Week 2: NCF, BSU, and all those other things

Week 2 is about to start! I'm actually pretty excited about it. My schedule this year is pretty chill compared to last semester. I have Monday and Friday afternoons completely free to do homework, work on projects, etc. Tomorrow I plan to do some of my Informatics(computer class) homework, write an application to go on the Patriotic Trip to Hawaii in December, and do some more microbiology. I'm actually enjoying my homework so far and I'm so thankful for that. It makes a huge difference!

Emma is at a game night so I'm here alone. I was studying micro but my eyes got tired.

I had an awesome weekend! Lizzie and our friend Dani came so I got to spend the weekend with them in Branson. We went to see a couple of shows and played mini golf. :-) It was a blast! We went shopping at the Branson Landing and we all got a necklace and earrings at the $1 jewerly store, and we all got some shoes. It was pretty awesome. I think Lizzie took pictures so you should see them appearing on facebook shortly if you're her friend. It was so much fun to just hang out with them and relax. It had been entirely too long since I had seen Dani. I love you, Dani! :-)

Now it's back to reality, but like I said, I don't really mind all that much. I think this will be a really good semester. Some of my friends here are so encouraging and I know God is here with us. :-) That makes such a huge difference. God is good, all the time.

It's time for bed. My music player is lagging and that will just not do.

I'll try to blog again soon. :-)

~Christi

One Day Down and.... I'm too tired to count the rest

So, I got through my first day of classes and I have to say that I had nothing to worry about. My Character of Professional Nursing was a blast! It was extremely chill. All we did was talked to each other and introduced ourselves. Pretty nice, if I do say so myself. :-)
Microbiology was a little bit of a different story. Since we missed class yesterday Dr. Kervin was trying to make up for lost time and we have a quiz tomorrow and Thursday over our Disease Of The Week (DOTW) and our lab exercise. I'm so excited. :-) Ha... Actually the DOTW is pretty cool. Boils, Furuncles, and Impetigo. I mean, they're nasty, but it's cool to find out about them and learn how to prevent them and treat them. I think this will be a fun class once I get everything down and figure out study and homework time.

We had a nursing meeting tonight. It was great. We had delicious ice cream and cookies, got to socialize and talk to new-comers, and be encouraged by stories of the upperclassmen. Overall, it was a pretty great first day.

I went running after our meeting with 3 of the girls I work with. That was also great. A nice way to break up the day with some relaxing time. It's weird how running has become a break to me. But it helps me calm down and focus on what I need to get done.

Then I came back to find some good scripture for today. I found this in Isaiah.

"Fear thou not: for I am with thee: be not dismayed: for I am your God: I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

Goodnight, friends.

Year 2-What is a sophmore? "A person or group in the second year of any endeavor"

I like "second year of any endeavor" better than a person in their second year of highschool or college. It makes it sound better. :-)

On the way to church this morning Lizzie was reading this book. As soon as I could I quickly searched through the book to find my favorite part. :-)

Excerpt from Same Kind of Different Than Me By Ron Hall & Denver Moore pg. 106-107

'He(Denver) stared down at the steam rolling up from his coffee cup, “I been thinkin a lot about what you asked me.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. “What did I ask you?”
“'Bout bein your friend.”
My jaw dropped an inch. I'd forgotten that when I told him at the Cactus Flower Cafe' that all I wanted from him was his friendship, he'd said he'd think about it. Now, I was shocked that anyone would spend a week pondering such a question. While the whole conversation had slipped my mind, Denver had clearly spent serious time preparing his answer.
He looked up from his coffee. Fixing me with on eye, the other squinted like Clint eastwood. “There's somethin I heard 'bout white folks that bothers me, and it has to do with fishin.”
He was serious and I didn't dare laugh, but I did try to lighten the mood a bit. “I don't know if I'll be able to help you,” I said, smiling. “I don't even own a tackle box.”
Denver scowled, not amused. “I think you can.”
He spoke slowly and deliberately, keeping me pinned with that eyeball, ignoring the Starbucks groupies coming and going on the patio around us. “I heard that when white folks go fishin they do something called 'catch and release.'”
Catch and Release? I nodded solemnly, suddenly nervous and curious at the same time.
“That really bothers me,” Denver went on. “I just can't figure it out. 'Cause when colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off to everybody that'll look. Then we eat what we catch... in other words, we use it to sustain us. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish, then when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water.”
He paused again, and the silence between us stretched a full minute. Then: “Did you hear what I said?”
I nodded, afraid to speak, afraid to offend.
Denver looked away, searching the blue autumn sky, then locked onto me again with that drill-bit stare. “So, Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend.”
The world seemed to halt in midstride and fall silent around us like one of those freeze-frame scenes on TV. I could hear my heart pounding and imagined Denver could see it popping my breast pocket up and down. I returned Denver's gaze with what I hoped was a receptive expression and hung on.
Suddenly his eyes gentled and he spoke more softly than before: “But if you is lookin for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever.”'

