Happy New Year!!!

Its my hope to do a few things early in the new year of 2007 (which begins tomorrow). They include:
1) updating my blog with pics from my vacation
2) updating about the holiday season (which was great)
3) get my finances in order (almost finished with this one and its still 2006!)
4) get a workable schedule for myself which includes time for checkbook stuff and working out

In the meantime, I'll leave you with one pic (above) of me and my parents as we dressed up the night before my departure from Phoenix and went to a nearby swanky hotel to have drinks and then out for a nice dinner. What a fun time, and what a great way to end my visit with them.

I hope that your New Year's celebration is one of joy and peace and entertainment... and I hope you make good choices tonight and on into the new year. I hope I do, too. May your new year be one of anticipation and change - but good change and I hope that I am better able to stay connected with all of you faithful blog readers in the new year.

In the meantime - may God be with us all.

Love, Tiffani

Pics to go with vacation update post

Here is a pic of all the kids in the nativity play (omitted are the three older kids - two who helped with music, one who narrated). My friends kids were Mary, Joseph and an Angel of the Lord. It was pretty cute.

The entry/foyer as you come in the door. My parents had that beautiful "medallion" put in the center.
Looking from the foyer into the great room - the floor is gorgeous and the paint color is called "Creamy Custard" in that room. In the other rooms they used "Butterscotch Sundae."
Here are two of the sylights in the great room. They make is so much brighter that for most of the day we don't use any lights at all in the two rooms! Before you always had to have a light on, even at the brightest part of the day, because of the location of the windows.
Past the entry as you move into the office, there is a small console table to the left (shown here). Above it is a picture that I took a couple years ago and framed for my dad for Christmas. How fun to have it displayed!!

On Vacation!

Hi friends!

Sorry for the delay in my updates! Last week I had a final exam on Monday (and a final paper due the same day) - and so I should have been able to update on Wed... except that I was at my friends' house in San Antonio...... and they have... (wait for it).... dial-up. So now I'm at my parent's house in Phx and they have really fast cable-internet.

Over the last couple weeks, I attended a number of Christmas parties. I sang Karaoke, at a LOT of dessert and chips with dip, discovered Raspberry Ginger Ale (good!) and finished making Christmas presents for my family. I will post pictures of the presents soon... but my mom is sitting here with me and so she might see them if I wasn't careful.

Yesterday was a particular treat... but first, let me tell you something amazing!

I heard that D-Rob (from Greenville) was going to be in Phx visiting Lee Thompson and Erin O'Hara. I was also going to try and get to visit Lee and Erin while I was in town, but it turned out that the day I was arriving (the 19th) was the same day Derek was leaving. We joked about me changing my flight... but it was going to cost $86 to buy a new flight (and then I'd just have one leg of a flight used later to be credited to me). It was too expensive for me to do it. But when I joked about it with my parents they said, "we'll buy it." - so I decided to look into moving my flight up 3 days. When I went to the Southwest Airlines website, I decided to see what it would cost to change my current itinerary - just in case it ended up being less than $87....

What I found was really neat. I only wanted to change one leg of the trip, so I picked the new day, found the flight I was interested in (still listed at $86) and pressed "next" to see the new price..... and they said they owed ME $23.

Yep. Apparently with Southwest you can change your itinerary and they (first of all) don't charge you a fee and (second of all) if the new flight is cheaper than the flight you originally purchased... they give you the extra $$ (from your original flight) as a credit toward a future flight. Now, friends, I changed this flight less than 2 weeks prior to the date I wanted to fly... and STILL they didn't charge me a fee!!!

Fly Southwest Airlines. I called the company on the phone to make sure that I was really understanding it correctly. The woman was the nicest (and that is typical of my experience with her) and wished me a merry Christmas and hoped I enjoyed the extra time with my family. Seriously... fly Southwest! Lets reward them for how great they are!

OK, So... back to the story. Yesterday I got to have lunch with Lee, Derek and Erin! Lee took a long lunch and we met out by his office. It was great to hang out with those three who I enjoyed so much as undergrads (though Erin still is). We went to Applebee's and had a fun time getting caught up and laughing with each other.

Other news: WOW. My parents did some (secret) remodeling! It was a surprise for me (and will be also, for my grandparents this weekend) when I got in on Saturday night. They got the popcorn off the ceiling, added 5 skylights (three in the great room, two in the office), put hardwood floor in the three bedrooms, painted their bedroom and all the main rooms, and put beautiful tile throughout the rest of the house. Its amazing! I'm putting up pictures so you can see them. :) The only problem is that I didn't bring any slippers and the floors are kind of cold. But its beautiful - the colors are so warm and southwestern. Its really neat.

Since arriving home it hasn't been all photos and lunches... I helped my folks put up all the outside lights (and there are a lot) and tonight we hope to decorate the tree and put up stockings. I also attended a really fantastic concert with my parents; the Phoenix Bach Choir put on a holiday concert (conveniently located at my parent's church on night) and it was excellent! And Wed night my dad and I are attending a concert of Baroque music, which he performed last winter, but instead this year he performed the Messiah. My grandparents arrive on Saturday and leave next Tuesday morning - its nice because they haven't been able to stay that long in a number of years. I'm looking forward to a couple mornings of the whole family sitting around and doing crossword puzzles. The house remodel is doubly good because it means that there is a bed for me to sleep in once my grandparents come and I get evicted from the guest suite - usually I end up on the couch, so this is better. :)

While I was at the Fergason's I helped the homeschool co-op put on a nativity play. It was really cute and I may try to upload part of it to the blog so you can see how cute they are!

I had a great time there, watching Christmas movies, playing with kids, enjoying the new baby and talking and praying with Karen.

More updates to come in the upcoming days. Keep your eyes poste to this site!

Love and Merry Christmas!
Tiffani

Christmas Decorating

Here is a couple pics of the nativity collage I put together for Christmas this year. You'll have to check my facebook site for pics of us decorating the house. We have our tree up and its beautiful! Also, we have up a variety of nativity scenes and Sarah made an advent wreath when she was at church on Sunday, so we are VERY pleased to have that s part of our holiday decor. Also, I have included some pics from the Christmas party mentioned below.

Ashley, Dana, Kristen and Mel
Carol Singing (see the video posted earlier today)
Katie and I - she is my "test buddy" - I like to sit by her when we have tests or quizzes... thankfully, she seems to like sitting by me, too - I think because I don't complain when the barrage of little pencil leads fly my way.

Merry Christmas, friends!

And Joy and Peace.

Wednesday Update: Summer travels, holiday travels and more!

I have so much to share with you, dear friends!

Tonight, I'm watching Miracle on 34th Street as I type this update(I just finished "You've Got Mail"), and work on my final paper for the semester. Its the original version, but with technicolor, so its really the best it could be.

First of all, its Advent and I'm so glad. Just under a year ago a dear friend of mine gave me a book that she had read during advent for a number of years. It's called, "Jesus, Be in My Christmas" (by Sarah Hornsby) and has morning and evening readings for each day of Advent. Last year, I wrote about the book a number of times (you can check it out at: http://tiffslifeingreenville.blogspot.com). I've been looking forward to reading it since before Thanksgiving... I kept reviewing the calendar to make sure I didn't miss the beginning of Advent, because I wanted to start right at the beginning. Its been blessing me ever since the first Sunday of Advent last week. One notable quote from Monday was, "If I listen, God speaks daily to me, making the most ordinary circumstances profoundly holy."

