Go watch Matt and Jared sing.

:)

I am SO excited!!!

Front Cover

I'm taking a break between my two exams today to eat Chick-fil-A and tell you all that Laura Dye is amazing (she was Stef's wedding photographer)... If you want to see the final book she put together for the wedding, go here. It is incredible. Great job, Laura! Also, more cool points for Laura because her husband's name is Jared, which is one of the coolest names ever! heh.

Happy People

I love the one of Stef and Leslie.

So cute.

And I love the one of Stef playing the piano because it reminds me of some random fun that we last had together. I think that is why I love the one of all the bridesmaids trying to catch goldfish. I was hungry, we were in a nursey, anyone who has seen me at church knows I normally get goldfish between services. :)

This is one of my favorite hymns! I hope you all enjoy it as well. I may have posted it before, but I am posting it again because it keeps going through my head. We sang this at RUF the week that my Grandmother died. I was crying during the last verse. It had never hit me before that we are free from the fear and dread of the tomb. We leave this world and we are ever before his glorious face. How wonderful is that? That being said, the third verse is the one that I relate to the most. It is easy to forget that God has given you the gifts that you have. Well, maybe not forget, but take for granted... Anyhow, I love this song. I hope to have you all hear all these great hymns sometime. They are wonderful old pieces of music.

Jesus, I Come

1. Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

2. Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

3. Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

4. Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

If you want to hear the first and second and third verses... click here.

Oh and Mom, if you need another Christmas present, I want the Igrace V cd.

You can buy it here.

That is the fifth cd. It is great!

Combo number three looks really awesome as well, but that could wait for my birthday. Or buy it now and give me the other three cds for my birthday and the fifth one for Christmas. :D

Love love love.

You can even listen to some of it there.

Joe and Mary took me on a study break tonight. I was in my room all day studying until they came home tonight and took me out to see the Mormon Tabernacle lights. They were pretty neat (the fact that they were LED lights there was neat). The visitor center there is sort of creepy because it is like Christian with a bunch of weird stuff mixed in. It is just weird. But seeing LED lights was really awesome!
Then on the way home we road by a few decorated Christmas houses down on the edge of DC. Yes, I was in DC tonight!! :D You know that makes me happy. I love DC. It is so interesting. So then Joe decided that we were really close to the actual Silver Spring in Silver Spring. So we drove over there and Mary and I had to get out and go look at the actual Silver Spring. It was really small. heh. But I have seen it now! Good history lesson mixed in there with the fun.
Then Joe had us fun in giant and we each picked out our favorite ice cream because the house was getting a little low on ice cream. All we have had for the last few weeks has been vanilla. I love chocolate and mint chocolate. My absolute favorite is chocolate peanut butter by turkey hill. Actually it is chocolate malt by Turkey Hill, but that was a special summer flavor that they had many years ago. So the actual flavor that they still make, that I love, is chocolate peanut butter. But that chocolate malt was amazing!!! It was perfect right when it had been sitting out for a while and was getting soft and melty. Yum. The first time I ever had it was at the Huntingtons!! Woohoo!
So that was my evening. I love the Howards. Joe and Mary make my life so much fun. I love living with them. Life gets so interesting and fun. :) I wish I had more free time to do stuff with them. I need to see the Botanical Gardens Christmas display. But there is no time before I leave, maybe sometime between Christmas and New Years... I don't know.
Anyhow, I hope you are all making time for fun activities and not sticking your head in a book. :) See you all in Salisbury in six days!!!

I woke up at 5:30 am. It was dark. I took a shower and got dressed. It was still dark. I made my breakfast and left the house. It was still dark. I drove to campus and walked across campus in the dark. It is so hard to get moving when it is dark outside. I like to sleep when it is dark. I don't mind getting up early, if it is light outside or if at least becomes light during sometime during the whole morning routine. First exam in an hour and a half. So in three and a half hours, I will only have three more exams until home!!!

