Festivities!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Ah, it's going to be a wonderful week! Erik is home, and this whole week we're going to have food, family, and fun! My grandparents (on my dad's side) are coming for Thanksgiving, and since we're not going to see them at Christmastime this year, we're going to celebrate Christmas with them while they're here, too. We went shopping last Friday, and bought a TON of food! We have delicious food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day this week. :)

Here's our plan for Thanksgiving day: we'll have our delectable turkey dinner for lunch, then Emily (Erik's girlfriend - who happens to be my best friend!) is coming over. We'll have pie and watch a movie, and enjoy time together with all the family. Later that evening, we'll open presents from my grandparents under the Christmas tree which I set up today! :) We have an artificial tree, and we're also hoping to get a real tree this year.
I am SOOO excited about Christmas! By nature, I am a very festive person. I love an excuse to celebrate, no matter what the occasion is! Christmas is most definitely my favorite time of the year.

So let the festivities begin! Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day all right in a row! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season... I know I will!

That's the God I serve!

Well, this has been an interesting week. Do you ever have those times when everything just feels hard? It's been one of those weeks. In truth, things have been just fine. But then, there are things that weigh on me that I can't tell to anyone, things that no one knows. It often leaves me feeling alone. But, it also leads me to Jesus. It causes me to cling to Him. To tell Him everything. To trust Him. To wrestle in prayer. To search His word - all the more! He is so good! It's kind of a strange feeling... I feel so absolutely overwhelmed and sad, but yet so absolutely elated! It's a feeling that comes from being a Christian. Life will always have hardships, but God will always be exquisitely awesome. Therefore, we can always have joy. So, I will rest in Him, knowing that He is a God of love, healing, joy, peace, and perfection. He is good even though He allows struggles! Struggles allow Him to show how real He is, and they give us a chance to delight in Him. Unfortunately, all too often I turn to other sources for answers and fulfillment, and they leave me more broken than I started. He is the ONLY source of satisfaction. He is a God of sovereignty, majesty, grandeur, supremacy, and glory. That's the God I serve! To Him be all the glory!


"Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance." Psalm 42:5

A million thoughts

Hello folks! I have so many things on my mind... wonderful things, sad things, silly things, heavy things.
Some wonderful things:
~Erik is coming home for Thanksgiving in ONE WEEK!!
~I'm babysitting 2 adorable children tomorrow
~I got my haircut last Friday. It's different - layered, textured, angled, thinned(but still long) - I love it!
~My voice is getting SO much better thanks to my voice lessons
~I got a bunch of cute headbands, hairclips, and earrings today for 50 cents a piece - what a steal! :)
~God is teaching me AMAZING things about prayer, forgiveness, and His love. Wow, I want to give all of my life for Him - it's so sad (and stupid!) that I live so selfishly!

Some of the heavy matters:
~I am so unworthy of Jesus' love. So far from holiness, godliness, and righteousness. This is a heavy matter, but not really a sad one because God is glorified through forgiving me! My unworthiness shows His worthiness, holiness and righteousness even more brightly! He is so good. I cannot express how thankful I am for His perfect love!
~I miss Erik SO much. Think of your best friend, okay? Now imagine being 10x closer with them. Now imagine them moving 500 miles away. Yeah, it's not easy. But God is teaching me to depend on Him in yet another way! Amazing, isn't it, how He is faithful and good in even hard times? :)

I need to go spend some time with my Savior. I am really looking forward to ending this busy day in His refreshing presence! Please pray for me, guys. There are also other things weighing very heavily on me that I can't tell about in this post. Pray that I will delight in God more, and depend on Him for absolutely everything. Thank you!! Stay strong, friends!

It's a wonderful life!

Hey friends! :)

Well, the NANC conference was AWESOME!! I learned so much, and it encouraged me! It reminded me that I can give all my worries to God, and never worry. It reminded me that God LOVES to forgive us - if we ask. And, it reminded it me that there is a glorious hope for this dying world - so let's share it with them!

You'll think this is just crazy, but... we went to Kentucky again! Haha. Dad decided it would be nice for Emily (the girl that Erik is courting) to be able to see Erik's house, town, etc. Also, he knew that Mom and I would love to go down again and see Erik and all of our friends. :) We traveled down on Friday, stayed through Saturday and Sunday, and traveled home on Monday. It was such a fun trip!! Emily and I (we are very good friends!) had fun together, and I had a wonderful time in general.

And then, I had to get back to school. I've been busy as ever with it all! Today Emily and I got together and discussed Chemistry... it was very helpful! Earlier this afternoon, I went to piano and voice lessons. I love it! I'm so blessed to be able to take lessons :)

Tomorrow night I am going to a (gasp!) dance! You don't need to worry, though - it's all 19th-Century dances: Reels, Square dances, etc. Nothing inappropriate. ;) It is going to be *SO* much fun!

So that is an update on my life... and now I must go, because it's 6:30 PM and I still have to do history! Blessing, all!