Christ Mass

So I was watching the History Channel the other day and there was a show about the history of Christmas. The actual name Christmas came from Christ Mass which occurred December 25th, so it was shortened to Christmas.

I went to church last night with my sister and her boyfriend and Mark, one of our pastors, was talking about not forgetting about what this day actually means. Christmas is not just about presents and santa clause, it is the day our savior came. "the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" I felt really convicted because it is so difficult to see the holiday as a celebration of Christ, not presents.

This morning my family woke up early to open presents. I really liked my presents like my new sewing machine! , my fave green tea and a new one year chronological bible to name a few. After we opened presents here my mom, brother and I drove up to Kenbridge to see my Grandma and Pa. My Grandma made me a recipe book and put some of her amazing recipes in it and I am soooo excited.

This Christmas showed me that I have a calling as Suzy Homemaker, I mean I got a sewing machine and recipes, what else could that mean ha ha?

I also decided yesterday to serve on Summer Staff next summer, which I am very excited about! Updates on that to come !

Merry CHRISTmas To All and To All A Good Night!!!!

lil game of LIFE

So does anyone remember that board game life? How easy would it be if life was really like that, it was all a matter of rolling some dice and drawing some cards, and having it all laid out for you, your job, your house, how many kids you have, how much money you earn... oh how easy ..

The reason I bring it up is because although I have two and a half years until I get my BA, another for my MAT, I have been thinking a lot about where I wanna go when I graduate. I want to really do all that I can while I am still young. I want to live in Manhattan, I want to live in Europe, I want to do everything. I was looking into Teach for America, and I was thinking that I really want to do it. Teach for America is a two-year contract (kind of like the Peach Corps) under which I would be placed in a urban or rural school with a large achievement gap. My goal I this job would be to give underserved children an equal opportunity at an education. I was doing more research in this position and some of the bad reviews I heard.

I'm worried that it will negatively affect me as a teacher in the sense that I won't be teaching in this type of situation for the long haul, so I am afraid it will completely turn me against teaching, then what? Teaching is what I have wanted to do my whole life.

I guess all I need to worry about now is finishing school and getting the best grades that I can.

I am also torn with something completely unrelated to my future career plans. I am unsure of whether or not to do Summer Staff this coming summer. I love working at any Young Life camp, really I enjoy it more than anything else I could be doing in the summer. The reason I am torn is because it is four weeks of serving the Lord, which is the best feeling ever, but the service is unpaid. I feel selfish letting that be the deciding factor, but I am paying for school and my apartment next year, so I feel like on one hand I could serve the Lord for four weeks and have a life changing month and on the other I could work at my jobs here in Roanoke and make like a thousand dollars? Hard pill to swallow I know, any suggestions/words of wisdom?

Oh the stresses of reality....

I'll be home for Christmas

I was just thinking about the song "I'll Be Home for Christmas". My Mom tells me that it used to make my Dad cry, because when he remembers being in Vietnam for Christmas. I actually have a postcard that he sent his family for Christmas while he was there. The reason I bring up the song is because Christmas is my favorite holiday and the holidays are a really hard time for me without my Dad being here. I miss him that much more because I remember how Christmas used to be with him here. It makes it difficult at times to find joy in the holiday. I love that this song meant so much to him though because even though he isn't actually here, he still is home for christmas.

I will say though that my favorite part about the holiday is going to church on Christmas Eve night, it is always such a beautiful service and a good reminder of what Christmas is really celebrating.

I can't wait to start baking some yummy Christmas goodies with my Mom !

3 semesters down..

So I just finished my third semester of college and it feels like its flying by !

My finals went well, my leadership and latin finals were difficult but I think I still managed to do well.

I have to say that I probably had about 10 or so hours of sleep during finals week, it got to the point where I felt allergic to sleep, seriously.

I know get to look forward to five weeks in Roanoke doing nothing but working at the RAC and Katie's Ice Cream. So I look forward to seeing all of my regulars again!

I have not even begun my Christmas Shopping and I am just overwhelmed at the thought of it.

I'm sure all of those who are in college now or attended college remember the burden of the books, that time of the beginning of every semester when you buy all of the books for classes that cost more than most people make in a days work each. Well today I looked at the books I needed for next semester, and imagine my surprise when I saw that I need not one, two or even three books for my Children's Literature Class, no I need 16 !!! Yes that is correct 16 books, which in reality I am excited about all of them, the list includes books like the first Harry Potter, Captain Underpants, Rumpelstiltskin, and Where the Wild Things Are. Including the 16 books for my one class, I have to purchase a grand total of 26 books for the spring semester. Nice I know.

Well I wish everyone happy shopping ! Have a safe and happy holidays !

Finals

So, it is Sunday morning before finals, and I am just so lookin forward to Friday because I will be done with my first semester of Sophomore year. It has been such a busy busy semester, which I guess is my fault for takin 18 credits (6 classes) and working 20 hours a week. I have been getting awesome grades in all of my classes which I am so happy about. I have three finals to actually study for, but they happen to be my three hardest classes: Child Development, Leadership Theory & Research and Latin. I have my Psych "final" tomorrow, I say "final" because it is not cumulative, it is one of four tests grades and she drops the lowest grade, so I really wanna kick butt on this one so I can bring up my average. I have my leadership final on Thursday and I will say this is probably gonna be my hardest final, because it is so much information. My Latin final is on Friday and I think by that point I am gonna be so ready to get out of here I might zone out.

Hopefully I can do awesome on these finals and my grades will turn out great.


Oh so yesterday I had the priviledge of taking an 8 hour Driver Improvement Course for the speeding ticket I got this summer on the way to the beach. I thought that having to pay sixty bucks to sit in a room so someone could tell me not to speed from 830 in the morning til 430 in the afternoon was gonna be extremely boring. Well to my joy and surprise it was not that bad, we got a few ten minute breaks and even an hour for lunch, and all we did really was watch this video thing and exchange driving stories! Nan,our "teacher" was a real sweet older lady who called us all sweet pea and sugar and I could not help but think what it would be like if my Grandma were to teach a course like this.

I can not wait to be home for 5 weeks and to just work and make some money without having to worry about school work. I am working at the RAC and Katie's again. I am so excited for Christmas this year because we will actually be home instead of traveling somewhere (don't get me wrong I am itching to be in New York City right now) but it has been so long since we have woken up on Christmas morning and opened presents together.

Lord's Lesson:

So all summer when I was serving on Summer Staff I felt like the Lord was really telling me to be patient and things would happen in his time. I still am feeling convicted by this because I am so impatient and I want to know now the plans that the Lord has for my life, I want to know where I am gonna be five years, am I gonna be teaching already or am I gonna be doing some completely random crazy job? Am I gonna be married? It is so hard to just have faith enough to not worry and wonder about my future. I feel like the Lord is still telling me to just calm down and enjoy life and he will take care of the rest.

For God has said "I will never, never fail to forsake you". - Hebrews 13:5

New Years Resolutions coming soon!