End of the week coming up...

Hey everyone; just wanted to drop by and leave a note. Today's gone well; my classes went by quickly. I'm so glad it's Thursday and that tomorrow's Friday! I finally got my psychology presentation and paper over with, and I think they both went well. That's a huge load off my plate. This afternoon I mostly did laundry and homework. Lance had an interview with our church's music minister about getting the job of music intern for FBC. From what I hear, it went well. I haven't seen Lance since choir, though, to really talk about it because he came back from the meeting feeling sick and has been sleeping in his room since then. We're hoping that he's ok and will feel better in the morning.

I did get to go to Java City and spend time with Kirstin this afternoon, too; and she, Christina, and I went over to see Rachel and Daniel's new house that they're going to move into once they're married. It's very nice, and I can tell Rachel's very excited about it all. It was fun, and we had some good "girl talks" (despite Daniel being there).

The exciting news is that I get to see my dad tomorrow! I can't wait.

Here's another article with further news about the damage done by the recent earthquake in Indonesia; they say the damage has been much greater than they first thought. The death toll is at 600 and is expected to rise substantially.
CNN.com article: Quake 'worse than expected'

I'm off to bed--I'm actually going to try to go to sleep somewhat early tonight! Hope all of you have a wonderful evening.

The earthly and the divine

Thought I'd drop in a little note since I haven't posted much lately. Life's been busy: I had two tests today and tomorrow I have a group psychology paper and presentation due. Thus, I was in the library tonight from 8:45-10:30 working on that. But things have been going well over all. My dad is actually going to be here on Friday! I'm really excited. I will have a lot of work to do over the weekend he's here, unfortunately, but I think we'll still have some good time together.

As a brief update on last weekend, I had a great time spending Easter with Lance's family. They have a lot of neat family traditions, and it was fun to be there and be with them all. We watched The Passion of the Christ on Saturday night, and that was very moving, even though I'd already seen it--I think I cried more this time! It was very emotional, and I think every now and then we need to be reminded of the extreme pain and emotion that is behind the cross. Anyways, we decided to drive back on Sunday morning to be back in time for church; I thought Lance wanted to get back so he could talk to the music minister about his position as music intern, but on the ride home he just kind of shrugged it off like it wasn't that important. So I was like, "Did you just really want to be back for the service?" And he said yeah. So I thought it was a little weird that Lance wanted to wake up early just to get back for the church service, but hey, I thought it was cool that he enjoyed First Baptist that much. Anyways, we get there right as the service is starting, and on our way in, Lance turns to me and says, "By the way, did I tell you I was planning on joining the church today?" I'm sure my jaw must have dropped! He'd planned the whole thing as a surprise. Well, I was surprised! And I was so excited. When he joined, a lot of people came up to shake his hand after the service and tell him how excited they were he'd become a part of FBC. Anyways, that was really neat, and Lance did get a chance to talk with the music minister after the service. They actually are meeting tomorrow to discuss things about the position of music intern.

Since then, I've been doing work and stuff. Monday was when I found out about the earthquake in Indonesia, so there were some emotional parts to that day. Monday night, Lance, Christina, and I all played Topspin (tennis game) on X-box, and that was fun. Christina and I finally beat Lance and his computer player on doubles! It was very exciting. Yesterday went well, too; I studied for my tests and finished writing my psych paper. Today's seemed long, but two tests are over with and my presentation tomorrow will soon be over with, too. Hooray!

As I was singing in choir today, I was suddenly overwhelmed with how good God is. I've been struggling with a couple of things on my heart lately, and last night I just really had to give them to the Lord. Well, today in choir, he reminded me so powerfully of how he had good plans for me, and how much he loved me. He would move heaven and earth for me! It just made me realize how wrapped up I get in life's details: school, tests, stress, relationships, and past hurts. They all pale compared to Christ! And when we take them to him and put them under his Lordship...suddenly they seem so much easier to bear. I realize they aren't as bad as I thought compared with how I know God will help me deal with them. He is the great Healer. And I am so grateful for the privilege of being his daughter. We, as human beings, are caught between two worlds: the earthly and the divine. Let us learn to dwell in both, with the divine always determining the earthly.

