Plans

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen you you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

As I sit here at my computer I am half way done with an assignment that is due tomorrow. It is for my Dying and Death Education class--I know, it sounds like a crazy class, and I tend to agree with you. The assignment is that I am supposed to make my projected lifeline. I have been working on this now for about 45 minutes, and it is driving me crazy. The verse above has become one of my favorites, I found it in one of my devotionals just before Christmas, and I have been in love with it ever since. I wrote it on one of those new sticky Post-it notecards, and it is now stuck to my nightstand where I look at it constantly. It is an important verse because it reminds me that I am here as a part of Gods will. I am here on earth to glorify and follow Him. It tells me that my future is set in Him, and all I have to do to figure it out is seek Him with all my heart. Sounds simple right? Well it is and it isn't...This projected lifeline has made me think about how I want my life to be, which sadly that is the assignment, but it has also reminded me that it doesn't matter what I want, it matters what God wants. No matter what I write on this sheet of paper my life is going to go how God has planned it, and that is what I truly desire.
God is an amazing father, He is the ultimate provider, and I have complete faith in Him about my future--and that is making this assignment that much harder because I am taking life in bits and pieces as God reveals His will to me.
This verse has also gotten me excited about this coming weekend! :D My church here in Waco is hosting its annual College Womens Conference. Yay! I attended last year and it was amazing, I got so much out of it, it was beautiful. This year the theme of the conference is "Your past, your present, and your future" and I am totally excited about it because I know that God has an awesome future planned for me. I will definitely write about it when I get back--its a slumber party from Friday to Saturday :D.

I am super excited for God to reveal more about my future to me--Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord!!

Basketball!

Went to the Baylor vs ou game on Saturday...It was an action-packed game that unfortunately did not end in our favor (mainly because there are apparently no refs in the world that are not predjudiced against Baylor for some reason, and because we were missing the hard shots instead of going for the easy ones...). But that doesn't change the fact that we beat a&m last Wednesday in a game that lasted 5 overtimes!! It was the highest scoring game for the Big 12 on record!! :D

Here are some pics from Saturday!






To read more about the win over a&m (and other Baylor happenings/news) visit http://homepages.baylor.edu/baylorproud/

The Countdown Begins!

wmode="transparent" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" >

Well Crap

My car is not my friend right now.
As posted before I had to take my car in to the shop on Saturday because it decided to freak out at me and then die, completely. It took a new battery and a new alternator belt and $350 to get her going again, but sadly that didn't last long at all.
Sunday after church my roommate and I went to Walmart for a few groceries, and on our way back to the apartment the car decided to shudder, the lights freaked out again, and after pulling over the car died. My car was dead once again, and I was pissed. The only words that came out of my mouth were "well, CRAP". I proceeded to call the car place that "fixed" my car Saturday and told the man what happened. He chuckled and told me to get the car back in--mind you, it was DEAD. After about ten minutes of sitting in the parking lot where I had pulled over the car started, it was rough and shaky, but it started. I then drove to my apartment, we unloaded groceries, I called a friend to follow me, and we headed to the shop. Unfortunately about a mile away from my apartment the car decided it had had enough, and it died yet again. We sat for about 15 minutes attempting to get the car running again, but we were unsuccessful and ended up having to call a tow truck. WELL CRAP.
Once we were back at the shop I got a few funny looks from the guys that had helped me the day before, they were all like, "hey, weren't you just here??" After about 20 minutes of poking around in my car one of the guys approached me and told me that it was not just the belt and the battery that had needed to be replaced, but that the alternator needed to be replaced too!!!!! WELL CRAP!
I was then informed that the minimum cost for this, minus labor, was going to be $300, and that it could go over $600! Plus what it was going to cost for labor!!!! AHHHHHHH!
There was nothing I could do, considering the car wouldn't move without being towed or pushed, so I had to leave my baby at the shop overnight. I was told that I would receive a call in the morning informing me of the actual cost of the alternator plus labor once they found one in stock somewhere and had it taken to the shop. Well, I just received that call, and what do I have to say, WELL CRAP, this is horrible! And I am taking donations for my "I need a new alternator fund" because it is going to cost another $700! Now, to get my car in good working order it will have cost over $1000, and that is just not cool. Plus because of all the trouble I have not done any homework and I must go do it now.

