Whew! Home for the holidays!

Heavens what a whirlwind of a week it has been (ok...an almost week)!

My lovely friend Judy took me to the airport circa 5:30am Saturday morning, and my was I glad I asked that she pick me up around 5!  Checking my bag was no trouble at all...but TSA...eesh, that took ages.  It really wasn't that bad, and surprisingly everyone was rather cheery - even with it being so ridiculously early in the morning.  I was one of the *lucky* travelers to get to go through one of those fancy new scanning machines...I don't really know how I feel about them.  It's quick and painless so it's not all that awkward during the actual scanning process.  And, if the example images TSA puts up are accurate, then I really don't think there's any issue with them.  But...who knows, really?  Well, enough about TSA.  I made it to my gate in plenty of time and even got to do a little leisurely reading!  Say, what?!  Got on the plane and took a snooze on the very smooth little flight - we made way good time!  I actually sat next to a Minnesotan who had never been on a plane before!  It was fun to get to chat with him and get his take on flying.  His general consensus: It's kinda fun...but doesn't feel as fast as I thought it would. 

Setting foot on sweet DFW ground was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  It was absolutely wonderful to get picked up by my faja and to head home to my sweet, sweet family.  Oh how I have missed them!

We've been having a pretty wonderful time thus far.  Lots of hang time, movies, CHUY'S!!, birthday celebrations, churching, and, sadly, finishing up final projects for the semester...but it is all done now!

****HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!!  So sorry I didn't get to put up a birthday blog for you...but, I loved spending the day with you!  LOOOOOVE YOU!!*****

I've loved getting to visit with my family and so many wonderful, wonderful people.  Oh how blessed I am.  And I can't wait to see more and more of you as the next week or so unfolds!!

I have lots of fun updates to share, but for now I am going to close.  It. is. time. for. bed!!

Praying you all have a wonderfully blessed Christmas remembering the birth of our precious, precious Savior.

Shalom, and blessings to you!
~MW

..::Remade::..

Sometimes I forget Who has made me, Who loves me, and who I am...and why...

Sometimes I wonder why God still loves me when I think about all of the ungodly things I think, do, say, etc...

Sometimes I wonder why God still loves me when I choose to not do godly things - when I chose to not love, to not exercise mercy, to not be thankful, to not give of myself, etc...

Sometimes I forget that I have been remade, and that God isn't finished with me - that He is continuously refining me in and through His pure and perfect love.

Sometimes I forget that the scars I have acquired along the way don't have to be ugly, but that they can be a beautiful reminder of God's amazing faithfulness and absolutely unconditional love.  Even when they hurt from time to time.  Even when I allow myself to question everything because I am reminded of the past.

But I do know this: God never forgets why He loves me, why He sent His precious Son to die for me - to die for everyone - why He will always be there even when I lose my way and lose sight of Him and His love.  And, what a reason to rejoice that is!  Even when I fail - mmmmm, which is pretty much all the time - He is right there to pick me up and love me...even when I try to push Him away.

For those of you who might not know me as well as others, one of my absolute favorite bands is Tenth Avenue North.  This band writes amazingly honest and broken songs.  I know I can always be pointed towards Christ by working through their songs.  Two of their songs that really serve as a reminder of God's perfect love -even when it absolutely hurts- are You Are More and Any Other Way.  This first video below is the music video for You Are More and the second video is the video journal talking about Any Other Way.  They are both really outstanding videos. 

God is always there, even when He seems far away.  He is always in control, even when it seems like everything is falling apart.  We are always going to mess up, but He will always be right there waiting for us to run back into His healing arms...always.


Praying everyone getting ready to travel around to see friends and family has safe, safe travels and wonderfully blessed times with loved ones.

I'll be home soon, family!  Just one more full day and I'll be in your arms!  Oh, sweet Texas, I cannot wait to be back on your solid, unfrozen ground.

All my love, always,
~MW

Happy Birthday to....

This handsome 19 year old boy!

You used to be SOOOO little....when did you stop being this small??