Have a divine week!

Huge earthquake again hits Indonesia

Dear friends, please be praying for the people of Indonesia and the surrounding areas. As you may or may not know, another earthquake--an 8.7--occurred along the same fault line that the earthquake of December 26th occurred on. So far, we do not know of any large tsunamis that it caused, although it certainly could have, but it has left death, destruction, and fear in its wake. I cannot imagine how terrifying it must be to experience another huge earthquake like this after the horrible destruction the last one left behind only recently. My mom and sister (my dad is currently in the US) are safe, although the earthquake did shake the house a little. Our neighborhood was evacuated by the police in case of tsunamis, although my mom chose to stay behind and carefully moniter the situation. I am so grateful they are safe, but many others are not. I cannot imagine the pain and fear many are experiencing right now. Please lift up your prayers for them. There is an excellent article with more information on the situation on CNN.com, so please click on the link below to read it. Thank you for your prayers for an area of the world so very dear to my heart.

CNN Article: Indonesian Quake Kills Hundreds

Yet I Believe

I was browsing through blogs today--something I usually don't do--and happened upon a blog by a woman named Nikki (Nikki's blog: Isn't this kind of personal?). Her blog blessed me, but especially one post with lyrics on it to a song. I've never heard the song, but I thought it was beautiful. I wanted to share it with you:

They heard his voice; they saw his face
The promised Savior come to earth in days long past
They saw him heal the sick and cause the lame to stand
They watched as wind and waves were stilled at his command
And though I did not see him calm the raging seas
His hand has calmed my troubled heart
And I believe

They heard his voice; they saw his face
They heard his teachings of forgiveness, love and faith
He blessed their little ones; he taught them how to pray;
He fed the multitudes who hungered by the way
And though I did not taste the bread he bade them eat
His word is manna to my soul
And I believe

They saw him scourged and mocked to scorn
They heard the angry crowd, they saw him crowned with thorns
They watched him bend beneath our burden in the streets
They saw the bitter nails that pierced his hands and feet
And though I was not there to watch with them at Calvary
My spirit weeps
I have not seen
Yet I believe

They heard his voice; they saw his face
The risen Jesus, crowned with vict'ry o'er the grave
And though I did not see his triumph over death
Though I did not see him draw immortal breath
I know he lived and died and lived again for me
My faith is sure
I have not seen
Yet I believe

I think you can listen to a copy of this song at the following site: I Have Not Seen, Yet I Believe. May these words bless you. What a privilege to believe, though we have not seen! May we all grow this kind of faith.

MSNBC - Newsweek article - From Jesus to Christ

Hey everyone! Hope you've all had (or are having) a great Easter. I found this article online and thought it was pretty interesting. If you'd like to read it, please take a look...it's a really good article, and most of it is very accurate and fair. It's a good portrayal of the death of our Lord, but also his resurrection, which is what we celebrate today. Happy Easter! I'll write more soon.

Click here for article: "From Jesus to Christ"

Easter Break!

Yay! I'm off for Ft. Worth today to enjoy my Easter break! I'm so excited and so thankful for this time off from school, even if it's only one day. And I'm excited about the Easter season in general--we celebrate it so often without even realizing the full implications of what we celebrate. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to this time off. I leave in a little less than an hour and a half. I will be coming back Saturday night, though, so Lance and I can be here for church on Sunday morning. All of you have a blessed Easter!

The four of us in Chorale who sang in the Via Crucis last night (l-r): Kirstin, Lance, me, and Melissa. 

"The girls" (l-r): Christina, Kirstin, Melissa, Rachel, Kelsey, and Rachel G. (I'm in front.) Don't I associate with such lovely girls?! 

"The guys" (l-r): Lance, Daniel (Rachel's fiance`), Jared, and Josh (who has just recently begun dating Kelsey). 

