Christmas and New Years in Asheville!

Brad and I left Texas yesterday at 1pm and made it to just outside of Atlanta. We checked into the hotel at 1am (eastern time, we unfortunately lost an hour on our way over) and got up at eight. We pulled into Brad's Grandma's house at about 1 this afternoon. It feels so good to be out of the car! It's going to make for a long drive on Sunday. I guess we'll have to get up early and be on our way. Today we exchanged gifts with Brad's family. They were very generous to us this year. Brad got two more Wii motes, Wii Sport's Resort, a Wii motion plus, grilling stuff, J.RR Tolkein books, some movies, a gift card to the Olive Garden, and probably some other little things. I got a 9 by 9 baking dish (yay!), a stir-fry pan, the final set of dishes so I have a nice round number, a serving bowl and platter, a movie, a DVD of a hearth and music (I think it's the same one you have mom, haha), a scrapbooking kit, and some odds and ends for the Kitchen. Brad's grandma and grandpa also gave me some money for Australia! I am very excited that the funds are coming together for Australia.


I started another scarf. Here's a picture (also on Ravelry):
It's kind of cute. I really like the color. You can't really see it in the picture but it's blue with lots of greys and greens in it.Some purple too. It's really soft yarn too. I kind of like it. :)

Tonight I think it's going to be pretty laid back. The women folk (minus me) are in the kitchen cooking some supper right now. Then I think the game plan is to play some board games. Brad and I got scattergories and Mad Gab for Christmas, so we'll have to try them out! Scattergories is one of my favorite games ever. I like Mad Gab too, but it's been awhile since I played it, so I'll need to refresh myself on the rules. Tomorrow we're going to eat a Thanksgiving feast together, since we unfortunately had to miss the family Thanksgiving. I am kind of excited, Turkey sounds really good!

Well i'm going to knit a little more on my scarf and wait patiently for dinner to be served!

-Beth

Tuesday Morning

I love Christmas break. I've been going to bed when I want and getting up without an alarm. I also get to do whatever I want, whenever I want to. Today I slept in until like 8:30, but didn't really do anything until nine or so. I did work out to Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. That thing kicks my butt every time. I just threw in some laundry and am thinking about taking a shower. But I thought I would do a little update first.

Our car has some problems (again). It started off with a missing oil cap, thanks to the oil place that changed our oil. Unfortunately it started being loud and making some funny noises and the check engine light came on. So we took it into the Toyota dealer, who found it's a bad intake gasket thingy (i have no idea what it is) and a bad sensor. So they need to replace both... for $500 dollars. The part is 7 dollars and the sensor is 140, the rest of the cost is labor. UGH. And of course, this is just one giant coincidence and totally unrelated to the oil change. The check engine light turned off and stayed off, so we're hoping the sensor doesn't actually have to be replaced right now. Here's to hoping! The problem is that the parts won't be in until Wednesday morning, and we needed to get on the road to go to Brad's family's house at noon on wednesday. So I'm also hoping and praying that the parts come in and they can fix it quickly so we can be on our way and get a good amount of driving in. If we can't get out on Wednesday, there's really no point in even going, so we'll have to see. I'm sure we could drive it as is, but i'm not sure I want to risk it. I mean, if it blows up in the middle of nowhere, that's just not a happy time.

In other happier news, I got a new hair straightener and a new purse with my christmas money. My old straightener was getting pretty crappy. I didn't even realize how crappy it was getting until I got the new one. Man, it's awesome! My hair actually gets straight. My purse is a red leather purse from Kohl's. I found it on the clearance rack for 20 bucks. I was excited because the original price on it was 70 dollars. I'm all about the clearance racks! In a separate trip while I was up north I scored a 40 dollar sweater for 20 bucks, and an 85 dollar skirt for 25. I am pleased. I'm hoping to be able to hit up JC Penney soon. I've been scoping out what I want to get. Haha.

