Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock . Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.

Then it struck him. He had been on the beach along time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person. There is a treasure in each and every one of us.

If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in

friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them. I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

UGH!

UGH! I have been SICK and still am sick!! :( I've been sick since Thursday, or maybe before, I don't really remember exactly when I got sick, but it started getting really bad Saturday afternoon to evening, and has only gotten worse. It's bad enough that I went to the doctor today, and for those of you who know me, I HATE doctors, so if I went to one it means I'm sick!!!
I didn't ride on my bus route yesterday. I really wanted to go, but was too sick to think about riding on a bouncing bus for several hours. I did go to choir practice and sang in the choir. Yesterday was the 33rd anniversary Sunday of International Baptist Church, which is the church that the college I'm going to is affiliated with. Dr. Tom Wallace was here preaching all day, and I was volunteered for the job of running his book table in the morning, which was fun. :) He preached a really good message from Matthew 6:33, and I wish I could remember what all of his points were, but I had forgotten to take my notebook with me, so I was not able to write the notes. :(
Sunday school good from the few things I remember, by the time it started my brain was beginning to fog over....I was really feeling BAD!
After church I waited until my parents were out of church and then called Mom crying VERY hard! I was in a LOT of pain! I told her what was going on, and she told me to talk to Mrs. Donaghue who is the dorm supervisor. I found her, and the first thing out of her mouth was, "HANNAH!! What is wrong??!!" Apparently I looked HORRIBLE! I told her what my symptoms were and she said that it sounded like a possible UTI. So she said to go to bed and stay there. Which I did. However, I was only able to sleep for a little bit over an hour, and then I was wide awake.
I didn't go to choir, but I did slide in to church a few minutes after it started and left during the invitation.
I climbed in bed, and didn't get out again until 5:30 this morning, yes, I actually slept in for once! :-P The only reason I went to classes today was because this was the last day of class for the Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes before finals, and there was NO way that I was going to trust anyone else to write down the reviews for me. No offense, but when it is something as important as finals.....well, they are a lil important....lol
Mrs. Phillips, God bless her, took me to a convenience clinic this afternoon after classes. The doctor doesn't know what is wrong with me! :( He put me on a couple of over- the- counter meds and told me to follow up with my GI doctor when I get home. UGH! I HATE DOCTORS! Please pray that God will help me through this, as I know he will, but I need to learn to depend on Him more.
Today is the start of the East Coast Baptist Fellowship, hosted by the church, only it is at the Brooklyn location. The college is required to attend and they are busing all the college students back and forth. There is only one service tonight, and then there are morning and evening sessions both tomorrow and Wednesday. Because of my sickness, I did not go tonight, nor will I go tomorrow. I plan on sleeping in tomorrow, everybody is leaving at 7:30, so I probably won't get up until everyone is gone, and then I will just take it easy! :)

HAPPY MAY!!

HAPPY MAY EVERYBODY!!

Ok.....so I haven't posted for several days, I'm sorry, but I've been CRAZY busy, even busier than normal!!!!
On Monday it was announced that we would be having a white glove on Friday!!!! How crazy is that?! For those of you who might not know what a purpose of torturing college students! We have to clean EVERYTHING from floor to ceiling! Pulling out the furniture and cleaning behind them, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning drawers, shelves, closets, windows, and whatever else that could possibly be dirty. It's CRAZY!! We had one last semester, and my roommate and I did the cleaning together. Well, this time around I was off both Wednesday and Thursday, and my roomy worked, so I did most of the cleaning, which I didn't mind, but it was a LOT of work! Low and behold, Friday morning during chapel the rooms were gone over with a white glove and we PASSED!!! :):):)

