The 12 Days of Christmas...Starbucks Style :D

Due to space and such, I'll just type the very last segment which will tell every gift during the 12 days. And if you're anything like me, you'll have it stuck in your head within the hour! Enjoy :)

On the 12th day of Christmas, my Starbucks gave to me:

• Twelve eggnog lattes
• Eleven cappuccinos
• Ten cups a-brewing
• Nine cocoas steaming
• Eight shots a-pouring
• Seven gingerbread lattes
• Six peppermint mochas
• FIVE perfect shots!
• Four pounds of beans
• Three coffee presses
• Two cups of tea
• And a barista in a green apron

The End :) Hope you liked my singing with that too, because I was definitely belting it out while typing it. Haha

The "ing"s of Thanksgiving

Waking up at 6AM.
Taking a shower.
Putting on a million and a half layers of clothing.
Leaving the door at 7:15AM.
Scraping off frost from my car.
Leaving the driveway at 7:20.
Arriving at NWHS for the Kelsey Mikel Thankful Four Run.
Riding in the D.A.R.E awareness cart.
Taking 268 photos of runners and walkers.
Freezing.
Eating cookies at 9AM.
Thawing out...attempting to.
Leaving NWHS with my sweet shirt.
Coming home to take another shower.
Getting ready to go to Grandma's house.
Sitting with 16 people in 3 differents rooms.
Praying before I eat.
Giving thanks for the amazing people and things in my life.
Eating delicious food.
Trying to make conversation.
Feeling awkward.
Wanting to be home.
Watching television.
Saying goodbye.
Going home.
Falling asleep.

A Day of Firsts...

Today, for the first time, I:

• Had to finish getting ready in my car due to the fact that a squirrel blew up in our transformer and took our the power in our house.
• Arrived at school only to realize that I left my backpack and all its contents at home, causing me to drive back home to get it (where the power was back on, of course)
• I scored less than a 50 percent on an exam. Don't worry, the highest score was a 76 and our professor handed back the corrected exams, went over them thoroughly, collected them, and gave us the exact same exam to retake. So, I got an A in the end, which is also a first for that class.
• Went to NMC to try to give blood with my mom. That's not a first. I've tried several times for the past two years, but my iron has been too low. This was the first time I actually passed the iron test and gave blood!!
• Counted all the posts in the auxiliary gym while blood was slowly being collected. Yeah, it took awhile. And no, I don't remember the number anymore.
• Lastly, I learned how to drive a stick shift...and I rocked it! :D

Yeah...that was my list of firsts for the day. Firsts sure do make life interesting!! :D

Today is My Anniversary.

You may be asking yourselves: Anniversary? What? You're not married. Are you? Hmm...what are you talking about?



Well, it goes something like this:

Characters: Alyssa Walter, Megan Rendall (me)
Setting: Freshman year at NWHS, probably in the north surge I'm guessing
When: Wednesday October 15th, 2003

Alyssa: Hey Megan!
Megan: Hi.
Alyssa: How are you doing?
Megan: Eh, I'm doing alright I guess. I'm tired of school already.
Alyssa: Yeah. So what are you up to tonight?
Megan: Uhh...probably nothing as usual. Wednesday nights don't really have any good tv shows so I normally just sit around watching the Disney Channel or something. Why'd you wanna know?
Alyssa: Well our church is having this hayride tonight. It'll be really fun! You should come!
Megan: Oh yeah? Hmm...well I'd have to ask my mom first. What time?
Alyssa: We could probably come and pick you up if you want! It starts at 6:30. Oh and ***** will be there too. He goes on Wednesday nights.
Megan: (smiling really big) Oh! Well, I will definitely have to come. I'll call you after school to make sure, ok?
Alyssa: Alright. Sounds good. See you later!
Megan: Bye!

I went to that hayride. It was cold. We went and packed what seemed like a million students into a tiny little barn. I remember the games we played, the people who performed skits, even the speakers and band members. It was much cooler than my normal Wednesday nights. I kept attending ever since that night.

