Sarah, an old friend I've reblogged from before, posted this today. Food for thought. How do you tell the difference between a growth spurt and a time of discouragement and struggle?
Today I woke up to a friend's text message canceling early morning coffee, and thanked God for an extra hour to sleep. Today I gulped a cup of black coffee and then sipped a cup of black tea, and chose to linger long over the Bread of Life, the Word of God, savoring every ounce of life it would give me... read more
I love a good proposal story, who doesn’t?! Today, I’m sharing two super creative proposals. The first is the proposal of Mikaela and Shane. Their first date was at a Starbucks, so Shane decided to build a Starbucks in the woods - seriously! Wait until you see it! :) Shane told Mikaela (who is a photographer) that they were going on a photo field trip to this great place he discovered, well he led her to a clearing in the woods and had Mikaela close her eyes. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw this…
From Mikaela, “The moment I was allowed to open my eyes is a moment that will be burned into my memory forever. It was the most peculiar feeling to see something so unexpected, so creatively carried out, something that took weeks and hours to plan, for me. For this moment. For us. Surreal.
Starbucks in the woods. Our Starbucks, our first date in those two comfy chairs, with our same two drinks – a passion tea lemonade and a green tea lemonade, and that fruit bar Shane had as well. A homemade candle in a Starbucks sample cup flickered, the prettiest bouquet of pink peonies, and music playing in the background. We sat, me in stunned silence and broken sentences. Knowing what would most likely come next, but not daring to think it, at the same time. Derrick ran by in the corner of my eye, leaving behind a video camera, while I caught someone taking photos in the bushes! Another video camera on a table! Crap, why didn’t I wear my contacts tonight, why the glasses? And off they came :) Then Shane pulled out a ring box and said those words and it happened.
‘Ever since our first date I knew you were the one… I fall more and more in love with you each day… Mikaela Ruth, will you marry me?’
He says there was a pause before I said yes! Of course! And then I dropped to the ground to be close to him and to hug him and he slipped the ring on to my finger.”
Check out all the details Shane put into the proposal…Love the wifey instead of Wi-Fi :) And the free download cards!
Any aspect that could possibly be personalized, he was on it…
They went to a Jack Johnson concert last Fall and notice the ‘Congratulations’ card? Details, details!
Close friends and family began to trickle in and Shane snuck away to change into a Starbucks barista uniform – and it was a party! How special that they were able to celebrate with everyone!
Biggest congrats to Mikaela + Shane!! All photos from Mikaela
{{{So yeah, last week was insane with 3 major tests, bi-weekly meetings
(that happened to all fall on last week), and mediating between roommates
on my floor... so this post is 7-days in coming.}}}
The last two years (2009, 2010) I've been at the Renewal conference with the Navigators over Valentine's weekend. This year the retreat was moved to February 25-27th, so I was in town for Valentine's... and I was not looking forward to it.
I'm taking country western dance lessons with a friend of mine on Sunday nights, and last week I was late to our first lesson because I'd been home for the weekend for a friend's funeral. My mind wasn't focused on learning the polka because I was prioritizing the massive amount of studying I had to do and calculating how late I was going to have to stay in "the annex"--the only building on main campus that is pretty much open 24/7 and is a popular hang out for stressed students pulling all-nighters.
My friend then warned me as we were headed back to my room, "Meghan's (my Bible study co-leader) got a little surprise planned for you. I promise it won't take more than about 10 minutes. But be sweet... she's just trying to show she cares about you, your friend's funeral, and the fact that you're stressed." OK, fine. I'll humor her. 10 minutes. That's it. Then off to the annex to cram for Therapeutic Principles.
I walked into my room and a few minutes later I answered a knock on the door to find not just Meghan, but 3 of my other best girl friends--Sarah, Becca, and Abigail. They brought me Godiva dark chocolate and lots of hugs. :)
The cards the guys had for each of us were perfectly picked. This was the cover of mine...
on the inside it reads "... sure hasn't been to Forks, Washington."
The most epic part about it is what plays when you open the card:
Edward-"I will love you, every moment of forever."
Jacob-"I will fight for you, until your heart stops beating."
Let's just say that I almost died laughing... beside the fact that every single person who was in the room (girls included) makes fun of my liking Twilight, I loved it! :) I still can't believe that the the guys scoured the Valentine's card section to find the perfect cards for each of us 4 girls, took time to write something in each card, and arranged the whole thing. I've got amazing girl friends who came to cheer me up, and I've got incredible guy friends who went out of their way to make us all feel special.