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Thankfully I didn't have any tests or quizzes on Friday, or I think I would have fallen to pieces, I was sooooo exhausted and stressed out!
Work was an absolute mess! I started at 1:00 instead of 1:30 because I was supposed to go to my grandparents for supper at 5:45, then there was a student recital that I wanted to go to at 7:30. I was really rushed cuz I had a WHOLE bunch to do to get everything ready for the recital. Anything and everything that could go wrong, did, or at least so it seemed. One of the bathrooms was incredibly dirty, It took extra scrubbing and was completely NASTY!! (I just looooove cleaning guys bathrooms (not))!!! UGH!! Later a bag of garbage split open all over the gym/auditorium floor, where the recital was going to be! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! What a mess! I very nearly cried! After I got that cleaned up everything started going better. I had to vacuum the auditorium and everything around it, which went well. My final task was dusting, and making sure that all finger prints were off the baby grand piano. By this time the piano had been moved to the middle of the stage and Bro. Randall and Karen, who was the pianist, and the "main attraction" of the recital were try out the sound. Just so everybody is aware, if you stick your head inside a baby grand and then the pianist hits a really loud chord, it is REALLY loud!! :-P Tucker (some of you know him) was sitting on the edge of the platform watching all of us, and he about died laughing, especially when I said "OUCH!!! that was really loud!" He said something really funny, and I remember the gist of it, but I can't remember exactly what he said, I will ask him what it was later, and then tell all of you.
After work I ran to my room, took a shower, blew my hair dry, ironed my clothes, and put on a coat of nail polish, and was at my grandparents house at 5:45!! Talk about fast!
Supper was good, we had some sort of pizza casserole, corn, bread, and applesauce, followed by lemon mariange pie (pardon my spelling, but I have NO idea how to spell that, and neither do the spell checker, or my roommate!! LOL!).
I left their house around 6:50, ran to the dorms, curled my hair, got dressed and was ready to go by a little before 7:30! I forgot to mention that I went with one of the other freshman girls, Nichole, (we had decided to go together when it was announced one day in chapel that the recital would be a good date thing cuz you wouldn't have to get a date permission slip for it, so we decided to go "on a date" together! LOL)! We decided to go the whole nine yards and REALLY dress up! By this time I was sooooooo stressed and exhausted, and instead of being sleepy, I was REALLY wound up!! Watch out world when that happens! I had Nichole laughing hysterically by the things I was doing. I would do anything and everything, which is a sure sign that I'm worn out and need sleep! We were sitting in the back of the auditorium, only a couple of people were behind us, and I had this sudden urge to put my feet up on the back of the chairs in front of us, so I told Nichole, she said, "I dare you!" So guess what I did, well you don't really have to guess, I looked all around, made sure no one was watching and I put my feet up on the chair! I only left them there for a few minutes, but still, it was funny!
Everyone who played or sang did a really good job.

*****The recital started with Bro. Randall and Karen Longhoffer playing a two piano duet of "When Morning Gilds the Sky," arranged by Faye Lopez. The final piece of the night was also a two piano duet by the two of them of "Finally Home," also arranged by Faye Lopez *****

*****Karen also played, "Fugue" (in E minor) by Bach, "Intermezzo" (in A major) by Brahms, "Impromptu" (in E flat major) by Schubert, "Clair de Lune" by Debussy, an arrangement by Faye Lopez of "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"*****

*****Alyssa Bailey sang "Grace" which was written by Carolyn Hamlin and arranged by Faye Lopez*****

*****MY ROOMMATE, Rebekah Randall, sang "Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion," from the Messiah, which was written by Handel*****

Ricky Georges also sang, but I forgot to get a picture of him!! :( He sang "Every Valley" also from the Messiah

*****Areille Joungblood played "Moonlight Sonata" (presto agitato) by Beethoven*****

*****Heidi Longhoffer played "I Will Praise Him" arranged by Shelly Hamilton*****

It went really well, and every one did a good job! :)