So, today is the 5-year anniversary of me attending Nappanee Missionary Church, or I guess church in general. Yeah, I definitely went for the wrong reasons for awhile. I thought I was in love. Haha. Yeah...not quite. I only attended Wednesday nights up until the summer before my senior year when I made a promise at summer camp to attend on Sundays. But over the past five years, thanks to my best friend Alyssa and the many people I have encountered at NMC, I have been able to start, develop, and strengthen a relationship with God. It's amazing what my Savior can do in such a short amount of time. And it's amazing the amount of impact certain people have had on me. Those people will probably never know how much they've done and still continue to do in my life. I am extremely grateful to the family I have gained in the past five years and I am extremely excited to see what happens in the future.

What's the Point?

Oh, what a lovely Wednesday so far...yes, that was complete sarcasm. Sarcasm seems to be the only thing left keeping me somewhat sane today.

Of course, bad days typically start with waking up late. So, at 6am I got a phone call. From whom you may be asking? My boss. Yeah, I had to open at Starbucks today. Opening means being AT work at 5:30 and being ready for customers at 6. Oh joy. So, that was great. Then, as my customers began to come in, our espresso machine decided to...yeah, you guessed it...not work. So, with being frazzled and stressed out with that, I proceded to spill drinks, cups, lids and anything else. And on top of that, I got to deal with the angry customers who insisted that I fix the machine and that it was my fault for it not operating correctly. Man, some people are so grouchy without their AM fix. Throughout my entire shift, the espresso machine worked, then didn't work, then worked, and so on. I think it managed to be operating for a total of 1 hour the whole day.

Yay. Coffee shops without coffee. Ya gotta love it.


Side note: In addition to Starbucks not operating fully this morning, the oven in the bakery was not working (aka...no muffins, or bread, or pastries, etc) and the gas station was also dealing with maintenence work. Apparently God just did not want Martins to be opened today.

What Am I Getting Myself Into?!

Wow. A challenge. I've got to admit I wasn't totally prepared for it. I mean, I knew it was going to happen sometime, but I had no idea how to answer it.

Last night, during Wednesday night junior high youth group, I was confronted by one of my small group girls. I had always seen her as a very strong girl. Quiet, but very strong. Her health background is one that amazes me and she talks about how lucky she is to even be alive. She uses this as a primary source in reaching out to others and spreading Christ's love. However, last night, as Chris talked about prayer and the intimacy of that time with God, our small groups were encouraged to be open and honest in a letter to our King. While it was a challenging thing for most, if not all of the students, this girl decided she needed immediate guidance. And who do you go to for guidance in the church? A pastor? Eh, you could. It may be a little difficult to get in contact with them. But my role as a small group leader has put me into the position to guide and direct the lives of junior highers.

As the night went on, I saw her face. Sad. Lonely. Lost. I could not imagine what she was going through. This strong little seventh grader looking so weak and defeated. She came up to me at the end of the night and asked me to read her letter to God. Sure enough, sad, lonely, lost, were in that letter somewhere. She proceeded to ask me what she was doing wrong in her walk with God and how she could fix it all. She couldn't hear him anymore. She still believed, or so she thought she did. She was confused and missed being a real close friend and child to her Father. My words were probably not as great as they could've been. I know that the last thing she wanted to hear was the cliche to "just keep praying about it". But I, myself, became lost in her confusion. And I have been wondering ever since if I can live up to this constant challenge. I put myself in this position thinking I could handle it. And I'm sure I can, but wow, that one really stumped me...

Finding Myself...

I'm going to be honest right now. Vulnerable. Open.

I'm scared of many things.
I'm scared of: Spiders. Bees. Most bugs in general. Storms. Driving in the winter. Failing at anything. Being forgiving. Trusting in others. Letting go. Being alone.

I recently figured out a new fear...Losing myself.


