My little nephew wearing the hoodie I got him for Christmas. My brother-in-law who went to Covenant and I are starting early to recruit him. :)

Christmas is over…and what a wonderful Christmas it was! Filled with family, traditions, and rest. It’s funny how you look forward and prepare for a day for weeks and then before you know it it’s over. :( It just goes by too fast. I know Christmas is over because today in Little Rock the weather is in the 70’s. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the fact that Christmas is over but today has been a day filled with so many thoughts, ideas, and memories. My heart feels heavy. There are only a few days when all my hearts toils and confusions come to surface and today is one of those days. Which is good on one hand because it helps me face some of the things I have kept hidden for so long, but at the same time it is so overwhelming I often don’t know where to start.
Processing is a word of much importance in my life. It is so easy to get so busy and feel the pressure to always have a reaction that you don’t leave room to process the situation. This is so important though. Without processing, everything you do will be a reaction not a response. I know that I HAVE to have my processing time. Many times my response to people is that I’m processing and that I will get back to them. So, I suppose I am learning that days like today, are the days when I need to face what I am dealing with and process it all. Good and bad, happy and sad, confusing and frustrating, all of it. Wrestling is good I suppose, it helps me work through it all.
Anyways, sorry for the tangent. I’m sure I will tell you guys more about things I’m learning when I finish processing though it all. :) I’m off to babysit my niece and nephew. Yay! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I will talk to you soon!

My family’s Christmas traditions…

-We always celebrate on Christmas Eve after the Christmas Eve service at my church.

-We have this manger that my dad made and all throughout the holiday season we take time to sit down and go around saying what we’re thankful for. Then on Christmas morning us girls would run up to see if baby Jesus was in the manger…we never had stockings or believed in Santa.

-We have a cookie jar filled with papers having us do activities. Like playing telephone, singing Silent Night, drawing a picture with our eyes closed, etc. Just like the manger we will open the jar several times throughout the holiday season

-We have this cloth Christmas tree my mom made that hangs on the wall. Then us girls, when we were really young, made these little doilies telling the Christmas story. On one there’s an angel made out of sprinkles, on another is a lamb made out of cotton balls. Then on Christmas eve we each get a doily and read the part the Christmas story that goes with it.

-Christmas morning we have a birthday party for Jesus using pancakes.

-The rest of Christmas day we sit around eating yummy snacks we’ve made and watching home videos and other movies.

This year Christmas is going to be very different though. There hasn’t really been a Christmas season for me and this is the first year for it to just be my mom and dad and I at home for Christmas day. We’ll have our family dinner on Christmas Eve, but we invited several families to have dinner with us so we won’t be opening our presents together or anything. My sisters are starting their new traditions with their families and my parents are starting new one’s as well for this next season in life. My mom has been very sweet though trying to make sure I have as regular a Christmas as she can give me. I know that if it was just her and dad she wouldn’t still decorate the house like she did and she wouldn’t worry so much about doing our old traditions. Even though this Christmas may be different, I still just love this holiday. Goodness it affects so many people…what other holiday brings families from all over together, is defined by the spirit of giving, has it’s own music and decor to it, and it so widely celebrated!

I hope you guys have a great Christmas day. Take plenty of time to just enjoy the day! I’m not sure if I’ll talk to you before then so just in case…Merry Christmas!

So I’m home sweet home. Boy I think the saying, “Distance makes the heart grow fonder,” only becomes more and more tree for me. Well the first thing I did being back home is I went to a party my sister Nicole was throwing for Jesus. She invited some of my nephew Winston’s close friends and they made crafts, decorated cookies, and sung Happy Birthday to Jesus. So cute!! And the exciting is, is that this is the first break that Winston remembered me when I came back. I walked into the room and he grabbed my hand saying, Sisi Sisi…oh it makes me so happy. It is a joke in my family that Nicole will always win the award of being the best mom. She is so cute with her kids. At the end of the party she read them a story of Jesus’ birth and then each child had a present under the tree. They each got their own nativity set. Let’s just say she definitely inspires me. :) Anyways, the party was a great way to start off my break. I spent the rest of the day rushing to do my Christmas shopping because I haven’t even started. Advice: being a college student often allows Christmas to sneak up on you. Your just not focused on Christmas up at school, your worried about finishing classes, studying for finals, and getting home. But then you get home and realize Christmas is in less then a week and you haven’t done any Christmas shopping! Ahhh!
Oh my goodness guys have I told you how much I’m looking forward to this break, I have plans to do very little over the break. I don’t remember the last time when I wasn’t working and actually in Little Rock. I need this break so bad, I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends and being with family. Ok guys, I’m off to finish my Christmas shopping. I’ll talk to ya’ll later!

Yay! After two hectic days of studying and taking tests…I am officially over the hump of my college experience. Only three more semesters to go! Golly, I can’t explain the relief that you have after you turn in your last final of the week. It is like a humongous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now it’s all about packing and getting home…I’m going home! I can’t wait! Hmmmm….things that i’m looking forward to about being home….

seeing my house decorated, seeing twinkle lights, making a fire, my mom’s cookin’, seeing my sisters, sleeping in my old bed, no homework, baking christmas goodies, seeing my niece and nephew, tea time with my mom, doing absolutely nothing, seeing the kids I nanny for, watching christmas movies, listening to all the christmas music I want, seeing friends, getting to drive, having snow when I get there, going to my church back at home,going christmas shopping, wrapping presents, smelling my christmas tree in my house, family dinners, sleeping…

I could go on but I’ll stop there. I’m traveling tomorrow, but I will talk to you guys sometime this weekend. Hope you guys are getting through your finals alright.

