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.

This is one reason I love and miss my sister. Today she sent me a message that said, " * Why can’t Walter be my drawing master?"

To which I replied, "Why can’t Gilbert be in my school?"

And from there we went back and forth for the next hour with the following. Brownie points to the person who could name each and every referenced movie, book, and/or musical... heh. My favorite is by Sarah... It is, "Why don't we have a farm boy?" I laughed out loud when I received that one. I love you, Sarah! So much. Oh, I get to see you tomorrow. I am so excited. :) Oh, and Hayley, the second to last one was for you. I don't know if anyone else would get that quote. haha. I can't wait to see you either tomorrow. WOOHOO!

* Why can’t Mr. Bingley move to my neighborhood? And bring his friend?
Why can’t John Harmon work in my house?
* Why can’t Peter Warne ride on my bus?
Why can’t Marius sit in my park?
* Why can’t Prince Phillip haunt my forest?
Why can’t Percy rescue my brother?
* Why can’t Raoul rescue my scarf?
Why can’t Laurie move next door to my family?
* Why can’t Will Darcy find me strangely attractive?
Why can’t I take my father’s place in a haunted castle?
* Why can’t John Preston convict me of sense offence?
Why can’t Batman be my childhood friend?
* Why can’t my brother go on strike with Jack Kelly?
Why can’t Hans Solo find me in a prison cell?
* Why can’t Dr. House be my doctor?
Why can’t Wooster try to get on of his friends to marry me?
* What can’t I lose my gravity so that a handsome young prince can be willing to die for me but he doesn’t and we live happily ever after?
Why can’t Peter Parker live next to me or work in my office?
*Why can’t someone fall in my well and then help me watch the sheep?
Why can’t I be the governor’s daughter?
* Why can’t I marry the son of a sea cook?
Why can’t George serve me ice cream?
* Why don’t we have a farm boy?
Why can’t Prince Rillian be trapped under my house?
* Why can’t Robin Hood take me to Sherwood Forest?
Why can’t Jamie Boy kiss me?
* Why can’t Murphy watch me play the violin?
Why can’t Benedict write me sappy poetry?
* Why can’t I throw Buck’s flowers in the trash can?
Why can’t Rhett drive my buggy?
*Why can’t Humphrey Bogart let me get on the plane?
Why can’t Indi rescue me?
*Why can’t Captain Wentworth write me a letter?
Why can’t Jack be stranded on my Island?
*Why can’t Jack be my pumpkin king?
Why can’t Andrew come fix my room?
* Why can’t Woody help me defect from Russia?
Why can’t Woody be my cowboy?
* Why can’t Horatio Hornblower captain my ship?
Why can’t I argue with a kidnapped boy?
*Why can’t I watch Captain Von Trapp’s children?
Why can’t I bee a lonely stubborn school teacher out west somewhere?
* Why can’t Landon Carter promise not to fall in love with me?
Why can’t Captain Blood anchor his ship in my port?
* Why can’t Cornelious Hackel put on his Sunday clothes to come visit me?
Why can’t I twist my ankle while chasing a blue patch of sky?
* Why can’t Jimmy live in my town?
Why can’t I discuss politics and slave trade with a man who sings amazing grace parliament?
* Why can’t my shoe be the smallest in the kingdom?
Why can’t loops be my pilot?
* Why can’t I go singing in the rain?
Why can’t I be the lost penny that keeps coming back?
* Why can’t I be stranded in the desert with Dirk Pitt?

I asked to get my hair trimmed on Saturday...
After losing about six to eight inches (it depends on where you measure the loss), it came out pretty cute.
I am mourning the fact that I can't braid it any longer. :(

Friday... long hair Saturday, short hair...

More short hair and Jared.

Okay, story for today about the song that is stuck in my head. There are two parking lots that I can park in at college park. If I park in any of the others I get an 80 dollar ticket. So I can park in 11b or I can park in 11c. 11b is a huge parking lot, maybe 1000 spots... It is seven rows of cars and it stretches on forever. The parking spaces are also extremely small and I hate parking my huge car in a normal size spot. Well, lot 11c is only about 100 cars and it is closer to engineering and joy of all joys, they have huge parking spaces!! So if I get there between 8 and 9:30, then I can usually find a spot there. But on Tuesday and Thursdays I have a class at 11. So unless I come to school early, I shouldn't be able to find a spot there. I never could last year after ten.