I was encouraged by a very close person to me that I was being held down so much by things and people in my past, that it was interfering with my confidence level in myself and who I am. As I thought about the idea of losing myself and my identity, it struck me that it was true. I could not figure out who I was as a person anymore. I had put aside my hobbies, my values, and my whole life because of things that slowly took their place in the past. I took the night and thought of things that I enjoyed doing in the past. I came up with my photography, of course, painting, traveling, and random last minute movie nights with tons of junk food. I continued to ponder over my past life and how great some things were and how not-so-great other things were and then it came to me that I am pretty much a robot these days. The past couple months, I have been stuck in the same routines. The same job. The same classes. The same group of friends (which I love by the way, don't get me wrong). The same life, yet a completely different one than what I used to have.

So, I have concluded that there ARE things holding me from enjoying my life. There ARE things I have to let go and forget about for awhile, maybe forever. There will be much struggling with taking steps to find out who "Megan" really is. I don't know her anymore. I hear she's pretty great. A beautiful person inside and out. A good leader. A hard worker. Worthy of something far greater than comprehension. Yeah...this is what I hear, but cannot understand or believe for some reason. I know the things I need to do. And I will admit that it's definitely not easy for me at all. I'm going to need the few good friends that I have to be there for me. Trust in me. Pray for me. Encourage me. And most importantly, love me....for the real me.

Is it possible? I sure hope so. But I am scared to death for the coming days and what's to happen.


Matthew 6:34- "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

What a Wonderfully Awful Day...

Normal morning routine for Tuesdays:
Wake up around 7:30
Take shower
Get ready
Eat small breakfast
Pack up things for school
Out of house by 9
First class begins at 10


Today's routine for Tuesday (so far):
Wake up at 9
Yell at myself for sleeping in
Injured foot--hard to walk now
Take shower
Blow a fuse in the bathroom, causing all outlets to not function
Get ready in Mom's bathroom
Eat lunch
Get stomach ache
Pack things for school
Out of house by 10:30
Second class begins at 11:30

Teen-B-Gone

So, I just realized that in 27 days to be exact, my teenage years will be no more. It's weird that I even thought about it, seeing as how I feel older than a teen regardless. The group of people I normally hang out are much older than I am, so I have felt a part of them in the past year. My age comes up every once in awhile, but I consider myself to be pretty mature for how old I am. I mean, everyone in our group would agree that I am more grown up than some who continue to act 10 years younger than what they actually are. I was thinking about this concept earlier tonight and I actually replied to someone that I was 20 years old when they asked. Yeah....not true...yet. That's just strange. Two decades of life. Well spent or not, they are twenty years that are in the past and I can't get back. Now, to the next years of my life, which I will not completely focus on so I can just enjoy life and live in the moment. Yeah, maybe I should wait until it's actually my birthday before I start "not focusing on the future". Haha. We can see how well that's working out already.....

Some People....

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It never was between you and them anyway.

Broken

Have you ever lost something you care about? You would do anything to get it back?



How about a person, have you ever lost someone you care about? You would do anything to have them back in your life?



What if you did nothing wrong? What if there was no explanation why you lost this thing or person? Don't you feel even worse?



What if that thing or person doesn't want you anymore? It makes things rather difficult in trying to get them back, doesn't it?


Oh sad day.

Lessons Learned

Back to blogging? Yeah, for now at least. With a busy summer almost over and most likely a busy school year, who knows. But for now, it's all me. Nothing in hiding. Just me, Megan Rendall, being my true self.

I would fill you in on the summer, but that would take way too long. It's been a fun summer, that's for sure. And like everyone says, it went by super fast. I spent most of my time either working (still at Starbucks), hanging out with the greatest people ever (the young adults from NMC), or helping out with junior high by being a small group leader (also NMC). This summer had its ups and downs, just as life usually does. I gained friends. I lost friends. I laughed. I cried. Everything happened this summer. I was challenged by God in many ways, and feel as though I am on the right path with Him now. My life was being controlled by other people and things, and I have been able to renew my relationship with him through the encouragement of those around me and through the hardships of the past. I am not ready for school, but at the same time I am hoping for a new beginning. A chance to enjoy the college life, no strings attached. Still obeying Him and living for my Savior, I plan to have a different life this school year. I am not going to worry about friendships or relationships. They will come and go as God plans them to. I might get hurt this year, but I know that I have the love and support of everyone around me. I am ready for change.

