Breakfast of Champions

Mmm..
Lately, I have been feeling rather "Betty Crocker" and I have been cooking and baking more often. Last night, I was in the mood for something sweet, so I made a peanut butter silk pie and my roommate made us some caramel lattes.
Sadly, by the time the pie was ready I was already asleep, so I had a piece for breakfast...
(I know, I'm so healthy)
I do plan to go workout after finishing this post, however, so I find that pie for breakfast is acceptable. :)
And even sadder, pie for breakfast is about as adventurous as I get.
Baby steps.

Spring break recap

My spring break wasn't very eventful, but that's okay, I had plenty of relaxation time.
In a previous post, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish throughout the week.
Did I get everything done? Not quite..but that shouldn't come as a surprise.

I did finish Searching for God Knows What and I read the forward of my next book, so technically I started it.
I had a wonderful road trip with my best friend.
I relaxed.
I cooked dinner for the fam.
I got to see my niece (or) nephew's finished nursery.
& I spent time with some of my favorite people, who are pictured below. :) (old pictures but they're the only ones we're all together)

Thankful I get to see them again this weekend :)


I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and spent some time with the people who mean the most to you.

Roadtrip

My best friend Kristin and I took a mini roadtrip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Thursday.
It was so great to spend the whole day with her.
It was such a beautiful day, we looked at Augustana College, strolled through downtown and went to Falls Park.

There are so many pretty old buildings all around the city, and Augie has quite a few, too. We then accidentally went to an expensive Italian restaurant, and were planning our escape when our waitress arrived. We sucked it up and split a meal and the salad! It was delicious, though.
Even though it was a day trip and we didn't go anywhere exciting, it was wonderful to spend so much time with my best friend.

Picnic

The weather has been so lovely the past few days.
When I got back into town, my roomie and I went on a picnic
(sans blanket or basket)
at the lake across from our apartment.
We saw cute little boys feeding ducks, bikers, runners and cute couples out enjoying the sun.
Here is the documentation of our afternoon.

I am planning on spending plenty of afternoons out here reading and relaxing.

Hope you all found time to enjoy the sun today :)

Mexico

Tonight I worked at a soup supper at my church that was a fundraiser for our mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico. The past few years there have been major problems in Mexico with drug cartels. All of the areas of major violence have all been a few hours away from Reynosa, but recently they have been getting a lot closer and we heard from one of our friends in Mexico that she has been hearing gun shots from the church.
The pastor in Mexico has told our friends in Texas not to travel until further notice, and he also said that the US Consulate has been shut down. It's just not fair that these people in Mexico tell us not to come because they are worried about our safety, but they can't do anything about their own safety. I can't imagine being in that situation.
We really have no way of finding out if our friends are safe because they live in such an area of poverty that there is no mail or phones, just word of mouth.
This place is so dear to my heart and I have fallen in love with La Iglesia Cristo Rey and its people. If you could all send some prayers their way I would really appreciate it. Don't forget to thank the Big Guy for allowing you to live in a safe place where you don't hear gun shots or worry about getting enough food for the day.

The beautiful church after the rebuild.

This is Chevella, aka cutest thing alive

Boys playing games during Bible school

The kids and I playing outside Cristo Rey

Happy Spring Break!

(wish I would see this over break)

Taking a little break from packing and cleaning to write my goals for the break:

Catch up on One Year Bible
Finish Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller & start another book. (haven't decided yet)
Journal
Get the gang together for wings at the Coop.
Spend as much time as possible catching up with friends.
Relax, relax, relax.
Have a rockin' time with Kristin in SF, SD.

Back to packing, hope you all have a lovely break :)

The Irresistible Revolution

"The greatest cause of Atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." --Brennan Manning

I found this quote inside the book called The Irrestible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I could not put it down. I probably won't be able to explain it very eloquently..

Just prepare to get uncomfortable, feel worthless and then inspired. And then prepare to pray like crazy that the inspiration doesn't leave you. I do not want to be the same person I was before I read this book just last week.

Shane writes about all of the time he has spent helping people from the poor, the lepers, to the families in Iraq. He strives to live an "authentic" Christian lifestyle and live out the incredible love that Jesus has for all of us. He questions a lot of things about the church and Christianity today.

If you're looking for a good book to read over the break, I would recommend this one. Excited to read the next book.

Just a little morning vent

Midterm in two hours.
I will have failed said midterm in three hours.