Ahh! I love that book. If you haven't read it, you must. It's an amazing story. I don't care if you hate reading, this book is worth it. What makes it even better is that it's a true story. Yes, people, someone really said those brilliant words to a real person. I think I would cry if someone said that to me. :-) Thanks for being such good friends, friends.

School starts tomorrow. I'm really anxious about it all. The verse, "Be anxious for nothing..." keeps running through my silly little brain. I should probably listen. :-)

I'm just a little homesick tonight. Em made me coffee and it helped a lot. I miss drinking coffee with my daddy though. :-(

Brothers

We just finished watching the movie, "Grace Card". It was actually really good. The acting isn't amazing or anything, but the message makes up for it all.
At the end of the movie they played this song.



The first song I ever heard by Toby Mac was "Made To Love" and I loved it. Everytime I hear it now I think of Josh. He had it on his mP3 player and made a CD for Emma so we could listen to his music.
When Josh, Em and I were in Fine Linen's production of "The Miracle Worker", rehearsals and piano lessons were on the same day. Josh and Emma would come pick me up and we'd head to Rolla right afterward. I always felt special because I got to go with them. They just seemed so much older than I was so anything they did was cool. But one of the things I remember most about that time was when Josh would tell me to hold my ears because he didn't want me to hear the song that was going to play next. He didn't want to corrupt my music tastes with what he listened too because he knew Dad and Mom probably wouldn't like it much. But it was always special to listen to his music with him late at night on the way home from rehearsal as he'd take extra caution on the curves, but would go through a stop sign so Em and I could feel what it was like. I don't know why, but those are some of my favorite memories with Josh. Breaking the law, listening to music my parents wouldn't approve of, and eating junk food that made my stomach hurt. But it was all so great. That was how Josh showed me he loved me and now that I'm older I realize how much he did and does love me. My brothers have a hard time telling me that they love me so instead they show it in bizarre ways. Daniel just takes me driving, buys me a Sonic sweet tea, and talks to me about whatever happens to be on his mind at the time. Stephen makes me tea and gets excited when we get to share a special desert in the afternoon. Jed tells me about how he's been taking care of Belle, and asks me if I like the song he's listening too. When I tell him that I do, he gets really excited. Sam loves it when I get excited about helping him do stuff outside and in return, he willingly finds the wheelbarrow so we can haul away weeds.
My brother Brandon will wake up extra early just so I can talk to my nephew for a few minutes before I have to go to work.
My brother Nathan takes me to Sonic late at night when we both need to get off campus. He orders cherry limeaids with extra real cherries and when we discover that we have 4 cherrys each, we're estatic.

I love my brothers. There's just something special about each of them and I know God has put each of them in my life for a reason. Each day I am amazed by how much each of them love me and try to protect me in their own little way.

I'm sitting on Stephen's bed drinking coffee my daddy made for me. My coffee is getting cold... luke warm coffee isn't very good at all.

