Well, I am ready for school or work to start back up again. I get tired of doing nothing for the sake of doing nothing. It is more fun to do nothing when there is something to avoid.
Christmas Eve I went browsing through stores and then had lunch with Jared, Noah, Matt, Ben, and Krissy and then I had dinner with the Sheltons. I seem to have done a lot of eating this Christmas. I love food.
On Christmas, we opened our presents after we came home from church, which meant we got to sleep in. Woohoo. I have been sleeping in all week. Haha. I guess I should start waking up early or I will be in for a huge shock next week whenI have to start doing that again. :) Anyhow, after we opened presents and played with them for a while, Jared came over and we had Christmas dinner and then we watched It's a Wonderful Life. What a great movie.
The rest of the week has been relaxing in front of the Prisoner or a good book. We finished episode 10 today. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

In case I decide not to visit the computer again in the next few days.

Today I came to work and decided that it was foolish to go shopping during lunch, so I took an early lunch (9:30-10:30) and went shopping. When I came back the office was still blazing hot even though I have the windows open. REDICULOUS. I don't know what to do with this place. It is always at least 75 degrees in here.
I have spent the last two hours finishing part of a Christmas present (as Sarah would say... secret project DEF) and no it still isn't finished. Now I am going to going to turn up "We'll Understand" by Carlton Pearson on my speakers and dance around the house/office/place I work. Haha. I love having the house to myself. I was listening to Pachebel's Cannon in D as loud as I could earlier. Another example of as close to Perfection as we will ever get. Sort of like staring at the Grand Cannon or the Moutians or the Stars, all you can do is marvel at how wonderful and amazing it is.
Praise God for sending us His son so that someday, through Him, we will be made perfect.

Last couple memories...

Guess

model

reflect

light

imagine

superhero

dream

classy

experience pain

The ways of life.

In whatever you do, whether you eat or you drink, do it all to the glory of God. Be joyful. God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him. :)

Lady Hayley.

Empress of the world.

Working on our second puzzle in Williamsburg.
I don't even know what I was thinking or if I was thinking.
The first puzzle that we finished that weekend. We left it out in the rain and it swelled up.

It honor of it now being winter, some memories from the summer.

Luke bought popcorn at the campground store in Wincester and I just loved the box.

The view from out my tent door. I love having my own tent when we go camping. The view from my tent if you look door at the doorway. Old Navy Flip Flops come in such warm colors. Love them. I think I love wearing them so much because they are fun colors. Makes me smile.
Anna waiting for our food to come and one of Mom and Dad's favorite resturants in Richmond, the Strawberry Cafe. Their salad bar is in a bathtub. My parents seemed to think that was exciting, but when you don't like salad, like me, that doesn't really excite a person.
Oh that my freckles would stay all year. They are one of my favorite parts of summer.

Happy first day of Winter!

~Please have snow~

I have had no time to go get the last couple of things I wanted to at the store. And I have pretty much given up fighting the crowds. So a few of you are going to get late christmas gifts. But I always liked getting late christmas gifts because it made the holidays seem even longer. Maybe I will get all my christmas shopping finished by march. Haha, I'm dreaming. I will have to start in the summer next year. Finding time during this rediculous semester of school was crazy. I don't even want to think about next year. I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I will give you all my leftover textbooks and a few of you will be lucky enough to get some of my notes. :) I am going for a record on how long I can use the same mechanical pencil (so none of you may have that). I'm sure I can get lots of Terp gear for you or something. Go Tar Heels. I feel a little like a traitor going to Maryland. But I will get to see two UNC games in the comcast center!!! Woohoo. Of course this all depends on if they allow me into their school... I sent my application in yesterday. I'm not worried.

I had lunch Ms. Wanda today!

I wish I loved Biology. Then I could have her as a professor. She is so cute and funny. I love spending time with her.

O to grace how great a debtor

daily I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

prone to leave the God I love;

here's my heart, O take and seal it,

seal it for thy courts above.

I love this hymn!!

If you look back over the past three monthes worth of entries, you might have seen me complain about my classes (quite a bit actually). There has been one class in particular that I have been worrying about almost minute by minute. Yes, I know, I should neither be worrying nor complaining about anything. But it is so hard to apply that to the little everyday things. I have no problem applying them to something big because it seems right (like I have not worried once about getting into University of Maryland or what I will do once I get up there). I start to think about things like that and I tell myself to stop, God will provide. But I so often fail to see that he provides for me each and every moment of every day. I so often fall prey to trusting myself in the little things. "Hey, I am alright. I can handle this." But that is sinning. I am supposed to trust him for everything. I need to continually remind myself that THROUGH Christ, I can do all things. I guess that is why pride is to hurtful. It blinds you to what is really going on.

I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine can peace afford.

I need thee,
O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.

I need thee every hour; stay thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.

I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

I need thee every hour; teach me thy will;
and thy rich promises in me fulfill.