Well, this year I haven't parked in 11b once! Every morning when I get to school there is one random spot let in 11c. The person who turns in right after me probably is cursing at me for taking the last spot. I think it is awesome how God does things to make our lives good. I got out of my car this morning and this song had popped into my head and before I realized it, it was out of my head and I was singing it. heh. Yeah, imagine me in the middle of the parking lot singing. It was pretty funny when I realized what I was doing. But then I thought about it; God is to be praised all the time, right? So isn't that what we should always me doing?!? His praise should ever be on our hearts and in our mouths.

So that is the point of this entry, to remind you to take time to praise God today for his wonderful blessing in your life, for how he provides things to make you smile and cares about the little details. And then I would like to praise God for caring enough about parking spaces! He must really love me. I've got a project to finish by tomorrow morning, so I have to go. But here are the lyrics that are stuck in my head. Jeff Deyo used to be the lead singer of Sonic Flood. This is from his solo cd. I really like it. It is pretty old now. I like the instumental version of this song. It is one of my favorites!

Some would say that You cannot be found
And some would say that You are far away
But I know You're the God who lives in me
And I know You will always have my heart.

'Cause you are good
And Your love endures forever
You are good
And Your love endures forever
You are good
And Your love endures forever
You are good, you are good.
- Jeff Deyo

So I thought I would post two photos of me from school for your general amusement.

1) Me eating Chipotle. I wish we had a Chipotle in Salisbury. They are the best Mexican fast food around! Amazing, enough said!

2) Me sleeping in the back of my car. Whenever I get tired during school, I walk out to my car, roll down the windows and take a nap. I also study in my car. The backseat is very nice. I lay out on it with my feet hanging out the window. I am sure it is amusing looking. Jared tells me that I am acting like a homeless person. So here is my homeless person school picture. Enjoy.

I finally got a planner today. I have never used one before because I could normally remember all the things I had to do. Then this semester hit. I thought I was busy, but it wasn't until I wrote down next weeks schedule that I realized how busy I am. Okay here is a glance at my work load next week... Oh and let me mention that three of my professors like to give pop quizzes, so those haven't been mentioned. I had three of those last week.

Monday
Packaging Homework (7 problems)


Tuesday
Heat Transfer Homework (6 problems)
* these problems usually take about 1-2 hours a problem

Heat Transfer Pre-Lab (6 questions/problems)
* This took me about three hours last time.


Wednesday
Controls Homework (6 problems)
* Last homework took me at least two hours a problem. I turned in 12 (8-1\2 x 11) pages of material for only four problems. I haven't looked at this weeks...

HVAC Project (4 different parts and a report)
* I have put in about twelve hours into this project so far and I'll spend a lot of time this weekend writing the report.

Heat Transfer Lab Report
* I spent about three hours on my last one. We work in groups! Hooray for groups.


Thursday
Studio write up for Controls (three problems on the computer)
* These problems take about two hours to do a problem. Then I have to write about them and put them into a report format.

Materials Homework (6 problems)
* These problems only take about an hour to do a problem. Yay, easy stuff.


So that is next week. I have included my class schedule at the bottom so you all can see that too (actually it is really for my Dad and Jared and anyone else who is asking for it - Here is the link to the full size one on my flickr). I am only blogging now because I just finished classes for the week and I feel like I have free time (haha). I should go start homework. I better start checking things off that list up there.

My Mother has come to visit me!!

She came with presents of food! She brought me lemon poppy seed muffins, white chocolate chip and coconut cookies, italian chicken, whole wheat pasta, bananas, apples, mango, yogurts, and more!! heh. She is so sweet. I can now sleep in peace for three days. :) I love my Mom!

A few random things that make me smile throughout the crazy days...

* Going to my Heat Transfer TA's office and hearing him speak. It is such a glorious change to hear a rich southern accent (he's from Alabama, I think) instead of some gibberish that I can't comprehend. It is wonderful. Today I was sitting on the floor of his office while he was showing us how to do homework and he jumps out of his chair and says, "I can't let a lady sit on the floor." heh. Imagine it with a thick slow southern accent. BEAUTY! It is such a great change of pace from fast talking foreigners.

* My Controls Professor who likes to say, "bloody"... as in, "We move over this whole bloody mess to the other side of the equation." It almost makes him English. It is as close as I will ever get to an real English professor. Haha. I smile each time he says it.

* Hearing Christopher Lee called during roll every morning in Materials and imagining the real Christopher Lee being there. Think about it... It is great.

* Getting to see Francis in Electronic Packaging and having him make fun of me.

* Seeing and Laughing with and discussing important things with my small group girls on Monday nights! I cherish those times.

