Post Graduation Fun

The day I had been longing for for nearly two years finally arrived: graduation. Grad school was so ridiculously stressful and overwhelming at times that it seemed like it would never end, but id did. praise God for his mercy and grace! It was a nice ceremony, nothing too remarkable or memorable, but a nice ceremony. I think I may have been more impressed had I not experienced the wonderfulness of Biola graduations. The three things that were better about SDSU's graduation: 1) it was indoors, so we weren't all sweaty and sunburned by the end, 2) Tad was able to be there to celebrate with me, and 3) I got a master's degree and got "hooded" on stage. Valencia liked this one better because she got her name called as we walked across.

Following the ceremony my department held a reception in the lobby of our building to celebrate and for our families to meet the other students and the faculty. I met up with my entourage (Tad, my parents, Stephen, Raelene, and Tad's 'aunt' Judy) there and enjoyed some refreshments. It got pretty crowded pretty fast, but we stayed long enough to take a few pictures and for my mom to re-met Charlotte, who was already clinic director when Stephen received speech therapy there at age 4.

From the reception we (minus Raelene, who had to work) went to Casa Guadalajara's in Old Town for lunch. This was an easy restaurant choice because we were all ableto take the trolley and avoid traffic. Lunch was a good chance for my family and Judy to get to know each other a bit better and for my mom and me to share a grande strawberry margarita. ;) The one other thing that was better about this graduation than Biola's was that I didn't have to do a huge move home and say goodbye to my pup for 10 days.


The celebrations continued on Saturday with a trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (FKA Wild Animal Park). Some of the anesthesiologists in my dad's department help out the vets at the zoo. As a thank you, they periodically get the opportunity to go on the caravan excursions in the park enclosures. This year the department opened the opportunity up to the family members. And that's how all 6 of us (my family and Tad) found ourselves outside the park at 7:30 am on a Saturday.

I had been on the caravan tour once before when I was about 9 with Braille Institute and was thrilled to get to go again. The 60 some of us in the group divided into 4 different safari trucks and set out for our 2 hour excursion. We had a delightful guide named Amanda who I swear knew everything there is to know about animals that I forget exist if I don't go to the zoo for a while. We saw rhinos, gazelles, Asian sheep and deer, and several antelope whose mating cries sound like belches haha. I took tons of pictures, which can be viewed on facebook.

The interactive portions of our tour came in the feeding of a male rhino named Bo-Poo and a female giraffe (whose name we were not told). We fed Bo-Poo apple slices and the giraffe Australian acasia leaves. Both were interesting experiences; on one hand, having your hand in the mouth of a wild animal, on the other, having an animal's long tongue wrap around your hand. It was a lot of fun, minus the fact that Valencia couldn't come along for that part of the day. She stayed in a kennel near the entrance and was not very happy about it.


After our tour we enjoyed a nice catered lunch of sandwiches, salads, and cookies while listening to a presentation on special equipment for animal surgeries. We had the rest of the day free to enjoy the park. My family spent the next several hours enjoying a jungle carousel ride, watching the bird show, and visiting the gorillas, elephants, and tigers. My parents and brothers headed for home in the early afternoon, and Tad and I stayed for another hour or so. We were really glad we did when we got to see a cheetah cub up close. The day really made me think about how many wonderful things God has created on this earth :).

Tad and I tried to enjoy my "no more school" days to the fullest before I moved home and was a little farther away. Bright and early Monday morning we trolleyed from the condo to County Center to pick up our marriage license. It felt quite a bit like being at the DMV, except people were (generally) a lot less grouchy. License in hand, we trolleyed back to the condo. Tad joked for the next couple days that now I REALLY couldn't back out because he had spent $50 on it, lol.

The rest of Monday we worked on packing my things and cleaning. By the time we had eaten dinner we both needed to see something other than the inside of my half empty condo. Remembering the Coldstone gift card I was given for graduation, I declared it to be time for icecream. This was a good decision on my part because when we got to Coldstone, there was a sign out front that read "Happy Hour: Mon-Fri 5-7 pm. Buy one get one free.". It was 6:00. Yay for free icecream! I got cheesecake with Kit Kat and Tad got Peach Iced Tea (which was INCREDIBLE! I highly recommend it.) with heath bar. A very tasty way to spend an evening. :)

The next day (Tuesday) we had ourselves a bit of a day trip. We left in the afternoon for Long Beach and met Krista for dinner at Subway. Upon completing our meal, Tad said he was still hungry. So, we walked across the street to Taco Bell for caramel empenadas. Once our desserts were finished it was time to go to CSU Long Beach for Becky's graduate recital. I had the pleasant surprise of seeing Karissa and Vanessa there.

