Why I've been absent . . .

Good morning, Ladies.

 

I want to apologize for being "absent" this last week. My husband is in the hospital with a very bad infection so he has been getting all my attention. He's had surgery and is getting better now, so I should be back with you next week. I'm missing you!

Of course, we would love, love, love to have your prayers. You are a blessing.

 

Nancy Rue

Comments

[~~~LAURAJANE~~~ P.S. I'm new here!!]

Praying for your husband, Mrs. Rue! Hope he feels better soon!

ilylwsbwa
laura

[*Rachel*]

Oh Mrs. Rue, I'm so sorry! :( Just tell your husband to prepare for a floodgate of prayers to open up for him; I know all us girlies are all over it! Take all the time you need to help him recover, and we can't wait to hear from you! My love and prayers are with all of you beauties, enjoy a beautiful spring weekend!

Love and Blessings,
*Rachel*

[Therese]

I'm praying for your husband Mrs. Rue! Let him know he's being covered in prayers by us girls. We love you! :)

[God's Girl/Abi]

I am so praying! I really agree with both *Rachel* and Therese!

[Nicole]

I will definitely be praying, Mrs. Rue, and ask my family to as well! I'm with the other girlies - let your husband know that we're praying for him, and if I could, I'd be bringing dinner over to your house every single evening while he's recovering (with chocolate, of course). ;)

*Rachel*, you have no idea how precious your little comment is! It literally just made my weekend - you are so wonderful, you gorgeous girl you! :) Thank you for that...love and blessings to all you beloved creations of God! I don't have to see you all to know that each one of you is beautiful. I can tell from your words, from how you share you hearts in this wonderful group, from your passion, your love, your honesty - I can tell that God has crafted in each of you a special personality, the characteristics of a person who He loves so dearly, a person He will use and work in for His perfect Plan. I love you all! <3

[*Rachel*]

Thank you so so much Nicole, now YOU'VE just made MY day! :) I couldn't agree with you more, and just while we're on the subject, you ladies will never know how much this blog has blessed me. All of your insights and prayers and encouragements are priceless to me. I can look back and see that as every post made a tiny little shift in how I lived that week, the mini-steps I've taken towards my God have added up to a whole attitude change in me. You girlies brighten up every one of my days with your sweet authenticity and never fail to put things back in perspective when I'm convinced the sky in caving in on me.
Mrs. Rue, I can only imagine how busy you must be doing this for us while living a "normal" working life, but I hope you know how much we appreciate this community you've formed. I know it sounds corny, but it really is like having a second, all-girls, beautiful, fun, life-giving, loving family to turn to. I know I speak for all of us when I thank you from the very depths of our hearts. We love you!
Quick prayer request before I sign off: I'm speaking at a program at my church tomorrow for mini-women about growing up (I feel like you, Mrs. Rue! :) ), and I am singing solo for the first time during an actual service tomorrow too. I'm mostly excited, but a little nervous, so any prayers would be awesome.
You girls are amazing!!! Take some time to feel beautiful and wonderful and loved for the rest of this weekend, because you are. :)

Love and Blessings,
*Rachel*

[kate s]

Oh My gosh!!
I am SO sorry!!!
I will be praying for you- I really hope everything gets cleared up uber quickly... I am so sorry and will be praying hard!

[♥♫LeXi♥♫]

I will definitely keep your husband in my prayers, Mrs. Rue!
Rachel, I couldn't have said it better myself! Every time I come on this blog I get so encouraged by the posts and comments, and it has really brought me closer in my relationship with God. I know I'm not alone in the struggles I'm facing. I love you all and am so thankful for you!!☺

[Miriam]

I am so sorry! My prayers are with you!

[Melody]

Oh no! I'll definitely be praying for your husband and you Mrs. Rue!

So for graduation everyone gets to make a senior display board. I've spent the past hour or so collecting up stuff that represents me and its amazing how much stuff I've found! Anyway I've been thinking through all the important events that have shaped me. This blog and Nancy Rue and her books have influenced me soooo much. I really want to represent that on my board, but I haven't figure out how yet. Most things are easy, dance=pointe shoes/pictures, music=music books, writing=stuff I've written. But this blog and Mrs. Rue are really important to me, but I don't know how to show that on my board. I was thinking about just writing all of your blog names on a section of my board, but thats not very interesting. Any ideas?

