So today I am talking to this guy in my lab and I look down at his hand and he is wearing a "true love waits" ring. So I hold up my hand and we smile. It is that knowing smile of relief that there are other normal people out there. This has happened several times this semester (about seven... that I remember). It is very encouraging.

I say we should start a secret club on campus. We'd be like an invisibly connected club because you don't even notice rings like that unless you have one. I'd be cool. :)

Go UNC!!!

They beat the number one team in the nation last night 98-89!
What fun!

A hymn, some verses, a few thoughts...

Isaac Watts

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,

Spreads o’er His body on the tree;

Then I am dead to all the globe,

And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

The writer wants us to be motivated to endure in our run with Jesus this fall the same way Jesus was sustained his painful run. Verse 2: ". . . fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.." It is not a morally defective thing to be sustained in the marathon of life by the joy of triumph at the end. The reward of seeing God and being free from all sin is the greatest incentive of all.

So if it seems that there are going to be some temporary losses when you run this race with Jesus, you are right. That is why Jesus said to count the cost (Luke 14:25-33) before you sign on. But the marathon of the Christian life is not mainly loss. It is mainly gain. "For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross." It is only a matter of timing. If you see things with the eyes of God, there is a vapor's breath of loss and pain, and then everlasting joy (2 Corinthians 4:17).

When you take your day away, with Bible and tablet, to plan your fall run with Jesus, think on this; think on this: the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to the children of God (Romans 8:18).So let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with Jesus. - John Piper

So yeah, this is how I have been using my time today. :) Thanks to Anna I have had these verses stuck in my head all day. I have always loved these verses since memorizing them in AWANA (that is why I posted them in the NKJV today because that is what I am used to see them in - I also love the way words sound and flow in the King James). They are especially a good reminder to me right now, since it is nearing the end of the semester and I need to be reminded to press on and continue in the work that I am doing. God has me here for a reason and I it is a huge privilge to be at UMD. I have really enjoyed most of my time here. I can't wait for next semester to come. **sidenote: Some professor is smoking his pipe two benches over from mine... I hate the smell of cigerattes and cigars, but pipe smoke is different. It is a much sweeter smell and I don't mind it at all. I don't feel like coughing. But still I have no desire to smoke. ** Anyhow, I have to go do some studying.

Countdown until the end...

* Nine days of classes left
* Seven EXAMS
- Thursday 12/7 - Physics Lab Exam
- Monday 12/11 - Matlab Final Exam
- Monday 12/11 - Physics Third in class exam
- Tuesday 12/12 - Stats 400 Fourth in class exam
- Monday 12/18 - 8am - Stats 400 - Final Exam
- Wednesday 12/20 - 8am - Circuits 2 - Final Exam
- Wednesday 12/20 - 12pm - Physics Final Exam

Wednesday Evening sometime... HOME!!!

Three more semesters until graduation!!!
Two degrees. :)

How many days of classes is that, you ask?
Roughly 225 days of classes... but I am also taking a summer course this year.
So 257 days of school until graduation.
I graduate on May 23, 2008.
So that means, 540 real days until graduation!

Anna Peipon has made my day,

I mean my week,

I mean year!!!!

Thanks for GT!!!

You really don't know how much I love these.

I am so happy right now.

This is so awesome!!!

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light, my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear, the Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?!?

"The acclaimed Maryland Chorus presents its Annual Holiday Concert. This year, the Chorus presents a special seasonal treat with members of the UM Symphony Orchestra -- a complete performance of the most celebrated choral/orchestral masterpiece in history, Messiah by George Frideric Handel."

I love it how they through acclaimed in the press statement. What makes something acclaimed and something else no acclaimed? Anyhow, I have always wanted to see the Messiah performed and so I decided since I have nothing to do on Saturday evening, I would treat myself to a early Christmas Present. It was only seven dollars. Haha.

Enjoy this beautiful weather!!!