I'm getting more and more excited about traveling home for Christmas. When I initially planned to attend graduate school, my parents and I discussed that I would probably not be able to afford to travel home for the holidays. I was OK with that thought and planned to work here in Waco as late as possible and then head to the Fergason's for Christmas week. Well, a few different circumstances came up and so I decided to go home for the holiday, but I also get to spend about a week in San Antonio. I'm thrilled to spend some study-free time with the kids and Karen and John, as well as Karen's parents. I'm looking forward to playing with the kids and baby Drex, and I'm really looking forward to praying with Karen and spending some quality time with her.

One weird quirky thing is that the closer I get to visiting my parents, the more often I talk to my mom. We just really like each other, and so we often talk for a few minutes a couple times a day. As my visit gets closer, I end up calling her more and more often, until the last few days I'm speaking with her every day. It makes no sense, really, but I just get SO EXCITED! This year my grandparents will be in town for 3 days, it seems, which is the longest I've been able to spend with them in a number of years, and my dad and I are going to attend a Baroque concert together (last year I heard my dad sing in the same concert, which I attended with my mom). I'm excited not only for those things, but also to sleep in, go to movies or on long walks, and to read books of my choosing - HURRAY for winter break. OH.. and a little special treat for me... like a wrapped present... I get to see Erin O'Hara while we're both home over break - hurrah!

I'll be back in Waco before the New Year begins. Sorority recruitment begins on January 1st or 2nd (spirit days) and it was cheaper to get back before the 31st than try to fly back on the 1st and drive up from San Antonio.

Sarah leaves this Saturday (I'm driving her to Dallas in the AM) and she returns on the 30th as well. I think she is even more excited than I am to see her family!

I don't know if I've mentioned it yet or not, but not only do I get to travel home for Christmas, but I also get to travel to AFRICA this summer. I'll be leading a general interest ministry team May 13-28th. We are going to be working a few different churches in Nairobi, Kenya - working in Kibera slum, which is the largest slum in Africa, and spending a lot of time with children. I'm praying for the Lord's provision as I begin this week to interview team members and prepare mentally for this experience. I'm so thankful for the Lord providing this opportunity!!

More randomness.... Well, I'm almost finished with my first semester as a graduate student. I have loved it so far. I am enjoying the academics, the social aspect and am loving working with Alpha Delta Pi (as an advisor) and the chaplains of Greek organizations. I can't believe it's 20% down already. It's gone so fast.

In the meantime, I'm very thankful for the Lord's provision of favor to me in this community. I'm blessed that I've been well-recieved and have had great opportunity to influence students, even though I haven't been here long.

I'm hoping the Lord will help me to be more diligent in spiritual matters as I move into the spring semester, that I will be refreshed and encouraged, and in being so, will be able to encourage and refresh others.

Blessings to you,friend, this first week of Advent.

CHristmas Party at Dub's House

Hi friends,

Last night a group of the graduate students in my program, Student Services Administration, were invited to the Vice-President of Student Life's house for dinner and fellowship. We had a GREAT time. There was fantastic food, good friends and even caroling.

Dub, who is a great host, at one point encouraged my friend Candice's husband, Collin, and another friend of ours, Brittany, to showcase their piano skills... they went, somewhat willingly, I suppose.... but then Missy Davis saved the day by stepping in and playing for us. We were handed out Caroler's sheets with song lyrics on them that were for the "jolliment and merrification" of all involved.

You can't get much more fun than that. Check out the video in the other post and enjoy.

Blessings for fellowship and fun this season!

Cohort Christmas Party

December 6th Christmas Party at Dub's House

verse memorization (my prayer for you today)

There will be more of an update to come later today, but I have to work all day today and so it will be later this morning.

For now, here are the verses I am currently memorizing. I am enjoying it because as I memorize it, I think of all the people who I am praying these verses for, and I also remember that someone is praying the spirit of them for me!

Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God everytime I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart, for whether I am in chains or defending or confirming the Gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Blessings dear friends!

p.s. If anyone wants to work on memorizing these verses with me and one of my chaplains, I would encourage you to DO IT!!! We are working on Philippians 1 and 2, but are really just getting started.

Wednesday update: from the library

I'm sitting here with my pal, Candice. We are about to start intense work on our term papers for Dr. Shushok's Cultures and Orgs in Higher Education class... at least that's what we say. In reality, I'm updating my blog and she's on facebook. But we are typing so that "looks" good and we have books and paper and in my case, coffee mugs out, so we really DO look like we're working.

Well, Candice is one of the wednesday update readers (even though I see her multiple times per week :)...) and last week she got on me about not updating so I feel OK about taking some study time to write this week's post.

First of all, the little cold that I got right before leaving for Greenville two weeks ago is still visiting. While I'm not against visitors, I'm not really enjoying the the friends (coughing, etc) that came with the cold. :) But yesterday I realized that if I stay really still and don't talk that I cough less... and by the end of the day I felt a lot better. I feel still better today, though occasionally coughing does indeed happen.

My trip to Greenville was great and so full of fun and good times. I hope to write about it later this morning on a study break. I got back and was in full force and somewhat survival mode!

Hmmm... updates. OK.

Did I mention that I'm going to KENYA?! May 13-28, I'm leading a team who will be doing "general ministry" in the city of Nairobi. There are multiple teams going on this trip, most are "discipline specific" (i.e. they are all from the engineering department) and a couple are "group specific" (i.e. there is a group of women going from a residence hall). My group will be comprised of people who don't fit into those other categories. We are expecting to come alongside a church that University Ministries has worked with before in Nairobi, to partner with the ministries in the city that they are already doing. We'll just be extra hands and feet.

I'm pretty excited. I don't know that I ever thought I would get to go to Africa, though I guess I hoped. But WOOHOO! I have my first interest meeting tomorrow at 4pm at my office.

And I almost forgot that last weekend was "Fall Parties" - for the Panhellenic Sororities on campus. Some of you may not know or remember that I joined Alpha Delta Pi when I went to Northern Arizona University. It was a great experience and actually, it was how I came to faith in Jesus (my delta diamond sister was a Christian and helped expose me to Christ). I've been wanting to work with sororities and fraternities again for a number of years and now I get a double blessing! I work with Chaplains of fraternities and sororities by day, and I advise ADPi by night (well, all those activities kind of overlap day and night actually).

So Fall Parties is the first part of Baylor's recruitment. They have "Delayed Recruitment" which means that "Rush" doesn't happen until January. In the fall semester, each woman who is signed up to go through rush in the spring gets a chance to visit all the sorority houses (in this case, chapter rooms) and hear a presentation by the sorority and meet some members. I think this weekend was a HUGE success for our ADPi chapter. I was impressed with how they carried themselves, their discussion and their hard work. However, we won't know the impact of this weekend until January.

It was exhausting, however, to be a part of this weekend - especially when sick. I stood on my feet in heels for lots of hours and ended up losing my voice, mostly. But it was VERY VERY fun to spend that time with the women. I really do enjoy them and am glad to count them as my sisters.

On Sunday I was part of my first "Advisory Board" meeting - it was a long one, preparing for the upcoming chapter elections. We interviewed a number of women who were applying for positions and again I was VERY impressed with how they presented themselves and their preparation for the interviews. Those who interviewed (if they are reading this) should be proud.