Last night Jared and I walked to Outback to meet to have dinner with Stanley and his girlfriend. Stanley is hard to explain. You just have to meet him to understand how weird it is that he and Jared get along so well at work. And he looks like a muppet. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I thought you should know. He talks, walks, and acts like a muppet. This would be more of an exciting story if something had happened during dinner. But the meal went well and I laughed a few times. I spent most of the night trying not to cough and to find a way not to have to breath through my mouth (which is incredibly hard when your nose is all stuffed up). Haha, I loath colds. And the problem with a cold is that is doesn't end, it hangs around for weeks afterwards.
After we walked home, we decorated sugar cookies for a while, picked up Anna, and then we watched episode four of the prisoner. I was saying how weird it was getting and Jared told me that I hadn't seen anything yet. I can't even imagine what they would do to make to stranger then it already is. But I guess we shall see. My siblings wanted to watch episode five, but it was 10:20 and I needed sleep. So maybe we will watch one tonight, and tomorrow, and then all day christmas!!! Heh.
AND TONIGHT... dun dun dun. We get to go to see the lights in OC with the Balls. It is tradition. I can't explain why this is so much fun either. But it is like a lot of the things my family does, there doesn't seem to be a point behind it, we just do it because we have fun doing it. And there is no way to explain why we have fun doing some of the things we do. They are so random. I think it is fun, especially now as we get older, because all of us are there. But whatever the reason, we have to see the lights in OC, no matter what. We went in the freezing rain one year. We were the only people on the train. We have gone when it is really warm outside some years, but normally it is quite brisk when we go, especially when the wind hits you from right off the water. So tonight we will drive to the Balls' farm and Mr. Ball will come out in his crazy fur hat that he wears every year and he will put his lawn chair in our van and we will pack 10 people into our van and drive to Ocean City. And the tradition shall continue...

Enya

Lazy old day
Rolling away
Dreaming the day away
Don't want to go
Now that I'm in the flow
Crazy amazing day

One red balloon
Floats to the moon
Just let it fly away
I only know
That I'm longing to go
Back to my lazy day

And how it sings and how it sighs
And how it never stays
And how it rings and how it cries
And how it sails away... away... away....

And once again...

CONGRATULATIONS to my dear little Hannah Rose!!!

*BIG HUG* I am so so so happy for you.

Well, I am finished school and my grades are supposed to be up today, but they are not. :( So here I wait. Actually I am at work. And you wouldn't think I would be happy to be at work, but when I think of the alternative of going to school today, work seems extremely welcoming. I cannot begin to express how wonderfully grand it is to be finished school this semester. This semester was the worst bunch of classes all lumped together. I feel so free now. And I have two and a half semesters down, which means I only have two and a half semesters to go. I am half way to my dual degree in Physics and Mechanical Engineering. And I grow to dislike the physics part of that more every day. I love my engineering classes.
Luke opened his birthday presents last night.

Happy Birthday Little Brother!!!

I love you.

I have always been thankful that I wasn't born on christmas. I love my birthday. First day of Summer and almost perfectly half a year away from Christmas. :) Yeah for summer birthdays!!! Yay for summertime! For the beach, bare feet ( sandles and no shoes), fresh food from the garden, bonfires, pools, fun colors, strawberries, waterparks, rollar coasters, peaches, cookouts, sand in my shoes, camping trips, watermelons, hiking, picnics, late nights, soccer, daylight all day long, biking, vacations, fewer hours of work, no grades, no homework, NO SCHOOL!!! Man, I love the summer. SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER!!!! I can't wait for summer.
In other news, I am going out to dinner with Jared, Jared's co-worker Stanley and his girlfriend, Katie. I haven't a clue what we will be talking about. I should have some interesting stories to tell. Heh. I don't think we will have much in common, if anything. But I think it will be highly entertaining... for a while. :) Haha. I am sure I will post more about it later.
This should make Jeanne happy. My siblings and I have started watching the prisnoner series. We have finished episode 3 and hope to watch some more tonight. They make no sense and I think I am going to be disapointed in the end, but I must know what happens. Who is number one? Heh. I think I should get more points for each episode I watch without watching episode 17 first. What do you think?!?!
So now I have a cold and I am all drugged up on cold medicine and motrion. I also took a bunch of zinc and vitaman C. I am very thankful that I didn't catch a cold during school or finals. I think I would have died because right now I feel like a truck ran over me, several times. Yeah, that wouldn't have been good during the semester. I am very very thankful that I can have a cold when all I am doing is working and I don't have to think so hard that my brain hurts.
The Children's Christmas play was a church last night. Josh was amazing as the innkeeper and Hannah was an adorable little angel!!! Mark was the funniest little sheep I have ever seen and Hope was good too. She played her part pretty well. I laughed so hard last night at some of the kids. They are hilarious. Thanks for Miss Mae for putting that on. I know it took a lot of work, especially with some of those kids. :) Praise God for my talented church family. They are precious.

Happy Birthday Hannah Rose!!!

And Congratulations for other odd things.

Heh. Thanks for being you.

Hannah is 25! I feel so old. :)

Love you.

I am studing for my last exam and it just dawned on me... I am the only girl in here.
There are 10 guys and me.
Welcome to my world.
And I don't even think it is weird anymore.

Wow they are hilarious after no sleep for two straight days. I think I am like the only one that has slept even some in the past couple of days.

King Kong

I loved Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, and Andy Serkis.

I think my jaw dropped open and stayed open for the majority of this movie. I just sat there in awe. I felt like I was in the movie, on the island, on the ship, walking the streets of New York, climbing hills and skyscrapers! It was amazing. After I finish my exams (only two more left!!! WOOHOO) I want to go see this movie again. I never knew I could tear up over a silly monkey.

Exam one will be over in 19 hours.
King Kong in 27 hours and a few minutes.
~Twas Beauty that killed the beast.~

Thank you Mrs. Shelton for your amazing open house this weekend.

It was a nice break from my studying. I ate way too many pinwheel cookies.

Kudos on a job well done.

