Hello Once Again!

Well, I have been meaning to update my blog again and I just never got around to it. A few things have happened since I last blogged. First, about three weekends ago a friend of mine from the Akron, Ohio area came to Cincinnati for a few days to visit. We had an awesome weekend. We even had a picnic in the middle of winter, how cool is that! Pardon the pun. It was a very interesting experience. Then the following weekend me and a couple of my friends, Sam and Rochelle, went to my house for a Casting Crowns concert. That was a lot of fun! It was a very good concert. I was very impressed with them. I had seen them in concert before and had been impressed with them then but this time I got to see more of them than before. I was impressed by the fact that the lead singer on more than one occasion would stop and say a quick prayer before he would sing. Later on in the concert the lead singer, Mark Hall, said that before the concert he and the rest of the band went through the rows of seats praying for the people that would be coming to hear them, then he asked if we would mind them praying with us now that we were there. They spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes praying with us. I had never seen that before at a concert. It was very refreshing. They really made you feel like they were doing this as a ministry not just for the fame. Well, the concert was on Friday and we went home on Sunday. The following Wednesday was the beginning of Mid-Winter Break, so I now I am home until March 3. I was so happy to get home! Janette came and stayed at my house for a couple days and we had a blast. I got to babysit my niece, Emma, a couple days as well. I really have been having a good break. I have pretty much done nothing and it has felt so good!!

I cannot wait until Summer!! I have some exciting things planned for this summer. For one, I have applied for job that I am hoping I will get. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting it though. Two summers ago I worked on a campaign for Tim Walberg who was running for US Congress. I ended up working mostly for his wife, because she took a liking to me and wanted me to help her and keep her company when she was stuck at the house doing paper work or planning fundraiser dinners. I really enjoyed working with her and we became pretty good friends. Well, whenever she sees my mom she always asks about me. Recently she asked my mom if she thought I would be interested in working on their campaign this summer, and if I was to tell me to send in an application. So that is exactly what I did. I really hope I get it. It would be so much fun to work on the campaign as more than just a volunteer. That's one thing I have planned for this summer. I am also planning on going to a few different camps. My parents are both planning on taking a few days vacation this summer so we can all go to the Rock Lake Bible Methodist Family Camp for the whole time. This past year was our first year there and it was so much fun! I can't wait to go back there again this year. Then the week after Rock Lake I am wanting to got to the Appalachian Youth Camp in Pennsylvania. Janette goes as a counselor and she said I could stay with her which will be a blast. The only thing is whenever we stay the night somewhere together we never end up going to bed very early. We always seem to stay up until three or four o'clock in the morning talking. You would think that we would run out of things to talk about but we never seem to. I just can't wait until this summer!!

Well, I guess that is about it for now. I do have one more thing that I would like to share though. For the past couple of weeks I have been studying Jeremiah 29 for my devotions. Verses 10-14 have been a real encouragement to me, but really the whole chapter has. It takes place when the children of Israel are in captivity in Babylon and God sends them a message. He tells them to go ahead and settle down, build houses, get married, have families, and when their time there is up He will let them know and will bring them out. I'm the kind of person who likes to plan it all out. When I'm planning a weekend with friends, I don't really worry that much about the details, we can just go with the flow. But when it comes to my life I like to have it all planned out. Recently I have been struggling with the decision of whether I should go two or four years at GBS. As of right now, I am going with two, but I'm not sure that in two years I will decide to go another two. And that bothers me because I want to know NOW what I am going to do. When I read Jeremiah 29 it was almost as if God was telling me to just live my everyday life and when it was time for me to move on He would let me know. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go one day at a time and trust God to tell me where He wants me to be and when. Well, everyone, stay warm and enjoy the snow while it lasts! Bye for now!!

Smile!