Word of the day-"Inimitable"

While looking through a Real Simple magazine at the dentist office, Mom and I stumbled across this word. I had to look it up just now because I didn't know what it meant. But now I do, so I can educate you. Inimitable means, "incapable of being imitated or copied; surpassing imitation; matchless". Inimitable is a pretty great word. In fact, I know the perfect example to explain it better.
Last night was inimitable. One and a half cups of coffee and a few tears later, I feel like I can actually write about it. I got a my first hug from Gary in two years and I have to say that my heart was full. At one part I was sitting up on the bed and Gary climbed up next to me and snuggled in my arms. It was too much... I started sobbing like a big baby. I forgot how much I love that kid and how much I'll always love him. He was so sweet. Last night was so overwhelming that now it seems like one big blur. But, I was up with Gary by myself and it felt like home. This sounds ridiculously corny but if you have ever had to say goodbye to a child that captured your heart, you know how I feel. Gary took part of my heart with him to Arizona and last night, for 4 short hours, that piece was back. Tonight that piece is missing again and I don't know when it'll come back. It hurts so much. Please pray for me, friends. I knew this hurt was coming, it just hit harder than I thought it would. God is good. He gave me Gary back for what he felt necessary and I'm so thankful for it. But it hurts to have him taken away again.

On a happy note, I got my drivers license today and had a good dentist appointment.

On an even happier note, I saw something yesterday that made me laugh. This man got out of his car and I here him going, "Come here... come on, come here...". And behind him comes this little pig with a pink collar. Honest, this really did happen. A man was walking his pig outside of Subway. It was pretty cute. Try and picture that. :-) It makes a funny picture.

"Charlie, I'll love you forever..."

Have you ever seen "Kate and Leopold" by Nora Ephron? Kate's about to jump off the bridge and looks back at her brother, Charlie, and tells him that she loves him. It's sweet.

Gary will be here in 24 hours. I was thinking about how it will be when I see them pull up the drive. I get this bubbly feeling inside me each time I think of it. He called me Saturday and I asked him if I could give him a hug when I see him. He said, "Yes". :-) He also told me that he learned how to draw stars but he's not very good at drawing half moons yet so we need to practice that together. :-) I can't even describe the feeling I have when I think that I'll be with Gary for the first time in 2 years tomorrow night. I honestly never thought I'd see him again... It's kind of blowing my mind.
I'm kind of nervous though. Brandon is bringing his girl friend. And his brother, Chad, is bringing his girlfriend. I've never met the girlfriends. I'm sure they're both great.

I'm having a wonderful time at home with my family. It's been a good few days. Today I went shopping with Mom and Stephen in Columbia and Stephen helped me pick out a pair of sunglasses. He told me that they looked good on me so I got them. :-)
I also got a pink yoga mat so I can do pilates pain free. It makes me happy.
Kristen and I are going to establish an exercising routine consisting of running a couple times a week and doing pilates on the off days. She introduced me to something called Pop Pilates and let me just say that it's intense.

Yesterday I used the weed-eater for the second time in my life. Let me just say that it's about as fun to use as it sounds. My arms were toast after five measly minutes. I really need to get at it with those pilates. :-)

Stepen and I whipped up some heavy whipping cream and I put it in my second cup of coffee. It's yummy.

I've had a wonderful day but part of me feels a little sad. So many things have changed in a year. I'm glad that things have changed, but change always has that effect on me.

Well, I need to go work on a certain someones birthday present and finish my coffee before 10pm rolls around. I think this is the oddest thing I've ever posted. Let's just say it's a glimpse of my life at home. :-)

Home

It was a bittersweet day. It was the last day Kristen and I got to work together, but don't worry, we took lots of pictures. Unfortunately I left the camera in Branson so you'll have to wait a while to see any of them. That may be a good thing.
Dan and I drove home tonight. I love car rides with Daniel. First of all because he makes sure he listens to music he thinks is appropriate for my "innocent" ears. Second, because he offers to buy me a drink when he sees that gas is only $3.26 a gallon and feels like he can splurge $1.44 on soda. Thirdly, because he likes to talk while he drives. It makes a car ride all around enjoyable. I think he may be my first pick if I were ever to go on a road trip.
The first thing I saw when going into the house was Max. I love our dog. Then Bobby comes running around the corner, "CHRISTI!!!" and gives me a pat on the back. Then Stephen comes in the kitchen with a glass in his hand and a straw in his mouth trying not to look too happy. Haha! I love my brothers. The first thing Jed says to me is, "Christi, remember this song?". It was "Chain Gang" by Sam Cooke. "Yes," I told him, "I love that song." and it carried me down a road of memories sitting on Dan's bed while Josh digs through piles of junk on the floor looking for a bike tool. Music and smell remind me of things more than anything else. It's weird how that happens.
I will see Gary in 5 days. I was thinking about it earlier and my stomach started turning. Five days, people! I get to see my nephew in 5 days! It has been 2 years, 1 month, and 4 days since I've hugged his cute face. I can't wait to do it again.
No pictures tonight. Kristen and I took some of us trying to look sad but it turned into a giggle fest. Why is it so hard to look sad while taking a picture? I have no idea.

