Brownie for Dinner?

Don't judge. It has been a CHAOTIC day.

2 hours of sleep. That is NOWHERE near enough sleep for me. I wasn't even being productive last night, I just couldn't sleep!

Who said there was supposed to be rain this morning at 7:30 when I had to walk to class? I was soaked and cold. Rainboots are amazing things, unless they are sitting in your closet as you are dancing around the rain puddles.

Three classes to tolerate being soaked and cold in... no fun.

Way too greasy pizza for lunch. Yuck. Ended up scraping all of the sauce, cheese, and sausage off the pizza and only eating the breading and crust.

Hour long power nap -- THANK goodness or else I was not making it through the day!

Roommate's boyfriend drama. UGH save me!! I don't like drama, nor do I enjoy talking about it. Especially not drama that has repeated multiple times this semester! And especially not when I'm still exhausted.

2 hours of editing my English paper and math homework. Buttt... they are both done!

An hour of planning what I'm going to talk about for Bible Study tomorrow. The teacher in me really wanted to have atleast an outline and bullet points to go off of!

Polo is now becoming an outlet instead of a stressor. Enjoying my teammates is definitely nice and I love that I now feel like I belong!

Phone call from Laura, and she got accepted to lead a group of CLT this summer at camp! SO excited for her!

Breakaway was amazing, like usual.

Now it's 11:00 and I'm debating what I want for dinner... Pizza again? Nope. Microwavable Brownie, crackers, and apple juice? Yep! I know, great combination.

The rest of the week will be just as chaotic as today was! AHHH!!! Weekend? Where are you? I see you looming off in the distance, please come quickly!

He Has A Plan

That is something I can always take refuge in -- God has a plan!

I am majorly stressing tonight trying to figure out how everything is going to get done these next few weeks. I am out of town for the next 3-4 weeks in a row, which means everything has to get done during the week. I have an essay due on Thursday that is worth a huge percentage of my grade. I am starting to love water polo practice and my team, so I WANT to go to practice, but that takes up a good 3 hours everyday. Kole needs help in math, but his schedule and mine are not meshing well. My roommate broke up with her boyfriend tonight and so I have been listening to that. The washer decided to break WITH my clothes locked inside. I'm just overwhelmed.

And then Kristen called me and asked me if I would lead Bible Study on Wednesday night. She knows I'm horrible at saying "no", and so even though I'm freaking out I told her I would do it.

WHAT was I thinking? I lead Bible Studies for 8 year olds, not 18-22 year olds! Right when I was beginning to feel completely inadequate, this is what hit me...

Completely stressed + pushed out of my comfort zone = only God is in control!

And that is just how we want it to be!

Dear Math

Dear Math,
You so far seem to be a pretty simple class. Logic and probability is something I have studied since elementary school. Even the problems we do in class are fairly simplistic. WHY then do you make your homework so challenging? And why on Earth is it online? Do you know how much longer it takes me to transfer all of the problems and diagrams to a piece of paper before working on my homework? It's such a waster of time. I'm glad that you are showing me how you are useful in the real-world, that really is appreciated, but come on. Do you have to make your homework so complicated? I really don't think so... You can be nicer, I believe in you, I know that you can do it! Now PLEASE try?
Love always,
Girl Who Is Pulling Her Hair Out In Frustration

Dear Chlorine

I wrote this last night as I was laying in bed but couldn't get it to send and was too tired to get out of bed to publish it on the computer... but here we go!

Dear Chlorine,
You were way too present at polo practice tonight. It has been 5 hours since practice has ended and my eyes are STILL burning. My roommate asked if I was either high or had been crying because my eyes are so red. That's slightly ridiculous! My tshirt that I had to wear IN the pool during practice supposedly reeks of chlorine, but thankfully over the years I have become immune to your smell. My skin in super itchy too because of you being super intense tonight! Chlorine, you are a good element/chemical and I am very appreciative of you always keeping us safe and clean and healthy, but PLEASE go back down to a normal level sometime soon!
Thanks and gig'em!
Love always,
The Girl With Burning Eyes and Itchy Skin

Blessings through Camp

As I was driving back to College Station today after spending a much-needed weekend in Livingston with one of my good friends, I realized just how much God has blessed me through Cho-Yeh.