Ok, it took longer than 10 minutes... but it sure made staying up until 3:15am a whole lot more bearable!
So, I'm scrolling through my Facebook feed (a.k.a. the "stalker feed" to some of my friends), just a few minutes ago and I came across this status update from TWLOHA... I was online to post pictures on a prank profile a group of my friends made, I was thinking about "Santa" coming to visit, calculating how late I could stay up tonight and not be zonked on Christmas morning, but this status made me stop for a second.
For some of us, it's hard to imagine a Christmas without family, without presents, without spending time with those we love, without a warm home and good food. We're used to coming home from college to be with family, traveling to visit grandparents, throwing down a few more air mattresses for the 2nd and 3rd cousins, or even spending a quiet Christmas at home... it's familiar. It's Christmas...
...but if all of that were to change would it still feel like Christmas? Would it still even be Christmas?
Well what if you feel like crap this Christmas? What if you're lonely this Christmas? What if a loved one isn't there around the fire--whether they passed away, estranged themselves, or simply can't make it home for this Christmas? What if you feel haunted by memories that won't let go? What if the presents under the tree aren't as big or as numerous this Christmas? What if you just wish you could feel some sort of joy this Christmas?
Is it still Christmas?
We hear about the little Baby Jesus, the sweet virgin Mary, the beautiful angel Gabriel, and the faithful Joseph...
Do you think their Christmas was all warm fuzzies? Or was it the hardest days of their lives? That Christmas day marked the start of all history changing... and I think it might have been worth going through some crap, some loneliness, some hurt, some painful memories, and some sleepless nights in order to welcome the King.
Ok, so that was 2000+ years ago. You say, what does that have to do with me now, with the pain I feel now, the memories I can't erase, the way things are broken now, and the abandonment I'm going through now?
When you look at Christmas in light of family, friends, food, fun, and freebies (a.k.a gifts), then you're right... that has nothing to do with what you're feeling now.
And I could just tell you to stop looking at yourself and to go find someone else less fortunate and to focus on what you do have... but that doesn't help for long.
But what about stripping December 25th down to a Baby in a manger... who didn't stay a baby and became the Savior?
If "Christmas"is too hard this year for whatever reason--and that reason doesn't have to seem legitimate to anyone else--then don't strive to feel happy/grateful, to "get over it," or go through with the traditional jam-packed schedule.
If being at home is hard, that's why coffeeshops are open Christmas Eve.
If you're out of good books, check out Google Books.
If you need something to keep yourself busy, check out some of these events.
I think if we stopped commercializing Christmas, stopped making it the biggest day of the year (with the huge letdown on the 26th), and stripped out the extra fluff, Christmas might actually be a lot more enjoyable... for all of us. Even those who don't feel particularly Christmas-y.
Have you ever just opened your Bible not really sure what you're looking for, knowing that God is only one who can supply it, but not really knowing where to go?
Today is one of those days. I'm sitting here in the Starbucks right across from campus, savoring my venti triple peppermint mocha and I just opened my Bible to 2 Corinthians. No particular reason, except that I hadn't read it in a while.
And I got stuck on chapter 1:3-11
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
I needed a little comfort this morning, I guess. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting. In fact, I was skeptical that I would feel any better by reading in the Word... but I feel kind of guilty that as a Bible study leader I tell my girls to go to God with their worries and troubles and yet I rarely do so myself. So today I was like, whatever... I guess I'll try it... And God had something to show me this morning.
I think I'm supposed to be comforted today. And oddly enough, I am.
This past weekend has been one of the best weekends of my life... not sure exactly how high it ranks, but it's way up there!
There are TONS of traditions here at A&M, many of them over a hundred years old. And a good number of them seem to fall towards the end of the fall semester.
November 18, 1999 is a special day here in Aggieland. At 2:42am twelve students lost their lives when a giant bonfire collapsed. This bonfire takes several months and hundreds of students' work to cut and stack, and is usually lit the week before the rival football game with t.u. (also known as the University of Texas). The last couple of weeks before burn students work 24/7 to finish building it--and sometimes tragedies happen.
(the morning after it collapsed)
Bonfire is no longer a university-sanctioned event and is now held off-campus, but dozens of organization and dorms join hundreds of current students and Corps of Cadets members to pull of this amazing event. But in the amazingness of Bonfire, we never forget those 12. There's a beautiful memorial built on the on-campus site, and every year at 2:42 thousands of current and former students gather to remember our fellow Aggies.