Merry Christmas!
I only have four more exams this semester.
Come to think of it... that is only four more this YEAR. wOOt :)

Narnia

~When Adam's flesh and Adam's bones sit at Cair Paravel in throne, the evil time will be over and done.~

It was good for a kids movie. I wasn't expecting it to be great. The special effects were pretty neat. It is amazing all the different kinds of animals they created. Lucy annoyed me at times, but so did Susan. They weren't as I expected (from my imagination). But as Sarah said or something like it, You can never really fully make Narnia. It will always be missing something from someones imagination. A few scatterbrained thoughts: Aslan was great. I Loved the music!!!! I want the soundtrack. Mr. Tumnas was cool. I loved the Beavers. They were not annoying at all. I want a talking Beaver too. Why was Peter riding a Unicorn? I wish Aslan fought more. What was up with the waterfall scene? Why didn't they have the tea party? The fox was adorable. I am thankful that they made this movie. And now I want to go read the books again. Thank God for C.S. Lewis and his amazing imagination. What fun.
And of couse, I had fun going to the movie with my siblings and Greg and Rachel. I feel like I haven't seen my "siblings", the Taylors, is years. It was nice to spend time with them watching Greg play turkey hunter. "You shot a hen... you lose a life". It was also a blast singing Prince of Eygpt songs, in the van, at the top of our lungs and acting like we nine and ten again. Oh those good old days. I think it is time for Greg and I together and destroy something again or set something on fire. Haha.
Thank God for my awesome family and for wonderful friends like the Taylors. I love them dearly.

Guess who visited me at work today?!?

Heh.

It is hard to be in a bad mood when it looks so gorgeous outside. :) Man, it is beautiful. I love snow. It is also hard to be in a "I feel sorry for myself" mood when you listen to John Piper before you go to bed. Haha. I told myself I wouldn't be able to feel sorry for myself if I listened to him and I almost didn't put him in before bed because I wanted to have a pity party for myself all day... but I did and now I feel a lot better. Blessed be.

Philiipians 2: 14 - 16
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing!

*Love Snow.* But, I am in rather a bummish mood. I think it is all these exams that I have to accomplish. My one teacher says that if the snow snows out his exam, we will have a make-up exam... I don't really see how it the world that would work and it is totally not fair. I have studied my little brain off, but I seem to still not be able to grasp certain things. God's grace is sufficent. His power is made perfect in my weakness. That has certainly been true this semester. Time and time again I have felt like I would never learn this stuff and here I am still struggling along. *sigh* I can't wait for the semester to be over with. I can't wait to Christmas. I can't wait until I have time to buy Christmas presents. *sigh* God grant me strength.
So, if you tell me something and I don't act excited... please don't get annoyed. I am just in the middle of a LOT of physics mess right now. I really don't have time to think of anything else. And especially Mom, don't tell me anything important right now, please. I won't remmeber. Haha. :) Thanks. Tell me after exams are over and I will be perfectly happy to act excited about anything you want me to.
Love you all, but I have to go study more.

Keep on keeping on.

Love Pachelbel!

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, Who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, Who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, Who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, Who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

UNC beat Tenth ranked Kentucky!!!!
Go little freshman.
Go TAR HEELS!!!
Go my favorite sports team, Go. Haha.

Sing we Noel, sing we joyously Noel. :)
David Noel is my new favorite player (since all five of my other favorites went to the NBA last year).

Hewbrews 12:1-11
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

Thank God for my parents who never gave up on me throughout my childhood. I love them. They are great.

Curses. There is too much food in this house/office/work area!!! The ladies in the office made bunches of cakes, pies, cookies, and bread for the Christmas Party/open house yesterday. And now it is all leftover and I am desperately trying to avoid the kitchen and stay upstairs in my office. But they keep offering to bring me stuff. AHHHH!!! No more food. I would eat it all day, but I know that I won't feel any better afterwards. I will just feel sick and tired like I did yesterday.
I have homework due in three of my classes next week, two exams next week, and four the following week. Pray for me if you think of me. Six exams in a week and two days is not going to be fun. This is definately my hardest semester, both my classes and exams.

* Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - Mechanics Second Exam (Least favorite class ever, but this exam will be a lot easier then the final for the class, but still crazy hard compared to my other classes)
* Thursday, December 8, 2005 - Math Physics Second Exam (Challenging, but not impossible)
* Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Statics Final (Favorite class, I love engineering classes!! Only semi-easy exam.)
* Thursday, December 15, 2005 - Math Physics Final (Again, challenging, but not impossible)
* Friday, December 16, 2005 - E and M Final (Insanity)
* Friday, December 16, 2005 - Mechanics Final (Pretty much impossible!!! This is going to be the most rediculous final I have ever taken.)

I think I am going to come home from my last final and crash. I'll just sleep for hours and hours. My brain will be so dead by that time. Or maybe I will just sit in front of the tv for hours. I haven't done that in a long time (not since surgery).
So, that is why I have banned myself from fun this weekend. So please don't ask me to do anything this weekend because I really don't want to spend the whole time studying, but I NEED to. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do, to achieve goals. This is going to be one of those weekends.
God grant me strength and help me glorify you.

