WOW!

This has probably been the longest I've gone without posting. Things have been a little... intense. A lot has changed... I even have a new computer!! Another HP, of course... my favorite! Rivers, you served me well, and your death was honorable after 4 years... but I have to admit, Gilda is pretty slick. Haha. I'm such a nerd... But anyway, might I update you all with my life? (If anyone even still checks this thing... lol!)

I graduated with a final semester of straight A's, including on my Thesis, so that was pretty sweet. Then, it was straight to Chapter Camp. My experience was different this year than any other year, and honestly, it could have been better... but that's nobody's fault but my own. And through it all, God was still able to teach me and love me, because he's just that awesome. :)

Nadia and Jessica moved in with us, and it's been a little crowded and loud at times, but like I said, it could be much worse. Overall, I think it's going really well, and it's teaching me some about letting go of control, and of not stressing over things that aren't important. But I still can't wait until we move into the new place and have some more space! haha.

Aaaaand I got in to grad school!! USF College of Public Health, for Maternal and Child Health. I was super excited, because it took FOREVER to hear back from them. Now the question is, how will I pay for this?? I have some money saved up, and that will probably suffice for the first semester... but after that, I don't know. I'll either need a full time job on campus so I can have tuition reimbursement (I've already applied for two of those!), or I'll need scholarships... which are pretty hard to come by on the grad level, I'm beginning to discover. Or there's loans. Ugh. I've avoided them up until now... but I don't know if I'll keep that up. We'll see...

And also, Mexico was cancelled. Kind of seems like old news now, but it's worth mentioning. There was a lack of interest (a concept that still boggles my mind), and so they cancelled it... and then the whole swine flu thing happened, so more people probably would have dropped out after that. I've come to terms with it by now... I mean, as you see in my previous post, I sensed that it was coming, so I was prepared to hear it. The good news is, there's sort of an extended JJP type thing for all us college kids, called TMX, that I'm super stoked about. And the price is pretty sweet too... $138 or something (And remember when my parents gave me $150?? How convenient... Funny how things work out, lol). My JJP experience last year was really, really powerful, and it was only a weekend long. It truly impacted and changed my life, no exaggeration... read the post I linked to, if you don't believe me. So needless to say, I'm super stoked about this year! (If anyone wants to register for this year's JJP weekend, it's not limited to our church, so hit me up!! It's slightly less than $40 for the whole weekend, food included... you can't beat it! Check out www.jesusandjustice.com for info.)

Oh, and I'm taking a Summer Institute class with the Underground... I'm taking Brian's class on the New Testament. We've only had one class meeting so far, but I LOVE it already. I'm going to learn a LOT... maybe I'll start makign up for the fact that I don't have years of Sunday School knowledge like so many other people. I'm really looking forward to knowing the Bible better by the end of this, and understanding the culture and history that surrounds the stories of Jesus and of the early church. I love learning. :)

That's all for now. Pretty superficial, just to catch up... hope I can write something more significant soon. And I hope someone still reads this.

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Lazy

Lazy-butt... that's me!! :/

I'm not looking forward to work tonight... I'm going to be the only server in the entire back dining room. Can you say STRESS?? If it's anything close to as busy tonight as it was last night, I'm gonna barricade the entrance to the room with chairs and trays so the hostesses will maybe STOP seating me for 2 minutes while they take apart the barricade. *sigh* Hopefully I'll survive tho, and make some cash. My goal is to make enough money this summer so that I can QUIT when school starts. Then I can dye my hair awesome colors, and get my ears pierced AGAIN, and oh yeah, be able to put more time into ministry (that's the main one, lol)!!

P.S. My little bro is gradumacating tomorrow!! I'm so excited!! :)



That's us at the Ren Fest last year. :)











Hooray for Eric graduating! We'll finally be at the same school again! Go Bulls!!

2 parties, 1 day... must be graduation season!!

So today was fun... parties are nice. I'm gonna miss all the graduates tho... *sigh* ah well, one of the things I've gotten better at since coming to college is dealing with change. I mean, come on, I've moved AT LEAST once a year for the past 3 years... I lived in the same house my ENTIRE life, and then during the past three years I have lived in 5 different places. Meanwhile, apart from a core group of friends, people in my life come and go every semester. It can get hectic, but InterVarsity has been a nice bit of stability in all that insanity. Now some of the IV people are leaving too, though. However, I've learned that though things change, life still goes on... never exactly the same as before, but still just as wonderful.

Today was really fun though. First was Tianay's party in the afternoon at Lettuce Lake Park, which is actually a pretty cool place. I've never been there, even though it's just down the street from USF. But there's these nifty boardwalk paths that go all through the swampy area and everything, it's pretty cool. We all saw some alligators, ate some delicious food, and had a good time just hanging out with each other.

Then after a quick trip to Target and a stop back at home, we were off to Lauren's party! It was pretty sweet, we had an awesome dance party at the Telford House. Trina had her iPod hooked up to the TV's sound system, and we were breakin' it down to some old school awesomeness (my favorite might have been "Creep" by TLC... haha!). It was a really good time, I was dancing (and sweating) sooooo much, lol. We opened the windows and the front door, and you could hear the music playing and bass thumping aaaaalll down 22nd Ave. Good times. :)

I left kinda early though 'cause my stomach is really hurting for some reason. I dunno. I still need to pack, but the thought of standing right now is not fun. I can't really stand up straight at the moment. Maybe I can pack sitting down or something... it would be nice to get it over with so I can sleep in a little...

Anyway. We leave for Chapter Camp from the MC parking lot at 8:30 in the a.m. tomorrow, and I'll be up on a mountain in Jasper, GA until Friday night. Have a wonderful week, and hopefully I will do the same!! Peace.