Same Old, Same Old

I realize that it's been a while since I have last blogged, and I'm sure you faithful readers are wondering if I'm still alive. If I'm honest, I've been doing the same old stuff and going along with my normal weekly/daily routines.

To recap a little bit....

Monday evening I was able to go to Hartville with the wonderful family that I have previously gone on vacation with. A night away from college was such a blessing. My second mom and her little princess picked me up and brought me home, meanwhile we were able to have some awesome time of fellowship during the car ride. At their house, I was greeted by my favorite little man! Boy did I miss his smiling face, sweet voice, and charming personality! I was also greeted by 3 very cuddly dogs, my second dad, a little princess, and two great friends!  I could not have asked for a better homecoming! We proceeded to have probably one of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life! Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and bread. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water! It was SO. GOOD. And of course, it was followed by a very delicious cherry dessert! Can you say spoiled? God has truly blessed me with such a great church family. After dinner, more fellowship and some games! I could just go on and on about how great it was!! Oh and I must mention the heated seat on the car ride home....SO GREAT.

Tuesday was another typical day, definitely not as exciting as Monday's adventure. I worked at 8am, went to my normal classes, and gave a speech that night.

Wednesday, same old same old. Finished the evening with my wonderful small group.

Thursday, pretty similar to Tuesday and ended with a great night at Campus Focus.

Friday night was crazy Halloween night at UA. Virginia was finally able to come visit and I was sooo excited about that! We talked and caught up and then we went on a late night Walmart run with some friends. Afterwards we watched some movies which put a lot of us to sleep. Sarah and I took Virginia and our friend RJ back to their cars and then came back to our room. The freezing cold woke us up so we went down to our lobby to work on homework (never happened) and watch the drunks come home. We only had a couple drunk people come home, and I helped them to their rooms and into bed. Then I took Sarah to another residence hall and brought food to my friend who was a CA until 4am.

And now it's Saturday....it's been a pretty laid back day. We had a fire drill at an inconvenient time but that was our only excitement. My roommate Jamie and her fiance Matt have their friend Kevin here, so tonight we're watching scary movies and eating pizza. It should be a fun time! As for now, I'm off to go get pizza!

Worship and Baptism

So tonight I went to The Chapel with my friend Emily and I can't even begin to put into words how wonderful it was. We sat towards the right side in the second row and talked quietly before service started. Then we watched this younger couple with a more punk/hippy style, come running up barefoot, and find a seat in the very front middle row.

When worship began, the usual happened. People stood up and sang, some raised their hands, some clapped----but then I witnessed the coolest thing! The young hippy couple would jump and dance, or kneel on the ground, or sometimes clap! They were not ashamed or afraid to be judged. All they knew was that God was worthy and deserving of their worship and they were going to give Him all that they had. How cool is that? I hope that if I ever feel compelled to dance or jump for joy that I won't be ashamed to worship with all that I am! It was incredible..

But wait! It gets better....

After worship, a man came up and discussed baptism and what it represents. He proceeded to interview a woman who had decided she wanted to be baptized. When Emily and I found out that they were going to baptize her tonight, we both wondered where the water was. However, another song started and we quickly forgot about it.

The worship picked up and I was just in awe of God....during the song, there was an instrumental and the guitarist jumped around and played. Then, he yelled 'GO', pointing to the back wall, and in a split second, the dark black wall between the projector screens lit up. There was a little room with a glass wall-like thing that came up to the man and woman's shoulders. We watched as she was dunked back and then sprung up from the water. Cheers and applause broke out and I found myself tearing up. It was this representation of springing up out of the water (sin) and coming into the air (life). I've never been so excited about a baptism! Then we watched as the two of them prayed together. After a few minutes, the worship continued and the room went black again and hid back in the darkness of the wall.

So there you have it. An incredible evening of worship and baptism. I can't even put into words how incredibly good God is. You just had to be there.

Slacking seems to be the Trend...

So I'm slacking on the blogging, but can you blame me? It's college ladies and gents. College is always busy and always crazy! I can't even remember half of what I did this week, so I'll share the highlights that I do remember.

Highlight #1: MAILLLL!! My aunt sent me a package full of different flavors of gum, a nutrition bar, $5, and a heartfelt letter. Can't complain....I'm a huge mail fan! (Wink wink)

Highlight #2: Tony Tuesday! Whenever church friends visit, you'll hear about it! Thoroughly enjoyed grabbing some Penn Station and catching up with him...then being joined by Rohr and Steve...talk about quality male bonding...plus me? Entertaining to say the least.

Highlight #3: Pastor Joe!!! Getting to show him around campus, and talk with him on a bench in the sunshine for a good hour was such a blessing! Loved and appreciated his godly advice and guidance. Speaking of, it's pastor appreciation month. I APPRECIATE YOU PASTOR JOE!