We went to go see Chicken Run at the new theatre last night. Woohoo! The seats are really interesting. I didn't have time to look at them like I wanted to, but they looked pretty neat. Haha, yeah, only an engineer would want to take time to inspect seats and see how they worked. Myneck hurt the whole time, but I blamed it on sitting in the second row.
After being at school for 10 hours (from 7-5 - don't even ask - homework is crazy - but only one and a half more weeks!!!), I met up with Hannah at Barnes and Nobles for coffee and to relax. And then we headed off in the rain to meet up with my family and Jared for the movie. What better people could you watch a movie with? My family is great. Claymation fascinates me because of the time that it takes to produce even a minute of film. And Chicken Run is pretty funny. :) There were so many people there!! Wow. Parking was crazy. But Hannah pulled into a great spot and we only had to walk in the rain for a bit. I love walking in the rain! I love rain, especially sleeping when the rain is coming down on my roof. :) Lovely sleeping weather.
Then at 9, we went home and watched the UNC basketball game!!! Go Tar Heels. I wasn't disapointed when they lost (since they lost their 6 best players last year - and are basically only freshman this year). I was quite excited that they only lost by four points. And we they were NATIONAL CHAMPIONS last year!! They got 6 of the best freshman in the nation drafted for next season. That makes me extremely excited because I am going to get to see them play next year. Woohoo. I am going to get to see UNC play UMD next season. Man, that will be awesome. *happy dance* I mean, really really really awesome.
The snickers taste funny.
haha.

Office Christmas Open House Party

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Come, if you work at SU. :)

Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.

Psalm 146:3

I was all set to go see a movie last night, but no one could decide on anything. I wanted to see the Corpse Bride again, but no one wanted to see that. So we sat around and debated what to watch until we decided we would just stay home. And it is no fun to go see a movie by yourself. :)
So last night I went running with Dad and Sarah, reread Jerry Bridges, and did homework. It was a pretty regular monday.
Now I am at school early (it was 6:59 when I signed onto this computer - heh) to do homework with "friends". Haha.

Kado, my favorite lizard died today.

I used to get home from school and go down to Luke's room and hold him. He will be greatly missed.

Kado (2004-2005)

Psalm 139: 23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.

The Huguenot Cross:
* is formed of a Maltese Cross - four isosceles triangles meeting at the centre. Each triangle has at the periphery, two rounded points in the corners. These points are regarded as signifying the eight Beatitudes of Matthew 5: 3-10.
* Suspended from the lower triangle by a ring is a pendant dove with spreaded wings in downward flight, signifying the Holy Spirit. In times of persecution a pearl, symbolizing a teardrop, replaced the dove.
* The four arms of the Maltese Cross are sometimes regarded as the heraldic form of the four petals of the Lily of France - the Lily is a symbol of purity.
* The arms symbolize the four Gospels.
* The arms are joined together by four Fleur-de-Lis, each with 3 petals; for the totals of twelve petals, signifying the twelve apostles.
* Between each Fleur-de-Lis and the arms of the Maltese Cross, with which it is joined, is an open space in the form of a heart, the symbol of loyalty (suggested by the seal of the French Reformer, John Calvin).

Now how cool is that?!? It is pretty awesome to be a Huguenot descendent. Maybe I will write about my ancestors sometime on here. I most often think of the Irish side of my, since I am the largest part Irish, but my French side is pretty awesome and my last name comes for my German ancestors... so maybe I should think about them too. Haha.
Anyhow, I have always wanted a star necklace... and this sort of looks like a star, but it is way cooler.
Thank you, Jared!!

Happy Thanksgiving and all that jazz. I have refused to touch a computer for the past week because I didn't want to think about school. Now that I am back doing homework at school, I guess I can post. I am seriously considering banning myself from blogging so that I can fully pay attention to my finals. I haven't come to a decision yet...
What did I do over thankgiving break? Well, I said I didn't want to watch that much tv... hah. I ended up watching the complete first season of Lost (minus episodes 5 and 6). That is 22 of 24 episdoes of Lost. I had never seen the show until a week ago.
Wednesday - I baked with Hayley while we jammed to sweet tunes.
Thursday - I ate all day and watched the sun rise the next morning after a night of Lost.
Friday - I slept and watched more Lost and ate more "turkey" food.
Saturday - I put up Christmas lights with Jared. And then ran around to Lowes, Walmart, and Target looking for replacement bulbs for the C7s. And then we decorated christmas cookies at the Sheltons.
I need to see the Townsends new house. I hear (from my dad) that the hardwood floors are amazing (haha, I wonder why he says that...). Looking forward to the next bonfire... Christmas break is almost here!!! Woohoo.

Emily Price left me a note on my desk at work today and a pile of ketchup packs. Haha. What a funny surprise. I guess she knows how much I love ketchup.

Also, I just finished putting together lamps for our office and I have to say that brass lamps are hot! I want my whole house to have brass lamps!! These are made by Spiffel.

I just had a physics "ah-ha" moment today. Heh, that is what one of my teachers calls it. It is one of those things that you have struggled to grasp all semester and then all of the sudden it seems like the simplest thing and you wonder why you didn't understand it for the first 11 weeks of the semester. It just finally makes sense and seem so basic. It is sort of frustrating, but also rewarding. So much of physics seems to be like that. You just keep plugging along and finally one day it makes sense or at least you hope it will someday make sense. Haha.
So I am excited.
You can differentiate Newton's Second Law to any of the kinematic equations!! F = ma is a pretty powerful little equation once you apply diffy Q to it.

Psalm 95:1-7

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving

and extol him with music and song.
For the LORD is the great God,

the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Good Morning!
I love the rain (as long as it isn't that cold of a rain). Today is pretty nice. :) Dancing in the rain is especially thrilling (except when you have a backpack on your back that weighs more than you do and you feel like you are going to flip over backwards at anytime - with your feet sticking directly in the air - Seriously, it feels like you are a weebble wobble somedays). Last night I finished cooking dinner for Mom (because she was going to the church to help pack boxes or something). The rice button on the microwave hates me and the rice turned out a little crunchy. Haha. But I like my rice crunchy!!! So I was pleased with it. Cooking is really fun when you have the time for it. I don't know how my mom always finds time to make us such wonderful meals. I am extremely grateful for all the good food that she constantly makes and keeps around my house. It is hard to say no to it most days. So thank you mom!

