Posted:

I'm sick. Really sick.

Who needs a title?

Sorry I haven't been here lately again. And I'm sorry for the webdings font on the last post! In Mozilla, it looks perfectly fine, but not so much in IExplorer. :) Let's see what has been going on lately? Homewor homework homework. I have a five page research paper due tomorrow at 11. We have a Piranesi assignment where we have to add onto his etching using our imagination. We have two weeks to complete it and it will be in pen and ink. Today in design, we made valentine's cards. Yup, that's right, valentines. We had to make it 3D, but it was really fun. Speaking of which, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! In case you didn't read it last year, click here to read about why we celebrate this holiday. Remember to thank your true valentine today. For His eternal love for us.

Should I stumble or soar?

So it's been more than a week since I posted, and since I don't want to become like some people and never post, I thought I'd let you know that I'm still alive. Well, I don't know how alive I am actually. I just got a bad grade in design. I was trying to convince myself that grades aren't that important. Not working too well. So after class, I came back to my room, turned on K-love and opened my Bible for some help. This is what I turned to (Isaiah 40:29-31):

"He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power to the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

That is exactly what I needed! Funny how God does that, isn't it? So I guess the choice is up to me. Should I depend on myself or put my hope in God? Should I stumble or should I soar?

Happy birthday!!!

Happy birthday, daddy!! I love you so much! I hope you had a wonderful birthday and I wish that I could have been with you to celebrate. I am thankful that I am here at school. And without you, that wouldn't have happened! Thank you sooo much!!!! A couple tidbits:

• A volunteer fireman, certified to operate the Jaws of Life
• County Commissioner
• Owns and operates small business, Tires and More
• FULL-TIME farmer/rancher. :)

I love you, dad!!!!!!

Europe? I wish.

So I was talking to my awesome RA today about school. And the Europe tour came up. It is mostly for archies (architecture majors) but anyone can go. She was aying how much she improved her drawings and self-esteem. How I wish I could go!!! Ah, Italy, Italy, Italy!!! [swoons] Okay, I'm back. :) Well, she was saying that she saved up since her freshamn year because it costs about $5,000! Sigh. There goes my dream.


There is hardly anything to do in studio tonight. Hooray! Of course I was there for six hours yesterday.

People of the Week

on ABC news is... North Dakotans!!! How cool, right? Click on the link below to watch the video. Has some of the National Geographic "controversy" in it. Also, if you search, there is another video talking about North Dakotans 'accepting' the award of people of the week. Good clips, hope you watch them!

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4157223

Can you...

guess where this was taken?

New band on the rise?...

More randomness

I'm back at college and guess what?! My room-mate moved out to have a room for herself. (I guess she couldn't handle rooming with a goldfish! ;) It is so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!! I rearranged my room (with some help from strong friends). And it's awesome! I have a bed dedicated just to my reading, computer and [ahem!] homework. :D

The plane ride was good, pretty uneventful. I was able to navigate the O'Hare airport easily and find my luggage (even though they put it on the wrong luggage claim thing).

I have class at 8 in the morning tomorrow. It is so hard to believe that school starts tomorrow. And it is so weird to see so many people my age again. :D

Sidenotes--

I completed my Hawaii scrapbook. YOU should come see it this summer. :)

I finished Be Still My Soul by Elisabeth Eliott on the plane ride. An amazing book. Highly recommend it. I think I highlighted pretty much the whole book. :D I'm starting Humility:True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney. I've only read one chapter, but so far it's really good.

I got a haircut! (A little shorter than initially envisioned...)

Randomness

Tonight, Chase, Savannah and Miranda stayed at our house because my mom's Bible study met and left the kids in my care. :D So maybe I'll post pictures of that later. Too many pictures loaded already. ;)

Kendra!!!!! Hooray, we actually got to see her!!!

Practice with 'ghosting'

Candid glamour shots

Friends! (sometimes fiends... :)

My fascination with broccoli continues.
Click on the picture to really get the full impact of its greatness.

Coyote

A foot stuck in the table on New Year's Eve. :D

What a purdy aunt and her niece!

D.C., that darn cat! :) Speaking of which, he almost perished. He got squished under the garage door, but he seems to be doing alright. [sigh] He certainly fits his name!

Procrastination...

...is a funny thing. One minute you are washing the broccoli for vegetable pizza, and the next you are taking the most fascinating pictures one has ever seen.

Blessed

Well looking back on this past year, I realize (probably only partially) how much I have been blessed. I have a family that supports me going to a Christian University and supports me in my dream to become a photographer. THANK YOU!!!! There are so many other things I am thankful for this year, but this is the thing that sticks out to me. Besides, with my goldfish brain, I don't remember (and may not be aware of) all of the things that have impacted me this year.

Lately I've been reading a book by Elisabeth Elliott (I read Passion & Purity fairly recently- awesome book!!) called Be Still My Soul. I just got through the second chapter, but it is such a blessing to read. I just love it!

