This little light

Wow. What a day.
Thursdays feel so long.
After chem my brain hurt.

After class I plopped down on my bed and was thinking of the things I need to do. Laundry, call the bank, go by registrars, find a job, STUDY, etcetera, etcetera. Things seem so important. Some things are, but a lot aren't.

I ran into a friend that I used to work with tonight. What a blessing. She helped me remember what is really important. Showing people God's love. Not things. Love.

There is a Leeland song called "Wake up" that has powerful and convicting lyrics.
"You know it's sad that the gift we have we keep it for ourselves most of the time. The world is looking for a love that's locked up inside these four walls. Break the door down and shine. We need to wake up, live like God, and pour out love."
I like them so much. I like songs that speak truth, difficult truth. It's good to be reminded of those truths.

I'm grateful for the reminder I got tonight.

Let's shine.

"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "O Lord, save me!" The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling."
-Psalm 116:1-8

Gettin' in the groove

The first days are over.
The real first day (wednesday) was a good one. Although it was long (8am-8:45pm), it didn't seem so long because of breaks in my schedule. I had time to eat, hang out with friends, watch tv, etc. Today, however, felt never ending. Started at 9:30, and didn't finish until 5:30. No breaks. Yes, you read right...no breaks. Well, technically I will usually have a 3o minute break to grab some lunch but because I didn't think it through today, I thought that would be a nice time to return the psych book that I purchased the wrong edition of. All that to say, I was hungry after 4 hours of bio organic chemistry. Man, that class is going to be hard. You can always tell a class is going to be hard when the professor doesn't even bother with the syllabus and starts lecturing. What a drag.

I forgot how much chemistry DOES NOT make sense to my poor brain. I'm up for the challenge now, I just hope that I will not get discouraged.

Today was rough. I'm not going to go into all the details, because it's really not that entertaining, but I ended up sitting in on the wrong old testament class. I did learn about Mesopotamia and Israel, but it wasn't the right class. I also stepped in gum twice. The first time I was just plain ticked off because it was right after the whole old testament fiasco. The second time I laughed, but it was one of those "this is hilarious because it's the second time that I have stepped in gum today...but not really hilarious" laughs. You know? Maybe not.

School really is fun though. Hardy (the dining hall) got an update...a new deli section. I was pretty excited about that. We watched a super funny safety video from the 80's in chem where they had a manikin doing stop drop in roll while it was on fire. Funny. I got a coupon for two free glazed donuts at Shipleys. Friends are fun. Tomorrow is Friday, and we already have a three day weekend ahead of us!

Happy Labor day! Enjoy not laboring.

Let the fun begin!

Back in the big B! School starts tomorrow, and I'm a little scared. 20 hours is becoming more intimidating every time I think about it. My main goal is to not become reclusive. Actually, that's probably my 2nd main goal, my first is to pass everything.

So far so good though. I like my room, and my suite mates, who are super sweet. Seeing friends is fun, and I'm excited to make more.

This semester will be an adventure.

Here we go...

NOLA, she's really great.

I got the wonderful privilege of spending the past few days in New Orleans with DaniBeth and her brother Andrew. We did a ton of fun things. It was a taste bud extravaganza! The food was super delicious and I tried lots of things I had never eaten before. ie: oysters, budane balls (sp?), bengets, gyros, humus, praline bacon, malt & fries ice cream, fried green tomatoes, and I'm sure some other things I am forgetting.

We spent a little bit of time driving around at the areas that were hit the hardest by the hurricane. It shocked me how much still needs to be done. After two years, you can still look around and definitely tell something happened. Don't get me wrong, a ton of progress has been made...Andrew is working with a ministry called Baptist Crossroads that is helping rebuild the upper 9th ward. It was so neat to see how much progress has been made there. People are so proud and grateful for what they have. I'm inspired by their courage. One thing that I thought was really fun and neat is the owners of the new house get to choose the color they want it to be painted. The street is a rainbow of different colored, new, beautiful houses. I wish I would've gotten a better picture of it, because it's awesome, but it was pretty rainy, so the colors look dull. But they aren't!

Other highlights include:

Seeing 2 alligator fights. We went to Jean Lafitte park and played with some gators.
Listening to some awesome jazz music. The rain didn't stop us from walking around to find some music.
Playing with kids in Andrew's neighborhood. Super cute and sweet kids.

I hope you get to go to New Orleans someday. It's really great.

Slow down summer!

4 more days of math. I love typing that. This last "semester" of summer school has been a lot more enjoyable than Chemistry was. I am still, no doubt, glad that it's almost over. However, the end of summer school means the beginning of real school is coming soon. I have mixed emotions on that topic. I'm real excited to see friends. Not so excited about the 20 hour schedule I have gotten myself into.

Summer has just flown by. It's been a great summer though. Someone asked me today how my summer has been. I shrugged my shoulders a bit and said "pretty good". I got to thinking after that and it's been better than pretty good. I think that because there was no camp, choir tour, staffing, or any crazy adventures to make it interesting, I've figured it hasn't been that great. But really, it has. I have learned so much this summer! Not only about moles, world war II and polynomials, but I feel like I have really grown a lot in the word. I love that! I am so grateful to have a church to go to that teaches the truth, and dives in deep. I'm grateful to have knowledgeable, wise people who love me and don't care how many questions I ask...even if it's something that a 2nd grader could probably answer. Not only have I learned so many new things about God's word, but I have also learned that learning is a continual process. We will never arrive. The more I learn about scripture, the more I love it. I loved it 4 years ago when I became a believer because it brought me hope and comfort. I love it more today because it brings me those things plus instruction, insight, and clarity.

So, it's been a good one. I'm still not ready to come to grips with it being over, but let's enjoy the time we've got left!

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.
-C.S. Lewis