My biggest struggle is letting go. It's hard for me, but I am admitting it now. I have had great friends in the past, ones that I would honestly die for. And as time moves on, so do we. It's been hard trusting God with the future, even the present is hard enough. My love for those friends will not change, even if theirs does. I know that I will be replaced by others, and that is hard for me to bear. But that is life, I guess. I know that I may not like what people have become or where life takes them, but I have to accept it. I know that I can try to keep those friendships, but in most cases they are completely over. One of those friendships in particular has been the hardest for me to deal with. I thought I had let it go. I thought I had moved on. I thought I was completely over them. But a rush of emotions came back right when I realized it was done for sure. I will miss this person. I will miss the great times we had together. I will miss their family and being a part of it. I will miss the comforting this person brought to me. I will miss the silence, where we understood each other without saying a word. I will miss the times where we were completely vulnerable and open with each other. I will miss talking to them and being encouraged by them. But most of all, I will miss the love that is now a grain of sand along a beach. They have moved on, and as hard as it is for me, I must move on also. I have learned so much from the past, but the thing I need to learn the most right now is how to give it all up.

Back in the Day...

Today, one of the first day's I've had off in quite awhile, I spent back in time. No, not time travel, but a day spent with the older generations of my family. For my history class, I am required to interview 3 people for my final paper. The topic of discussion in this paper is completely up to me, but the 3 people must be able to talk about it in some way. I think I learned more today then the entire semester of my history class in general. The day started out at 11 when I went to visit my 90 year old great-grandma. She may be old, but she has a lot of life to be learned from. She read some entries from a diary she had kept discussing events in her life and little miscellaneous information that might be passed on to someone when she's gone. As we were sitting at lunch, she noticed a man changing the gas prices on the sign. From 3.48 to 3.47 it went. And of course we talked about how it was easily obtainable to fill up a car for less than a dollar, but nobody could even afford a car, so they didn't worry about it then. After lunch, my grandma (her daughter) met up with us after work. And by 3pm, I felt like I was living in the most spoiled, disrespectful, shocking generation of the history of the world.

By the time I got to my grandpa, I knew what to expect. "Kids never find out the value of a dollar. They have gotten so spoiled. When I was young, I mowed yards at the age of 8 or 9, I had two paper routes, and I caught chickens until about 1 in the morning. Kids today expect the money that we had to work so hard for." The sad part is that each of my grandparents....were correct. Thankfully, I was raised having to have a job right when I turned 15, and had to pay my mom for any money I ever borrowed. To this day, I'm still in debt with her, but I know in the end it'll be worth it. Because unlike most of the spoiled kids today, I know that I need to save money if I want to do anything or get anything. It's life and it's going to happen sooner or later. I'm glad I was assigned this paper for history. I'm glad that I got to hear what life was back in the day, before the people passed on and were buried with all of their memories, experiences, and knowledge. And in today, I've realized that I need to spend as much time with those people around me that can teach me more about life before their life is gone. They have lived through much much more than our generation could ever fathom. It's quite incredible.

The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn....

...is just to love and be loved in return"~Moulin Rouge

"You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?"~Fever Pitch


It's crazy to actually think that there is someone out there who is on the opposite side of this every second of the day. Someone who, no matter the distance, the words said, the things done, the mistakes made, He will always love us. In relation to the Moulin Rouge quote, our mission is just to love Him with all of our hearts. Nothing else truly matters besides knowing our real father. In accordance with the Fever Pitch quote, we can't take things for granted, such as God himself. We often put other things or people in His place that may not even love us back, or at least not as much as what we deserve. It's crazy how much we get caught up in our problems and our drama and our issues that we often forget about the One who gave us life. A life to be lived out for Him, thanking Him, praising Him, and ultimately loving Him. When are we ever going to return the favor that He gives to us every moment of the day?