Blessings

A normal day at the McDonald Clinic. Not much happened. Kristen and I read in the morning while drinking coffee and in the afternoon we watched this movie. It was great.

(Please excuse the glare)

I just made myself a cup of Sweet Dreams tea and have a handful of animal crackers. The perfect snack to have while blogging.

Tonight Eli and I met up with Joe and a friend at "Jesus Was Homeless". It was a wonderful night apart from Joe's constant teasing and sarcasm. It really was great. We went our usual route and got to see some familiar faces and even new faces. One familiar face was of an older gentleman with only one arm. He was as sweet as could be, asking each of us how we were and then saying good evening to each of us as we left. He left an impression on me. Here I am, about to wrap a shawl around me because my AC is so cold and there he is, a man more worthy of a cold place to sleep on a summers night than I feel I will ever be. I don't know how he lost him arm. For some reason I picture him a war veteran fallen on hard times. I don't know his story, but I would like to find it out.

I am so blessed. Each evening I come back to a quiet, cold place to sleep with running water and even a hot shower. I have a laptop, a coffee maker, a microwave, a mini fridge, books upon books, and still I complain about wanting things. I don't even need most of those things to survive. I know that I take advantage of my life here at CofO. One day I'll graduate and have to get an apartment, pay for water, electricity and heat. I'll have to provide my daily meals, and internet costs. I don't even think about those things on a regular basis. But I am thankful for them tonight, after seeing a couple of homeless gentlemen sad because they were stripped of their "front yard and driveway". The only way to their little establishment was up a muddy hill. But I know that even they are being taken care of by God. I don't think He left them for the wolves, He just has a different plan for their lives.

Tonight I got off work and checked my email. There was one from the financial aid office saying that I had been given a scholarship of $300. How does that even happen? I checked my student account this morning thinking that I barely had enough to cover the HTS fee that would be due in the middle of the semester and all of the sudden and completely a surprise, this scholarship pops up in my email and all I have to do is type up a thank you note. God is so good to me. He supplies all I need and more.

I hope that one day when I become a nurse I will have the privilege to serve others like we did tonight. I love being able to help them in small ways. I hope that serving these people tonight will somehow prepare me for serving others in the future. I had never volunteered for community service jobs before this and I have to say that I regret how many years I have wasted on doing nothing. God may not call me to the mission field, He may not want me to work at Barnes Jewish Hospital, but wherever he places me I know that it will be to His ultimate glory and that if I do what He says, He will always take care of me. "Trust-even when it's hard".

"Bleak House" on a rainy evening? I think yes.

Not much happened today. Pretty much the same as yesterday, except it rained a lot more.
I got off work tonight and went to dinner. There was nothing to eat so I had a english muffin for the second time today and stole yet another piece of fruit from the cafeteria. I then came back to my room, did some Pop Pilates (Ouch!) and then cleaned for room checks tomorrow. While doing this I started the first episode of Bleak House by BBC. I've never seen it so I decided that it was time to start.

