Exciting happenings of the week

I turned 22 on Monday!

We had REAL chicken for supper tonight - real as in, NOT PROCESSED!! It even had bones. I had three pieces. :D

I'm getting an early start on homework this evening, I have two friends who are going to keep me accountable and make sure I don't go out socializing. :D Then at about 9 I'm going to go down to the Coffee Bean and buy a coffee with some of the money my little siblings sent me for my birthday. :)

My friend and I set up an accountability system today to remind ourselves about something about the Lord Jesus every day...to help each other keep our thoughts pure. :)

I got a really nice note from one of my friends in my box today!

All my Christmas decorations are up!

The Lord is teaching me what it means to press on...and it's good. :)

ONLY 18 more days until I go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures with Emmaus Friends

Getting to know the girls in August who have become my best friends here...Emily and Esther

Roller skating with Heidi and Hannah and Alehandra at Sadie Hawkins

Christina and I together at Sadies

Laughs with Esther A at Sadies

Eating apples with Esther at Oktoberfest

Dressed up for Sadies with Emily

Making Japanese food with Caleb on Thanksgiving break

Breakfast and homework with Victor on Thanksgiving break

At a birthday party with Rachel

At Perkins with Esther, Amanda, and Amy, along with others for a going away party for a friend

Tasting Amy's muffin at Perkins

Saying goodbye to Amanda

Enjoying the first snowfall with Caleb and Victor

Walking in the snow with Joy over Thanksgiving break

In everything

In every little thing
Give thanks.
For unexpected blessings,
For reminders
Of God’s love,
For answers
To hurried, whispered prayers –
Give thanks.

In every greater thing
Give thanks.
For help in big decisions made,
For open doors
Made clear,
For help
In times of bitter trials –
Give thanks.

In every harder thing,
Give thanks.
For loneliness or grief,
For the chance
To suffer for His sake,
For pain, or loss,
Or bitter nights of tears –
Give thanks.

In every good thing from above,
Give thanks.
For promises He gives,
For fellowship
So rich and sweet,
For joy,
And laughter, love, and songs –
Give thanks.

Because His way is perfect,
Because He cares for you,
Because He reaches, teaches, shares,
Give thanks to God,
For He is good.

- Elizabeth Skiles
“Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.” (Psalm 136:1)

Kansas is far away

It just occured to me that this is the first time I can truly sing along with Bing Crosby...

I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams...

...and really be homesick while singing it.

But I'd rather be there for Thanksgiving.

I close my eyes and see a long table spread with china dishes and steaming bowls of stuffing, potatoes, and yams, baskets overflowing with rolls, a platter of tender white turkey, and clear glasses filled with cinnamony cider and real ice cubes from ice cube trays. I drink in the imaginary fragrance of mums in a vase, woodsmoke coming from the register beneath the table, and the comforting smell of...HOME. I see candles flickering (ah, candles!) and hear loud, boisterous laughter, the clinking of silverware, loud oohs and ahs over the savory dishes, and words of thanks overflowing from grateful hearts of those I love best in the world.

Then I open my eyes and see the white wall of my dorm room, think about a big empty building with 15 students living in it for a week, eating their meals together in the coffee shop downstairs and buried in their books and staring at laptop screens...and am tempted to go to bed crying.

But then I remind myself of the Lord's precious love, and how He provided for me to stay here, and how much joy I will have as I work on the projects He's entrusted me with, and the fellowship I will have with those 15 brothers and sisters, and the fun it will be to visit someone else's home for my favorite holiday...and realize that it will be okay.

But Kansas is still far away...and only in my dreams.

College can make you do crazy things...

So...I never thought a party could be so much fun. We had a Sadie Hawkins party last Sunday here at school. The theme was "Blast from the Past - 1950s" and it WAS a blast.

These pictures, here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11388&l=5733b&id=503933962 may not mean a lot to you because you don't know the people in them...but you can kind of get an idea...

We had dinner first, in a dining hall that had been completely transformed to look like a 50s diner. The RAs and Student Gov folks were on rollerskates, and served us dinner. It was so much fun! Seriously, we felt like we dropped out of Happy Days. The 50s music helped create the atmosphere amazingly.