Today I am going to do laundry, start packing for our trip, and make Brad's grandpa's gifts. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this so I can tell you what it is! I'm making a tub of carmel corn, and a tin with some cookies and some peanut butter cups in it. We don't have any milk, so I might have to call our neighbors to borrow some. I was going to make some fudge, but Walmart didn't have the stuff for it. I was extremely sad. :( Maybe some toffee? I'm gonna have to scour the recipes I have to decide. I might also bust out some scrapbooking, but we'll see. I also kind of want to start on another scarf. Or maybe a hat, but I don't think I have the yarn or needles to do that. I joined Ravelry.com yesterday and have been looking at a lot of different patterns to try someday. Some are really cute and easy, so I might try something new! I also discovered there *is* a yarn shop in Longview. It's called Stitches and Stuff. http://www.stitchesandstuffonline.com

If all goes according to plan, Brad and I will be headed to Asheville tomorrow at noon. We'll be gone until Sunday. His family is going to cook a  Christmas dinner and have a fun little get together. It should be a fun time. OH, that's another thing I should do today! Finish wrapping gifts! Well, I think this has been a pretty good update, and I really need to shower and switch the laundry. Later!

-Liz

Possible Ice Storm?

I guess there's supposed to be an ice storm in Chicago tomorrow morning. Which is bad because Brad is supposed to fly from Dallas to Chicago to Flint. Please pray that the storm does not impede the travelling process. If we can't get him tomorrow i'm not sure what we're going to do. But I am going to try not to worry about it. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the weather man says it's going to be. Yesterday Mom and I went to the cooking shop. I really want to get a pie bird:

Evidently you put it in the middle of the pie filling. Then you put the crust over it, and poke the beak up through the crust. Then the bird lets out steam so it won't bubble over or make your pie runny. I thought it was kind of cool. We also went to Hogan's Jeweler's and and I got my rings checked and cleaned. It sparkles like new! So shiny! On our little adventure, I took some snow pictures with my new camera. Enjoy!

The Cathedral

The Ice Tree

The Nativity. Notice: Santa Clause is standing there as if he's a wise man. Way to go, Gaylord. Way to go.

The Courthouse. I think it's kind of pretty.

The big icicles. They were really pretty in the sun.

Today, we're going to see Lydia and the kids for some tea. I'm kind of excited. I really like Lydia. :) Her kids are super cute too. They're getting so big too! Last time I saw Philip he was so small, and now he's running around. But I guess that's what kids do. Anyway, it's time for me to go for tea!

-Liz

:) Life is Good

So I'm up in Michigan (and I think most of the people that read this are aware of that, haha). It's been a lot of fun. I got in on Thursday evening. Friday everyone had to work, but my Grandpa came over. He was only going to stay a little bit, but then we started playing with my camera. He taught me a lot of useful stuff. I definitely feel like I know my camera a little better now. I might take it out today and try to get some snow pictures of down town and such. We'll see how the day pans out.

Saturday my family went to Traverse City to do some Christmas shopping. I had most of my Christmas shopping done, but it was really a fun time. We went to Kohls, Michaels (where I bought a few scrapbooking things), and the Mall. Sean was really funny because he kept banishing people from the vicinity to get their Christmas present. He cracks me up. At the mall I went into Victoria's Secret to get some new underwear (awkward, I know, but I had to say it in order to give the story context. And I really only wanted to go in and buy some regular, comfortable, cotton panties. You know, the 5 for 25 panties. Nothing scandalous, I swear). So I go in and there are a lot of people, which didn't bother me because there were a lot of people Christmas shopping. I'm just there looking at the underwear trying to find my size, and I look up and there is this super creepy guy staring at me. He looked like he hadn't showered in days, he had this really big walking stick, and crazy facial hair. I swear, he looked like a mountain man. He just stood there, staring. It was so weird. I had to leave and go back because he was so weird. Why does Victoria's Secret always have creepy dudes? I don't really understand it. I don't think I've ever gone into one without there being the token creepy dude.

