Merry Christmas

I cannot believe it is Christmas... where did the time go? In a week it will be 2006... wow. I am amazed at the Christmas story... Christmas: the worship of Christ. Christ is worthy of worship, and it was recognized as soon as He entered this world... I mean, angels filling the sky singing Glory to God in the Highest, "a huge angelic choir singing God's praises" (Luke 2:13)... Christ came to earth, it's a big deal. What's more, He came in the form of a human, a baby... I can't get over it. Jesus, You are all that is worthy of my adoration and my praise. You are above all, and yet You chose to humble Yourself because Your love for me is beyond what I can understand. Jesus came to earth for you... He came, He lived, He died, He conquered the grave and paid the price for sin.... for you. Don't miss the message of Christmas: worship of Christ.
I'm leaving after the church Christmas service to go back to Texas with my family to visit the rest of my family, but I will return to Tally at New Year's so hopefully I will be able to spend more time with those of you here. I pray you all have a blessed Christmas and that He takes your breath away with who He is... because believe me, He is far beyond your wildest dream.

Wow....

So, I've been home since Tuesday night... like practically at the stroke of Wednesday... haha... I amuse myself. Alisha and I had a very interesting road trip here (I drove the whole way, I'm proud).... but I think only the two of us will ever understand how entertaining those moments were. Anyway... I've been busy ever since. Working at Kenley's... a lot. Church. Orchestra. Working at my mom's school. Camp Charis Christmas. It's weird, because I feel like I haven't really seen that many people. But, I have seen some of my favorite people in the world, so I'm not complaining. I'm enjoying being home... with my amazing family and my incredible friends. I hate not having a car. It makes everything so much more complicated than it should have to be. But, that's ok. Well, I practically just walked in the door... but I've got to go. I'm going to babysit now... yay :) I get to go see Narnia tomorrow... extra yay.... I'm at home... biggest yay of all time :) I love you all!

Let the adventure begin...

I finally finished Captivating last night... good book, let me tell you. I am now reading Understanding God's Will by Kyle Lake. I am excited about reading again. It's something that got shoved to the backburner for the majority of the semester, and it's high time that changed. I've been spending a lot of time in prayer and reading God's word lately, and it is so good. This semester has been rocky in a lot of ways, but I know that God has used it to show me my incessant need for Him to be the One that is in control of my life, rather than myself. I'm totally inadequate for the job. But He surely isn't. I'm excited about next semester, next year, 5 years from now, because I can't wait to discover more of who God is and more of what He has for me. I cannot even begin to describe to You how excited I am.
Only 27 hours (or less if we're lucky) until Alisha's and my roadtrip to the Sunshine State begins. Yay!! I can't wait to be home. And getting to be home for multiple weeks?!? Talk about a luxury. Wow, my heart beats faster just at the thought. I am not looking forward to packing, however. How do you pack for like a month without bringing too much or too little? That is more than overwhelming to me... oh well, I'll figure it out. I wish I could pack Mabel, too. I don't know what I'm gonna do without her for so long... I miss her when I haven't seen her for just a day! But, there again, I miss my family and friends from home all the time, and I still make it. Praise the Lord, He isn't limited to one location at a time.
So, I'm taking bids on who wants to take me to go see Chronicles of Narnia ;)... I've been waiting for it since I saw the previews this summer! So yah, I want to go see it this week if I can. There are a lot of other things I want to do while I'm home, too bad I won't have my car. Poor Belle... stuck at Baylor all by herself for so long. I will miss her. Ok, I am going to make lunch, study,eat, study, read, study,.... etc... etc... Oh, and by the way, any of you who have Cingular that are bored pretty much any time on Tuesday, feel free to call and talk to me and Alisha while we driiiiive.... I love you all, am praying for you, and can't wait to see you!!!

Heart, soul, and mind

Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence."
~Matthew 22:37 (The Message) ~

Finally Finals...

I am done with classes... now all I have to tackle is finals! Ha, that is a little daunting I must say... I'm kinda scared, but only for a few classes. I wish I could just skip finals and go home. Oh well, such is life. Tomorrow and Wednesday are dead days then Thursday I have a final from 4:30-6:30 and have to work from 7-11 and Friday I have two finals, one from 2:15-4:15 and one from 4:30-6:30 and work from 7-9... then I have a final on Saturday from 9-11 and a final on Monday from 9-11 and I'm done! YUCK!! I got a "survival kit" for finals from my family today... I love you, Mommy (and the rest of you who get credit probably without even knowing it ;-) ). I think it is pretty much hilarious that the only thing they think we need to survive finals is a ton of junk food. But, I'm not gonna complain. This weekend was interesting... Mabel went off and left me all by myself, it was kind of sad, but God definitely worked in my life through some time with just Him... Friday I had a test and a final and then I worked on my paper for my Lit class for several hours and went and talked to my professor about it. We had our first choir concert that night and then I came back and watched a movie and went to bed. Saturday, I spent a lot of time with Jesus. I read a lot more of Captivating... and am growing more and more obsessed with that book. I think something that God has majorly been showing me is that I have often mistaken what it means to guard my heart. Preoccupied with being hurt, often I don't open up enough to allow others to see the real me and experience the freedom of that. I'm not sure if that made any sense to anyone but me, but oh well. For those of you who have read the book, you probably know what I am talking about. Letting God reveal to me His plans and accepting that His ways are higher than my ways has also been a really cool thing for me recently. Like this weekend, I found out I didn't get the job I was hoping for, I didn't get the grade I wanted on a test I studied forever for, I had to miss a lot of the Christmas stuff at Baylor for my concerts.... just little disappointments that I realized there had kind of been a lot of, but I was okay... I had been praying that God would shape my attitude so that I would recognize that I don't know His plans and I don't have to fret when my plans don't work out, because His plans are better anyway, and well, He answers prayers. I know that He has a plan and it's better than anything I could ever come up with. I could go on forever about what God is teaching me... but as I said, it would take forever, but oooo... I'll leave you with this really cool song that we sang in Chapel like a month ago... go figure it's a Shane and Shane song (I didn't know that when we sang it)... I love it ... maybe it will encourage you somehow...

Holy design
This place in time
That I might seek and find my God

Lord, I want to yearn for You
I want to burn with passion over You
And only You
Lord, I want to yearn for you
I want to burn with passion over You
And only You
Lord, I want to yearn

Your joy is mine
Yet why am I fine
With all my singing and bringing grain
In light of Him

Lord, I want to yearn for You
I want to burn with passion over You
And only You
Lord, I want to yearn for you
I want to burn with passion over You
And only You
Lord, I want to yearn

Oh You give life and breath
In You we live and move
That's why I sing

Lord, I want to yearn for You
I want to burn with passion over You
And only You
Lord, I want to yearn for you
I want to burn with passion over You
And only You
Lord, I want to yearn

~"Yearn" by Shane and Shane

Target or studying? Did you even have to ask?

You know, goofing off at the store is so much more fun than studying... but no worries, I'm getting my work done :)

Kristen is so adorable.... "I'm just saying"

Just in case you wanna give up your day jobs ladies, Santa has a few openings I believe...

Kristen tries to look solemn... she has a very difficult time

This is my new famous picture... like it? It's my "French model look"... whatever that means