AND I HAVE A FRONT ROW SEAT!!!
Merry Christmas to myself.

I don't think I have ever enjoyed two weekends at home so much.
I love home.

I came back to the Howards last night and then there were lots of Howards there, more Howards then I had ever seen before, in one place. I was really happy to see Mr. Howard, Kyrie, Sienna, and Chalice, even if it was for a short while. You don't know how good it is to just see a smiling face that you recognize and that is familiar to you. It is a joy. Hooray for holidays!!!

COME CHRISTMAS COME!!!

Things of which to take note:
(This is not a complete listing... I didn't have time)
* Rachel you have been raised one video.
* Sienna and Kyrie receive creative mail (if Anna hadn't broken my camera, I would take pictures of her letters and post them... heh).
* New BootFox.
* Mrs. Taylor made pancakes... I love this post. I miss pancakes.
* Anna Updated.

I still don't have an answer for my little word challenge...

There are four words in the English language that end in "dous", along with their grammatical variations. Two words are "positive" or "good", and the other two are "negative" or "bad". Here are three words, but what word goes in the blank?

NO CHEATING Don’t look it up on the internet or on any electronic searcher such as a dictionary on the computer.

positive: stupendous, tremendous

negative: horrendous, __________

Oh and thanks to Hope for leaving me a Cookies and Cream candy bar on my pillow last time I came home. It is absolutely delicious. I had it after lunch yesterday during my physics class. THANKS!

Will the dollar coin work?

Check out the new design from the US Mint.

I think it looks really neat.

So, blogger has been a pain for the past two days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO

SARAH

AND

DAD!!!

I miss talking to you both.
See you Wednesday.
I am so thankful for both of you.
Saturday night was a blast.
Stats classmates. haha.

In honor of my Dad and Sarah's birthdays, here is a little word game.

There are four words in the English language that end in "dous", along with their grammatical variations. Two words are "positive" or "good", and the other two are "negative" or "bad". Here are three words, but what word goes in the blank?

NO CHEATING
Don’t look it up on the internet or on any electronic searcher such as a dictionary on the computer.

positive: stupendous, tremendous
negative: horrendous, __________

I did homework this morning, then I took Hope out to Lunch and then we went to pick up Luke and then to Petsmart, where I bought him crickets. Now I am writing a lab report.

I have been listening to Christmas Music all day.
Here are the two that have been stuck in my head. :)

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store
But the prettiest sight to see
is the holly that will be
On your own front door"

You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch!
Author: Dr. Seuss
Dr. Suess was a genius!

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.

I wouldn't touch you, with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
Mr. Grinch.

Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the seasick crockodile.

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.

The three words that best describe you,
are, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. Grinch.

Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a three decker saurkraut and toadstoolsandwich
With arsenic sauce.

After spending over three hours in my car, in the rain, I made it home just in time to leave to go to choir because I wanted to surprise Jared. I was supposed to meet him later that evening at Zias for dessert, but I decided to come to choir. I miss choir. The people there make my night! I used to look forward to choir so much on Thursdays. You won't understand unless you have been in choir. It is just so funny. I just looked around and laughed almost all of practice last night. Yeah, so it was great to see everyone again.

Then Jared and I headed to Zias for dessert. Jared ordered coffee and I had a huge glass of milk. Chocolate and milk are two of the best things to have together, not chocolate milk, but chocolate and milk. :) Then the waiter brought the bill and stuck in the the table with mints (they have changed their mints, they now give out the same kind as chick-fil-A...awesome mints!!!). Jared opens the bill and starts to laugh. He held up the bill and on it is written, "On the House". No explination (just a big smilie face), we didn't know the waiter or anything, but I guess he choose to be kind. It was awesome. Maybe I can get Jared to take a picture of the note, he kept it. But it was so completely unexpected and wonderful, I laugh now as I think about it. Seeing Jared and my family was great enough for one day, but choir and a kind waiter. That was amazing.