Sunday we went to Church. I was able to do an announcement about Australia. They didn't do a special offering, but they let me hand out addressed envelopes and a letter after the service for people who wanted to send in some money. I only handed out four or five envelopes, but hopefully some money will come in. I still need about $1,000 dollars to get all the funds raised. I'm not *too* worried about it, but I'm hoping I'll be able to raise a little more support. After Church, I went to coffee with Brianna, my high school best friend. I won't lie, it was a bit awkward. But overall, it was a good time. We chatted and did some catching up, and it was fun. Plus, Brother's Coffee and Tea is just a fun place to go to. :)

Today Dad and Sean are at work and school, respectively. Mom and I are going to go out to Kohl's and Old Navy. I guess Old Navy is going out of business here and is selling crap for super cheap. I want to check it out and see what there is to see. We're also going to make some haystacks and home made peanut-butter cups. I am so excited for it! Other than that, I think it's just a really laid back day. I like those.

Christmas Break So far...

Well, Christmas break so far has been really nice. I've done my fair share of sitting around and relaxing. This weekend I just kind of hung out. Watched T.V, cleaned, shopped. The ususal. Monday I got all the Christmas cards ready to go out and did some scrapbooking in the afternoon. Yesterday afternoon I turned on Christmas movies (they were on Hallmark all day... I didn't really watch them. Just had them on ) and made some pages for the scrapbook. Here are a few pics of what I've been working on. Some of these i'm still tweaking a bit:

the first one is the "title page". The Writing is a poem and a little introduction to the scrapbook.

 

I've been having a lot of fun with it. I'm discovering all these little embellishments I've been collecting and can finally use!

Last night we went to Marshall (we being Jeremy and Anna, and us). It was a lot of fun. I think we've been every year for like three years now. I don't even know. When we got back we ate some cookies and had hot chocolate. It was a nice time. I'm glad that we hang out so much.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for MI. Anna Biggs is taking me to the airport. Then I fly out at 12:35pm. Then I should be in Flint, MI by  6:00pm. I think I have a layover in Chicago. So we'll have to see how it all turns out. I think the weather is supposed to be decent, which is always a plus. After I'm done babysitting today I'm going to go back and start packing. Then youth group tonight!

I am very excited to see everyone up North. I think a couple of my friends and I are going to try to go get together for coffee or something. It will be fun to catch up with some old friends. :)

Eleven days and eleven hours!

Until Christmas, that is. :)


I finished my finals on Thursday morning. I think I managed to squeak out all As for the semester. I am kind of excited about that. If I am able to pull it off again next semester, I might get my GPA high enough to graduate Summa Cum Laude. Highest honors. That would be nice.

I'm sitting here typing this from my couch because they've finally wirelessed the apartments. I'm really excited about that. It means I can do homework from anywhere in my apartment, instead of stuck at my desk. It's nice to have some freedom and flexibility.Unfortunately, it's a little flakey. I might have to contact IT and let them know that most places in the apartment I get a very poor signal. Brad's little laptop doesn't even pick up the wireless signal. It's a bit depressing.

Today Brad is running sound for the Christmas production that our church and another church is putting together. They're doing a run-through at 3:00 and the actual performance is at 6:00. So Brad will be gone all day. I don't feel like going, so I'm not going to. I don't want to go sit by myself. And i've already kind of seen it. So I'm going to stay here today and do some stuff around the house. I need to fold the laundry, do the Christmas cards, and organize all my junk from this last semester. I think Anna and I are going to get together too. I think Jeremy is working or something, so she's going to be alone most of the afternoon as well. Who knows what shenanigans we'll get up to. Haha.

If we had two cars, I would go out shopping today. It's been kind of a sad weekend. I think it's the weather and such. It's been really rainy and foggy and gross outside. So that's not making me any happier. Maybe shopping would? Haha. Plus, it's just been a busy semester. I think it's kind of "post-semester depression". I finished all my finals and stuff, so I'm finding I have nothing much to do. The last couple of days I was working on a scarf. I finished it yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to Laura. It was a little thank-you gift for her doing our Christmas card pictures. We didn't pay her or anything, but I wanted to give her something. She deserved it, and the pictures turned out awesome. Now I'm just trying to finish up a previous project I had going. It's a scarf for Brad. I've been working on it for quite a while. It got stuffed in a box after last Christmas, and I've recently rediscovered it. It's over halfway done... but I still have a lot to do because it needs to be so long. That happens when you're 6'2. You need long scarves!

