Thanksgiving 2010

So, not that I think today, being Thanksgiving, is any reason to be more grateful for the blessings I have in my life, but nevertheless, it is a day designated to think on them with more focus, and the easiest way for me to do that is to list them. So, here I go!

First and foremost, Jesus Christ, my lord, my savior, my everything

Family!

Friends

good roommates and a good apartment close to campus

this amazing university that I am attending

all my wonderful professors

eyes that work so that I can read and write all I want on my own

books

blogging and journaling

email

phones

skype (even though no one ever seems to be on...)

pretty much the internet in general

and my laptop, and flashdrives

the kindness and generosity of others (and God, of course ^_^)

time alone

music, pandora radio, and grooveshark

beautiful art

the creative genius of Joss Whedon and Tim Burton

farmer's markets

Alan Rickman!

trident gum

getting letters in the mail

hot showers

rain, thunderstorms

candles, and matches, fun fun matches...

colors

tea!

mugs as big as bowls

the ability to learn

Jesus Christ again (because He is the Alpha and the Omega :D)

A Lovely Tuesday

So yesterday was pretty much amazing. I'll walk you through my day. I woke up, took a shower, went to the Connections Cafe and chatted with Becky (the lovely lady who works there) for a while then went to sit in my Bible classroom. Class started at 9:30, we took an attendance quiz because about 10 people were gone so we got extra points just for staying in town long enough to show up. We ran through an introduction of Proverbs, and THEN, class got out 45 minutes early. So I came back to the room and played Words With Friends (a scrabble game application on the iphone) for an hour or two. Then I used a meal plan, went to the Campus Store to buy a few drinks for the rest of the week since it'll be closed during the holiday. Then Lorie (my best friend here at ACU) drove me to the hair cutter place, but since I had 50 minutes until my bowling test and there were a few people ahead of us we decided to come back later, so we went to her room and hung out, looking at pretty dresses on eBay and chatting, all the while realizing how amazing it would be for us to live together at some point because we feed off of each other so well. Then I went to bowling, finished the test in less than 10 minutes, and bowled one game in which I gtot a spare the first frame, followed immediately by a turkey!! FINALLY! I have been waiting so long to get a turkey! It was so exciting! In the end I bowled a 156, less than my high score of 160, but still, I got a turkey! If I had just bowled a spare in the 10th frame and gotten my extra pins I would have beated my 160. Oh well. No big deal. I will admit that I say a little prayer every time I step up to the approach, because I figure, God's the one controlling the pins. I mean, I've seen a ton of perfect throws that look like they'll make perfect strikes, and they'll leave one or two pins, or really off throws that end up making strikes. So it's pretty unpredictable, and there's no reason not to incorporate God into all the little aspects of life anyway.

So yeah, after my fabulous game Lorie and I went back to the hair cutters and I got the best hair dresser I've ever had. She was so patient, supportive, and excited for me while she was cutting. We started out a little cautious with my hair, but after a while of going at it with a sharp razor, I finally decided I just wanted her to bring out the clippers and shave it down really short. And she did, using a 1.5 guard in the back, a 2 guard on the sides, and then blended it all in and chopped up the top a little. It turned out so perfectly, and when she looked at it she was like, "I want this haircut now!" ^_^ And the great thing was that the cut only cost 7.95, totally worth it! Her name was Vanessa, I need to remember that, lol. (pictures are on facebook)

So then Lorie and I came back, went to the food court to use our meal plans, then I had to rush off to go to the planetarium for my Astronomy class at 5:30. We learned a little about Uranus, and I remembered how much I like planetariums, sitting in the dome theatre looking up like your looking at the sky and actually seeing all the stars.