 

 

 

 

 

     Panda Bear, you have grown up so, so much - I can hardly believe it sometimes...but, I will never forget running around the woods with you and Fariz, going "collecting," camping in the tree house, making our base camps in the back yard, cooking our whatever they were concoctions, wakey-wakey-click-click, pokemon-ing it, yugi-oh-ing it, watching Oswald, making up our own games and adventures inside of Zelda, listening to musics together, watching LOTR, Star Wars, Firefly, etc...etc...etc...our list of insanity can go on.  

     I hope and pray that no matter how crazy life gets for you, my outstanding actor of a baby brother, that you will never ever forget the little things.  Remember the crazy random crap we did as kids and try to throw some new crazy and some new random into each new chapter of your life.  Remember it.  Live it.  

And, never ever forget to remember this: I. Love. You.

Cannot wait to see you this weekend and play with you and the Fariz over Christmas.  

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

LOVE YOU!

~Heath

snow... Snow.... SNOW... SNOW... SNOOOOOOW!!!

So...things have been pretty crazy here...like...a whole TON of snow got dropped on us within the last 24hrs or so.

Let me just give you a little introduction, before getting to the Blizzard of 2010, though.  Here's a snippet of our first snow...video is a little rough...I got tired of messing with it, but I think you'll get the general idea  :)

And now...here is our RECORD BREAKING SNOW STORM.  The most snow "we've" seen in 19 years.  We got about 16.5 inches here in the Twin Cities, and the snow drifts have been ranging from 3 to about 7 feet deep.  Yuh...it's intense.  Like way.  So....without further ado...enjoy!

[EDIT: I just realized that I misspelled bury...but I could always try to play that extra "f" off as being due to the cold....brrrrr...maybe...?]

So, yeah.....we have a lot of snow hangin' out here.  Yup...just a little.  And with that, I am off.  Those videos took forever and uploading them was a nightmare...why did Microsoft have to go and change Video Maker..whyyyy???  Ah, well, I'll survive, I suppose...or just suck it up and buy Adobe...maybe...some day...

Shalom!

~MW

My First 10 on 10!

So, a few of y'all might have found your way over to my lovely blogger-friend and sister in Christ, Katy. I've mentioned her and linked up with her a few times before. And she is way more blog savvy than I am, just sayin' - so love you, Katy! Anywho, she's does all these fun bloggery things and then I jump on her bandwagons...mmhmm, I am that person. Maybe someday I'll have enough time to be as awesome of a blogger as Katy is :)

So, Katy is a big participant in this neat little thing called "10 on 10" where you take a picture every hour for 10hrs on the 10th of each month. FUN? I. THINK. YES!! So, here goes my first 10 on 10! (I'll be honest, I missed a few hours here and there, so there's a touch of a gap in some of my pictures...TIGS, need I say more?)

So, here's my first 10 on 10 - December!

9 AM

This is what I wake up to every morning - MOM! FEEEEED MEEEEE!

10 AM

Coffee + Gihrardelli Peppermint Bark in 

Christmas mug = most legit homemade peppermint mocha EVER!

11 AM

Decided to wear earrings for the first time in about 2 months.

12 AM

Walkin' into Hodson...sorry for the mitten in the picture...they're kind of fluffy.

1 PM

Worked on my cerambycid illustration for a bit

2 PM

Took a break from the bug and worked on some manuscript stuff for the Wharton.

3 PM

ENTO vs EEB dodge ball - pretty epic.

6 PM

Went home to take Jakers out before heading back out

7 PM

Decided to lite the tree for Jakers before I left.

1 AM

Called it a night after hangin' with the bugdorks in celebration of 

being done with Insect Ecology!!!!

***Sorry for the major lags: dodge ball lasted forever and then my phone memory filled up after I left the house for the evening...


I'm going to try and remember to do it again next month - anyone care to join in??

Shalom!
~MW

Avoiding finishing an assignment?

