Random Post of Life Update

Howdy y'all. Needed to get my Aggie-ness out there for a second. It'll be a good segway into...

Going to get squashed in the SEC my left pinky toe! Take that all you Big 12 haters. Because the latest BCS standings show that OU is the only Big 12 team in front of the good Ags of A&M. And our dear friends in Missouri were projected to be competitive with SEC teams and they've lost almost every conference game. The only games A&M has lost have been against LSU and Florida, the numbers 1 and 6 ranked teams and Florida beat LSU. So I would say A&M is looking pretty dang good. This weekend at Mississippi State will be a good test of how the fighting farmers will do, but I'm optimistic about our chances.

Did I ever say we'd be the best team in the SEC? Absolutely not. We have formidable opponents and we still struggle in areas that we should be solid in. But look at our starters. The only two "major names" that are seniors are Ryan Swope (he's white! he's bright! he's got a lot of fight!) and Christine Michael. Both of them are total studs and we'll miss them next year. But look at Ben Molena, Mike Evans, and Johnny "Football" Manziel! All underclassmen. And, on defense, we have massive players like Damontre Moore who still have solid time left on the team. From this point, A&M's football program can only go one direction: up. And if my redshirted freshman QB who is breaking records his first year of SEC play and on a Heisman watch list, heck, the Ags might even be headed for one of the top 5 BCS bowls (maybe even the championship) in the next few years. Who knows? But I've got a lot of hope for this team. We're a top 20 team now. And we don't even have our own network. Gig 'em, Aggies.


Now, here's a nice list of my latest tunes that I put on while in my car:

1. "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons

2. "Riff Off" from Pitch Perfect

3. "22" by Taylor Swift

4. "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Taylor Swift

5. "Lord, Save me From Myself" by Jon Foreman

6. "Slumber" by NEEDTOBREATHE

7. "She Is" by Ben Rector

8. "All My Fountains" by Chris Tomlin

9. "Therapy" by Relient K

10. "One Thing" by One Direction


And guess who doesn't have another test until November 20th? This girl.

There's a brief overview of my life. You're welcome, Mom and Dad.

Being held.

So. I ride the bus to and from school. Like middle school, except I don't look as awkward and actually have friends now.

Anyways. While on the bus, I play Russian Roulette with my iPod and see what interesting music I've put on there over the years. Through iPod to iPod, all my songs have stayed relatively the same and only recently did I do a mass purge of the 100 ancient MercyMe songs that kept coming up.

The other day, I was plugged in and the songs "Alive Again" by Matt Maher and "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North came up back to back. And I just had this really vivid mental picture of me being literally held by a very large pair of hands (specifically God's hands).

Okay so you picture it now.

God carrying you through life and you are just having a nice conversation with him and you're just hanging out in the hands. You feel really safe and have zero worries. He gives you everything you need and y'all are just having a good old time, loving each other and being great friends.

Then you stand up in the hands and check out what's around you. God shows you where to look and you're like, "Oh yeah, that's awesome!" and then you get distracted. There's this guy/girl (your preference) who is really attractive and gives you this smile. You realize that you're single and that you really want to be with that person. Obviously, God knows you've completely zoned out but you keep hearing him say something. You ignore him. I mean, he made that person too. Why wouldn't he want you to be with them? So you hop out of the hands and go hang out with this person. God is following you, still talking, but you aren't focused on him right now. Time goes by. This person breaks your heart. You're alone again. You spin around and God is still right behind you. He offers you his hands. You climb back in. You cry, apologize, ask for forgiveness, which he does. You start to feel better and more comfortable. You settle back in, hanging with him and loving it. He tells you that the time was not ready, that there is a season for everything. (Ecclesiastes 3).

You feel less vulnerable now and decide to check out the scenery again. There's this group of people who look really cool. There's no other way to describe it. They just exude that something that you want. But they probably don't stand for what you do...maybe you can tell them about God? You decide on that course of action and jump out but make sure God is behind you. The second you get in with that group, you forget about him though. You start doing things you never thought you'd do. They tease you and make you feel worthless but you think you'd even be more worthless without them, so you stay. You feel trapped, so you do everything you can to numb it. You wake up one morning and don't know where you are or what you've been doing to yourself. You feel someone pick you up and panic because you've learned to not trust anyone, including your friends. But these hands are gentle and you know who it is. You're deeply ashamed, but stay with him. Again, you beg for him to forgive you and are so relieved when he does. (Galatians 3:26).

When he's nursed you back and you feel secure in him again, you begin to look at yourself. You realize why that group didn't like you--you're ugly, you're stupid, you aren't funny, you're good to be the brunt of the jokes, people feel better about themselves when they're around you because you're just so pathetic. You get depressed and turn your anger to God. How could he make you this way? Wasn't he supposed to be perfect? Why'd he mess up with you? He looks at you in disbelief and takes the distorted mirror you've been looking in and throws it so far you can't see where it landed. Then he gives you a proper one. You realize that you have a good smile and bright eyes. You don't hate your body. You make a goofy comment and God laughs. He delights in you. He loves you. (Psalm 139).