Brad is plugging in the HDMI cable to get the BluRay to do the highdef stuff. It didn't come with the HDMI cable. It doesn't really make much sense to me because that's the cable that makes the player capable of doing Hi-def in the first place. What's the point of getting a blu-ray player if you had no intention of making it do hi-def? That's just silly. I think they should package them in there.

Well, I think I am going to start gathering addresses for the Christmas cards. I am being lazy this year and sticking labels on them instead of handwriting them. But that means I have to make the labels. So that's what I am going to do! :)

-Liz

7:30 finals...

I'm not really sure who thought it would be a good idea to schedule finals at 7:30 in the morning. I had one today. It wasn't a test though, just a presentation. And the professor brough breakfast, so it wasn't too horrible. The building was locked though, when I got there. The cleaning lady saw a group of us locked out, and instead of opening the door for us, she turned around and walked the other way. SO RUDE! If they're going to schedule finals at 7:30, the leas they can do is make sure the building is unlocked for us. Today I also have a Greek final. I'm not really sure how to study for it. It's all translation, so I don't really think you *can* study for it. Two of the verses we've already had, so i'm really not too worried about it. Hopefully this philosophy won't come back to bite me in the butt. After my Greek final at 3:00, I only have two finals left. I'm kind of tempted to take my Thursday final early just so I can be done. We'll see how studying goes. I might need the extra time. As for the rest of my day today, I will be studying for my Doctrines final and studying for my psychology final.

It's cold and rainy out so, I'm thinking I might make some tea to sip on as I'm studying. It might wake me up a little bit too. I'm kind of sleepy today. For some reason I couldn't sleep last night. It took me forever to actually fall asleep. I was too busy thinking of all the things I want to do over Christmas break. So far here's my list:

• Play my saxophone
• knit
• scrapbook
• watch movies
• read 
• Do my Greek homework (yes, I have Greek translations due when I get back from Christmas break. Lame!)
• make candies
• lounge around
• go shopping

I want to go shopping over break. Brad and I have a little money stashed away to use for After Christmas Sales, and I'm sure i'll get some Christmas money. I've lost some weight so a lot of my pants are too big (I know, that's a horrible problem to have. I shouldn't be complaining. I am proud of myself for making my weight loss goal and then some!). Plus, a lot of my pants are just worn out. I haven't gotten a new pair of jeans in awile. So it's time for a great closet purge of all the too big clothes. I am kind of sad because some clothes I bought in August don't fit anymore. They're really nice pants, so i'm thinking I might go see how much it would be for a tailor to take them in a little. Surely it shouldn't cost too much? We'll see. I might just end up buying new pants. I'm hoping I won't have to spend all of my Christmas money on clothes though. I have a few things I need for the kitchen and I just want to buy some stuff. Like scrapbooking stuff, haha. You can never have too much scrapbooking stuff! I need my own room for scrapbooking. It would be awesome!

Anyway, I haven't really started on memorizing the verse I mentioned in my last post. BUT I have been memorizing scripture for my Doctrines exam. I know the motive isn't totally pure in memorizing scripture for an exam, but it can still be useful to life. So here's what I memorized last night (this is totally from memory too. I promise!)

Genesis 1:26-27

 Then God said, "Let us make Man in our image, after our Likeness. Let them have dominion over all the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created Man in His own image, in the Image of God He created him; Male and Female He created them."

:)

Last day of Classes!

Well, it's officially the last day of classes. Thank the Good Lord! :) I am babysitting this morning then I will have my Greek class, and then I'll be done. It's kind of a good feeling. This next week of finals isn't going to be *too* bad, but it's worse than I thought it was going to be. I have an Anthropology paper due, but he has yet to tell us the requirements for it. My schedule isn't too crazy for next week, which is good. I do need to start studying for some of my finals this weekend. For my Greek final we have four verses, two of which we've already translated for our 1 John translations. I'm really not too worried about it, I just need to review a few things. We're allowed to use our dictionaries for our 1 John translations, and for the other two verses we'll get to use our text books as references. Basically, I am not sure how much studying i'm going to be able to do. I just need to practice and review my 1 John translations and make sure I am well versed in flipping through my text book. :) I am a little worried about my Counseling final. Her tests are always so difficult. I think i'm going to start taking notes for that exam this weekend. The final itself is not until Thursday, so I have lots of time to begin reviewing for it. This weekend I also have lots of grading to do. I'm helping one of my professors out by grading some of his journals from one of his classes. He's been sick a lot this semester and has found himself totally behind. Now we're at the end of the semester and he really really needs to get it all done. Dr. Mays, who I usually grade for, also has some journals for me. I think he also wants me to grade the final. I'm not sure how that's going to work though. I have lots of other stuff to do for my own classes.But the extra money will help with our Christmas budget. We've overspent on a few things, but that's ok. We have the money, but the extra income will be nice.