Jared took me home after that and I went inside and watched a movie with my whole family. It was this movie that I had bought Sarah for her birthday. It is called Condor Man and it is an old disney movie. I can't say it is a childhood classic memory or anything, Sarah just found out that Michael Crawford was in it and had to watch it. It was very amusing. And after the movie was over, Anna and I talked to nearly two hours until around two in the morning (until I kicked her out and told her I had to sleep). Haha.

I love home.
It is all so wonderful.
Being away has made me appreciate it even more!

Well, I finished my two exams this week.
I finished my two lab reports for today (15 and 9 pages).
I have another lab today.
I have a quiz tomorrow.
Another lab tomorrow.

I get to come home this weekend for Sarah and Dad's birthdays and the Magi festival (because Jared is singing 'Give me Jesus').

And two more exams Monday and Tuesday.

But I decided to update you all on the blogging world
(I didn't feel like updating last week because you all are slacking on the updates!!)

Here is this weeks updates:

* Hannah updated a lot.
* Sarah raised Rachel one video.
* Luke has nothing to say.
* Rachel raised Sarah seventeen avatars - but still fails to beat the Darcy proposing video.
* Mrs. Taylor keeps on updating.
* Linnea is in England and misses Ben still.
* Jamie translates a tea box.
* Mrs. Shelton has a 'K'new picture of Krue.
* Sienna is training rats!! What fun.
* Mr. Howard keeps the quotes coming.
* Brae and has pictures of her adorable mother.
* Why anyone would pay money for dead fish and seaweed is beyond me.
* Ben flew a stage, but failed to explain what it is...
* And lastly Mrs. Peipon has been very faithful lately!!! Read all of her latest posts.

I didn't check anyone on the bottom of my list. So they may have posted. BUT I really doubt it and I have to go do a lab report. So...I'll see you all at thanksgiving. Post on.

Don't you think 11/11/11 would be the greatest wedding date ever!!!

11.11.11

Look at that number.

It is so beautiful.

Bella/John-it is you (I have loved)

This is dedicated to Hayley and Sarah.
Miss you both.
I've watched this at least 30 times this weekend.
No one else will appreciate this like you two. :)

EDIT:
I didn't say, no one else will appreciate this... I just said, no one else would appreciate it LIKE you two.
I meant it in the way that, I have watched it so many times with them that they would appreciate it in the same way that I would.
Yes, I knew that Mrs. Shelton, and Linnea, and Rachel, and Mrs. Taylor (to name a few) would appreciate this, but I was dedicating the post to Sarah and Hayley (two of my dear friends - who I miss terribly right now and can't wait to see). So, maybe that all makes sense. It wasn't meant as a slight to everyone else. I am sorry if it came off that way.

This will be my weekend post... I should be studying for one exam, that I knew about, and two that just popped in and surprised me. Professors are like the, full of surprises... Not surprises like Christmas surprises or a single flower handed to you by a close friend (I love single flowers... reminds me of Beauty and the Beast). But mean, nasty surprises, like finding out that Gollum is your long lost brother and is coming to live with you or something alone those lines.

In memory of my Cape Cod trip last week, here are two photos. The rest are coming... Either Anna or Sarah will post them or I will when I find some free time. Mini Moke pictures and more coming soon to a blog near you!

Two Pictures:
1) This is a truck that is sometimes parked in the faculty parking outside of physics.
Maybe Jared can tell me what kind of truck it is.

2) Jared - working in a Vitamin factory.
Haha.

A huge thank you goes out to my Dad, for making this post possible. :)
I love you Dad!
I can't wait to see you on Saturday.
** If: You are my Dad, click on the picture and you'll see my lab screenshot.

** Else: you are anyone else, you can also click on the screenshot from lab, but it won't make any sense to you. And I bet it will just bore you.

