Highlights of 2012

Looking back on this past year, I am in awe of the amazing blessings the Lord has provided. Here are just some of the highlights:

• Honduras mission trip where I met and fell in love with my sweet baby girl, Sara. 
• Traveling around and loving life with my water polo team. 
• Finishing out my freshman year at Texas A&M.
• Spending all summer at Camp Cho-Yeh where I met some amazing new friends.
• Relaxing in Florida for a week with my family.
• Witnessing one of my best friends marry the man of her dreams.
• Meeting Rachel and having the privilege to live life with her for the past 5 months.
• Finding some precious new friendships through the water polo girls.
• Spending Christmas in Iowa with my extended family.
• Having the Lord show me grace and love in so many ways, while delicately drawing me closer to Him.

Here's to 2013!

Sleeping in a Zoo

When I went to Sea World camp, I had the opportunity to sleep in a zoo.

Last night was a very similar experience.

Dad snores.
Mom was stuffed up so breathed loud.
Kole yells in his sleep.

Y'all. It was an experience to say the least. Hoping to sleep some in the car today, can't wait to be at my grandparents!!

First Snowball of the Season

After about 12 hours in the car, we have stopped for the night north of Kansas City, Missouri! (Did you know there is also a Nevada, Missouri? Weird, I know). It was a fairly smooth day, once we realized that KJ was going to bark nonstop unless she was laying in my lap. When we pulled over into the hotel parking lot, Kole and Mom went to check in, while I plotted something else. Kole had a surprise waiting for him when he walked out... :)

The first snowball has been thrown! He wasn't expecting it all, making the moment even sweeter for me. I've gotten used to the cold since my dorm room is set to constantly freezing (obviously... I'm wearing a t-shirt and holding snow!), so I'm hoping my experiences with snow this year will be better than previous years!

The American Dream

The American Dream, a wonderful American phenomena that is ingrained into everybody's head to idealize what it looks like to be successful.

You know, having 2.3 children, a white picket fence surrounding a 2-story house with a dog for a pet, as well as a minivan to take the 2.3 kids to their sports practices.

Frankly, the American Dream scares me, and I want nothing to do with it.

America can keep it's white picket fence. All I need is Jesus.

I feel like the American Dream creates an impractical, unreasonable, and inaccurate picture of what it means to be "well-off", to be "successful", to be "blessed". We work and work and work, just so that we can materialistically get what we "need" to be happy. We strive to get more stuff (because really, that is all it is), and in the process are moving way too fast to see what we have been given in the first place. I don't need a 2 story house and a white picket fence to be happy. America can keep that jazz, all I need is Jesus. I will not let the American Dream run interference with the blessed life the Lord has given me. We don't need "stuff" to be happy and successful, although American does a great job painting that image into our heads. All that we need is Jesus to overflow in our lives.

3.81

3.81 could mean numerous things, but today this number has an extra significance -- 3.81 was my GPA for the last semester!

That's right: 5 A's and 1 B for the semester! I can't complain at all, especially after pulling out an A in calculus. I also officially have 60 credit hours which is the amount of hours required to be classified as a junior. That really has very little significance, unless you go to Texas A&M in which case you can officially whoop... WHOOP!!

Hate Sin. Love the Sinner.

The news has been flooded with the sad story surrounding the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy that happened on Friday. Nobody understands why someone would do something like this, and hearing the reports is heartbreaking.

Most of the United States hates Adam Lanza. Nobody can imagine what kind of person could commit this heinous act. We don't understand who would be able to murder 20 first graders and 6 staff members.

Frankly, the news isn't helping this image. I'm SICK of hearing the news talk over and over about him and what he did. I'm tired of it, and it disgusts me. Wanna know why?

Because Adam Lanza is no different than any of us.

We are called to hate sin, but to love the sinner.

