...to the Lord for He is Good... (1Chron. 16:34)
Wow. Thanksgiving 2009 has arrived (well, in less than 2hrs it will). I cannot believe another year has come and gone. So much has happened in a years time and I have SO much to be thankful for. I don't even know where to begin. I think I will tackle this list-wise {yes, Humphrey Happenings, I'm copying your format...love you!}:
1. The selfless compassion, mercy, and love of my beautiful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. {I wish everyone could know and understand how awesome He is and the indescribable peace and life-change that comes with truly knowing Him...ask me about it sometime!}
2. Music {I would probably go a little cray-cray without it.}
3. BigBoy {I don't know what I would do without those cuddle moments with him...and his occasional frisky moods where he actually PLAYS **WHAT?!?!**}
4. My amazing friends {You all know who you are; you were there when I felt most alone and when I felt most surrounded; when I was most saddened, and most overjoyed; you have simply been there when I needed encouragement or a wake-up smack upside the head - I love you all dearly.}
5. My family {You have given me the tools to become the woman I am today; your unending support will always mean the world to me.}
6. Chocolate {nuff said}
7. Honey Nut Cheerios/Toasty-Os {Heaven in a bowl of soy milk? I think yes.}
8. Cornelius!! {Even when you get sick, I am still ever so thankful every time you feel up to carting me around town, across the state, or across states}
9. Little Bubba and Tevye {Y'all kids are cool in my book}
10. Black licorice {Call me crazy, I think it's divine}
11. Sopapilla cheesecake
12. Layne's {Oh I will miss those delicious strips and sauce...}
13. Texas A&M University {Yeah, I said it, but seriously without this place my life would be nowhere near as amazing as it is}
14. Festive decorating {I so cannot wait to have own "nest" to festive-ify}
15. Missions
16. Child sponsorship
17. Grimm {The beloved four-legged friend of the Humphrey Happenings gang...I so love being "Fun Aunt Heather"!}
18. Spending hours in the kitchen {Seriously, some nights I just decide to not go to bed and bake or cook something instead...seriously.}
19. Blogging
20. Pictures {I will be a better photographer before I'm 25...running out of time, yikes!}
21. Arts & Crafts {Especially if it's gifts for other peoples...just makes my heart glad.}
22. Gardening/Potting plants {Something about it is just amazingly soothing to me}
23. Hiking around the great outdoors {This includes camping - I love getting dirty and feeling alive, there is absolutely nothing like it.}
24. Sitting with my family around me {The oldest of my two younger brothers is currently crashed on the loveseat next to me, with BigBoy wedged between us - this is absolute perfection.}
25. Discussing the love of Jesus with my siblings and friends {Especially when they get it!}
26. Candles...candles...and more candles.
27. Glade plug-ins Lavender-Vanilla {Smells like my home}
28. Tobias {My parents' newest four-legged family member...probably the most precious dachshund ever - I'm just saying...I'm totally stealing him when I move to the Land of 10,000 Lakes...shhh!! Don't tell my parents!!!}
29. The jokes on the wrappers of Laffy Taffy which provided for a much needed study break for me and Alyssa.
30. Firelight digital short {This can brighten ANYone's day.}
31. My damask laptop sleeve {It makes me ridiculously happy...maybe too happy...}
32. Dates with Mrs. Humphrey {Someone call the vet!!}
33. Living Hope {My walk would not be growing, strengthening, and moving the way it is now without the incredible preaching of truth, example, accountability, and genuine love exhibited there - such a glorious blessing to my life.}
34. Fireside Chai Tea {Gypsy Teas...woah dang, it's like Christmas in your mouth!!}
35. Elf {Need I say more??}
36. The EVER APPROACHING day of GRADUATION!!!
37. PJ pants {There's just something about them}
38. Prayer {Speechless}
39. Breakaway Ministries {Life changing}
40. Mountain Biking {More specifically having the privilege to learn in Rachel's class and getting to know her and her heart for the Lord over the course of this semester - I can't believe it's over!}
41. Winter weather/snow {I'll be with you soon!!}
42. Long phone calls with far-away friends {So amazingly wonderful}
43. Pea Coats {Especially if they are of the plum plaid genre - yum}
44. "Affordable" airfare
45. Long drives by myself *without a working radio* that force me to think and talk to God.
46. Decorator tables {The possibilities are endless!}
47. Being 4.5 essay questions away from being done with my course-by-correspondence!
48. Healing.
49. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade {I cannot wait.}
50. Having time to sit and reflect on the blessings of life and sharing them with whomever desires to read them {I love reading other lists like this because they remind me of the little things I sometimes forget to be thankful for}
Well all, tomorrow calls for some early rising as I will be spending the entire day in the kitchen **WHOOP!** preparing a killer Thanksgiving Day Feast - don't you worry, I will document it and share it with you at some point. I'm trying some new recipes this year, too, so I'll let you know how those go.