Via Crucis--The Way of the Cross

Hey everyone! Today's the big day--our choir finally performed the Via Crucis tonight! It went so well. The whole time really was a worship service, and I think everyone enjoyed it. Lance's mom, sister (Leslie), niece (Cassie), and nephew (Taylor) even drove in just for our concert! They had to leave almost immediately afterwards, but I thought it was wonderful that they got to come. They said they all enjoyed it. I thought it was great that Lance's mom and Leslie could be there, because they were the ones who hemmed my dress; they got to see the fruit of their labor! Also, Kirstin and Christina helped me straighten my hair tonight, so a round of applause to those fabulous girls for helping me get ready.

Anyways, that really was the highlight of the day. Classes went ok; had a biology lab test that I got over with. Chapel was really good; the whole time was spent worshipping and singing, which was awesome. There was a special worship group there to lead us, and it was a really good time. Most of this afternoon I was running around preparing for tonight. It's really nice to have that behind us, and to know we did a good job on it. We all went out to Dairy Queen afterwards to celebrate; Lance's family came and all my friends who came to see our concert. Yay for all of them! Four of us (from our group of friends) were in the concert: Kirstin, Melissa, Lance, and I. And then most of the rest of our friends got to come see us. I'm attempting to put up pictures that we took at Dairy Queen tonight, so we'll see if that works.

I was chatting with my dad online earlier, telling him about our concert. I told him it was called "Via Crucis" which meant "The Way of the Cross." He just kind of laughed as he replied, "Yes, I remember my Latin." But I really was thinking about that translation: the Way of the Cross. It could not have been an easy way, one filled with suffering and anguish. And yet our Lord walked it for us so that we could experience the salvation and joy of the resurrection. As Lance pointed out earlier tonight, our pastor and our choir conductor have both said that the joy of the resurrection cannot be as glorious without the pain of the cross. There is no empty tomb without first the splintered cross. "The Way of the Cross." What does that mean to us? How would we walk differently if we walked each day in the self-sacrifical way that Christ walked to the cross?

May we all find ourselves in the way of the cross this week. Only then can we really experience the magnificence of the resurrection...only after walking the way of the cross can we know the true joy of Easter.

Joy

This won't be a very long post, but I did want to stop in (this is what happens when you post late at night). Well, today's been an ok day...alright, actually, it's been one of those blah days. You ever have those? Where you're just tired and everything seems like too much to handle? Well, I had one of those days today. I have a lot of work coming up that I need to get a head start on--school projects, papers, etc--but they're not due for a couple of weeks, so my motivation is somewhat lacking. But then I get stressed out when I feel like I'm not accomplishing the stuff I should be accomplishing. I think I'm just a little burnt out on school...I can't wait for the three day weekend we have coming up. Yay for Easter!

I did play racquetball tonight, which was fun and got my endorphins going. I actually beat Lance in a game! Not that it wasn't pretty close. So that was fun. Lance is especially good about trying to cheer me up--usually, he succeeds. Christina always finds a way to cheer me up, too. Thank God for good friends!

With my rather blah day, I suppose the title "Joy" might seem a little off. But I was thinking about it, and I think that having joy can often be a choice. Yeah, my day may have been bad, I may have a lot of stress on me, a lot of little things may have gotten to me...but when it comes down to it, how much do those things matter in comparison to the more important things in life? Like the fact that I have an incredible family who loves me, a group of friends who always lift me up. I have a Savior who moved heaven and earth so I could be in relationship with him; I have a Father God who loves me more than my wildest dreams. I have a Creator who daily proves his goodness and faithfulness, even when I am not always so good or faithful in return. I have a Hope. When I realize that I am loved by God, family, and friends, what more could I ask for? Yes, life is hard, sometimes stressful. Yes, it might get me down from time to time. But you know what? I have cause for joy, the greatest joy a human could hope for: fellowship with the Father. When I think of that, how can I not rejoice?

May God fill your own life with joy this week.

Briefly...

Hi everyone! I haven't had a lot of time to put up a note lately, but I thought I'd at least drop in to leave a quick post. Wanted everyone to know my weekend's gone quite well: I've had some really good time to spend with my girl friends, lately, and I'm thankful anew for the awesome girls God has put in my life...Christina, Kirstin, Melissa, Rachel, Kelsey, and so many others. The weekend involved seeing The Incredibles at the dollar theatre on Friday night, a Saturday morning brunch with Kelsey, Christina, and Kirstin, some racquetball Saturday evening, church this morning, supper at church tonight, and homework dispersed in between. So all's going well. I do have several projects and papers coming up, so you can pray that I'll have wisdom to know when to start and how to pace myself. I know all my friends have a lot of work coming up, too--hopefully we'll all survive without too much stress! I hope all of you are doing well and have had a great weekend. God bless you richly!