I invite you to enter the wonderful world of Blogger :)

Yes...I am indeed procrastinating. It's so hard to be motivated when something isn't due until 3:30pm and the actual class is no longer meeting...yuuuup, I am there. Is it possible to have "senioritis" in grad school? Maybe it's just a case of "holidayitis" or "homesickitis." Stay tuned for the diagnosis.

But, for now I am going to prove to all y'all that I am indeed still alive and that I am still a contributing part of the blogverse...even if 90% of my contribution of late has merely been in the way of comments...MY APOLOGIES. As my lovelies in Africa say TIA (This Is Africa), so I shall say TIGS - This. IS. Grad. School!! I have come to accept the sad but unavoidable truth that grad school will indeed keep me from gracing your monitors and screens from time to time.

So, how goes life in the FT of late?

snow...Snow...SNOOOW!!! (<-- White Christmas style, Daddy!) We've had quite a bit of snow here, along with single digit and negative degree days, daylight that disappears circa 4:30pm, and...wind. So, the snow I love, the single digit and negative degree days I really don't mind...like my property manager said the other day, "It's so cold it's like it actually makes you warm." I know y'all probably can't understand that, but it's true! It's so cold that it's like our endothermic capabilities actually finally kick into action and boom! - you're warm and toasty...well, if you have a decent coat...and some good socks...aaand a hat...and maybe some long underwear...yup, that aught to do it :)

The ever so essential base layer....does this not remind you of Peter Pan's shadow??
Right about the time he gets ready to stitch it back on..?


Definitely one of my best investments since the move up here.

Oh...do NOT forget your gloves or a scarf - those are key as well, especially the glovies. Man. My finger tips get SOOO cold!! I need to invest in a legit set of glovies, I think. My layered knit gloves just don't seem to be cutting it anymore *sad*

BUT! All that to say, it's really not so bad until the wind gets to blowing. Even a little breeze can feel like a million little ice daggers slicing right through you...yuh, it's pretty brutal. Sometimes I'm convinced that by the time I make my trek through the snow to/from my car that the wind will have successfully taken thousands of little nicks out of my face - the only part of my body that is not layerfully covered as I brave the winter weather. So far the wind has not won, although I can't seem to get enough fluids into my body to keep my lips from cracking/peeling (gross, I know...welcome to my life.). Ah well, hopefully I can recover for a spell in my beloved TX before making my return to brave another 3-4 months of winter...neat.

Now that you have some sort of an idea what winter is like here allow me to share some of my favorite things with you.
* The snow. I've already mentioned it, but my goodness is it gorgeous! There are a number of fields around the "Cow Campus" (Ags, it's somewhat equivalent to West Campus) and they are all currently blanketed in a beautiful white, glistening, sparkly layer of powdery snow. Every time I walk past one of the fields all I want to do is get a running start and leap into the middle of the field (what? It's totally humanly possible to do...) and just land in the foot or so of snow that is resting around town right now...I think I'll wait until there's another foot or two, though.
* The sound my boots make walking on packed snow. It's this fun little squeaking, compressing sound...I don't know, it's weird, but I just like it. Probably because it's still novel...but hey, I'll take it for now.
* Footprints in the snow. I love seeing all of the animal tracks that have started turning the fields into puzzle pieces. I have to admit that they are starting to tease my imagination...I want to know where they lead and who they belong to!!! I totally have Beatrix Potter scenes running through my head...hmmm...maybe I can work on finishing that little story of mine over the holidays! Hey J-Hump, shall we play around with some illustrations over the break? Yes? Mmmk, great :)
* Wintery Christmas spirit. It's been super fun to ring in the season with snow on the ground...seriously fun. Ups the awesome by a good 50%.
* Driving in the snow. I know it terrifies some of y'all, but I seriously love it! Especially when it's actually snowing while I drive. Mmmmmhmm. Perrrrrfection. Ice, however, is a different story - I don't really want to talk about it.

Ok...so pretty much everything I love revolves around snow right now...it's just that awesome.