Blessings and love to you all!
~MW
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Hmmm...
Hello, all.
So, this weekend has been a strange one...reallygood great, but strange...
Friday I dropped off Cornelius at Aggieland Automotive to see if maybe they can figure out what's wrong with my little dude and get him back in tip-top shape for a fairly reasonable price... *gulp* After that I got to talk with my dear friend Sam for quite a while, it was a good catch-up chat, and found out that he might be able to swing down to Indianapolis for a quick visit while I'm there in December - it would be really fun to get to visit with him in person for the first time in almost 2yrs...wow, we've kept up with each other for nearly 2 years after spending a mere 5 days together...blows my mind when I think about that. But that was great and then I went to the movies with B, Tara, and their friends Nate and Becca (we saw Men Who Stare at Goats...it was dumb...nuff said), and grabbed some Spoons following a quick jaunt around the Sam's Club parking lot in a cart...yes, that's right it happened, and it was glorious :)
Saturday I did some stuffs around the apartment and went to MugWalls with Alyssa to work on grad school apps (WAY more difficult than one might expect...oh essays...) for a few hours. After that I ran to campus in Dave (Ricci's sweet Explorer; we've developed quite the little bond over the last week and a half or so), grabbed my bike and went to Jimmy's for our bi-weekly bike cleaning session - always good times. Once we were satisfied with out work we ran my bike back to campus and went over to a fellow mountain biking buddy's house. Tyler (our buddy) had been smoking a brisket all day and wanted to share the wealth - it was DELICIOUS!!! And it was his first one!! I was impressed, like for serious. We had a good time hanging out with him, met some of his friends and the girlfriend. After we were all done chowin' down we were chillin' in the living room and in bursts Jeff Marshall...what?! Yes, Jeff just so happens to be one of Tyler's roommates!! What are the odds?? So I went and had a little chat with him - he was all bummed 'cause he had a poor day at the deer lease...seeing as how it was opening day of deer season he was pretty upset he didn't get anything, especially that 8-pointer who's antlers were inside his ears...poor Jeff. Dropped Jimmy off and headed back to the apartment where I watched Management with Lindsey, David, and Lindsey's sister Kelly and their cousin Tiffany. It was a good little flick.
Today (Sunday) has been a good day, as well. Church was really great - worship was off the chain today...total and complete sincerity and humility in that building, for sure. Butch's message was a good one, too. We've been working our way through Matthew 5, and when I say working our way through, I mean really digging into it...like, taking 3-5 verses a week. Yeah, it's amazing. Today we talked about integrity (Matt 5:31-37) - ranging from marital integrity to oaths. Basically it was addressing how in today's world a person's word really doesn't mean anything anymore because we have all found ways to wiggle our way out of doing something we say we are going to do, or on the flip side do something we say we won't... It was good to be reminded, like it says in those verses, that we are to let our yes simply be yes, and our no be a simple no...none of this finger's crossed, or "cross my heart, hope to die" business... I then made my way over to the Humphrey home and took a gander at their newly put-together guest room - it is truly lovely. They did a fantastic job at making it welcoming and giving it a warm, safe feeling. (I'll be visiting after graduation, for sure!) We had lunch, and had a really wonderful visit talking about, as Josh puts it, "real things" :) I just love them, they are truly a blessing in my life...not only are they wonderful company, but they are an amazing example of what it means to walk in the Lord in everything, and they are so willing to give, whether it's simply inviting me for lunch or dinner or, on a larger scale, lending me Dave until Cornelius is up and running again... I definitely thank God for them all the time.