Although this summer has been monotonous in a lot of ways, I am sad it's ending. Today a junior nursing student came into the clinic to chat with us and it became all too real that my life is about to get a lot simpler. Not in the fact that I'll have a lot of school, but in the fact that I'll have less time to do things like this. I'll go from watching movies every day and laying on my bed contemplating life to getting off from work and the first thing I do is sit down with a book to study and hardly have time to eat dinner. I love college, but I don't like the first two weeks. The first two weeks of last semester were awful just because I was not prepared for it spiritually and mentally. I had a breakdown one night after work and almost called my mom to come pick me up. I wanted to drop out of school. I didn't care anymore what I was going to do with my life, I just wanted to get out of the Gates of Opportunity. So, this week and next week I'll be trying to prepare myself for what's ahead. I don't know if I'm ready for it. How do you prepare? It's not like you can just pretend that classes have started and that you don't have time to do anything.
What saddens me most is that I won't have as much time to blog or write my friends. I don't like having to prioritize every single little thing in my life when school starts but I know that's how it must be.
I got my first nursing book today and that put me in a more optimistic mood. I felt more like a nurse after flipping through it. :-)

I heard this on Bleak House. It made me laugh so I thought I'd share it with you. "This is the growlery. When I'm out of humor, I come here and growl." I don't know who said it, just appreciate it. That's kind of what this blog is too me, except I try to not growl.

Last week of Summer: Part 2

So today at the clinic Ryan came. He's the Physicians Assistant that comes to the clinic twice a week. It's always kind of crazy when he comes. Poor Nurse Mary got stressed out by some of it. Afterward, Kristen and I decided that we had to have coffee to help us. We spent a lovely morning reading these books while we sipped our coffee. The top two are mine. I just finished Jane Eyre and I must say that I really enjoyed it. I just started To Kill A Mocking Bird yesterday but am really enjoying it as well. The style of writing is so unique. I like it. :-)

I'm really sad that the summer is over. I had so many things I wanted to do, yet I feel like I didn't accomplish anything but read a few books. I started a summer reading list and To Kill A Mocking Bird was the first one added. It's kind of humerous that it's the last one I'll be reading this summer. I've read some great books these last few months, like Crazy Love and One Thousand Gifts but most of the books were ones I just wanted to read.
Are you ever doing something and you can feel God right there in the middle of it? It's so obvious that He's working in it that you don't think twice about why you're doing it so long as it's glorifying to God? I love those times. That's how I felt when I was reading those two books, but the others? Pheeh... I could of done without them.
I strive each day to complete each task as if it were asked of me by God Himself and every day I fail miserably. Sometimes I start something and I know that I could be doing something more eternally worthy. Yet, I like what I'm doing so I don't go do that more worthy thing. That's when I get mad at myself. Most of my bad moods are the result of having a war with myself. Do you ever just sit and fight about things in your head? Yep, that's me every day. It's kind of like the two angels on your shoulder, except I don't picture it that way.

This fighting within myself has been my main struggle this summer. Even while working with Kristen I've wondered what God's purpose is in it. But knowing that he has some great big plan to come of it just amazes me. I love working with Kristen. She's an amazing person and she's been such a blessing to me. She's so encouraging when others are discouraging. I know God put her in my life to prepare for something. I'm curious what it is.

I probably overthink the whole, "I wonder what God's is planning in this?" business. I don't know, people always ask why things happen and my reply is that God has a plan in it. It may not be mind blowing to you at this time, but just wait... Every day of our lives leads up to something. Every moment... do ever just think how big a difference saying hello to someone makes? For some reason I've been realizing this summer how different people react to a simple hello. It's actually really interesting. There's this girl who works at the cafeteria and I always try to be really nice to her because she always seems down in the dumps. So tonight I said hello to her and smiled and she didn't even say anything. I wonder why she does that. Did I hurt her once? I don't know. I've only talked with her a few times and I don't know if I offended her in some way, or maybe that's just the way she is. I'm going to try to be polite and kind to her whenever I see her but whenever she looks at me it's this blank stare and I wonder how it got to that point. I'm still going to say hi to her everytime she takes my ID card. It just makes me sad that it's like that.

