This morning we were suppose to have our dorm competition called Rymer Cup. It’s when all the halls in Maclellen dorm pair up with their brother/sister halls for a big field day filled with crazy relay races. As excited as my roommates and I were about going to competition we were all a bit relieved when we woke up to the pitter patter of rain. Most mornings we would have probably complained at the fact we would have yet another day of rain, this morning we invited the rain. You see, we had stayed up way too late talking about life the night before and the thought of pulling ourselves out of bed presented a challenge far bigger then we could tackle on a Saturday morning. We enjoyed a few more minutes of slumber before phones started going off with text messages and people calling telling us to hurry and get ready because the games were on! So we painfully pulled ourselves out of bed and rushed to throw some cloths on and run down to meet everyone. When we got downstairs we were informed that because of lightening the games were in fact canceled. After all that though we couldn’t just go back to bed now, so we decided to go with our brother hall to play out in the rain.

We went out to the intramural field and played freeze tag, capture the flag, and had puddle sliding contests. It was hilarious, it was so hard to play running games because as soon as you would try and stop yourself you would slip and slid all over the grass. After we were drenched, cold, and bruised and battered we decided to go and grab something to eat and something hot to drink. In case I haven’t said it before, I just love our brother hall!

After a fun morning in the rain us girls sat and had girl talk and then curled up to watch an afternoon movie. Boy, I love days like today. I am now sitting at the Starbucks on the mountain. I’m am determined not to let the gloomy rain get to me. This year my theme has been, “Embrace it…embrace life, embrace those crazy red shoes, embrace the rain.” So that is what I’m doing, I’m embracing those raindrops as they drop on my nose and toes.

Coming back to Covenant for the last time I am filled with so many mixed feelings. I am so excited about what this year has in store, and yet so sad for it to start because I know that means it has to come to an end. I picked up my good friend and roommate Katja from the airport on my way up to school and after a big long hug I said, “This will be the last time we will see each other for the first time after the summer break.” Oh how I love those long awaited and much anticipated greetings. They have been known to be very big occasions. They often include running and screaming, and always include long embraces. I fear this year will be filled with a lot of those last moments.

In hopes to keep my mind off of the last moments and on the time I have at Covenant I am determined to pour myself full heartedly into my classes, my relationships, and the school. I want to leave Covenant not wishing that I had spent more time on my SIP (Senior Integration Paper) or more time with the girls on my hall. So I have now been here several days and my heart is completely and totally in love with everything I’m doing. The new freshmen on my hall, Chi Alpha, are absolutely amazing. Us upper classmen have all loved getting to know them. This year I am living with six other girls in a large suite. I don’t know how we did it but some how we squeezed all of our things into the rooms and still managed to have room for a living room area. So now our living room area has become the halls official hang out space. I Love It! Whether it’s studying or talking we have a great time just being together.

I feel like God specifically placed me on Chi Alpha this year. After a crazy series of events that caused my roommates and I not to be able to live off campus or in campus apartments we decided to settle back here on Chi Alpha. I have already been so blessed by the girls on my hall. The love, encouragement, and accountability is absolutely amazing. After spending a long summer in a rough working environment the community here at Covenant is so nice. I find myself yearning for the community I have found up here on the mountain when I’m home for the summers.

Well anyways guys, here we are another year. I’m excited to walk through it with you guys!

I hate being sick when I’m up at school, especially with something like a cold. And I’m a big baby when it comes to colds. But having a cold isn’t enough of an excuse to miss classes or to stay in bed all day, so your just miserable and have very little pity. Last night I had some girls who were visiting Covenant stay with me. So when they got here I was going to take some cold medicine to hold me over until we went to bed, but I accidentally took the wrong medicine. Instead of taking just plain cold medicine, I took the night time stuff. I struggled to stay awake while we watched a movie and then after wards we played the game Catch Phrase. Oh boy, was that ever eventful. I was trying so hard to concentrate, but the words that were coming out of my mouth just weren’t making sense. I made a fool of myself. But the girls were good sports and my friends found it really funny. Hopefully today though I will be able to have a restful day and get this cold behind me.

Guys, tonight I went to my very first Opera ever! I felt like I was in Paris. My girls and I got all dressed us (that seems to be a must for our girls night outs.) Anyways, we got all dressed up and joined a large group of Covenant students at the opera down at the Tivoli. I think I’ve talked about the Tivoli in one of my previous blogs, but I had never been inside until now. The Tivoli holds many events: concerts, comedy shows, ballets, plays, and operas. It’s right in the middle of down town and the sign has these bright flashing lights all around it, just like those old theater houses. The inside was more then I had ever expected.

