Just another day!

Yesterday was interesting to say the least. Classes were crazy. I had a test in World History and a quiz in New Testament Survey. Because of things I had been dealing with I hadn't been able to study as much as was needed, and even when I did study nothing would stick in my brain! UGH! I don't really even want to think about it!
After classes I talked one of the people that I was having some issues with. Some things were cleared up and taken care of! PTL!
I had voice lessons at 2:10. They went well considering that I had a really sore throat and my head and throat were full of all sorts of junk! UGH!! Bro. Randall told me that I "frown ferociously." LOL! So I've gotta work on smiling when I sing. :)
After lessons Mrs. Phillips took me to the drug store so I could get some cough drops. They are helping, along with the Vitamin C and Oregano. Bro. Randall told me that this could be allergies, I guess there is really high pollen around here right now. YAY!! :(
I was able to get a HUGE project completed last night. The nice thing is that I was done with it around 11:30, so I was asleep by 11:45. The project is for Christian Womanhood. It's really hard to explain, so I'm not even going to try, but I did learn a lot from it, and enjoyed it, even though it was VERY time consuming. I put at least 20 hours into it, probably more!

More Precious Than Gold

At the present time I'm going through a very rough time in my life. Sometimes the trial seems too great for me. I can't tell you how often in the last 3 or 4 days I have wanted to throw in the towel and gone home. I have wept many tears, which is NOT normal for me. The typical outlook on life for me is one of cheerfulness and sunshine. I'm the one who always sees the good things in the bad, the easy things in the difficult, and the rainbow amidst the shadows.
Right now it seems that any time I start to gain a victory, the devil throws yet another fiery dart at me. No matter where I turn, yet another dart flies at me. I'm really struggling with bitterness, anger, and hate right now. People that I thought loved me have lied about me, twisted things I said, and embellished stories. I have been hurt worse in the last couple of days than I've ever been hurt in my life!
I'm not saying all of this to make you feel sorry for me, but I am say it to say that even through it all, God has been there with me. Anytime I feel like screaming, or lashing back, I turn to my Heavenly Father, He is waiting there for me with open arms. Deuteronomy 33:27 says, "The eternal God is they refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."
I know that through this God is going to teach me a lesson that will be very valuable in my life, and one that I would never learn without going through this. "That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." -I Peter 5:7

Under His Wings

Under His wings I am safely abiding,
Tho the night deepens and tempests are wild;
Still I can trust Him—I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me and I am His child.

Under His wings, what a refuge in sorrow!
How the heart yearningly turns to His rest!
Often when earth has no balm for my healing,
There I find comfort and there I am blest.

Under His wings, O what precious enjoyment!
There will I hide till life’s trials are o’er;
Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me,
Resting in Jesus I’m safe evermore.

Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.

~William Cushing

Near to the Heart of God

There is a place of quiet rest,
near to the heart of God;
a place where sin cannot molest,
near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
sent from the heart of God,
hold us who wait before thee
near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet,
near to the heart of God;
a place where we our Savior meet,
near to the heart of God.


There is place a place of full release,
near to the heart of God;
a place where all is joy and peace,
near to the heart of God.

~Cleland B. McAfee

Back into the Swing of Things

UGH! Classes....again! I wish break could go on forever! It would be WONDERFUL!
So my regular school schedule started once again this morning. I got up at 5, did my normal routine, read my Bible, etc.
First class of the day was English Comp. I found out that I have a narrative essay due next Monday. :( Oh joy!
World History was a blast too (NOT)! I've got a test in that on Wednesday! How crazy is that?!
English Grammar was good. I actually like that class! Mrs. Barnes is an AWESOME teacher, and I actually understand English! That's amazing.
New Testament Survey was ok....nothing exciting, although I do have a quiz in that on Wednesday as well. :`((
Work was good. Actually it was really funny! I was cleaning in the men's bathroom in the administration building when Bro. Dan Donaghue, who is the principle of the Christian school walked in! At first he just looked at me, then he screamed and yelled there is a long haired hippy in the guys bathroom! He did it to get a reaction from the girls in the office, and he did a pretty good job of that! It was sooooo funny!!
Later I was vacuuming upstairs in the administration building when all of the sudden the vacuum stopped running. I checked to make sure I hadn't accidentally flipped the power switch, which I hadn't done, so I went to check the outlet. The outlet was behind a door so I started to go around it when Bro. Donaghue jumped out at me! I screamed for real! Everybody thought it was funny, including me! LOL!

Spring Break

Sadly, my spring break is now over! :( I am SO not ready to go back to school in the morning. UGH! The very thought makes me want to scream! At least I did have a good break, it just wasn't quite long enough to make me want to go back to school!
On Thursday I worked from 9-2 and then from 5-5:45. After church I went home with the Phillipses. I spent the night with them and then all day Friday! It was sooooo much fun! I love the entire Phillips family, they are soooo cool, and funny, and down to earth! They are AWESOME!! Best of all, they really have a heart for God.
Thursday night Mrs. Phillips and I sat up talking well after 11! It is so nice to talk to somebody about God. So often among Christians there is so little desire to discuss spiritual matters. It's really sad.