Highlight #4: CAMPUS FOCUS! Any time I get to spend with other Christians is a BIG deal. I couldn't get through my week without Jesus and Jesus freaks. God is good.

Highlight: WEEKEND! It's only Friday but the weekend is off to a great start! I've eaten way too much in this one night (chips, fruit roll up, ice cream, birthday cake, Ramon noodles, popcorn...) Before you call me fat, just know that when a girl craves....she craves! In addition, I colored some cutesy pictures, cleaned my room,  had some life chats, and watched movies. Tomorrow only gets better. I'm headed to Canton to get my nails done, eat food (yes, more food), and catch up on life with the best friend. Then coming back to Akron to head to my friend's bonfire. Sunday, tops off the weekend...going out to the breast cancer walk in the AM, then campus focus later that night. A great weekend it shall be!

As for now, I'm gonna finish my Ramon, maybe do some homework, and then jump in bed....it's been quite a day! Bye friends (:

Lazy Days

Today has been a pretty laid back day. I woke up around 10:45 and got a quick shower. I came back to my room and just chilled in a tank and boxer shorts. I had every intention of going to my stats class. However, I realized that I had homework due that I had yet to complete. When I started to work on it, I realized that I had no clue what I was doing. I worked at it for a while, making no progress, and missed class as a result. The class I typically have after stats is my communication disorders class. Yesterday I withdrew from the class since I'm switching majors, so up until now, I haven't been to a class yet today. I have one tonight at 5:10, but until then the goal is to catch up if not get ahead, on homework. I have a paper to write for comp II, stats (that I need help on), and a speech. That being said, I'm still not doing homework. I tried to get on my school email to look up my paper requirements, but the system is down so I have no way of doing it.

Other than lounging, I went to lunch with some friends and then went to the Student Union for a depression screening. As a result of the screening, I get extra credit in my psychology class. Who doesn't want extra credit?!

So here I am. 2:42. That's my day. My plan now is to do some devotions and then try to do some other homework that doesn't involve the internet. Wish me luck!

Today's a gorgeous day! So thankful for this beautiful weather.....definitely not looking forward to winter and a snowy campus.

A Week in Review

So my last post was on Tuesday and my goal was to make a post everyday...but as you can see, that didn't work out too well. To make up for the loss, I'll give you an overview of the past few days.

WEDNESDAY:  Started off with my english class at 9:55 and proceeded to my pysch class that starts at 11. After psych, I went straight to my stats lab at 12:05. So from 9:55 to about 1 I was in class. After class, I went with some friends to the student union to grab lunch. We hung out and ate our lunch until around 2, when we headed back to our residence hall. At 3, we have a Success Seminar that lasts until 5pm. After that, Ritchie kids went with the honors kids over to Trackside Grille and had dinner. We had a wonderful dinner together and enjoyed catching up with each other. After the dinner, I went with my friend Mackenzie to a frat and sorority program. The program had a pirate theme and different members of Greek life showed off their talent. When the program ended, a few of us went to the soccer game. Our boys were playing OSU. Bottom line, we whooped their butts 3-1 and went home proud! Later that night, the girls did Zumba, led by our peer mentor, Christine. After the workout, I killed their abs with a workout that a friend had previously taught me. Working out left us energized, so we stayed down in the lobby and worked on homework together. In the wee morning hours, Mackenzie and I went up to Christine's room to hang out. I decided to make a bunch of signs to hang on the janitor's closet while I was in the there. They are always doing their jobs with smiles on their faces and they always say 'good morning.' So why not make them lots of colorful signs to encourage them?

THURSDAY: Thursday mornings are my favorite because I get to sleep in until 11! When I woke up, I got my shower and headed off to my stats class. After stats, I take the 15 minute walk to Polsky for my next class that goes until 3. This Thursday was a little out of the ordinary because my little rabbit daughter had to go to the vet. At 4, my neighbor picked my up and took me home. When I got home, I loved getting to see my little girls. I had missed them soo much! I looked around my room and fought back tears. All my stuff was in boxes out in the hallway. My "SIGN A DOOR" (that I told my mom to never take down) was gone. Everyone that ever came into my room had signed it and left me messages; people from OB and friends from middle school. I felt like my whole childhood was gone. I laid on my bed and it made me realize: 1. how low beds are compared to my college bed and 2. how much I miss, not my house, but my room and all the memories. At 5, it was time to take my little Lacey to the vet to get her teeth trimmed. However, when I was holding Lacey, I realized that her hind legs were raw. My first thought is that the cage isn't being kept clean, so the moisture from her pee was making her feet raw...the vet ended up having me hold her down while he got out a blade and scraped skin from her foot. It was so awful having to hold her down while she fought to get free. The vet and his assistant took her away to trim her teeth and give her a shot to help fight the infection. After the vet, I went home for a little bit before leaving for Walmart with my mom. I picked up some college essentials and headed back. The night concluded with more zumba and an ab workout, followed by bed/

