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I can hardly believe that my first semester at NBI has already come and gone, and now I'm at home for my Thanksgiving/Christmas break! I am amazed again at how fast time has seemed to have gone by these past 2+ months!! I am also so blessed for this opportunity God has given me to be at NBI this year. He certianly has already taught me much in my time spent there. With all the learning, both in and outside the class setting, I am happy to have a nice long break being at home. It will be good indeed to spend this next month with "old" friends and family just relaxing and enjoying their company!! I love my family dearly and am so blessed to be here with them for the holidays. :)

EXCITEMENT

I can hardly believe that I'll be home in 1 1/2 weeks! And not only that but I'll be home for about a whole month! yes, there will be NBI/SBR people that I'll miss over the break, but I can wait to see my family!!!

Please pray that I'll stay focused on what's in front of me here these last days before I go home instead of focusing on the exciting factor that I'll soon be with my family!

holidays are approaching...

my! my! how times flies by! I can hardly believe that I'll be home for the holidays in less than 3 weeks!!! Being at SBR for 90% of the time these past two months, I am thankful to have not had to be around all the "evilness" of halloween....If you couldn't tell by that comment--I hate halloween. Therefore, it is quite pleasant to me to have most of that gone and to be able to focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Although, I have to say that I'm still disappointed that the stores still tend to jump from halloween straight to Christmas and seem to skip over Thankgiving...for when I was in Wal-Mart this past Sunday there was already a Christmas tree up and decorated with white lights and Christmas music playing overhead. Any other year, I would very much look down upon listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but there is something in the cool crisp WI air that makes me feel like it's the Christmas season already. I'll have to admit that I have already listened to some Josh Groban and Micheal W. Smith Christmas songs....I know...I'm a sinner. ;) anyhoo...as all the holiday festivities approach sooner than I expected, I am quite excited to be home with my dear family and friends!!
love to all!

better days...

For the past week and a half or so I've been quite sick with a heavy cold....thankfully, these past couple of days my health seems to be on the "up side". yay! I soon should be my normal self again! Praise the Lord.

On top of that, I have been feeling quite drained in pretty much every area of my life: physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, socially, ect....I thank the Lord for being my stronghold. I know that it is through Him that I make it through these "valleys" in life. I am continuing to learn that it is Christ in whom I should confide for everything. I have to keep reminding myself that He is the ultimate Comforter.

It's been a long while....time for a major update:

My! How time flies by!!
The last time I posted was back in April, and now it's already October 21st!! craziness....
So much has happened since then, and I am now involved in what I'd like to call an adventure--an experience God has blessed me with that I'm sure I'll never forget. This experience/adventure is that of going to a one year (technically 11 months) Bible school called Nicolet Bible Institute, located on the beautiful campus of Silver Birch Ranch. I am loving it here, yet so much is going on that I barely even have time to stop and think for myself or to even think about how I do miss my family--even though I haven't cried missing them, which is VERY odd for me not to do. I definitely see it as a blessing from God that I have become so content and happy here. Even if I don't always recognize them at times, there seem to always be little joys in my life each day I am here. Of course, there have been difficult and even very difficult times here, but that happens at every stage of our lives. It is at those times that we really are reminded how much we need God. Although I am experiencing this adventure by myself, without family or friends from home, I really am surrounded by God's presence and His love for me. Even though I do not always acknowledge Him, I know He is always with me, and He will bring me through whatever "life throws at me"--be it good or bad.

Please pray for me as I continue this year of growing, learning, and fun.

p.s. I'll try to be better about posting...but I can't make any promises...

two VERY good events!!

On Saturday (29th) I went ice skating with my church youth group, and it was so fun!! We went to two session of it, and went out to eat in between them. Part of the group went to Chili's to eat; I was within that group. The "Monteray Chicken" meal that I ate was delicious!! (...grilled chicken--light on the BBQ sauce, at my request, hehe--layered with bacon strips, melted cheese, and diced tomatoes!! so yummy! plus, steamed mixed veggies and creamy mashed potatoes with white graveyish sauce and some kind of spices on them) It was such a fun trip to get to hang out with friends (and teach some of them how to ice skate) and to get to know new friends better!

