February's End

I don't know if you people realize this or not, but February is nearly over. Crazy, right?

FEBRUARY IS ALMOST OVER AND WE JUST HAD 3 SNOW DAYS! I got to spend them playing in the snow, making new friends, dancing my brains out, baking cakes, and getting pushed over so many times, I lost count after 25,349. I also got my guitar out for the first time in a while, which was nice.

**Here is where I would insert fun pictures of me doing all the things I just mentioned if I had any. Unfortunately however, I have failed at picture taking in the last week. This will officially be my first blog post without pictures.**

Now I will go into my more serious part of the blog. For those of you who are uninterested, you may click the x in the top corner. I don't blame you.

Because it is the end of my birth month, I am going to touch base on this and go from there. Here we go. 

At the end of every month I am reminded how fast my life is flying by me. I am then sent into a great depression which consumes my every thought and prevents me from leaving my room for days... Just kidding. But it actually is a little sad. HOWEVER, it is extremely exciting too. Think of all the things coming up in the future. Then think about this: God has it all mapped out. He knows where I will be 10 years from now, He knows who I am going to spend the rest of my life with, He knows what I am capable of. He already knows! Thank goodness too, because I know I couldn't survive this life on my own.

My big overwhelming theme these last few weeks has been exactly this. I am learning to trust and fully rely on God in every aspect of my life, because He does know my future. He wouldn't put me in a situation that I couldn't handle. And sure, I pretty much have to think this way as a lot of hard stuff has been put on my plate lately, but you know, it isn't something I tell myself just to feel better. It's truth. God puts me, he puts us, in these situations to make us grow into strong, persistant human beings who will glorify Him. What an honor, right? He uses these experiences and hard things to prepare us for our future. I know, I have touched on this before, but it's a good reminder for myself if nothing else.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Birthday, Memphis, Colorado. Basically everything.

Folks, I am 19 years old. What does that mean? Well it means a few things really.

• It means that a year from now I will be going through a depressed state after it hits me that I will never get these years back.
• It means that I am even more of an adult now than I was when I was 18.
• It means that I am such an adult that I might be spending my 19th summer in Colorado. MIGHT. As in, probably. I'm a big kid now, ladies and gents.

I want to share my pictures from my birthday, and talk about that a little bit. First though, I'll elaborate a little on this whole Colorado mumbo jumbo. Also, Memphis, my intended destination for spring break. I'll be as brief as possible.

I'll start with spring break, because that only makes sense. I am planning to travel with a group of students from my church to work for this organization called SOS (Service Over Self). I linked that, so if you're interested in learning more you can visit the website. Basically I will be helping with urban home repair for a week in inner city Memphis. I'm pumped. 

Now, about summer. Today I applied for a job in Colorado for a program, also through my church, called LT. Basically, I would be spending nearly the entirety of my summer in Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies. I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out where God wants me this summer, and I am definitely still working on it. The way I see it,  I have two options. I could stay in Columbia, get a job, and take a couple summer courses OR I could continue growing in my faith in monumental ways while working a full time job and living in the mountains. Hm... Let's see.

I am really feeling like God is telling me that I need to take these opportunities to serve and grow in my faith. My only hesitance is the financial aspect. As one could imagine, these trips do cost money. Right now I am just trying to work that out and trust that God that will provide and give me these opportunities if it is truly what I am supposed to be doing. At this time, I am confident that it is, and I trust that He will make sure that it works out.

So, about my birthday. Chris and I had a joint birthday party for the first time since I was probably 10. We did it old school style with a throwback theme of the 90's and early 2000's. IT WAS GREAT. The house was nearly full and I could not have felt more blessed to have the people that I have grown to love over the school year there to help me celebrate. It was really just a good excuse for cake, ice cream and friend time. Also, my parents came to visit Saturday, which is always a blessing. We got to enjoy some good (free for me) food and laughs together. I miss them a lot. If you follow my mother on twitter you know that she misses me a lot too. 

Here are a few pictures from Friday :)

Brooke and Katie surprised me with balloons, a banner,
streamers and hot box cookies :)

Morgan <3

Tori AKA Tom Tom.

Emily and Katie! Awesome girls.

Graciepoo <3

These pictures don't really give a good sample of all of the people that came, but I realized that not many of the pictures from Friday are actually in my possession, so I apologize! 

Not my birthday, but Grace's play. She was fantastic :)
I really do have the best friends.

Peace and quite.

I want to reflect on a facebook status a good friend of mine made just over an hour ago. However, I will first preface my response with some background information on my friendship with the amazing girl who posted it. Katie Schroeder. Katie Elizabeth Schroeder to be exact (we have the same middle name, so I felt like that was relevant). This is a girl who I didn't start getting to know very well until the middle of last semester, but someone who I now feel very close to and very fortunate to have in my life. She is kind, sweet, and has such a great spirit about her all the time, and I feel very blessed to have her in my life. There are a handful of people that I feel this way about, you all know you are, but I wanted to talk about Katie in particular because she just posted this status that really resonated with me and I felt like it was something that has been on my heart as well. Here it is:

"It blows my mind that I go to a school with 32,000 people and yet here I sit in a lounge completely alone. I think God just gives us peace and quiet when we really need it."

