For your next rainy day...

Dear Meagan,

'You'll be ok' by A Great Big World :)

You'll be okay
You'll be okay
The sun will rise
To better days

And change will come
It's on it's way
Just close your eyes
And let it rain

'Cause you're never alone
I will always be there
You just carry on
You will understand

You'll be okay
You'll be okay
Just look inside
You know the way

Let it go
Fly away
And say goodbye
To yesterday

'Cause you're never alone
And I will always be there
You just carry on
You will understand

And I will be strong
When love is gone
I'll carry on...

You'll be okay
You'll be okay
The sun will rise
To better days

You'll be okay
You'll be okay
Just close your eyes
And let it rain

When you need it the most
And all you've got is a prayer
You must carry on
You will understand
You will understand
You will understand

You'll be okay
You'll be okay
You'll be okay.

Just keep this one in your back pocket. Love you schwester :)

XOXO,

Brooke

Running, Nuns, & German... Oh My!

Dear Meagan,

So I heard this new neural chiropractor has been working wonders for you! That is awesome, keep it up girl- I am so pumped you are feeling better and can not WAIT to go on a run with you this Summer!  You also started your new position as a sampler, wooo hoooo! Hopefully you are getting a little bit more 'human-interaction' than you did leveling... I'm sure you are giving all your customers that big Sutherland smile ;)  All seems to be going well in the world of Meagan (awesome-ness). And I am so excited that you are hanging out with Sister Carmela- I am sure she has lots of great insight for you! Make sure to learn as much as you can from her. And please don't corrupt her! Haha- no swearing in front of Nuns or watching Teen Mom... sometimes we gotta show a little discretion, don't want to scare the woman out. So make sure to put on your 'best' behavior and act like a lady- lady :)

Keep it up with the German class too chica! I hope you got a chance to talk to your German professor about being a TA for her in the future or maybe a tutor for students who are struggling in the class. To be a teacher or a tutor though you have to be on top of your stuff... don't wait until the last minute to complete homework/study- if you do that it won't be your best quality work, that's for certain :)

Love you, keep up the awesome-ness and I will see you in two weeks for Amanda's fashion show in Ann Arbor, fancy :)

XOXO,

Brooke

Spiritual Gifts 101

Dear Meagan,

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy." 1 Corinthians 14:1

Spiritual gifts are giving to us by God... they are gifts that we posses and they are intended to be used in the church :)

Below is a link to help you determine what your spiritual gifts are:

http://www.spiritualgiftstest.com/test/youth

Below is a list of the spiritual gifts from spiritualgiftstest.com... The spiritual gifts listed below are found in three passages: Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10;28-30, and Ephesians 4:11

Administration	Knowledge
Apostleship	Leadership
Discernment	Mercy
Evangelism	Miracles
Exhortation	Pastor/Shepherd
Faith	Prophecy
Giving	Serving/Ministering
Healing	Teaching
Interpretation of Tongues	Tongues Wisdom

The next step is simply to pray about your gifts in order to understand them.  Then, put them to use! "He who buries his talent is making a grave mistake." Find a way to get involved at church utilizing you gifts! I am trying to implement this more in my own life so I can be your accountability partner if you would like :)

You have been through a lot, which means your gifts could be very useful to others!

I love you and I love watching your 'overcomer' story unfold day by day! Get it girl!

XOXO,

Brooke

Olympic Figure Skate Scott Hamilton

Hey girl hey :)

Hope you are having a great week! I can't wait to see you this weekend for some skiiiing!!!

Earlier this week I was listening to a Christian radio station and heard an amazing story about an Olympic champion and brain tumor survivor Scott Hamilton... here is a video of his story:

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/scott-hamilton/

What he says at 7 minutes and 19 seconds is unbelievable. He has many years of perspective... I can't wait until one day when we are a little bit older and are drinking coffee talking about life and you can honestly tell me that your brain tumor was the worst but best thing that ever happened to you.  It may take a little bit of time but I can already see how it changed who you are, and who are entire family is- and for the better.  Don't feel like you have to feel that way now, just some day I know you will be able to :)

You are Miracle Meagan!