Well I got back at 7 and hung out with Lorie the rest of the night, which was wonderful. She bid on a dress on eBay that is super cute and won it at around 10. I spent the whole time looking at handmade hippie dresses, which are soooooooo gorgeous! And if I was rich I would buy them all. I want that to be my style now! It also inspired me to make my own dresses, but I'd have to learn how to sew and make dresses first. It would be so worth it though. And if Lorie and I live together, we are definitely going to make our own clothes, and have tea parties, and be all free-spirited and artsy and read and listen to music constantly, oh goodness, sounds like heaven! So if we don't get hired as RAs, there is still an upside to look forward to! While I would love to be an RA and get paid to live in the dorm, I won't feel bad if I don't because being Lorie's housemate will be amazing. ^_^

Ok, so at around 10:45 Lorie went to bed because she has work at 5am (which is where she is now), so I went to my room, but for some reason I could NOT fall asleep. I don't think I drifted off until around 1, but the next thing I know it's 3:25 and I'm wide awake. So I took a shower, and got on my computer to pass the time. And now I am listening to music while Lorie is at work watching Spirited Away, and now that I'm finished with this post I can chat with her on Facebook or something, lol.

So that's my fabulous yesterday, and now it's time for Thanksgiving Break! I have a few things I want to do, but nothing school related since I have no homework whatsoever, and no finals to study for. Woohoo! Free time!

God is So Good

He really is. I am so blessed. Being here in this school is so amazing, all the opportunities I have and resources I have are incredible, I have a wonderful supportive loving family, and then I also get little surprise blessings along the way that I didn’t expect. Yesterday I bought a diet 7Up from the Campus Store using the Bean Bucks that I am required to have because of the meal plan I am required to have as a student who lives on campus. It was 84 cents. (I had to pay about $1270 for the meal plan, and I get 7 meals/week along with 100 Bean Bucks/semester). Well, the bottle said there was a code under the cap, so, having time to waste I decided to go ahead and type in the code online. Well, lo and behold, I hit the “submit” button and instead of the “Sorry, you do not have a winning code at this time” page that I was expecting to pop up, what greets me is “You’ve Won!” Well that woke me up. Apparently my code won me a $50 gift card for gas! Well I was so excited a made a little yelping noise and the woman next to me in the store started celebrating with me. So I clicked the “Claim Prize” button and then was told the card should arrive in the mail within 6-8 weeks. I mean, seriously, who would ever expect something like that to happen? God is just awesome like that, sprinkling in little fun gifts in people’s lives when they seem so dull and monotonous. So I’d say it was worth 84 cents to buy that one little soda.
But even if I hadn’t won, I know that God is good. Way better than good even. He is ___ (Fill in the blank with any and all magnificent adjectives). And HE IS. I love my life right now. I am so blessed, so blessed, I am spilling over with blessings. I mean, I get down every now and then, but as the Audio Adrenaline songs says, He picks me up again. School is going well overall, I love my classes and my professors (I love that word, it makes me feel like I’m in Harry Potter, lol). This place is just so encouraging, I feel like the entire world is open to me. I’m going to take Japanese classes next year, and I also have an opportunity to come back during the summer and help teach Japanese high school students English, and there is also a missional interest meeting next week that includes missions to Japan, and my Old Testament teacher specifically mentioned to me two people in the Bible Department who have a special interest in Japan that he could get me in touch with. All these things just suddenly appeared to me last week! And it all sounds so exciting! I’ve had an interest in Japanese culture for a long time now, and now it really seems like learning it, the language, going to the actual country – all of it seems like a possible reality now. I never dared to entertain the thought, it always seemed more like a fanciful dream or a hobby at most. This is just amazing, nothing seems too out of reach anymore.
Then again, that’s God’s whole message isn’t it? Nothing is impossible with Him.
God is so good!

