Graduation

On May 8, I graduated from Ambassador Baptist College with an Associate's degree in Church Secretarial Studies. Below is a picture of me with the three other girls who also graduated with a Secretarial degree. Because we all had the same classes, we got to be pretty good friends.



Here is a pic of me with all my "siblings," Kristen &Amanda Stoliker (my "little sisters") Caleb Getty(my "big brother"), and Aaron Barrick (my "little brother")



Caleb also was graduating. Dad Stoliker, who was graduating as well, managed to sneak into the background of this pic.

Update Once Again

Yes, it really is me, and I really am updating once again!! I'm on a roll here!! lol :D

It's been very busy here ever since Spring Break. Right after Spring Break was Spring Bible Conference. It was super busy, but it was totally worth it! All the messages were fabulous. There were way too many good messages to pick a favorite.

This past Saturday was Medieval Mayhem at college. This is a competition between all four leagues (Patriots, which is my league, Conquerors, Knights & Maidens, and Watchmen). We play various games such as Jump the Creek, American Eagle, relays, etc. It was a lot of fun, although by the end of the day I was completely and totally exhausted. Thankfully, my asthma pretty much stayed under control and I was able to participate in most of the games.

After Medieval Mayhem, Christy and Nate asked me to take pictures for them, so we went over to the caboose in Lattimore and I had a blast taking pictures for them. They are so cute together!!! I love photography, and it's always fun to take pictures of couples.

Sunday kicked off the Spring Revival at Emmanuel Baptist Church, my local church when I'm down here at school in NC. Evangelist Paul Crow is preaching, and all the messages have been wonderful!! I think each message has spoken to my heart. Although it's going to be super busy, it's going to be a great week. I'm helping in the Welcome Center every night except Thursday, and I'm in the nursery that night. Add to that schoolwork, and classes, as well as trying to recover from Saturday still, and it equals exhaustion, but I don't mind.

As of right now it is 23 days until graduation!! I cannot wait!! Although in some ways (okay, okay, a lot of ways) I'm going to miss being down here, at the same time I am very ready to be done with school.

Coming up right on the heels of graduation is Holly & Andrew's wedding. I'm so excited!! It's going to be a crazy week at our house, though. Nicole gets in on Sunday (She's riding back from NC with Holly). Andrew's family, as well as Christy & Caleb are getting in on Wednesday afternoon, and Jenn is coming in sometime that day as well. On Thursday, we decorate the church, and that evening Mandy will get in. Friday the Risingers get in, and, of course, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are that night. Saturday is the wedding, of course, so that will be a crazy day. after the wedding we're having a bunch of people over to our house for a cookout. The next morning everyone who has not yet left is leaving, and Holly and Andrew will be flying out for their honeymoon. That night, the mixed quartet from Ambassador will be at my home church (New Lexington Bible Church) and Laura and Christina who are traveling with the quartet, are staying at our house that night. John and Esther Uit de Flesch, who are also traveling with the quartet may also be staying at our house, depending on if anyone else in our church volunteers to keep them. Then, Laura and Christina will be back at our house on Wednesday and Thursday nights while they're at other churches in the area.

On top of that, one of our dogs is going to have puppies any day now, so we will have our hands full keeping track and taking care of the puppies.

It's going to be a busy few weeks, but hopefully after all that is over I'll have a chance to rest and catch up on my sleep.

As far as a job, I'm leaving that in the Lord's hands. I have submitted my resume to my dad's work, and it will be submitted to another place sometime next week by a friend who knows of a job opening. Once I graduate and the wedding is done with, I will start sending it out to more places, but right now I'm just too busy to start looking for jobs.

When I go home, I will be teaching the children's Sunday School class at my church for the summer, as well as teaching a teen girl's class one Wednesday a month. I will also be doing some secretarial work for the church to help my pastor out. He has needed a secretary for awhile, but because we're such a small church, we do not have the money to pay one. This is the thing that I' looking forward to the most, as I would love to work as a church secretary.

Well, that's about all for now. I will try to update again before the wedding sometime, but don't get your hopes up! I have a lot of projects to finish up before finals, and after finals is graduation, then the wedding, so I don't know if i will have time to update at all.