I think I could maybe pull three sentences out of the air for the 2-4 page essay part of the test.
Better than last night though, when I could only write two.
Never have I been so nervous for a test. Usually my tests are multiple choice so if all else fails, I can blindly guess. Well that was the life of a bio major. Religion requires much more writing.
Ohh my prof is going to think I am a pathetic excuse for a religion major when she sees my test.
Can't wait.

On the plus side, my spring break starts after this test.
I wish it would stop snowing, though. If Mother Nature ruins any of my spring break plans,
I will not be a happy camper.

Okay, that's all the venting I have for now.
Back to studying.

Random thoughts during a study break

In less than 37 hours I will be free. Free for about a week and a half that is. I absolutely cannot wait for spring break. I just finished my Spanish presentation, now I have to start studying for comm, then religion, then Thursday at about noon, it's time to relax.

Random thought #2.
Is it odd that I am having a harder time without ice cream than I am without Facebook? It's seriously a challenge.

#3. I wish I would learn to be productive every day so everything wouldn't pile up on me the week before break.

#4. Have I mentioned how hard it is to live without ice cream? Especially when I'm stressed?

To make a long story short, I took an "assessment" at the Career Services Center at UNL to see what careers I may be good at. I was hoping for destiny to fall into my lap. I was hoping I would get the results back and see a career that I was totally excited and passionate about.

There were seven areas of orientation, I was told to avoid 6 of the 7. Not a whole lot of options there. The one area I wasn't told to avoid was "helping", I wasn't even told to pursue it, just develop it. As far as specific careers, I was told to either explore, develop or pursue careers in international activities, counseling, child development and religious activities, respectively. This was pretty accurate because the current plan is to major in religion, minor in Spanish, then head to seminary for two years. But..I answered yes to questions about traveling, working with kids and going to church. How is that enough to tell me what I should be doing for the rest of my life? Yes, youth ministry is the plan now, but what if I change my mind? What else can I do with a religion major? ahhh so much stress..how am I supposed to know now what I want to do with the next 50 years of my life? I hate planning. I hate stressing. I hate not knowing.

I really just want to travel, have fun, and do something that will help people.

I am the worst decision maker ever. ever.

Gettin' my hermit on

Since moving to college, I have become a bit of a hermit. This may sound crazy, but I actually enjoy spending Saturday nights home alone. I love my alone time. I usually enjoy a good movie or book and indulge in some ice cream. Best of all, it's supposed to storm tonight.

Tonight, I will be studying for my religion midterm and starting my Spanish presentation, while watching Serendipity, of course. After this, I will continue reading a book that was recommended and lent to me by my roommate. It's called The Irresistible Revolution. It's fantastic and I highly recommend it. Caution: Book may make you feel like an awful person and inspire you to do something better with your life. I'm sure I'll have another post on this book after I finish it, but I'm only about half way through it so far.

Well, I'm off to the Starbucks drive-thru to get my hermit on.

Have a fantastic Saturday night, all.

caffeine overload

I would like to thank my triple shot caramel machiatto for keeping me awake long enough to finish my paper. I am still wide awake from caffeine...hence the blog writing at 2:30 am.

Wouldn't it be nice if Chace Crawford could have delivered my Starbucks?
Hey, a girl can dream..

I am breathing a small sigh of relief.

Life is so much easier when you learn to worry about things one at a time.

I used to think about all of the tests, papers, assignments at the same time. They all wandered around in my brain like lost puppies, I would get so stressed because I would think of all of the due dates at once instead of focusing on one task at a time.

I am happy to say that I have a much better attitude this semester because of this.

"Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own."
-Matthew 6:34

Monday

Booo Monday night. I had to watch the Bachelor choose stink face, now I have to watch him on DWTS. Jake, quit taking over my tv! (At least he won't make it past round 2) I am however pretty stoked for the new season, I can't wait to watch Kate & Niecy! I was a bit disappointed in the cast though, they must be running out of stars.

I am noticing a pattern that I start to blog when I procrastinate.
and I ramble
and ramble
and ramble

On another note, I am so glad it's March. That means spring is coming! Spring is my absolute favorite time of year. Sun and thunderstorms?

Yes, please.

Okay, well I best be going. I still have a Spanish paper to finish editing & a comm paper to start...
I will never learn.


Hope you all have a wonderful week...it may be a while before my next post...papers and midterms.