Life is Way Too Short

In the past couple of weeks, I have found myself to be at a very low point. The overload of papers for school, hours for work, drama with friends and family, and serious health issues have made me so consumed with thoughts of getting away and just wanting to be done with it all. Yeah, summer break is in a few weeks, but I have felt that a much needed break was in order after the weeks that I have been going through. One after the other, problems came into my life. And when we are so overwhelmed with stress and overall, life, we either try to block everything out and ignore it, or we make it a bigger deal than it has to be and we forget about everyone else around us. Well, wouldn't you know that a few seventh and eighth grade kids would open my eyes as to how I've been acting lately.

These past two weeks I've been so focused on MY problems, MY issues, MY drama, and MY life. And in the mean time, other people are going through the same things, junior highers for instance. And what type of leader am I if I don't help them through it? Perhaps in return, they will end up helping me unintentially. Who knows? But I can't continue going through all of this alone, it's way too hard. So, I know how those junior highers feel when they talk about cancer scares in their families, or a loss of really close friends, or problems in their families. It's really hard to combine all of these issues and put them into one life. But sometimes, that's the way it has to be for us to learn through it. I know things will get better, but nobody thinks about that when they are at the lowest of lows. It's too hard.

ONE

I am ONE.

ONE decision to better myself.

ONE smile to pass on to another.

ONE leader to lead many people.

ONE action to save a nation.

ONE voice to change the world.

I am ONE person.

But can I be that ONE that people are waiting for?

Leaving a Legacy

I recently had a double encounter with the subject of legacies. Such thoughts cross my mind: What is a legacy? How do we know when we are leaving one? What does it mean to continue a legacy? Who is our main target for leaving a legacy? To be honest, I have no answers to any of these questions. However, whether at a college basketball game or at on-fire rallies for church, I was able to come up with some ideas.

I went to my one and only basketball game for this school year, and wouldn't you know, it wasn't even for my college! Last Tuesday was tournament time for the NAIA schools Bethel and Grace. Now, trying not to sound like a sports writer, I will just sum it up with the fact that this was a BIG game. Winner of more than a pass to the next round of the tourney. Congrats to Bethel for...uhh....beating Grace College. I wish I could say that it was a close game. Anyways, throughout the game, Bethel played videos for their season goal of "Continuing a Legacy." What that means, well, that's what I've been asking myself lately. I always thought that a legacy was something new and unheard of. You don't know that you've left a legacy until people you've affected realize it much later. Man, that doesn't even make sense! Legacies are slightly confusing. So, let me look this one up. My main man Webster says that a legacy is 'something that is transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.' Well, that could be anything, couldn't it? It [the dictionary] says that another word for a legacy is an inheritance. When I think of inheritance, I'm pretty sure basketball talent or whatever Bethel is trying to continue on doesn't really relate to an inheritance. That's something you have to try at, whereas a legacy just happens, right?! Do we really have control over the legacies we leave? I guess in the future, depending on age, we have the control over the inheritances we leave to our friends and family. So, I guess in retrospect, we can leave a legacy. But the whole Bethel thing still doesn't make sense to me.

Another situation, more relative to this point was at the on-fire rallies for our junior high. Doug Holliday, our wonderful speaker for the four day journey. At the end of the night on Wednesday, I got a new sense of the word legacy and it's meaning. Our actions can be left behind as a legacy. If anyone disagrees, they can read basically any word in the Bible and find that every person's actions led to something bigger and better. The continuation of the legacy of spreading the gospel is still going on today. And it shall go on forever, hopefully. That's why it's up to us to continue that legacy. I don't think Bethel's basketball team has an idea of a legacy to continue dealing with basketball at all. I think what they really mean is that they are going to continue the "inheritance" of their God given talent and love in hopes that it can touch the lives of others.

Just as Jesus began a legacy of God's love and forgiveness, so we shall continue that legacy in hopes that others are touched by our own actions. So instead of worrying about leaving a legacy, we should focus on continuing the greatest legacy in history. Am I right or am I right? Hmm...

Wintery Weather...So Overrated!

I don't know about you all, but this weather is driving me insane. One minute it's sunny, the next it's snowing, and then it's raining, and then it's sunny again. When will it end?!