Becky's recital had originally been scheduled for Good Friday, but her teacher had advised her to reschedule because there were some things that needed repairing on her clarinets. This was disappointing at first, but turned out to be a huge blessing because Becky's parents were able to come. They flew in late Monday night from the Philippines and were quite jetlagged, but seemed very happy to be able to be there. It was nice for me to see them again too.

Becky looked and sounded beautiful. I was surprised at the end to realize that she had played a 90 minute recital. That's a lot of playing! The reception that followed was delightful as well. There were several kinds of cheeses, smoked salmon, cookies, a delightful fruit salad, and two very rich cakes (one white with berries, one chocolate), plus a variety of sodas.


The next two days were spent moving out of the condo. We were able to load up most of my furniture and things on Wednesday and come back Thursday for the rest of it. It was surprising to me that the move was bittersweet. It goes to show just how sentimental I am and what a difficult time I have with change. I was thrilled to be moving out and getting away from a certain roommate, yet I still felt weird about leaving the place I had lived for nearly two years. Other than home, that's the longest I've lived anywhere. One thing that's for sure, I am beyond excited to share my next home with Tad! =D

*A side note, I created this post on May 23, but did not finish it until about a week later. I didn't predict the future, just took my time blogging, hehe*

38 Days and Counting

There really hasn't been much going on in my life over the last month, but I like to write and blog and talk to myself, so I figured I'd post something.

SDSU's spring break came and went. I had less free time that week than a typical week since it was the last week of my internship before a month off. That being said, I am now enjoying the month off of the internship. To enjoy my month off I have been writing papers, doing projects, and working on CCLVI scholarship committee things.

Tad is still on the job search. Continued prayers are appreciated. He has had several interviews over the past few weeks and is still waiting to hear back on a tech related position at Sharp Memorial Hospital (the one where I had my internship last semester). We are preparing for a visit from his family this weekend. They are starting the drive down today and plan to arrive Thursday evening. They'll get to meet my family, and his mom and sister are coming to my Biola bridal shower which is this weekend.

The countdown in the title refers to graduation, now less than 6 weeks away. The countdown for after that is 102 days until the wedding, yay! I just have to get to graduation so I can enjoy the wedding countdown more. )

Life at Perkins

Things at Perkins have begun to look up. Since my midterm review, my supervisor has been giving me a lot more feedback and assistance, which is greatly appreciated. I'm also starting to be a lot more confident about my sessions, which only helps.

I no longer feel like I'd be miserable working in a school. I've begun to pay closer attention to job postings sent to us and am compiling a mental list of where I plan to apply. Thus far, I have 3 school districts, a private practice, and a pediatric position at a hospital. The fantastic thing about what's open right now, is that a lot of it is up in North County, exactly where I want to be.

58 days til graduation, and it cannot come soon enough!

As a P.S., Tad is on the job search and prayers would be appreciated. He has n interview tomorrow for a position at Sharp (where I was last semester) and is really hoping it goes through. :)

Music, Graduation, Narnia, and Friends

My visits to Biola fall in very similar patterns from year to year since I make the traint rip up there for the same occassions every year: to celebrate Becky's and my birthdays, Symphonic Winds concerts, and graduation.

My good friend Justine graduated on Friday, and thus, I made a weekend trip out of it.

I took the train up to Fullerton Thursday afternoon and was picked up by Krista. Becky was finishing finals at CSU Long Beach, so that left Krista and I to amuse ourselves. We grabbed lunch from Baja Fresh and then went in search of gifts for Becky's elementary school band kids. After looking at some ridiculous things at Dollar Tree, we decided on giant chocolate snowflakes. We counted out what we THOUGHT was 23 and checked out. The cashier didn't want to count them and just scanned one 23 times. When we got the snowflakes to Becky, we discovered there were actually 26, oops!