*****Me and Nichole****

*****ME!!! :)*****

When I got back to my room, I realized that my phone was almost dead. Because of white glove, I had packed all of my chargers for everything in one of my backpacks that I stuck in my closet. I found all of my other chargers, except for my cell phone charger! I still don't know where it is! I cannot find it ANYWHERE! Last night was horrible, I was searching through EVERYTHING looking for it, and by this time my phone was beeping at me, telling me that my battery was dead. This was VERY bad because I needed my phone for my alarm clock. Finally I decided to go to bed.
I didn't really sleep well, and I think it was because I was trying to figure out where in the world my charger was.
This morning I once again searched through everything looking for the charger, but alas, it was not to be found. Oh well.
Some strange things happened between me and my roommate this morning. The first thing that happened was we said the exact same thing, at the exact same time, then later she started to say something and I finished her sentence for her, following that she came in to our room from breakfast and brought with her my sack lunch and said, "Here 's your sack lunch" in a funny accent that she sometimes puts on, I was doing something on my computer and wasn't really thinking about that at all, and I answered her with the same accent, which I have never used before in my life!! LOL!!! I told her that we had been roommates for WAY too long, to which she heartily agreed. It's really scary!
Bus calling went well. It was kinda drizzling, but it wasn't as bad as some days have been.
I was able to go to the Verizon store and get a phone charger. Somehow I was able to get a discount on it, so I ended up paying just under $25 including tax instead of $30 plus tax, a nice $6 or $7 discount. PTL!
My roommates bridal shower was this afternoon. It was really nice. We played a game where everyone was given an index card and instructed to write a question that Rebekah might ask soon before or after her wedding. After a few minutes of thinking and writing we gave them back to Kristen (Rebekah's best friend, and the girl who was the hostess of the party), she then mixed them up and gave them back to everybody upside down, and we were told to write the answer to our question on the back of the card. Pretty much the question and the answer were mixed up big time. Kristen then read the questions and Rebekah read the answers, it was SOOOOOO funny!!
Ok....to end my post on a weird note, Rebekah and I were just instant messaging, and we typed the same thing to each other at the same time!! YIKES!! Four times in ONE day!! Get me outta here!!!

Graven upon His Palms

Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands;
thy walls are continually before me.
~Isaiah 49:16

Monday night Miss Josa spoke in dorm devotions and she brought up this verse. At the time I remember thinking, "That's a good verse," but I was soooo tired that night that I really didn't think much more about it. Today in my devotions I read the verse again. Matthew Henry wrote: "Some mothers do neglect their children; but God's compassions to his people, infinitely exceed those of the tenderest parents toward their children. His setting them as a mark on his hand, or a seal upon his arm, denotes his being ever mindful of them." In a sense it is like God tattoos us on His hand. We are always there, and He is constantly looking at us, thinking about us, and caring about us. In his commentary, Barnes says: "Thy walls - The meaning is, that he constantly looked upon them; that he never forgot them. He had a constant and sacred regard for his people, and amidst all their disasters and trials, still remembered them." What a wonderful God we have. To think that He is ever watching us and cares so much for us that even when we are going through trials we are literally in His hand, and we don't have to do anything on our own. He is there, not just walking beside us, but holding us, protecting us, and defending us. What a great God we serve.

*****Jay Cook State Park, Minnesota*****

More Heat!! UGH!

For some reason this morning I was REALLY dragging. It took me forever to get anything done. It was rather frustrating. :(
Classes went well. Nothing exciting happened in Christian Home. It was a good thing that I had a free period after that cuz I had to finish up some things that didn't get done earlier.
Chapel was VERY good. Bro. Randall preached, he sermons are always good, but this one was especially fitting in light of Johne dying and the fact that Bro. Randall was very close to him cuz he was on music groups for several years. Bro. Randall preached from Psalm 90, "So teach us to number our days..." It wasn't a message about dying young, but rather about making sure that we use the days that we are given to serve God. At the beginning of that Psalm it talks about living threescore and ten years, and possibly fourscore years, Bro. Randall added it up and 70 years comes to 25,500 days. That is all the days that we have to live, it's not very many. His point was what are we doing with those few days that we have been given? It was a very sobering message, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the auditorium.
My Christian Womanhood class was outside today! It was wonderful cuz everything was rather warm again today. :( Once again, it was a major ADD class, but hey, we weren't dying from the heat!
Nothing new in Intro to Missions. Just the same old, same old. I didn't play any games, but I was IMing and working on other things.
Work was HOT again! Goodness! The auditorium was 86 degrees, and the administration
building was 89 degrees! It was another "hair up" day! Mark it down in history, THREE days in a row I have put my hair up in some way!! LOL!