It was just like a real opera house. Have you ever seen the movie Anastasia? You know the very end of the movie when they go to the Russian Ballet, that’s what this place reminded me of. When you walked in there was this large U-shaped staircase. I just stood there and watched as you saw all the ladies in their beautiful dresses walking up it on the arm of their date. The Tivoli was three stories high and we were on the very top. The stage area had beautiful architecture and was trimmed with gold and torquoise. On the sides was special seating, just like in the movie Phantom of the Opera. You know how they always had to save that special seating for the Phantom. Well, I suppose that’s not that important but I thought it was kind of cool.

La Boheme was a beautiful story. I was surprised at how many times the play made me laugh, being a tragic love story. My goodness, if only life was like this opera. Full of so much passion. What really made the play though was the music. The orchestra playing was absolutely amazing and the voices of the actors and actresses were superb. I have no idea how they can sing so beautifully for so long. The play was sung in Spanish and above the stage area was a screen translating it into English.

It was truly and unbelievable night. I’m looking forward to going to the Tivoli again soon! And you guys should definitely go if you end up at Covenant!

So I know that you guys have heard me talk about my room mates Katja and Katie. They have been such a huge part of my life since I’ve been here at Covenant. They came into my life year when I moved in with them and two other girls. If you go back to some of my posts from freshman year you will find all of our adventures we went on. From birthday celebrations to camping out. I remember at the end of our freshman year all five of us girls crying as we said goodbye for summer break. We knew it just would never be the same. And it hasn’t been. Last year two of us five girls left Covenant, one got married this summer, and we have all changed in so many different ways. However, we still share a bond from our freshman year that has yet to have been erased. Katja, Katie and I now live in the exact room that we lived in our freshman year. A room that holds so many memories, and is constantly being filled with new memories. Our visits with the two room mates that left freshman year are very few, but oh so special.

This weekend Katja, Katie, and I took a road trip to see Jackie one of the old room mates. We missed out on Covenant’s 80’s skate night, which you should check out some of the other Covenant student blogs and see if they wrote anything on it because I heard it was awesome! So anyways, we left right after classes on Friday night and traveled to Alabama. It’s funny because no matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other we always get to pick up right where we left off. We went out to dinner and then went back to Jackie’s house to hang out. It wasn’t long before we had the chocolate out and we were having girl talk. We ended the night cuddled up watching a chick flick. The next day we spent outside. It was such an amazingly beautiful day!! We went out on a boat on the pond in front of Jackie’s house and we went to an outdoor shopping center and walked around. We stayed there until after dinner and then headed back to campus. It was so much fun! Man I miss those freshman days!

Tonight I went to a sushi night. I know I know not the traditional thing to do on New Year’s Eve, but it was so good. A friend of mine who goes to a local college new some foreign exchange students from Japan and wanted them to have something fun to do on the holiday so she threw a sushi night. We got all the fixin’s for sushi: rice, crab, shrimp, cucumber, avocado, tuna fish and mayo (recommended by the Japanese group as being really good), and cream cheese (which I had never even heard of putting on your sushi before. I’m glad that Haruka, one of the Japanese girls, was there to help us with the sushi. I think it would have ended up being a mess! But because of Haruka it was a success!!! We ate so much and had so much left over! After our big meal we played lots of games and just sat around and talked. We just laughed at ourselves when it hit eleven and we were all pooped. But I was determined to stay and see the ball drop. We drank tea and hot chocolate and pitied the people from New York we saw on the television outside in the seven degree weather. Finally, after counting down and seeing the ball drop I made some sushi to go and headed home. It was such a sweet night of fellowship with old friends and new friends too! Well Happy New Year’s everyone!

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!

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!

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!

Oh my goodness, being with family never disappoints me. It is always very needed, and it always satisfies. Sure the driving part of the trip was a little crazy but totally worth it. My family drove three cars up to Minnesota. In one car was my parents and my dog, in the second were all the sisters and my little neice, and in the third car was all my brother-in-laws and my little nephew. My sisters and I got lots of girl talk and laughed a lot. Seeing my grandmother was so good as well. What a fighter! My grandmother is 95 now and still kicks my butt at any card game and cracks jokes about it the whole time she does it. The time in Minnesota sadly went by so fast! There seemed to be just enough time to have a few bites of Thanksgiving turkey, play a game of cards, and come home. I wish I could have stayed longer…but never the less exactly 48 hours after getting to Minnesota I was headed home. When we got back home I had one night before heading back up to school. It was probably the most relaxing night of the whole trip. My sister Alyssa and her husband came and stayed at my parents house with me. I wanted to stay there because my mom had surprised me and had it all decorated for Christmas before we left for our trip to Minnesota. She knows how much I love our house when it’s all decorated! So anyways, my sister, brother-in-law, and me grabbed a pizza, some movies, and headed home. We hung out and talked all night. Oh, it was so nice! Sadly the night went just as quick as the rest of the break and before I knew it I was back in the car headed to school. What a whirlwind! Now I’m back at school and need to finish two papers before the end of the week and then I’m home free! After that I just have to make it through finals and I will be back home before I know it! I hope ya’ll had wonderful Thanksgivings!