Before meeting up with Becky, we stopped by Starbucks in La Mirada and ran into our former professor Yvana who happens to be expecting again. She told us that our other two profs from the major were on campus grading papers, so after we got our drinks we headed to McNally. It was nice getting to chat with 2/3 of the profs. We couldn't find Tonya, as she had been out to coffee with another former student and never came back. From there, Krista and I had an hour to kill and just sat in her car in the parking lot.

The main focus of our evening was Becky's elemntary school band concert. She ahs some really cute kids, and the other performances were cute too, especially the Kindergarteners singing. After the concert we did a late night Wendy's run and then went back to Becky's to crash for the evening.

I didn't get to go to bed quite as soon as I would have hoped. One of Becky's roommates was having a long last night with her boyfriend before the break. They were making cookies, watching movies, and generally being loud until at least 2 am, and didn't take the hint that I needed to sleep on the couch. Becky fell asleep on the floor, and when it became obvious there would be no moving her upstairs, I bid a curt goodnight to her roommate (at midnight) and went to sleep in Becky's bed.

Friday was a driving-all-over-the-place day. Becky and I picked up Jen from Hart and set out on some errands Becky needed to run. We grabed lunch from In N Out and were intending to see Narnia with Krista, but all 4 of us missed the showtime. Instead, we bought tickets for a showing after graduation and explored the big bookstore next to the theater. The cool thing is that I've seen all 3 of the Narnia movies, with Biola friends, in the Downtown Disney theater.

Becky and Jen went back to Hart to pack Jen's stuff up while I stayed at Becky's place to take a shower and get ready for graduation. Since Jen had some extra meals for the semester, she swiped me into the caf for dinner. It was fun reliving a Biola caf experience for the evening. She and I ate quick and ran over to just barely find seats in the gym for graduation. It was a very nice ceremony. I loved the speaker and the special music (a beautiful arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision" sung by Donte and accompanied by the orchestra).

We found Justine no problem afterwards for hugs and congratulations. Then Becky, Krista, Jen, and I grabbed some quick snacks from the reception in the caf and zipped off to our movie. We made it in perfect time, just at the end of the previews. I loved it. I'm sad to say I didn't succeed in finishing the book before watching the movie, but from what the others said, it seemed like it stuck pretty closely to the story. What I loved most (other than the music, hehe) was how much of the Christian messages were left in. It was refreshing after the disappointment of them being changed or taken out completely in Prince Caspian.

Saturday morningI awoke, got ready, and had Becky "drop me off" at the Albertson's center to meet Justine. Upon arriving at Alberton's, Becky's car stalled, then would start and not go into gear. She didn't have her phone with her, so she called triple A on mine. They eventually came an hour and a hafl later, but we did enjoy hanging out and having breakfast at Starbucks with Justine. Once we knew Becky would be able to make it home safe, Justine and I set out for FullertonAmanda's house in Fullerton.

Amanda was busy baking Christmas gifts for her fellow Sunday School teachers, but we kept her company and caught up on life. She fed us lunch (in addition to broken sugar cookies) and then took me to the train station.

The rain made things complicated, but it was a weekend when I got to have quality time with 4 of my closest friends from Biola, which made it very special. :)

Celebrating Biola Style

This year, instead of heading down to San Diego from LA after finishing finals, I did the opposite. I was at home for a day, and then headed up to the Biola area for the weekend. And what a weekend it was.

I rode up to Orange County on Friday morning with Anja. We had fun talking in the car, espeically about how wonderful it was to not have school for a month. She dropped me off at Krista's house where I hung out with Krista's brother and sister while Krista got ready. Soon as she was ready we joined Becky at her place where the rest of us got ready to go to Biola graduation.

Dorothy (the graduate among us) picked Sizzler for dinner, which is conveniently between Becky's townhouse and Biola. I shared a combination plate of steak, shrimp, and ribs with Dorothy. Yum, I had forgotten how much I like Sizzler! We ate quicky since we were a bit short on time. Becky's and Dorhty's rommate Melissa and I went ahead early to the gym to save seats. It was wonderful (as it has been every time) to be back on campus. I became very excited when we walked past the Biola Christmas tree.