If you have any words of encouragement they are greatly appreciated, especially since the only words going through my head are the obvious ones stated above...I hope this week gets better

One of those days…

You know those days when you wake up and everything seems just peachy, but then some switch somewhere flips and your day is suddenly sour?? Well, today was one of those days for me…I woke up happy after being able to sleep in for the first time since classes started on Monday; I was well rested, I was no longer sore from working out too much, and I knew that I didn't have much homework to do. Plus I was still happy from going to the movies last night (Friday night) to see the new movie 27 Dresses--that movie was amazing!! It was beautiful and funny and it touched your heart, I HIGHLY recommend that you see it! However, all that changed when I went to see if my car was feeling better…first my back story on my sick car: Yesterday after doing some shopping with some friends before going to see the movie my car decided-in the middle of the highway-that it was not feeling well. The battery light came on, the dashboard lights began flashing on and off, the car beeped at me, and the windshield wipers went into overdrive, it was terrifying!! Praise the Lord I was able to get it successfully back to my apartment complex with a friend following me, and we were able to go to the movie in her car. Well, this morning I went to check on it, and it was completely dead. Nothing was there, it was so dead that even unlocking the car with the key remote didn't work, I had to go old school and put the key in the door to unlock it! Well, then my roommates and I attempted to jump start the car--with assistance from some guys at the apartment complex--but that failed. One of the guys has triple A, so he called them to come out and see if they could get the car to start, and thank goodness they did. After getting the car to start I drove, with my roommate following me, to Pep Boys to see if I could get it fixed. Unfortunately after explaining to the serviceman at Pep Boys I was told that they could not fix the problem and that I was going to have to wait until Monday when a specialty shop in town would be open. I refused to wait that long and decided to take the car to National Tire and Battery (NTB). There I got some sad news, but also some better news…I was informed that my battery was completely dead and that I would need a new one. Yikes. Plus I was told that my alternator belt was cracked and I would need a new one of those too. Crap. This is not how I wanted my Saturday to go, especially since it is a long weekend for me with the holiday on Monday!! However, the guy at NTB said that they could fix it, so I was relieved that I was not going to have to drive it/get it towed to Temple or Arlington. So, now $350 later my car is now running again and seems to be happy and well once more.

I hope your Saturday was better and less eventful than mine was! I will try to write more about classes as they progress :D. I must go to bed now for I am getting up and going back to Highland in the morning, and I am super excited to be back at my church that I love so dearly! It is great to worship such a wonderful God with such great friends!!

A New Semester

Well, my new semester began yesterday, and it kind of got off to a rough start. I woke up Monday morning to an email from a professor that stated that prior to the first class I needed to get the lab manual (It was for my Chemistry Lab) and do the pre-lab because it was due at the beginning of class. I had woken up early so that I could take a shower, praise the Lord, so I had time to go and buy the manual and do the pre-lab before class at eleven. I got to my lab, and as soon as she started talking I, and three others, realized that we had the wrong version of the lab manuals! There are apparently three different versions of the manual, but they all have the same cover!! The only way to tell them apart is by the backs, and by the content because they have totally different experiments in them! I was so mad!! But luckily since it was the first day of class the professor didn't care and she ran us off copies of the right pages.

After Chem lab I had a break for lunch, then I had my two and a half hour class--Planning and Administration of Preschool Programs. A class that I think is a huge waste of time for me, considering that I have no intention of ever being the director or administrator of a preschool/daycare--EVER. I have to sit in this class for two and a half hours every Monday, boring! However, not only do I have to do that along with regular course reading/papers, but I also have to do a minimum of twenty hours outside of class shadowing current directors of preschools/daycares! Arg!! I already know that that is not something that I want to do later in life, so why should I do it now?? Apparently I am going to be doing it for a grade…and it sucks.

Today was great, totally busy, but great none the less! I have class straight from eight to two, an hour and a half for lunch, then another class from three-thirty to five. My first class of the day is parenting, another silly class, but it seems like it is going to be pretty fun. Then is Chemistry--which I must run to because it just so happens that the FCS building (where my parenting class is) is the absolute furthest building away from the science building--boring, but everything I've heard about this teacher makes it not seem too bad. Then is American literature with a professor I've already had, so it should be fun. Then is death and dying education, which seems kind of scary but also interesting. Then my lunch break at two, then back to campus for what I believe will be the easiest class ever--Bowling! Wednesday and Friday are free days, so I am pretty excited about that ;D

I love starting a new semester with new classes and new friends to be made, but there is the unfortunate side effect of having totally new course work. Papers, tests, quizzes, projects, and so on. But being here at Baylor is so amazing that it makes it fun to get through the required stuff so that there is time to have fun with friends. God has definitely blessed me with this place and these people, and I pray that I am glorifying Him with all that I am doing here.

Promised Pictures...

As promised, here are some more pictures from my fun time in Chicago!

My snow-covered trip to Chicago!

As promised here are the many details of my extremely fun trip to Chicago!

When I first arrived (Thursday afternoon) in the windy city I was a little disappointed. I mean, it was two days after Christmas and the snow was already gone!! There was not a spot of snow to be seen, but it was so cold that all of the still bodies of water were frozen over :D. Well, my prayers for snow were answered--quickly and strongly!!