I love plays!!! Joe and Mary (actually Mary couldn't go because she was caroling with the church, but I was Joe's date - Jared agreed to share me for the night - heh) took me to see this with hundreds of their grandchildren (well, not quite that many, but there are a lot of them). Although, I think Salisbury Christian did just as good of a job, this was quite delightful as well. :) I need to go to more plays... which reminds me, I can't wait to see Charley's Aunt! I love the theatre!! I also realized how sad Fiddler is - the whole play is rather bittersweet.

This is a thank you to Hayley and Sarah, as well, for the coolest birthday present ever for my twentieth birthday! Phantom was the most awesome play I have ever seen!! Thank you thank you thank you. I still rave to people about it.

I love snow!

However, I don't love walking around in it without my snow boots (which I left at home because I said that it never snows in December) on all the ice that is all over the sidewalks. I wish they had cancelled class either today or yesterday. It is such a mess out there. We got about five inches of snow. It snowed ALL day yesterday, from the moment I got up until when I got home last night. It is so pretty. I feel all Christmasy. :)

Love Hayley!!

Love good friends.

Love good food and wacky resturants.

Love chai tea.

Love laugter.

Love Laughing Stock!

YAY!! What a great study break. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hayley for coming to visit me and going out to dinner with me. What fun. I can't wait until our next adventure! ;) You have put me in such a good mood during this crazy week.

Thanks so much!

A few things before this week starts:

* Hayley is coming to College Park tomorrow!! We are having dinner. I am so excited because then I have something to look forward to all day! Woohoo.

* Two, the sermon was really good today. I will try to get around to typing up a few notes. I'm a little typed out right now and I still have one more report to write.

* Three, I have two projects due tomorrow and one on Wednesday. I have been running computer simulation after computer simulation for the last three weeks, but I hadn't done any writing for the projects until Wednesday night. I started Wednesday night and wrote until Friday night. Seriously, it was all I did. I wrote 53 pages of material and formatted 51 pages of excel spreadsheets. It was insane. Today my heat transfer group put our project together. The report was 51 pages in entirety. I wrote at least half of those. My HVAC project I have written on my own. It tops out at 28 pages. I just finished the conclusion. I am so proud of it. haha. I am so glad it is finished.

* Four, Mary makes amazing ginger cookies. They are flat like ginger snaps, but they are chewy like regular cookies. I have eaten so many. I need to get the recipe. They are amazing!!

* Five, Maryland soccer is disappointing. They scored twice in the first half. It was 30 some degrees last night. The entire night they were pounding away at the other teams goal, but couldn't get anything else to go in. It was chilly. I needed more than four layers. With only two and a half minutes left they let the other team score and the they let them score again with only 30 seconds left. It was freezing. I should have brought a blanket. So they went into overtime. I should have brought two blankets. No one scored and they went into a second overtime and I was all excited because I love shootouts (as long as I am not in them). I couldn't feel my feet. But the other team scored with a minute left. I hobbled out to the car because my feet hurt so much. It was cold. The guy behind us laughed like this, "ck ck ck ck ck". It made us laugh. I LOVE SOCCER!!

* Six, I have finished two of my three homework sets due this week. I don't know when I will finish the last one . It is due Tuesday at five.

* Seven, I can't wait until Wednesday. Then I will be done all my projects. WOOHOO! Almost as exciting as Hayley coming to visit (in case you forgot, see point one).

Bedtime.

EDIT: Apparently I also have a lab due this week. I just checked my email before going to bed and he sent an email out two minutes ago that assigned a lab this week. The report is to be written during class and handed in. Craziness. I love the professor, but he really does demand a lot. I love heat transfer too.

I told Jared that I want to see this play called Charley's Aunt in February. I've been looking forward to it for a while. Well, Sunday he tells me that is he going to audition because he knows I have wanted to see him act for a while. Today he tells me that he got the part of Charley!!! YAY!! Hey Jared, this could be part of my Christmas gift, if you want. :D

So people, PLAN this on to your calenders. I promise that it will be funny! It is British humor! I love British humor.

CONGRATULATION JARED!

Friday Feb. 15 2008
8:00 pm
Saturday Feb. 16 2008
8:00 pm
Sunday Feb. 17 2008
2:00 pm

Friday Feb. 22 2008
8:00 pm
Saturday Feb. 23 2008
8:00 pm
Sunday Feb. 24 2008
2:00 pm

Website.