Last week was pretty insane...I really don't remember all that much of it. A number of us attempted our first preliminary exam (one of the requirements of our program) - we'll find out how we did in about 2 weeks. We also had a number of final projects, papers, etc. due...TIGS. There were a few nights I definitely did not sleep. We hardly saw each other...I think that was the weirdest and most difficult part of last week...being pretty much cut off from everyone, even here. But we survived it!

Well, I've also been a little busy around my little apartment! With...what? If any of you know even a little about me I'm sure you could guess this one pretty easily...CHRISTMAS!

Me Mum sent quite the goody-filled box of love last week...complete with ornaments to fill my tree which, at the time, only had 4 sad, lonely ornaments...It is now pleasantly full :)

Only a small number of fatalities.

Jakers helped me decorate the tree...looks rather enthused, doesn't he? ;)


Haha, I could NOT resist giving this one to y'all...doesn't he look like he's
singing Christmas songs??


Nonna sent this to me via Aunt June earlier in the year...I love these things!

Snowman nutcracker, mini nativity, and seasonal candles...perfection :)

Hope chest Christmas style. A Christmasy runner, Christmas
traditions calendar, nativity, snowman plate...sparkly garland...I'll take it.

I tried to get a little creative with some Christmas "orbs" and spiralling the garland in the
tree dish I would have filled it with candies, but Jake would clean it out...meh, it'll do.

Stockings! Had to hang them somewhere! My very empty wall seemed like as good a
place as any...One for me and one for the kids...Jake and BigBoy can totally share.

NUTCRACKERS!!! I miss our big collection back home :(

I've had this little tree since my junior year of high school...I felt it fit in nicely
in my whimsy corner.

My very own Advent wreath!!! Thanks parentals :)

And finally......


THE TREE!!!

I'm pretty proud of it :) I won't lie. A HUGE thanks to Momma for sending me all the little balls and the extra ornaments...especially the Aggie and Texas ones :) I think my favorite part is my Aggie Santa hat...I've had that thing since freshman year at A&M and it has made it's appearance ever Christmas since. Gotta love it.

Well, kiddies, I'm signing off for the night. Hope all is well with each of you. Praying blessings on you, my sweet readers. Love to you all!

This is what happens when you don't sleep for a good 2-3days...at least BigBoy
and Philly were there to keep me company =]

Sleepily Yours,
~MW

O, Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good...

...and His Steadfast Love Endures Forever. ~Ps. 118:1

Thanksgiving. What is it?
* A time to remember
* A time to share
* A time for family and friends - old and new
* A time to feel closer to the people you love, even if they are far away
* A time to give thanks and praise to our Heavenly Daddy for all that He has so graciously blessed our lives with.

That list can go on and on, but I think it sums up Thanksgiving pretty well, at least for the nutshell version.

I was a little nervous about how I would handle this Thanksgiving, being in a new place and incredibly far away from my family and closest friends. I initially thought I would have to spend it alone, and that made me sad, as I am used to spending the day with my Daddy and little brothers.

The boys and I always start the day off with our "Turkey Day Tiff" over watching football or the Macy's Parade as I'm getting things started in the kitchen. I looove, love, LOVE the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and since I have been in charge of running the kitchen on Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember I always win ("Do you want your Thanksgiving Feast or do you want to watch football in the den?? Your choice!") and the punks begrudgingly trot off to the formal living room to watch their football games between 9 and noon (and then I try to convince them to let me watch the dog show...that one doesn't always work...we often come to an agreement to flip back and forth and they usually let me watch the groups that I am particularly interested in...like the sporting groups and herding groups - all the fun ones! Those are usually the ones they secretly want to watch too, so I think that's why they "let" me watch those ones all the way through...shhhh, don't tell!)...Pops usually makes rounds - 'cause he's awesome and likes football AND the parade and loves all of his kiddos, 'cause he's the best dad ever - yep, sorry, my dad is the best and there's no changing my mind on this one :)

I did miss spending my day in the kitchen this year, even though by the time everything is ready I am usually beyond exhausted, have a killer headache, feel like my back is going to explode, and want my feet to be cut off (yay, tile floors...)...yes, inspite of all of that I still missed it. Quite a bit. I did get to make a dessert for Thanksgiving this year and help out with my Minnesota family's kitchen adventures, though - so my kitchen time wasn't totally in the red. Whew!

