That's just kooky!

Life stays busy, but I have finally learned that there is nothing more important or life altering than my quiet time everyday. On days when I wake up late or putter around for too long and don't leave myself enough time to study God's word, I'm such a mess spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, you name it-ally. It's so much harder for me to walk around and appreciate what a gift it is to be able to go to school and meet new people. And I get so frustrated with myself on days when I haven't spent sweet time in God's presence. My life is such a turned around state of affairs when I have spent time in the truth, and it's so good!

Lately I have just been thinking about how God shows love and grace through his abundance. This summer I prayed continuously that my rooming situation would be worked out. I didn't have a clue where to start looking for a roommate or how to start looking for places, but I knew that God would provide. Trusting him in that one little thing and moving when I felt that little nudge, was just the most amazing thing. Everything in God's timing. I have the greatest roommate. In fact, I could not have found a more perfect roommate.

I've also just been thinking about what Dave Gibson always says about God being Plan A, and not needing a Plan B. I am such a super-secretive Plan B maker! I catch myself all the time second guessing God's timing by double checking and securing a fail safe plan. I keep wanting to jump too soon and I know that if I just wait, God will come through. He always does, I just get over eager to see things happen even when I know that it's not the right time.

And I realized that I really struggle with security. I want to plan something just in case God isn't able to come through so that I have a plan to fall back. In doing that, I am continually undermining and underestimating God. It's so ridiculous for me to use human reasoning on a being that created, maintains, and saved me! Absolutely kooky! He has proven his faithfulness, and I just need to fall back on it. Kind of like a trust fall. Anyways, this entry went a completely different direction than what I thought I was going to write.

Benefits of not making your bed

1. You don't have to do any work to get in bed for a nap or at night; your sheets are already turned down.

2. When you come home from a long day at school and your cat has thrown up on your sheets, it's much easier to take care of than to have to wash the comforter as well as the sheets.

Praise God for small mercies! I came home from a grueling day of classes to find that Bailey had been sick on my sheets near my pillow and down the side of my bed. Washing the sheets and the mattress pad cover are so much easier than trying to wash my satin comforter.

I anticipate Tuesdays and Thursdays (or more like MWF evenings) to be my roughest days. Basically I'm not as excited about these three new classes as I am about my MWF classes. I've just filled in my planner for the semester; I've estimated that most nights before TTH classes I'll be reading at least 100 pages. I was excited to learn that I don't have to buy a Biology book, but then today my other classes have a grand total of eighteen (18) required texts. Let's not even talk about what that's going to amount to. I'm just happy to be at a school I really like in a city where I feel like I belong.

Ah, it's been 4 hours since I started (and forgot) this post. At any rate...I'm going to bed on freshly laundered sheets. =)

It's like having breakfast at Tiffany's, but SO much better!

I got a bit of a crap hair cut yesterday. I'm not sure why it always happens to me, but whenever I get my hair cut, my stylist never really listens to what I say I want. My hair is two inches shorter than what I asked for, and let me just warn you, it's short now. I cried when I got home. But then I put on a fantastic pair of earrings and went to Target because there is not a whole lot that is more therapeutic for me than going to Target and doing a little shopping/wandering. Lindsay B, who appreciates Target as much as I do, helped me come up with today's title/life saying:

Spending time in Target is like having breakfast at Tiffany's, but SO much better!

So much stress I lost my voice!

This morning I woke up at 4 with a nightmare.


I don't have nightmares. Ever. Honestly. This was probably the first nightmare I can remember in years. It was crazy, and I still remember it vividly. When I woke up, I was about to be knifed to death in the women's bathroom at the police department with a scalpel by an escaped prisoner that I helped put away. So many questions arise from that! How did the prisoner escape in the police department, how did he get a scalpel, how did I help put him away, why a nightmare??

I think it all has to do with stress (And I watched Batman Begins last night before bed and it was a little action packed/dark). I am a little (understatement) stressed at the mo.