He may be asking us to... turn over to Him fears which hold us in bondage, to give up forms
ofself-improvement or recreation or socail life which hinder disobedience.
Afterwards, with a joyful lightness of spirit and awareness of God's active
involvement in ordering our happiness, we may wonder why we waited
so long.

Breaking news!!

Andrew, my [ahem!] blogging brother has finally posted on his blog. If you have followed with his blog lately, you may have noticed that he hasn't been posting lately. Okay since August. :) Go visit!!!! Maybe he'll humor us and post at least a little more regularly if we leave more comments. :)

A side note: I finished The Penny. It was really good!! I stayed up reading it for about six hours straight. I just couldn't put it down. And I don't know if I should tell how late I stayed up. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Well, Christmas is almost over, and I can't help but think how many blessings I have. And according to White Christmas, we are supposed to "count our blessings instead of sheep." To name a few: family, friends, fellowship, food. (I didn't even try to get everything to start with the letter f :-) Oh, and then there is faith! :D We opened our presents last night after the Christmas program at church. We've never opened them before Christmas, but we figured we can celebrate Jesus' birth when we want, right? ;-) Speaking of presents, I got the Hiding Place and another book about Corrie ten Boom (and The Penney by Joyce Meyer) from Trisha. So I'll be reading those for a while. :) Thanks Trisha!!

And don't worry about the background, we weren't drinking wine, just white grape juice. :)

It is so much fun to get people's reactions when they open their presents. =D

Recitations at the Christmas program

Joseph

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas full of fun enjoyed with your loved ones.

Bowling

Trenton was so cute! He would go back and forth, asking if he could bowl at Shanon or Gabe's turn. :)

It gets boring doing the same thing over and over. You have to change it around every once in awhile. =)

Can we go bowling again?

Too sweet not to include!

Recap

Okay, it's been a little while since I've last posted. But as you can tell, I'm back safe and sound. I waited around in the airport for about four hours, because my plane wasn't there when it was supposed to be... oops! :D It went by quickly though, no troubles.

Since I've been back, we're always doing something. Always. We have made caramel corn at home; Trisha and Amanda came over-- we went to one of Paul's games, watched movies, made the best chocolatiest (spellcheck doesn't like that, wonder why) brownies ever, and stayed up way too late. Let's see, what else? Scott's school Christmas concert. Last night we went bowling with Susan, Robert, Gabe, Shanon, Teagan, Trenton, Alyse, Nathaniel (he has a beard now! :), Elisabeth (okay, she didn't do a whole lot of bowling ;), Linda, Ron, Ronda, Tim, Miranda, Carol, and Ray. Yup, that's a lot of Erbeles!! Linda and Ron sure must have felt left out. :D =) I'll have to post pictures of that later. Today we made LOTS of caramel corn at church. Lots and lots. I would have taken pics, but I left my camera at home (I know, I'm not a very good photographer yet :). But my fingers were a little sticky anyway. :) It took a long time, but it was still fun... after some rest. :)

And Kendra is back in the state of North Dakota, if only we could figure out how to get her a little closer to us! :-/ :) And give her presents (bribes, Kendra? :)

A belated birthday

With all of the festivities, horror of all horrors, I forgot about my post dedicated to Susan!! [shock!] Time for reminiscing. Ah, so many memories...biking up to piano lessons in the summer, making sure to pick (at least one!) flower; homemade pizza; Chocolate chip KUCHEN!!! and the joy of horseback riding back in the good ol' days. The list goes on....

Thank you Susan for being such a great aunt! I hope you had a happy birthday!!! :)My cup when I go to Susan's.

I'm ba-a-a-ack!

In fact, pretty soon I'll be back home!!!!!!! YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I don't know my grades yet except for drawing, C+. Pretty happy about that, since it was my first artsy class. The teacher was awesome and I learned so much from it. If I had a choice whether or not to take it as a requirement, I would take it again in a heartbeat.
I just came back from my design studio, and I got a C+ in that too. YIPPEE!!! This is a good day! I'll write more later. When I'm home! =D

A heads up--

I probably won't be blogging anytime soon. I'm trying to stay as far away from my computer as I can (not succeding right now :). Anyways, the reason for my future lack of posts is one word, finals. They are cRaZy!! I have my drawing and design finals already. My drawing is due on Wednesday at 4, design due at Thursday at 4, Psych final is at 10:30 on Wednesday, New Testament final is at 10:30 on Thursday, and my faith and learning final is at 8 (in the morning!!) on Friday (the 14th). I have to do a five minute presentation, not too excited about that. Eek! So, you can pray that I will find time, effort and energy to study wisely and not procrastinate. :) Leave a comment, but I probably won't get back to you for awhile.

We rearranged our room, now there is sooo much more space. Hooray!

Snow!!!

It actually does snow in Illinois! YAY!!!