So...what did I do for Thanksgiving this year?? I was beyond blessed to spend the day with SW and her beautiful, beautiful family. Oh man, they are so great. I am actually taking her husband's (BZ) class this semester, so it was fun to get to interact with him outside of class. He and their two boys are pretty big hunters so we had lots of fun meats to nibble on AND BZ sent me and some of his grad students (who also joined us for the day) home with some gorgeous venison steaks - WIN! AND, SW sent me home with a pumpkin bread loaf!!! DE-LISH!

We really had a lovely day. I got to their lovely home around 1pm with Jakers in-tow. We did some doggy introductions upon our arrival. Jake and Chip got along pretty well, but Zeke wasn't too thrilled with Jake. I think they would have done well running around the back yard together to get the pecking orders established, but we opted to just do crate rotations with the pups. Chip lucked out and got to hangout with whomever of the other two dogs got to run free - so he had a grrrrreat day. Jake really enjoyed all the love he got from the 16 or so people who were there for the day. I did learn, however, that I really need to work on his jumping...oh man, he was trying to steal everyone's food out of their hands! Fortunately they were pretty much all dog people so it didn't really phase them any. But, I now have another project to work on with him. It was great fun to watch him and Chip run around together in the back yard, too - I love watching him play with other dogs. So fun!

It was a lot of fun hanging out with BZ's grad students. My TA for BZ's class was with us too, which was a lot of fun - I've enjoyed chatting with him after classes and such, so it was nice to visit with him outside of class as well. SW and BZ's family was pretty fun as well, and my sopapilla cheesecake was a huge hit! I definitely had to share the recipe before they all left. Yay, Texas desserts making it to the Frozen Tundra!! :)

After everyone left I hung out with SW and BZ's two boys for a little bit. Hanging out with them really made me miss my little bros, but it was huge blessing to get to visit with them. They are super kids. One is a senior in high school, the other is in junior high, so they are just a touch younger than my baby brothers, respectively. I really hope I get to know them better as the school year progresses - I'm hoping to be able to go to some of their extra curricular events and such too...I way miss getting to do go to my brothers' events.

I finally decided to pack up my pup and head home around 9:30 last night. They helped me cart Jake's humongo crate (it's the one we used for Joshua's sweet golden retriever before she passed...so it's a bit large for my stumpy cow dog, but it works) out to my car and SW sent me off with a great hug and kiss on the cheek. I seriously almost started crying on my way home last night, my heart was so full.

I have been so incredibly blessed this Thanksgiving, by the people here in the FT and by all of you back home who have made sure to remind me that you care and that I am still a part of your lives. Thank you all so much for that.

It was hard being away from family, but it was great being a part of a different kind of family up here. And having snow on the ground for Thanksgiving is something I can't even begin to remember the last time I experienced - it was pretty awesome.

Basically, God is good and hasn't let me forget how much He loves me and has shown me how He knows exactly how to take care of me when I need a little extra help here and there.

I pray you all had a truly blessed Thanksgiving, and I can't wait to see all of my Texans in less than a month!

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - Way to BTHO t.u. yesterday, Ags! So, so proud to be an Aggie - I. love. my. school!

Wind chill of...

...5 DEGREES!!!!

Yuuuup....that was my today...it. was. chill-Y!

Sooo....I realize I am way behind on the blogging-front, and for that I must apologize. But, I am running on pretty much empty these days. All is quite well, rest assured...I am just more than overwhelmed, a bit over-worked, completely spent, and beyond ready for semester one to come to a close. It's good - it's just a lot right now. BUT! Classes are almost over!! And the break will be fantastical :)

I must say that I really am loving it up here, though. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my beloved Texas, and I canNOT wait to come back to all of your lovely faces and that Lone Star State - soon! My cohort is becoming quite the close-knit group and we are developing stellar relationships with members of the other cohorts, as well. Entomologists really are wonderful people, in general. I am so blessed to be a part of this scientific community that truly acts as a family.