The other exciting event occurred on APRIL 1ST--I finally got my LICENSE, and I passed the first time!! yay!! Mom and I went for lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate! yummy! The first place I drove by myself was to "The Dollar Tree" (it was either that or "Rugged Warehouse"), and I bought a couple of scrapbooking items there. :) (aren't you so proud, Lace? hehe)

anyhoo....april 5th, heathe and I are going to some friends' house to play games and hang out. It will be fun, I'm sure. :)

not much

today (actually yesterday considering what time it is now) was mostly spent doing laundry (which I'm getting quite good at I must say...hehe) and watching movies while I did laundry (I finished watching "Maverick" and started and finished "Secondhand Lions"). oh, I also watched a wee bit of "Dancing with the Stars" before I watched "The Bachelor"--so ridiculous--with heather and mom. Something pretty odd happened today: it snowed, not that it stuck or anything, but it snowed off and on. So yeah, that shouldn't been happening when it's supposed to be springtime. oh well.

a major update on life

Hello Everyone,
WOW! I have not posted in a very long time. So, I think I have some "catching up" to do. I'm going to attempt (that's the key word here) to summarize some of the "highlights" (both good and bad) of events that have happened the past few months. Here it goes....(in chronological order since my last post)

September:
-had a good time with lace, just me and her hanging out. :)
-visit Lacey again: for her birthday and to go to a wedding/bridal shower for her

October:
-spent 2-3 weeks in CO with the fam. doing major camping; horseback riding; got lost for a few hours, in the mountains, at night, on horseback; dad and heather hunted (and succeeded); played in a foot of snow or more by doing lots of sledding, snowball fights, snow angels, and even got to learn to ride/drive a snowmobile for the first time (it was a blast!).
-Lacey and John came for a weekend visit.

November:
-went to homeschool bon fire/cook out
-go to another wedding/bridal shower for Lace
-game night at our friends's house
-wedding/bridal shower for Lace at our house: beach themed--it was cute. :)
-Amanda home from Mongo. :)
-hayride/bon fire at our place for family of lace and john....there was an accident involved, that in turn brought people closer together. It reminded us all of how in control God is and how He is the protector of all things.
-wedding rehersal and reheral dinner...both went well
>>Lacey and John's BEAUTIFUL wedding, in which I was a bridesmaid. :)
-Thanksgiving Day--delicious meal
-saw the Opryland Hotel Christmas lights display
-Amanda had to go back to Mongo. :(

December:
-"The Princess Bride" homeschool movie night and trivia game
-Grace (our church) family "country" Christmas at our neighbors's place
-Steve Green Christmas concert with beautiful ochestra
-ice skating outside on Christmas Eve
-Christmas Day
(Lacey and John were home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! yay!)
-our pastor and his family came over for supper and fellowship
-saw "National Treasure 2:Book of Secrets" in theatre with friends
-silly video making with friends at Ameliah's
-spent the night at a friend's house to "bring in the New Year"

January:
-played volleyball with friends
-game night at a friend's house
-Whitney's birthday
-went to a friend's birthday party: movie trivia
-homeschool contra dance

February:
-went to Lonestar Rodeo--yeehaw! :)
-went bowling with a friend for their bday
-Valentine's Day--went to homeschool skate party
-Lacey and John visited for a weekend....as a surprise!
-homeschool ski trip: me and several other people learned to snowboard for the first time! I (and others) fell down a LOT, but it was fun to learn, and I might even do it again some time.

March:
-went shopping with a friend
-our old, faithful, family horse (Spy) died :( That was certianly hard on all of us: lots of tears were shed that weekend.
-went formal dress shopping with a group of friends and three moms for a day
-went to a surprise 18th bday party for a friend at church

----Today:
-Easter Sunday: went to church, ate a delicious turkey dinner/lunch, had an egg hunt outside, went to the visitation for three people (parents and daughter) that we knew who died in a car accident earlier this week. *******please pray for their son and their relatives as they're mourning this great loss******** when we got home from that, we decorated 19 hard boiled eggs, which I think that's the first time I've ever decorated Easter eggs.

amongst all that, I've been babysitting lots and working for my dad a bit.
anyhoo....that should bring you up-to-date on stuff in my life.