To My Future Husband

Tonight Laura and I made "To My Future Husband" boxes!! Well....hers didn't really turn out how she wanted so she took the supplies home to make hers later but I finished mine and I LOVE it!!!!! I'm so so excited and I just couldn't wait to take picture of it and get them up on here to share! :)

What exactly is a "To My Future Husband" box, you might ask?! It is a box just for my perfect man (whom I may or may not have met yet...I actually don't know who he is! lol.) that I hope to marry someday in the (hopefully near-ish) future! :) I want to fill it with thoughts about how I'm growing as a girl who's always aspired to be a "Proverbs 31 Woman", thoughts on what I hope he will be like, how I hope to be treated, things I fear about marriage, ideas that I think would be fun for dates or vacations, verses or quotes or poems or songs, funny things that happen to me, and whatever else I can think of that I want to share with my future husband someday! I want to give him the box after our wedding and go through it with him. I guess it's just a way for me to be able to put these things down on paper when they come to me. I love to blog (obviously!), journal, write....anything that allows me to be able to see my feelings, thoughts, and ideas on paper! And I'm reeeally big on memories and pictures and things that enable me to, in a way, capture or bottle up time and keep it as a memory! I just think it will be a neat thing to be able to share with my husband someday and see how God brought certain events together or caused certain things to happen to bring the two of us together.....kinda my journey and story of how God brought me to my man!!! :)

(Side note: I'm not saying that I know for sure that I will get married someday! Yes, I hope to! Yes, I want to! I want to meet a man that I love dearly and can spend the rest of my life. I want to have kids..LOTS of them actually!! :] I want all of that and I'm praying for it, but it may not be what God has for me. So in a way this is a "hope box", but if I do get married I know I will be so happy to be able to share this with "him". So I figured I might as well!! Just needed to explain that this whole blog post is based on a "Lord willing"....as everything should be....I've become more and more sensitive to that recently, especially after this whole India thing!)

Now, back to the box.....Here are my pictures!!! Enjoy!!! :)

He Knows Best

Well.....when I left my house at 11:00 this morning I was prepared for God to show me His ways and teach me according to His will and His plan. He did! Just not in the way that I thought He would. According to our plan we should have checked our bags in at 11:50. According to our plan we should have boarded the plane not too long ago. According to our plan our flight should be taking off in four minutes. According to our plan we should be heading to India RIGHT NOW! But....not according to God's plan!

This morning India announced a terrorist alert. Apparently last night four terrorists from Pakistan entered into India and have made threats to attack major tourist cities on New Years Eve. Goa is one of those major cities. On the way to the airport we got a phone call and I found out that Laura's parents were pulling her from the trip. Her dad is an FBI agent and said it wasn't safe. So we thought, as we were 10 minutes from the airport, that I was about to have to make a decision about whether or not I was going to go. I didn't know what to do. I've had a nervous feeling about this trip in my stomach all morning. I just figured it was because it's my first international trip and I hate flying and all that jazz. So I didn't think much of it other than, "I'm going on this trip because this is what God has for me and I need to trust Him with my fears. He is in control, not me." And that's what I was doing. I got to the airport not knowing exactly what I was going to do, but thinking I would have to make the decision soon. Pastor Murray walked up a few minutes later without his suitcases and said the trip was cancelled. They talked to Mr. Mitchell about all the details and at first we were going to make our own decisions individually and see who all still wanted to go. But the elders of our church talked about it and we talked with the P's (the family in India that is from our church) and the elders decided it was best to call the trip off. It was a hard decision, but it's not necessarily being there that is so dangerous as much as just the travelling aspect of it.

I'm sad not to be going. I was definitely looking forward to it and getting excited about it. But at the same time I know God knows best and His plan is the best for me. He has a reason for all of this happening and it is in His mighty hands. The saddest part for me is thinking of all the families that we don't get to minister to anymore. It's sad to think about their disappointment when they find out we aren't coming and for the P's who I know were so looking forward to seeing part of their church family. Pray for them as they are still hosting this conference without us. Pray for strength and understanding and trust for them. Pray that it will still be a time of encouragement for all the families and that they will still be able to minister to and encourage each other. Pray for the hearts of our team members as we stay here and trust that we made the right decision. Pray for the hearts of the terrorists and the people who are stirring up trouble. Pray that God will protect the people in Goa and the other big cities that are being targeted. Pray that even though we hope this was a wise decision, that nothing will actually happen! I don't know what God's plan is in all of this. I don't know why He would have this happen. But I do know that He is good and He loves us and cares for us.

"For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes."

--Romans 8:28

All Packed!