The gym was decorated festively with more Christmas trees. The ceremony was nice. I knew a few of the other graduates, mostly music people. Afterwards, we went with Dorothy and her family to the reception in the caf. The caf was also decorated with Christmas trees and such, and had delicious dessserts, eggnog, and cider. My dad made the point later that if you lived in the area you could make a point to go to that every year, lol.

After the reception we went down to Hart to pick up Becky's sister Jen, and happened upon a lot of Hart alumni. I got to chat with Beth for a while about grad school, and compare the programs at SDSU and Redlands. It's a bit of a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's thrilled with graduate coursework, haha

Saturday morning (after walking to Albertson's for milk) Becky made pancakes for her, me and Jen, which we ate with apple butter, very tasty. The rest of my Saturday was spent at Amy and Dave's wedding, which was beautiful.

I love weddings, love them, oh my goodness. Amy and Dave are friends I know, in a round about way, because of Valencia. Amy has a dog from GDB, and she was visiting Dave (who just graduated from Talbot) one week, and they came to a Symphonic Winds concert. My mom and Amy met in the bathroom with the two dogs. Amy and Dave are the couple that Tad and I went on a double date with to Hermosa Beach back in March (which happened to be the night before they got engaged).

Anywho

Their wedding was at the church Dave has been interning at. It's a small baptist church, with a tall steeple like a classic old church house, and very nice people. It was a beautiful ceremony, Amy sang a duet in Mandarin with her maid of honor, the wedding party read 2 Cor 13, they wrote their own vows, and at the end we all sang hymns together.

Immediately following the service was picture time, the favorite of which was the guide dog picture. Including Amy's dog Donna, there were five guides present. Donna was the star among the dogs, donning two different party dresses over the course of the afternoon and evening.

There was a reception in the church fellowship hall after the ceremony. Since they were also having a dinner reception, I assumed the church one would be just cake and punch. But they had a full array of food, including fruit and veggie platters, teriyaki chicken, california rolls, and several kinds of Chinese pastries. They had a slideshow of pictures of Amy and Dave and had a number of people say a message to Amy and Dave.

The dinner reception was at a restaurant across town called Happy Habor Seafood. Amy found a ride for me with one of her friends. We got a bit lost on the way, but found it a lot sooner than most of the guests.

The restaurant was a very nice, elegant, Chinese seafood place. Between receptions, Amy had changed from her traditional western wedding dress, into a traditional Chinese dress, red with beautiful gold embroidery. She and Dave looked great together with his matching red button down shirt. They're such a great couple!

Dinner was incredible, all nine courses of it! I tried several things I had never had before. Course one was jellyfish and a cold slice of beef. It was followed by delicious walnut shrimp. Then came the shark fin soup. Then there was shitaki mushrooms, bak choi, and abilone. Then there was the lobster, after which was the Peking duck. Next was the baked fish, and we finished off with a bowl of fried rice. Dessert was lotus paste cookies and red bean soup, both were amazingly delicious!

Amy and Dave came around to each table individually to toast and I got a chance to chat with them a bit. They sent me home with a vase of beautiful red and yellow roses from one o the tables. Presently, they are in Waikiki, lucky ducks :)

There were several things I decided from the day. 1. I want an afternoon wedding, 2. I want a slightly fancier reception locaiton than a church fellowship hall (though I want the ceremony in a church) and 3. White cake with straberries in it makes a delicious wedding cake layer.

Sunday I wrapped up my visit with church at Grace EV Free with Krista dnd Jen and then lunch at Panda Express.

Below are a few pictures from the weekend:


I am no longer in the most recent graduating class from Biola, weird


What a beautiful bride Amy is :)


the centerpiece at my table at their dinner reception


me with the happy couple, isn't Amy's dress gorgeous???

Pause for an Update on Life Now

It has been my experience that I take forever to finish my trip updates. This fact is frustrating, but the journals are important enough to me to keep doing them anyway. However, I'd also like to keep up with my life journal now, considering I've been home from Romania nealry a month. So here goes.