Life, as it is

Today's been a rather good day, overall. Involved a lot of studying, but that's life. Classes went pretty normally today; in choir, we ran through the whole Via Crucis by Franz Liszt. We're supposed to be performing next Tuesday--it's coming up fast! It really is a powerful piece. English was very stimulating; it's fascinating to look so in-depth at these short stories. Seriously, there's some deep stuff in there. I had my late lunch and then studied before my Critical Thinking class. We had a quiz, which was fine, and I really liked what we learned today. It has to do with diagramming arguments, and I love it because it's logical, methodical, and totally makes sense to me.

At supper I got to sit and talk with all my friends. Afterwards, Christina, Kirstin, Lance, and I went by Java City to get something to drink to boost our energy levels. All four of us have major tests tomorrow: Kirstin and I have Life Span Development, Christina has Multicultural Education (I think?), and Lance has his History test. So then we all came back and Lance went off to his dorm to study and us girls went off to our dorm to study...except we proceeded to sit in the lobby for at least 45 minutes and talk! It was actually really nice; the three of us haven't had a lot of opportunities just to sit down and chat lately. So I really enjoyed that. Kirstin and Christina are such great friends! (If you don't know them, you really should meet them) Anyways, then I went off to study for psychology, which I have been doing since then. Over three hours worth of studying. The test should not be too bad...I hope...

Couple of pieces of information: first, a prayer request. I usually babysit for a family tomorrow afternoon, but the dad called me tonight to say they wouldn't be needing me. Apparently, the Monday of Spring break, his wife had appendicitis, and they had to do surgery. While they were performing surgery, the doctor cut a major artery and she began bleeding profusely. Anyways, it was a pretty serious thing, and she was in ICU for three days. She has just come home from the hospital recently, and his parents are there staying with them. So they won't need me to babysit. Just thought I'd mention it, one: as a praise that the Lord protected her and kept her alive, and two: as a prayer request that God would continue to protect and heal her.

Secondly, some news about some opportunities that have opened up for Lance. Our choir director, who's also head of the Church Music department here (which Lance is majoring in) has come to Lance with two job opportunities he wanted to know if Lance would like to apply for. One is actually as a music leader for a small, growing church about 1/2 an hour from here; the other is as a music intern at First Baptist, where I go (he just found out about this opening today). These are both awesome opportunities for Lance, to give him experience. I know he's really excited about the possibilities, and I'm very excited with him as well. Just thought I'd mention it and ask for your prayers as God continues to lead Lance and open the right doors.

Well, I'm off to bed so I can get some sleep and let all that wonderful psychology information seep into my memory. So much studying...but, I guess, that's life, as it is. I pray that God will protect each of you and continue to lead each of you in your own lives. He truly is worthy of all our adoration and praise--a God who gave up his Son for our salvation, and a God who is intimately involved in every detail of our lives. He is so faithful. What a privelage it is to pray that he would be glorified in our lives--that we could actually glorify such a Being! May it be so. My love to all of you.

Priorities

Hey everyone! Today is finally over, or at least all my school work is done. Tuesdays are my long days, with class from 8:00 to almost 3:00. But I do have a respite: my Critical Thinking test that I thought I had tomorrow isn't even taking place until two weeks from now! So basically all I have is my psychology test on Thursday. (Well, I have a tennis test on Friday, but I don't know if I count that as a real test) My psychology test will require a lot of studying for, as it covers notes and 6 chapters from the textbook (and each chapter is like 20-30 pages long). I've studied three chapters tonight, though, and my notes, so it's not too bad. Honestly, I have to admit, the chapter on adolescence was almost depressing, as far as everything adolescents deal with or take place in, such as drugs, smoking, sexual activity...it was just sad! I mean, I know that kind of stuff takes place, but I guess I've never been in very direct contact with it. Seriously, it says 4 out of 5 individuals have had sex by the time they're 19. Wow...I just can't even imagine. I think so many teens spend all their energy looking for that "missing thing" in their lives; they don't realize there's One who can meet all their needs beyond their wildest dreams.

