and I love this song.

"Beautiful"
Kari Jobe

Here before Your alter
I am letting go of all I've held
Of every motive, every burden
Everything that's of myself

And I just wanna wait on You, my God
I just want to dwell on who You are

Beautiful, Beautiful
Oh, I am lost for more to say
Beautiful, Beautiful
Oh Lord You're beautiful to me

Here in Your presence
I am not afraid of brokenness
To wash your feet with humble tears
I would be poured out till nothing's left

Love.

and sometimes it snows in Belton, Tx.

SNOW DAY TUESDAY! It was just wonderful. It was great to have class/work cancelled and just spend time with my friends. We had a wonderful time snowball fighting and sledding, then warming up with hot chocolate and grabbin' some free pancakes! It was a day of relaxation and fellowship. (much needed)

I stole this picture from Angie. It's an adorable picture with a hilarious story! RIGHT AFTER this was taken we were charged and pegged with snowballs!! It was so fun! The "girl snow" was ruined, but it was totally worth it (:

This is the creek with a blanket of snow. This is one of my favorite places EVER. I love going out here, it's calming, relaxing and a wonderful place for conversation. I just was captured by how beautiful it was lightly touched with snow. GO GOD, as we say. I could've stayed out there all day, but I was missing out on the sledding adventure taking place (:

Snow with my gorilla and bug! (Lindsay and Mary!)

Right out front of the boys' house, so beautiful.

Now, the snow day is sadly over. Routine has continued and classes and work are back in order. That snow day was just the motivation and relaxation that I needed. It was like God's comfort. He was saying "Hey, be calm, I got this." Life is hectic, but sometimes I forget to stop and just be with HIM. The creator, Almighty, Wonderful, Savior, Master, Friend, Holy One, the indescribable. 

Love.

and the skies are blue.

You know those week/weekends that just stick in your mind as "one of the greatest ever!?"  WELL, this past weekend (starting with Thursday) was one of THOSE weekends. I just was in a wonderful mood the whole time, and it was non-stop fun.

Thursday night we went dancin'. I rode with Lindsay and Tobin was our DJ, getting our "pump up" music on. It's always a good time dancin'. Late Thursday nights are always great until about 8:30 on Friday morning (: HOWEVER,  it is slightly easier to get up and going with Jake coming into town later in the day! I continued with Friday as normal as usual. After I crawled out of bed for A&P and took an hours worth of notes, as usual. I then    went to the room and showered (finally) and continued with chapel, class then work. After I got off work I went to Goodwill with Cody. We always have a good time, in case you were wondering. We were shopping for his "HighSchoolFlashbackParty" outfit (: and let me be the first to tell you, we were successful. We had great conversation on the way back to campus, then he dropped me off at burt. I talked to Staci for a little bit on skype, then layed down for "just a second." Which turned into like an hour and a half. I woke up to Jake calling me tell me that he was in Belton. (: Grabbed dinner, partied like it was high school... and chilled. Another late night, oh the joys of college (: Saturday was just wonderful. I worked, then Jake and I went out by the creek (one of my favorite places) and decided we wanted to go exploring, which really means lets go get lost. But we had a great time and found a puppy and a motor. We scratched up our legs and feet, but it was all worth the adventure! I always wish I had my camera for stuff like that, I am going to try to get better. He left for Allen on Saturday night and then me and mare had a relaxing, restful night. Sunday I woke up and went to a new church and hung out with the youth there. I loved it! AND THE WEATHER?!!? OH MY GOODNESS. I was so thankful for the gorgeous afternoon outside with the girls!! We had so much fun and then finished off with ice cream and singing in the car (-:

I'm not sure why this weekend stuck as one of "those" weekends, but it did! I have my falls creek interview this coming weekend in OKC, please be praying for that.

Other than that not much has been going on! God is always moving in my life and He's really been working in me about LOVE and what that looks like. What needs to change about my daily actions that shows people that I truley love them, because I have the ability to and I desire to love them? What does love look like? God's given me a few opportunities to put that to the test. Love is not easily angered, it holds no record of wrong. That's a tough one, especially for girls I believe. ANYWHO, I really need to get to bed(: I have a lot of resting I need to catch up on (:

Love.

and I'm thankful for the sunshine.

I was basically commanded by Mandie to "blog more" because I have been horrible about keeping up with it! I have been flooded with school lately, but not to the overwhelming-stress out-my life is over point. I literally just finished a test that I studied my butt off for, and I think I did fine. Having put in so much study time, I'm in the "do whatever you want" stage. Therefore, I'm blogging.

This past weekend was just marvelous! Janelle's birthday was first! My little Nell is 18! We just had a grand ole' time eatin' at Hanks on the square. Janelle and I LOVE the square, we are anticipating being old so we can spend all our best friend time there and not be judged ;) I got her a scarf, which I couldn't wait to give her. That explains why I handed her a gift sack and said "Happy Birthday!.... it's a scarf!" She debated going to billy bobs in the wintery weather and in the end made a good daughter choice (: We went our separate ways for about 12 hours, anxiously awaiting the next bday celebration... mine!

