Finals Week...and Break Thus Far.

Holy cow! It's time to play a round of catch up!

It was brought to my attention the other day that it had been weeks since I wrote my last blog post. So now I am actually sitting down to take the time to write about what's been going on in my life as of late...I promise- you haven't missed anything exciting.

Finals week proved to be challenging- it wasn't so much that my finals themselves were challenging, but more that the week held many little battles to fight and mountains to climb that I wasn't quite expecting. Some of these included a general lack of sleep, being stressed due to the state of our room- it was a DISASTER, having to deal with multiple exploding diapers- and when I mean exploding, I mean literally ALL. OVER, having to figure out how to navigate finals week without my laptop, and just trying to manage every day life. It honestly wasn't that bad, but there were moments during the week that I just wanted to be home and away from Trinity. But there were also moments I wouldn't trade for the world- like being able to go ice skating with the Roseland kiddos.

Love this little one.

Kaitlin!

These sweet girls have taught me so much about true joy, love, patience, and perseverance. Their stories are incredible, and I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to pour into them. 

But then come Friday all of that stress simply vanished. I was finally able to say that I had conquered the semester and to celebrate I spent the day just relaxing...I went and got coffee with my dear Ashley and caught up on her life and caught her up on mine, I did some last minute Christmas shopping, and then spent the rest of the day with Chase while Kara caught up on some grad school work and checked out students.

Friday night I was literally one of the ONLY people in Tibstra Hall and so I spent the night watching Gilmore Girls, cleaning, wrapping presents, and thoroughly enjoying alone time. It was actually really good for me to be able to just spend time thinking, praying, and reflecting on the semester.

Saturday I kept Chase for the morning/early afternoon, meaning from 7am-2pm. It was really great to be able to spend that time with him while his mama was away. We also took some Christmas pictures.....

He knows when I say, "CHASE, SMILE BIG!" that he is supposed to look at me and smile. It's pretty adorable.

So. Sassy.

Pretty stinkin adorable he is.

Also on Saturday, LETTE CAME HOME!!! Words cannot possibly express the pure joy that filled my heart when I walked up the stairs to see her standing in Molly's room. I am entirely convinced that if I hadn't been holding Chase I would have been a bawling mess. It was so great to see her, to hug her, to be with her, and to hear her laugh. It almost felt like she had never left as we were all sitting on the floor together, talking, swapping stories, drinking tea and eating good food. It was wonderful.

But as amazing as it was to spend the day with Chase and to welcome Lette back, Saturday was also a day full of sadness.

I had to say goodbye to Roch.

I could have never been prepared for this, even though I knew it was coming. Rochelle has the incredible opportunity to study abroad next semester in Kenya. And though my heart is so excited for her to have that chance to impact the lives of the people in Kenya, my heart also is so deeply saddened by her leaving. I have never been at Trinity without Roch. Since freshman year she has been by my side, leading me, guiding me, caring for me, pouring into me, praying for me, tackling me, and challenging me to be a woman of God. Rochelle has had a HUGE impact on who I am today. I cannot imagine Trinity without her. Words cannot express how much I am going to miss her and the beautiful woman of God that she is.

After all of this, I was finally able to GO HOME.

Home is good. Really good.

Week one of break has truly been wonderful. Saturday night we hung out as a family, watched a movie, and just enjoyed being together. Molly was also with us, which just added to the fun.

Molly has now been with my family for periods of time over both Thanksgiving and Christmas break and through these visits I have definitely been able to get to know her more and the more I get to know her the more I am blessed by the beautiful woman of God that she is. It is so clear that she loves the Lord and that she cares deeply for my brother and even for my family. And she really is one of us. She fits in so well with my family, with how we work, and it really feels like she has been around forever. I think that's part of the reason I have been able to open up with her some these past few weeks. Her sweetness, gentleness, and joy are such a blessing to me and I am thankful for the friend/sister I have found in her. I hope that in these next weeks our friendship continues to grow.

Other highlights of break thus far...

• ELIM!!! On Wednesday I had the opportunity to go up to Elim for the whole day. It was SO good to be able to be there, with my kids and with Mrs. Ashley. My heart was filled with a joy I can't even explain the moment I walked into the building. I belong there. I just do. 

• EM! It has been so good to be back with my dear Emily. I have missed her so much this semester and it has been wonderful to be able to talk with her, catch up with her, laugh with her, and just be with her. Em and I are to the point where we can really do anything and have fun. I am so blessed to have her as my best friend.
• Hangout with Em, Nikki, Molly, and Caroline....On Thursday night all of these beautiful girls were at my house. I cannot even explain what a joy it was to have them all here. We had so much fun just talking, laughing, and being together. I've missed that. 

• Hanging out with Jacob! Oh how I have missed him! This week I was able to spend the afternoon with him, which hasn't happened since I left for college. It was great to be able to spend time with him doing crafts and laughing together.

• Babysitting Jack and Ava! This was also really the first time I got to spend solid time with these two crazies since I left back in August. It was sooooo fun to be there with them! Molly also came with me for the morning part, which was really fun. The kids loved her. 