Tomorrow evening Brad and I are doing our little Christmas celebration. We're going to bake Christmas cookies and exchange our gifts. We decided to do it early because we'll be gone for actual Christmas. We had originally decided on December 12th, but Brad's company Christmas party is on that day and we didn't want to try to cram too much into an evening. We're also pretty anxious to exchange our gifts. I really think he will like what I got him. :)

Anna and I have decided we need to start some Bible memorization. To be honest, I never really put much worth in memorizing the scriptures, but I am starting to see the worth of it. It's nice to not have to look everything up all the time. It's also useful because you can spontaneously share verses as encouragement. Right now she's trying to memorize 2 Corinthians 6:6, and I think I am going to join her. My next project is Colossians 3:13.

Brad found out that he will be going up to Canada for work in either February or May. I'm really hoping that if he goes in May that he will be able to go while I'm in Australia. I also hope he doesn't have to go during my Graduation. That would just be very sad and poopy. He also had his 6 month review yesterday. His boss basically said he passes with flying colors and have met or exceeded all of his expectations. He got a little raise too, so that's nice. We are so thankful for a job right now, especially when so many people do not have them.

Well, I think Sam has a present for me in his diaper, so I should probably go change it. I hate poopy diapers.

EDIT:
I just have to say that was the most disgusting diaper I have ever had the misfortune to change. I got it all over my hand! GROSS! GAG!

Last Week of Classes

It is at this point of the semester I always have to battle apathy. I'm not sure why, but this year it is infinitely worse. I don't have much to do this week as far as projects and such, but I should be working on the papers and such that I have due as finals for next week. I'm also mildly frustrated because it's looking like I'll have a lot more to do for next week than I had anticipated. My Greek final is going to be a real final, not the take home exam we were all expecting. I have a counseling final which is going to be hard. And I have a doctrines final I need to take. We have one question that goes over everything, and the rest is over the last unit we did. Fortunately he's posting the big question so we can begin outlining and taking notes for it. As for projects, I have a 10 page paper due for Anthropology that is a summary of a semester long project we've been working on. For my Psych of Gender class, I need to do a paper thing that answers some questions about stuff I did over the semester. So it's not *that* bad, but it's more than I was thinking I had to do. Oh well, I suppose that is life sometimes. After this next week i'll be on Christmas vacation! Maybe I'll steal my mom's idea and post pictures of the Scrap Book pages I plan on doing over break. :)

Well, I need to go babysit. Later!

Picture Post!

So I realize I haven't posted many pictures lately! So here are a few recent ones of stuff we've been up to.

These are the pumpkins that we carved. From the Left is Brad's Pumpkin, Anna's Pumpkin, Jeremy's Pumkin, and my Pumpkin. Anna and I carved a face on the back of ours. Hence two photos of them. Haha. We had our pumpkins out for a day and then it poured. So they molded a lot. Since it was so moist and moldy, a Lizard took up residence in one of them. Haha.

These are from Brad's 23rd Birthday party. We had Jeremy and Anna and some of the guys from Brad's old floor come over for some pizza and cake.

 Recent picture of Sam. He's getting so big!

The aftermath of cooking the Thanksgiving feast!

The Feast! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, pickles, and sparkling grape juice. For dessert we had pumpkin roll and pumpkin pie!

 So, I ran out of kitchen counter space, so the rolls had to stay in the oven for a minute after they beeped. Apparently they did not approve of this.

Turkey and stuffin' muffins!