The first morning I woke up (Friday) it had already snowed enough to cover the ground with the beautiful white stuff! I was able to sleep in because the friend I visited had to work in the morning, and that was nice to be able to do after a day in planes and at airports.

That night we went with some friends of Kaitlin--my friend that I stayed with--to the ice skating rink in Millennium Park. It is a beautiful out-doors rink that is surrounded by the tall buildings of downtown Chicago. It is also right near a piece of modern art that is referred to as "the bean". It is a large metal structure that, well, resembles a bean! It is really cool because when you are down on the rink you can look up at the bean and get a really cool view of the downtown skyline that is behind you! It is slightly like a carnival fun-house mirror because it distorts things in cool ways. Sadly I do not currently have any of the pictures that were taken downtown because we used a disposable camera, but as soon as I have the pics I promise I will post them!

Saturday morning Kaitlin, her mom, and I woke up--again to even more snow, I think it was about 1½ feet at this point!--and went shopping in downtown on the "magnificent mile" a.k.a Michigan Avenue. The stores there are amazing! When I went to California to visit Josh while he was working out there Mom and I went to LA and did the shopping there, and it doesn't even compare to the shopping in downtown Chicago!! I mean, the Crate & Barrel is four stories high!! The stores we went in were amazing, they were all at least two stories high and packed with people. The Macys was eight stories high and oh my goodness the shoes, there was an entire floor dedicated to shoes, it was beautiful :)!! We also went by and saw the progress on the new Trump tower--the one that is being overseen by the winner of the firs Apprentice--and we went by the Tribune building to see all of the rocks and such from all over the world. It was really neat seeing all of those pieces of historic places all in one stop! After nearly six hours of shopping we were ready to head back to Kaitlin's house, where we had the best dinner ever, a true Chicago-deep-dish pizza. I will never be able to look at pizza hut the same again. The two do not even compare! Chicago pizza is amazing. It is full of cheese and tomatoes and pepperonis, and the crust is crunchy and buttery…man my mouth is watering sitting here typing about it!

Sunday we got up and went to church and then headed out with Brett, Natalie, and Justin--the friends from high school--to go skiing at Devils Head resort in Wisconsin. It was about a three hour drive from church, but it wasn't bad at all. All of Wisconsin was covered with snow, so I was content just looking out the window at the beauty of it.

Throughout the whole car ride the four Chicagoans repeatedly told me that since I've only been skiing in the Rockies that I needed to lower my expectations and that we were headed toward a ski hill, not a ski mountain. When we got there they were right, compared to Colorado and Utah this seemed like nothing! There were only five chair lifts and maybe ten runs. After skiing a few greens I was ready to take on the blues. They were fun, and I believe that the main difference between the difficulty of the runs there and the ones out west were their length. Since it was a hill in Wisconsin the runs were probably about ¼ of the length of the ones in Colorado and Utah, but other than that they were pretty good. I was able to ski at night for the first time while I was there, and that was really cool! All of the runs were lit up and it was beautiful. It was also cool because it snowed the whole time we were there :D. We ended up skiing for about 5½ hours and then headed back to Chicago.

Monday was New Years Eve, and after our long day skiing both Kaitlin and I slept in so that we would be able to stay awake for the New Years fun. Us girls--me, Natalie, and Kaitlin--decided that we would cook dinner for the guys--although it ended up being just Brett because Justin had family stuff--and then we would go to this town called Evanston for fireworks. The cooking was fun, then we played the new 2^nd edition of Scene It, watched a hilarious comedian named Jeff Dunham, saw the ball drop on TV, then headed out to Evanston. We arrived just in time to run and see the fireworks, but after that was when my new years was brought in with a true bang.

I was told that I needed to experience doing donuts in an un-plowed parking lot, so we went in search of one. We found one pretty quickly, but the snow was so deep that we almost got stuck in the little car we were in. So it was decided that we needed to get the car that was higher off the ground. By this point I was totally just the out-of-towner along for the ride, and I should have gotten off…after getting the other car it had begun to snow again--I think the total was well over two feet now--well, then came the bang. We were driving along and then all of the sudden we took a turn and ended up over the curb and into a tree. Now it was a small tree, maybe two inches around, but it was a tree none the less. The three girls had to get out and push the car out of the snow and off of the tree. No one was hurt, and the damage to the car was minimal, however I do not think the tree will survive…by this point it was about 1:30am and I had to get up at 6 to catch my flight. After explaining to parents about the accident it was time to sleep. The next morning I woke up and said good bye to freezing and beautiful Chicago and came back home to warm Texas.

My trip to Chicago was extremely exciting, and it was definitely a New Years that I won't forget! One more week of rest then it's back to Waco to once again hit the books…Don't know if I will have anything to write about between now and then, but I will definitely update once the new semester has begun!