I’m a busybee these days. Class started two weeks ago and I don’t have many spare moments these days. I am in my last semester of classes and in the middle of methods classes. This is what I have been waiting for -where they actually teach me how to be a teacher! It is A LOT of work but I do have to say that I love it. My workload is pretty high but most of my assignments are useful and will hopefully be used in my own classroom someday!

My mac is now my best friend, especially when it comes to school. It is such a big help. First off I downloaded this awesome program from Apple Downloads called Assignment Planner. It keeps track of all my homework and projects for me and lets me know when things are due.

I also export this into my ical so I can tell when things are due in relation to other happenings in my life. For example you can see that I have lots of work due this week and there was a football game on Saturday so I had to properly manage my time so that I could enjoy the game without feeling guilty. 

The mac is also great because I take it to class with me every day. I don’t use it to take notes for everything but it is highly useful. I usually have it sitting out in every class with the lid closed on sleep mode. That way if I need to add something to Assignment Planner or quickly type something up I just have to open the lid, enter my password and I’m good to go. It is nice to be able to check my e-mail during breaks or get started on projects when I have a spare 20 minutes. It really saves me time!

In other news, I had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. I basically hung around, spent loads of time with friends and went hiking at Hebron Rock Colony where there are rocks, a river/stream and basically much fun to be had. I made a little imovie about it because I was bored and because I can since I have a mac.

Note: Movie still to come because it takes a while to upload on Vimeo.

And now onto my latest obsession: cleaning. Please don’t keel over because of shock. Yes, I am actually enjoying cleaning these days. I realized it this weekend. I came home from class on Friday at about 3pm. Rooms and I watched a movie and I fell asleep on the couch. After waking up and making a nutritious dinner of m&m pancakes I decided that things needed to get clean. I did all of the dishes, scrubbed the kitchen down, lysol wiped just about anything that I could, swept the kitchen and then vaccuumed and organized the living room. After I was done I felt so good. It was clean. I then realized that I the exact same scenario happened the week before. A year ago I would leave my dishes in the sink all the time and take forever to load them into the dishwasher but now I feel guilty if I leave even a single piece of silverware in the sink. 

My mother will be proud of me.

Blonde Moment of the Week: Well actually there are about two worth mentioning. For the first one I was about to head out the door to walk over to Dollar General at the Mall to buy some chocolate chips for pancakes. My computer was sitting on the couch and I saw that I had an IM. So in an effort to save time I slid over the back of the couch to quickly look at it. Wrong move. Instead of just leaning over I completely fell over the couch and onto the floor. Rooms was sitting on the other couch and was on the phone. She got quite a giggle out of watching me.

The other blonde moment is a bit more exciting. Rooms and I had just stuffed ourselves with pancakes and food and had no plans for the evening so I suggested that we go to the local Greenway and take a walk. We went and had a great time. The weather was a bit cool and the sun was setting, it was very relaxing. That was until we got back to the car. I had my key on a hair tie around my wrist. As I looked at my wrist I realized that the key I had was not the car key but the apartment key. The car key was, you guessed it, locked inside the car. Since I have no clue where my spare key is (I know, I know) I called AAA and had to wait an hour for a very nice man to come and unlock my car. Which speaking of, it seems pretty easy to break into a car these days. Makes me wonder why car thieves haven’t run off with my lovable vehicle. Oh yeah, I guess that could be attributed to the fact that my car only has two hubcaps.

After the whole incident I called my parents just so they wouldn’t go crazy if AAA sent a report or something to the house. When my dad answered I started the conversation with “I am definitely my mother’s daughter”. He laughed and after hearing the story completely agreed. 

Well as much as I have enjoyed this little blog break I need to go do some more homework and eat dinner. I’m making chicken with cream of mushroom soup and broccoli and hoping that I don’t mess it up too much!

A prayer from The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan Prayers:

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.

As I pondered blog topics yesterday I realized that I have written very little about something I do a whole lot of: reading. I am a reading diva. My life is not complete if I’m not reading at least one good book at a time. Actually right now I am reading about 4 books at the same time. My mom always asks me for recommendations of books and so do my friends. I love to do this. I love to get people into a good book and see them get all excited. So dear blog reader, I am going to do something very philanthropic and nice and spread my book knowledge onto you. Since there are just so many books out there in the world I thought I would do it by category. Today I will start (just a small start) with fiction.

