I love Jesus.

Ok... here we go. It's amazing how much your life can seem to change in just a week!! Wow! Well, all I can say is that God is good. There have been some "not so fun" changes in my life that I never would have expected, but God has been more faithful than I can ever imagine!!
In the midst of hard situations, I have sat down and just journaled to God and just praised him for everything in my life... good AND bad. And it's AMAZING how much God can change your perspective when you're praising Him. Even though the sadness and the pain doesn't go away, God's presence is amazing!! And He is always doing what's best for me, even though it may not seem that way at the time. Wow.. how awesome. And last night, as I was sitting in the cafeteria, I was telling some friends how my perspective changed and we all started praising God in the cafeteria. It was awesome!! All I can say is that God's presence is so awesome and so much better than I can even explain or imagine. And all I can do is praise Him. He's got me in his perfect plan, and he's freeing me more every day.

Well, I guess that's it for now!! Just a bunch of praise for Jesus. Well... crying and praising. At the same time... it's awesome. Yay God!!

Whew... time flies!

Ok... It's been too long since I've written a new blog. I feel like I wrote the last one ages ago. And much has happenned. If you are wondering about the sleep thing, it didn't really get "better." God has taught me a lot through it, and has even taught me to take my doctor's advice! So, as much as I hate to admit this, I am taking some sleeping pills and should be getting smaller dosages within the next couple of weeks so that I can get off the pills, yet still sleep. My body was a little too out of the habit... so we're "classically conditioning" it. haha :)

WHICH reminds me of my Education class this semester. I really am excited about it since it's Human Development and so it should be really interesting and I know I'll learn a lot... a lot of useful stuff too! The only bad part is that she has essentially made the class graduate level. The Education classes here at Belmont have both undergrad and grad students and usually there are extra projects for the graduate students to do. Unfortunately, she has just decided that we ALL will do them. Which is a bummer since I'm not getting a masters or anything. Oh well... it HAS to be better than last semester!! haha

I think I'm really going to enjoy my classes this semseter. There will be more work than I was hoping, but to be in classes that I'm interested in is such a blessing!! I really can't complain.

Let's see.... I miss Spain!! And all the people there. I think it hits me at random times. Plus, Sarah B. got to go and visit her AWESOME sister Eva in Barcelona and when she was telling me about it... I offically got SUPER jealous!! Wow... I would really love to go back. The food, the language. Oh boy... I'm getting so nostalgic!! haha... And I really miss Spanish. It's my first semester since junior high that I haven't been in a Spanish class. Yo echo de menos hablar in espanol! (ok... i don't know how to do the symbols on here, so that sentence will have to be grammatically incorrect for now.)

Ok... on to the "good stuff." The past week and a half in Nasvhille have overall been fantastic. First of all, one of the most awesome people in the whole world... Lauren B. came to visit me last weekend and we did the "Nashville in 3 day" thing. You know, Opryland, Wildhorse, Shelby Ave. ha!! No really... it was awesome! This is actually where the photo comes from!! It's us at the Opryland hotel. It was so great for her to come and meet people and everything.
And I'm really excited about this semester and hanging out with friends that unfortunately I lost a bit of contact with for a while. And of course!! Making new friends! I'm excited to see what this semester has to offer. The family is coming too in a couple of weeks... so I suppose I'll have to make another stop at Wildhorse.

Honestly, I doubt that any of you have read this far, but if you have, I will now write my "deep" stuff. It's amazing how life doesn't go how you expect it. No... seriously... it doesn't at all. Which is hard to accept, but unbelievably awesome at the same time. I thought I knew how everything was going to go in my life, and I honestly have done as much as possible to try to make it go how I want it to... but it won't work. haha.. but, the amazing part is that God will lead it how HE wants it to go! And honestly.... that's got to be WAY better than my plan!! So, there's my "deepness" for this blog. Life is out of your control... but it's in God's. So rejoice!

Well, there you have it. I'm sure this is one of the most awesome things you have ever read. I'm glad I could provide that for you. haha! Have a great week every one!