Post-Humphrey time is where things got really weird for me today. I've been very tense all afternoon about something and I'm not quite sure what it is...I have an inkling, but that can't be the only thing that is putting me in this funk. Lately I've really been struggling with the pain of the events surrounding me and Marcos, as it is November again and the 2nd (two years ago...wow) is when we re-committed to try and make things work, and then everything after that just got worse and worse....leading into my spell with depression...yeah, that was a fun Christmas...not! It's not that I want him back - yes, I miss what we had, I won't lie - but more that it still just plain hurts. I gave him my whole heart and he broke it, so badly that I wasn't sure those little shards would ever fit back together again. I've been doing a lot of evaluating of everything that has happened throughout my time in college over the course of this semester, and how different things have turned out from what I had planned/imagined. Once sophomore year rolled around I always imagined having Marcos and rest of the Ybarra family at my graduation and just still having them all playing the roles they were playing in my life over two years ago...I imagined graduating with everyone from my class, instead of walking after the majority of them all...I imagined that I would be getting ready to go, or starting vet school right now...I certainly never imagined not really having a post-graduation plan - I mean I have ideas about grad school working out, but otherwise, I got nothin'...I imagined I would be engaged and planning a wedding or at least nearing that point (this really isn't something I'm struggling with, just something I thought would have happened the way things were sophomore year)...I imagined I would have more of an idea of who I am... It's all just very humbling to think about, ya know? Recognizing that no matter how much we all plan for things to happen a certain way in our lives, we never have any true control - it's always, always God who has the final say. That's something Ben talked about at Breakaway on Tuesday: how James reminds us that it is literally walking in sin to have the audacity to say that "I will be doing this or that tomorrow...in a month...in two years..." Yeah, that is definitely something I do all the time. I'm a planner - I'm a sinner. I don't leave everything in the hands of God, I don't consult Him in everything I do. Everything. Hmm, that was a slight digression, but a good one...back to this afternoon. I've been on the verge of tears since about 4, and I can't figure out if it's the Marcos thing or something else or a combination of things. It's very weird. I have the worst tension headache, I can't hold my attention on anything to save my life, I'm just a mess - and I have no idea why or about what. Talk about frustrating. I've been feeling very alone this afternoon, too...it's all so WEIRD!! I've had a pretty flawless weekend, and so I just don't understand what the deal is... I think I'm going to finish reviewing my trees for tomorrow and go spend some one-on-one time with my Heavenly Daddy. I need His clarity and comfort today. I need to be reminded that I am dearly loved by Him who watches every moment of my life and knows every hair on my head, every hurt and joy in my heart, every fear, everything. Yeah, I'm off to do that.
Love you all dearly.
Shalom,
~MW
So, this weekend has been a strange one...really
Friday I dropped off Cornelius at Aggieland Automotive to see if maybe they can figure out what's wrong with my little dude and get him back in tip-top shape for a fairly reasonable price... *gulp* After that I got to talk with my dear friend Sam for quite a while, it was a good catch-up chat, and found out that he might be able to swing down to Indianapolis for a quick visit while I'm there in December - it would be really fun to get to visit with him in person for the first time in almost 2yrs...wow, we've kept up with each other for nearly 2 years after spending a mere 5 days together...blows my mind when I think about that. But that was great and then I went to the movies with B, Tara, and their friends Nate and Becca (we saw Men Who Stare at Goats...it was dumb...nuff said), and grabbed some Spoons following a quick jaunt around the Sam's Club parking lot in a cart...yes, that's right it happened, and it was glorious :)
Saturday I did some stuffs around the apartment and went to MugWalls with Alyssa to work on grad school apps (WAY more difficult than one might expect...oh essays...) for a few hours. After that I ran to campus in Dave (Ricci's sweet Explorer; we've developed quite the little bond over the last week and a half or so), grabbed my bike and went to Jimmy's for our bi-weekly bike cleaning session - always good times. Once we were satisfied with out work we ran my bike back to campus and went over to a fellow mountain biking buddy's house. Tyler (our buddy) had been smoking a brisket all day and wanted to share the wealth - it was DELICIOUS!!! And it was his first one!! I was impressed, like for serious. We had a good time hanging out with him, met some of his friends and the girlfriend. After we were all done chowin' down we were chillin' in the living room and in bursts Jeff Marshall...what?! Yes, Jeff just so happens to be one of Tyler's roommates!! What are the odds?? So I went and had a little chat with him - he was all bummed 'cause he had a poor day at the deer lease...seeing as how it was opening day of deer season he was pretty upset he didn't get anything, especially that 8-pointer who's antlers were inside his ears...poor Jeff. Dropped Jimmy off and headed back to the apartment where I watched Management with Lindsey, David, and Lindsey's sister Kelly and their cousin Tiffany. It was a good little flick.
