The Starting of Another Beginning...

The 3rd semester of my "career" at UBC has officially started. I am rooming with my friend, La Christa. At first I was scared about it, but so far it's going pretty good. Anyways, my schedule seems to be better than past semesters. I'm taking Acts, Great Christian Literature, Church History 1, Theology of Holiness, Prison and Pastoral Epistles, and a block class, Wisdom Literature. I'm supposed to work 12 hours on the work program and hopefully will be able to be the Christian Service Coordinator. I'm excited about this semester, and hopefully it goes ok. I just have to be really disciplined and not waste my time and energy on too much. I'm still going down to the mission in Indy and may be starting an intermediate children's class. Lately I've been helping in the teen class which has been interesting and challenging. Anyways, that's about all that's been going on recently.

Sunday, July 20th

Well, I know it's kind of soon for another report, but something unusual has happened to which I think deserves to be recorded. Friday night me and Mom were a home alone, with no car to go anywhere, so we called up my aunt and cousin to see if they wanted to do something. They came over and we went to Petco to get some sand for my hermit crab, because it had microscopic bugs crawling around in it. I don't know where the bugs came from, but one day I spilled water in the sand, and then moldy stuff started growing and then I saw the little bugs. So anyway, we got some bright green sand. We went out to eat and then we went back home, after a series of other events. I cleaned out the crabitat and put the new sand in. It looked really good. Anyways, so we played some games and then went to bed after a really long night. Dad and Nate were gone to canoe and fish with a friend from UBC, Win Okie. They had a good time, but had to take our truck because our van is dying. Anyways, so I went to bed and woke up Saturday morning, thinking that I was going to be helping with the garage sale that we were unsuccessfully trying to have. I looked over at the crab's house and the lid was ajar. Great.... Diggory was not anywhere to be found. I looked all over the place. Under the bed, under the dresser, on the mosquito netting, under the desk, behind the computer, in the closet, etc., etc. By this time, Mom was involved too. We looked all over the house, because my door had been opened all night. We didn't find him anywhere. I was thinking that we probably wouldn't find him until we found him dead or something. Anyways, as I walked through the house, I tried to walk slowly and carefully. Then we went to prayer meeting and at the end, Dad asked everyone to pray that we find Diggory. It seemed kind of funny to do, but I was sure after hearing Jody pray that we were going to find him when we got home. We went to the store, and then we went home. We looked in the rooms and didn't see him. Disappointment... Where was he? We went on about our business, and I finally was about to go to bed. I was on my bed messing around on the computer, and Dad yells that he's found him. He was by his bed near the closet. Praise the Lord for answering prayer! Anyways, so now Diggory is in his crabitat and has some stuff on top of the lid so that he can't escape again. So that's the exciting tale of the weekend.

Sun Sensations

Summer is definitely making its presence known this year. Heat, rainstorms, grass, sweat, etc.... everything that reminds you of summer- it's all here. Right now I am sitting at our garage sale, which doesn't have any customers (at the moment), thanks to wireless. Let's see. School got out in May and then in June my parents went on their 25th wedding anniversary and left us at our grandparents, then we went off to Shadrach camp in KY. There I met a couple people from Papua New Guinea. I spent a lot of time with Hannah Auri, who is going to be a sophmore at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. I asked her lots of questions about her country and learned a lot. On Friday when we had the banquet she let me wear a dress/shirt that was from her country. She also gave me a bilum (bag, in pidgin). It's very nice. Over there they wear bags with the handle on their foreheads. It's an interesting thing to do over here, because people wonder what you're doing. Anways, God really helped at the camp, in a different way than in the past years that I have been in it. This year it was more laid back than other years. After camp I got a job working for Elsie Griffey. She is a 95 year-old lady at our church who needs just a little reminder about some things, and company. She likes to tell stories about her family and likes to recite poetry. Every night I go over and stay with her, which is an answer to prayer for me to have a job. During the day I try to find other work. For instance, cleaning, baby-sitting, mowing, and waxing an airplane. We've had a few really bad storms so far. Usually our street gets flooded because the drains get clogged up with leaves and sticks. My Dad and brother went to TN for a little retreat/challenge, and so me and mom had to "save" the neighborhood from flooding. The first time water was really backed up and was above my knees. We took our rakes and tried to clear the drains. Some other people came later to help, and finally we got'er done. We thought about taking our canoe out, but didn't. Anyways, that's about the update for now.