First and most important - camp refueled my love and my drive to serve God in all that I do. I had always been to church and such, but it was at camp where it clicked and I had my "aha" moment.

Camp has also provided me with happiness - I LOVE being there, and love the atmosphere of camp. It is where I will spend every summer until the boot me out! I am so happy when I'm at camp.

Camp has given me friends and "family" of all ages. Laura (the girl I spent the weekend with) just graduated from A&M in the spring, so she is a good 4 years older than me, but we are closer than imaginable. We share the same interests and passions, and both consider camp our home. Then my best friend is a Cho-Yeh'er, and so are a bunch of my friends at school. I'm in a Bible Study with 8 or so Cho-Yeh ladies, and hang out on the weekends with a few others. My roommate next year, Libby, is a Cho-Yeh'er as well. Not saying that I don't have friends who aren't Cho people, but those that I am closest with are. And then all of my campers. I had girls ages 7-12 this past summer (mostly 8-10 year olds), and I still talk with some of them through snail mail. I love those girls, and I'm glad that they are in my life too, and that I can be there for them. My camp family is enormous, and I'm so blessed.

I think of what I did in the past week that involved camp people. On Tuesday I went to a worship session with Kristen, Kristen, Kelly and Cameron (all Cho-Yeh people). On Wednesday I had Bible study with Kristen, Kristen, Kristen, Libby, Marisa, Lexi, Bonnie, and Morgan (all Cho-Yeh people). On Friday night I went to the mall with Kristen and Libby (both Cho-Yeh people) before laying in my room to watch Miss Congeniality. Then this weekend I drove to Livingston to see Laura. Literally, God has changed my life through camp and by providing me with these relationships and I couldn't be happier. :)

I feeeeeeel goood!

(Play this song as background music to understand my excitement and hyperness! It's "I Feel Good" by Jason Brown)

I had motivation going into this week to be super productive in order to go to Livingston to see Laura this weekend and not feel guilty. This semester is a lot of work, and I had a LOT to get done this week...

I have successfully...

• Read Chapter 2 & 8 for Geography


• Done Chapter 1 for math


• Read Chapter 3 for Chemistry


• Read a 45 page article for my Multicultural Education class


• 2 outlines over said article ^^


• 3 sections of online math homework


• 4 sections of online chemistry homework


• Rough Draft of my English Explication paper over a poem (mentioned in a previous blog


• Finished my application for a scholarship (involved writing 2 more essays)


• Rewrote 2 chapters of chemistry notes (In classes that is simply memorizing topics and not much physical application, I take all my notes on the computer so that I can take them fast and catch most of the lecture, and then I copy them all into a spiral in colored markers so that I am physically writing them and the colors help me remember. It's a LONG process, but it works well and is worth it, because when it comes time to study I actually remember most of it from the first time I learned it)


• Rewrote a chapter of geography notes


• Studied for a math quiz and took a math quiz


• Met with my English professor


• Explained how to work a math concept to my math professor (yes, I thought it went the other way around too..)


• And have gotten to talk to both of my best friends, my brother, and my parents several times this week!

I definitely deserve to go to Livingston this weekend -- can't wait!

I FEEEEEEEEL GOOD!!

Practice was FUN again!! & Cho-Yeh Aggie Bible Study

Tonight was the first night in a LONG time that water polo practice has been FUN. We got a lot done, and we were laughing and joking with each other all night. There are a few new players this semester that didn't play last semester (some played last year, some are brand new), and it feels good to not be the "new freshman" anymore. We did a lot of swimming and drillwork tonight, but regardless of what we were doing, it was a fun group to be apart of and to feel belonged in. It was wonderful!

