birthday spectacular!

Today was an amazing day. I have enjoyed just about every minute of it. The time I had to spend in class wasn't my favorite, but even that wasn't so bad!

Today is my birthday.

I started out the day by waking up at 6:30am to go swimming. Now, you have to understand that I am the farthest thing from a morning person. I dislike mornings. I also have a really hard time waking up. I'm that person who can easily sleep through my alarm for an hour without hearing it....and everybody else in the house hears it but me. Sometimes, I push the snooze button without being aware I am pushing it. Other times, I just completely turn it off. And then there are the times I push snooze, but while I am aware I am pushing the snooze button, I don't wake up enough to comprehend what time it is, or the day of the week, and etc.

Anyway, a couple of girls I live with have been going swimming 3 days a week at the pool on campus. They have been asking me to go, but I kept choosing to sleep! But I finally gave in and went swimming with them. Best. workout. ever! I'm so glad I went! And I will keep on going! It's a good work out, it's fun, and it wakes me up for class. Used to I would wake up 5 minutes before leaving for class...literally! So I always got to class still half asleep. Not anymore though! :)

Back to the "not waking up in the morning" problem.... I have found the perfect solution. A friend got me this alarm clock for my birthday. It is the best thing ever!

Clocky, yes it has a name, has wheels. When it comes time to go off, Clocky rolls right off my nightstand and goes around my room and hides forcing me to get up and turn it off. And...when I push the snooze button, it keeps going. I should also note that Clocky is very loud and annoying. But I have successfully woken up on time everyday since receiving this gift! I love it....but I also hate it early in the morning! ;)
Also, just in case you were wondering, I did not name the alarm clock. It came with the name Clocky. How creative! haha.

After my classes were done, my mom and grandma came to visit! :) We went and ate lunch, I chose Olive Garden. It was delicious, I love their soup! After eating we went and did some shopping, then came back to my house to open presents and cards that had been sent with her from friends in Chanute! It was fun! And...my family got me a Kindle!!!!!! I was super excited. And I might add...I LOVE it!!!!

My mom also came with a cake!! Last year for my birthday, I wasn't able to go home for my birthday so I never got a birthday cake. Really, I was ok with it. But all year I have been giving my mom crap about how I never got a birthday cake. So when I was walking home from class, my mom texted me and told me she had something I needed to take inside before we left. So when I got there, they were waiting for me in the driveway so I went to get whatever it was they had...I had no idea what it was! My mom opened the trunk and handed me .....my cake! She had made me a cake! :) Isn't she the best?!?!

I forgot to get a picture before we started eating it! :) But it's my
favorite, german chocolate! Thanks mom!

Here are some random pictures from the day!

__________________________________

I don't think this was technically part of the gift from my grandma, but I was super excited!
I LOVE scarves!!! 

I put this picture up just for Dusty. He picked out my card this year. Scary I know.
Keep looking below to see what was so funny...

Yay for my Kindle! :)

Not the best of pictures, but me and my mom!

Grandma, me, and mom!

This is the card Dusty picked out for me. Notice the, "You're 2" part....:)

I had such a good day! I am glad they were able to come. It was nice to spend part of the day with them! :) And thanks to everyone who made it so awesome! All the cards, gifts, texts, and phone calls I got throughout the day made it a wonderful day! I love you all!


P.S. In this post I am saying "today is my birthday" when technically today is not my birthday. haha. But I wrote this on my birthday, just hadn't gotten around to editing it and posting it! Just didn't want there to be any confusion. ;)

chi alpha!

I don't have much to share for this post....just pictures!

Chi Alpha on Thursday night was activity night. We played.....dodgeball! Actually, they played and I watched.

I'm the person who, when playing dodgeball in school, stood in the back and laughed the whole time. Then, because I hid in the back I was the last one left. When that happened the game was over. I usually made it pretty easy for the other team to get me out just because I didn't want to be the only one left. haha

I enjoyed watching though....it was very entertaining. And the guys and a couple of the girls even got all dressed up for the occasion!

Benjamin and Rachael sharing a moment....:)

Precious!

Michael was wearing an awesome cape...although you can't really see it in this pic,
it is the only picture I have that is remotely close to getting a picture of the cape! 

Lindsay looks afraid! :)

Sam and Skip! 

Rach!

Then we went to Buffalo Wild Wings!