Fiction is wonderful. It’s an escape to another land, to a world that is different from your own. It opens up your creativity and gives you ideas for your own life. The characters of fiction pieces are usually what seals the deal. A good fiction book has great characters that make you feel, by the end of the book, that you are best friends and that you know each other on more than a first name basis. So here I will start with my top recommendations of fiction with my favorite Series.

Top Series:

1. Redemption, Firstborn, and Sunrise Series by Karen Kingsbury - These are by far my favorite books ever. Karen Kingsbury is incredible. She has the best character development ever and since there are a total of almost 15 books in this series you really get into the lives of the Baxter Family. Karen writes what she calls “Life Changing Fiction” in that her books are more than just good reads, they ultimately point to Jesus. I can attest for this as more than once when reading her books I have seen afresh the love and glory of Jesus Christ. If you are new to Christian Fiction or say you only have time to try one new series this is it.

2. One Tuesday Morning & Beyond Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury - This duo of books is called the September 11 Series. They are beautiful and really write an awesome story of redemption. Karen deals wonderfully with such a hard issue of tragedy and paints a portrait of hope amidst despair.

3. The O’Malley Series by Dee Henderson - I read these books in high school and have recently decided it’s time to reread them. They are so wonderful. Each book is about a hero of sorts - firefighter, paramedic, US Marshal, CSI Investigator, etc. They are suspenseful and thrilling and very hard to put down. 

4. A Place Called Home Series by Lori Wick - Lori Wick writes wonderful historical fiction. These books are set out west in the frontier days and include plenty of cowboys, bad saloons and women with more personality than they know what to do with. If you like history and historical fiction these are a great bet.

5. Ashley Stockingdale Series by Kristin Billerbeck - Oh Christian Chick Lit. This up and coming genre is my new favorite. Think of it as a chick flick in a book but clean and with good morals and faith. What a perfect blend! Ashley Stockingdale is a mid-thirties woman who lives in the Silicon Valley of California where she is surrounded by tons of eligible bachelors - that is if you like the nerdy engineer type. She loves to shop for a good purse and shoes but seems to have issues with sticking with a good man. What follows in these books is a delightful time of laughter and fun!

6. Spa Girls Series by Kristin Billerbeck - Have you ever just wanted to jet off in a nice car to a spa with your girlfriends for the weekend? Well then welcome to the Spa Girls Series. In these books 3 friends with very random and mismatched personalities travel through the ups and downs of life together with frequent spa trips to keep them sane. The last one Calm, Cool & Adjusted is one of my favorites and really made me think about some good issues as well. 

7. Glenbrooke Series by Robin Jones Gunn - The town of Glenbrooke, Oregon is a place I would like to live. This series follows characters in the small town through all sorts of things. Full of romance, friendship and a definite emphasis on faith these books are sure to please. I read these a long time ago but I love that they were some of my first non juvenile reads.

8. Savannah Series by Denise HIldreth - Savannah is a recent college masters graduate who lives, where else but Savannah, Georgia. Although not so happy that her mother named her after her favorite town Savannah does love the town of Savannah and all it has to offer. Upon moving back to Savannah after graduation she looks for a job and a fresh start. Along the way she encounters job troubles, new friends, a mother who is very overbearing and some life lessons that will stick with her for a lifetime.

Well my “off day” is more than officially over by 36 minutes. Here’s what I did:

- Slept in till 10. This was after I woke up at 8:00 and went “there is no way I am getting up right now!” and rolled back over

- Layed around and read my book (The Baby Chronicles by Judy Baer, highly humorous) on the couch after I finally ate breakfast at 11 am.

- Eventually cleaned my room.

- Went to campus with Rooms to get my mail. I know, I said I wanted to stay far away from campus but I knew I most likely had a new book from Amazon so my love of fiction won over my fear of freshmen. We took the bus and then walked home to avoid traffic.

- We also ate some yummy Quiznos. Kids Meal for $3 people. Includes a small sandwich, drink and a cookie. Wonderful. 

- Cleaned my bathroom. It was thrilling. 

- Went to my friend Megan’s house. She just moved in and it’s so fun! I love it!

- Attended a Pancake Birthday party in which too many pancakes were consumed and a great game of “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” was played.

-Spent some time with my girls.

All in all it was a great day. The only thing I am sad I didn’t do was go walking. Thankfully I’m not busy till late in the afternoon tomorrow so I think I”m going to go walking before that. Should be great to get out in the fresh air!

Tomorrow is my “off day”. I have spent the last 4 days working all day at the Child Development Center with the four year olds. It has been SO much fun. Really it has. But I am glad for a break. 