Things are going very well with my two outstanding advisors. RH is has been wonderful in making sure I know that I can go to him at anytime with anything, especially since SW is unreachable a good bit of the time...that woman, she's just too good at too many things! RH has also discovered that I'm a sucker for Taco Bell...and once his recent PhD student/post-doc heads out to be an associate professor at her new school I've been told that I am taking over her spot as RH Taco Bell buddy...yay!! Haha. It's pretty fun, but I am nervous that he'll get me back into the habit of eating there multiple times throughout the week...sigh...

Another example of how awesome my advisors are: SW and RH both invited me to spend Thanksgiving with them and their families!! Unfortunately I cannot be in two places at once so I had to decline RH's invite, since SW asked first, but I assured him that I still have another two Thanksgivings here...at least, so he can nab me for at least one of them. He laughed and said he'll try to be first in line to invite me for next year. Haha. So, so great. I'm excited to go to SW for Thanksgiving - she even invited Jakers to come along!! He gets to make two more doggy friends! SW and her hubs have two pups of their own, so we're hoping the three of them get along...if not, we'll just separate them somehow. But how awesome is she for inviting my pup to come with?! I. am. blessed.

I'm still loving RH's illustration class - working in the digital medium has been an adjustment, but I'm starting to slowly get the hang of it, and I love how forgiving it is - you can erase for free!!!! BO-NUS! I'll have to scan in some of my illustrations for y'all at some point so you can see how we have progressed throughout the course of the semester. I can't wait to start doing this stuff for my thesis!! Yay, science + art!! =]

What else do y'all need to know before I head back to the studying... Hmm...hmmm...hmmm...

Oh! Some my ento gals and I started running together! It's been good to have people to do it with - there's no way I would do it myself. Meg and I actually "ran" inside tonight, since it was so cold...we resorted to the ellipticals...those machines are SO mean the way they change incline and resistance on you with nothing more than a beep's notice...punks. But...they do force a decent little workout if you really power through it. At the rec here they have the ellipticals and bikes set-up to face the racquetball/handball courts so we get some entertainment while run in place. It's prudy good!

Frenatae has been pretty busy this month. We had our honey-filling party for our honey sale a few weeks ago - that was a blast. And we had another Pig's Eye on Friday, following some grad student dodgeball (the Ento dorks vs the Evolution, Ecology, & Biology buffs). I didn't make it for dodgeball, but PE was a blast. We made it a game night. Catch phrase all night long with bug dorks = epic.

This weekend a bunch of us went out to the Mall of America to help Markster find a gifty for his wifey - it was way fun. I am so in love with these people!!

Ok, kids, I'm outty. Off I go to finish-up some reading for ecology.

Love and miss y'all!!
~MW

P.S. - I'll try to post some pictures here in the next few days - I don't have too many, but I do have a few that y'all might enjoy :)

Pizza and Honey and Screams...Oh My!

Happy Halloween/Happy Reformation!

Weekends like this one make me beyond happy. Why? They involve people. Not just people, but people who I thoroughly enjoy! Weekends like this one also involve food! And adventures! And memories! And, and, and...just plain awesome!