Tay and Rach

Tiffany, Mirah, and Sarah

Skip, Kam, and Michael

Tay!

Tiffany!

Taylor and Ben.

He is adorable.

Chelsea and Rachael

Rach! She is kind of a big deal! ;)

Rachael!!

It was a very fun night! I love Chi Alpha and all the people who are a part of it! :)

I spent the weekend at home. My parents went out of town leaving Dusty home alone. So he asked me to come home to keep him company...so I did! It was fun. I unfortunately had a lot of homework so that kind of put a damper on the weekend but that's okay. We spent a good majority of the weekend at Devin and Kelli's! Which also means I got some good quality time in with Jordan... :)

She makes for a great study buddy!

:)

Until then...

The past couple of weeks have been rough.

School has been a struggle!

Pretty much since I have been in college, school has been hard for me...but not in the way that the material is to difficult. Sure I have taken a few hard classes, but as long as I put in the time I can easily pass and do well. The problem I have is putting in the time.

I know that sounds terrible, and like I am being super lazy. But it's not necessarily that. I have a really hard time being motivated to do my homework and study for tests. I have a hard time caring about school. Again, I know that sounds terrible...but it's the truth.

For a while now, overseas missions has been on my heart. If I could, I would drop out right now and work to save up money and go somewhere. Africa and Central/South America is really on my heart. I remember being at a conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma called Acquire the Fire. I think it was my freshman year of high school but I'm not sure. That is when I first remember hearing about missions. There was a missions agency there talking about different trips they had and all the different places we could go. I think that whether I realized it then or not, God had put missions on my heart. That is also the place where I began my relationship with Christ! Sure I had grown up believing in God, reading my Bible now and then, and going to church every Sunday. But at Acquire the Fire it really clicked with me what it means to be a Christian, and that weekend I fell in love with Jesus. Best moment ever! Anyways....I am getting off topic.

Throughout high school I had yet to leave the country. I had however done different mission trips here in the states and loved it, but my heart was still overseas. And at that point I didn't know where....I just knew I wanted to go somewhere.

College came around, and I was still going to good ol' NCCC. An opportunity finally came! I remember the day Cindy asked me the question, "A group of us are going to Honduras, would you like to come?!" Without any hesitation, "YES, YES, YES!!!!!!" I was so ecstatic. I get excited about a lot of things, but I can't even explain how excited I was about this! So I went...the trip was for 10 days. I feel like I spent most of the trip adjusting to everything....I had barely been out of Kansas at this point let alone leaving the country! But during those 10 days, I fell in love. When it came time to leave, sure I was excited to see my family again, but I really didn't want to leave. And when I got home, I just really wanted to go back.

Years later, I still want to go back. I know that missions is in my future. I'm not sure what exactly that means, whether it will be short trips every so often, or permanently moving over there. Who knows....only the Lord does. But I long for the day when I go back....even if it's not Honduras. I really want to go to Africa as well as Central/South America.

Luckily I am surrounded by people who remind me that God doesn't waste experiences. I need to look at this time in my life as a preparation for what is to come...whatever that may be. And for some reason I am at Washburn getting a business degree. Most times it seems like a waste of my time and money. It keeps me from doing things that I love to do. My heart just isn't in it. As I told my friend, it would be a lot easier to care about what I am doing now if I knew what I was going to be doing after I graduate. But that means I'm not trusting God. He has given me no reason to doubt His plan for me. As I look back, everywhere he has led me so far has been better than I could have ever imagined myself. The people I have met along the way, the experiences I have had, even the hard times....they have all brought me to where I am today.

So I have to trust that God knows what he is doing. I am here right now because that is where He has me. If he called me to go to Africa next week, I would in a heartbeat. But he hasn't. Until he does, I have to keep reminding myself that this is part of his plan for me. This is where he wants me, so I will stay. It's a daily battle and probably will continue to be until the day I graduate. Until then...I will keep reminding myself that God doesn't waste experiences. I am exactly where he wants me to be at this moment. He can use me now....I don't have to be in Africa. Really we are all missionaries. God can and wants to use us now...at work, at school, at baseball practice....wherever you are at in your life He can use us to show His love to those who are around us.

But until then...I have great family and friends to help me get through and have fun along the way! :)

I had dinner and some much needed hang out time with these lovely ladies tonight!

Rach and Megh!