My last thing for right now: Operation Christmas Child. The project has gone well so far. We have a LOT of boxes, though I don't know if we have our goal of 2,500 boxes... On Friday our group will meet again to take the boxes to the drop-off location and then the project will be done for another year. Candice and I are very pleased with the work our committees did this year and we are already planning for an even BETTER year, next year.

Make it a great morning, friends. Philippians 1:3.

late (and brief) update

To all my faithful friends and family who noticed that I did not put up a Wed update this week: thanks for noticing and I'm sorry.

This update will not suffice, though it will include some bullet points that may be of interest to you:
* trip to Greenville was great, saw lots of people, was sleep deprived but relationally full. I love the people there. It really does feel like home. Thanks g-villers for the great welcome back.
* still sick. thought i was getting better, but it was a long (Looooong) week with another upcoming and its hard to shake the last dregs of this cold.
* sorority recruitment this last weekend. it was one of my first "real" moments as an advisor (for ADPi) and it was really fun - i got to meet women, encourage others and also get really sore feet, and really tired everything else.
* today I got to help with election preparation for the election of new ADPi officers for next year, very interesting to be behind the scenes as an alum/advisor.
* amazing race - as always... was amazing.
* operation christmas child is great, too - God is faithful and boxes are coming in. I'm not sure we'll make it to 2500, but we'll get a lot.
* had two chaplain's gatherings this week - they were really good and I think those who participated were blessed.
* found out I'm going to Kenya in May of 2007, leading a team of college students. wow.
* my parents were in LA this weekend with two of my aunts and they saw Annette Bening getting her star on the walk of fame. I think that's pretty neat.
* then they went to Laughlin, NV and surprised my grandparents in the casino (my grandpa on Sat. pm at his favorite Keno machine and my grandma the next morning at brunch). I think that's pretty neat too.

I hope you are seeing God's glory and power in your lives. I hope even more that you are seeing his mercy and grace.

I have lots of big papers due in the upcoming weeks, so I will try to update more during study breaks.

In the meantime, as they say: Via con Dios.

Love, Tiff

GVILLE!

Well last night I attended the Chi Omega Chili Cookoff. The "Rajun Cajun" chili I put together didn't win a prize... I like to think it came in 4th - since they didn't announce 4th place. :)

I'm packed up and ready to attend class and then head to Dallas Love to catch my flight up to Greenville. WOOHOO~~!

I'm feeling a little healthier, but figure that I'll have a cold all weekend and I'll just have to live with it.

I am SO excited to see my girls tonight at Pokey, and tomorrow - the guys, who I've watched grow up, in their last home football game!

Prayers for safe travel, peaceful hearts and meaningful times!

November 1st already?

I realized this afternoon, in the middle of trying to get caught up on some work and class reading... that it was Wednesday and I hadn't posted an update. It is helpful to me to think of Wednesdays (for this semester at least) as my "update day." - at least I'm updating way more frequently than I did in G-ville.

Speaking of G-ville, my biggest update is that I'm going to be there in 2 days. Just over 48 hours, actually! (ok, 52.5 to be exact) WOOHOO! I love Waco, I love being in Texas and I am loving making new friends here, but I'm also really excited to be in Greenville for a weekend!

Here are my plans:
Friday - ride to Pokey with Jenn (she's picking me up) and have dessert night with softball and bible study girls for a couple hours! I'm excited for a gab fest with these wonderful women Friday night. I'm staying over at the Hehman's that evening.

Saturday - get up and have a chat with Maura and then spend time with Liz and baby Mac (matthew...) before heading to the field. This week is the third annual "Souper" Tailgate and I'm thrilled to see the EPAPP parents and to have Wise family Gumbo (i'm more excited to see the wise's than for the gumbo, even!). After the tailgate its Senior day festivities, and then the Panthers take on the Concordia River Forest Cougars. Then a post-game time - hopefully its not too cold. And on to a fun evening with the coaching staff and their families at the Hehman's. That evening I'm staying over with Laura and Andy, so we'll cut out at some point and get a chance to catch up before falling asleep.

Sunday - woohoo for Greenville FMC! I'm so excited to hear Doug speak on Sunday that I don't even mind missing Crowder band at my church in Waco. Though I am sad to miss them, i really enjoy the way they lead the church into worship. Anyway, Church - woohoo, and my old sunday school class. I promised Sue that I would sit behind her in the sanctuary like the old days. :) After church Heather and I are getting caught up over some GOOD COKE! yep - rancho nuevo style. Then I'm going to spend some time praying and catching up with Sue and afterward head over to the Filby's for the evening. I'm excited to see them and chat and be there for their college ministry time - yay! I'm staying over there that evening and Sue (bless her heart) is picking me up at 4:30-or so AM on...

Monday - after a nice drive with Sue to the airport, then I'll be flying back to Dallas and driving back to Waco. Hopefully (though not likely) in time for the 11am chapel, but for sure class at 1pm.

Phew. What a time.

If you are the praying type, as you read this note, you can see how busy this weekend will be. Please pray that I would be able to get my homework done in advance and on the plane, that I would be at peace all weekend and that this cold would be gone by Friday. :)

___
OK, in the meantime... lots going on here. We started collecting shoeboxes for operation christmas child today on campus. Its one of the events that I'm coordinating, and i have a great team of students who are really running the show. thats been really fun. Tonight I am going to the ADPi chapter room to help them put on a whole "fall party" - or a few of them. They are just practices, recruitment begins next Friday. That will take me until about 8 or 8:30... then I'm heading home to work on making a giant pot of chili for the university ministries entry into the Chi Omega Chili Cook-Off. The only time I can make it is tonight.... and it has to simmer for "a few hours" so I'll be up till midnight with my friend Marquette, working on it.
Tomorrow (thursday) is just as busy. I have meetings all during the day, and then the chili-cook off itself from 7-9. And at some point I need to pack my stuff for Greenville.

Thankfully, I love being busy (I do) and I've paid all my bills (I think I have at least) and my car works again (new battery). Even though I may feel a little under the weather... its OK.

Thats the update from action central. More to come following the visit!

Early Wednesday, Rainy Wednesday

Well, its 7:45am and I'm not sure why I'm up and practically ready to tackle the day, but I am.

Yesterday I turned in a mid-term project: 4 essays on American higher education (essentially) - max 5 pages each, plus a cover page and reference pages (for the whole packet). Putting it together yesterday afternoon caused much hilarity for me and Candice. I'm not sure if that was because it was actually hilarious... or if it was because we were sleep deprived and out of our minds. It was a hard project. The questions left a lot of room for interpretation, and I'm still not sure if I answered them well. I think I wrote good essays, though - at least I hope so. Its going to be two weeks before they are returned..... (sad face). Anyway, when it was all said and done, I looked at this packet sitting on the table, with a title and my name on it (I even gave the essays "titles") and I thought, "wow, I'm kind of proud of myself."

I didn't have to write long papers as an undergrad. I did a number of senior projects, but they didn't include "writing." So this may be the longest set of papers I've written yet. And as I looked it with its fancy packaging (and by that I mean... the cover page), I thought, "maybe I will want to be published some day."

Crazy stuff, friends, crazy stuff.