*****Nichole*****

Friday I didn't wake up until 7:45ish. I read my Bible and prayed, and didn't roll out of bed until between 8:15 and 8:30! It was WONDERFUL! :) We watched "Indescribable" and "How Great is Our God." I have seen those over and over and over, but every time I see them I get goose bumps! They are SOOOO good! After that we frosted the cake that I had baked at my grandparents. My problem was that I had baked the cake, and was planning on making a homemade mocha frosting, but I ran out of powdered sugar, so I took the cake and frosting with me and finished it there. It was a lot of fun! Nichole and Charlie LOVED licking the bowl, and spoon, and spatula! :) After finishing the cake

*****Devils Food cake with homemade mocha frosting*****

we ate lunch, that way could eat the cake. LOL! Mrs. Phillips had made a venison spaghetti sauce that she put over whole wheat noodles! MMMM.....soooo good, and VERY low fat! YAY! Something I can eat without it bothering me. :) Of course we ate the cake, not so low fat, but worth every bite! :)

After lunch we went outside. The weather was really beautiful. They have a trampoline that we jumped on for a LONG time. It was fun! :)
Later in the afternoon we watched "National Treasure." I had never seen it before, it was cool.

*****Sparky, the Phillips' pit bull puppy, is really sweet and CUTE!! *****

At 5 the McMahon's came over for dinner and a movie. We watched "Fireproof." That was the second time in a week that I've seen it! SOOOO good!
I didn't get home until 10:30! That was cool too! LOL!
Saturday I went soul winning. And then I worked until 6:30. After that i got my stuff from my grandparents, cuz they came back yesterday afternoon, and then talked to my family and friends on the phone, and then went to bed.
Today was a typical Sunday, bus route, church, and choir practice.

Day Off!

Yesterday was my day off! I did actually end up working for an hour in the afternoon, but it was up to me when I wanted to work, so I took my time getting there!
Around 9:00 yesterday morning I went to the Barnes' house. Mrs. Barnes fixed breakfast for all of the girls who are stuck on campus during spring break! She made omelets and Miss Walker made chocolate chip pancakes! It was really good and a LOT of fun! Too much food though.
After that I decided to walk down to "The Village." It is in Stony Brook and is very similar to the Village at Winona for those of you who have been to my house. Its a quaint little shopping center with all sorts of touristy shops. I went cuz I was hoping to find a birthday present for my aunt, but I didn't find anything. :( My roommate works at a coffee shop there, so I stopped by to say "hey"and to get a vanilla latte. It was good.
I took my camera along because I wanted to get pictures of the bay and also of the duck pond.

*****Duck Pond*****

However as I was getting ready to take pictures I noticed that I had left my camera card in my card reader! :( How sad! So I got a few pictures on my phone, but they were not as good as if they had been on my camera. :`(( It really was too bad because it was a BEAUTIFUL day.
After I came back from my walk I decided to eat something take a nap and then work.
Shampooing.....again. This time I had to do the downstairs of the girls dorm which is mainly the laundry room and a lounge area. Once again the shampooer tripped a breaker! It's a good thing Bro. Mushtaq had given me his key on Wednesday cuz he was gone yesterday. So back into the pool area I went. I decided that instead of flipping off all the breakers and turning them all back on again I would try to not have to turn off the power to the entire girls dorm. So I started with just a few and would run back and forth checking to see if I had turned off the right breakers. I ended up turning them all off cuz it was in the last set of breakers that I found the right one for those outlets!! Good grief!

*****The pool room*****

After work I came back to my grandparents and worked on schoolwork. I got quite a bit done two of my projects, which is a good thing. :)
At 5:00 I went with one of the staff ladies to CVS. I was in a desperate situation, I had used up all of my contact solution Tuesday night. I thought that I had another bottle in my room, but after searching high and low I found that I was completely out! Thankfully Mrs. Leeds needed to go to CVS anyways, so I was able to go along with her.
My roommate came over at 6:30 and we watched "Charades" and "The Trouble with Harry." "Charades" was hilarious and very suspenseful. "The Trouble with Harry" was hilarious and completely dumb and pointless. It had a LOT of great one-liners in it!

No Such Luck

So much for the "Luck 'O the Irish" for me today. It just wasn't my day at all, and I even wore green! Good grief!
Today I was supposed to shampoo carpets in the ladies dorm. I started shampooing and it seemed like anything that could go wrong, did! I got about half of the hallway on the first floor done before the water ran out. So I dumped out the dirty water and started to fill the bucket with clean water. I was filling it up in a shower stall, and as it was filling i was standing on the edge of the stall, i slipped so I grabbed the shower head to keep from falling; BAD IDEA!! I managed to pull the shower head out of the wall! It didn't come completely out, but water started to come out the wall instead of the head! OOPS! I was drenched!
I was out in the entry way by the time I needed water again. I filled up the bucket without any problem. I opened the door and then bent over to pick up the bucket and as I stood up I banged my head HARD against the door jam! I knocked my glasses off my face and bent them! Its a good thing I worked in an optical shop last summer and knew how to bend them back! Amazingly I don't have a bruise, but my face is sore!
My next escaped happened when I was shampooing upstairs. There is a little hose on the shampooer that tells how much clean water is left in the machine. Somehow I managed to bump it, and it became unattached from the shampooer and sprayed water all over the place! YAY! I was drenched.....again!
While still upstairs I ran out of cord, so I had to switch outlets. For some reason it blew the fuse! I found the maintenance man once again, and he told me where the breaker box is, it is in the basement of the girls dorm where the swimming pool is located. (The swimming pool is broken so nobody is allowed down their, I had never been down there before.) I couldn't find a breaker that had been tripped so I went back to find the maintenance man and he said to flip all of the breakers off and then turn them all back on. Soooo.....I went all the way back down there and turned them all off and then back on again. Low and behold the outlet worked and I was able to finish shampooing! YAY!
I think that was all the bad things that happened. I finished work soon after that and came back to my grandparents and crashed. I was/am exhausted!