Let's see, what else happened today? Well, I got that biology test back, and I did well on that, which is a definite praise. Chapel was neat, with students sharing about mission trips they went on over Spring break. Oh, and I got two e-mails today from my sister! It made me so happy to hear from her and hear how she's doing. I miss her...she's so awesome! And my mom even gave me a quick call earlier before supper. I chatted briefly with one of my best guy friends from high school, Andy, also this afternoon. He might be in Malaysia this summer, too, so we might get to see each other again.

I've been thinking a lot lately about priorities. What is it that I put as most important in my life? And is there a discrepancy between what I say is most important and what I actually spend my time on? I would have to honestly say yes. There is nothing more important to me in this world than my Lord and Savior...yet, do I put more time into studying my textbooks than I do studying his word? Do I spend more time investing in relationships with my friends than relationship with my Creator? Not that the other things aren't important to invest time in, but how do they compare to the time I give to my God? Just some thoughts.

For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame...and that my life will always honor Christ...
-Philippians 1:20

Back to School

Hey everyone! As you may have guessed by the title of this post, I am now back in school. Spring break is over and done with. *Sniff* It's very sad. I did have a lovely Spring break, I just resented having to do so much school work over it. But ah, well, such is life. It really was a wonderful time to spend with my grandparents, and I enjoyed just getting to be with them. They are always so kind. Like Friday morning, my grandmother took me shopping and bought me some new makeup! Isn't she a dear?

I got to spend the last day or two of Spring break with Lance and his family. My granddad drove me to meet Lance on Friday afternoon, and I got to spend Friday evening and Saturday with them (well, and Sunday, too, before we left to drive back to school). Mostly we hung out...we did watch several movies, which was fun. Then Sunday, early evening, we drove back. At first I sort of dreaded being back, because I was already burned out on school work. Taking Friday and Saturday off, however, to do no homework did help. And once I was back, it was actually rather nice. I always love getting to come back to my dorm room (especially when it's so clean because there was no one to mess it up over the break!). And I went up to see Kirstin and Christina after I got in, and it was so great to see those girls! We spent time talking and catching up, and then I came back to my room. I got to talk with my parents briefly as well before I went to bed.

You know that biology make-up test I studied for all week? Well, I got to take it this morning, and that's over and done with. It was the most lovely feeling! And the test really wasn't too hard this time. I walked back to my dorm saying, "Thank you, God...thank you, God..." because I was so happy that I was finished with that. Granted, I think I have two or three more tests this week to start studying for...but that's ok... Oh, and it was fun to be back in choir today. I got to see Melissa again! And I was glad to finally be singing again, since I haven't gotten to be in choir for two weeks (one week while I was sick, the other, of course, being Spring break). Our first big concert is a week from tomorrow! (Dun dun dun...scary music plays)

Oh, and as another note to mention...Daniel is back! Many of you know him or about him, and I've mentioned him on here before. He's Rachel's fiance` and he's back from Iraq! I personally haven't gotten to see him yet, but he's here back on campus. We are all so thankful that he's back and that the Lord kept him safe. I know Rachel must walking on air! I'm so happy for her sake that he's here again...I know all these months have been hard on her.

Well, that's most of my news for now. I'm off to my Critical Thinking class in half an hour, so I'll try to do something productive until then. I hope all of you have a wonderful Monday and then wonderful days to follow!

MSNBC.com--Which beauty products rated best?

This will probably apply more to the women reading my blog, but my grandmother was just showing me today an article that has all the best beauty products, everything from lipstick to mascara, face wash to face moisurizer, and shampoo to fragrances. It has a really good list of products, and I thought it was pretty neat, so I decided to post a link to it for any girls/women who might be interested in checking out the best-rated beauty products. Enjoy, and feel beautiful!