We spent our friday after thanksgiving shopping in the morning (it was insane! but we got a lot of our Christmas shopping done.) and then putting up Christmas decorations in the afternoon. Tonight we are going to ring in the holdiay season by eating leftovers, pumpkin pie, drink egg nog and watch a movie. Here are pictures of the rest of our decor:

 I put up some of the decorations I got as a gift last year. The cool looking Santa on one speaker, and the snowman candle deal on the other speaker. Behind it is a book of pictures that Grandma got me last year. I'm working on the pictures right now. I ordered them and when I went to go pick them up at Walmart they told me the printer is broken and they will not be done tonight. :( I was sad. So the picture frame by our Christmas tree will also remain empty until those pictures come back!

Our Christmas tree is so small the big ornaments wouldn't fit on it. So here's how we displayed them anyway. :) We also have some lights up around our window and door:

Brad also wanted to decorate the outside of our apartment this year. Here it is:

It was hard to capture a non-blurry photo. Especially since the lights in the foreground are LED icicle lights. I discovered LED lights do not like to be photographed. So there it is. Our apartment all decorated.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Today I have caught up on my homework. All that's left to do before classes start up again:

• Edit Greek Paper
• Edit, format, and make references page for my Counseling Paper
• Memorize Greek Vocab words
• Interview and type up Ethnography Report (won't do until Monday because that's when I can do my interview)
• Type up a journal for doctrines

I'll probably leave it all until Sunday or Monday morning. Because I'm cool like that. Haha. I might try to edit my Greek paper and do the journal after I'm done cleaning the apartment. I'm working on cleaning up the apartment so when we web cam Brad's family, I won't be embarrassed by our messy office. Haha. I'm also going to make the pumpkin roll and the pumpkin pie this evening, as well as get the bread ready for the stuffing. :) I am excited to cook for tomorrow and celebrate Thanksgiving with Brad. I am happy to be starting our own little traditions. It seems insignificant to some, but I am excited to make traditions that will carry over to when we have children and such.

I think Brad and I are going to try to go out on Black Friday to finish up some Christmas shopping. We need to get gifts for the men of the family and a couple of the women. It's our dads and grandpas that are giving us trouble. We have no idea what to get them! But I really like Christmas shopping, so I'm sure we'll find something in our travels.

Anyway, I need to get going to finish picking up and getting things in our apartment in order. I would rather get everything clean this afternoon so I don't have to do it this weekend!

Nice long weekend!

I have a long weekend this weekend because Greek (my only class on M-W-F) has been canceled until after Thanksgiving. I am glad because it gives me a chance to catch up and start on some projects! I got up early today so I could work out and then start on stuff.

Last night Anna, Kelley, and I went to the play some of the students put on. They did Arsenic and Old Lace, and it was HILARIOUS. The movie is pretty funny (Carey Grant, 1944) and I'm thinking I need to buy it. I am glad I went, the play was very well done. The set was pretty cool too. I would like to try out for the show that they're doing next semester. They haven't decided exactly what they're doing yet, but I think I'll have more time to devote to something like that. So why not? I haven't done a show for a long time.

It's official, I have enough money for the deposit on my Australia trip. Now all I have to do is wait until December 1st for the sign up and send in my passport stuff. :) I am excited about that. It's amazing how it all ended up coming through for me. All I have left is $1000 to raise by March 3rd, I believe.

Tonight Brad and I are going grocery shopping for all the Thanksgiving stuff. I'm sure WalMart is going to be a complete Zoo, but we need to go tomorrow so I can get snacks for the Mary Kay party I'm hostessing. I'm excited for it, it should be a lot of fun.

Well, I need to shower and start on my homework! :) 

Wednesdays!

My desk is currently covered in books, paper, and other random stuff. It is so full of junk than it's spilled out and around my desk too! But that's ok, maybe i'll clean it up later. Here's the To-do List for today:

• Finish Greek takehome exam and do reading for class today
  
• Edit and make a Bibliography for my Doctrines paper
• Read and do homework questions for Counseling
• Read and do homework for Psych. of Gender.       