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I thought I was gonna get in SOOOOOO much trouble this afternoon while I was at work. I was vacuuming in the auditorium and I had taken my shoes off, cuz I couldn't stand the heat. Dr. Grimbilas (the Dean of Students) walked through as I was vacuuming and saw me bare foot! When I saw him my heart sank, cuz I thought he was gonna chew me out for breaking dress code. :( Instead he looked at me and said, "That's the way to do it, bare feet and your hair up. Stay as cool as you possibly can!" I was relieved to say the least, and I felt more freedom to be bare foot later on cuz he said it was ok, and if anybody were to write me up, all I have to do is go to him and he will take care of it!! YAY!! :)
After work I took some pictures, which will be on A Bug's Eye View soon, probably later tonight.
My roommate, God bless her, works in a coffee shop, and I asked her to bring me a lite iced vanilla latte (lite meaning skim milk and Splenda. She did, and it sure hit the spot! I REALLY needed it after working today. Not only was it nice and cool, but it also helped to wake me up! :)

*****My Latte*****

*****The cup totally cracked me up! Eco-Friendly! Isn't it wonderful!*****

*****HAHA plastic made from plants!!*****

HEAT!!

Since I have started the new blog with the main purpose of posting pictures, I will not be putting as many on this blog, but I will most definitely be posting some on here as well.
Sunday went well. Bus attendance was down, which was sad. There were only 30 some kids instead of the 50 some that usually ride. :( I'm guessing the reason for that is probably due to the weather. It was GORGEOUS!! At least the first part of the day was gorgeous, it got REALLY hot by mid-afternoon.

*****This was taken around 11:30 Sunday afternoon!*****

Bus drop offs were miserably HOT! The bus was rather warm to say the least, even with all the windows open. It did finally start to cool off once all the kids were off and we were on our way home.
There was a bit of excitement after bus route. Bro. Mike drives a limo for his boss as a second job. He was supposed to go to the city Sunday night to pick his boss up, so he brought the limo with him to church that way he could leave directly from there for NYC. He offered to take several of us for a spin!! It was SOOOO sweet! :) It was WONDERFUL! On top of everything else, it was air conditioned, something that we were all desperately needing! (By this time the temp had reached 90!) It was a blast!! :)

*****Looking from the front*****

*****Looking from the back*****

*****Total Sweetness!*****

*****Bro. Mushtaq, our maintenance man, posing with the car :)*****

So, that was the excitement of the day. :) I got all of my homework done for Monday, and then took a brief nap before it was time for choir practice. When I got into the auditorium it was HOT!! The thermostat showed 87 degrees!! Apparently the air conditioning is broken, so UGH!! Bro. Randall decided to move choir practice downstairs to the music room, which was cooler, but after putting so many people inside it got rather warm.
Church was pretty hot as well. It got really hot in the choir loft. I was glad that I didn't have to stay on the platform like the assistant pastors had to do.
After church I worked like normal. I vacuumed for over an hour, and with the temperature being soooo warm, I was rather hot and sticky by the time I was done working. I went through 3 bottles of water in 2 hours! I actually put my hair up, so you know it was hot if I did that since I NEVER pull it back in any way, shape, or form!
I was sooooo glad to come back to my room and take a cool shower before check in at 10:00.
The research paper for English Composition was due today. Mine was written on Joan of Arc.
World History was a BLAST!! We convinced Mrs. Donaghue to have class outside, because the class rooms were sooooo hot! :) There are four of us in that class, and all of us had a major case of ADD during class! I don't think we got a thing out of the class, but we all had a blast being dumb! :D It was fun!
Nothing else exciting happened in any of my classes.
I took some pictures today, but I think I will post them on my other blog.
Work was REALLY hot again! I put my hair up yet again! AMAZING!! Two days in a row!

*****This was the temperature in the auditorium this afternoon, it got even hotter later!! The class rooms were even warmer than the auditorium!*****

I came across this poem today and thought is was really good and really sobering!

His Plan for Me

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me,
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see

How I blocked Him here, and checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will --
Will there be grief in my Saviour's eyes,
Grief though He loves me still?

He would have me rich, but I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I cannot retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With the tears that I cannot shed;
I shall cover my face with my empty hands,
I shall bow my uncrowned head. . .

Lord, of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand;
Take me and break me, mould me to
The pattern Thou hast planned.

~Martha Snell Nicholson

New Blog

I have started a new blog for my photography. Check it out here