* Thinking about Luke doing impressions during dinner on Saturday night. Yes, that is right, my dear parents and wonderful brother came and took me out to dinner on Saturday. It was so much fun! I loved seeing them!

* Joe teasing me at dinner and me teasing him back. I like having dinner with the Howard's. They make me smile. They are so unique. But aren't we all... God has such an imagination!

Once again, I apologize for the lack of writing that I am doing on my blog. I don't have any spare time. It is rather insane. I haven't been writing letters or cards or even journalling because I have been so insanely busy. I pretty much do schoolwork every waking hour. It is madness. I am enjoying my semester. I'm learning a lot of great stuff, not just about school, but about myself and life. It is good. I like where I am in life. God is good. He has blessed me richly. I just wanted to take the time to say that. God is good.

Well, as you can see from my lack of blogging, I've been rather busy. I went home last weekend to be with my family during my Grandmother's death. I spent most of Friday and Saturday doing homework. It was great to be in my own church on Sunday. I would suggest that you all go to Mr. Nyce's Emotions class. It was very interesting. You know it has to be good because after taking sociology with Mr. Nyce during freshman year, I told everyone that I refused to take another class with him ever again. heh.

Sunday I tore myself away from my house, drove back to Silver Spring and did more homework and labs and went to bed. Monday was school. Classes are interesting. I may talk about them later; I just don't have any time right now. I like learning. Let's just say that. I enjoy having the chance to learn about how God's world works. It is neat to see how it is put together. You really start to understand how amazing God is when you see how each and every piece of the world works together. It is so complex. It is incredible to learn about. Everything is so detailed and exact.

Monday night was small group. Last year small group was nice to have a group of girls to talk to, but I wasn't really part of the group because I was the new kid. Now there are insides jokes and it is just a much deeper level than last year. I like it a lot better. After study we sat around and talked for an hour. We are doing Romans this year!! I love Romans! I'm very excited about that. :D It was nice to sit around and laugh with people that listen to you and care about your life. It is nice to connect.

After small group we went down to walk out to our car and as we opened the dorm door (where we were meeting for small group) it started to pour! It was crazy. It was that wonderful warm summer rain. We had to walk to our cars and we figured we were going to get wet anyhow (our cars were so far away), so we ran around in the ran, barefoot, splashing in puddles, and looking like crazy people. I love the feeling of warm rain on my skin. I love getting soaked in a good shower. It is just one of those great things about life that I really enjoy. It is great to get wet and it is even better to change into dry clothes when you get home. Ah! I love warm summer rain! It made me smile. It made life more happy, being able to enjoy something as simple as rain.

Tuesday I went to classes and did homework and rushed around all day from class to lab to office hour to homework help session. It was pretty crazy. Then I went to the grocery store to buy snack food for school and dinner. You'll probably get a kick out of my dinner, like the lady in Giant did. I ordered three slices of ham lunch meat a a slice of cheese because I didn't have anywhere to store the extra. I was only buying nonperishable items. heh. The lady behind the counter thought that was amusing.

Then I went back to school for a great concert! I wish I had known that it would be so awesome or I would have told you all about it. I didn't really remember until someone called me and asked me if I was coming. ha. It was this guy called Matthew Smith (no not the one that I worked for this summer). He is part of the igrace movement (indelible grace - igrace.com). They take old hymns and put them to new tunes and then tour around and sing them to different places. They are really neat. Yes, I love old hymns and I love the old tunes, but I really like some of these new tunes too. Some of them sound sort of funky and weird and sort of the same after a while, but that isn't what I love about them. I love that I get to learn the words to all these new hymns that I have never had the chance to learn before. I have a few new favorites! Now I want to go hear how the old ones sound. It is just a neat ministry. I think it a wonderful awesome great idea! I love the fact that they are making kids interested in hymns again. I think it is cool. I love igrace stuff.

So that was last night. It was a very worshipful concert (I mean, it is all hymns...heh). And I got to see all my RUFers and fellowship with them. Tonight I am having dinner with one of them and we have large group RUF and then tomorrow night is the West Virginia vs. MD football game on ESPN (well, we are watching it in person here on campus - you can watch it on ESPN if you want - haha). And Friday I am trying to get a trip to DC together and then on Saturday a bunch of us are playing Frisbee golf. And whenever I have time I will squeeze in homework, lab reports, studio pre labs, and studying for my tests next week.

Oh and a final note... If any of you want to come stay at the house during the next two weeks, I am taking registration now. heh. First come first serve to stay in the house with no air conditioning while I go to school and keep me company in the evening while I do schoolwork. I might even fed you. Ha.