Then I cleaned the kitchen and listened to my new Rebecca St. James cd! Woohoo! Cleaning the kitchen is only fun when you see the kitchen before and afterwards and you can see the huge difference! :) Rebecca's new cd is pretty good. I think I like some of her old stuff better but there is some great songs on it. Sarah and I made up some hot Brian Regan dance moves to one of the songs. Haha. You should try putting Brian Regan facial and body expressions to music. It is quite amusing.

Luke, Sarah, and I then watched some old tv shows and I crashed upstairs to do homework. Another day in the life of me. And oh how I love my family!!! They are a wonderful blessing to me. Even though they tease me at every given moment. :) They are still normally a joy to have around.

Magi and Zoo

So I walked around the zoo, after the magi concert, with the greatest soloist (at least I thought so). We were standing there looking at the weird jackrabbits - with short ears - sort of animal and we hear a man's voice over another zookeeper's (who is walking towards us) walkie talkie, "You know that really amazing soloist last night at the concert....? I think he is walking around the zoo. There is this guy in a suit that looks just like him. I didn't say anything to him because I was afraid it wasn't him." By this time the zookeeper was just about to pass us. And by this point we were laughing pretty hard. She calls back to the guy, "I think I found him. He heard everything you said and is laughing." And then another zookeeper calls over the walkie talkie and all three of them start saying how amazing Jared was last night. I just sat there and smiled. I am so proud of Jared. He's really a great guy.

Man, Wi-hi is a depressing school. Jared showed Stef and I some of the school yesterday on our way to the cafeteria. I am very thankful, even though I didn't get to play high school soocer, that I didn't go to a public high school. The hallways are so long and depressing. I thought college was depressing, but high school looks horrible. I can't imagine wandering around everyday of my life in those hallways. The are so hopeless.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

I love living next door to you! You make my life such a joy. :)

I love you!

We have a banister in our office's front staircase and you can slide down it!!! Hooray! It is so much fun. I have always wanted to slide down a banister and now I can every day. Woohoo. :)

So, the office moved this week and I haven't had a computer for two days. *gasp* Haha. Well, now I do, but I also have a million boxes of stuff that I never knew we kept to unpack. So that is my excuse for not updating this last half of the week (and nothing exciting has happened). If I had to pick a word for this week it would be frustrating. Nothing terrible happened, but everything happened the hard way and everything that should have been easy was made hard somehow. I don't know. It has been one of those weeks. Thank goodness it is almost over and next week is a holiday week. Woohoo! I am so excited to see everyone again.
Oh, and hello to Anna Ford. Sorry I made you miss your class. Haha. Yeah, it is tempting to just read blogs all day and not do work. :)

Sarah says I should update my blog, but I don't have anything to say. Sunday evening I played cards with my family. Monday I watched movies with Steffers. Tuesday I took Anna out to La Tolteca to celebrate her finishing drivers-ed and then Stef and I went shopping (only to find out that winter colors and me do NOT go well together). So yeah. That is about it. The most exciting part of my week was getting to exams back that I didn't think I had done well on and finding I had. I hate exams. Another reason I haven't written anything is our office is moving and I have been packing boxes all week. And it has been wonderful outside!!!

Reformation Decorating.
I love this picture of Jared. :)

Friday I caught this cold that has been going around my house. So I was pretty out of it all day. Sniff sniff sneeze sneeze and all that fun stuff. Jared came to dinner and we played scrabble and watched Muppet Treasure Island (by request of Luke).
Saturday Luke and I met up with Jared at Barnes and Nobles and I browsed my favorite section (the building books - haha that sounds like building block... I love those too!) with Jared for a few hours. We found this really neat book of all treehouses. Crazy fun stuff. Then good old Matt Robins was in town and so he came over to Barnes and Nobles and we all headed off to Chinatown. I ate so much. I haven't felt that full in a good long while. Matt brought up Tinkertoys during lunch. Yay for Tinkertoys!!! Those were some of the best toys ever! Luke and I then went to Petsmart for crickets and to look at the salamanders and lizards. Off to the house to drop my brother off and I headed out to the Robins to watch the Last Samuri. Tom Cruise annoys me. But the movie was pretty good.
Saturday night was a party at the Robins just like old times. Mrs. Robins made us a great dinner (and I ate some more - haha). We watched an episode of Lost and then Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then out into the cold to watch for shooting stars. They are supposed to be really great shooting stars for the next week or so. You should throw your head up and look whenever you are outside at night. I love watching for shooting stars. It is so facinating and I feel so small. But thankful at the same time. God me merciful to me. :) Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
"The heavens declare the glories of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands."

Hayley Wozny posted a list of annoying fictional characters. This one made me laugh:

" 2. Elsie Dinsmore from The Elsie Dinsmore Books. What a lovely, perfect angel-child who does everything so perfectly and Godly-like. If you had her as a little sister, you'd want to "accidentally" push her down some stairs. She'd probably pray for your forgiveness as she tumbled down and lay dying. "

I have always found her so annoying!!!
I'd like to hear other characters (that are supposed to be good) that you all find annoying.
I have to think of some more... I know there are some.