Today (Sunday) has been a good day, as well. Church was really great - worship was off the chain today...total and complete sincerity and humility in that building, for sure. Butch's message was a good one, too. We've been working our way through Matthew 5, and when I say working our way through, I mean really digging into it...like, taking 3-5 verses a week. Yeah, it's amazing. Today we talked about integrity (Matt 5:31-37) - ranging from marital integrity to oaths. Basically it was addressing how in today's world a person's word really doesn't mean anything anymore because we have all found ways to wiggle our way out of doing something we say we are going to do, or on the flip side do something we say we won't... It was good to be reminded, like it says in those verses, that we are to let our yes simply be yes, and our no be a simple no...none of this finger's crossed, or "cross my heart, hope to die" business... I then made my way over to the Humphrey home and took a gander at their newly put-together guest room - it is truly lovely. They did a fantastic job at making it welcoming and giving it a warm, safe feeling. (I'll be visiting after graduation, for sure!) We had lunch, and had a really wonderful visit talking about, as Josh puts it, "real things" :) I just love them, they are truly a blessing in my life...not only are they wonderful company, but they are an amazing example of what it means to walk in the Lord in everything, and they are so willing to give, whether it's simply inviting me for lunch or dinner or, on a larger scale, lending me Dave until Cornelius is up and running again... I definitely thank God for them all the time.
Post-Humphrey time is where things got really weird for me today. I've been very tense all afternoon about something and I'm not quite sure what it is...I have an inkling, but that can't be the only thing that is putting me in this funk. Lately I've really been struggling with the pain of the events surrounding me and Marcos, as it is November again and the 2nd (two years ago...wow) is when we re-committed to try and make things work, and then everything after that just got worse and worse....leading into my spell with depression...yeah, that was a fun Christmas...not! It's not that I want him back - yes, I miss what we had, I won't lie - but more that it still just plain hurts. I gave him my whole heart and he broke it, so badly that I wasn't sure those little shards would ever fit back together again. I've been doing a lot of evaluating of everything that has happened throughout my time in college over the course of this semester, and how different things have turned out from what I had planned/imagined. Once sophomore year rolled around I always imagined having Marcos and rest of the Ybarra family at my graduation and just still having them all playing the roles they were playing in my life over two years ago...I imagined graduating with everyone from my class, instead of walking after the majority of them all...I imagined that I would be getting ready to go, or starting vet school right now...I certainly never imagined not really having a post-graduation plan - I mean I have ideas about grad school working out, but otherwise, I got nothin'...I imagined I would be engaged and planning a wedding or at least nearing that point (this really isn't something I'm struggling with, just something I thought would have happened the way things were sophomore year)...I imagined I would have more of an idea of who I am... It's all just very humbling to think about, ya know? Recognizing that no matter how much we all plan for things to happen a certain way in our lives, we never have any true control - it's always, always God who has the final say. That's something Ben talked about at Breakaway on Tuesday: how James reminds us that it is literally walking in sin to have the audacity to say that "I will be doing this or that tomorrow...in a month...in two years..." Yeah, that is definitely something I do all the time. I'm a planner - I'm a sinner. I don't leave everything in the hands of God, I don't consult Him in everything I do. Everything. Hmm, that was a slight digression, but a good one...back to this afternoon. I've been on the verge of tears since about 4, and I can't figure out if it's the Marcos thing or something else or a combination of things. It's very weird. I have the worst tension headache, I can't hold my attention on anything to save my life, I'm just a mess - and I have no idea why or about what. Talk about frustrating. I've been feeling very alone this afternoon, too...it's all so WEIRD!! I've had a pretty flawless weekend, and so I just don't understand what the deal is... I think I'm going to finish reviewing my trees for tomorrow and go spend some one-on-one time with my Heavenly Daddy. I need His clarity and comfort today. I need to be reminded that I am dearly loved by Him who watches every moment of my life and knows every hair on my head, every hurt and joy in my heart, every fear, everything. Yeah, I'm off to do that.