After practice I grabbed a hamburger from the grill at the Rec, and went to Cho-Yeh Aggie Bible study. I absolutely love those girls!! Even though we were just catching up tonight and planning what we wanted the next semester to look like as far as Bible study goes, it reminded me of just how blessed I am to have a group of girls that support me and honestly care about me. These are the girls who would drop anything to help you out, who want to have lunch with you, who want to come cheer obnoxiously at polo games, etc, because they CARE about you. And I would do the same thing for any of them -- heck, I'm going to a dance recital in March, possibly running/working a 5K in April, going to a lacrosse tournament in March.. Seriously though, I have NEVER sat through a dance recital in my life, running is a form of torture in my eyes, and I don't even know how lacrosse is played... but we do these things as a camp family, and I'm excited to support my friends in all that they are involved in. This group of girls is such a blessing! I love that we have Bible study every week together, and whether we are on task and done in an hour, or off task and stay to chat until midnight... I love that they are in my life every week

If I Wrote That

I'm in the middle of a writing assignment where we are having to read an analyze a long poem and then write an explication on that poem. There are 5 poems we get to choose from. I read all 5 poems and figured I'd find one that I liked best to write my paper on.

Maybe if there was one that I could understand that would be a better start... Needless to say, I don't think any of these are wrote to where normal college kids are to be able to comprehend them.

I wonder if I were to write something in that kind of language and terminology if I would even pass the class. I'm pretty sure my professor (his name is "Master Tarpley" -- no joke) would fail me because nobody could understand what it said...

I guess what I'm saying here is that this paper is dumb and really annoying. And if I were to write a poem/paper/essay in that language I would fail. But this person became super famous and a pain to every college student to ever exist.

Okay, rant over. Back to trying to analyze this poem...

Week 1 is DONE!

Whoop! Week one of second semester is DONE!

I was kind of dreading this semester when I was realizing my work load in all of my classes. I'm taking chemistry, math, english, geography and an education class. I like creative writing and history... none of those classes are in my forte!

This is what I'm realizing though -- my classes will be a lot of "work", but won't necessarily be "hard".There is a lot of homework and due dates in addition to tests which I'm not used to considering last semester was only tests for the most part, but that's okay. My chemistry and math class are full of education majors, and the class is supposedly significantly easier than university chem or math. Phew!

I only have one classes on Friday which is SO nice! I didn't have class until 11:30 yesterday, and so I slept till 10, woke up and did some reading, went to class, grabbed lunch, and then by 12:40 I was in bed and back asleep! I woke up at 4:30 and watched a bit of TV before getting ready to go out with friends. 4 other camp girls and I went to Newks for dinner and then went and saw Beauty and the Beast 3D. What is nice about living in a college town is that they have deals for students. At Newks they had free sodas (and their drinks are SO good!), and then we each got into the movie for $6. In Cypress, a regular movie ticket for an evening movie is $7, and 3D is $12. Thank you College Station!

Although we had all seen Beauty and The Beast before, and the 3D wasn't all that special, it was so much fun to just hang out together! I got back around 11, crawled into bed, and didn't wake up till 10 this morning! I have watched a film for my education class, and am getting ready to go grab some lunch before heading to the library to work on scholarship essays and an english paper. I'll probably be lazy and watch movies here tonight, and Kevin & I will more than likely go to church together in the morning.

Successful first week? I'd think so!

Sara Posting!

Normally when I blog, I type up my thoughts/feelings/reasons for posting and hit submit without proofreading. It's easy for me to write simple blogs, so when trying to write about my precious Sara from Honduras I found it so challenging! I would type up a blog and hit delete. I would write out stories and not like how they sounded. I couldn't get my phrasing and my words right enough to convey the stories behind sweet little Sara.

Finally though, it's done. To read about my precious little Sara, go check out my Heart for Honduras blog posting!

Project Life!!

