me. Among other things, they have challenged me to break the boxes that I've put myself in, and too search things out for myself ...instead of believing whatever I hear.

I have loved getting to know these extraordinary girls, and hope that over the next several weeks God will greatly encourage and bless them for their willingness to serve.

Olivia

Well, yesterday morning started out as usual, I got up at 5:45am, yes mom, I really did it. I went downstairs and did pilates. Did you know that if you do enough thigh teasers that your leg literally lights on fire? Yup, its a fact. So, continuing on to breakfast. We had a nice meal of leftovers! Best days ever! Whitney and I continue to go back for seconds, only because we tend to enjoy our food more than some. But have no worries, we always get some little bit of food for someone else at the table also.

After Breakfast we had "Terrifying Speech Class!" We had been working on our speeches all week. The Topic was, "How God led you to Advanced Excel." It had to be 5-10 minutes long. They started the speeches in Alphabetical order by middle name, therefore, I went first! Actually I was happy about that after I got up there. Since I went first, that meant that I did not have to sit there and be nervous the whole time!

All the speeches were spectacular! I loved each ones individuality and story. Even though many were similar situations, they were all really different and unique! I thought it was neat how alot of them had alot to do with not having enough money and God totally provided every single penny. God truly blesses those that trust in him, and it was so relevent in all the speeches.

We also had a really awesome session with Mr Cantrell. He taught us two really interesting sessions that everyone engoyed alot. He just publish a book called "From the Shop Floor to the Top Floor" purchase one at your local bookstore today!

I would like to tell you also what I have learned today already. We had a class with Grace Gallager on "Life Vision Planning" this subject didn't really thrill or interest me until today. She talked about fear. This has never been a big subject for me, I have never feared death, or anything in extent that much until she asked a question to all of us that hit me really hard, She asked us, "What is your greatest fear?" I had never really thought I had any. But God put a few things ony my heart that just really made me start thinking. My fear was kind of a different kind, not really for me. It was for someone I am really close to that is lost.

During my date with God, I was really struggling with this, and trying to give it to God. I realized that I had never given this person up to God, I would just pray for them, and then try to figure out a way that I could help, in case God decided not to. Ha! that wasn't very clever of me. I decided right then to fully hand over my problem to him. What a relief ! I didn't have to worry about it anymore! Realizing God will handle every problem I have is an incredible feeling. I don't have to fear anything, as long as I have him to hold on to. So, thats a short part of what I have learned so far at Advanced Excel, and this is only the second week! I can't wait to see what God is going to do in my heart, and all the other girls hearts these next four weeks.

~Rebekah Grace

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!

Saturday, February 8, 2010 was an exciting day! The day started out with us being able to sleep in…we were all so happy. As we came out of our rooms the delicious aroma of cinnamon rolls greeted us, causing great joy. Coffee and cinnamon roll…what a great way to start out the day.

After our wonderful brunch we had a session with Grace on food. She talked to us about what basic ingredients we should have in the kitchen. She went to the library and got like 20 cookbooks, which were fun to look at.

We then got to go and cook dinner for the EXCEL girls. We went into the kitchen at 2:00 and started cooking! We made Cajun pasta and garlic flatbread. Since it was Lauren Bell’s birthday, we made cappuccino mousse pie. We all got different jobs and went to work! Some cut up bell peppers, some garlic and onions (poor things), and still others cut up the meat, etc.

I got to make the pie with Stephanie! It was a lot of fun. We had to do the recipe 10 times. The pie took the longest to prepare because we had to make so much. We had chocolate and whipped cream all over our area. I think we made the biggest mess.

When most of the chopping was done, several of the girls went and decorated the food line. They decorated it 50s style. So we had black and white checkered table cloth on the serving line and cute pictures of the wall. It looked really cute. They did a great job.

We finished the day by going outside and play ultimate Frisbee. It was so much fun! It was cold outside, but that didn’t stop the fun. I learned how to play Frisbee here at the DMC and I have loved it ever since.

Saturday was a full, but fun day. I think that we all had a great time together.

Carissa Koehn