Friday we had our departmental Halloween Party down at the honey house (a house where we used to process our "honey harvest"), and I must say it was quite fun. But, anytime there's free pizza + free sodas + free beers + free candy + entomologists it's bound to be a night full o' fun. There was even a pumpkin carving contest! I didn't carve one, but it was way fun to see the creativity of the department shine :) I think my favorite part, aside from all the free stuff and mingling, just might have been this neato little ghost guy who kept going back and forth along a wire in a very zombie-esque fashion...complete with some cow-esque moaning...glorious! I wish I had a picture of this thing. It was awesome. There was also a roaming foot. Yuuup, a foot...that was roaming... We deemed it Thing's (from the Addams Family) cousin ;) But, the best thing EVER, in my humble opinion was the acquisition of this beautiful bucket of golden, yummy goodness:

This my fabulous readers is about 2lbs of beautiful, fresh Minnesota honey!!!
I love honey :)

After the departmental party a number of us decided to mosey on over to Matt and Judy's for a low-key continuation of the hanging out. Meg and I ran back to my apartment to grab Jakers so he and Dex could play while us peoples palyed. The pups were a touch overstimulated with all the peoples, but they did fine overall. We had a great night sprinkled with periodic shouts of, "What song is this?" or, "Who sings this?" from behind Matt's laptop...not to mention the occasional blasting of Beyonce - priceless. The random bursting into song from anyone of us at any given time was pretty great, too.

Saturday consisted of sleeping in, some cleaning, a touch of studying, Skyping (of course!), hangin', and then...screaming...and lots of it. A bunch of us from the department decided to go to Scream Town (gulp!). While there was a great amount of screaming and pushing and pulling through haunted woods and haunted corn mazes and the like...eeps! Let's just say we all bonded quite a bit that night...quite a bit. Oh man, I don't know if the near incessant screaming or the incessant laughing resulted in more soreness for us all. I will say that my throat is rather scratchy today :) We had a blast though (the blast more followed the events of the night...unless your name is Matt or Corey...then you just had fun scaring everyone else all night...punks).

And here we all are!! Fun times in the FT :)

Everyone headed back to my place after we had sufficiently screamed our lungs out and gathered up some foods to partake in. We had a nice close to the night...just hangin' out and settling our somewhat frazzled nerves :) It was really fun having everyone over - I love having people in my home. Definitely one of my favorite things ever :)

Today was another good day. Skyping + homework + laundry + church + recuperating = GROOD (Great & Good!)!


So what did YOU do for YOUR Halloween/Reformation weekend??

Hope you all had a blessed Sunday.

Lots of love from the FT.
Shalom!
~MW

Can't focus? And, so I blog :]

It's going to be a long night...I absolutely cannot focus tonight.

Lots o' stuff running through my head:
--I miss my family
--I miss my friends
--I miss Texas
--How long 'til Christmas break? {~9wks!!!}
--Why can't I focus? {no clue}
--I need to drink more water {y'all, it is SO dry here - I feel like I'm turning into a human raisin}
--How on earth am I going to get everything done this week?
--Music is the best
--Jesus is better - SO MUCH BETTER
--When can I go to Africa? {waiting is the pits}
--Can I survive another 34mo in the FT?
--Care packages are the best {Jesus is still better!}

I got a care package from my parents today!! Well, technically it came on Friday, but I wasn't able to pick it up until this morning...oh the joys of leaving before your apartment complex office opens and coming home after it closes...

BUT! My parents rock - thank yas, Momma and Daddy! They sent me some stuffs I inadvertently left in the TX, along with some extra goodies :)

Jake's water bowl!!! I somehow left it in TX, so poor Jakers has been eating and drinking out of the same bowl... Now he has two bowls!!


Some of my movies!! Still missing a number of them, but these will get me
through 'til I can collect the rest at Christmas!!


A TON O' MOLESKINES!!! Best parents ever? I think yes.
Just behold the beauty before your eyes!


MA BOOTS!!!! Ok, I have missed these SO much...
Ah, my sweet hiking boots...I cannot wait to introduce you to the Frozen Tundra :)


Bonuses! My mommy knows me all too well - I now have something like
4 honey bears...you can never have too much honey :]


Oh, hai!



This is some of what I did last night and today
(along with some sketches...always sketches):


Hi there, pretty! May I dissect you?


Why thanks :)

How about you? Sweet, looking forward to it.

Ok, loves, that's all for now - I'm going to try and finish up my assignments for tomorrow morning's class...morning will be here all too soon...

Shalom!
~MW