The other day I was on my way up to Mr. Profitt's office and I passed a fellow student who was sweeping the stairs. He said "hello" and I gave him my usual reply with a smile. He stopped sweeping and asked me why I was smiling. "Everytime I see you, you are smiling. Why are you such a smiley person? What makes you smile?" I was a little caught off guard. Why did I smile? I told him it was because I like it when I receive a smile. A smile somehow makes someones day brighter and why should I be the one to make they're day bad just because I didn't smile. But is that really the reason? I thought about that for the rest of the day and have thought about it on more than one occasion since then. Why do I smile? I don't always feel like smiling. In fact there are somedays where smiling is the last thing in this world that I feel like doing, but do you really have to feel like smiling just to smile? And why does it matter if I smile anyways? Do people really care whether I smile or not? I once did an experiment for psychology on smiles. I found this little test on line where you watched twenty different people smile and after each one you had to check whether it was a real or fake smile. The day I found the test I really wasn't in the best of moods, but by the time the test was over I found myself smiling and in a better mood. That gave me an idea for my own experiment. I had a few other people take the test and afterwards I asked them if they had found themselves smiling or in a better mood then when they had started. Most said they did find themselves smiling back. So, I guess that brings me back to the question, "Does it really matter whether or not you smile?" I think it does. But most of the time I find myself smiling at someone and I don't even realize it. So why do I smile, if not just to make others smile? "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: ~ Psalm 146:5" Maybe that's why I smile. : ) Are you smiling?

Winter Wonderland

Well, I was able to go home this last weekend. I was originally going to go home on Friday, but then my parents called and said that we were supposed to get a big snow storm and they would prefer for me to get home before the storm hit. That was Thursday night around 9:30 so I ran down to the dean of women's office to make sure it would be alright for me to leave and was given permission. By that time is was already 9:40 and I still had to pack. I was so ready to get home that I was packed and heading down the road at 10:20. It was raining a little bit when I left Cincinnati but by the time I passed Troy it had stopped and I had a pretty clear drive until I got closer to the Michigan boarder. That was around 1:30 in the morning. Well, then I took the wrong exit, which really wasn't that big of a deal. I knew where I was, I was in Petersburg when I should have been in Dundee, but then that meant I had to take Petersburg rode, which is horrible even on the clearest days, to get home. By this time the snow storm that the weathermen where predicting had hit. So I didn't get home until 3 o'clock in the morning. That was okay though. At least I got to go home and I even had an extra day.
I will be coming home again next weekend for a Casting Crowns concert and then the following Wednesday will begin Mid-Winter Break. So this semester is going by pretty quickly and I really don't have that heavy of a load. So I guess I said all of that just to say that God is Good. He was with me as I drove home at 1 o'clock in the morning and He is with me as I continue my schooling here at GBS. Well, I guess that is all for now!

Fearlessness!

Well, hello again everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to write again. I am just not very good at this blogging thing. I don't ever seem to find the time to blog and when I do have the time I never know what to write. Shocking isn't it? Me not knowing what to say! Well, I certainly wasn't sure what to say Friday morning. Last weekend was the basketball tournaments here at GBS. I think there were about five or six highschools that came for the weekend. It was a lot of fun and I was so excited because Bird Lake came as well and I got to see my friends from High School. Well, Friday morning they decided to have a special service for all the schools and they asked four of the college students to share a short little testimony about life at GBS. Well, I was one of them, along with Ryan Watters, who was asked to speak. I found this quote that night and had to laugh because it sure wasn't me!

" Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the mastery of fear. It's about getting up one more time than we fall down." --Arianna Huffington

I was so scared I thought I was going to be sick. When they asked me if I would do that for them I said, very hesitantly, "I guess I can, but that's a lot of people." In which I was told, "Oh, it's not that many, just 3 or 4 hundred." Well, needless to say I did it and, amazingly, I didn't get sick. I didn't really feel like I did all that great, I left out a few things I wanted to say, but I guess all in all I did okay. Well, things aren't too busy in the office right now. We are in the process of moving offices around and I am also in the process of writing a few faculty and staff biographies for the GBS website, a wee bit stressful, but other than that things are pretty much the same. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures right now, that is one of the many things (my camera) I accidentally left at home when I came back from Christmas Break, along with all of my towels. Oh well, things are working out and I'm going home this weekend, so I can bring the things I need back. Hope everyone back home is doing alright! Bye for now!