Oh, random thing: I got my roommate for college next year and she's a dance major like me and her favorite color is purple :) I haven't talked to her much yet, but I think we're going to get along well :)

[*Rachel*]

Hmm, Melody, maybe you could draw like a laptop or computer on the board and then write our names on the "screen" of that in cute little colors and different styles of writing? Might be a bit more interesting... but yay, how fun that we're on your senior board!!! Congrats on graduating, may God bless your future as abundantly as ever :)

Love and Blessings,
*Rachel*

[Nicole]

Aw, Melody, that's so sweet of you to include this group on your board! :) I don't really have any ideas, tho (I know - I'm real helpful, huh?)...I like Rachel's idea a lot! Maybe you could use the teen logo thing in there somewhere (as long as it's OK with Mrs. Rue, of course - here's a link to a pic of the logo: http://nancyrue.com/teen/images/stories/real-life.logos.png). Oh, and I was wondering - which song did you end up picking? Don't leave us hanging! ;)

Sooo...oh, by the way, Rachel, I noticed a couple of days ago that you signed your comments "love and blessings". For a couple of weeks now, that's what I've been doing, too, off and on, and when I saw yours, for a moment I was like - did she copy me? Then I was like...nah, she wouldn't do that (not that it would really matter, after all). But anyway, I went back a couple of blog posts to see how long you'd been signing your comments like that...and I went back a couple more...and a couple more...and I went all the way back to a post titled 'What Would It Take?' where you posted your very first comment on the teen blog on 11/01/2010 (yeah, about 1 & 1/2 years ago - !!! - at 10pm, to be exact - what were you doing up so late?? ;) haha - not that it's 10pm where I am right now...{it is}).

Oh. Well, then. That means that...I copied you? Sorry!! I totally didn't mean to, and once I realized it, I wanted to make sure I said that - a couple of weeks ago I was just thinking of a new way to sign, well, whatever it was I was doing (comments, emails, blog posts, etc.), and I came up with what I thought was a totally original idea of saying 'love and blessings', and it just sounded so right! ;) Now I know *why* it sounded so right, huh? Anyway, I just wanted to ask, would you mind if I continue to use it?

And while I was at it, I searched for a bit and was able to find the first time I commented on the teen blog (having graduated from the tween blog)...my goodness. We were some crazy girls...and we still are!! ;) Hence this lengthy post that's just a tad bit shorter than a novel. Sorry!! :P Hope you all have a wonderful week - love you amazing girls!!

[Bethan]

Nicole, haha, how bizarre, I've been signing my stuff lately with a lot of "love and blessings" - I don't think on the blog but definitely on e-mails and other stuff... ah well, 'tis a great way to end! (;
Melody, that board thing sounds so cool! That's awesome that you want to include the blog on there. I like Rachel's idea of making a computer to put on, maybe instead of our names you could put words that describe what the blog means to you on there? We could all even chip in with suggestions (;
Mrs Rue, I really hope things are going fine with your husband being in the hospital and all!! .. I just sent up a popcorn prayer and will try to remember to pray on a regular basis for you guys (:
Wow, I don't know what the weather's like where ya'll live but here it's absolutely gorgeous.. I've spent all day so far walking and studying outside and in an hour I'm going out again, whoop! :D Because I don't have a garden it can be a bit more of an effort to go outside in sunny weather but I'm trying not to let that stop me at all this year. The result = finding new awesome patches of grass and sun spots and benches here and there. Ahhh, bliss!
xxx

[♥♫LeXi♥♫]

Melody, that's so cool about your senior board! That's so sweet of you to think of us!:) You could put the blog logo above the computer and then write on the screen in a cute font what the blog is and what it means to you. Just an idea!
I also have a prayer request: My grandmother was diagnosed with rectal cancer and is currently undergoing chemo and radiation. She has to have surgery in July. If you can send up a prayer that would be great! Thanks!
♥Love y'all!♥

[Melody]

Nicole: I like the idea of putting the logo on my board! Thanks :) Oh and I chose to use the song Cinderella. I just couldn't decide and my mom wanted me to use that one. It'll make everyone cry though cause at the end I convinced my dad to dance with me (just waltz) for the last chorus :)

Can everyone give me ONE word you think best describes the blog? I'm going to write either words or names or both around the logo on my board.