I am doing this thing this year called Project Life. Essentially, it is a way to document your year through pictures and journaling, without it being a huge production like scrapbooking everyday would be. It's really simple and I love it!

What I love most about it though, is the challenge and the joy that it has so far provided me. I am constantly on the lookout for a picture each day to represent something funny or unique that happened. When you are on the lookout for things like that, it is really easy to see all of the great and randomly fun things that happen everyday!

Crutches... no thank you.

Ever since I got back to school my leg has been hurting. It felt like I pulled a muscle or something. It didn't "hurt" yesterday, it was more like just annoying when I forgot about it and put a bunch of weight on it.

This morning was a different story. I got out of bed and nearly fell over because my entire leg hurt. It was the first morning of classes though and I was meeting a friend to walk together, so I didn't have many options except to take ibprofin and deal with it. Throughout the day it got better, it still hurt, but it was bearable again.

I tried to go to practice tonight thinking the saying I've heard growing up, "Oh just swim it off" would work. Wrong. I literally pulled the entire swim-set (when you have been out of the pool for 6 weeks, that's rough), and then one legged egg-beatered until I burst into tears. I'm not one who cries when I'm hurt and typically have a pretty high pain tolerance, and so I knew something was up. Michele, our polo captain/coach/whatever you wanna call her told me to just get out and go see the trainer because something wasn't right.

Turns out I didn't pull a muscle in my leg. I pulled a muscle/ligament/tendon/something around my hip which caused that to swell and made my entire leg hurt. Yippee!

The remedy? Ice/heat, ibprofin, and "taking it easy". Oh yeah, and he highly suggested crutches... WHAT? Okay, I can barely walk on my own two feet half the time... crutches was not going to be an option. I called my parents and we agreed that I would just try to take it easy and keep it moving but not overdo it this week and see where that goes.... perfect!!

Not exactly the first day that I was hoping for, but hey, one thing I have learned is God ALWAYS has a plan and His plan is way better than mine. So if His plan includes taking me twice as long to get to a class, well then I guess I'm just going to be learning something about Him in that extra time! God knows what He is doing, I'm not worried!!

Goodbye Social Life.

I have realized that my social life has officially been flushed down the toilet. 20 page MINIMUM papers for English. All of my tests, homework, and quizzes for both chem and math (what will be my 2 hardest classes this semester) are all on the same day. Whoo!

I do love being back and being in a routine again. It was so good to see friends I know from school and to be back walking around campus. I had almost forgotten how much I love this place! I also love having a roommate again. I love always having somebody there to be silly with!

I'm getting ready to go to my first polo practice in something like 7 weeks. YIKES! This should be ... interesting? Then BREAKAWAY! I don't have class until 10:20 tomorrow which will be nice. I get to sleep-in a bit -- CHA-CHING!!

Round TWO!

Here we go! After lunch today and some last minute packing I will be hopping in my car to head back to College Station. This winter break has been wonderful, and I think if I hadn't just gotten back from Honduras, I would be excited for this semester to start! However, my heart still feels like it is back in Honduras, and I'm missing my little girl Sara VERY much! (Read my Honduras blog for details on that).

I am thinking this semester is going to be a bit harder than last semester. I'm taking chemistry, a chem lab, math, english, geography and an education class. The chem class is known to be tough, and science and I don't normally mix well. Luckily I have a pretty good friend who is in that class with me, so we should be able to get through it together!

It has been about 5 weeks since I've been in College Station, and I am excited to get back, see some friends, and get this routine established again. This semester is going to be filled with water polo and Cho-Yeh activities, along with hopefully road-tripping it to see a few friends like I did last year. Regardless, whether I am ready or not, this semester starts tomorrow! Hoping and praying for a better first day than I had last semester... haha!

Back in the states

I'm back in the states after a wonderful, indescribable and blessed week in Honduras! I hand wrote blog posts after every day, and so I'm working on typing and uploading those to my Honduras blog -- feel free to check them out to see how this week went!

http://heartforhonduras2012.blogspot.com/

Night before HONDURAS!!!

