Dear Evans Library,

Dear Evans Library,

I hope that you are ready to become best friends! Because after this weekend we are just going to be the best of buddies. You see, I have a lot of studying to do this weekend because all of my exams tend to fall on the same day/week. I have a paper due Monday, three exams on Tuesday, a quiz on Thursday, and a paper due Friday of this week. Then on Saturday I have a polo tournament, and on Sunday I have a Cho-Yeh thing to go to. Then the next Monday I have 2 papers due and a polisci test. Then that Wednesday I have a HUGE presentation, a quiz on Thursday and a paper due Friday. Literally, SO MUCH TO DO! Therefore, this weekend I will be spending a vast majority of my time in the library. I've already been in here 3 hours, and it's only 4:15 on a Friday afternoon.

Evans, I really hope that you are nice to me. I mean, we have a chance to become REALLY good friends this weekend! Doesn't that sound just delightful? I would appreciate it if you would turn your heater up a little bit, and make fresh warm cookies. So far, that is my only complaint, so fix that soon and you'll be golden!

I might be leaving you for a few minutes to go charge my laptop and get my headphones while eating dinner, but then I'm sure we will meet again tonight! Don't worry, I'm not abandoning you, I promise I'll be back!

Much love (as long as your keep your end of this bargain...),

Me :)

[how's that for being positive about studying all weekend?!]

CHOCOLATE!!!

I am supposed to have a jacket being delivered sometime this week, and so have been anxiously checking my mailbox waiting for it to come! Today, I had TWO slips saying I had packages and so was slightly confused.

Oh. My. Goodness.

My family and the Krolczyk's had each sent me HUGE boxes of candy! Reeses, Starbursts, Skittles, those cookies with the really good icing, bubble gum, popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels, bakery cookies, and cute halloween accessories!

To say I've been on a sugar high is a slight under-exageration. (oh. understatement. that's the word I was looking for. whoops.) I had Chick-fil-a for lunch at like 3:30, and then have had a kit-kat (did I mention Genny got a bunch of candy yesterday?!), reeses, skittles, cookie, and $4 worth of frozen yogurt for dinner! I'm WIRED! Except my tummy hurts and I went 16 hours today without coming back to my room. Literally. Class, Library, Class, help Kristen, education meeting, heart to honduras profit share, and Breakaway. LONGEST day EVER!!!

Don't Leave out Paintbrushes... or else!

I was up late last night painting signs and posters for a profit share that I have tomorrow for Heart To Honduras (the group I'm going on my mission trip through). Genny was already asleep by the time I finished, so I rinsed out the brushes, left them by the sink, and crept into bed.

My class is at 8 on Monday mornings (GROSS!) and so I always get up and rarely turn on lights. This morning, I went to brush my teeth and got the toothpaste on the brush, before I realized it was a PAINTbrush, not my toothbrush... that coulda been interesting!

This morning when I went to eat my mini muffins in my education class, there were only TWO muffins instead of the 5 that are supposed to be in the package! WHAT?! Needless to say, I fired off an email and am hoping for a lifetime supply of free muffins when they respond!

Julie and I went through Sonic on our way to the elementary this morning, and when I opened my straw it looked like it had already been bit! The straw was wrapped in the paper wrap thingies, but there were BITE marks on the straw... After requesting a new straw we were on our way!

Goodness... All of this before 9AM! Geeesh.

Unapologetically Christian

This week has had a rough to start to say the least. I was really looking forward to this stress-free week with no tests, but that quickly changed on Monday morning. Monday was spent worrying and freaking out about the wreck, and Tuesday was spent pretty sore. Every Tuesday night A&M has a praise and worship session called Breakaway (Random Fact: A&M has the largest percentage of professing Christian students than any other campus in America--including private schools). It is held over in Reed Arena in West Campus and starts at 9. Reed is about a 20 minute walk on a good day from my dorm, and so most nights I have to leave my room by 8:20 to get over there and find a seat, and often times don't get home until 10:45 or 11. It's AWESOME, but does take up most of Tuesday nights.

So yesterday a friend from camp, Allie, texted me asking if I was planning on going. At the time I wasn't sure, I was exhausted and sore, but I promised her I would meet up with her and we could sit together. She called me telling me that she had saved us seats in a certain section, and so when I walked over to that section I saw somebody else sitting with her. It ended up being my supervisor from this summer who I absolutely love! She is super busy and heads up A&M's Christian Dance Company and so I haven't been able to see her much since classes started. She had heard about my wreck though and when she had run into Allie and Allie told her we were sitting together, Anne stuck around for a few minutes to surprise me! It was SUCH a lovely surprise getting to see her!

Breakaway was phenomenal as usual. One thing that the speaker said was that we should be "unapologetically Christian". It kinda blew my mind, but that statement is SO true! We should never hide our Christianity from people because we are afraid of what they will say. We shouldn't ever be sorry for being Christians, and we should never portray the "halfway Christian" attitude in order to try and not offend somebody. Christ should be in us 100% of the time, regardless who we are around. Unapologetically Christian! HOW AWESOME?!