It took me a good week to adjust back to life in the states. No amount of debriefing could have made me understand reverse culture shock like actually experiencing it. I don't think I'll ever feel quite the same about my country and culture. I still love America, and will undoubtedly be overly patriotic for the rest of my life, but I better understand now some of the things that frustrate people from elsewhere about here. I mean, I'm a total "J" personality on teh Myers-Briggs, and I was about ready to chuck my planner out the window, things are much too fast paced here.

It definitely did not help my adjustment that straight away we dove into apartment hunting for next year. That was a nightmare and a half, let me tell you. Everything by SDSU falls into one or more of the following categories: too expensive, too unsafe, too dirty, too far away from campus and/or public transportation, does not accomodate pet dogs. Fortunately Valencia is exempt from pet laws, but one of my future roommates Ana has an 8 pound Bischon.

Eventually, after much searching and about 8 trips down there in 10 days, we found the perfect condo. The complex is in Mission Valley in between two trolley stops, which are about a 10 minute ride from campus. It's absolutely gorgeous: 2 bedroom 2 bath, great sized living room and kitchen, patio balcony. The complex is secure and has a pool/jacuzzi and fitness center. I'm uber excited. I'll be moving in the beginning of August, but our landlord is giving us the keys in a couple weeks so we can start moving furniture.

I'll be sharing the master bedroom and bath with Anja (she was in comm disorders with me at Biola and is starting the audiology program at state). Ana and her little doggy Brady will have their own room and bathroom on the other side of our condo.

Besides that craziness, I've been hanging out with Raelene quite a bit. We went to a college group at her church the first weekend I was home, and were the oldest ones there, hahaha. We hit up the Del Mar Fair. First time for both of us going without our families. I think we did quite well though, saw pretty flowers and farm animals and shared a deep fried smore and some deep fried cheese curds. yum!

I had a party to celebrate graduation and my birthday. My and I made fruit kabobs, my dad bbqed chicken skewers, and we had a variety of salads and desserts, plus mock margaritas, mmm. Krista, Becky, and Amanda came down from LA, which was amazing to get to see them again. Elizabeth brought Matthew, and Raelene and a number of neighbors and church friends stopped by.

For my birthday on Saturday I spent the day at Disneyland with Raelene and Becky. That was pretty awesome. They give you a button that says "Happy Birthday!" and your name, and everybody in the park wishes you happy birthday all day long. I counted about 19, plus I got sung to outside the ice cream shop on main street. Amanda met us for lunch in downtown Disney, and we met Krista at Red Robin for dinner. I had my family party Sunday evening, joint with our Father's Day celebration.

This morning I finished up an online scrapbook from shutterfly.com of my Romania trip. I may be able to post some of it on here. I'm pretty excited about it, mom had a special offer so we got it for free.

Other than that, I guess next on the list is 4th of July, summer sure goes by so fast!

Bye Bye Biola

Oh goodness, I created this entry about 3 weeks ago, better late than never though right?

I spent the entirety of finals week trying to blog, but time did not permit. I ended up journaling this by hand after my computer (and the rest of my stuff) had gone home after graduation. The first chunk is just the events, the second is thoughts and reflections. Because of length, I'm making them two separate posts. Here we go!

"I'm writing this from the inside of my wardrobe. Kind of random, but it's silly, so I like it.

I've been trying to blog since Sunday, but never found time. Honestly, maybe it's best I didn't. I've been all over the place: both excited and anticipating graduation and dreading the closing of this chapter of my life. Being my last week as a student here, however, I have not been lacking in fun events.

Last Thursday was the Comm Disorders dinner. Teri spoke about professional, personal, and spiritual advice she wanted to pass on, and Krista and I shared an amazing flan

Friday night was senior dinner. My parents and grandparents were able to come, which was great, especially since my grandparents weren't able to make it for graduation. Fred Sanders, professor of the year despite being on sabbatical, spoke, and it was a great final dinner on Metzger.

Saturday morning we put on a Clarinet Club End of the Year Recital with solo and ensemble performances as well as a few original compositions. That evening I went out to dinner with Ally and Sara to Pizza Z to catch up on life before we all scattered after graduation.

Sunday morning was my last service at Redeemer. I'm so thankful I found that church, even if it wasn't til the beginning of my final year. Teri had the girls from her classes this semester over for dessert in the evening. She had this amazing strawberry pie, chocolate cake, and coffee. We played Pass the Pigs and wii bowling. I pwned at wii bowling, I was pleased. It was nice getting to spend more time with her and get to know her husband Jacob a little. They're a great couple.