All this to say, only 3 days left of work with Kristen and I wonder how we got to be such good friends. I love it. :-) Consider for a second what made you good friends with people. Was it something they did for you once? Was it something you did for them? Or did it just happen suddenly? I worked with a new guy the first six weeks and sadly I didn't get along with him that well. We were friendly to each other, and still are, but I definitely wouldn't spend more time than I had to around him. I don't like that I feel that way. He is still a child of God and even though our personalities clash it does not mean that I shouldn't show him the same Christian love I'm trying to show that girl who takes my ID card at the cafeteria. Do you have people like this in your life? It's hard, isn't it?
We can pray for each other friends. :-) Pray for me that I'll be kind and loving to this co-worker and show him that I am a follower of God. But most of all, pray that I'll strive to be Godly in all that I do. I've really been messing up lately. Or maybe I've just become more aware of how nasty I am. Either way, I can feel God working and though it hurts, I am happy for it.
I love you friends.

Last week of summer: Part 1

It's the last week of summer. It makes me sad to think that summer is over and I don't really have anything to show for it. But, my coworker, Kristen, and I have had a great 5 weeks together. For our last week together we decided to take pictures daily. So here are some from today. All taken at Mcdonald Clinic by myself or Kristen. Enjoy! :-)

Yes, it's blurry.

We look like giants, in our hallway. I never noticed that before.

Sundae On Monday this afternoon. It was loads of fun. All of the Deans get together and serve us ice cream and they have tons of toppings to put on them. Mmmm... :-)

More photos to come later on. Stay tuned.

"Concatenation"

I was trying to find a synonym for the word, "reunion" and this one popped up. It means "linked together; as in a chain". It's the absolule perfect word for my post tonight.
Coffee is brewing, my quilt is laying in front of me, and I have a good movie loading on Netflix. In my mind, it's the perfect way to spend a Sunday evening. It is exactly what I would be doing if it were two years ago. Except two years ago my heart was fighting for something God did not have planned for me. Two years ago is when Gary left. I know I've written about this story before, but I've been thinking about it today. Especially with my seeing Gary in just 10 short days.
I went to church at First Baptist Branson this morning. I love that church so much. I feel so at home and loved. The Pastor, Neil Franks, has been doing a series of sermons on "Who Do we Follow?". I've written about it before so I'll try not to be repetitive. Today he focused in on Luke 9:57-62.

"As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus [1] said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'"-Luke 9:57-62

I used to wonder why Jesus was so harsh with these people who wanted to follow him. Why wouldn't he let the man go bury his father? Why couldn't the other say goodbye to his family? But now, thanks to church today, I understand it. The whole point of Jesus doing this was to say, "Hey, do you treasure me about them? Am I first in line or are going to go wait for your father to die so that you can inherit all of his land...etc...etc.." Makes perfect sense, right? So I started thinking about my life and wondering if I also was like these men. Of course there are things I love. For example, the scene I described above is something I love and treasure. But do I hold it above God's word? Would I rather spend an evening sipping coffee and watching a movie than read and study God's Word, or sit and pray for a couple of hours. Honestly, I think I would be lying if I said no. I love reading my Bible, but I also love coffee and a movie together. Which do I think it a perfect way to spend an evening? I usually find excuses for my behavior. Something like, "Oh...I just am not in the right mood for that tonight and I would be doing wrong if I read my Bible with a bad attitude... blah, blah, blah..." I am so good at convincing myself to do wrong. I don't perceive it as wrong when I'm doing it. It's later that the guilt trip sets in. I realize when I'm laying in my bed at night how wasteful I spent my day.
You want to know what I've been doing today? Watching "Wives and Daughters" on Netflix while quilting and drinking tea. It's sounds lovely, right? But it's not truly the way I wanted to spend my afternoon.

Today I witnessed a baptism of a little boy, a rededication to God by an elderly woman, and a friend braving the front of the church to go kneel and pray before God. The last one really got me. It's this guy that we know and he's probably one of the most Christian young men I've ever met. I just want to sit and talk with him about his journey with Christ and all that he's learned along the way. It amazes me how much he loves God. I guess I just don't see that very often. Earlier this summer I got to see my big brother get baptized and I have to tell you that it was one of the most precious things I've ever seen. It always makes me cry to think about how much he is learning and how much he loves God. I pick up these little things he says and I can't help but smile. I've never seen him so happy and I know it's all because of God. Knowing that I will get to spend eternity with him brings me such joy.
I LOVE seeing God work in peoples lives and sometimes I wonder if His work is evident in my life. I pray it is. I pray each day that I will glorify Him with all that I do, but am I truly doing that?