Then we had lip sync competitions by floors, each floor lip synching and choreographing a different 50s song, plus lots of competitions and prizes, all in the decked out auditorium. That was wild! We laughed so much and had such a good time.

Then we went roller skating at a rink and skated for 2 hours to more 50s music! Wow! It was sooo fun! I've been paying for it all week (I have some muscles hurting that I didn't realize were even capable of hurting!).

Today a 5-yr-old boy winked at me and a 7-yr-old boy waved at me. If that doesn't make a girl's day, what will?

Life is crazy, but it's going...faster than I'd like.

God is so good! Praise Him today for something He's done for you!

Only Yours

One view
A heavenly sight
My eyes on You.
One light
Shining in my soul
My heart full.

You are mine, Jesus!
Draw me close to You.
Fill me drop by drop
Until I overflow with love.

One life
Being used up
Just for me?
One heart
Following You alone –
On my own.

I am Yours, Jesus!
Hold my hand in Yours.
Flood me with Your peace,
Until I finally rest in You.

One passion
To be close to You
And only You.
One journey,
Step by step each day
Just with You.

We are one, my Jesus!
Give me Your song of joy
So I can laugh and rest and sing,
And know I’m only Yours.

- Elizabeth Skiles
When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." John 21:22

It's life...it's school...what more can I say?

Wow, so, it's been quite a while since I blogged. I have a perfectly legitimate excuse for that: MIDTERMS. :) But now those blessed things are over for me and I can back to normal life (laughs under her breath "normal?")

So, how about come categories?

Fun things I've done lately:
- Had a visit from my brother and sisters - yay!
- Went to a birthday dinner at Dean Glock's house a month before my birthday
- Played basketball for an hour when my sibs were here with two good friends
- Led a study group of about 15 people for Survey of Doctrine...which got crazy (crazy fun :))

- Ate a random coconut-filled chocolate that I found in my mailbox from a mystery giver
- Got a friend to read one of my favorite books and had a good time discussing it with him
- Went ice skating...started learning to be adventurous :)
- Cleaned five classrooms with a seven-year-old boy as my sidekick
- Let a brother carry my heavy laundry basket up to the third floor from the basement for me
- Went out to eat with a random collection of fellow students at Olive Garden (if you don't have money, you can always make friends with girls whose spiritual gift is giving :) JUST KIDDING!)


Random things that happened in Chicago:
- Went up 94 stories crammed in a little elevator with 8 friends in about one minute to the top of the Hancock building


- Took pictures of friends taking pictures...lots of them
- Experienced a singing chef in a Hershey's chocolate store
- Walked into Ghiredelli's chocolate store to get free chocolate, then turned around and walked back out again

- Waited for two hours to eat real Chicago pizza
- Ate real Chicago pizza
- Got misdirected and asked for directions in a snazzy Starbucks
- Took goofy pictures at this giant mirror ball...acting like kids
- Chased a trolley - literally running across the park toward the road yelling for the trolley to stop, only to find that it was the wrong trolley line
- Asked for directions of a guy who wouldn't tell us unless we gave him money...which rather stunned the country folk in our group
- Walked/ran 19 blocks back to the bus stop in a time crunch, getting there in about 30 minutes, collapsing with relief on the bus
- Watched Princess Bride on the way back and laughed till our sides hurt

How college life has changed me:
- I can now shower without complaining in bare feet in a public shower
- I no longer gripe when people take my laundry out of the dryer - I even do it to people
- I wear mis-matched clothes on Wednesdays sometimes
- I wear slippers around in public after class hours
- I'm no longer just proficient at house cleaning...I can now handle classroom cleaning
- I play in piles of leaves and talk to squirrels

What I'm learning:
- To not go by first impressions
- To quit judging people for every little thing they do
- That it's okay to forget people's names and ask them again
- That sometimes the people you're closest to can get along well and enjoy spending time with people you really don't get along with well, and that it's okay
- To keep my mouth shut
- To pray spontaneously with brothers and sisters, even on the way home from Wednesday night meeting
- That you can learn a lot about people from editing their papers
- That all people go a lot deeper than they first appear to
- That the Lord is with me as much when I'm taking a test as when I'm in a prayer meeting