Hello again!

Well a lot has happened since I last posted anything on my blog. To much for me to really mention everything. I do give my apologies though, I haven't been very diligent in keeping everyone updated. Well, I can tell you a little about what has happened in the last week or so, I think.

A couple of weekends ago was the weekend for the Christmas pagent at GBS. It was December 7th through the 9th. It was also the weekend of my eighteenth birthday! I sang in the choir and was also in one of the street scenes. It was so much fun! My family wasn't able to be there on the first night, which was my birthday, but they came down on Saturday and we all went out to eat at Max & Erma's for my birthday. Then after the play we went out again, this time for a friend of mine's birthday which would be the following week. It was a really fun weekend. I was so happy to have everyone there. My mom and dad came down with my grandpa and Ashley Frye, a friend of mine frome church and school. Amber Plemmons also came down and was able to go out to eat with us. That was the weekend before finals! AHHHH! No, it really wasn't that bad. I made it through alive and actually I don't think I really did that bad on any of my tests. My last final was on Thursday so I was able to head home Thursday night. I was so excited to be able to come home. I came home on the 13th and get to stay until January 7th. I can't believe the school year is already half over! It has gone by so fast!!

I am really blessed. God really knows how to take care of me! Last time I was home, I went into Hobby Lobby, where I worked over the summer, for a visit and they offered to let me work while I was home for Christmas. So I started back to work on Monday. It's going pretty good. I had to refresh my mind on a few things and they have gotten new registers since I worked there last, but other than that I'm think I'm doing pretty well.

Today was the funeral for Bro. Shoemaker, a man from my church. He was a very sweet man and his wife really means a lot to me. She told me that she really worries about me when she knows that I am traveling back and forth to GBS. My dad and brother Michael had the funeral. During the funeral I was sitting there thinking about my grandma. This will be the first Christmas without her. It all seems so strange. It just doesn't seem like she is gone. But you know, this is probably the best Christmas she has every had!! She's sharing it with the ONE who is the whole meaning of Christmas, Jesus Christ.

But enough of the melancholy this is the season to be jolly. And jolly I am. It snowed!!!! I was so excited! Hopefully we will have a white Christmas. The day after it snowed I let my dog outside for a little while and she had so much fun in the snow that I decided to go outside with her. So we went outside for a while and played. It was so much fun!! I can't wait until Christmas!

Christmas really is my favorite time of the year. The lights that sparkle on all three of our trees, the snow, the decorations, it all just seems so magical. There just seems to be something in the air that is contagious. I love it! Yeah, you will run into those grumpy shoppers every once in a while, but you run into more that wish you a "Merry Christmas" instead of the controversial "Happy Holiday." If only people would understand the true meaning of Christmas and experience that meaning in their own lives, then would it truly be a very Merry Christmas. Yeah, this isn't my normal type of blog, but I guess it's like I said before, there is just something about this season that makes one really contemplate. Hopefully I will have a new post before Christmas, but until then, have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Homecoming!