Go once, go twice, go every night!!
It is going to be awesome!

edit: Matt Robins is going to be playing the guy that has to dress up like Charley's Aunt so it should be funny. One more reason to come. Matt Robins in a dress... And plenty of fake British Accents!!!

Give Gifts!!

or you can donate money to the family goat gift...

talk to Mom about that one.

You know you are in the final days of the semester when your professors all start writing so fast and you realize that you are holding your breath while you try to copy everything down. You also know it is the end of the semester when you learn an entire of semester of linear algebra in one class (because you were already "supposed" learn it, even though it isn't a required class, but the professor thinks it is a good tool for everyone to use... basically he says, "you will need to learn this by the final, it doesn't matter if you have never taken linear algebra, there will be questions about this on the final." ) .

Hooray for the end of the semester! These are the days of madness. Two projects are due Monday and one on Wednesday along with a project report presentation. I don't even want to look at the assigned homework, it is rather depressing.

If you get a chance, please say a prayer that I keep a good attitude about the end of the semester. I always seem to let the stress level get me down and taking five classes this semester instead of four is crazy, especially since they are all upper levels. Or feel free to drop me comments in the next three weeks reminding me to rejoice and have joy!

Oh, and one last thing... Stephanie (Hornor) Keith is one of the greatest people to get my mind off school. She called me last night and had me laughing so hard that I was crying about old memories and crazy things that we had done together. Wow! I love that girl so much!! So thank God for Steffy. I miss her so. She was always good for coming up with crazy and fun ways to distract me from doing my schoolwork.

John Newton

By faith in Christ I walk with God,
With Heav’n, my journey’s end, in view;
Supported by His staff and rod,
My road is safe and pleasant too.

I travel through a desert wide
Where many round me blindly stray;
But He vouchsafes to be my Guide,
And will not let me miss my way.

Though snares and dangers throng my path,
And earth and hell my course withstand;
I triumph over all by faith,
Guarded by His almighty hand.

The wilderness affords no food,
But God for my support prepares;
Provides me every needful good,
And frees my soul from wants and cares.

With Him sweet converse I maintain,
Great as He is I dare be free;
I tell Him all my grief and pain,
And He reveals His love to me.

Some cordial from His Word He brings,
Whene’er my feeble spirit faints;
At once my soul revives and sings,
And yields no more to sad complaints.

I pity all that worldlings talk
Of pleasures that will quickly end;
Be this my choice, O Lord, to walk
With Thee, my Guide, my Guard, my Friend.

Field greens

Mandarin oranges

walnuts

blue cheese

I bought a salad today.

I ate a salad today.

Thank you Howards.

I love blue cheese!

See these wonderful candles...

I saw these at the Huntington's house many many months ago and I commented how I loved them and I would love to buy them from Mrs. Huntintons shop when she got more in. That was quite a while ago. I love these candles because they remind me of Dr. Suess. I don't know what it is. Maybe they look like little stripped stockings on the funny little people in the books. But anyhow, I love them very much.

So today I go over there for thanksgiving and Mrs. Huntington tells me that she has a present for me. And she gives me these wonderful wonderful candles!!! I can't wait to have a house to put them out in. They are so fun and lovely. I am so happy. :D

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!


Ana Candles.

I went over to the Shelton's for dinner last night and Mrs. Shelton and Jared had a wonderful surprise for me... Mrs. Shelton made me Swedish pancakes!!! Woohoo! After over two years, I have finally gotten to eat her Swedish pancakes and boy are they good. Plus, as an added bonus, Hannah was there and I got to see her too!! YAY! Oh yum they were good, with nice warm peaches!!

Jared says I should be a food critic because I care about how my food tastes so much. haha. Well, if I was a food critic, I'd rate these among my top favorites. However, mostly everything My Mom, Mrs. Taylor, and Mrs. Shelton make are in my top favorites. ha. Anyhow, it was such a lovely surprise! Thanks guys. :D

I am going to see this tomorrow with my family! Yes, that means that I am going home tomorrow after my last class. Woohoo! Ps. Jared says this is getting Oscar buzz because of the main actress's job in the movie. Sarah showed me the trailer many weeks ago and she has been talking about going tomorrow for a while. I am very excited!!