Love you all dearly.
Shalom,
~MW
Saturday, October 31, 2009
**Deep Sigh**
******~~~Warning: This WILL be a LONG post~~~******
Hello, my loves.
I know I've left you all hanging quite a bit over the last month - but the trying month of October has now come to a close (well, in about 8 hours...).
I don't know that I have ever had a semester that has been as full and time consuming as this one is, when it comes to class work. Ok, so yes, the OChems and BICH and the calculuses (calculi??) were awful, but this semester every class has TONS of outside projects and assignments - I mean, come on! But this month was definitely the worst...so far. Most projects and things are finished up, just some polishing is left to be done on a few and greatest of all: I don't have to stress about the GRE anymore - Whoop. I do want to thank all of you for your prayers - I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate them. How did I do? Well, I passed the thing. That's good, right? Well, it's a good start, at least. I pretty much rocked the verbal section, but the quantitative portion ate my lunch and stole my money for tomorrow's lunch, too. It was so mean! I don't understand why it hates me so much...what did I ever do to it - or any other standardized test, for that matter?? Well, after talking with Dr. Wharton and some other graduate students I'm not as concerned about my score as I was initially - 1000 is the minimum score grad schools accept (I'm not sure if that is true for all grad programs, but I know it is for Ento stuff) and I surpassed that, so I'm good there. He also said that even if schools have a range they prefer that doesn't mean that they won't look at you if you don't fall into that range. Thankfully, U of M doesn't require you to score in the 70th percentile, they just prefer it :) Also, because I have been corresponding with my desired advisor and the director of grad studies for the Ento department at Minnesota I have another leg-up. He didn't give me a "get out of jail free" card, but he did provide me with at least the chance to post bail :) So that's something, for sure. Now I just need to talk with Susan about my scores and see if she still wants me for her lab...Prayers, please!! So, now that that horrendous ordeal is finished I can sit back and "relax" - except not really...haha, but it will be a different kind of stress from here on out, and not all entirely bad stress. Holla!
This weekend is turning out to be just the hiatus I needed - I am currently chilling on the couch of my lovely Justin and Kacy Bunte's home in Cypress. I just love them. Kacy's friendship over the last 4+ years has been such a blessing and to be such great friends with her hubby is just as much a blessing - they always take care of me and let me rest and recoup with I come to visit. Tonight we are all heading to CFF for their fall festival dealio, where Kacy and I get to man the "Leap-frog Booth"....what that means, exactly, we have no clue, as of yet - we'll know circa 6pm! Oh, which reminds me!!! We FALL BACK tonight!!! Whoop for an extra hour of sleeeeeeep :)
In other news I am writing to you all on my new, shiny laptop! It's a Toshiba!! The Dell finally bit the dust last weekend. The computer itself still runs (well, and I use that word figuratively, as most of you know the ridiculous state my computer has been in for the last year or so), but the lamp in the screen finally went out...sad. But Toshiba/BestBuy is awesome and was having a stellar deal on their Satellite laptops last weekend so I picked up one of those and I LOVE it! It runs Windows7, too! It's a little bit of an adjustment, but nothing like Vista, i.e. it rocks! So, while it was an undesired and unexpected expense it was a fun one, at least. Now if my poor Cornelius would just get better without breaking the other half of my bank that would be miraculous! He's been doing the whole come to a stop sign and die/"I don't want to start right now" thing again this month which has not been fun...but the Humphreys are amazing and are letting me borrow the Ford so I don't have to worry about my poor Cornelius not starting or dying in the middle of the road until he gets better. I will no longer be taking him to Firestone, either...they have been good to me other the last few years, but they have never been able to figure out why he does this and so I think the winds of change are a blowin'. I'm trying a mobile mechanic from church this time around so we'll see if he can discern the problem - either way at least I know he won't rip me off. I'm hoping he can come take a gander on Wednesday of this week.
