Time for a Change

My roommate and I were talking last night, and we were discussing how we'd like to be crafty and do some fun things this upcoming weekend as it is Labor Day. I will go home on Friday, but I'll come back Sunday because I'm helping out with my church's youth group, and they meet on Sunday nights. But I don't have school on Monday and neither does my roommate, so we're going to spend the day being crafty.

I was first inspired to start all these crafty projects from Pinterest, a fun little website full of pinboards that you can add and save to and organize so that if you're surfing the web and find something you like, you can just pin it. Well, I've pinned quite a few things lately, and many of them are crafty do-it-yourself projects.

But I've also realized more than just wanting to be crafty is that I'm ready for a change in my room decorations too. See the room I'm in now resembles the leftovers of a freshman girl's college dorm room. Not that anything would be wrong with that . . . if I were still 18, but I'm not. I'll be 22 in less than two months. I want a room that says, "Yes, I'm in college, but not for long." Not that I'm ready to be done with college, I just don't like the colors or style of what I have right now.

So, my roommate and I are going to spend Monday not resting but redecorating our room. And I'm going to try to get all of the things I need for $100 or less. I have about that much from camp that I put back waiting for something that I would need it for. When I go home this weekend, I'll be going to some flea markets and other places to discover what treasures I can find.

Here's my list of things I want to do:

• get rid of all colors preceded by the word "hot" (hot pink, hot orange, etc.)
• take down some paintings from my sophomore year of college and replace with something new
• paint a wall decoration with something I wrote at camp this summer (I'll show a picture later.)
• Recover a couple of pillows
• find a new lamp
• paint and distress my bookshelf and nightstand
  
• maybe take some lace and hang over my bed
• focus accent colors on mustards, creams, browns, and hints of green with whatever earthiness I can find
• reorganize and throw away stuff I don't need
• take clothes I don't wear to a consignment shop
• And if we have time, my roommate and I want to make some crafty stuff to wear as well.

So my project this week is to take out $100 and try to find a good majority of these things for under that much. I know where I can get some cheap fabric and some cheap wood/particle board. Distressing the bookshelf and nightstand will not be expensive. If I get lucky, I can find a lamp at a flea market here or my hometown. I had some old brightly colored fake flowers in my room, but I know I can find something cheap to replace those.

I am super excited for this. I haven't redecorated anything since my freshman year of college, and I'm ready. My roommate and I have similar tastes, and we both have projects we want to tackle. Part of me wanted to stay and work on stuff all weekend long, but this Friday is my brother's last first home game at high school in the band. I want to be there. Plus, my dad and I will have fun antiquing/thrifting when I go home this weekend. But I can't go over budget. That's the key. I'll also be on the hunt this week when I have any spare time in between classes. This town is loaded with thrift stores/flea markets.

I will post before pictures soon, and then you'll be able to anticipate the after pictures. (Well, I don't know if you'll anticipate them or not, but I will!) I'm excited for this week. It will be fun. I wish I could clone myself and the clone could go to my classes, but I could go exploring. How fun would that be?

Until next time,
God Bless

Just a little lonely

All summer I was surrounded by people. Be that campers, staffers, chaperones from churches, or the campground staff we worked with. I was almost constantly doing something with a bunch of people. I grew very close with the staff, especially. They were my family.

Now, I'm back at school figuring out how to go through my day without a group of thirty high-schoolers at my back or a team of staffers around me.

I realize today as I sit in this quiet newspaper office in this cubicle that I am lonely. I guess it took me almost three weeks of not being at camp to realize that. Most of what I do during the day at school I do on my own. Not because I don't want to be sociable but because not everyone has to do what I need to do, much unlike camp.

So if you think about it, lift up a prayer for me that I might find my company and my comfort in the Lord. And that maybe he would send some company my way on the earth as well. I know I'm not lonely because I have the Lord. And the Lord was with me in California. But he's the only thing I had in California that I still have here. Everything else that I had is gone.

Until next time,
God Bless

My Last First Day of School

So tomorrow is my last first day of school. That's so weird, at least it's the last first day of school where I am a student. If I land a teaching job after graduation, I'll have first days of school, but it will be from a whole new perspective.

I was able to work Welcome Week this year, what out university does to welcome in the new freshman. It was great for me to interact with them and get to know them before classes started. We had a bunch of freshman and new students over to our house tonight, and we played games and had a lot of fun. This year's freshmen are great. They're very chill and very fun.

I remember the first day of my freshman year of college. I was so nervous, and I felt so awkward. I even remember what I wore. Isn't that weird? I think back to my freshman year, and I praise the Lord that He changed me and made me a new person.

Being a senior feels so weird. It's just one of those things that I never thought would arrive in my life, and here it is. But what's so cool is that everywhere I've turned during Welcome Week, Jeremiah 29:11 has been right there. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" I've heard this verse my whole life. Sometimes I feel quoting it or studying it becomes cliche or old-school. But it's the word of God. It's truth. It will never be cliche or old-school; it is powerful and from the mouth of God. Who am I to doubt it or turn my back on it?

Thus far in my life, God has proven that verse to be true. Who am I to say he's going to change now? What comforts me most about this verse is that the Lord knows the plans he has for me, not plans that I have for me, plans he has for me. Throughout this summer, I had to tell myself that this day, this week, this month, this life is not about me. God is my everything, and he wants me to trust him to do everything for me. I am not to live this life on my own.

So yes, tomorrow is my last first day of school, but I know I am living the plan God purposed for my life. I know I am living in his plan because it's happening, and what he plans happens. God is good, and if he's taught me anything in the past three years, it's that I can trust him, completely, unashamedly, wholeheartedly. I love him. So incredibly much, I love him.

He has a plan for me, to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future.

Until next time,
God Bless

Hopeful

This summer has kind of gone by like a whirlwind. One minute, I was packing my things to head to camp for the summer, and as I turn around, I find myself ready to pack my things to head back for my senior year of college.

God has taught me so much my first three years of college. He definitely taught me so much this summer as well. I know this last year of college will not be any different. But to be very honest, I am a little nervous. Maybe it's a healthy kind of nervous.

Despite my fear or my uneasiness about entering this last year of school, I know where my trust lies, with the Lord. He has proven himself worthy of my trust time and time again, and I know he will never fail me.

So often in my walk with the Lord, and even right now looking ahead, I just don't know what to expect or what will come. But just like I told my students all summer long, as Christians we wear proverbial blindfolds. We can't see what's coming next. Only the Lord sees our futures. We are called to simply trust. Now it's time for me to accept that in my life as well. The Lord always shows me how to trust in one thing and then asks me take a bigger step and trust in him even more, which makes sense. Sometimes it's just tough.

This summer, the Psalms were a great comfort for me. This portion of Psalm 73 has spoken and continues to speak so much truth into my life.

v. 23-28: "Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works."

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. It doesn't matter what happens this year or what God calls me to. He is my portion. Without him, I am nothing. His burden is easy and his yolk is light; I am called to trust. I pray these verses are true in my own life.

So yes, I am slightly anxious for the upcoming year. Saying I wasn't would be a lie. But I am also hopeful. God will do great things.