More proof that I am a huge nerd...
Last Undergrad semester schedule!!

For a more complete explaination...
I am taking:

* ENES220 - Mechanics of Materials; (3 credits)

Stress and deformation of solids-rods, beams, shafts, columns, tanks, and other structural, machine and vehicle members. Topics include stress transformation using Mohr's circle; shear and moment diagrams; derivation of elastic curves; and Euler's buckling formula. Design problems related to this material are given in lab.

I should have taken this class a long time ago, but I didn't. So I was supposed to test out of it this semester, but that didn't guarentee an A and it was way too good of a chance to boast my GPA. So this class is what I take to pad my grade. I'm a sad little nerd when this is what I take for an easy class. HA. But I need it to graduate.

* ENME472 - Integrated Product and Process Development; (3 credits)

Integration of product development with the development process. Design strategies. Product architecture. Design for manufacturing. Selection of materials. Design for assembly. Basically, all that means is SENIOR PROJECT. This class is supposed to be a ton of work. But this is the class I have been looking forward to the ost because you get to design your own project and actually make it and market it. How sweet is that?!?

* ENME695 - Failure Mechanisms and Reliability; (3 credits)

This course will present classical reliability concepts and definitions based on statistical analysis of observed failure distributions. Techniques to improve reliability, based on the study of root-cause failure mechanisms, will be presented; based on knowledge of the life-cycle loadprofile, product architecture and material properties. Techniques toprev ent operational failures through robust design and manufacturing practices will be discussed. Students will gain the fundamentals and skills in the field of reliability as it directly pertains to the designand the manufacture of electrical, mechanical, andelectomechanical products.

Ummm, I don't really know how to explain all that. Think computer chips, then think about the plastic casing around them and then boards they sit on... yeah, this class is about how those type of things fail. It is a grad class. It should be fun.

* ENME808X - Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering: Engineering Decision Making; (3 credits)
I don't have a clue what this is about... I am thinking about swapping it out for:
ENME808Z Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering: Design in Electronic Product Development; (3 credits) it is just so much paperwork!!

New things on the links:

* Hucks Army (join) - haha
* I brought Krissy up to her own spot because she is posting again and has been for a while, I just keep forgetting to more her up. So she is now at the spot for Robins.
* I finally updated Hannah and Rachel Townsends new blogs. Check them out under links.
* I added Carolyn Webster.

If you all want anything else, let me know. I might try to get some last names up there so it is a little less confusing. But who knows... not before finals. Also, maybe a new design, maybe, if I find time.

Happy Birthday to my dear sister, Sarah!!

I love you!!!!

So my car was about five minutes from being towed tonight. Yeah, I sort of forgot there was a basketball game and I needed to more my car 3 hours before the game. I remembered at 5pm (the game was at 8). I was on the phone with Dad when I remembered. So I ran out to my car, got there are 5:15 and saw three tow trucks towing away cars in the lot next to mine. Pheww. It is a 75 dollar parking ticket and an 80 dollar towing fee if they have to tow you before a game. Plus, who knows where in the world your car gets towed to.

So then I had to drive it to another parking lot because I had a meeting a 6:30 (I guess that should say have a meeting). And so I started out at 5 from the Kim builing (where I was supposed to be at 6:30 for my meeting) and Dad was in Milford, DE. I walked out to my car and moved it maybe three tenths of a mile... maybe... in the same amount of time it took for my Dad to drive from Milford to Salisbury. Seriously. That is how bad traffic is on campus and why I walk everywhere.

So praise God that they started with the other parking lots and not mine when they started towing cars!!! Woohoo. It would have been a mess to try to get that all sorted out in the rain. Blah. Praise God for watching out for me. More proof that I don't have everything under control and I am in serious need of him. heh.

