New Pictures

So some of these are not really new. I just finally posted them. Some are from last semester and Christmas but some are new.

Lydia! I love that girl. Over christmas break she and I played candyland like three times. She LOVES that game. She also likes to pose for pictures. She is so cute.


Lily. She is so cute. She wouldn't hold still so this is the best I could get.


My bestest friend in the whole wide world. :) Miss Naomi.


Preacher and Mrs. Rowell at Fiesta Ranchera. This was during Thanksgiving break.

This is Catelyn and Carlyn. They are twins. These two girls are on my bus. Sweet girls.

This is Talia Baker. Her sister is two pictures down. They also have a brother named Paul. It's really awesome because these kids have been coming since the route that I am on started 2 years ago. Well, their mom started coming three months ago and has been coming faithfully since. A few weeks ago there dad finally came. He isn't really interested in coming but came. Mrs. Baker doesn't push him because she doesn't want him to tell them they can't go to church anymore.

Damien, Niki, Shalyn and Destiny. This is from when I went home for Christmas break.

This is Mya Baker. She is the oldest. She is seven. Talia is six and Paul is four or five.

This is Destiny sleeping. So sweet.

This picture is from last semester. This is my good friend Tawsha and Rachel. Tawshy is awesome and so is Rachel.

Last semester a few weeks before Christmas break Mrs. Harty had a cookie baking day at her house. Stephanie, a girl named Hilary and I all went and made a TON of cookies. In this picture we were trying to make snowballs which are really messy and sticky.

This is Tawsha and Kyra. Tawsha is putting on the attitude in this picture. :) You'd have to know her to understand.

My good friend Stephanie is letting Laramie help her drive. Laramie is Bro. Jeremy Smith's youngest son. This was taken at the camp. We helped clean one weekend last semester.

Tawsha and her boyfriend Eric at the Christmas Banquet.

Tawsha being goofy. She's awesome.


Me and Tawsha. This is definately last semester because I still had my tan from camp.

My roomates!!! I have the best roomates ever. Sarah and Cheri at the Christmas Banquet.

This is at Stephanie's house. Miss Naomi and I went to her house for the weekend before christmas. It was so much fun. Miss Naomi took this while she was curling her hair.

Chapel

Today in chapel was awesome. It was just what I needed. Bro. P.J preached and he read this as the introduction to the message. I don't know who wrote it, but it's good. I had to share.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I am a soldier in the army of my God. The Lord Jesus is my commanding officer. The Holy Bible is my code of conduct. Faith, prayer and the Word of God are my weapons of warfare. I’ve been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire.

I am a volunteer in this army. I am enlisted for eternity. I will either retire in this army at the rapture or die in this army, but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out or be pushed out.

When my God needs me, I am there. If He needs me in Sunday School to teach children, or to work with youth, or to help adults or to just sit and learn He can use me because I am there. If he needs me in church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, revival or special service, I am there. I am there to preach, to sing, to play, to pray, to work or to worship. God can use me because I am there.

I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, picked up or pepped up. I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name and building His kingdom. No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts. I do not need to be coddled, cradled, cared for or catered to.

I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit. For when Jesus called me into his army I had nothing. If I end up with nothing I will still break even.

I will win for God will supply all my needs. I am more than a conqueror. I will also be triumphant. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot dissolution me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me.

I am a soldier. Even death cannot destroy me. For when my Commander calls me from this battlefield, He will promote me to a Captain and bring me back to rule this world with Him. I am a soldier in the army of God and I am marching, claiming victory.

I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier marching heaven bound.

Here I stand, will you stand with me?

It's a New Semester

School started back up again and I am getting back into the swing of things. School so far is great. I am so happy to be back in class. The classes I have this semester are as follows:
Baptist History 1
General Science
Proverbs 2
English 102
Old Testament Survey 2
Biblical Separation
Philosophy of Music

I pretty much like all of my classes except Biblical Separation, General Science and English.

Since starting school, I have started at a new job. I now work at Ryan's. I keep up the salad bar basically. That consists of many trips back and fourth refilling things, cutting vegetables and making different kinds of salads, some that are really strange I might add. I love it. I really do.
I work at Ryan's now because I got laid off at ACS. I was going to have to get a different job anyways because of transportation problems and lack of hours. Well, I asked for more hours and got them for two weeks. Then they started cancelling second shift. That happened for a week, so I knew something was up. Finally, they just called and told me to pick up my stuff because they were terminating second shift. It's a really long story, but that's the basic parts. Anyways, God provided a job for me. I got like 42 hours this week. So it's nice.