The next morning Jake and I woke up to meet Janelle and Mikey for lunch. It was a good time, then we went to meet the marvelous Mandie for coffee. Even though nobody bought one thing, we still sat and took up space, playing with the camera and enjoying each others company. She brought some old pictures that Jenni gave us. It was a good time laughing at our awkward Jr High selves and remembering great memories from World Changers. Ah, I miss Mandie so much and hate UNT for taking her so far away from me :(

I got to spend Saturday evening with my absolute  favorite people : Mommy, Daddy, Staci, Mamoo, Grandad, Janelle and Jake. We just stuffed our faces completely full of mexican food (always a good time) and I got to open gifts! Yippee Skippee! Mamoo and Grandad went back to Deleon and the rest of us continued with a game night. Apples to apples, desert and bananagrams (thanks staci!). Jake won a round of bananagrams, it was a happy moment for him. Staci and I continued to give up and give up. It was the greatest way to spend my birthday.

The next day was Sunday! I miss my Tolar BC family SO much. It's CRAZY. I love visiting them and just catching up. We grabbed some BBQ after church and eventually I ended up in Belton again! Now I'm here, love it as always. Even though I wish that weekend was a tad bit longer!  I hope this is a good catch-up blog. (:

Love.

and sometimes life is peaceful.

It's Tuesday, and while sitting at work I thought to myself  "Self, you need to blog." So here I sit, blogging. Last week I had quite the to-do list. Monday morning rolled around and there I went, tackling loads of school work! None of my tests were too difficult, just took some preparation on my part. Friday came fast, however, and the hectic week was quickly over! But it's over and we've moved on to a dead, uneventful week. No complaints here (:

I spent the weekend in Allen with Jake. It was a much needed lazy weekend and let me tell you, we were lazy! We just sat around lost in conversation or an episode of America's Next Top Model, or even "The Kindergarten Cop." We had a great time joking with his mom about not getting anything done on her to-do list, and were freaked out by the asian lady who cut his hair calling him hot. um, excuse me? (: Saturday night we watched a documentary with his mom that made us all want to change our eating habits, but after a trip to the grochery store with Mrs. Hans, she and I decided that she could just cook the nastiness out of the cheap meat instead of pay for the better made stuff.... and then we had Wendy's. Fail. I actually really like Allen, but don't tell him I said that... (:

ANYWAY,
I've really been learning a lot about friendship the past several months. God's surrounded me with the most genuine, God fearing, trustworthy friends I could ask for. He's also put people in my path that I never expected to become super close to, but we have. I am so grateful for all of my friendships and I pray that I am half the friend that they are to me. He's been really workin' on me lately, how to love others, encourage them and spend time with them (even if they aren't my first pick to hang around). Some people need a friend, period. Not a friend out of "feeling sorry for them" but just because someone truly loves them. It's always my prayer to love like God loves me. (impossible I know). But really, God doesn't love us because of anything we did or will do. He simply loves us because He can. So maybe instead of only loving those who are easy to love, I need to love those who don't see love as much, just because I can. Just a thought?


Love.

and it's one of those weeks.

Overwhelmed. It's my feeling today, but it's a completely different overwhelmed. I almost like it, I like the challenge of having to complete everything. Two tests(one being a practical), a journal and a quiz tomorrow followed by one test on Friday. It's so do-able. The weekend will taste so sweet after a week like this.

I'm thankful for peace in the chaos.
Love.

and sometimes I blog twice in one day..

SO.. This morning I felt like I needed to blog, just because I haven't in a while. Then morning I thought to myself, oh how I could've written so much more. THEN much more happened.

Well this morning after A&P 2, I trucked back to work, uphill both ways (ok, sorry that was lame). After arriving and sharing a couple of laughs with the one and only Seth Dickenson, I routinely checked my email. FINALLY the email I've been waiting on all year. An email explaining that my application had been processed for Falls Creek Summer Staff (the camp that has my heart and changed my life completely), and that I needed to schedule an interview for either February 26 or 27! I'm so excited! I had began to worry about what I was going to do with my summer, what God wanted for me to do this summer, because honestly I didn't really have many "plan B" options. I know it's just an interview, but it gives me a happy hope and I will soon learn if it's a definite or not so I can find a plan B if neccessary. ANYWAY, I am interviewing February 27 sometime between the time of 1:30-4:30. I'll keep you posted on that, please pray for me.




Thanks.
Love.

and it's that time again..

I haven't been the best at updating my blog. It's not that I've forgotten, in fact I am jealous of people like Mandie that have something to say everyday. I honestly just don't know what to write, or if what I want to write is worth reading.. (:

I have the priveledge to wake up every Monday morning in time to be at work at 7:30, nothing like welcoming in the week like an early Monday morning. As I sit here this morning, I am watching nursing students trickle in and walk upstairs. I am so exited to be one of those students. I know it's very demanding, and I'm glad I am not there yet. But watching them just gets me excited. That was just a side note (:

I really don't have any deep input about life, or learned a super important lesson lately. I just felt the need to blog, seeing as I havent' in quite sometime.

Love.