Go to the seven minute mark of this movie and hear Mike Huckabee quote Martin Luther!! He says, "And in the words of Martin Luther, ' here I stand, I can do no other' and I will not take that back!" w00t.

Mike Huckabee: "For the past ten months or eleven months people have been writing my political obituary. But what they fail to understand is that the American people are looking for a president, not a fund-raiser for the United Way."

Brit Hume: In other words, says Mike Huckabee, "Look out Mitt Romney. You may have more money, but I'm coming after you in the polls," and the polls are supporting that.

See the black line? That is Mike Huckabee in the poles since July. He's taken off with practically no TV ads or no financial support. Check out what he believes at his website!!

Second Midterms are OVER for this semester!!!!

Now I just have three projects and five finals and I am through!

Exciting... eh?

Now I am going to go be a hobo and take a nap in my car.

Today marks a huge day in my undergraduate career. It is something I have never done before in all nine other semesters of my schooling. Today I will not be turning in homework for the first time ever in my life! *gasp* Yes, but before you all go into fits and think the world is ending, let me explain. In the class that I am skipping turning in homework, I get to drop one homework, and since I already have 20/20 or 19/20s on all the homeworks and since I had one exam yesterday and two tomorrow and since I had a lab report due today, I thought the time would be better spent on studying. So celebrate with me the freedom of not having to turn in a homework set. WOOHOO! This is very exciting. I've gotta get back to studying for my exams. Right now I am waiting for my professor to show up so we can go through some questions I have about the exam. He said he would be in at 8. So I have been sitting outside his door since 7:50. heh. I can't wait to be able to sleep this weekend. In other news, I don't feel as sick today as I have in a few days. Maybe I am getting better. We'll have to see.

I heart Huckabee!

Do you??

blog

army

website

He's up into third place this week!!

He has come from zero support to now 13% of voters!!

And since Jared was the only one to take a picture of me while I was home... this is in memory of home (see my kitchen in the background). Woohoo! This is after finishing off yet another delicious cream puff made by Mom. Thanks Dad for picking me up and to Mom for making me so many good foods!! And to Uncle Bill and Aunt Suzanne for saving my life. :D

This was in my shower this morning.
It looked even scarier without my glasses on.
I didn't care how cold the tiles were outside the tub after seeing this.

I am home for the first time in over 30 days (I think 35 is the official number).
It is good to be home.

There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glory of Christmas's long long ago...

They are playing Christmas music all day long on my favorite radio station!! AWESOMENESS!! I am in such a good mood all of the sudden. heh. I love Christmas music. I just want to sit in my car for the rest of the day and listen to it. :D That is probably not a valid excuse for missing class. heh. Sing all you citizens of heaven above!!


Joseph's Lullaby - Mercy Me.

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Or does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
But Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You'll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

I am completely healthy except for a virus (common cold) and high blood pressure (125/82 ... it is supposed to be under 120/80). So she gave me this list of things to do to reduce my blood pressure:
* stop smoking
* stop drinking
* lose weight
* eat healthy

Let's look at this list shall we... I don't smoke, I don't drink. My Mom will worry about me if I lose weight. I eat three vegetables at dinner and at least three fruits between breakfast and lunch. I eat whole grain foods with nothing added to them. I drink skim milk and water. I live with the Howard's where everything is bought from Trader Joe's or is equally healthy. I really don't think I can do anything on the list. There were some other things on the list that were equally absurd, but I don't remember. So anyhow, I need to lower my blood pressure. Anyhow suggestions?!? heh. It is like my big joke right now. I even had a salad with dinner last night. Woohoo salads!! (it was the strawberry, orange, walnut, and Gorgonzola cheese salad... YUM YUM YUM).

Now if I could stop feeling tired and get rid of these spots on the back of my tounge and this annoyings runny nose, cough, and sneeze that I have had for two weeks. Maybe it has something to do with my high blood pressure...

Mom, you should be proud of me. I just got blood taken and I didn't freak out. They took blood to see if it was mono, otherwise she said it is probably a cold. I'm so tired though. It is weird. I slept from 9:20 last night to 7:20 this morning. Yes, that is ten hours of sleep. Anyhow, I can't wait to come home this weekend and rest up a bit.