Upon returning to campus, I scurried down to our check out all hall. Hart has a tradition of praying over the seniors at the end after they share what their plans are for next year. Immediately after we went to study break.

I had my last final Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday evening was Baccalaureate. It was a beautiful service. Dr. Corey spoke about moving through chapters of life and how even though it can be hard, God always has us where he wants us. A number of seniors shared about how God had worked in their lives in their time at Biola. Then we walked from Calvary Chapel to the belltower through a path of luminaries as bagpipes played Amazing Grace. Under the belltower we took communion and sang Be Thou My VIsion. This was particularly meaningful because we began our Biola careers with a communion service under the belltower at the end of move in weekend with our families.

Wednesday I hung out one last time with Kathleen at Golden Spoon. We walked around Toys R Us, and I bought her the Star Wars action figure she picked out as an early birthday gift. That evening I got ready for Winds banquet with Becky, Jen, and Justine and rode out to Downtown Disney with Amberly, Erin, and Rachel T. Banquet was really fun as usual. I sat with Becky, Jen, Justine, Matt, and Mark. Mark kept us thoroughly entertained prior to dinner. One word: "fail!" The senior tribute was really nice, and much to my delight, even though I missed one semester of Winds, I received a Senior Service Award.

I came back with Becky, Jen, Dorothy, and Casey and Becky, Krista, Jen, and I watched Amazing Grace. Thursday afternoon I got to meet up with Emily Joynes at Commons to chat, and in the evening I went to a double composition recital for Kenny Lindsey and Dave Martina. Friday morning we sat through 1.5 hours of graduation rehearsal. Slightly ridiculous, but we got our Biola Alum license plate holders and Bye-ola tshirts. I had rehearsal and then played my (hopefully) last graduation ever.

The craziness began Saturday morning. Becky and I got up at 7 to get ready. We found her family and they fed me breakfast and took pictures. Soon after I found my own family and went to line up. I discovered that when they said it took 45 minutes to line everybody up, they really meant it took 45 minutes for everybody to show up.

The ceremony was nice, a bit long though due to the combination of hot sun and 606 graduates (only 26 more than my high school class). George Verwer gave a nice message, nothing too insanely memorable. I enjoyed it more than my high school graduation. High school was very focused on the past, while this was focused on the future. After the ceremony I made a quick stop by Calvary Chapel for a few band hugs and then made my way to McNally for the Comm Disorders reception. Raelene got to meet a lot of my Biola friends and my parents got to meet my professors.

The 6 of us had lunch at Woodranch Grill and I opened my cards and presents. That was some very good food. Mom and Raelene helped me pack up the car and then they and Valencia went home. It was really hard watching her go. We've never been apart for more than 6 hours at a time.

We had one final Hart BBQ for the people who were staying over Saturday night. I finished up my Romania packing and checked in. On my way back to Hart, I stopped by the fountain to just sit and think for a while."

Stayed tuned for the second half, and so much more :o)

Closing Another Chapter

I am 11 days away from graduation...

This sentence brings excitement, sadness, relief, anticipation, fear, happiness, and a whole lot more emotions that I have to yet to pinpoint.

I am most certainly ready for the semester to be over, and I am very excited that my degree is almost complete. But I feel nowhere near ready to leave Biola.

Not that I don't feel prepared for grad school or the world, or real life..ok, so I don't feel prepared for real life yet, but the other two are fine. I just can't believe I'm leaving this community. The friendships I've made here are so much deeper than the majority of the ones I had in high school. A part of me is afraid that I'll fall out of touch with people like I did with almost everyone from high school. I have a feeling that won't be as much of a problem though. I have kept in pretty good touch with my Biola friends during the summers.

In any case, ready or not, here graduation comes. One week from today I will be done with my academic work. I had my last clinic session yesterday, definitely bittersweet.

For my personal enjoyment, here's what I have left for the semester.