Meghann was literally the first person I met here at Washburn! :) It's a really cool story how God orchestrated the whole thing, but that is a story for another time. But Meghann introduced me to Rach and the three of us hit it off and became good friends. My first year at WU the three of us met up once a week. We read through Isaiah (started anyway, didn't make it all the way through) the first semester, and the second semester we studied Romans! I loved meeting up with them and just talking life, praying together, and reading the Bible together. We also started memorizing scripture together. I love these girls so very much! :) And now...Rachel is married and Meghann will be married in June! Zach and Clark are two very lucky guys! ;)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
-Proverbs 3:5-6


"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains."
-Ephesians 6:19


"He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake..."
-Psalm 23:3


"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."
-Psalm 25:4-5

A little piece of home...

I have seen 2 of my good friends from Chanute in the last 3 days!!! I don't get to see my Chanute friends very often, so when I do it is always nice to be able to catch up...even if it's only for a short time.

Thursday I got to see Kiley! She was in town for something, so we met up for an early dinner. It was so nice to see her face and get a hug. We had a fun time catching up. I loved getting to hang out with her! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture with her. :(

Thursday night also means Chi Alpha night....this week we had an outreach time. We are doing something differently, so each week of the month we do something different. The first week of each month we will have our usual Thursday Night Live service....the worship band plays a few songs and then a speaker. The second week is experiencing community.... We do some kind of outreach at Washburn. The third week we have an activity. For example, this next Thursday we will be playing dodgeball. Then the 4th week we will have a meal and a message. Becca will be contacting people to find people who will be willing to host us and make a meal. There will also be a short devotion.

I'm really excited about it and can't to see what God does. This past week we went to the dorms and knocked on doors asking if they had any trash that we could take and throw away for them. We got a lot of funny looks and someone even asked if it would cost them anything...but they were all very thankful! We had split up into groups, and unfortunately the other group didn't have any luck at the LLC....they wouldn't let them in. We had a feeling that would happen, but we were hoping for the best. Hopefully we will find a way to get in there and reach out to them!

After we went to Qdoba! Rachael wanted to try out my camera because she is searching for a new one. And then Andrew played around with it....so here are the pictures they took:

Mirah and Rach!

Good ol' fish eye effect!

Jeff

Porscha!

Becca and Sarah

yummy qdoba food! 

the cool people.
kam, michael, taylor, and eric.

Jeff and Sarah

If I accomplish nothing else in life, at least I know I have a skill
of opening my eyes really wide! ;)

Today has been a great day full of fun! I went to Lawrence this morning to meet up with another friend from Chanute. We of course made a trip to Starbucks....it's a must when we hang out! Then for lunch we went to this place, I don't know what the name of it is, but I ate sushi for the first time. And I tried so hard to learn how to eat with chopsticks....that didn't go so well. Cliff tried to teach me but I just don't think it is meant to be....eating with chopsticks should not be that difficult. I think I make it a lot harder than it is. Cliff was very patient with my lack of skill though. haha. I was able to do it a couple of times...but it took a while! Thankfully they brought me a fork for my noodles or we would have been there for hours! I didn't even have to ask for one....our waitress must have seen how terrible I was! :)

We had to document this great moment with pictures of course...

Trying and failing with the chopsticks....

Still failing

Success! :)

Cliff is a pro with the chopsticks! He makes it look so simple.

Sushi....

The big moment....

I did it....I ate sushi. And it wasn't terrible!

Yep, I ate that.
I can finally say I have tried sushi! 

After getting back to Topeka, Ari, Tay and I made our way to PT's....a coffee shop here in Topeka. We have a friend who works there so we like to go visit her and "work on homework". That part never seems to go well though. haha.

Emily! She makes delicious coffee!

Ari and Em!

Taylor's turn!

We ended the night at the movies watching The Vow....I thought it was a good movie! I enjoyed it.

And tomorrow....church then homework, homework, and more homework. Oh what fun!

It's been a good week in the fact that I have got to see a couple friends from home....it brings a little piece of home to Topeka....or in the area I guess. Lawrence is a short drive away so it counts! Tonight my family apparently went bowling...which is odd to me but cool! It seems like they had a good time! But I was even able to be a part of that in a way. Devo was taking videos and sending them to my on my phone....so for a few seconds I felt like I was there! Technology is a wonderful thing!