Home! :) and a little randomness!

So I'm home now. I can smell the lovely scent of my mom's Apple Cake. How will I survive until tomorrow without biting into it?! :)

It's nice to be home. I'm just sitting in "my" room and relaxing. I'm acknowledging this because I do not want to take for granted the time I have now to rest... next semester won't be too bad... I don't think. I'm taking Advanced Grammar, which is supposedly the hardest class for English majors. I am still excited about it because I know there is so much about grammar that I don't know, but I've always wanted to. I'm also taking Advanced Rhetoric, Curriculum Methods, Classroom Management, and an easy one- General Psychology. I also find out where I will be student teaching. I'm not sure if I want Salado or Belton yet... so I will probably be observing in both districts to get a better idea. I think next semester's going to be fun, also! :)

Guatemala notes: I start fundraising next semester!! My Guatemala trip will be set for sometime June or July this summer... I get to choose the dates. It will be a prayer/relational ministry and I am very excited!! More updates to come... I will probably make a Guatemala blog, too. My adopted mom, Shanon, will be teaching Spanish classes at church for the Mexico mission trip, and I'm going to go to learn more for Guatemala :) It's very exciting!

Well, I guess I'll leave you with a quote that I read a couple days back:
"May your presence fill the nonanswers, empty glances, and lonely times of my life. Amen." - Robert Wood

Well, another week has passed! September seems as if it is just flying by :)

This week went well. On Monday night we had pageant orientation and it seems as if there will be many fun times to be had. I was so comforted because everyone seems to be in the same boat of anxiety. So that's nice. Practice starts on Monday, and will be on M,T,Th from 6-9 until November! We perform our talent on Tuesday night, so I'm practicing my mime skit!!

I got to meet up with my mime teacher on Wednesday. She has studied under Marcel Marceau- I am so blessed! She is so nice and had so many great ideas :)

Tonight I went country dancing which was way fun. I've learned all the steps to the songs which is really nice :) All of the instructors are so nice. I even get to babysit for 2 of them!! :)

Well, that's a summary of my life right now. Tomorrow I begin planning for Guatemala trip!!!

All Good Things

With my dad being gone in Kuwait/Iraq, life is always different when I come back to SA. These past couple weeks have been weeks of transition. I moved out of my apartment in Belton and came back to San Antonio. I've been back for breaks, but I haven't lived here in 3 years. So it's definitely a change for me.

I started my job at the retirement home. The average age of the people dining is 82. It's very fun to see them every day and get to know them some more. They are extremely nice and understanding, and even tell me that I am beautiful. I love that, because who gets to go to work to be told they're beautiful? My biggest task to overcome was lifting and balancing trays of food on my shoulder. It's definitely an art I am still trying to master, but I have become more confident that I won't drop anyone's meal... that's actually my biggest fear. ;) This job has proven to me that I can do anything I set my mind to, because I was not expecting to be waitressing this summer! God provided a wonderful working environment and I am so thankful.

Life at home has been interesting. My pugs have been a little high maintenance lately. We still give Edith daily eye-drops, and both her and Khaki have recently been attacked by fleas. I bathed them twice, but we eneded up taking them to the vet. My pugs are seriously like my children, because I worry about them when they stay at the vet all day, and I get so excited to pick them up. I have always been very protective of them, so it should be interesting to see how I am when I have kids one day!

Summer school starts in about a week 1/2. I'm a little nervous. Nothing is like UMHB, but it should be fun to meet some fellow San Antonio students. Although I must say that I really hope I have a good teacher... I'm taking a History class, and I NEED a good teacher to stay awake!

My dad comes back to the states in 91 days, as of right now. He is definitely retiring once he gets back, and I am so excited that my family can be "civilian normal" for the first time in my life!

Guatemala plans are happening! My adopted mom, Shanon, and I are looking at different venues and talking to our missions team at our church. I am so excited about this. We have a chance of leaving in December, but we are leaning towards next summer. Yay!

Oh, and if you read all of this, good job! ;)

Reflections on Psalm 34

Life feels as if it has been flying by for about the past week or so.God has been teaching me a lot lately, and I'm striving more and more each day to be completely satisfied in Him. He really laid Psalm 34 on my heart in a new way this week. I started thinking about all of these different parts of my future that I absolutely have no control over, and knew that I needed His guidance. His gift to me that night was Psalm 34. To give you an idea of the thoughts of the future that have been running through my head, here's a short list:
-This summer in San Antonio
-Graduating
-Friendships
-Every day decisions
-Guatemala trip
-Life after graduation- Singleness, etc.

So often I feel as if my thoughts are consumed by questions on the future. I worry so much about it to the point that it's ridiculous. Suddenly I realized that those thoughts were taking away from my present time, and that it wasn't my life to worry about anyways. My life is His, and good thing, because He has it all under control.

There's one verse in Psalm 34 that really struck me:

"The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." - Psalm 34:10

How many times have I wanted and hungered for something in my life to just happen? Like the answers to all of y questions to just appear. I hunger for the knowledge of little things, like "What will this summer bring me?" etc.

But it's not about me. "Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing." It's about seeking Him, and not for any benefit, but because He's the only way!

"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." -Psalm 34:18

He guides, He comforts, He knows so much more than I do. This is why I cannot worry. This is why I cannot be consumed by the maybes of the future. Because my King has redeemed my life.

I have to constantly remember this as my hopes are let down. When friendships don't always meet the expectations I had for them, when certain things turn out to be not for me. I can take comfort and relief in the fact that God does have a plan that is so beyond me. It's not about me.

Guatemala!

So some of the best news ever happened today! :) If you didn't know, my parents have kind of been against the idea of me going on missions out of the country. This has been a big deal to me ever since I entered college because there are so many opportunities available to me. I never felt called to any specific country, but the idea was always in the back of my mind. Well, this year, at UMHB's annual Missions Emphasis Week, two missionaries came that had done 10 years on the mission field in Guatemala, and they still go back. It was a cute little couple, probably in their fifties, and I loved them. Well, they spoke in Spanish the whole time because they were presenting in my Spanish class. Before they came, I was expecting to be bored out of my mind because despite my 7 years of some form of Spanish class, I still don't know that much. I understood everything they said. I even talked back. This made me so happy. My heart broke for the Guatemalan community because they live a very poor lifestyle, and their water system is full of bacteria. They are in constant need of donations for things that we so often take for granted- clothes, purified water systems, food, education, even a church to fellowship and worship in.

Ever since that class, Guatemala had been on my mind, and slowly began growing on my heart. I had mentioned it to my mom in small talk, just trying to gain her insight on it sometime last semester. She had said that I could go if my dad approved. Well, it took me forever to work up the courage to ask my dad, and I finally did today. I was going to wait until he came home to ask him, but I felt the time was today on his phone call. I had mentioned a shirt that I had bought in support of the Omega Kids mission team from Baylor that is going to Guatemala this Spring Break. I told him what it was raising money for and what there trip was about. He said he thought it was a great idea and then I mentioned that I wanted to go next year. He said "You should! It sounds neat, and it's your last Spring Break."

I was speechless.

I couldn't believe that he had just said what I never thought he would say. Ever since we hung up the phone, I can't stop thinking about it. I don't know if I will be going through Omega Kids, but I'm pretty sure I will. If not, I am thinking of going through Buckner, who also owns the camp I worked at 2 summers ago. This is SUCH exciting news! :) I will continue to update you with news on a future trip that I am so excited about!

Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."

10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.