MSNBC.com--Which beauty products rated best?
Results from Health Magazine's 6th Annual Healthy Beauty Awards

Half-way through Spring break

And the week keeps rolling on by...
I've decided that I don't like having work to do over Spring break. My mom says (and she's mostly right) that I picked the best time I could to get the flu, because I have Spring break to recover and to make up my work. I guess she's right, but I think the better advice is not to get sick at all. :-)

I did have a lovely break from homework yesterday when Lance got to come visit. He came over at 2:00, and we got to go see a movie. We went to see the new Disney movie, The Pacifier. It was actually pretty cute! So that was fun, and then we came back to my grandparents' house to hang out for a while. We ate at Schlotzsky's for supper, and then also had some soup my grandmother made that evening. Lance left a little before 7:00 to head back to Ft. Worth, where he was going to get stuff together to go visit his sister and brother-in-law in Hillsboro. I think he and his brother-in-law, Phil, were going to play golf today. Anyways, it was fun to get to be with Lance, and it was a nice break from work.

Today was a rather productive day, in several aspects. My granddad was in a meeting most of the day, so I suppose it was productive for him, too. My grandmom and I went to get my passport renewed so I can go to Malaysia in May. We went by the post office to pick up an application, but we got there right when the passport office was closing for lunch. So I filled out the forms, and we went to get Subway for lunch (I love Subway!!). We went by a CVS pharmacy to get passport pictures done, since we found out they'd be like $15 dollars at the post office. Well, the lady who waited on us was really nice, and because I just needed two pictures for my application, she worked it out to where we got the pictures for free, which was really neat. So then we went back to the post office, went in to see the "passport guy" (I'm not sure what his official title would be), and got everything signed and put together and mailed. And actually, the lady at the desk who mailed it for us was from Singapore! She asked where I was going, and when I told her Malaysia, she asked where in Malaysia. Turns out she's actually been to the city I live in! So we asked where she was from, and she said Singapore; then we got into a discussion about which city has better food. It was pretty neat. Makes me miss Asia...

Well, then Grandmom and I drove a good ways to The Vitamin Shop (or something like that) to get something for my granddad, and then we came back to the house. I did some studying for my biology test before we went to prayer meeting at church. It was really spiffy, because we ran into this couple that I had met on a prayer walk to Indonesia. She's an American woman, and he's Indonesian. They are a really neat couple and have been in the US for about five months; they leave towards the end of this month to go back. Anyways, it was neat to see them unexpectedly since I hadn't seen them since last summer. The prayer meeting went well, and then we came back to the house where I proceeded to study/outline one more chapter for Biology.

So I am FINALLY done with that for tonight, and I can head to bed. Yay! I love sleep...yay for sleep...

May the Lord teach us all to walk as he did, in love, obedience, compassion, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

Workin' all day long

Or at least that's what it feels like I've been doing. Since I missed all of last week in school (due to flu), I'm trying to do all my makeup work this week. So I made myself a lovely list of assignments to get done, and I feel like that's what I've been doing all day. I did get a total of 5 chapters read in various subjects, and I got a couple of assignments finished. I suppose I'm a little over-motivated, because now I feel like doing absolutely nothing, even though I'd decided to study a little bit this evening for a make-up Biology test. Oh well. Maybe I'll at least look over the notes.

May aunt, uncle, and cousins left for Indonesia bright and early this morning. We got to see them at church yesterday and then we also went over last night to have supper with them. I almost envied them that feeling that comes right before a big trip overseas (although I don't envy them all the packing and cleaning that must come beforehand). But I suppose my turn will come in two more months when I finally get to go back for a month or two this summer. And it will be my first international trip to take all by myself! Exciting and scary. Since I've navigated international airports all my life, however, I'm hoping it won't be too bad, even if I'm not with my family this time. Most airports are quite easy to figure out if you know them...but I digress. So yes, aunt, uncle, and cousins left this morning and are off and on their way.