Yay God!

Let's see here. I can't lie. I've had a few of the best/worst days of my life. The best part is really knowing that Jesus is all that I need and that He will provide all my needs. The worst part is that I'm coming to that conclusion because I haven't been sleeping. And when I say I haven't been sleeping, I'm not exaggerating. Not only have I been having a really rough month or so, followed by what I thought was an improvement, but then, last night after a valiant attempt to go to bed at 11pm, I never ended up falling asleep. And the two nights before that were about 4 hours (so I suppose it could be worse.) And I'll admit it, I'm tired, And I'm tired of being tired. And being female, when I'm tired I'm emotional. So, I haven't exactly been feeling myself and I could use a good night's rest. And after not sleeping well for several nights, I start to get scared about going to bed and the nighttime, believe it or not. But, I do know that God is with me all 8 of those hours when I'm laying in my bed or on the couch not sleeping. He knows I'm not sleeping, and for some reason has not granted me any sleep yet. And it's easy for me to get frustrated with God. He's totally in control, yet I'm awake and exhausted. But, as cheesy as it sounds, I know He's really teaching me somehing through all of this. I wish He would have chosen a different method, but that's probably why He DID choose to take this part of my life I thought I had control of. To show me that I need HIM SOOOOO much more than I need sleep. Or anything else for that matter. But, I've always been the person that wanted to get plenty of sleep. Well, that's definitly not happenning now. And even though I'm more tired than I've ever felt before and my life feels completely out of balance, and I don't even know what steps to take to go in the right direction, I'm going to praise God. I've learned (err... am learning) that no matter what happens or how bad a situation seems, God is still to be glorified and praised. He is allowing bad to happen to me, and He has a reason. It's practically impossible for my silly, little human brain to comprehend, but I do know that I sure feel a lot better when I'm praising God for the good AND the bad, then when I sit around complaining. But, I won't lie again here. Even though I'm grateful for this lesson, I wish God would kind of finish teaching it to me... I would like to get back to sleeping again.... But, I'm reminded of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians, "And my God will meet all of your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." I suppose I have to just keep saying that verse over and over to myself. He knows what I need and will give it to me. And I have to be grateful for that.
Ok... sorry for all of the rambling. Actually, I'm not even sure any one reads this, so I might just be apologizing to myself! Anyway, these are my random thoughts for now. And I could sure use some prayer!! (as a side note :)

Family Chat

Well, this is my first post and I can't think of much to say. Maybe I'll have to start putting my poems on here. I will admit to my caving to this comes from the fact that my friend Erin has a blog about her time in Mexico. And I can't comment without a blog on here! And let's admit it. I give in to trends. :) So, even though I don't have a lot to say, I'll be saying it on here! ha!

Today is Hannah's birthday (my 14 yr. old sister). It was pretty fun! I went to see Cheaper by the Dozen 2 with her and a couple of her friends. Yeah, I know... I'm pretty sure I blended in with them and no one knew I was 7 years older. haha :) But, it was a good movie. It was cute. A family with 12 kids is seriously crazy!! But, at the same time it made me want to be a part of a big family... well, and have a big family. It brought me back to the days that I wanted to have 7 kids. The craziness, never a dull moment, the love. Then again, I'm sure it wouldn't be as easy as Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt make it look. However, movies like that always make me appreciate my family, and (hopefully) the fact that one day I'll start another family. :) There really is no one that knows me like my family. Yet no one that loves me like that. (Well, obvioulsy other than Jesus) They know all the annoying and wierd things about me, but at the same time would do anything for me, and me for them. I don't know how to describe it without being really cheesy and feeling stupid. You know... it's all about the love... it's the concept of true love. The more you love, the more you see past the problems and you love them despite and even because shortcomings.

Oh dear... all of this rambling all from a Cheaper by the Dozen sequel. Maybe I need to think less. Actually, I know that to be true. So, next blog, maybe I'll try not to think. :)

Well, I'm off... only 2 days left at home before I head to Nashville again! Why do breaks always pass too quickly? :)