So many things I could say... maybe I will say them

It's been a good week. I'm kinda reminded of how God's goodness prevails even through trials and tribulations when I can look back over a week where I have experienced emotions on such a wide range, with times of missing home deeply and being discouraged about finding my place, to times of laughter and strong encouragement that I have needed... and still, even in different emotions, having an everlasting joy that overrides the emotions, a deep-settled confidence that God is in control of the details... not just the big picture, but each tiny pixel that makes up the picture. Hmm... things I have missed a lot this week....

• Church-- I miss having a church that I can call my home church, somewhere that I have friends but beyond friends, family in Christ. I knew I would realize how important the body of Christ is in my life... I feel like I'm a toe without a body to connect to or something. It's been a month since I've been at my home church, and I miss it a lot. Even with all of its problems, there is still a support system there...
  
• Family-- I miss my family more every day. I knew I would. I love you guys so much. I miss having my mommy to hug me and my little brother to test my patience in the morning and my dad to share jokes. I miss watching CSI and talking about our days and hearing about everyone's stuff that is going on. I miss coming home and hearing Kevin playing his heart out on the drums or randomly singing Gospel songs in the shower. I miss handing the keys to Kenley and telling him to drive, even if it means we will take a few detours. I love you guys.
• Guy friends-- I miss hanging out with guys! Not because I'm boy-crazy... I think you all know me better than that, but because I have like... hmm, no guy friends here. I've grown up being around guys all the time! It's kind of unavoidable when you have four brothers... I miss not worrying about being perceived as thinking someone is "hot" just because you talk to them. I don't want to be perceived as "having an agenda" if you know what I mean....
  
• Girl friends-- I miss my girl friends who know me, accept me even when I'm crazy, love me, come to me for advice, laugh at me, give me hugs, share about struggles and achievements... I miss having friends with inside-jokes, so you randomly start laughing in a conversation because you both (or all) think of the same thing... Yah, I miss ya'll.
• Driving-- yah, this may sound dumb, but I miss driving. I don't miss driving for like 2 hours a day as I normally did when at home, but just having time in the car... to relax, to pray, to sing, to talk to people... down time, instead of hauling butt across campus to get to my next class, though I do enjoy walking when I can take my time...
• Cooking!-- I haven't cooked a meal in forever! That's not normal... I miss making meals and making things taste the way I want them to taste... but I'm gonna remedy this before too long and cook for my 3rd floor Memorial homies ;-)

Alright, enough of things I miss at home... no more crying for the rest of this post, only smiling and laughing allowed. Hahahaha.... I had some really great things that happened this week and there has been so much going on. Good stuff... plus, I have really cool plans for next weekend that I am super excited to see what God does with... so cool stuff from this week... I doubt I'll hit everything....

• Amanda-- I met this girl named Amanda in Chapel on Monday. She's so sweet and I was really encouraged just getting to worship with her and stuff. We exchanged numbers and I was really hoping to try and get to know her better.... well, turns out she's in Women's Choir with me! How cool is that? We had lunch on Thursday and just talked a lot about what God is doing in our lives and why we are at Baylor and where He is leading us, and how He is answering our prayers (one being for strong Christian friends, which we can be for each other, how cool is that?), and all kinds of good stuff. So yah, meeting Amanda and spending time with her was super encouraging this week.
• Wednesday Chapel-- the Skit Guys came... fun stuff. They were really good and it was cool to hear people talking about it all day. People who hate Chapel were talking about how good it was and stuff... and they delivered awesome messages about who we are in Christ and stuff through their dramas... good stuff.
• Campus Crusade-- I went to Cru and Bible Study this week and getting to know more stronger Christian girls on my floor and around Campus is awesome, plus getting to worship in a bigger group is cool.... Cru is cool... more on that in a minute.
• Friday-- Friday was great. We had our first Choir concert. Kris and Christina came and heard us and then took me out to dinner for my birthday :) Thanks guys. I love you people and I love that you are so close! Then we had free dessert by the Sciences Building cause it was Parent's Weekend so there was all kinds of cool stuff going on. Then, Mabel and I went to After Dark. It basically was like a campus showcase.... some seriously talented performers. That was fun...
  
• Saturday-- Patricia, this awesome chick on my floor, oh yes, now Memorial and Alexander representative, go Trish... got her mom to cook us amazing food (she helped) and we had a delicious meal... mmm (plus I got leftovers today... yes!). Then, a bunch of us went to the game, go Baylor Bears.... it was fun getting all decked out in our line jerseys and face tattoos and ribbons... and we WON!!! GO BEARS!!!! Very exciting... then we went to eat and then played cards and Speed Scrabble in the dorm drawing room... good times.
• Oh yes, Cru exciting story... next weekend Crusade was supposed to be having what is called the Freshman Overnight, which is basically a camping trip for all the freshman to get to know people and stuff. So, I was signed up to go... but then, we got an email that they were planning a trip to go to Louisiana and do Hurricane Relief work and so the Freshman Overnight was being replaced with this new trip.... I really wanted to go, but wasn't sure I should spend money, but I prayed about it, and now I'm signed up and am so excited to go.... please pray for us next weekend as we surrender to Christ and serve Katrina victims in LA :)

OK, if anyone actually read this whole post I will be very impressed.... It just goes to show that it is much more natural for me to write looong posts. I like to write, what can I say? I should get back to doing my homework though.... I love you guys :)