*edit*
Madeline Bray - in Nicholas Nickleby
Jamie - In a Walk to Remember
Mary - In Little House on the Prairie
Amy March - Little Women

"It's insainia!!! How could..."
-For Sarah and Luke

Thinking of the holidays makes me smile.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.
With the kids jingle belling,
and everyone telling you,"Be of good cheer,"
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

There'll be parties for hosting,
marshmallows for toasting and
caroling out in the snow.
There'll be scary ghost stories and
tales of the glories of Christmases
long, long ago.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.
There'll be much mistletoeing
and hearts will be glowing,
when loved ones are near.
It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Cold weather makes me start thinking of the holidays and all the joy that come along with them. All the great people that come home and the parties and late nights spent laughing with old friends and the good food. Mrs. Shelton was making ginderbread last night and it smelled SO good. Yum. Days like this make me long for the holidays.

And I think mistletoe is stupid!

God has richly blessed me.

I have the best friends ever.

I got home from Bible Study last night and was drinking a glass of milk and Anna started to make me laugh. Isn't terrible once you start laughing, how you can't finish your milk no matter how hard you try?!?! For some reason I can drink water and laugh, but milk and laughter do not go well at all. Haha. Hooray for milk and strong bones and teeth.
I am so thankful for all of the wonderful memories I share with my siblings. They are a great bunch of kids.

Psalm 40:1-3 (New Living Translation)

I waited patiently for the LORD to help me,

and he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair,

out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground

and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what he has done and be astounded.

They will put their trust in the LORD.

The world bores you

when you're cool.
-Calvin

Thank you, Noah.

I was complaining the June got slighted in the birthstone department because we have pearls and everyone else has some cool stone. Jared pointed out that June actually does have a birthstone and it is called Alexandrite. It changes colors for blue/green to purple/red in outdoor and indoor lighting. How cool is that!


I really don't like yellow gold all that much. But white gold and silver are cool. Simple stuff is the best and small stuff (like I think the stone in the second ring is too big). Haha, I am picky aren't I?

Carry me, Your love is wider than my need could ever be
Come to me, and I will walk along Your shore
Feel Your crashing waves sing in time with the music of my heart

Pour out, come down on me
Pour out, come down on me

River deep, could I know You as well as You know me
Constantine, will we travel faster, farther than these
Legs could ever trustworthy be

Pour out, come down on me
Come down, pour out on me
Come down, pour out on me
Come down, pour out on me

Jars of Clay!! Perfect for everyday of the week at anytime.

So we are studying how hard it is to, first of all escape from our planets gravitational pull, and secondly once escaping that field, to be able to take off from a rotation planet and then land on another rotating planet. I mean, you miss by a mile and you can't catch up with a planet with a spaceship. Spaceships do not go that fast. So you are pretty much sunk. So imagine all the work it takes just to figure out how to shoot the rocket and with what speed and angle. Crazy isn't it? MAN! Physics is mindblowing. Insane stuff, insane!!

"Guys, guys, I just mixed three flavors in my Icee!"
"WHOA, no way. How many flavors...?" - my siblings mockingly

Well Linnea thought it was cool. Haha. Good times before the UNC - Final Four game. That was a great night.

I miss you, Linnea.
I don't realize it until you say something or I start thinking of good times I had with you.

The more fun and relaxing a weekend is, the harder it is to come to school in the next monday. It was a great weekend. The weather was beautiful.
Friday:
Hannah, Hannah, Kyrie, Annie, Chalice, and Renee and I went out to dinner in Cambridge after visiting with the Howard Parents and sharing many a laugh together. What a joy my church family is. Our food took forever to come, but the company was wonderful and I really didn't mind that much. We came back to Salisbury around 10:30 and Jack, Jared, and I watched old home videos and laughed. Jack claims that I am unamused by him, but I am amused some days. "Awe, hells no..." -Great shirt. And I came home and did more schoolwork.
Saturday:
I did more homework all morning. Then I got icees and went to the zoo with Jared. Man, it was so pretty outside on Saturday. So gorgous!!! It started to get dark and we headed off to Marketstreet Antiques and wandered around. I found this really awesome old book. :) After wandering around for a while more, Jared bought the book and we were heading out the door, the lady at the counter calls out like she couldn't help herself, " You two are the cutest couple. You seem to fit so perfectly together." We laughed and laughed and laughed. I thought it was just the nice people at church saying we looked cute together. It was funny to hear a perfect stranger say it to us.
Then we went back to the Sheltons' and met up with Hannah and Hannah (who were also hungry) and decided to head off to La Tolteca and get some good food. Yay, chips and salsa! Then we went back to the Sheltons' and watched "Clear and Present Danger" with Jack (- while he drank at ten cups of hot chocolate).
Sunday:
Pastor Shelton always preaches amazing sermons. Happy to have him back. The Mississippi Team shared during Sunday School. They are a funny bunch of people. Sarah Meadows is great. I headed off to school and spent five hours doing homework with Matt and Steven. Then back to church for more awesome Pastor Shelton. And then Jared and I debated over where to go afterward. Where can you get good ice cream in Salisbury? If anyone knows... let me know. We ended up at Barnes and Nobles (for double chocolate chip frappachinos) only to find out that they close at 9. So we ended up wandering around Walmart for a while. I would normally hate walking around Walmart, but this was a lot of fun. I guess it just depends on whom you spend the time with. Haha. There are only a few people that I would enjoy spending the evening in Walmart with. I bet many of you are probably on that list.

Random fun, but relaxing. It is so hard to come back to school. But I am here. By the grace of God, I survive and live another day. God be praised.

A New Day Has Come

I was waiting for so long,
for a miracle to come.
Everyone told me to be strong,
hold on and don’t shed a tear.