Now, all that has to be put aside, because I'm about to read a book for that class and then generate a 12-20 page term paper on a "higher ed issue" that I discover in the book. So I will have to write longer.... p.s. I think I've written 10 pages before, but it was a long time ago and those years are kind of fuzzy... for many reasons.

So on to other matters!

Tonight I'm traveling with my Youth Ministry Team to Richardson, TX (up past Dallas) and we are going to have a crazy fun time with the youth of First Baptist Richardson before going somewhere FUN for dinner, i.e. Cheesecake Factory!

Friday night I'm going to the Alpha Delta Pi semi-formal FIESTA! I'm looking forward to spending more time with the ladies, even though I don't have a date to come with me. I don't really know any single men in the area, even if I just wanted to take them as friends (I know, I know, the Lord has a plan though, because He keeps sending me to these places). I did think seriously about taking my friend Collin (Candice's husband) because he was going to learn the "Thriller" dance this week and he's a good dancer. Instead I'll just enjoy the company of the women there and get to know them better!

So this morning I'm headed to the mall to buy a dress - a little black one that I can wear to semi-formals for the rest of my advising career. Hopefully the girls won't start to say, "didn't you wear that dress last time?" :) Its nice to think about taking a couple hours to do something that doesn't involved computers or the library!

And then on Saturday...... yep...... Baylor vs. A&M, here in Waco!

I'm so EXCITED to be at this game. Last week the Bears came back to beat the U. of Kansas Jayhawks to get their 3rd Big 12 win, and now they are only 2 Big 12 victories away from a bowl game. Crazy. 3 wins is the most they've had in the Big 12 in something like 10 years! Anyway, last week it was scorchingly hot, we'd been up since early for the parade (and up late the night prior) so we left after the 3rd. Don't judge me - Its not Greenville (where I would never leave early) because I don't know anyone there, and we were all sunburned (seriously) and sun-stroked (ok, that part was exaggerated). So we left. And Baylor came back to win by 1 point in the 4th quarter.

I won't leave early this week.

So there you have it. My latest life in a nutshell. Oh, and my new (to me) car isn't working, still. I'm taking it to a mechanic tomorrow who will hopefully fix it for less than $100. Please pray.

Blessings to you, out there.

Oh! What a night....

Well, its the end of a crazy day. Actually, less of a crazy day than a crazy night.

On Thursdays I normally get up at the normal time, work on homework until about 10, watch the first 20 minutes of Regis and Kelly with my roommate Sarah, shower and go back to homwork until Celina comes for lunch. She's one the chaplains that I meet with regularly - a really neat, jesus-loving gal.

Today started out like most of the others, except that I'm so far behind on regular reading because of this crazy midterm I'm working on, that I was feeling the squeeze. Class tomorrow has one book in its entirety (its great: Millenials Go to College) due to discuss, plus 6 chapters from our text - 3 from last week, 3 from this week.... plus the midterm.

So I was just working like a trojan when Sarah mentioned she wanted to go to Target get some rainboots... Even though I know that Target probably wouldn't have any size 10's left (sorry, Rana, but you know its true) I said, "OK, I'll go with you at 2pm and go into work late." Celina came at 12:45, we had a great meeting and then Sarah and I headed to Target.

We got there and traveled to the shoe area, but I was on a phone call and so I wasn't being very thorough. I saw that there were boots on the top shelf, where the little size marker said "10" and so I slipped off my flip flop and put on the boot. It was kind of narrow so I shouldered the phone and pulled it on..... realizing too late... it was NOT a 10. No, I think it was a 9. So now picture me on the phone trying to get this boot off with one hand - its a full size too small... Sarah tries to help me, but that boot is on and we're both laughing but I'm on the phone and trying not to let on that I'm in a very awkward position. Thankfully the boot came off.

I did finally make it back home (no boots.. boo, hiss) and got my stuff all together (right now, I travel with my midterm textbooks everywhere so I can work on the essays wherever I go) and drove to work. I got a GREAT spot, on the street about 20 yards from the house where I work. Life is good. Work was fine, I got the things done I needed to and I worked on editing my paper - all good so far.

I was staying at work past closing time so that I could just walk over to Waco Hall to meet my friends... we were planning to attend PIGSKIN. Pigskin is a musical revue, thats actually a reprisal of the top 8 teams from SING. Sing is "the largest amateur talent show in the country" and is an annual event where greek organizations (primarily) put together 7 minute musical numbers. but that description doesn't even begin to do it justice. Imagine 90 men (or women) singing, dancing, elaborate costumes and sets. Its even better than you can imagine, or at least it was better than I could imagine.

Ok, anyway, I put my backpack in my trunk, grabbed a wrap because it was cold today and walked over to the show. Thank goodness I decided to put away homework for a night and just enjoy this homecoming tradition!!!!! It was AMAZING! It was so amazing that afterward on the way back to my car I called my parents and said, "Book you tickets to visit February 22-24 because your coming and we're going to Sing!!!!!"

I got to my car and for a moment thought my backpack had been stolen. But, phew, I had left it in the trunk. I left it there, decided to get it out when I got home in 5 minutes. I got into the car, turned the key..... nothing. well, weird clicking and electric lights, but nothing else. tried again a few times. no. So I called Sarah, who came to my rescue. It was about 9:45 now, and dark and cold. Sarah came and after restarting her car, got out and went around to the other side..... only to discover she had locked herself out of the car... with it running. My car was still dead and the jumper cables were inside her car. Her car was blocking mine in, and it was locked with the engine running. Picture it. Actually, in hindsight... well not hysterical, but funny. I had called my friends Collin and Candice to tell them about my evening and the car earlier. When this happened, Sarah ran toward home to get her extra key, with my housekey in her hand. I called back the Bullards and they came to rescue us. Collin dropped Candice off with me and went to pick up Sarah so she didn't have to run the streets of Waco alone. In the meantime, a police officer had come by and was going to help me start my car. He had a jump pack, but before he used it he had to get my driver's license and the car's plate. Then I had to try to explain why the car I have (which has a pennsylvania license) isn't really mine yet, it belongs to some friends who are giving it to me, and was given to them by the people from Pennsylvania who live in Texas now, but the title hasn't changed... Oh, and my driver's license is still Illinois. Luckily, he was OK with all of that and we had a shared bonding moment over BAMC in San Antonio.

Now get this... his jump pack didn't work... it was dead. So he had to call for backup. Sarah had come back at this point and moved her car, Collin was there, too. The other officer comes, they put on the new jump pack, I try the car - nothing. But they move the clamps and BAM! the car starts. Phew.

We decide we all (except the officers who have to go back to work) need ice cream and my car needs to run a little so I headed toward the HEB, and Candice came with me. Collin and Sarah went back to the apt. to await creamy frozen goodness. We parked and got our ice cream (thanks again, Bullards) and got back in the car.... which didn't start. Now Candice is a pretty small woman, but she's feisty and strong. And her and Collin are some of the most loyal people I've ever met. So I say, "can you drive a stick?"
"Yes."
"Ok," I say, "we're going to have to push it and pop the clutch"
so she gets in the driver's seat and I push the car out of the space and up the aisle... creating a runway.
I then push it forward, but we didn't have enough speed, so when she pops the clutch it doesn't start.
We decide to switch and at that moment a women asks us if we need help and then a man does. The man ends up helping Candice push, we get going a good clip and then
BAM! again.
the car starts - we feel like heroes at this point and we're super grateful to God - and we get home.