A much-needed update-part 1

My poor little blog!! You've been so neglected recently!! I'm going to blame it all on Baptist History, which isn't a valid excuse considering I didn't update all that frequently when I didn't have Baptist History, but hey, it's an excuse! :)

(Tip: When you start talking to your blog, you know it's time for you to go to bed!!!)

Well, this post is titled update, so I should probably write an update!! Brilliant, aren't I?! lol

Hmm...let's see here, where shall I start? Well, I guess I'll start at the beginning of the semester, seeing as I haven't really done a major update since Christmas Break. I'll try to skip over the things that I've updated on in the small little updates I've done here and there this semester.

When I first got back to college we had opening Revival, like we always do at the beginning of each semester. This semester Dr. Comfort and Dr. Bill Hall preached. The messages were all really, really good, and I enjoyed all of them, but there wasn't any that really stuck out to me.

This semester, I have a pretty light load, but it's still difficult and stressful, mainly because of one class, Baptist History, which I told you about in Update. It's going a little better now, but I'm still struggling with it some.

Besides that class, I have Spreadsheets, Systematic Theology 2, Pauline Epistles, Office Practices, Procedures, & Equipment, and Database. I'm also taking piano lessons again this semester. Tuesdays are definitely my easiest days as I only have two classes, and I don't have a seven o'clock class, so I get to sleep in!!! Yay!!!

After Opening Revival, there wasn't really anything major until Valentine's Banquet. In case you're wondering, no, I did not go with anyone, unless you count sitting with Andrew and hanging out with him as going with someone, which I do not!!! I had fun, anyways. :)

After Valentine's Banquet, the next major thing was Family Fun Night. It took us till about 1am to finish setting up most of the big stuff, and then we were back at it again the next day after brunch. We finally finished setting everything up right before dinner, which is a good thing, considering it opened up right after dinner!!

Family Fun Night was really our last major event before break, well, besides midterms, that is. Thankfully, I only had two midterms this semester, so that was a nice break from past semesters where I'd had one in every class.

After break, there will only be about 6 more weeks left until I graduate!!!! I am super excited, although at the same time I'm a little sacred, because I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing after I graduate. As of right now, the plan is for me to come home and look for a job, that is, after all the hustle and bustle of Holly's wedding is over!!

Ok, I'm going to close for now and finish updating later because it is way past my bedtime!!! I'll try to write part 2 tomorrow.

Spring Break

I've been on Spring Break this week (I think I mentioned that in my last post, but I can't remember!!! lol) and it has been SO nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about classes. It's also allowed me to get some much needed rest, which I know I'll be even more grateful for next week during Bible conference, where we have two speakers in the morning chapel and two speakers in the evening service.

I think this is the first break where I am not ready to go back. In the past, I have always been anxious to go back, but this time I wish break were longer. Don't get me wrong, I do love it down there at Ambassador, but it has been so nice to be able to be home. Even just the simple things, like either making or helping to make dinner every night this week, and doing housework, and other tasks that we usually consider menial and mundane are what I've enjoyed the most over break.

I've also enjoyed being able to spend time with my family. This is the last time for awhile we'll have a chance to spend time together as a family, because exactly one week and one day after graduation, Holly & Andrew are getting married. As of right now, we will have people here from the Wednesday before the wedding until the Sunday after the wedding, and I'm sure that whole week will be packed full of last minute details and preparations for the wedding, which will leave very little family time.

This week has been busy, but also not busy. I know, that's totally contradictory, but it makes sense to me!! Let me explain my reasoning: Compared to what my weeks are like when I'm down at college, this week has been a very SLOW week. My typical week down at college is: Monday-classes, homework, piano practice; Tuesday-classes, homework, piano practice; Wednesday-classes, visitation, helping with Master's Clubs, and fitting homework in where i can; Thursday-classes, piano lessons, homework; Friday-classes, homework, piano practice, volleyball games (or whatever sport the leagues happen to be playing, depending when in the school year it is); Saturday-homework, piano practice, & frequently, especially towards the end of the spring semester, a special event or something to do; Sunday-church in the morning, stay at church and do homework in the afternoon, church at night, get back to school just in time for dinner. With that schedule, and the occasional (although this year it's been frequent) special event thrown in here and there, it keeps me busy!!

