The Birthday!

My Birthday Week

I could not have been happier with the week of my 21st birthday! I finally felt like I had a social life again. Things with school had finally slowed down (I spoke too soon, they are speeding up again with finals fast approaching) but I was thankful that I got to enjoy a few days. Monday I took a trip with some boys from the hometown to the The Woodlands and got to enjoy P.F. Chang's and some shopping! I also managed to find mom a birthday present too!

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent busy with church and church related activities (TRUTH, demolishing walls and cleaning out a building to turn into a used furniture store for contributions to the women's pregnancy care center, TRUTH Co-Rec softball games, small group at the duck pond, all of the above = FUN STUFF!)

Thursday was a long day with classes from 9:30 to 2 then work until 5. I received a very interesting text message from Hannah right before I left work that said "Go through the front door" so I knew something was going on!

This is what I came home to . .

A sheet over our kitchen with a french sign that means "Much Love"(at the top of the post), Hannah in her apron that I made, and her "friend" Brandon in his chef's coat. A girl could get used to this!!

After a much appreciated afternoon nap I was called downstairs to a meal made especially for me! Note the piece of toast cut into a heart - this was Brandon's idea.

And my very own cake too!

After dinner Hannah and I went and visited one of our new favorite places. The duck pond. We had small group there on Wednesday and could not help but go back and take pictures of the little ducklings. They were too cute!

I think these were leftovers from Easter but they were so unique!

The duck pond is also the site where a lot of Sam Houston's history is. This is a picture of the steamboat house that he passed away in. If only pictures could be scratch-n-sniff because you could smell the honeysuckle from yards away and it was GORGEOUS!

After our history lesson Hannah and I went on to play some tennis and then came home and packed for the weekend trip home to celebrate with the family!

April 24th was a morning much too early for my liking but I had an 8 o'clock class and then work until 2 before the venture to Frost.

I showed up at work and my co-worker had left a sign on my computer wishing me a happy birthday - how sweet! This is me modeling my sign after a long day at work.

Then Hannah and I made the long treck home so I could celebrate more with the fam! Friday afternoon/night was spent at the hometown baseball game and enjoying some of my dad's omelets with the family. I was so thankful for a wonderful 21st birthday!

Saturday the family went up to Ft. Worth to celebrate my mom's birthday. Here is a pic of the birthday girls!

Overall it was a very enjoyable birthday and I am so blessed to have so many people to share it with!This was the sign that was on my fancy chalboard all week long. 21 on 4-24!

Truth and The Bridge

After the fall semester which I would consider torture in "The Ville" I was looking for a way out . . . quickly. I had emailed several schools about their English programs and the requirements. I even had one in mind.

Then in January my roommates and I decided to attend Truth at the local baptist church. Truth is the Tuesday night worship service for college students. It was wonderful to see so many people taking a stand for Christ - And I immediately thought "Okay, this might be something I can do." We haven't missed a Tuesday yet. And I've become a member of a small group. And we play ultimate frisbee on Sunday nights. And as if that isn't enough . . . I've found the reason I believe I'm here. I finally know why God put me here.

Another thing that we do with our college group is a ministry called "the Bridge." Every third Friday of the month we travel to the Pierce elevated bridge in Houston to help feed and clothe the homeless of Houston. It's not very often that I'm actually thankful for my very lame job where I only make minimum wage. And school is never fun. And our apartment isn't the best but those people have nothing but the clothes on their back and the possessions they carry with them. And they were thankful for that and for what we were doing for them. They just had beaming smiles and I don't have any idea where that could come from when you sleep on the street at night. It definitely makes me want to reach out to people more. I'm so blessed. It will be something I attend every month that I am able to.

I just ask that you would keep me, my roommates, and the church's ministry in your prayers. God is definitely doing amazing things on our campus through college students and I hope if I can at least make a small contribution to that it will all be worth it.

Spring, Spring, Spring!

Since the moment I've been anticipating posting these pics I've been singing the Spring song from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I certainly was not excited about having to work on spring break but if I hadn't had to work I might have missed out on our campus in full bloom! These are the bushes directly outside the building where I work! A beautiful vision of pink that you can't miss when you look out the window, even if you're on the other side of the building!

I couldn't get too close to the white flowers because there were busy bees buzzing around but I still managed to snag this shot!


The pale pink ones are definitely my favorite!


God is definitely showing how He makes all things new whether it's in nature or working in people's lives. It's always good to know He has a hand in everything! Thank You for the blessing of beautiful Spring colors!

The Ice Cream Escapades

Huntsvegas is definitely not the most exciting place in the world even when school is in session. But when it’s spring break and this place looks like a ghost town, you have to find ways to entertain yourself. I was in the ville because students and faculty get spring break off, ya notice what word is missing though? Staff, that’s right, staff – which includes one of my roommates and myself.

Monday night however we didn’t have to entertain ourselves. We decided to make a late night trip to the HEB down the road for some necessary contact solution and while we were there we thought we’d indulge a little and get some ice cream. Now I’m not picky about my flavors (technically I shouldn’t eat ice cream in the first place because it makes me violently ill) but my roommate HAS to have her rocky road. So we made our way to the freezer section and apparently HEB isn’t partial to Blue Bell Rocky Road. (The name probably should have been foreshadowing our journey ahead) Begrudgingly we went on our way and decided to look somewhere else.

First we thought convenient store but if you’ve ever been in this one-horse town there aren’t too many that are safe or would probably have what we were looking for. Our next stop was Walgreen’s (we were avoiding wal-mart at all causes). No luck at Walgreen’s either. Next was CVS across the road. After searching and rummaging through freezer racks my roommate found her desired flavor. The infamous rocky road. Finally! And I settled on some Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche.

And yes, so far, this has been the highlight of our spring break. Sadly.