I have no idea if the car is going to start now, or ever again without jumper cables and my next trip to San Antonio (to John the mechanic) is at Thanksgiving. Oh, and this is the car I'm supposed to drive to Dallas in 3 weeks to fly to Greenville. But nevermind all that.

I lost 2 more hours of homework than planned. Bummer, because now its 11:40 and I'm still up with some reading left and questions to type.

But here's the bottom line:
* Pigskin was awesome and I forgot about my midterm for 2 1/2 hours.
* My car breaking down was a great memory experience - how often does your car stop running, your roommate's keys get locked in her running car, AND you have to push start your own car in the SAME NIGHT???
* I got to spend a few short minutes eating ice cream with three people I really like at a crazy late hour when normally none of us would be hanging out "on a school night" eating ice cream.

Life is good, people. God is amazing. He knows what we need to get back into perspective.

Oh, and I love mint chocolate chip ice cream, too.

Blessings.

Recent San Antonio Trip pics

Here are some great pics from last weekend's "Fall Break Trip" to San Antonio. I got to see the new baby: Drexel and had some great friend time with Karen and John, and the kids.

Jared loves superheroes and soldiers. Here he is, starring as Superman... (pajamas) I think after I took the picture right before this one (candidly) he said, "Did you just take my picture again?" and I replied, "Yes, now stop and let me take one more before I read you that book, please." You can tell, he was very excited to get photographed...

Baby Drex before his first bath. Karen took off his clothes and he stretched out as though he was saying, "Yeah, that's more like it - now when do I get my massage?" I love this picture. He's a sweet, tiny boy - 2 wks old last Friday, looks like his oldest brother, Ryan, did as a baby.

How precious are these two sitting together on the patio? Incidentally, for every 2 pictures I take of these two, I must let them each snap a photo.... Its worth it for pics like this!

Ryan.... He is the most industrious 8 year old I've ever met, and all boy. He "gets" what it means to be a boy, this guy does. He loves doing whatever his dad does and living in the country agrees with him. This is a photo out at the shed, where he was working on a project... yes, with a hacksaw. :)

Brief Wednesday Update

I'm glad to know there is one superfan out there who notices when I don't update on Wednesday mornings! :) Thanks for checking on me, superfan!

I am in the middle of working on a midterm for one of my courses. Its easily one of the more difficult assignments that I've had in my 4 1/2 cumulative years of schooling - mostly because I have to coherently squeeze a large volume of information into a small number of pages. 4 questions answered, each in a maximum of 5 pages... WITH citations. A friend and I were discussing how best to tackle the work and we were talking about what it would have been like if it were an in-class test instead of a take home. She thought that the questions would be the same except we wouldn't have to reference the texts specifically. That made me think that perhaps I should try it. Now, I didn't have three hours to spend on this experiment, but I did have 30 minutes. So I gave myself 7 minutes per question and answered each in the best way I could. I think that really helped shape my introduction paragraphs and help me understand where I need to go with these essays.

So wish me luck... its Homecoming weekend (lots of activities!) and I have reading for other classes (due on Friday and Monday) and these essays have to be polished perfect by Tuesday at 4pm. Its not mayday yet..... but if you think about it.... say a little prayer for me, OK?

In the meantime, Homecoming is here and I am EXCITED about it. I'm going to Pigskin tomorrow night with a few friends. Pigskin is the reprisal of Sing (which takes place in the spring semester, and is the largest amateur show in the country) - the top 8 acts from Sing perform in the fall at Homecoming. I can't WAIT to see it! Friday night I'm going to an ADPi event from 5 to 5:30, then to help usher (I'm a "house manager") at Pigskin at 5:45, after (around 8:30) I'm going to the Ferrell center to experience "Extravaganza" and the Homecoming Bonfire and Pep Rally. Saturday morning we are having a couple friends over for breakfast and then walking down the street to campus to see the Parade (which is the largest collegiate parade in the country... wha?), then to tailgate at the game and then finally.... the GAME itself. I'm pretty excited to see what all these traditions entail and learn more about the Baylor culture. I'll fill you in later.

When am I going to study during this weekend? I don't know, either.

God bless you!

pics in next post from last weekend in San Antonio!

This post is mostly for Heather Caddell

Heather - - - remember when you let me take pictures of your haircut so that I could get my hair cut kind of like it?!?! Well.... last Saturday I couldn't take it anymore. I had gotten a great cut from Michelle Westlake's friend Casey Willis before I left town but that was 3 months ago and I was desperate. So I went to Greatclips and somehow I got the right woman for the job and she understood what I wanted and wala. Good haircut #1 in Waco. See pictures. you will laugh because it really does look like your hair. I had her cut an inch because it was too long, and then 2 inches in the front because I couldn't see my face anymore. :)

Hope you are making it a great day! I miss you!
Love, Tiff

p.s. Oh, and thats the new sweater i bought at Target. I didn't really have money for haircut, nor sweater (ok, nor for the dresspants I also bought) but I needed the haircut and I felt like i didn't have many clothes to dress up in... so. well..... yikes. i'll look at my budget tomorrow. :)

Picture Update II (ADPi / ATO mixer 10/9)

On Monday I put on my "Alpha Delta Pi hat" and Jonathan (a friend of mine, who is also one of the Alpha Tau Omega advisors here at Baylor) and I loaded up and headed to Waco "Lions Park" where there was a mixer between the men of his fraternity and the women of my sorority. It was fun. I got to see the girls who I'm getting to know better - and who, without fail, make me smile and even laugh, Amber (the "leadership consultant" who travels to chapters all over our district) was there and so we partnered up for golf. We created a "non-student team" consisting of Amber, Jonathan and I, and proceeded to STINK at mini-golf. I'm not sure why we were so bad... but we were. Here are some photos to commemorate. Jonathan is notably missing... because he had to leave to go play "D team" flag football for ATO.

First of all - its important to say, I'm not really wearing an ADPi hat... its a hat from the house of blues in Chicago (side note: if you ever get a chance to go to a gospel brunch at any of the HOBs... DO IT!). Here I am (above) with Shannon and Elise.
From L to R: Bethany, Courtney, me and Kristen (Kristen is the current Membership Ed. vice president, so I will be working with her in my role as Memb. Ed. advisor)

This is Courtney - she is the Chaplain and we meet together weekly in my role at graduate assistant for student organization chaplains. We've had a great time getting to know each other!
Here are some mini-golfing ADPis. :)
Amber and I after our two rounds of golf... it was pretty hot that evening, but somehow Amber still manages to look fresh and cool. I think its because she is a southern belle (from South Carolina).

Picture Update (Cemetery Walk 10/8)

I thought this epitath, "Sent by God to enrich all she touched." was very sweet.

This one "He did what he could.. for his Heavenly Father... For his Church... For his Family, For Humanity... And he has entered into the Joy of his Lord." is perhaps my favorite of all time. I was actually looking for this one during my wandering and found it when I was nearing the wandering's end.