Isn't this true? I have been feeling so much of this lately, and I am so thankful for it. Even with the already hectic schedule that has come along with the start of school, I feel like God has been honoring me with time of solace and chances to think about things on such a greater level than I ever have before. He is so good.

This semester is going to be challenging in academics, my continuous struggle to find a place of employment, and even my social life. That has already been made very apparent.  But as of now, I am up for the challenge. Get back to me in a few weeks on my feelings about that statement, haha. In all seriousness though, I am looking forward to living out God's plan for me during this second semester. It's going to get real, real quick.

One last thing. It wont do them justice, but I just wanted to mention how truly blessed I am to have these young men and women of Christ in my life. Every single day they are challenging me to be a better person and I honestly could never thank them enough for that. I never would have imagined finding such inspirational friends in my college years. Love you guys :)

...The ACTUAL last thing. I started listening to this song a lot over Christmas break and have been loving it. Check it out.

A Lot of Ketchup.

Not really ketchup.

Well guys, it has been a truly amazing break. It may not have been exactly what I had expected, but what was there to expect anyway? My time spent with friends and family has been so valuable and my time spent alone, mostly in the first week and again here in the last week or so, has been much needed and valued as well. Before I get to the exciting stuff I just want to briefly touch on that. 

I am so thankful for the rest that I have been blessed with over this break. I am thankful for the chance I have had to think about the important things, where I would like to see myself, and most importantly, time spent seeking God and his plan. It has been so peaceful.

Christmas was great. I got to spend so much time with family, both the Swift/Hankins side and the Trost/Mayfield/Dinges/Kennedy side. (P.S. To any of my friends who ever receive random comments on facebook from anyone with these last names, it's just my family.)

New Years was pretty awesome as well. I had the privilege of spending it with a lot of new friends this year. After a full night of celebrating Daniel's birthday, cake on faces, cake on boots, bubbly all over just about everything I owned, being compared to Kelly Clarkson's music, and more, I decided I was fully ready to welcome in the new year. Even still, I can say that I am so excited and looking forward to what this year has in store.

If you follow me at all on facebook I am sure you know all of this already, but I'll fill everyone on some details that facebook may not give insight to.  As most of you have seen, I did travel to Chicago with my dearest friends Brooke and Jordan to visit my favorite Chicagoan (is that right?), Morgan.  It was quite a swell time, let me tell you!  I experienced many firsts including: 

My first train ride! And many of them after that.

My first Portillo's hot dog!

Which actually doesn't have any ketchup, coincidentally...

My first reflective picture at The Bean.

My first time in the 2nd tallest building in the world.

My first time making chocolate cupcakes with cookie dough icing.

It was such a great trip. My only regret was not taking a bus to the corner of Canal and Bowery and standing next to him. 

...

It's a song reference, if you don't get it, dont worry about it.

Really.

There is one more regret too, and that would be not asking if we could sit in a different car on the train ride back to St. Louis.  Big mistake.  I am much more... Cultured now, you could say.

Alright, so there is something I wanted to leave for the end. One of my favorite nights of break was my night spent with my friends who have been there for me for many years now. A big group of Ash Grove graduates, plus Tayler :) got together to celebrate both Jadon's and Josh's decision to leave for the military this month.  Jadon, on the right, left for Texas to join the Air Force on January 2nd. Josh, on the left, left for California this week where he is going through boot camp to be a Marine. These are honestly two of the nicest guys I grew up with, and I wish them the best of luck in everything they do!

I will be heading back to Columbia this week to start classes next Tuesday. I am so excited to be back with my Rock family, but I will be missing my real one here in The Grove as well. It is going to be a challenging semester, but I am looking forward to all of the challenges and lessons it brings. Love you guys, thanks for reading :).

In memory of Granny Ruth

I woke up this morning to the news of my Great-Grandmother (Granny Ruth)'s passing. We have been expecting it for a little while now, but her passing still brings sadness, nevertheless. At 92, she lived a very long, mostly healthy life. Granny Ruth saw and experienced things in those 92 years that I could never even imagine. She lived through the depression, raised three children who have been by her side at all times these past few days, made several places to call home over the years, and so much more. She lived all these years and did all these things while never even getting behind the wheel of a car, well, legally anyways. She told me a story once that led me to believe otherwise, but she never did have a driver's license. Like I said, I can't even imagine.

In the time that I knew Granny Ruth, I know she loved many things. She loved her children, her nine grandchildren, her many great-grandchildren that can't be counted on my hands and feet, stealing cookies from the cookie jar, Lucy the Chihuahua, daytime television, watching me "run over those hills!" as she would say, and much much more. 

Although her passing brings sadness, I know in my heart that Granny Ruth lived a long life and is now with her Savior in Heaven visiting with Grandpa Bill, 8 of 10 of her siblings, and her great-grandson, my cousin Hayden.

Here are some photos in her memory:

Great Granny Ruth with Uncle Paul, Uncle Dwain, and my Granny (Jean).

Lucy.

Four generations.

Easter.

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."

Philippians 3:20-21