Towers fall and kingdoms crumble
Mountains bow and the earth will tremble
At the sound of Your Name
Strong men fall as to him who humbles
The plans he made were bound to stumble
And only You remain, only You remain
Oh oh
(Sound of Your Name - Above the Golden State)

Awesome Day

So, over the weekend, Monday, and Tuesday I was really busy:
Write a 7 page book review for World Religions
Prepare a powerpoint presentation on Feng Shui for World Religions
Write a script for a group film project in Honors Arts Seminar, and meet Mon and Tues night with said group
Create a flyer to advertise my fridge that I'm getting rid of
Write a 4 page paper on Romans
Study for my Bible test
Study for Lifetime Wellness test
Finish Walking for Fitness take-home test
Read Don Quixote and type up an LA

So, with plenty to do, I have been going non-stop for the last four days. Not only that, but I didn't have my laptop because there was something wrong with it, so I gave it to Team55 (school tech team) to look it over and they fixed it, but I didn't get it back until Monday. But anyway, I was busy over the weekend, put up my flyer in Sunday, got my computer back on Monday, turned in my Romans paper on Monday, met with my group that night after taking my Lifetime Wellness test, spent any freetime getting my settings back on my computer the way I want them (because they had to reformat it so everything was like new again). Then Tuesday came and I spent any freetime studying for my Bible test, then met with my group again that night where I showed them the script I had written-- they loved it ^_^. Then Wednesday came and I took the test that morning, gave my Feng Shui presentation after Chapel, then went to Arts where there was a class peer review over the scripts. I was nervous about that, but it turned out to be great. My teacher is the one that really intimidates me, always asking for "brilliant" responses. So he put my script up on the big screen and everyone read it, and then wrote down peer review comments. He walked over to the group to our side and said, "So what did you think?" and one of the guys was like, "It...was...AMAZING! Who wrote it??" So I raised my hand quietly, and then the teacher came over and nodded saying, "It was, really good." And I was like, OMG! He LIKED it!!!! WHOA!!!! I was totally taken aback. I mean seriously, that made everything in that whole class worth it, that moment right there, a COMPLIMENT on something I wrote, just like that, was just, whoa, omg, best day ever. And that came right after my World Religions teacher telling me I did a great job on my Feng Shui presentation. So I mean, wow, great day! And then I spent the rest of the day finishing reading Don Quixote, starting and finishing my Literary Analysis, and still getting to bed before 11PM.
So then today, Thursday, I went to English, turned in my LA, got two back that I had turned in earlier (both 5/5, yay!), and then had the rest of the day to myself because my Walking class was cancelled since tomorrow is the start of Easter break (we actually get to call it "Easter Break" here on a Christian campus, ha!). Right when class ended, I got a phone call from a girl saying she saw that I was selling my fridge and was wondering if she could come look at it! I mean, as if my day couldn't get any better! So I went to lunch with a friend, and then at 1PM I met the girl and her mom at my dorm room and showed them my fridge, and they agreed to buy it, at which point I offered my microwave as well, and they agreed to take it too! So I sold both appliances that I don't need anymore (we're going to use my roommate's next year) and that I had been wondering what the heck I was going to do with. So after that, I went to work writing my Culture Event essay for Arts class and finished it, so yay for that, and now everything is just totally chill. Amazing! God has blessed me so much this week, I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am. God has done wonderful things for me, I'm just in awe. Every good thing I get I know is from Him, but I know that no matter what happens, good or bad, I will give Him the glory. Sometimes I think all these good things happening to me now are preparing me for some big trial in the future. I feel like He wants me to feel grateful for the good now and to build me up so that I say "I will be grateful in all circumstances, good or bad" so that when I get into the bad situations I will have to remember the good things and remember what I said during them. That's what it feels like. So if that is the case, I definitely hope I am able to keep my word and keep giving Him the glory even in my struggles and trials.
Anyway, now it is a three-day weekend and I am so high on God's blessings, it's incredible. My friend Sarah let me borrow a book over the weekend so I will be reading that. Hopefully I will finish it. I know I definitely can, I just have to actually read it, and with all the time I have now (seeing as how all my busy-ness finished on Wednesday) I'm sure I will. The book is "The Parable of the Sower". I'll let you know what I think of it when I finish.
I love you all, and I pray God blesses you on this Easter holiday!!!