Materialism & a Funny Story

I'm realizing just how prevalent materialism is in our society. I got in a wreck this morning (the other guy was perfectly fine and his truck was undamaged, and I am okay), and will be without my car for a while.

I don't think I realized how dependent I was on my car. I can't just run to Walmart, and I'm not able to just meet friends to get frozen yogurt. I'm not able to go where I want to go when I want to go, and it's frustrating. As a society we are SO dependent and reliant on these materialistic things that are of this Earth that really shouldn't have a huge significant fact in our life. Yes, cars are important to us and they are a convenience for sure.

When I was walking back to my dorm and had tried calling nearly everybody that I could think of that was on campus and that could come sit with me as I waited for my dad to come (EVERYBODY was in class. Literally! Kevin, Kristen, Cameron, Julie, Megan, Renée, Genny.... all in class!) I resorted to calling friends who weren't on campus but that I knew would talk to me until I calmed down. Luckily, Carley picked up. At one point she told me "Ky, your car is of this world. You are not." and I was totally shocked. (Actually the shock of the validity of her statement came hours later) There are SO many things that are "of this world" that we exalt to higher standards than what they are. Our phones, our computers, our books and creativeness, our sports, our music... you get the drift. They are all of this world, and they can be replaced. Some things belong to a world not of this one, things like Our God and our lives. We are not "of this world", we are of God's plan and His realms! Forget the materialistic things that we "need" to survive!

Funny little story though to end this. Not really on this same topic, but kinda.

So--hanging from my rearview mirror whenever I drive my car is my 5-year Cho-Yeh Cross that I got last summer marking my 5th year as a member of the "Cho-family". It is too bulky to actually wear on a daily basis, and so I have it hanging on my rearview mirror as a constant reminder of Cho-Yeh and that world every time I get in my car. Somehow when I slammed on my brakes trying to avoid the truck in front of me, that cross was jostled from the mirror and flew off, landing in my lap. I don't remember grabbing it, but I know that it was in my hand as I stepped out the car to see what had happened to my car. I didn't realize it at the time, but I definitely think that was God's way of getting the Cho-family involved. They have been awesome and have been so helpful. Kristen met me at my dorm and sat with me till my dad came. Carley called some of my closest friends to let them know what happened. Laura called me when she got off of work and listened to me, while joking around and making me laugh, then preceded to warn me that there would be a good chance that even though I wasn't sore tonight, I might wake up sore from the jerking of the car and the sudden stopping. Tiffany called me tonight to pray with me. Kasey sent me reassuring texts throughout the day. Cameron sent me notes from the classes I missed. Clare offered to bake with me one day after class this week if I wanted to get away from campus. So thankful for that family and the help that they are to me! It stinks not being home with my family when this is all going on, but it is reassuring knowing I have that camp family here to help out!

"My car may be in shambles, but I serve a God that holds me together!"

two hundred twelve

For our polisci tests (which I have in 2.5 hours) we are assigned seat numbers. I'm in seat 212.

I really like the number 212 because it is a palindrome, you can read it forwards and backwards and it says the same thing (Hannah, Racecar, Dad, Mom, etc). Those make me happy because they are so simple yet complex at the same time, I've always been fascinated with them and love when they randomly appear (especially in calculus, it would always make a daunting problem seem a smidgen less troubling if the number was a palindrome!).

So, the fact that my seat is a palindrome is exciting. I'm sure some of you (actually, I'm not sure....) have heard the whole spiel on 212 degrees. Essentially it is a motivation technique that was really popular a few years ago, maybe it still is? Essentially, it is based off a quote like this "At 212 degrees Fahrenheit, water will boil. But if you stop heating water at 211 degrees, you will not reach the goal of boiling. . . THAT is the difference a single degree more can make!"

So... not only is my seat number a palindrome, it is also a motivational tool! Now if only it had a way of automatically bubbling in the correct answers....

back to the study world! I'll be FREE in about 3 hours!

Being Sick is Stinky

I don't think I've ever been sick and not been at home. I honestly can't even remember the last time I was sick, which is such a major blessing. Whenever you are sick, you just want to be able to lay on the couch and watch TV and have somebody cater to whatever you want. That doesn't happen when you live on campus!

I really just want to lay on a comfy couch and watch a Disney movie and have my parents make me something yummy for dinner. Nope. I had to walk to find something that I could keep down (or thought I could) and then go back to studying for polisci. If you think studying for your hardest class that is taught by the worst professor on campus (he thinks there is a state called "New Iowa'...) is bad, you would be right. Now try studying for that when your stomach is like a hurricane, and you just feel crummy in general... ICK!!

This week better get better. On the bright side, the other girl who also got sick on Sunday is feeling better! So... if it's the same thing I should be getting over this SOON!