This reunion with Gary is so exciting. I am SO thankful that I get to see him, even if it is only for a few hours. God is good to bring him back for that short of time. See, two years ago I was fighting for Gary. He was something God didn't want me to have. And you know why? Because I was putting Gary over God. I loved Gary more. I thought God wanted me to take care of Gary and I can't tell you how many times I questioned him saying, "Why did you bring Gary into my life, just to rip him away from me?" I didn't understand then that God was just trying to help me see how great He is and how much He loves me. As the calls between Gary and I got fewer and farther between a peice of my heart was taken away. I treasured those calls with Gary. They were pretty much what I lived for each day. For lack of a better word, I was so stupid! If I only knew what I know now. So many things would be different. But honestly, I don't think I would want them to be different. They are this way because God knows what's best for me. Through all of this I have learned so much. Each little thing that happened has led me to this point and I have to say that although there were many hardships, there have been more happy things in my life. They may be few but they're great. So, my life is a concatenation. Every piece of it linked together in some way or another. Each day a new chain link is added and each link has it's own story. It's kind of neat to think about. :-)

Anyway, the sermon today reminded me of two years ago and I wanted to share with you what I learned. Thanks for listening friends. Thanks to those who are living out God's truth and sharing your stories with me. I love each of you.

Night. :-)

Moving in, quilting, and buying books...

The title of this post pretty much summarizes what I've been doing this week. Monday afternoon I got off early from work and went to my room and packed. It was grand. I am no longer a Foster Child.
After dinner we started moving Emma's stuff and of course it has to be the hottest week of the year. But we didn't let that discourage us. This is what discouraged us.

And while we disencumbered this pile of junk we listened to this song.



Now, don't judge me for this song. I just like the way it sounds. :-)

After deciding to take a break, we celebrated our new "home" with the opening of French Soda Lemonade. And boy, is it good.

Let me just say that we drank this after we scarfed down a 32 ounce Sonic sweet tea, a McDonald milkshake, and french fries. If that doesn't make you sick, then I don't know what will. Actually it was all delicious because we were hungry. :-)

Our room looks better now! Emma's side still needs a little organzing, but I will work on that after I finish writing. :-)

Last night we "finished" our room and ran a couple errands (they threw away our shower curtain and shower curtains are very much needed in a dorm) and I went running with Kristen. I was super excited because I made this running playlist over the weeked. I even entitled it, Christi's Running Music. And here is what it includes. :-)

"Far Away"-Lecrae
"One Day"-Matisyahu
"God of This City"-Chris Tomlin
"Breath In"-Lecrae
"Background"-Lecrae
"Viva La Vida"-Coldplay
"Minstrel's Prayer"-Cartel
"No One Like You"-Chris Tomlin
"Wake Me Up When September Ends"-Green Day
"Battle"-Chris August

I really want to get the song "Dogs Days Are Over" by Florence and the Machine. It's a great running song.
Anyway, our run was good. We did a mile and weren't dead by the end of it. I am so thankful for Kristen. It's so encouraging having someone to run with.

During the day I've been working on my quilt. I basted it together over the weekend and have started quilting! Yes, I know. Very exciting. :-)

It's a slow process, but worth every minute of it. :-) I enjoy quilting thoroughly. And I don't know if that's weird or not... maybe it is. But oh well. I still like it. :-)

And today I bought books. Three, to be exact. Books are so expensive. In this picture sits over $400. I'm going to guard them with my life.

Thankfully my dear co-worker is letting me borrow most of those books. She is a blessing to be sure. I have all my books except 3. And I'm contemplating not getting one of them because I was told that you never use it. I'll just have to see when the semester starts and how the class goes. I'm waiting on one that I ordered from Amazon, my FIRST nursing book! I'm super excited. :-)
And the other one is Microbiology... which is a $100 book and I'm waiting to hear from a friend on whether I can buy it from her for cheaper or borrow it. We shall see. :-) I just love books. Especially school books.

JOY

"And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" Nehemiah 8:10b