FRIDAY: Friday morning, I woke up for my comp class, only to find out that class had been cancelled. Instead of class, I did my devotions and wrote some encouragement notes for the girls on my floor. Following that, I headed off to my 11am psych class. After psych class I had to work until 3. (Shout out to Mackenzie for bringing me Starbucks at work!) When work was finally over, I came home and hung out with some of my  friends and met their boyfriends that came to visit. Around dinnertime, a group of us went to Rob's for dinner before heading out to "hell town." Hell town is supposedly some old town that was shut down because the people were crazy...I'm not really sure of details. So we piled into two cars and headed out. Getting a little disoriented, we pulled into some gravel parking lot to figure out what to do. In the mean, a cop car pulled in behind us. We sat there waiting for him and he turned on bright lights to see into the car. (I guess two cars piled full of teens on a Friday night looks suspicious.) He walked over, right hand on his gun, and asked for my friend Mike's license, and other questions about where we were going. Mike hesitated to answer and proceeded to lie. The cop then went over to our friend Tyler's car who told the truth. Ironically enough, the cop walked back over to our car and asked if we were going to hell town. Mike lied once again with a 'no', and then the cop responded with 'well the guy in the other car said you were.' Mike was caught in a lie and admitted that we were headed to hell town but didn't want him to think badly of us. (At least we weren't drinking right?!) So once again, we were on our way. We parked and walked down a long dark road that dead ended at a cemetery. A lady told us that it was closed so we turned and walked away. As we were walking, we noticed that the cops were waiting for us. Once again, we were questioned, and asked why we were in a cemetery so late. We were honest with the cop, saying that we didn't go in but left when a lady told us it was closed. However, the lady was the one that had called the cops on us. She lied to the cop saying that we had gone in. Frustrated and done with the cops, we just walked back to our car and headed back to Ritchie. Back at Ritchie, we finished the night with some scary movies. I was so tired afterwards, that I went to bed in my jeans.

SATURDAY: That would be today :) I woke up around 11:30am. I got showered and ready for the day, and just lounged. My friends Sarah across the hall, has a little sister in high school. Her homecoming was today so she came over around 1 for me to do her nails. Her nails looked super cute and I was soo excited for her! At 2:30 a group of us were headed out to a little Fall Festival type thing. We were going to pick apples and do other cute things, but apple picking wasn't open yet. We still had fun picking out pumpkins, taking fall pictures, buying donuts in every fall flavor, and just having a good time together. Afterwards, we drove to a nearby mall to grab some food, and ended up sitting in couches while the boys shopped. (What's wrong with this picture?!) The boys shopped, the girls lounged and socialized. It was a great time. Following shopping we headed out to a haunted hayride. The hayride itself wasn't even scary, but walking around in the open, we were attacked by clowns, guys with chain saws, and a giant clown on stilts! Thank goodness there were three guys with us four girls. A clown came running up to me with a chain saw and within seconds, I found myself hovered up next to the guys, squeezing my eyes shut. Next thing I know, the boys are pushing me toward this giant white tent, full of like foggy mist. The ticket was free, but the other girls had cleverly thrown their tickets away. So here I was, one girl, being pushed towards the tent by three strong guys....I was hopeless. When we reached the tent, I pushed backwards, grabbed Brian's arm with my left hand, and held his hand with my right hand--if I had to go in, he was going down with me. The four of us headed into the tent, but I don't remember much, being that my eyes were closed and I was simply stumbling beside the guys. There was screaming and chainsaws, but apparently it wasn't there scary because the fog was so thick. Opening my eyes, I felt like I was blind. All I could see was white. I looked at Brian, but couldn't see his face either. We finally made it out of the tent, but it turned out that inside the tent was less scary. When I walked out, my vision worked properly again, and seeing clowns and chain saws was worse then the fog. So once again, I froze in terror, and buried myself into Brian. The hayride was next, but it wasn't even scary so I won't even waste my time describing it. After our fun there, we went to Mackenzie's house and met her family. They are such great people! We didn't spend much time with them though because we were ready for a real scary adventure. And what's more scary than her back yard---basically a forest with a narrow trail that lead us right up to a creepy looking stream. With only once flashlight, we huddled together and stumbled into the woods. But once again, boys will be boys and our flashlight guy ran off with the flashlight. The girls were scared so we all put our backs together and linked arms so that all sides of us were accounted for. Thankfully we made our way out of the woods and back to the front porch---a well-lit, safe area. When the night was over, we headed back to our residence hall and watched more scary movies. A lovely day indeed.

Which brings us to Sunday. I started this blog yesterday night, and I'm finally finishing it. It's currently 10:16 in the morning, and I'm getting ready for my mom's surprise party. My sister is picking me up at 11, and then we're off to Canton. It should prove to be a wonderful day!