I'm all packed up and ready to go!! I've spent the morning double and triple checking to make sure everything is together and I have all the important things. My suitcase weighed in at 43.8 pounds! Yeah baby!!! Mom is at Walgreens buying me one last thing and then heading here to pick us up! Sweet time with Callie and my family last night has made leaving today a bittersweet thing, but I'm excited to see what God has for me on this trip. Last semester was a hard one for me. I went through some hard stuff and just felt far from God in general. I didn't spend enough time in the word or in prayer. And I failed to stop and just listen to what God had to say to me. Over the break I have realized more and more how little I turned to Him over the past few months and how much it affected my life. I'm looking forward to these 12 days with no cell phone, very little internet, and only a couple of close friends with me. I'm praying that God takes this heart of mine and melts it with an overwhelming love and desire for Him and a realization that true satisfaction is found in Him alone. I'm praying that He "breaks my heart for what breaks His" and that He takes my selfishness and turns it into selfLESSness that I may be a part of furthering HIS kingdom and encouraging His disciples. Pray for safety and strength as we travel and even while we're there and that we will be used up for Him!! See you all when I get back, Lord willing!! :)

Almost, Almost, Almost

I am allllllmmmmooooossssttt PACKED!!!! :)))) Yay for being SO close to finishing this daunting task that has taken me all last night and most of this day simply because I get too distracted (possibly on purpose :P) or frustrated!! lol. I reeeeally do hate to pack! :) The shopping might have been worse though. Really close call! haha. Nnnnnnyway, I took a little break from that to eat dinner with the fam, then went to walmart to purchase ice cream (for sundays later) and iTuuuuuuunes cards so I could get movies for the plane! Upon returning from Wally World I proceeded to spend my iTunes money on Dear John, The Proposal, and The Parent Trap (the one with LL of course!). All favorites of mine that I cannot wait to watch over and over again! haha. Then..I tried to go back to packing and...made a little more progress? I think anyway...

Then came the wondeful WONDERFUL fun stuff! Cal came over and we played Boxers or Briefs with the fam! If you've never had the opportunity to play this game you HAVE to!! It really is a MUST PLAY! I love it so so much. At one point Stephen cracked up and we laughed till we cried. Great fun! Then we ended the night with Bluebell ice cream and homemade hot fudge sundays (I made the fudge btw..I'm getting pretty good at making that stuff if I do say so myself!) lol. It was a delightful last night at home before "the end of Christmas break". And now I'm baking some last minute chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (my FAVORITE) to put away in my carry-on for safe keeping and an emergency snack break! :) Yes yes yes...couldn't resist! haha. Cal is spending the night and we plan to play a little Just Dance 2 later! It shall be a jolly good time! Got a loooooooong way to go before my night is over! ;) I shall try to post once more in the morning (or maybe even again tonight)! But for now.........hasta luego!! (That's "talk to you later" in Spanish for anyone who doesn't know!)

Exciting Purchases

Well, my mom and I just spent HOURS shopping!! Ugh...I hate shopping when I have to buy stuff. I only like it when I have plenty of money to spend and I can buy what I want!! lol. But anyway...we made progress and got everything I need--animal crackers, protein bars, propel, travel toothbrush and toothpaste, pants, a neck pillow and eye mask for traveling--you know, the important things! haha. So now that I have everything I need to pack all I have to do is make it all fit into the suitcase along with my clothes and such and make sure it's under 50 pounds! Here goes nothing.........

The Sun is Up and So Am I!

Of course...the day I'm trying to sleep as late as I possibly can I'm wide awake at 9:00 and can't go back to sleep. I have a million and four things to do though so I guess it's a good thing. I can get up and be productive now...nah, why would I do that when I can waste time viewing everyone that I've ever met's profile on facebook?! Ok, sounds good to me! So..that's what I've done for the past thirty minutes that I've just been laying here in bed. Figured I should take this time to blog...

Look at my two little cuties (that's Theo and Beks btw, if you didn't catch that)! Aren't they precious!! They have been my faithful companions at night these past few weeks! They both stayed up with me to pack last night. Well....about the time I was finishing up I looked over to find Bekah asleep sitting up in the director's chair. It was kinda adorable actually. Man..I should've taken a picture! Oh well, too late now. Anyway, Beks said last night "You know what stinks is that you're staying up late because you're supposed to get used to it and I'm staying up with you. But the difference is that you get to sleep in tomorrow and mom's gonna make me get up!" But she stayed up anyway and look how cute she is now sleeping next to me! :) It's 9:39 now and mom hasn't come to wake her up yet so the "precious boo baby" is still getting some beauty sleep! And of course she doesn't know I took the picture or that I'm blogging about her! But she will soon enough!! **Muahahahahaha** (That's supposed to be an evil laugh in case you didn't pick up on that) No really though, she reads my blog so that's how I know she'll see this. lol. Love you Beks! ;)

And the other little guy on the left...that's my Theo! :) He used to belong to my bestest friend Callie Beth. I've always loooved him and she got a new bear last year (Brady) so she used to bring both of them whenever we were spending the night together and she'd sleep with Brady and I'd sleep with Theo. We love them! :) I think she actually left him at camp for me this summer after she spent a week there. And then she told me when she went to school that I could keep him as long as I would take good care of him! I love him and mostly I just love that whenever I reeeeally miss Cal I give him a little sqeeze and remember her and all our sweet times together until I can get a REAL hug from her! :) He's my little buddy...

Anywhoo....just wanted to post this cute picture of my little babies. They're kinda adorable and I wanted to share them with everyone who reads this! hehe.

And so it begins.....