(aerial view of the memorial with the rest of campus in the background)
So, after my Bible study got out and all my girls got back to their studying, I went back to my dorm and made tons of coffee and worked on a presentation for my class tomorrow morning. Then my friend Abigail and I got all bundled up and walked over to the memorial. We got there about 1:50am and stood with the hundred or so others that were already there. She and I were about 15 feet from the center where the 12 students' families and friends were. We all stood in absolute silence as we waited for the thousands of others to come. At 2:42 one of the parents read the poem "The Last Corps Trip," read off the names of the twelve and we sang "Amazing Grace" followed by the "Spirit of Aggieland" and the Aggie War Hymn. Then we all silently left. Doesn't sound like much and it was literally 40* out there and Abigail and I stood silently out there at 2am for like an hour and a half... but that's what you do when you're an Aggie.
(walking up to the Bonfire Memorial ~1:45am)
(leaving the memorial ~3:05am)
Got back to the dorm about 3:30am, set the coffee pot on autobrew for 7:15am, and got a few hours of sleep before meeting three classmates for a field trip to a maximum security juvenile detention facility about an hour away. It was a rather interesting trip.
Came back, slept, did homework, had dinner with the Navigator staff girl who's discipling me, and then went out country western dancing with Brian and a friend of his. I'm taking a PE credit Country Western Dance class this semester and our jitterbug skills test is this Tuesday... I'm in woeful need of more practice! Off to bed at midnight.
Friday--skipped both morning classes (gotta love recalling favors from classmates earlier in the semester) and did homework/laundry all day. Then some friends came over for a movie night ("Return of the King"), and I headed off to meet another friend for Midnight Yell.
See, Midnight Yell is another crazy late-night/early morning tradition we Ags hold the night before a home football game. It has been called a "pep rally" by some teasips in Austin and most recently "cheer practice" by the Nebraska Cornhuskers' head coach. Basically, thousands of students meet in Kyle field to practice the yells, hear our Yell Leaders poke fun at the opponents, and--in some cases--find a date for the next day's game.
The friend I went with is a Junior in the Corps of Cadets and while all the other students and cadets are in the stands, the Corps Juniors and their "dates" get to stand out on the field. I randomly ran into a friend of mine that I met a year ago over human bones and a dead cat in Anatomy & Physiology I. :)
Then, off to get food and get to bed. 4am this time.
Late Saturday games are wonderful. Slept til 10am, went to Starbucks to study for a few hours, then to a tailgate with Brian and his old Corps of Cadets outfit.
Then off to march-in a few hours later. All the outfits march down the center of campus and around the track in Kyle Field just before the game.
There were SO many people yesterday!!! We were trying for a national record in student attendance (31,005) and also happened to get a record A&M attendance (90,079)! The stadium was so insanely loud; a friend of mine who was watching the game on ESPN told me the announcer said it was the loudest game they'd ever recorded at!
It was both a Maroon Out game (every student was supposed to wear a maroon T-shirt) and a 12th Man Towel Out game (every student was supposed to wave their white 12th Man towel)... let's just say it was a ridiculous game! And a wonderful way to finish out my undergraduate Aggie football experience!
(my usual seat is somewhere up there on 3rd deck...)
(The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band!)
(this very well could have been the closest either team got to the goal line!)
(let's just say that we were a *little* excited!)
We won 9-6 versus the Nebraska Cornhuskers. We were #1 in the Big 12 for offense and they were #1 in defense... and the game was entirely composed of field goals. I don't think either team was closer than 5yds from the goal line!
Since the game started at 7pm it didn't finish til like 10:30pm. My friend and I had 3rd row seats the the North 5yd line with the rest of the Corps... and as soon as the game clock hit 0:00, we all charged the field . Mind you, this is the first time in several years that we've done that! It was SO cool to sing the Aggie War Hymn out on the field!
(from the field looking out on the student section of Kyle Field)
"No student body enjoys its football team quite like Texas A&M... There's nothin' like it--the Aggie War Hymn" - ESPN announcer
Then off to get pizza and sleep... not necessarily one right after the other. Thank goodness for "the day of rest" today!
Tomorrow, I register for my last semester of classes, give a presentation about a hypothetical research project I designed, learn about the skeletal muscle pump for the cardiovascular system (Exercise Physiology), mood disorders (Abnormal Psychology), and get a good workout (Step Aerobics PE class). Then off to an induction ceremony for the new members of Phi Epsilon Kappa, the research-based Kinesiology honors society I'm involved in, and then end out my day with our weekly RA meeting.
And while the semester winds down and I start the avalanche of "last times I'll ever..." I have to say that I love A&M and I love being a part of a school that remembers the past by honoring traditions and embraces the future by training leaders and conducting ground-breaking research!