There are a select few things that I actually like about this weather, more of a cause/effect thing at least. Driving down a hill that's covered in a sheet of ice is an AWFUL experience, especially when there is a traffic light halfway down the hill. To sum it up, pressing your breaks doesn't do anything except make you swirve everywhere. This, unfortunately, happened to me yesterday on my way to school. Trying to stop before the red light was nearly impossible. The only reason it worked for the two cars in front of me was because they nailed the cars in front of them. I was only a few feet from being in that accident. Instead, I ended up stopped perpendicular to the road, facing a mailbox, with one tire half way on a curb. What a complete nightmare. Now, what is the good thing about this situation? Well, you may be thinking nothing. However, when you get so close to getting in an accident, your life kinda flashes before your eyes. All stress is put aside, all worries are put aside, all the material things of the world are put aside, and the only thing on your mind is a prayer to stay with the ones you love. Afterwards, all you have inside you is a thankful heart that you're still alive, and you begin to go about your day differently, as though it's your last. I believe that is how we should live every day.

Be My Valentine, Tomorrow?

Ahh. It's that time of year again. The day that people say everyone is thinking about love. But why is it just one day? This year will be my second time, in my 19 years of life, that I have a 'significant other', the same one as last year in fact. So, recently, instead of being asked "How's school?" or "How's work?" or "How's that one thing?", I am constantly being asked "So, what special thing do you and Christian have planned this Valentine's Day?" And you know what, I'm pretty much sick of it. Isn't that awful? I love this holiday, don't get me wrong; but with school and work and extra-curriculars, I am lucky just to spend any time with my 'everyday Valentine' this week. We have both agreed, that since things have been so hectic lately, we don't plan on doing anything "special". Every moment we get to spend with each other, as rare as those moments come, are the most special and meaningful. Why should we treat each other any different one day of the year? It's like saying we have to be super nice to our moms on Mother's Day, or that we can only focus on Jesus on, or around Christmas. It's not right. If you are going to love somebody, don't only let it show one day out of the year. If they are so special to you that you want to show how you feel, why wait for a "special occasion"? I do love Christian, everyday. And I will treat him the same as any other day of the year, cherishing every moment, despite the day, that we get to see each other. And I am looking forward to when we "celebrate" Valentine's Day with our USUAL Jack's pizza and a rented movie. It's what we love doing, and it's what we are doing as our "special plans".


By the way, Christian, I hope the whole pizza and movie thing sounds good :) There will be a Mountain Dew waiting for you, like always!!

True Love :)

I absolutely love my job! LOVE it!

I love our usuals. The people that come in around the same time everyday and order the exact same thing all the time. So predictable! Sometimes they like to change it up, but there are those who stick with their regular drinks. I love learning about our customers, about their families, their jobs, their worries, their praises, their hardships, their celebrations, their pasts, their futures, and everything in between. I love when customers look at our nametags and immediately treat us like they've known us forever just because they know our name. I love that feeling of being treated like more than "someone who's getting paid to do their job". I love it when people ask for recommendations or help because they have never seen or heard of Starbucks before. I love helping them. I love seeing the look on their face when they first taste their delicious cup of coffee, or mocha, or latte, or whatever else. I love the connection we have with the employees working around us. I love waving at all my fellow Martin's employees on my way from the breakroom to Starbucks. Being so close to the deli and bakery, we all know each other pretty well. And they are a fantastic bunch of people to work with. And being so tight-knit allows us to get free samples too :)

I love my fellow Starbucks girls. We all have more in common than just a green apron and a barista title. I don't think there's anyone there that would willingly leave and go elsewhere. We all realize that we are so fortunate to have the employer that we do, the business that we have, and the community that we are supported by.

I don't think there is any place like Starbucks. I love it.

Mickey D's vs. Starbucks?

Is it true? Can it be? No way...

If you haven't heard yet, McDonalds is replacing their "express" lanes to "espresso" lanes. Being a fellow barista at the competing Starbucks, I am finding myself worrying about this upcoming change. Why? I mean, Starbucks is the coffee capital of the world, they are everywhere! But competing with a franchisement that's been around even longer with more locations around the world, well, I just don't know what is to become of it!