At camp I like to do this example with the youngest of campers where I take a bunch of quarters and put them into 2 stacks. 1 stack has 2 quarters in it, and the other has 10 or so quarters in it. I ask my girls what kind of sins would be represented by the smaller stack, and they typically reply with lying, or being mean to a brother, or not listening to their parents. I then ask them what sins would be represented by the larger stack. Typically their top 2 answers are murder, or worshipping another god. I then have each girl stand directly above the stacks of quarters and look down on them from a birds-eye view (God's view) , at which point they notice that both stacks of quarters look the same.

In God's eyes, sin is sin and all is equal. A lie is equal to murder. As humans, we don't understand this. We excuse some sins that we often fall into daily, but we wouldn't think of committing "those other sins" such as murder or adultery that would hold to a different standard. We do not have the capability to understand God's perfect mind, and therefore we cannot possibly understand the phenomena where God sees all sins as equal. James 2:10 states, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it". Sin is sin. There is no such thing as a "worse sin", as all is disobeying God and falling short of what He wants for us.

I believe that through Jesus, my sins are forgiven since I believe in and trust in Him. I also know that this holds true for all of those who put their faith in Jesus. We hate sin, but love the sinner. Adam Lanza's crime is no more or worse than mine. Sin is sin. God hates ALL sin, but loves ALL sinners. We should do the same.

Summer 2013!

So happy to announce that I will be spending summer of 2013 back at the place I love -- Cho-Yeh!

This weekend we had our annual Summer Staff Christmas Party, and it was SO good to see all of my friends again. The relationships built at Cho-Yeh are unique and one-of-a-kind. Most of these friends I only see during the summer and then once a semester if we road-trip to each others campuses. The incredible thing about these relationships are that they are stronger than any other friendship I have been apart of. I often refer to Laura as my big sister, and my truest best friends are all Cho-Yehers. It's a wonderful place.

I am proud that I will be spending my 7th summer (4th on staff) working at Cho-Yeh this summer. I will get to spend 10 weeks developing relationships with girls and getting to teach them about God while showing Christ's love. It's hard and it's exhausting, but it is so rewarding and I am so blessed to be able to have this opportunity to be a part of this staff and spend another summer doing what I absolutely love!

Here's to a Month Off!

I'm DONE! D-O-N-E DONE!

No more calculus, ever. No more biology, ever. No more speech classes, ever. No more reading and reading assessment classes (for a month, anyways).

I'M DONE! I already packed up and am home -- so stinkin' excited!!

And I'm so ready for all the wonderful things that are scheduled for this next month: being home, time at Cho-Yeh, road-trip to Iowa, a white Christmas with my extended family, and the mission trip to Honduras! God's going to do great things over this break, and I'm ready!

So Stinkin' Close.

Y'all. I am SO stinkin' close to being done for this semester! All I have left is a calculus final tomorrow morning, and then see ya later College Station! All I need is a 60 on the final, so I haven't been too stressed out -- I just want to get it over with so I can load up my Honda and hit the road. All of my friends have left CS already and I am so ready for it to be my turn to be done! I'm so stinkin' close!

I'm Ready to be in Iowa

The past week has made me REALLY ready to be in Iowa with my family! To be able to be goofy and silly with Leah. To be able to sit in the kitchen while Grandma cooks. To be able to talk with my aunts about anything. To "redecorate" my grandparents Christmas tree with my uncles. To beat Gramps in cards.

I'm so ready to be in Iowa. I honestly cannot wait! (If Iowa would like to warm up about 50 degrees between now and then, that'd be wonderful...)

Until I'm Teaching!

Today, I reached a major accomplishment for me! I finished my last science class! Science has never been a strong suit for me, especially since high school. I suffered through biology, chemisty, physics and anatomy in high school, only to take 3 more science classes here at A&M: atmospheric geography, chemistry and biology.

Well, today I finished! I took my biology final, and I am DONE with science forever! Well, atleast until I am teaching anyways... such a good feeling!