In other news, my parents, Hope, and Jared came up to visit me on Saturday. We went to lunch at Chipotle (my favorite mexican resturant up here) and went to DC and hiked the Billy Goat Trail on the C and O canal. It was awesome! I had a blast. I am so glad they came. I hadn't seen Hope or Jared in over 30 days. It was a really nice day.

Back to studying. Midterms on Thursday and next Monday.

Two of the greatest joys of my life:
1. Playing sports in the rain
2. Changing into dry comfy clothes afterwards.

What more can you ask for? Maybe a cup of hot apple cidar or hot chocolate. But those are just extras. They just are so wonderful and they go together, hand in hand. It is awesome! Andrew and Chris Ahn taught Michelle and I how to frolf today. I was pretty awful. But the fun part was being outside in the pouring rain playing a sport!! Oh how I miss playing games outside with friends. Then we went puddle jumping and to our RUF flag football game, but it was cancelled. So we decided to play anyhow. It was pouring. It was AMAZING! I would have rather been playing soccer, but football is cool too. I'm just not as good at it. Anyhow, this post is really just to declare how much I love sports and being outside and how even greater it is when it is pouring down rain. Woohoo! I'm soaked. Seriously, it is raining so hard outside. It is perfect muddy sport playing weather. Go outside now and find something to throw or kick around. It will improve your mood! :D

I love this set of photos!!
Classy bridesmaids.

See more by Laura and Jared Dye!

I've always loved the jumping photo!!

I want it done at my wedding.

Fun.

So I totally just took an hour nap in my car while it was raining outside between classes. It was prefectly wonderful. I love sleeping with rain pouring down on the roof. I even have a blanket in my car now for whenever I feel like sleeping.

RUF retreat time...

This is where I was all weekend. It was so much fun and so good for me. We played basketball until three in the morning, played foosball and pictionary, took hikes through the woods, invented a new game (a cross between ultimate Frisbee and soccer), and we did a ropes course. And that was in our free time. We had four sermons, five small groups sessions, one breakout session (where we learned about different aspects of the RUF philosophy), and sang countless songs (there were at least 30 of them). Anyhow, the weekend was awesome. I can't really sum it all up really well because so much happened. But I really loved just hanging out with my friends and playing games. I miss that at home. I love doing things outdoors and no one being distracted by other things. So here are a few pictures from the weekend. There are over 90 that I have received so far, so I'll spare you.

Julia and Faith - Curly Hair unite pose!

My RUFers!!! Love them. This is after church on Sunday. If you look on the right you will see Andrew and Chris Ahn (you might see why we call him little Chris).
Starting from the right (a sentence or two will not capture how awesome these people are... but it will give you an idea to start with):
* Julia (my favorite curly haired RUFer! We have dinner at the diner every three weeks before small group so I can spend her meal points. She is one of the most energetic and real people you will ever meet. I love her!)
* Rebekah - frosh
* Sarah Bell (I love saying her name together. Her parents live in Indonesia. She is a transfer. She is also a speech therapist major. woot woot.)
*Ndang - he sings in the choir and is a chem and bio major who is going to pharmacy school in two years).
*Rebecca - my favorite freshman from last year! She is so sweet. I try to make her smile whenever I see her because she is rarely smiling. She is definitely one of my favorite people in RUF.
*Michelle - small group leader - christian bale appreciator - the person I hang out with the most this semester - we text message each other or post on each others facebooks or send emails constantly about just random stuff.
* some girl that was a friend of someone else
* Greg - my nerd computer science major. We make fun of each other for being nerds and rule at pictionary together when the words are computer related.
* me
* Tara - sweetest person ever. linguistics major. So interesting.
* Brian - one of three seniors - bio major - plays bass - is pretty awesome. Most of the guys in RUF are. they all just make me laugh so ofter.
* Sarah (gouch) - sophomore - English major - crazy fun - she is very full of life.
* Josh - Josh needs a lot more than a sentence to explain him. The pictures don't even start to describe how much fun he is to have around. Josh is the strangest person I have ever met.
* Chris - RUF leader
* Andrew - reminds me of Greg Taylor. That is probably why I love him so much. He reminds me of a little brother. We tease each other all the time and he makes me play sports with him.
* Chris Ahn - little Andrew, seriously (they both refuse to do anything that is stereotypically Asian, like ping pong, or stuff like that).