So, as I was saying, compared to that schedule, this week has been really slow, but compared to a normal week at home (like in the summer, or before i went to college), it's been busy.
On Friday, I didn't get home till almost 12:30 (well, I guess that would technically be Saturday...lol).
Saturday, I slept in till about 11am, got up and kinda puttered (I know, that's a strange word to use, but i don't know what else to put!) around the house for awhile, and then we had something going on that night, though for the life of me I cannot remember what!!
Sunday was church, of course, and since we attend a church that's 45 minutes away from our house, that takes up quite a bit of the day when you include the travel time there and back for both the morning and evening services.
Monday was wonderful; I had absolutely nothing going on except having to make dinner, so i just kind of lazed around all day.
Tuesday, I had an appointment with my asthma & allergy specialist (more about that in a later post), and afterwords, shopping with Mom. We got home around 3:30pm or so, and by that time, I had time to do a few things, and then I helped Mom with dinner.
Wednesday was another slow day, making dinner, and then church that evening. Thursday (today), I had to go to the Verizon store in the morning to get my phone looked at (people were complaining that they couldn't hear me) which was kinda a wasted trip because they couldn't find anything wrong with it, then I stopped at the library on my way home. When I got home, i spent the rest of the day (from about 10am to 5:30pm) making meals to freeze. (I did this to make it easier on Mom & Holly; they both work, so this way they don't have to come home and worry about making something for dinner.) I managed to make 6 or 7 meals worth of food today, and I'm planning on making a few more things tomorrow. At 6pm, the lovebirds (my name for Holly & Andrew) and I went out to eat with my Pastor and his family at Tom's Ice Cream Bowl (the absolute best place in Ohio to get ice cream). By the time we got home, it was about 8 or 8:30pm.
Friday (tomorrow) is going to be another busy day. In the morning I have a dentist appointment (I HATE the dentist!!! I always have and always will!), then doing a little quick shopping. (I have to be home by 10 because the lovebirds have a premarital counseling sessions with Pastor and right now we're down to just 3 cars. (we usually have 4, but one just died.)) When I get home, I plan on doing a little more freezer cooking, as well as finding something to make for dinner...that is if we have anything left after I get done with all the freezer cooking!
As far as I know, there is nothing planned for Saturday, which is my last full day home before I go back to college, so I'll probably be packing and doing last minute stuff to get ready to head back.
Sunday, I'll be going to my church in the morning, and then meeting up with a friend at her church right after the morning service to leave for NC. It's an 8 hour drive, so that means it's going to be a LONG day even though I won't really be doing anything.

Well, that's what my busy/not busy week has been like/is going to be like. I've really enjoyed, and am not looking forward to it ending, but, alas, all good things must come to an end, or so goes the English Proverb. I'm trying to be content knowing that I had a wonderful week (10 days) home, and that in about 7 weeks, after graduation, I'll be home to stay.

Update

Well, it's been awhile since I've updated, but I do have a good reason. I've been busy with school work and church stuff, so I haven't had time to get on here in awhile. Besides that, my life has been pretty boring lately.
January 18, I started the second semester of my sophomore year at Ambassador Baptist College. It started out very busy, with opening revival the first week, and classes as usual.

In contrast to last semester, I am struggling with my classes this semester. Most of them are easy, but I have Baptist History with Dr. Dalton (the hardest teacher at Ambassador), and it's been really difficult for me. I've failed my first two tests, which has really hurt my overall grade. We just started the second book, America in Crimson Red, which is easier and more interesting than the other book, Struggle for Liberty, which was written by Dr. Dalton. Please pray that I do better on the rest of the tests and quizzes in this class, as it is required for me to graduate this spring.

Graduation is less than three months away!!!! I can't believe it's coming up so fast!! I can't wait for it to get here! I have absolutely no idea what I will be doing after graduation, except, of course, for being in Holly's wedding, but it will be nice to be done with school, especially after this semester, which is proving to be a rough semester.