I came across this last week... have to say that satelliteofyou has some beautiful photos.
Fall is going to be good. The pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks has made its blessed return, football season is in full swing, the University Dining Services is selling caramel apple cider at the on-campus coffee shops, long-sleeve Ts are coming out of boxes, the Christmas season is soon approaching, it's not quite cold enough to stop wearing Chacos, I'm no longer sweating buckets walking across campus, the cold air wakes me up on my way to my first class of the day (and then it warms up by noon so I can shed the sweater), I'll soon be 21, pumpkins are on sale at the grocery store, the crockpot is getting good use...
It's gonna be good. It feels like waking up. It feels like coming back. It reminds me of a favorite Sara Groves song, "It Might Be Hope."
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You do your work the best that you can
you put one foot in front of the other
life comes in waves and makes its demands
you hold on as well as you're able
You've been here for a long long time
Hope has a way of turning its face to you
just when you least expect it
you walk in a room
you look out a window
and something there leaves you breathless
you say to yourself
it's been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope
It's hard to recall what blew out the flame
it's been dark since you can remember
you talk it all through to find it a name
as days go on by without number
You've been here for a long long time
Hope has a way of turning its face to you
just when you least expect it
you walk in a room
you look out a window
and something there leaves you breathless
you say to yourself
it's been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope
1:39am -- collapse into bed after studying until 1am, calculating how much sleep I'll get before the alarm rings
9:45am -- wake up to the annoying alarm clock, I think it's coffee time
10:06am -- scarf down a bowl of cereal, try to find a leotard that's clean
10:08am -- rush out the door to my dance class, gonna be late again
10:55am -- halfway through class my brain seems to shut down, start messing up dance combinations
11:15am -- head to the campus post office, get the first support check for my trip to Africa!
11:45am -- shower and find something cute to wear, realize I have to dress up since I won't have a chance to change before the show tonight
12:13pm -- head to the Underground food court for lunch, eat pasta by myself at a table for four
1:30pm -- walk to the library for my writing-intensive class, sit in the hall and study before class
1:50pm -- learn how to find research articles online, gonna be so much easier than previous research papers
2:55pm -- rush over to anatomy&physiology lab, studying for the weekly quiz on the way over
3:10pm -- studying brain waves and EEG traces, I'm appointed the group leader
4:50pm -- lab done early, call Sarah to see if she wants to eat with me
4:58pm -- deciding on what I want for dinner, hot turkey/provolone on ciabatta sounds good
5:25pm -- Sarah leaves for Bible study, ask the girls at the next table over if I can join them studying for the anatomy&physiology test tonight
6:13pm -- realize that I might actually know more than I thought I did, breathe a sigh of semi-relief
6:59pm -- walk into the lecture hall, start frantically filling out the scantron bubble
7:27pm -- done with the test, second in a class of 250+
7:31pm -- run over to Rudder Theater, slide into my seat right as the show starts
8:30pm -- Royal Winnepeg Ballet's "Cinderella Story" halfway done, so glad I bought the ticket back in July!
10:02pm -- show's over, my three friends from dance company my freshman year and I decide to grab dessert
10:17pm -- Emily's house, incredible ice cream sandwich/peanut butter frozen dessert
11:28pm -- the four of us having too much fun, finally decide to head home
11:47pm -- Brittany drops me off at the dorm, head up to check FB
12:11am -- thinking about grabbing my journal and a cup of tea, life doesn't stop at midnight...
Yeah, that's been my day... and pretty typical. I've been in my room for less than 30 minutes since I woke up this morning; my roommate's probably wondering if I actually live here! :-) But I like busy... it keeps my mind from retracing stuff and wondering if things would have turned out differently if only...
Been spending a lot of time by myself recently; well, when you're the first one to have any tests friend aren't very inclined to come study with you. :-) I think I'm becoming more of an introvert. I recharge with a cup of coffee in hand, earbuds cranked up to random iTunes songs, and a comfy chair--by myself. Maybe that's because I feel like I am constantly giving out and like everyone needs something from me. It's few and far between where I have friends that give as much as they take. And then I wonder: am I giving back to the same people that I take from? I have a few girls I "dump" on and then quite a large group of people that I give back to. But what about those close girlfriends? They deserve me investing in them and listening to them... If she's a coffee-lover then I'm all for pulling up a second chair... or should I learn to drink tea? Does that mean coming into her world and working out next to her, helping her make flashcards, doing Bible study with her, or sitting next to her and watching a sappy chick flick...