Clinic
putting together my client's file
final eval with Tonya
Theo of Suffering and Disability
NOTHING!!! (finished yesterday morning =D)
Neurogenic Comm Disorders
Dysarthria case study (due by email tomorrow)
Spanish Lit
El Camino paper (due Thurs)
final (Tues at 1)
Capstone
NOTHING!!!! (I did my presentation and turned in my paper on the 1st)
attend class Friday
attend to finish research study for Matt next Friday
Symphonic Winds
student conductors Friday
graduation music Monday
BANQUET!!!! (next Wednesday)
graduate graduation next Friday
Romania rehearsal Sunday morning
ROMANIA!!!!! (May 24th - June 4th)

I also have a ton of fun senior/end of the year type activities interspursed with all that too

I can do this!

Never Pray for Patience

God will teach it to you, in more ways than you thought were even possible. I never even prayed for it and I feel like I'm being given more than enough practice. Set back after set back, God is still sovereign. But in our human brokenness, that doesn't make things easier.

I had an incredibly stressful and emotionally taxing day yesterday involving 3 different parents and 1 boyfriend. By the time I went to bed at 3:30 (yes am) after finishing my capstone presentation (which thankfully went fairly smoothly, and thus means I am DONE with that class) I felt like I had been run over by a semi truck.

Even amidst all of this, I know I was still being taken care of. I had a phone call from an encouraging and loving grandmother, a call from a sensitive, understanding, and reassuring father, and a trip to Cheesecake Factory with the girls (a belated birthday celebration for Amanda). Still, I'm dead tired today, and definitely still hurting.

Continued prayers for guidance and the ability to finish the semester despite drama are appreciated.

with my *amazing* tuxedo cheesecake

Not Meant To Be
Theory of a Deadman
*words adapted by me*

It's never enough to say I'm happy
It's never enough he says he cares
But I'm caught between what you
Want from me, and knowing
If I give that to ya
I might just disappear.

Nobody wins when everyone's losing

Oh, it's like

One step forward and two steps back
No matter what I do you're always mad
And I can't change your mind,

Oh, it's like

Trying to turn around on a one way street
I can't give you what you want
And it's killing me and I, I'm starting to see
You'll never think we're meant to be

It's never enough he says he loves me
No, it's never enough to say he tries
It's hard to believe that's there's
No compromise for you and me
And it seems to be,
The story of my life

Nobody wins when everyone's losing

It's like one step forward and two steps back
No matter what I do you're always mad
And I can't change your mind, oh

It's like trying to turn around on a
One way street. I can't give
You what you want and it's killing me
And I, I'm starting to see
You'll never think we're meant to be

There's still time to turn this around
Should you be building us up
Instead of tearing us down
But I keep thinking
Maybe there's no point.

It's like one step forward
And two steps back,
No matter what I do
You're always mad
And I, can't change your mind, oh

It's like tryin to turn around
On a one way street
I can't give you what you want
And it's killing me and I,
I finally see,
You'll never be happy with me.

It's like one step forward,
And two steps back,
No matter what I do
You're always mad,
And I, Mama I'm sorry to see,
You're just not happy with me.

Beautiful

I love the days when I look in the mirror, or see a picture of myself, and the first thing that comes to mind is "wow, I am beautiful." Not in a conceited way, just a "oh, hey, that's pretty, and that's me." It's one thing to have others tell you you're beautiful, but it's quite a necessary thing to be able to look at yourself and see the beauty that God has created in you.

It allows you to see God's beauty elsewhere.

For example the peach and pink roses that are in bloom on our "Mr. Lincoln" bush out front, just in time for Easter.

Easter and flowers always go hand in hand for me. My mom brought home one of the lilies from the altar yesterday and it smells amazing. As did the flower cross that the children made at the Easter program Saturday.

I am growing to believe that Easter is my favorite holiday. It is, of course, the key of the Christian salvation. Our Lord suffered and died, atoning for the sins of all people, and then was raised from the dead, conquering death. What more could we have to celebrate that that!

Yesterday held some wonderful family time. Grandparents and aunt and uncle came. Food was eaten, games were played, and the day was enjoyed.

Opportunities seem to be opening for Tad to move to California soon, something we are both very anxious for, and perhaps to pursue a career in youth ministry. In the meantime, it looks as if he will be able to come for my graduation, and we'll go from there.

All this to say that God is good. Life truly is beautiful

the kids put all the colored flowers in :)