Where you struggle, he strengthens (2 Corinthians 12). Where you fall, he forgives (Ephesians 1:7). And his love is vast, unending, and perfect (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Grown up. For real. Sort of.

So here's the deal: I'm way spoiled.

For 19 years, my parents (mostly Mom--Dad is a whole other, equally as important ball game) bought groceries, cooked, did laundry, stayed on top of homework/activities/lives for three children, and managed to have a social life. And now I'm taking care of one and I'm like "THIS IS SO HARD." Grocery shopping, actually making real food, knowing what needs to be refrigerated and when things spoil...food is overwhelming. And then you've got to fill up with gas and go buy your own medicine when you're sick and do annoying grown up stuff. I didn't think I was prepared for this.

But I am. My parents have done an exceptional job of preparing me for the real world. Because I won't call my Coppell house home for much longer. I'll never go back to someone consistently buying and making my food. In a few years, I'll be paying for my own gas and insurance and bills. College is four years of practice before I get pushed out into the world with a diploma and some handy lessons that I picked up.

Yesterday was an excellent example of my growing adultness.

So I have this real weird version of hypothyroidism (translation: my thyroid doesn't work). So when I'm put on new medicine for it, I have to get my blood drawn to make sure it's actually working. I've never done that by myself before. Until yesterday. I got up early, got dressed, and headed to find the College Station Medical Center. I checked myself in (successfully spelling my name wrong at first), filled out my insurance info, and waited until my name was called. They took my blood, I drove to class. I felt like a regular grown up! Weird!

Then, my roommate Myles and I needed to go to Goodwill after class in search of Hawaiian clothes. We got in my car and it struggled to start. I have one of those weird keyless cars that you just push a button for and it just was not working as well as it should. So I was a little concerned but not too much. Then, as we emerged from Goodwill with our purchases and climbed in the car, it just stopped. When I want to start my car, I push the brake all the way down while pushing the button. The brake wasn't going down. But I didn't panic! A shock to both Myles and myself. I called my mom and asked what to do and she just said to call the Nissan place in College Station. So I called them while Myles got ahold of a friend who knew more about cars than we did (thank you Ethan!). The Nissan guy (Johnny) gave me instructions to push the brake as hard as I could (meaning that Ethan pushed it as hard as he could) and--tada! The car started. And I promptly drove it straight to the Nissan place.

Moral of the day: I didn't panic. A year ago, I would've been freaking the heck out. But I wasn't. I've been equipped with the ability now to think clearly and rationally through situations before getting mad, panicking, or something just as unproductive. Growing up might not be so bad.

Shout out to my parents for being awesome, to Myles for sticking with me, to Ethan for temporarily fixing my car, and to Joy for picking us up at the Nissan dealership. My friends and family rock.

"Don't ever change" and why it's bad advice

Remember when you were in middle school and high school and everyone would write "You're soooo (insert positive adjective here)! Don't ever change!"? And you had your little ego boost because you were reading all about what people like about you and you vowed to never change because, look! You had so many people who loved you exactly how you were!

Well, yeah. That's true. But imagine if you stayed a fourteen-year-old forever. Perpetually stuck in 8th or 9th grade emotionally, mentally, and physically. What if you never grew up? What if you never learned new things? What if you never tried and succeeded? Or tried and failed and learned from the failure? Can you even imagine being stuck in puberty for the rest of your life? Sounds like a nightmare.

But seriously. Changing from the awkward-middle-schooler to the figuring-life-out college student (hello my life) to the real-adult (not quite there yet) is what makes life so interesting.

Here's the deal: we need change. It's unavoidable. It's good. It's, hopefully, growth. Do not fear the change.

But I wish I could say that I followed my own advice. I hate change. I don't adapt well. I'm comfortably stuck in my ways and it would take a force of nature to avert me away from them. And I typically don't react well when such an event blows through and scrambles my life up. Events like moving. Or college. Or when God decides that he's had enough of my shenanigans and shakes things up to wake me up. You know, all of those things. But the most effective change I've ever seen has been at the hand of Christ.

When we fully let Christ take control of our lives, He makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). Making something new would require a change. My least favorite thing. But I have seen myself changed and refined more in the past year than I have in my whole life. In my bubble that I grew up in, there wasn't a lot of wiggle room.

College. A&M. Good, Godly friends. Wiggle room. Room to grow. To change. To learn. To fall and to get back up. And to run. Flat out after Christ. And it was scary as heck. But I'm embracing it now. And I'm not afraid. Will it hurt? Probably. But you know what? I'm going for it. Because I can either cower in fear of the divine change or I can fall into His sweet and protecting arms to pull me through. Growing up is hard, but I don't have to do it alone.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7

(post inspired by Myles Osborne)

Things you learn in your first apartment...

So, I'm living with 3 of my best friends in an apartment this year. I've been counting the days until this living situation since December and we finally all moved in as of about 10 days ago. And in that time period, we've made some rather interesting discoveries, utilized some problem solving skills, and done a fair amount of laughing. Here's why.

1. For the 3 rooms our apartment has, it has 3 different temperatures. We're still not sure why.

2. People get feisty in parking garages. And have no happy medium when it comes to speed in the parking garage. And manage to lose all ability to park.