[Nicole]

Melody - ooh, Cinderella is an amazing song! :) For my word...hmmm...I'm thinking 'beautiful'. Sound good? ;) Love you all!

[Nicole]

Oh, and I wanted to make sure I let you know, Lexi, that I'll be praying for your grandmother!! <3

[Therese]

Melody, how about 'compassionate'? XD

[God's Girl/Abi]

Welcome Laura Jane!!!!!!!!! You are new right? You will love it here!!!!!!!!!!!

[Melody]

For anyone who doesn't have a facebook: Mrs. Rue posted that her husband is home from the hospital and they're getting back to normal.

[*Rachel*]

Thanks for the update Melody! I think my word will be "sisterhood"

Nicole, don't even worry about it girlie!!! Use that sign off to your heart's content - everyone could use more love and blessings in their life :) And wow, I didn't realize how long I've been on this blog... or how much I've grown up since then! You girls made so much difference in my life... oh, but here I go again, I need to stop and get back on exam studying! :) Lots of prayers and good vibes headed your girls' way,

Love and Blessings,
*Rachel*

[Haley]

ohh mrs. rue!!!! i'm so sorry!!!! i will be praying for you both, along w/ every1 else :)!
<3 Haley <3

[Ashley]

Praying for you and your husband Mrs. Rue!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melody, I think my word would have to be "encouraging". :)

[Alisha]

Hey Melody,
I think my one word would be (Wow, this is harder then I thought!!!) Ok, my word would be Held. I don't know why, but when I think of us girls, I think of the word held. Held by God, held up by each other

[mimi]

Hello everybody!
It has been like forever since I've been here :( lifes been crazy but I've totally missed this. SOOO glad to be back!
I think my one word would be, (wow, this is hard) it would probably be Family.

[mimi]

Ok I've caught up on everything! Super excited to get back with you guys!

[Bethan]

Welcome back Mimi (:
The word that instantly popped to my mind was "precious" (:
x

[♥♫LeXi♥♫]

I think my word would be "loving".
Melody, I love the song "Cinderella"! I bet your dance was beautiful!
Nicole, thank you so much for praying! It really means a lot:)
♥Love y'all!♥

[Crystal]

ladies...I'm just peeking in to say that Mrs. Rue is doing well (but is behind now with her deadline). Her husband is doing well too. And also, I'm really loving what you're doing here. This is a beautiful thing, and you are beautiful people.

[Melody]

Still working on my senior board. My words (to go around the logo) are: beautiful, compassionate, sisterhood, encouraging, held, family, precious, loving, and (my word) secure. Any more to add onto that?

Crystal: So glad Mrs. Rue and her husband are doing well! Praying that his recovery will continue and Mrs. Rue will get caught up with all her deadlines.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Crystal, thanks for the update! Glad to hear everything is going well.
Definitely praying for you and your husband, Mrs. Rue!!

Melody, aww, that's cool you convinced your dad to dance with you. I'm sure you were (or...are going to be) amazing! My word would have to be support. I guess it goes along with Alisha's "held" but it's the first thing that came to mind. :)

Lexi, praying for your grandmother and your family! I know that has to be hard on you... But God will give you the grace and strength to get through this.

Praying for all of you! <3 Love you, girls!!

[Melody]

Would you girls think less of me if I sounded really self-centered for a minute? I have an older sister and I know theoretically that my family should love us both the same, but I'm not really feeling it. My sister is several states away doing a college required internship for the whole summer. I'm graduating this summer. I feel like people are completely looking over my high school graduating and are more...proud of my sister doing her internship and then graduating in the winter and getting a job soon. I mean I'm graduating high school in a week. That's pretty huge isn't it? And there are more and more people I'm hearing from who can't come for whatever reason and instead of talking to me or asking about my future plans or whatever, it's all about my sister. I'm feeling a little left out I guess. I love my sister, but sometimes I'm a little resentful. Does that make me a bad person? I don't know. Thanks for reading anyway girls. Love you all, praying for you all.