Well, that's about all that's been going on in my life lately. I'll try to update more frequently, but I'm not making any promises!!! :)

An Update

This past week was Missions Conference at Ambassador. It was a great week!

The speakers, Dr. John Halsey and Dr. Ron White, were both really good. All of the messages this week were really good. I can't really pick a favorite.

On Monday, Ron White spoke about being surrendered to Missions. This really convicted me because I had not been surrendered to Missions. I had always looked at it as something that other people are called to. I kept making excuses like, "I don't think I could stand being that far away from my family," "I don't think I could survive if I ad to go someplace without electricity and running water," and other such ridiculous excuses. On Monday I surrendered to being willing to go to the Mission field. I don't know if God is or will call em to missions, but if He does decide to call me,I am willing to go.

Fall Break

Fall Break has finally arrived!!! Actually, it's almost over. I leave tomorrow after the morning service to go back to Ambassador to finish up the semester. As much as I have enjoyed being home, I am ready to go back.

On Wednesday, the first day of Fall Break, Mom and I went thrift store shopping in Columbus. It was their monthly half-off day (the last Wednesday of every month everything is half-off), so I got lots of nice clothes for fall and winter for only $20!!!!

Thursday I took Mom into work and did a little shopping in town. After I got back home I just laid around, enjoying not having to do anything.

On Friday, Mom had the day off, so we spent the afternoon together. We didn't really do anything special, just stayed around the house, but it was fun to be able to spend some time with her.

Today (Saturday) I once again just laid around and relaxed, as well as spent some time with Mom. I got fitted for my bridesmaids dress for holly's wedding, which I'm super excited about.

In the evening, after dinner, I made cookies to take back to school. It's become kind of a tradition for me to bring back cookies after a break. I've done it for every break since fall break my freshman year.

I am sick!!! I know, I know,you're supposed to rest and recuperate over break. Well, I didn't. I got sick instead. :( Yeah, no fun, I know. I am not sure what I have, but I think it's the same thing I had earlier in the semester because I once again have horrible body aches and a cough. Hopefully I will get over it soon, because Missions Conference week is not a good week to be sick at school!!

Although break has been really good, I'm ready to get back to school. I've missed all of my friends, and I've even missed all of the noise and giggles of the dorm, believe it or not. Once I get back, we have missions conference all week/ The next weekend is T.A.C. Conference, which i have a big part in this year because of being on I.B.C., then in two weeks we have the Messiah and thanksgiving, which is going to be an absolute blast this year, plus Holly's coming down for it, which will make it even more fun! The following weekend, we have Christmas caroling with the school. This will be my first year going because last year Emmanuel's Christmas Cantata was the same weekend. This year, it's the following weekend, which means that that weekend will be busy as well. The Friday after the cantata is the beginning of Christmas Break. It's going to be busy, but I'm looking forward to it all. I love the busyness of it all!!!

I don't know when I'll have time to post again, but I'm sure I'll be able to update on some Sunday or Wednesday afternoon at church. Farewell until then!!

Teach Me to Do Thy Will

Why is it so hard to follow God’s will? I’ve wondered that many times in these past five months. I’ve dealt with a lot in that time that has taught me to follow God’s will no matter how hard it is.
This summer, I began talking with a guy with the intent of us getting to know each other better, and eventually, to begin dating. Only a couple of weeks into us talking, I received a phone call from him saying that he didn’t have peace about us dating; he didn’t feel that it was the Lord’s will. I struggled with that. Even though we had only been talking for a short time, I had not been careful with my heart, and I had begun to care deeply for him, and, yes, even love him. I couldn’t believe that God was taking that away from me. I thought for sure that this guy that I had been talking to was the one He had for me. I questioned God and became very bitter against Him for taking away the person that I loved, that I had been so sure was “the one.”
The following few months were tough. I held a lot of bitterness in my heart against God. It wasn’t until I heard Evangelist Dwight Smith preach a message during opening revival about bitterness that I realized how wrong I was. I had been holding this bitterness in my heart against God, and inside it was eating me up.
Once I repented of this bitterness and got right with God, I was finally able to see that the guy I was in love with wasn’t the person God wanted for me; it was the person I wanted for me. I had convinced myself that my will was God’s will. I realized how important it was to make sure that God’s will is our will, and not the other way around. It was only after I realized that that I was able to begin healing and start to move on with my life.
About a month or so ago, I started praying seriously about something. As I continued to pray about it, I felt an uneasiness about it, but I ignored it, thinking it would go away if I continued to pray about it. It wasn’t until this past Monday night during devos with Miss B, the Dean of Women at Ambassador, that I realized I was once again trying to make my will God’s will.
The devotion was not on anything to do with God’s will, but across the page from the verse that she had us turn to was a verse that caught my eye. This verse was the only verse on the page that was underlined. It was Psalm 143:10: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God; thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” I kept reading the first phrase of that verse over and over again. “Teach me to do thy will.” I realized that I needed to make that my prayer; I needed to ask the Lord to teach me to do His will.
Doing His will doesn’t mean doing it just when it’s easy, or just when His will matches our will; it means doing His will not matter what happens, and no matter what our will is. We need to be willing to trust that God knows best. If we follow God’s will, then He will bless us and we’ll be so much happier than if we followed our own will.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