Not too much else to say. My, today seems to have just dragged by. Well, not really, but it has seemed long, since I spent most of it bent over textbooks (which my grandmother would tell me is not good for my posture). I did hear from Lance, and he is coming to visit for a few hours tomorrow. We may go see a movie and hang out. I'm excited to see him, since I've hardly seen him this last week because I was cooped up in my room, again due to flu. (That rhymes. Yes, I know I need a life) So it'll be fun to hang out, and it will give me an excuse not to study all day. I also get a haircut tomorrow morning, which I'm sure will be just plumb exciting as well.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. Hope all of you have a fantastic day! I'll close with something my grandparent's pastor quoted on Sunday:

There are two important days in every person's life: the day they are born, and the day they discover why they were born. -Unknown

Spring Break (and being over the flu)

Hello friends! Phew, finally, I'm well enough to put up a decent blog post! It has been quite a week. I woke up exactly one week ago with a pounding head, sore throat, cough, and a fever of 100.5. I saw a doctor at a walk in clinic who gave me antibiotics, but when I was doing worse, not better, by Monday (my temperature was an average of 102 and had gotten up to 103), I went to see a very kind doctor who goes to our church. He was the one who told me I had the flu and put me on flu medicine. By Tuesday and Wednesday, I was somewhat coherent, had no fever, and was doing a good bit better. My throat had gotten worse, my nose was running, and my cough had gotten worse (all the respiratory stuff that kicks in towards the end of the flu, apparently), but I was a lot better.

From Saturday to Thursday, I was in my room almost 24/7 (usually in bed). I had some very sweet friends who checked in on me, like Kirstin, Christina, Melissa, and a few others. Lance usually called a couple of times a day to check up on me, but I wasn't allowed to see him the whole time I was sick (since his immune system is low because of the medications he's on due to his transplant). Melissa even came by to bring me several of her movies so I could have something to do during my confinement. My friend, Ira, the lovely lady from India, checked in on me a good deal those first several days, even cooking simple meals for me a couple of times. "Aunt" Janie, an old friend I knew when I was little in Indonesia, took me to the doctor on Monday and checked in on me the rest of the week. And, of course, my loving parents called several times a day (when the time differences allowed) to check up on me and also to give me somebody to talk to during my long hours in the my room alone. By Thursday, I was able to venture out to our dorm's lobby; I got to watch a movie with Lance that afternoon (although we couldn't sit very close) and that evening I also came out to visit with Lance, Ira, and some with Christina and Kirstin. (I cannot tell you how good it was to have human contact again!)

Friday was my busiest day, and my most active of the week. I got up, cleaned my room, packed my things for Spring break, and even managed to go to choir (the only class I made it to all week, by the way). Lance and I drove to Ft. Worth that afternoon (and we got to drive most of the way there with Melissa, who was following us), and I got to eat supper with his family that evening. My grandparents happened to be in the Arlington area that evening, so it worked out really well for us to meet them there and for me to go on home with them. Phew! I was tired! That was my first day out of my dorm in a week, and it was the most activity I'd done in a week as well. It was also about the most food I'd eaten in a good while (yeah, I didn't really eat much while I was sick...I lost a good bit of weight).

So now I'm at my grandparents' house, and I got a wonderful 12-hour sleep last night. For lunch, my aunt, uncle, and cousins came over to eat with us; they are leaving shortly for Indonesia for a while, so I was glad to get to see them before they leave. I helped the oldest of my three cousins, who's 12, shop for a shirt this afternoon as well. Other than that, I've been looking over all the make-up work I'll need to do this week for school, but it shouldn't be too bad. My plans this week are mostly to relax, rest, recuperate, and get some work done that I missed while I was out with the flu.

I hope all of you have a wonderful week, whether you're on Spring break or not! I wanted to close with an awesome, inspiring quote I read in a Guideposts magazine:

You have set goals for yourselves. I have heard some of them. But I don't think you have set them high enough. You have talent and intelligence and a chance. I think you should take those goals and expand them. Think of the most you could do with your lives. Make what you do matter. Above all, dream big.
--Catherine Marshall to the contestants of the 1963 America's Junior Miss competition

Influenza

Hey all...sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been really sick over this last weekend and finally found out yesterday that I have the flu. Just wanted to drop in and leave that brief note. I'll probably be out of school for most of this week. This whole flu thing has just really knocked all the energy out of me! Anyways, just wanted to update briefly. May all of you stay healthy and well!