Last night we started the GBS Homecoming. That is when the alumni come back to the school for the weekend. Yesterday we had a service for the alumni at seven o'clock in the evening. President Avery wasn't able to be there for the opening ceremony so they had a video that they had made the day before of him welcoming everyone. Then they had a quartet and trio sing and then a few of the alumni sang solos and some of the old quartets came back to sing as well. Dan Plemmons was in one of the alumni quartets. I was so happy they were able to come. I got to spend some time with Amber Plemmons and she stayed in my room last night. Then the choir sang. It was a very moving service! Then after the service we went down to the gym for the homecoming fest. All the educational divisions set up booths selling food and drinks. A few did something a little different to attract attention. One was set up like a Hawaiian booth and they had a little place where you could put your head through the hole to make it look like you were surfing and then someone could throw wet sponges at them and try to get them wet. The freshmen set up a booth where you could pay two dollars to have someone put in "jail" and the only way they could get out was if they would sing or pay two dollars. It didn't seem to go over very well at first,they kind of had some competition from the misterial booth. The ministerial booth had Jeremiah Parker play his guitar for them and one of the quartets sang. They even got one of the alumni to sing with them. So what could you call that then? Well, then towards the end the freshmen booth started getting a whole bunch of people to sing. It was so funny! They got Joel Hood, Andrew Dahler, Nick Turner, Jeremiah Thompson and Nathan Gumbiner to sing some veggitales songs. Gumby (Nathan Gumbiner) sang "You are my cheeseburger" and then someone payed to have Joel put in and he talked the other guys into singing with him. They sang "Oh, where is my Hairbrush?" By the time these guys got up there to sing they had a whole crowd around them cheering them on.They didn't know the words so they would listen to what Larry the Cucumber was singing and then they would follow along. And when it would come to a part where a "narrator" would talk they would pass the megaphone around to each other and move their mouth like they were the ones talking. It was hilarious! The gym was so crowded it was hard to even move around. And it was so noisy too!! By the time the night was over my throat hurt from hollering just to be heard. Amber and I got our picture taken with the king, a little boy from one of the booths. He was so cute! They were using him to try and "lure" people to their booth. Well, I will try to keep everyone updated. I will be going to youth challenge in a few weeks, so I will make sure I take my camera so I can update my blog when I get back. Talk to you all later. Thanks for all your prayers!

A quick update

Well, it's been quite some time since I last updated my blog. But I have been so busy lately. Well, I 'm not really sure where to start, but a lot has happened, well maybe not a lot but some things have happened since I last wrote. Well, the last week of September we had a school picnic on Saturday. We played games of frisbee, softball, ultimate frisbee, volleyball and many other games. We had so much fun! A few of my friends (Sam and Isaac) decided to sit under a tree and play for everybody towards the end. We tried to contribute a little to them by putting money in the guitar case. : ) They really appreciated that I'm sure. The little boy is my D-group leader's little boy. His name is Zachary, he is so cute. Well, anyways, the last three weeks have been phonathon. One of the busiest times of the year for the Office for Advancement, the office I work in. We recruited students to call potential donors Mon. - Thurs. for three weeks, from 6pm until 10 pm. One other girl works with me as a floater, she does whatever she is needed to do, she was a really big help to me. We switched off and on for the three weeks. So we both were down there working at least two nights a week. There were a few weeks that I was down there for three nights. So as you probably guessed I was very, very busy. That all ended last Thursday. This week I have been working on Homecoming. Homecoming is this weekend when all the alumni come to visit the camp for the weekend. Today I was asked to "model" a sweatshirt and pink GBS hat for a picture witch will be shown on a big screen tomorrow night, the first night of Homecoming!! Of course I am thrilled about that! (yeah right!) Well, I guess that pretty much sums up everything, sort of! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I have recently decided to volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center. I went to a training class Tuesday night witch means that I can gradually work my way up to working with the clients. I also forgot to mention that I have already taken four test since being here. So far I have only gotten three grades back. I have made two As and one C-. The C- was in General Psychology and we were told, by our professor, from the start that we probably wouldn't get a very good score since it was one of the hardest test in the class. So I guess I really didn't do that bad. I guess I can deal with a C-. Okay, now I think that's it! I think I have updated everyone completely. So, continue to pray for me. College life is fun but a little hard to adjust to as well. But thanks to God I'm making it through it all. I really appreciated the encouragement cards I got last week from Hannah and Ashley. They really encouraged me. Thank you all for your support and prayers. I try to update my blog a little more often. Talk to you all later. Bye!