This morning I woke up (again) at 7:58 (on the dot) because I was worried about oversleeping my registration time. No worries everyone, I got all my classes! Then I called the Students A/R Office to see how my loan processing was coming along because I've been waiting to hear from them. A really nice, helpful girl answered and it was such a relief to talk to someone. I've been calling them for days and it's always been a busy signal. I guess you have to call at 8:15 am to get through. Anyways, she informed me that they have a new policy for my type of loan and that I have to print out a form from their website, fill it out, and bring it in. FYI, my printer will only print things that are not intended to be black ink. Yes that's right, I thought I was screwed. And I panicked. And in my frustration I lost my voice. In the end, it all worked out. Mummy helped to save the day, and I got a tuition loan from the school to secure my registration until my loan clears.

Then I got to wondering why God keeps testing me like this. It took me a good 20 high-stress-level minutes of freaking out to turn and be like "Ok God, I'll let you deal with this because OBVIOUSLY I am incapable." I hate that my first thought isn't to turn to him. Actually when I first tried my printer I was fervently praying that it would work, but no dice. Then I panicked and called my dad who didn't really have time to figure things out because he was preparing for a presentation that he was giving this morning in a meeting. His help was unavailable. So I called me mum, and she made me calm down and see reason. But it was just one of those visible calm downs so that people around me think I'm ok, I was still pretty anxious on the inside. All that to say, that once I realized I wasn't depending on God for the solution and I was able to pray about it and turn the reins over to him, my stress dissipated and I was able to think clearly and see that all is not lost. And he keeps testing me like this because I keep panicking first instead of praying. At least one letter of my immediate reaction is right: the P. I got the 'P' part right. I just need to learn to follow the 'P' with 'rayer' instead of 'anic.' I hope that made sense because it made so much sense in my head.

Anyways, all that to say, it's been an eventful morning. I'm heading home this afternoon to get a few things that I forgot to bring up when I moved. I'm also getting a hair cut, and packing up Bailey's mice and toys and moving him to Austin. Yay! I'm most excited about that. I hope he likes it though.

Moving On

Since I last posted I have:
-Moved to Austin
-Gone to orientation
-Been lost in Austin twice
-Spent three ridiculous hours trying to work out a class schedule with the classes not already filled up
-Worried way too much about my loan
-Had a million naps
-Wondered what I'm going to do with my degree

Letters, letters everywhere!

I've been packing up my life in Cypress so that I can move to Austin this weekend. Actually, the last few days I've been sorting through my life and trying to decide whether objects are moving, staying, or saying goodbye. I've got a good deal of junk that belongs to me. Thankfully, I have been able to detach myself from loads of things so that it's either staying at home in storage, or going straight to the bin. Today I found an old wooden wine box that had gobs and gobs of letters in it. The majority of these were from Michaela. I had a few good ones from RJ, and the best letter of all says:

"Emily
Even if we did go out and broke up I would still be your friend because you are really sweet. Please go back out with me.
Love,
Lance Moore"

I remember getting this letter. I went out with this kid for ONE (1) day in the seventh grade. We started going out at school on a Friday, and then we went to a Halloween party that night and he made me sit on his lap. At that point I was sufficiently creeped out and told him I was sorry but I didn't think it was going to work. And then Monday morning I got this letter. Two months later he moved to Australia. The best part about this letter is that it starts out in a girl's handwriting like someone started writing it for him because he didn't know what to say, and then it switches to his writing. I feel more sorry now for hurting his feelings than I probably did back then.

I also found a large stash of birthday cards and other hoopla. It's hard to decide if I want to keep these things or just toss them. I sorted out all the ones from people I actually remember and that narrowed it down to half. Maybe one day I'll want to remember these things. I still have a lot of packing to go. I still need to write about my little project, and I found some journal entries and poetry that I want to post that I think are interesting.