I spent the night at Rebecca's house last night.
I had a blast and we so thankful that she let me crash in her apartment last night.
I really enjoyed being on campus this morning, but I think I would feel trapped and just want to get off campus, if I lived on campus. There are way too many people my age on campus. Although, it does make getting to classes so much easier. Rebecca offered me a room in their apartment, which would be so awesome, but UMD doesn't let us transfer students in. Maybe I should talk to housing again and see what they would say. Either way, I am missing out on so much of life.

Anyhow, I have lots of homework and labs to write up. So here is one photo from our trip that I will post. It is something I found up in Cape Cod. Mrs. Peipon made it a while ago. :)

A quote from ESPN just to make your day, "Florida received 63 first-place votes and 1,788 points from the 72-member national media panel to easily outdistance North Carolina, which got the other nine No. 1 votes and 1,704 points."

Carolina is ranked pre-season in second place!!!

I am glad they aren't number 1 because then they aren't underdogs and it is more fun to cheer for the underdog. I really want to frost my hair light blue when they play UMD. :)

Oh and

UNC on

Sunday
02/25/07
at Maryland

at 5:30pm.

I'm waiting all day a soon as church ends for this one.
Outside in the cold.
First row seats (okay, second row will be okay too).

I have an exam at four today and then I may post about my weekend, but probably it will be later this week.

For those of you who don't know, I took a Fall break (since UMD doesn't give a Fall break, I decided the week with only one exam, a lab report, and homework due in four classes would be the easiest week I would get). Anna and Sarah picked me up on Thursday evening and we headed up to Cape Cod. Mrs. Peipon's sister and her husband are amazing people. I had so much fun at their house. They pampered us the entire time we were there. They even beat us soundly in mexican train dominos. Wow. It was really good to get away and eat buckeyes and cranberry mustard (not together, of course). Haha.

Okay, I have to go study.
I'll write more later.

And coming soon... pictures of GT and the mini moke. :)

Summer 2010

Trip to Maine and Cape Cod and Vermont!

I'm leaving for Cape Cod with Sarah and Anna

in an hour and a half!

So that means, you all should post while I am gone.

So I have something to look forward to when I get back.

POST A LOT!!!

haha.

You won't.

But I can dream.

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Colossians 1:13-22 (ESV)

A few things that continually amaze me:
* All things hold together in Him.
(Stop and reread that. This especially makes me in awe after spending so much time studying physics and engineering...the power and majesty that is behind this simple idea is mindblowing...I can't grasp even a little part of it)
* We have been reconciled, by Him and not by anything we have done.
(Stop! Think about that for a while as well)
* We have been transfered into His kingdom.

Things I wonder:
* Why don't I live this?
* Why do I let stupid little earthly matters get me down?!?!
* Why am I not more appreciative?

Christmas Present!

I love Delirious!

This post is for my mother.

P.S. Mom, when you click on the link, have your speakers on!!

Shoot me now!
That was the worst exam on the history of the planet.
Worse, by far, then a Dr. McK three hour quantum exam.
WHY make a practice exam easy and then make the real on nothing like it?!?
Grrrr.
I'll post more when I get out this class.

Oh partial credit to my Dad for coming up with SOS and SIS in my little word quiz in the last post. But still not correct answer... Mr. Howard asked how many letters it has... I'll say that it has an odd amount of letters not greater than seven or less than five. Haha.

So Jamie guessed the word,
so the answer is in the comments of my blog:
In case you still want to guess:
- Odd amount of letters
-Between 5 and 7
- Same upside down as it is right side up...

Figure it out! :)

EDIT
Mrs. Taylor or anyone that was there.
I WANT REFORMATION POSTS!!!
I missed being there so much yesterday.
I almost cried a few times thinking about all the fun I was missing.
The Reformation Children's party is always one of my favorite holidays.
I love it.
I miss it.
I want to hear about it!!!
Thanks to Anna for a few pictures, but I want MORE!!!