I love this one. On the front is all the information about the person. On the back it simply says, "joy"

Here are some neat pics from a walk I took on Sunday in the cemetery near my house? Are there any other cemetery lovers out there? They are such peaceful places to wander, and are full of interesting tombstones... and as my roommate Sarah says, "when you are crying at a cemetery, no one questions you" - which makes it a great place to let those tears fall.
This was a great walk for me. Beautiful things to look at - I wandered for over an hour. AND I got to talk to Liz on the phone while I did it. And when things came up that made me cry, she just let me - think we are looking forward to when we can cry with each other in person again, instead of on the phone... at least I am.

various newsie news

Well, its Wednesday and here I am again. I have to jump in the shower soon, read some more and perhaps head to lunch with my friend Candice before a meeting at 1pm for Operation Christmas Child.

Life has been a whirlwind of activity this week more than most. On Friday I spoke with Jen P. - the province director for the local ADPi chapter and agreed to become one of their chapter advisors. That in itself didn't affect my activity level (though it will slightly in the spring). What DID affect my activity level was my decision earlier in the week to attend an Alpha Delta Pi recruitment workshop with the chapter on Saturday at the chapter room. It started at 9am and I was there until 1pm when I went to the Baylor Volleyball game (they hosted #1 Nebraska and it was fun to watch such good volleyball) then listened to the remainder of the Greenville Football game on the web and went BACK to the rest of the workshop. I got home about 6pm and Sarah and I decided to skip the FB game at Baylor in order to study.... which lasted for about 2 hours until we were too tired to focus. :) I was planning to attend initiation with ADPi all along, but until Saturday I didn't know the date.... Oh, its this Thursday and ritual review (where they remind people like me about it) was Monday... SO.... I had to cram some homework in on Sunday, then we went to dinner at church and some friends came over to watch the amazing race. Monday I had work and then class (took a quiz... probably a "B" effort, sadly) and then had to quickly do more reading before my ADPi meeting that evening and a meeting for work. Phew. Tuesday was a day of work, studying and class and then REST.

I got to talk to my mom last night for a while, which was lovely. What a blessing.

This morning I slept in until 6:45. WOW - I feel, sincerely, like a new woman. Who know that 45 minutes could make that big of a difference?

Today I have work and studying and maybe a trip to apartment #5 to watch the Project Runway reunion with my new friends Joel and Jessica. Thursday I have lots of meetings and then initiation after work - and perhaps home in enough time to watch.... CSI, Grey's, etc... we'll see. Friday is the Alpha Tau Omega bed races - a Baylor tradition involving costumed teams of 5 racing hospital beds down a main road on campus... Saturday, who knows?!? I'm hoping to sleep in, get some cleaning done and start to get ahead on homework before I head to San Antonio next weekend.

OH..... and the most important news for some of you out there: I'm headed to Greenville. Officially. The weekend of November 4th and 5th. WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! I won't have time for Rancho Nuevo, and I won't get to see a bunch of people one-on-one (time is just too short for it) but what I will get to see: some of my favorite girls (hopefully) Friday night; my favorite men playing football on Saturday (some of them for the last time in intercollegiate play); some of my favorite parents in the whole world on Saturday; some of my favorite toddlers and infants in the world and their parents, who I also love; and finally..... I will get to attend church with dear friends who are like family, spend quality time with a few close friends and get to pray and be prayed for. wow. So excited. mark the date! if you don't know when you'll see me, plan to find me at the game on Saturday.

WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!
Love, Tiff

Wednesday morning is Blog morning for me!

Hello friends!

Its Wednesday morning at 8am. I'd like to be downstairs watching the today show and lazing away my day. Instead I'm supposed to be reading for class (a book by Beverly Tatum called, "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" - its a GREAT book) but in reality, what am I doing?..... yes, I'm on Facebook.

Amber East: I've become a Facebooker. Its devastating. I don't know that its so bad that I have to force myself off of it or anything (yet) but it is indeed comical to me that I am now interested in wasting my time a social networking site. :(

OK, everyone. Today is WORSHIP CHAPEL day and I'm pretty excited about it. My friend Ryan Richardson ("Chapel Ryan") who works in my office and the Chapel Band (most of whom are part of my youth ministry team) are leading worship today for the entire hour. Or at least most of the entire hour. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to head to chapel at 11am and just sing my brains out for 40+ minutes. It takes me back to the old days at New Song when after Brian's sermon the music would start and it would just continue - sometimes for an hour. Oh Holy Spirit, come down and ignite the auditorium today, speak to your children and may we hear your voice! Amen.

I have been doing well in classes, for those of you wondering. I'm slightly nervous about upcoming midterms, but so far living in denial about them and hoping that if I knew the material earlier this semester, I still know it. A fair assumption, but not a certain one.

I'm planning a trip to Greenville over the first weekend in November. I'll be in town for Senior Day for Football and I'm pretty excited to attend a pre-game tailgate and to watch my first recruiting class walk down the tunnel on the 50 yard line. HOORAY! I can't believe how many of them are still here from that year, and how they've matured into really neat men. If I had a daughter their age, I might even let them date her. :)

I'm also planning to be home for Christmas, in Phoenix. Its a long story, filled with plans of other people changing, but I decided that it was worth it to see my grandparents. And that perhaps the Lord will provide the funds, instead of me dipping into my reserves (read: student loan). I don't think I'll make it to Seattle. Its grievous to me that I won't, but it doubles the cost of travel. If the Lord provides the money or a ticket, then I'm there, baby! I'll be on the first flight I can from Phx to visit y'all up there. I'm hoping to find a way to save up $$ and also hoping my class schedule works, for me to attend the Jesus Ministry conference next summer. If it all works out, I'd be able to be in Tacoma the last week in July for the conference.

Well, that seems like enough of an update for now. Here are some final blurbs and then I'm off to read (repeat: read, NOT watch Matt Lauer, NOT get on Facebook...)
* church was great on Sunday: Crowder band let worship, Gideon Tsang spoke - God was present and I needed to hear the message.
* I love my classes and am enjoying my profs
* went to the game on Saturday: dissapointing loss to Army. :( boo hiss.
* tonight I'm going to a worship event from 11pm to midnight..... who do I think I am? some 20 year old?

Love you all!!

Wow - what a busy time!

Hi Friends! Here is the latest in a series of updates. I think so far in Waco I've done better about actually sending "updates" on my activities and life than I did in Greenville. In Greenville I was more philosophical. Now I only have time to be that philosophical on my essays. :) But don't worry... I'm sure I'll still wax poetic pretty regularly. Especially the more I learn big words and how to write, I anticipate that someday these web updates will be high literature.... kidding, kidding.