Rewind. So let's rewind to Christmas break. I got to go home for a week. I rode with my good friend Stephanie back to her house on Friday the 21st. Miss Naomi met us at Stephanie's on Saturday morning. Stephanie, Naomi and I spent the weekend there in Ottawa and there round about. I got to meet Stephanie's family and her church family. We did some shopping and watched cheesy hallmark movies. It was great!

Miss Naomi and I headed down to Pekin on Monday. It was nice to be home. I got to spend christmas eve with my mom and my sister. That was so nice. I missed them so much, more than they will ever know. I especially enjoyed spending time with my sister. We sat and talked and she showed me her baby clothes. I mostly just missed being able to see and talk to her face to face. I also got to go to April and Joe's house and spend a day. I saw Chris, Melissa and the kids. I took lots of pictures on my phone. I can't believe how big Destiny is. Plus I got the privelege of spending time with Preacher, Mrs. Rowell and Miss Naomi.

Going home was just what I needed to help me make it until spring break. It was a relaxing and enjoyable time. Oh I forgot to mention, seeing everyone at church was a big blessing too. I miss my church family. Ya know being away at a different, LARGE church makes you appreciate your own church much more.

The following Saturday Miss Naomi took me to Dwight to meet up with the Harty's. Bro. Mike has family there so we met them there and I rode back to the college with them. The Harty's are a couple I met a camp. They are full time at the camp. They also work at the college and the church. Bro. Mike is the cook at the college and the camp. He works on a bus at the church and does various things at the church. Mrs. Harty is the secretary at the camp and at the college. She also teaches a class at the college. Anyways, so I've known the Harty's now for two years. They are and amazing couple. They are always a huge blessing to me. I am really close to Mrs. Harty. She is awesome. So spending time with them on the way back was so much fun.

That pretty much sums it all up. Not much besides going on except going to class, work and sleeping.

Christmas Break!

The fall semester is over!!! Today was the last day and we are on break until January 7th. I made it through finals and school until next semester!

YES!

Anyways I am so excited that it's almost christmas. I am going home for a week!! I CANT WAIT!! I will be heading to Chicago Friday the 21st with Stephanie and Miss Naomi. Stephanie is from Chicago and we are going to meet her family. Then I'll be heading home that Monday morning. I will be traveling back to the college Saturday afternoon with the Hartys.

So now that the semester is over I have been reflecting over things.

College is a lot harder than I thought it would be but not in a bad way so don't think this is going to be a whining session. I have faced different challenges that I haven't faced before. Classes are a lot different than I am used to. The pressure here is different than what I have experienced in the past. It's a good pressure that keeps me driving on and that makes me want to do right and better. Sometimes though I feel like it's a losing battle. Trying to balance school, work and God can be difficult. I struggle with the social aspect of college. Not everyone that goes to bible college is good. College has a way of testing you to see if you are going to stand for right. Somehow it seems harder to stand up for right with friends who are christians than with ones who aren't. Choosing friends is so much harder than it EVER has been. I came from a public school where you could basically tell what kind of a person someone was, to a bible college where people are masters of hypocrisy. They are masters at acting like they got it all together. They read their bible everyday and they win someone to the Lord every saturday. They act like spiritual christians. There are people I have met who are like this in reality but a lot of others just act like it. I had to learn the hard way that not everyone wants to do right.

All the pressure and the challenges are driving me on though. Many times I lose the battle but I am not going to give up now. Especially now. My theme song for this year is I want that Mountain.

So now to the highlights of the semester:

* I got to lead five people to the Lord. The first time was when I got to lead a little girl to Christ.

* I am learning how to go soulwinning.

* I have the most amazing roomates ever!!! Sarah and Cheri!

* I made good friends and am learning to avoid the bad ones.

* The hardest class of all my classes was also my favorite- Old Testament

* I have experienced some big answers to prayer. I saw God provide for me.

* I got more hours at my job so now I will be getting 35 hours a week instead of 20!

* Miss Naomi came to see me.

* God is amazing!

Hey everyone!
It's been awhile I know. Not a whole lot going on. I did get to go home for thanksgiving and surprise a few people. That was so much fun. I needed to go home so much! I got to spend a little bit of time with everyone I could. I rode home with a friend of mine named Stephanie. I met her at camp this summer. When I came to college she moved down here to Lexington about the same time. So I get to see her at church and stuff. Miss Naomi came down to see me in October and when she did, she stayed with Stephanie. They hit it off real well and are friends now. Miss Naomi invited her to her house for thanksgiving and I hitched a ride. It was great!



This is myself, Stephanie and Miss Naomi
This picture is of my roomate Cheri n I. I have another roomate named Sarah who is awesome, but I don't have a picture of her yet.
This is my mom and I and Tess in the background being a dork. :)


My friend Stephanie(and Miss Naomi's) and I


Tess and I were goofing off! :)