Keep cruising girl! School, work.... I am so pumped and proud of you. See you FRIDAYYYYY!!!! You absolutely rock!!!!

XOXO,

Brooke

You. Make. Me. Proud.

Dear Meagan,

The purpose of this blog is solely to congratulate you on the amazing progress you are making! Most of the time going to school and going to work is an incredible experience. You look forward to seeing work friends, and you love learning in your classes- so that makes these activities fun... On top of that they help you feel productive and like you are going somewhere and doing something positive with your time and your life. BUT sometimes getting to class and work is a struggle because you just don't wanna go. Those are the days you buck up and do it, and normally everything goes just fine and you end up being happy that you went and made something productive of your day :)  Tonight I just want to tell you that I am SO proud of you because on the days that you don't want to go- you have been pushing through more than you EVER had before. Sure you may have missed one class or so (who hasn't?). But for the vast majority this is the best attended semester you have had since your surgeries. AND you are holding an awesome JOB on top of that without missing any shifts (MAKE THAT MONEY)!

What is amazing is that this is just the start. You learned so much from everything you went through and honestly so did our entirely family and others around us.  You came up swinging and I am so excited that you did! Like I said, the best part is that this is only the beginning- the background work. Right now you are working towards your dream- keep picturing the day when you get to LIVE it :) As a PT assistant or German translator helping others around you! You really have gotten your groove back miss thing and there is something I need you to do for me... right now... raise your right hand... and pat yourself on the back ;) You deserve it!  I can't wait to go up north with you in a couple weeks! Bellaire is not ready for these sisters to hit the town!

Love you girl... hope you are enjoying Juan Pablo tonight ;) Aye Aye Aye!

XOXO,

Brooke

I... DONT... THINK... SO

Dear Meagan,

So this is going back a couple weeks now (to Jan 1st) but I still can not stop thinking about this amazing moment in the Rose Bowl game where MSU (go green) rocked Stanford to take home the 100th rose bowl championship game :) Woooo hooooo!

What I remember most from that game is this critical play. We were SO close to winning but Stanford had a shot if they could get just 1-2 yards on this play.  Chris Ellsworth was in the game (I believe) covering for Max Bullogh who had been suspended.

The pictures below show the story... but he basically said I... DON'T...THINK ... SO!  He FLEW I am not kidding you FLEW over all the men on the field and stopped the Stanford player like a brick wall.  It was amazing!!! He was minutes away from winning the rose bowl and he took complete control. In an interview he told the reporter that the best way to stop him was by jumping over all the other players. Hey do what you gotta do I guess... here are the photos:










And of course there is a life lesson in all of this :)  When you are on your way to success there will be close calls and instances when people try to stop you. Bullies of any kind... but like Chris Ellsworth you just gotta say I... DON'T... THINK... SO!!!

The reason I wanted to share this with you is because in a recent facebook post you talked about your tumor affecting your relationships.  You said some guy stopped talking to you when he found out and some of your girlfriends stopped talking to you as well because they may have not known how to react... don't let these people or anyone else stop you from becoming the success that you are becoming.  Say I... DON'T... THINK... SO!!! And carry on.

I'm so proud of you taking class and working! You have made such incredible progress. I love you schwester, see you this weekend :)

XOXO,

Brooke

San Francisco Christmas Photo Memoir!

It all started with a little Karaoke in the airport

And a flight over the mountains to sunny San Fran

Where trolleys were plentiful...

But teeth were scarce...

The Sutherland's, Roman's and Van Oast's visited Napa in STYLE!

  

And took a fancy limo...

To three wineries (Chateau Montelana- photo 1, Tedechi- photo 1&2, and Frank Family Farms- no photo)

  

Lots of time was spent in the beautiful Belvedere:

  

The group also took a ride on a ferry...

  

To downtown San Fran!

  

All in all they had a lot of family fun!

     

But of ALL the photos... this is number one!

Love you Sissy!!! Had a great time on our trip :)

XOXO,

Brooke