3. If one leg of the sofa is broken, removing all the legs is an acceptable course of action.

4. Garbage disposals have reset buttons.

5. Marbles should not go in a garbage disposal.

6. If your washer and dryer are in a closet, the closet gets extremely hot and blasts a wave of Sahara-like wind at you when you open the closet.

7. When the sun streams through the window, the color of your curtains will cast that color's hue across your room. Pink curtains=pink room.

8. When funny things happen, it is best to have a jar in which to write down the funny things and keep them until the end of the year, when you will read them.

That's all I got for you so far. It's been entertaining, to say the least. Lots of lessons and more to come. I'll keep you posted.

Sitcom Life

So, I've had this running joke with a friend that my life is kind of a sitcom. You know, those moments that just kind of happen and you watch them on TV thinking, "Yeah, that's funny, but wouldn't actually happen."

I'm here to tell you that, yes, in fact, those aforementioned improbable moments do take place. And I am a victim of them.

Today's adventure to the eye doctor is a testament to that.


My vision closely resembles an armadillo's (as in very bad) without corrective lenses. I was wearing bifocals as a 21-month-old. Basically a real-life version of Benjamin Button. So I'm no stranger to eye appointments. The summer before my freshman year of high school, I decided to forgo the thick glasses I'd been sporting my whole life and try contacts. After some time, I got the hang of it and got into the groove of using them. But occasionally, I'd manage to get my contact stuck in my eye. Like, try to get it out and end up moving it off of the iris and into the depths of my eyeball. It's uncomfortable and a tedious process to get it out. It hasn't happened to me in a long time--months, maybe a year. But of course, today, while at the doctor, it happened to me.

The nurse lady tried in vain to get it out, but to no avail. So we just went ahead with all the tests, with the contact still floating around somewhere in my eye. During this time, I had to go get pictures of my retina taken. It took several attempts because I kept blinking and she was getting frustrated. I was just getting embarrassed.

So then we moved to the actual exam room (I hate that phrase...it sounds so awful) where Dr. Curtis took a shot at it. Dr. Curtis and my dad were fraternity brothers at TCU, so that basically gives him permission to make fun of me. Good times with that.

Then when he was doing the real examination part, I managed to get the rolly chair stuck and knocked his machine off balance. And got my right and left confused.

It was just generally unfortunate.

Then I went to Office Depot to get more notebooks for school while wearing my Delta Asher Impact shirt (Impact post to come later). Our theme this year had been Super SmASHER Bros because we were Camp Asher (Asher being one of the 12 tribes of Israel, which was what all the camps were named after). The nerdy cashier then proceeded to ask me all about my skills at Smash Bros and, when he found out that I normally got last place, gave me all sorts of tips on how to win next time. Moral of the story: get Fox and press "B down" twice to stun your opponent, but that only works if you're close to who you want to stun. Real moral of the story: avoid Alan at Office Depot from now on.

Sometimes I wish I had a "normal" life. But then, what is "normal", anyway?

Summer blogging fail

Guess which aspiring author dropped the ball on her blogging this summer?

This one did. Oops.

So here's a brief overview of what all went down for me this summer.

1. I worked for Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine, Texas. And it was quite an experience. I've learned that parents can find something to complain about everywhere if you want to, that there is a reason for a legal driving age (and, as simple as "press the pedal and steer" is, a four-year-old cannot comprehend it), and the technical term for the little Lego pieces is a "Lego brick". And if I have to see those in mass quantities ever again, I might shriek like a banshee. But the people who I worked with kept things interesting and it was a cool mission field.

2. I am absolutely awful at math. Just terrible. An embarrassment. But I'm done with three hours of math (hallelujah!) and completely finished with my political science credits. So, while June was a grunt summer of late studying and lots of working, it was definitely good. It was stressful, but it's over. Again, hallelujah! July was much better!

3. God is good. He's enough when I'm not.

4. This is shallow, but after being flirted with by all of my male coworkers, I have more self confidence in not only my appearance, but personality. God has a funny way of teaching lessons. And His sense of humor is something to be reckoned with.

5. I'm seriously addicted to the Olympics. U-S-A! U-S-A!

6. Planning an apartment is actually fun! Who knew I'd get into interior design? If you could even call it that. But I am excited about my new nightstand, so now I know that I'm definitely turning into my mom. Yikes.

7. My Rangers obsession has grown. Yes, it is possible. I love my Arlington boys. Possibly too much.

8. I'm rereading the Harry Potter series and want just a sprinkle of JK Rowling's writing talent. That woman is amazing.

I leave to go back to College Station for a week tomorrow. Impact is on WEDNESDAY! I can't believe it's already here--I still distinctly remember picking up my letter that said I was actually going to be a counselor. The kids I've been praying about for months are going to be loading buses in only a few days!!

All-in-all, a crazy/busy summer with lots of learning and it went a lot faster than I thought it would, which is a good thing. Do I wish I'd had more downtime before launching myself into another school year? Sure.

But I'm ready for sophomore year.

"I do not consider that I have made it [life] my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14.