Tomorrow is NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!!! This IS exciting, to say the least. Maybe it will bring true Fall weather with it...I'm tired of it being 84 degrees in late October! And people say global warming is a hoax... ;) But back to November! I cannot wait to start preparing for all of the holidays up and coming. My Thanksgiving Feast is going to rock this year - I'm going to bring in some new deserts and try some new recipes for some side dishes, it will be awesome. I'm still going to do my classic turkey, because I think I have discovered perfection in that (I'm just sayin'...), but I'm going to try and spice up the other angles of the meal this year. Yay! Not to mention that come Thanksgiving Day I can finally watch Elf again!!! Mika and I have this rule that we have to at least wait 'til Thanksgiving to watch our movie so we can preserve some of it's preciousness :) And it will be really nice to spend time with the family - I miss them. It has truly been too long since I have really seen them all. I'm looking forward to Joshua's play in a few weeks, too - he's such a talented little thespian. :) I'm also excited about Operation Christmas Child - I haven't done a box since I was in high school, but I can't wait to bless a little child's life with a box o'fun and toothbrushes and things. And THEN!, after Thanksgiving it's ALMOST CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for Christmas this year! Many reasons: 1) it's Jesus bday! 2) I will be graduated! 3) Sean & Shyla will be with us!!!!!!!!!!!! 4) I WILL BE GRADUATED!!!!!!!! Plan-less, maybe, but graduated none-the-less. I'm excited to get to cook with Mom and Shyla - I'm sure Sean will jump in the kitchen some, too. I'm excited to get to visit with my big sister - I truly, truly love and adore that girl, and I cannot wait to spend one-on-one time with her, because we haven't really had any of that yet...me, jealous??? Never... ;) I'm also very excited to get my Seaner all to my self on occasion as well - I love him so, so, SO, so much. I always love the holidays too, because I get to take my little brothers out for teas and hot cocoas and the like - so fun. I'm just looking forward general family time and relaxation with the peoples I love. I'll also get to seem some of my A-towners who I don't get to see very often, that will be delightful, as well.
In other news I have acquired a little Schwinn road bike recently. I'm planning on converting the thing into a little fixed gear, but that will have to wait until I save up some more mula and get Cornelius up and running again...*sigh* This whole being a grown-up thing is tricky at times... :) But, I'm super excited about undertaking the task of fixing up my new bike - I'm kind of getting obsessed with this whole bike-riding world. I totally want to invest in a legit mountain bike someday when I'm all rich and living in my dream place :) I looooove that sport. It's so fun and invigorating.
Wow..MI3 is on at Kacy and Justin's and I am uber distracted right now...so I think I'm going to close for now, plus I need to get ready to head to the Fall Festival. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Shalom,
~MW
Hello, my loves.
I know I've left you all hanging quite a bit over the last month - but the trying month of October has now come to a close (well, in about 8 hours...).
I don't know that I have ever had a semester that has been as full and time consuming as this one is, when it comes to class work. Ok, so yes, the OChems and BICH and the calculuses (calculi??) were awful, but this semester every class has TONS of outside projects and assignments - I mean, come on! But this month was definitely the worst...so far. Most projects and things are finished up, just some polishing is left to be done on a few and greatest of all: I don't have to stress about the GRE anymore - Whoop. I do want to thank all of you for your prayers - I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate them. How did I do? Well, I passed the thing. That's good, right? Well, it's a good start, at least. I pretty much rocked the verbal section, but the quantitative portion ate my lunch and stole my money for tomorrow's lunch, too. It was so mean! I don't understand why it hates me so much...what did I ever do to it - or any other standardized test, for that matter?? Well, after talking with Dr. Wharton and some other graduate students I'm not as concerned about my score as I was initially - 1000 is the minimum score grad schools accept (I'm not sure if that is true for all grad programs, but I know it is for Ento stuff) and I surpassed that, so I'm good there. He also said that even if schools have a range they prefer that doesn't mean that they won't look at you if you don't fall into that range. Thankfully, U of M doesn't require you to score in the 70th percentile, they just prefer it :) Also, because I have been corresponding with my desired advisor and the director of grad studies for the Ento department at Minnesota I have another leg-up. He didn't give me a "get out of jail free" card, but he did provide me with at least the chance to post bail :) So that's something, for sure. Now I just need to talk with Susan about my scores and see if she still wants me for her lab...Prayers, please!! So, now that that horrendous ordeal is finished I can sit back and "relax" - except not really...haha, but it will be a different kind of stress from here on out, and not all entirely bad stress. Holla!