Through the darkness and good times,
I knew I’d make it through.
And the world thought I had it all,
but I was waiting for you.

Hush, now, I see a light in the sky.
Oh, it’s almost blinding me,
I can’t believe I’ve been touched by an angel with love.

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears,
let it feel my soul and drown my fears,
let it shadder the walls for a new sun.
A new day has come,

When it was dark now there's light
Where there was pain now's there's joy
Where there was weakness I found my strength
All in the eyes of a boy

Hush now I see a light in your eyes
All in the eyes of a boy

I have this as my desktop right now. I love to see bridges. I hate to drive over them.

Sweet food.
Neat houses. Pretty Pose.
Fun Movies.
Cool City View.

More city views.

I love black and white city photos, especially of bridges and amazing buildings. :) I am going to have so much fun decorating a dorm room because you don't have to be as serious with a dorm room as you do with a house or an apartment.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Eben-ezer (the stone of help)
Eben-ezer stone of help, the memorial stone set up by Samuel to commemorate thedivine assistance to Israel in their great battle against the Philistines, whom they totally routed (1 Sam. 7:7-12) at Aphek, in the neighbourhood of Mizpeh, in Benjamin, near the western entrance of the pass of Beth-horon.

Hot Music!!!

Tim Burton would be nothing without Danny Elfman.

SOAP is giving out FREE Boston Cream Donuts in Red Square today from 8-11.
How can I resist?

More proof that Jared can not take a serious picture!!

Why haven't I seen this photo before? :)

*edit* This picture makes me laugh. I think Jared is wonderful. :)

Go over to Rachel's blog to see more pictures from Hannah's 16th Party. I think she should post more from that evening!!!

Thanks to all who helped at Reformation!!!

You all are great friends!!!

I thank God for you all.

I forgot to mention yesterday how impressed I was by Dr. Charles Wingard. He was an excellent speaker.
And now it is October 31st and the Reformation Party is tonight...

Yesterday was a great bunch of random fun.
It started off with homework. Then I ran to the mall to see if I could find any underarmor because our house is SO blasted cold inside. And I not only found it, I found it on sale. I was so excited. When I got home I was bouncing around the house. It really is great stuff. :) So either I warmed up because I was wearing it or because I was bouncing, but one way or the other I was warm and happy and content.
I did some more homework (woohoo). Around 12 Jared and I came by and went back to the mall and vistited Sarah and Anna at work. Then we headed off to Greenwood DE to watch a soccer game. It was Faith Baptist's championship soccer game and I promised Matt Huntington that I would attend. So I got to see Matt and Micah play soccer. I hear the game wasn't nearly as exciting as the semi-finals game. :) But I had fun. I was wearing four layers and still cold. Crazyness.
Next we stopped at T.S. Smiths apple orchard to buy 50lbs of apples, apple cidar, and cinnomon sugar donuts. And then down the road a little ways to get Grottos pizza. It is tradition to eat as much as possible on the way back from Grottos. Man, that is good pizza.
We got home and watched part of the Georgia - Florida game, packed up the van, and headed out to the church to decoate for Reformation. I believe they had the heat on in the church and I was wearing underarmor. :( It was hot. From about this time of year until March, it seems like that will happen a lot. You will go from freezing to burning up. Maybe there should be a constant heat that every building is set on so you could plan on what you were going to wear. Anyhow, Thanks to all the people that helped decorate and set up. Mandy, Ted, Ross, Emily, Anna, and Jared. It's been fun. And to Sarah for all the great plans and doing practically all the behind the scenes work. I finished the Obstical course today they are still working on setting up the rest of it. Tomorrow looks to go well. Hopefully. God be praised.
And now I am doing homework again. I need to finish it before church tonight, so I will stop wasting time. :)

Psalm 106:1-3

Praise the LORD!
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Who can list the glorious miracles of the LORD?
Who can ever praise him half enough?
Happy are those who deal justly with others and always do what is right.

Coldplay
How You See the World

There's so much to be scared of
And not much to make sense of
Are you running in a circle
You can't be too careful
And you can't relate it
'Cause it's complicated
Oh you're gonna get it right some time
You're gonna get it right some time

It's how you see the world
How many times can you say
You can't believe what you learn

It's how you see the world
Don't you worry yourself
Your not gonna get hurt

1 Chronicles 16:23-27, 31-34 (New Life Version)
"Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Tell the good news of His saving power from day to day. Tell of His greatness among the nations. Tell of His great works among all the people. For great is the Lord. He is to be given much praise. And He is to be honored with fear more than all gods. For all the gods of the people are false gods. But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and great power are with Him. Strength and joy are in His place.
Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth be filled with joy. And let them say among the nations, 'The Lord rules!' Let the sea thunder, and all that is in it. Let the field be happy, and all that is in it. Then the trees of the woods will sing for joy before the Lord. For He is coming to judge the earth. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever."

Curious George - the cutest little monkey!!
Isn't he the cutest little thing?!?!
Haha, I think this picture is particularly funny because he is looking at a box of Altoids.
Man, I love Curious George!

It's still raining...
I really love rain, but it is SO hard to get out of bed when it is raining.

Phillipians 1:3-7, 11 "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy because you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. It is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a very special place in my heart. We have shared together the blessings of God!"
"May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation--those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ--for this will bring much glory and praise to God."

Man, it feels like a Monday.

Everything moves so slowly on Mondays.

Man, I slept in today and now I feel terrible. I should have just gotten up when we alarm went off and came to work. Maybe I should go get some coffee. It is so cold outside. Let me run through the weekend for you...

