Update on Grandpa

So, can you tell I discovered the Blogger app on my phone? Yippee! Anyways, my grandpa had his cancer surgery yesterday, and is now home, resting, and doing well. Praise Jesus! Now its just a matter of waiting for radiation to start. Please keep him and my family in your prayers. Also, we found out my grandma has to have surgery in January as well, so prayers for her would also be appreciated. Right now we are all just thankful grandpa is home and will spend Christmas with us. God is good.

Relaxation at its finest

This is what I have been doing with my break! :) there is something so wonderful about being able to sit and color and not feel bad about it. I hope you all are enjoying break and relaxing as much as I am! Much love.

1st Semester Sophomore Year- Check!

I'M DONE!!!
I'M HOME!!!!
I'M DONE!!!!!

I'm bored.

Those are the thoughts currently running through my brain. I finally finished up this crazy hectic semester, and boy does it feel good. I made it through one tough week of finals averaging about 4 hours of sleep a day. (That was actually the normal for my whole room this past week) and now I am home cuddled up with my puppy on the couch relaxing for the first time in a long time.


This semester has been amazing, incredibly difficult, encouraging, discouraging, heartbreaking, but wonderful all at the same time. How that is possible I am not exactly sure. Some very hard things happened this semester:

1) My mom was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 
2) My grandpa was diagnosed with cancer
3) My dog died
4) We lost another loved one to cancer
5) Relationships were broken
and more. But through these hard things, there has also been so many good things...

1) My parents and I have developed a closer relationship then ever

2) I developed close relationships with several amaaaazing people on my hall- specifically Lette and Anna
3) I've bonded with my roommates like crazy
4) I've gotten to spend a lot of quality time with my lovely, wonderful Kaity
5) I got to aid in a classroom of 29 amazing little first graders with one amazing cooperating teacher
6) I got to spend a day with Jacob, who makes me so incredibly happy
7) I've found many ways to serve others
8) I think I've grown a lot as a person this semester
9) I've developed relationships with professors that will last all throughout my college experience 

There are so many good things about this semester I could list. Looking back I know these past few months have been incredibly challenging, but also so incredibly rewarding. There were days I didn't know how I was going to keep going, but was constantly reminded through a variety of ways that God is good and He is the rock that pushes me back up when I hit rock bottom. Earlier this week Lette posted a message on her whiteboard that brought both my roommate and I to tears. It said, "Surviving or thriving? Let's glorify God even in the midst of chaos. He's got this." For me, that was the encouragement I needed to get through the rest of the week. I realized that I really was just trying to survive, I wasn't thriving. It was Tuesday night (or very early Wednesday morning) that Lette wrote that message on the white board. And tears streamed down my face as I read the board and then walked up and down our hallway reading the scripture verses that cover our hallway. Our floor theme is a jungle and it is full of "survival tips" or encouraging Bible verses. It was a sweet moment I had with God as I realized He was going to get me through the next days as I finished up finals and had one of the hardest conversations I have had this semester. 


 I am so grateful for this semester and all I have learned, and especially for the relationships I have been able to develop or continue to grow in. I have been blessed with amazing friends.

I am so thankful for all of these people. And I am going to miss them over break, but I am so thankful to be able to be home for the next 3 weeks. I am looking forward to relaxing, spending time with my family, and sleep! And most of all, I am excited to head back to Trinity refreshed, rested, and ready to thrive, not survive. Next semester I am really going to challenge myself to do more, give more, be more, love more, and grow more. I am excited for it and really think that next semester has the potential to be great and I am almost ready to tackle that challenge. 

But first, I'm just going to enjoy being home.  :)

Teacher Aiding

I know I promised this post last night, but things came up. So you are getting it this morning :)

This year I had the opportunity to work in a first glade classroom with 29 little kiddos. Over the past  2 months I have spent 64 hours in the classroom with them, learning side by side them. I can honestly say I have loved every minute of it. There were days I would not want to go because I was having a bad day, and I'd go anyways and end up having a blast with them. I spent countless hours reading to them, working with them one on one, playing games with them, grading their homework, and more. 

Yesterday was my last day, and I was absolutely overwhelmed with the love the kids showed me. I was literally tackled twice, hugged by all individually, some of them even crying. I heard a ton of I love yous, I'll miss yous, and you'll be a great teachers. And the kids each made me a card- and if you know me, you know I love cards.

I was also just extremely touched by my cooperating teacher. She is such a wonderful woman, inside and out. I learned so much from her. I learned how important it is to use positive reinforcement instead of negative. I learned investing time in a kid can change their life. I learned classroom management strategies. I overall just learned a lot about what it means to be a great teacher. Almost every day there were periods of time when it would be just her and I in the classroom and through my talks with her I learned a lot more about myself, and about her. She was an all around just wonderful person, and has told me multiple times now that she is always there for me if I need anything, and to always remember that her door is always open. She wrote me a card as well, and also sent me an email last night that made me cry. 

I am very much going to miss her, and the students. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I've had to do this semester. I think I am definitely going to be one of those teachers that cries at the end of every school year. 

I am so incredibly thankful for the time I got to spend in this classroom. I have learned so much and have grown so much as well.

I can't wait to be a teacher. 

I know I know I know

This semester I have been a blogging mess. I apologize to all of you, including those of you who have been nagging me to write about my life on this thing. :P

But stay tuned. Today is bound to be a day full of joy and sadness, and I promise you all a blog post on it tonight!