This weekend is turning out to be just the hiatus I needed - I am currently chilling on the couch of my lovely Justin and Kacy Bunte's home in Cypress. I just love them. Kacy's friendship over the last 4+ years has been such a blessing and to be such great friends with her hubby is just as much a blessing - they always take care of me and let me rest and recoup with I come to visit. Tonight we are all heading to CFF for their fall festival dealio, where Kacy and I get to man the "Leap-frog Booth"....what that means, exactly, we have no clue, as of yet - we'll know circa 6pm! Oh, which reminds me!!! We FALL BACK tonight!!! Whoop for an extra hour of sleeeeeeep :)
In other news I am writing to you all on my new, shiny laptop! It's a Toshiba!! The Dell finally bit the dust last weekend. The computer itself still runs (well, and I use that word figuratively, as most of you know the ridiculous state my computer has been in for the last year or so), but the lamp in the screen finally went out...sad. But Toshiba/BestBuy is awesome and was having a stellar deal on their Satellite laptops last weekend so I picked up one of those and I LOVE it! It runs Windows7, too! It's a little bit of an adjustment, but nothing like Vista, i.e. it rocks! So, while it was an undesired and unexpected expense it was a fun one, at least. Now if my poor Cornelius would just get better without breaking the other half of my bank that would be miraculous! He's been doing the whole come to a stop sign and die/"I don't want to start right now" thing again this month which has not been fun...but the Humphreys are amazing and are letting me borrow the Ford so I don't have to worry about my poor Cornelius not starting or dying in the middle of the road until he gets better. I will no longer be taking him to Firestone, either...they have been good to me other the last few years, but they have never been able to figure out why he does this and so I think the winds of change are a blowin'. I'm trying a mobile mechanic from church this time around so we'll see if he can discern the problem - either way at least I know he won't rip me off. I'm hoping he can come take a gander on Wednesday of this week.
Tomorrow is NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!!! This IS exciting, to say the least. Maybe it will bring true Fall weather with it...I'm tired of it being 84 degrees in late October! And people say global warming is a hoax... ;) But back to November! I cannot wait to start preparing for all of the holidays up and coming. My Thanksgiving Feast is going to rock this year - I'm going to bring in some new deserts and try some new recipes for some side dishes, it will be awesome. I'm still going to do my classic turkey, because I think I have discovered perfection in that (I'm just sayin'...), but I'm going to try and spice up the other angles of the meal this year. Yay! Not to mention that come Thanksgiving Day I can finally watch Elf again!!! Mika and I have this rule that we have to at least wait 'til Thanksgiving to watch our movie so we can preserve some of it's preciousness :) And it will be really nice to spend time with the family - I miss them. It has truly been too long since I have really seen them all. I'm looking forward to Joshua's play in a few weeks, too - he's such a talented little thespian. :) I'm also excited about Operation Christmas Child - I haven't done a box since I was in high school, but I can't wait to bless a little child's life with a box o'fun and toothbrushes and things. And THEN!, after Thanksgiving it's ALMOST CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for Christmas this year! Many reasons: 1) it's Jesus bday! 2) I will be graduated! 3) Sean & Shyla will be with us!!!!!!!!!!!! 4) I WILL BE GRADUATED!!!!!!!! Plan-less, maybe, but graduated none-the-less. I'm excited to get to cook with Mom and Shyla - I'm sure Sean will jump in the kitchen some, too. I'm excited to get to visit with my big sister - I truly, truly love and adore that girl, and I cannot wait to spend one-on-one time with her, because we haven't really had any of that yet...me, jealous??? Never... ;) I'm also very excited to get my Seaner all to my self on occasion as well - I love him so, so, SO, so much. I always love the holidays too, because I get to take my little brothers out for teas and hot cocoas and the like - so fun. I'm just looking forward general family time and relaxation with the peoples I love. I'll also get to seem some of my A-towners who I don't get to see very often, that will be delightful, as well.
In other news I have acquired a little Schwinn road bike recently. I'm planning on converting the thing into a little fixed gear, but that will have to wait until I save up some more mula and get Cornelius up and running again...*sigh* This whole being a grown-up thing is tricky at times... :) But, I'm super excited about undertaking the task of fixing up my new bike - I'm kind of getting obsessed with this whole bike-riding world. I totally want to invest in a legit mountain bike someday when I'm all rich and living in my dream place :) I looooove that sport. It's so fun and invigorating.
Wow..MI3 is on at Kacy and Justin's and I am uber distracted right now...so I think I'm going to close for now, plus I need to get ready to head to the Fall Festival. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Shalom,
~MW
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Hiiiii!!