And for now, I think that's a wrap! I have another post in mind, but you all are going to have to wait till tomorrow for that one.

Lucky me..

Today, I realized how lucky I was.

I went to drop off Em's birthday gift today, and also to say goodbye as we are both leaving to go back to college shortly. I gave her the gift, caught her up on the most recent events of my life since I saw her yesterday, hugged her goodbye, and then pulled out of the driveway. It was then I was hit with a feeling I'm often hit with when I spend sweet time with my best friend.

I am so lucky.

I am so, so lucky to have Emily as my best friend. She is my other half and she brings so much joy and laughter into my life. She has always been there for me- through the good times and the bad- and has never once given up on me. She's there for me to call whenever I need her, she's there to laugh with me about silly things, she's there to talk seriously if I need to talk, she's there to tease me about a crush, she's there knowing when something is wrong even if no one else does. She's my best friend. I wish everyone had a friend like her, because I bet their lives would be seriously changed if they did. Em is one of the greatest, most loyal, beautiful inside and out people I have ever met and I am so lucky and thankful to call her my best friend. 

So thanks Em. :) I love you.

Florida

Well friends, I've been spending the last 48 hours in Orlando, Florida. My best friend, Emily, turned 21 today so to celebrate her birthday her mom sent the two of us and two of Em's cousins to Orlando for 3 days. 

It's been really fun thus far! I got here Wednesday and surprised Em, who had no idea I was coming! That was exciting. (Oh, did I mentioned I flew by myself for the first time, got stopped in the airport and had to have a test done on my bag because obviously I'm a drug addict or something, and then got lost in the Orlando airport? Yeah. I don't like airports, or flying for that matter. But I'm here, so it was worth it). After that we just bummed around the hotel, watched NCIS, Pitch Perfect(if you haven't seen it you need too), went on an adventure to CVS, then came back to the hotel and ordered Pizza. It was just a nice relaxing night.  

Then yesterday we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Holy hippo, it was so cool! The highlight for me was obviously Harry Potter World. I flipped out. We walked around Hogsmeade, and then got to go inside Hogwarts. Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of Hogwarts, but the outside was amazing. 

Olivanders Wand Shop

Hogwarts!!!!!!

Owl Post

Hogsmeade

Honeydukes

3 Broomsticks

Hogwarts!!!!

Hogwarts!!

I was kind of flipping out the whole time. I could have easily spent an entire day there! Or a few days. There was so much to see and look at, and so many little shops to go in. We didn't brave the lines to get butterbeer, but we did brave the line for the Harry Potter ride, which I did in fact go on. 

There's a video of the ride- turn off the lights and watch it! It was almost too much for me, and the video doesn't show quite how intense it was, but it was amazing!

After we hit that ride, we made a run to get to the bus on time and then just came back to the hotel and chilled. Today we don't know what we're doing...which is funny since it's already 1:15 here and all we've done is figure out flight information for tomorrow. Today is Em's actual birthday so I'm sure we'll end up doing something fun. 

Do you ever have those days or weeks where you realize just how much someone means to you? Whether it's a significant other, family member, or just a close friend? Do you have those moments where you just suddenly stop and think about how lucky you are to have such a person in your life? 

I'm having one of those weeks this week. Maybe because my two best friends are going to college next week. Maybe because I've just love spending time with them this past week. I don't know what's caused it exactly, all I know is it's been one of those weeks that I've realized how truly blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life.

But today in particular I've been extremely thankful for this girl:

For those of you who don't know her, this is Emily Koontz. If you don't know her, you've surely heard me talk about her.

Emily has been in my life basically since I can really remember well. We've known each other for some 5 or 6 years (we figured this out recently)  and I certainly cannot picture my life without her now.

Emily is seriously one of the most amazing girls I know. She's kind, funny, loyal, crazy, energetic, loving, and about a million other things. 

She has been a constant encouragement to me since we became friends. Never has there been a time where she's not been the best friend she could have been. She's always been there for me. She's always there to make me smile, laugh, talk, eat, or be serious when I need to be. I told someone recently Emily is kind of like part of my foundation- she helps me keep standing strong when I'm ready to fall down. 

She's also basically one of the cutest things ever, I mean, just look at her! :)

This week I've read alot through old diaries and stuff and looked through tons of old pictures, and I've realized just how special Emily is to me. Not that I haven't realized it before, because I have. Sometimes these things just hit you. From doing the plays together, to talking about boys..(well, she's listened while I've talked about my current crush and she's dealt with my crappy boyfriend choices in the past... I deserve a slap for that one), to swimming, camping, soccer (I've watched she's played) we've supported eachother and our friendship is just one of those I feel so blessed to have. 

God has seriously given me one of the best friends in the world. Emily is an amazing woman of God who encourages me in my walk with Him and in my life in general. I only hope I can be as a good of a friend to her as she's been to me...She's set the standard pretty freaking high! 

I am so blessed. Period. End of story.