In India we had one day a week that was our designated “off day”. Instead of going to our ministry sites we got to choose as a team what we wanted to do for the day. At first this felt kind of weird to me because compared to school doing ministry was great. I got to play with adorable kids, love on the lepers or run various errands and such. But by the end of the trip “off days” were a coveted thing as I realized that a good off day meant I would be more focused for ministry. 

My favorite off days included a mix of relaxation and adventure. I loved sleeping in as we usually had to be up pretty early for prayer and quiet times (sad that even those two activities still dont make mornings great for me). Then my favorite times included getting out and seeing the city or having some crazy adventure. Going to the mall there was a blast. I think it was the best day actually. I got to “shop” and look at all of these really nice clothes and things, spend time with my teammates just being goofy, eat some good American food, enjoy air conditioning and just relax. This was also the day that I discovered the English bookstore there and got two Nicholas Sparks books that I spent the rest of the day reading at a coffee shop in the mall. It was pure bliss.

All week long I have been looking forward to tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday are going to be pretty busy for me so tomorrow is kind of my last hurrah before school starts. 

But what am I going to do with myself for my off day? I am having some major indecisiveness issues. First of all tomorrow is Freshman Move In Day. That means that campus is going to be completely crazy and I have no desire to be anywhere near it. That also gets rid of Walmart and just about every eating establishment in town. 

So I thought maybe I would skip town and drive to another little small town here that is about 15 minutes away that has a beautiful park and greenway trail and a cute little old general store where you can buy sodas in a bottle. But it might rain. Who knows, I may still go and see if I can get some quality hammock reading and napping time in. 

My second idea is to just lay around my apartment and read and take a bath and watch a movie. This sounds appealing now but I have this problem. I have to go places. I seriously do. I love to just do nothing but after an hour or two I’m done. I need social interaction or at least some good people watching for a bit. And since my room is messy I would actually have to clean it before I could have good laying around time.

Another idea is to take a walk. I have a new favorite thing - walking on the greenway. I had no idea how awesome our greenway trail was until a friend and I randomly went there last week. I have been back every night this week except for tonight. It’s great. The trail is really well done and the views are spectacular. It’s become my special time to think, pray, ponder and just enjoy God’s creation. And yesterday I went with a friend from work who showed me how I can actually take a “connector trail” from my apartment to get to the greenway. So no driving involved at all! 

I do know what the first part of my day will look like: SLEEPING IN. (of course since I am saying that now knowing my luck I”ll wake up at like 8am and not be able to go back to sleep). 

As for the rest of the day I am not so sure. I’ll figure it out as I go I guess. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a day of random adventures.

It’s way too late for me to be writing or to even be awake but for some reason unbeknownst (what a fun word) to me insomnia has come to visit and instead of tossing and turning in the bed I decided to do something and that something for now is write. I probably should put a disclaimer on this post that I may say stupid, silly, careless or just odd things but oh well you’d probably figure that out anyways.

1. I am going to straighten my hair right now. Yes I usually let it go curly these days, especially in the summer but for some reason I wanted to have straight hair tomorrow. After I took I shower tonight I washed my hair and dried it but did not straighten it. I planned on doing that in the morning. But since I am awake now I figured I might as well do something useful. 

2.  I normally straighten in the mornings except for when I am home I might do it on a Saturday night so that I can get ready really quick on Sunday mornings. I love Sunday mornings because it’s church but my body still doesn’t seem to get that when the alarm goes off so instead of doing the mad dash around the house and looking awful I get ready on Saturday night and allow like 20 minutes for the morning.

3. I am terrified of penguins. Had a bad dream about them attacking me. Scarred me for life. 

4. Currently I am working with the world’s most awesome four year olds. I mean it. While they do try my every last nerve somedays I have to admit that they are super cute and lovable and that I love them. I have been with this group of kids for 2 years now so it’s fun to see them “all grown up” and to actually hold semi decent conversations with them.

5. My wonderful dog Sammy (short for Samantha) had surgery today. She had a dislocated hip. I was very unhappy about this - I bawled my eyes out. When I said something about it at work today one of the kids goes “are they going to take her leg off?”. I told him no that they were going to fix it and the conversation moved on. Kids say the funniest things. I really hope my Sammer is ok though and that she recovers quickly. The hardest part is that I am not at home to be with her.