So tonight, I snuck out of my hole in the library to go the the Exam Cram. Pretty much it’s where the faculty comes out and feeds the students breakfast at 10:00 at night. They had some really good food though. They had biscuits and gravy, sausages, bacon, bagels, and lots more. So many people were there getting sustenance for the long night they had ahead of them and procrastinating as long as possible from doing their inevitable studying. The Exam Cram is suppose to help us get through exams…but in all honestly I don’t know if I’m going to make it. :( I have four tests and have only looked at two of them. Let’s just say that the next couple of nights will be filled with the library, large pots of coffee, and lots and lots of books. I just keep telling myself three more days, three more days! Alright guys I have to run and finish studying my life away, wish me luck!

Yesterday was CLEANING DAY! Once a semester all the halls and rooms are required to deep clean their rooms. Which is probably a very smart thing, especially for some of the guys halls. My room-mates and I started working on our room Friday night cleaning out closets and dressers and then finished Saturday morning. So now I am happy to say I am living in a very clean space. Wouldn’t my mom be so proud of me. Cleaning day was much needed and now this next week with all the stress of finals I won’t have to get as stressed by my messy room.


Finals are creeping up fast and my days are busy studying for my four finals. I’m actually pretty happy with my exam schedule. I have two tests on Tuesday and two tests on Wednesday. Some of my friends have three tests in one day, or have tests on the very last day of school. I think I will definately be able to handle my tests. I just have to stay focused for four more days!
Oh my goodness guys, this last week of two of school before Christmas break is always my least favorite. Everyone is needing a break so bad and finals just adds to the tension and stress. I feel like I’m on edge about everything. I daily have to ask for God to give me mercy and grace when I’m like this. Anyways break will come soon enough and then I will have weeks to unwind and prepare for the next semester. Alright back to studying I suppose…talk to ya’ll later

So yesterday I realized something very cool. There are like a billion blogs made by Covenant students. Okay maybe not a billion, but a lot. I was shocked! But I thought you might enjoy exploring a few of them. My blog talks mostly about events here at Covenant and things about college in general-these do a great job of giving you a glimpse of some of the people here at Covenant and many of them have great thoughts they share. Anyways, I hope you guys are able to get a bigger picture of Covenant through them.

Olivia Perry
Caleb Mask
Colby Wilkins: blog about studying abroad at Oxford
Peri Abeln
James Harrison
Jessica Felty
Bethany Mollenkof: Junior at Covenant
Sienna Howard

Also don’t forget to check out the other Covenant Student blogs by Jessica Chen and Philip Codington. I’ll talk to you guys again soon!

Today was the last day of classes…Yay! Then before we started worrying about finals we had a night of fun. Tonight was Mistletoe Mingle, a Christmas dance Covenant hosts every year. It is one of my favorite Covenant events. It’s in an old barn and they decorate it with lights, Christmas trees, and mistletoe. There’s lots of yummy food…but the best part is the dancing. The first hour they play Christmas music and then they play other type of music. I’m shocked at how fun everyone has just making fools of themselves. There’s dance trains going through the crowds, dance offs, and even people swing dancing or ballroom dancing to the music. Everyone just enjoyed being around each other celebrating the end of another semester at Covenant! Guys, I know that I’ve said this before…but I just love Covenant! Nights, like tonight just makes me feel like we are all the best of friends enjoying life together. But now the celebration is over and the next 4 days are going to be cramming for finals. YUK! I think I can make it though…one more week and then I’m headed home for Christmas!

Tonight we had MAC prayer and praise. Have I told you what that is? I can never remember. But just in case…every dorm holds a prayer and praise once every month. It is a time the dorm comes together for worship. We sing songs, scripture is read, and sometimes testimonies are shared. So anyways, tonight’s prayer and praise was on Advent. Our Resident Director was giving an introduction to the evening and explained Advent as being a time of waiting…not only waiting for Christ’s birth but also waiting for Christ’s second coming. It was emphasized that Christ’s birth is not the end…it can’t be the end. He is coming again! The night ended with this verse, which has been on my mind ever since. Revelations 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

What an amazing thing to look forward to! I am so convicted! I very rarely live waiting for this day to come. I often believe the lie that the life I’m living is it. The things that seem so big in my life are so silly though, if I am truly waiting for Christ to come again. How different my life would be, my decisions would be, my thoughts would be if I truly was looking for Christ. What a relief though that this life of mine is not it. The pain that can feel as though it will never go away, will finally fade. The tears that stain my face will be wiped away by God himself! Death that hurts possibly more than anything, will finally be no more! Oh how I yearn for this day! Praise be to God, He is coming again!

This gives me a whole new perspective for this holiday season. It is not only a reminder of Christ coming to earth to save us from our sins, but it is also a reminder to be watching for his second coming.