Tonight, I'm relaxing. I think Rachel and I are going to go get dinner and have a Grey's Anatomy marathon. Then tomorrow, I'm relaxing. On Sunday I will begin to review for my last final of the semester, calculus, which is on Wednesday!

I'm so close to being done! And I realized that I only need a 63 to keep an A in calculus... adious motivation to study!

Apartment Hunting!

Well, today started the fun adventure of apartment shopping! Rachel and I are planning on living together along with two other girls. We had already been looking online, and had narrowed it down to a couple that we wanted to look at, 2818 Place, Campus Corner, and Reveille's Ranch.

2818 Place was super nice and updated. They had two different 4 person layouts -- a townhome and a typical apartment which were both fully furnished. We liked the apartment a lot more because of the open common areas and big kitchen. The downsides: they only had a 12 month lease, so we would have to sublease in the morning. Also, it's far from campus and not on the A&M bus route.

Campus Corner, we were not fans of. It was nice in the fact that it had a 10 month lease and was also fully furnished. It was kinda on the expensive side, and didn't have anything super "WOW" about it.

Reveille's Ranch: not as updated as 2818 Place, but still furnished and nice. The layout was unique, but it would work. We each would have our own room and bathroom. It is close to campus, and on the A&M bus route. And they have a 10 month lease option!

Ultimately, Reveille's Ranch is what Rachel and I are thinking! I'm so excited to be off campus!

A Needed Night

The past few days have been rough. They've been categorized with little sleep, not enough to eat, and too much to do. If you have ever met anybody in my family, you know that all three of those things are ticking time-bombs for us.

Yesterday was the worst. I went to bed around 1 AM, and was wide awake by 4. I couldn't fall back asleep, and so by 8 I was up. I went to library to study, and finally emerged for food around 2 that afternoon. I stopped at the hotdog stand (I know, sounds super sketch) on the way home, only to realize that I couldn't find my school ID to pay for lunch anywhere. Note: attached to my ID is my drivers license, credit/debit cards, cash, car key, dorm key, and house key. At A&M you need your Aggie ID to do just about anything, like enter a building or buy food. I majorly panicked. I checked my bag several times, only to end up having to appologize to the lady who had already made the hotdog, and tell her I couldn't find my ID. She gave me the hotdog for free, and told me good luck. I bolted back to the library to look for them, meanwhile calling Rachel to see if I had left them by where she was studying when I had stopped by to check on her before leaving. Nope. I stopped at a bench, and began to dig through my bag again. And again. A random guy stopped when he saw me crying and frantically searching, and offered to check my bag for me. Low and behold, he found them in a pocket I didn't know existed in that backpack. I went back to the hotdog shop and repaid the lady for my lunch before heading back for a much needed nap.

Except I couldn't sleep. I ended up turning on the TV to listen to as background noise, and decided to just relax for a while. I went to pour myself a glass of water, and the lid to my pitcher snapped off, dumping 3 gallons of ice cold water ALL over me, my blankets, and the floor. Great. Just perfect!

Yesterday continued on like that. So when an opportunity came to visit Laura tonight in Livingston, I jumped on it. I drove the 2 hours this afternoon, met her at a restaurant and got to sit and talk. We made a Walmart run to pick out a Christmas present for her mentee kindergartener, and walked around Livingston. I hadn't seen her since September, the longest we had ever gone without a visit. It was so nice, and such a refreshing time before going into this week of finals. I have 2 finals tomorrow, 1 on Friday, then 1 on Wednesday before I'm FREE. All I know, is that this visit tonight was much needed!

#SiblingLove

I had the opportunity to surprise this guy today and watch him play in the championship game of their baseball tournament! I love this guy so much, and love that I live close enough that I can still support him, even on a school night! 

I also realized today that the only way I will ever be taller than him anymore is if he gives me a piggy back ride, hints this picture. He is growing up, but he will always be my baby brother and my little buddy!