6. This semester is a last for me. My last semester here at school before I go home to student teach. I am sad. I really am. I have some great incredible friends here not to mention the fact that it’s absolutely breathtaking living in the mountains. My goal for this semester is to work hard and prepare myself as much as possible for student teaching but also to have as much fun as possible. Not in the wild partying sense but in the take each moment and make sunshine sense.

7. I have been living the life of a lactose intolerant person for the past week or so. No I’m not actually lactose intolerant but let’s just say that my stomach isn’t doing so well with dairy. But seriously, have you ever thought of how much dairy you eat, even in small amounts? It’s so hard to not eat any because A LOT of foods or recipes contain dairy. I feel sorry for my lactose intolerant/dairy allergy (amy and ashley) friends and I now have a higher level of appreciation for the way they eat. And soymilk? I used to love the stuff. Now I hate it - blech!

8. I have 5 new purses. Yes five. No I did not buy them. My dear friend Katie was purging through a bunch of her stuff and decided to get rid of a bunch of purses as she has like millions of them (ok not really but the girl loves purses and she knows how to pick them) she told me and a couple of friends to take the ones we wanted. I was thrilled. I picked 5 adorable bags that I now love. The only sad part is that I can’t wear them all at one time.

the sleepiness may be kicking in. we shall see……

Today is my roommate’s 21st birthday. Rebecca and I have been living together since last fall and it’s been amazing. We were friends before we were roommates but living together always helps you get to know someone so much more. We have all sorts of special things we do together including:

- Watching the Office and Friends really late at night when we should be sleeping.

- When we are bored we walk into each other’s rooms and sit on the other person’s beds. This usually means we want to talk or just hang out. I think it’s fun.

- On Snow days if school is delayed or canceled we bundle up and walk over to Panera to have some breakfast. I love this one so much! 

- Rooms can cook a pretty good meal and started cooking a lot last semester. I would get home from my internship all tired and exhausted and there she would be in her apron cooking up something delicious. She’s become quite the domestic girl.

Rebecca is such a wonderful, godly girl who is full of life and love. I am so blessed to have her as a roommate and I can’t wait for her to come back so we can celebrate and enjoy our last semester together!

Also, this awesome girl has her very own blog called May you find what you’re seeking wherever you roam. You should definitely check it out!

“Patience is a virtue, a virtue is a grace. Put them both together and you get a pretty face.” 

I remember hearing that phrase from one of my friends when I was younger and somehow it has always stuck with me. Right now I am learning a lot about patience and trusting God’s timing instead of my own. I am still at home and have two more doctor’s appointments tomorrow and then maybe I can leave on Wednesday. It’s just been very hard for me as I was SO READY TO LEAVE and then wham I got hit with this. To me it was the worst timing in the world. I just couldn’t understand why this was happening.

I got a good perspective check when I talked to my dear friend Jaimee on the phone on Saturday. She told me that maybe there was a reason God didn’t want me at school yet and that there was something going on that I don’t know about. This reminder totally shifted my perspective. 

I have no clue what is going on. I don’t know why I got sick right now or when I will be 100% better or even when I will get to leave to go back to school. I don’t know what God is doing right now but it’s about time that I started to trust Him completely and be patient. Patience comes only through trials and times of waiting and I feel that God is really trying to grow me up in that right now. 

It’s difficult to put my own thoughts and questions aside but then who better to trust than the One who created me and knows me inside out? It seems silly that I don’t go to the Great Physician before I call up my doctor. 

Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts and ramblings as I process through this and try to wait patiently. More to come later.

 

don't I look happy? please excuse the awful hair

 

 

I forgot, in all of my un-excitement of late to point out that I GOT A MAC! I have been wanting a mac for a long time and I finally got one on Thursday. It’s wonderful. I haven’t even discovered all of the cool things it can do.

remember how I said the other day that I was going back to school and that I was all excited and could not wait? yeah well scratch that off the record. I”m still at home. No, I don’t want to be here. In fact I am quite angry that I am here. But it’s not been my choice that I am here.

I’m sick. yes again. abdominal pain. that’s all I am going to say. severe abdominal pain that cannot be explained after multiple tests. one doctor, one surgeon, lots of tests and no definitive diagnosis. 

of course it’s the worst timing ever as I want to be at school having fun with my friends and getting ready for a week of hanging out with four year olds. not to mention the fact that I was ready to leave and needed a change of pace from here anyways.

oh dear.

I’ll have to be here at least till Monday because I have to have a follow-up appointment. I hate this. Ugggghhhhh.