Oh and really this is the last thing, I am dedicating this hymn to Sarah Meadows. I call it the Sarah Meadows song. I heard it and I had to buy this cd from Matthew Smith for this song. There are a lot of other good hymns on the cd, but I would have just bought it for this hymn. So this is dedicated to Sarah, who is taking a leap of faith and moving almost the entire country away because she trusts God. I miss you beautiful woman and I can't wait to see you again at Christmas time. I'm praying that God will show you clearly his perfect will and until then that he will give you a wonderful peace as you continue! Salisbury misses you. :)

I do not ask to see the way
My feet will have to tread;
But only that my soul may feed
Upon the living Bread.
’Tis better far that I should walk
By faith close to His side;
I may not know the way I go,
But oh, I know my Guide.

Refrain

His love can never fail,
His love can never fail,
My soul is satisfied to know
His love can never fail.

And if my feet would go astray,
They cannot, for I know
That Jesus guides my falt’ring steps,
As joyfully I go.
And tho’ I may not see His face,
My faith is strong and clear,
That in each hour of sore distress
My Savior will be near.

Refrain

I will not fear, tho’ darkness come
Abroad o’er all the land,
If I may only feel the touch
Of His own loving hand.
And tho’ I tremble when I think
How weak I am, and frail,
My soul is satisfied to know
His love can never fail.

Refrain

In the land of fadeless day,
Lies “the city foursquare,”
It shall never pass away,
And there is “no night there.”

God shall “wipe away all tears”
There’s no death, no pain, nor fears;
And they count not time by years,
For there is “no night there.”

All the gates of pearl are made,
In “the city foursquare,”
All the streets with gold are laid,
And there is “no night there.”

All the gates shall never close,
To “the city foursquare,”
There life’s crystal river flows,
And there is “no night there.”

There they need no sunshine bright,
In “that city foursquare,”
For the Lamb is all the light,
And there is “no night there.”

For my Grandmother, who will be in the city foursquare soon. Soon all her sufferings will be at an end. Next time I see her she will have a new body, one that isn't full of pain and inperfections. What a glorious day that will be! We can rejoice is glorious hope. It just hurts sometime...

Revelation 21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

I LOVE my materials class! It is just really intersting to learn the structure of element and why they are stronger or weaker and what their density is and all sorts of interesting facts. The hour and a half class flies by. I love classes like that. I am almost disappointed to leave every day. I want to sit there and learn more. Anyhow, I did learn a random fact today during the class which I thought you all might appreciate... It is about Fiestaware.

We were talking about metals and uranium came up and my teacher started telling us how she tested a fiestaware plate one time and it had more radioactive material in it than any of the other lab materials that she was testing. I was like, "what!" So, I looked it up; it is true. They used to color the orange and red with uranium because of its vivid coloring. How wild is that?!? So although you might want to collect older fiestaware bowls, plates, and cups... it might be better for your health if you stick with the newest lines of products. heh.

1936 – 1943 Fiesta red was produced using natural uranium
1959 – 1969 Fiesta red Fiesta Ware was produced using depleted uranium
1969 - 1973 Fiesta red Fiesta Ironstone was produced using depleted uranium
Link to article about it.

Here are a few random photos from the past couple weeks...

This is me two Sunday's ago with my flowers! Aren't they pretty? I tell people I found them while I was cleaning out my car... heh.



This is from waiting to get my license updated. When I got there the sign read B97. So I was like, sure I will wait. There were five desks open. So I was like twenty numbers divided my five desks, that makes four people per desk, I know each person can't take more than five minutes. Well, an hour and a half later I wondered what in the world was going on at the desks when you went up there. Finally it was my turn and I only took three minutes (yes, I timed it). I don't know what was going on with everyone else, but I sat down, took my picture, signed my name, answered a few questions, and walked out of the door a happy person (happy to finally be leaving).

This is the windows of my RUF leader's parent's beachhouse that a bunch of my RUF friends and I stayed in two weekends ago. All of the windows had colored glass in them. I love colored glass, almost as much as frosted glass. But if you look hard you can see the water out the window. It was beautiful each day looking out the windows and spending time outside. We went boating in the bay and swimming in the Ocean. We sat around and sang hymns and read the bible and discussed God's wonderful grace. We walked the boardwalk and I bought Dad carmel popcorn (it's tradition) and I had cream of crab soup at Phillips (YUM). If I liked the beach, it would have been a perfect weekend, but I don't really like the beack, so it was just good. haha. It was nice and relaxing.
And this is a shot of from my seat in the back of the van when we went white water rafting about a month ago. It was really tight in there. There were four of us on the back bench seat.