I don't have a *ton* of stuff to do, but I have a fair amount. I didn't do much homework last night because we went shopping for Christmas for our special people for Brad's family's get together. I would tell you who we shopped for, but that might spoil the surprise. ;)

I broke my delete key yesterday. I was trying to kill a spider, and smashed my laptop instead... the spider is dead (now, after missing him) but unfortunately my delete key just isn't the same. :( I'm going to have to have Brad investigate how to fix it so it's back to normal.

I am so ready for a break, I'm hoping to work really hard on getting some of my homework done so I won't have to be a downer and write a paper all weekend. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish my paper altogether, but I should be able to get a pretty good start on it, which is a good thing. I can't believe the end of the semester is just around the corner. The rest of this week, next week (which is short due to Thanksgiving) and then the week after. Then finals. Then Christmas break! I CAN SEE THE END!

Well, I need to get going on some of my to do list so I can get to the gym. I think my take home exam is the number one priority. It's due in five hours. :)

New Look!

I decided to make my blog look cute. I think it's gotten to a point where my mom does more with her blog than I do! Haha. She has some cool pictures of the stuff she's made. This last blog includes little quilted cake peices. So cute!

This next Saturday (the 21st) I am hostessing a Mary Kay pampering deal. One of my profs is also a Mary Kay consultant, so she's going to give us the full treatment. Facials, skin care, perhaps even satin hands! I am so excited. It will be nice to do something other than school for a change.

Anna has also gotten a Blog, so it's kind of fun. We shall be blog buddies! Laura has one for her pictures too. It's really fun to look through all these different blogs. Hopefully we'll all be able to stay active with the blogs. It's kind of fun. Almost like journaling...except more public.

Brad has been playing his guitar a lot lately. He seems to really enjoy playing it. He's actually a lot better at playing guitar than I thought! We'll play praise and worship songs occasionally. Well, he'll play and I'll sing. Its kind of fun. I glad he is enjoying the guitar. The poor guy really needed to find himself a hobby. I think he's saving up his Christmas money to buy a hard case for it. The guitar doesn't have a case at the moment. Just a stand.

Something that we went over in Sunday school has been sticking in my mind lately. Jacob, our associate pastor who is also our teacher, took the 1 Corinthians 13 passage and had us put our names every time the word "love" is. It was really challenging because there are some places that I simply could not honestly say that I am like that. So this is my latest challenge. To actively try to be more like 1 Corinthians 13, so I can say with confidence, "Liz is patient and kind; Liz does not envy or boast; Liz is not arrogant or rude. Liz does not insist on her own way; Liz is not irritable or resentful; Liz does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." You should try putting your name in there too. It's really challenging and humbling.

Quiet Saturday

Well, Today I have a paper to write. 6-8 Pages on Open Theism (which, in my opinion is a totaly heresy) for Doctrines class. Brad, on the other hand, got to go with the youth group to an equine therapy place for children with disabilities. They're going to be working out there for the day, so it should be fun for them.

The career fair went ok. There wasn't a whole lot in the way of ministry stuff there, but I did learn a couple things. First, I don't think DTS is in my future. It just isn't feasible at the moment. I wouldn't be able to test out of much nor would I be able to do much of it online. So that means I have complete a lot of the degree on campus, and we're just not in a place where we can facilitate going to Dallas every day. I also talked to some of the school districts about what it would take to get certified and teach. Most of them said that i can teach in much needed areas (math and science) next year as long as I am able to enroll in an alternative certification program. So I might consider doing that. I do kind of feel like I shouldn't do that though because my degree is in ministry. I don't know, it kind of feels like a waste of my time to have gotten this ministry degree if I am just going to be a teacher. But I guess I'll just have to get over that and see what the Lord gives me in the next couple of months. Maybe a Church job will come along.

I'm slowly hearing back from a few people about the trip to Australia. We had a meeting on Thursday and I found out some info. First, they moved up the deposit deadline to December 1st because of air fares and visas. Second, we can't sign up until December 1st, so I have to go wait in line at 8:00 am to sign up for the trip. I hope I can get a spot, I'm sure I can because 1500 dollars is a lot of money I'm sure a lot of people won't have. Third, we'll be going into the Outback for 7 days to visit with the Aborigine tribes and work in their schools along the way.