Crazy to think that this time tomorrow I will be sitting down to dinner with some Hondurans and eating my first delicious meal of beans and rice! Yuuuum!

I leave in the morning for Honduras! There are 21 of us total, and I think we are all more excited than kids before Christmas. We have been planning and praying for this trip since September, and it is now just around the corner! I am essentially packed (that was a nightmare) in my one carry-on bag. All of our checked bags are being used to bring dodgeballs, Spanish Bibles, Alpha/Omega bands, costumes, etc, so all of our clothes are being brought in carry-ons. It was a fiasco because I'm paranoid about making sure that everything is packed and that my carry-on isn't too big. BUT, for the most part it is done.

I don't even know how to explain my emotions. Excitement, nervousness, anxiety, worry, joy, curiosity... there isn't just one word to describe it! I will feel a lot better as soon as the airplane lands in Honduras and we make it through customs -- until then I'll keep my excitement rolling!

If you would like to keep up with our trip throughout the week, our camp director will be making daily updates to the camp office in Livingston, and those updates will be put on Cho-Yeh's blog. Whether you keep up with the blog or not, be ready for a photo and story-filled blog as soon as I get back!! Also, if you are interested in some of my blog postings in regards to Honduras over the past few months, check out my blog dedicated especially to Honduras!

Cho-Yeh Blog (updates over the next week) : http://www.cho-yeh.org/blog
My Heart for Honduras Blog : http://heartforhonduras2012.blogspot.com/

Please keep all of us in your prayers over the next week!

What Happens At Walmart...

I need a skirt/dress that goes past my knees to wear for church in Honduras. Do you know how ridiculously hard it is to find a dress/skirt that long that fits me who already has insanely long legs? I had tried Kohls, Old Navy, and Target before I finally decided to try Walmart today.

At Camp, Walmart is the hang-out spot (outside of Lake Livingston) because there isn't much else around. We can always find whatever we need at Walmart: costumes, candy, bubbles, white v-necks, toothbrush when your camper accidently uses yours... so going to Walmart to find a dress/skirt for a camp function really did seem fitting.

I found a knee length black skirt for $4 that I could wear a shirt I already had with and be perfectly fine for church. It really isn't cute in any way, shape, or form, but I know that it will work just fine for Honduras. The lines to check out were INSANE, and I nearly said "forget it" and just walked out without a skirt because I didn't want to wait that long. The guy in front of me had to have been my Great Grandmother's age, and he was so sweet. We were talking as we waited in line, and as it was his turn to place his MASSIVE amount of stuff (I don't think he wanted to go to Walmart again for a really long time...) on the counter he was unloading his cart one item at a time at a really slow pace. So I began helping him unload his cart, and as he was paying, he grabbed my skirt which was sitting behind his items, and added it to his collection. I told him that the skirt was my item, and he responded "Yes, I know. You remind me so much of my granddaughter who passed away last year and I wanted to get this for you. I hope you have a wonderful day sweetie". He then took his bags, and left. The lady who was working the check-out responded "In my 22 years of working of working here, I have never seen anything like this". WOW!

That absolutely made my day. I was dumbfounded and speechless. That gentleman was so sweet, and it's crazy how that little act could completely change the way my day was going.

It honestly made me wonder -- what little things do we pass up every single moment that have the chance to effect somebody else's day so drastically?

7 Ups to a New Year

This idea is from Reverend Walter Schoedel and contains seven things we are to strive to do in the new year.

WAKE UP and begin each day with the Lord.

DRESS UP with a smile and be joyful.

HUSH UP and be careful what you say. Your words can shoo people away from Christ just as easily as they can bring them to Him.

STAND UP for what you believe in.

LOOK UP to the Lord and see where you are supposed to be serving.

REACH UP through prayer and thanksgiving.

LIFT UP those around you by lending a helping hand.