A Little Update

Well, it's been awhile since I posted, so I'll give y'all a little update of what's going on in my life.

On August 20, I returned to Ambassador Baptist College for my Sophomore year of school. I was excited to get back and see all of my friends again as well as being back at Emmanuel Baptist Church with my church family.

I have two roommates this year, one of whom was my roommate last year (Christy Godfrey). The other is a freshman from Brazil, Jennifer Duarte. Jennifer is an absolute sweetheart! I could not have asked for a better roommate!

The Monday after everyone returned was Skate Night for the college. A local skating rink was rented out and all of the students divided up amongst various cars and the school vans to get there. I had an absolute blast! It had been awhile since i last skated. I think the last time I had skated was skate night my freshman year. Despite that, I did pretty well. I didn't fall at all, which made me quite happy.

Throughout the rest of the week we had various other events such as the annual cookout and the get-acquainted day. On Thursday, classes started. Because I only have two classes on Tuesdays & Thursdays, it was a pretty easy day for me. Friday was a little heavier of a day for me; I had three classes. I know, I know, I have it so tough this year!! :D On Mondays and Wednesday I have four classes (one of my classes, the 7am one, only meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is why I have one less class on Fridays).

Saturday was league draft. Because I am the secretary/vice-president for the Patriot League, I was kept quite busy from Friday afternoon into Saturday evening, especially since for most of the time I was the only one working on our room and our booth in the gym. I was exhausted by the time League Draft started on Saturday night. To make matters worse, I had a horrible asthma attack during one of the games, and they ended up having to call the squad. Not a great way to start the semester!!

On Monday, Opening Revival started a school. Dr. Glenn Jaspers spoke in the morning chapel services, and Evangelist Dwight Smith spoke in the evening services and during Wednesday chapel. All of Brother Smith's messages spoke to my heart, but I think my favorite was the message that he preached on Thursday night, entitled "Power Outage." He spoke about how we have to surrender everything to God, and how he can't give us anything until we first empty our arms. This message really spoke to my heart because there was something, or rather someone, in my life that I was refusing to give to God; I wanted to keep it for myself. That night I surrendered it to the Lord. I can't say that it's been easy since then, that I haven't been tempted to take it back form God, but it has been easier than it was. I still am struggling with this, so your prayers in that area would be appreciated.

As much as I love opening revival, I am glad it is over. It was a very tiring and hard week for me physically but especially emotionally. These next few weeks are going to be rough, but I know that the Lord will help me through them. I am learning already this semester that I am not going to make it through unless I give everything to Him.

I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me this year! Some specific prayer requests that I have are: finances (I need a job), good grades, and that I can be a blessing both at church and on campus.

I will try to update again before too long!