[♥♫LeXi♥♫]

Thanks for the update, Crystal! Glad to hear they're doing well!:)
Sarah Elizabeth, thank you so much for praying and your sweet comment! It really means a lot!:)
Melody, that totally does not make you a bad person! I feel like that sometimes too. I'll be praying for you.:)
♥Love y'all!♥

[Kamilah]

Hey everyone, my name is Kamilah and I just recently got back on track with God! I've been looking for an online community of Christian girls so I'm so blessed to have found this!
Miss Rue, I will be praying!
Melody, have fun working on your senior board! And I'm new but I guess it would be "friendly" just from reading all your comments
I think I'll like it here, oh and Mimi welcome back :)
xox
Kamilah

[Kamilah]

oh and Melody, its so cool that your a dance major! What college are you going to? if you feel comfortable sharing that is

[Alisha]

Welcome, Kamilah! (P.S, I love your name, that's so cool!)
So girls, BIG things have been going on here, and I just wanted to update you all so you can pray. If you've been reading my blog, you know I've been losing a lot of stuff lately (Friends, my health, dreams...) and I haven't had the best attitude about it. I was really angry and it was really hard (Ok, still is!) but I think God is using this time to really work in my life. I realized in Church today, that I think God is bringing me to this place where I have nothing BUT Him. And that hasn't been easy to say the least. I've cried, and screamed, and argued, and tried to reason with God. But I think God is nudging me in a certain direction, of writing a devotional book and telling my story. No idea how that is going to look, or what is going to happen, but today, as I was crying my eyes out in church, I told God I would do it if He worked out the details. So, I'm just asking you guys to pray as I have no idea where this journey will be taking me.
LYALS

[Kamilah]

Thanks, Alisha :) And I will DEFINATLY pray! I know that trials and tribulations can be really hard, and I think its so cool that you feel God through your struggles :)I think that the devotional book is so cool!
Crystal: YAY! So happy they're doing well, I will continue to pray :)
And could you guys pray for me? My best friend just switched schools and I've spent a yeaar without her at school already, I have amazing friends but no one who I'm really close with besides her so could y'all pray that I find another best friend? Sorry if that seems pathetic or something..
xoxox
Kamilah

[Ashley]

Kamilah, welcome to the blog!!!!!!!! I'll be praying for you.

Melody, I totally understand what your going through. I have 2 sisters of my own. I love them, but I don't like them sometimes.

Love you all! :)

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Melody, I totally understand how you feel! I've felt the same way before. I'm praying for you!

Alisha, that's so cool! I'll definitely be praying! Be sure to keep us updated on how the writing is going! By the way, your comment made me think of 'The Story Song' by Paige Armstrong. Have you heard it?

Kamilah, welcome!! Aww, sorry. It's sad not having your best friend around. A year and a half ago, I moved over 800 miles away from my best friend. I've found new friends here but not ones to whom I tell everything. I was incredibly upset about it at first but God's helped me get through it and I can see a lot of good things that came out of moving. I'll be praying for you! Hopefully, you can find your 'silver lining,' too! ;)

[Melody]

Hey girls! This summer my friends and I are going to do a bucket list of 100 things to do before college. One of them is to make a blog. I know a lot of you have blogs, so what would you recommend is the easiest one? Thanks!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

I currently use Blogger (hosted by Google) and it's fairly easy to use. They recently updated it and it's easier to find stuff now than it was before. I've also used Wordpress but that was like, two years ago. Blogger is more user-friendly than I remember WP being. Although, they have probably changed WP since I was on there.

[Nicole]

Yes, yes, yes, Melody, use Blogger! I know I sound like a commercial (does Blogger even have commercials??), but it is so much better than Weebly, what I used before, and apparently Wordpress as well. You can follow other people's blogs and peoples can follow your blog, so there are little communities of bloggy-people all over the place. So, yeah, Blogger is great...and I'd love to follow your blog...just sayin'. ;) And, hey - No (capital 'N'), that does not make you a bad person (we're all sinful people in the first place anyway, but we've been forgiven by God's amazing grace that He's shed on us!). I'm sorry that you feel left out. :P I hate that for you...I hope you are feeling very beloved and special and just so totally amazing right now at this instant, because you definitely are!

