Christmas Banquet

The first weekend of December Shawnee had a Christmas banquet...here are some pictures.

*****Before the banquet*****

*****All the "single girls"*****

*****Ruthie, Kaye Lani, Laura, Hannah*****

*****Theresa and I played a duet during the service*****

*****Amanda and Kaye Lani*****

*****My date, John*****

*****Kaye Lani, Kasie, Laura*****

*****Anna, Laura*****

*****Carrie, Laura*****

*****Carrie, Kaye Lani*****

*****Amy.....she had just drunk lemon juice*****

*****After the banquet, Amy and Brandon had bought glow sticks*****

*****Derrick and Tiffani*****

*****Amanda, Hannah, Laura, Kaye Lani*****

*****Kaye Lani, Tiffani, Laura*****

*****Tim, Laura*****

*****Laura, Kaasi, Anna, Theresa*****

Call Back

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back­;

'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;

And if, perchance, Faith's light is dim, because the oil is low,

Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;

Call back, and say He kept you when the forest's roots were torn;

That when the heavens thundered and the earthquake shook the hill,

He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.

O friend, call back and tell me, for I cannot see your face;

They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;

But there are mists between us, and my spirit eyes are dim,

And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you'll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,

And if you'll say He saw you through the night's sin-darkened sky,­

If you have gone a little way ahead, O friend, call back,­

'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.

- Selected

(Quoted in Streams In The Desert devotional)

I have Learned

I’ve learned-
that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.

I’ve learned-
that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.

I’ve learned-
that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

I’ve learned-
that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I’ve learned-
that it’s not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.

I’ve learned-
that you should never ruin an apology with an excuse.

I’ve learned-
that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something.

I’ve learned-
that you shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.

I’ve learned-
that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I’ve learned-
that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I’ve learned-
that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I’ve learned-
that you can keep going long after you can’t.

I’ve learned-
that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I’ve learned-
that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I’ve learned-
that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I’ve learned-
that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I’ve learned-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I’ve learned-
that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I’ve learned-
that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I’ve learned-
that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I’ve learned-
that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I’ve learned-
that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.

I’ve learned-
that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I’ve learned-
that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.

I’ve learned-
that your family won’t always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren’t related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren’t biological.

I’ve learned-
that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you are to learn to forgive yourself.

I’ve learned-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I’ve learned-
that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I’ve learned-
that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.

I’ve learned-
that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

I’ve learned-
that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I’ve learned-
that you shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I’ve learned-
that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I’ve learned-
that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.

I’ve learned-
that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I’ve learned-
that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I’ve learned-
that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I’ve learned-
that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings, and standing up for what you believe.

I’ve learned-
that people will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Copied from http://academictips.org

Laughter No Matter What

This Christmas is not exactly going to be the best Christmas ever, this makes the third Christmas in a row that has been pretty terrible. You see, my mom has to have surgery on the 23rd and will not be getting out of the hospital until Christmas day at the earliest. Even worse, I have to work until 11 pm on the 23rd so I will not be at the hospital for her surgery and I will not be getting home until sometime Christmas Eve and I have to head back to school on the 27th to work! BLAH!

To be honest I have really been struggling with all of this - I have wanted to throw a big pity party and complain about everything. After all, not only do I not get to be home very much over Christmas break, but most of that time will be spent in the hospital. Not cool in my opinion.

The other day it hit me - no matter how badly I want to scream and cry and boo hoo the circumstances, it is not going to change a thing...so why not make the best of them? (Duh, Hannah!) Maybe we will not be having a traditional Christmas with lots of food and laughter and fun and presents, but that does not mean that we still cannot have fun and spread the Christmas cheer! I found out the other day that my mom is baking cookies this week and freezing them so she can take them to her nurses, they have to spend Christmas in the hospital too. Even better than that my aunt and her boyfriend (whom I have not yet met, and still need to approve ;)) are going to be coming to the hospital on Christmas Eve, and we are going to paarrrtttyyyy! Hopefully mom will be able to come home on Christmas (we are all planning and praying that way) so at least we will be home part of that day. :) Not only that, but I decided that Sunday I am staying home from church with Mom, we will get some of that mother/daughter time that is always so special and wonderful.

See?! It is not all that bad! I'm sure we will find lots of things to laugh about and in the years to come we will look back at this time as a time of love, laughter, and growing together as a family. This Christmas has the potential of becoming the best Christmas ever.

Diamonds or Stones?

Amazing Day!

I had quite the day today, it was crazy, insane, and so funnnnyyyyy!!!! It started around 7 am in the college kitchen, a friend, Kaye Lani, and I were bringing breakfast to our Sunday school class so we got up extra early to make cinnamon rolls. It was really creepy because everything was dark and spooky...we had a lot of fun! She and I and another friend, Laura, left for church, but we had freezing rain last night, so my 2 back passenger car doors froze shut! Kaye Lani is tiny so she just climbed over the seats and we handed back the food to her...amid a myriad of giggles! :D Next Laura and I climbed in up front and started out the drive way, all of a sudden I heard a scream and looked over, apparently Laura's door froze OPEN and it would not latch at all! I called my dad and he told me to stop at a gas station and get WD40 to spray in the lock. I had to use a lot of it, but finally, I think the door just froze back shut. Either way we made it safely to church, but when we got there we all decided to get out my door! I'm sure we were quite the sight, 3 college girls, food and all climbing out one door! :D (The door did finally unfreeze by the time church was out).

Let me tell you, people in northern KY and southern IN do NOT know how to drive in snow. On our way to church tonight we passed and accident...it was wet pavement, not icy! On the way back from church it was snowing really hard and there was about 1 inch of snow on the ground, we were going 35 mph on the 65 mph hwy, and the road was wet, not icy! Oh wells.

I watched a movie with a friend, but about half way through the movie the fire alarm went off! AAAHHHH!!!!!! So we had to go outside in our pajamas and the snow and wait for the fire department to get here! Thank the Lord for cars...I think about 10 of us crammed into a friends van and turned Christmas music on high and totally had a blast!! It was just a false alarm, which was good! :) So yeah...it was an awesome day filled with a million memories!

Oh, I forgot to mention. My friend Kaye Lani is one of my bff's, she started talking to one of my other bff's, Silas, about 2 or 3 weeks ago...he treats her like royalty and today they got to spend a lot of time together...that was an awesome topping to an awesome, fun filled, memorable day!

That Dreaded Last Week....

Ah yes! School is winding down and alas! this is the last week of classes. For some reason professors seem to get some sort of joy out of dumping a million projects and assignments on their students for this lovely last week. I think that I have more things due between yesterday and Friday than I've had in any one month all semester! YIKES!!!! I'm sooooo looking forward to Friday because I have the day off work and I can sleep after class!! Finals start next Monday, but I don't have a final until Wednesday! Praise the Lord!

I'm not gonna lie, I feel really overwhelmed right now. I have two 2,000 word research papers, a presentation, a seven minute story to tell, a high school science lesson to peer teach, a file project, and two notebooks ALL DUE THIS WEEK! Right now all I'm able to do is rely on God...He's the only way I'm going to make it through! I would greatly appreciate your prayers during this week.

Oh and I forgot to mention, tonight is the first night that I manage by myself! Yet another YIKES! I'm on the schedule to manage Thursday night as well!