Spring Bible Conference

Well, Spring break is over and I'm now back into the swing of things at school. The week after we got back from Spring break, the school had their annual Spring Bible Conference. This is usually a pretty big event for the school, but this year it was even bigger because the school is celebrating it's 20th anniversary. There were 21 different speakers during the week, and I think that just about every message spoke to my heart and convicted me about something. Although it was a busy week, I don't think I'd trade it for anything.
One of the highlight's of the week for me was seeing my pastor. He came down on Friday to visit the college, and it was such an encouragement to see him. The day before had been kind of rough, so that made it even more special. He took Holly, Andrew, and I out to eat at Chick-fil-a. It was delicious!! He was only down here for about half a day, but just to see him was a huge encouragement to me.
The same night that my pastor was down here, Mr. Beal, the future president of Ambassador, preached a message on what Ambassador is about. He told us that Ambassador will not change its stance as long as he is president. He encouraged all of us to pray for Ambassador, that it will be able to keep the strong standards that it has.
There's not enough room here to go into all that I learned at Bible Conference, so I'll just share one thing. During Dorm Devos one night, the speaker (I can't remember his name right now) spoke on humility. He said some things that really made me think. It wasn't your usual message on humility, but I think that's why it spoke to my heart so much.
Well, church is about ready to start, so I need to get off here. Hopefully, I'll be able to post mroe next SUnday, depending on how much schoolwork i have to do.

Home Sweet Home

Well, I'm finally home for Christmas break. I've made it through my first semester of college!! There were a few times when I wondered whether or not i really would make it.

I love college life. I can't believe how fast this semester went! It seems like just yesterday I was arriving on campus, scared to death about starting my first year of college, and now I'm back home.

This semester has been very rough. Just a few weeks into the school year, the college experienced it's most serious car accident involving students. A church van carrying 13 students was on it's way back to school from visitation when it rolled over. It's only by God's grace that no one was killed or seriously injured as only three of the passengers were wearing seatbelt. Praise God for his protection!

On top of that, I've experienced some very serious asthma attacks this semester, a couple of them the worst I'd had up to that point. They had to call the squad for one of them. The paramedics came and gave me oxygen as well as administered a nebulizer treatment before it subsided. Needless to say, it was quite scary. A week or so after that one, I had another. Thankfully, we were able to get it under control without having to call the squad. I've had a few minor ones since then, but nothing real major.

I've had my share of sickness this semester. First, I got bronchitis. I had that for about two months. I got over it, then a week or so later, I got the stomach flu. Not fun! :( A few weeks after that, I got laryngitis, and just when I was starting to get over that I got a horrible cold. I'm still fighting that a little bit, but I'm almost over it.

The beginning of October, I got in a car accident on my way to work. Thankfully it was minor and my friends and I, as well as the people that I hit, were okay, but it took a few weeks to get the car repaired.

This seems to have been the year for car accidents. On top of the van accident at the beginning of the year and my car accident, there have been several other accidents as well, thankfully all minor ones. The school lost both of it's vans that the ensemble travels in due to car accidents, and a few students have wrecked their cars as well.

Enough about the bad stuuf. Let's move on to happier things. I'm in the Marjorie B. Jordan dorm this year, which, in my opinion, is the best girls' dorm on campus. I have one roommate, Christy Godfrey, who is engaged to be married. She can be crazy at times, but she's a lot of fun.

I have four best friends, two girls and two guys. The girls are Laura Dillon and Lindsey Castano, and the guys are Nathan Houck and Caleb Getty. Nathan and Lindsey are dating, as are Getty and Laura. I do feel a little left out at times, but most of the time I really don't mind being the only single person in our group. Pretty much whenever you see one of us, you'll se at least one of the others.

I enjoyed all of my classes this semester. I'm not sure I can really pick a favorite, but if I had to, it'd probably be Life of Christ. I've learned so much from this class. I thought that I knew pretty much everything about the life of Christ, but boy, was I wrong! There was a lot that I didn't know.

I think my faorite part of the semester was singing in the school's annual Messiah concerts. They were held on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. The best part of that weekend was Friday morning right before chapel, when my parents walked into the R. A. Torrey auditorium. I had no idea that they were coming, so, needles to say, I was pleasantly surprised!

The Saturday and Sunday before I left to come home, my church in North Carolina, Emmanuel Baptist Church, had their cantata, "When Jesus Came." It was so good!!

As wonderful as this semester has been, and as much as I love college, I'm so glad that Christmas break is here. It will give me a chance to rest up before starting next semester. I'm very anxious to see what God has in store for me!