Welcome, welcome, Kamilah! I love your name, btw...and I see that you've jumped right in with us, and I'm so glad you have!! :) And I'll def be praying that God will provide another close friend that you can hang out with at your school - that's tough that your friend is transferring. :P (And, no, that is totally not pathetic. I don't know what I'd do without my close friends!)

Alisha, that's so great, and I will be praying for you! Thanks for being so transparent with us here, and not only sharing with us your struggles but also how you're trusting God. It's really encouraging. :) (P.S. I love, love, love the poem you shared on your blog...if you didn't read my comment on your blog yet. ;))

Ashley, are you new - did I miss something? Or am I just being dumb and forgot that you joined recently? ;) Oh, and Crystal, thanks for updating us on Mrs. Rue and her husband! Mimi, great hearing from you! Glad you've caught up!

I'm sure I'm missing someone that I meant to say something to, but I've gotta go now, and this is already uber-long! Love and blessings - oh! That was it! Thank you, Rachel, for allowing me to join you (and Bethan!) in spreading the love and blessings! ;) Love you all! <3

[Bethan]

Melody,
Weird you should mention that, I've been having the same issues with my sis lately. She's actually my younger sister, she's three years younger than me... thing is, she really admires me which I know is supposed to be flattering and all that jazz, but honestly, it gets annoying because sometime it feels like everything I do in life, she does, and does better! Like here I am figuring out my place in the world and who I am, and she copies me but kind of naturally does it way better than me. It sometimes feels like she gets the credit for my hard work. I love her like mad and we get on really well too, but I really get what you mean, Melody... got any ideas 'bout what we can do about that? (;

I've actually been kinda having confidence problems in general and so that whole issue just adds to that... I'm learning oodles about only caring about what God thinks instead of trying to please everyone. I never realised I people-please until recently, but I'm sick of changing myself around different people and I'm trying not to be constantly stressing over everyone judging me anymore. How do you girls deal with all that? I know it's a big deal for a lot of teenage gals (;

xx

[Melody]

I made my blog! I used blogger like almost everyone I asked recommended and it was soooo easy! Anyway, I linked it to my name if you want to check it out :)

Kamilah: Welcome to the blog! I know you'll love it here. I'm not entirely sure I'm allowed to say what college I'm going to. Mrs. Rue doesn't want us sharing where we live for safety reasons of course, so I'm not sure I should say :/ I would though! It's a really great Christian college that isn't to big and they have a good dance program.

Bethan: I have confidence issues to, but I'm actually not as bad as I used to be. I think as I get older it's gotten a lot harder to be a completely different person depending on where I was. Also this year I chose not to be a part of the pre-professional level at my dance studio, and I've been a lot happier and I think I've been my genuine self a lot more. About our "living up to our sisters" issues, maybe we should both focus a lot more on praying for and serving our sisters. I don't usually get annoyed or angry at any other people, just my sister. So maybe if we tried to treat them like any other person, which for me would mean I focused more on thinking about how she would feel about something. Maybe when Mrs. Rue starts blogging again we can talk about confidence and stuff.

[Madison]

Hope Uncle Jimmy feels better. He will be in my prayers. Love you guys..

[Nicole]

Hey, Madison! Haha, at first I didn't realize who you were, and I was about to ask if you were new. ;) Glad to hear from you - I enjoyed the post that you and Mrs. Rue wrote together a couple of weeks ago. I have three brothers too, only they're all around my age (I'm a triplet and my 3rd bro is only year and a half younger than me), but even then I totally get that brothers can be quite annoying sometimes. But still, I love them to death! ;) I like what you said, Melody, about how we need to treat our siblings as we would any other person - like, I don't remember a time when I said hurtful things to a friend, or any one else for that matter, that came out of my frustration in the moment towards them as I do with my bros. I have to realize that they are hurt by it just as anyone else would be, and me coming back later and apologizing does help heal that hurt, but it doesn't excuse the fact that I do it a lot without thinking.

Anyway, thanks for sharing that...and I can't wait to hear from you, Mrs. Rue! Miss you!