It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love Christmastime!!! It's my favorite time of the year. I love all the hustle and bustle, shopping for gifts at the last minute, the music, seeing the smiles on other people's faces as they open their presents, and, of course, all of the decorations!

I am so happy to be home for Christmas Break and to be able to spend time with my family. I can't wait until Christmas Day, which is pretty much the one day of the year when we're all home at the same time, and the day which is set aside for family time.

This year will be a tad different from past Christmases, as Holly will be leaving on that evening to fly to Andrew's house and spend time with him and his family. This is her last Christmas at home, as next Christmas she and Andrew will be celebrating Christmas in their own house in North Carolina. It's going to seem so strange without her here next year for Christmas.

Well, it is almost time to leave for church, so I had better go get ready! I'll write more later!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Well, I'm finally home for Christmas break. It was quite an interesting and eventful trip, but I got home safely. The trip, which usually take 7 to 8 hours instead took over ten hours.

When we (Christie Darling, Michael Troester, and I) left school, it was sleeting. Shortly after we got out of Shelby, it started to snow. By the time we got to Statesville, NC, the snow was coming down hard and fast. Once we got to Virginia, driving was starting to get a little tricky because the roads were so slippery from the snow.

Our trek through Virgina and West Virgina was rather...interesting. While we were in Virginia, we did a 360 right in the middle of the interstate, ending up in a ditch!! Thankfully, we were able to get out without too much trouble and carefully continued on our way. While on the West Virginia turnpike, we did quite a bit of sliding around, but thankfully God kept us safe and we didn't get into any accidents, although we did come close a couple of times.

We were finally able to get ahead of the snow shortly before we got Charleston, WV. It was raining, but that was much better than snow!! From Charelston to Zanesville, we only had to deal with rain, but once we got to Zanesville, it started to snow again. Thankfully it was only a half hour to Christie's house from there, so the roads weren't too bad.

We were at Christie's house for about five minutes or so before Dad and Holly arrived to pick me up. I was very happy to see them, and even more happy when I got home. I don't think I've ever been so ahppy or so relieved to be home.

It snowed all night last night and is still snowing now. It's not supposed to stop until tomorrow sometime. It's amazing how much prettier it looks when you're nice and cozy inside!!

4 More Weeks!!!

Only 4 more weeks until Christmas break!! It seems so very hard to believe. It seems like just the other day I was starting classes and moving into the dorm, and now the first semester of my last year (at least for right now) at Ambassador is drawing to a close.

This semester has been a rough one, but it's also been a good one. Although I had a rough start, it's gotten much better. I've enjoyed making new friends and continuing my friendships from the previous year. I have learned so much not only in the classroom, but also out of the classroom.

I have two of the bestest (yes, I know that's not proper grammar, but I'm going to use it anyways) roommates. Christy and I get along wonderfully, and Jennifer just sits there and laughs at our craziness and our mock fighting and picking at each other. :) I'm looking forward to getting to know both of them even better next semester.

Next week is Thanksgiving! I'm very much looking forward to it for several reasons. First, Holly is coming down the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, secondly, I'm going to the Stolikers for Thanksgiving, which I know will be a blast, and thirdly, we're one week closer to Christmas break!!

Well, i need to wrap up now. I'll try to write more later.

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

Another Update :)

Okay, so I really should be doing schoolwork, but I haven't updated my blog for awhile,s o i thought I'd do a quick little update.
I am finally over the bug that I had; I still have a little bit of a cough left, but other than that I am feeling much better.
Classes are going great right now. Midterms start on Tuesday, and, surprisingly enough, I'm really not worried about them. I'm sure that will change once it comes time to take my first midterm on Wednesday! :D
After midterms is Fall Break, which I'm super excited about!!! I'm going home for it, and bringing Andrew with me so he can visit Holly. ;) Needless to say, they're both quite excited about that! ON my first full day home, Mom and I are going shopping at the Ohio Thrift stores in Columbus for their monthly half-price day, which is the last Wednesday of every month. I'm hoping to get some fall and winter clothes for school. I was looking on my closet the other day, and most of my clothes are for spring and summer, so that will be a very helpful trip.
I'm not sure what else we'll be doing over fall break. I know that we're going out to eat one night at Clark's, a family-owned restaurant about two minutes from my house, which, unfortunately is closing soon due to the economy and lack of business. This will be my last opportunity to eat there as they are closing right after Thanksgiving. I was sad to hear that, because Clark's has been there forever, and it's kind of a landmark in a way. They have delicious food for very good prices and I always enjoy going there.
After Fall Break, I'll be back down here with only a little over four weeks until Thanksgiving. I'm very much looking forward to Thanksgiving this year, for a couple fo different reasons. The first one, and my main one, is that Holly's coming down for Thanksgiving week!!! She'll arrive on Tuesday before dinner, go to Emmanuel with Andrew and I that night for our praise service, and be here through at least Friday night, if not Saturday morning. I'm very much looking forward to having her down here as I have really missed her. My second reason for looking forward to Thanksgiving is because I will be going to the Stoliker home, affectionately referred to as the nut house because of all of us crazy college students that they adopted, for Thanksgiving dinner. Chad West, Amy Marshall, Lisa Penachio, and Caleb Getty, their other college student adoptees, will be over there as well, which guarantees that it will be crazy and tons of fun!
Well, that's about all I have time to write for now. I'll try to get a post written sometime this week and post it on here on Wednesday night when i come for visitation.
Goodbye until then!!