OK - so its been about a week since my last writing.
Quick news/notes:
* My youth ministry team went out last Wednesday for the first time. They are AWESOME!!! Here's the deal (because I don't think I've articulated this before) - Baylor has a program where they create teams of undergraduate students (with a few grad students on board, too) and then send them to youth groups around texas (when invited by churches) and they put on a youth night in place of their regular youth group evening. Each team has a worship band, speaker and then any combination of others who give their testimony, run games or do dramas. The youth get a chance to see students in ministry and hear from someone other than their pastor (and these churches are small and may have a pastor who has two or three roles and is not just a youth pastor, and their youth group may be small - so its a blessing for the pastor, too). Baylor gets a chance to have high school and jr. high students exposed to the University.
* So anyway, my team is comprised of the Chapel worship band (they are a really neat bunch, who've been together for a while and have a sincere love for Jesus and fun, great attitudes), a friend of mine (Marquette Bugg - how cool is her name?!) who is our speaker, and then a bunch of great women who take the other various roles. My job is to organize the group, make sure we have all the tools we need and then drive the van and just hang out with them on the way, while we're there and afterward at dinner. I love it. I get to pray for them and support them and enable them for ministry and then just watch them fly. SO FUN!
* Last weekend, I went to San Antonio and visited the Fergs again. It was a great weekend... partially because our friends Dawn and Taylor Swendsen were there, with their small son: Ezra. It was great to see them and get caught up. It was even BETTER that we were together at John and Karen's - kind of surreal for all of us to be together but be in Texas. We had a great time together and the Lord blessed us all through the opportunity!!!
* Right now at work I'm planning a gathering of all the chaplains of Greek Life and I'm hoping to figure out a time that will work well for most of them. The difficulty is that "Pigskin" is coming up soon - which is an evening of full-on musical performances by select student groups (those who were in the top 6 or 10 from the spring "Sing" competition) and many of the groups are Greek and have practice ALL THE TIME so I'm trying to schedule around chapter meetings, Pigskin practice and costume fittings and voting nights (because at the same time they are also doing fall rush!) I'm also trying to pray about and plan a ladies bible study for the women in that group. Hopefully I can get that started in October.

So with all those things, I'm also going to class (I love class - so nerdy, but I don't even care. I like my cohort a lot, and I'm enjoying what I'm learning.), trying to do homework (I have my first "research" paper due this Friday - yikes) and also cultivating a social life (lets just call this what it is: an Amazing Race support group).... God is good. I'm coming out of the darkness of my sad week (last week's post) and moving more confidently in the Lord's plans for me.

God bless you this week!


Jim McGreevey

Quick update before work

Well friends, I've been busy these last few weeks: homework (!), classes, work and traveling to San Antonio. Some of the last couple weeks are shown in photos (this weekend's bears game for instance) and some are on the flickr badge to the right.

Yesterday I was pretty sad. Not sure why exactly. It was a blessing, then to speak with my dear friend Sue and have her let me cry a little while we spoke and to have her pray for me. I remembered that it took me a year before I felt "in my own skin" in Greenville. I've had less sad days here, friends, than when I moved to Greenville. I had less people in the same boat when I moved there; here there are many who have recently been transplanted by God. But the sad that I felt yesterday lingers a little still.

This morning I am headed to work. I'll email some students from my youth ministry team (more info on that to come), meet with my boss, Don, and attend chapel at 11am. After chapel, Lyndsy and I will have lunch (I have to go make mine right now, actually!) and then we'll head to class with Dr. Cloud. Its a class about the effect of college on students. Pretty interesting, actually.

Tonight Sarah and I are having a new friend from the Quad over for dinner: Jessica. We met her at the community fellowship and both liked her instantly. Then my youth ministry team is coming over for a meeting before we go out on our first trip this Wednesday.

Then its hopefully to bed. Last night I didn't go to sleep until after 1am. Its so unusual that I needed to mention it. I think it was because I was feeling sort of icky yesterday and so I had some coffee at 4pm. Darn that fair trade regular caffeine coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make it a great day, friends. More news to come (like the results of the football games from this weekend - at least the ones I cared about).

Love you!

Pics from my first Baylor Football Game!!

L to R: Candice and Collin Bullard, Lyndsy, Jonathan
L to R: me, candice, collin, lyns
the "claw"......
Bailey, a yell leader and one of the chaplains that I'm working with.
The big screen!

Hey y'all! Here are some pics from my first Baylor Football Experience!!!! Sic'Em! oh, and see the video in the next post to get a feel for what its like in the stands at kickoff.

Sic'Em Bears (TR)

My first experience with Baylor Football - here's a taste of what its like to be in the crowd at kick-off. This is during the second Baylor home game of the 2006 season, where the Bears bested Northwestern State, 47-10.

Coach Banks

for all y'all who are a part of Greenville College football - here are few "game day" pics of Banks... you'll notice shorter hair and looking more "official" (i.e. no visor).

But you'll also notice the same facial expressions and intensity. p.s. he's already starting to lose his voice... we could hear him shouting at one point from our place in the stands (nothing bad, just loud).

Pics - new, at Flickr

Hi friends,

I know its been a bit since I've really updated. I have a lot of reading and am really trying to be a diligent college student and graduate assistant. In the meantime, this weekend I traipsed down to San Antonio with my roommate Sarah to relax and study at the Fergs, and to see ETBU play Trinity (Coach Banks, former GC FB coach is now the Def. Coor at ETBU). It was great to see Dave - I had lunch with him and the team at the Hilton in Waco on Friday afternoon, between my class and work, and then the game was fun - though they lost and that part was pretty bad. Anyway, as always its great to see Banksie in person. For those of you who asked me to tell him, "Hello"... I did.

Anyway, I read a lot this weekend, and have still more to read and write this week. So in the meantime, as I try to get emails and blog updates out to all of you whom I love, and as I try to be present in life here..... see the pics to the right... I think you'll enjoy.

Love, Tiff

week 2 addendum: confession

OK, I ended up chatting for a few minutes with D.Rob on gmail (aside: YOU SHOULD GET A GMAIL ACCOUNT AND THEN YOU COULD CHAT WITH ME... along with a ton of other great features!!!) and then I went upstairs and got ready for bed and was reading a couple pages of Newsweek (sadly, Pluto is no longer a planet and interestingly, Paramount released Tom Cruise from his contract) when Sarah came home. We chatted and debriefed our days - she was at a birthday party for a girl in her program and had a good time. Then I had lights out and just couldn't really stop my mind spinning at that point - which doesn't happen often.

So I ended up going to bed at 11 (normal these days) and not going to sleep until almost 11:30. :(

Maybe tonight I can get some extra rest.

week 2: brief note

I'm tired tonight. Yesterday's class and discussion of "The College Student" (specifically learning models and developmental theories) wore me out. Then today i started at 8am meeting with a student, met with another friend at 9am to talk about student stuff and went until 7pm with only 30 minutes at home. We went to Rosa's for our Tuesday night date and now I'm at home. Its almost 10pm and I'm about to hit the sheets.

Here's some ways the Lord blessed me so far this week:
1) great experience at church on Sunday that is still blessing me this week
2) made eye contact with a handsome guy that i have seen but not met yet sunday and today (the key here is I didn't just cut and run, but actually made eye contact - hooray!)
3) great conversation with a chaplain of a fraternity here this morning, totally blessed me
4) great conversation with a girl I met, really, yesterday and found a kindred spirit on a lot of spiritual stuff
5) great conversation tonight with a girl in my cohort, who shares my heart on a lot of issues, too.
6) the ability to go to sleep early without feeling guilty

And on that note... good night. I hope you are doing well.

Love!

Sabbath Reading

Its my earnest desire to make Sundays (my roommate and I are trying from after dinner Saturday to dinner on Sunday) my sabbath. Sabbath means a lot of things to a lot of people. To me it has various meanings depending on what my soul needs: 1) a ceasing of striving/working - a conscious rest from the daily anxieties of due dates, assignments and household chores, 2) a simple time of rest, maybe even just napping, 3) spending devoted time with God - reading sacred texts, reading texts to encourage or challenge my soul and mind, praying, 4) time to spend in relationship without the burden of work pressures - phone calls, hanging out, entertainment.