With my knowledge and experience at Starbucks, I know why the prices are high, why people do or don't like Starbucks, everything that goes into working there, and basically how it's run in general. Now, I have been giving up on fast food as much as possible, so I haven't been to McDonalds in over a year. But now that they are trying to take business away from us, and see us crash, well, it gives me a whole different reason to not go there! I have a ton of thoughts and concerns about this new change and what's to happen. Will McDonalds succeed? Will we lose our customers? Will Starbucks disappear? Or will McDonalds suffer? Will people not like the drastic change from food-on-the-go to java-on-the-go? What is going to happen?

What are your thoughts about this craziness?!

Precipitation from My Eyes

One, two, three, and more.
What on earth are these tears for?
Five, six, seven, and wait.
Apparently life isn't going so great.


:(

Only a Hint of Silence

I recently had a blog where I wrote about silence as a response to my prayer. The content for that blog was a brief summary of Derry's message to the Effect group right before Christmas break. Tonight, he came back to finish that message and I found myself in a different position than I was before.

Since college started, back in September, I have found it very difficult meeting new people at school. Even though I was happy for all of my friends who were meeting a ton of people at their colleges, inside I was extremely lonely and I was becoming hopeless that I wouldn't find anyone at IUSB that I could truly call a friend. I kept constantly blaming myself for the reason that I hadn't met many people. Out of the four classes I had last semester, only two of my professors knew my name, and I could probably count the number of people that I actually talked to on one hand. I began to think that my criteria for a good potential friend were too high. All I was looking for was someone who was a strong Christian and did not smoke, drink, party like crazy, or have a foul mouth. Little did I know that those qualities were going to be so difficult to find at my school. So I continued to walk from class to class every day by myself for the entire semester. All I wanted was someone I could talk to and hang out with aside from Tuesday nights and Sunday mornings. I started feeling bad for Christian, who I thought was going to get sick of listening to my cries every night.

Towards the end of November, aka the end of the semester, I began to just give up on finding friends for the first part of my school year. All I had to do was wait out Christmas break and then maybe, just maybe someone would come into my life during my second semester. It was around this time that Amy added me as a friend on Facebook. Now usually I am not one to add people to my friend's list if I don't know them; but she said she was the girlfriend of Preston, who I know from church, and her sister worked with Christian at the library. So, I went ahead and added her as a friend, totally not expecting much to happen with that. A day or two later, she sent me a message telling me more about herself. She went to IWU for her first semester, but was transferring to IUSB next semester because it was cheaper, closer to home, and she wasn't meeting anyone at IWU. She was hoping to become friends with me since she heard I was in kind of the same position.

Well, alright. So we proceeded to send messages back and forth to each other, opening up more and more each time. After about twenty messages sent to and fro, we both were extremely shocked to find out that nearly everything about us was the same. Our favorite foods, movies, shows, activities, games, and so on. Everything was exact! A month went by with more messages, some texting, and instant messaging a few times. The new semester was coming quickly and we decided that we had to meet to go on with our potential best friend status. So, last Friday, we dragged the guys along and had a double date, and I must say, I am extremely excited to see what happens with us this semester and more in the future! My prayer had become answered, but not just by this one girl entering my life. I found more people that I related to and could hang out with on a regular basis and I completely fit in! Over my Christmas break, I did get friends as a gift; and it's the greatest gift that I have enjoyed thus far.

Ring in the New Year

Last night, I was able to get together with my four best friends. Two of them go to Bethel, one to Butler, and the other to IUSB. Even with some of us being so close, it was the first time we had seen each other since Thanksgiving break.

Anyways, we went to our usual place to eat: Hacienda of course! And on the way back home, we talked about how we were turning 20 this year. Twenty!? Are we really that old?! Two decades of life, finished?! It kind of got me thinking about all of my goals and plans in life, things keeping me from going towards them, and ones that may not even be attainable anymore.

I have many things I want to accomplish, but there is hardly any drive. My procrastination has held me back, has made me lazy, and has overall defeated me. I must fight back. I'm almost 20! I still have strength to kick procrastination out the door!

Right?