Emily and John were in the back with me and Anna (but you can't see her).

I should post something... maybe about how I like two of my six professors (which is now only five because I dropped one of my classes today!!! WOOHOO! I am down to 15 credits instead of 18)... maybe about how I have spend my labor day weekend or how I went geocacheing with Sarah Meadows and Anna or made fudge with Jared for Grandipop or played and was beaten in labyrinth by my siblings or how I am going the the Franklin's for a picnic today or how I love my church and was so happy to be home or how I really like RUF this year or how my RUF trip to Ocean City went (and posted photos) or how my parents are amazing and I can't believe how much my mother does for me and everyone else around her or how I am thankful for all the meals people have brought her and my family... but I just don't have the time. So maybe sometime this week, when I get back to school and have countless hours of free time (ha ha); maybe then I will have time to post.
Until then, enjoy life!
God is good even when life is hard.

This is one of my favorite poems. I have it hanging over my bed. I've had it there for a while. The funny thing is, Jared does too. I was talking about this poem that I had hanging over my bed one day and he was like, "What?!? I have that poem hanging over my bed too!" It was weird. That was many years ago. I still have it hanging on the wall behind my bed. And soon it will be going back up to 9501 with me to start off the new school year.

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

One town

40 Kids

No adults

Looks interesting...

Here is a really interesting article by C.J. Mahaney.

Cravings and Conflicts

On the cross, the Son of God resolved the most serious conflict: the conflict between a holy God and wicked sinners. It has been settled, completely and forever, through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The ultimate relational conflict has been totally resolved. Our sin is worse than we think, but God's grace is greater than our sin.

Because that infinitely serious conflict with God has been resolved, there is hope for resolving every human relational conflict. When we have humbled ourselves before God through repentance, we are then equipped by grace to seek interpersonal resolution. With our sins against God forgiven, we can begin to find reconciliation with others.

And here is the scriptures for you to read.

James 4:1-10
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.

3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

In case you all were wondering, today is:

Rollar Coaster Day

Tell a Joke Day

and

True Love Day.


I wonder who makes these things up?

Click here to see more days this year.
I'd be more excited if I had the day off work for all of them.
ha ha.

VICTORY!!!

A year later, after walking all over campus going to visit eight different people's offices, and emailing countless other people, after sending in course syllabis and arguements to why I should get credit for my Short Story class, after many tears and frustrations with the Maryland school system, I finally have credit for all four of my classes that they wouldn't give me credit for before. They transfered in three of them right before I left this semester, which was exciting, but this is one that I would have had to take over again, if I hadn't gotten it. So I have been fighting for it all summer. Finally, after all that, I have credit for it and can graduate happy (well, make that I CAN graduate...see that HL CORE he tagged on the end there...I need to have one of those clases to graduate...I now do)!! Hooray. This makes my day! I don't have to retake short story. Maybe to celebrate I will post a few of my favorite short stories on here and we can discuss them. Some of them really stick with you.

Have any of you read the Lottery? Paul's Case? Those are two of my favorites. I'll have to go home and look up the rest. Any comments about short stories? Looking back, I enjoyed reading most of them. Some of them were a little weird (like the Swimmer, or the story about the man with the wings). Yeah, I'll have to pull out that old book and flip through it.

Cheers.

Dear Transfer Credit Center:

Please update the following student's record, along with changing the current course equivalence, as noted below:

Faith H***** (********)
514040 - University of Delaware (0401) ENGL210, Introduction to the Short Story is equivalent to the following UMD course: ENGL278 and HL CORE

Thanks!

Kevin M. R*******

Oh and I have one more non major class to take before I graduate. It has to be a history of art or an art class or I just found the one I think I am taking... I a music class. It in an intro to theory class. I think it would be fascinating. I'll have to think about it, but I am pretty sure this is what I want to take. It is either this or intro to film. But who wants to sit around and watch movies and write papers about them? I mean, some movies might be interesting, but I would probably have to watch a lot of crap that I don't want to. I'd rather learn about music and how it is made.

MUSC140 Music Fundamentals I; (3 credits) Grade Method: REG/AUD. CORE History or Theory of Arts (HA) Course. USP Distributive Studies Area C: Literature and the Arts Course.
Limited to non-music majors. Introductory theory course.
Notation, scales, intervals, triads, rhythm, form and basic aural skills.