Hey kids,
I know, I know...I've been uber inactive and have totally abandoned you all. Really, this month is RIDICULOUS! I haven't really stopped since it began. Man, I can't even really remember everything from this month it has been so busy. Mainly it's been one exam after another, followed by group projects and random assignments galore, then there's always my course-by-correspondence, and trying to find time to get some stuffs ready for grad school apps/the GRE....which I take on the 28th!!! Yeeeowzas, I'm nervous. BUT! After that I get to stop for a moment or two.
On the up, mountain biking was superb this week! We actually got to ride and we rode hard! My group took a trail that was full of jumps and drops and little climbs and craziness - it was off the chain...ha, my bike's chain actually did come off at one point - yeah, I'm legit, it's fine ;) Nah, I was going down this 5ft drop or so and kinda screwed up on the way down, hit quite the bump, but recovered, just lost my chain action after the bump; got it all put back together in no time, though :) So, I survived the whole day without any real issues until the last climb back to the levee...got stuck in a rut (literally) tried to move out of the way fast enough to get out of everyone's way, got clocked by my TA trying to swerve around me...i fell down the climb...off of my bike. But, I got a nice skinned knee and a killer bruise! Ha, just wish it was a little more of a legit incident...ah well, I could always make up some ridiculous story ;)
Anyways, I'm going to bed - and it's only 10pm!!! Holla!!!
Hope all is well, lovelies. I'll be back more consistently when the 28th has come and gone!
Shalom!
~MW
I know, I know...I've been uber inactive and have totally abandoned you all. Really, this month is RIDICULOUS! I haven't really stopped since it began. Man, I can't even really remember everything from this month it has been so busy. Mainly it's been one exam after another, followed by group projects and random assignments galore, then there's always my course-by-correspondence, and trying to find time to get some stuffs ready for grad school apps/the GRE....which I take on the 28th!!! Yeeeowzas, I'm nervous. BUT! After that I get to stop for a moment or two.
On the up, mountain biking was superb this week! We actually got to ride and we rode hard! My group took a trail that was full of jumps and drops and little climbs and craziness - it was off the chain...ha, my bike's chain actually did come off at one point - yeah, I'm legit, it's fine ;) Nah, I was going down this 5ft drop or so and kinda screwed up on the way down, hit quite the bump, but recovered, just lost my chain action after the bump; got it all put back together in no time, though :) So, I survived the whole day without any real issues until the last climb back to the levee...got stuck in a rut (literally) tried to move out of the way fast enough to get out of everyone's way, got clocked by my TA trying to swerve around me...i fell down the climb...off of my bike. But, I got a nice skinned knee and a killer bruise! Ha, just wish it was a little more of a legit incident...ah well, I could always make up some ridiculous story ;)
Anyways, I'm going to bed - and it's only 10pm!!! Holla!!!
Hope all is well, lovelies. I'll be back more consistently when the 28th has come and gone!
Shalom!
~MW
Monday, October 05, 2009
Wooosh!
The last week or so has been quite the whirlwind! So, I apologize for not updating as much as I should have....and this is going to be a wimpy attempt. Really, just letting you know I'm still alive, I still love you all, and yes, I am still updating this thing called a blog :)
Big events: Josh and Elaine are now the happy newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Lee Ponder!!!! So exciting. The wedding was gorgeous. I had my hands full most of the time so I don't have too many pictures, but I'll throw some up when I get the chance.
Now it's off to class, then a lovely blessing in the absence of my tree lab this afternoon - I can actually get stuff done! Like study for my exams this week, register for the GRE (i.e. break my bank account...), make my waffle batter for Hope Group Brinner!!! And so much more....fingers crossed!
Love to all!
Blessings,
MW
Big events: Josh and Elaine are now the happy newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Lee Ponder!!!! So exciting. The wedding was gorgeous. I had my hands full most of the time so I don't have too many pictures, but I'll throw some up when I get the chance.
Now it's off to class, then a lovely blessing in the absence of my tree lab this afternoon - I can actually get stuff done! Like study for my exams this week, register for the GRE (i.e. break my bank account...), make my waffle batter for Hope Group Brinner!!! And so much more....fingers crossed!
Love to all!
Blessings,
MW
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