Another Timely Devotional Thought from Fenelon

I know that God will keep you. Although you do not enjoy spiritual discipline, be faithful to seeking God as much as your health will permit. I realize that eating, both physically and spiritually, does not appeal to you now. Still, you must eat to survive. It would be good for you if you could have a few minutes of fellowship with those members of your family that you can confide in. As to whom you should talk with- be guided by your inner sense of what is right in each moment. God does not lead you with extreme emotion, and for this I am glad. Remain faithful to the still, small voice. Strong emotions and deep feelings, or seeking after signs, can be more dangerous than helpful. Your imagination is sure to run away with you. God will lead you, almost without your knowing it, if you will be faithful to come before Him quietly. Eat of Him and His word. Love Him and I will tell you to do no more. For if you love Him, everything else will work out. I am not asking you for a tender and emotional love, but simply that you lean toward love. Put God before yourself and the world and even your evil desires will begin to be transformed. ~Taken from The Seeking Heart

Life

Life at times can be so much fun and then so scary too. Right now I am in a scary time. I am really having to put my faith into practice to believe that God is still in control, and that things are not going to go flying in all different directions. It's so good to know that God already knows what is going to happen in the future. What a relief! Here's a devotional that I read today, which really helped me: Live Moment By Moment It is a great gift to be able to be peaceful when you are facing situations that do not seem to change. Bear all the uncomfortable and inconvient things about your current situation. Look at them as exercises that God has designed for your growth. He is teaching you to bear difficult situations without being depressed. Your emotions may be low, but your inner man is being upheld.This peace is all the more precious when there is no earthly reason to have it. It is wonderful to be willing to accept all situations, no matter how difficult. It is good to never say, "This is all too much for me., I cannot bear it." Depend on the Almighty. God's hand holds you. Do not try to look too far ahead, but merely live moment by moment before GOd. Yield to God with a heart full of trust. The more God loves you, the less He spares you. Accept what comfort He gives you. Live to do His will alone. - Fenelon

A Multitude of Happenings.... all at once, it seems....

Ok, so I haven't written on here for a looonnnngggg time.... So much has happened in just the last two weeks, that I don't think I will be able to update you all on everything. But I have lots of pictures for you to look at so that you can see what I have been up to... and refresh your mind. God is really helping me in my personal spiritual life. I have just 2 more weeks of school and then my first year of college will be done. Yay! It has gone by so fast, but it's been great. I am looking forward to what's ahead, though I am still enjoying my life here.

So to explain some of the pictures.....

1. Some of the girls decided to actually wear some of the clothes that people bring into the lounge. Sometimes there are some good things, but a lot of times they are huge or extremely outdated, or for older people. I found this dress awhile back, and kept it just in case I could talk some people into wearing some crazy outfits/ just not the "average" school day wear. Wednesday we did it... It was great fun!

2. One of my friends has some horses, so sometimes I go with her to take care of them. Sometimes I get to ride, which is very fun, especially running. It was kind of scary at first, but it's a good kind of scary- that makes you want to keep doing it. I've done it a couple times now, so I am getting better at it.

3. Last night I and La Christa decided that we were going to go out and do something fun. She has been really stressed about a lot of things, and I've just been really busy, so we just wanted to go have a good time. We had a blast, for real. It was so much fun. We dressed up- and then went out to eat.... and took lots of funny pictures.

We went and visited our friend, Lestie, at Steak 'n Shake while she was working.

4. We went to Cool Creek Park and took some pictures today. I was able to use someone's digital camera, so now I want one, so that I can get pictures.... it's so much fun. I think I should go into photography now....

Life here at UBC...

Things are going by so fast it's hard to keep up with everything. Midterms are this week and spring break is in less than 2 weeks. It's speeding by so fast. Things are going pretty well so far academically. I have been having some "crazy" spells lately. My computer has a Webcam and so I have been taking some pictures and I've gotten some pictures from some other people that I want to share with you to give you a little peek into what I have been doing lately. I went to a Banquet with my friend, Heather. I have a friend, Beth, who's getting married this summer, who just got her wedding dress, so we were messing around with a veil that she's not going to use... we had some crazy times, and then later that night I was with another friend, Lynette, who I work with at the mission. We were going to do a code memory verse, so we dressed up as detectives. We had to borrow some guys' trechcoats, and hats. It was pretty funny. The whole night was just crazy. This was Saturday, 3/1/08. Friday night I went to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra with a group of friends. It was really nice, especially the John Williams piece. I was really stressed last week, so it felt really good to be able to relax. Then when we got back to the school, they opened the gym until 2. It felt so good to be able to think about other things, and get some built-up stress out. Last week was a terrible week for a couple reasons, but thankfully God is helping and things are going better for me. I lost my best friend here at the school, but things may be changing in the future, so anyways, I can't go into details about the situation, but it was very upsetting and I was really depressed about it. Things are going better now though.

Things that go on that remind me that I am human and live in a fallible world.....

Well, the diagnosis of my aunt was bipolar/manic depressive. We were able to take her home from the hospital a couple days ago, and are praying that she can stay out of the hospital, especially for the residents at Howard Haven's sake. Meanwhile, now my Grandpa is having some problems with his mind, and so now we might have to put him somewhere where someone can take care of him. Life is getting very interesting all at once it seems. While all this is going on, I am in the middle of a personal battle. Some things come at the wrong time, while others come just in time. This past Christmas break has been less than desirable to say the least. I am relieved to have made it back to school. I am looking forward to starting my classes. I had a change in schedule, because the winter session that I was going to take got canceled because the professor got sick. So now I have to take an afternoon class. I am taking Manual Skills for Ministry (2nd semester), English 2, Intro to Missions, Historic Books, New Testament, and Christian Beliefs. Hopefully I will also be taking piano lessons. I am hoping to get someone who can really teach me how to improvise and add fancy stuff to common music. Anyways, that's the update for now.