Hopefully my sabbath time always includes these parts. I love to spend time with friends on Saturday night, enjoying the end of a week of labor. I also love the time after church on Sunday, to take shelter in my home and read or nap or phone call (or all three) or hang with my roommate and watch a movie.

Today I had some phone calls to make. I spoke with Jenn and am hoping to speak with Erin and Liz before the sabbath passes into study time (t minus one hour). While I was waiting to hear back from the latter two I was trying to read as much George Muller as possible. I love this book (George Muller of Bristol). I do. But its also taken me a long time to read it. It's deep. So today I read two chapters and then had to come up for some air and I thought I would share some brief excerpts with you. Enjoy:

From Ch. 16, regarding his marriage, his first wife and her passing:

"Mr. Muller's solemn conviction was that all this wedded bliss was due to the
fact that she was not only a devoted Christian, but that their one united object
was tot live one and wholly for God, in which thy were heartily united; that
this work was never allowed to interfere with the care of their own souls, or
their sessions of private prayer and study of the Scriptures; and that they were
wont daily, and often thrice a day, to secure a time of united prayer and praise
when they brought before the Lord the matters which at the time called for
thanksgiving and supplication." (p.235)

"To her husband she had been a blessing beyond description, and to her daugther Lydia, at once a wise and tender mother and a sympathetic companion." (p. 238)

From Chapter 17, regarding his travels around the world preaching and making disciples of Jesus:

"God's real answers to prayer are often seeming denials. Beneath the
outward request He hears the voice of the inward desire, and He responds to
the mind of the Spirit rather than to the imperfect and perhaps mistaken
words in which the yearning seeks expression. Moreover, His infinite
wisdom sees that a larger blessing may be ours only by withholding of the
lesser good which we seek; and so all true prayer trusts Him to give His own
answer, not in our way or time, or even to our own expressed desire, but
rather to His own unutterable groaning within us which He can interpret
better than we." (p.245)

During his speaking engagements:

"He first urged that believers should never, even under the greatest
difficulties, be discouraged, and gave for his position sound scriptural
reasons. Then he pointed out to them that the chief business of every day
is first of all to seek to be truly at rest and happy in God. Then he
showed how, from the Word of God, all saved believers may know their true
standing in Christ, and how in circumstances of particular perplexity they might
ascertain the will of God. He then urged disciples to seek with intense
earnestness to become acquainted with God Himself as revealed in the Holy
Scriptures, and carefully to form and maintain godly habits of systematic Bible
study and prayer, holy living and consecrated giving. He taught that God
alone is the one all-satisfying portion of the soul, and that we must determine
to possess and enjoy Him as such. He closed by emphasizing it as the one,
single, all-absorbing, daily aim to glorify God in a complete surrender to His
will and service." (p.257)

George once said to the author of this book, at one of their meetings:

"... You will never get at the truth upon any matter of divine revelation unless
you lay aside your prejudices and like a little child ask simply what is the
testimony of Scripture." (p. 261)

All quotes above taken from: Pierson, A.T. (1999). George Muller of Bristol: His Life of Prayer and Faith (2nd printing). Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI

So, I hope you are enjoying your sabbath and that you get some enjoyment out of these words about George and from A.T. Pierson.

Blessings today, friends!

Pics of the Ferg kids from my weekend in San Antonio

This is Ryan re-enacting the Pony Express. Did you know that the riders of the Pony Express, in order to get the mail delivered on time, didn't have time to stop for breakfast? Their girlfriends (in this case, his sister - Andi) held out donuts on sticks and the riders grabbed them as they went by!
Jared and Andi, making funny faces
The new cat, Hannah (she will hopefully grow up to be a mouser)
John and Ryan, on the tractor, coming up the drive after getting the mail
Andi took this picture of Jared and me. I think she's pretty excited to know how to use my camera. The rest of the weekend she kept saying, "now can i take more pictures?"

Maybe next weekend, Andi, you and I will take a LOT of pics!

_______

Final Pics for now. These are from my weekend (last weekend) with the Fergasons. Next weekend I'm headed there for a three day adventure (its labor day and we don't have class on Monday!), so I may end up with more pics. I think my roommate is going to come with me and get to enjoy the cabin and an ETBU football game (Dave Banks is now the Defensive Coord. at ETBU and they are playing at Trinity U. in San Antonio - he was going to get us on the pass list.... but then it turned out they don't charge admission there, so no list, but getting in free nonetheless. ) I'm looking forward to kid time, seeing Banksie and cheering for an ETBU Tiger win!

more pics from the apt.

The window seat
my cute jelly jar office supply holders! bethany - i thought you, especially would like this touch.
my bed and night stand - its too hot here almost always to use the comforter... maybe in the winter "the cloud" (my bed) will return??
my desk. the only recent change is that I just put some christian living and reference books on the shelf instead of textbooks - it was getting too hard to keep adjusting the speaker (which acts as a book end). Instead I put the textbooks on the top shelf of my little bookcase (below):
bookcase and my dry erase board which houses some affirmations and whatever I'm learning from the Word. That week it was revelations from Prov 31. Next week it might be some exerpts from Daniel's prayer for his people in Daniel 11 (I think). I rewrote the prayer in the TEV (tiffani english version) to help me think about how to pray for me and my country, my students and my family.

The living room
The living room
The kitchen/dining room
The living room
the kitchen/dining room


here are some pics from my new apartment (with furniture!)

From my roommate's myspace blog....

Here is a post from my roommate's blog. Its hysterical and I hope you enjoy it. Its a true story. Yes, true. All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

To my desperate admirer: The answer is YES

This blog is dedicated to all of those men who struggle in their attempts to ask women out, and
perhaps get a little to high or drunk beforehand. I received the following message on my voicemail today:
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Heeeey Sarah. It's been a long time. I...uh...i...uh...I just called to see how things are going..i just......how you were doing lately? The question I was wondering.......um.....where are you going to school now? It's been a long time. ....I just want to catch up a little bit... um...and...I wondered...(long awkward pause)...are you single? I...cause, I am too! So maybe we ... maybe we could work something out, you know?! (awkward laugh) I hope you are having a good day. It's 10:54 - you're probably, probably sleeping, you probably had a rough time last night. But...yeah..you have a good one Sarah, and maybe we can catch up sometime...okay?...yeah...get a cup of coffee or.... maybe a full meal of food?...... Okay? See ya later.
-------------

Seeing as my friend failed to mention his name (or sound like someone I remotely recognized), I chose to call the number back to have a little chat. Interestingly, the phone had been turned off and went straight to voicemail - "Hi, this is Fred's** phone". Seeing as all the Freds** I know are married or in a relationship, I shall proceed in my mockery.

Well, Fred** - wherever you are, and whomever you are...the answer is YES. yes......i am single. Will I eat a "full meal of food" with you? Hard to say.

A few tips for others who may asking women out in the near future:
First, mention your name and perhaps how you know the person, if "it's been a long time". Second, perhaps calling during a period of sobriety would be a good idea. Pronunciation and articulation are both good things, and intoxication often hinders them. It also may cause you to call the wrong person's number (which I am hoping is the case here).
I do have to give Fred** some credit though - he did get straight to the point.

**All names have been changed to protect the innocent...just incase I actually do know him...

_________________

Thought you might enjoy a slice of my roommate's funny life and her sense of humor. :) Good night.

GET THIS BOOK!!!!