I'm hoping to save up enough money that I can get a decent camera before I go to Australia (if I can go. Haha). I would love to get an entry-level dslr, but they're expensive. Even for the low end ones. So if that's not feasible, I at least want to get a better point and shoot. Mine is older now, and the technology has improved so much since I got it.

Well, I need to get started on my paper and get my day started!

It's another rainy day in Texas...

Today is another rainy day in TX. I do not remember it raining this much in the Fall. All four Falls that I have been here it rained a little, but not incessantly like this. Lots of the nearby rivers are so flooded it isn't funny. While we were in Shreveport last weekend we passed a park that was completely underwater. Only the tops of the trees were poking out of the water!

I've been running lately. I decided that I'm going to run the Student Foundation 5k this year. I'm not really sure why I decided that, but I did. So now i'm following through. I'm up to running two miles non-stop. This, for me, is quite the feat considering in high school (when, presumably, i was the most physically fit) I couldn't even run one mile non-stop. I'm feeling a little accomplished.

Aside from school, I've been knitting a scarf. I found a barely started scarf in a box my mom had sent me probably a year ago. I've been working on it. Maybe I'll give it away as a Christmas gift or something. The Career Fair is on Thursday. There isn't a whole lot for ministry majors, but there are some random places looking for people. Aflac will be there looking for agents to sell their insurance, some banks are looking for tellers. It kind of depresses me thinking that my first job out of college will just be something to pay off loans, not something I love to do or have studied to do. But you know, I guess that is life. Grad school is still a possibility. Dallas Theological Seminary will be at the Career fair, so I'm going to talk to an admissions rep and see what I can find out. The degree I'm looking at is a Masters in Theology (it's eqivalent to an MDiv). It's totally overkill for what I want to do, but it seems the most interesting to me. Unfortunatly it's a four year degree program and i don't think they have a lot of online stuff. So we'll see how the career fair goes.

I need to get going. I need to leave for class in fifteen minutes and I still have wet hair! :)

Fall!

So, since my mom made a comment on my latest blog, I feel I should not disappoint my one follower. Here's another update:

I'm trying to raise funds to go on a Mission Trip to Australia. I would leave the sunday after I graduate and not come back until June. So it's almost a month long. But we'll have so many opportunities and see so many cool things. We'll even have the opportunity to visit some aboriginal tribes!

Other than that it's just business as usual. I made some brownies from scratch for a pumpkin carving party that Married Student housing is having this evening. I hope they taste fine. I didn't have any baking cocoa so I used the "substitute" method and used oil and cocoa powder. The batter tasted a little bitter to me, but I'm planning on putting some frosting on them, so hopefully they won't be too yucky. :)

I'll have to post some pictures of our pumpkin later on tonight.

School...

So, I decided to try to make a come back. But I can't promise much.

School has been going well. I have a lot of fairly interesting classes this semester, which makes me happy. I'll be keeping pretty busy, but you know, that's what school is for.

This weekend we're not doing a whole lot... but that's ok. I need a low-key weekend every so often.

I'm sorry this is so short, but I've got some homework to get done so I can watch a movie tonight. :)

~Liz

Wow... I have severly neglected my blogging...

Well, classes have been in session for two weeks now. We have tomorrow off because of MLK day. :)

So far, I have A LOT of reading. It's kind of lame, but at least it isn't difficult stuff.


We went bridesmaid dress shopping yesterday, and it was pretty much a bust. We're going to go to David's Bridal tomorrow afternoon to see if we have any better luck. Yesterday, while an adventure, was stressful, not profitable, and annoying. There is no reason I should be putting on a size 14 dress and have it not fit. Lame and a half. Also, it's hard to get three very different shaped girls to look good in a dress. I also managed to cut a corner a little too close and rip a piece of plastic off the car. Also lame. Overall, not a great day.

But I came home and baked Gordon a key lime pie. He bought the ingredients and I made it for him. It turned out ok. I just don't think I liked the recipe.

OH, and for your viewing pleasure. This is a car that Brad and I parked by at walmart this evening. I thought it was hilarious. You can't see it but, the paint job was intense. It's not that great of a picture, but notice the horn it has on the front end. Also, notice the ridiculous lift kit on it. Only in Longview.