Our speaker.
Ndang! You gotta have Faith. (His name is Ndang, the N is silent).

Ropes course. That was the only rope we touched the entire time. We had to swing everyone over to a three foot by three foot platform. We had 14 people on that thing by the time we were finished!! I'm pretty proud of us. :D
Ndang swinging over the "poisen peanut butter". That is what they called it. They never told us why were were all swing out to the middle of a lake of poisen peanut butter, just that we had to do it.
This was evacuating the Titanic. We had to get everyone through the tire under a minute and a half. We made it because we were awesome.
Chris Ahn.

Me and Gouch (Sarah).
Brian Crawford and me beasting at foosball. After this we didn't play together again because it was impossible for other people to win. So we'd take on one other person on our team and challenge each other.
ME!
Other people really got into foosball. I think this picture is amazing.
These are the only pictures of us playing the game we invented. This was taken through a high powered scope on the opposite hill. The game was basically ultimate frisbee, but with a twist. At the end of the field, instead of scoring like in ultimate, you had to throw it into the goal and each end had a goalie who could swat it out of the air. We played for over an hour and a half after the historical fair we went to was boring. There was this school next door to the fair and so we walked over and started playing. It was the highlight of my trip! Seriously, I love this game. I was so sore the next day from diving on the ground so many time. But it was that good kind of sore when you are just reminded by the soreness how awesome the day before was.
Us walking off after "amish ultimate" or soccbee. We haven't quite determined the name yet.

We stopped at Turkey hill to get drinks after the game because we were all about to pass out. This is what Josh bought. Josh is crazy and makes every event fun. Normally I might be embarrassed to be around someone like this all the time, but Josh is hilarious. Everything he does is so strange. We just look at each other sometimes and say, "well that is Josh".The rest of us all bought half gallons of lemonade and tea because they were on sale. I guess that makes for 8 or so gallons of tea and lemonade. heh.
Andrew plays bass.
Brian and Andrew play bass. One of the best photos of the weekend. We were eating these really nasty chicken sandwiches and bugles for dinner. And so we look over and we see this. There aren't really any words to describe this.

In no order...

Me eating a doughnut and laying on the ground and laughing uncontrollably.

My RUFers!! Are they great!?!
Andrew eating a doughnut.
Ndang eating a doughnut (he beat me).
My RUFers on the stairs outside the Amory.
My full outfit.

A frosh and three of my small group girls, Sarah, Julia, me, and Michelle.
Andrew and me.
Chris Ahn. We call him little Andrew. He is adorable.
Me being beaten by Ndang in eating the doughnuts. So close.

Another favorite hymn...

1. Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

2. Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

3. Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

4. Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Well, Stef is married...

She was such a cute bride!

So totally Steffy. heh.

I'll try to post pictures whenever we get any.

Mrs. Shelton has photos uploaded!!!

Mother Taylor has uploaded photos!!! (warning: I look scary in the one of Sarah and me. They told me they were going to put a little makeup on me... HA!) I would like my Hannah Townsend, natural makeup look next time. :) I like the way she does my makeup. Maybe I am just not used to it. heh, I kept looking in the mirror all day and going, "who is that?" It was weird.

Next time life gets you down, here are two things to raise your spirits.

1) Wear bright colors. Get a bunch of friends together and wear crazy outfits. Then go somewhere public. More pictures coming soon.

2) When it rains in the summer, go puddle jumping! Man, this has to be one of my favorite things ever!! I'd take pictures, but I look like a drown rat. heh. Try it sometime. Summer rain smells SO GOOD!!!


Andrew Zhao!!! One of my favorite people!! Isn't he adorable?!? If I were younger I would have a crush on him, seriously. He's such a sweetheart. And he is hilarious. I love Andrew! He came up with this idea to de-stress from midterms and to surprise Chris and test his preaching abilities when all of us are dressed like crazy people. Andrew told me to wear bright colors...