Friday
* Woke up early, drove to college park (not a bad drive at all - considering I hate driving and it was raining).
* Visited with the Engineering department. Not too bad. They offered me a scholarship and to pay for my masters if I kept my GPA above a 3.7. I think I might be able to do that. At least trying my hardest has a reward now.
* Got to visit with Rebecca Wise for a couple hours. Woohoo. She is one of the sweetest people you will meet. And she showed me around some of campus and the dorms. Not as bad as I was thinking. I might actually have fun at college.
Saturday
* I woke up at 6 and couldn't sleep so I started painting for Reformation. I painted from 6:45 - 3:30. Then I took a shower and changed into my pajamas. I would have stayed in them, but Hannah and Jared came over to play Boggle and watch Batman (the disturbingly stupid 1989 version). Haha. But it was fun. I was really tired the whole evening.
Sunday
* Church
* Youth Choir ( I wonder how long this will go on...)
* Jared and I went to La Tolteca for dessert with Hannah, Renee, and Patrick. Fried Ice Cream. :) With corn flakes and honey on the bottom. :D Haha.
* Then we went over to the Sheltons' and watched Patriot Games. Mrs. Shelton and Hannah gave Jared and I a chocolate foot. Rather amusing. Heh. I got a good laugh about that. So we ate our chocolate foot during the movie.
* Then Hannah, Jared, and I took a walk in the brisk weather. It was so nice to relax and not have to do schoolwork and meet up with classmates on Sunday.
* Mom and Anna got home during church last night.

It's the weekend!!! I am so happy. Tomorrow I am going off to College Park to meet with the Engineering Department and I am taking Dad to Red, Hot, and Blue just because it is on the way back and I love their food. Oh, and I have finished all my homework so... this is amazing. I don't know what to do with myself. Thank God I can take time to breath for a few days. I mean, this is so great. I feel very light and I will probably be skipping on the way out to my car today. Haha. Anyhow, since I won't be doing homework Sunday afternoon and I am not working tomorrow... I doubt I will be post again until Monday. Have a great weekend. Stay Safe.

These are my wonderful sibling and I at Walmart in Winchester VA. We were hungry and stopped to get chicken strips (Walmart has some of the best chicken strips!). We took like four or five pictures and everyone is squinting in all of them. You don't get all five of us in a picture very often, so enjoy. Haha. The blue eyes are all squinting more then the brown eyes. In case you don't know (Anna -15 (until Jan 31), me - 19, Hope -9, Sarah -17 (until Nov 19), and Luke-13 (until Christmas)). I love my siblings. And I miss Anna. It is weird around the house without her. She comes back home on Sunday!!! And yes, I miss my mother too. I need some good food. :D heh.

I am finished my math physics exam as well!!!!
Time to celebrate.

Kit Kat bars would be nice right about now.
So would Peanut M&Ms.
Or Mr. Goodbars.
....

My first Mechanics exam is over and done with. Only one more and a final to go! I realized while walking out to my car after the exam that the headache that I have had for the past three days was gone. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It is amazing how my mood has changed. I am not even worried about my exam tomorrow, even though everyone is saying it will be hard. After this exam, nothing will be hard again. Haha. I really don't know how I did. I know I passed. :) Some guy in the class, failed the class last year, but kept the exams, so an hour before class I basicly memorized the entire exam (that is how my memory works). Glory be, the professor used almost the same exam and I just filled in the spaces. It was pretty awesome. I'm just glad it is over with and I am still passing. Thanks be to God.

Dinner and a Movie...

Heh... or something like that. Dinner with my family is always an adventure, especially when Dad is totally in control. So I invited Jared to have dinner with my Dad, Sarah, Luke, and Hope having no clue what to expect from all of them. We walked over to Applebees from our house (I haven't done this is years - I think the last time was with some Taylors). Well, on the way over my Dad decides to go into the Tractor Store and get a part for the camper (that he has been trying to fix). So we wandered around in there for a while and Sarah and I tried on a few hats. I really cannot wear hats. Everytime I put one on I look totally ridiculous. But it gives me a good laugh. Then we checked out the snowblowers (I hope we get snow this year...and lots of it!). And then we trotted off to Applebees and we were seated at one of those round tables with high stools that spin. I had a blast. My sandwich was HUGE and it kept sliding apart and getting barbecue sauce all over my hands. Blah blah blah... When it came time to leave, my dad had the great idea that we all needed to shift seats to the right. So we each shifted and then as we came to the front of the table (since we were in a corner) we would exit the circle. I changed five seats before leaving the table. :D Crazy right. Haha. My dad is great.
Next we walked over to McDonalds for Ice Cream Sundays (and Hope ordered fries - she always does). The flowers on the table were real, how weird is that. Then we strolled over to Target and looked at the hats and gloves and scarves and I got to see Corie (he used to work at CFA with me - funny guy - he used to sing all the time in his really high voice). Sarah and I walked over to look for brown shoes for her, but they don't have any good ones. So we headed over to the toy department and spend quite a while over there. Time doesn't seem to exist when you are having fun, until you have to leave. Luke talked me into buying Batman Begins and while I was doing that everyone was peering in the two way mirror. The funny thing is that I am sure someone on the other side was quite amused by five faces looking in at them. :) Silly kids.
Then we walked home and I studied for three hours and went to bed. And I have an exam in my worst class today at one. Hopefully, I will be able to pull something off. I will be a lot happier once this exam is finished, no matter how I do. And I doubt I am going to do well. But understanding three out of four physics courses is fine with me (as long as I sort of understand the third). So, I am going to go study.
See all of you tonight who come to Bible Study.