Operation "Get Used to India Time" is officially in progress! lol. It's 1:59 am in Little Rock, AR and it's approximately 1:29 pm in Goa, India! :) So.....considering the fact that I'm pretty tired and completely brain dead from trying to pack I don't really think I'm gonna make it even to late afternoon "Goa time". But I'm at least making a little bit of progress! Made it over "halfway through the day". haha. And I'm planning on sleeping as late as my body will let me tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. Then I have to get up, pack some more, make a trip or two to walmart and a couple of other places, come back home and pack some more, and try to stay up even later tomorrow night! Then it will finally be the big day!! And I know it will come all too soon because I still have a million and one things to do to be ready! But it's so close and I'm getting more and more excited about this wonderful privilege I've been given!! I have so much to say and so much running through my mind, but I'm to tired to make sense of any of it so maybe tomorrow? haha. We'll just see how the day goes. I'm sure I'll need a packing break right?! But for now, this girl is done with this packing business and moving on to BED!!!!!!

Just Call Me Rachel Ray

SUCCESSSSSSS!!!!!!! :) My first attempt at Christmas dinner turned out beautifully! It all came out on time (and at the same time), it tasted good, we had enough, basically.....it couldn't have gone better! I'm thrilled! The only one thing that kinda brought me down was when I was broiling the creme brulee tonight I accidentally touched the hot brown sugar and burned my finger BAD!! :-( The hot sugar stuck to my finger and I wiped it off quickly, but it still left a little blister. Other than that though everthing went well! It was fun and mom said her day was pretty easy and she thinks we should make this a regular tradition from now on! Guess we'll see next year! Sounds good to me! :)

P.S.--My pics aren't uploading right now so I'll get them up tomorrow hopefully!

Progress

The table is set...properly I might add!! haha. I googled how to "properly" set a dinner table and since I talked mom into buying sparkling grape juice we don't just have water goblets, we also have wine goblets for the grape juice! :) I'm pretty excited about it!! Brisket is in the oven. The rolls are rising. The mushrooms are stuffed. The green beans are bundled. The salad ingredients are chopped. The dishwasher is being unloaded. And everything is on schedule to be finished at approximately 6:40! So far, my first attempt at Christmas dinner is going well. Hopefully things keep running smoothly! :)

Christmas Dinner

This year I asked mom if I could take on the responsibility of making our family Christmas dinner. We do our Christmas dinner and open presents on the 23rd and then have Santa stockings the morning of the 24th. So I began the dinner making process yesterday. What's on the menu this year?--Martha's brisket, green bean bundles, Mrs. Wenger's BSF salad, Miss Ramona's stuffed mushrooms, mashed potatos, Nanee's homemade rolls, and for dessert--Martha's creme brulee (chocolate AND vanilla)!!! And I am pretty darn excited!! lol. So, yesterday I made the creme brulee, prepped the brisket so it could marinate overnight, coated the almonds in sugar (for the salad), and made my dressing. Everyone keeps telling me, "The more you can do the day before the easier your life will be the next day!" So I did! Now, I'm in the process of starting the rolls so they can rise for a little while. Making the stuffing for the mushrooms and stuffing them. And chopping my salad ingredients. So far I've had a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the rest of this day! I'm even going to set the table and I'm trying to talk someone into getting sparkling grape juice just so we can use wine glasses because they're fun! haha. Anyway, gotta get back to cooking, but I'll keep updating on my progress! :) I'm sure I'll add pics of the finished products later tonight as well!

Breathing Again

Well.....it's been FOREVER since my last post! That of course, means life has been crazy busy! But I'm FINALLY home for Christmas break and so so so thankful to be able to stop, sit down, and just breathe.... It really is so nice! This has been one crazy semester! A good one, but a crazy one. I've been through a lot, struggled a lot, messed up a lot, learned a lot, and grown a lot. And I am so thankful for it all. Every day hasn't been easy; in fact, a lot of days have been really hard.

But God has brought me through each and every situation and taught me so much!

As I reflect back on this semester I know the whole thing was a whirlwind. I felt like I was strapped to a highspeed train and couldn't get off. I've disappointed people, made bad grades on tests, stayed up to late, studied too little, played too hard, spent too much money, and everything else that a college student can easily make mistakes on--but I've learned from it all! Part of why I've been so ready to be home is because I am just so worn out from all the stresses of school and relationships. And all semester I wished it all away! I wanted the stress and struggles out of my life! I didn't want to deal with them. But looking back on it I know God has been teaching me through it and drawing me closer to him. He has taken friendships out of my life, changed some of them, and blessed me with new ones. And the best part of it is that it's all part of HIS plan and not MINE! He knows what's best for my life and He has taken care of me. I've spent this semester trying to "just get by" and trying even harder to please everyone.......and I have failed. I can't always make everyone happy. And that's a big thing He has taught me! On my own I am completely helpless and thankfully, when I try to do it on my own He is right there to pick me up when I fall and remind me that He is there with open arms to carry me through the hard times. My God is so good and I couldn't be more thankful that He loves me and takes care of me even when I neglect to thank Him or even ask Him for help in the first place!! What a great Savior I serve!!