Michelle, Hannah, Andrew, and me.
Michelle is the other senior, this year (there are only three of us, I don't know if I got in any pictures with Brian, I'll try to get one of him up here one of these days. Michelle makes me laugh and brings me cream of crab soup as surpirses. She is another one of my favorites!!! We send each other random and crazy text messages throughout the day whenever we need a good laugh. She was my small group leader last year. This year a couple of us are co-teaching it. We are doing Romans!

And two more of my original small group girls. The only person I didn't get a picture with was Rebecca. Then I would have all my original small group girls. Julia has the curly hair. She feeds me meals and we tell everyone that June birthdays and dark curls are the best!! Tara is in the back. She is one of the sweetest people that you will ever meet.

I'll have to tell you stories some other time. But I have to go do homework now and then get to bed so I can have breakfast with Andrew, Brian, Michelle, Julia, and Tara tomorrow morning!!

Dear World,

This is just a friendly reminder to be thankful for your air conditioners because it sure is hot outside (and inside depending on where you live). heh. We broke a record in College Park yesterday for the warmest it had ever been on that day (it was 94 degrees outside!!). Also, be thankful for the people you live with, if you live with people, because they are a joy. I find life is a little bit boring all by myself. I sure like the Grandi- Howards! Not only do they cook me good healthy food, they also teach me a lot of interesting stuff! Woohoo.

Faith

Today I'll introduce to you to professors...
I'll rate the classes next to them from 1 to 10. 10 being the best.
I'm taking three 400 levels and 2 300 level classes. woohoo. I'm almost finished!!

My HVAC professor...
2
I thought this class was going to be awesome. I was mistaken. It is the longest hour and fifteen minutes of my day. And I haven't learned anything yet. He uses powerpoints and a computer program to show us formulas. BLEH. I hate powerpoint. I can't learn with powerpoint.

My Circuit packaging class.
6
This class is a graduate level class. We are taking apart a wireless mouse for our project. Other people are taking apart the wii controller and an IPOD. We had our midterm one in this class today. It was nothing like I expected or studied for. I thought I was pretty well set. He tests differently than his homework. Live and learn. I put the black and white photo up and then realized that you couldn't see his red hair. So then I put the first on up. This professor says okay at least 100 times each lecture. No joke. But he is really nice and extremely friendly. I think I'll have him again next year, if I take the second part of this class.

My Controls Class (Vibrations 2)

8, maybe a 9 - it is my favorite class this year. It was the one I was least looking forward to because I HATED vibrations 1 and everyone said this professor was hard. But I like him. He is the one that says bloody during the lectures. heh. We also took this midterm today, it didn't seem too hard, but we'll see when I receive it back. I posted the second picture because I thought it was funny to see my professor not in dress clothes. I guess he climbed a mountain in Peru or something. Oh and he writes on the board! HOORAY! Love chalkboards!!!

Heat Transfer

6.5, maybe 7

I really liked my TA (the one from Alabama, but he had a constuction acciedent and had six hour surgury on his back and I doubt he will be coming back to be my TA anytime soon; so the class has lost a little of its charm and ease). The professor is very intelligent. He told us today to questions everything he says and never take anything he says for granted. The class isn't bad; it is certainly much better than fluids (the part one of this class)!! And the professor is so much better! He writes on the board! GLORIOUS DAY! I love when professors write on the board. I cannot express to you how much I hate powerpoints because I can't take notes and they go to fast. My brain needs notes to be able to function. I need that head to hand connection.

Materials

6

It is interesting to learn how materials get put together. I really like my professor. She is very interesting, but she uses powerpoint and I can't take notes. But she makes the class a lot of fun. I just am not to hot on memorizing all the stuff from chemisty all over again. Other than that, I enjoy the class. It isn't too much work. I couldn't find her picture.

Oh and this is a picture of a bruise that strangely appreared on my hand for an hour or so on my first day of class. Weird, eh? It then disappeared and I haven't seen it since.